Wendigo.

CHAPTER THREE , THIS DRUNK GETS SHIT DONE

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Willow was never good at dealing with her own feelings. So, you can guess that meant she wasn't very good when other people were dealing with their emotions. She was draped across the backseat, with her shades over her eyes when Sam jolted awake from yet, another nightmare.

Willow chose to ignore it, I mean it wasn't her problem. But, for some reason, she forgets these two were brothers. And brothers talked about their feelings and this is what was happening.

"You okay?"

Sam inhales a deep breath, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Willow frowns, maybe there wouldn't be any communication going on today. She lays her head back against the cushions, her eyes falling shut.

"Another nightmare?"

Willow lets out a low growl, unable to sleep. Sam just clears his throat, not responding.

"Want to drive for a while?" Dean offers.

Sam raises his brows and chuckles. He looks at Dean to read his face. "In your whole life, you never once asked me that."

Dean shrugs, "Just thought you might want to. Never mind."

"Look, man, you're worried about me." Sam nods. "I get it, and thank you, but I'm perfectly okay."

A small drunken snort comes from Willow. "Even I know that's a load of shit."

Sam sighs from the voice. "I'm surprised you're not sleeping right now."

"I was trying to sleep, but you're night terrors woke me up." Willow murmurs.

"How close are you to finding our dad?" Sam asks.

Willow huffs, "I'm gonna be honest with y'all..." she leans her head against the window. "He might be dead."

Sam and Dean snap their eyes over to the girl. "What?!"

"I mean, that's always a possibility, right?" Willow shrugs, staring at her nails. "Then again, he might just be hiding from the two of you."

Dean shakes his head. "No, he wouldn't."

Willow frowns, "All right, then where is he?"

"You guys think that The John Winchester got taken?" Willow shakes her head. "Nah, that's too simple. Obviously something else is going on. Maybe he got tired of being around Dean all the time."

"If you don't have any actual information, then try going back to sleep." Sam's voice was firm. You could hear the rising frustration in it."

Willow chuckles, drops her shades back over her eyes and makes herself comfortable once again. "Where are we, anyway?" She calls out from the back.

"We are just outside of Grand Junction." Dean states.

Sam stares at the map, "You know what? Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon."

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

"Got to find dad first." Sam finishes.

"Look, your dad disappearing and this thing showing up again after whatever amount of years—"

"20."

"—it's not coincidental." Willow exhales. "And no offense, like, seriously, but I'm excited to figure out what's going on."

Sam's jaw clenches and Dean rubs the back of his neck. Willow blinks, noticing the brothers instantly growing tense. "I said no offense..."

☆

"So, Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote."

Willow looks at the map diagram of the park bad on the table. Her fingers run across the bumps that represent hills. She lifts her head, looking at Sam; who was also standing at the diagram table.

"It's cut off by these canyons here. Rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place..."

"Guys, check out the size of this friggin' bear."

Willow and Sam turn to Dean. The honey-brown-haired girl huffs, "What?" She walks over to him and stares at the picture. Her eyes blow wide, "Holy shit!" A small breath leaves her lips.

"That's a big ass bear."

Sam nods his head, making his way over to them. "...and there's a dozen or more grizzlies in the area."

Willow raises her brows and points at the picture. "Do you think they're all that size?"

"Maybe..."

Willow blows air out of her mouth. "It's no nature hike, that's for sure."

"You three aren't planning to go our near Blackwater Ridge, by any chance?"

The three hunters turn to the Park Ranger.

"Uh, no, sir. We're environmental study majors from U.C. Boulder—just working on a paper." Sam states.

Dean holds pumps a fist in the air. "Recycle, man."

"Bull."

Willow snorts, "He got you guys now..."

"You're friends with that Hailey girl, right?" The Ranger asks.

Sam and Dean slights open their mouths.

"Uh..."

"Yes!" Willow raises her hands. "Yes, we are, Ranger Wilkinson." Her eyes stay glued to the Park Ranger's badge.

