Supernatural: Bugs
A/N: Hello once again! So once again I apologize for the long time between postings, and this is partly because both me and my little sister's lives have been crazy busy of late.
Read, review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Supernatural. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.
CHAPTER THREE: BUGS EVERYWHERE
The Winchesters pulled up at the curb while across the street, Matt got off a school bus and began walking.
"Isn't his house that way?" Dean asked, pointing in the opposite direction.
Sam and Liz both nodded. "Yup."
"So where's he goin'?" Dean wondered.
"Only one way to find out," Liz commented.
They got out of the car and began following Matt; after going a ways in, they found him in the woods, examining a praying mantis that was on his hand, and he had a insect container in his other hand.
"Hey, Matt. Remember me?" Sam asked.
"What are you doin' out here?" Matt asked, turning to face the siblings, clearly surprised. It seemed no one else tended to come out this way.
Dean smiled. "Well, we wanna talk to you."
"You're not here to buy a house, are you?" Matt asked and Dean shook his head. "W-wait. You're not serial killers?" he stammered and the Winchesters laughed. That was a new one.
"No, no. No, I think you're safe," Sam assured him.
"So, Matt… you sure know a lot about insects," Dean commented.
Matt gave him a suspicious look. "So?" he asked.
"Did you hear what happened to Lynda, the realtor?" Liz asked.
Matt nodded. "I hear she died this morning."
"Mm, that's right," Dean agreed. "Spider bites," he added.
"Matt… you tried to scare her with a spider," Sam stated.
Matt stared at them, surprised once again. "Wait. You think I had something to do with that?" he asked.
Dean and Liz exchanged a look. "You tell us," Dean said.
"That tarantula was a joke," Matt explained. "Anyway, that wouldn't explain the bee attack or the gas company guy."
"You know about those?" Sam asked, surprised.
Matt nodded. "There is somethin' going on here," he explained. "I don't know what… but something's happening with the insects. Let me show you something." He put down both the praying mantis and the container, picked up his backpack, and began leading them to another area.
"So, if you knew about all this bug stuff, why not tell your dad?" Sam asked. "Maybe he could clear everybody out," he suggested.
"Believe me, I've tried," Matt stated. "But, uh, Larry doesn't listen to me."
"Why not?" Sam asked.
Matt shrugged. "Mostly? He's too disappointed in his freak son."
Sam scoffed. "I hear you," he agreed.
"You do?" Dean and Liz both asked, surprised.
Sam turned and gave them both a look. "Matt, how old are you?" he asked.
"Sixteen," Matt answered.
"Well, don't sweat it, because in two years, something great's gonna happen," Sam informed him.
"What?" Matt asked.
"College," Sam answered. After high school, you'll be able to get out of that house and away from your dad."
Dean and Liz both stared at their little brother, shocked by the advice. "What kind of advice is that?" he asked. "Kid should stick with his family."
"Yeah," Liz agreed, hurt.
Sam sighed. "How much further, Matt?" he asked.
"We're close," Matt answered.
Sam glared at both Liz and Dean one more time before he continued walking. A few moments later, they reached a large clearing, where the sounds of hundreds of different insects could be heard among the trees.
"I've been keeping track of insect populations," Matt explained. "It's, um, part of an AP science class."
"You two are like peas in a pod," Dean muttered and Liz chuckled.
Sam ignored him. "What's been happening?" he asked.
"A lot. I mean, from bees to earthworms, beetles… you name it," Matt told them. "It's like they're congregating here," he added.
"Why?" Dean asked.
Matt shrugged. "I don't know."
"What's that?" Sam asked, pointing to a dark patch of grass a few feet away. Curious, they walked over to it and discovered hundreds of worms; Dean carefully tapped some of them, and they fell into the ground, creating a hole. Exchanging a look with Liz, who was standing directly behind him, he crouched down and used a stick to poke around in the hole.
"There's somethin' down there," Dean reported when the stick hit against something hard with a slight echoing sound; he put the stick down and put his hand into the hole. With a disgusted expression, he felt around the dirt and worms until he found something inside the hole. Then he brought his hand back up, and they were all horrified to see, covered in dirt and worms, a human skull.
Sam, Liz, and Dean pulled up outside the local university and got out of the car; Sam went to the backseat, covered the box of bones with his jacket, took it out, and they headed toward the building.
"So, a bunch of skeletons in an unmarked grave," Sam remarked; after finding the first skull, Liz had retrieved some shovels and they'd dug until they found over a dozen bones and skulls.
"Yeah. Maybe this is a haunting. Pissed off spirits? Some unfinished business?" Dean suggested.
"Probably both," Liz added.
"Yeah," Sam said thoughtfully, "but why bugs? And why now?"
"That's two questions," Dean pointed out, but Sam ignored him. "Yeah, so with that kid back there… why'd you tell him to just ditch his family like that?" he asked.
"Yeah, that was a bit harsh," Liz added, frowning.
Sam shrugged. "Just, uh… I know what the kid's goin' through."
"How 'bout tellin' him to respect his old man, how's that for advice?" Dean suggested, and Liz nodded, fully agreeing.
"Dean, Liz, come on," Sam protested and they stopped walking, facing each other. "This isn't about his old man. You think I didn't respect Dad. That's what this is about," he added.
Dean sighed. "Just forget it, all right? Sorry I brought it up."
"I respected him," Sam stated, not dropping the subject. "But no matter what I did, it was never good enough."
"So what are you sayin'?" Dean asked, hurt. "That Dad was disappointed in you?"
"Was? Is. Always has been," Sam stated.
