The Hunter

Every second that passed by felt like ages as Noora and Dean waited for Sam to make some sort of reply. Right now, their minds were only on Sam and if he was alright and how there was absolutely no way that they could help him out if he was injured.

“Dean?” They heard Sam’s voice call through the pile of rubble and they simultaneously let out a sigh of relief. “Are you two okay?” He asked, his voice distant and muffled.

“Yeah, we’re fine. Are you?” Dean called back through the wall, his volume almost deafening to Noora in their close quarters. She shot him a look and let out a soft hum, attempting to brush off her hands on one of the few clean parts of her clothes.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sam replied.

“Look, you need to get out of the mine and see if you can’t find the opening to the other mine. Noora and I will try to find our way out that way,” Dean called, shooting a look over to the girl and she gave him a small nod, knowing that they didn’t have any other choice but to try to find the other way out. She was just very thankful they had that option.

“Alright, you two stay safe. If this thing is strong enough to bring the cave down, there’s no telling what else it could do,” he told them. Dean glanced back over to Noora before turning to the cave in.

“Keep your eyes open, Sam,” Dean said, but there was no reply. The two hunters sat there for a few moments, eyeing their surroundings for a moment before Noora turned to Dean. Without warning, she flashed the flashlight in his eyes, causing him to duck away and scowl at her. “What the Hell are you doing?”

“I’m checking you to make sure that you’re not concussed,” she replied without missing a beat. “There’s no telling how far we’ll have to go to get out of this place and I want to make sure that you’re not injured before we start moving.”

“I’m fine,” Dean replied gruffly, shooting Noora a look before lifting his flashlight and starting in the opposite direction. Noora gave a scoff and drew in a deep breath of air before following after him, keeping her eyes out for anything odd. Her hand dove into her pocket and she pulled out her EMF detector, trying to turn it on but realizing that the batteries had been zapped.

“Damn it,” she murmured, sliding it back into her pocket. She grabbed her gun from the back of her jeans instead, needing something to make herself feel better about being in the mine. Dean glanced over his shoulder at her and she pursed her lips together. “It drained my EMF,” she explained to him. She watched as he mimicked her previous movements, supplying them with the same exact results.

“Wonderful,” he sighed dryly, shaking his head a bit as he slipped his homemade EMF into the inside pocket of his jacket. He pursed his lips together for a moment and stopped, causing Noora to catch up with him and stop beside him. She eyed him for a moment, watching as he dabbed at the trickle of blood at his temple and glanced ahead of them. Running her tongue over her teeth, she followed his line of sight for a moment before turning back to him.

“Why’ve we stopped?” She asked, lifting her brows slightly. Dean glanced around for a little bit longer before turning back to Noora. He gave her a long look before letting out a soft hum.

“I’m trying to figure out what we’re dealing with here,” he murmured, eyes roaming over the expanse of mine in front of him. “I mean, it could be one ghost. It could be two. It could be a vengeful spirit, which is what I’m leaning more to at the moment,” he told her, turning to glance over at her for a moment.

“It’s got to have some serious power to kill my meter and bring in a mine. Not to mention the Tommy Knocker we heard before the cave in,” she told him, giving a small shrug. The two fell silent for a few moments before Noora glanced around the mine, checking both ways to make sure that nothing was coming at them from either direction. “No matter what we’re dealing with, I think our main priority should be making it out of here without getting knocked out or dying in a cave in. Once we find our way out of the mine, we’ll be able to regroup and at least know the layout of the mine…somewhat,” she said, the last word murmured wryly. Dean let out a soft huff of air, glancing both ways, up and down the mine.

“Let’s get going then, this place is giving me the creeps,” he said before starting forward once more. Noora followed soon after him, feet sloshing along the standing water in the mine. She lifted a hand and readjusted her helmet on her head, the lamp on top of it bobbing wildly for a moment before settling.

Silence lingered between the two of them for the longest time, finding no indication that the mine they were in connected with any and Noora would hedge a hefty bet that they were somehow going in circles. Occasionally, Dean would check his wrist watch and announce the time, noting that it was continuously getting later and later until they were in the early hours of the night.

