_Chapter 11_

"Wendigo... Again"

Dean

The past several months Trinity has caught me watching her. I don't mean to. I don't notice I'm doing it half of the time. There's just something, almost angelic, about her. It's like she emits an aura of light. If I didn't know any better, and if I was an insane person, I'd say I could see a silhouette of wings. But I'm positive it was my imagination and… well, whatever this feeling I have is. I've also found myself giving her a nickname, Trin. I just said it one day without thinking, and she didn't even notice it seemed. So it stuck.

Now, I know I've slept with a lot of girls, said I loved one or two. But no one has ever caused such a combustion inside of me. C'mon Dean, snap out of it.

…

"Is it a long enough drive for me to take a nap?"

"No, Trinity, you should stay awake, I don't need you being more clumsy than your usual self when we get there," I replied from the driver's seat of Baby.

"Saaaaaaammm…" she whined.

"I have to go with Dean on this one," he chuckled.

"Maybe you shouldn't spend all night drawing," I looked at her in the rearview mirror.

"It's called dedication, Dean," she punched my arm. She let out a loud sigh, "Fine, how long then?"

"About ten minutes," Sam informed.

"What are the details?"

"There have been six disappearances in this town's forest over the past 6 six years, the last one just last Friday," Sam tilted his head back without looking from the computer he was using to look at a newspaper article. "So get this, each person went missing on the same date just a year apart. Survivors said that whatever took them was fast and quiet, but they thought it was a bear of some sort, even though it was bigger and its roar was louder. They left their campsites that had been shredded in search of help, hearing their friends' screams behind them. Hey, Dean, doesn't this all sound familiar to you?" he got a questioning, curious look on his face.

I knew what it was after the first few details, "Of course. It was the first case we worked together after Jess."

"Oh fun."

"Wait! I don't know what that job was, guys!" Trinity reached up and grabbed out shoulders, her small hands barely covering them.

"It's a wendigo."

"Aren't those supposed to be weird, humanoid, cannibal things?"

"Pretty much sums 'em up," Sam nodded.

"Great, I can't wait," she leaned back in the seat.

…

I pulled Baby into the Ranger Station's gravelly parking lot. We all got out, Sam and I in our suits and Trinity in a blouse and dress pants, my eyes taking her in.

When we got inside there was only one person at the desk and a young couple looking around at the souvenirs and maps. I walked up first.

"Hi there, how's it goin'?"

The old man with a white mustache kept looking at his newspaper, "Oh, ya know, besides the deaths and influx of tourists, not bad."

"Yeah, speaking of," I pulled out my fake FBI ID badge and Sam followed suit, and Trinity too. We had made her a few sometime last year, after she had been hunting with us for several months. "I'm Agent Gunn," I threw one thumb over my left shoulder at Sam, "This is Agent Duff," my other thumb over my opposite shoulder, "And Agent Rose, my partners."

"I've already spoken to the police."

"Yeah, we know, but there have been some ties with a case we've dealt with in the past, and were sent to check up on it."

"What was the case?"

"That's classified."

He rolled his eyes and sighed, "What'dya need to know then?"

"Anything and everything you know about strange things happening here, the murders, the people who disappeared," I turned my wrist and hand in a circular motion, "Ya know, helpful, things," I gave a sarcastic, cheesy grin.

The man leaned in a bit, "All I know, is that it ain't no bear killing those people, I'm not thinkin' it's a person neither."

Trinity stepped up, "What do you think it is then?"

"Okay," he scooted a little closer, "this is gonna sound crazy, but I think it's some Indian devil."

"Indian as in Native American?" Sam asked glancing at me.

"Yeah, there was a bunch of Algonquian Tribe people here a long time ago. They had a bunch of stories and legends. And personally, I believe in them. Crazy shit's happened in these parts, boy."

"Algonquian you say?" I leaned on the counter.

"Excuse me, but I overheard you guys talking about the disappearances, and well," the young woman of the couple leaned in next to Trinity.

Trinity, putting on a warm smile that made my mouth quirk up, laid a gentle hand on the woman's shoulder, "Don't be shy, what do you want to say?"

"It's just, it's my cousin. That's honestly why we're," she gestured to whom I'd presume to be her husband from the rings on their hands, who had just moved next to her, "here. When we found out, I knew something was wrong, but I don't believe he's dead."

"You weren't thinking about going out there alone, were you?" Sam put a flat warning hand out in front of him.

"Well, yeah, I mean, we've got a bunch of protection against bears and people."

"Well this fella here says he doesn't think it's either of those," I nodded my head toward the ranger behind the desk.

"What do you mean?" the husband spoke up.

"I told them about the old stories of the Indian people that had land here."

"Well," the lady scoffed, "that's just absurd," she paused and a worried, doubtful expression cast itself upon her features, "Isn't it?"

