Gish Item 04 2022

The all too familiar scent of grave dirt pierced the otherwise crisp quiet of the night accompanied by the sound of the shovel hitting earth. This was something the brothers knew well, the heavy darkness of night surrounding them, accenting the felony they were committing gloriously.

The shorter of the two, Dean, paused to take it all in. Almost enjoying himself, despite the back breaking effort of the grave dig, this hunt had almost been too easy. Classic haunting, spook getting frisky with the remainder of his own family... even being thrown across the room into the couch had been a nice touch. Now they just had to burn the bones and they would be out of this place and on to that diner they’d passed on the way in to town.

Beside him the taller figure was distinctly less at ease. Sam had had a bad feeling about this place ever since they’d set foot in this creepy little town. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on brought a chill to the back of his neck like an icy electric charge. The sooner they got out of here, the better. With one great swing down, the familiar clunk of metal on wood let him know the end was in sight.

“Hot damn, we’ll be eating pancakes in 20.” Dean exclaimed gleefully, his own shovel scraping the dirt off of the coffin below. Sam rolled his eyes affectionately, his brother was certainly not the king of tact on the best day, yet he wouldn’t have been Dean if he were.

“Really? Pancakes? Dean, It’s barely 1am. You’ll be lucky if the gas station’s open in this place.”

Dean put his shovel down and pulled himself out of the crater they had dug with ease, sitting on the edge a moment with his legs hanging down. “Are you kidding? Places like this ALWAYS have an open diner. Have I taught you nothing? Now let’s gank this Son of a Bitch, I’m starving.”

Climbing out of the grave, Sam tossed his own shovel to the side and reached for the crowbar without much thought. “You know I’m not sure it’s appropriate to refer to a dead kid as a ‘Son of a Bitch’ even if he did kick your ass in there...” Sam braced himself and positioned the crowbar in the weakest spot he could find on the rotting wood. Pushing hard, the lid of the coffin popped up with a satisfying snap. Dean glanced around in expectation to the quiet night, waiting for the ghost’s inevitable appearance.

“I’ll have you know that that little bastard is stronger than he looks. He’s got that whole ‘Dead kid upset that Mommy’s had a new family’ rage. It’s hardly a fair fight.” Dean flicked his lighter open, tossing a bottle of salt to Sam with his other hand. Sam once again looked to his older brother with an air of disgust. “Dean. You know that’s not why he’s vengeful. Don’t be an ass.” It was Dean’s time to roll his eyes, sometimes Sammy’s inability to make light of the darkness they faced daily was a real drag. Of course, Dean knew the kid was upset because he’d been murdered by some dick in the woods, but hell dark humor was how he dealt with the crazy crap he’d seen.

“Shut up and throw the salt before Casper decides to make an appearance.” Dean’s lighter flickered to life just as a rustling sounded from the trees nearby. Immediately alert, his head snapped in the direction of the noise, hunting mode snapping into place like the expert he had been raised to become. “Speak of the devil... We’ve got company.” Drawing his weapon, Dean moved closer to the tree line to peer into the darkness.

The rustle sounded again; this time closer. Sam lifted his own shotgun filled with rock salt; the grave forgotten for the moment as the brother’s began to move towards the trees. Beneath the rustle of the trees a rumble of noise almost like a low rattle brought the hairs on Sam’s neck on edge. “Dean, I don’t think that’s a ghost.” He muttered.

Dean moved slowly into the underbrush, ignoring his brother’s weariness. Something red had caught his gaze, glowing enticingly at the base of the largest tree. “What the hell is that?” He uttered almost to himself, uncertain of the thing which he saw. The tree almost seemed to pulse with an unholy light, drawing him in. Dean tentatively reached out a hand towards the glow.

“Dean don’t...” Sam said louder, fear gripping his gut at the thought of the unknown entity before them.

Too late, Dean’s hand passed into the tree and through the pulsing red glow. He drew his hand back and something oozing and black had wrapped itself around his wrist, the goo was wet and unpleasant. “What the F-” He began when suddenly Dean was pulled into the glow by some unseen force.

“DEAN!” Sam leapt to action, rushing after his brother into the weirdly sizeable empty space where a tree’s trunk should have been. Pushing through an invisible force, Sam found himself stumbling into a twisted world of black vines, dark skies and ominous floating atoms of non-descript origin. Frantic, he searched the new space for his brother, ready to strike whatever had pulled him through the vortex.

Through shouts and grunts of danger, Dean found himself wrapped up in this living vine which slowly tried to wrap itself around his throat. Struggling against the thing, his hand itched for the Swiss army knife in his pocket but if he let go of the vines around his throat, he would surely die. “Get...Off...Of..Me...” He could hear Sam somewhere in the area, though he was unable to see his brother in the darkness. His arms were exhausted already and the vines were tightening hard around his body in other places. If he didn’t make a move now, he was toast.

