Fic: Upside Down and Sideways, chapters 8

[mamapranayama]

Chapter 8

Water sloshed into Sam's boots as he trudged along the mucky, rocky road. He shivered again, hair plastered to his head and obscuring his vision while rain poured down his face and soaked him from head to toe.

He'd been walking for what felt like an eternity. In actuality it may have only been about twenty minutes, but the going was dreadfully slow while the wind blew wildly into his face. The storm was becoming fierce, the tree boughs above his head swaying dangerously, some creaking so loudly that Sam kept it in his head to watch for falling limbs.

He coughed into his hands, the tightness in his chest was growing thans to the cold and he had to admit to himself that he was feeling 100% at the moment. Chills coursed through his body and his wet clothes did little to warm him. He really needed to find a way to get a hold of Dean soon. Then he could give in to being sick, find a nice, clean motel room with a warm bed and sleep for days. The thought of being warm alone was enough to spur him on and keep going.

Trudging on, he stayed near the shoulder, keeping an eye out for the truck, ready to run into the woods should he see it. The last thing he wanted was to be found again by Alicia. She was troubled, just as much as Max Miller was, but he wondered if all hope was lost for her as well. He had wanted to help Max, but that had only led to almost getting his brother killed, but maybe Alicia wasn't too far gone yet. Perhaps when he got back to Dean they could got back to her and get her some psychiatric help. Then again, what if he was just projecting his hope for her as hope for himself. What if he was next on the list to become deranged?

The thought had him shivering again.

He sniffed as snot ran down his nose and he lamented that all he had to wipe it with was his wet sleeve. Lightening flashed again, this time way too close for comfort within the woods, the blast of electricity hitting a near-by tree, exploding it into flames with a resounding CRACK.

Startled, he jumped from the sound, afraid that the tree might fall on him. He hadn't been watching where he was going the last few hundred yards and he hadn't noticed how steep the drop-off was from the road. His foot caught on a rock and the next thing he knew he was tumbling down the ravine, hitting sharp branches along the way and coming to a sudden stop at the bottom, his head and body connecting with a fallen tree and sending his world into darkness.

He was still out a few minutes later when a vehicle turned onto the dirt road he had been walking along and sped passed him.

OOOOO

Rain beat steadily down on the windshield and seeing the road was difficult because the windshield wipers had decided to quit working after the first two swipes. But at least they were moving and Dean reminded himself that beggars couldn't be choosers. There hadn't exactly been a plethora of working vehicles in the salvage yard and the one they were driving now was running, yes, but whether or not it was street worthy was a matter of opinion. It was an old El Camino, missing one headlight and passenger side door and Dean was just glad that he was in the driver's seat and in control . However, with Bobby cursing beside of him every time they hit a puddle and water splashed into the cab, soaking the older man, he felt a little guilty for putting the older hunter through that.

"Goddammit." Bobby swore again as more water hit him.

"Sorry." Dean offered distractedly, his eyes focused on the road as he gunned the accelerator.

"Just keep watch for cops, we won't be doin' ourselves any favors if we get pulled over for driving this jalopy."

"God, this place is out in the middle of butt-effing nowhere." Dean complained, it had been miles since they had seen any houses along the tree-lined road. "You see it yet? I can't see a damn thing through the windshield."

"Should be another mile or so up ahead then we turn left onto a dirt road." Bobby informed him, reading the GPS as they drove. The address had been located further outside the city than either of them had anticipated, but with Dean behind the wheel, ignoring all posted speed limits, they were closing in on it quickly.

Dean pushed the car harder and the engined roared. Finally, they came upon the dirt road and Dean yanked hard on the wheel, squealing tires burning against the wet black-top as they peeling into the muddy road.

"Ack!" Bobby grunted when pebbles and mud flew up through the non-existant door.

Dean peered through the windshield as best as he could, the night was so dark and with only one headlight, making anything out was near impossible, but after half a mile, a small, ranch-style house came into blurry view.

"This it?" Dean asked.

"Think so. Address matches." Dean pulled up the drive and killed the engine, they were still several hundred feet from the door, but he didn't want the noise from the engine alerting that bitch that they were coming.. He reached into the back seat and pulled out his duffel, zipping it open and pulling out his knife, strapping it to his ankle then reaching in again and pulling out his .45.

Bobby checked his shotgun and gave Dean a nod that indicated that he was ready to go. Both men exited the car and began to quietly descend upon the property.

The house was dark and silent from the outside, it looked like no one was at home. No lights shown from inside, but with the weather raging as it was, it wouldn't have surprised him that the power had been knocked out.

Bobby headed for the one-car garage as they drew near, peering into the window. "No truck." He informed Dean as he came near.

"He's gotta be here." Dean whispered back, keeping their voices low, maintaining their stealth mode. Dean indicated with hand signals for Bobby to take the back door while he went to the front. The older hunter nodded and ran around the side of the house while Dean quietly went to the front. He peered through the curtain-less window, but saw only a darkened living room. Slowly he sidled up to the door and slowly tried the doorknob. He expected it to be locked, but was surprised to feel it turn all of the way.

Without making a sound, he slowly pushed the door open and slipped inside, holding his gun up to the ready. The house was silent save for a small clicking noise coming from the back that Dean interpreted as being Bobby picking the back door. He crept through the dark room and slid along the wall of a narrow hallway, he turned into the first open door and flashed his gun out ahead of him, scanning the room.

It was empty save for a twin sized bed. The blankets and sheets were messed up and as he approached it, he made out the broken post, the nightstand with the broken glass and an empty syringe laying next to it. Ropes lay discarded on the mattress, stained dark. He picked one up, finding it slick with moisture. Feeling the wetness between his fingers, he looked at them and knew right off what it was: blood. His own blood ran cold as anger flared up inside of him.

