"I just don't get how someone who apparently knows everything about everything leaves her friggin room key on the table," Dean affectionately griped at Lynn, who was rubbing special lotion on her burn and very close to losing it in the backseat. "I mean, you had us driving all over the place tryin to find you, thinking you were out getting yourself killed over one little tiff."

"One little tiff?" Lynn shouted at him as they took a corner deeper into the mountainous woods towards the hiking trails. "Sam felt so betrayed he screamed at me and you were so hurt, you cried! Then you left me!" And then future you's showed up and made my life complete. "So excuse me for being distracted enough to forget my friggin key on the table."

Dean playfully shook his head and replied, "Yeah, to go weapons shopping –" He pulled further up the road to see Haley, Ben, and their guide ready to head out to Black Water Ridge. "Without us."

"Dean," warned Sam when he saw Lynn's lips slightly curl into a snarl.

"Again, for someone who literally knows it all should know that if she's gonna take us shopping it should be for weapons, not clothes."

Lynn opened the door before Dean turned off the engine and leaned over to his rolled down window. "Well, now you know what happens when you leave me unsupervised," she said with a wide (and annoyed) smile. "Don't like it? Don't leave me."

"Ha!" Sam burst and instantly closed his mouth to keep from laughing when Dean shot him an irritated glance.

The brothers got out of the car and followed Lynn to the trunk without acknowledging the other group's presence. "We didn't leave, leave you. And besides, that doesn't mean you go get all the fun hunting stuff without us." Dean responded with more genuine feeling and less sarcasm. "Or a new duffle. We gave you the other one to keep, ya know."

Lynn looked over at him and sweetly replied, "Really? I didn't know you gifted it to me. I thought you guys would still need it for all your stuff." She smiled up at him in thanks and unzipped the charcoal duffle with black tribal arrows to start packing it up. Feeling them both stare at her, Lynn took a breath and asked, "What?"

"I just don't get why you'd need another bag that's smaller than the one we gave you when you can't even fill it," answered Dean with an eye roll as he lifted his own duffle out of the trunk.

Sam slung his canvas bag over his shoulder while Lynn replied, "I can fill it!"

"Only after putting your bow case inside."

Lynn shook her head as she zipped it closed and placed the strap across her chest. "What's your problem?" she demanded, staring Dean down. "Because there's no way it's really about my damn duffle."

Dean shared a look with Sam and closed the trunk. "Nothin. Just…"

"Just what?"

Dean huffed, shifting in his stance, so Sam answered, "Just don't go replacing… everything. Okay?"

Lynn blinked up at him and found her eyes darting back and forth between the brothers. They stood in front of her with their old, beat up duffles full of weapons collected over their lives, hanging over their shoulders like they were as much a part of them as their limbs. And they had given her one. Lynn drew in a deep breath and promised, "I wouldn't replace anything. Ever."

"Good," replied Dean with a small grin.

Sam nodded and gave Lynn a gentle, reassuring nudge with his arm as they walked ahead of her to met up with the group who had just finished discussing the details of the hike ahead.

"You guys got room for three more?" asked Dean.

"Wait, you're really coming with us?" Haley responded, not hiding the surprise in her voice.

"Who're these guys?" the guide asked.

"Apparently, this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue."

"You're rangers?"

Dean arrogantly grinned and replied, "That's right."

"And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" Haley challenged.

Dean looked down at his attire before sarcastically replying, "Oh sweetheart, just because they're black don't make 'em biker boots. These are hiking boots and I don't do shorts."

Lynn had to control herself from sighing and shaking her head. She had forced them to go clothes shopping while picking up her new lotion just an hour ago for said hiking boots because there was no way she was gonna go hunting a Wendigo without the proper footwear. And now here he was, nearly bragging about it.

Dean walked up the hill to catch up with his brother and Lynn followed behind in her slim-fitting olive cargo pants rolled up over her dark brown hiking boots.

"Oh, you think this is funny?" the guide snapped at Dean. "It's dangerous backcountry out there. Her brother might be hurt."

Dean glanced between Sam and Lynn, before saying, "Believe me, I know how dangerous it can be. We just want to help them find their brother. That's all."

Sam, Dean, and Lynn walked ahead of the other group and scouted the forest's terrain. Sam leaned over to Lynn and quietly asked, "You sure the Wendigo is gonna be at the coordinates and not before?"

Lynn nodded as Dean replied for her, "Of course, Sammy. She knows everything."

"Hilarious, Dean, really, but I don't know everything." Lynn hissed as they walked off the path and into the wilderness.

"You kinda do though."

"No, I don't!"

"Ok," Sam mediated, walking in between them. "What's something you don't know?"

Lynn thought for a moment. I don't know how I change your lives by being in it or why you wouldn't change a thing because last night was absolutely terrifying. Like what scared Brady shitless, which is also something I don't know. She bit her lip as the entire series flashed in her mind. I don't know about the lightning storms or what all might be after me… or what Azazel will do now. Or how to remove his mark.

"See? Nothing," whispered Dean. "Because she knows everything."