“Stay still!” An unfamiliar voice called out as Dean felt the pressure around his legs lessen, his knife pulled from the pocket of his jeans roughly in a way that might have been erotic, given the smallness of the hand, in other circumstances. A flash of blonde hair filled his blurring vision for a moment before the sudden release of pressure from around his neck allowed him to breathe in a harsh and ragged breath. He forced himself to a sitting position ripping the vines from the rest of his body roughly. Dean rose to his feet, winded and aching but distinctly alive. He doubled over with his hands on his own thighs. “Are you ok?” The voice asked from beside him, distinctly feminine.

“Yeah-” He rasped roughly. “I think so?” As he spoke, Dean lifted his head slowly to see his Saviour. A short and gorgeous blonde lady stared back at him. Not normally one for blonde’s Dean was surprised to find a spark of attraction filled him. Good to know the parts were still working. “Thanks....” He forced out just as another voice rang out close by. “DEAN!” Sam’s lumbering frame came bursting through the trees.

The woman whipped around with her fists up, she was faster than Dean had ever seen a human move before. “Woah woah!!! That’s my brother!” He shouted out. Sam paused in place instantly as a fist stopped inches from his face. He held his hands up in surrender.

“Who the hell are you guys?” The woman asked. Sam slowly lowered his hands, able to see now that his attacker was in fact a rather slight woman. Blonde hair, it was too dark to see her eyes but he imagined them green or blue.

“My name’s Sam Winchester, this is my brother Dean.... What the hell is this place?” He asked expectantly. The woman appeared to pause in confusion herself.

“You don’t know either?” She said with disappointment ringing. Bringing a hand up, she pushed her hair from her face and Sam could see that she had dirt streaking across her face. “Damn. I’ve been stuck in this Bizzaro world for the last...” She paused. “What time is it?”

Dean reached to see his watch face, letting out a grunt of disgust as the smashed watch face greeted him. “Hell, if I know. Son of a Bitch broke my watch.” Shaking his head, Dean spun to get a better look at their surroundings. Black vines covered every inch of the wood in which they stood. If he squinted, he could swear he could see the outline of the graveyard they had just left behind. He turned back to the woman who had saved him. “Your name is?”

“Buffy. And you’re welcome.” Buffy replied, turning to face Sam this time. “I know how he got in here, how’d you do it? I’ve been trying to get outta this place for hours and I can’t find the exit.”

Sam motioned back towards the way he had come, following the vines that had dragged his brother deeper in. “Back there... it sealed itself up though. Not sure but I think this place is.... sentient? It’s like the vines have a mind of their own...”

“You don’t say.” Dean snarked, rubbing his neck. “It’s weird, does this place look familiar to you Sam?”

Sam glanced around, eyes settling on the grave marker hidden beneath yet more twisted vines. “It’s the cemetery.... But not. It’s like we’re in a twisted version of our own relm?”

“And the cookie goes to....” Buffy sarcastically muttered, bringing her hand up, she flipped the knife she had taken from Dean back into her hand and held it out to him, handle facing him. “Be careful, from what I can work out the vines, trees and monsters are all connected. You hurt one, the others will react and since we’ve just ripped a hole in the vegetation saving your ass, I’m gonna say we should get moving before the demon comes back.”

Dean raised a brow. “Demon? We can handle a demon.”

Buffy raised her own brow in turn, staring Dean in the face. He was arguably quite handsome, arrogant, but not a deal breaker. His brother was too, though the last time she’d seen someone that freakishly tall it had been Riley. Who the hell were these guys? “Look jerk, I’m the goddamn vampire slayer, if I’m telling you we need to move the hell away from here because of a demon, we need to move the hell out of here because of a demon...”

“Vampire slayer?” Sam sputtered.... “Like Van Helsing vampire slaying?”

Dean was distinctly less impressed. “Lady we’ve faced way worse than vamps. TRUST ME.” Buffy felt her eyes squint at the idiot. Seemed like the tall one had all the brains.

“We can compare streams later big guy. Right now, we gotta go.” As if on cue, behind them came a sound unlike any the boys had heard before, a mournful guttural sound which sent chills down the spine. Not only was it scary, it was close. Too close for comfort. Dean swallowed his retort and glanced once more around their surroundings.

“I think there was an old house that way. Maybe we should mosey in that direction.” Another growl, closer this time. Dean jumped slightly at the sound. “Yeah, I’m thinking we head that way if the entrance we used is blocked up and all...”

Without waiting on permission, Sam decided to take the lead. Once again, his brother had placed his foot in his mouth and they were stuck in an awkward situation on top of the danger they faced. As he stepped forward, the ground almost seemed to move with him unnaturally. The life that was in those vines filled the air around them and no matter what he did, the hairs on his neck would not go down still. Even the light was wrong here, all black and red and blue, no discernable moonlight.... no stars. It reminded him of hell... Reaching his hand up to brush aside one of the weird floating dust particles, Sam tried not to let the weirdness dull his senses. Behind him he could sense the other two walking cautiously, fully aware that Dean had his finger on the trigger of his gun even without seeing it for himself. Every few moments the sound of another beast could be heard over the otherwise silent land, the slither of something unnatural just beyond the line of sight. Sam found himself reaching into his pocket for a flashlight, turning it on to light the way.

