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Day 22~
Trail~
“Why did we have to go hiking? And why here?” Dean complained. Sam pursed his lips in annoyance as he hefted his backpack onto his shoulders.
“Dude, it’s fresh air and sunshine, and while I like the history behind the trail, there are also enough ghost stories to keep you interested. Something for everyone.”
Dean shrugged and slipped his own pack on. “You better be right. I hope there’s hot chicks too.”
Sam rolled his eyes and crossed the parking lot to go into the building. Dean shut the trunk of the car and followed after him. His brother had decided a week long hike in the Appalachians was the perfect vacation. He didn’t exactly agree, but after a little research, the ghost stories had intrigued him enough to agree to come along, so here he was, tagging along behind his brother into the welcome center where their guide was supposed to be, and the rest of their group.
~~~~~~~~
The center was big and there were a variety of tours being organized, but Sam seemed to know where to go, so Dean just followed after him. There were women in their group and Dean did a silent fist bump when he saw how hot a couple of them were, until he saw they were with men already. That was disappointing. He shrugged his pack off and set it down at his feet, looking around at the rest of their group. A few more people were walking over and one person sparked his interest. A man with wild, untamed hair and a grumpy expression who looked about as thrilled to be there as Dean himself did. He was there with a blonde man who was busy chatting up every single person, openly flirting and making the grumpy man roll his eyes.
“He’s something else.” Sam suddenly appeared beside him, dropping his voice so only Dean would hear him.
“Who, Cassanova?” Dean asked, watching the blonde man flirt with a woman with short brown hair. She seemed less than impressed.
“Yeah.” Sam shook his head as he set his own pack on the floor and shook his head, rolling his eyes before perking up as their guide walked over.
“Hello, my name is Cassie and I’ll be your guide.” She was beautiful and quickly going over what the plans were for the week. Dean watched her for a moment until someone to his right dropped something on the ground beside him and he looked over to see the guy with the messy hair scrambling to chase pills across the floor.
“Here, let me help you.” Dean crouched down and grabbed as many as he could find.
“Thank you. I’m getting a migraine and I just wanted to take some ibuprofen but that woman’s backpack bumped me and…” The man motioned towards the pills.
“It’s ok, we’ll get them all. You’re probably going to need them on this trip.” Dean flashed him a smile, feeling pleased when the man smiled back.
“I think you might be right, especially if I have to deal with my brother for a full week.”
“Ah, so you’re in the same boat I am. I’m here with my brother too.” Dean jerked his thumb over his shoulder at Sam who was listening intently to everything Cassie was saying.
“My name is Cas.” The man held the bottle out and Dean dropped the pills he’d collected into it.
“Dean. My brother is Sam.”
“My brother is Gabe. I apologize in advance if he flirts with you. If you’re straight, just tell him you are and he’ll back off.” Cas poured the pills he’d picked up into the bottle and recapped it.
“Nah, I’m not, but he’s a bit too flirty for my taste. I’m not interested.” Dean chuckled as they both stood back up. Cas nodded, laughing softly as he tucked his bottle back into his pack.
“Yes, he comes on incredibly strong. I told him this wasn’t a trip to get laid. He never listens.”
Dean ducked his head as he pretended to go into his own pack for something. He didn’t want Cas to see how red his own face had just gotten.
“So, what brings you on this trip?” He asked, hoping to change the subject away from sex.
“I am writing a book, so this is mostly for research.” Cas replied.
“Oh? What’s your book about?” Dean found that interesting, more than sex, that was for sure.
“We’ll be going up past the old Bellville mine, where 19 children died in 1921. There is a lot of lore surrounding the mine and I want to get a gauge for the area, and see the mine with my own two eyes.” Cas explained.
“So…you’re ghost hunting.” A slow smile spread across Dean’s face. Now that’s what he was here for! Cas smiled back.
“I suppose I am. My brother thinks it’s foolish, but my books sell quite well, so I tend not to listen to him.”
“I came on this trip because of ghost stories and legends. He came because of historical battles and other stuff like that.” Dean said, pointing at his own brother. “He thinks I’m nuts because I find ghost stories interesting.”
“Oh, but they are! They’re fascinating! The one I’m writing about is similar to the story of the black eyed children. Do you know that tale?” Cas asked, excited to have found someone with similar interests.
“Wait, those are the kids that show up at your door asking to be let in, right? You don’t dare let them in though or they kill you?” Dean thought that was how the legend went.
“Something like that. Legends on what they are or what they’ll do if you let them into your home, they vary. Some of the legends say you’ll find them panhandling or hitchhiking. The one surrounding the mine is similar in that it was children that died inside it when it collapsed.” Cas explained.
“Mind if I walk with you so you can tell me more about the mine and the legends surrounding it?” Dean asked. Cas smiled wider.
“Not at all.”
~~~~~~~~~~
It was two days of hiking and camping, and three people getting lost (one of them being Cas’ brother Gabe), before they reached the mine. Dean stuck close to Cas, discussing the history of the area, the mine, and the deaths of the children. When they actually arrived, Cas insisted they go and camp a good 15 miles further up the trail, and since no one but him and Dean were really interested in the mine, they made the hike back alone.
