Stranger

Chapter 9

"Penny for your thoughts?" Nevaeh asks, sitting next to a sulking Sam holding his dad's journal.

"You're gonna need a couple pennies," he murmurs.

"Well unfortunately I'm broke," she says, resting her head on his shoulder. He rests his head on her head. "Sam," she says softly.

"Hm?"

"We're gonna find Jessica's killer, m'kay? Stop worrying and get out of that big head of yours."

He chuckles, "your head acts as a booster and head rest for my head."

She playfully smacks his arm. "Man, I'm thirsty. And hungry."

"Gummy bear?" Sam offers and Nevaeh accepts, taking the pack and stuffs it in her pocket, tossing one in her mouth.

"I bet you're wishing you took my offer of water," he says and she nods, standing and dusting herself off. "Hell yeah."

"I don't... I mean, these types of things, they aren't supposed to be real," Haley says, trying to sort through the existence of the supernatural.

"I wish I could tell you different," Dean says.

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

"We don't," Dean says, and the girl looks around, obviously on edge.

"But we're safe for now," Nevaeh assures her, and she nods.

"How do you know about this stuff?" The girl asks, looking between Nevaeh, Dean, and Sam.

"It kind of runs in the family," Dean says, and she looks to Nevaeh, awaiting her answer.

She shrugs a shoulder as if saying 'same answer as Dean,' "raised into it."

"Hey," Sam says, "So we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I, for one, wanna kill this evil son of a bitch."

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

"So," Sam says, flipping to the page in his father's journal, " 'Wendigo' is a Cree Indian word. It means 'evil that devours,'" he starts explaining to the group.

"They're hundreds of years old. Each one was once a man," Nevaeh continues, "sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman, or a miner, or a hunter."

"How's a man turn into one of those things?" Haley asks her.

"Well, it's always the same. During some harsh winter, a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help. He becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or camp."

Haley scrunches up her nose and Nevaeh mirrors her expression. "I know right, I'd rather starve to death."

"Like the Donner Party," Ben says, and Nevaeh nods. "Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities: speed, strength, immortality," Sam adds.

"If you eat enough of it, over years you become this less-than-human thing. You're always hungry," Dean continues.

"Like Dean," Nevaeh quips and he pouts his lips.

"So if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?" Haley asks.

The trio share a look. "You're not gonna like it," Nevaeh tells her.

"Tell me."

Nevaeh shrugs. "More than anything, a Wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time. And when it's awake, it keeps its victims alive. It, uh..." she scans Haley's face. It exhibits fear, but also hope. "It stores them so it can feed whenever it wants."