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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞

𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 '𝘦𝘮 𝘶𝘱

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The Winchester bonding moment was cut short when a male's voice sounded once again. He kept yelling for someone to help him much like it had earlier in the day. Dean and Sam quickly moved and turned their flashlights on, shining them across the bushes and trees ahead of them. Delaney was pushed back towards where Hailey and Ben stood so she was more towards the middle and not the edge. 

"It's trying to draw us out. Just stay cool and stay put," Dean ordered, his focus still fixed ahead of him incase the Wendigo were to jump out and attack them.

"Inside the magic circle?" Roy taunted. He was really starting to get on Delaney's nerves. If it wasn't for her brothers, Roy would probably be dead because he doesn't know what he's dealing with. He shoots before thinking and even though Delaney hasn't been a hunter for all that long, she knew that was something that could get you killed. It only alerted whatever was hunting you to where you were.

The Wendigo continued to mimic the screams of agony and pain of someone who was being tortured. Too bad the Winchesters were too smart to fall for its tricks anymore. Delaney wished that it would just come out so they could kill it and find Tommy for Hailey and Ben. The Wendigo made a growling sound that was more sinister and scary than a bear's.

"That's no grizzly," Roy noted matter-of-factly. As if everyone in the camp didn't already know that. Delaney wanted to turn and sarcastically thank him for his input but thought better of it and kept her mouth shut.

Ben seemed to grow paler than he already was and backed away towards the log him and his sister previously sat on. She followed after him and whispered words of comfort to her brother so he wouldn't freak out. Delaney could tell it was taking everything in Hailey not to freak out over what was going on. She was keeping it together for the sake of Ben and it momentarily reminded her of how the boys were with her.

The growling intensified and Dean began frantically looking from side to side to see where the Wendigo was. "It's here."

The Wendigo began to run through bushes surrounding the camp and Roy opened fire. After a few shots, a wounded cry was heard from the Wendigo. "I hit it!" He cheered before rushing off into the woods to find where it fell.

"Roy! No!" Dean yelled and went to go after him but it was too late. Roy was already taken by the Wendigo for its next meal. 

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The next morning, the group sat around the camp. Delaney aimlessly drew pictures into the dirt next to her with a stick as she sat with Hailey and Ben. Dean walked around to look for supplies for whatever he was planning on doing and Sam was sat against a tree trunk, staring off into the distance.

"I don't... I mean these types of things - they aren't supposed to be real," Hailey said, breaking the hour long silence. 

Delaney scoffed as she tossed the stick ahead of her. "Yeah I used to think the same thing. I wish I could tell you something different but this thing is real."

"How do we know it's not out there watching us?" Hailey asked, placing her hands on her hips.

Dean walked over and squatted in front of Hailey and Delaney, picking up the stick that Delaney previously drew with. He broke it in half and added it to the pile of things he was collecting. "We don't. We're safe for now though."

Hailey watched as Dean started to build something with the items he found. "How do you know so much about this stuff?"

Dean glanced at Sam and Delaney before smirking. "It kind of runs in our family," he replied before getting up and walking back over to the tree he stood at before.

"Hey," Sam said as he walked over to the others and Hailey, Ben and Delaney stood to their feet, dusting themselves off. "So, we got half a chance in the daylight. I for one, want to kill this son of a bitch."

"I'm in," Dean and Delaney said in unison. They grinned at each other before turning back to Sam.

Sam pulled out their dad's journal and opened to the page of the drawing he had shown Dean and Delaney the day before. "Wendigo is a Cree Indian word. It means 'evil that devours'."

"They're hundreds of years old," Dean continued for Sam walking up to the small circle that had formed. "Each one was once a man, sometimes an Indian or other times a frontiersman or a miner or a hunter."

"How does a man turn into one of those things?" Hailey asked.

Delaney peered over Sam's shoulder to look at the journal. "Well, it's always the same. It's a harsh winter and a guy finds himself stranded in the woods with his camp, he's starving and has no food or supplies. So he turns to cannibalism to survive," she read off the page before looking over at Hailey and Ben who looked horrified. "Their cannibalism gets so bad they are always starving."

"Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities - speed, strength, immortality," Sam added, closing the journal and tucking it back into his jacket.