“So why exactly are people so afraid to come up here? What’s so scary about some ghost kids?” Dean asked as they approached the entrance to the mine. It was sealed up and they had no intention of trying to go inside, but Cas wanted pictures of it.
“Oh, it’s more than just that they’re ghosts, people say they stalk these woods at night and anyone caught out in them, they’ll kill and eat them.” Cas said casually as he snapped a few pictures. Dean was looking up at the sun overhead. It had taken them three hours to hike back down the trail to reach this point. Two hours exploring here and another three hours back would return them to the campground after dark. It made him twitchy knowing they’d be up here with that kind of legend scaring the locals into staying away.
“It’s just stories though, right?”
Cas lowered his camera and smiled over the rim of his glasses at him. He’d opted after the first day to leave behind the contacts as they were getting more irritated out here in the woods. Dean thought he looked hot with his glasses on.
“Not scared, are you, Dean?” His deep voice was sexy when he was teasing Dean like he was now. Dean pursed his lips and moved a few feet away to check out some rocks.
“Of a story? No. I just think maybe we’re being disrespectful to the dead. These kids were never buried, right? Their bodies are still down there in the mine. If there are ghosts, I could understand why they’re angry. They sort of have every right to be upset.”
“I agree, but this state, this county in particular, it’s too poor to risk reopening one single mine just to lay some bones to rest. So these children will never find the rest they seek.” Cas snapped a few more pictures before moving over to where Dean was standing. “Anything interesting over here?”
“Animal bones. A lot of them.” Dean pointed to where they were scattered down the side of the rock face and down the side of the mountain.
“Uh…” Cas crouched down, picking up a long bone and examining it. “This is not an animal bone.”
“What is it then?” Dean asked, feeling his stomach drop.
“This is a human leg bone. Adult male from the looks of it.” Cas set the phone back down and stood back up. He looked over the piles of other bones. Some were animal, sure. He recognized raccoon, coyote, rabbit, and fox, but he also saw several human bones.
“Cas, this is starting to have a “Wrong Turn” kind of feel to it.” Dean looked around, watching the woods for any sign of movement but save for a few birds overhead, the day was peaceful and quiet.
“Wrong Turn?” Cas asked as he stood up and snapped as many pictures as he could.
“The movie about the inbred rednecks that eat people? Tell me you’ve seen it.” Dean looked at him, frowning when the other man shrugged and shook his head.
“Sorry, I don’t watch many movies.”
“Maybe it’s a good thing you didn’t watch this one or you’d be as creeped out as me right about now.” Dean jumped when he heard a twig snap nearby. He checked his watch. It was half past two. When Cas’ hand brushed down his arm he nearly jumped out of his skin.
“Ok, I admit, I’m a bit freaked out by these human remains. I see no logical reason for them to be here. They’re not old enough to have been here since the 20’s, and anyone that would have died outside the mines, they would have buried them. These are newer.” Cas stepped closer when another twig snapped, this one just past the cave entrance.
“How do you know that?” Dean asked. “How do you know about human bones? Are you a doctor?”
“No, well, technically yes, I have the degree, but I’m not practicing in a hospital. I teach human anatomy as well as several other courses. I was just in the morgue last week giving a dissection course. If I don’t know the human body, no one does.” Cas lifted his camera and looked through the long lens, trying to see if there were any animals moving in the distance but he didn’t see anything. He lowered it again and looked up at Dean. “I’d like to get a few more pictures and then we can leave. I’ll be quick.”
“Yeah, I’ll keep watch while you do that.” Dean’s eyes continued to dart around while Cas took his pictures, but there were no more noises coming from the woods. It felt like the sun was moving quickly overhead despite the short amount of time it took for Cas to take his pictures. The whole afternoon had a strange quality to it he didn't like. He poked around, coming across a few more bones, but when he discovered a backpack with a cellphone, that was enough to get him running back to Cas, urging him to hurry up.
“Come on, we gotta get out of here now.”
“What? What spooked you?” Cas asked.
“I found a pack. With a cell phone. I’m pretty sure it’s been here a really long time. It’s all rotten, and the phone’s really freaking old.”
“Show me.” Cas followed him back to the spot where the bag was half hidden under some rocks, out of the elements. He pulled it out and began going through it.
“Oh god…” There was a wallet with money inside, but the id was so warped with age he couldn’t read it. The leather itself crumbled under his touch. Shaking his head, he put it back in the bag and tucked everything into his own pack.
“I have a very bad feeling, Cas.”
“I think we should leave.” Cas said as he tucked his camera back into his bag. “Now.”
They made their way back to the trail and started heading north. The loud crack of a branch in the trees up ahead a few minutes later stopped them both. Dean blocked Cas with his arm and pointed to the mountain lion up in the tree.
“They’re usually stealthier than that. She’s not hunting right now, but I don’t trust her. I have my Bowie, but I don’t like the idea of hand to hand combat against a mountain lion.” He said, careful to keep his voice low.
