"Here you go, honey," a young woman's voice said as she put an infant down in their crib. "You have sweet dreams, Kylie." She let out a small sigh as she covered up the six-month old infant in a thin blanket. She looked at her daughter and couldn't help but notice how much like she looked like her father. It was somewhat painful in all honesty.
The woman turned around, walking out of the room when she suddenly heard creaking on the floorboards as if someone had been walking around in there. Probably just the house settling… she thought before turning off the light. On her way back to her bedroom down the hall there was a loud thud coming back from Kylie's room. Okay, that's it. There had to be something going on in there.
Turning back around she went into Kylie's bedroom without putting too much thought into what she would have seen. She thought that she would have a quick look around then laugh at herself for being so paranoid. Ha, no. She had the exact opposite experience. There was a dark figure looming over Kylie's crib. Was that her mom? No… She was just in the hallway and her mother's room was across from her own, she would have noticed her own mother coming into the room. This figure was tall and thin, he had a hand up over Kylie's crib balled up into a fist.
"What the hell are you doing?!" She demanded at the figure who didn't even bother to turn around to face her. "Hey! Don't you hear me, asshole?!" She stormed over to the figure, clamping a hand on his right shoulder to get his attention. "Who are-"
Before she could finish her sentence, the man turned around quickly. It was hard to tell what made Kylie's mother scream but whatever it was must have been terrifying. The bedroom door to the nursery slammed shut without any actual cause, the room was shaking violently, Kylie's grandmother was pounding on the door from the other side trying to get it to open.
Some unknown force slammed Kylie's mother against the wall, no matter what she did she couldn't break free. She tried screaming as loud as she could to try to get someone's attention to get some help but she couldn't even do that, it was like her vocal cords had been disintegrated as nothing came out. From all the excitement in the room it caused Kylie to start wailing from the unknown, she felt the bad vibes in the room and wanted out.
Kylie's mother slowly started moving up the wall all the way up to the ceiling over Kylie's crib. The only thing the woman could do now was helplessly look down at her baby girl who was wailing at the top of her lungs. She tried screaming again, but this time when she tried she burst into flames, setting the whole room on fire.
There were a pair of yellow eyes and…
"AH!" Kylie screamed from the back of the Impala as she had just woken up from that nightmare. That nightmare that she'd been having since she could last remember. Every time she has it she wakes up with a start with sweat dripping down her face. She looked up to see her dad look back at her with a puzzled look on his face.
"Okay…" Dean turned back around to keep his eyes on the road, turning down the volume of the radio. "You're both creeping me out with your freaky nightmares. You just had one, and Sammy just had one. You guys okay?"
"I'm fine," they both said together. Kylie did tell Sam about her nightmares since she got the vibe that he was caring and understanding while her dad couldn't be so much. She didn't want to tell him anything yet, no matter how much her uncle encouraged it.
"When do you guys wanna talk about it?" Sam cleared his throat loudly to signal to Dean to shut his mouth about the subject. "Wanna drive for awhile?"
Sam chuckled as if he couldn't believe he heard Dean right. He didn't just offer to let him drive the Impala, right? This thing was his baby and wouldn't let anybody touch it. Ever. "In your whole life, you never once asked me that."
"Just thought you might want to. Never mind then."
"Dad, can I drive the car?" Kylie asked sweetly trying to get her way.
"Psh. You wish you can drive my car, no way."'
"Hmm… What about when I turn 16? Then can I drive it?"
"Nope."
"...When you die can I have it?"
Dean laughed then looked at Sam who had a smile on his face. His niece certainly was amusing. "You hear her, Sammy? She thinks when I die I'm gonna give anyone my car. No way, Ky. When I'm dead the car is still mine."
Kylie pouted, folding her arms across her chest. "No way! That's not fair, you're gonna be a ghost. Ghosts can't drive-" She stopped mid-sentence when she remembered last week when the Woman in White literally took over the Impala and started driving it on her own. "Still not fair."
"Tell you what, you can have my favorite jacket when I die. Does that sound good?"
With a sigh, Kylie decided that she would have to settle for that. "I guess…"
"Back to you," Dean said looking back at Sam. "Are you sure you're okay because-"
"Look," he started, "you're worried about me and I get it, and thank you, but I'm perfectly okay." When he heard Dean muttered a "Mhmm…" under his breath he knew that he should change the subject now before it broke out into an argument. "Alright," he cleared his throat again, reaching on the dashboard where he left the map. "Where are we?"
"We are just outside of Grand Junction."
"You know what… Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon."
"Uncle Sammy, we were there for a week and we didn't find anything… Remember? We have to find grandpa before we can find… the thing."
"Dad disappearing… and this thing showing up again after 20 years? It's no coincidence. Dad will have answers and he'll know what to do."
When would Dean just drop this subject? Sam thought to himself as he was peering down at the map in his hands. He didn't want to talk about this anymore until they found dad. They needed to find him now. "It's weird, guys…" His sentence drifted as he was trying to make something out on the map.
Kylie unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned forward to see what her uncle was talking about. "Get your seat belt back on." Dean pushed her back down on her seat. "You know you're not supposed to do that crap."
"Sorry dad…" She muttered, putting her belt back on.
"These coordinates he left us, this Black Water Ridge… There isn't anything there. It's just woods. Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?"
Ranger Station Lost Creek Trail is where they ended up. Turns out it was a national forest area, but that still didn't explain why John led them here. The rest of the drive there was mostly just Kylie complaining that her 3DS was almost dead and needed a place to charge for about 30 minutes. Of course, they weren't going to go anywhere like a diner anytime soon so Dean told her that she better conserve its battery. Getting out of the car to go into the Ranger Station, Kylie hustled inside with her 3DS and its charger, hoping that she'll be able to find a plug in.
All along the walls were pictures of the area and various people from the area or that have taken trips up there. There was also a 3D plastic map of the area sitting the middle of the office. Kylie didn't waste anytime to plug in her game, letting out a sigh of relief. Her game would be safe for another few hours. She was hooked on her games that was for sure.
"The place is pretty remote," Sam started to explain to the two as he looked at the 3D map with Kylie while Dean was looking at a picture on the wall. "See," he knelt down next to Kylie, pointing at some of the mountain like areas on the map. "It's cut off by these canyons here, it has rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place…"
"We can make a fortune if we stay long enough," Kylie said with hope in her eyes. "Where can we buy some pickaxes?!"