"If you consume enough of it, you become this less-than-human thing. As Delaney mentioned, you're forever hungry and hunting for your next meal," Dean said.

Hailey was silent for a few moments as she took in the explanation that the Winchesters gave. "Okay, but wait. If these things are real and true, then why is Tommy still alive?"

Dean and Sam exchanged a look before Dean decided to be the one to explain it. "You're not gonna like it, but a Wendigo knows how to last long winters with no food. It hibernates for years at a time. When its awake, it keeps its victims alive. It stores them so it can feed whenever it wants."

Delaney gave both Hailey and Ben a pittying smile because she felt bad for the both of them. She could only imagine how much they worried over Tommy, especially now since they knew what they were up against. If they didn't find Tommy soon, the Wendigo could eat him and they would be too late.

"If your brother is still alive, then he's being kept somewhere dark, hidden and safe," Dean concluded.

"How do we stop it?" Hailey asked, determination setting in. 

"Guns and knives are pretty much useless," Dean said and held up the items that were in his hand, which consisted of a glass bottle, rag, a stick and a can of gasoline. "Which means we got to torch this sucker."

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A little while later, the group made their way through the woods in search of the Wendigo's lair, as Delaney liked to call it. Dean merely rolled his eyes when she had brought it up, but she did get a chuckle from Sam. Hailey and Ben found it a little amusing themselves and Delaney figured they would have found it a lot funnier if their brother wasn't being kept hostage.

There were claw marks on a bunch of the trees they passed, blood smeared with each claw mark. It started to give Delaney a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something felt wrong about this whole thing and she couldn't figure out what it was.

A little bit away from the group, Sam yelled for his siblings to walk over and they complied. He continued to look at the trees around them which caused for the other two Winchesters to look with him. It was a little odd that every tree had a claw mark on them. It was as if the Wendigo did those marks on purpose.

"You know, I was thinking that those claw prints, so clear and distinct... they were almost too easy to follow," Sam said, voicing Delaney's thoughts out loud.

As if on cue, a growling sound was heard from behind the group. Delaney slowly backed up as she saw the figure of the Wendigo run through the bushes ahead of them. She stopped when she felt her back hit Dean, who reached out and squeezed her hand in reassurance. Delaney didn't know if she needed the hand squeeze or if Dean did. Either way it helped ease the tension in her chest a little. 

Hailey was backed up against a tree as blood dripped down from above. She looked up and screamed at the dead body hanging from the branches high above. Hailey fell to the ground in fright and crab walked backwards and away from the tree. The body broke from where it hung and fell in the middle of the group. 

Sam ran over to Hailey to help her up while Dean rushed over to the body, checking to see if he were dead or just unconscious. After quickly feeling for his pulse, Dean's head snapped up and he looked around them for a sign of the Wendigo. "His neck's broken."

Hearing the Wendigo let out another loud growl, Delaney pushed everyone in the opposite direction as she yelled at everyone to run. The group began to run as Dean somehow wound up in the front with Hailey, Delaney, Ben and Sam running behind him. Ben tripped over a rock and Delaney and Sam stopped to help him up, continuing to run as they did so. The three heard Hailey let out a blood curdling scream. This caused them to run even faster to where Dean and Hailey were since they got ahead when Delaney and Sam picked Ben back up. They got over the hill and didn't see Dean or Hailey in sight. 

Delaney quickly looked around them as Ben started to yell for Hailey. She began to feel panic bubble in her chest when she didn't see Dean anywhere. "Dean!" She called out, feeling her anxiety start to rise in the pit of her stomach.

Sam, being the only one who was keeping his head in the stressful situation they were in, grabbed both Delaney and Ben by the wrist and pulled them in the direction he suspected Dean and Hailey to have gone in. 

"If it keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?" Ben asked, his voice shaking from both fear and panic. For the past few minutes they've been searching for Dean and Hailey, Ben has been muttering to himself. Delaney wasn't sure if he was muttering comforting words to himself or if he was just going crazy since he just lost both of his siblings. 

"Honestly?" Sam asked and Ben nodded, not wanting to be baby fed stuff anymore. "I think because Roy shot at it and he pissed it off."

