Supernatural Fresh Meat - By Alice Henderson Page 0,5

an uncanny ability to imitate human voices, crying out for help to lure in victims. Then it ate, not leaving much behind. The only weapon that could kill it was fire.

“I picked up some supplies on the way down,” Bobby told them. “A flamethrower and the makin’s for some Molotov cocktails.”

“And here I thought you were going to say s’mores,” Dean said. “I love a camp-out.”

“This ain’t a game, boys. These things are mean and hungry.”

Dean smiled. Bobby wasn’t openly emotive, but every now and then his affection came through in the form of gruff advice.

Bobby packed up the map and research and tucked it away in the folder. “I’m getting some sleep. I’ll see you two in the morning.”

“Okay, Bobby,” Sam said.

Dean turned to his brother. “We need to find some digs. And something to eat.”

That night Dean slept fitfully, images of the last wendigo hunt keeping him awake. He could still hear the screams. Dean was starting to feel worn out and hopeless about the hunting gig. They’d go out there and hunt the thing and then what? Another monster would be waiting somewhere else. No matter how many they killed, another always took its place. Sam would tell him that they saved lives, that that was important. Dean used to think that, too. He supposed he still did, on a good day. But they’d saved the world so many damn times already, and it was always ready to off itself again. Sometimes it was as if it wanted to end. Maybe they were just uselessly postponing the inevitable, all this suffering was for nothing. Dean’s head just wasn’t in the hunt like it used to be. He was feeling used up. He knew Bobby would warn him that was a dangerous way to be. You don’t have your head in the game, you’re dead.

Then there was Castiel. Dean felt so betrayed. If Cas hadn’t let those Leviathan bastards out of Purgatory, humanity wouldn’t be facing annihilation again. Sure, maybe Raphael would have busted them out anyway. Maybe it was better that it was Cas who did it. First, though, the power had gone straight to his head. He’d actually demanded they bow down before him, their new god. Only toward the end was he the Castiel that Dean remembered.

Dean flashed on the last time he saw him, wading into the deep waters of the reservoir before erupting with the blackness of thousands of Leviathan, all swimming eagerly out into the world. His friend had vanished in an explosion of darkness, leaving them alone to deal with the upcoming catastrophe. Sometimes Dean got so angry about it he wanted to put his fist through a wall.

He rolled over, trying to get comfortable. On the other bed, Sam murmured in the dark; he was having a nightmare. Dean worried about his brother. Knew that he was struggling a lot more than he let on. But he wasn’t letting Dean in like he used to. Wasn’t leaning on him like when they were kids. Dean felt shut out. He’d never admit it to Sam, but sometimes he felt like his brother just didn’t need him anymore. What was the point? Dean had protected him for as long as he could remember. His father had charged him with that duty, and he’d done his best. And then Hell itself had claimed Sam…

Last year Sam had made the ultimate sacrifice to save the Earth. He’d agreed to be Lucifer’s vessel, then flung himself and Lucifer into Hell. Castiel rescued him, but it took them a while to realize that not all of Sam had made it out. He had come back minus his soul, which remained locked in combat with Lucifer in the cage. When they finally managed to get his soul back in his body, a wall existed in Sam’s mind, blocking out memories of Hell.

Castiel destroyed that, too. He removed the wall, and Sam hadn’t been the same since. He was tortured with visions of Lucifer. Dean had a hell of a time convincing Sam they were hallucinations and not the actual fallen angel, sitting there tormenting him wherever he went. But pain helped. An old wound in the palm of Sam’s hand helped his brother differentiate what was real and what wasn’t. Pain seemed to focus Sam’s mind.

Dean rolled over, trying to make his mind go blank so he could just get some goddamned sleep. He was going to need it tomorrow. What waited for them in that forest