"Kylie, check out the size of this friggin' bear," Dean called to his daughter. Kylie's eyes went wide when she saw the adult sized man was literally nothing in compare to the size of that bear. This. This is why she was afraid of them.
"...And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area," Sam finished his original statement.
"Bears?! There are MORE of them?! Oh, hell no. I did not sign up for this."
Dean knelt down next to her, this wasn't going to be good. "You don't decide what you do or don't sign up for in the Family Business. When grandpa gives you a job you do the job without questioning it, understand?" He hissed, his expression had turned from playful to angry in .5 seconds.
"You guys aren't plannin' on going out by Black Water Ridge, by any chance?" A man from behind them asked, startling Kylie.
Dean stood up to say something to him but Sam already had that covered. "Oh, no, sir. We're Environmental-Study Majors from U.C. Boulder. Just working on a paper."
Were half of Uncle Sammy's sentence actual words? Because if they were, Kylie sure as hell didn't know what their role was supposed to be this time. What's U.C. Boulder and what's an Environmental study majors? This was going to be a trip.
"Recycle, man," Kylie said, throwing her fist up to make it seem believable, assuming he meant something that had to do with Earth environment or Earth Day..
One look at them and the man chuckled. "Bull." Was all he had to say to that. "You're friends with that Hailey girl, right?"
Was that something that would get them closer to what they need to find? Probably. "Yes," Dean said without too much thinking about it. "Yes we are, Ranger... Wilkinson."
"Well, I will tell you exactly what I told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Black Water until the 24th. So It's not exactly a missing persons now is it? Tell that girl to quit worrying, I'm sure her brother's just fine.
"We will." Dean watched as Sam and Kylie were looking at all the other "trophies" in the office. He decided they may needed a little more information than what they're already working with. "Well, that Hailey girl's quite a pistol, huh?"
"That is putting it mildly."
"Actually you know what would help? Is if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit. Y'know, so she could see her brother's return date." The Ranger looked a little skeptical with the request, but… whatever he had to do to get Hailey off of his back.
They walked out of the Ranger Station with a copy of the permit like Dean had asked for. He chuckled to himself as he folded it up, putting it inside his leather jacket pocket so he wouldn't lose it. Kylie could feel the frustration vibe off of Uncle Sam and didn't understand why. If it was about his girlfriend Jessica she couldn't understand why Sam didn't realized that to help her they needed to find grandpa. Being an adult was confusing… she thought to herself when Uncle Sammy grabbed her hand, apparently she was drifting too far away from them.
"What? Are you cruising for a hookup or something?" Sam asked Dean sarcastically feeling rather impatient with his older brother.
"What'd you mean?"
"The coordinates point to Black Water Ridge. So what are we waiting for? Let's just go find dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?"
"Oh, I dunno, maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it."
Dean narrowed his eyes at Sam who was clearly getting even more impatient, Kylie could tell by the extra pressure he was putting on her hand. "What?!" He demanded at him.
"Since when are you all 'shoot first, ask questions later' anyway?"
"Since now." He opened the back door for Kylie could get in first then got in the passenger's seat.
Dean was completely taken aback by his brothers new behavior. Normally Sam was the one who wanted to get all the facts first before jumping into anything, but now it was him who was being the responsible one. He smirked before getting into the car, driving to this Hailey's house to see what was going on. This certainly was going to be an interesting case.
The drive to Hailey's house was about ten minutes, ten minutes of pure silence between the three of them in the car. It felt like there was a huge elephant in the room and none of them knew how to deal with it, so silent was how it stayed. Well, not completely silent, the back seat was filled with the Super Mario soundtrack as Kylie was jumping through levels as if it wasn't anything.
They parked in front of the house, collecting themselves on how this was going to go down. First things first:
Dean reached his arm to the backseat with his hand opened. "Give it." Was all he said to his daughter who wasn't paying any attention to him. "Kylie," he said sternly. Still nothing. "Kylie Nyx Winchester." Her head shot up from the small double screen device to look at her father with wide eyes. "Did you hear me?"
"Can I save first?" She asked sweetly. That tone of voice always worked on everyone else if she wanted something, but it didn't seem to work on her father too much.
"Fine. Hurry it up." He turned back around, taking the small cardboard box in the glove compartment. He literally had every badge made for the three of them to get wherever they need. Kylie was clicking buttons as fast as she could to save before Dean got grouchy about it. "Done?" He asked when the clicking stopped.
"Yes, daddy." She placed it in her father's hand when he asked for it again.
Sam let out a sigh of annoyance. He still didn't see the point of this small trip that was wasting their time and just wanted to get it over it. As soon as Dean gave him the fake Ranger badge he got out of the car before the other two could even get settled.
"Why is he so grouchy?" Kylie asked quietly.
Dean didn't anything, he just shook his head as he got out of the car to quickly follow his brother with Kylie following as fast as her little legs could carry her. Sam rang the doorbell, he was tapping his foot impatiently. Dean was about to say something in regards to his behavior, but stopped himself when the door slowly opened, revealing a woman who appeared to be in her twenties with long, dark brown hair standing behind the screen door.
"You must be Hailey Collins. I'm Dean, this is Sam, and this is Kylie," he introduced them before Hailey could even say anything. She had a confused/concerned look on her face, trying to piece together what this could've been about. "We're Rangers with the park service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over and we wanted to ask you some questions about your brother Tommy."
It seemed as though she wasn't buying it at all, probably because of Kylie. " You're a Ranger?" She asked Kylie in a stern tone. "Let me see some I.D."
"Excuse me?!" Kylie snapped, standing on her toes to seem a little taller at least. "Are you doubting my position as a Ranger? I'll have you know that- OW!" She shouted when Dean kicked her in the back of the foot.
"Ranger Banks, I'm sure this has nothing to do with your ridiculously short height," Dean hissed. "Show her the I.D."
Grumbling under her breath, Kylie pulled out the fake I.D. badge that was made not too long ago and held it up to her. With that little exchange, Hailey made sure to look at Kylie's I.D. carefully, making sure that there weren't any errors that made it look fake. A small part of Hailey wanted to see that it was fake, but another part of her wanted to believe them, especially since it had something to do with her brother. Well. Looked good enough for her.