"Dean, come on, quit joking around." He glanced at Lynn still thinking so hard she clearly lost herself down her mind's rabbit hole. "I think it's actually bothering her. I mean, she did say it was a touchy subject for her."

"Hey, the three of us, we're together for the foreseeable future, Sammy. If we can't have fun with it –"

"Fun with it?" chided Sam. "You're acting like some grade school kid picking on their crush."

Dean hung his head back and groaned, "Friends jab at each other, Sam. And Lynn's a big girl. She jabs back just as much if you haven't noticed."

"Oh!" Lynn suddenly exclaimed, reaching out to swat at Dean. "I don't know your middle names!" It was something she had always been curious about when watching the show. She never needed to know (and loved that Jared and Jensen said it was Samuel Dean and Dean Samuel), but now she could really find out.

"Hold on," Sam said, stopping them in the shade of a large tree. "You know about the demon that killed our mother, that Brady was sent by that demon to kill Jess, about a spell that can kill demons, and in your words "basically" everything about us…" He slowed and couldn't help but smile at her bright doe eyes gazing up at him. "But you don't know our middle names?"

She emphatically nodded and returned his smile. Sam laughed and Dean asked, "Why would you care?"

"I, uh," Lynn pursed her lips together to control the giggle rising in her throat at the memory with future them from yesterday and confessed, "I have an insanely unhealthy attachment to you both. One that reaches a certifiably obsessive level."

They blinked, jaws dropped, and awkwardly stood there. "That's one way to describe the 'supernaturally instant bond,' I guess…" Sam thought aloud.

"Do you mean the kind of obsessed where you're gonna steal our DNA and wear it in a locket?" Dean questioned with a frown. "Or the kind where you're digging a pit that you're gonna throw us into?"

"Definitely the pit," teased Lynn. "You'll love it."

"Oh yeah?" Dean chuckled as they started to walk again.

"Yeah! I'm gonna put a TV down there so you can watch whatever you want, a mini fridge with your favorite beer and snacks, built-in shelves with all the books you could possibly read. Trust me, you're not gonna wanna leave."

"Not that we could," joked Sam.

"No, no once you're down there it's forever."

They laughed with her and soon Haley, Ben, and their guide caught up. In the midst of their laughter, the three slowed their steps so the others could get ahead of them. Lynn glanced back and forth between the brothers and sincerely asked, "I would like to know your middle names."

Sam looked back at her and replied, "Only if we get to know your full name first."

"Yeah, somehow through all this we never got your name."

"And that's way more important."

Lynn felt herself blushing and shared, "Jacilynn Grace Arrowood."

Sam and Dean curved their bodies as they walked to smile at her, pleasantly surprised at learning 'Lynn' was the preferred part of her first name. She watched them react and felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"Well, Jacilynn Grace Arrowood…" Sam wonderfully spoke her name and introduced, "I'm Samuel Ian Winchester and that's my brother –"

"Dean Lawrence Winchester. It's nice to meet you, again."

Feeling as though her entire face must be rose red by now, Lynn thoughtfully responded, "I love that your middle name is the place where your parents met and fell in love and had you guys, but –" She looked at Sam with intrigued eyes. "Why is your middle name Ian?"

"I asked my dad that when I had to make a family tree for school when I was 8," chuckled Sam. "It's the Scottish version of John. So it's my dad's name paired with my mother's heritage."

Lynn placed a hand over her heart and cooed, "That's perfect. I love your names so much."

They had all been walking single file through the untouched forest for hours without much exchange. Roy led them all through with Dean behind him, Lynn behind Dean, and Sam kept a watchful eye at the back. Hayley and Ben stuck to the middle hoping for any sign that their brother was alive.

"Roy, you said you did a little hunting?" Dean asked, condescension lacing his tone.

"Yeah, more than a little."

"Uh huh. What kind of furry critters do you hunt?"

"Mostly buck. Sometimes bear."

With a smirk, Dean replied, "Tell me, uh, Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?"

Before Dean could land his next step, Lynn called out to him to stop, and Roy grabbed a fistful of his dark jacket to yank him backwards. Dean looked over his shoulder to see Lynn sigh in relief, but the fear was still evident in her eyes. Glancing at Roy, he asked, "Whatcha doin, Roy?"

"Jaw trap," answered Lynn. "You almost stepped in a jaw trap."

Roy picked up a stick and brought it down into the metal teeth. The trap was triggered and snapped the thick wood in half. Roy looked at Dean and all-but-chastised, "You should watch where you're stepping… Ranger."

Dean nodded, pursing his lips in a failed attempt to hide his frustration, and turned to Sam. "It's a bear trap." He continued on with a chuckle, but Lynn wasn't having it.

"Jaw trap. Those horrible things don't exclusively trap, torture, and kill bears." She grabbed his arm and spun him around to face her. "And you were almost caught in one. So how about you lay off the guide and start taking in your surroundings, yeah?"

