Ruby was freezing. That was the first thing she noticed - how cold she was. Then she noticed the darkness. She tried to move, but her hands were tied together above her head. Her feet didn't touch the ground. She twisted and pain burned up her back. She gasped, suddenly wide awake.

"Ruby?" Dean's voice was horse. It sounded like he had been hurt too. She heard the ropes at his wrists rub against each other. He was trying to escape. "You okay?"

"I don't know."

"It's okay, Ruby. Sam's going to find us and we'll get out of here." Right as he said that, she heard footsteps.

Her breathing hitched, and she tried to quiet it. Then she heard Sam's voice whisper "Dean? Ruby?" She sighed.

"Here!" Dean said.

"Thank God," Sam muttered. He was already cutting the rope at Dean's wrists. "Where's Ruby?"

"I think she's over there."

Ruby wanted to say something, but she was focused on not passing out and staying quiet so the wendigo wouldn't find them. She felt Sam's hands on her face, lifting it to see if she was awake, but her eyelids felt heavy. Then she felt him cut the ropes. Not of her own volition, she fell against him.

"Ruby? Are you awake? Can you talk? What's wrong?"

She just said "Mmm." To let him know she was awake.

"I think it got her back," Dean said. She could tell by the sound of his voice that he was sitting against the wall of the cave or wherever they were.

Haley spoke louder than the rest. "Tommy." While Sam was checking on Ruby, she heard Dean grunt in pain as he stood up the help Tommy and her brother. Tommy must have been hurt pretty bad because he didn't fully wake up either.

"We gotta get out of here." Sam tried to pick Ruby off her feet, but she screamed; she couldn't help it. "Shh. Ruby, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." The pain became worse and she slumped against him. She was still partially aware of what was going on. She heard someone mention flare guns and then Sam saying "That'll work."

"Okay. I'm gonna distract it while you guys get out of here." Dean ran through the tunnels, shouting. Very brave of him, Ruby thought. Then he yelled "You want some white meat, bitch? I'm right here!" Ruby snorted. She sounded drugged. She felt Sam's grip tighten.

But then, he pushed her away and she felt a new set of arms supporting her; Haley's younger brother. "No," she moaned.

"Go!" Sam shouted at them. "I'm gonna look for it."

They kept going through the tunnels. She heard a monster-y growl behind her and something like a gunshot. Then, running footsteps. "Keep going!" Sam shouted. She heard the growling follow them. It was hard to move her legs; she wanted desperately to pass out. They came to a dead end. Light was coming through the tunnels, and Ruby could see the monster.

It was tall, slender, and gray. A second later, it lit up. Dean had shot it with the flare gun. It writhed in pain as its body burned. It fell to the ground. "Not bad, huh?" Dean said smugly.

That was when Ruby completely succumbed to the darkness.

• • •

In her dream, she was sitting at a desk in the middle of a large, empty room. It was a small desk like the ones they use at colleges. An old man sat in front of her at a desk that professors used. She heard a beeping sound. She thought it was a countdown to the end of the test. She looked down at her paper. The first question was "How do you kill a wendigo?" She couldn't remember. That beeping wasn't helping. She looked up to see where it was coming from. She looked up into the cold, dead eyes of a wendigo.

She gasped and woke up. The sound of the beeping sharpened and went faster. She looked around. She was in a hospital. A TV was on. She looked to her left. Dean was lounging in a big chair with the remote in his hands and a half eaten pie on his lap.

"Took you long enough. Sammy will be happy. How you doin' kiddo?" Dean glanced at her then looked back at the TV. He turned the volume down, and set his pie on a small table.

Her back still hurt. She felt drugged. She looked up and saw what must have been an IV bag of morphine and a saline drip. It made her sleepy, but it didn't really help with the pain. She felt nauseous and leaned over the bed to throw up, but she hadn't eaten in days.

Dean got up quickly and brought her some ice chips in a cup. He handed them to her, then pushed the help button on the side of the bed repeatedly. A woman came in a minute later. Dean took the plastic cup from Ruby and went out into the hallway.

She could hear his muffled voice on the phone probably talking to Sam. She tried to listen to what Dean was saying, but the woman asked a lot of questions, most of which Ruby didn't know the answer to. Mercifully, Sam came in soon. She didn't want him to see her like that, but she was grateful for the distraction.

The nurse left not much later. Ruby was coherent enough to ask questions then. She wanted to know what had happened to Tommy and the others. Sam told her that everyone was okay. Dean had some shallow scratched on his abdomen that they fixed. Tommy was dehydrated and injured; he was in a room down the hall.

As for Ruby, she'd lost a lot of blood and the cuts were deep. They told the police it had been a grisly bear. She had stitches, and she should be able to leave in a couple of days, but she would be in pain for awhile. She'd have scars for the rest of her life.

Ruby didn't want to think anymore, she just wanted to sleep.