“This place looks the safest to sit in for a while. Let’s just rest our legs for a moment. We’ve been walking for hours and I doubt we’ll be getting out of her anytime soon,” he murmured, slowly lowering himself onto a rock as Noora found another rock that was relatively dry to sit on. Noora ran a hand over her face, feeling the slight amount of dried mud on it.

“I’m hungry,” she murmured, letting her head rest back against the wall as she let out a soft sigh. Dean let out a soft laugh and looked over at her, shaking his head a bit.

“I was just about to say the same thing,” he told her, causing Noora to let out a soft laugh glance over to him. She watched him for a few moments before kicking around a small pebble in the mud with the toe of her boot.

“So, did you accidently happen to fall on me when the roof was caving in or was it a knowing attempt at protecting me?” She asked, lifting her eyes from the floor of the mine up to him as she raised a brow. Dean glanced over to her for a moment, his green eyes narrowing slightly as they darted between her eyes. He let out a exhale of air before shaking his head and looking away for a moment.

“The ceiling was coming in…you’re a woman,” he said, shrugging his broad shoulders a bit as he looked over at her. Clearly, Dean was not about to give Noora a direct answer, but she was smart and she could figure out what he meant.

“I’ll take that as you made a conscious decision to try and protect me from inevitable death had we been directly under the cave it,” she said, a knowing grin curling her lips. Dean went to shoot something back in her direction, clearly displeased with the way she was reacting, but Noora quickly added, “Either way, if it had been intentional or not…I appreciate it.” Dean’s brows lifted slightly as he studied her for a moment and she shot him a small, genuine smile.

“Really?” He asked, a surprised expression curling his features as he watched her. Noora merely nodded her head, letting out a soft laugh. “You aren’t going to chastise me for thinking you needed saving or anything like that?” The girl merely shook her head, a knowing, crooked grin curling her lips as she watched Dean closely.

“It’s not something the majority of the hunters I’ve run across would have done; not for anyone, especially not a woman,” she said honestly, eyes darting between both of his. She let out a raspy laugh and shook her head a bit. “I suppose it’s why I’m a bit calloused to you. I’ve tried the whole ‘work together’ thing before and it’s just come around to bite me in the ass,” she explained, somewhat surprised that she was actually taking the time to try and talk to him. Dean nodded a bit as he looked over at Noora before glancing ahead of them and then behind them to try and make sure that they weren’t going to get snuck up on by a ghost. “That and you and your brother have a tendency to greatly complicate things,” she murmured jokingly, causing Dean to let out a soft chuckle.

“What made you want to hunt in the first place?” Dean asked, turning back to Noora. “You don’t look a day over 21, you don’t seem to have a death wish, and you’re not exactly like most women that hunt. So why would you?” Noora merely stared over at Dean for a few moments, brows lifted slightly. She remained quiet for so long that Dean thought she wasn’t going to answer him and he let out a heavy sigh, looking away as he ran his fingertips across his stubble-laden jaw.

“I’ve always had a sort of fascination with the supernatural, even at a young age. I had a few odd killings happen to a group of kids in my high school, heard a rumor that they were playing with an Ouija board, and looked into it. I ran into a hunter who was adamant to get me off the case, but couldn’t manage to shake me. We finished the case and he gave me Bobby’s number. Once I got out of high school, I gave Bobby a call, moved out, and haven’t looked back since,” she told him quickly, shrugging a bit once she finished and she ran her tongue over her teeth. Dean watched her with a furrowed brow, eyeing her for a moment.

“Why would you want to live the life of a hunter? Do you regret any of it?” He asked. Noora sighed heavily and ran her tongue over her bottom lip.

“No, I don’t regret any of it. I mean, I miss my parents occasionally, but I know there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing,” she said honestly. “I know it’s not a career and that I’m never going to live a normal life now or make money, but I don’t think it’s mere coincidence that I have such a proclivity for the job of being a hunter.” Dean let out a huff of air, crooked grin curling his lips.

“Of course, it’s not. You’re Samuel Colt’s distant granddaughter. It’s in your blood,” he told her. “Speaking of Colt, you know you left his journal behind at that hotel we were all staying at earlier.” Noora merely watched him with a knowing look in her eyes, playful little grin curling her lips. It took Dean all of two seconds to register what that look meant. She had left it on purpose, taking a risk in not knowing whether they would find it. “Why’d you leave it?” He asked.

