"All right, listen up. It's time to go." Sam says as he rushes back into camp. Riley raises an eyebrow at him. "Things have gotten more complicated." Riley glances at her father and he notes her holding her gun. She lets go now that he is here. "What?" Hailey asks in confusion.

      "Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it." Riley rolls her head around to look at Roy. Like hell he can. "If you shoot this thing, you're just gonna make it mad." Sam's crabby attitude is getting worse. "We have to leave now." Riley raises an eyebrow at her father and he shrugs.

      "One, you're talking all this nonsense. Two, you're in no position to give anybody orders." Roy grumbles with rising anger. Riley snorts. "And you are?" Roy gives her a look and Dean steps in front of Riley protectively. "Relax." He tells him.

      "We never should have let you come out in the first place. I'm trying to protect you." Roy laughs. "You protect me? I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you good night." Riley glances at her father, but he puts his hand out in front of her. He's telling her he'll let Sam handle the asshole.

      "It's a damn-near-perfect hunter. It's smarter than you." Roy looks at Sam in disbelief. "And it's gonna hunt you down and eat you alive," Riley blinks. "Damn Sammy." she mutters. "Unless we get your stupid sorry ass out of here." Sam finishes.

      Roy laughs and punches Sam's arm. "You know you're crazy right?" Sam nods. "Yeah? You ever hunt-" Dean steps forward choosing now to step in. He pushes Sam away. "Chill out." he tells his until Sam is a good distance from Roy who is still smiling. As Riley walks past him she 'accidentally' steps on his foot. No one calls her uncle crazy but her.

      "Stop it. Everybody just stop." Riley stands next to Dean. Hailey looks at them. "Look, Tommy might still be alive, and I'm not leaving here without him." Dean looks at Sam who pulls on a frown. Riley can tell his mentally pouting. "It's getting late." Dean glances at Roy. "This thing is a good hunter in the day, but it's an unbelievable hunter at night."

      Riley leans against Dean a bit as she looks around. He puts an arm around her. "We'll never beat it- Not in the dark." Dean meets Hailey's eyes then walks past her. Riley crosses her arms and Sam stands close to her. He gives her a look, wondering if she's okay. Riley nods.

      "We need to style in and protect ourselves." Hailey looks after Dean. "How?"

△

      Dean walks around the camp drawing anasazi symbols. Riley sits near the fire with Ben and Hailey. She's cold but the fire feels nice. In her hands is a piece of paper she took of John's journal and she doodles on it. "One more time that's...?" hailey asks as Dean walks to the other side of camp.

      "Anasazi symbols. It's for protection. The wendigo can't cross them." Roy lets out a hearty laugh. "Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy." Riley snorts. "Tell that to Buzzfeed." Riley glances at Dean as he walks over to Sam who is sitting at the edge of camp. Ben turns to Riley. "You watch buzzfeed?" She nods, not looking up from her drawing.

      "So you, your dad and uncle... You hunt monsters?" Hailey asks as she fixes the fire. Riley nods. "Yeah. I joined the life when I was about 5." The two siblings gape at her. "And it's normal for you? You don't get scared?" Riley glances over at Sam and sighs. "Everyone one gets scared sometimes. I wouldn't be sane if I didn't get scared every now and again, but,"

      Riley sighs and looks at them. "I try my best to think of something else. To make me feel safe." Riley looks at her drawing. "Like this-" She hands it to Ben who smiles. "Imagine that's what the wendigo looks like." Ben and Hailey laugh at Riley's sonic grizzly and she nods. "Not so scary now, huh?"

      Ben looks at Riley. "You ever... hunt, one of these before? A wendigo?" Riley shakes her head. "No, but there's a first time for everything." Riley hears Sam say that John isn't here and frowns. She shakes her head and looks at the fire. This could be over if she just tells them. But Riley keeps to her promises.