Dean rolled his eyes as Sam walked up to them and said, "It was hidden and I stopped moving when you called out, not when Roy yanked me back so –"

"That's not my point," hissed Lynn. "Dean, this is my first real hunt. We're deep in the middle of nowhere with no resources other than what we packed and each other. And what's waiting out here," she took a shaky breath and lowered her voice. "What's gonna hunt us back, you and Sam being here is all I have to keep me brave enough to keep going. So please, for me –"

"Okay, okay." Dean replied in a soothing voice and wrapped an arm around her. "I got ya, okay? I promise."

Lynn nodded against his chest and smiled at Sam when he moved the brush out of her way so she could walk with him. "Are we getting close?" he softly asked.

"Hm?"

"Your anxiety is getting worse, so I figured we might be getting close to the coordinates."

Lynn curiously glanced up at him and asked, "You noticed my anxiety?"

Sam tried not to chuckle as he replied, "Once we lost sight of the path that led out to the car you got quiet and the farther we got off any trails the more your body tensed up."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it was like watching someone walk on the edge of a cliff. Every muscle went into every planned step." Sam brought his eyes back to the forest floor and finished, "And I think about an hour ago you lost all sense of where you are because you glued yourself to Dean."

Lynn suddenly stopped walking and stared up at Sam with wide eyes. He turned and found himself matching her long, deep breaths. Her lips curled into a small smile as she said, "No one in my whole life has ever noticed me like that."

Sam grinned back at her and replied, "That's how we feel about you."

Lynn nearly jumped at the sudden sound of Dean's harsh ruffling into a plastic bag of M&M's. She inhaled sharply as he walked up next to her, throwing a handful into his mouth. "Why're we hangin out here?" he asked, mouth full of candy.

"We might be getting close to the coordinates," answered Sam. As Haley walked by them, he asked his brother, "What happened there?"

"Told her we're not rangers and that we're cuz o' Dad."

"Right."

They continued walking into the density of the woods with Lynn keeping very close to Sam while making sure Dean was always just a couple steps behind. Roy slowed down and announced, "This is it. Black Water Ridge."

"What coordinates are we at?" Sam asked as he walked ahead of Haley and Ben.

Roy looked down at his digital GPS and said, "35 and minus 111."

Lynn stayed close to Sam's left side as Dean came up on hers. They stared out into wildness of the trees and brush. Nothing. There was nothing but green and shadows. Lynn could feel the silence in her bones and the hidden evil reaching out, clawing at her until the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

"You hear that?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. Not even crickets."

"I'm gonna go take a look around," Roy informed.

Sam glanced over and suggested, "You shouldn't go off by yourself."

"That's sweet," Roy chuckled. "Don't worry about me."

He trekked off through the trees, leaving the rest of the group. Dean looked to all of them and said, "All right, everybody stays together. Let's go." He led them down an easier path in the direction Roy had taken. Lynn followed behind and Sam made sure to stay close while keeping an eye on Haley and Ben.

After reaching the top of a hill, Roy called out to Haley. He had found her brother's camp. They all ran to the site and found it torn to pieces. The large tent and sleeping bags were shred into ribbons with blood and dirt smeared all over from the struggle. All the supplies were destroyed. Nothing salvageable to be seen, but thankfully no sign of her brother either.

"Looks like a grizzly." Roy said.

Lynn walked closer to the shredded tents, staring at the blood streaks that had stained the clawed-up strips, and asked, "It's November. Shouldn't the grizzlies be denning by now?"

Roy looked over to her and replied, "The weather hasn't turned too cold yet so they could still be active. Hell, more active in their search for food."

"Too active," Lynn said under her breath.

Lynn felt her body tense as she walked around. It looked so much more gruesome than the show and she was astounded that the others could actually look at the horror of this campsite and think a bear caused it. Sure, the human mind tends to rationalize it to something that makes sense to them, but this… this was a monster. Not a bear.

"Tommy?" Haley called out. "Tommy!" She took off her backpack and walked into the middle of the destroyed camp. "Tommy!"

Sam hurried after her, shushing her cries. Haley turned to him and asked, "Why?"

"Something might still be out there."

"Sam." He followed his brother's voice and found him crouched down over tracks.

"The bodies were dragged from the campsite. But here," Dean pointed out ahead. "The tracks just vanish." They both turned to see Lynn standing directly behind them. "I'll tell you what, first hunt or not, I'm even more convinced that you're right about it being a wendigo."

Lynn forced a smile that turned out to be a half grimace. Dean chuckled and led her back to the campsite with Sam. They returned to see Haley had found her brother's phone, broken and stained with blood. Dean leaned down and tried to comfort her. "Hey, he could still be alive."

Lynn stared out into the ever-silent woods. Sam came up behind her, trying to see what she was sensing, and asked, "What is it?"

"HELP!" a man's voice echoed from trees.

"It's here," Lynn whispered. "It knows we're here."

"HELP!" the voice shrieked again.

Everyone ran into the unknown, into the dangerous jaws of the wilderness to find the source. Dean and Sam grabbed their black painted flare guns from the bags and bolted after the group. They all ran into something of a clearing and stopped when the cries faded into the wind.

