Supernatural Fresh Meat

SIXTY-TWO




Dean was momentarily confused when the banging sound continued after the lockers had settled onto the floor. Then plaster rained down on him and he realized someone was trying to get in from above.

Jason grabbed Dean, throwing him to the side. He crashed painfully into a wall and slumped down next to the empty body. The aswang reached inside the air vent and Dean heard Jimmy cry out in surprise. He jumped up to help, but another backhanded blow from Jason sent Dean crashing backward, landing on a ruined desk.

Jason dragged Jimmy out of the hole, the vampire kicking him and clawing at him. Dean struggled to his feet, still shaky from the paralysis.

The banging sound continued overhead, filling the room.

Jimmy snarled at Jason, all his teeth growing sharp and his eyes gleaming in the dim light. He bit into Jason’s throat, blood spraying out. Jason placed his hands on both sides of Jimmy’s head and, in an instant, ripped his head from his torso. He tossed the head against the far wall.

Another surge of rage swept over Dean. Jason turned to him, eyes full of hate. Dean’s hand closed around the extra gun clip in his jacket, but he couldn’t see his gun. He’d hoped maybe Jimmy had been wrong, that Jason had left it there, but he hadn’t.

A large chunk of debris crashed down from above. Brilliant light spilled into the room. Dean glanced up to see blue sky, with snow falling toward him. He breathed in a gulp of the fresh air. He felt a sharp pain in his side and looked down to find Jason’s feeding tube attached to his stomach. He grabbed it, wrenching it out.

Something shattered at his feet. Jason screamed.

Bobby and Sam stood framed against the blue above him. They threw another vial of the spice concoction on Jason and his skin erupted in boils.

“More! More!” Dean yelled.

Vial after vial exploded onto Jason’s skin, causing the flesh to peel away in burning, sizzling strips. Screeching, his wings opened wide and he shot through the hole above, shoving Bobby and Sam aside.

Dean watched him wing away across the blue. Then he was out of sight.

“God damn it!” he cursed. “Is he gone?”

Sam’s head turned to look back down at his brother. “Yes.”

Dean blinked against the brightness. “It’s good to see you. Get me the hell out of here!”

Two hours later, rescuers had gotten all the survivors out of the air vent and the collapsed building. The storm had lifted, and now only a few clouds drifted across the azure sky. Though the temperature was still hovering in the thirties, the sun beating down on Dean felt warm and reassuring. He sat in the snow, Susan beside him, cooling her broken leg in the frozen white.

She stared at Grace and Steven, who were lying a few feet away on stretchers. “They don’t have any wounds,” she said. “There was really a paralysis-causing gas leak down there?”

Dean shrugged. “Something did that to us. It wears off, though. I’m proof of that.”

“Jesus, this was the scariest time of my life.”

Dean thought about how lucky she was to have been in another part of the building. She’d been the first person the rescuers had found when the storm broke.

Sam appeared from behind one of the wrecked walls of the resort. The avalanche had decimated almost the entire lodge, leaving only a couple of pillars and one of the stone walls intact. Amazingly, the chandelier still hung from the only crossbeam standing.

Sam walked over to his brother. While Dean recovered feeling in his body, he and Bobby had been helping dig people out. He looked tired as hell.

“Grace is talking,” he told Dean.

Dean got up, hurrying over to her. Sam joined him.

“Dean,” she said, smiling when she saw him. “What the hell was that thing?”

Dean looked around carefully, then brought a finger to his lips. “I’ll tell you in a minute when we have more privacy.”

Bobby walked over too. He eyed Grace suspiciously.

“We know you’re not a ranger,” Sam told her.

Weakly, she lifted a finger to her lips, imitating Dean. “I’m out here tracking bear poachers,” she whispered. “It’s easier to check people’s permits and find out if they’re legit when you pretend to be a ranger. Some a*sholes have been killing bears to take their organs to sell on the black market as aphrodisiacs. I was tracking them up by Silverado Ridge. I found a bear killed, with its gall bladder missing. Then the trail just went dead, as if those guys had vanished. I thought you guys were the poachers at first.” She gripped Dean’s hand. “Do you think that thing got them?”

He frowned, realizing how close she must have come to the aswang on numerous occasions. “Could be.”

“So you’re just an animal rights activist?” Bobby said, trying to suppress a smile.

“What’s funny about that?”

“Nothing. Nothing,” he said quickly.

“And what do you mean ‘just’ an animal rights activist?” She eyed him irritably.

Dean grinned, happy to see her fire back.

Sam scanned the horizon. “Bobby, it’s getting dark. We need to stay on this thing’s trail before it vanishes completely. Everyone’s been pulled out of the wreckage who made it. We need to go.”

Bobby met his gaze. “Agreed.”

Grace wriggled her boot. “I can come, too. I’m fine.”

Dean raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah? Move your legs.”

She couldn’t. She frowned. “You see those bear poachers, you tell me where I can find them.”

“Will do,” Bobby told her.

They suited up, got fresh water and a little more food. Dean still felt weak, but he knew they couldn’t lose the trail now. They had to find the aswang.

Donning their snowshoes, the three of them trekked off into the snowy forest to find Jason and end it.