Sam raced into the Bender's house.

The rooms were dark, and the only light came from the slits in the boarded up windows.

A flicker of light came from a room where the door was half closed.

Sam crept nearer, and he heard a grunt of pain followed by a high pitched giggle.

Sam reached the door, peeking inside.

The first thing he noticed was Dean tied to a chair, his hands bound behind his back with rope. Also, his feet were tied to the wooden legs of the chair, so Dean was unable to move at all.

Sam's brother was effectively trapped.

Sam stared past his brother's back, and noticed to owner of the other voice.

The 12 year old girl slowly circled Dean's chair, holding a knife dangerously close to his face. Dean weakly raised his head to keep the girl in sight as she stepped round his body. Reaching Dean's right side, the girl reached out a hand, pulling the top of Dean's black cotton t-shirt down. Dean's body stiffened and he let out a ragged breath as Missy drew the knife slowly across his sternum.

Sam Winchester straightened and he braced himself as he lifted a leg to kick open the door.

Inside the room, Dean gasped and slumped in the chair as Missy took the bloody knife away from his chest.

Sam kicked the door open, sending the wooden board swinging in a 180 degree circle.

Missy jumped and spun around, looking into the eyes of the younger brother of the man who was her captive.

Turning back to Dean, Missy plunged the knife in a slicing arc, aimed at Dean's leg.

The knife entered Dean's thigh up to the hilt and Dean's yell of pain broke his brother's heart.

Leaving the knife embedded in her prisoner, Missy turned and fled down a hallway.

Sam, giving a pained look at his brother who was barely conscious, took off after the girl, chasing her down.

Sam's long legs gave him the advantage, and soon he had the girl screaming and struggling in his clutches.

Turning around the hallway, Sam found a cupboard and quickly shoved the girl inside it, locking the door behind her.

Heart pumping, Sam Winchester ran back down the hallway to the living room, back to his brother.

Reaching the room, Sam walked over to Dean, squatting down beside him.

Lifting his older brother's face, he saw Dean's unfocused eyes and pale face, and Sam looked at the massive cut on Dean's temple.

Blood ran down the side of Dean's face and down his neck and Dean sucked in great breaths of oxygen as his brother started untying his legs.

"Sammy…" Dean whispered weakly, his head dropping to his chest.

"Dean! Hey, it's okay. I'm gonna untie you, so just let me do everything. Don't try to do anything, just relax. Dean, tell me, how bad are you hurt."

"Sammy," Dean wheezed loudly as a wave of severe pain washed over him. "Get the knife…"

"What.." Looking down at his brother's leg, Sam took in the injury.

The knife was embedded deep, all 10 centimeters of the blade was in Dean's thigh.

Shaking his head, Sam took hold of the knife by the handle and gave an almighty pull.

Dean yelled and a tear trickled from his eye, and then the oldest Winchester sibling slumped in the chair.

Throwing the knife aside, Sam quickly stood and moved behind his brother to untie Dean's hands.

Dean cried as the pressure on his hands was relieved, and he started to slide to the floor.

Sam swept his brother up in his arms and laid him on the floor.

As Sam pulled the black shirt down from his brother's chest, Dean cried out in pure agony.

Sam reeled back, confused at the reaction of Dean.

That simple action shouldn't have caused such excruciating pain.

Helping Dean to his feet, Sam supported his brother as they went outside.

Dean pushed Sam away from him and limped down the steps to the police woman.

"Where's the dad?" He asked, looking at the woman.

"Shot. Trying to escape. Where's the girl?" She asked in return.

"Locked her in the closet."

"You guys better head off." The police woman tuned and left them alone on the muddy road.

"Right. We need to hitch hike." Sam stood in the middle of the road and flagged down the car coming towards him.

Surprised that Dean wasn't objecting, Sam turned to see his older brother crumpled in a heap on the side of the road.

"Dean!" Sam raced over to his brother, pulling his upper torso into his lap.

Dean groaned and stirred, opening his eyes and momentarily focusing them on Sam.

"Car.." Dean whispered, feebly pointing to the car that had pulled over .

"You guys need a ride?" A man called from an open window.

"Yeah! Thanks!"

Sam helped Dean to his feet and hobbled over to the side of the car, opening the back door and lifting Dean into the seat before climbing in after him.

"To the nearest hotel, please." Sam stated and felt the car roll back onto the road.

"Not a hospital? You mate looks pretty worse for wear."

Dean flicked open one eye and stated," I'm stronger than you think."

"Fine." The man said, pulling into the car park of the hotel.

"Thanks for the ride." Sam said and pulled his brother from the car.

"Anytime. Look after your friend, okay?"

"Will do." Sam noticed the Impala and headed over to it, taking the keys from Dean's pocket before opening the trunk.

Pushing aside the crucifixes with one hand, Sam Winchester picked up the first aid kit before shutting the trunk again.

Opening the door to the hotel room, Sam dragged Dean over to the bed and laid him down on it.

Walking to the light switch, he flicked them on, before shutting the curtains and locking the door.

Sam took off Dean's wet jeans, leaving him only wearing his shorts and his jackets.

Bandaging the stab wound, Sam lifted his attention to his brother's face,

Dean was deathly pale before, but more colour seemed to be seeping into his face.

But Sam was confused. A stab wound and a slash across his chest would not have been as agonizing as Dean was making it out to be.

There must have been something else bothering him, something that Sam hadn't found yet.

Removing Dean's leather jacket, Sam slowly pulled off Dean's outer shirt, pulling it slowly off his arms.

As Sam reached Dean's left arm, Dean hollered and Sam removed it carefully. In his rush to help his brother, Sam missed the massive burn hole in the shirt.

There was something defiantly wrong with Dean's left shoulder, Sam guessed.