"It seemed like it was coming from around here, didn't it?" asked Haley.

Nothing. There was absolutely nothing.

Sam slowed his movements and carefully looked around. Everyone was there… except for Lynn. He locked eyes with Dean who realized she wasn't with them in the same moment.

"Everybody back to camp!" Sam yelled.

He and Dean immediately turned around and rushed back even faster, fear strengthening their speed.

Lynn hadn't made it a hundred feet away from the camp when she felt it run behind her. It generated its own gush of air it was so fast. She clung to her duffle, feeling the strap safe across her chest helped her maintain a somewhat steady breath. It rushed past her and the force of it nearly knocked Lynn over into a tree. The wendigo was right there… Lynn dropped her duffle to the ground and tried to free her weapon, only she barely had time to grab the zipper.

She had never been more rigidly still. Never forgotten how to breathe so completely.

The wendigo was inches from her face, staring into her like the purest of predators. Lynn stared back, unable to blink as its breath seeped into her skin and low growl burrowed in her ears. There was a sullen redness in the decaying grey around its pale eyes – so empty yet full of insatiable hunger – and its protruding fangs quivered in want of her flesh. Lynn could truly see how long its body was, as though the emaciated bones stretched out the wendigo's pallid body to create its monstrous form. It brought up its razor-like claws and traced the side of her face and neck with them.

Lynn gasped air back into her lungs and whimpered at the sharpness nearly breaking open her skin. The wendigo leaned in closer, sniffing and snarling until it got to her arm. It grabbed her wrist and bent her forearm to see the Mark of Azazel branded on her flesh. With a final sniff, the wendigo roared and cast her arm away – tearing open her grey shirt in the process. Lynn couldn't help but scream and in the next moment it was gone.

"LYNN!" she heard Sam and Dean call out to her. "LYNN!"

"I'm here!"

They burst through the branches and dropped to their knees in front of her. "Are you okay?" Sam asked as Dean looked her over.

"No."

"Are you hurt?" Sam changed the question when he saw the clawed open shirt.

Lynn shook her head. "I don't think it broke skin." She glanced down to see her shirt's silhouetted mountain design split in two, exposing her dark blue watercolor sports bra. There were four red lines leading from beneath her ear to across her chest. "Why didn't it break the skin?"

"Lynn?"

She looked up at Sam and fearfully said, "It had me. It was closer to me than you are right now and it just… it sniffed me and left."

"Sniffed you?" Dean questioned. "And what? Didn't like your coconut shampoo?"

Lynn lifted her branded arm in answer. The Winchesters stared at Azazel's Mark and then each other. How was that possible? How could a demonic symbol force a wendigo to give up the hunt after it caught its prey?

"Our packs!" Haley exclaimed after she, her brother, and the guide made it back to camp.

"So much for my GPS and my satellite phone."

"What the hell's going on?"

Lynn leaned her head back against the tree trunk. "Great question."

"It's smart," said Sam, helping Lynn to her feet. "It wants to cut us off so we can't call for help."

"You mean someone – some nut job out there just stole all our gear?" questioned Roy, searching for answers in the trees.

Sam turned back to Dean as his brother handed Lynn her duffle and said in a hushed tone, "I need to speak with you… in private."

They walked a little farther down, out of earshot from the group, and when Sam felt they were in a safe enough area, he stopped them. "Okay, let me see Dad's journal."

"D'ya think we missed something?" Dean asked after handing it to him.

"I'm not sure, but after that thing was warded off by the mark on Lynn, I want to check." He found the pages about wendigos and read over it again. "Claws… mimic a human voice… strong, fast, eats human flesh…"

"Can only kill it with fire, we know all that, Sam."

He glared up at Dean before returning to the journal. "Anasazi symbols are the only ones listed here to protect yourself from a wendigo. There's nothing else. Nothing relating to demons."

"That's because it's not a demon."

"I know Dean, but its name literally means evil that devours so why would a symbol also meaning evil somehow repel it?"

"Not a clue! But it's a good thing it did because if it didn't, Lynn would've been taken by that thing to be eaten."

Lynn's eyes bulged in fear and the brothers noticed.

"But we would've found you before it did." Dean awkwardly reassured. "You would've been fine either way."

Her eyes darted back and forth between them and flatly replied, "Thanks. I feel so much better."

Sighing, Sam groaned, "Our real problem is them. How're we supposed to hunt this thing and babysit at the same time?"

"By not babysitting them." Lynn responded with more confidence in her voice. "We tell them what's going on and what we need to do."

"If that doesn't work?" Sam challenged.

"Then that's their problem." The brothers looked at her surprised. She shrugged and said, "We can't control other peoples' choices and what they decide to do with what we tell them is not our responsibility." Lynn turned around and started walking back to camp. "Besides, I'm thinking Roy's the only one that's gonna be a problem."

"Not a grizzly!" Lynn announced as she returned to camp with Sam and Dean behind her.

"What?" Haley asked.

"Grizzlies don't hunt people. Not like this."

"What're you talking about?" demanded Roy.

