Our Journey

06

Wendigo

Dean had been driving for a long while through Colorado. Felix was curled in his side looking through John's journal, softly singing along to the music that was playing.
"You should get some sleep, Lix", she hears Dean say. She rubbed her eyes tiredly closing the book and curling more into his warmth. She instantly fell asleep, a soft snore could be heard from her. Dean kissed the top of her head with a soft sigh. He needed some sleep too but he had to keep going for them, for his dad.

Sunrise 🌅

Sam jolted awake which caused Dean to look over at him. He pinched the bridge of his nose

"You okay?", Dean asked looking between the road and Sam.
"Yeah, fine", Sam replied.
Dean didn't believe him not one bit and knew it had to do with his dead girlfriend.

"Another nightmare?", Dean questioned looking over at him.
Sam cleared his throat not answering just staring out the window. He didn't want to have that conversation,
"You wanna drive for a while?", Dean spoke up which caused Sam to chuckle in disbelief,
"In your whole life, you never once asked me that", he says.

"Just thought you might want to, never mind", Dean said with a grunt.
Felix had flinched slightly in her sleep, Dean had seen and rubbed her shoulders.

"Look, man, you're worried about me. I get it and thank you, but I'm perfectly okay", Sam says but Dean hummed in acknowledgment knowing he called bullshit on that.
To change the subject, Sam grabbed the map,
"All right", he cleared his throat, "where are we?"

Dean nods to the small beat of the music,
"We are just outside of grand junction", he replied.

Sam sighed staring at the map, after a few seconds he spoke up,
"You know what? Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon", he says not looking at Dean.

"Sam, we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing", Dean says, "if you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica- -", Sam cut him off.

"We gotta find dad first", Sam finished with a sigh.

"Dad disappearing and this thing showing up again...for us 20 years but for Lix 2 years? It's no coincidence. Dad will have answers. He'll know what to do", Dean states.

Felix sat up with a cry which caused Dean to swerve on the road,
"Lix, hey... you're okay", Dean pulled her into his side.

"Nightmare?" he asked feeling her head nod. He sighed kissing the top of her head,

"I'm sorry Dean" she mumbled.

Dean knew if he continued to ask questions she would just brush it off as another not-so-bad nightmare, so for now, he would leave it be and when they get the chance to be alone, he will talk with her. Felix sank back into the leather seat, tuning out the noises and humming softly to the music.

Dean pulled up in the town of Blackwater Ridge Ranger Station. The tri exited looking around at the beautiful forest inhaling the fresh most that lingered in the air before they entered the station,

"So, Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote. It's cut off by these canyons here- -" Sam speaks up pointing to some model display that showed the whole forest area, " tough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place..." Sam says. Felix stood next to Dean who was staring at this one photo,

"Dude, check out the size of this friggin' bear", Dean says in awe to which Sam walked over to the two, " and a dozen or more grizzlies in the area...It's a not-nature hike, that's for sure" Sam finished.

"You three aren't planning to go out near black water ridge, by any chance" a voice interrupts them which caused them to turn around.

Felix shook her head," No sir. We're environmental-study majors from U.C Boulder- -just working on a paper", she says coming up with the lie, which the boys were grateful for her.

"Recycle, man", Dean had fist pumped.

" Bull", the ranger says, " you're friends with that Haley girl, right?"

"yes" Dean lied smoothly, " yes, we are, Ranger", he paused reading the nametag, " Wilkinson", and he smiled.

"Well, I will tell you exactly what I told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Black Water until the 24th. So, it's not exactly a missing person now, is it", Ranger Wilkinson states grumpily. The trio shakes their heads,

" Tell that girl to quit worrying. I'm sure her brother is just fine", he said walking off.

"We will", Felix nods.

"Well, that Hailey girl's quite a pistol, huh?", Dean spoke up.

"That is putting it mildly", The Ranger nodded.

"Sir, 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", Felix smiled gently at the ranger who licked his lips not seeing the glare Dean gave to the old man. The ranger handed the permit over to Felix who thanked him and handed it to Dean.

While they walked out Dean checked out the paper,

"What, are you cruising for a hookup or something?" Sam says to which Dean looked at him with disgust, " Dude, why would I look for a hookup when I got my special girl right here", he grabs Felix dipping her, and slammed his lips to hers. Sam rolled his eyes but smiled at them.

Felix smiled biting Dean's bottom lip who groaned softly pulling her to his chest, "Damn", he muttered. She pulled away giving his chest a pat. Dean groaned adjusting his pants to which Sam laughed at.

"Anyways, why even talk to this girl?" Sam asked turning to him.

" I don't know. Maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it", Dean gives Sam a look.

"What?" Sam notices his stare.

"Since when are you all "shoot first, ask questions later, anyways", Dean leaned on his car trying to figure his brother out.

"Since now", Sam retorted before he opened the door and sat inside.

"Oh really?", Dean says not really believing his little brother, before he climbed into the driver's seat.