Delaney was walking a little bit ahead of the two boys, her eyes wide and alert to their surroundings. She looked down to see a trail of M&M Peanuts on the ground. She crouched down and picked up a blue M&M. "They went this way!" She announced, holding up the M&M that Dean had been eating on their hike up to Tommy's camp.

Sam took the M&M from Delaney and couldn't help but chuckle. "Even better than bread crumbs."

Sam, Delaney and Ben continued to follow the trail of M&M's until they came across an underground mine. A big red warning sign was posted on the wooden door, stating there was toxic material inside. Sam peered into the hole in the door that was big enough for a person to climb through, trying to see what was inside even though it was dark. He turned to the youngest two of the group and shrugged before climbing through.

Ben and Delaney followed Sam across the railroad that went throughout the mine. Hearing a growl from somewhere ahead of them, Sam grabbed Ben and Delaney and hid the three of them from sight. Just as they disappeared behind a wall, the Wendigo made its way down one of the tunnels and Ben let out a gasp when he saw its tall, lanky figure. Delaney quickly put her hand over his mouth to prevent him from making more noise.

Sam gestured for the two to follow him down the tunnel that the Wendigo just came from. The three continued down the tunnel but froze when they heard wood creaking. The three slowly looked down and noticed weak wooden boards underneath their feet. Suddenly, the boards gave out and the three fell down the hole and hit the ground hard underneath.

Delaney groaned as she lifted her head to see where she landed. She squeaked as she realized she landed on top of a bunch of human skulls. She scrambled back and Sam grabbed her arms, forcing her to stand up. "It's okay, Delly, it's okay."

Sam checked both Ben and Delaney over to make sure they weren't too hurt besides the obvious soreness from falling a good few feet. When he looked to his left, he let out a sigh of relief when he saw Dean and Hailey hanging from the wall, their wrists tied to the ceiling above.

"Dean!" Delaney rushed over to him and couldn't help but hug him tightly. Dean groaned in protest and she quickly let go. "Dean, can you hear me? Are you okay?" She lightly tapped his cheeks to get him to open his eyes.

Dean's face contorted in pain but he quickly wiped it and forced a reassuring smile onto his face so Delaney wouldn't worry. "Yeah, Della, I'm okay."

Ben held his sister's head up as he continued to beg her to wake up, tears streaming down his face. Hailey eventually opened her eyes and her and Dean were cut down and gently moved a few feet away. Dean continued to groan and scrunch his face in pain anytime they moved or touched him.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Delaney asked, forcing Dean to look her in the eyes.

Dean nodded and sat himself up a little straighter. "Yeah, yeah. Where is it?"

"It's gone for now," Sam responded, crouching down on Dean's other side.

Hailey let out a sudden gasp, causing the three Winchesters to quickly avert their attention towards her. She shakily pushed herself up with Ben's help and made her way across the floor to where a male was in the same position Hailey and Dean previously were in.

"Tommy," Hailey whispered, walking up to him and placing a hand on his face. The sudden touch caused for him to jolt awake and Hailey jumped back in surprise. "Cut him down."

Sam quickly obliged and cut Tommy down from where he was hung. Delaney smiled as she watched the three siblings smile and hug each other as they were reunited. Hailey kept promising they would get Tommy home soon and Ben just continued to hug his brother tightly, not wanting to let him go now that he had his brother back.

Dean started to dig through the bag next to him and Delaney and grinned when he found what was inside. Delaney helped Dean to his feet as he held up two guns. "Look, guys, flare guns!" 

"Those will work," Sam said with a chuckle.

After getting Tommy to his feet, Hailey and Ben supporting him to help him walk, the group made their way throughout the tunnels in search of the Wendigo. Sam and Dean lead as Delaney walked a few paces behind them. She didn't have a weapon so the two boys went ahead of everyone else to protect them and kill the Wendigo once seen.

A growling sound came from nearby, causing Dean and Sam to hold out their flare guns. "Looks like someone is home for supper."

"We'll never outrun it," Hailey said, fear starting to take over her again.

Dean glanced over to Sam who was already looking at him. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think so," Sam replied, nodding slightly.