"Well, I will tell you exactly what I told her," Wilkinson starts. "her brother filled out a Backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the 24th."

"So, it's not exactly a missing person now, is it?"

Dean frowns and shakes his head.

"Tell that girl to quit worrying. I'm sure her brother's just fine." The Ranger begins to walk away.

Willow smiles, "We will." She waves a hand.

"Well, that Hailey girl's quite a pistol, huh?" Dean chuckles.

"That is putting it mildly." The Park Ranger pulls open the door.

"Actually, you know what would help is if I could show her a copy of that Backcountry permit." Willow snaps her fingers, she then points at the Ranger. "Would you do me that favor? Just, so, our girl Hailey could see her brother's return date for herself."

Willow beams a bright smile that Sam and Dean have never seen her flash in a couple of weeks they've been traveling together. Sam could easily tell that the smile had not reached her eyes.

The Park Ranger stares at the young adult. Willow's long honey brown hair was pulled into a high ponytail. Her curtain bangs brushed against her lashes. She was wearing a cropped red tank top that clung tight to her chest. She was wearing black cuffed Levi's paired with her black combat boots.

If you got to know Willow, you could know she didn't have her life together. But the Park Ranger didn't know her. At first glance, he saw that she was a confident woman who got what she wanted. And she wanted that permit.

"Yeah, just hang back a minute and I'll print that out for you."

Willow bunches her shoulders. "Thank you so much."

The Park Ranger walks into the back room and Willow's smile drops. She turns back to the boys and sees their confused expressions.

"What?"

"That was the happiest you've looked. Since we got you from New York." Dean states.

Willow rolls her eyes, "It's acting." She points at herself. "I'm a woman of many talents and acting is one of them."

"Here you go, ma'am."

Willow winces at the word. She turns on her heel and turns to the Park Ranger. She tilts her head and smiles as the man walks toward her. "Thank you." Willow grabs the permit and chuckles. "You're amazing." She then winks.

Willow looks at Sam and Dean. "Let's go, boys." She walks out of the building with Sam and Dean behind her.

"Nice, job, Willow," Dean smirks. Willow chuckles, "Yeah, no need to compliment me. I know, I'm awesome." She hands him the permit. Dean grabs the permit and looks across it.

"So, what's the deal? Are you trying to find leftover booze at her house or something?"

Dean blows air out of his mouth from the tension between Sam and Willow.

Willow raises her brows and tilts her chin up, meeting his uninterested green eyes. "What are you squawking about?"

"The coordinate point to Blackwater Ridge." Sam states. "So, what are we waiting for? Let's just go find Dad."

"I mean, why even talk to this girl?"

Willow sighs, "I mean if you want to go out there without knowing what you're walking into and meet your maker early..." she frowns. "Go right on ahead, man. I only need one brother to pay me anyway." Willow gets into the backseat of the Impala.

Sam softly scoffs as he watches Willow slide into the car. He then looks at his brother, who is looking at him with a look of suspicion mixed with worry.

"What?"

"Since when are you all 'shoot first, ask questions later' anyway?" Dean asks.

Without a beat of silence, Sam spoke. "Since now."
He pulls the car door open and slides into the passenger seat, ending the conversation.

Dean smirks, entertained by his brother's new attitude.

☆

"He checks in every day by cell."

Willow looks around the front room of the house, her mind soaking in everything her eyes land on. She takes a swig from her flask.

"He E-mails photos, stupid little videos. But we haven't heard anything in over three days now."

"Well, maybe he can't get cell reception," Sam suggests.

Hailey shakes her head, "He's for a satellite phone, too."

"Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?—"

"He wouldn't do that."

Willow's eyes shift away from the picture frame and to the boy who just spoke up at the dining table. Her eyes shift to Hailey, "It's just you three, then?"

Hailey meets Willow's curious eyes, "How'd you know?"