“How are supposed to get past her? It’s already after six. How did the time get away from us? I don’t know how it got so late! It was just a little after three! It’s a three hour walk back. There will be more around here. We’re going to lose daylight and I’d rather not learn that this particular legend is real.” Cas was clinging to his arm and staring up at the cat in terror.
“I’m thinking.” Dean eyed the woods to their right. They could go around the cat but if they weren’t careful, they could get lost and lose the trail completely. Something moved on the trail behind them and Cas whipped around to look.
“Dean, w-we need to go.”
“What’s back there?” Dean asked, not wanting to take his eyes off the cat who was watching them.
“The children.” Cas whispered.
Dean turned around, spotting two children a few hundred yards back, standing in the middle of the trail. One was carrying a pick axe, the other a shovel. As they watched, three more stepped onto the trail, all dressed in rags and carrying various mining tools.
“Oh, hell no, we are out of here!”
He grabbed Cas’ hand and they ran, figuring they could just take their chances with the cat. Thankfully she had spotted the children and had turned to run back into the woods, apparently as afraid of them as Cas and Dean were.
“Don’t let go of me, please!” Cas begged.
“Don’t you let go either, I’m not sure how long I can run for.” Dean was huffing and puffing but he didn’t dare stop. He clung tight to Cas’ hand as they raced down the trail. They didn’t slow down for over a mile.
“Do you think we’re safe were everyone is camped?” Dean asked as they walked briskly the last five miles.
“I truly hope so. I have to admit, I’m worried sick about my brother, and about yours. About everyone really, but I really don’t want to lose my brother. He has no real idea about this legend, I didn’t tell him much about it. We have to get back and make sure they’re ok.” Cas was worried and Dean understood completely. His own concern for Sam was eating at him. They’d been followed for some time by children with various weapons but he hadn’t seen any in at least the last mile. When the turn off came into sight for their camp, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Come on.” He grabbed Cas’ arm and they made their way towards the tents and the campfire.
“Hey! You guys finally made it back!” Sam greeted them. “Thought you’d have been back hours ago.”
“They probably found a nice little cave and were making mad, passionate love.” Gabe teased and blew them kisses. Dean couldn’t even be bothered by the lewd joke that got everyone laughing. Nor could Cas.
“Uh, no, no sex.” Dean looked around the fading evening light before meeting Cas’ eye. “We found human remains.”
“What?” Cassie asked.
“Exactly what he said. “We found human remains. A lot of them. I took pictures.” Cas said.
“Like…bodies?” Someone asked, horrified.
“Bones. We found bones, human bones. And a backpack that we think got left behind in the early 2000’s.”
Cas knelt down and opened his pack, carefully pulling out the one Dean had found. Cassie came over to check it out.
“Oh, that’s not good. Money in the wallet, phone in the bag, there’s a camera in here too. You don’t just leave your backpack.”
“That’s what we concluded.” Cas looked over at Dean who nodded.
“We found out one of the legends was true.”
“Which one?” Sam asked.
“The one about the dead children from the mine. They’re more than ghosts. We saw them.” Cas replied.
“More than ghosts.” Gabe repeated, not hiding his skepticism. Cas pulled his camera back out and passed it over to his brother.
“I took pictures. Dean got mad that I stopped to snap a few, but I did it. I wanted proof.”
Gabe turned the camera on and began going through the pictures, starting with the last ones with the kids. He felt a chill go down his spine. People were crowding around him to get a look too.
“Those are just local kids.” One man said.
“No, they really weren’t.” Dean argued.
“They chased us for miles. Almost all the way here.” Cas added.
“Here?” A woman asked, frightened. “Are we safe here?”
“We seem to be. We’re far enough north that we’re out of their territory.” Dean said. “They stopped hunting us a mile back.”
Cas sat down and Dean joined him.
“I’ll be glad when we reach the next point north, but I don’t think I want to take this trail back south again.” Dean said.
“No, I don’t either, but Cassie said we’re supposed to follow around the east side of the mountain and take a different trail back down, much further away from the mine. I’m absolutely exhausted, but I forgot to put up my tent.” Cas groaned. “I knew I should have put mine up before we left earlier.”
“Mine is up. You can sleep in mine tonight. I know it’s going to sound stupid but I sort of don’t want to sleep alone tonight. If I say that to my brother though, he’ll make fun of me. He doesn’t get what we saw though. No way would he understand. I’m still freaked out.” Dean said, leaning closer so only Cas would hear him.
“I would appreciate that. I don’t want to sleep alone tonight either. First, let’s eat, I’m starving.”
Dean nodded and grabbed some food for them both and they took it back to his tent, along with the camera.
“Well, looks like they had one hell of an afternoon, and a real bonding experience.” Gabe said once they were gone.
“I wonder what exactly they saw. They both came back looking really spooked, don’t you think?” Sam asked. Gabe nodded.
“They really did. What do you make of those pictures?”
“I’m not sure. Cas will have to show them to the proper authorities when we get back. The pack they found too. I think the pictures of the kids will be cool for his book though. Those were really creepy.” Sam said. “Kids around here sure do dress old fashioned still.”
Gabe snorted. “Unless they really are the ghosts my brother and Dean think they are.”
Sam stared at him. “You don’t think…”