Chapter Three: Textbook Case
"Every journey into the past is complicated by delusions, false memories, false naming of real events.
Dean remembered a time when he was a normal kid. When the only thing that concerned him was whether or not his soccer team would make States again. As center forward, it came on his shoulders. Whether or not they won or lost, it was on him. Then that fateful June day happened and his life was changed forever. It was a hell of a thing to be forced to grow up when you're only ten years old. To know what horror truly is. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair how people three times his age wouldn't know how scary the world really is. How fragile life really was, and he learned it before he even hit puberty.
On a good day, Dean only remembers the heat of the fire, the feeling of Hailey squirming in his arms. Her little face scrunched up as she screamed and cried. On bad nights he remembers his mother screaming. A sound that had woken him out of a dead sleep because of how loud it was. How filled with pain it was. That scream was something no one should ever have to hear, but he did. And, sometimes he remembered that night all at once. Those were the times where he'd wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to go to sleep.
When Ms. Watson had asked Dean's fourth grade class what they wanted to be when they grew up, Dean had said a firefighter. He had never imagined a world quite like the one he found himself in. The oldest Winchester child was a resilient person, he absorbed what his father and Daniel Elkins and other hunters taught him. Dean was good at hunting, he was good at protecting his family. But, no matter how much he excelled in his new life, it didn't change the way he felt, what he remembered. What was once a constant no longer was, everything had changed.
His life was no longer about soccer, homework, and hanging out with his friends. Dean no longer had a home to go back to. His mother was dead and his father had changed into this shell of a man. Dean often thought that the only thing that kept his father going sometimes was revenge. Revenge on the thing that had torn their family apart. The only home Dean had was the impala and while the safe houses came close it wasn't the same. Not when you could pack up all your possessions in two duffel bags and hit the road. But, that was what life was now, and Dean Winchester was not a quiter.
The only noise he could here at the moment was the quiet roar of the impala, his siblings were all in various forms of sleep. Sam was sleeping with his head against the passenger window, while Aiden and Hailey had fallen asleep on top of one another. The roads were pretty much deserted at this time of night, Dean could make out his father's headlights a few feet behind him. Dean had always liked driving at this time of night, he could go as fast as he wanted, his siblings were normally asleep so there would be no bickering and Metallica was playing softly on the radio. He was so focused on driving he didn't notice when Hailey began to stir before awakening.
"Where are we?" Hailey asked, pushing Aiden off of her to rest against the window.
"An hour outside Binghamton," Dean replied.
"You okay to drive?" Hailey wondered. "You've been driving all night."
"Yeah, squirt, I'm fine," Dean grinned.
"Dean…"
"Hails, you're eleven, there's no way your driving the impala."
"Dean, how am I supposed to learn the basics if you never let me practice?"
"We can't afford a trooper spotting you behind the wheel, so no go, Hails," Dean shook his head. "Besides no one else is on the road, Dad's truck and the impala are the only cars I've seen in forty five minutes. So, we're going twenty miles above the speed limit, we'll get there soon."
Seeing that she wouldn't be winning this argument, Hailey settled back into her seat, glancing out of her window. She didn't feel Dean's eyes on her, from where he was watching through the rearview mirror.
"What's weighing on your mind, Hails?" Dean asked.
At first it seemed like the youngest Winchester was going to ignore the question until she turned her attention back to Dean. It was very clear from the look on oldest brother's face that Hailey wouldn't be able to get away with saying nothing.
"Sam hates it here, you know," she whispered. "He's miserable. I think he's going to leave."
"Don't worry about things you can't control," Dean said. "Okay?"
"Yeah," Hailey muttered.
The Winchesters finally arrived in Binghamton just shy of seven in the morning. Abram Jefferson was one of the many 'Uncles' the Winchester children had. Most people just referred to him as Jefferson, something that the man in question took in stride. He was a tall imposing figure, someone who might've been a pro-wrestler or a football player in another life. No one quite knew when and where Jefferson had gotten into hunting, people just knew that he was one of the best.
"John," Jefferson greeted with a smile as he threw open the door.
"Thanks for letting us stay here, Jeff," John said.
"Don't mention it, Winchester."
"Hi, Jefferson," Dean smiled.