Willow shrugs, "The protectiveness. The checking in with one another." She looks back at the photos. "It's always a tell." She takes another swig.

Dean raises his brows. Willow has always been someone who was a stickler for taking in details. And now that she's a P.I., she's probably a maniac when it comes to observing things.

Hailey couldn't stop the smile that formed on her lips. "Yeah, we all keep pretty close tabs on each other."

"Can we see the pictures he sent you?" Willow asks.

Hailey nods her head. She got her laptop and opened it to the file that contained pictures of Tommy and his friends on their camping trip.

"That's Tommy." Hailey points at one picture.

Willow's eyes shift around the picture, her onyx eyes taking in the location the picture was taken. His tent was unorganized, which was a given. I mean, staying in an enclosed space with three others was difficult.

"This is his last message." Hailey plays the video of her brother.

"Hey, Hailey. Day six we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow."

Willow caught a glimpse of something in the background of the video. She pulls her brows together.

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

"Then maybe I'll see you there."

Hailey could feel the eyes of doubt on her. "Look, I can't sit around here anymore, so I hired a guide." She tells them. "I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself."

Willow purses her lips and raises her flask as a sign of respect towards Hailey.

"I think I know how you feel." Dean voices.

"Hey, you mind forwarding these to me?" Sam asks.

Willow looks at the boy and squints her eyes. "You noticed it too?"

Sam looks at her, his green eyes meeting her dark ones. "If you're talking about that dark figure in the background. Yeah, I saw it."

...

The next morning, Sam and Dean were running late for Blackwater Ridge due to Willow going MIA. The last time they saw her was when they all went to the bar to debrief about the information Hailey had told them. While Sam skimmed through the video, Willow found talking to one of the guys at the pool table was far more interesting.

After they had finished their research about the case, Willow gave Sam and Dean the go-ahead to leave her there. Leaving them to interview the lone survivor themselves.

"We can just leave her."

The brothers were leaning against the Impala outside of their motel room already dressed to go find Tommy. Dean looks at his little brother. "We need Will—"

"For what, Dean? To drain more money from us? Stink up the car with booze and weed—"

"She said she was going to stop smoking in the car..." Dean tilts his head from one side to the next. "But she's hell-bent on having whiskey on her at all times."

"Dean, we don't need her." Sam steps closer to Dean. "Look, maybe when you guys were younger and had that little fling going on—maybe she was an impressive hunter. Someone you could trust with your life. But now...she's a liability."

"Sam, you've only known her for 2 weeks." Dean huffs. "And you haven't really been giving her the benefit of the doubt."

Sam opens his mouth to reply, but a voice speaks up from behind them.

"I'm here! I'm here..."

Sam and Dean turn to the honey-brown-haired girl. Her jacket was hanging over her arm and her hair was out of the ponytail from last night. The faint red lipstick she had been wearing from last night was wiped to the side of her cheek. She was holding her boots in her hand leaving her in long sushi roll-printed socks. Willow was wearing a completely different shirt. It was a graphic tee and she had no pants on.

"The walk of shame." Dean whistles, he then smirks but Sam rolls his eyes.

Willow snorts, she then pinches the skin at her temple, in hopes to relieve her migraine. "I would have to be ashamed for that statement to affect me." She then exhales a sharp breath. "And there was nothing to be ashamed about."

Dean frowns and nods his head. "I respect it."

"Okay, can you get dressed? We have somewhere to be."

Willow looks at Sam, she then squints her eyes. "Whatever's out there isn't going anywhere. And you didn't have to wait for me."

"Oh, believe me, I wanted to leave. But Dean was stuck on waiting for you." Sam scoffs.

Dean's face gets hot and he lets out a nervous chuckle. "No, that's not—true."

Willow arches a brow and huffs. "Look, you guys, I'm only here to help find your dad—that's it. So, if there's a case that doesn't need me? Don't be afraid to leave me behind."

