Supernatural: The Huntsman.

With the gun back in Sam's hand Alexander returned to pick up the rifle he dropped, then walked over to the siblings. While Sam gazed at the firearm in his hands reflecting on his past behaviour.

Upon reaching the siblings, a tearful Hailey practically jumped into his arms. "Alexander, thank God you're okay. When I heard those gunshots I thought something bad happened to you."

"It's alright... I'm fine." Alexander assuredly caressed her hair. "I'm here now." He waited for her to calm down before pulling her out of his arms.

He smiled at Ben. "Ben you've done an amazing job protecting your sister. I'm impressed." Alexander praised with a brotherly punch to the shoulder, earning a shy smile from the teen.

"Good Lord!" Hailey gasped. "You're bleeding." She exclaimed, carefully grabbing and examining Alexander's bloody arm.

Alexander gently pried her off and assured her with a smile. "Don't worry. It's not my blood."

"Huh? Then whose is it-

"Alright," Alexander called out loudly for everyone's attention. "I think it would be smart if we found your brothers and left before the forest before nightfall." He gestured at the retreating Sun. 

"How are we supposed to do that, though? You got a plan" Hailey asked forgetting about her previous question just a moment ago.

Alexander smiled and reassured." Don't worry, I kinda sorta have a plan."

"You don't sound too confident." Hailey poked.

Alexander chuckled awkwardly. "But first...Sam." He called to Sam in an attempt to divert Hailey's curiosity from himself again.

"Huh… what?" Sam asked.

"Don't you have something you need to tell us?" Alexander asked.

"Huh? Er... Yeah." Sam's eyes flickered through the three stopping on Alexander, he thought back to how he had behaved. How he treated Alexander simply because of the colour of his eye and his own anger and helplessness at his recent loss. He was just taking his anger and frustration out on him. Then there was Hailey and Ben, he recalled how harsh and indifferent he had been to their suffering. They had gone through more than most would in their entire life. They simply wished to search for their brother and yet they had encountered such a terrifying monster and seen someone they knew die right before their very eyes. He could barely imagine how scared they were. And he did nothing but add to their fears. Thinking all this Sam bowed his head with shame.

"I'm sorry for the way I have been behaving." His voice cracked with shameful regret.

An awkward silence hung in the air at his unexpected apology. Alexander's eyes softened a bit at the sincere apology knowing the reason behind his irritability, Hailey's eyes however still glistened with an unfriendly light.

"Uhm, thanks Sam but that was not what I meant" Alexander thanked stiffly, in the awkward tension before correcting.

"Huh? Then what did you mean?" Sam questioned unsure of what he was talking about.

Alexander took a brief pause his eyes gleamed with seriousness." This creature. You know what it is don't you?"

"Huh?" Sam sounded, caught off guard by the question.

"Yeah, you're right." Hailey chimed. "Back when he was arguing with Roy. The way he spoke, it was like he already knew what creature it was. And even when he aimed the gun at you, he said he knew what it was. He called it a w…winabego?"

"Exactly." Alexander backed. "So, Sam what do you have to say?"

Feeling everyone's gaze pointed at him, Sam confirmed. "It's called a wendigo and yeah, I know what it is. It's what my brother and I do for a living. We hunt monsters like that. We're monster hunters."

"Does that mean you can help me find my brother?" Hailey asked, her voice rang with a bit of hope.

"I'm not sure. I haven't done this in a while, and we haven't really dealt with something like this before, at least not without our dad." Sam sighed.

Hailey's countenance fell once again.

"Let's not lose hope just yet," Alexander reminded. " First Sam, can you tell us what you know about the monster? Like its weaknesses and strengths, and whatever you can think of that would be useful?"

"No, we don't have time for that. We need to find the others before that monster returns." Sam disagreed.

"He's right." Hailey promptly agreed seemingly remembering their situation.

"No, we have a little time trust me. Besides this is important. Tell us what you know, Sam." Alexander asked again.

Sam saw the firmness in Alexander's eyes and sighed. "Fine."

"Like I said before what we're dealing with is a monster called a wendigo. It's a creature born when a human turns to cannibalism for survival in the wilderness. Normally, there shouldn't be any near this region but I guess there somehow is." Sam shook his head helplessly. "They're are faster, stronger, and tougher than any human… Lucky for us they are solitary monsters. And they also spend the majority of their time in hibernation, only coming out to hunt for food."

"For food?" Hailey exclaimed in dread. "Then my brother..." she covered her mouth in horror, picturing the worst.

Sam quickly assured, "No. No. Your brother is probably still alive. As far as I know, it's marked us so we're still in its hunting phase. During its hunting phase, the wendigo keeps its prey alive." But a foreboding tint danced in his voice as he continued "It's the end of the hunting phase that we should worry about."

"Why what happened at the end of the hunting phase?" Hailey asked sharply, her eyes peering at Sam's with trepidation.

Sam sighed, "It starts stockpiling energy to start its hibernation."

Hailey seemed to lose all her strength, she would have fallen had she not been holding Ben. She could glean what Sam was getting at. Stockpiling energy meant eating those it caught, this included her brother.

Sam looked at Alexander as to say 'See? I told you we shouldn't do this.'

"We don't need to worry about that yet. Like Sam said, we're all marked. So as long as we are here, the wendigo shouldn't end its hunting phase anytime soon." Alexander pointed out.

Hearing Alexander's explanation, the listless Hailey's heart began to hope again. Alexander spotting this prompted, "Continue what you were saying, Sam."

Sam nodded, " hmm, what else?" Sam paused to think. "They have sharp claws and teeth. Guns and knives do nothing but piss them off, I tried to warn Roy. The only thing that's proven to hurt them is fire. Basically, if we want it dead we have to torch the bastard."

'Hmm, weak to fire? That old man back in town said he was sitting by the fireplace. Maybe that's why he wasn't killed. He got lucky. Really lucky.' Alexander reasoned to himself. 'But that's strange, it attacked the kid in a haste then left just because he was in front of a fireplace? I'm afraid of fire too all humans are but we can still sit next to a fire. This is something more… something more than a fear of getting burnt. A chance perhaps?'

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AUTHOR'S ANNOUNCEMENT :

Guys I don't mean to brag. But I am low-key a celebrity now. Yeah, just checked my Patreon you won't believe this but I have not one but two whole followers. And they are not even family members!

Okay, I know I said I wasn't trying to flex earlier... AND I WAS LYING. I'M BRAGGING. HAHAHA

Okay but in all seriousness, I know it's a thing where some people get famous and it immediately goes to their heads. Well, I can tell you. I AM JUST THAT TYPE OF PERSON!!! It going straight up there. Not ever stopping on the way for a quick pic, no detours!

Imma dedicate my first Lambo to you guys though.

Okay, okay, in all seriousness, I truly want to write an amazing, beautiful action-packed, and touching story for you guys. And I kinda have the story planned out, at least season one but writing is sooo boring (but somehow also rewarding), then there's the proofreading, chat gpt checks, Grammarly, and editing. You've all seen how bad my grammar is just imagine how it is before I edit it.

Anyway, if any of you have some advice on how I can stay more consistent with my uploads, how to better improve my story-telling, and improve my story overall. I'm more than happy to listen.

I think it was a reader who even gave me the idea to introduce a dog and a partner (and even gave me a cool name for it). I have them planned it's just taking a while to get to.