Dead on the Bayou Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
Sam parked the Impala in front of the motel and all but ran to the room. He'd tried his brother's cell twice more with no answer and his nerves were truly on edge now. He burst in the door and groaned at no sight of Dean. Worry edged quickly into his stomach when he found Dean's cell sitting on the bedside table.
"Dammit, Dean. Where the hell are you?" Sam went back outside and saw a housekeeping cart at the room next to theirs. He went to the room and knocked on the open door, startling the man cleaning the room. "Excuse me. Uh, my brother and I are in the room next door."
"Yeah. Seen ya." The man came out with an armful of towels and dropped them into his cart before running a hand through his greasy, dark hair.
"Ok, that's good. Have you seen my brother today?" Sam asked quickly. "Like in the last hour or so?"
"Yeah, he limped outta here a while back." The man smiled a toothless smile. "Saw him headin' off inta the field after some damn cat." He hissed a laugh between his teeth. "He soft on cats or somethin'?"
Sam felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. "Yeah. Yeah thanks." He went quickly to the Impala's trunk, flinging it open and armed himself with a pistol loaded with iron rounds, strapped the machete to his hip again and slammed it shut. He took precious seconds to run back into the room and take the first aid kit. He had no idea what condition Dean would be in when he found him. He gave a last glance around the room and ran. He pelted down the long line of rooms and ran across the field toward the woods beyond, uncaring if anyone saw him.
"Dean!" Sam shouted once inside the trees. He slowed his pace and searched the ground for any tracks. He spotted the familiar print of Dean's boot and then another further on. He silently thanked Bobby for all the hunting trips when they were young and lessons on tracking as he followed the prints and broken underbrush deeper into the forest. "Dean!" Sam shouted again and finally he heard a muffled response. He broke into a run again and belatedly realized he'd left without putting any St. John's Wort on his eyelids.
"Dammit." He muttered under his breath while he ran and hoped he wouldn't regret it. "Dean?" He called again and this time his brother's voice was close. He pushed through a head high screening of bushes and ran to him, seated at the base of a large tree. Sam dropped to his knees beside him. "Dean! Are you hurt?"
"I'm ok." Dean swatted away Sam's hands as they checked him for injury. "Just didn't feel like walking back to the motel just yet."
"Dude, what the hell happened?" Sam rocked back onto his heels and looked around the clearing. "The housekeeper guy back at the motel said you followed a cat out here."
"Pookha." Dean said and chuckled. "Dude, I feel like friggin Alice. I just had a conversation with a damn cat." He laughed. "You see a caterpillar with a Hooka you let me know."
"Could you please be serious?" Sam rolled his eyes. "For five minutes. What happened?"
"I forgot to put that stinky crap of yours on my eyes when I left, that's what." Dean shook his head at himself. "Stupid." He shifted his legs with a groan. "Damn thing caught me and man, I couldn't stop myself. I had to follow it. Like a damn pied piper."
"But it didn't hurt you." Sam nodded. "Daisy said she followed a cat off the path, that it tried to protect her from a black horse trying to trample her."
"Yeah, there's two of them. Help me up." Dean raised his arms and let Sam pull him up, steadying him against the tree while he grimaced with pain.
"Got something for you from the asshole Doctor at the hospital." Sam smirked. "Guy really hates Feds." He pulled Dean's arm over his shoulders and started them moving. "So what did the Pookha say?"
Dean snorted. "The other one's gone postal, basically. Something about its farmers leaving and man's machines destroying the land."
"Pookhas traditionally follow harvests." Sam nodded. "Farmers leave a little behind in the fields, like a tribute and the Pookhas take it. If someone bulldozed the fields it was protecting that could definitely have set it off."
"Yeah well, it said the crazy one has our scent now." Dean looked up at him. "Specifically, it has your scent now, from your blood." He poked a finger into Sam's right shoulder and smirked when he winced. "It seems to think it'll be coming for you." He glowered out at the trees then, promising himself that he wouldn't let that happen. "At least I know you didn't come running out here without putting that glop on." Dean said and then jerked his head at his brother when he said nothing. "Sammy?"
"Let's get you back to the motel." Sam said, studiously avoiding looking at Dean.
"Dude. You did." Dean delivered a punch to Sam's stomach; even pulled it still doubled him up with a grunt. "Are you tryin' to get yourself killed?"
"You did the same damn thing!" Sam argued and straightened, lurching Dean into a faster walk.
