Chapter 3

An explosion of sound sent Sam flying upright, his brain scrambling to defend itself. His chest heaved and his eyes were wide as he started to scan the room, but the perpetrator was right in front of him, laughing his head off.
"Did I scare ya Sammy?" Dean asked, still laughing.

"Shut up." Sam seethed, collapsing himself back into the soft pillow on his bed. Wait….was I sleeping? Sam's eyes flew open once more, the overpowering tiredness shoved aside by worry. He looked for anything strange around the room, but didn't see anything. He ran his hand through his hair and rolled himself to the side of the bed, putting his feet on the floor. I am such an idiot!

Dean had moved from the edge of the bed to the table where the shotgun shells were neatly put away. All joking aside, he'd been mad at himself for falling asleep last night, but at least now they both had a few hours of shut-eye that could fuel them for this new case. He'd forgotten what the case was even about, something to do with pet stores or something.

"So…what are we doing today again?" Dean asked.

"We're visiting some dead zookeepers." Sam gave him a sarcastic smile.

"What? Why?" He looked down at his shotgun and frowned.

"Were you wasted last night or something?" Sam asked jokingly, but Dean could see a twinge of genuine curiosity in his eyes. Dean looked at him, expecting Sam to figure it out. Sam just raised his eyebrows.

"No! I'm not writing down every word you say, I'm allowed to forget something okay?" He snapped.

"Well, you mentioned Cas said something about how 'something's coming'. Did that really happen?"

"Yeah, it did actually." Dean cast his brother a glare. "Now what about the case?"

"A series of attacks on zookeepers at some dump of a zoo around here have been happening lately. No security footage or anything. The papers are calling them animal attacks but the animals are inside all night. I'm thinking ghosts."Sam repeated, whilst brushing his teeth.

Dean seemed to understand what he was saying nevertheless."What's the moon like?"

"I thought werewolves at first too, but the last full moon was a week and a half ago. We have to see those bodies. " Sam replied nonchalantly, spitting his toothpaste into the sink.

"Let's go then." Dean smiled, grabbing the box of shells and kicking the door open. "Fresh air Sammy! Nothing like a morning at the morgue!" Sam rolled his eyes and grabbed for one of his faded jackets. Instead, Dean shoved a suit in his face and Sam grimaced. Why couldn't they be undercover agents? Sometimes he just wanted to get through a case without playing dress-up. Just once.

"Hello, I'm Agent Gontier and this is my partner Agent Walst, FBI. We've come to investigate the recent animal attacks at the-uh, Wrights Zoo?" Dean smiled. The receptionist looked petrified as they flashed their IDs. His lips twitched, trying to keep a straight face. A few moments of silence passed, then Sam cleared his throat.

"Is there anyone we can see to…examine the bodies, Miss?" The receptionist opened her moth to say something, then simply blinked. Dean was beginning to think he'd given the lady a heart attack, her stark white hair should have been a bit of a warning sign.

"I-I'm so sorry! It just….we've never had federal agents here before. You caught me off guard!" She managed to blurt out. Dean gave Sam a look, and Sam shrugged, this lady was acting just as weird to him. The woman grabbed the desk phone and punched in a number.

"Yes, this in Eileen. I've got two federal agents here about the animal attacks at the zoo. " She paused, then got a smile on her face like she's just met her idol. "You heard me right, real federal agents!" She giggled and put down the phone. "He'll be just a moment." She was still beaming.

"Uh, okay, thanks." Dean gave her the best smile he could muster. Poor lady. Then a door opened in the hallway to their left and an old man hobbled out, propping himself on a simple wooden cane.

"You buys the federal agents I been herin' about?" The man asked, his face gnarled into a permanent scowl. She really had to use the phone to call him when he was that close?Dean thought, with a twitch of his eyebrows.

"Yes sir, Agents Gontier and Walst." He replied, motioning to himself and Sam. Sam smiled quickly, but seemed anxious.

"Come on then." The man grumbled, turning around. Dean glanced at Sam before following. The building looked more like a school than a morgue; it had the same grey worn walls and tacky laminate stone floors. So when they walked into the room where the bodies were kept, Dean's eyebrows rose in surprise. He expected an outdated body room with ancient equipment, instead, the top-of-the-line stainless steel "corpse coolers" lined the walls and shiny new tools were neatly hung above a stainless steel examination table. The people in this town probably had nothing better to do than scrub down the room once a day; it was spotless. Even Sam seemed taken aback by the room. The old man didn't seem to notice their surprise and walked over to one of the doors. He yanked the handle and a black body bag slid out.

"This here's the latest attack, them two other ones is here too." The man grabbed the zipper and pulled it down, exposing the body. Dean stepped forward.

"What in the hell is this?" Dean blurted out. It certainly wasn't a werewolf attack, that was for sure.