Supernatural does not belong to me, although I wish it did. I am simply playing in Kirpke's sandbox for a bit. All rights and ownership are the property of Kripke and the CW network. I am not making any money from this; it is for my own personal pleasure.

Synopsis: Set at the start of Season One, Dean had been in a wheelchair since his father disappeared more than a year ago and he finally has to tell Sam… There'd been an accident that night and Dean had paid a very high price….one he still doesn't understand. The story will have some hunts from season one and possibly into season two…the brothers will continue their search for their father…there will be alterations to the hunts to accommodate Dean's new situation. I have every intention of returning Dean to good health before this ends…but getting there is going to be bumpy.

Please keep in mind that I do not have a Beta, so all grammatical errors are my own. Not Slash. Brotherly love and Angst only…

Please Review: So I know there's interest

Chapter 7

I Think I Hate Apple Pie

Dean couldn't remember exactly what'd happened. One minute he was sitting in the café, talking to a cute blonde waitress and the next thing he knew his head was killing him and he was trying to focus around the pain that was jolting through his skull. He shifted his upper body and immediately noticed that his hands were tightly bound above his head and he was seated on the drying leaves in some sort of forest. There were no birds or any of the normal sounds that should be present in a wooded area…it was eerily silent with the exception of mumbled voices. He heard the movements and the stifled voices of other people as they talked amongst themselves.

"He's not exactly healthy, think the God will care about that? I mean we've never offered up someone with such a broken body before. " a man's voice asked, it was deep and scratchy…like he was a smoker, or used to be.

Dean cringed as he heard them describe him in such a callous and accurate manner…It never failed to amaze him that he was affected by what other people thought of his disability. Oh, he would deny it all the way to his grave if asked...but he hated being judged for his inability to walk.

"That God don't care what type of health they're in as long as it's a young man and a young woman." A woman answered quickly.

Dean tried to shift his head so that he could see the people that were talking, it was late afternoon and he knew that Sam and Bobby were gonna be worried about him. He'd left earlier that morning and the fact that he had no idea how long he'd been unconscious worried him. Sam wasn't exactly in any condition to be hunting much of anything at the moment. His worry for his little brother was increasing exponentially as he realized that Sam was going to come after him…and Sam was probably going to find the skinned remains of his corpse out here in a damn apple orchard.

He sighed when he realized that he wasn't going to be able to undo the…Damn…these hicks really know how to tie a knot…ropes. He could feel the rough fibers cutting into the tender flesh of his wrists and the slightly warm feeling as blood seeped from them. His chest was burning as his rib protested the current position of his upper body and the wounds on his sternum stretched painfully and the scabs ripped open. Dean made the instant decision that if he somehow made it out of this mess…he wasn't eating apple pie…ever again.

"Uncle Harley…?" a girl's voice asked softly. Dean threw his eyes in the direction of the other voice. He was surprised to see the waitress tied to another tree about three feet from his.

"I'm sorry…but the town has to be saved…and there's just no one else. I wish it didn't have to be you…" the older man's voice said quietly.

"So what…we're gonna be the fertilizer for your damn apples?" Dean shot out flippantly.

"You brought this on yourself boy…if you hadn't scared that couple away this afternoon, it would have been them." The woman said angrily as she looked sadly at the girl.

"How many people have you killed?" Dean asked angrily.

"We don't kill them." The sheriff said as he stepped into Dean's line of sight.

"No…but you sure clean up the mess don't you. How many clothes have you buried…or cars have you hid…?" Dean was getting angrier the more he listened to these jackasses try and justify killing innocent people for the sake of their damn town. "I hope your apple pie is worth it!" he yelled after the group as they walked away.

"They're gonna kill us?" She asked quietly.

Dean huffed. "Sacrifice us…which is…I don't know…classier." He looked over at her petrified face and instantly regretted the sarcastic answer.

"So what's the plan?" The girl asked quietly as he shifted around and looked for anyone or anything to help get them out of this situation.

"I'm working on it." Dean said quickly as he continued to struggle with the bonds. He looked down and saw that his legs were twisted under him in such a weird position…and he knew…he just knew that if he could feel the damn things they would be screaming in pain at the awkward positioning. He looked around…hopeful that maybe they'd left his wheelchair somewhere nearby. It wasn't going to do him any good to get loose if he couldn't actually get away. His heart sank and he groaned when he didn't see the metallic object anywhere around.

