A/N: Hello! I am SO sorry for the incredibly late update. I've been under a lot of stress from my karate class and marching band, and I was cleaning my house. I hope this makes everything okay. Enjoy!
I finish placing the last arrow in my quiver when I hear the unmistakable sound of the Impala's engine rumble behind me. I have my compound and quiver in my left hand with my release on my right wrist, my new steel serrated knife at my left hip, and my gun at my right. I know the gun is useless, but it is still nice to have all the same. I shove my keys in my pocket after closing and locking the box and the bed of my truck, and turn to face the boys. I'm still incredibly pissed and disappointed, but I've calmed down quite a bit since the incident in the diner this morning.
As I lean against the truck, the Impala's engine turns off and the boys get out, their faces as unreadable as ever.
"What do you want?" I ask with no traces of familiarity in my voice. I carefully guard my body language, voice, and facial expressions as they walk around and lean against the front of the Impala.
"Ken, we want this thing dead just as much as you do, but we have to work together, and to do that, we have to trust each other," Sam says.
"You think I'm supposed to trust you after that stunt you two pulled in the diner this morning?" I say, my volume rising as anger creeps into my voice.
Sam starts to say something, but Dean interrupts him, "Ken, we don't know these mountains like you do."
"Damn right you don't," I say under my breath, but if Dean heard it, he doesn't show any reaction, and continues talking.
"So we need your help to find the thing anyways. And even if you could hunt this thing alone, what are the odds that it kills you before you kill it? Especially if you're out there by yourself."
He's right about that. Even when hunting deer, you never go out alone, just in case you are injured or lost. Besides, hunting this thing is far more dangerous than any predator a person could legally hunt. I relent, "Fine, but I still don't trust you. And I could just as easily leave you out in the desert as I could find the caro comedenti."
"Okay, we get it, you're pissed, but please, Ken, just give us another chance," Sam practically begs.
But I was already planning to help them; I just wanted to see how they would respond to my accusations. "Alright, but you follow me, and don't do anything stupid. The desert is harsher than it looks."
The brothers nod and walk to the back of their car, and I follow, curious to see what kind of stuff they have in their hunter's stash. Dean opens the trunk and lifts a panel, revealing more weapons than I can count. There are knives, guns, fake ID's, throwing stars, charms, holy water, wooden stakes, and even more that I can't identify.
I whistle, impressed, "Wow. How did you get all this stuff?" I'm very impressed; I've never seen a weapon collection this big.
Dean smiles proudly, "We just collected a lot over the years. We were raised into the life, and this is what happens."
The boys grab their machetes, and Dean closes and locks the trunk.
"Alright, let's head out," I say.
I lead the way into the desert, the setting sun only just lighting our way. But as we hike, I can't shake this gut feeling that something bad is going to happen.
"Ken, we've been searching for hours, and we haven't found anything," I hear Sam complain behind me. But I'm not listening right now; I'm crouched on one knee, looking at a track that the comedenti left. Well, I'm 99.9% sure that the comedenti left it, considering there's nothing else in this area to leave a track in this shape or this large. Luckily, the moon gives us enough light to see by tonight.
However, Sam is right; we have been searching for hours. The three of us reached the desert hills around 6:00 PM; it's now 8:47 PM.
Something about these tracks is unsettling, and the desert is completely silent, neither of which is good.
"We should probably head back, continue searching tomorrow," Dean says. I stand, glancing at the surrounding hills, my entire body tense and nervous.
Sam starts to say something else, but I shush him as I turn around, my eyes still trained on the surrounding hills. "Listen," I say, my eyes finally meeting theirs.
"I don't hear anything," Sam says, confused.
"Exactly," I say. The Winchesters look confused, so I elaborate, "The desert is never silent. There are always birds, bugs, javelina, coyotes; you name it, moving around."
"Okay, so?" Dean asks, impatient.
"I'm not finished. Something deliberately left these tracks. They were left here for us to follow." I answer, trying to stay calm.
"So what do we do?" Sam asks softly. At least he has the common sense to stay quiet.
"We should head back," Dean answers, but I disagree.
"No, we should keep following the trail," I say. The boys look at me, and Dean starts to say something, but I interrupt, "It could be watching us right now, and we would never know. I can't tell how old those tracks are since there's no wind, rain, or game trails cutting across it. If we turn back now, it could kill us."
"It might not," Dean says confidently.
"The caro comedenti left those tracks. It wants us to follow that trail. And as much as I don't want to walk into a trap, I sure as hell don't want to find out what happens if we don't follow the trail," I explain, "Besides, if we come back tomorrow, it'll know that we're coming, and the outcome might not be so favorable for us."
Dean sighs, "Fine. Let's just get this over with." They both look uncomfortable, but I am too, if not more than they are. After all, this is my first hunt.
"Watch your back," I tell them, "The last thing we need is the comedenti cornering us."
The three of us continue on, checking behind us every minute or so. My body is tense, and I can tell I'm not the only one. My body and head are practically screaming at me to turn back, but another part of me is telling me to keep going. Being the idiot I am, I keep going.
