Hiking in the Forest

Dean blinked. Had Sam forgotten about the map? This wasn't looking good.

"We did," he said carefully, peering at Sam, "But then you lost it, remember?" Sam was not usually forgetful, and if he was forgetting things then something was obviously up.

Sam really did look like crap, still shivering, looking colder then before, and a little bit out of it. He really did feel bad for him, Sam wouldn't of been expecting something like this to happen when he agreed to go with Dean.

Sam furrowed his brow in confusion. "When?" he asked, completely having forgotten he'd lost the map in the river. He folded his arms tighter, unable to properly stop shivering this time.

"Damn it." he muttered again, stopping so he wouldn't have to move stiffly.

"When you fell in the river," Dean answered, as his eyes desperately scanned the surrounding area for some sort of clue. This was ridiculous, it shouldn't be this hard to find their way out. They had reached the point where they had been before, when Sam fell in the river.

Dean looked back at Sam. He had his arms wrapped around himself and was shivering uncontrollably. Dean was at a loss for what to do. They needed to get back to the Impala before Sam got any worse.

Dean looked around, hoping that there would be footprints or something from previously. He bent down, looking at the ground closely. Finally his eyes rested on what looked like foot shaped marks, going in a different direction to what they were going in before.

He got up, turning round to look at Sam. He looked really bad. Dean walked up to him, putting an arm behind his back, pushing him on. "Not long now," he muttered, going in what was hopefully the right direction. It should only be a twenty minute walk from where they were at the moment.

Sam nodded, following Dean. He stumbled, tiredly and then straightened up realising what he was doing.

"God... I think I have hypothermia." he mumbled, feeling like it was getting colder by the second to a point where it was nearly unbearable.

Dean nodded reluctantly. Sam was probably right there, he had all the symptoms and it was only going to get worse if they didn't get back soon. They had been walking for a while now though, and hopefully the car would be in sight soon.

"We're almost there," he said, hoping that it would reassure Sam. There was nothing he could do till they got there, really.

"Uh huh." said Sam, trying to get a control over his violent shivering.

Suddenly he looked up. "Dean!" He said suddenly. "I didn't tell you! They all have yellow eyes - the whole family!"

"You did," Dean said absently, squinting as he saw a clearing ahead, with something black behind the leaves. Was that the impala?

"We're there," Dean said as they got nearer, relief flooding through him as he grabbed hold of Sam's arm, pulling him the last few yards to the Impala.

Sam was pushed into the car and the door shut behind him. He could hear the rain on the roof of the car and his shivering was much louder now that he was in an enclosed space. It was warmer in there, but not by that much.

He looked around for Dean. There were vampires out there. "Dean?" he called out.

Once Dean had shoved Sam into the car, he opened the cars trunk, looking for some dry clothes. He found a plain tee and some sweat pants after a quick search. He ran round to the other side of the car, opening the door to the back seat, joining Sam.

"Hey, Sam," he called, trying to get Sam's attention. He looked a little panicked, and not entirely lucid, and he was still shivering, "I need to get you into some dry clothes, okay?" Dean leaned down, grabbing hold of the nearest foot of Sam's, pulling off the sock, and then the shoe, before moving onto the other foot.

After Sam was in some dry clothes, he was still shivering and pale. He was out of it too, reminding Dean every now and then that there were vampires out there.

"We need dean man's blood." he nodded, knowing that was how to weaken a vampire.

Sam was still off in his own little world when Dean had dressed him, going on about dead mans blood and vampires. He was not looking much warmer, his skin still pale and his body racking with violent shivers.

Dean leaned forward over the front seat, turning on the heating and hoping it would warm the car up somewhat. It was going to take a while though, and Sam still looked cold.

He was never going to live this down. He knew that the quickest and most effective way to warm Sam up now would be to share body heat, but that didn't mean that it wan't going to be awkward as hell. "Sam?" he said, grabbing hold of his arm and pulling him into a loose hug. Dean hissed as he came into contact with Sam's skin. It was icy to the touch.

Once in the hug with his brother, Sam stiffened. This was weird - no a thousand times over weird. It felt like... like Dean was actually hugging Sam. And that was weirder than a lot of things they had seen over the years.

"Um..." he said after a few moments. "Dean, what are you-?" He tried to pull back.

Funny how Sam chose now to come back to reality. This probably would have been a hell of a lot less awkward if he was still going on about how the vampires were here.

Dean tightened his grip, not letting Sam pull out, "Body heat, dude," he answered briefly, glaring at the back of Sam's head. Sam still felt cold, and this was anything but comfortable for Dean, and Sam talking was not making it any better. It was hardly like they had never hugged before, anyway. Sure, they had never hugged much, but he could remember several occasions back when Sam was a kid, and less annoying then he was now.

