π¨ ππππ πππππ, and a half baked backstory; Medusa, Dean and Sam were on the road. Dean and Sam both agreed to bring Maeve along for the ride, not that she gave them much choice. Maeve and Dean had yet to talk about what happened that night, neither really sure if they should. For now, she sat in the backseat as Sam slept in the passenger seat with Dean rocking out to his music as he drove. Medusa frowned as she turned to face Sam who had just jumped awake from another nightmare. Dean frowns as well towards his brother as he turns down the radio that had been playing Foreigner. Sam blinks and rubs his eyes with a small groan, "You okay?" Dean asked his brother who paused for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." Dean nods in response as Maeve popped her head in between them, turning to face Sam with a raised eyebrow. "Another nightmare?" She asked gently, Sam clears his throat and nods to her.
"You wanna drive for a while?" Dean asked his brother, both Maeve and Sam turned to him with funny looks. Sam laughs as Maeve frowns towards him, "Dean, your whole life you never once asked me that." Sam raised an eyebrow as Maeve pouts lightly, "I asked you last week if I could and you didn't let me." She mumbles out, Dean sighs. "Just thought you might want to. Never mind. Sorry, babe, but I haven't you drive, ain't sure I want to test it out." He smirked back towards her with a wink. She stuck her tongue out at him as he wiggled his eyebrows. Sam rolled his eyes, kinda weirded out by the flirting but at the same time; he was happy for his brother. "Look, man, you're worried about me. I get it, and thank you, but I'm perfectly okay."
"Mm-hm." Sam grabs a map, "All right, where are we?" He points before quickly showing it to Dean and Maeve. "We are just outside of Grand Junction." Sam folds down the map, which is of Colorado and has a large red X labeled 35-111. "You know what? Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon." Sam says with a small shake of his head as he glanced out the window. Maeve shifts around slightly to get comfortable once more, her eyes meet Dean's in the mirror who sighs gently. "Sam, we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica..." Dean starts off, his voice trailing as Sam eventually nodded. "We gotta find Dad first." Sam responds, "Dad disappearing and this thing showing up again after twenty years, it's no coincidence. Dad will have answers. He'll know what to do."
"It's weird, man. These coordinates he left us. This Blackwater Ridge." Medusa raises an eyebrow as her eyes trace over the runes along her body. "What about it?" The other two asked together, "There's nothing there. It's just woods." Sam puts down the map, "Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?" They drive past the National Forest sign that says,
"Welcome to Lost Creek Colorado National Forest."
ππππππππ
π»ππ π°πππππ is parked next to a sign that says, Ranger Station Lost Creek Trail, Lost Creek National Forest. "So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote." The trio step out of the vehicle, taking a quick look around. Maeve frowns slightly towards the woods as the boys move forward. "Sweetheart, you coming?" Medusa slowly nodded as she turned to face him, he gives her a smile in return. She moves to his side, where he places one of his arms around her waist. Sam is already inside and waiting while he looks at a 3D map of the national forest, paying particular attention to the ridge labeled, 'Blackwater Ridge.' Dean looks at the decorations as Maeve moves off to Sam's side. "It's cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place." She listens as they look over the small life sized map of the area.
"Dude, check out the size of this freaking bear." Maeve and Sam look over, both raising an eyebrow towards him. Dean is looking at a framed photo of a man standing behind a much larger bear. Sam comes to stand next to Dean while Medusa pauses to watch them. "And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure."
A forest ranger, name tagged Wilkinson, walks up behind them; when he speaks, Dean and Sam whip around, startled. Maeve snorts at them as Dean shoots her a look, she just sends him a teasing smile. "You boys aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" The Ranger asked, not taking notice of Medusa who continued to look around. "Oh, no, sir, we're environmental study majors from UC Boulder, just working on a paper." Sam laughs a little, Dean grins and raises a fist. "Recycle, man." Sam shoots him a look, as Medusa laughs under her breath. The Ranger glares at Dean for a moment, "Bull." Sam's eyes flick to Dean, who doesn't move. "You're friends with that Haley girl, right?" Medusa watches as Dean considers what he says, trying to see if that would be a better route. "Yes. Yes, we are, Ranger..." Dean checks the Ranger's name tag, "Wilkinson." Dean smirks and shoots Maeve a wink.
The Ranger notices, finally realizing she was with them; especially after she moved over to them. "Well I will tell you exactly what we told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth, so it's not exactly a missing persons now, is it?" Dean shakes his head, "You tell that girl to quit worrying, I'm sure her brother's just fine." Dean nods along as the other two watch with weird looks, "We will. Well that Haley girl's quite a pistol, huh?" Maeve smacks Dean on his arm causing Sam to snort when she gets a dirty look from the man she hit. "That is putting it mildly." The Ranger mumbles as he glares at them. "Actually, you know what would help is if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit. You know, so she could see her brother's return date." The Ranger eyes Dean, who raises his eyebrows in return as if asking the man to challenge him.