"Okay, between us, I don't think it is." I looked down at her.

"That's just crazy talk, though!"

Trinity stepped directly in front of her and looked her in the eyes, "Listen, it's true, you gotta believe us, more people are gonna die if we don't do something."

The old man leaned over and whispered, "You're not regular feds, are ya?"

"Nope, special services," I gave him a tight lipped smile.

"How can we help?" the woman swallowed.

"Tell us everything you know," Trinity's pretty freaking persuasive.

…

As the five of us there on our small packs, I spoke with Trinity in a hushed tone, "Hey Trin, how did you get them to agree?"

"I don't know, I was just winging it," she giggled. I stared at her a little too long. "What? What are you looking at?" she smiled up at me with her colorful hazel eyes. They reminded me of Sam's, always changing, especially with different color clothing.

I smiled back and looked away, "Nothing."

She was about to say something when Sam walked over.

"Should I break it to them?"

"Break what?" I forgot she didn't know much about wendigoes.

"That their cousin's probably dead or just as good as."

"What a positive outlook."

"It's true, these things are vicious. The only chance this guy has is that they store their living food," Sam informed her.

"I wouldn't say that though. I'd tell them the truth about the situation, but not that. It might make them hard to work with," the small girl about seven inches shorter than me reasoned.

"Yeah, you're right. Okay, we go in five."

"Hopefully," I sighed.

…

"What was that?!" The woman, whose name we found out was Jane Jeffries, stopped in her tracks on the path.

"A bird," my brother rolled his eyes.

"Oh. Okay," telling them the honest truth about monsters and crap went better than I thought, but it did leave them, you could say, spooked.

Trinity chuckled, "Was this how your last group was?" She fell back with me bringing up the rear of our small band.

"Not exactly, the last ones were pretty freaking stubborn."

We walked for at least an hour and that was when we heard something bigger than a bird. Sam, who was leading, halted our troop. "Hold up."

It gets dark ten times quicker in the forest, so we had our flashlights out. Sam pointed his in the direction of the sound.

"Sammy? What is it?" I quietly called up to him.

"I don't think it's anything, but I wanted to make sure before we head on."

"Are you sure it's nothing, I mean cause," another noise creaked in the hazy light of the evening, causing Mike Jeffries, the husband, to falter in his words. His wife grabbed his arm, wrapping them together.

"Sh," Sam warned.

We stood in silence listening to the creaks and snaps, the three of us had gotten out our flare guns. Trinity had asked earlier why flare's, I told her that it's what worked last time.

Then suddenly, a massive, grey, human-like figure came bounding out of the shadows, its eyes and cheeks sunken in. It screeched it loud roar and came bounding towards the couple in front of me. I shot at the beast and it moved just in time for the fire to miss its chest. "Dammit!" All the while, Trinity had jumped out and pushed the two out of the way, all three of them falling to the earth.

The creature, was ready to pounce, "Son of a bitch!" As I pulled the trigger, another light came from Sam. Our flares his the monster at the same time bursting into flame and ash.

Trinity helped Jane and Mike up and Sam picked up their things they had dropped, "We have to move, they'll be more, Dean, let's go, we have to put up the Anasazi symbols," he took a quick look at me and I nodded.

I pulled Trinity aside as we took off, "What the Hell was that?"

"What?"

"Jumping in front of it like that!" I yelled through a whisper.

"I saved them, I thought that's what we're supposed to do?!" she did the same.

"Yeah, well, don't do it again," I was a loss for words.

She huffed and walked ahead of me a bit.

I followed and was beside her again, but we didn't say anything, all of us just speed-walked until we found more of an open space.

Sam and I covered the whole area in the protective symbols while Trinity kept the Jeffries in the center holding her flashlight out as a watchman.

When we finished we joined them. Trinity had made a small fire, like Sam asked her to, and we sat around it.

"Okay, these symbols should keep them away, so as long as you stay inside of them, we'll be safe," Sam looked at the couple.

"Don't go outside of them, I mean it. I don't want to have to go get you and get captured in the process again."

"Again?" Trinity looked at me quizzically.

"Yeah, again, the idiot ran off like we said not to do, and I chased after him and was caught too. It was less than pleasant."

She simply pouted her lips some and nodded slowly. Her eyelashes casting long dark shadows on her cheeks.

"Trust us, we're not going anywhere," Mike assured us.

…

Trinity had fallen asleep on my shoulder, but everyone else was wide awake. I don't know how she did it sometimes.

Mike stood up and began to walk away.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?"

"I gotta take a whiz, don't worry I won't leave, just look away."

