Wendigo.

CHAPTER SEVEN , WENDIGO

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The entire time they were searching for Hailey and Dean, Athena was silent. She felt like it was her fault. She tripped. Again. Now, she had to find them. Her eyes were trained on the ground as Sam and Ben talked to each other.

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

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

Sam looks at his little sister, noticing her silence that was obviously filled with guilt. Athena stops in her tracks.

"Athy, are you—"

She crouches down and grabs an M&M from the forest floor. A small breath leaves her lips. "They went this way!" She stands up and holds the piece of Candy out to Sam.

Sam chuckles, "It's better than bread crumbs."

"I didn't think he actually brought provisions." Athena frowns. "Way to go, Dean."

They follow the trail of M&Ms. Sam catches up with Athena and stands beside her. "Hey."

Athena looks at her brother, "Hey." Her voice was soft but curt.

Sam looks to the side, "You know it wasn't your fault—"

"I tripped," Athena says. "Just like before. I always trip."

"Athena you're still a kid, okay? You don't need to grow up so fast." Sam says.

"Yes, I do." Athena exhales. "I mean...it's in the description of being a hunter. Not being able to be a kid. Growing up too fast."

"But we don't want you to grow up fast," Sam says.

"Dad does—"

"Who cares what dad wants, all right?" Sam lets out a dry chuckle. "He's not here so...you're gonna have to start making choices for yourself, okay?"

Athena looks at the ground. She knows Sam means well. But at the end of the day, since he's left, she's spent her time besides John and Dean. So it wasn't going to be that easy to get John's constant orders and vulgar remarks out of her head. But she smiles softly, "Yeah, okay. Thanks, Sam."

Sam shrugs a shoulder "Also, If you hadn't have tripped. We would've been taken too."

Athena looks back at him with her mouth agape and her eyes wide.

"Your clumsiness saved our asses. So thanks for tripping, Athena."

Athena quietly chuckles as they continue to walk through the forest, they come across a pile of M&Ms.

"Down here." Athena points at the bottom of
the hill.

They all make it down the hill. Athena moved very cautiously. They come across a mineshaft. Athena reads the sign.

Warning Danger

Do Not Enter

Extremely Toxic Material

Athena frowns looks at Sam and they both had the same thought. The sign literally said Do not enter. They were obviously going to enter.

One by one, the three enter the mineshaft. They walk down tunnels, water dripping from the ceilings. Athena could feel her hair becoming frizzy with every second they were in there from the humidity.

A low growl echoed through the tunnels. Sam grabs Athena and Athena grabs Ben. They all press their backs against the walls of the tunnels. Their eyes follow the linky silhouette of the creature, walking down the hall.

Athena's eyes widen and her mouth hangs open. Sam covers her mouth before she could express her fear and she covers Ben's mouth before his screams could escape. After the Wendigo disappears from their line of sight, they turn a corner, continuing through the tunnel.

The wood panels below them begin to creak. Athena looks at them and feels them slowly start to bend. She looks at the ceiling and follows the water dripping onto the wood.

"Oh fiddle—"

The woods from below the three give in and they all fall through the hole. They stumble on a hill of dirt and slam into the floor. Athena lands on her stomach, her palms scraping against the ground. She quietly coughs.

Ben quickly scrambles away from the skeletons he noticed. Athena looks at her hands, seeing her skin that was peeling from her palms and the blood slowly seeping through her skin.

"Dean."

Athena quickly turns her head to see Sam and Ben running over to Dean and Hailey who were unconscious and hanging from their wrist on the ceiling.

"Oh, My God." Athena scrambles onto her feet and runs over to her eldest brother. "Are you okay?"

Dean stirs and groans, "Ugh, yeah..."

Athena grabs her Swiss Army knife from her bag and hands it to Sam. He cuts Dean's ropes down and holds him up. Sam cuts Hailey down as Athena momentarily attempts to keep Dean from falling.

Sam and Athena help Dean over to the wall and he groans.

"Are you sure your okay?" Sam questions.

"Yeah—yeah. Where is it?" Dean asks.

"It's gone for now." Athena answers.

A small gasp leaves Hailey's lips, catching everyone's attention. Ben and Hailey slowly walk over to the body that was in the corner, hanging from the ceiling. Hailey starts to cry when she reaches the body.

"Tommy..."

Athena's jaw clenches, she stands up, and walks over to Hailey and Ben. Hailey lightly touches Tommy's face and he gasps awake, his eyes flying open. Athena takes a step back, but she relaxes.

"Cut him down."

Athena grabs her knife and stands on a crate, besides Tommy. She quickly cuts at the ropes until they snap. Hailey sets Tommy on the ground. Athena smiles softly at the three siblings reunion.

"Check it out."

Athena turns to Dean, seeing him holding up two guns. She squints her eyes, "Flare guns."

Sam frowns, looking at his little sister. "Those will work."

Hailey and Ben help Tommy up and they all make their way through the tunnel. Athena was standing in front of the three siblings, while Sam and Dean were leading the group.

A roar shakes the tunnel causing everyone to stop. Sam and Dean hold up the flares. "Looks like someone's home for supper." Dean voices.

"We'll never outrun it." Hailey states.

Dean shifts his gaze to Sam and Athena. "You two thinking what I'm thinking?"

Athena raises her brows and her eyes widen. "Yes and no we're not doing that."

"Come on, you're fast." Dean says.

"I trip. All the time. That's why dad made me stop doing that in the first place." Athena reminds Dean.

He winces and nods, "Right, right..."