“Well, aren’t you full of questions right now?” Noora asked in a lofty voice, eyes widening for a moment before she lifted her hand to scratch off a bit of dirt from the end of her nose.

“Don’t dance around the question,” Dean shot back, clearly not thrilled with her nonchalant tone. The girl heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes, shaking her head a bit at him.

“Is it not obvious?” Noora asked, brows lifted slightly as she stared over at him. “I don’t want Satan dancing around on Earth any more than you do. I know Samuel Colt’s journal isn’t as good as the Colt itself, but it’s got to be worth something. If anything, I find it more interesting than informative.”

“Yeah, well we don’t need informative right now. Right now, we need the Colt,” he told her bluntly. Noora sighed heavily through her nose and looked away. She set her jaw for a moment before her eyes slipped back over to Dean.

“I’m working on it, alright,” she murmured. “I’m searching for it just as hard as you are, if not harder. It’s what Bobby’s had me doing for a while now on top of a multitude of other cases.” The male hunter studied her carefully, green eyes slowly slipping over her. “Yes, I can handle multiple cases and not go insane. I am a woman at the end of the day.” She flexed her fingers a bit, having not been able to feel much of them for the past few hours it had gotten so cold. Dean let out a soft laugh and leaned back against the wall of the cave, after checking that he wasn’t going to lean up against anything bearing weight, just for safety. It was apparent that the two of them were both worn a little thin and edging toward exhaustion. It wasn’t anything either of them hadn’t dealt with, but they could both do with being in top form until they got out of them cave.

“You never said where you were from,” Dean said, cutting his eyes slightly at her. Noora pulled her bottom lip between her teeth once more and stared over at him.

“Yeah?” She said , shrugging her slender shoulders a bit as she stared across the expanse of the tunnel to him. Dean’s brow bent as he looked over at her, his expression falling a bit.

“C’mon now, Bobby’s probably told you everything about Sam and I. The least you could do would be to return the favor,” he said in a low voice. Noora drew in a deep breath of air and let her head fall back against the wall behind her, an irritated growl leaving her throat before she closed her eyes.

“Ugh, fine,” she murmured, pulling her eyes open once more to stare over at Dean. She remained quiet for a while, eyes darting over Dean’s features. “I’m from Waco, Texas,” she said finally, pursing her lips a bit as she looked over at him. His expression remained thoughtful for some time, his green eyes darting between hers before his expression slowly relaxed.

He remembered seeing her from the window of their hotel that night, but there was no saying if she remembered seeing him. It was one of the few cases that Dean didn’t go on while they were all a family unit. It was right after Sam had run away for Arizona and John was not about to let Sam out of their sights again. The entire time they were there, John had talked about some ‘persistent, little Nancy Drew’ that wouldn’t get out of his hair about the whole case. In the end, it had been John who’d introduced her to hunting.

Noora could practically smell the realization radiating off of Dean, knowing that his dad had probably told him about her. She just didn’t know why she’d stand out so much in his mind. Surely, they’d met other people along their journeys and she knew she couldn’t have been that memorable. She let out a soft sigh, tucking her hair behind her ears before shooting a glance both ways up and down the mine’s tunnel. The way Dean was staring at her was beginning to unnerve her a bit and she partially wished she’d lied about where she lived. It’d at least spare her the awkwardness.

She was granted a reprieve from his staring when the sound like a foot sloshing through the muck that coated the bottom of the mine echoed in front of them. The two of them shot up out of their seats like lightning and were immediately off in the direction of the noise without another word.

“We should probably slow down and be a bit more careful,” she said softly, glancing over to Dean. “If we get separated by another cave it, one of us will be thoroughly screwed.” At her words, they both proceeded forward slowly, eyes peeled for any sort of movement or indication that they were nearing the mouth of the mine.

“I’m getting tired of this Goddamn mine,” Dean grumbled, jaw clenching for a moment as he glanced behind the two of them as they walked shoulder-to-shoulder through the mine. Noora let out a throaty laugh, no evidence of humor in the noise as it echoed around them.

