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WENDIGO [PART FOUR]
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"What the hell took you so long?"
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"Nice to see you to, Doll."

• • •

The next day, Juliet watches Sam as he sits against a hollow tree stump, holding John's journal while playing with the rosary that's attached to the book with Harlow next to him picking at the flowers.

Sam looks to be deep in thought.

Juliet is snapped out of her trance by the sound of Haley's voice. The two women along with Dean and Ben are sitting among the tents.

When the three had come back to the campsite without Roy, they told the Collins' siblings everything that they know about the Wendigo and it seems the Collins sister still can't get her head around it the next morning.

"I don't...I mean, these types of things, they aren't supossed to be real."

Juliet turns to the girl and offers a small smile and shrugs. "I wish we could tell you different." A thought then goes off in Haley's head as she turns to the couple. "How do we know it's not out there watching us?" Dean turns to the girl and shrugs. "We don't. But we're safe for now."

There's another pause before Haley turns to the mother and father in thought. "How do you two know about this stuff?" Juliet and Dean turn to each other before both looking to Haley. The former of the couple smiles at the Collins girl. "Kind of runs in the family."

Before Haley can fire another question, Sam walks over with his hand in Harlows. He offers the four a small smile.

"Hey."

Haley stands up as Harlow runs over to Juliet and Dean with two flowers in her hand. "Mommy, Daddy! I picked these for you." The young girl then proceeds to hand a blue flower to Juliet and a yellow flower to Dean. Her mother and father smile in thanks before Dean grabs her and brings her down on his lap and tickles her which causes her to shriek with laughter.

Juliet and Sam smile at the scene before Sam clears his throat, gaining Dean and Harlows attention. Well, more Dean's.

"So we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I for one want to kill this evil son of a bitch."

Juliet glares at Sam upon hearing the curses leave his mouth but Sam shrugs and gestures to Harlow who's drawing in the dirt with a stick and not listening to the conversation.

Juliet sighs but shrugs as Dean nods his head in agreement with his little but taller brother. "Well, hell, you know I'm in." Juliet hits Dean on the arm for cursing before looking up to Sam and nods her head. "You can count on me joining in."

Sam smiles at the two as he shows the wendigo page of John's journal to Haley and Ben, to help them get a better understanding of what they're hunting.

"'Wendigo' is a cree Indian word. It means 'Evil that devours'."

"They're hundreds of years old. Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or hunter."

Haley nods at Deans words before a question comes to mind.

"How's a man turn into one of those things?"

Juliet decides to answer the question as Dean's busy picking up some things from the ground.

"Well, it's always the same. During some harsh winter a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help. Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his camp or tribe."

Ben then decides to participate in the discussion.

"Like the donner party."

"Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality."

Dean nods his head, "If you eat enough of it, over the years, you become this less than human thing. You're always hungry."

Haley looks between the three hunters. "If that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?"

Juliet pulls a face, which Haley notices.

"What?"

The huntress sighs as she locks her eyes with the Collins sister.

"You're not gonna like it."

Juliet glances at Sam and Dean before looking back to Haley, who has a look of determination on her face, as if to say that whatever Juliet tells her, she can take it.

"Tell me."

So with a reluctant sigh, Juliet caves but not before motioning for Dean to cover their daughters ears, which he does.

"More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it's awake it keeps its victims alive."

Juliet winces before continuing.

"It, uh...it stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. Which means if your bother's alive, it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden and safe and what we gotta do is track it back there which is easier said than done."

Haley crosses her arms and nods her head.

"And then how do we stop it?"

Juliet lets out a sigh as Dean uncovers Harlows ears and picks up the stuff he picked up from the ground and put in his lap.

"Well guns are useless, so are knives. And arrows would barely leave a scratch. Basically-" Juliet holds her arms out to Dean as he turns around to face Haley and holds up a can of lighter fluid, a beer bottle and a white cloth he'd picked up, and with a smile on his face, he answers Haley's question.

"We gotta torch the sucker."

Juliet does jazz hands as she gestures to the items Dean is holding.

"Ta-da."

• • •

The group make their way through the forest, passing trees with claw marks scratched into the bark and blood that is yet to dry, dripping down the tree trunks.

Harlow, who is being carried by her father, buries her face in Deans neck at the sight of the blood.

Juliet walks beside them with the Molotov cocktail in hand as Sam leads the group while Haley and Ben follow from behind.

Suddenly Sam stops and turns to his brother and best friend. "Dean. Juliet." The two hunters make their way to Sam, Dean still carrying Harlow.

"What is it?"

The three hunters look around at the trees that surround them. The three immediately notice that these trees also bare claw marks.

