Oh boy, this chapter itself is 11,500+ words. A long chapter to post right before the school year starts, hurray.
For this, I changed the Wendigos a bit; they can't tell where you are if you don't move or speak. The corpses in the story are an exception, because they know where they are. Basically, they're a bit forgetful unless you've been captured for a while.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs!
Life With You
Chapter Three: Willow Hansen
September 19, 2012
She hadn't planned it out to be like this but, Mariah was beginning to believe that agreeing to meet up with two of her friends, Ella and Reed, was a big mistake.
The night started out just fine; they shared stories about cases they took care of by themselves or with another hunter, and simple things that just happened along the way. They were just supposed to be catching up like people usually did when they've been apart for a while.
Ella had started out the story-telling, and stopped about half way through her fifth story after she noticed a bruise on Mariah's face. Mariah was honestly shocked how Ella hadn't seen it earlier; strangers seemed to be more observant than Mariah thought.
When the Arachne knocked her out, it didn't appear until a little later, but an ugly purple-colored bruise was forming nicely on Mariah's right cheekbone and spread upward near her temple. It almost looked as if she had a black eye.
Mariah retold the story about the Arachne reluctantly, and that was when everything unfortunately went downhill for Mariah.
Apparently Ella knew Laura quite well, the girl who they rescued from the Arachne, and was absolutely thrilled to find out who Laura was describing when Ella paid her a visit in the hospital.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
Before she had even mentioned the case, Mariah was basically ignored for the most part of their little get together, and spent a lot of time becoming distracted by something on the floor. Mariah wasn't very much of an extroverted person, which caused her to be talked over and make no effort to say, "Shut up, I'm talking", like Ella had done so many times before.
Really, the only thing that had been occupying her were the conversations around her, and her thoughts. More than once, Mariah had caught herself thinking about the brothers; the younger one more so than the other. Mariah didn't necessarily like this, so she shoved them away, and decided to eavesdrop.
Honestly, it was much more interesting to hear someone gush about someone else's success in their business than to listen to Ella's rant about her sink refusing to work at a certain point in the day.
But as soon as she retold her most recent case and her run-ins with the Winchester brothers, she was very surprised, almost annoyed, to see both Reed and Ella all over it, and suddenly become very intrigued in Mariah's recent interactions.
"You're working with the Winchesters? You're so lucky!" Ella exclaimed, clapping her hands together. She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table, resting her chin in her hands. "Tell me about them." A sparkle in Ella's eyes told Mariah she liked them.
A lot.
Mariah tilted her head slightly, observing Ella with tired eyes. I need sleep. "I never said I was working with them." She explained quietly, causing Ella to lean closer to hear her better. Mariah almost felt bad as she watched as Ella's excited expression falter. "I ran into them twice. That's it."
The idea of Mariah working with the Winchesters felt unrealistic to her, just because Mariah believed they were pretty much a mile apart in hunting experience, despite what others have said about her knowledge of the supernatural.
Really, the Winchesters were sort of untouchable according to other hunters, and for a nobody to suddenly start working with them seemed highly unlikely.
"...oh."
Mariah looked down at a crack in the round wooden table they were sitting at, and absent-mindedly ran a finger along the length. Oh, what Mariah wouldn't pay to get out of this and sleep next to-
"Yeah, right." Reed scoffed, leaning back in his chair and looking at Mariah with what she could describe as distrust.
Mariah looked up after Reed shook her out of her thoughts, taking a moment to process what he said before giving him a dirty look. Mariah could already tell Reed was in one of his moods; it was never hard to miss. Reed worked with the FBI, yet knew all about the supernatural. He was mostly snippy around hunters because of all the problems and crimes they committed just to get by; Ella and Mariah sometimes being an exception.
Yes, Mariah considered Reed somewhat of a threat. But she refused to let trust issues get in the way of their friendship, despite his behavior always seeming to get on Mariah's nerves.
As far as Mariah could tell, his snappy demeanor would always appear if someone mentioned the slightest thing about Sam and Dean. Mariah knew very well that they've been in trouble lots of times with the FBI, as mostly every hunter has, but Mariah had no idea why Reed's bitchy attitude would swing in full force every time they were spoken about.
It annoyed the hell out of Mariah.
She felt an odd urge to defend them, despite still being pretty much acquaintances with them.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mariah questioned, crossing her arms and resting her elbows on the round table. "I did run into them twice." Unsurprisingly, Reed's tone implied he believed Mariah was lying.
If she was, Mariah wouldn't know why she'd lie about it in the first place. It was a stretch to lie about something like that, especially when the Winchesters were so popular among the hunting community.
That was another thing Mariah didn't understand; Sam and Dean were either loved or hated. There was no in between.
Before Reed could answer, Ella piped up. When Mariah turned to look at her, she instantly noticed that her cheerful vibe was radiating off of her again. "You need to tell me what they were like." She practically begged. "I would literally kill to work alongside them."
Mariah's eyes both widened and narrowed as Ella spoke, continuing to lift an eyebrow in mild confusion. For a reason Mariah couldn't come up with, it almost sounded like Ella purposely cut off Reed just to spill her pointless want. And, Ella's voice sounded pretty fake, in her opinion.
But, Mariah went along with it. She blamed it on her exhaustion, and just fought through it so she wouldn't fall asleep in the middle of a bar. "Are you sure about that?" Mariah asked, a small smile on her lips.
The thought of Ella working with the Winchesters was almost painful to visualize; Mariah was pretty sure they'd kill her just because they were annoyed.
Or, at least Dean would.
Ella's eyes widened, her grin still on full blast despite Mariah's assumption she'd second guess her most wanted thing. Though, it only seemed to strengthen her desire. "Why? What do you know that I don't know? Spill it!" Her sentence ended in laughter.
"They're very argumentative." Mariah replied, shifting her position in the unforgiving wooden seat. "Stubborn, if you will." She spoke as if it was a fond memory, and honestly, Mariah would be glad to call it that.
"Ah, that's not so bad." Ella said, sounding a little relieved. She reached for her beer and raised it to her lips. "You're not very far off from that description yourself, Mariah." She joked, placing the bottle back down gently after taking a sip.
Mariah frowned and reached for her beer. "Very funny."
Ella pointed at Mariah accusingly, then, stopping Mariah in the middle of taking a sip from her drink. "Don't go running off with them." Ella practically demanded, expression searching. "You can't leave us."
Mariah gave Ella a weird look. "Who said I was going to go run off with them?" She said slowly, hating that the thought of doing that seemed pretty appealing. Even now, Mariah would love to go meet up with them and slaughter a vampire. Hell, she'd love to just fail at microwaving a frozen pizza with them.