"That's not true," Liz snapped. "Dad loves you and you know it!"
Dean agreed with Liz. "Why would you think that?" he asked.
"Because I didn't wanna bow hunt or hustle pool… because I wanted to go to school and live my life, which, to our whacked-out family, made me the freak," Sam explained, angrily.
Dean rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you were kind of like the blonde chick in The Munsters," he complained.
"Dean, you know what most dads are when their kids score a full ride?" Sam asked. "Proud. Most dads don't toss their kids out of the house."
Dean and Liz both winced. "I remember that fight," Liz said softly.
"I seem to recall a few choice phrases comin' out of your mouth, not just Dad's," Dean remarked with a mild scowl.
Sam sighed and looked away. "Yeah," he finally said. "Honestly, the truth is, when we finally do find Dad… I don't know if he's even gonna wanna see me."
"Sam, Dad was never disappointed in you," Dean stated. "Never."
"He was scared," Liz said
"What are you both talkin' about?" Sam asked, confused.
"He was afraid of what could've happened to you if he wasn't around," Dean explained, exchanging a look with Liz. "But even when you two weren't talkin'… he used to swing by Stanford whenever he could." And Sam's expression changed from confusion and hurt to a deep sadness that Liz couldn't help but compare to the look in their father's eyes. "He'd keep an eye on you. Make sure you were safe," Dead added after a moment.
Sam was stunned by this news. "What?"
Dean nodded. "Yeah."
"Why didn't you both tell me any of that?" Sam asked, shocked.
"You could've picked up the phone and called," Liz said. "Two-way street, you know?"
Sam's eyes lowered to the floor and he was silent.
"Come on, we're gonna be late for our appointment," Dean said and walked away.
Soon, the Winchesters were talking with a professor.
"So, you three are students?" the professor asked.
"Yeah," Sam confirmed. "Yeah, uh, we're in your class… Anthro 101?"
The professor nodded. "Oh, yeah."
"So, what about the bones, Professor?" Dean asked, nodding to the box.
"This is quite an interesting find you've made," the professor remarked. "I'd say they're 170 years old, give or take. The timeframe and the geography heavily suggest Native American."
"Were there any tribes or reservations on that land?" Sam asked, exchanging a look with Liz and Dean.
"Not according to the historical record," the professor remarked. "But the, uh, relocation of native peoples was quite common at that time."
"Right," Sam agreed. "Well, are there any local legends? Oral histories about the area?"
"Well… you know, there's a Euchee tribe in Sapulpa," the professor answered. "It's about sixty miles from here. Someone out there might know the truth."
Dean nodded. "All right."
Soon the Winchesters were driving through Sapulpa. They stopped and asked a Native American man for directions, and once he directed them where to go, they thanked him and drove away.
Sam, Liz, and Dean entered the local dinner and found another Native American man playing cards at a table.
"Joe White Tree?" Sam asked, and the man nodded. "We'd like to ask you a few questions, if that's all right," he requested.
"We're students from the university," Dean began.
"No, you're not," Joe stated, surprising them. "You're lying."
Dean was taken aback and Sam and Liz exchanged a surprised look. "Well, truth is-" he began again.
"You know who starts sentence with 'truth is'? Liars," Joe interrupted and returned his attention to his cards.
Dean exchanged another look with his siblings.
"Have you heard of Oasis Plains?" Sam finally asked. "It's a housing development near the Atoka Valley."
Joe glanced at Dean and Liz. "I like him. He's not a liar," he commented. Dean was a little annoyed, but said nothing when Liz elbowed him to be quiet. "I know the area," he answered.
"What can you tell us about the history there?" Sam asked.
"Why do you wanna know?" Joe asked.
"Something… something bad is happening in Oasis Plains," Sam told him. "We think it might have something to do with some old bones we found down there… Native American bones."
"I'll tell you what my grandfather told me, what his grandfather told him," Joe told them. "Two hundred years ago, a band of my ancestors lived in that valley. One day, the American cavalry came to relocate them. They were resistant, the cavalry impatient. As my grandfather put it, on the night the moon and the sun share the sky as equals, the cavalry first raided our village. They murdered, raped. The next day, the cavalry came again, and the next, and the next. And on the sixth night, the cavalry came one last time. And by the time the sun rose, every man, woman, and child still in the village was dead. They say on the sixth night, as the chief of the village lay dying, he whispered to the heavens that no white man would ever tarnish this land again. Nature would rise up and protect the valley. And it would bring as many days of misery and death to the white man as the cavalry had brought upon his people."
"Insects," Dean remarked. "Sounds like nature to me. Six days."
"And on the night of the sixth day, none would survive," Joe added, and the Winchesters exchanged a look. This wasn't good news.
Soon the Winchesters were walking back to the car.
"When did the gas company man die?" Sam asked.
"Uh, let's see, we got here Tuesday, so, Friday the twentieth," Dean answered.
"March twentieth?" Sam asked and both Dean and Liz nodded. "That's the spring equinox."
Dean and Liz exchanged a look. "The night the sun and the moon share the sky as equals," they said together.
Sam nodded. "So, every year about this time, anybody in Oasis Plains is in danger," he said, realizing the truth. "Larry built this neighborhood on cursed land."
Dean sighed, realizing what this meant. "And on the sixth night… that's tonight."
"If we don't do something, Larry's family will be dead by sunrise," Sam stated. "So how do we break the curse?"
"You don't break a curse," Dean told him seriously. "You get out of its way. We've gotta get those people out now." They got in the car and drove away.
A/N: Let's hope that the Winchesters can save Larry and his family in time. R&R everyone!