10 years ago

Jenny Price sat alone outside of Roosevelt High School in Sioux Falls, scribbling down notes in a worn out journal, the cap of a pen in her mouth.

Kids her age, older and younger walked past her without batting an eye, some of the girls giving her a snarky look as other boys gave her flirty ones, though she was too busy to notice.

Her hand started to cramp from writing, no ringing that some of the pen had smudged onto her left hand from writing sloppily and not how she usually would.

"What're you writing this time?" Jenny paused, looking up and squinting from the sun blasting in her eyes as a boy stood in front of her, a smile on his face.

"You know... The usual. How to get back at Sam for getting glue in my hair." Dean laughed and sat down next her her, leaning over to see what she was writing. Before he could, Jenny shut the book. "What are you doing here?"

"Dad's paying Bobby a visit. Needs some help on killing a we—" Dean paused for a moment before clearing his throat. "Wendigo."

"A wendigo? Nice. You guys staying very long?" Jenny asked, shoving her journal in her backpack as Dean sighed, shaking his head.

"No. Just thought I'd sneak away and pay you a visit before we left... Again." Jenny smiled at him, chuckling.

"Such a sweetheart. Well, school's over and I have some cash, you wanna stop at for ice cream?" Jenny swung her bag over her shoulder as Dean stood up, nodding.

"Sounds like a plan. Hot-blooded." Dean said as Jenny frowned in confusion.

"What?"

"One hundred and three." Dean's voice became disoriented as darkness swallowed her vision. "Hot-blooded."

The girl sucked in a sharp breath as her eyes snapped open, her neck sore from laying in an awkward position. She looked over to see Dean, who gave her a concerned look.

"You alright?" He asked, his gaze turning back to the road.

Jenny looked at the radio, which was currently playing Hot-Blooded by the Foreigners.

"Yeah. I'm okay." She mumbled in a groggy voice, rubbing her eyes and yawned. She sat up straighter, looking around to see they were still driving.

"Bad dream or something? Kind of jolted there." Dean said, tapping his thumb on the wheel.

"What? Oh, no. No it was nothing. Dreaming of an old memory." She sighed quietly, sinking into her seat and pulled out her phone.

November 10th

"Where are we?" Jenny asked, turning her head to see Sam passed out in the back. A solemn smile formed on her face before she looked at Dean.

"Just outside of Grand Junction." He answered before Sam gasped, causing Jenny to look at him with a worried expression.

"You okay?" She asked as he looked up at her, sitting up.

"Yeah. I'm uh... I'm okay." Sam answered, rubbing his eyes as Dean looked at him through the mirror.

"Another nightmare?" The older Winchester asked as Sam stayed quiet, looking at Jenny, who looked back at him and gave him a half-hearted smile.

After another short moment of silence, Dean spoke again. "You wanna drive for a while?" Jenny gave him a look of disbelief as Sam scoffed.

"Dean, your whole life you never once asked me that." Sam answered as Jenny continued to stare at Dean with a scowl.

"Just thought you might want to. Never mind." Dean let out a huff as Sam shook his head, Jenny going back to look out the front window.

"Look, man, you're worried about me. I get it, and thank you, but I'm perfectly okay." Sam lied as Jenny and Dean hummed in unison.

Sam grabbed the map that had fallen on the floor, looking through it. "Where are we?"

"Grand Junction." Jenny and Dean answered, Sam's eyes flickering all around the map. Jenny pulled out her phone, opening Tetris.

Before silence filled the car again, Sam cleared his throat. "You know what? ... Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so early."

"Sam, we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica—"

"We gotta find Dad first." Sam finished Dean's sentence as Jenny looked over at Dean, her eyes flashing up to the mirror to meet Sam's before quickly going back to Tetris.

"With Dad disappearing... and this thing showing up again after twenty years, it's no coincidence." Dean shook his head as he spoke, Jenny tensing up slightly as she shut her phone off, pocketing it quickly.