"Dean-o, how you been?"
"Dealing," Dean smirked. "Hunting some."
"Killed a black-dog a few weeks back," Dad smirked clapping Dean on the shoulder.
"Impressive," Jefferson smiled. "Hello Hails, Aiden, Sammy."
"Hi," Aiden, Sam, and Hailey said.
"You guys can take the rooms up the stairs to your right," Jefferson said. "Dean, you going to help us on this?"
Hailey's Point of View
Aiden and I went up the stairs taking the first empty guest room we found. I dropped my bags on the bed the furthest from the door, reveling in the fact that we'd be sleeping in clean beds and I'd be sleeping on a bed by myself. It was great. When we were settled; I walked back downstairs, finding Dad, Dean and Jefferson pouring over newspaper articles and circling things on a map.
"You guys settled?" Jefferson asked when he caught sight of me.
"Yes, sir," I responded. "Thank you for letting us stay here."
"S'not a problem," Jefferson grinned. "Y'all hungry?"
"Hell yes!" Dean shouted as Aiden and Sam ran down the stairs.
"Pizza?" Jefferson asked, looking at Dad for confirmation.
"Works for us," Dad replied.
"Any toppings in particular?"
"Pepperoni," Sam, Dean, Aiden, and I said instantly.
"You got it," Jefferson laughed.
In a half hour the pizza boy arrived with four pizzas. I was glad that we had gotten enough pizzas because between my brothers and I alone we could demolish two whole pizzas. And I had no doubt that both Jefferson and Dad could eat as much as us, as well. When we had polished off all the pizza, we turned in early. Partly because we had been on the road for so long that we were exhausted. The next morning I walked down into Jefferson's living room. It looked like an armory had exploded, guns and knives littered every surface.
"Mornin, Hails," Dad greeted.
"Hi Dad," I yawned. "You and Jefferson heading out."
"In a few hours. There were a few more murders last night; we have to get ahead of this thing." Dad frowned. "It's already drawing too much attention. People think there's a serial killer running around."
"Crap," I mumbled.
Suspected serial killers meant an increased police presence. A police presence that no doubt included Federal Agents. Which meant that the hunt had be taken care of quickly and quietly. The fact that Dad and Jefferson thought this was a werewolf meant that things would b far from quickly or quietly.
"Yeah," Dad said. "You and Aiden are staying behind. We'll be needing Dean and Sam."
I could tell that Dad was weighing whether or not to bring Dean and Sam. Dad had never been thrilled with leaving Aiden and I alone. I think it was just because we were the youngest because it wasn't like we weren't as trained as our older brothers. Protective instincts ran deep in my family, and leaving us alone wasn't something Dad, Dean, or Sam particularly liked. Sometimes, Dad sidelined them knowing that their mind wouldn't be completely on the hunt, which was a dangerous concept. Any distractions could be the difference between walking away or dying.
Still, the fact that this werewolf was killing more and more people was a problem we couldn't ignore. The world of hunting was a large one, most of whom had criminal records as a result of their extracurricular activities. So, if hunters were to suddenly flock the area that would draw even more unwanted attention. As it was whenever regular police got involved in our line of work, people died because they didn't know what they were doing.
"Let's get the lead out, boys!" Dad called up the stairs. "Aiden, you're in charge. Hails, listen to your brother. We will be staying in a motel so that if the werewolf catches our scents it won't come here. Aiden, when we leave burn some sage, you guys know what to look out for. We'll call you, keep the door locked, do not leave. Understand?"
"Yes, sir," Aiden and I said.
"You runts be good," Dean smirked.
"Be safe," I whispered.
"Don't worry, Hailey Jade, we're gonna say the day," Dean soothed.
He ruffled my hair laughing when I batted his hand away before he walked out of the door shutting it behind him.
"Lock it, runt," Dean ordered.
Aiden rolled his eyes before obediently setting all the locks on the front door. He then set up the alarm system before turning to me.
"Well, what can we do?"
"TV?" I shrugged.
Being stuck in the house there wasn't much we could do other than watch TV. Aiden walked over and hopped onto the couch. He grabbed the remote and started to flip through the channels quickly. It was the way Aiden had always tried to find something to watch, something that drove Sam nut. Which was one of the reasons why Dean and I were the only ones allowed to change the channel when we were all in the same motel room.