ππππππππ
"πΆπ ππππ πππππ π ππππ, I didn't even hit you that hard." Medusa laughs as Dean continues to pout as they walk of the Ranger Station. He spins to face her, but before he could say anything she leans forward to kiss him on the cheek. Sam sighs from beside them, frowning at the paper in Dean's hand. "What, are you cruising for a hookup or something?" Medusa immediately takes a step back as Dean frown, they were having a moment and Sam totally ruined it. Dean slowly turns to face his brother with a glare, "What? What do you mean?" Dean asked as Medusa moves towards the car. "The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge, so what are we waiting for? Let's just go find Dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?" Dean and Sam stop to stand beside the Impala. "I don't know, maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it?"
A pause happens between the trio, "What?" Sam asked, noticing his brother's strange look. "Since when are you all shoot first ask questions later, anyway?" Dean asked with a frown, "Since now." Sam turns away; the sound of the car door opening is heard. "Really?" Dean goes around the car, pausing when he noticed Medusa in the back with a frown as she looks out the window once more. "For your information, I'm not looking for a hookup. I haven't even looked at another female since she came into my life." Dean hissed harshly towards Sam over the roof as Sam raises an eyebrow with a smirk. "I know." Sam utters out smugly, Dean scoffs before they both get in.
The three of them hitting the road again.
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π»ππ π°πππππ πππππ to a stop at the address that they had been given. The trio gets out once more, making their way up to the porch. Sam knocks and a black haired woman opens the door, they immediately know it's Haley Collins. "You must be Haley Collins. I'm Dean, this is Maeve and Sam, we're, ah, we're rangers with the Park Service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted us to ask a few questions about your brother Tommy." The woman hesitates, her eyes squinting at them. "Lemme see some ID." Dean pulls out a fake ID with the name 'Samuel Cole' and holds it up against the screen. Haley looks at it, then at Dean, who smiles stiffly towards her. Haley slowly opens the door, her body still slightly hesitating. "Come on in." She gestured for them to come inside, "Thanks." Maeve speaks with a smile, the fact that she didn't notice the name was a complete mystery to the snake goddess.
The door swings open; and she catches sight of the Impala. She pauses as the trio passes by her, "That yours?" She asked Dean with a raised eyebrow, he turns; spotting what she was looking at. He smiles brightly before nodding, "Yeah, isn't she beautiful. I love her. " Dean looks towards Maeve who spoke up, Dean's heart pounds for a second as he watched her eyes shine. She was beautiful, Haley watches the exchange with a small smirk while Sam is looking back at the Impala. "Nice car." Haley murmurs, and turns to lead them into the kitchen, where a younger male is sitting at the table on a laptop. Dean turns his head to mouth something to Sam, who rolls his eyes. Sam thinks he is muttering about Haley but he's not, he's smiling and feeling all happy because of Maeve.
"So if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?" Haley comes back into the room with a bowl she places on the table. "He checks in every day by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos-we haven't heard anything in over three days now." Sam glances toward the couple who were looking around together. "Well, maybe he can't get cell reception." Haley shook her head in response, "He's got a satellite phone, too." Dean frowns as he looks towards them. "Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, "He wouldn't do that." Dean eyes the boy who looks away. Haley puts more food on the table, "Our parents are gone. It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other." The trio all knew exactly how they felt, with the boys' mother and Medusa losing everything over the last couple centuries she'd been cast away. "Can I see the pictures he sent you?"
"Yeah." On a laptop, Haley pulls up pictures. "That's Tommy." She clicks twice and another picture comes up, then the still frame opening the latest video. "Hey Haley, day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow." Sam spots the shadow flicking past, "Well, we'll find your brother. We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing." Medusa speaks up with a determined look, "Then maybe I'll see you there. Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself." She tells them with a raised eyebrow full of challenge. "I think I know how you feel." Dean murmurs gently as he nods toward the woman. "Hey, do you mind forwarding these to me?"
"Sure."
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π»ππ πππππ ππ someone breaking a game of pool is heard as the trio makes their way inside the local bar. A waitress goes past carrying beer, Dean doesn't even glance at her; Sam raises an eyebrow at the information as they sit down at a table. Maeve is looking around the area with a small frown on her face. She watched the pool game, before turning back to the guys. "So, Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic. Local campers, mostly. But still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there. They were never found." Sam opens John's journal, "Any before that?" Sam pulls out newspaper articles to show Dean and Medusa. "Yeah, in 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack." Dean reads the headline in The Lost Creek Gazette, 'Grizzly Bear Attacks! Up to eight hikers vanish in lost creek area. Hikers disappearance baffle authorities. Families continue search and rescue efforts in spite of disappointing.'
