Bite The Bullet

Echoes

{Part 3 of The Hunter becomes the Hunted}

Not a single soul is to be seen nor a sound to be heard down the empty halls of the hospital. Dean and Sam sit quietly in the waiting room glued to their chairs as they're forced to wait for any update of their friend. Alix stands to the side near the windows looking out to the flourishing garden down below in the court yard rubbing her sore wrists. Sam constantly rubs his face and neck in an attempt to calm his nerves. Dean stares at his feet, clenching his hands together in a tight grip, his knuckles turning white.

"I can't do this. I need to see her." Alix states. She spins on her heel and marches away from the boys to her dear friend.

"Alix, wait. We shouldn't bother her. There's nothing we can do right now." Sam hurries to Alix's side and grips her slender shoulder with his brawny hand. Alix shoves him away taking no notice to his words. "Alix.."

A piecing scream echos down the long hallway. Dean looks up abruptly from his feet. The three of them look between each other unsure of what actions were to now take place.

"Dean?" Alix says beneath her breath in hopes that the oldest of them will know what to do.

"Screw it." Dean gets up from his chair, takes Alix's hand in his and leads her down the pristine white hallway. They stop outside a grey door. Room 367.

"Should we knock?" Alix asks, still holding Deans callused hand tightly.

"Guys, I don't think we should go in yet." Sam warns.

"Why not? We need to make sure she's okay..." Alix trails off. Her eyes narrow as she looks curiously down a separate hallway. A grey figure slithers into the shadows continuously moving farther and father away from them. Sam and Dean see it as well.

"Sam,"

"Got it." Sam answers and walks towards the disappearing figure.

Dean aggressively opens the door, pulling Alix inside the room with him before quickly shutting the door behind them. A nurse stands beside the bed and pauses writing notes on her clip board as she looks over at them.

Alix's breath hitches. Her heart races in her chest and it tightens immensely as she gazes over to the still body that lays in the crisp hospital bed.

"You're crushing my hand." Dean whispers softly in her ear. Alix completely releases his hand in embarrassment from her unconscious actions. Dean leaves Alix's side to appear beside Jayne whom lays unmoving in the bed. She's connected to dozens of tubes that connect to machines at her bedside. A heart monitor beeps ensuring that she is still yet alive.

Alix stays near the door afraid of the unknown while Dean looks down on Jaynes resting body. Her complexion is ghostly pale with no trace of pink to her once full cheeks. Her throat is heartbreakingly bruised with noticeable finger imprints lining around her neck like a sinful necklace. Rope burns coil around her wrists and the skin is shredded and raw. There's a gash that trails across her cheek bone and a second one splitting her bottom lip. Her nose and the side of her face are shades of purple and green. Both of her eyes are blackened. She is so horribly damaged that if Dean hadn't already known who she is he would have never suspected or even considered the woman laying before him was one of his faithful companions. Sam enters the room locking the door behind him.

"Why was she screaming? What were you doing to her?" Dean fumes.

"Screaming? She didn't scream. She's been unconscious since she arrived."