memento vivere - supernatural & criminal minds

chapter 14

Chapter 14
The Labyrinth

“There’s no way.” Dean, Sam, and Jude stood away from the group, huddled around a drawing in John’s journal. By some miracle, Dean had opted to carry it in his pocket. The spindly sketch of the wendigo quivered as he shook the book in the air with exasperation. “Wendigos are in the Minnesota woods, or northern Michigan. I’ve never heard of one this far west.”

“Just think about it, Dean,” Sam pressed. “The claws, the way it can mimic a human voice.”

“How it was smart enough to steal our supplies,” Jude tagged on.

“Great,” Dean groaned, drawing a silver pistol from his waistband. “Then this is useless.”

Jude thought back to what she’d read, “We’re gonna have to light it on fire.”

“With what supplies?”

Dean turned to his brother, his face cracking into a giddy smile. “Let’s call it a cross that bridge when we get to it type of situation.”

“I’m pretty sure we’re already on the bridge,” Jude said, nodding to Roy and the Collins family. “And we gotta get them off of it.”

Sam nodded and strode back to the group, whistling to get their attention. “Alright, listen up. It’s time to go, things have gotten…more complicated.”

Roy scoffed. “Kid, don’t worry. Whatever’s out there, I think I can handle it.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about,” Sam shrugged, holding out his hands. Roy took it as Sam baiting him and bristled with hostility. “If you shoot this thing, you’re just gonna make it mad. We need to leave, now.”

“One, you’re talking nonsense,” Roy jabbed a finger in Sam’s direction. “Two, you’re in no position to give anybody orders.”

“Relax,” Dean cautioned. Jude couldn’t tell if it was meant for Roy or Sam.

“We never should have let you come out here in the first place, all right?” Sam countered, bringing his and Roy’s faces even closer. From behind him, all Jude could see of Sam was the tension in his broad shoulders and his clenched hands at his sides. “I’m trying to protect you.”

Roy barked a laugh, sharp and resonating through the trees. Jude cast a nervous glance through the brush, worried that the wendigo would be alerted by the noise. Nothing sprung from the shrubbery, but she stayed on her guard. “You protect me? I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you goodnight.” Jude could see in both the boys that the irony had stung. She took a cautious step toward the center of the clearing, brushing Dean’s arm as she passed in a kind of futile reassurance.

Sam rose to his full six-foot-four. It read to Jude as a warning. He tended to stand with a slight hunch so as to not come off as imposing. She’d noticed that he always seemed to be the right height to talk to her instead of down at her. “It’s a damn near perfect hunter. It’s smarter than you, and it’s gonna hunt you down and eat you alive if we don’t get your stupid sorry ass out of here.”

Roy’s second laugh sounded more like a growl. “You know you’re crazy, right?”

“Yeah?” Sam cocked a brow, leaning forward. “You ever hunt a wen-”

The barest glance between Dean and Jude was all they needed. Dean caught his brother by the arm as Jude forged a wall between the men - a half-wall at best, but a sturdy one. Sam glared down at her, the muscles in his chest tense where her hand lay. Dean was speaking, but neither seemed to hear him. Jude held Sam’s stare as she felt his heartbeat quicken beneath her palm. “Enough,” she seethed through gritted teeth.