Lynn walked into the middle of camp and declared, "There are more than animals in these woods. More dangerous predators than bears and mountain lions."

Roy shook his head. "You're talkin nonsense."

"Lynn was just face-to-face with it and survived," Sam told them. "She says it's not a bear, it's not a bear."

"Then what is it?" Haley questioned.

"Wendigo," answered Lynn.

Roy grumbled, "A what now?"

"It's a damn-near-perfect hunter." Sam explained. "It's smart and dangerous and nearly unkillable. And all it wants is to hunt us down and eat us alive, but we're here to make sure that it doesn't."

Dean came to stand with his brother and Lynn, stating, "It's getting late. This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We'll never beat it – not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves."

"How?"

They answered Haley's question over the next few hours as the sun set on the forest. Sam, Dean, and Lynn went around the camp drawing the native symbols into the dirt as the rest of the group made a fire in the center of camp. The wendigo hadn't stolen Sam and Dean's bags thanks to Lynn's advice that morning, so everyone was able to eat and hydrate.

"One more time, that's…"

"Anasazi symbols. It's for protection." Dean replied to Haley. "The Wendigo can't cross over them." When the guide laughed, Dean spat, "Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy."

Dean suddenly inhaled the scent of lavender and herbs. He glanced over his shoulder to see Lynn had opened her jar of lotion and started applying it to the brand. The older Winchester walked over as Sam took the jar in his hands.

"This is what you picked up this morning? While we got hiking boots?"

Lynn nodded to Sam and smiled at Dean as he sat down across from them. The lotion felt soothing against her burned skin, and she enjoyed the stronger lavender scent over the other mixed herbs.

"What's it supposed to do again?" asked Dean.

"I called the lady at the Witchery Shop before you guys woke up to make me something that would counteract the mark." Lynn explained as she applied more lotion. "This is it. I just have to apply it a few times a day so Azazel can't sense me anymore. With any luck it'll also heal the scarring."

Sam read over the handmade ingredients label taped to the back with a curious brow. Solomon's Seal Root (protection, cleansing, warding off demons), Helmet Flower (invisibility, protection from evil), Brimstone Powder (prevents hexes, destroys an enemy's power over you), Arrow Root (purification, healing), and Witches Burr (adds great power to spells). Lavender oil added for scent (+ further protection and healing) and aloe added for medicinal burn healing.

"You put this on in the car, right?" Sam inquired as he gave the lotion back to her. When she nodded, he wondered aloud, "Maybe that's what the wendigo was sniffing out. Not the mark."

"Could be," mused Dean. "Makes a bit more sense."

Lynn held the jar out to them and offered, "Want some? We can test the theory."

They both chuckled.

"No, that's yours." Sam kindly said.

"Yeah, you need it more than we do."

Lynn chuckled with them and put the mason jar back into the duffle. She leaned against the broken trunk and gazed up at the stars through the forest canopy. "For a place that's inhabited by evil, it really is beautiful."

The brothers kept their gaze on her. Fire and starlight danced across her fair skin as darkness tried to wrap around her like a blanket. Even in the middle of the murder woods, she could make them smile. Even in the midst of their father disappearing and the dark truth of their lives crashing down on them, she could make them feel that they weren't alone. That they were safe. Because she felt safe with them.

Lynn glanced at them and meekly asked, "What?"

"I was just thinking about what you said," Dean lightly chuckled. "Saving people, hunting things… I mean," he took out his dad's journal and placed a hand over it. "This is my dad's single most valuable possession. Everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to me and Sam. Saving people, hunting things… the family business." Dean grinned, but it turned sad when he met Lynn's gaze. "It sucks that he doesn't know that we have you now too. I think he'd really like you."

"You do?" Lynn's voice was as small as her smile.

"Of course he would. You know archery and knife fighting and are willing to hunt the supernatural." Sam's tone didn't match theirs. Anger laced it and there was a sharpness to his words. "And you know everything about the demon that killed Mom. You're better than the journal and he'd use you just the same."

Lynn's breath shallowed when Sam intensely stared at her. "That's all he'd see."

"Sam –" Dean glared at him, but the younger Winchester cut him off.

"Am I wrong? She knows everything about the demon, and it can track her. Do you honestly think Dad wouldn't use that to finally get revenge?" Sam clenched his jaw almost as much as his fists. "Do you think he would see what we see when we look at her? Someone we trust, someone we care about, someone we never knew we needed? No, I think he's gonna see a journal entry and put her at risk just to get the demon." Sam rubbed his face and stared at the ground. "We already lost Mom and I lost Jessica… we can't lose Lynn too."

"Listen to me," Dean said in a gentler voice. "We're not gonna lose her and especially not because of Dad. He wouldn't do that to us, especially after meeting her for himself." Dean glanced at Lynn and gave her a half grin before returning his focus to Sam. "And I know that a whole lotta crazy crap has gone down in the last two days that we haven't exactly delt with – for ourselves anyway – but all that anger, you can't keep it burning over the long haul. It's gonna kill you. You gotta have patience, man. And you can't put it all on somebody else."