Juliet then looks down to the ground and notices that broken branches from the trees surround them on the floor.

"You know, I was thinking, those claw prints, so clear and distinct. They were almost too easy to follow."

Juliets surveys the scene in front of them as she processes Sam's words. Her eyes then widen at what Sam is hinting at clicks in her mind, but before she can voice what she's thinking, a low growl comes from behind them.

Harlow whimpers as the three hunters whip around but find nothing there. The sound of the trees rustling causes the hairs on the back of Juliet's neck to stand to attention as shivers crawl down her spine.

Juliet's eyes move to Haley, who's standing under a tree, her brown orbs then move to the crimson red liquid that has dripped onto Haley's shoulder.

The Collins girl also notices the blood on her.

The two women look up into the trees and before Juliet can blink, Haley leaps out of the way as a body falls to the floor, landing where Haley was once standing.

Dean and Juliet cautiously approach the body, the former placing his hand on the back of Harlow's head as he does, shielding her from seeing the lifeless body of Roy.

Sam walks up to Haley and places a hand out in front of her, offering to help her up.

"You okay? You got it?"

Haley nods her head as she takes Sam's hand and smiles in thanks as he helps her get on her feet.

"His neck's broke."

Before anyone can reply to Dean, more growling can be heard from behind them.

Juliet and Dean look at each other before turning to the others in panic.

"Okay, run, run, run, run, go, go, go!

Juliet pushes Dean in front of her as everybody takes off to get to safety but they don't get very far as Ben trips over a log and crumples to the floor.

Sam, not thinking twice, turns back to help the youngest Collins sibling up.

"Come on, I gotcha, I gotcha."

This results in the group being divided into two. Dean, Juliet, Haley and Harlow being one group and Sam and Ben being the other.

While Sam is helping Ben, the other group consisting of Dean, Juliet, Haley and Harlow are running as quick as their legs can take them before they all immediately stop short. Juliet's breath is caught in her throat as Haley's eyes widen at seeing the Wendigo towering over them.

Juliet turns to Dean and with one look from the Huntress, Dean takes Harlow and quietly runs away with her in her arms.

Miraculously, the wendigo doesn't notice the father-daughter duo escape and instead keeps its eyes trained on the two women.

Haley let's out an ear piercing scream as the Wendigo lunges toward them.

Sam and Ben hear Haley's gut-wrenching scream. The latter of the two looks to Sam in fear and confusion.

"Haley?"

The two run to where they heard Haley's scream to find no one there.

Sam looks down to the ground and notices the cocktail Molotov laying on the floor, he bends down and picks up the object before looking around the area but he sees nothing but the dense forest.

"Juliet! Dean! Harlow!"

There is no answer to Sam's call which starts to make his heart rise to his throat.

• • •

The duo had been walking around the dense forest for half an hour, at least, searching for the family members that had been taken by the tall monster.

"If it keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?"

Sam turns to Ben and squints his eyes in thought.

"Honestly? I think because Roy shot at it, pissed it off."

Ben nods his head, not disagreeing with that theory. The youngest Collins sibling then stops in his tracks as a trail of peanut M&Ms catches his eye.

"They went this way."

Sam catches up to Ben as he bends down and picks one of the candies up and hands it to the taller Winchester brother who laughs in disbelief at the sight of the sweet.

"Looks like Juliet swiped Dean's M&Ms. It's better than breadcrumbs at least." Sam then tosses the M&M away before him and Ben start to follow the trail.

However, the two don't get very far before Sam starts to hear someone calling his name.

The said Winchester looks around before smiling in relief at the sight of Dean making his way toward them with Harlow by his side.

The father-daughter duo look worse for wear, with both of their faces covered in dirt with thin scratch marks dawning their faces, presumably from the tree branches when they were running from the Wendigo.

Upon the sight of his older brother and young niece, Sam rushes up to them and brings both of them in for a hug while also trying to calm his heart rate done.

"I thought I'd lost you."

Dean scoffs and shakes his head, "Won't get rid of us that easily." The older Winchester then looks around, noticing that a certain brown haired woman is missing.

"Where's Juliet?"

Sam winces before pointing down to the ground, more specifically, toward the trail of M&Ms that had been left for them to follow.

"She was taken by the wendigo, along with Haley."

A look of thunder immediately crosses Deans face but before he could explode in anger and worry, Sam quickly tells Dean about the trail that she has left for them. "She's smart Dean and an experienced hunter. Look, she's left a trail of M&Ms for us to follow. She knows that we're gonna save her."

Dean furrows his eyebrows as he looks down to the candy trail before letting go of Harlow's hand to check his pockets for the M&Ms that he has just realised is missing from his person.