Sam pulls out his laptop, "And again in 1959 and again before that in 1936." Sam opens the laptop, which already has a window open to Tom's video. The younger brother of Haley, the one who snipped at Dean earlier. "Every twenty-three years, just like clockwork. Okay. Watch this. Here's a clincher. I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to the laptop. Check this out." Sam pulls up the video and goes through three frames of the video one at a time. A shadow crosses the screen, "Do it again." Sam repeats the frames. "That's three frames. That's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move." Dean hits Sam, he looks up. Maeve watches with a small smile as Dean smirks smugly. "Told you something weird was going on." Sam chuckles lowly with a shake of his head. "Yeah." Sam closes the laptop, "I got one more thing." Sam hands over another newspaper article. "In 'fifty-nine one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive."
Dean looks at The Lost Creek Gazette, "Is there a name?" Medusa asks from the other side of the table, where she sat. Dean winks at her over Sam's shoulder who nods in return.
Guess it was time to move on.
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π»ππ ππππ πππππ ππ front of an old man, Mr. Shaw; said man has a cigarette in his mouth. He leads the trio inside his house, apparently not caring that he was smoking still. "Look, ranger, I don't know why you're asking me about this. It's public record. I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a..." Sam interrupts, Medusa smacks him slightly at his rudeness. "Grizzly? That's what attacked them?" Shaw takes a puff of his cigarette, takes it out, and nods. "The other people that went missing that year, those bear attacks too?" There was a short pause between everyone in the room, then Dean spoke up. "What about all the people that went missing this year? Same thing?" Maeve sighs as the man doesn't say anything, "Look, if we knew what we were dealing with, we might be able to stop it." She explains to the old man who sighs.
"I seriously doubt that. Anyways, I don't see what difference it would make." He sits down in his old recliner, "You wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever did." Sam sits down across from the man with a determined look. "Mr. Shaw, what did you see?" The man pauses and the trio makes eye contact with one another. "Nothing. It moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it, though. A roar. Like...no man or animal I ever heard." Shaw practically started to shake as he recalled his childhood trauma. Medusa slowly begins to move around the room, her hand is gently placed on the old man's shoulder; almost immediately he relaxes. Sam frowns at the sight, as Dean cocks his head; the boys shooting each other a look. Sure, Maeve had given them a story but they both knew it wasn't all true. Dean knew something was different about her, and Sam wanted to make sure they could trust her.
"It came at night?" Sam asks as Maeve looks towards them, Dean knows that even if he doesn't have the whole story; he still trusted her. It was strange, meeting her, having a one night stand and then bringing her along. It's never happened to him before, but honestly he was ok with it. He knows Maeve will tell him the truth when the time comes, Sam will be there as well. Shaw nods to Sam, "Got inside your tent?" Maeve asks as she moves back towards Dean. "It got inside our cabin. I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door. It unlocked it. Do you know of a bear that could do something like that? I didn't even wake up till I heard my parents screaming." Shaw explains with tears filling his eyes, "It killed them?" Sam asked, "Dragged them off into the night." Shaw shakes his head. "Why it left me alive...been asking myself that ever since." There was a pause as his hands go to his collar. "Did leave me this, though."
The old man opens his collar to reveal three long scars, claw marks of some kind. The trio frown at one another, "There's something evil in those woods. It was some sort of a demon."
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πΆππ πππππππ πππππ ππππ, walk the length of a corridor with rooms on either side. "Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. If they want inside, they just go through the walls." Medusa speaks up, both men turning to face her with frowns of agreement on their faces. "So it's probably something else, something corporeal." Sam states, Dean shoots his brother a look. "Corporeal? Excuse me, professor." Dean mutters sarcastically, his lips pulling up into a smirk. "Shut up. So what do you think?" Sam asked as the three of them make their way outside. "The claws, the speed that it moves...could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog. Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature, and it's corporeal. Which means we can kill it." Dean opens the trunk of the Impala, then the weapons box, and props it open with a shotgun. He puts some guns in a duffel bag, Sam leans in. "We cannot let that Haley girl go out there."
"Oh yeah? What are we gonna tell her? That she can't go into the woods because of a big scary monster?" Maeve asked sarcastically as she crossed her arms and cocked her hip. Dean grunts slightly as his eyes rake up her body, finding her sass very sexy. "Yeah." Dean looks at Sam after clearing his throat, trying to rid his thoughts. "Her brother's missing, Sam. She's not gonna just sit this out. Now we go with her, we protect her, and we keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend." Dean picks up the duffel, "Finding Dad's not enough?" Sam slams the weapons box shut, then the trunk. "Now we gotta babysit too?" Sam snips with a glare as Dean stares at him for a small moment. Medusa watches the exchange with curious eyes, "What?" Sam asked, frowning at his brother. "Nothing." He throws the duffel bag at Sam and walks off. Sam stares after him, his eyes turning to Maeve who shrugs and follows after Dean.