XXXX

Sam was scared…they'd gone to the café and it'd been closed for the day. The Impala was still parked out front, but there was no sign of his brother. And the more he thought about that dream, the less he thought it was really a dream…he was starting to think that it hadn't ever been a dream; but a vision. For some reason he was having visions that involved his big brother…and if he didn't find Dean quickly…the bloody wreck that had been his brother's body quickly flashed in front of his eyes and he had to stop and collect himself before moving forward again. His knees were threatening to collapse and his stomach was rebelling loudly at the brutal images being replayed with perfect clarity inside his head.

"Sam? You okay boy?" Bobby asked as he saw the far off look and the pain that flashed through Sam's eyes. He reached over and gently laid one hand on Sam's broad shoulder and was surprised to feel the quivers that were running unchecked through the young hunter's body.

Sam brought up glassy blue-green eyes and looked into the grizzled face of the older man… "I think I knew this was going to happen." He stumbled over the words as he tried to put some order to the images crashing through his head.

"Come again?" Bobby said as he narrowed his eyes and stepped so that he was in front of Sam, both hands now resting on the taller kid's shoulders.

"Earlier…in the car….I saw this Bobby." He said quietly.

Bobby stayed quiet waiting for him to continue. Sam finally looked up and met the confused and worried eyes of the other man. "I think it was a vision…not a dream." He whispered.

Bobby's eyes widened at that. "A vision?"

"Yeah…I've been having dreams…at least I thought they were dreams…but they always involve Dean in one way or another…and he's always hurt somehow." Sam inhaled a shaky breath before finishing this line of thought. "In this one…he…he…he…d…died." Sam finally managed to squeak out past the lump forming in his throat.

"He died?" Bobby questioned as he clamped down on Sam's shoulder, almost painfully as he tried to wrap his head around this idea. He knew that he was just repeating what the kid was saying…but damn-it, he was having a hard time with this.

Sam simply nodded and then closed his eyes as they filled with water. He couldn't deal with this right now…he had to save Dean. So he took a deep breath and reached up to scrub the tears from his eyes, "There was a forest…or an orchard. Dean was there with a girl…we gotta get there quick. Because that thing will be after them as soon as the sun drops." Sam's eyes shifted to the rapidly darkening skyline and he groaned at the limited time they had to get to the orchard and search the acres and acres of land for his immobile brother. He knew they would be in a clearing and he also knew that the monster would be there moments after the sun set. He reached out and grabbed Bobby's sleeve, pulling the older man toward the Impala.

"We gotta go now. It happened just after sunset." Sam said by way of explanation as he pulled open the driver's door and pushed Bobby toward the front of the car, obviously intent on him getting in the passenger seat.

"What will be there? What exactly happened Sam?" Bobby asked as he tried to get the maximum amount of information out of the frazzled young man. If they were going to go up against whatever this was…they needed information.

Sam looked over at Bobby as he drove, he tried to separate himself from the images and pull out the pertinent information. "I think it was a God of some kind…it was possessing the body of a massive scarecrow. I got there just as the thing crawled down off its cross and then approached Dean and the girl…it…k…killed Dean first…" His voice broke at the last part of the account. Bobby nodded but continued to watch the youngest Winchester as he struggled through the emotions raging inside of himself.

"Okay…so we know we're dealing with a God…probably a fertility God. So we need to find whatever its bound itself to and burn it….probably a really old tree." Bobby was spit-balling here as he tried to think of all the possibilities.

Sam looked over at him, his expression stunned as he watched the old man work through the limited information and come up with some pretty decent conclusions. "Okay…but first we gotta find Dean."

"Agreed." Bobby said evenly.

They pulled into an outlet near the orchard; Sam was watching the last of the sun's golden ray's slip below the horizon as his fear started notching up. He ran to the trunk and pulled out the salt gun along with any other weapon that he thought might at least slow the bastard down. He also pulled out the small butane flame thrower, since they were going to need to be able to torch the 'first tree' if they came across it.

He took off at a run, not bothering to wait for the slower old man as he sprinted into the rapidly darkening forest. He slowed once he was inside the cover of the canopy of trees and it became more difficult to see. He wouldn't do his brother any good if he tripped and knocked himself loopy or worse broke an ankle or something accidentally. He moved with the grace of one who had spent years perfecting the technique. Both he and Dean had spent their youth's learning to move quickly, while making the minimal amount of noise possible. It was one of the many many training sessions that their father drilled into them…that was before Sam started fighting the man tooth and nail…and apparently before he started beating the shit out his eldest son. At least Sam prayed that hadn't been going on beneath his oblivious nose. Cuz that thought hurt a lot worse than knowing that it had happened while he was away...if he'd missed those signs, then he was truly a shitty brother indeed.