"Come on it," she said as she opened the screen door.
"Thanks," Dean said with a small smile as he grabbed the door.
Hailey looked over his shoulder as Kylie slithered in beside her, seeing the Impala parked in front of her house. "That yours?"
"Yeah!"
"Nice car." She turned around, walking into the dining room of the house, not seeing that Dean mouthed something to Sam.
"So," Sam started, closing the door behind him. "If Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?"
Hailey walked out from the kitchen with two big bowls that were clearly filled with food, setting them down on the dining room table. Kylie had no idea what it was, but it was making her mouth drool. "He checks in every day by cell," she started to explain. "He e-mails photos, stupid little videos, but we haven't heard anything in over three days now."
"Well, maybe he can't get cell reception?" Kylie suggested, standing on her toes to look over the table to see what was in the bowl.
"He's got a satellite phone too"
As soon a she turned around to walk back into the kitchen, Dean grabbed Kylie's arm lightly, moving her back away from the table. "Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?"
The other man at the table who hadn't said a word or even expressed their existence dropped his fork on his plate, causing a loud cling to echo throughout the room. It startled everyone since, hell, nobody thought he was going to even move, let alone speak.
"He wouldn't do that!" He snapped, glaring up at Dean.
"Our parents are gone," Hailey started to explain again, placing more bowls on the table. "It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other."
"Can I see the pictures he sent you?" Sam asked, clearly still deep in thought.
"Yeah, and can I have a plate of food? I haven't eaten in, like, forever," Kylie added in.
"That's Tommy," she said after pulling up the pictures and videos that she saved from her brother. There was a man in a tent wearing a red shirt, worn out jeans, had a small beard, short brown hair and a smile on his face looking at the camera. Looked like he was enjoying himself and no signs of distress. She clicked on the mouse to move to the next item. "This is his last message."
As they were watching Kylie and Dean were both stuffing their faces with the food Hailey had prepared. Sam couldn't help but roll his eyes at them, but brought his attention back to the video that was starting.
"Hey, Hailey. Day six. We're still out near Black Water Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow."
Sam tilted his head as if he saw something in the video that nobody else could see but didn't mention anything if he did. Kylie was just really bored even though she should've started taking this more seriously.
"We'll find your brother, we're heading out to Black Water Ridge first thing," Dean said.
"Then maybe I'll see you there." She could feel the weird looks the Winchester's were giving her as she moved to stand behind her other brother who was still eating at the table. "Look, I can't sit around here anymore, so I hired a guide. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself." Even though Hailey tried all that she could to make herself seem confident in her search, her eyes gave away how scared she truly was. Scared that she was going to find her brother dead, or worse, not finding him at all.
Dean slowly nodded, looking at her. "I think I know how you feel."
Before Hailey could ask what he meant by that, Sam stepped in. "Hey, do you mind forwarding these to me?" He tapped on the keyboard of the computer he was still sitting in front of.
After all the files were forwarded to Sam, the brothers thought it was time to have a drink while trying to fit all the pieces together. They ended up going to an old bar where bikers liked to hang out at, and since it was before ten, Kylie was allowed to go in. Rock music was playing loudly through the speakers while bikers were playing pool and the stench of alcohol reeked throughout the entire building. Even though Kylie had already ate at Hailey's house, she was still starving again, so Dean ordered her some chicken tenders to hold her over. Sam was starting to believe that she was getting her growth spurt a little early with how much she's been eating lately.
Sam pulled out his laptop and pulled up the video that Hailey had sent him before they left. "So," he started after the waitress set down the beer and chicken tenders down on the wooden table. "Black Water Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic, local campers mostly. But, still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there and they were never found." He pulled out a leather folder to show the evidence of what he was talking about, even though he didn't really need it since Dean and Kylie believed him 100%.
"'Any before that?" Dean asked, leaning back in his wooden chair.
"Yeah. In 1982…" Sam pulled out an old newspaper that he found from the town's archives. "Eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack."
Kylie climbed onto her dad's lap to look at what the newspaper said since she couldn't see it from where she was sitting. Dean grunted in frustration, but let her sit on his right leg so she could read it.
"There was another case like that in 1959, and again, before that, in 1936." He adjusted the laptop so both Dean and Kylie could see what he found on the video.
"Lemme have that one," Kylie said, pointing at the one Dean was currently reading.
"No, buzz off, this is mine."
"But I want to see the picture!" She started to whine.
"You can see it fine." Dean reached over Kylie's side and grabbed the last chicken tender that was just sitting on her plate.
"That was mine!"
"I didn't see your name on it."
Sam snapped his fingers at them to get their attention. "Hey, focus. This seems to be happening every 23 years. Now, watch this. I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to the laptop. Check this out."
Sam had clicked pause and unpause on the video quickly as he had found something in the background that nobody would've been able to notice if watching it at normal speed. Kylie sure as hell didn't see it, but clearly her dad and uncle saw something. She tilted her head to the side as if that was supposed to help her vision. Everything looked normal to her. What was it that they were seeing that she wasn't?
"I don't get it…" Kylie announced before they started talking again. "Am I missing something?"
"That's the thing about going into the Family Business," Dean started explaining as he leaned forward so Kylie could get a closer look. "You have to watch for every little detail that you normally wouldn't look for."
"Yeah, the thing is, this is three frames in a fraction of a second," Sam added in. "Here, watch close." He replayed it, but this time he pressed play and pause a little slower than he did the first time so Kylie could, hopefully, catch it this time. "Did ya see it?"
Kylie grunted. "Was it that shadow in the background?" She pointed at the tent that was behind Tommy.
"Thaaaat's right, kiddo," her father said with a smile on his face. Seeing that he was proud that she caught that small detail made her feel confident and proud of herself. She felt like she was getting better and better at this Hunting.
"See, Uncle Sammy! Daddy told you that something was going on!"
"Hell yeah I was right!" Dean held up his hand for Kylie. She reached over to give him a high-five, but he moved it up higher where she couldn't reach it. "Ooh, gotta be quicker than that!"
When Dean put his hand back down at Kylie's height she was prepared to get it this time. First, Kylie grabbed her dad's wrist so he couldn't move then gave him a high-five.
