Phoenix [Supernatural Season 1]

Wendigo [4]

Sam was sitting against a hollow tree stump, holding John's journal and Phoenix sat next to him playing with her necklace.

Dean, Haley, and Ben were among the tents.

"I don't...I mean, these types of things, they aren't supposed to be real," Haley argued

"I wish I could tell you differently," Dean said

"How do we know it's not out there watching us?"

"We don't. But we're safe for now,"

"How do you know about this stuff?"

"Kind of runs in the family,"

Sam and Phoe came over. "Hey,"

Haley stood up.

"So we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I for one want to kill this evil son of a bitch," Sam explained

"Well, hell, you know I'm in," Dean said

Sam showed the wendigo page of John's journal to Haley and Ben. "'Wendigo' is a Cree Indian word. It means 'evil that devours',"

"They're hundreds of years old." Phoenix explained "Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or hunter,"

"How's a man turn into one of those things?" Haley asked

Dean picked a couple of things up off the ground "Well, it's always the same. During some harsh winter, a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help. Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or camp,"

"Like the Donner Party," Ben said

"Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality," Sam explained

"If you eat enough of it, over the years, you become this less than human thing. You're always hungry," Dean said

"So if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?" Haley asked.

"You're not gonna like it," Phoenix glanced at Sam, then back to Haley.

"Tell me,"

"More than anything, a Wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it's awake it keeps its victims alive. It, uh, it stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. If your brother's alive, it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden, and safe. We gotta track it back there,"

"And then how do we stop it?"

"Well, guns are useless, so are knives. Basically-" Dean held up the can of lighter fluid, the beer bottle, and the white cloth he had picked up. "We gotta torch the sucker,"

***

Dean lead the way through the woods, Molotov cocktail in hand.

Haley followed, then Ben, then Sam and Phoenix. They passed trees with claw marks and blood.

***

Sam was leading the group now.

"Dean," Phoenix called out.

Dean fell back to match her pace "What is it?"

Phoe looked around at the trees. There were bloody claw marks and broken branches everywhere. "You know, I was thinking, those claw prints, so clear and distinct. They were almost too easy to follow," Growling.

Sam and Dean whipped around. Trees rustled.

Haley was standing under a tree. Blood dripped on her shirt. She noticed and looked up, then leaped out of the way; Roy's corpse landed where she had stood.

Dean examined Roy as Sam went over to Haley.

"You okay? You got it?" Sam asked

"His neck's broke," Dean declared

Sam helped Haley up. More growling.

"Okay, run, run, run, run, go, go, go!" Phoe ordered. Everybody took off.

Ben fell and Sam hurried back to help him up, dividing the group three and two.

"Come on, I gotcha, I gotcha," Sam told Ben.

Dean, Haley, and Phoenix stopped short: Phoe placing herself in front of the two as the Wendigo was in front of them.

Haley screamed.

"Haley?" Ben called out

Sam stopped running and picked up Dean's Molotov cocktail, the bottle broken. "Dean! Phoe!"