He heard something up ahead and he stopped to listen, he knew that Bobby was circling in from the other side…but that wasn't what this sound was.

"You don't have a plan do you?" a female voice asked sharply.

"I'm working on it!" Dean's voice answered quickly. Sam felt the air whoosh from his lungs as he was instantly transported into the vision…everything was happening exactly as it had…and he hadn't been able to save his brother….Sam shook himself out of the self-imposed shock and ran forward.

He rounded the corner just in time to see the scarecrow marching purposefully toward his brother. Sam brought up the rock salt gun and shot directly into the center of the massive moving form. He watched with satisfaction as it fell backward to earth unmoving. He ran to his brother and pulled out the knife he'd had in his belt. "I take back everything I ever said Sammy…I'm so glad to see you." Dean said. The humor mixing oddly with the fear rampaging through his system. "How'd you get here?"

"Found the Impala…Bobby's here too." Sam said quickly, keeping one eye on the still unmoving form of the God. Once he had Dean untied, he turned and rushed to the girl slicing easily through her ropes. She scrambled to her feet and stumbled slightly as the blood rushed back into her numb legs. Sam turned back toward where Dean was still seated, his brother was shifting his skinny legs out from beneath himself, his green eyes warily watching the slowly moving form of the scarecrow. The thing was starting to get up. Deans eyes widened as he looked over at Sam and the girl and then back at the god…

"SAM! RUN!" he cried out. Dean knew that he couldn't escape. But he'd be damned if he was going to be the cause of his little brother's death. He was swinging his arms wildly at his little brother, Sam was simply shaking his head in confusion. Did Dean really think that he would just leave him there to die? What the hell kind of brother did he think Sam was?

Sam was just turning toward the advancing form of the scarecrow when he felt a massive hand slam into his chest throwing him up and into the air. He felt his back impact heavily against a tree and all the air in his lungs was forced out, as his body reacted to the unexpected impact. Dean watched with horror as the monster hit Sam so hard it lifted him into the air and he landed on the outstretched arm of an apple tree. He'd dropped the flame thrower as he'd untied Dean…Dean grabbed the small canister and then flipped his body over so that he was doing what could have been a version of the 'army-crawl' his chest flat against the floor of the forest and his arms hauling his body forward. The god had shifted its attention back to Dean and it was stalking toward the injured hunter. He caught sight of the girl huddled next to the unconscious form of his little brother. She was watching the whole scene with frozen panicked eyes.

Dean hauled himself several feet, he could feel that the scab's on his chest had been completely ripped off and that his rib was now starting to shift painfully. Okay so it had been broken…and not just bruised. He thought slightly bemused. He felt the scarecrow quickly closing the distance between them, he stopped suddenly and reached into his pocket, pulling the small silver lighter from the material. He flicked it open and lit the wick on the butane flame thrower. He then inhaled deeply and flipped his body over again, so that he was staring straight at the advancing form of the God and depressed the trigger; watching with intense satisfaction as the thing burst into flames and stumbled away from where he was currently lying. He looked over his shoulder and noticed that the tree off to his right had a band of engravings marked deeply into the dark bark. Dean turned the butane flame thrower toward the tree and pressed the trigger again and watched as the flames engulfed the trunk of the sacred tree.

Immediately he was forced to drop the canister as a high pitched screech resounded inside his head…he wondered if it was just so loud that it sounded that way…either way…pain slashed through his skull and his hands slammed into his ears in an effort to quiet the intense pitch. He could feel his eyes reacting to the severity of the noise and the trickle of blood that started to run from both ears as he tried desperately to stop the sounds. He felt his grasp on consciousness slipping as he rolled to his back and curled into himself as best he could. Suddenly the encroaching darkness pulled him unwillingly into her grasp…the screeching finally stopping as he lost consciousness.

TBC…

Author's Note: I will post the next chapter quickly…I know cliff hangers suck…I hate them too. But next chapter shifts the story and needed to be its own start to a new adventure.

Please Review: If you like the story, please take time to review it. Thanks