Lost Hope Isn't What I'm Worried About

Idaho

A gentle shake on Sam's shoulder is what brought him out a nightmare, his forehead covered in a thin film of cold sweat as he jerked up with Gabriel's name on the precipice of his lips, finding nothing but the bedroom and Bobby in his eyesight. Slowly, his heart calmed down, and the headache that had suddenly appeared was subsiding the smallest bit as he turned his head to Bobby, looking at him with tired eyes.

"I found something," Was all Bobby said, but it made Sam shoot up with energy as he got out of bed and followed Bobby into the room, looking at the desk and frowning when he saw a map, a few x's littering the large paper. Bobby circled around to the other side, a frown on his face.

"I couldn't find anything near Palo Alto or the cities around, so I took your story and went farther," Bobby said, placing his finger on Oregon, where one of x's were, "The first story I found was in Salem, Oregon, and the trail goes cold for about three hours and then the next was in Trinity Village, California. Nothing happens for four days and then that's when Gabriel disappears."

"So it moves fast," Sam commented his eyes trained on the map and allowing him to push his emotions away and focus completely on what was being told to him right now, "Why did it wait so long to attack Gabriel if the thing could move that quickly?"

"Well, I took a look at the reports, and they were not pretty," Bobby said, his mouth twitching and Sam could have sworn he turned a little pale, "To be honest, if that thing was there to kill Gabriel, you wouldn't be able to find a single body part, only a mush of blood and flesh."

Sam felt sick at that and turned his eyes away, taking a deep breath before clenching his hands and looking back at Bobby, "What are the rest of these x's?" Sam asked.

"About a day after Gabriel disappears, it attacks again in Fallon, Nevada," Bobby said, sliding his finger in the path the creature took before halting on an x, "It's moving slower now, but it's still faster than I would have anticipated a creature to move. I think it might still have Gabriel if that's the case. It can't be easy lugging another being with it."

"So, Gabriel's alive?" Sam asked, a little hope fluttering into his voice. Bobby gave an awkward nod, but that was all Sam needed to put his dedication back into this, "Where do you think its heading?"

"I think its heading northeast. There's a stretch of land in Idaho that's lower than the rest of the rocky mountains. It would be the fastest way to get through them and still go in that direction. What I want to know is why," Bobby said, frowning as he studied the map quietly and carefully with dark eyes. Sam stared at it for a moment longer before he looks around, noticing the excessive amount of books open and spread around everywhere.

"Have you got a clue what creature it is?" Sam asked, narrowing his eyes as he realized that most of them were books of creatures. Bobby just shook his head, letting out a sigh at the mess.

"No, nothing fits the description, not that there's really one to go on. We're just going to have to wait and see what it does and hopefully predict where it will go," Bobby said, though his tone left Sam's faith quickly falling.

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