"Hey I got hit with the supernatural Neural Neutralizer!" Dean glared at him. "What's your excuse?"
Sam rolled his eyes as they emerged from the trees into the sun. "I thought my brother was being killed." He said simply and got them moving toward the motel.
Dean understood the sentiment but he landed a lighter punch on Sam's stomach anyway. "Doesn't do me any good if you end up dead before you find me. Dad taught you better than that." He groaned as they stepped up onto the sidewalk. "I taught you better than that, Sammy."
"Just…shut up, ok?" Sam muttered. He opened their room door when they got there and eased Dean down on his bed before shutting the door. He dug the cream out of his pocket and tossed it to him. "The Doctor said to rub this on your legs. It's supposed to help with the pain and swelling."
"Help me back up then." Dean used the bed and Sam's arm to pull himself up and hobbled toward the bathroom.
"I'm sorry, Dean." Sam said finally.
Dean shook his head and smiled. "It's ok, Sammy. I screwed up too. Just…how about we not tell Dad?"
"Crap, no." Sam raised his hands in agreement. "He'd kill us."
Dean smirked. "Well, he'd definitely kill you. I'd just get a beating." He shut the door on Sam's laugh.
Sam mentally kicked himself for being so stupid, especially in light of what the Pookha had told his brother. He went to his bag and took out the bottle of oil, quickly dabbing some onto his eyelids. He'd do the same to Dean when he came back out. There was no use in taking chances now. If the good Pookha could find them here, so could the crazy one.
Dean emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later re-buckling his belt with a relieved smile on his face. "I'm sending your Doctor friend a damn fruit basket." He walked easier than he had going in and sat on the end of his bed with a smile to put his boots back on. "I still want food."
"Yeah, that'll win him over. Hold still." Sam daubed more oil on his fingers and grabbed Dean's chin, tilting his head up. "No more mistakes." Dean groaned but closed his eyes so Sam could apply it.
"Stuff smells like ass." Dean grumbled and Sam chuckled, stepping back.
"So wipe it off if you wanna get led around by a cat again." Sam told him.
"Well, I do like chasing pu…"
"Dean." Sam groaned, cutting him off before he could finish. "Can we just go eat before you kill my appetite?"
Dean chuckled and stood, smiling that it didn't cause him near as much pain and followed his brother out.
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"You don't think this is a little suspicious?" Dean asked Sam as they rounded the empty strip mall toward the bayou behind it, sparkling in the mid-day sun. The businesses had long since gone belly up and all that was left were empty, painted shop windows and empty crates and boxes littering the cracked pavement behind it. "That Pookha's been hitting people in the same damn place and now it moves its hunting ground?" Dean threw a finger over his shoulder. "Three blocks from our motel?"
Sam shook his head. "Doesn't matter. We still have to try and save the guy, Dean." While they'd been finishing their lunch, the aging television in the diner had popped on with the news of another missing person behind the little defunct strip mall. Sam ducked under the crime scene tape swaying in the warm breeze, surprised that the local police had already cleared out. "You'd think they'd still be here searching."
"Yet another reason to leave." Dean grumbled but followed his brother, drawing his pistol along his leg as they stepped down onto the soft ground beyond the pavement. "I don't like this one damn bit. You should wait in the car…better yet the motel. I can handle this."
"We're not having this argument again." Sam rolled his eyes. He followed a strip of mostly dry land extending out into the Bayou, gun ready and senses alert. He swiped a hand over his brow, unsure if the sweat was from the mid-day heat or the low fever he was sure he was running that Dean hadn't yet noticed. If he had, Sam knew his brother would have tied him down rather than let him out. He smirked. Dean's radar for him seemed to have dulled a bit in the years Sam had been off to college.
Dean ground his teeth together and kept close to Sam's back. The television report had included a witness statement of a man being dragged into the Bayou by a great, black bear with red eyes. He wondered if perhaps the police had skipped off so soon because they thought it was a hoax. Walking silently beneath the Cypress trees did little to cut the muggy heat of the day. While it was nice to not need a flashlight for a change, he wished they'd been able to wait for the cooler night. He tugged the collar of his shirt away from his neck trying to flush cooler air against his skin.
"Next hunt we take better be up north somewhere." Dean said miserably and saw Sam give a nod in agreement. His little brother's hair was plastered to his forehead already, his shirts like Dean's, spotted with sweat. He checked the ground at their feet and scowled. "It's leaving us a hell of an obvious trail Sam."
