Two Brothers 19/?
Chapter 19
"It's his." Sam answered the backpack question after a quick glance. He stood on high alert, gun steady in his hand and eyes constantly roaming the area.
"The antidote should be in the side pocket." Sam stepped forward, guarding me and the backpack. "We might need it."
I swallowed thickly at that thought but crouched down without at word and reached for the backpack. To be honest, I expected to see blood, torn fabric, something that indicated it had been ripped off Dean violently but there was nothing. The backpack lay at the bottom of a tree as if it had been placed there.
"It hindered him." Sam said without looking at me.
"What?" Opening the side pocket I searched for the antidote.
"He needed free movement so he left it here." Sam explained. "He would have come back to get it if he could."
I didn't say anything. I had no time for searching the backpack but it was a save bet that Dean had similar stuff in there as Sam had in his bag.
"Got it." I opened the small case to check if I had the right thing. It was fully stocked and nothing used. Dean hadn't come back to aid himself and I somehow doubted he just wandered off without his stuff. On the other hand, if he was delusional from the poison …
I left the rest where it was, I had already enough to carry, but I tried to memorize the place in case I'd need it later. The tree had been struck by lightning at some point which made it quite memorable and that probably was the reason why Dean had picked this tree to store his stuff in the first place.
"The lair is over there." Sam pointed with his flashlight in the direction. "Dean!"
Still no answer and Sam didn't yell his brother's name again. He fell quiet instead and moved with the grace of a predator all of a sudden. Minutes ago I had been sure he would collapse any second now but the beam of his flashlight was rock steady and so was the gun in his hand.
With the word lair I associated a cave of some sort and this was a rocky area so I kept my eyes open for some kind of opening but found none. Even with Sam heading straight towards it, his light shining right at it, I only realized there was a fissure hidden under fern and moss when Sam disappeared from under my nose.
"Sam!" I hissed and hurried to follow him. I expected the creature to attack us from behind any second now and that feeling didn't get better when I entered the narrow opening of the cave. This bottleneck was perfect for an ambush and I hold my breath and waited for the clicking of claws on stone behind me.
How a big creature, with wings no less, even fit through here was beyond me but I breathed easier when the cave widened and I could step up to Sam.
Breathing was a mistake, though. As an ER surgeon I had seen and smelled some pretty bad things before but that was nothing compared to the foul stench in this cavern. Wet and thick the smell of decaying bodies and rotten flesh crept down my throat and then I was on my knees and emptied my stomach.
I didn't shine the light down to the ground I was kneeling on and I refused to think about the wetness soaking my pants.
"Luis?" Sam whispered but the concern was clearly in his voice. He didn't seem to be bothered by the smell at all. Or by the half-eaten rotting bodies all around us.
However, the doctor in me couldn't help but notice the way Sam was standing, leaning a little more to the side to not stress the stitches holding him together. His pale face, shining with sweat hovered over me. We needed to end this quick.
"I'm okay." I lied and wiped my mouth with my sleeve and got back on my shaky legs.
After the tight entrance the cave widened to a hall with a low ceiling, Sam had to duck his head, and with lots of niches and hidden corners. The light of my flashlight danced over what looked like decades of old bones piling up the walls. Some bones were obviously from animals with antlers and hooves and pieces of fur but most were not. More than one human skull appeared in my light, empty sockets staring at me. I swallowed against the nausea and followed Sam farther into this madness.
Then we found the Manticore. The rear end of it anyway.
Sam fired before I'd even registered what I was seeing. A giant scorpion tail, leather wings like from a bat but a billion times bigger and paws from something cat-like.
Two shots bellowed through the cave but the creature didn't flinch, didn't even move.
"Sam?" The voice was muffled and I couldn't quite tell where it was coming from. But it was definitive Dean's.
"Dean?" Sam yelled back, relief and a hint of hysterical laughter shaking his voice.
"Stop shooting, I already killed it."
Finally my mind caught up with my eyes. The Manticore was stuck in another narrow passage, this one too narrow for its wings. Head and shoulders had fit through but then the wings had stopped it.
"Dean?" Sam asked again, now visibly swaying on his feet. "Where are you?"
His flashlight clattered to the ground and he had to steady himself with the now free hand at the wall but he hold on to the gun in his right.
"At the other end of the freak ass monster thing, genius." Dean shot back. "What the hell are you doing here, anyway? Why aren't you in bed, Sammy?" He said the last part more softly with concern and barely hidden affection.
Before Sam could answer his eyes rolled back and he sagged to the side. My instincts as a doctor kicked in and I caught him before he hit the ground head first. I couldn't prevent his fall but I managed to get him horizontal without causing more damage to him. At least I hoped so.
"Sam?" I patted his cheek.
"Sam?" Dean's cry for his brother was a little more panicked, either way, Sam didn't answer. He was out cold.
continue to chapter 20
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