Sam released a heavy breath. "How do you do it? How does Dad do it?"

"Well, for one, them." Dean gestured over to Haley and Ben by the fire. "I mean, I figure our family's so screwed to hell, maybe we can help save some others. It makes things a little more bearable." He smirked at Lynn and said, "She helps too and that I know you know."

"Yeah," Sam agreed with a light laugh.

"And I'll tell you what else helps… Killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can."

Dean smiled at his little brother and in the next moment, Sam turned to Lynn. "I'm sorry. He would like you, I'm just…"

"Scared that he'd react like you guys did at the motel." Lynn finished for him. Sam nodded and she leaned against his shoulder. "Don't worry. Whether he likes me or not, I've got you guys." Her smile glowed brighter than the moon as she said, "That's all that matters."

"HELP ME!" a male voice screamed out from the darkness. "PLEASE!"

They all grabbed their flashlights and the brother's readied their disguised flare guns. Lynn remained by the broken trunk to ready her special arrows kept safe in her duffle.

"HELP!"

"It's trying to draw us out." Dean told the group. "Just stay cool. Stay put."

"Inside the magic circle?" mocked Roy.

Lynn rolled her eyes as the wendigo called out again. The screams got louder and louder until the growling turned into a roar and the voice died out. Roy aimed his rifle into the darkness that swallowed the cries and admitted, "Okay, that's no grizzly."

Lynn finished making her ingenious arrow and assembled her bow from the case. She slowly made her way to Sam, arrow cocked in the bowstring, and tried to follow what his flashlight could illuminate in the woods. Haley backed away with her brother, trying to stay in a safe spot while promising him they'd be all right. Only the wendigo had other plans. It raced around the circle, growling to force them out. Lynn aimed her arrow but saw no target.

"It's here," said Sam.

They all tried to lay eyes on it, to get a sense of it if it stopped, but Roy tried to shoot it down. After a couple of tries, a painful yowl filled the air.

"I hit it!"

"Roy, no! ROY!" Dean called after him as he left the circle. When he didn't listen, Dean turned back to Lynn and ordered, "Don't move!"

He and Sam ran into the dark forest, leaving Lynn with Haley and Ben. She turned to them and asked, "You got that torch ready?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"Good." Lynn brought her attention back to where she lost sight of Sam and Dean. "Cuz I might need you to light my arrow."

There was no sleeping the rest of the night. Roy had vanished after chasing the wendigo and it was too dangerous to search for him in the dark. They all waited in the circle, expecting another attack, but it never happened. The hunt had changed.

After the sun rose above the trees, they all gathered together to see if it was safe to leave the circle.

"I don't… I mean, these types of things, they aren't supposed to be real." Haley processed aloud.

Dean glanced over at her and replied, "I wish I could tell you different."

"How do we know it's not out there watching us?"

"We don't." Dean looked up at Lynn for any sign of confirmation and got raised eyebrows. "But we're safe for now."

Haley leaned closer to him and asked, "How do you know about this stuff?"

"It kinda runs in the family." Dean got to his feet and caught a glimpse of Lynn falling into one of her mental rabbit holes. He stepped over to her and asked, "What're you thinking?"

"Nothing good."

"Meaning?"

Sam deeply sighed as he came around the brush, interrupting her answer. "Hey. So, we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I, for one, want to kill this evil son of a bitch."

"Well, hell, you know I'm in." Dean proudly replied. "Let's do some educating."

Sam opened the journal to the wendigo pages and said, "Wendigo is a Cree Indian word. It means "evil that devours.""

"They're hundreds of years old," added Dean. "Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian or other times a frontiersman or a miner or a hunter."

"How does a man turn into one of those things?" Haley asked.

"Well, it's always the same. During some harsh winter, a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help – becomes a cannibal to survive. Eating other members of his tribe or camp."

Lynn shuddered at Dean's reply as Ben said, "Like the Donner Party."

"Cultures from all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities," Sam continued the lesson. "Speed, strength, immortality."

"If you eat enough of it," said Dean. "Over years, you become this less-than-human thing. You're always hungry."

"So, if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?"

Lynn looked at Haley with all the sympathy she had and answered, "Wendigos know how to survive a long time without food because their hibernations last years. So, when it's awake, it keeps its victims alive so it can eat whenever it wants."

At the pain and worry on the siblings' faces, Lynn added, "Good news is that it should mean your brother is alive. Bad news is we don't know where. Worse news is there's only one way I can think of to find it."

"How's that?"

"We have to track it back there." Dean said as he pulled out his black-painted flare gun. "And torch the sucker."

Dean gave the extra flare gun originally for Lynn, to Haley and a silver knife to Ben so he'd have something of a chance if the thing got close. They headed out, following the claw marks on the trees, and Lynn continuously felt her hackles rise the further out they walked. She knew they were walking into a trap but also knew there was no other way to find the wendigo's lair.

"Dean!" Sam called out when they reached a more open clearing.

"What is it?"

