The Winchester Three (S1): The Beginning

Ch 2 Section 4

Sam sat against a hollow tree stump as he held John's journal. His face was tense as he played with the lanyard attached to it. Dean was trying to stay as calm as he could so he didn't upset Haley or Ben but both boys felt like they were at their wits end. First their father went missing and now their sister had been taken.

Haley shook her head, crying, "I don't... I mean, these types of things, they aren't supposed to be real."

Dean's gaze hardened, "I wish I could tell you differently."

"How do we know it's not out there watching us?"

"We don't. But we're safe for now."

His mind drifted to Angel though and how she wasn't while they just sat and waited.

"How do you know about this stuff?"

Dean paused, considering his words to her before he answered, "Kind of... runs in the family."

Sam, not being able to sit anymore got up and walked over to them.

He looked between them as Haley stood, "Hey. So... we've got half a chance in the daylight, and I for one want to kill this evil son of a bitch and find Angel."

Dean grinned, "Well, hell, you know I'm in."

Sam showed the Wendigo page of John's journal to Haley 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 an Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or hunter."

"How's a man turn into one of those things?"

Dean picked a couple things up off the ground, "Well, it's always the same. During some harsh winter a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help. Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or camp."

Ben pointed, "Like the Donner Party."

Sam nodded, "Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality."

"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?" Haleys eyes snapped to Dean, "How can either of them still be alive?"

Dean's jaw tensed as he threw a strong look at Sam, then back to Haley, "More than anything... a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it's awake it keeps its victims alive. It, uh, it stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. If your brother's alive, if our sister is, it's keeping them somewhere dark, hidden, and safe. We gotta track it back there."

"And then how do we stop it?"

"Well, guns are useless, so are knives. Basically-"

Dean held up the can of lighter fluid, a beer bottle, and the white cloth he'd picked up, "We gotta torch the sucker."

With Angel...

Angel grimaced as she woke up from the pain in her body. Her head was pounding and there was wetness on her forehead so she was pretty sure had been knocked out. Her wrists were tied up with rope and she was hooked onto something above making it so she was only just able to touch her toes to the ground. Flashes of running after Roy and then getting snatched and knocked out by that huge monster flashed in her head. She nearly started panicking before her survival mode kicked on.

Calming herself down she tried to look around at where she was but was fairly dark. A mine shaft was letting in enough light so she could see two men hanging by their wrists from the ceiling a few feet away from her. As well as an assortment of other corpses with them.

Before she could say anything to them an angry terrifying growling cut her off. The man closest to her, one she recognized as a very disheveled and injured Tommy, turned to her and started shushing her immediately. His eyes were frenzied and terrified as he warned her to keep quiet. A memo the man next to him couldn't do.

As a tall skinny shape walks to them, the second man begins to scream in terror. Tommy did his best to turn away and closed his eyes tightly as the man beside him screamed. Angel grew petrified as she watched, trying to loosen her restraints with no luck.

Forest: One Day Later

Sam led the way through the woods, Molotov cocktail in hand. Haley followed, then Ben and finally Dean. He stopped and studied the claw marks and blood that marred the trees.

Dean caught up to him at the hesitation, "What is it?"

Sam motioned to the trees where there were more bloody claw marks and broken branches, "You know... I was thinking, those claw prints are so clear and distinct. They were almost too easy to follow."

Angry growling sounded and the boys whipped around as the trees rustled. Haley, who was standing under a tree, looked down when blood dripped on her shirt. She then leaped out of the way as Roy's corpse landed where she'd stood.

Dean bolted over to the body, his heart accelerating as the worst was running through his mind.

Sam went to Haley, "You okay?" When she nodded he looked to Dean, steeling himself, "Who is it?"

"Roy." Dean answered, relief was evident but he was still grim. "His neck is broken."

Sam helped Haley up as more growling filed the forest around them.

Dean rushed the group, "Okay, run, run, go!"

Everybody took off but Ben fell to the ground almost immediately. Sam doubled back to help him up, dividing the group two and two.

He grabbed him to standing, "Come on, I gotcha, I gotcha."

Once they took off again they were startled to hear Haleys scream echo throughout the forest. Sam sprinted even faster at that, as did Ben.

Dean looks around, "Where's Haley? She was right behind me!"

"Haley!"

Ben and Sam stop when they find the Molotov cocktail Dean had been holding on the ground, shattered.

Sam whirls around, even more panic surging through him, "Dean!"