      "Help!" Riley's head shots up and she whips out her gun. Ben and Hailey stare at it. "You have a gun?" Sam and Dean stand and look around with their flashlights. Riley knows her gun is useless against the Wendigo, but if it comes at her, she'll give it hell before it can kill her.

      "Help!" Dean glances at Riley and she nods at him. "It's trying to draw us out. Just stay cool. Stay put." Dean says as he backs toward Riley. "Inside the magic circle?" Roy says snarkily. "Help!" the bushes around them rustle.

      "Help! Help me please-" The cries for help turn into a roar. "Okay, that's no grizzly." Roy mutters, making Riley roll her eyes. The growls draw closer and bushes rattle and snap. Roy fires his gun, then the bushes rattle again, he fires again. It yowls in pain. "I hit it!" Roy jumps over the anasazi symbols and runs away. "Roy, No!" Dean shouts.

      "Roy!" Dean turns around and points at Riley. "Don't move." He takes off into the bushes. Riley's eyes widen in fear as Sam runs off too. She is left alone with Hailey and Ben, but she doesn't exactly feel safe with them.

      "Remember," Riley mutters quietly. "Sonic grizzly. Funny, funny sonic brizzly." She says mostly to herself.

△

      Riley sits against a tree. Her knife is in her hands as she cuts a stick into a sharp point. She glances over at Sam who has her drawing of Jess in his hands. "I don't... I mean, these types of things- they aren't supposed to be real." Riley glances at Hailey. "I wish I could tell you different." Dean says as he walks away from the tree Riley is sitting by. "How do we know it's out there watching us?"

      Riley and Dean share a look and she returns to scraping at the stick. "We don't, but we're safe for now." Riley raises her stick up to her face. She stares at it's sharp point, then throws it at a nearby tree. It sinks into the wood at a perfect point.

      "How do you know about this stuff?" Riley twirls her knife in her hands and looks out into the woods. "It kind of runs in the family." Dean stands and walks away from Riley. Sam walks over. "So, we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I, for one... want to kill this evil son of a bitch."

      Dean smirks at Sam and Riley stands up with a smile. "Well, hell, you know I'm in." Riley nods and slides her knife into her pocket. "Ditto." Sam nods and pulls John's journal out. He flips to the Wendigo page and shows Hailey and Ben. "Wendigo is a Cree Indian word. It means, 'evil that devours'." Dean stands next to Sam and Riley leans against a tree

      "They're hundreds of years old." Riley sees the gas canister in her father's hands. "Each one was once a man, sometimes an indian or other rimes a frontiersman or a miner or a hunter." Riley fishes through her pockets for her lighter. "How's a man turn into one of those things?"

      "Well, it's always the same," Riley finally finds her lighter and hands it to Dean. He nods in thanks. "During some harsh winter, a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help-" Dean pauses and Riley walks over to his side. "Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or camp."

      Ben glances at Sam. "Like the Donner party." Sam nods. "That's right. Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities- speed, strength, immortality-" Riley cuts off Sam with a scowl. "An anger towards blondes."

      "If you eat enough of it, over years, you become this less-than-human thing. You're always hungry." Riley kicks dirt off her shoe. "So, if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?" Riley cringes and walks around Hailey and Riley to stand by Sam and Dean. "You're not gonna like it."

      "Tell me."

      "More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time." Riley looks down and smirks. She can't help but imagine a big scary wendigo curled up in a corner, sucking on it's thumb and a rotting human as a teddy bear.

      "When it's awake, it keeps it's victims alive. It stores them so it can feed whenever it wants." Hailey swallows a lump in her throat and glances at Ben. "If your brother is alive, it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden, and safe." Dean glances at Sam. "And we got to track it back there."

      "Then how do we stop it?" Hailey says hastily. "Well, guns are useless- so are knives." Ben looks at Dean with a worried expression. "Basically, we gotta torch the sucker."

- author's notes -

I can't stop writing this! I'm so excited to get further into season one

I've got so many ideas.