"Ha! I got you!"
Sam let out a low whistle, shaking his head slowly. "Wow, Dean. If she's gonna be this cocky all the time she's gonna have a hard time being a Hunter."
"Oh yeah?" Kylie challenged with a smirk on her face. "Then I guess you don't want to hear something that I discovered on my own!"
"You what?" Sam and Dean asked together in confusion.
"In 1959, one camper survived the 'grizzly attack,' he was a kid and he barely made it out of the woods alive."
"Wh- How did you…?"
Kylie held up her 3DS. "I get internet on this thing too, y'know."
"You have a name?"
"Look, Ranger, I don't know why you're asking me about this," an old man said after inviting the three Winchester's into his small apartment. It was cramped and messy. What a life. "It's public record and I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a-"
"Grizzly? That's what attacked them?" Kylie asked him. Her dad had said that since she was the one who found out about this guy that she was the one who had to ask all the questions. Great. However, it is great training.
The man took a slow drag of his cigarette before nodding his head.
"So… the other people who were killed in the same year, those were bear attacks, too?" She asked, stepping forward. "What about all the people that went missing this year? Were they all the same thing?"
"If we knew what we were dealing with we might be able to stop it," Dean added as Sam started glancing around the apartment.
The man took out the cigarette, looking more serious now. "I seriously doubt that." He sat down in an old raggedy recliner chair. "Anyways, I don't see the difference it would make. You wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever did."
"Mr. Shaw…" Sam started, sitting down on the bed in front of him. "What did you see?"
He let out a sigh, he looked slightly terrified as if he was reliving the memory over and over in his mind. "Nothing… It moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it, though. A roar… like no man or animal I ever heard."
"It came at night?" Kylie asked and he nodded. "Got inside your tent?"
"It got inside our cabin. I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door… It unlocked it. Do you know a bear that could do something like that? I didn't even wake up until I heard my parents screaming."
"It killed them?"
"Dragged them off into the night. Why it left me alive... I've been asking myself that ever since. It did leave me this, though…" He pulled his shirt collar down to expose an extremely large scar that was clearly a claw mark. Kylie's eyes went wide when she saw it, she backed up into Sam who was still sitting on the bed. "There's something evil in those woods. It was some sort of demon."
They thanked Mr. Shaw for his time, leaving him in the apartment while they decided what their next move was. Dean was proud of his daughter for her first questioning, even though she did look a bit nervous. It was the start though.
"Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. They just go through the walls," Dean told them, mainly he was thinking to himself about how it was possible. Kylie grabbed his hand as they were walking down the narrow hallway.
"So it's probably something else… Something corporeal," Sam added.
"'Corporeal'?" Kylie asked him, clearly confused about what that word meant.
"Excuse me, professor," Dean said.
"Shut up. So, what do you think?"
"The claws, the speed that it moves… It could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog. Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature, and it's corporeal, which means we can kill it."
Kylie's ears perked up when she heard a baby crying in the distance. Something about that noise brought what seemed like a vision or a flashback in her mind. A tall man with a black beard and back hair holding a little boy with green eyes and brown hair. They were both leaning over a crib with an infant squirming around inside. Behind them was a woman with blonde hair and a smile on her face.
The little boy who was looking over the crib with a smile on his face. "Goodnight, Sa…."
Dean pulled her from her thoughts when he was practically dragging her into the elevator. She was debating if she should tell her father or Uncle Sammy about what she just saw. The little boy seemed extremely familiar but couldn't put her finger on it. Nah, probably just her imagination running wild.
As soon as they got to the Impala, Dean went to the trunk, propping it up with a sawed-off shotgun. Sam was watching out to make sure that nobody else was around.
"Dad, we can't let Hailey go out in the woods."
"Oh, yeah?" He questioned as he and Sam were packing up a duffel bag with weapons and other things. "And what are you going to tell her? That she can't go into the woods because of a big, scary monster?" Kylie frowned at his response.
"That's exactly what we tell her," Sam said, agreeing with his niece.
"She's not just gonna sit this one out, guys… Her brother is missing. No, we go with her and keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend."
"So finding dad's not enough?" Sam snapped.
Oh, jeez. There they go again about their dad. Kylie backed up, putting her hands in her hoodie pocket and her mouth shut. Everytime she tried to speak up during times like this her father would just hush her. She flinched when Uncle Sammy slammed the trunk shut.
"Now we gotta babysit, too?" When Dean didn't say anything he took a deep breath as if he was calming himself. "What?" He said slowly to sound intimidating.
"Nothin'." Dean threw the duffel bag at Sam before putting his hand on Kylie's back, shoving her into the backseat without saying a word to anyone.
The trio woke up early, five in the morning early, to get down there before Hailey started. Kylie kept nodding off every once in awhile, that was until Dean made her drink up a Monster Energy Drink. That should keep her going for the rest of the night. Things between Sam and Dean were still extremely tense and it made it so Kylie didn't want to speak too much in fear that she would say something and they would get mad at her.
"You ever been camping before, Kylie?" Dean asked his daughter, looking at her through the rear-view mirror.
"No, but I always wanted to."
"Well, you better enjoy what little you can of this trip because this will be the only time you'll be camping."
Great. He was in a crappy mood.
They pulled up on the dirt trail, not too far ahead they could see Hailey, Ben, and another man they haven't met before. This was certainly going to be an interesting trip.
Hailey watched them get out of the car, slowly shaking her head. She couldn't believe that they actually showed up. The three of them got out of the car, breathing in the fresh air. Before they confronted them, Dean knelt down in front of Kylie.
"Listen, since technically this is gonna be a camping trip you're not having your game thing out, right?" She only shook her head, shoving it further into her pocket. "Nuuh. Hand it over." Dean held out his hand."
"But, daddy!" She whined.
"Are we really having this conversation again? Since you've been good with it lately I'll just give you a reminder: if you don't give it to me when you're told to, you'll lose it for a month. That's your last warning. So, hand it over."
Rolling her eyes, Kylie slapped the handheld gaming system into her father's hand without saying anything. But, of course, Dean found something else to bitch about.
"I know you didn't just roll your eyes at me."
"Sorry…" she mumbled.
