SUMMARY: The Winchesters rescue a girl they find in the woods. She has more than one secret. This is an AU with some canon and elements from seasons 1 & 2. CONTENT WARNING: Dark themes- character death, violence, child abuse and neglect. Rated M for violence and swearing.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: In real life, shock can become a life-threatening condition in a matter of minutes that needs to be treated at a hospital. For the sake of the story, I fictionalized some of the symptoms and treatments.

This is a plot bunny that came to me when I was laying in the dark being tormented by migraines that wouldn't stop.

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"Alex! Alex! Come here, I need your help! Alex!"

I could hear his voice calling to me, and I wanted to find him, but I was scared. I was trying to pick my way carefully through all the trees and bushes, trying to hear which direction his voice was coming from- he had tried to teach me how to be able to tell, but I couldn't get it. So I just kept walking, trying to see by the light of the partially-full moon.

I hated the woods. I hated the bugs, and tripping over roots, and all the little noises at night. Scary things were in the woods. Dad had insisted that we had to come out to this cabin, so that he could look for something, and then he had left me. Again. I had been alone for over a day, and I had been so scared at night that I had cried for hours. The flashlight had stopped working and I couldn't figure out how to light the lantern and anyways he had told me not to try because it was a oil lamp and it could be dangerous. And I wasn't supposed to mess with matches either.

"Dad, where are you?" I called softly, "Dad?"

I could hear branches cracking and sounds of movement. I froze for a moment, getting even more scared. I listened, and peered into the semi- darkness, trying to see if there was anything out there moving around. After a few moments I kept walking. Branches caught at my sleeves and my shirt, and I walked through a spiderweb and had to bite my lip so that I wouldn't scream.

"Alex! Aleeeeeex! Help me!"

"Dad I'm trying!" I called, "Where are you?"

I stumbled through the woods faster, his voice had sounded closer to me. I tripped over a log that was across the path and caught myself on a tree, my palms scraping against the rough bark. All of a sudden something changed. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I shivered as my skin broke out in goosebumps. Then I realized what was different- all the little noises in the forest had stopped. The crickets and peepers had gone silent. I looked around and stood up, and started to walk again, even though I was really scared now. Something was wrong.

And then I was knocked flat on my back, so hard that the breath huffed out of me. Some-thing- was on top of me, a creature that was the shape of a man. In the light of the moon I could see grayish skin and red eyes, and as it leaned over me I smelled its horrible hot breath, like rotting meat, and I felt it grab at me. It made a low growling sound that didn't sound like anything I'd ever heard before.

I lifted my arms up and fought it, trying to remember what Dad had taught me about defending myself. I could hear other noises now, more branches cracking and what sounded like running footsteps, and as it pulled at me I screamed. It tried to lift me up and drag me, but I twisted in its grasp, feeling long claws against my arms. I noticed that it had a long open cut in its shoulder that dripped dark fluid down its arm.

"Hey!" I heard a shout, and the creature stopped and looked up, then it bared its sharp teeth.

There was the loud sound of a gunshot that echoed off of the trees, and the creature jerked backwards and dropped me.

I screamed again in fear as I saw a hole open up in the creature's chest and dark fluid began to seep out. It looked down and reached for me again, and I tried to scrabble backwards on my hands and feet like a crab, panting.

"Shit, it didn't work, what now!" I heard someone say loudly.

"Dean, try this! Catch!" I heard a deeper voice shout.

The creature bent over me, and then it looked up as there were more sounds of movement, coming closer. It raised its arm up and I saw the freakishly long fingers that ended in sharp claws, and then the hand was coming at me, and I felt sharp pain across my chest and arm as it tried to grab me again. I screamed louder as I fought it again.

There was another loud bang, and something light flew through the air and hit the creature, lighting up the middle of its chest. It straightened up and arched its back, roaring in pain, and then burst into flames and collapsed backwards.

I thought I heard someone say, "Yahtzee!" and I wanted to say, why are you talking about a game, but I could barely think because of the pain. I could feel liquid seeping out of my shirt from the burning lines on my chest.

I looked up and uttered a short shriek as two shadows came towards me and then turned into humans- men.

"You okay kid?" one man asked, squatting down next to me. The other one looked at the burning corpse of the creature and then walked over to us.

"Are you injured?" he asked, shining a flashlight on me. When the beam hit my shirt, I heard them both take deep breaths. I looked down, and the front of my shirt was soaked in red.