"I've got it then." Dean shrugs.

Athena's jaw clenches.

"All right, listen to me." Dean says. "Stay with Sam. He's gonna get you out of here."

"What are you gonna do?" Hailey asks.

Dean smirks and sends the girl a wink before walking away from them. "It's chow time, you freaking' bastard!" he calls out. "Yeah, that's right! Bring it on, baby! I taste good!"

Dean continuously screams, hoping to draw the Wendigo away from everyone else.

"Okay, over here." Sam motions from the other side of the tunnel.

Athena follows after him with the three siblings. Sam suddenly stops, looking left and right, down the train tracks. He turns to his little sister.

"What's going on?" Athena asks.

"Get them out of here."

Athena pulls her brows together and slowly shakes her head, "N-No, Sam--"

"Athena, Go." Sam says.

Athena inhales a quick breath and exhales. Her eyes burn and her hands start to shake.

"Hey, you're going to be okay." Sam says, a small smile on his lips.

Athena shakes her head. I'm not worried about me.

"You know the way out of here, Thena. And all of us aren't gonna make it out of here if we don't make sacrifices." Sam explains. "Saving People, Hunting Things, remember?"

Athena inhales a shaky breath and nods her head. "Yeah, I remember...of course I do." she wipes her eyes before her tears could fall.

Sam wraps an arm around her and she quickly hugs him back.

"At least...try and be careful, okay?" Athena whispers.

Sam touches the back of her head and chuckles. "I'll try."

Athena pulls away from him and turns to Hailey and her brothers. "Okay, let's go." she starts to guide them through the tunnel. Athena turns her head and sees Sam running the opposite direction. Soon after, Athena hears a roar and the flare gun go off. She turns her head and sees her brother running towards them with the Wendigo behind him.

"Sam!"

Sam catches up with them, "Go, Go, Go!"

They all run down the tunnel. Hailey screams, when she notices the Wendigo gaining on them.

"Over here!" Sam turns a corner, but it was a dead end. He quietly curses and turns to the Wendigo. "Get behind me."

He holds his arms out in front of everyone. Athena's eyes widen as the Wendigo inches closer to them.

"Hey!" 

The Wendigo turns around and is greeted with a flare to the stomach. The flare burns through the Wendigo's stomach, until it's entire body lights on fire. Athena's mouth hangs open when it shrivels up.

"Not bad, huh?"

Everyone looks at Dean, who stands there; a cocky grin on his lips. Athena lets out a relieved chuckle while shaking her head.

☆

"It was Huge!"

Athena stands on her toes, the corner of her tongue sticking out. "I mean, this Grizzly must have weight 800, 900 pounds." she then places her hands on her hips.

The cops look at each other as Athena starts to state every fact about a Grizzly. Her hair was in pigtails, she was wearing overalls, she had goggles on top of her head, and she had red sneakers on. They look at Sam and he shrugs a shoulder saying. "She's older than she looks."

"All right, thank you, miss."

Athena presses her lips together, "Of course!"

As soon as the Officers walk away, Athena's smile drops. She turns to Sam and Ben, who were smiling.

"What?" Athena raises her brows.

"I think you're gonna want to start dressing more...10 year oldish." Ben advises.

Athena looks down at her clothes, "What's wrong with how I dress?" she looks at Sam and he shrugs.

"You guys are crazy. I look awesome!"

Sam nods his head, "Yes, you do."

Athena beams.

Sam walks away from them and Athena turns to Ben. "I'm glad your brothers okay." she says.

"Yeah--thanks, by the way." Ben says.

Athena blinks, "For...what?"

Ben then shrugs his shoulders. "You talked to me, y'know?" he points at the gameboy. "Gave me one of these cool stickers."

Athena snorts softly, "I've got plenty more, no biggie."

"I don't think I would've even made it through this without someone to talk to." Ben chuckles. "I probably just would've kept my earbuds in the entire time, ignoring everyone."

Athena presses her lips together, she wraps her arms around Ben and he stumbles back. "You're a cool kid, Ben."

Ben laughs, but hugs her back. "You're cool too, Athena."

Athena and Ben walk over to the Hailey, Sam, and Dean. Hailey turns to her little brother, "Let's go."

Ben nods his head, he turns to Athena and smiles softly. She smiles and waves at him. Hailey touches the top of Athena's head, "Thanks, Athena."

Athena shrugs a shoulder, "No problemo."

Hailey turns back to Dean and kisses his cheek. Athena raises her brows.

"Thanks, Sam." Hailey says, before leaving with Ben.

Sam and Athena lean against the car next to Dean. They watch as the Ambulance doors close and the truck drives away.

"Man, I hate camping." Dean says.

"Me too." Sam voices.

"I dunno. Maybe if we were actually dressed for the occasion." Athena shrugs. "It would've been more...fun."

"Well, we still would've been hunting that Windigo--"

"Wendigo."

"Oh--I've heard it both ways." Dean scoffs.

Athena chuckles softly, and looks at her shoes.

"Sam, you know we're gonna find dad, right?" Dean asks.

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

Athena snorts, she expects to hear Dean say, "Not a chance." or "Maybe when I die."

But instead she saw him toss Sam the keys. Athena's mouth hangs open, "No way--"

"Way." Sam says, mushing her face. The girl groans.

"What about me?" Athena says, rounding the car.

"You can drive when you're older." Dean mushes her face and she groans once again.

"Fiddlesticks..."

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Author's Note:

hope you guys are enjoying the story! Don't be afraid to Vote and Comment, I love seeing what you guys have to say <3