The growling continued which made Dean become more alert. "Alright, listen to me. Stay with Sam. He's gonna get you out of here."

Delaney shook her head, stepping closer to Dean. There was no way she was leaving her brother behind. "What about you?"

Dean sent her wink before rushing off ahead. "Time to play you freakin' bastard!" He yelled as he continued to run through the tunnels, his voice echoing off the walls. "I taste freakin' amazing!"

"Dean!" Delaney yelled, about to go after him but Sam quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"No. You're staying with me," Sam said, letting go of Delaney's arm and motioning for everyone to follow him. They made their way back through the tunnels that lead to where Ben, Delaney and Sam had entered. When they were standing a in the entrance tunnel to the mine, Sam turned to the four behind him. "You guys get Tommy out of here."

"I'm not leaving you or Dean behind," Delaney argued, stepping closer to Sam but quickly cowered back at Sam's intense gaze.

"Go, Delaney. NOW!" Sam yelled before rushing off in the opposite direction.

Delaney stared after Sam for a moment before reluctantly following Hailey, Tommy and Ben towards the wooden door at the end of the tunnel. After a few moments, a gun shot broke the silence and Delaney spun around. "Sammy!"

Sam came running out of the darkness yelling at them to run, the Wendigo on his tail. The group quickly made their way towards the opening but stopped short when rocks were blocking the exit. Delaney quickly looked to Sam who was starting to look panicked. Sam quickly pushed everyone behind him and kept his arms out, blocking them from whatever was about to happen.

Delaney gripped onto the back of Sam's jacket as the Wendigo came into view. Her breathing became ragged as she watched it slowly make its way over to them, letting out a terrible growl.

"Hey!" Dean called as he came running down the tunnel. Once the Wendigo spun, Dean pulled the triggered and the flare shot out, hitting the Wendigo directly in the chest. It cried out in agony as its body began to burn up  and turn to ash. 

Dean smirked as he looked over at everyone. "Not bad, huh?" He asked, causing the group to grin back at him.

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A few hours later, the group found themselves back at the ranger's cabin. Delaney sat in the back of the ambulance, a blanket wrapped around her. The medics just wanted to check her over since she fell from a high distance and then landed on the skulls. There was a generous bump on the back of her head but she wasn't in pain which was good. Sam and Ben stood to the side and spoke to the rangers and state troopers about what happened. 

Noticing that Dean and Hailey were finally making their way out of the cabin, Delaney threw the blanket off her and walked over to Hailey and Dean.

"I don't know how I could ever thank you guys," Hailey said as Delaney approached the two.

Dean smirked and leaned against the Impala behind him. 

Hailey rolled her eyes, though a smile was forming on her face. "Must you cheapen the moment?"

"Yeah!" Dean responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

One of the medics walked over and politely excused herself. "You're riding with your brother?"

"Oh, yeah. I'll be there in a minute," Hailey answered and the medic nodded before walking back over to the ambulance Tommy was in. Sam and Ben walked over and stood where the medic currently was standing. "We should probably get going."

Ben merely nodded before making his way over to the ambulance to sit with his brother.

Hailey walked over to Dean and kissed his cheek before hugging Delaney tightly. "I hope you find your father," she whispered before pulling away and making her way over to where her two brothers were.

Sam sat next to Dean on the Impala and watched as the driver shut the back door to the ambulance. He walked over to the driver's side and got in before pulling away.

"I really hate camping," Dean said once the ambulance was out of sight.

"I couldn't agree more," Delaney sighed, absent-mindly rubbing the bump on her head as it started to throb.

Dean glanced over to Delaney on his right and patted her knee. "We're going to find Dad, guys. You know that right?"

Sam sighed and pushed himself off the Impala. "Yeah I know. In the meantime, I'm driving."

"If he's driving, I get to sit in the front," Delaney demanded, hopping off the hood.

Sam and Dean looked at each other before rushing to the front seats so Delaney couldn't get in.

Rolling her eyes, Delaney shook her head at her brothers' childish antics. Sometimes she wondered how they were the oldest and she was the baby of the family. It really should be the other way around.

ORIGINALLY POSTED: DECEMBER 11TH, 2017

EDITED: AUGUST 8TH, 2019