~Sam's P.O.V~
It took a little while to wrestle the keys to Dean's baby out of his hands. He groaned and complained all the while as we walked out of the hotel room. I rolled my eyes at Ash as I shut the motel room door behind us. She smiled and shook her head with a small laugh, her blue eyes shining as they caught the sunlight. We walked out the Impala with her trailing along like my shadow. I couldn't help but smile. We climbed into the car with her in the passenger seat.
We hit the road and she looked out the window and then over at me. "Can I open my window...?" she asked almost timidly. The hesitant way she asked made me want to reach over and pat her shoulder in a comforting way. She asked so timidly as though she might get punished for asking. Realizing that I was staring at her as I thought to myself, I pulled my gaze from her and I nodded quickly.
"Of corse you can!" I responded and looked over at her for a second before returning my gaze to the road. She grinned and rolled down the window the rested her arms on the side of the window and her chin on her arms. The wind puled her hair up into the air and it looked like a shimmering black cloud. It was hard to keep my eyes off of her and on the road but I managed somehow.
Once we got back to the restaurant we parceled the car at the back of the parking lot and started to walk down the road Culten took everyday. It was a three mile walk. That means Culten walked six miles to work and back every day. The first mile held no clues as to what may have happened.
Right around the second mile of walking Ash slowed to a stop on the side of the road and bent down to examine something I did not see. I walked back to her and bent down next to her. She lightly trailed her fingers over a crimson stain in the dirt and marks the claws scratched into the road. She observed the claw marks for a moment before saying:
"Windigo."
I raised an eyebrow, curious to how she got that from almost nothing. She pulled out her phone and took a picture before standing up and brushing off the dust from her pants.
"Not to be rude... But how can you tell? How can you be sure...?" I asked, not doubting her but not sure that she's right. "Simple." She commented, bending back down and pointing to the claw marks and blood stain.
"The claws of most Windigo are sharp but slightly rugged. They use there claws for killing, therefore the tips of the claws are sharpest." She said, pointing to the tip of the claw marks that had small drops of blood I had not noticed before. "It's not wide enough claw marks to be a bear so it must be a Windigo, especially considering the area we are in. Perfect environment for a Windigo." She said sounding fairly sure of herself.
I nodded. "I think you have the right assumption and I'm fascinated by how well you pay attention to the small details." I responded and she flushed red. "My mu- I mean- people always said I think too much..." Ash commented. I raised an eyebrow, wondering why she stopped mid sentence and restarted.
I decided not to press it and stayed silent.