I shook my head and watched the flames lick the cold air. As I began hearing the man's trickle behind me, an abrupt scream followed suit. We all jumped up and Mike was nowhere to be seen. I had had my hand on Trinity's shoulder when the scream sounded (in a protective manner, maybe?) and she held onto it. I started to walk away towards where Mike had been, letting my hand stay on her shoulder for as long as possible. I held up a hand to signal silence and caution as I approached the wet earth.

"Son of a bitch!" My flashlight landed where the puddle was, the puddle right on top of a faded and partially washed away Anasazi symbol.

Sam walked over next to me and saw it too, "Great… the thing must've been waiting just beyond those shadows."

"We can't just stand here! We have to go after him!" Jane yelled.

"We, don't have to do anything," I turned to her. "But, I will.'

"Woah woah woah woah woah… You're not going alone again. I'm going with you," Trinity took a step away from the frightened wife in my direction. She began to pick up her gear and as I began to protest, she looked at Sam, "You're more fit to protect her," she jutted a thumb over her shoulder, "Are you okay with this?" She still asked permission for a lot, even after all of this time.

"Yeah, okay," he replied, as she turned to Jane explaining, my jaw dropped. She settled that in less than thirty seconds. Sam turned to me and shrugged.

"C'mon, let's go save this moron," Trinity grabbed my arm and we walked off into the darkness together.

…

"Well, this sucks," Trinity mumbled as we hung from the ceiling of the monster's underground lair. They ambushed us after about ten minutes of walking in the almost complete dark.

"I still can't believe you did that…" I glared at her. One of the wendigoes tackled me and she jumped on top if it, rolling us over and giving me a chance to shoot it with the flare gun, but then two more appeared and knocked us out cold.

"Hey, I saved your ass," she's adopted more of a liking of cuss words the longer she's spent with us.

"That's the second time you've put your neck on the line tonight."

"That, is what, we, do!" she looked at me more intensely after each pause. She was about to say something else as the tall, slender figure silhouetted itself in the light of its entrance.

The beast walked up to the unconscious (at least seemed to be) Mike next to Trinity. Sniffed him and took a bite right from his right bicep. He didn't move, I didn't even know if he was alive still. Trinity looked away, her eyes wide, her breathing picking up. I looked at her, and she turned to me. We didn't say anything, but just looked into each other's eyes. She tried to pace her breath, but then the creature turned to face us with it's face that was like a grey, muscle mannequin. It got right in her face and screeched. She didn't even flinch. Now my breathing was fast paced.

It took two steps to the left to stand in front of me. It's steaming, bloodied mouth next to my face. It sniffed me and let it's long tongue roll out of its mouth and onto my neck. Then I heard a gasping kind of sound next to my ear. It was opening it's mouth to attack.

But then, Trinity used her arms to lift her up and swing her feet, kicking it in the back. It fell and she struggled to free herself from the rope suspending her. The wendigo began to get back up, so i swung myself backwards knocking it back into the ground. She wiggled her wrists, cutting them on the old, rough material and somehow maneuvered her way out of them, dropping to the cold dirt. The monster started to get up again and she ran over to me with a pocket knife and put it in my hands, she was about to cut them, but the wendigo had almost gotten back on its feet. She looked into my eyes for a split second, and turned, pulling a flare gun from the back of her pants and running backwards, yelling, "Hey ugly! Come get some to-go food!" She now turned away completely and fell into a sprint, the creature following.

I yelled after her, but their footsteps disappeared into silence. I cut myself loose from the bonds and ran over to Mike to check his pulse. There was none to check. "Dammit!" I stood up and looked around. Over in the corner were our few supplies we had brought, I ran over and grabbed a flare gun and flashlight, heading in the direction that Trinity had gone in with the monster on her tail.

Turning every corner and passing every shadow with caution, I held the gun ready to shoot.

I was about to come around a sharp corner when I heard face-paced steps that were beginning to crescendo. Then I saw a small shadow on the floor, followed by a running Trinity flying past me, then taking a few steps back seeing me, she looked behind her and quickly shoved me against the damp wall, pushing a round rock under my armpit whispering breathlessly, "Stay and leave that there!", and running off again. Not even thirty seconds later, the wendigo came past. It stopped and sniffed me, then continued after Trinity.

What the crap was that?!

Then I heard a distant, "Dean!" in Sam's voice.

"Sammy!" I called back. Heavy footsteps were coming my way and I shined the flashlight into the tunnel to see Sam and Jane coming my way. I ran to meet them. "What are you two doing here?!"

"More found the site, we came to find and help you, hoping to get out all together and alive."

"Did you find Mike? Did you find my husband?!" Jane looked at me with wet, desperate eyes.

I looked at her sadly and quickly said, "He didn't make it." I thought about lying so she's cooperate better, but we had to hurry. She clasped her hands over her mouth and began to cry. Sam pulled her in his arms and looked at me. "Where's Trinity?" Worry filled his question.