“You and me both,” she murmured, eyes darting around as she readjusted her grip on her pistol, drawing in a deep breath of air through her nose. The air suddenly grew colder than it normally was and the hunters sent each other a worried glance, knowing they were going to run into the ghost sooner rather than later. Sure, the mine was already cold, but they hadn’t run into any cold spots as drastic as the one they’d walked through just then. Their breath rose in front of them in white plumes. Then, out of nowhere, a shadow swooped toward Dean and knocked him onto his back. He let out a surprised yell and Noora spun to face him, watching as the shadow morphed into the form of an old miner with a long white beard, wild eyes, and a darned, wide-brim hat on his head. His shadowy hand dove into Dean’s chest, causing him to let out a loud yell and squeeze his eyes shut.

Noora wasted no time in lifting her pistol, aiming, and firing. The miner disappeared into vapors and Noora immediately knelt beside Dean, eyeing the spots of blood on his chest with wide eyes. Dean was breathing heavily, eyes still squeezed shut as he grappled around blindly for his pistol. Noora tucked her flashlight into her pocket before leaning forward and easing Dean’s shirt up to take a look at his chest. A sigh of relief left her when she saw that only blood stained his skin; there were no signs of the skin being broken or of him being injured.

“You going to buy me a drink after this?” Dean asked in a gruff voice, causing Noora to drop the fabric of his shirt and shoot him a look before giving his arm a sharp smack. Her concerned expression had fallen away to one of annoyance, which caused Dean to let out a soft chuckle.

“Get up,” she said softly, slowly getting to her feet and holding out a hand for Dean to pull himself up with. She let out a soft hum as he sat up and grasped her hand, getting to his feet as well with the aid of her hand. He stood up and frowned at the feeling of mud and mine slime slipping down his back, causing him to shift a bit and pull a face. Noora let out a soft laugh and stepped behind Dean, swiping her hand along his shoulders to help clear them of mud or at least try to help. “You think it feels gross on your back? Try having your face pressed in it,” she murmured wryly before stepping around him and shot him a look.

“Don’t you women like getting mud masks or whatever?” Dean asked, eyeing her for a moment. Noora let out a loud laugh and shook her head, rolling her eyes as she started in the same direction they had been walking in. Dean merely pulled a face at her back before shaking his head a bit and following after her. Silence fell between the two of them as they walked through the tunnel, shoulder-by-shoulder once more. Minutes passed and the interior of the mine never changed, spare when it would curve gently to the left or to the right. Then, their flashlights and headlamps fell onto a fork in the mine and they continued to walk toward the fork.

Once they reached it, they stopped and glanced both ways before turning to each other. Noora lifted her hand to nose, scratching at it for a moment before turning away from Dean and glancing between the two paths they could take.

“Splitting up is out of the question,” she stated and Dean nodded in agreement, letting out a soft hum before turning to look back at Noora.

“Either way, we’ll either run into a dead end or a way out,” he told her, causing her to turn and look back at him, lips twisting to the side.

“Or another fork,” she murmured sourly, causing Dean to let out a heavy sigh and look away, eyes darting between either path that they could embark down. A few more silent seconds passed between the two of them as the two hunters fell into thought. “So, how are we going to go about picking which way to go?” She finally asked, turning to Dean and pursing her lips a bit. Dean glanced over to her, eyes slipping over her features for a moment before turning back to Noora before his eyes narrowed slightly.

They had no way of knowing which direction went out of the mine and which direction went further into it. Dean chalked it up to mere whim on where they’d go, since he hadn’t the slightest clue. They couldn’t just stop going because of a fork in the way, but he couldn’t let Noora know that he had absolutely no idea either.

“Let’s go right,” he told her starting to move but Noora quickly held her arm up to stop him from stepping forward. She shot him a sidelong look and eyed him for a moment, brows lifted slightly.

“Why?” She asked softly, causing Dean’s eyes to widen slightly and his brows to raise slightly.

“Why not?” Dean replied, shrugging a bit as he eyed Noora. She merely shot him a look, shaking her head a bit as she watched him. “I have a good feeling about going right, okay?” He explained, to which Noora rolled her eyes and shook her head, starting toward the right fork of the tunnel. Dean merely let out a scoff and followed after her. Either way, they needed to start getting a move on out of the mine before they encountered the ghost again.