Despite the circumstances, a smirk of admiration pulls at the corner of his lips.

She must have swiped them from his pocket when they were kissing earlier.

'That crafty Son of a bitch.'

Before the newly semi-reuinted group can continue following the trail, Harlow tugs her fathers jacket sleeve to get his attention. Dean, feeling the tug, looks down at his daughter and meets her candy-apple green eyes that are shining with worry.

"Daddy, where's Mommy?"

The oldest Winchester swallows the lump in his throat as he picks up the five year old girl.

"Right now, I don't know baby but I promise you sweetheart, I'm gonna find her and she's gonna be fine."

Harlow nods her head, trusting her father to keep his promise which she knows he will because he's her hero. Always has been and always will be.

The two smile at one another before running to catch up with the other two.

The group of four then continue following the trail which ends up leading them to a mine entrance that's marked with a sign saying...

"WARNING! DANGER! DO NOT ENTER EXTREMELY TOXIC MATERIAL."

Sam looks to Ben and Dean and shrugs before making his way inside, followed by Ben and then Dean, who's holding onto to Harlow like she's his only lifeline.

As the quartet enter the pitch black mine, they fail to notice the other sign which is larger than the other one that says, 'KEEP OUT NO ADMITTANCE.'

• • •

Upon entering the mine, Sam turns on his flashlight and shines it ahead of them but he soon backtracks on his decision and immediately turns it off when a growl echos off the stone walls of the mine.

Sam turns to Ben and pushes his against the wall while Dean does the same to Harlow but not as rough. Harlow closes her eyes tight as her father looks to see the wendigo start coming towards them.

Ben also notices the supernatural creature stalk towards them but before he can scream, Sam covers his mouth. Luckily, the wendigo takes a different tunnel at the crossing.

Dean sighs in relief as Harlow opens her eyes and looks up at Dean, who is already looking down at her to make sure that she is okay and with a nod of her head, the group of four continue down the mine.

However, they don't get very far as the floorboards under their feet start to creak under their weight and before the four can move, they find themselves falling through the floor.

Dean groans as he lands on his back, the older Winchester brother whips around and sees Harlow holding her arm while wincing.

Dean quickly snaps into protective mode and picks the little girl up, making sure to be careful of her now injured arm.

"You okay, Hon?"

Harlow, trying to brave, nods her head though Dean can see right through her but before he can question her, movement catches his eye.

Dean turns and notices that they had fallen onto a pile of bones and a pile of skull bones nearby. It appears as if Ben had noticed this too, as the movement that caught Deans eye was Ben, who had spotted the pile of skulls and leapt backwards in fright.

Sam, being the more outwardly caring brother, turns to Ben and gives his shoulder a reassuring pat, "Hey, it's okay, it's okay." Ben shakily exhales and nods his head.

Before the four can find a way out of the situation they had found themselves in, a weak groan gains their attention.

The four turn their heads and Deans eyes widen in relief as he feels his heart stutter in his chest.

There hanging from rope that looks as if it's digging into the skin of her wrists, is Juliet who looks as if she's had better days. There is a massive gash on her forehead, presumably from when the wendigo knocked her out in order to chain her up.

"Juliet!"

Dean, Sam and Harlow run towards the brown haired huntress without a second thought as Ben runs over to his sister.

"Haley, wake up!"

While Ben is trying to get his older sister to wake up, Dean grabs Juliets shoulders and shakes her, "Juliet!" The said woman weakly opens her eyes and at seeing her boyfriends face, a weak smile graces her lips but she winces as the pull of her mouth causes a pulling sensation on her bruised cheek.

"What the hell took you so long?"

Sam notices her wince and a look of concern etches onto his face. "Are you okay?" Juliet nods her head weakly as Dean gently cups her face with both hands while a nervous chuckle escapes his mouth, despite the circumstances. "Nice to see you too, doll." Before Juliet can reply, a weight slams into her side causing her to let out a groan of discomfort.

"Sorry mommy."

It takes her a second to register who's small voice is speaking and when it does, she glares at Dean the best she can. "Please tell me that you didn't bring our five year old daughter into a nest crawling with wendigo's."

It's now Deans turn to wince at hearing the annoyance seeping into her words from her mouth. The older Winchester brother gives the huntress a sheepish smile. "How 'bout we talk about that later and instead just concentrate on getting you and Haley outta here?"

The glare doesn't break at Deans words and instead intensifies. "Oh, we are definitely gonna talk about this later." Before Dean can reply, Bens voice rings out from beside them.

"Haley, Haley, wake up, wake up!"