"Sammy, she's hurt bad," the guy next to me said, "Okay, I gotta see what we're dealing with here, I've gotta lift your shirt, all right?" he said to me, in a voice that was trying too hard to be calm.

He gently moved my arm, and then lifted the hem of my shirt up. I saw him look up at the guy who had the flashlight trained on me.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"Gonna need stitches," the standing man said, "Possibly a lot of stitches."

"All right," the guy next to me moved my shirt back down and looked at me. "We're going to take care of you, you've got to come with us. Can you walk?" he stood, and I felt him take my hand and pull me up. I tried to walk but then my legs were shaky and I collapsed.

"Oh, hey there, I gotcha," the man said, grabbing at me, and I felt his arms slide under my legs and around my back, and he lifted me up and started to walk, carrying me out of the woods. I was shaking and getting cold, and I felt confused. He was holding me against his chest, and I leaned my head against him and felt the cool leather of his jacket on my cheek.

I heard a loud sound in the woods, off to the side, and my body jerked in fear. I cried out and then whimpered.

"Hey, it's all right," the guy said, tightening his arms around me. "I gotcha, you're safe with us."

I clutched at his jacket. "Where—where are we? Where we goin' ?" I asked, continuing to whimper.

"We're gonna get you patched up, all right?" the man said, looking down at me, "Just hang on."

I heard static and the other man talking, "Hey, we found a little girl in the woods, she's injured. We're taking her to the car right now."

I heard more static and then a tinny voice, "-be there soo—not far—parking lot-" I realized they were using walkie-talkies.

By then we were walking out of the woods, into a parking lot. I was shivering by then, but I felt sweaty too.

A tall man with dark hair and a beard met us walking up to a car. The guy carrying me set me on the trunk of a black car, and the bearded man looked at me.

"Report," he said briefly, glancing at the guys.

"We got it, I used the flare gun and that burned it up. It had an open wound on its shoulder, and was trying to drag her away. It scratched her across the chest and arm when it tried to grab her," the guy who had been carrying me told him.

"All right, let's take a look," the bearded man stepped forward and reached for me.

I gasped and leaned back, away from his hands.

"It's all right, I've got to check out your injuries," he said. His voice was deep and no-nonsense. He lifted my shirt and looked at the cuts, and then touched the skin on my stomach. He let the hem of my shirt fall and then looked me in the eyes. He took a small light out of his pocket and turned it on, saying, "Follow the light with your eyes, head still." I did so, and he then turned it off and pocketed it, and then took my wrist and held it, glancing at his watch. Then he put my hand back in my lap.

He turned to the guys standing there. "Heart rate's up, pupils are enlarged, skin is pale and clammy- she's getting shocky. Turn the heat on in the car; Dean, front seat, prop her feet up; Sam, get the blanket out of the trunk and the med kit. We've got to staunch the bleeding before we go anywhere."

The taller guy opened the front door of the car and turned on the ignition. The car's engine came to life with a low grumble. The guy who had carried me out of the woods picked me up off of the car, sliding into the front seat and holding me on his lap. He leaned over, turning the heat on and adjusting the vents.

He looked down at me. "What's your name, kiddo?" he asked.

"Not s'posed to talk to strangers," My voice was hoarse from the screaming I had done earlier. I could hear the bearded man talking to the other guy outside; it sounded like he was giving him instructions.

"Well, my name is Dean Winchester, and that sasquatch out there is my brother Sam. Now we're not strangers, you wanna tell me your name?"

"Zan," I murmured.

"Zan? That's...interesting."

The taller guy, Sam I guess, leaned into the car and handed in a large blanket. He helped Dean get it wrapped around me, and then Dean moved my legs up so that my feet were on the back of the seat.

"Dad told me to prop your feet up," he told me, "It'll help the blood get back to your head."

"Where's my dad?" I asked.

"Your dad? We didn't see him. You out here with your family?"

"Just my dad, he wanted to get something out of the cabin. M'thirsty," I said faintly.

Dean leaned forward and called, "Hey, Dad, can we get her some water? She's thirsty."

The man with the beard poked his head into the car. "Not just yet, we need to keep an eye on her symptoms. I'll check her pulse again in a couple of minutes."

He moved out of the car and Dean looked down at me. "That's our Dad, John. He did some medic work in the Marines."

"John Winchester?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said, moving my legs so that my feet were higher on the seat.

"John Winchester is a asshole," I mumbled, repeating something I had heard my dad say more than once.

My vision started to go gray, with dancing black spots in it, and then it was like a black curtain came down over my sight.