Anything was better than this.
Mariah felt bad then, realizing she'd rather do things with two guys who were still pretty much strangers, than hang out with two of her closest friends.
"I'd never leave you guys." Mariah stated firmly after a moment, smiling.
"You better." Ella replied lowly, making brief eye contact with Reed, who had been strangely silent the entire time.
"That sounds vaguely threatening, but alright."
Ella laughed. "It's a gift."
"You know what's funny?" Reed suddenly cut in, putting an abrupt end to Ella's laughter. Mariah's smile disappeared instantaneously, catching on to the fact his voice told her that whatever he was going to say next, was not funny.
"What?" The girls replied in unison.
"Why is it that as soon as they intrude into your house and kill your dog, you're all buddy-buddy with them?" Reed asked, attempting and failing at trying to sound genuine.
Mariah's eyes widened and felt her heartbeat quicken, before her face morphed into a glare. She only told her immediate family and only a few of her very close friends that Cooper died because he was hit by a car. She didn't even speak about Cooper's death to Reed; this was another perfect reason for Mariah's list of trust issues.
She never even hinted at the fact Cooper was shot.
"How do you know about that?" Mariah ground out through clenched teeth, tone sounding pretty close to threatening. Mariah really didn't want to talk about that at the moment, and really didn't want Ella to know about it. It wasn't like she could do something to Reed no matter how much she wanted to, though. She could easily be arrested, even if she's gotten out of those situations many times before.
Reed never approved of her escapes, but never made a move to stop her, either.
"They killed Cooper?" Ella asked quietly, her question somewhat directed to both of them. A scared look was on her face.
Maybe the news of Cooper's death would make her lay off her intense infatuation with the brothers.
Reed blatantly ignored Ella's question and continued to stare down Mariah. "I have my sources." He replied, sounding cocky. "Who knew you'd take a liking to a Skinwalker, of all things. I thought you were a good hunter?"
Bitch. Mariah thought bitterly, not even regretting the insult. She felt her eyes beginning to water, but refused to let the tears roll down her face by quickly blinking them away. "Shut up," Mariah growled. "It was an accident."
Ella, who was still very much out of the loop, looked completely lost and worried at the same time. "Cooper was a Skinwalker?" Her words came out sounding similar to a whisper. Mariah was surprised she was even able to hear her.
"You make a lot of those, don't you, Mariah?" Reed was unimpressed by her excuse. "Mistakes."
"Everyone makes mistakes," Mariah shot back evasively. Reed was hitting just a little too close to home for Mariah, and that was all someone needed to overpower or set her off.
"Not as many as you make." Reed retorted, speaking as if he was prepared to list off every single mistake Mariah has ever made in her life. Mariah wouldn't be surprised if he did; Mariah had done a lot of things she wasn't proud of.
Mariah stared straight at Reed, grip tightening on her beer she'd been holding for the past five minutes. "What's your problem, Reed? Why can't you just drop it?"
"You. You're my problem." He hissed, leaning forward so his arms rested on the table. Ella looked frightened at the sight of Reed and Mariah, looking about only a word away before they started throwing punches. "Everyone knows the Winchesters are bad news, no matter how good they hunt, and you're just following in their footsteps."
"Running into them twice doesn't mean I'm following in their footsteps." Mariah snapped. "Have you lost your mind?"
"Doesn't matter."
"How about you leave my decisions to me. You work your corners, I'll work mine."
"Fine."
"Fine."
Mariah leaned back in her seat, rolling her eyes and turned her head subconsciously towards the door. Now she really wanted to leave. No, Mariah wanted to punch Reed square in the mouth, and then leave.
"Just don't come crawling to us when they sudden turn their back on you." Reed warned after a moment, voice trailing off as he lifted his beer to his mouth.
"Excuse me?" Mariah looked offended. "Who said I was ever-"
Ella cut Mariah off, completely over their argument and done with being out of the conversation. "Mariah, ignore him." Her voice sounded tired. "He's in a pissy mood."
"I can tell." At that point, Mariah was basically loathing Reed.
"This is not what I wanted when I said we should meet up and have fun." Ella sighed, running her hands over her face. "Are you alright?" She asked softly, giving Mariah a sympathetic look.
Mariah nodded slowly, looking down at her hands that were resting in her lap. "Yes." A voice crack gave away that Mariah was just the opposite. She could feel somewhat of a pressure behind her eyes; tears were threatening to spill.
Reed scoffed and glared at the two girls. "Yeah, since she's now being influenced by their demons." He looked away as he spoke, his eyes trained on something irrelevant.
Mariah stood up then, using her hands as support against the table to shove the chair backwards, causing a screech-like noise to emit from the wooden legs when they drug against the hard floor. "You know what? I'm done. I need to get ready for a case." She said simply, then stormed away from the table and towards the bar's door.
"Mariah!" Ella called after her, but when she didn't prevail, she turned back to Reed with an disappointed frown. "You're really good at being subtle, Reed." Sarcasm was heavy in her voice.
Reed shrugged. "At least I got my point across." He leaned back again, eyes trained at the bar's door. "If she doesn't listen, she'll just get in the way."
Ella scoffed. "And if she does get in the way?"
"It won't be my fault if she gets hurt."
September 20, 2012
"Man, I don't wanna do this."
Mariah internally agreed with that statement.
To make a long story short, word had recently gotten around in the hunting community that a Wendigo was running free in a forest located in Nothern Michigan. There had been a multitude of hunters that went to the forest in search for the thing, but instead of exterminating the monster, the hunters ended up disappearing themselves.
Basically, Mariah's job was now to kill the Wendigo, and recover any suriving hunters.
With a few phone calls, Mariah was both grateful and aggravated to find out that one hunter managed to escape the Wendigo's attack with only a minor injury, because he decided to dip out as soon as the monster made an appearance.
Successfully leaving his partner in the dust.
How he was able to do so, Mariah had no idea. But Mariah was a little harsher than necessary when she and her partner, Willow, went to question him, and she could tell she intimidated him by the time they left. Though, she did get what she needed, and that was proof that it was a Wendigo.
Mariah had been in situations where she believed she was hunting one thing, and it ended up being something else, causing lots of injuries afterwards.
Mariah looked up from her place at the small table the motel offered, watching amusedly as Willow threw her arms in the air and let herself fall backwards onto one of the beds. Relatable. Mariah made a noise that sounded like a short laugh, and looked back at her computer's screen. "Why not?"
Her question and outer emotion she projected was contradicting her inner want to just stay in bed all day and eat.
"Wendigos are bitches." Willow complained, her sentence ending in some sort of nasally whine. She threw her arm over her face to shield her eyes from the bright light overhead.