"Your Dad will have answers. I'm sure of it." Jenny spoke up, though Sam didn't look like he trusted her words.

"It's weird... These coordinates Dad left us." Sam said as Jenny looked to face him.

"What about them?"

"There's nothing there. It's just woods." The girl frowned in confusion, looking over at Dean as if he had answers. "Why is he sending us to the middle of no where?"

✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Jenny, Dean and Sam walked around the ranger station hidden away in the forest, the three standing in different spots. Jenny stood by the clothing section, running through the sweatshirts.

"Dud, check out the size of this fucking bear." Jenny looked over the rack to see Dean pointing at a photo of a man standing in front of a large dead bear, a grin on Dean's face.

Sam and Jenny walked over to Dean. "There's gotta be at least a few dozen bears around here." Jenny suggested as Sam shrugged.

"If there are grizzlies the size of that bear, then we should be more worried about them." Sam said in a low voice as Jenny could only picture a bear towering over her.

"You three aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" Jenny, Dean and Sam whipped around to face the Park Ranger, startled expression their faces, though Jenny's hand immediately went for the gun behind her.

"Oh, no, sir, we're environmental study majors from UC Boulder, just working on a paper." Sam smiled at the man, who gave the other two questionable looks.

"Three if you out here, huh?"

"Group project." Jenny answered quickly, Dean raising a fist into the air, a grin plastered on his face.

"Recycle." Sam and Jenny slowly turned to the oldest of the three, watching as he slowly lowered his arm.

"You're friends with that Haley girl, right?" The Ranger asked as they nodded.

"Yes. Yes, we are, Ranger—" Dean paused, reading the Ranger's badge. "Wilkinson."

"Well I will tell you exactly what we told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth, so it's not exactly a missing persons now, is it?" Wilkinson asked as Jenny put her hands in her pockets and shrugged.

"Well, can't be too cautious, y'know? Siblings gotta look out for one another. Especially out here with giant bears." She chuckled, and the Ranger shrugged.

"You tell that girl to quit worrying. Her brother is just fine." Wilkinson gave them a look that told them to quit bugging about it, Dean nodding.

"We will. This Haley  girl's quite a pistol, huh?" He chuckled as Wilkinson rolled his eyes.

"That is... putting it mildly."

"Actually you know what would help is if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit. You know, so she could see her brother's return date."  Dean suggested as Wilkinson eyed him up and down suspiciously, and Dean raised his brows.

✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"We should be looking around Blackwater. Not looking for this Haley girl." Jenny said as the three left the station, Dean looking down at the backcountry permit with a grin.

"Jenny's right. The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge, so what are we waiting for? Let's just go find Dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?" Sam asked, looking at his brother, who faced the two. Sam and Jenny walked onto one side of the Impala, Dean heading to the drivers side.

"I don't know, maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it?" The two on the opposite side gave each other an unsure look before sliding into the car, which doors squeaked as they opened.

"You should really lather this thing in WD-40, Dean. It squeaks more than my parents caskets." Dean and Sam paused, slowly turning to face the girl. "What? I can't make dead parent jokes?" The brothers side-eyed one another before Dean started up the car. "Tough crowd."

✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Dean, Sam Jenny had decided to go to Haley Collins' house to question her as Sam sat in the car, attempting to do his best to dig up whatever he could on the town.

Jenny knocked on the door loudly, Haley answering it only a few moments later.

"You must be Haley Collins. I'm Dean, this is Jennifer and Sam, we're, ah, we're rangers with the Park Service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted us to ask a few questions about your brother Tommy." Haley's eyes landed on Jenny for a moment, suspicion clearly itching inside the girl as she hesitated.

"Let me see some I'D." She ordered, Jenny pulling out a fake ID of hers and showed it to the girl. She stared at it for a moment before letting the two inside, her eyes glimpsing at the Impala.

"That yours?" She asked, Dean turning to face his car with a smirk.

"Yeah." He answered with a cheeky grin, Jenny shooting him a glare.

