Survive, Boy, Survive

Chapter 34

I teleported to Sam,
I said" Did you find Gar-" I froze as I saw Dean, my eyes flashed, black smoke circled my waist.
Dean said" He got all biblical on me and gave me his mark."
Sam said" What does it even mean? How-How did that happen?"
" Crowley and I found him, and he gave me this so that I could 86 Abaddon once and for all."
" You worked a job with Crowley?"
" The devil you know..."
" Garth?"
" What?" There was silence, when there used to be gagging and hurling sounds. We went into the bathroom and Garth was gone, the window open." Son of a bitch."

We got outside,
Dean said" Why would Garth run from us?"
Sam said" Why haven't we heard from him for the last six months? Did you test him?"
" He was unconscious. No, I- He steal a car?"
" Did he... steal a car naked?"
" I'll see what I can find on those cameras. Why don't you go talk to Farmer Brown, see about that cow?"
" Yeah."

Sam and I got back to the hospital, Sam called Dean,
Sam said" So, the cow wasn't just killed. It was eviscerated. He said he was on a hunt, right? Maybe he was hunting whatever killed it. Yeah. What about you? Any luck? You're kidding. Hmm. So- We got nothing?" Dean walked right into us,
He said" Send me a postcard." Sam grabbed the file from him,
" Wow. Make, model, license plate. Really, Dean?"
" I told you we can't hunt together. It's for your own good."
" I hear you. And after we find Garth and get to the bottom of this, I'm gone. But until then, no more games."
" Ride belongs to a girl named Bess Meyers. She lives in the next town over."

We rushed into the place,
Garth said" Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, guys. I can explain. Everything's cool. Just a simple misunderstanding."
Dean said" Who you talking to?"
" What?"
" The girl?"
" What-What girl?" Dean held up a bra, I looked at Garth," Wha-Wha-What, now? All right, all right. Guys, everyone needs to take a chill pill and put their guns down. You see? Let's all be grown-ups here and have an adult conversation." Then a werewolf came out of the closet, she grabbed Sam, Sam got her with a silver knife. Garth stood in front of her, my eyes glowed," Sam, please- Don't hurt her."
" What are you doing?! She's a werewolf!"
" So am I."

The girl said" They're hunters."
Garth said" All right. We've all gotten off on the wrong foot here. So let's do things right. Boys, this is Bess... my beloved. And, Bess, that's Dean. Now, he could start a fight in an empty house, but deep down inside, he's just a big ol' teddy bear. And Sam here- Sam can be a bit insecure at times, but for good reason. Bless his heart."
Dean said" That's sweet. Werewolf?"
" All right, guys, look- About six months ago, I was outside Portland, Maine, hunting this big bad wolf. I took him down, but... he bit me in the process."
" And you didn't call one of us?"
" And tell you what? That I messed up? No, I-I knew the deal. There's no cure, so I accepted my fate. Ate my favorite dish of egg fu yung, watched the world's greatest movie, Rocky III, and then... was ready to eat a bullet, when Bess here found me."
Sam said" And how'd she do that?"
She said" Smelled him. How else?"
Garth said" Yeah. She talked the gun out of my mouth, and, as they say, the rest is history. We've been married for four months now."
Sam said" You're married?"
Dean said" To a werewolf."
Bess said" Yes. And my pack has taken him in as one of our own."
Garth said" Guys, it's not what you think. We don't hurt people."
Dean said" No, you just go all wolverine on cattle."
" Yeah."
Bess said" At least he's not eating human hearts. Do you have any idea how hard it is for a bitten to control his instincts, like Garth does? How well he's doing?"
" Thank you, baby."
" Well, it's the truth, honey bunny."
Sam said" Wait. A-A bitten? You're all bitten."
" Not at all. You're either born to it, like I was, or you're bitten, like Garth."
Dean said" Hold on. You said you were- you were born a werewolf?"
" Second generation."
" Garth, can we talk to you for a sec? Alone?"
Garth said" Honey, why don't you go find some ointment for that arm? Okay?" She walked away,
" What the hell?"
" Look, I know you guys want to shoot first and ask questions later, but I checked everything out. This pack is clean. Everything's kosher."
Sam said" Right. Uh, minus the part where your wife attacked me."
" Yeah, because you two came busting in here like a house on fire. Guns waving, the jawlines and the hair- it's very intimidating. What'd you expect? Dean, no one wants any trouble. You got my word on that."
Dean said" Oh, no. That ship has sailed. We're gonna need a hell of a lot more than your word."
" Okay. Okay. Tell you what. You want proof? Come pray with us."
———
Sam crouched in front of me,
He said" Any way I can get you to go with Dean?"
I said" You wish." He scoffed,
" Yeah, I figured. Buddy, I need you to do this for me, okay?"
" You mean make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
" Yeah."
" Well, he's Dean, doing something stupid is in his blood."
" I'll owe you."
" I don't trust your IOUs." He shrugged, making the shrug face,
" Yeah, I wouldn't either. If anything goes wrong, you can kill in 5 seconds flat."
" Then Dean would want to kill me." I looked down,
" He'd never hurt you, okay? Hey." He made me look at him," That's the one thing I know, he'd never ever hurt you, River."
" I can't trust him!" My lip shook," He left! He abandoned us! For no reason!" Tears slid down my face," He just left..." I wiped my face, sniffling,
" Okay..." He stood up," Okay, you don't have to go with him." He ruffled my hair before walking away, I looked to a lightbulb, I glared, and it busted. I breathed heavily, clenching my fists, then slowly let my hands release, sighing.