Behind, Dean kept one eye on the blonde and the other on the place around him. Every so often they passed a marker of something he thought he knew but each time it was twisted and warped, like the evil twin to the earth they knew. After what had to be twenty minutes, Dean allowed himself to speak again. “Look ah, Buffy... Thanks for saving my ass back there....” Buffy almost seemed to snicker. “I’d say don’t get used to it but... it’s kinda what I do.” The brush of the wood seemed to thicken here, meaning the trio had to push aside hanging vines and rotting leaves or else be brushed with their black goo. Buffy pushed aside a particularly large branch and kindly held it so not to smack Dean with it when she let it go. “Just wish I knew how to get us outta this one... I sorta lost my friends back there... In the real world. I ah... I should have known better than to just go chasing demons through portals... Giles’d be so mad...”

Side stepping another branch that seemed to reach for his foot, Dean was really starting to wish Cas were here to tell them where the hell here was. “Tell me about it. I stuck my hand in a glowing tree. Sounds like a really bad lead up to an Asian porno....” Finally, the clearing came in to sight, a ramshackle house glowing in the distance. No actual light from inside, no this glow seemed to come from the sky itself. Red like blood and clearly alien.

“You’re kinda weird Dean, you know that?” Buffy remarked, coming to a stop beside Sam as they faced the house. No movement inside, no demons outside.... seemed about as good a place as any to huddle up until they knew what the hell to do...

“Kinda? You have no idea...” Sam quipped.

“Shut up.” Dean responded.

Before they could even step foot towards the place though, something flew hard at their direction. The creature that had blindsided the trio was tall. Taller than Sam. With human like body and an enormous bulb like head. The face, if you could call it that, was eyeless and nose less but damn if it didn’t have a mouth the size of a sundial. Rows of teeth exposed as it roared in their direction. Dean raised his gun to shoot when from behind the creature he heard a human shout. A smaller figure smashed the hell out of the creature’s head from behind, curly hair flying wild. Behind her stood a group of kids, all armed with baseball bats and weapons entirely not appropriate for demon hunting... apart from the guy holding the bat with the spikes... that was kinda awesome. The creature rounded on the girl and before the Winchesters could react, Buffy’d sprung to action. Leaping onto the demon’s back, she wrapped her arms around its neck and twisted.... hard. The thing went down with an unholy shriek.

“Holy shit!” Cried the shortest of the kids. “That was AWESOME!” and frankly Dean had to agree.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Asked the kid with the spiked bat.

“Do you know how to get outta this place?” Buffy wasted no time asking the hard facts.

“Ah... Yeah...” The curly haired one pointed towards the house where they could just about make out a weird crack of light on the façade. Beyond confused, the brother’s shot one another a look. The look only siblings could understand.... What the actual hell was going on?

In the distance, they could make out more figures, clearly adults and one other child, all armed to the teeth... Dean shook his head, vowing he’d stop drinking as soon as they got outta here. “Great.” Buffy began to walk in the direction of the house, clearly over it. “You guys need a hand?” She paused as she passed them. The girl who had first swung at the creature shook her head.

“You should probably get out of here... It’s gonna get pretty crazy.” As if in response the portal shimmered closed for a moment and then reappeared. “Nice meeting you... Travel safe....” The kid with the curls grinned at them and for a moment Dean could swear he had no teeth... Shaking his head, they started towards the opening.

“Dean-” Sam hesitated, looking at the group who had just saved them from whatever the hell that thing was. “Don’t.” Dean piped up. “Not our circus, not our monkeys.” And began to walk again. As they passed the adults, there was an awkward moment of eye contact from each party before they fully passed.

“Will....” He heard another voice say, clearly heading to the group of kids. As they reached the hole in the wall, Buffy turned to them both with a grin.

“Look it’s been swell but no offence, let’s not do this again. Nice meeting you Sam.... Dean.... don’t forget your knife. Also, maybe don’t put it in the pocket closest to your.... ya know what, you do you.” With that she stepped through the portal and was gone. Sam blinked at his brother before they both silently moved through the portal themselves.

Back in the normal world, they could see the sun beginning to peek over the horizon. In that Horizon, Dean could just about make out the shape of his car. Still silent, the brother’s walked back towards where it all started, as they reached the grave site the familiar shimmer of a spirit taking form started to shape itself. Without blinking, Dean kicked the salt shaker at the edge of the grave into the pit itself and tossed in his lighter. Up in flames and smoke the child ghost went and they picked up their stuff... Putting their gear away, they were about to get in when Sam of all people took a pause... “Dean... What the hell just happened?”

“Sammy.... I have no goddamn idea.” And with that he slipped into the driver’s seat. Soon they were motoring on towards the rising sun. After another long pause, Dean turned to his brother. “Ya know Sammy, for a moment there I swear to God I thought I heard Winona Ryder.”

Sam snickered softly. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

As they drove on down the road, a sign clearly illuminated in the headlights. ‘Now Leaving Hawkins Indiana. Come back soon!’. And Dean turned back to the open road.

#gish