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π»ππ πππππ ππππππ pulls up to the edge of the forest, Dean makes eye contact with Maeve who gives him a small smile and nod. The three of them get out of the car, Sam opens the back door of the Impala and pulls out the duffel bag. Maeve reaching around him, pulling out her own gear that she had brought with her. She always made sure to travel lightly, "You guys got room for three more?" Dean asks, his arm not so subtlety wrapping around Maeve's waist. Haley stood in front of them with her brother and the guide she hired. "Wait, you want to come with us?" Haley asked with a cock of her head as she watches them. Sam looks less than pleased to be there, he wanted to keep looking for his father but with two against one; here they were. Dean wanted to help Haley, understanding how it feels to look for a missing family member. Plus, this is who he is; he helps people. Medusa stayed with the boys because they help her feel a sense of normality. For years, she's been alone and one chance meeting has given her a start over.
"Who are these guys?" The guide snaps in annoyance as he glares the three down. Maeve just ignores the man, her face pulling a bored look as her eyes scanned the wooded area around them. "Apparently this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue." Sam heads past everyone with an eye roll as Dean smirks sarcastically at them. "You're rangers?" The guide gave a small laugh as he questioned them. "That's right." Dean nods with a smirk, he didn't like being laughed at; Maeve found his attitude entertaining. "And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" Dean looks down at himself, then he looks towards Maeve with an offended look. "Well, sweetheart, I don't do shorts." Dean heads past Haley, pulling Maeve along with him. "What, you think this is funny? It's dangerous back country out there. Her brother might be hurt." Sam turns back, "Believe me, I know how dangerous this could get. We just wanna help her find her brother, that's all." Dean and Maeve head past Sam.
The group hikes through the forest, the guide; Roy in the lead, then Dean with Maeve, Haley, Ben, and Sam bringing up the rear. "Roy, you said you did a little hunting." Dean starts slowly, making eye contact with Sam who nods. "Yeah, more than a little." Roy responds, "Uh-huh. What kind of furry critters do you hunt?" Dean asks, "Mostly buck, sometimes bear." Dean passes Roy, his stride confident. "Tell me, uh, Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?" Roy grabs Dean, yanking him to a stop as Medusa comes forward. Sam watching with interest, "Whatcha doing, Roy?" Medusa asks, her eyes dark as Dean watches with a smirk. Her look making him get all hot and bothered, Roy grabs a stick and pokes the bear trap Dean had almost stepped in. Haley scoffs and shoot them an annoyed look, "You should watch where you're stepping. Ranger." Roy drops the stick and retakes the lead. "It's a bear trap." Dean laughs hesitantly as Maeve smacks him in the stomach causing him to grunt.
They hike on, Haley catching up to Dean and Maeve who had just started walking together in step. "You didn't pack any provisions. You guys are carrying a duffelbag. You're not rangers." Haley grabs Dean's arm, causing Maeve to shoot her a look. She immediately removes her hand, "So who the hell are you?" Ben goes past Haley, Maeve and Dean. Sam looks at Dean, who indicates with his expression that Sam's to go on by; Sam obeys. Dean watches him go for a moment. "Sam and I are brothers, Maeve is our friend and we're looking for our father. He might be here, we don't know. I just figured that you and us, we're in the same boat." Dean explains to her, trying to gain her trust. "Why didn't you just tell me that from the start?" Haley scoffs back with a small laugh, Maeve lets out a sigh as she starts forward. "I'm telling you now. 'sides, it's probably the most honest I've ever been with a woman other than Maeve... ever. So we okay?"
Haley watches as Dean's eyes stray after Maeve, he was silently hoping Haley would hurry up so he could catch up with her. "Yeah, okay." Haley finally breathed out, "And what do you mean I didn't pack provisions?" Dean pulls out a big bag of peanut M and sticks his hand in the bag as he hikes on; quickly catching up with Maeve. Haley waits a moment, watching Dean hold out the bag for Maeve who grabs a few, then follows after them with a small shake of her head.
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π°π πππ ππππππππ ππ get dark as Roy leads the way, followed by everyone else. Roy slowly comes to a stop and nods forward, "This is it. Blackwater Ridge." Sam heads past Roy. "What coordinates are we at?" Roy pulls out a GPS, which reads N 35o 45.383, W 111o 00.55. "Thirty-five and minus one-eleven." Dean comes up to Sam, Maeve right behind him as they listen to the sounds around them. "You hear that?" Maeve asks as her eyes squint, her body tensing at the feeling of being watched. "Yeah. Not even crickets." Sam responds with a frown, "I'm gonna go take a look around." Roy starts to move away from the group. "You shouldn't go off by yourself." Sam speaks, spinning to face Roy who lets out a fake laugh. "That's sweet. Don't worry about me." Roy waves his gun and pushes between Dean and Sam to retake the lead.