Willow Hansen.
Before the case, Mariah had absolutely no idea who Willow was. Her impression of her was she was more on the younger side, and acted that way, too. She was informed by a friend who knew Willow that she was an okay hunter; revealing she was pretty new to the whole hunting ordeal.
Mariah was immediately discouraged after that.
She was pretty skeptical about the whole thing, because Mariah did not sign up for babysitting. Hell, for all she knew, she was hunting with a sixteen year old. She ended up forcing herself to join Willow on the Wendigo case; she didn't want willow to be killed just because she declined.
Dying by the hands of a Wendigo was an awful way to go.
What also confused Mariah, though, was that Willow was practically begging for Mariah to join her, and now she was claiming that she didn't want to do it at all. Oh well.
"Well, I can't really argue with that." Mariah said, tilting her head as her eyes skimmed the words that told about the lore surrounding Wendigos. "But," she paused, eyes sliding over to look at her fellow hunter. "You've never hunted one before. So how would you know they're bitches?"
Willow propped herself up on both elbows, looking at Mariah as if she just ate the last slice of pizza. "I've heard horror stories." She let herself fall flat again, and sighed. "Tell me about them."
Mariah blinked and turned back to her computer. Does she really know nothing about Wendigos?
"Basically, every Wendigo in the world used to be a human." Mariah explained, then paused and waited for Willow's sympathetic mumbling to stop. "They became cannibals during harsh winters when their supplies ran out."
"...that's terrible."
"Cultures all over the world believe that becoming a cannibal will give you abilities like super strength. Of course, there's always a downside to everything." Mariah went on darkly. "The more you ate, the more inhumane you became."
Mariah heard a noise that sounded like a groan mixed with a whine from Willow. Mariah replied with her own quiet noise that sounded like a short laugh, then stopped herself. It wasn't a laughing matter, but she couldn't help it. Willow is very vocal.
"They know how to survive winters when no food is around. They hibernate for who knows how many years, and keeps its victims alive when it's awake." Mariah yawned, resting her chin in her hand. "Basically storing them to feed whenever they want." Her voice was slightly muffled by her hand.
Willow shot up then, a hopeful glint in her blue eyes. "So the hunters could still be alive, right?"
Mariah gave a short nod. "That's what I'm hoping."
"So...how do we kill it?"
Mariah adjusted her position in the motel's chair and leaned against the back, folding her hands in her lap. "Guns and knives are completely useless." Mariah started, nearly laughing at Willow's horrified expression. "So, we use fire."
September 21, 2012
Mariah found out pretty quickly that Willow acted like a stranger to the word silence. Actually, from the way she spoke, Willow probably didn't even know the word existed.
There were a number of situations when being silent was crucial, and this particular hunting case was definitely one of those situations.
But it appeared Willow didn't read the fine print when she chose to start hunting.
Mariah knew all too well that Willow was very aware of what they were hunting, but nevertheless, she would recklessly recall random stories about camping, or just hiking through a forest with her family. She even let out a loud laugh when she retold a short story about her friend slipping into a small creek.
Mariah didn't even bother warning Willow about her voice level, because she already did it once and that worked for maybe...five minutes.
Just to humor her throughout her ramblings, Mariah would give one of those short, false laughs; just so Willow wouldn't look back at her and wait an awkward amount of time for a reaction.
Unfortunately for Mariah, as soon as one story ended, another one would start just as quickly. The more time Mariah spent with Willow, the more she realized how much she treasured silence.
And just to add to the fun, Mariah was sure she was the only one doing her part of the duo. It wasn't hard to see she was about ten times more alert than Willow was, because the slightest noise made Mariah whip around and reach back for her flamethrower.
If they were both being attentive, she wouldn't be so jumpy.
Mariah didn't know whether to be thankful or disappointed when each noise ended up being a bird.
The flamethrower Mariah had wasn't necessarily hers; it was Renee's, her older sister. She managed to swipe it from her house, however, she didn't admit to it when Willow asked where she got it.
Why was it there in the first place? Mariah didn't know, and chose not to question it.
Willow had her own flamethrower, sort of. If it could even be called that. Mariah didn't know how to describe it, it might as well be a can of raid and a lighter. All in all, it wasn't useful.
The entire time the girls were trekking through the forest, Willow's voice would slowly fade in and out while Mariah attempted to focus on more important things. Such as how to successfully complete the case, or the Win-
Mariah blinked. That's not important.
The darkening sky caused the two to put an end to their journey, and by the time they set up their camp, there had been absolutely no sign of the Wendigo. Mariah wasn't exactly sure if that was a good thing, or a bad thing. Willow's opinion on Mariah's decision to stop early wasn't very positive, because she claimed she got restless.
Mariah really didn't care, because being restless was much better than being ripped apart.
Just in her personal opinion.
Willow slipped the straps of her backpack off her shoulders and let it fall to the ground, before making her way over to a fallen tree and sitting herself down so her back rested against it. She kept herself occupied by drawing nonsensical scribbles in the dirt, but stopped about twenty seconds into it and turned towards Mariah. She watched almost disinterestedly as Mariah walked slowly in a wide circle around their camp, stopping every once in a moment to lean down and draw something from her journal in the dirt with a good-sized stick.
"What are you doing?" Willow asked after a moment of observation. Her head was tilted slightly, with her eyes squinting against the light from the crackling fire.
If Mariah's ears weren't playing tricks on her, she could've sworn she heard a hint of disgust in her tone, as if she didn't like the idea of drawing in the dirt despite the fact she was doing it herself thirty seconds ago.
"Keeping your ass safe." Mariah hissed without a second thought, or a glance in Willow's direction. She moved away from what she last drew, before crouching down to draw another symbol that was pictured differently in her journal.
Perhaps she was being a tad too harsh on Willow, but really, if she didn't know how to hunt correctly, she shouldn't be doing it at all.
Period.
Just from today, Mariah genuinely believed Willow hadn't had a single lesson about hunting once in her life, and was in desperate need to be taught.
And maybe on the way, purchase a dictionary to look up the word quiet.
After Mariah snapped, Willow stayed silent for the first time. But it was only a moment later before she hesitantly pushed herself to her feet and walked slowly over to Mariah. She peered around her crouched figure to look at the weird symbols she was drawing.
"I've never seen those before." Willow murmured more so to herself, crossing her arms tightly.
Of course you haven't. Mariah thought bitterly with a frown, thankful that Willow couldn't see her expression from her position. She straightened, and glanced between Willow and her symbols. "They're Anasazi symbols." Mariah offered, unsurprised at Willow's raised eyebrows. "They keep away Wendigos, like what salt does with ghosts." She went on.
