PhantomNatural

Ch. 4

They drove through the rest of the night, and through the better half of the morning before Danny even began to rouse. Neither of the brothers noticed, however, with Dean focusing on staying awake through the drive, and Sam with his nose in a map of the area. They didn't know what that creature had been doing to the boy, and no matter how much Sam tried to research the creature on his phone and their father's journal, nothing came up. Whatever this was, it was something that they had never experienced before. The vehicle held an air of stagnant silence, save for the low hum of Dean's music. Sam had suggested they kept the volume low, as to not disturb the boy further when he woke. After all, that's all he was. A boy. The brothers had guessed that he was no older than sixteen.

Danny's brows knitted together, as he pushed himself into a straighter position. He had been leaning against the chilled window, and his head ached softly from where the road had caused him to bump against the glass. His body felt heavy, and he tried to gather his bearings. His eyes fluttered for a moment, taking in the leather seats, the scenery moving around them, and the two men in the front seats. Glancing in the mirror, he noticed it was the men from the motel. The motel... when had he left it? Not to mention, when did he get in their car? His mind raced from one conclusion to the next, and all he could think was that he must've been kidnapped by these two weirdos. Great. As if his trip couldn't have gotten worse. He stared into the rearview mirror, trying to think of what he should do. He considered phasing through the car, and taking off, but decided against it. He wanted to reserve his energy in case of something else. 

Dean just happened to glance in the mirror, meeting the teenager's icy blue eyes. "Jesus-!" The car swerved for a moment before Dean brought it back to the middle of the right lane. His heart skittered in his chest, having been startled. He lifted his left hand, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Jeez, kid. You could've let us know you were awake instead of staring us down."

Sam rose a brow and turned, noticing that Danny was, in fact, wide awake. He just hadn't expected him to be that.. calm. "Hey, I know how this looks, but we can explain." He reached into the glove box, bringing out a pack of gum to offer to the teen. When he was met with a shake of the head, he tucked it back into its hiding place. "Right, well, you said your name was Danny, right?" The teen nodded, and Sam tried to piece together what he wanted to say. "I promise, this isn't what it looks like. Last night, something broke into your room..."

Sam proceeded to explain what they had seen, and even gave Danny the whole 'monsters are real' spiel. Surprisingly, the kid did not seem shocked, nearly at all. Danny stayed silent through Sam's explanation, just glad to hear he hadn't just been kidnapped by two creepy, insane guys. Although, he wasn't quite sure they weren't insane. After all, they had just confessed to hunting monsters. He brushed the thought aside. "So that, thing... Was it tall, dark, and definitely not handsome?" He asked, earning a chuckle from Dean.

"One hundred percent. Have you seen it before?" Dean asked, every so often looking back at Danny through the mirror. He questioned why they always ended up with random kids on some of these hunts.

Danny nodded, letting out a small sigh and leaning back against the back seat. He wasn't sure about these two guys, but they had managed to fend off the chaser, and the way they dressed and acted told him they didn't work for the Guys In White or the government. In all honesty, they looked rough and rugged, but then again, he looked like a tire-fire himself. "Unfortunately. That thing's been chasing me to hell and back." He frowned and cleared his throat. "No idea why though. Just showed up one day, came after me, and I bolted." He was purposefully vague, for obvious reasons.

Sam and Dean weren't too convinced, however. In their line of work, creatures came after people for a reason. Whether it be revenge, food, orders, or other reasons. But they couldn't imagine why something like that would want anything to do with a sixteen year old kid. Dean spoke up once more.

"We can help you out with that thing, but we need to know more about it. We're headed to a friend's place. His name's Bobby. He might be able to tell us more information, if he's heard of it. But you have to trust us, kid. It'll be a lot easier to keep you safe if you're with us rather than on your own."

For now, Danny agreed with him. He was exhausted, and nowhere near his usual tip-top shape. Maybe things were finally starting to turn around. The sooner all this was over with, the sooner he could get home. He could only imagine how angry his own Sam would be with him, for running off and ditching them in Amity without a clue to where he had gone. But he couldn't have brought them with him, he didn't want to risk losing them. And with him gone from Amity for this long, it was better to have them there to fend off the ghosts in his absence. He was brought out of his thoughts by Dean asking him if he understood.

"Yeah, I get it." He said simply, turning his head to look out the window. The scenery continued to pass them by, a continuous stream of evergreen and chestnut as they drove through what seemed to be be a large coniferous forest. He hadn't remembered coming this far north. "I might go back to sleep." 

Sam looked back at the teen once more, worried for him. Same held pity in his gaze. It couldn't have been easy, running from a thing like that, for god knows how long. "Go ahead. We'll wake you up when we get to Bobby's." 

With that said, Danny gave in to his exhaustion once more, knowing he could finally sleep soundly, even for just this once.

~o~o~o~

(A/N: Apologies for the late update! I'll be trying to update a little more regularly, at least until my break is over. Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated! And once again, thank you all so, so much for giving this story a read!)