This is my first story, so please be nice. Tell me what you think.
I do not own any of the characters (except for Alex and any other original characters) and I do not own any of the storylines.
Chapter 18
Dean opened the motel room door, his duffel bag slung over his left shoulder. He held the door open and watched as Sam entered the room with Alex in his arms. She was asleep and Sam was carrying her, her legs hanging over his left arm and her head resting in the crook of his right arm. He laid her gently on one of the beds and slipped off her shoes. He pulled the covers over her body and leaned down, kissing her forehead.
"Alright. We have to go investigate this job. We'll leave her a note. She'll be fine," assured Dean.
Sam nodded and Dean threw him a state police uniform to put on. Sam caught it one-handed and threw it on. Dean wrote Alex a note explaining where they went and he and Sam headed out the door.
"Look, I know you're just doing your job, but the police have been here all week. The more he tells the story, the more he believes it's true," said the mom of the child that Dean and Sam needed to talk to about the landlord's disappearance.
"We know you spoke to the local police, but this seems more like a state police problem, so…" said Dean.
"Just tell us what you saw, Evan," said Sam to the little boy.
"I was up late watching TV. I heard this noise, like a monster."
"Tell the officers what you were watching," urged the mom.
"Um… Godzilla. Anyway, I saw something grab Mr. Jennings and pull him underneath the car."
"Okay. Thanks for your time," said Sam.
He and Dean left and headed back to their motel.
Alex woke up and sat up. She looked at the nightstand beside the bed and saw a piece of paper resting atop it. She grabbed it and looked it over.
It read: Alex, gone out to investigate. We thought you might need the sleep. Love, Sam and Dean.
Alex smiled and set the note back on the nightstand. She got out of bed and headed over to the counter to make coffee. As she started the coffee pot, the door opened and Sam and Dean entered.
"Alex, you're awake!" said Dean.
Alex nodded and Sam smiled.
"Good. We're going to the bar later so we can relax. I'm gonna shower."
Dean headed for the bathroom and shut the door behind him.
Dean grabbed three beers from the bartender and headed over to where Sam and Alex were sitting. He set a beer down in front of each of them and took a sip of his own beer as he sat down across from them.
"So, the local police have not ruled out foul play," said Sam.
"Maybe it's just a kidnapping. Not our kind of thing," said Dean.
"Yeah, except Dad marked the area. Maybe we should ask around more tomorrow," said Alex.
"Okay. Alex and Sam, you two head out to the car. I gotta pee. I'll meet you out there."
Dean headed for the bathrooms. "Me, too. See you out there."
Sam followed Dean as Alex headed outside to the car.
Alex stood by the Impala, waiting for Dean and Sam to come outside and unlock it. She held their dad's journal under her arm and looked around the parking lot. There was a rustling noise and Alex's brow furrowed in confusion. She took out a flashlight from her jacket pocket and bent down to look under the car. She saw nothing and stood back up, sticking her flashlight back into her pocket. She walked to the back of the car and set their dad's journal on the trunk. Suddenly, the rustling noise happened again and Alex was yanked under the car.
Dean and Sam walked outside and headed for the Impala.
"Whoa, where's Alex?" asked Dean, stopping once they were close to the Impala.
He looked around the parking lot, but didn't see her anywhere. Sam saw their dad's journal resting on the trunk of the car.
"Alex!" called out Dean.
There was no answer.
"Shit. She's gone," said Sam, running a hand through his hair.
"What can I do for you, officers?" asked the woman who was currently sitting behind the desk at the local police station.
"We're working a missing person. It's our cousin. We were having a few drinks last night at this bar and we haven't seen her since," said Dean.
"Does your cousin have a drinking problem?"
"Alex? No, she wasn't drunk. She was taken," said Sam.
"Alright. Have a seat."
The woman nodded towards the chairs in front of her desk as Sam and Dean sat down in them.
"Name?" asked the woman as she opened a document on her computer.
"Winchester. Alex Winchester."
The woman typed the name into her computer, but found nothing.
"Well, there are no reports."
"We already have a lead. See, there's a camera by the bar that we saw," said Dean.
"Yeah. Why don't you fill out a missing persons report and then we'll check out the camera footage," said the woman.
Dean nodded and she handed him a sheet of paper to fill out.
Alex's eyes fluttered open. She sat up slowly, rubbing her head. She looked around and found that she was locked in a large, human sized cage. She stood up and grabbed the sides of the cage to open it, but it didn't budge. Alex sighed and ran a hand through her long, dirty blonde hair.