Willow's curious expression dissipated and reformed into a look of disbelief after Mariah's explanation. But when Mariah's serious look didn't falter, Willow turned away awkwardly. "Um, alright." She muttered, then stepped away from Mariah and closer to the fire. "What do we do now?"
Mariah gave a mere shrug and shut her journal. "Well, we definitely can't go after it. These things are outstanding hunters at night."
"So we just...sit?"
"Do you have a better idea?"
"...no."
"Alrighty then." Mariah replied, heading over to her bag she had placed near the fallen tree. She put her journal back in its place, before sitting down on the log where Willow previously sat. Willow stood in place for an awkward moment, before moving to sit next to her. Between the two, they were silent for approximately three minutes, before Willow started babbling again.
Was it bad to have the urge to punch someone just because they talked too much?
For the next thirty minutes or so, Mariah found herself nodding off to Willow's irrelevant stories, and had to slap herself at least twice to keep herself somewhat awake. Willow didn't notice any of that, and just continued...speaking.
Mariah was baffled the Wendigo hadn't made an appearance yet.
"...and then Rebecca told me her friend bought this cool yellow Camaro, but apparently it was a little-" Willow stopped abruptly, an uncomfortable look on her face. She'd done that five times in the past twenty minutes, and Mariah was just too zoned out to ask about it the first few times.
Mariah looked up a fraction of an inch. "What?"
"I need to use the bathroom."
Mariah didn't reply for a bit after that, and just stared hopelessly at the ground. Firstly, this was exactly what Mariah was dreading. Secondly, why me?
Without a word, Mariah reached over to her left and pulled her bag into her lap. After unbuckling the flamethrower from her bag, she set it back down on the ground between her feet.
She held the weapon out to Willow sideways. No way was she going to let Willow use her small can of raid and a lighter to fend off a Wendigo. "You know how to use this, correct?" Please say yes.
"Yes."
Thank God. Yet, somehow despite Willow's firm response, something told her Willow wasn't completely comfortable with handling the flamethrower. But if Willow was confident in herself, Mariah was too.
"Take it, and do not hesitate to use it, you understand? Forest fires don't matter." Mariah paused and took a quick second to look at all the tall trees surrounding them. "At least, not right now."
"Okay." Willow said after inhaling. "I understand." With that, Mariah watched Willow take the flamethrower from her hands, stand up, and disappear into the trees.
Into the darkness.
As soon as Mariah could no longer see Willow, she covered her face with her hands and groaned. She felt as if she just let a toddler walk across a busy highway by itself.
The silence was already putting her on edge since Willow definitely wasn't know for it. It could mean three things: she was fine, she was already dead, or she was taken. Mariah shook her head to rid the negative thoughts and rubbed her eyes until she saw stars. She had to stare straight ahead of her for it to go away, along with the pressure.
She inhaled, and that was when she heard Willow's high-pitched, terrified scream, followed by what looked like a short burst of fire.
"Willow?" Mariah called, the grogginess instantly evaporating as soon as she stood and ran towards the outer edge of the protective circle she made with the Anasazi symbols. I should have told her to just hold it.
Mariah held her breath, and pretty much stumbled in place while jumping out of her own skin when her name was screamed out into the night. The scream was way too human for a Wendigo to make it; it was definitely Willow.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
Mariah cringed and cursed at herself, promptly forcing herself to step out of the protective circle and run, no, sprint towards the place Willow disappeared to.
She needed that flamethrower.
As soon as Mariah left the circle, she felt the gusts of wind caused by movement all around her, but she knew very well that it was only one Wendigo.
Unsurprisingly, she found the flamethrower discarded haphazardly on the ground, as if it was thrown.
She reached down immediately with the intention to grab it, but just as her fingertips brushed against it, she was lifted off the ground by her waist. The sudden action caused a scream to erupt from Mariah, but it was cut short when she began to move at high speeds. Fast enough that Mariah lost all sense of direction, and the feeling of lightheadedness became impossibly intense; Mariah was stunned she hadn't passed out.
The only thing she was sure that was keeping her awake, was the thin branches and bushes she occasionally hit as she was being dragged around like an unappreciated rag doll.
Mariah was one-hundred percent sure she'd have a concussion after this joyride.
Her head hit a thick branch, and that was when everything went black.
September 22, 2012
Mariah slowly gained back her consciousness a day after she was taken, but she really wished she hadn't woken up in the first place. Her head felt like it was going to implode; it hurt in places Mariah didn't even know a headache could reach.
Tired and painful sounding groans involuntarily spilled from Mariah's split and bleeding lips in reflection from all the pain she was feeling, and it took her more than a couple of minutes to gather a little bit of her bearings.
The only thing she was completely sure of, was that she was definitely bleeding, and everything hurt.
Every time she inhaled, she could feel soreness in her sternum and ribs. Every time she exhaled, she felt more pain in her ribs and lungs.
With every little movement she made, including shifting her weight from one leg to another, she could feel the nasty gash across her torso, that was produced by the Wendigo when she was grabbed, stretch and pull in effect. And staying completely still was a lot harder than Mariah thought it would be. She could tell the gash was deep just by the amount of pain, but she hoped it wasn't deep enough that with one wrong move, her intestines would fall out.
That was the last thing Mariah needed.
The amount of blood she was losing at a time thankfully wasn't a huge amount, but Mariah could feel the stream of blood against her skin that wasn't torn. And even better, she could tell her face, neck and back was scraped up like no tomorrow because of the ride the Wendigo gave her for free.
Her legs were sore, and she could feel the slight sting on her shins and thighs from when the fabric of her jeans rubbed against the small cuts.
To sum it all up, she felt like complete shit, and just really wanted to go home.
To prevent any more pain, Mariah lifted her head at the slowest possible speed she could manage, and let her eyes roam around everything around her. She couldn't see much, though, from her...position.
Mariah didn't even register until after she was done focusing on all of her wounds that her hands were bound together above her head by a thick rope, and her feet barely touched the ground. If she tried, only her toes and the ball of her feet would touch.
It took a surprising amount of time for Mariah's eyes to adjust to the darkness and for her vision to clear up, but when it did, Mariah saw that she was being held captive in a small cave.
A literal hole in the wall, if you will.
It was hard to tell one thing from another, as there was little to no lighting in the cave. But, Mariah believed it was probably better that way, anyway.
Seeing mutilated hunters was not on her personal agenda.
The cave was cold, and just really unpleasant to be in. The cave's aroma was so repulsive to the point it made Mariah's eyes water, and caused her to force herself to breathe through her mouth, despite the difficulty. Mariah had a pretty good idea about what was causing the smell, but didn't want to think too deeply about it.