"I know." Sam knew they were being led. The Pookha's trail was evident, wide footprints and drag marks through the soft earth above the sluggish waters of the Bayou…it wanted them to find it. "We can't just leave the guy to die. He might still be alive."
"I know, Sammy." Dean said softly, shaking his head at his brother's soft heart. "You hear that?" He stepped up beside his brother, body tense as something splashed into the water very near them. The sound echoed off the Cypress trees making it impossible to tell where it had come from.
"Could be an animal." Sam said softly, peering out along the water, between the trees. They both lurched into motion as the sound of a man groaning reached their ears. "Hello? Where are you?" Sam called, running easily along the path and outpacing Dean's still stiff legs.
"Sam, stay close!" Dean yelled and tried to close the sudden distance between them. The salve was helping but not enough to let him sprint and with Sam's long legs, sprinting was a necessity.
"I think he's this way!" Sam called back and skidded around a wide tree, leading with his gun.
"Sam, dammit!" Dean forced his legs to move faster as Sam rounded the tree out of his sight. The sharp pop of a gun filled the air and then Sam's shout as he was tumbled back into sight.
Sam gasped as he hit the ground and rolled to land on his back as the Pookha reared up at him from within the gnarled roots of a Cyprus. It still held the form of a large, black bear; red eyes gleaming with malice as it heartlessly stepped on the face of the man it had taken and killed him on its way to Sam. He raised his gun, still held tightly in his hand and fired at the same moment his brother's gun sounded. The double impact knocked the Pookha back into the still waters. It screamed in outrage as it sank below the surface.
"Up. Get up!" Dean bent and grabbed Sam's right arm to haul him up, heedless of the hiss of pain from his brother.
"It killed him." Sam said, breathless and kept his gun trained on the water.
Dean glanced over and saw the red ruin of the man's face. "Poor sucker. Come on." Dean tugged on the back of Sam's shirt. "We're going. Someone had to hear those shots."
Sam nodded and focused on breathing around the new pain in his healing shoulder. "Ok." He backed away from the edge of the Bayou with Dean, sure that the trickle he could feel down his chest meant he'd popped a few stitches. They backed quickly out of the swamp and reluctantly put up their guns when they reached the parking lot, not wanting to alarm anyone who might be watching.
"We can't just leave that thing in there, Dean." Sam said as they went quickly around the front of the strip mall. "It'll just kill someone else."
'to get at you.' Dean thought to himself and shook his head. "We're not leaving it, Sam. We're just not gonna walk into another damn trap." He pulled open the driver's door of the Impala and slid behind the wheel as Sam got in. "We'll go after it tonight where we know it'll be."
"The Bayou behind the Evan's house." Sam said and nodded. It was the one place the Pookha kept coming back too and a good bet the creature's nest was there somewhere among the Cypress trees. The drive back to the motel took only minutes, close as they were and Dean threw himself out of the car, letting them back into the room.
"Pack it up, Sammy." Dean ordered and pulled his duffel from under his bed. "That damn thing knows we're here. We aint staying."
"Like there's anywhere else we can go around here where it won't find us." Sam shrugged and started packing his own duffel. "Town isn't exactly expansive."
Dean snorted. "It's a friggin swamp but we'll find somewhere else." He tossed Sam's jacket too him. "We'll go over to White Castle and come back tonight."
They quickly packed the room, Sam loading the Impala's trunk while Dean checked them out. Sam shut the trunk and felt a tingle between his shoulders. He turned to look down at the end of the motel and saw a large black cat sitting at the corner of the building. He took a few steps toward it, one hand raised out.
"Uh…hello?" Sam said softly and hoped it was the friendly Pookha that had lured away his brother. "I sure hope you're not here to eat me." He inched his other hand behind his back, fingers wrapping around the grip of his gun. "Dean said you spoke to him." He took another step forward. "If it was you." He whispered as he neared. The cat watched him, head angled up and red eyes flashing in the late afternoon sun. He drew the pistol, laying it along his thigh as his instincts started to yell at him. Sam took a step back. The Pookha rose from its seated position and arched its back, a deep growl rumbling out from its body.
"Oh crap." Sam breathed and hoped this wouldn't be the stupid decision that ended his life as the creature paced toward him and he backed another step, risking a glance over his shoulder for his brother but Dean was still in the office. He looked back at the cat that seemed to have grown larger and groaned. "Wrong Pookha."
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