In the Light

Chapter Twenty-One: Dangerous Game

They didn't exactly hit it off with Haley's guide the next morning. He tried to get everyone except Haley to leave. He said it was too dangerous and difficult to protect them all. Dean said that three park rangers should be able to protect themselves.

Haley asked "What kind of park ranger wears biker boots and jeans?"

Dean paused and looked down at himself, then up at Haley. "Oh, sweetheart, I don't do shorts." Ruby laughed. She was hyper. She grabbed her pack and literally skipped into the woods. Sam thought it was cute.

"Hey, Ruby." She turned around to look at Dean. He held up a bag of M&Ms and shook it. She started running towards Dean. "I don't think that's a good idea, Dean," Sam said.

• • •

The mood stayed playful until they reached Tommy and his friends' campsite. It was destroyed. The tents were ribbons and there was blood splattered every where. "Oh, my god," Haley said, shaky.

"Look's like a grisly." Roy, the guide, said, nonchalantly.

Haley shouted her brother's name. Sam shushed her. "Something might still be out there."

Dean and Ruby went out into the woods a little ways. "Look," Ruby pointed at the ground.

"The bodies were dragged out of the camp," Dean said. "The tracks suddenly vanish there. Well, it's no skin walker or black dog."

Ruby went up to Sam and told him what they found while Dean tried to comfort Haley. No one noticed that Roy had left until they heard screaming. They ran into the woods, but nothing was there. They found Roy; he said he saw something, but it vanished.

"Let's go back and set up. We can't leave now. That thing knows these woods better than us. It's almost dark." Dean had suddenly replaced Roy as the leader.

Sam pulled Dean and Ruby aside. "Give me mom's journal." Sam held out his hand. Dean took a leather bound book out of his duffle bag and handed it to Sam.

While Sam flipped through the pages, Dean explained that the book had everything she knew about every evil thing is in there.

"Found it," Sam said. "Look." He showed the book to Dean.

"Oh, come on. Wendigos are in the Minnesota woods or northern Michigan. I've never even heard of one this far west."

"Think about it, Dean. The claws, the way it can mimic a human voice." So it wasn't Roy screaming earlier.

Dean held up his gun. "Great. Then this useless."

• • •

Ruby couldn't sleep. Being in the pitch black woods knowing some monster was out there wasn't much of an incentive for sleep. She kept watch for awhile until she fell asleep against Sam's shoulder a few hours before dawn.

That didn't last long. She jerked awake when she heard what sounded like a man screaming for help in the woods. "It's trying to draw us out. Stay here," Dean said. Soon the screaming was accompanied by growling. Roy shot blindly into the forest and ran out. "Roy, don't!" Dean shouted. They ran after him, but it was too late. He was gone.

As the sun was coming up, Sam and Dean explained what a wendigo is. "You know the Donner Party? Long story short, they got lost in the woods and turned to cannibalism. That's how a wendigo is made. They get abilities from eating humans' flesh. They basically become immortal and constantly crave human flesh."

Still, the only thing Haley cared about was Her brother. "If all of that's true, how can Tommy still be alive."

"You're not gonna like it," Dean said. "These things hibernate. They store humans so they can eat whenever they want. If your brother's alive it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden, and safe."

"How do we find it? How do we stop it?"

"Just gotta keep looking. Guns are useless against it, so are knives. Basically, we gotta torch the sucker."

• • •

They walked for hours. Eventually, they found an area where the trees were marked with bloody claw scratches.

"You know, I was thinking those claw marks back there were almost too easy to follow. It wants us to find it." Sam shook his head.

Then they heard a rustling in the bushes. They went on alert. Ruby felt something wet drip onto her shoulder. She looked up and screamed as Roy's lifeless body fell on top of her. She scrambled to get out from under him. There was growling in the distance, so they ran.

Ruby and Dean got separated from the others. She saw Dean go down first. She heard a thud behind her and saw that something tall and gray had knocked Dean to the ground.

She froze, looking into its animal like eyes. It started towards her and she tried to run, but it was fast. She felt its claws rake down her back. She cried out for Sam. She heard him call out for her and Dean. His footsteps got closer, but he wasn't fast enough either. She blacked out.