She was closest to the entrance, so everyone else had to be behind her.
Using the tips of her shoes, Mariah turned herself in place, pushing and grimacing through the pain she was causing herself. She was able to turn almost completely around, and when she relaxed her expression, her eyes adjusted again and she was soon able to see dark silhouettes in the dim cave.
The first one her eyes landed on, was Willow.
She was close enough for Mariah to make out her relaxed facial features, and from what Mariah could tell, she was still knocked out cold, and was injured just as bad, or maybe even worse, than herself. Her shirt was colored with her own blood, and the stain seemed to just keep growing. Slowly, but definitely growing.
Willow, please wake up.
Mariah turned herself just a bit more and squinted at the other outlines of bodies. After observing for only a moment, Mariah could tell they were complete goners just by the shape of their silhouettes. One in particular almost didn't even look remotely similar to the human body, and Mariah was thankful she couldn't see the detail.
All the hunters who went missing, were now just hanging corpses.
Mariah sighed and grimaced again, releasing the tension in her legs so she'd turn back to her original position. She left her feet touching the ground so she wouldn't turn too fast, and cause more unwanted pain.
"...this is just...dandy." She muttered to herself, disliking the sound of her raw voice due to her screaming from before. Her eyes slipped close, to help ignore the feeling of her blood oozing out of her wounds.
If they got out of this alive, Mariah would make sure to never go on a case with Willow again, and pray for those who did.
And personally make sure Willow was taught correctly how to hunt.
September 23, 2012
The next day was when Willow finally came to.
Mariah thought it was about time, too. She was getting bored just staring at the wall, constantly fading in and out of consciousness, and slowly losing her ability to think straight because of blood loss.
All of that, plus feeling the terrible rush of anxiety whenever she heard the Wendigo approach or pass by the cave they were being held in.
And when it entered the cave, Mariah kept her eyes shut tight and willed herself to be as silent as an empty cemetery.
Mariah already had the misfortune of witnessing the Wendigo finish off the recognizable hunter, leave, then return to take a few bites out of another. And once, the Wendigo poked at her because Mariah exhaled a little too loudly. She thanked whatever distracted the Wendigo, because it suddenly lost interest in her and vanished.
Mariah really, really didn't want to be monster food.
"...Mariah?" Willow whispered, her voice giving a small crack. Her tone sounded scared, and her voice sounded dry, as if she needed water.
Both water and food sounded amazing at the moment.
"Hm?" Mariah hummed tiredly in reply, not wanting to talk too much to the point it gained unwanted attention. Her eyes opened slowly; everything looked blurry again.
"Are they dead?"
Mariah sighed and offered somewhat of a sympathetic look, despite the fact Willow couldn't see it. Mariah hated how Willow sounded younger as soon as she asked the question, as if she was still in the age range of one digit. She almost wanted to lie, but Mariah knew that Willow was far from being a seven year old, and had chosen this path to take in her life.
"Yes."
There was no reply after that, but Mariah heard her take a sharp intake of breath, whether it be from a sudden twinge of pain or shock.
If she was in Willow's place, Mariah was pretty sure she wouldn't have responded in any way. It was clear Willow was much more alert than Mariah was.
The irony.
Mariah closed her eyes, and let her head fall against her chest, assuming Willow was done talking.
She hated herself for looking at the bright side of the situation, but couldn't help it. There were only five hunters in the cave, including Mariah and Willow. Only three before them went in search for the Wendigo, which meant no one else disappeared.
If you think about it...five isn't a lot in the hunting community.
Right?
September 24, 2012
No matter how many times the Wendigo would walk past the cave's entrance, or how many times the monster actually entered, Mariah and Willow would never get used to it, and were totally unable to shake the feeling of sheer terror.
And today decided to be one of those days for Mariah.
Mariah and Willow were having a short worded, quiet spoken conversation, since that was all Mariah could manage at that point, about how they could potentially escape their predicament, when the Wendigo's footsteps were heard.
They instantly fell silent in the middle of their sentences, almost robot-like, and watched the opening to the cave with wide eyes. The Wendigo ducked through the entrance, and continued to stalk casually towards the girls.
Mariah knew it was heading for a corpse behind them, so she held still and kept quiet.
But Willow's self control betrayed her, because as soon as the Wendigo came close enough that she could've reached out and touched it, Willow squirmed in her restraints and made a noise similar to that of an uncomfortable whine.
Mariah always stayed still whenever she was in the presence of the Wendigo, but this time, she turned herself around and watched with terrified eyes as the Wendigo's head whipped around to look straight at Willow, and produce a noise that was completely inhumane. After that, the Wendigo became totally intent on making Willow its next meal.
Mariah instantly turned away as soon as Willow's screaming became unbearable to endure, and Mariah strained and struggled against the ropes that held her there despite her pain. She used her arms to squeeze against her head so her painfilled cries weren't so loud, but Mariah could feel her eyes begin to water.
This isn't what I wanted.
Mariah felt like her heart stopped when Willow's screaming came to an abrupt end, but tears fell down her face when she realized the sound of the Wendigo eating, did not.
She's dead, and it's my fault.
Everything fell quiet except for the Wendigo's heavy breathing next to Mariah's ear, but Mariah held her ground and didn't move. She watched through half-open eyes as the monster's blurry figure staggered past her, the scent of Willow's blood making Mariah internally scream. The Wendigo's head was tilted, as if it was listening to something Mariah couldn't hear. Then in a blink of an eye, the Wendigo was gone in search of whatever caught it's attention.
Mariah exhaled silently but shakily, eyes sliding to the right. She didn't dare turn herself around.
"...Willow?"
No response.
"Willow...please."
Silence. If anything, she heard the rope groan under Willow's dead weight.
Fuck it all.
Mariah let her head drop; she felt completely defeated. Willow may not have been the greatest hunter in history, but Mariah would never wish this upon anyone.
She felt tears continue to roll down her face and drip off the end of her nose and chin, but Mariah made no sound to imply that she was crying.
It was too much.
Yes, hunting was never easy.
But witnessing death in a certain state was too much.
She would never live this down.
Footsteps filled Mariah's ears, and she strained against the rope again, even if it was no use to try and break out of them. Especially since she was so weak. After a moment of useless tugging, she fell limp, but something made her look up.
The footsteps sounded different. Quicker, lighter...and it sounded like there were two sets.
Why couldn't you have come earlier?
She saw two dark figures cautiously enter the cave, weapons raised and pointed in Mariah's direction. She ignored her want to cry out for help, and remained silent like she'd done so many times before.
