Roads of Reckoning

Wendigo: Part 2

We have built a campfire. Dean is drawing symbols in the dirt around us. Hayley is looking on, confused.
"One more time, that's~"
"Anasazi symbols. It's for protection. The Wendigo can't cross them." I explain. Roy laughs, gun slung over his shoulder.
"Nobody likes a skeptic Roy." I shoot. My eyes follow Dean as he sits next to Sam. They are having an in depth conversation. Dean waves around the journal. Sam just shakes his head. He doesn't want to be here. I think he catches me looking because he glances over to me. I turn my head away quickly, pretending to survey my surroundings. I look back and Sam is now smiling. What are they talking about?
A twig snaps in the silence.
"Help me! Please!" The Wendigo. Sam shines a flashlight into the darkness.
"He's trying to draw us out." Says Dean. "Just stay cool, stay put." A look crosses Roy's stupid face.
"Inside the magic circle?" There's growling coming from the tree line and Roy points his gun at the sound. Something rushes past Hayley and she shrieks.
"It's here." I say. Roy shoots at the rustling.
"I hit it!" He goes to see what he hit.
"Roy, no! Roy!" Dean yells.
"Stay here." I say to Hayley and Ben as we run after Roy. We race through the trees, twigs snapping beneath our feet. Roy stops and turns to us. The Wendigo reaches down from the tree and snaps Roy's neck. I gasp and cover my mouth. His limp body collapses to the ground. We run back to the site.
•———————————————————————•
Day finally breaks. Dean is giving Hayley the talk, about how that  the monsters that go bump in the night are real. Sam is sitting against a tree stump holding the journal. I sit next to him on the muddy ground.
"First Wendigo?" I ask. Sam nods.
"Yeah me too." I tear apart a leaf and throw it into the wind. He's fiddling with a rip in the cover of the journal.
"We're gonna find your dad Sam. I promise." I touch his shoulder. He looks over to me. His eyes wide. Dean waves us over.
"So we've for half a chance in the daylight. And I for one want to kill this evil con of a bitch."
"Well hell, you know I'm in." I reply. I see Sam crack a small smile. Sam shows the Wendigo page to Hayley and Ben.
"'Wendigo' is a Cree Indian word. It means evil that devours. They're hundreds of years old. Each one was once a man. Sometimes Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or hunter."
"How's a man turn into one of those things." Hayley asks.
"Well it's always the same." Says Dean. "During some harsh winter a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies of help. Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or camp."
"Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality." I say. Dean nods.
"If you eat enough of it, over years, you become this less than human thing. You're always hungry."
"So if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?" Says Hayley. Sam glances at me and Dean, hesitating.
"You're not gonna like it." I warn. Hayley crosses her arms.
"More than anything, a Wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it awakes it keeps it victims alive. It, uh, stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. If your brother's alive, it keeps him somewhere dark, hidden, safe. We gotta track it back there."
"And then how do we stop it?" Asks Hayley.
"Well, guns are useless, so are knives. Basically~" Dean holds up a can of lighter fluid, beer bottle and cloth.
"We torch the sucker."
•———————————————————————•
Dean leads the way through the woods, Molotov cocktail in hand, Sam and I closely following. I pass a tree marked with blood and claw marks. Sam stops.
"You know," he turns to me. "I was thinking, those claw prints, so clear and distinct. They're almost too easy to follow." Behind us there is a low growl and we whip around. Hayley is standing under a tree as blood drips onto her shirt. She looks up and then leaps out of the way. Roy's corpse lands where she stood.
"You okay?" I say to her. She brushes herself off and nods. I help her up and there is more growling.

Sam, Ben and I get separated from Hayley and Dean. We circle back to find Dean's broken bottle on the ground. I look around us. They are no where to be seen.
"They're here somewhere. Let's keep moving." I say. Sam looks around and nods.
"Ok." Ben trails behind us.
•———————————————————————•
"If it's keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?" I say to Sam. He shrugs.
"Honestly? I think because Roy shot at it. Pissed it off." Ben stops and bends down, picking something up off the ground. One of Dean's M&Ms.
"They went this way." Sam picks up another.
"It's better than breadcrumbs." I say.

We follow the trail that leads us to a mine entrance marked with a sign that says: 'Warning! Danger! DO NOT ENTER, EXTREMELY  TOXIC MATERIAL. I look at Sam, shrug, and go inside.

Sam shines a flashlight ahead of us. There is a growl and Sam pulls Ben against the wall. I follow suit. I see the Wendigo turn a corner and face our corridor. It starts towards us and I cover Ben's mouth before he can scream. Luckily, it takes a different tunnel. We release our held breath and keep moving. The floorboards creak beneath our feet and suddenly we are falling. I land on a pile of bones and pain courses through my body. Sam helps me to my feet.
"Good?" He asks. I give him the thumbs up. We look up and there are Dean and Hayley hanging by their wrists from the ceiling. Sam and I race over to Dean and Ben to Hayley.
"Dean!" Sam shakes his brother. Dean opens his eyes and winces.
"Where is it?" He asks.
"Gone for now." I say as Sam and I help him down. He grimaces. I hear Hayley shriek as she sees Tommy, still strung up. Sam cuts him down. I check his pulse and he stirs. Alive. I sigh, relieved.

Dean picks through the stolen supplies in the corner. He holds up some flare guns.
"That'll work." I say. We hear the growling again.
"Looks like someone's home for supper." Says Dean. Picking up the guns we make our way back through the tunnel. Dean looks back at the group.
"Ok, listen to me. Stay with Demi and Sam. They're gonna get you out of here." He says to Ben and Hayley, who are supporting Tommy. Dean turns always and starts walking  and yelling, getting the Wendigo's attention.
"Alright, come on! Hurry!" Says Sam. And we take off in the opposite direction.

We run down the tunnel. Sam points the gun behind him.
"Come on. Come on." He says under his breath. He turns to me as a growl erupts from afar.
"Get them out of here."
"What! Sam, no." I say.
"Go!" I turn and run with the others. I reach the end of the tunnel and turn back. Sam is facing the oncoming beast.
"Sam!" He shoots and misses and catches up to us.
"Go, go!" We reach the end of the tunnel. Dead end. Shit.
I turn back to Sam.
"Get behind me!" He says. The Wendigo approaches. Taking its time.
"Hey!" Dean appears behind it. The Wendigo turns and Dean shoots it in the stomach. The Wendigo goes up in flames.
"Not bad huh!" He smiles.
•———————————————————————•
The paramedics load Tom into the ambulance and Ben talks to the rangers. I walk away after being patched up.
"Not cleaning yourself up this time?" Sam asks, a stupid grin on his face. I roll my eyes.
"Ha ha very funny." Dean walks over to us as the others climb into the ambulance with their brother. The boys sit on the hood of the Impala in front of me.
"Man I hate camping." Says Dean.
"Me too." Sam agrees. I watch the ambulance drive away.
"Sam, you know we're gonna find dad right?" I turn back to the boys.
"Yeah I know. But in the meantime? I'm driving." Dean tosses Sam the keys.
"Look out." I say as we get into the car, radio blasting, and we drive off.
———————————————————————