Sam pulls out a knife from his pocket and cuts the rope that has her tied up while Dean gently lifts her down and brings her into a bear hug, swearing to himself that he'll never let her go or let her out of his sight again.

"Next time you give me a look to run, I ain't listening."

Juliet lets out a weak but throaty chuckle as Sam puts his arm around her shouler, also pulling her into a hug.

"You sure you're all right?"

Juliet grimaces but nods her head in answer to Sams question.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Where is the tall freak? And for once I don't mean you."

Sam sarcastically laughs while shaking his head. "He's gone for now." To the side of them, Haley relieves herself from the rope that was cutting into her wrists, she stands up and her eyes immediately move to the other figure in the corner of the room, her brother that they were searching for.

"Tommy..."

Haley gently touches his cheek and the older brother jerks his head up in surprise which results in Haley jumping back and shrieking in fright. The Collins girl turns to Sam with a fierce look in her eyes as well as worry and relief.

"Cut him down!"

Sam obliges and does what she tells him.

Haley catches her brother in her arms and allows him to lean on her for support. "We're gonna get you home."

The supplies that the Wendigo had taken from them are piled into a corner along with some stuff that the monsters have stolen from the other people they had hunted and tied up before them.

Dean walks over to the pile, noticing a flare gun.

"Check it out."

The older Winchester picks it up and turns to the others' with an ear-splitting grin on his face. Sam looks to his brother and smiles in victory.

"Flare gun. Those'll work."

Sam and Juliet grin as Dean laughs and twirls the gun.

The group then head out and down a tunnel with Sam and Dean in the lead with the flare gun with Juliet following with Harlow in her arms, the young girl refusing to leave her mothers side, while Haley and Ben supporting Tom, who's limping. Growling can then be heard from ahead of them.

Dean turns to Julie and Sam, a smirk lighting up his handsome and chiseled features.

"Looks like someone is home for supper."

A look of fear strikes Haley's face as she turns to the three hunters. "We'll never outrun it."

Dean looks to his brother and girlfriend, one eyebrow raised. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

Sam nods his head, "Yeah, I think so."

While Sam seemed to be all for the idea, Juliet had a different approach. The huntress shakes her head, disagreeing with Deans idea that is yet to be said aloud. "No, you could get hurt or worse." Dean sighs and pulls Juliet into a kiss before looking into her chocolate brown eyes.

"Jules, I will be fine, promise. Besides, you've saved me enough times, think of it as returning the favor."

Juliet looks down in thought before reluctantly nodding her head. Dean smiles and leans down to give her one more kiss before turning to the others in the group. "All right, listen to me. Stay with Sam and Jules. They're gonna get you out of here."

Haley looks to Dean in confusion, "What are you gonna do?"

Dean doesn't say anything and instead smirks at the young woman before he starts walking deeper into the tunnels and yelling from the top of his lungs, gaining the attention of all, if any, of the wendigos.

"Chow time, you freaky bastard! Yeah, that's right, bring it on baby. I'm feeling good."

The deeper Dean walks into the tunnels, the more indistinctive his words get.

Juliet and Sam wait until Dean is a safe distance away before ushering the group out of the mine.

"All right, come on! Hurry!"

The Collinses follow the two hunters as they run out of the mine, Harlow still in Juliet's arms.

The group of six hurry down a tunnel with Juliet and Sam leading the way. Growling comes from behind them, Juliet uses the flare gun she had picked up from the pile and points the gun in the direction the growls are coming from before lowering it and turning to the Collinses, gesturing to Tommy. "Get him outta here."

Haley shakes her head as she looks at the brown haired huntress. "Juliet, no." However, Juliet doesn't take no for an answer and pushes them ahead of her before handing Harlow over to Sam. "Go! Go! Go!."

Haley looks back at Juliet but with some prompting from Ben, she reluctantly follows after her siblings'.

Juliet then looks to Sam and nods her head in the direction of the Collinses. "Go with them, get Harlow to safety. I'll hold it off" Sam nods his head before walking after the others' but not before placing a kiss on his best friends forehead.

Juliet holds the flare gun up, ready to shoot while looking down the tunnel, listening out for movement.

"Come on. Come on."

Growling then comes from behind her causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up, the huntress whips around to see the Wendigo close to her face. Without hesitation, Juliet points and shoots but unfortunately misses due to being caught if guard by the Wendigo's closeness. Juliet curses before running after the Collinses and her family.

Haley turns and upon seeing Juliet, she smiles in relief. "Juliet!" The said woman catches up to them and once again, ushers them to keep going. "Come on, hurry, hurry, hurry."

