And it is written that, "The First Seal shall be broken when a righteous man sheds blood in hell. As he breaks, so shall it break."
"Dean...what happened to me?" Sam asked.
"Well, what do you remember?" Dean answered with a question.
"I-I saw you and Bobby, and...I felt this pain. This sharp pain, like...white-hot, you know, and then you started running at me, and...that's about it."
"Yeah, that—that kid, stabbed you in the back. You lost a lot of blood, you know...It was pretty touch and go for awhile."
"But Dean, you can't—you can't patch up a wound that bad."
"No," Dean truthfully admitted before uttering the lie. "Bobby could. Who was that kid, anyway?"
"His name's Jake. Did you get him?"
Dean shook his head. "No, he disappeared into the woods."
"We got to find him, Dean. And I swear I'm gonna tear that son of a bitch apart."
Sam tried to stand, but his body ached in protest. Dean stood to make Sam sit.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy, Van Damme. You just woke up, all right? Let's get you something to eat. Huh? You want something to eat?" Sam nodded. "I'm starving. Come on."
WOODS
As the demon Azazel approached where Jake Talley had set up camp, he stopped. Something sent shivers through his vessel's spine. The earth had shifted. Something was nearby. Something...familiar. His Spidey Senses were tingling through his whole body.
"Hmm, I sense a presence," he said. "A presence I haven't...felt since..."
His yellow eyes flared as reality hit him. He knew who it was. "Damn it..."
CABIN
Dean and Sam spent their table eating.
"And that's when you guys showed up."
"That's awful," Dean sympathized, taking a swig of beer. "Poor Andy."
"The demon said he only wanted one of us to walk out alive."
Now that got Dean's curiousity. "He told you that?"
"Yep," Sam scoffed. "He appeared in a dream."
"He tell you anything else?"
Sam shook his head. "No. No. That was it. Nothing else. You know, what I don't get, Dean, is if the demon only wanted one of us, then how did Jake and I both get away?"
"Well, I mean, they left you for dead. I'm sure they thought it was over," Dean took a large bite of pizza and turned away. "So now that Yellow Eyes has Jake, what's he gonna do with him?
"I don't know," Sam said, then stood up again. "But whatever it is, we got to stop him."
"Well, hold on," Dean came over, sitting him back down. "You need to get your rest. We got time."
"No, we don't," Sam said, himself protesting instead of his body.
"Sam, oceans aren't boiling, okay? Frogs aren't raining from the sky. Let's get you your strength back first."
"Well did you call the roadhouse? They know anything?"
"Yeah," Dean mournfully said, looking away.
"Dean...what is it?" Sam asked. Now he was getting worried. Dean didn't usually act like this. Dean sat down and prepared to tell the bad news.
"The roadhouse burned to the ground. Ash is dead. Probably Ellen— a lot of other hunters, too."
"Demons?" Sam whispered, closing his eyes in mourning.
"Yeah, we think so. We think because Ash found something."
"What did he find?"
"Bobby's working on that right now."
"Well, come on then," Sam urged as he stood. "Bobby's only a few hours away."
Dean stood also and grabbed by the shoulders for the third time. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop, Sam, stop! Damn it. You almost died in there. I mean, what would I've—can't you just take care of yourself for a little bit, huh? Just for a little bit?"
"I'm sorry. No."
Dean shook his head. Sam was the most stubborn man he ever met. Even more stubborn than John. Dean grabbed his keys. "All right. I'll get our things. You wait in the car. Get some rest while we're driving."
Sam started to talk, but Dean held a finger up. "That's not an option. You rest. Get you're strength back. Got it?"
Sam stood there for a moment, sighed then nodded.
"Good. Now come on."
A FEW HOURS LATER
Dean's parents knocked on Bobby's door. The door opened the door and looked at Dean. He nodded. Then he looked at Dean's companion and his eyes almost popped out in astonishment.
"Hey, Bobby," Dean said, making eye contact. He knew that he was gonna get a talking to behind close doors eventually.
"Hey, Bobby," Sam greeted.
"Sam," Bobby managed to say. "It's good to...see you up and around."
"Yeah, thanks for patching me up," Sam thanked, patting Bobby on the shoulder and walked past him into the house.
"Don't mention it," Bobby responded. Dean followed Sam, then looked back. Bobby looked at him hard, vibrating with unspoken emotion.
"Well Sam's better," Dean said stiffly. "And we're back in it now, so...what do you know?"
Sam looked at Dean curiously.
Later, Bobby had a bunch of books out and a map.
"Well, I found something. But I'm not sure what the hell it means."
"What is it?" Sam asked.
"Demonic omens...like a frickin' tidal wave. Cattle deaths. Lightning storms. They skyrocketed from out of nowhere. Here." He pointed to Wyoming on a map. "All around here, except for one place...Southern Wyoming."
"Wyoming?" Dean pondered.
"Yeah. That one area's totally clean – spotless. It's almost as if..."
"What?" Sam asked.
"The demons are surrounding it."
"But you don't know why?" Dean raised an eyebrow as he asked.
"No, and by this point my eyes are swimming. Sam, would you take a look at it? Maybe you could catch something I couldn't."
"Yeah, sure."
"Come on, Dean," Bobby said, moving towards the back. "I got some more books in the truck. Help me lug 'em in."
"Yeah," Dean answered. He knew Bobby was about to chew and cuss him out. Nothing was gonna stop that. But Dean appreciated that he didn't do it in front of it.
It will be all right, Dean, Michael said. Dean wasn't so sure.
Dean and Bobby walked in the junkyard, passing old rusty junk cars. Finally, Bobby stopped and turned to face Dean.
"You stupid ass! What did you do?" Bobby yelled. Dean looked away. Bobby pushed him. "What did you do?! You made a deal...For Sam, didn't you? How long did they give you?"
"Bobby..." Dean pleaded.
"How long?!" Bobby demanded, grabbing Dean by the jacket.
"I made a deal all right," Dean admitted, then shook his head. "But not with a demon."
"Then who the hell could you've made a deal with? Some witch? Some voodoo Mafia?"
"Bobby, please..."
"Damn it, Dean."
"Bobby, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Dean, you may not be my kid, but you ain't too old for an ass whoopin' if you don't tell me what the hell you did. And after everything I've seen, I'm probably gonna believe it."
"I..." Dean tried. This was hard to explain. Hell, it was hard for Dean to understand. "You ever heard of Saint Michael?"
"The Archangel? Yeah, why?"
"Well, I was gonna make a deal with a demon to bring Sam back, but this St. Michael smoked her out and made me a deal of his own."
"What? What the hell did he do?"
"Basically, I agree to work for the angels, he'd bring Sam back," Dean half explained. He didn't have the heart to explain that Michael was in his body.
"So, basically, you've become the angels' bounty hunter?" Bobby theoried.
"Pretty much." Dean smiled. "I'm God's Boba Fett. Which is why we gotta find this yellow-eyed son of a bitch. That's why I'm gonna kill him myself...I couldn't let him die, Bobby. I couldn't. He's my brother."
"Well, at least you're not going to hell."
"Yeah, the demon bitch was only gonna give me one year. Bitch."
Bobby shook his head, hardly believing this. Suddenly there was a clank from a distant part of the junkyard. Bobby and Dean looked at each other, then took cover by the side of a car. Dean and Bobby inched forward slowly. When the intruder came in vision, they grabbed person's shouders only to recognize the intruder. It was Ellen.
"Ellen?" Dean whispered. Ellen nodded with tears in her eyes. Dean took her into his arms. "Ellen. Oh, God."
Review.
