"Hunter, Interrupted"

Set after 5.01 "Sympathy for the Devil"

Chapter One

"Alright, so tell me about this case," said Dean from the driver's seat of his Impala.

Sam grabbed his stack of papers, shuffling through them. "Five people over the past week in Nashville have been admitted to mental hospitals. Doctors are baffled as to why they suddenly went crazy."

"So, what, we got a brain-stealing psycho on our hands?" asked Dean.

"Not sure," said Sam. "I cross-referenced with the local obits and found one that might be our guy."

"A ghost?"

"Yeah. Dr. Roger Maxfield: a psychiatrist who died of a gunshot when someone tried to mug him. First patient was admitted the next day."

"Good enough for me. How far?"

"Uh…about three hundred miles."

"Hey, think we can visit Graceland while we're there?"

Sam glared at his brother. "No."

Dean looked back at the road. "Fine, buzzkill."

"Which one is this?" asked Dean.

"Matt Treler," Sam told him as they headed into the hospital. "He was the third one admitted."

They approached the front desk, dressed in suits. The secretary glanced up at them.

"Hello," said Dean as they flashed their badges. "Detectives Ackles and Padalecki. We need to speak with the doctor working the Treler case."

"One moment," she told them.

Sam looked at Dean, his voice lowered. "Ackles and Padalecki?"

"They're these, like, actors, or something," Dean told him. "I read their names on the Internet."

The secretary picked up the phone on her desk. Her voice came over the speakers. "Dr. Winchester, please report to the front desk."

Sam and Dean looked at each other after they thanked the woman.

"Winchester?" said Sam. "That's weird."

A moment later, a middle-aged, blonde man in a white coat came through the door. "Hello, I'm Dr. Winchester."

"Like the rifle, huh?" said Dean.

He nodded. "Like the rifle."

"We're with the CDC," said Dean. "We need to discuss Matt Treler's case."

"And the others, I'm assuming," said Dr. Winchester. "They're all in my care here."

"Was there any indications that this was going to happen?" asked Sam.

"No, none," said Dr. Winchester. "They were perfectly fine, seemed to be in perfect mental and emotional health. Maybe a little stressed, but no more so than anyone else would be. Then one day, they just changed."

"Changed how?" asked Dean.

"Well…they just sit there," explained the doctor. "They hardly interact with anyone. Most of the time, they stare at you with this intense fascination, as if they've never seen another human being before. They can hardly do anything for themselves."

"Can we see them?" asked Sam.

"I would prefer not," said the doctor. "I'm keeping them closely monitored. I want as little interference as possible."

"Of course," said Dean.

"So, you think this might be an epidemic?" asked Dr. Winchester. "Some kind of disease?"

"Maybe," said Sam. "We'll let you know when we found out."

"Okay," said Dr. Winchester.

The brothers thanked the doctor and left the hospital.

"What do you think?" asked Dean.

"I'm thinking this doctor's looking more and more like our guy," Sam told him. "I mean, a psychiatrist's job is to relieve mental problems, right? So, maybe his spirit is wiping their mind to remove all mental problems."

"Yeah, maybe," said Dean. "Let's go talk to the families."

"So, Sandra was admitted four days ago?" Sam asked the fourth victim's mother.

Mrs. Manison nodded. "Yeah, I went to go wake her up, but all she did was sit there and stare at me. I tried everything, but she wouldn't respond." She shook her head. "I guess I should have seen it coming."

"Why do you say that?" asked Dean.

"Well…about a month ago, she was raped on her way home from school," said Mrs. Manison. "As if that wasn't bad enough, she just found out that she was pregnant. I guess she just couldn't take it anymore."

"Thank you for your time," Sam told her as they got up to leave.

Sam came back into the motel room to find Dean watching TV.

"You find anything?" asked Dean.

"Definitely," Sam told his brother as he plopped his research onto the table. "So, it looks like we have a pattern. We have the rape and pregnancy with Sandra. Matt Treler was headed to the college basketball championships when he was busted for using steroids. He was kicked off the team, and shunted out of the university. Casey Carmine was getting ready to enter a beauty pageant. She became anorexic to compete with the other girls, and they were just headed to finals. Walter Duncan was up for tenure, but he had an issue with a student that could interfere with his tenure. And the last victim, Peter Basen, had just broken up with his long-term girlfriend. On top of that, his father just went into a coma."

"So, all these vics had some major issues," said Dean. "The stress was getting to them. I mean, most of them had horrible stuff happening to them. So maybe, Maxfield senses their stress and tries to help them, but it just ends up with them in the loony bin."

"Exactly."

Maxfield stood outside a motel room, face twisted in anguish. The two brothers inside remained oblivious to his presence.

Oh, that one has so much guilt. I can feel his sorrow…his pain…I have to help him.

Which Winchester gets it? What do you think?