They run to the end of the tunnel but the wendigo is right on their heels. Sam looks to the group as he passes Harlow back to her mother. "All of you, get behind me." Luckily, for them Sam is tall enough as well as large enough to hide all the Collinses as well as his best friend and niece.

Juliet sighs in relief and can't help the joke that slips out of her mouth.

"I've never been so thankful for your height."

The group turn to Juliet, all with deadpan looks. Juliet clears her throat and smiles sheepishly. "Right, not the time." The wendigo starts to advance towards them, taking its time as if this is all a game to him. Before it can get closer to the cowering group, Dean appears and comes up behind the wendigo, "Hey!"

The wendigo turns to Dean at the sound of his voice and Dean shoots it in the stomach before it can do any damage to him. The flare gun goes off and the wendigo bursts into flames as the gun makes contact to the Wendigos armour.

Dean turns to the group with a smile on his face. "Not bad, huh?"

Sam grins while Juliet shakes her head before running up to him and pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. Dean laughs as Harlow groans from in between her parents. Juliet smiles and leans up to pull him into a kiss, which he returns.

"I love you."

"I love you more."

"I love you most."

Juliet and Dean laugh at the sound of Harlows small voice before leaning down to smother their daughter in affection and love.

• • •

Juliet sits in the back of an ambulance as one of the crew stitches up the gash that the wendigoo had inflicted on her forehead, Harlow sits next to her mother as another member of the crew wraps the young girls arm in a sling as it had been sprained when she fell onto the pile of bones.

Dean watches as an ambulance loads up Tom while two police officers interview Ben with Sam standing behind the youngest Collins sibling.

"And the bear came back again after you yelled at it?"

Ben nods his head, "That's when it circled the campsite. I mean, this grizzly must have weighed eight hundred, nine hundred pounds."

Luckily, Juliet had come up with a good lie to tell the police, that lie being a bear had gone on a murderous rampage which caused them to have the wounds that they do.

The police officer looks up to Sam for confirmation, which the youngest Winchester brother gives with a nod of his head.

"Alright, we'll go after it first thing."

Juliet, now dawning a bandage on her forehead, and Harlow, now wearing a sling, make their way towards Dean but are stopped short by Haley, who has come to thank the huntress.

"So I don't know how to thank you."

Juliet looks down to Harlow and motions for her to go to Dean, the young girl obliges with her mothers wishes before turning back to Haley.

"Your brother is safe home, that's all that matters."

Haley smiles, "Still...Thank you."

"You're welcome."

A paramedic then walks up to Haley and gestures to Tommy, who's in the back on an ambulance. "You riding with your brother?" Haley nods her head, "Yeah." The paramedic heads back to the ambulance as Haley looks to her other brother. "Let's go."

Sam and Ben nod to each other as Haley pulls Juliet into a hug and kisses her on the cheek. The huntress' eyes widen in shock as Haley heads to the Ambulance Tom is in and gets in, but not before saying a quick thanks to both Sam and Dean.

Juliet turns to her boyfriend who has a certain smirk on his face, having seen what Haley had just done.

Juliet rolls her eyes and turns back to the ambulance to wave goodbye, the brown haired woman finds herself smiling at the sight of Haley smirking at her as the paramedics close the ambulance doors and drives away.

Juliet makes her way towards the Impala and leans against Deans side in exhaustion.

"I hate camping."

Dean chuckles and kisses her on the head, "I second that."

Sam nods his head, "Me too." Harlow throws her thumbs up in agreement with her parents and Uncle. "Me thwee."

The three adults laugh as Dean turns to his brother, "Sam, you know we're gonna find Dad, right?"

And just like that, Juliet's world came crashing down and the guilt that she had burried has risen up and formed a lump in her throat but before she can sink deeper into her thoughts, Sams voice breaks her out of it.

"Yeah, I know. But in the meantime? I'm driving."

Dean smiles and shrugs, "Fine with me, means I can sit in the back and relax with my daughter."

Harlow giggles as Dean ruffles her hair before tossing Sam the keys and with that, the Winchester-Sullivan family get into their infamous sleek black Impala and drive off down the road, one step closer to finding John.

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Authors Note
And that's a wrap for the Wendigo episode!

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and the episode as a whole! This chapter is yet to be edited but I will get round to doing that at some point!

I told you guys I would post the last chapter before Christmas!

Speaking of Christmas it's literally next week! Ahh who's excited?! I know I am ❤️

I probably won't start writing the next episode until after New Years, so I wish you all a happy holidays and I hope you guys had a lovely 2022 and I hope all of guys' have a fantastic 2023! 🥰

Until next time...
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