"Damn straight." Dean stood back up, throwing the 3DS into the backseat of the Impala before locking it behind them. When he turned around, he saw that the three others were staring at them. "You guys got room for three more?" He asked cheerfully, as if the snappy exchange with his daughter just didn't happen.
"Wait… you want to come with us? And you're bringing your daughter?"
"My daugh-" Dean looked back at Kylie who was tying up her walking shoes. "That's Rang-"
"Don't give me that ranger crap, I know she's not a ranger. You two look exactly alike."
Dean spread his hands apart. "You caught me. I had to say she was one so I could sneak her to work with me."
"I really wanted to come camping with you guys," Kylie said with a fake, innocent tone, as she came up from behind Dean and grabbed his hand. "I'm sowwy for lying to you."
Hailey couldn't help but smile. "Aww, aren't you cute?"
"Wait, wait, wait…" the unknown man cut into the conversation. "Who are these guys?"
"Apparently, this is all the park service could muster up."
"You're rangers?" He asked them.
"That's right."
"And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" Hailey brought up, looking extremely confused. "But you dressed up your daughter perfectly for the hike?"
Dean looked down at his outfit then to Kylie's. "Well, sweetheart, I don't do shorts." Dean moved past her, still holding onto Kylie's hand.
They were stopped almost immediately by the unknown man. "Oh, you think this is funny? It's dangerous backcountry out there. Her brother might be hurt. And as a ranger you think it's a good idea to bring your daughter out there?"
"Hey, believe me, I know how dangerous it can be. The girl wanted to go camping so I took her camping. She just wants to help us help them find their brother, that's all."
The area was filled with trees and plants and bushes covering the ground that it was hard for them to watch where they were stepping. Kylie was struggling with keeping up to the point where Sam decided to lift her up to sit on his shoulders. She had no idea how tall Uncle Sammy truly was until this point, and it was awesome! She could feel some blood trickling down her knee due to the fact that a large tree root had cut her. It had stung and wasn't that big of a deal in her eyes, but Sam insisted that he would patch it up when they lay down for the night. They had no idea what kinda germs and bugs were out here.
The elephant in the…woods was becoming too awkward for Dean to bare, so he decided to break it.
"So.. Roy, you said you did a little hunting."
"Yeah, more than a little."
"We hunt too! A while ago we hunted a spi-" Kylie was interrupted by Sam lightly smacking her leg that was hanging over his shoulder to shush her up.
"A spider. She found a spider," Sam quickly finished for her.
"Uh-huh… What kinda furry critters do you hunt?"
"Mostly buck. Sometimes bear."
"Tell me, uh, Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?
Roy grabbed Dean's jacket, pulling him back away and stopping him. Everyone held their breath as they had no idea what the hell was going on. Kylie's eyes went wide, she tried crawling off of Uncle Sammy but he wouldn't let her.
"What'cha doin', Roy?" Dean said carefully.
Without saying a single word, Roy bent down and picked up the nearest stick. Dean just watched him as he put it just a couple of inches in front of Dean. Turns out there was a bear trap that he was just about to step on, but thanks to Roy he missed it.
Roy looked back up at Dean with a smirk on his face. "You should watch where you're stepping… Ranger."
It was clear now that Roy was starting to seriously doubt that Dean was a ranger.
Dean chuckled nervously, looking back at the others behind him. "I was just showing Kylie where the bear trap was, but.. Uh… I miscalculated where it was placed."
When they were sure that there weren't anymore placed, Hailey ran up behind him, grabbing his shoulder to get his attention. Judging by her attitude, she wasn't too happy with him at the moment.
"You didn't pack any provisions. You guys are carrying a duffle bag. You're not Rangers, so who the hell are you?" She grabbed his shoulder again, this time hard enough to turn him around to face him.
Dean looked up at Sam and Kylie who were moving past Hailey from behind who just nodded at him in return before leaving them behind.
"Uncle Sammy, I'm hungry," Kylie whined, laying her head on top of his head.
"You'll be fine, buttercup. Your dad has food on him."
Kylie giggled. "'Buttercup'?"
"Yeah," Sam chuckled. "That's your favorite candy, right?"
As if the mention of food summoned him, Dean walked up behind Sam, holding out a small handful of peanut M&M's to her. "Order up, possum," he told her.
"'Possum'? Where are you guys getting these nicknames from?"
"You're small like a possum. Do you want them or not?"
Kylie smiled as she took them from him. "Thanks, daddy."
"This is it, Black Water Ridge," Roy interrupted them. Stepping aside so the others could have a look at what he was seeing.
"What coordinates are we at?" Sam asked Roy.
Roy checked the coordinates. "35 and minus 111."
Dean stood next to Sam, they were looking out at Black Water Ridge. It was dark and foggy, they could barely see anything at all in the distance. This place gave Kylie some major bad vibes, she really wanted to ask dad and Uncle Sammy if they could just leave and go back home, but there was no home and there was no way they were turning back. In fact, Dean would probably yell at her for even thinking of asking that. She swallowed hard, holding onto Uncle Sammy tight.
"You hear that?" Dean asked them.
"Yeah," Sam agreed. "What about you, Kylie?"
She bit her lip in frustration as she had no idea what they were hearing. "I hear… literally nothing. Not even crickets."
"That's exactly right. You're working on finding small details, good job."
"I'm gonna go take a look around," Roy said suddenly.
"Roy, I dunno if it's a good idea to go off on your own," Kylie told him.
Roy just chuckled mockingly at the little girl's concern. "That's sweet. Don't worry about me." He shoved past Sam and Dean, but nobody else was stopping him. Hey, if nobody was going to listen to Kylie then it wasn't their problem anymore.
"Alright, everybody stays together," Dean announced. The last thing he needed was more people going missing and postpone this trip even longer than it should've been. "Let's go."
The small group wandered around a little bit before they heard Roy calling for them.
"Hailey! Over here!" He had shouted.
Good. Maybe he was finally useful. Kylie thought as they were moving in on Roy's location. There was a tent that was all bent out of shape and supplie were thrown around everywhere as if they were gone through.
"Hmm…" Kylie hummed as Sam set her down on the ground. Her legs were a bit wobbly due to the fact she had been sitting for awhile. "Looks like a grizzly." She gasped when she saw the blood covering the tent.