Dean looks between Sam and Willow, noticing them glowering at each other.

Suddenly Willow's cold expression is exchanged for an amused smirk. "I'll be ready in 20 minutes." She turns and walks into the motel room. Sam lets out a small breath and looks to the side.

"So...you don't even think you're being a little too hard on her?" Dean voices.

Sam snaps his eyes over to his brother. He scoffs and gets into the car.

☆

"You guys got room for three more?"

Hailey raises her brows, "You want to come with us?"

"Who are these three?" The man beside Hailey speaks.

"Apparently, this is all the Park Service could muster up." Hailey quips. Her eyes land on Willow's. Willow had changed her outfit from this morning for a beige t-shirt tucked into black denim shorts. She had her leather jacket on along with her combat boots. Her hair was in a high ponytail and she was wearing a Sage green hat. Her lips were tinted a faint cherry red from her lipstick. Willow slightly tilts her head and raises a brow, waiting for Hailey to say anything else.

"The girl's cool though."

Willow smirks. The guy looks at the three newcomers. "You're rangers?"

"That's right."

"And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" Hailey scoffs.

"Not all of us can pull off shorts." Willow points at her exposed legs. She then points at Dean and grimaces. "Yikes."

Hailey softly laughs while Dean rolls his eyes.

"You think this is funny?" The man next to Hailey snaps.

Willow furrows her brows, a small smile on her lips. Who the hell is he talking to?

"It's dangerous backcountry out there. Her brother might be hurt."

"Believe me, we know how dangerous it can be." Dean voices.

"We're park rangers, remember?" Willow winks. "We just want to help find their brother."

The three hunters walk past them and move deeper into the forest.

They all had been walking for hours until Roy finally spoke once again.

"This is it. Blackwater Ridge."

"What coordinates are we at?" Sam asks.

Roy checks with his coordinate system. "35 Minus 111."

Willow has found a place beside Sam. Dean was standing in the back with Hailey. Willow's eyes skim across the forest. Hoping, anyone else was catching what she was getting; she speaks. "You hear that?"

Sam kiddos his eyes forward. "Yeah. Not even crickets."

"I'm gonna go take a look around," Roy speaks.

"You shouldn't go off by yourself." Sam advises.

Roy chuckles, "That's sweet."

Willow smirks, "You hear that? He thinks you were being sweet." She looks up at Sam.

"Don't worry about me." Roy walks between Willow and Sam and makes his way deeper into the woods. Dean makes his way through the group to stand with Willow and Sam. "All right, everybody stays together."

"Let's go."

The group aside from Roy begin to walk in another direction. Willow unscrews the top on her flask and takes a swig.

"Are you seriously drinking on the job?"

Willow looks at Sam and raises her brows. "I mean...yeah. It's when I get my best work done." She snorts. "I know we've only known each other for 2 weeks, but I drink every second of the day." She holds the flask up. "So, of course, I'm gonna drink now."

Willow moved the flask back and forth. "You want some?"

Sam lets out a bitter chuckle, "No."

Willow frowns, "Okay." She twists the flask shut and slides it back into her leather jacket. Her eyes shift to the ground, then she looks back at Sam. "You've been kind of a dick lately."

Sam snaps his eyes over to the girl, taken aback by her statement. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, I know why you've been a dick." Willow shrugs. "You have every right to—"

"Out of everyone, I don't think you should tell me what I'm able to do."

"I'm not telling you what to do, Samantha," Willow says. "I'm just making an observation on how you handle loss."

"I don't get what Dean saw in you—"

Without saying a word, Willow stands in front of Sam her jaw clenched and her onyx eyes showing their usual coldness. Sam stops in his tracks and swallows from the intense energy coming off the girl. Her entire laid back had taken a 180 and now she was left being cold and distant.

"I'm done being nice." Her voice was low and intimidating. "When you bring up my life and my past? That is when I'm done being nice."