Running to the bathroom, Sam wet a towel and returned to his brother's side, wiping the blood from his neck and face.

"It's okay Dean." Sam said, noticing his brother shiver uncontrollably. "I'm gonna take off your shirt now, okay?"

Dean nodded weakly with his eyes screwed shut, and Sam began to lift the shirt.

Dean cried out loud as the shirt began to slide up his chest and Sam immediately stopped.

"Right, I'm gonna have to cut it off. Hold on."

Sam made quick work with Dean's shirt and pulled off the right half.

Slowly, Sam peeled off the left half.

There was something causing the shirt to stick to Dean's shoulder, and Sam quickly ripped it clear from Dean.

And it was then that Sam saw what was causing Dean so much pain.

Sam yelled and jumped backwards, away from Dean as he saw the massive burn marring his brother's shoulder. Tears pooled in Sam's eyes as he looked at the horrible injury.

"Dean? How did…? Why..?"

Dean groaned and opened his eyes, looking at his baby brother.

"They had a red hot poker."

"So they branded you?" Sam asked in horrified disbelief.
"They wanted information, and I wouldn't give it to 'em.." Dean squeezed his eyes shut and his body went rigid with another wave of pain.

"What did they want?"

Sam looked at his brother and Dean opened his eyes.

Focusing on Sam briefly, Dean looked away from his sibling before answering.

"Nothing Sam. Don't worry. Just fix me up."

Sam butterfly stitched the laceration across Dean's chest shut, and looked at Dean.

"Dean. I'm not gonna do anything until you help me out. Tell me, why did they burn you?"

Dean focused on the roof and sighed.

"Don't worry, Sammy."

Sam gripped Dean's head tightly and noticed for the first time the wide array of bruises that were beginning to show up all over Dean's body.

"Dean, you're gonna tell me everything. Now. What happened before I found you?"

Dean looked into Sam's eyes, and Sam saw the tears pool in Dean's eyes.

Dean closed his eyes and tried to remember.

"After I found you in the cages, I went into the house. I was worried something would happen to you Sammy, so I let down my guard. I was walking through the house, and I stumbled into that girl, Missy. She started yelling and screaming, and all of a sudden I had a fight on my hands. It was 2 against 1 but I swear I had 'em beat. Then all of a sudden that Dad comes up and smashes the back of my head with something metal. A cheap shot. Next thing I know, I'm tied to that chair and they…"

Dean stopped and lifted a hand to touch the back of his head.

Sam pulled Dean's hand back and held it out in front of them both.

Dean's hand was covered in blood.

"Hold on a sec." Sam jumped up and got a wet towel from the bathroom, and gave it to his brother to hold against the back of his head.

"Go on, please." Sam whispered to Dean.

Dean nodded.

"They started talking to me and they wanted to know if I was a cop. I told them nothing, so they got that red hot poker from the fireplace behind the chair. They held it up to my face and asked if I was a cop. I told them nothin' and they told me to.. to.."

Sam moved and sat next to his brother.

"Please, Dean, I want to know."

"Sammy," Dean looked up at Sam with a look of pure dejection etched on his face. "Sammy, they told me I had to choose between you or the woman."

"What do you mean, choose?" Sam looked at his brother confused.

"Sammy, they are hunters! They hunt people. They wanted me to choose which one of you that they got to hunt!"

A tear trickled down Dean's face.

"A didn't want to choose, and I panicked. I told them I wasn't a cop and that nobody was coming for us, it was just me and the cop. They didn't like my answer, so they… they burned me like a piece of livestock. The pain man, it's the worst I've ever felt!

"And then they held the poker really close to my face and said if I didn't choose they'd take out my eye.

They all just stood there, smiling like they were enjoying it! "

"And you chose me." Sam said softly. "Why?"

Dean looked up at Sam then, and Sam saw that Dean felt that he'd let his baby brother down.

"I picked you because I knew that you could take that Yahoo on! I knew that you'd get out of there. I couldn't save you, Sammy. For once, I couldn't save you, and you had to save me. That's was really unfair of me to put that burden on your shoulders, it's a burden that I should carry alone."

Sam looked at his older brother with concern.

"Dean. I don't know what to say…"

"Garr! Just, don't say anything then! Fix me up, I'm hurting Sammy.."

Sam nodded and pulled a packet of tape out, along with a gauze patch and some burn gel.

Dean was sitting upright rigid.

Sam placed one hand on the ripples of his brother's abdomen and the other on Dean's working shoulder and gently pushed his brother down onto the bed.

Dean did not resist, he just kept his eyes squeezed shut and his jaw clamped.

Swallowing thickly, Sam looked once more at his brother's gruesome injury.

The burn was at least 5 inches long. Sam thanked the poker silently that it had been hot enough to burn through all the fabric that Dean had been wearing, so that Sam didn't have to cause Dean any additional pain as he extracted the fibers of the cloth.

Dean was still shivering as Sam gently squeezed the burn gel onto the wound and placed a gauze over the top before taping it down.

"Hey, just rest okay?" Sam told his brother as he packed up the First Aid kit.

Receiving no reply from Dean, Sam glanced at his brother.

Dean's only movement was the gentle rising and falling of his chest.

Dean Winchester was asleep.

Sam looked down on his brother, a tear trickling down his cheek.

Even now as Dean slept, his brow was furrowed in pain.

Dean was in for a long road to recovery.

Sam turned his face from Dean, ashamed to realize that if he'd been paying attention back at the bar last night, none of this would have happened, Dean wouldn't be in agony.

Sam settled down on the bed next to Dean, watching his brother sleep.

There would be no sleep for the youngest Winchester tonight and he watched over his brother.

Tomorrow, maybe, he'd ask Dean about the burden that he must carry alone, but for now, he'd let Dean sleep.