"Hay, look Nightmare on Elm Street," Aiden laughed. "Wanna watch?"
"Fuck yeah," I smirked.
While I felt most comfortable when my entire family was together, it was nice when it was just Aiden and I. Dad, Dean, and Sam still tried to convince me not to curse. Even though I had learned every single one of those words and how to string them into quite colorful sentences just by listening to the three of them. So, really they had only themselves to blame, not that I was foolish enough to voice that sentiment out loud. Aiden, on the other hand didn't care if I cursed or not. As long as I didn't leave the house, Aiden was fine. He always reasoned that he was more a brother than an authority figure, which was sometimes was what Sam and Dean were.
"What do you want for dinner?" Aiden asked after we finished watching the movie.
"Pasta?" I shrugged.
Aiden seemed to agree with the suggestion, switching off the television and wandering into Jefferson's kitchen. After a quick inventory of what exactly he had in his pantry, we settled on spinach pasta and marinara sauce. We were pretty quiet as we cooked the pasta and heated up the sauce. That silence followed into us eating our meal in front of the television before we cleaned up.
We stayed up longer than we normally did watching movies, most of which were of the horror genre. One might think that we Winchesters had enough horror in our normal lives, which was true. But, it was also interesting to see the general populations take on the things that went bump in the night. Some of their predictions were accurate, most weren't, though it was entertaining to watch regardless.
It was around two in the morning when Aiden and I called it a night. We made sure that the entire house was secure with the salt, charms, and protective sigils. After checking that the doors were locked and every window was latched we fell into bed. The downside of sharing a room with Aiden, or any of my brothers, or father for that matter was the fact that they snored. I learned to get use to a certain degree of noise, it was a careful balance of being able to sleep through just about anything and being able to snap awake at any moment's notice.
The next few days passed by with little incident. Aiden and I stayed in the house, watching television and reading. We cooked whatever we could find in the house, knowing that if Dad found out we had left, he'd kill us. Still, after three days in the same house with very little to keep us occupied, the thought of stepping out even for a walk seemed heavenly.
Dean checked in to tell us that they were closing in on the werewolf, and they'd probably be home soon. After another movie, Aiden and I called it a night. A few hours later, I heard the unmistakable sound of glass shattering, I sprang out of bed. Aiden, for his part was still fast asleep, causing me to roll my eyes in irritation. I quickly put on a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans before I fished out one of the guns that had silver bullets in it. Before I opened the door, I listened for anything, like the sound of paws on the floor.
"Oh, shit," I muttered.
I rushed to Aiden's side shaking him awake.
"Hay, what the hell?" Aiden mumbled, trying to shove me away. "S'the middle of t'night go 'way."
"There's something in the house," I whispered.
"What?" Aiden demanded. This time his eyes snapped open, alert and on guard as he listened to the house.
He sprang out of bed, grabbing one of the other guns and the bulky cell phone that Dad had given us before he left. He hit the first speed dial and waited. Normally there were specified check-ins during hunts, other than those times, there was a strictly enforced radio silence. Breaking radio silence was only acceptable in emergencies and didn't happen very often.
"Aiden?" Dad questioned, his gruff voice echoing around the room. "Everything okay?"
"There's something in the house," Aiden hissed.
"What?" Dad demanded.
Aiden waved me over before handing me the cell phone.
"Sir, I heard a window break," I explained. "And it sounds like there's paws walking around outside."
"Shit," Dad growled. "We'll be there soon, kiddo, sit tight."
"Yes, sir," I replied.
I didn't know where exactly Dad or the others were held up but I had the sinking feeling that they wouldn't get here on time. Aiden seemed to realize exactly what I had and sighed.
"Your call, Aiden," I shrugged. "Dad left you in charge."
"How do you kill a werewolf, Hay?" Aiden asked.
Aiden's normally mellow personality had shifted into something tense and serious. He had asked the question to hear my answer, even though we both knew exactly how to take down a werewolf.
"Silver bullet to the heart," I replied.
"Shoot first, ask questions later," Aiden ordered.
"Yeah," I agreed.