Sam pulls his brows together. That was her idea of being nice?

"What Dean and I had is none of your business," Willow says. "If he never even shared with you about what he and I were. Then butt out or I will curb-stomp you into that tree trunk right there." Her finger points at the decaying hunk of wood on the ground. "Got it?"

Sam doesn't say anything, but he gives her a small nod. Willow lets out a harsh breath and shakes her head. "I swear to god, man..." she turns away from him and starts walking down the trail after the group.

☆

"Hailey! Over here!"

They had heard Roy's voice coming from a different area of the woods. Hailey was the first to run. Everyone else except for Willow ran after her. The honey-brown-haired girl readjusts her duffel and lets out a small breath. She follows after the running group while letting out small grumbles. Willow was still nursing a headache and it was slowly splitting into a migraine.

When Willow finally got to where everyone else was, she looked at the destroyed campsite.

"Looks like a grizzly." Roy speaks.

Willow digs through her leather jacket and pulls out a prescription pill bottle. She tosses 4 pills into her mouth and downs them with the whiskey in her flask. She walks through the wrecked campsite and her eyes shift to the ripped-up tent. Willow crouches and slightly lifts the tent with her pocket knife.

"So, we can all conclude that no one's here?"

"Willow."

Her eyes shift to Dean and he slightly shakes his head, telling her to not start with her remarks. She raises a brow and looks at Ben and Hailey. "Sorry. I'm sure they're fine." She presses her lips together. "Just don't...pay attention to the large amount of blood over here."

"What?!" Ben and Hailey run over to her.

Sam rolls his eyes, "Is she fucking serious..." he runs a hand down his face.

Dean pinches the bridge of his nose.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Ben whispers.

"It's probably not your brothers. I mean, there were 2 other people that went camping with him, right?" Willow shrugs. "So...there's that."

"How is that a good thing?" Hailey asks.

"Didn't say it was." Willow purses her lips.

"Well, you implied it," Hailey states.

Willow softly hums, she stands up and turns to her. "Did I?" Her voice was now high-pitched.

"Tommy?" Hailey drops her pack. Willow shakes her head, "You might wanna be a little quiet—"

"Tommy!"

"Hey." Willow grabs Hailey's arm and stands in front of her. "You've gotta keep it down."

"Why?"

"Something might still be out there."

Hailey's tenses. Her eyes shift to Willow's hand on her arm. Willow looks down at her hand wrapped around Hailey's forearm. The girl's stomach tightens and she releases Hailey's arm. "Sorry..." she rubs her palm against her shorts.

"Sam! Willow!"

Willow heard Dean's voice in the distance. She and Sam connect eyes for a moment, before following where Dean's voice came from.

They found Dean a few feet away from the camp crouched to the ground.

"The bodies were dragged from the campsite." Dean explains. Willow crouches beside him. For a moment, Dean forgot everything he was going to say. Her scent of gunpowder and whiskey fills his nose. Willow looks to her side, watching as Dean closes his eyes. "Is that all you wanted to tell us?"

Dean opens his eyes again, he looks at Willow and then Sam. "Oh. N-No. The tracks right here?" He points. "They just vanish. It's weird."

"I'll tell you what...it's no Skinwalker or black dog," Dean states.

Willow scratches behind her ear. "Shit..."

The three hunters get back to the campsite, quietly discussing what else could've done this. Suddenly, they heard a man shout.

"Help! Please! Somebody help me!"

Dean pulls his gun out and sprints with everyone else behind him. They follow the screams, but it seems like they aren't getting any closer. As soon as the cries for help stops, everyone halts in their steps. Willow furrows her brows, her mind running through all the information she had consumed the past couple of days.

"It seemed like it was coming from around here, didn't it?" Hailey questions.

"Everyone back to camp."

They all look at the brunette. Dean's back straightens as she jogs back to the campsite without another word. Everyone follows after her. Willow gets to the camp first, she stops and laughs with a shake of her head. "Of fucking course..." she places her hands on her hips.