The police officer walked up to Sam and Dean, who were sitting on a park bench. She handed them the papers that were in her hand.
"Here are the camera photos," she said.
Dean flipped through them thoroughly, but swiftly. He noticed an old, rusted van in the photos. He pointed to it and looked up at the woman.
"That's taken around the time Alex vanished. Whoever has that thing has to be involved."
Alex was hanging onto the bars that made up the top of her cage. She swung herself forward, kicking at the metal door of the cage. It didn't budge. She tried a few more times with no success. She let go and landed on her feet. She sat down and looked at the man in the cage across from her own. He was sitting up, looking at her.
"Hey, you okay?" asked Alex.
"Does it look like I'm doin' okay?" asked the man, glaring.
Alex scoffed.
"Whatever. Where are we?"
"I don't know. I think the country."
"You're Robert Jenkins', aren't you?"
"Yeah."
The man nodded.
"Well, my brothers are lookin' for us."
"Yeah, well. They're never gonna find us. We're in the middle of nowhere, waitin' for them to come back."
"What are they?" asked Alex.
"See for yourself."
The door swung open and two men with bags over their heads entered the room. The bags had slits so that the men could see through them and another slit so that they could breathe. They pulled a lever and the cage doors opened. They slid a plate of food into each cage and shut the cage doors, heading back out of the basement.
"I'll be damned. They're just people," said Alex, grimacing at the moldy bread and nasty smelling soup in front of her.
"Yeah, what'd you expect?" asked Robert.
He grabbed his spoon and began hungrily slurping down the soup while Alex pushed her plate away into the corner.
The woman officer was driving as Sam sat in the backseat and Dean sat in the passenger seat of the squad car. They were driving down the highway.
"So. I ran both of your badge numbers. It's routine and um, it says your badges were stolen. There's also pictures of you two."
Sam sighed as the woman pulled the car over to the side of the road. She put it in park and looked between the two of them.
"Look, you can arrest us and we'll cooperate. But please, let us find Alex," pleaded Dean.
"Look, I don't know who you are or if this Alex person even is missing."
"Please, she's our family. We have to find her," said Sam.
"I have to take you in," said the police officer.
Dean hung his head and she sighed, closing her eyes.
"After we find Alex Winchester."
Sam grinned over at her.
Alex stood up and looked at her surroundings. She saw a chain hanging from the top of her cage so she pulled on it. A loud creaking noise was heard as Robert's cage was opened. He stepped out of the cage and looked at her.
"Hey, I think you should get back in there," said Alex.
"What? No, I'm gonna get out of here and get help. I'll be back."
Robert silently tiptoed across the room to the door that led outside. He pushed it open, gave Alex a wave with a flick of his fingers, and stepped outside, the door slamming closed behind him. Alex bit her lip and looked down at the ground. She was kicking the dirt with the toe of her shoe when a shrill scream pierced the night. Her head snapped up and she looked at the door through which Robert Jenkins had gone through only a few minutes before. Alex continued biting her lip as a tear slid down her cheek. She closed her eyes.
"Why are you helping us out?" asked Sam as the woman officer turned onto a back road.
"My brother, Riley, disappeared three years ago and we never found him. We searched and searched, but nothing came up."
Sam nodded. The officer stopped the car at a turnoff.
"You two stay here."
She stepped out of the car, Sam and Dean getting out along with her.
"Kathleen, please. She's our family," said Dean, talking to the police officer.
"Don't get involved. Let me handle it," said Kathleen.
She took Dean's hand and quickly grabbed her handcuffs, slapping one on his wrist.
"Are you kidding me?" asked Dean.
She shook her head and attached the other cuff to the car's antenna.
"You're next," she said to Sam.
Sam sighed, but held out his wrists and allowed himself to be handcuffed to the car as well. Once Kathleen was well out of sight in the trees, Sam used his hand that wasn't cuffed to the car to grab a paperclip out of his pocket. He jiggled it around for a while on the cuff, but eventually managed to free his hand.
"I gotta start carrying paperclips," said Dean as Sam undid Dean's cuff as well.
Sam nodded and they ran off into the woods after Kathleen.
Alex watched as the woman in the police uniform that had been put into Robert Jenkins's old cage awoke a few hours later.
"You alright?" asked Alex.
The woman looked over at her, recognition lighting up her face.
"Hey, you're Alex Winchester, right?"
"Yeah, that's me."
"Your cousins are looking for you."
Alex let out a breath of relief.
"Oh, thank God. Where are they?"