"Open the door," Aiden said.
I put my hand on the doorknob waiting for Aiden to give me the signal that he was ready. The second I saw him nod, I thumbed off the safety of my own pistol as I swung the door open.
"Shit!" Aiden yelled. "Hailey, shut the door!"
I slammed it shut just as the sound of running claws and growling filled the air. Multiple bodies hit the door as I tried to close it. I struggled against the weight on the other side, grunting in frustration. Aiden realized that I was struggling and helped me shut it, locking it quickly. We both stepped back, watching the door shake.
"That's not going to hold," Aiden frowned. "We got it wrong. It's not werewolves, the lunar cycle is right but…"
"Skinwalkers, right?" I guessed.
"Yeah, they have the pack mentality," Aiden sighed. "I can't believe we didn't see it first. The lunar cycle matched and it made sense. But there was a lot more murders than one werewolf or even two could do. Fuck!"
"Binghamton has a pack of walkers," I gaped. "What do we do? The door's not going to hold much longer and they have our scents."
I hoped that our cavalry was moving quickly because it didn't look good for us. Even if both of us had guns, we were outnumbered and had a limited number of bullets. When the door splintered and broke, we started firing, only pausing to reload. I didn't know how many members were in a traditional pack but it felt like every time a walker dropped, another one was on its heels.
"These fuckers are relentless," Aiden groaned.
"Impala," I said.
"Thank god," Aiden breathed.
The telltale engine of the impala and Dad's truck was suddenly two of the best sounds in the world. The next sound I heard were screeching tires and construction boots rushing up the steps and into the house. When there was suddenly silence, I knew things were over.
"Aiden?" Dad shouted. "Hailey?"
"In here!" Aiden responded. "We're okay."
"Yeah, we're okay," I echoed
Dad kicked in the rest of the door, pulling both Aiden and I into his arms. I could feel his heart racing and realized exactly how insane the past twenty minutes had been. If we had run out of bullets or if one of us had been bitten then that would be over. Once you were bitten then you were changed forever. The only thing that would stop it was a silver bullet to the heart. I realized with a jolt how close we might've could've died. It was one thing to hear that you had to be careful, that your carelessness could result in your demise but to actually be in that situation… It was overwhelming. I hugged both Dad and Aiden, breathing a sigh of relief. If I hadn't heard glass breaking, they would've taken us by surprise.
"You okay, Hails?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, Dean," I sighed.
I leaned into Dean's side when he threw an arm over my shoulders. I sighed looking around the room. I felt bad for Jefferson as I looked at all the bodies of the dead walkers. Hopefully people would disregard the noise because now that the skinwalkers had turned back to their human form, it would be very hard to explain to the cops what happen.
"'M proud of you," Dean said, ruffling my hair.
"Y'all should get gone before 5-0 gets here," Jefferson said.
"What about the bodies?" Sam asked.
"I'll take care of it," Jefferson said. "Seriously, John if you get caught, you'll go to jail and they'll ship your kids off to foster care."
"I'm not leaving you with this mess," Dad said. "Kids pack it up. Dean, head to Sioux Falls, tell Bobby what's going on. I'll meet you all there as soon as I can."
We all quickly sprang into action. Dad and Jefferson began to drag the bodies down to Jefferson's basement while Dean, Sam, Aiden, and I quickly packed our bags and raced out to the impala. We tossed our bags into the trunk. After we said goodbye to Jefferson and Dad, we all got in the car and drove off.
"Does Bobby know we're coming?" I asked.
"Yeah," Sam said. "We might be a few days early, though."
"How did the pack find us?" Aiden questioned. "We burned sage like you told us too."
"I think we killed the leader," Dean explained. "By the time we realized that they were skinwalkers, they had hunted you guys down."
"But, we burned sage, they never should've been able to trace us," I said.
"I don't know," Dean frowned. "But, thank God you both weren't hurt."
Aiden and I exchanged relieved glances, things could've been a lot worse. If I hadn't woken up, they would've blindsided us. And when it comes down to it, that small fact is the only thing that matters. It didn't matter how the pack had found us, they had and they could've killed us.