Dean turns back to Maeve as Ben and Haley catch up, she nods to him with a small smile. He smiles back gently, "All right, everybody stays together. Let's go." Medusa, Sam, Dean, Ben, and Haley are looking around near a large rock. "Haley! Over here!" Haley runs towards Roy's voice, followed closely by the others. They all come to a halt, Haley gasps in horror as Maeve frowns. Sure, she lied to the boys and told them she was a hunter; with everything she knew, she'd make a great one. It's just been a long time since she's seen blood, flashbacks rush through her head as she turns away. The memories of the men who would come to hunt her down, the kills in self defense. "Oh my God." The tents are torn open and bloody and all the supplies are scattered.
"Looks like a grizzly." Roy states causing Medusa to scoff out loud, she had a feeling about this. Everyone starts to look around, "Tommy?" Haley takes off her backpack and goes through the campsite. "Tommy!" Sam moves to catch up with Haley, Dean and Maeve keeping watch. "Shh." Sam quiets her with a frown towards the area around them. "Tommy!" She shouts out again as Sam grabs her arm. "Shh-hh-hh!" She spins to face him with a glare. "Why?" Medusa pauses as she moves towards the edge of the camp site. Dean furrows his eyebrows as he follows close behind her. "Something might still be out there." Sam snaps towards Haley who flinched slightly, "Sam!" Sam goes over to the couple, snapping a stick, and crouches next to him. "The bodies were dragged from the campsite. But here, the tracks just vanish. That's weird."
The trio stand up, Dean leaning in closer to Sam as he starts to speak. "I'll tell you what, that's no skinwalker or black dog." Dean and Maeve go back to the campsite with Sam following behind them. Haley picks up her brother's cell phone; it's bloody. She starts to cry as she turns the phone over and notices the back is open. Dean crouches next to her, "Hey, he could still be alive." Haley gives Dean a look, making him wince in response. "Help! Help!" Shivers ran down Maeve's spine as she spun towards the sound. She grabs Dean's arm, trying to stop him from leaving but ends up following after Roy who leads the way as everyone runs towards the sound. "Help! Somebody!" They come to a stop as they find no one, "It seemed like it was coming from around here, didn't it?" They listen.
Medusa spins around with a frown, "Everybody back to camp." She demands, her body tightening up as she takes off into the trees back towards camp. "Maeve!" Dean shouts, immediately rushing after her; Sam and the others following close behind. Back at the campsite, all the supplies are missing. Medusa glares in annoyance, she was a little rusty but she knew she should've trusted her damn instincts. Dean raised an eyebrow towards her, he knew she was blaming herself. He knew she had tried to stop him from running after everyone. He would have to talk to her about this later, "Our packs!" Haley shouts in horror. "So much for my GPS and my satellite phone." Roy scoffs in disbelief and annoyance. "What the hell is going on?" Haley asks as she spins to face the trio, "It's smart. It wants to cut us off so we can't call for help."
"You mean someone, some nutjob out there just stole all our gear." Medusa scoffs with an eye roll at the annoyingly rude ass man, Sam quickly makes his way over to the couple. "I need to speak with you. In private." Sam speaks up, his eyes scanning the group. He wasn't really talking about Maeve but she started moving away anyway. "Where are you going?" She turned to face the brothers, both of them with confused looks on their faces. "You wanted to talk in private." She stated with a cock of her head, Sam lets out a small laugh as Dean quirks an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, and you are included in private. Come on, sweetheart; get with the program." Dean teased softly causing her to smile back in response. Sam watching them with a small sad smile, he was happy for his brother; that wasn't even a question but he was also jealous. He really missed Jess. The trio head a little ways away from the group, "Good. Let me see Dad's journal." Dean hands it over. Sam opens it and flips through until he finds a particular page. "All right, check that out."
Sam points to a First Nations-style drawing of a figure. "Oh come on, wendigos are in the Minnesota woods or, or northern Michigan. I've never even heard of one this far west." Dean scoffs in denial, but Medusa frowns. "No, he's right." She speaks up with a nod, it would make sense; with the feelings she was picking up. Medusa was technically considered a goddess in some aspects, and she has had various powers throughout her life. One was being able to sense another creature or monster, however most of her abilities are blocked, but the runes that have been placed upon her body. When God gave her these runes, he allowed her to be able to remove them; but they both knew she wouldn't becuase of what she would turn into if she did. So she's been living her life a mostly normal immortal being. She can sense a little bit here and there, she's able to heal to some extent as well but most of her abilities are locked away.
She absentmindedly starts to rub the main rune upon her chest, right in the center. That was the one she never wanted to remove, if that one is ever removed; she would turn back into the ugly beast she knows she is. "Think about it, Dean, the claws, the way it can mimic a human voice." Her train of thought was broken by Sam's voice, then Dean's sigh. "Great." Dean takes out his pistol with a scoff of annoyance. "Well then this is useless." Sam gives Dean back John's journal and heads past the two, stopping for a moment. "We gotta get these people to safety." Back at the campsite, Sam addresses the group. It had just gotten darker, and that caused some worry within the trio of hunters. "All right, listen up, it's time to go. Things have gotten...more complicated."