Hailey was looking around in a panic looking for her brother, but there was no such luck. Everything in this camp was trashed and it seemed like there hasn't been any life here in awhile. "Tommy?" She called out, even though she wasn't expecting anything to call back to her. She took off her backpack. "Tommy!" She tried again.
"Shh! Shh!" Sam warned.
"Why?"
"Something might still be out here."
"Sam! Kylie! Get over here!" They both heard Dean call from a distance.
They climbed over a large tree root to get to him. Dean was kneeling down on the ground, they joined him on the ground, Kylie squeezed in between his legs to get close to him. He held her close, pointing at the small trails in the dirt.
"The bodies were dragged from the campsite," he explained to them, mainly Kylie since she was still in training. "But here, the tracks just vanish. It's weird." As Dean stood up, he grabbed Kylie's wrists to help her stand up as well.
"So.. it's not a Skinwalker or a Black Dog?" Kylie wondered aloud.
"Nope… and I have a feeling of what it is."
Back at the campsite, Hailey was holding a satellite phone with tears in her eyes as she was thinking of the worst. Why wasn't her brother here? He had to have escaped, right? None of this was adding up in her mind. She was too lost in thought that she didn't even notice Sam, Dean, and Kylie came back to camp to meet back up with the rest of them.
Kylie looked around awkwardly and when she realized that nobody was paying attention to Hailey, she patted her back to be of some comfort at least.
"Hey," Kylie started, "he could still be alive.
Before Hailey could say anything back to her, there was a man screaming for help in the distance. Please! Somebody help me! The unknown voice cried out. Help! Dean and Roy had their guns ready as their ran towards the voice with the others following close behind them. They stopped in the middle of a clearing when the voice dulled down.
"It seemed like it was coming from around here, didn't it?" Hailey asked the rest of them.
Sam glanced around the woods. "Everybody back to camp."
The campsite was empty, everything that they left behind was now gone. Roy grunted as he knelt down where his pack used to be.
"Well… so much for my GPS and phone…" He grumbled.
"What the hell's going on?" Hailey demanded.
"It's smart," Sam started, putting his hands in his jacket pocket. "It wants to cut us off so we can't call for help."
"You mean… someone? Some nut job out there just stole all our gear."
Kylie and Dean were kicking around a small rock with each other when Sam grabbed onto their arms. "I need to speak to you two… in private." They walked a bit out of the way from camp, not too far, but far enough where the others couldn't hear them. "Lemme see dad's journal." After Dean handed it over, he flipped through a couple of pages before clearing his throat. "Alright. Check this out." He handed the book over to Kylie so she could see it with Dean leaning over her shoulder.
He scuffed. "Oh, c'mon… Windigos are in the Minnesota woods or Northern Michigan. I never even heard of one this far west."
"Think about it, Dean… The claws, the way it can mimic a human voice."
"Great… well, then this is useless." He put the pistol away with a roll of his eyes.
Kylie held her grandpa's journal close to her chest as they started walking back to camp. "What about them? Shouldn't we get them to safety?"
"Alright, listen up. It's time to go," Sam announced. "Things have gotten more complicated."
"Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it," Roy said smugly.
"Yeah, that's not what I'm worried about. It you shoot this thing, you're just gonna make it mad. We have to leave now."
"One, you're talking nonsense, two, you're in no position to give anybody orders."
"Relax!" Dean cut in. "We never should have let you come out in the first place." He wasn't sure if he was talking to them or Kylie, but either way it was true. "We're trying to protect you."
" You protect me? I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you goodnight." Roy got right up in Sam's face, hell, this wasn't going to end well if it kept going the way it was going but Sam was keeping himself calm.
"Yeah? It's a damn-near-perfect hunter. It's smarter than you. It's gonna hunt you down and eat you alive unless we get your stupid sorry ass out of here."
Kylie frowned when Roy started laughing at Uncle Sammy as if he wasn't telling the truth. She was about to say something but Dean covered her mouth. "You know you're crazy, right?"
"Yeah?" Sam challenged, "You ever hunt a w-"
Dean pushed Sam back before he would say something that they didn't want them to know about, "Chill out."
"Stop! Stop it," Hailey butted in, "Everybody just stop. Look, Tommy might still be alive and I'm not leaving here without him."
"It's getting late," Kylie told them, "This thing is a really good hunter in the day, but is super good hunter at night."
"Well put, Possum, but I would like to add that we'll never beat it in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves."
The fire that they had made before nightfall was crackling loudly, Dean was showing Kylie what to draw in the dirt that would protect against Windigo. Although, Kylie wasn't exactly paying attention to what he was saying, she was exhausted from all the running around and stress she had to deal with all day. Dean had a strong feeling that his daughter wasn't paying attention so he decided that it was time for a little quiz.
"What symbols are these?" Dean asked, looking back behind at his daughter who groaned loudly. "C'mon, if you're gonna be in the Family Business ya gotta know everything you can. What symbols are these?"
"I dunno… Anzasi? An...zai? An…"
" Anasazi. But you were close enough so I'll give you credit for that one."
Roy laughed again, holding his rifle over his shoulder. Kylie frowned, folding her arms over her chest. "No one likes a skeptic, Roy!" She snapped at him. "You're probably gonna get eaten!"
Dean smacked her upside the head. "Knock it off… But she's right, Roy. You are probably gonna get eaten." Kylie stuck her tongue out at him as Dean was leading them both over to where Sam was sitting, off alone away from everybody else. They both sat next to Sam, Kylie lyed her head against his arm, she could barely keep her eyes opened anymore. "What to tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours?"
Sam sighed in annoyance, he didn't understand why his brother had to keep bothering him with that question. He had to keep repeating himself over and over again and it was getting on his nerves. "Dean…"
"No, you're not fine," he quickly cut him off. "You're like a powder keg, man. It's not like you. I'm supposed to be the belligerent one, remember?"
"Dad's not here. I mean, that much we know for sure, right? He would've left us a message, a sign, right?"
"Yeah, you're probably right. To tell you guys the truth, I don't think dad's ever been to Lost Creek."
Kylie groaned. "Can't we just take these guys home and just go find grandpa instead?"
"Right, let's just hit the road, Dean. Let's find dad. I mean, why are we even still here?"