"Our packs!" Hailey exclaims, seeing their bags were taken.

"So much for GPS and my satellite phone." Roy voices.

Hailey scoffs, "What the hell's going on?"

"It's smart." Sam voices. "It wants to cut us off so we can't call for help."

"You mean someone—some nut job out there just stole all our gear."

"Your gear." Willow holds her duffel up. "Not mine." Her eyes shift to Sam and Dean. "Boys."

They turn to her. Willow motioned her head to an excluded area so they could all talk. She walks closer to the trees and away from camp. Sam and Dean make it to the girl and she turns to them.

"It's a Wendigo."

Dean lets out a breath, "Oh, come on. Windigos are in the Minnesota woods or Northern Michigan,"

Willow scrunches her face from Dean's pronunciation.

"I've never even heard of one this far west."

Sam shakes his head. "Will might have a point."

Willow and Dean turn to the younger Winchester. The girl raises her brows and an entertained smirk forms on her lips. "Would you look at that?" She crosses her arms. "Samantha agrees with me."

"Let me see Dad's journal," Sam says.

Dean takes the book from his inner jacket pocket and hands it to Sam. Willow watches Sam flip through the book until he lands on the page about Wendigo's. He holds it out to Dean.

"The claws, the way it can mimic a human voice..."

Dean looks across the words and he quietly scoffs. "Great." He holds his gun up. "Well, then this is useless."

Sam hands Dean the journal back, his attitude now has a certain urgency to it. "We got to get these people to safety." He walks back to camp.

Willow raises her brows, "Last thing we need are lia-fucking-bilities as we torch this fucker." She pats Dean's shoulder and walks back to camp. Willow and Dean get back to the campsite in time to hear Sam speak.

"All right, listen up. It's time to go." Sam pronounces. "Things have gotten...more complicated."

"What?"

"Kid, don't worry about it. Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it." Roy voices, which causes Willow to laugh.

"There something funny, sweetheart?"

Willow clears her throat. "Oh, my pills just kicked in." She waves a hand. "And I'm not your sweetheart."

"It's not me I'm worried about anyway." Sam voices. "If you shoot this thing, you're just gonna make it mad. We have to leave now."

"One, you're talking nonsense. Two, you're in no position to give anybody orders."

"Uh, excuse me?" Willow touches her chest. "We are park rangers! We work here. And you, sir. Do not."

"Okay, how about it we all just relax." Dean voices.

Sam scoffs, "We never should have let you come out in the first place, all right?" He shakes his head. "I'm trying to protect you."

"You protect me?" Roy stands toe to toe with Sam. "I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you good night."

Sam doesn't back down from Roy trying to intimidate him. A playful smirk just forms on his lips. "Yeah? It's a damn-near-perfect hunter. It's smarter than you. And it's gonna hunt you down and eat you live unless we get your stupid sorry ass out of here."

Willow raised her brows from Sam's intimidating energy he was sending Roy.

Roy laughs obnoxiously in Sam's face and lightly shoves his finger into his chest. "You know you're crazy, right?"

"Yeah? You ever hunt a Wen—"

"Aaand we're done." Willow grabs Sam's forearm and pulls him away from Roy. Sam's eyes don't leave Roy, but Willow keeps her eyes on him.

"Careful..."

Sam forces his eyes off of Roy and he meets Willow's dark ones.

"...your asshole is showing."

"Stop it. Everybody just stop." Hailey speaks up. "Look, Tommy might still be alive. And I'm not leaving here without him."

Dean sighs. At first, he admired Hailey's relentlessness. But now it was becoming a liability. "It's getting late. This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We'll never beat it—not in the dark."

"We need to settle in and protect ourselves."

"How?"

"I'll show you," Dean says, walking down the hill with Hailey by his side. Willow whistles, "Dean Winchester's still got game, I see."

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