The impala was quiet as Dean drove through New York and into Pennsylvania. Once we were outside of New York we looked for the first motel we could find since it was the middle of the night and it would take at least another day to get to South Dakota. When we found a motel with the vacancy sign up we pulled into the lot. Dean walked into the small office and came out a few minutes later. He jumped back behind the wheel and drove us around the side of the motel to our room. We pulled out the overnight bags that we kept for short stops like this. They were small in nature containing only toiletries, an outfit, and a weapon or two.
"We're in room 138, come on," Dean ordered.
We trailed after him, entering the small room. Sam locked the door as we set our duffel bags down on the small couch. As far as motels went this wasn't the worst we had scene but it wasn't the best either. At least the beds and the sheets looked clean.
"Okay, guys you know the drill," Dean clapped his hands. "Hails, lay the salt line. Aiden, Sam, set the charms up."
I grabbed one of the cartons of salt and began to lay it around the perimeter of the room. We met near the edge of the wall opposite the front door. Aiden and Sam finished closely after me, placing pentagrams and other protective symbols on all the walls. The whole process took about five minutes; in that time Dean had opened the pullout couch, pushed up against one of the walls.
We were so used to this routine that we already knew who got which bed. Aiden and I would share the bed furthest away from the front door. That way if something bad came in it would have to go through Dad, Dean, Sam, and Aiden. As if that wasn't enough protection, I always had to get the side of the bed closest to the wall. Dad always got the pull out, unless one of us was sick. Which he'd be able to just fall into when and if he met up with us at this motel. Then Sam and Dean shared the last bed in the room. I changed into an old AC/DC shirt that I had swiped from Dean before I crawled into bed. Within ten minutes everyone was fast asleep.
I was the first one to wake up, mostly because I wanted to shower and knew if I woke last, there'd be no hot water left. My brother's bitched at me that I always used up all the hot water but the truth was that I showered faster than all of them. When I emerged from the bathroom a short time later, Dad was fast asleep on the couch along with Sam and Aiden. Dean, however, wasn't in the room. I brushed my hair and put it into a low ponytail before crawling back into bed.
I slept maybe another twenty minutes before the front door swung open. I sat up in bed watching as Dean dropped two bags on the kitchen table.
"Hey, Hails," Dean whispered when he noticed that I was awake. "Sleep well?"
"Yeah, you?"
"Yup, beds were surprisingly comfortable."
"When did Dad get in?"
"An hour or two," Dean stated.
I nodded as I dug into the take out bag until Dean batted my hands away. He quickly pulled out five take out containers handing me the one in the middle. Dean and I sat quietly at the table eating our food while waiting for Dad to wake up, because he almost always woke up before Sam and Aiden.
I was practicing my Latin and Dean was cleaning weapons when Dad woke up. He scrubbed a hand down his face. He looked at Dean and I before glancing over at Aiden and Sam, still fast asleep. Dad climbed out of the bed walking over and shaking both Sam and Aiden.
"Wake up," Dad ordered. "We're out within the hour."
Sam and Aiden snapped up and sprang out of bed, both heading towards the bathroom. Most people would be impressed how they went from sleeping to running in thirty seconds, Dad and I barely batted an eye. Aiden managed to slip into the bathroom first, shutting the door seconds before Sam and Dean got to it.
That seemed to be one of the few constants in our life, the fine art of racing to the bathroom. It didn't matter if we were at the Roadhouse, one of the safe houses, or any motel room. It happened almost every day, with maybe the exception of weekends, though it wasn't often we got days off.
"Boys," Dad warned as Aiden's victorious laughter echoed around the room.
"You use up all the hot water, I'll end you, Aiden," Sam threatened.
We had been at the motel for maybe twelve hours. That was a fairly long time for a rest period. Most of the time we just crashed for a few hours long enough to get some decent sleep before moving on to the next location. But we had been driving for the better part of a day. When Dean came out of the bathroom, Dad gave the order to break down the room, sweeping up the salt and putting the charms away. I wasn't actually sure why we were going to Bobby's house, Dean hadn't known either. Maybe Dad had gotten a lead on what killed Mom and had to research. Or maybe there was some research that needed to be done anyway. If that was the case then Bobby's house was our best bet, if it was in a book, that aforementioned book was somewhere in Bobby's house.