Supernatural... But Better (Vol. I)

Chapter Sixteen

I must've dozed off, because I woke up to a loud scraping sound.

Jerking awake, I saw myself — well, the shapeshifter as me — dragging a wooden pallet across the floor. It propped it up against the wall and the other one that was already there, successfully hiding me away completely. I started thrashing, as much as I could with my wrists in such pain, and shouting through the gag.

It pulled the pallet back just a little bit, showcasing a gun. "I would stop that if I were you, sweetheart. If you're not quiet... your friends are still very much at my whims. So, think about that."

My eyes widened, and I stopped. Right. Sam and Dean. It could get to them. I had to hold it together, if not for myself, then to make sure they were still able to walk out of that situation.

It smiled at me. "Very good. Now, don't make a sound."

Replacing the pallet, and all but encasing me in darkness, it left me to my fate once more.

I tried to listen to see if it left, or was still hanging around, but I couldn't tell. There was a drip coming from somewhere down along the tunnel, and every time I heard it, I mistook it for footsteps— but, then, maybe some of them were footsteps, and I just couldn't differentiate. But if the shapeshifter was still there, I couldn't risk making any noise, which meant I couldn't try to escape, or even try to entertain myself.

So, instead, I stayed as silent as physically possible, listening.

After an indeterminate amount of time that felt like a while, I heard a groan. The groan sounded familiar, as if it was a voice I knew, but... but that meant nothing. Maybe the shapeshifter was shifting forms, and it hurt or something. Maybe it was testing me. Maybe—

"Hello?" the voice called, echoing against the walls of the sewer.

I closed my eyes. Sam. It was Sam. But it couldn't actually be him, the shapeshifter had to have been testing me, there—

"Is anybody there? Hello?"

But why would it test me? I'd done everything it asked of me up to that point, and there wasn't really a point to it. If it was that eager to kill, that it was just looking for an excuse, then it would just kill. It didn't need one. Unless it wanted me to think it was my fault, but it would almost certainly be killing me, as well, so it wouldn't really matter—

"Dean? Annabeth? Anybody?"

Squeezing my eyes shut, I decided even if it was the shapeshifter, I couldn't just not do anything when Sam's voice was sounding so concerned and afraid. If it was the shapeshifter, I'd just have to bet on the fact that Sam and Dean could take care of themselves.

I looked at the wooden pallet, which was close enough that, with enough momentum, I'd be able to touch it with my feet. I wondered if maybe I'd be able to reach the top of it to tip it so it felt towards me, but that seemed difficult. Looking all around, I tried to find something to help.

"If anyone can hear me, I need help!" Sam yelled, louder than before, trying to be heard above ground. "Help!"

There. One of the sandbags holding the rope was right next to the bottom corner of the pallet. If I managed to hit my foot just right on one of the wooden beams underneath, I could slide it and, by extension, the bag, out of the way, possibly freeing the rope.

I figured the farthest beam would be the best one. The closer ones had a higher chance I'd accidentally hit it outwards instead of sideways, and it'd just fall over uselessly. So, I started swinging my legs back and forth, building up more and more steam. It gave me rub burns like I couldn't believe on my wrists, but that hopefully was going to end soon. I swung more, and more, and more....