"Nice car."

✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"It said in the permit that your brother isn't supposed to be back for a while. What makes you think something's wrong?" Jenny asked as Dean sat down next to her, Sam walking around the living room.

"He checks in every day by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos—we haven't heard anything in over three days now." Ben Collins walked in from the kitchen, sitting next to his sister.

"Maybe he can't get cell reception?" Sam suggested as Haley shook her head.

"He's got a satellite phone, too." Dean and Jenny gave each other a suspicious look, turning to Sam, who had the same face.

Haley got up for a moment, walking into the kitchen. "Maybe your brother is having fun and forgot." Dean said as Ben shook his head.

"He wouldn't do that." Haley returned with a platter of food, setting it down on the coffee table.

"Our parents are gone. It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other."

"How long have they been gone?" Jenny asked, concerned due to how young the two siblings looked.

"A few years ago." Ben answered sourly, Sam cleared his throat.

"Do you mind if I see the picture Tommy sent you?" Haley nodded, running upstairs and coming back a few moments later with a laptop. Her and Sam left in the kitchen as Ben, Jenny and Dean stayed in the living room.

After a few seconds, Dean and Jenny followed them into the kitchen, Jenny barely catching the shadow flicker behind Tommy.

"What—" Dean gave her a confused look as she gestured to the video, mouthing 'shadow' before Dean nodded, though he wasn't the best at reading lips.

"Well, we'll find your brother. We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing." Dean promised as Haley nodded.

"Then maybe I'll see you there." Jenny gave Haley a look that said it probably wasn't the best idea, but the younger girl ignored it. "Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself."

✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

In a local bar, Jenny was currently downing her beer as Sam looked at old news articles, Dean watching Jenny with slight amusement.

"So, Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic. Local campers, mostly. But still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there. They were never found." Sam finally spoke up, Jenny setting her half empty beer bottle down as Dean looked at Sam.

"Anything before that?" Dean and Jenny asked in unison, Sam frowning at them and how in sync they always seemed to be.

"Uh... Yeah... in 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack."

"Beats scare me." Jenny frowned as Dean raised a brow at her. "Well... not really. If they're running at me then i'll be scared of them."

"Is she drunk?" Sam asked as Dean nodded slowly.

"You missed me take like... 5 shots of cream pies." Jenny chuckled as Sam frowned, looking back at Dean.

"Don't look at me. She's the one that likes to drink more than either of us."

"I haven't even had a beer since Halloween. Do you know how boring it is to be sober? You gotta... put up a good front... and stuff." Jenny slouched in her chair as Dean nodded, confused.

"Yeah.. Anyways, back to the case." Sam said, looking back at his computer. "Every twenty-three years, just like clockwork. Okay. Watch this. Here's a clincher. I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to the laptop. Check this out." Sam spun his computer around to show Dean and Jenny the video from earlier in the day, pausing on the shadowy figure.

"Oh yeah... I saw that when I was walking over." Jenny pointed to the paused video, her finger on the screen, Dean frowning at the shadow behind Tommy.

Sam leaned on ver to look at the screen, pressing the arrow key to show the shadow was only in three frames.

"That's three frames. That's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move." Jenny hummed as she tried to think of what could move that fast.

"Told you something weird was going on." Dean took a sip of his beer as Jenny and Sam nodded.

"Yeah... I got one more thing." As Sam closed his laptop, he picked up a piece of paper that had been next to him untouched, handing showing it to Jenny and Dean. "In 'fifty-nine one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive."

"Kid got a name?" Dean asked as Jenny giggled. "What?" The girl shook her head as she went to sip her beer, Dean taking it from her as she frowned. "I think you've had enough to drink."

"It's beer, Dean. Doesn't do anything to me." Jenny attempted to reach for the beer in his hand, but he pulled away with a frown.

"I'm cutting you off, Jen." He stated as she huffed at him.

"Lame. Okay. Where's the boy?"