When there was no sign of danger, they lowered their weapons a fraction and moved forward, briskly walking right past Mariah. They gave everyone a brief check up, with an exception of the one hunter that was barely recognizable because it had been finished off. When they realized everyone was dead, they turned back to Mariah.
She felt one of them press two fingers to her pulse, causing her to unconsciously lean into the contact, as it was much more inviting than the claws of a Wendigo.
With muffled words, they came into her line of sight. Mariah was still unsure about who they were, as her eyesight was very unforgiving at the time. But she couldn't help but squint at them in mild recognition.
They were talking to each other, but Mariah couldn't figure out what they were saying for the life of her. All she heard was mumbling, and something along the lines of Wendigo and hospital.
Mariah felt the taller of the two men place his hands near the underside of Mariah's arms in preparation to catch her. If she wasn't so out of it, Mariah would have made a suggestive comment. She could also feel the slight pull as the shorter man cut her restraints. Mariah took a moment to look up at the man in front of her. He was close enough that Mariah could just make out his facial features.
I know you.
"...Sam," She breathed out, successfully getting him to look straight at her. He looked at her as if he didn't understand how she knew his name, before his expression suddenly changed to realization mixed with complete horror. After that, Mariah was sure Sam said something to Dean that sounded like, hurry up.
When the rope was finally cut, Mariah felt herself instantly drop down forward, her knees completely giving out underneath her as soon as her feet touched the ground. She didn't fall far, because strong arms held her up under her own arms. Thankfully, otherwise she would have face planted into Sam's chest.
But being caught didn't stop Mariah from letting out a strangled cry mixed with something that sounded similar to a sob, because of her open wound.
"Shh...sorry...be okay."
She felt him say that near her ear, but even then, Mariah was pretty sure that wasn't exactly what he said. Even so, his voice sounded like rich caramel compared to the Wendigo's skin-crawling noises.
She felt her wrists being tugged on, and realized that Dean was relieving her of the rope that held her tight for three days. When they were gone, Mariah grimaced at the sight of her wrists. She couldn't see it clearly, but they were definitely red and irritated.
"Can you walk?"
If Mariah had enough oxygen in her lungs, she would have laughed at them. Really, it sounded like a stupid question in her opinion.
A newborn giraffe could walk better than her.
The brothers exchanged more serious-sounding words, but it was all just muffled nonsense to Mariah. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Everything looked hazy. Everything sounded muffled.
I've lost too much blood.
When Sam didn't receive an answer from Mariah, he removed one arm and hooked it behind and under Mariah's legs, thus picking her up bridal style. Mariah didn't even notice she was being lifted until the pain hit her, and she let out another cry that was mixed with some sort of gasp. She heard an apology whispered to her.
With another exchanged of quiet spoken words, they exited the cave, Sam taking extra precaution so that Mariah didn't hit anything. Mariah managed to look over Sam's shoulder, and she was able to catch the slightest of glimpses of Willow.
I'm so sorry I couldn't save you.
Everything was still dark, blurry and completely unintelligible to Mariah after they left the cave. The brothers were still talking lowly, but Mariah had no idea what they were talking about. She only heard a few words that made sense, like bitch and torch, but they were completely out of context. She thought she heard a question that was directed towards her, but not quite hearing it, she just remained quiet.
They were speed walking, or perhaps jogging, the entire time, but with Mariah's messed up perspective, they were either moving too fast, too slow, or not at all.
Either way, she was in a lot of pain.
One of her arms was resting loosely around Sam's shoulders, her nails digging into his shoulder in retaliation when Sam moved in a way that wasn't in Mariah's favor. The other was pressed against her torso's gash in attempt to stop the blood flow.
Mariah was absolutely amazed she hadn't died yet. Who knows how much blood she's lost, and the fact that she was still alive and somewhat kicking gave her some sort of idea she was a stronger than the average human.
But then again, she was acting like she was drunk off of Benadryl.
Mariah was able to get her breathing steady a few minutes into being carried, but just when she thought she could continue like that without much more pain, she was dropped and pulled against the corridor's wall. She opened her mouth, but a hand covered it and successfully muffled her cry.
She would have cussed them both out if it wasn't for the situation they were in.
Her hooded eyes opened marginally wider when she saw the Wendigo's blurry figure walking slowly by, head turning every which way as if it was searching for something. Unfortunately, it was walking the way they were originally heading.
As soon as Sam and Dean thought the Wendigo was far enough away to be out of earshot, they started whispering to each other. But from the tone of their voices, Mariah could tell they were arguing. And she was surprised she was actually able to make out the words.
"I can lead it away."
"We're not doing this again."
Mariah squinted. What was that supposed to mean?
"Do you want her to bleed out?"
"No,"
"Then I suggest you let me do my job."
Mariah felt Sam grow tense around her, and Mariah wanted to roll her eyes. Brothers.
She saw Dean give Sam an object, and just like that, the older Winchester left Mariah's side and jogged the opposite way the Wendigo went. She heard a few gunshots and Dean yell something challenging, but Mariah was back to being unable to hear anything correctly.
She was about to ask why they weren't moving, when a sudden gust of wind silenced her.
There goes the monster.
She felt Sam's arm remove itself from around her before she was easily lifted again, a bit quicker than before, and they continued to make their way hastily down the dark corridor. Mariah heard Sam say something, but she wasn't sure what he said.
Something felt weird under her knees, and her eyes spotted the thing Dean gave Sam. It looked similar to that of a teakettle, and Sam made sure it was pointing ahead of them in case they were to run into the Wendigo.
It was just, a deadly-looking teakettle.
Homemade flamethrower.
Throughout the entire time Sam was making a beeline for the exit, he would constantly be saying things to Mariah in attempt to keep her awake. He was doing well, as far as he could tell, because Mariah would always react in one way or another depending on what he said.
"We're almost there, just stay with me."
"...ah...take your time."
If someone asked, Mariah would admit she had no memory conversing with Sam at all.
Mariah would have denied the fact she was scared about the whole situation she was in, but really, she was terrified. She didn't want to die.
Though, being in good hands, quite literally, gave her a little bit of hope she'd survive this terrible roller coaster.
And being very scared, meant making jokes at the wrong time.
Mariah leaned her head against Sam's shoulder and looked up at him. "...so, this a normal thing for you?" She asked lazily with a small grin, but wouldn't admit that her tone was a bit flirtatious.
"Mariah...talk. It'll only...situation worse."
Mariah squinted, but got the gist of his sentence. He's probably said that about five times sincd Mariah would always reply to whatever he'd say, and she wasn't really catching on about why he didn't want her responding to him. "...okay." Her grin didn't falter, however, because Sam's muffled tone didn't sound as serious as he intended it to be.