"I'll tell you everything later, but she ran that way, I pointed down the corridor behind me that had a Y split. "The left one," the one I didn't come from. "You have your gun?" I asked Sam as we took off.

"Yeah," he held it up, finger next to the trigger. We kept running and he looked down at the still weeping Jane, "Listen to me, you have to keep up, I know it's hard, but we have to get out of here!" he tried his best to put comfort into the urgency in his voice. She only nodded.

We turned a corner, me in the lead, and ran head-on with Trinity. We both fell down, her small body on top of mine. Our heavy breaths coinciding and our eyes locking for a quick moment before she threw herself off onto the ground and stood up. I did the same.

"Um, we have to go," she quickly said. A roar was heard not far from where we were. "And not that way, c'mon!"

She started forward and the three of us followed and I caught up so the two of us were leading with Sam pulling Jane along.

After many twist, turns, and dark pathways, there was a faint light ahead and I could see the night sky filled with stars with tree tops here and there. "We're almost there!" I called behind me.

"I see!" then Sam's voice dropped like he was looking down, "C'mon, you can make it."

We all got to the mouth of the cave and took a few bounds a couple yards out into the forest. Trinity grabbed Sam's pack and riffled through it, "Sam, do you have any dy-... ah, here we go!" she pulled out a pack of dynamite.

"What do you plan on doing with that?!" I grabbed the her arm.

"Blow the sons of bitches to smithereens. We can't just let them keep killing people. My guess is that at least the majority of them are here, and this will kill them. Now you guys get a head start-" she was cut off by a shrill cry coming from the deep, dark tunnel, "GO! I'll be right behind you!" I just looked at her, I couldn't believe she was risking her life like this. "GO! NOW!" She shoved me and ran back to the entrance and lit a match, turned her head one more time and screamed, "MOVE IT!" Against my will, Sam pulled me and Jane with him and I heard the crackle of a spark behind me. But then a short scream as well. I pulled my arm free from Sam's grip and twisted around to see a wendigo on top of Trinity, I went to go back for her, but she kicked it off with unexpected strength and threw the dynamite into the black hole. She sprinted after us waving her hand wildly motioning for us to get out of there. She caught up as we were about two-hundred yards away when the explosion threw us all forward, face-first into the leaves and dirt. I felt my head hit something hard and my vision blackened.

…

I woke up to Sam smacking my cheek, "Dean! Wake up!"

I grunted and sat up, getting dizzy and catching myself before falling back down. Sam's face was the only focused thing in my sight, until I looked behind him. There was a big crater where the cave used to be and there were three burnt wendigo corpses, one against a rock, one from a tree, and one splattered against one of the still-standing walls of the labyrinth. I looked around some and it was daylight. Trinity was holding Jane in a hug, letting her tears run down her charcoaled arm. We heard sirens in the distance, we all looked in the direction of the blares. We had to go.

…

As we drove away from the billowing smoke, Sam asked Jane, "Where do you want us to take you?" very softly.

"I, I don't, I don't know," she got out between sobs.

"Hey, you know you can't say what really happened, right?"

"What, what do I tell them?"

"Just say that your husband went off on a backpacking trip and that was the last you heard, because of cell service."

"We'll take care of the rest, okay?" Trinity added, "We'll drop in a word of a natural gas leak in the area.

"Thank, thank you. But, what, what do I do, where do I go?"

"Home. Where do you live?" Sam looked back at her.

"We were staying with my grandmother about an hour away from here. But I'd like to go the hospital first. I have a heart condition that needs to be checked up on now. Please?"

"Okay, we'll take you there then."

I still hadn't said a word. But I'd have a few to say to Trinity when we got home.

…

"Thank you, again," Jane hugged Sam.

"I know you tried to save him, you don't have to explain," she tried at a sad smile, but tears fell, she was barely keeping it together.

I furrowed my brows and twitched my mouth up slightly.

She went to Trinity and whispered something in her ear, making her smile. "Thank you, that was the bravest thing I've ever seen," she said out loud pulling away from Trinity's face. She just returned a soft smile and wrapped her arm around the blanketed Jane, leading her off to the emergency room doors, leaving me and Sam by Baby.

"What do you think she whispered?" I asked him.

"I have no idea,"

I told him what had happened before he had gotten to the wendigo lair with Jane.

"Sounds like she saved you a few times," he smirked.

"It's not funny, Sam, she could've died."

"Okay, okay, but listen, we do that with each other constantly, you do know that right?"

"Yeah, but-" I stopped myself from going on because Trinity had started walking back over.

"She'll be okay, at least physically in no time. But who knows how long it'll take her to recover mentally," she shrugged with sympathy on her face as she got in the back seat of the Impala. Time to head home, then.