"What?"
"Kid, don't worry. Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it."
"It's not me I'm worried about. If you shoot this thing, you're just gonna make it mad. We have to leave. Now."
"One, you're talking nonsense. Two, you're in no position to give anybody orders."
Dean moves forward to stand between Sam and Roy as they stared each other down in anger. "Relax." Dean hissed towards Sam, his brother going way too macho on this, "We never should have let you come out here in the first place, all right? I'm trying to protect you." Roy steps right into Sam's space, Medusa rolls her eyes at them. "You protect me? I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you good night." Roy hissed at Sam who glared back. "Yeah? It's a damn near perfect hunter. It's smarter than you, and it's gonna hunt you down and eat you alive unless we get your stupid sorry ass out of here." Roy laughs about to say something when a sharp piercing whistle sounded, everyone immediately flinched and covered their ears. All eyes turning on Medusa who was glaring at them with her arms now crossed. "Look, ladies. You're both pretty but we have more important things to worry about so pull back those egos and chill the fuck out before I smack you both so hard, you'll be seeing stars for weeks." As she spoke, the sky darkened more; the way it curved around her made her even more beautiful yet scary to look at. "Are we clear?" She asked with a cock of her head, silently asking for them to challenge her.
"Yes, ma'am." They both muttered, moving away from one another as Ben and Haley watched with slightly amused looks. Dean gave her a heated stare as he moved towards her, "I'm so hot for you right now, sweetheart. You have no idea." He rumbled towards her as he pulled her body against his; she gapped slightly up at him as she felt him against her. "Maybe later, right now, we have work to do." He grunted in annoyance before nodding in agreement. Later. Definitely later. He turns to face the group, "Alright, 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." Haley frowns in confusion at him. "How?"
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π΅ππππ πππ πππππππ ππππππ, the group has built a campfire, and Dean draws something in the dirt around the campsite while Haley pokes at the fire. "One more time, that's..." Haley paused as she watched Dean, Maeve and Sam were keeping an eye out for the monster. Medusa was switching her gaze between Dean and the woods as she munched on some dried jerky one of the others brought. "Anasazi symbols. It's for protection. The wendigo can't cross over them." Roy laughs, throwing his gun over his shoulder. "Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy." Dean heads over to sit next to Sam, who is at the other edge of the campsite. Maeve and Dean make eye contact with one another before he gestures for her to come over. "You wanna tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours?" Dean asked as Maeve plopped down next to them. "Dean..." Sam started off slow, "No, you're not fine. You're like a powder keg, man, it's not like you. I'm supposed to be the belligerent one, remember?"
There was another pause, "Dad's not here. I mean, that much we know for sure, right? He would have left us a message, a sign, right?" Sam asked, Medusa nodded in slight agreement; they definitely would know if John was here. "Yeah, you're probably right. Tell you the truth, I don't think Dad's ever been to Lost Creek." Dean utters out with a frown, "Then let's get these people back to town and let's hit the road. Go find Dad. I mean, why are we still even here?" Sam snaps in annoyance causing Medusa and Dean to sigh. "This is why." Dean comes around to Sam's front and holds up John's journal. "This book. This is Dad's single most valuable possession-everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to us. I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things. The family business." Sam shakes his head.
"That makes no sense. Why doesn't he just-call us? Why doesn't he-tell us what he wants, tell us where he is?" Sam furrows his brow with a frown, "I dunno. But the way I see it, Dad's giving us a job to do, and I intend to do it." Medusa watches Dean with a small frown, he was a soldier just like any other. Soldier, Hunter, same difference. "Dean... no. I gotta find Dad. I gotta find Jessica's killer. It's the only thing I can think about." Maeve finally sighs out loud before speaking up. "Okay, all right, Sam, we'll find them, I promise. Listen to me. You've gotta prepare yourself. I mean, this search could take a while, and all that anger, you can't keep it burning over the long haul. It's gonna kill you. You gotta have patience, Sam." Sam looks down, then up. Dean watches her in slight awe as she took the words right out of his mouth, she put it better but same difference. "How do you do it? How does Dad do it?"
Dean looks over at Haley and Ben with a frown, "Well for one, them." Sam and Medusa also look in that direction. "I mean, I figure our family's so screwed to hell, maybe we can help some others. Makes things a little bit more bearable." There was another pause, "I'll tell you what else helps." Maeve and Sam look back at Dean. "Killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can." Both Medusa and Sam smile at him, the only two to see the good side of Dean. A twig snaps, "Help me! Please!" Everyone stands as they all take positions, Dean readies his gun. "Help!" Sam shines a flashlight about, "He's trying to draw us out. Just stay cool, stay put." Medusa speaks up, her body tensing again. "Inside the magic circle?" Roy scoffs towards her with a glare, "Help! Help me!" More growling started from around them, causing Roy to point his gun at the sound. "Okay, that's no grizzly." Haley grabs her brother and starts to talk with him as she pulls him closer.