Sam couldn't help but laugh. He could tell Dean wasn't enjoying this, but it looked like he was the one who could do the tormenting now.

"Do you know how gay this must look?" he muttered, trying not to laugh harder.

Clearly Sam was now managing to find humour in the situation, which was annoying, but was probably a good thing. Now that he had stopped raving on about whatever it was he was talking about, he could only get better from here.

"You're enjoying this way too much," he commented, at hearing Sam laugh, disregarding the gay remark. He knew he was not going to be letting go any time soon - at least until the shivers stopped and Sam's skin reached a temperature vaguely normal.

"Bitch," he said, subconsciously tightening his grip as the sound of the rain against the car got louder.

Sam smiled, knowing it was just like Dean to try and torment him back. "I can't really call you a jerk." he said, since it was his immediate reaction when Dean called him a bitch. "Since you just pulled me out of a river."

He sighed as the warmth inside started to get to him, though he was still pretty tired and ended up letting his chin fall on Dean's shoulder.

That was... a little odd. Usually Sam would jump at the opportunity to insult him back, keep the banter going, but now he was bordering on sentimental. It was kind of cute, bordering on chick flicky. Though it did seem fair enough, considering what he had just been through.

Sam seemed a little more docile now, content to lean against Dean's shoulder. Dean preferred him like this, no longer the stubborn jackass of a few moments before.

"And you wonder why I call you a girl..." he couldn't help but comment, as he smirked against the top of Sam's head, not that any of this really bothered him.

"And I wonder why people think we're together." replied Sam, shutting his eyes as the warmth finally started taking the paleness out of his skin.

His shivering was quieter now and it was just shallow breathing.

"Probably cause you're always acting so gay," Dean sniped back, smiling good humoredly, as he leaned back so that his back was resting against the window of the door, dragging Sam with him. This was slightly more comfortable then staying upright, with them both half lying down.

Sam was looking marginally better now, his shivering not as violent as before, and his skin was getting a little less pale. He still felt cold, but he could be worse off.

Sam was getting hungry now, after that incident at the river. He tried to work out why he'd had such a bad feeling when around there and then he remembered. "There was a body! Back at the river! Are we going to go back?" he asked, hoping to god that Dean wouldn't say they should. He didn't want to go back in there when there were supposedly vampires lurking around, that they didn't even know how to kill.

"I think I'm warm enough now." He tried to pull away, reluctantly.

"You're still shivering..." Dean pointed out, pulling Sam back down, not letting go just yet. Sam's skin was still cold, and Dean was not going to let him go back there now, if at all.

"We can check the body later, anyway," he added, seeing as there was not really an urgency to head back there. The cause of death had been pretty obvious, with everything pointing towards vampire attack, and it was hardly like the body was going anywhere.

"What the hell kind of vampires are these anyway..." Sam shuddered, hoping that they hadn't got their dad. He wondered if Dean had though the same thing. No. He wouldn't think that. Because they knew their dad, and he wouldn't let something like this go down. He would be away from town, probably trying to find a way to kill the yellow eyed, and apparently red eyed too, creatures.

"Not our usual kind," Dean said, and really, he hadn't put much thought into it. It had all been a bit of a blur, the vampire coming to their motel room, going to get Sam from the library, and the hiking disaster. All he really knew was that they could not be killed the same way as vampires they had encountered previously, and really, if that was the case he had no idea how to kill them. Maybe the things that didn't work with the usual ones would work with these ones. They could try staking them, or stabbing them with a silver knife. They had such good reflexes though, and it would be hard to try anything like that against them.

Dean tightened his grip against Sam's back. This essentially meant they had no way of protecting themselves against them. Dean had no way of protecting Sam. The best course of action would probably be to drop Sam back off at Stanford, and try and solve it himself, even if he would miss it being the two of them again.

Sam blinked for about a long second. Dean was quiet - and that usually meant he was thinking since it seemed to be easier for him to stay quiet. But Dean didn't do that all the time, so something was up. Sam must have really got into him the reality of all this. It wasn't meant to be like that - it was meant to be Sam came along with him and they found dad, fought whatever it was keeping him and then laugh about it over a drink after. But since he'd come with Dean it had been vivid nightmares, arguments, and dangers, not to mention an impossible task that was leading them no where.

"You okay?" he asked his brother, facing him. They were only millimetres apart.

Dean glanced at Sam's face and snorted, "You're the one asking me that?" Sam was the one that had fallen in the river, after all. He should be the one asking Sam that, not the other way round, and it didn't have anything to do with evading the question. He was fine anyway, he wasn't mentally freaking out about the fact that their dad had been missing for about a week in a vampire infested town, and there was no way to kill said vampires. He was completely fine.

He looked away as Sam continued looking at him. It was not going to be long before Sam returned voluntarily, anyway. He was probably dying to get back home to Jess.