This bitch is gonna pay. He vowed to himself and to his absent brother. Dean could feel almost feel that his brother had been in this room, but had managed somehow to break free. But where was he now?

A sound from behind him had him whirling and he breathed a sigh of relief seeing that it was Bobby. He gave the other man a questioning look that asked, did you find anything?

Bobby shook his head as he took in the room as well. Dean held up the rope for the older man to see and Bobby scowled at it.

"The house is empty, Dean." Bobby whispered to him. "But if she took him somewhere else, it wasn't long ago, there's still something cooking in the oven."

"Yeah, and this blood is still fresh. And look at the bedpost. If that doesn't scream Sam in escape mode, I don't know what does."

"But that also means that she could be after him right now."

"Then we better go and find him first."

OOOOO

Pulling into the 24 hr gas station, Alicia got out of the truck and hurried to make her purchases. Choosing a bottle of aspirin, some cokes and a can of chicken noodle soup she checked out and headed back outside.

Once in the truck, she suddenly felt all of the exhaustion of the last couple of days catch up with her. Her head still ached from the blow Sam had given her with the lamp, but she could forgive him for that. He had just been scared and confused, after she nursed him back to health, fed him some of the soup and showed him that she was only trying to help him then he would start to come around. Then maybe he would begin to see her differently, then maybe he would love her as much as she loved him.

She hadn't slept in almost two days and the drive back was long and lonely. Fearing that she might fall asleep at the wheel, she decided that maybe a few minutes of rest would refresh her enough for the return trip. Tilting her head back, she closed her eyes, meaning to nap for just a few minutes.

She had only been out for just a minute when something told her to wake up, that something was wrong and when she opened her eyes she was startled to see that she was not alone in the truck.

Gasping at unexpected intruder, she panicked and tried to open the door to escape, but it was locked and trying to pull up the lock was impossible.

"Sorry, Kiddo. You're stuck here with me for the moment." The man sitting next to her in the passenger seat calmly explained. He turned his face towards her and grinned. She nearly screamed seeing the bright yellow of his eyes that seemed to radiate their own light within the darkened vehicle.

"Oh my God. Please don't hurt me." She pleaded with him. He laughed as she shrank back against the door.

"Calm down, I'm not gonna hurt you, in fact you're still asleep. I just want to have a little chat with you, that's all."

She wasn't comforted by his words at all, she could feel the malice and evil in his voice, she wanted to run away, but there was nowhere to go. She was trapped.

"Who?....Who are you?"

"Aww. That's not important, Sweetcheeks. But, I know you, I know what you can do and I know that you've caught yourself a Sam Winchester. Nice one, by the way. I've got people that work for me that haven't been able to do half as good a job as you did getting your hands on that boy."

"What do you want from me?"

"I just want to help you, that's all. You and little Sammy have a lot in common, you know. He's got abilities just like you."

Alicia made a surprised face, she hadn't seen that when she saw into his past. "Yeah." The yellow-eyed man continued. "He see the future, you see the past. You're like yin and yang-opposites. But you now what they say about opposites, don't ya?"

"Now listen, kid. You're gonna wake up soon and I want you to high-tail it back to your little dead granny's house because I've got something I want you to do for me."

"What, why should I help you?" The yellow-eyed man sighed in exasperation and muttered something about kids these days being so block-headed.

"Because I can give you what you want. You want Sam to love you, but you know what? He's not gonna do that unless you get rid of that brother of his. You'd be doing us both a favor, you know as well as I do that Dean is a dangerous man, he needs to die. Ya think you can do that for me? 'Cause, if you do, the rewards for you will be astronomical- you might even be able to get Sam to fall in love with you. Now how does that sound?"

She had to admit to herself that she would do anything for that to happen. "Alright." She agreed. "I'll do it, just make Sam love me." She begged.

The man grinned again and nodded."Good girl. Now, you make sure that gun in your purse is loaded and you drive your ass as fast as you can back home, because I'm telling you that Dean is already on his way to your house and you need to get to him before he gets to Sam."

"Okay." She nodded quickly, still feeling intimidated by the strange man's presence.

In a flash she was awake again from her dream, gasping as she sat up, alone again in the truck. The yellow-eyed man's words echoed in her head and she hastily reached for her purse and pulled out the little gun she had bought and checked to make sure it was loaded before she threw the truck into reverse and peeled out of the parking lot, breaking all speed limits to make it home.

OOOOO

Rain hit his face, waking him up from the fog that surrounded him. He groaned and rolled to his side, feeling every muscle and bone in his body ache. He coughed uncontrollably, his chest tightening, struggling to breathe past the phloem as he wheezed.

He panted as soon as the spasms exploding through him subsided and he looked around. His head hurt immesuably and he touched his hand to his forhead pulled his hand away to see the blood that stained them.

Looking around in confusion, he couldn't recall how he ended up there. Where was he? Had he and Dean been hunting something? His mind was a blank as he looked around, surrounded by trees, nature and the pelting rain.

Was it another wendigo they were looking for? No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't remember.

Obviously, he was in a woods somewhere, but where was Dean? What if he was in trouble? He had to find him. Unsteadlily he brought himself to his feet, shivering from the cold as a chill coursed through his frame. God, he felt awful and his stomach told him he was going to be sick, but he didn't have time for that now. Dean was out there somewhere in the woods, possibly in danger.

He didn't know where to start. To one side was a steep incline and to the other the forest loomed large and deep. Mentally flipping a coin in his head, he headed in the direction of the trees, bracing himself for the stab of pain in his head he knew would come as he shouted.

"DEAN!"

TBC.....