Something rushes past and Haley shrieks, "It's here." Roy shoots at the rustling, then again. "I hit it!" Roy goes to see what he hit, and Maeve immediately follows after trying to stop him. "Maeve, no! Maeve! Roy!" Dean turns to Haley and Ben, his eyes wide and full of panic. "Don't move." Haley's holding a stick, burning at one end, as a weapon. Dean and Sam run after Roy and Maeve, "Shit!" Dean cursed in worry. "It's over here! It's in the tree!"
The Wendigo reaches down from the tree and snaps Roy's neck, just as Medusa catches up. She backs up as the Wendigo turns to her, it hisses about to start moving forward. It stops, however, when she hisses back; the snake on her bracelet started to unravel. It spots the snake and starts to back away, grabbing Roy's body and dragging it away. "Maeve!" Sam shines the flashlight around, then directly into Maeve's eyes. Dean immediately rushes forward, "Thank God." He breathed out in relief as he pulled her into a hug. Sam watches, half amused and half confused with the situation. "I'm sorry, I couldn't catch up with him." She mutters out as they start back to camp, "It's fine. Just don't do that again."
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πΊππ πππππ against a hollow tree stump, holding John's journal and playing with a lanyard attached to Sam. Maeve, Dean, Haley and Ben are among the tents. "I don't...I mean, these types of things, they aren't supposed to be real." She stutters out with a shake of her head. "I wish I could tell you different." Dean utters out with a small stiff smile, "How do we know it's not out there watching us?" Ben asks, causing Dean and Maeve to frown in response. "We don't. But we're safe for now, thanks to Dean." Medusa smiles towards Dean, who immediately blushes. "How do you know about this stuff?" A pause while Dean considers the answer to her question. "Kind of runs in the family." Sam comes over, "Hey." Haley stands up as she watches him. "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." Sam shows the wendigo page of John's journal to Haley and Ben. "'Wendigo' is a Cree Indian word. It means 'evil that devours'." Sam reads out loud to everyone, "They're hundreds of years old. Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or hunter." Maeve speaks after interrupting Sam, the said man nods in agreement. "How's a man turn into one of those things?" Dean picks a couple things up off the ground. "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." Ben lets out a scoff, "Like the Donner Party." Sam and Dean smirk for a split second. "Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality."
"If you eat enough of it, over years, you become this less than human thing. You're always hungry." Dean finishes for Sam, "So if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?" Maeve winces slightly at the answer they knew. "You're not gonna like it." Dean glances at Sam, then back to Haley. "Tell me." She responds immediately, "More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it's awake it keeps its victims alive. It, uh, it stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. If your brother's alive, it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden, and safe. We gotta track it back there." Dean explains to her with a sympathetic look, he really hated to have to tell her. "And then how do we stop it?" Haley asks, "Well, guns are useless, so are knives. Basically..." Dean holds up the can of lighter fluid, the beer bottle, and the white cloth he'd picked up. "We gotta torch the sucker."
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π«πππ ππππ π πππ way through the woods, Molotov cocktail in hand. Maeve and Haley follows, then Ben, then Sam. They pass trees with claw marks and blood, Dean nods to Sam who starts leading the group. "Dean." Dean catches up, Maeve follows close behind him. "What is it?" Sam and Dean look around at the trees. There are bloody claw marks and broken branches everywhere. "You know, I was thinking, those claw prints, so clear and distinct. They were almost too easy to follow." Maeve takes notice of what they are looking at as a growl sounds around them. Trees rustle, Haley who is standing under a tree paused when something drips on her shirt. She notices and looks up, then leaps out of the way; Roy's corpse lands where she'd stood. "So that's where he went." Maeve mutters as Haley lets out a scream. Dean examines Roy as Sam goes over to Haley who had fallen on her ass in shock.
"You okay? You got it?" Sam asked, Dean and Maeve both nod as they examine the body closer. Maeve tries to act like she doesn't know anything, "His neck's broke." Sam helps Haley up, more growling is heard causing them to tense up. "Okay, run, run, run, run, go, go, go!" Everybody takes off, Ben falls and Sam hurries back to help him up, dividing the group three and two. "Come on, I gotcha, I gotcha." Dean, Maeve and Haley stop short: the wendigo is in front of them. "Son of a bitch!" Maeve curses before everything goes black and Haley screams. "Haley?" Sam stops running and picks up Dean's Molotov cocktail, the bottle broken. "Dean!"