Sam looked at all the trees around them and saw that each one had bloody claw marks torn into the bark. "You know, I was thinking that those claw prints, so clear and distinct…" He darkly chuckled and whispered, "They were almost too easy to follow."

Lynn raised her bow arm a moment before the wendigo growled around them. It was circling them, trapping them. Lynn couldn't get a shot, could barely even see it, and soon felt blood dripping on her dark jacket. With a breath, she lunged forward and turned to aim her arrow up into the trees as Roy's body plummeted to the ground. Still no sign of the wendigo.

Haley screamed and tried to shield her brother. Dean ran over and checked Roy's body. "His neck's broken."

The growling grew louder and closer, so Dean yelled, "Okay, run! Run! Go, go, go, go, go!"

They all fled into the forest, doing their best to stay together, when Ben tripped over a root. Sam doubled back and Lynn stopped to try to get a sense of where the wendigo was in the chase.

"Come on. I got you. I got you," Sam said as he helped Ben to his feet.

Suddenly, they heard Haley scream and soon the wendigo's roar swallowed it whole. Lynn bolted with Sam right behind her and Ben behind them. He called out to his sister but there was no sign of her. No sign of Dean. Sam instantly looked for tracks and saw that one of the flare guns had been smashed and the other thrown against a tree.

"DEAN!"

Lynn collected the unbroken flare gun and started searching the ground for M&Ms. Sam and Ben followed, trying to help in the search for answers as to where Dean and Haley were taken.

"If it keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?" Ben asked.

"Honestly? I think because Roy shot at it. He pissed it off."

Ben looked at Lynn brushing her fingers over the ground and whispered, "What's she doing?"

"Ha!" Lynn burst out before Sam could answer. She got up and showed them the M&Ms in her palm. "Dean left a trail."

"Better than breadcrumbs," Sam replied with a smile. "Did you know he'd do that?"

Lynn nodded as they began to follow the colorfully sprinkled trail. "I knew the only way to find the lair would be for one of us to get taken. I knew if it was Dean, he'd drop the M&Ms for us but I was trying to draw it to me so it wouldn't have to be him. Or Haley."

"Lynn, it doesn't consider you food. If it comes after you…" Sam's thought drifted off which brought her eyes to his. "If you're not food, you're a threat. If it goes after you again, it'll kill you."

Lynn shakily exhaled and unslung the bow from her shoulder. "Right."

Sam eased her forward with a protective hand on her back and said, "I won't let it go after you. Neither will Dean. I promise." He looked to Ben and finished, "We're all making it out of this."

Dean thankfully had enough M&Ms to reach the wendigo's lair. Sam, Lynn, and Ben came up on an old, abandoned mine that warned of danger. The people who put up that sign had no idea just how much. Sam shrunk his way through the broken door, followed by Lynn and Ben. It was incredibly dark within the tunnels. Sam's flashlight was barely bright enough for them to see their entire surroundings. They pressed onward, following the tracks as quietly as possible.

Growling echoed from ahead and Sam brought them all into another passage to hide. He turned off the flashlight and shielded them against the shadows of the wall as the wendigo walked by and down a different tunnel. Ben started to whimper in fear, so Lynn hurriedly covered his mouth. In the next moment, Sam curved his hand under her arm and escaped with them down a safer passage.

After walking for a few more minutes, the wood and rails beneath their feet began to crack. They stopped moving but it was too late. The ground gave way and the three crashed into a lower level. Ben landed in a pile of bones, the dusty skulls of former meals staring at him. He shouted, hurling himself back and into Lynn, who in turn shouted at the contact.

"Hey, it's okay." Sam calmed them. "It's okay."

Lynn hissed at the impact her bow had with her back when she fell. Thankfully it wasn't damaged, but the huntress suspected that she was gonna have another bruise to match all the others. Sam reached over and gently touched her shoulder. She met his gaze and nodded to let him know that she was all right. He sighed and looked around to find Dean and Haley hanging by their bound hands.

Sam instantly went over to Dean and Ben to Haley. They tried to wake their siblings up while Lynn guarded them.

"Dean. Hey, you okay?"

"Ugh, yeah." He groaned.

Sam cut them down as Haley woke up. They were hurt and weak and could barely walk on their own at first. Haley sat with her brother while Dean tumbled into the wall and slid down as his brother tried to help him.

"You sure you're alright?" Sam pried in concern.

"Yeah, yeah." Dean answered, his voice tight with pain. "Where is it?"

Sam glanced at Lynn, who was still ready with her arrow, and said, "It's gone for now."

"We need to get Tommy and go," said Lynn.

"What?" Haley asked.

Lynn tilted her head over to the left so she could see her brother hanging on the other side of mine. Haley forced herself up and Ben helped her over to him. Tommy was filthy, covered in grime and blood, and hung there unmoving. Haley cried as she reached for him.

"Tommy?"

He gasped awake when she touched his face, but the fear soon left his eyes when he realized who was there in front of him. Haley smiled, overjoyed at finding him alive, and told Sam, "Cut him down."