"Um, I cuffed them to my car."
Alex sighed and muttered under her breath.
"Fuck."
Kathleen and Alex both whipped their heads upto look towards the door as it swung open. Alex held her breath as she saw two large men enter the room. Her head cocked to the side in confusion when she saw that their faces were uncovered. She grinned when she saw Sam and Dean. They rushed toward her and Alex wrapped her hands around the bars of her cage.
"Alex! Are you hurt?" asked Dean.
"No."
She watched as Dean inspected the lock on the cage.
"These locks look like they're gonna be a bitch."
"There's a lever to open it over there."
Alex pointed to the lever by Kathleen's cage. Sam rushed over and pulled on it, but nothing happened.
"Alright, this thing needs a key. We're gonna find it," said Sam.
"Be careful," warned Alex as she watched them leave.
Sam and Dean walked up the old stairs to the second floor of the house. Music was playing from an old record player and a man was working on something over the kitchen sink, his back to them. Dean nudged Sam and pointed to the keys that were sitting on an end table by the couch. They rushed over and grabbed the key ring. They turned around and jumped back when they saw the little girl that was in front of them. She smiled evilly at them.
"Daddy!"
Suddenly, the man from the kitchen came rushing out into the living room, two other men coming from down the hall. One elbowed Sam in the back of the head, knocking him out cold. Dean looked at the people surrounding him. Dean kicked the one that was behind him in the stomach and kicked the other one to the side of him in the gut. They hunched over and Dean turned to face them. He brought his fist back to punch one in the nose when the oldest man, the dad, hit him over the head with a baseball bat. Dean slumped to the floor as blackness surrounded him.
Sam and Dean awoke around the same time. They looked around them to see the crazy family surrounding them. Dean and Sam were tied to chairs with rope.
"Alright, you two. You pick who we hunt tonight. The cop or the young girl," said the dad.
Dean looked over at Sam, who shrugged.
"The girl, the girl," said Dean, knowing that Alex stood a better chance of survival.
The dad smirked and turned to one of his sons. He handed the son a key.
"Shoot her in the cage."
"What? I thought you were gonna hunt her!" yelled Sam as he watched the son walk down the steps.
The man laughed.
Alex watched as the man opened her cage, grinning the whole time. He aimed the shotgun at her.
"What are you doing?" asked Kathleen, her voice panic stricken.
The man turned around to look at Kathleen and Alex took advantage of the situation. She rushed the man, knocking him to the ground. The gun clattered to the floor and Alex grabbed it as she sat atop the man. She hit the man in the head with the butt of the gun, knocking him out. She grabbed his feet and dragged him further into her cage. Once he was in the cage far enough, she grabbed the key and shut and locked the cage door. She stuck the key in her pocket and walked over to the lever, unlocking it and pulling it to let Kathleen out. Once they were both out, Alex ran over to the electrical box and pulled out all of the wires, causing the power in the whole house to go out. She grabbed Kathleen's hand and they ran through a door that led to the barn.
Alex and Kathleen watched from their hiding place as the dad and the other son ran into the dark barn. Kathleen quickly skittered over to the other side and the son followed her. He shot, but missed. Alex stood up from her crouched position and the dad aimed at her, shooting. Alex dropped to the floor and rolled across the ground, out of sight. Kathleen approached the son secretly from behind and jumped on his back. Alex wrestled the dad for his when he found her and she jumped up, punching him in the nose. He grabbed his nose and Alex ran across the barn to see Kathleen lying on the ground.
"Hey!" called out Alex.
The son turned around and shot at Alex, who ducked. The bullet went past Alex and hit the dad in the shoulder. The dad grabbed his shoulder in pain, falling to his knees and Kathleen punched the son, knocking him out. Alex ran upstairs as Kathleen dragged the son into the other cage.
After Alex had wrestled the little girl into the coat closet once upstairs, Alex untied Sam and then Dean. Dean grabbed her and hugged her fiercely.
"Can't. Breathe," complained Alex.
Dean let her go and they followed Sam out the front door. Kathleen was waiting for them and they all walked away from the house and down the road.
They got to the turnoff where the patrol car was located.
"The police are gonna be here soon. I suggest you get moving," said Kathleen.
"Thanks. I'm sorry about your brother," said Dean.
"Yeah, me too."
They waved at Kathleen and walked down the road. Sam threw his arm over Alex's shoulders.
"Don't ever vanish like that again," said Dean.
"Alright, I'll try. I promise," said Alex.
She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. Dean smiled as they headed off down the road together on foot.