As we continue, the trail becomes disturbingly more obvious, and my nerves are on edge. After about a half an hour, we reach the mouth of a cave. I know this cave well, I used to shelter in it for survival practice; it's large and spacious, and can easily house ten people comfortably, fifteen in a cramped situation.
"Alright," I whisper, nocking an arrow as I speak, "Let's go in." I hold the release in my hand, ready to draw and fire the arrow at a moment's notice.
We walk into the cave, senses on high alert. I manage to stay relatively quiet, but the boys are stomping like a herd of stampeding elephants. If we had any chance of secrecy before, it's gone now. As we move further back into the cave, the smell of rotting meat becomes extremely prevalent, but we continue pressing on. But when we reach the back of the cave, something isn't right.
There's no caro comedenti in the cave.
I sigh, turn back to the mouth of the cave, and see the shadow of the monster, outlined by the light of the moon. I should have seen this coming, "Clever beast," I say. The boys turn, and quickly draw their machetes when they see the monster.
It growls and charges, covering nearly the entire length of the cave in only a few bounds. I quickly draw, aim, and release my arrow, but the creature dodges at the last second, and the arrow flies off into the desert. I nock, draw, and release another arrow, and this one luckily hits it in the shoulder. By now, it's right in front of us. Sam and Dean lunge forwards with their machetes. I continue firing arrow after arrow, hoping for a kill shot, while the brothers try to decapitate it with their machetes. Even though the arrows and blades are cutting its flesh, the cuts are only serving to make the monster angry.
The comedenti roars in anger and in pain, and with one swipe of its front foot, Dean and I fly into the wall of the cave. I feel dizzy, my vision is doing strange things, and my head is pounding. Great, now I have a concussion. But as far as I know, the comedenti isn't dead yet, so I force my head up to see what the monster is doing.
To my right, Dean is unconscious, his machete lying in his limp hand. Across the cave, Sam is lying limply on the ground, and he seems dazed, but not concussed. I'm not sure though, I can't see him very clearly, considering I can see two dazed Sams. The caro comedenti is standing in the center of the cave breathing heavily, holding one of its four legs off the ground, apparently injured. It turns towards Sam as he tries to stand up. My eyes widen as the comedenti picks Sam up off the ground with its injured arm. Sam looks at Dean with fear, and then glances to me before locking eyes with the comedenti.
I drop my bow on the ground, and try to pull my battered body off the ground. I finally get to my feet after a few tense seconds, and pull my knife from its sheath, leaning against the wall of the cave. I don't know what I'm doing, but I know that I can't let Sam die, not if I can stop it. My head is protesting the very fact that I am vertical, but I ignore it. I ready myself, adrenaline fueling my movements more than anything does right now. I take a deep breath, and start charging towards Sam. I know I'll probably die, or at least sustain a severe injury, but I refuse to let someone die, not if I can help it.
I reach Sam as fast as my injured body can carry me, and I push him out of the comedenti's claw with all of my body weight as its jaws descend, and I feel its teeth sink into my right shoulder.
I scream, feeling as if my shoulder is on fire, and I feel my body go limp in the creature's jaws. I start to fall asleep, but I jerk myself awake, and plant my feet firmly on the ground. I'm not about to let this creature get away, not when I'm standing this close to it. I toss my knife to my more useable left hand, knowing my right hand couldn't handle what I'm going to do. I grip the blade a little more firmly, and bring it up into the monster's belly.
Its grip on my shoulder marginally loosens, and I barely hear it gurgle as it dies. It falls, taking me to the ground with it.
I close my eyes, in too much pain to worry about anything else right now. I feel the jaws of the monster release me, and hands roll me onto my back and immediately apply pressure on my shoulder. I moan in pain, and try to roll to my left, away from the pain, but the hands gently hold me in place.
"Ken!" I hear Sam yell. He sounds panicked, and I force my eyes open.
Sam is on my right, pressing down on my shoulder, and Dean is on my left. Oh, so now Dean is awake. That would have been helpful about a minute ago. They both look worried, but I'm in too much pain to care. I shut my eyes and groan, turning my head away from the pain in my shoulder.
I hear the brothers talking, but the ringing in my ears has intensified, blocking out all other noise. I moan again, noticing lights dancing behind my eyes.
Something soft and warm covers me, and it is surprisingly comforting. I feel the hands on my shoulder shift, and I feel arms under my back and behind my knees. No, no, no, don't pick me up, please, just wait until I pass out, please, don't pick me up. I whimper, and raise my left arm towards the warm presence on my right, grabbing something, one of the boy's shirts I think, desperately trying to convey that I don't want them to pick me up, it'll hurt, please.
But they don't understand my desperate pleas, and I feel myself lifted into the air, pain exploding in my shoulder, sending me spiraling into oblivion.
A/N: Duhn duhn DUUUHN! What will happen? Please review, reviews make me happy. Happy writer=faster updates! :) Happy Reading!