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"π΄ππππ, ππππππππππ. πͺπππ on, wake up." Medusa grunts in slight pain as her eyes slowly open, Dean is standing in front of her. His face bloody and he looks to be in pain too, but he still helps her down. They both hiss in pain, "I'm ok." Maeve grunts out with a wince. They both settle in front of the others, Sam frowning at the two of them. "You sure you're all right?" Dean grimaces, "Yeah. Yep. Where is he?" Sam looks around for a moment. "He's gone for now." Haley divests herself of rope, She stands up and spots her brother still hanging and starts crying. "Tommy..." Haley touches her brother's cheek, whose head jerks up. Haley jumps back and shrieks, before she turns to Sam. "Cut him down!" Sam cuts him down, "We're gonna get you home." The stolen supplies are piled in the corner.
Dean picks up flare guns, he grins cockily. "Check it out." Maeve manages to smile at him, body still aching. She was secretly kicking herself in the ass for letting some Wendigo get the best of her. "Flare guns. Those'll work." Sam grins as Dean laughs and twirls the guns. The group head down a tunnel, Dean and Sam in the lead with the flare guns, Maeve follows close behind with Haley and Ben supporting Tom, who is limping. They paused when they hear growling, "Looks like someone's home for supper." Dean mutters out sarcastically, "We'll never outrun it." Dean looks back at the others. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Dean asks Sam who slowly nods, "Yeah, I think so." Maeve immediately shakes her head, Dean grabbing her hand to pause her in her tracks.
She was about to start to argue but he wouldn't let her, "It's ok, sweetheart. I've got this." He winks at her before turning to the others. "All right, listen to me. Stay with Sam. He's gonna get you out of here." Haley and Ben frown in response, "What are you gonna do?" Dean winks again before he starts walking and yelling. "Chow time, you freaky bastard! Yeah, that's right, bring it on, baby, I'm feeling good." The rest of Dean's words are indistinct, Maeve keeps her eyes on him until he disappears and that's when Sam starts moving. "All right, come on! Hurry!" The Collins' follow Sam and Maeve down the tunnel. The place like a giant maze, the growling starts again. Sam points the gun at it, then lowers the gun and turns to the Collins' and Maeve. "Get them outta here."
Medusa pauses for a moment, as Haley shakes her head. "Go! Go!Go!" Maeve frowns, every bone in her body disagreeing with this idea.
She eventually nods and starts pulling them out of the mines, silently hoping the boys would be ok. They keep moving in the dark, a minute or two passing as they moved forward. Maeve spun around at the sound of more growling, "Sam!" Haley shouts in panic just as Sam catches up. "Come on, hurry, hurry, hurry." They run to the end of the tunnel, the Wendigo right behind. "Get behind me." Sam is large enough to hide all three Collins' and with Maeve standing next to him; it was definitely harder for it to get to them. The Wendigo approaches, taking its time as if taunting them; the pair spot Dean coming up behind it.
"Hey!" The Wendigo turns, Dean shoots it in the stomach. The flare goes off and it goes up in flames, "Not bad, huh?" Dean smirks as Sam grins at him, Maeve lets out a small laugh with a shake of her head.
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π¨π πππππππππ ππππ π up Tom while two officers interview Ben; Sam stands behind Ben making sure he didn't say anything about what really happened. "And the bear came back again after you yelled at it?" The officer questioned with a raised eyebrow in disbelief. "That's when it circled the campsite. I mean, this grizzly must have weighed eight hundred, nine hundred pounds." Sam nods, "All right, we'll go after it first thing." He turns to face Haley who is talking to Dean and Maeve; who have already been patched up. "So I don't know how to thank you." Dean smirks cockily as Haley smiles despite herself. "Must you cheapen the moment?" She asks, Maeve laughs as well as Dean shoots her a wink.
"Yeah." A paramedic comes up to Haley, "You riding with your brother?" She nods in agreement. "Yeah." The Paramedic heads back to the ambulance to wait as Haley turns to Ben. "Let's go." Sam and Ben nod at each other, Haley smirks before she kisses Maeve on the cheek. Dean's jaw drops in disbelief as Maeve laughs at him. "I hope you find your father." Haley utters out with a smile before the siblings turn to leave. Sam moves closer with a smile of his own, "Thanks, Sam." Haley calls over her shoulder before she and Ben climb in the ambulance with Tom, who is shirtless and bandaged.
Sam sits on the Impala's hood with Dean, who is still pouting about the kiss. He was supposed to be the only one who could kiss Maeve, frowning he clears the thoughts from his head. "Man, I hate camping." Dean groans out as Medusa leans her head on his shoulder. "Me too." Noises of the ambulance driving away, sirens on. "Sam, you know we're gonna find Dad, right?" Dean utters out, "Yeah, I know. But in the meantime? I'm driving." Dean tosses Sam the keys, the couple moving to stand. Dean pauses when Maeve stops him, "My Hero." She murmurs before gently kissing him on the lips. He freezes, his heart skipping a beat as she moves away from him. Throwing him a wink, she gets in as Sam watches with amusement shining in his eyes. Sam and Dean get in the car, slamming the doors almost in sync.
Then the car starts and drives off.
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