Sam continued on without another word, and Mariah couldn't help but admire him in her loopy state. Why the hell not? She was pretty much in the 'fifty-fifty chance of dying' moment, and honestly, if his face was the last one Mariah saw before she died, she wouldn't complain. Especially from that angle. Hell, his jawline was fantastic.
But reality came crashing back, and Mariah felt like a total asshole.
Willow was literally eaten alive in front of her, and now all Mariah was thinking about was how weird it was that she wasn't dead yet, and Sam's handsome face.
I'm going to Hell.
Mariah found herself dozing off, but made no effort to keep herself awake. Sleep sounded pretty nice at the moment, and staying awake in general was agonizingly difficult. But before she could slip away, Sam purposely bumped her head with the shoulder her head was resting on, and repeated something he said before. Mariah just groaned.
Right, stay awake. Don't die.
She struggled out a sigh, and kept her eyes open. She focused her attention on anything other than her gross gash in attempt to stay apart of reality.
Only a moment later, she was set down again, and pulled against the wall. Again.
The movement was sudden, and horrifically painful. She was pressed up against Sam, but it didn't stop her from biting down on anything to keep herself from screaming.
It ended up being his jacket.
By that time, everything felt totally numb to Mariah. Even using Sam as some sort of leverage, she was pretty sure she was physically unable to hold herself up. Thankfully, Sam did the work for her. And with their proximity, Mariah was probably going to bring it up later if she remembered.
She could hear his quickened heartbeat.
Mariah was pretty out of it, but she knew he was doing the whole thing for a reason other than to just hug her, but was angered because she couldn't figure out why. She heard him mutter something that sounded like, stay silent. But it was so quiet, Mariah wasn't sure if that's what he said.
Though Mariah complied without a problem, and that was when she felt someone breathing on her. No, something. The air was too forceful for it to be Sam. Realization hit her like a freight train, and Mariah's heart leapt into her throat.
A Wendigo was breathing on her.
There's two?
No wonder the Wendigo had come in so many times to feed, there was more than one.
Mariah felt like screaming out in both agony and anger. She could literally see the light from the exit from where she stood, but with the Wendigo so close, Mariah didn't dare to move. It was way too close for Sam to use his flamethrower, because they'd be caught in the fire along with it.
Really, Mariah could brush her cheek up against its own if she wanted to.
It felt like an hour before another series of gunshot rang out from elsewhere in the maze of corridors, and the Wendigo disappeared in a flash like it was never there in the first place.
She was picked up for the third time that day, let out a pain-filled cry that was hard to curb for the umpteenth time, and was promptly carried out of the dark caves and into the bright light of day.
The next thing Mariah knew, was that she was laying in the front seat of the Impala; her head resting in Sam's lap with her legs in Dean's. From the sharp turns and the constant slowing down, Mariah guessed the car was moving at a pretty high speed.
The only reason Mariah could tell why she was still awake was because of Sam and Dean's constant random questions about whatever despite the fact she only answered whatever first came to mind. Or sometimes she didn't answer at all, and just groaned in pain.
She could tell Sam's questions were fucking random as hell, while Dean's were a no brainer.
"A, b, c, d, e, f..."
"...g."
"Alright."
Apparently being annoyed was a good way to stay conscious.
"In the U.S military, what does the acronym NCO stand for?"
"Nobody cares...Oliver?"
"Close, but it's non-commissioned officer."
"Dude,"
"What?"
Come on, sleep couldn't be that bad.
Really, Mariah was proud of herself for staying awake for that long, even if she had no idea how she was able to do it. She marveled at how difficult it was to keep herself from passing out with all the blood loss. Actually, she was still baffled about why she wasn't dead.
Perhaps she had someone watching over her.
"...surprised at how well she's healing. Her vital signs are pretty stable, despite the fact she's lost a large amount of blood."
Mariah felt her senses come back into action as soon as she was rendered conscious. The odd smell of hospital aroma reached her nose, the familiar noises and conversations around her filled her ears, and the uncomfortable feeling of the hospital dress thing- Mariah didn't know what they were called- touching what she guessed to be stitches.
The first thing she noticed, was how much better she felt. She could feel tight bandages all over, and the mental feeling of heaviness everywhere; like you just didn't want to move. The pain she had now was more just soreness and ache, but she knew as soon as she moved, the feeling of her stitches wouldn't be the best.
She was laying in a hospital bed, the familiar beeping of her heart monitor close by. She felt the IV in her arm, and didn't realize until after she moved her arm how uncomfortable it was.
Most of the noises and talking were muffled except for one conversation, leaving Mariah to assume the door to her room was closed.
She left her eyes closed, deciding to listen to the conversation that sounded the closest to her. And by their voices, Mariah could tell it was Sam and Dean. She was almost overjoyed to hear that their voices were clear, and that she could hear every word.
"So, she'll be okay?"
"As far as I'm concerned, absolutely. No broken bones, no head tramua. Really, it's a miracle. We will have to keep her for a bit, however."
Mariah nearly smiled. Last time she saw them, she legitimately told them they didn't give a shit about her. Well, she supposed people change. Or, she was just wrong from the beginning.
She's met a number of people who've acted completely different from what they actually feel about a person.
"That's probably for the best."
Mariah wanted to frown, but forced herself to keep her face relaxed.
"Why do you say that?"
"Oh, uh...ever since we were kids...our little sister has always been the one to be on the go."
Mariah's annoyed mood instantly disappeared and had to hold back the urge to laugh. Apparently she was the Winchester's little sister now. Honestly, that thought both made Mariah happy and terrified.
Hell, if she was their little sister, she wouldn't be able to do anything.
"Ah, I understand that. Well, I'll leave you to it. She should wake up soon."
Mariah heard the doctor open the door, and listened to his footsteps fade before he closed the door behind him.
She turned her head to the right and opened her eyes slowly. She was rewarded with a bright light and a pure white room that was fuzzy until her vision cleared. Sam and Dean stood near the door, looking completely out of place because of their attire. She could relate. Being a hunter didn't really give you the option to have designer clothes unless you were posing as an FBI agent or had to dress up for a case.
Sam and Dean were looking at each other, unaware Mariah was observing them and shamelessly listening to their conversation, or rather, argument.
"Little sister?" Sam asked lowly, sounding a little unimpressed with Dean's lie.
"I was put on the spot, I had to come up with something."
"She doesn't have the same last name as us."
"She could be married." Dean argued.
"Being married isn't on her paperwork."
"And neither are we, smart one."
"I'm just surprised little sister is what you came up with, out of all things." Mariah suddenly piped up, her voice sounding dry and raspy. She cleared her throat when Sam and Dean suddenly turned towards her, shock written all over their face. "What?" She said after a moment, a small crack in her voice.