They caught him and helped bring him to the ground, cradling him in their arms. Sam smiled for them and looked over to see Lynn crouching next to Dean, trying to clean the cuts and scrapes. She gave him the flare gun back and he smiled.

"Okay!" Dean declared as Lynn helped him to his feet. "Who's ready to kill this son of a bitch?"

Sam chuckled and hoisted Tommy to his feet. Ben and Haley each took an arm and carried Tommy through the tunnels. Dean and Sam took point while Lynn stayed in the middle to protect the others. Growling sounded from the darkness and the hunters raised their guns.

"Looks like someone's home for supper."

"We'll never outrun it," said Haley.

Dean looked back at them and thought up a plan as quickly as he could. Bringing his eyes to Sam, he asked, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Lynn?"

She smirked at him, and Dean chuckled. "Of course you are. You know everything."

Lynn shoved him with her pulled back elbow and walked forward to scout. Dean turned to the group and said, "Stay with Sam. He's gonna get you outta here."

"What're you gonna do?"

Dean winked at Haley in answer and followed Lynn. He sauntered out into the open, Lynn quietly moving in the shadows, and shouted, "It's chow time you friggin bastard! Yeah, that's right! Bring it on, baby! I taste good!" He motioned for Sam and the others to move before disappearing down the tunnel.

Growling faded in the direction they went, so Sam began to lead them out. Dean and Lynn made their way through the abandoned mines. They could hear the faint growl in the dank air, but there was no other sign of it.

"Hey, you want some white mean, bitch?! I'm right here!" Dean glanced back at Lynn, who shook her head. No sign. The plan was working.

They ran around to the exit and heard the growling grow louder. It was closing in on Sam and the others. They heard the roar and the fire of the gun. Dean and Lynn ran faster as the screams filled the tunnels. Lynn got out ahead of Dean to see it unleash a roar that vibrated the unstable structure around them.

"Now!" She yelled.

Dean didn't have a direct shot of the wendigo, but he did of Lynn's arrow. She pulled it back, aiming it at its chest as it turned around, and waited for only a single breath. Dean pulled the trigger and the flare brushed past the carefully made arrow, lighting it ablaze. There was no time for it to run. The arrow was too fast, even for a wendigo. The fiery broadhead pierced into its chest and burned it from the inside out. Its whole body engulfed in flames and the roar became a howl of agony as it melted into ash.

"Not bad, huh?" Dean playfully said as he limped over to Lynn.

She laughed and said, "Not bad at all."

The hike out of Black Water Ridge in the dead of night with an injured person in tow was somehow easier than the hike into its dangerous and dense forest during the day. Lynn was able to breathe much easier as they traveled back down to civilization knowing that the wendigo was gone for good. That Tommy was safe, and Shaw's parents were avenged.

She sat on the hood of the Impala, watching Dean get his last bandage from the EMTs and Sam give his statement with Ben to the police. Lynn smiled when Haley walked over to Dean to say thank you and knew he was being his infamously charming self. And there was no storm or sign of Brady. Things were looking up.

Sam and Ben walked over to the ambulance where Dean and Haley were saying goodbye. As they separated, she looked back and waved at Lynn. She returned it and smiled as the Winchesters made their way to her and sat on opposite sides of the hood. She'd never get tired of sitting between them.

"Tommy's gonna be okay?" Lynn asked even though she knew the answer.

"Yeah, and they said thanks." Dean passed the message along.

"I bet." She replied with a smirk.

Dean lightly nudged her shoulder and chuckled, "You gotta teach me how to make those arrows. It's friggin bad ass."

Lynn laughed, truly laughed from deep in her belly. The brothers laughed with her, and Sam managed to say, "Us. You have to teach us how to make those arrows."

"Maybe instead of more clothes shopping tomorrow, we can buy those supplies and have some fun."

Lynn's laugh turned into a groan as she slid off the metallic hood. "Okay, you do realize that I don't actually have that many weapons, right? I just went out and bought the bare minimum of what I figured I'd need."

They both smirked up at her with teasing eyes, so she continued with a sarcastic grin to match. "Come on, boys. I don't have a shotgun or a revolver or a silver hunting knife. I don't have an iron knife either or a machete. I don't have an axe or taser or a lock picking kit or my own holy water flask. And I definitely want to get a pistol crossbow." Sam and Dean openly smiled up at her, excitement gleaming in their eyes as she said, "And you know I could never get all that without you two or safely keep it all anywhere except in the duffle you gave me."

They chuckled and Dean leaned his head back to say, "Man, I hate camping."

"Me too," agreed Sam.

"Let's just get her all the weapons and never go camping again."

Lynn giggled. "Deal."

"The three of us," Dean thoughtfully said. "We got this. You know that right?"

"Yeah, I know," sighed Sam as Lynn nodded. "And while we got this… I'm driving."

Dean jingled the keys in his hands and tossed them to his little brother. Sam caught them in the air, and they crossed to the other sides of the car. Lynn made her way to the backseat with a wide grin and laid herself down on the leather seat as the brothers settled into their new seats up front. Sam revved the engine and drove them off into the night.