Dean shifted from the spot he was sitting in next to Sam to now sitting in front of his brother and daughter, pulling out the journal. He held it flat on his hand, tapping it twice with his other as he gave them a stern look. "This is why… This book. This is dad's single most valuable possession. Everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to us. I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. Y'know, saving people, hunting things… The Family Business."
"That makes no sense!" Sam said, running a hand down his face as Kylie took the journal from her dad to look through. "Why doesn't he just call us? Why doesn't he tell us what he wants, tell us where he is?"
"I dunno… But the way I see it, dad's given us a job to do, and I intend to do it."
"Dean… No. You can't bring Kylie with you on this, it's too dangerous for her. I gotta find dad and I'm taking her with me. I gotta find Jessica's killer. Both that and Kylie's safety is all I can think about."
"First off, you don't decide where you take my daughter, she's my daughter. Second, we'll find them together, okay? I promise. You have to prepare yourself, Sammy, and Kylie, you have to start paying closer attention, okay? This isn't going to be easy on any of us, but we have to stick together as a family. Sam, you keep that anger going, it's gonna kill you. Ya gotta have patience, man."
Sam chuckled, looking back down at the ground then up to Dean again. "How do you do it? How does dad do it?"
"Well, one, them." Dean nodded towards Ben and Hailey who were huddled up together in front of the fire. "I mean, I figured our family's so screwed to hell, maybe we can help some others. It makes things a little bit more bearable. And I'll tell ya what else helps… killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can."
Help! Help me! The same voice from earlier had cried out again in the dark woods. The three Winchester's stood up, quickly alerted by the noise. Kylie was about to run out towards the cry but Dean grabbed onto the back of her shirt before she got too far. That thing was trying to lure them out of the camp, if she had moved over too far it would've surely got her with no problem. Kylie held the journal tight to her chest as her dad clocked his gun and Uncle Sammy turned on his flashlight, shining it around the area where the screaming came from. HELP!
"Daddy…" Kylie whimpered, wrapping her arms around his leg. He put a hand on her head to try to be of some comfort while he was still on guard.
"It's just trying to draw us out. Just stay cool and stay put."
"Inside the magic circle?"
Kylie frowned, she really hated this guy. Why was he so against what they were doing? "Shut up, Roy! You don't know what you're talking about!"
"Kylie," Dean said in his stern dad voice. "That's enough. If he doesn't want to believe us then, hell, not our problem.
Help! Help me please! The voice kept going on, except this time, there was low growl along with some trees rustling all around them.
"Okay…" Roy mumbled, aiming his gun towards the trees. "That's no grizzly."
"Told ya so…"
"That's enough, Kylie."
Ben grabbed onto Hailey's hand. "It's okay…" She told him. "We'll be alright. I promise." They huddled close together while everyone else was on high alert.
The growling got more and more intense, scaring Hailey and Ben back. Even though Kylie was pretty terrified herself, she wanted to prove to her dad and Uncle Sammy that she was just as strong as they were in situations like this. She didn't need to prove anything, in fact, she was the bravest child either of them knew.
Tracking where the noise was coming from, Roy spurted out two shots in the trees. On the second shot, there was a loud yelping sound.
"I hit it!" He announced proudly. He hopped over the "magic circle" to see what his new prize was this time.
"Roy, no!" Dean shouted, but it was too late, he was already running out. "Don't move," he told Ben and Hailey. "Kylie, normally I wouldn't do this, but…" He pulled out an extra pistol that he carried and handed it over to her. "Just in case anything happens. Only for emergencies." Before Kylie could protest about staying behind, both him and Uncle Sammy went running out after Roy.
In the distance, they could hear Dean shouting after him and Roy shouting something in return. God, she hated this. She hated standing around while her dad and Uncle Sammy were out without her. To hell with this, she thought before running away from the campsite. She could hear Hailey calling after her but she ignored it and kept going. She had no idea which way she went, but it was clearly a shortcut than what her dad and uncle took because she was now standing in front of Roy who stopped under a tree trying to get the others attention.
"It's over here!" She heard Roy shout. "It's over-" Before he could finish, something from the treetop swooped down and grabbed him by the head and snapped his neck as he was shouting before pulling him up. Kylie screamed at the top of her lungs, falling backwards as she was scared of being next.
"Kylie?! Roy!" Dean shouted. "Kylie?!" He tried again. Sam shined his flashlight down on the ground where Kylie was sitting. She scrambled up and latched onto Dean's legs while trying to catch her breath. "What did I tell you?!" He demanded.
"I… You sa-" She was cut off when Dean picked her up, running back to the campsite with Sam behind him, there was still a chance this thing was still out there ready to hunt them next. "But, dad!"
Dean set her back down, kneeling in front of her so they were the same height. "Listen to me, Kylie Nyx Winchester, you could've been killed out there! I gave you an order, to stay here and protect them and you disobeyed me."
"But…"
"I don't wanna hear any of that. You disobeyed me and now you're grounded."
"Ground-... From what?! I have nothing! We have nothing!" She blurted out in anger. Tears were forming in her eyes. "I was scared you were gonna get hurt-"
"So you thought it would be smart to run out there with just a pistol?"
"Then why did you give it to me?!"
Dean closed his eyes and started counting down at ten to try to calm himself down. He loved his daughter, but, God, she was too much like him. He opened his eyes to see Kylie pouting at him. "Don't give me that look. You didn't listen to me so you lost your game for a month."
"A month?!"
"Dean, don't you think that's a little excessive?" Sam cut into the conversation.
"No it's not. She needs to learn to listen to me. There's worse things than getting grounded, Kylie. You could end up dead if you don't listen." Kylie glared at him as he stood back up.
"Well, I don't want to be apart of the Family Business anymore! I want to go home!"
"You don't have a home anyways! There was a reason your grandma asked me to come get you, because she was sick of you and wanted to get rid of you."
"Dean!" Sam snapped at him. "Kylie-"
Before he could finish what he was going to say to his niece, she turned around, hopped out of the circle and ran into the night.
"Look what you did, Dean!" Sam shouted before running off after her.
Kylie could hear her uncle calling after her, but there was no way that she was going to go back. Not if Dean was around. Her vision was blurry and could barely see a damn thing, but she didn't care. Hell, she didn't even care if-
She stopped, hearing twigs snap in half and the trees and bushes around her moving. Well, should've been careful of what you say you don't care about… Kylie held up the pistol, knowing that it wasn't going to do any damage to the beast. The worst she could was get it angry.