"Hey, I had to say something, alright?" Dean muttered with a frown, shifting his weight while shoving his hands into his pockets. Mariah smiled at how easily Dean could be riled up.
Mariah exhaled, and avoided eye contact with both of them. Most of what happened yesterday she didn't remember, except Willow dying, the Wendigo breathing on her, and her dead weight being carried around through the dark corridors.
The rest was just a blur.
Somehow, Mariah still firmly believed that is wasn't fair that she was able to make it out alive, and Willow didn't. Even the doctor said she lost a heavy amount of blood, and she'd been bleeding for three days. Why wasn't she dead? Mariah was sure she wouldn't stop asking herself that until she came to the conclusion she was just some human that was able to take a really bad beating.
Mariah would give anything to switch places with Willow.
"That reminds me," Mariah started after she pulled herself away from her thoughts, looking up at Sam. She squinted against the bright light her eyes had yet to adjust to. "I got myself into that mess, and I'm sorry you had to haul my dead weight around." She said apologetically, the mood in the room seeming to change almost instantly. "I'm sure that wasn't the highlight of your day." She finished her sentence with a grin.
"It's fine." Sam replied easily, returning a small smile. Before anything else, though, Dean's shit-eating grin came back.
"I'm sure that wasn't, but you hitting on him sure was." He said both cockily and cheerfully, and Mariah just felt like crawling into a hole. She hit on Sam? What else did she do? Mariah wasn't exactly sure if she wanted to find out.
Dean looked between Mariah and Sam, and when he saw Sam wasn't smiling, but instead was giving him a look Mariah could describe as bitch-face, his cocky grin faltered and he looked away quickly.
Mariah on the other hand, was blushing. "I flirted with you?" She asked, her voice sounding a little embarrassed and oddly happy.
Sam shrugged; Dean nodded.
Mariah rolled her eyes. Great, now she didn't know if she was being messed with, or Dean was actually telling the truth. And being able to roll her eyes without feeling immense pain was fantastic.
"You don't remember?" Dean inquired.
Mariah's eyes narrowed. A vague memory of her saying something came back, and she was probably one-hundred percent sure Dean wasn't with them at the time she said it; Sam must have told him. She looked between them, and she could've sworn Sam looked worried for a second.
"No," she said slowly, then a small smile graced her lips, before it turned into a smirk. "Did it work?"
"Considering the situation, I don't think so."
"That means it did."
"What?"
"Ah, there were so many better pick up lines I could've used."
"Um-"
"It seems Mariah's half-dead self has more balls than she usually does."
"What?"
"What?"
For the first time Mariah has seen, Dean was laughing and Sam looked confused as hell. Mariah couldn't help but give a small laugh, but put a quick stop to it when it began to cause her pain.
Mariah didn't know whether to hate or love the fact she had more fun with two acquaintances than she has ever had than with two of her closest friends. Perhaps she could call them friends, now.
And she didn't know whether to hate or love the fact she'd like to follow them.
Reed's assumption came crawling back into her mind, but Mariah just ignored it. Really, every hunter had their demons, and by what she's seen, Sam and Dean were two of the most kind hunters she's ever met.
Plus, everyone makes mistakes.
And the general idea of spending her hunting career with them definitely wasn't a bad thought.
After a moment of short, comfortable silence, Mariah slowly but surely pushed herself up into a sitting position and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Pain in her abdomen and the brothers' frantic words were telling her to stop, but Mariah just frowned.
She held up her hand and showed Sam and Dean her palm. "I'm not doing a cartwheel, chill out."
Once she was stable and the pain subsided, she waved them over. They complied without a second thought, since they had already moved closer while she was moving to sit up; Mariah just grinned at their worried expressions.
She outstretched her arm to the closest of the two, who ended up being Dean. "Help me stand."
"...what?"
"Help me stand. If you don't, I'll do it myself."
With that, Dean quickly but carefully grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. Mariah did most of the work which was unexpected to Dean, but he said nothing. Then, out of the blue, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Dean's torso and proceeded to hug him.
Sam and Dean exchanged confused looks, but Sam nodded at Mariah to signal that Dean should hug her back.
Dean did just that.
Without a word but with a smile, she stepped back from Dean and reached out for Sam. Sam took her hand and Mariah used it as leverage to pull herself towards him. Sam had to move forward a bit, however, so the IV wasn't ripped from her arm. And with that, she removed her hand from his and wrapped her arms around him.
Sam hugged back a lot quicker than Dean did.
Being hugged by giants was an oddly nice feeling.
She released Sam from her hug and was helped by both of them so she could sit down again. She grinned at both of them, but inhaled and exhaled a large amount of air from all the movement.
Her chest still hurt.
"Alright, what was that for?" Dean said after a moment, as if he'd been waiting to ask the question for a long time now.
"You saved my life." Mariah replied quietly, her happy grin turning into a sad, small smile. You saved mine while I couldn't save her's. "I ought to thank you."
"Oh, well...you know-"
"You're...uh, welcome-"
"Don't hurt yourselves." Mariah joked, watching them become oddly uncomfortable. "Well I'm sure you two have to get going." She sighed, looking down at her hands, eyes trailing up her arm before it stopped at her IV. Her eyelids felt heavy, implying sleep was just around the corner. But then she looked up again. "Let's hope when we meet again, I'm not bleeding out?"
"Absolutely."
"Definitely."
Mariah couldn't thank the brothers enough; they somehow managed to retrieve all her belongings that was left behind when the Wendigo snatched her. Including the flamethrower.
It was before they left, Dean suddenly remembered something and jogged out of the room. Sam was left behind, and he just exchanged an amused look with Mariah.
Dean came back with her bag, and Mariah became ecstatic. She wanted to give them both hugs again, but that time, they forced her to stay in the hospital bed.
"You're both sticks in the mud."
"I haven't heard that before."
The first thing Mariah did was go through her bag, and ignore the flamethrower. Mariah really didn't want to be reminded about who last handled it.
She checked her phone, and seeing as she had no notifications, she set it on the nightstand beside her bed.
When she saw everything was there, she set the bag on the ground and relaxed, soon falling asleep comfortably after shoving all bad thoughts out of her head.
And it was around six o'clock in the evening when Mariah received a text.
Mariah rolled over stiffly and picked up her phone when she heard the familiar ping that indicated she got a message.
She squinted at her screen, her heart stopping as soon as she read that the text came from Willow's older sister, Marissa.
Hey, I heard you were in the hospital. How are you doing?
Is Willow okay?
And that's all for now! I'll post a chapter next for BTCBB.
I apologize for any mistakes.
-Pastel