A scream echoed through the woods. It was Kylie. Sam stopped in his trail, feeling sick hearing his niece scream like that. He felt helpless. And he also felt pissed off because Dean was the reason she ran off in the first place. There was nothing they could do. Nothing until morning anyways.
He stormed back to camp, glaring at his brother who was just standing there as if he didn't give a rats ass about what just happened to his daughter. Sam grabbed him by the collar and shoved him up against the tree.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Dean?!" He demanded. "You heard that scream? It was Kylie's!" Dean didn't say a word. "Why did you say that to your own daughter!"
"I didn't mean to, alright! I was panicking and worried about her."
" Worried. Now you have more of a reason to worry. I have no idea if she's dead or alive, but I sure as hell know that it got her and you don't seem to give a shit!" Dean shoved Sam off of him.
"I do care! I do! I…" He trailed off, looking into the woods. He had been holding in his sadness for what just happened but didn't want to express it. It sure made him look like an asshole. He felt like he was going to break down any minute, but he couldn't let that happen. He was supposed to be strong and not show emotions. "I don't know how to be a parent, Sam! Okay? Dad barely gave us the time of day, yet I'm supposed to be the perfect parent?"
"Nobody said that. No parent is the perfect parent, but you just gotta show love and not be a dick." Sam purposely bumped into Dean's shoulder as he was finding his place to sleep for the night. He was going to track down that evil son of a bitch and either find his niece or avenge her.
When Kylie woke up, she was hanging from her arms. Uncomfortably. She was in a dark room that she couldn't recognize. It smelled awful in here, certainly gave off some vibe to not make a single sound to let them know she was awake. The point is she was still alive. For now anyways. More than anything she wanted Uncle Sammy.
He'll find me, I know he will, she thought, closing her eyes again.
The only sound she could hear was water dripping down, growling, and footsteps. Although, she had no idea where she was at since the damn thing knocked her out. There was a crashing sound in the distance, causing her to close her eyes tight in fear of what it could be.
Coughing and talking was now there too. She wanted to call out to whoever was out there, but since she couldn't make out who it was or what they were saying she didn't want to take a chance in case it was the Wendigo. Should she take a chance on this? It was a hard choice. On one hand, she would be saved. On the other hand, she would probably be food.
Instead of calling out to the potential people who may or may not actually be there, she coughed loudly instead. To gain attention to whoever was there, but didn't signal that she was awake or not. After that, she heard a couple of footsteps running towards her. Maybe it was more of those huge freaks, she thought. She made sure her eyes were closed but not too tight to make it look like she was forcing it.
"Kylie!" She heard Dean shout. She opened her eyes to see everyone there, including some dude she hadn't recognized, probably Tommy. "Kylie," he said again when approaching her. "Are you oka-" Kylie took the time to kick Dean in the chest for what he said the last time they saw each other. "That… was justified…" He said in a weak voice, a hand over his chest where he was kicked.
"Stay still," Uncle Sammy said, moving past Dean to cut her down. "I got'cha." He held onto her as she was released from the rope trap. "You okay? Are you hurt?"
"Physically, no." She glared at Dean who looked hurt by her words, but since they didn't have time for that right now he was over it.
There was more growling in the distance, as if it knew they were here and ready to escape. Dean handed one of the two flare guns he had found in a dufflebag. When the growling got louder, Sam held his up, ready to fire when he saw the bastard.
"Looks like someone is home for supper," Dean announced.
"We'll never outrun it," Hailey commented.
Dean looked up at his brother. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"
"Yeah, I think so."
The growling continued, as if it was getting closer. "Alright, listen to me," he told the group. "Stay with Sam. He's gonna get you out of here."
"What are you gonna do?"
Instead of answering Hailey, Dean just winked at her before running off to where the Wendigo was at. "It's chow time, you freakin' bastard!"
Kylie was starting to run towards Dean, because, hell, even though he did say some rude things to her, he was still her dad and wanted to make sure he was okay. Sam grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "No, Kylie."
"But-"
"C'mon, hurry!" Sam released Kylie, holding up his flare gun motioning everyone to follow him.
From the distance they could hear both Dean shouting at the beast and growling that was extremely close to the group. Sam stopped and turned around.
"You guys gotta keep going."
"No!" Kylie shouted him.
"Go!"
Before she could protest anymore, Hailey grabbed her arm and forced her towards the opposite direction. It was hard trying to hold onto her since she was thrashing around trying to get free. There was a shot then a loud growl. It had sounded like Sam missed his shot.
He came running down towards them, telling them all to hurry up and move. Running down the path, they ended up at a dead end.
"Get behind me!" He told them, making sure that they were all there.
The growling and snarling was continuing, there was no use, it knew it was there. It roared loud enough to shake the mine. Kylie could feel tears in her eyes when she saw the beast in the light.
"Hey!" Dean called from behind it. When the Wendigo turned around, Dean fired the flare gun at it. It instantly caught on fire. It was over. "Not bad, huh?" He asked them. Now it was time to get the hell outta here.
There were police, ambulances, and real Rangers there at the scene to get the information on what happened. Everyone agreed to say it was a huge grizzly bear. Kylie was sitting on the trunk of the Impala while Sam was talking to the police with Ben and Dean was finishing up his conversation with Hailey. She was happy that this was all over but still felt sad about what Dean said.
She looked down at her muddy hands when Dean sat beside her. "Kylie, I'm sorry." She looked up at him. "I didn't mean what I said, okay? I just… Don't know how to express concern the way a parent can. I know there isn't an excuse to what I said but-" He didn't even get to finish what he was saying, Kylie just hopped off the back of the Impala and crawled into her backseat.
Dean let out a shaky sigh. He messed up. Bad. There was no way he knew how to fix this, but he knew it was going to take a lot of time. Sam sat down next to him.
"Man, I hate camping," was all he said to Sam.
"Yeah, me too…" They watched as the ambulance left the scene.
"Sam, you know we're gonna find dad, right?"
"Yeah, I know, and you're gonna fix things with Kylie. In the meantime… I'm drivin'." Dean pulled out his keys and tossed them in the air where Sam caught it effortlessly.