What started as a two-shot has now turned into three chapters and still not quite finished. There will be just one more chapter and then I promise it will be complete. It's not that the story is any longer than I anticipated, it's just that I'm having a lot of work done on my house right now and I'm only able to sit and have it quiet so I can concentrate for short periods of time. I'm not used to my writing time being so sporadic, and I'm sorry to keep this dragging on…..
Either way, here it is, and as always I thank you for taking the time to read it. Please take just a quick moment and let me know what you think.
Also thank you to the anon reviewer who I'm unable to thank in a personal message.
Bad Medicine, Chapter 3
Dean and Bobby wasted no time in preparing for anything that could happen in the hospital room that night. The theory was that the 'creature' causing the disappearances was indeed an arachnid, only this particular one was a mutant hybrid cross of human and spider. The two hunters had come to the conclusion that the hybrid would hunt people for food by first biting them to render them helpless. However, in some circumstances the victims would escape the creature after being bitten. The victim would then naturally go to the hospital for treatment for the wound and would tell the story of being attacked by a huge fanged monster. Not surprisingly, the hospital staff would assume that the victim was delusional due to the venomous bite. However, because every single patient admitted to this hospital with the bite wound had disappeared before the following day, Dean and Bobby assumed that the creature had a staff member assisting it in finding the victim to finish off and also prevent word about the creature's existence from getting out. Conveniently, the hospital security tapes for those dates had disappeared as well.
Sam sat in utter disbelief and awe as he watched both men prepare for this supposed battle. Logically he couldn't believe any of this was real. There were obviously no such things as any mutant spider-human cross breeds, and just the idea that these two grown men bought in to such nonsense was completely insane. He watched as Dean prepared a gun on the bed next to him. He fastened a silencer on the barrel of it and made sure it was fully loaded and ready to go. Sam wanted to believe that perhaps it was a fake. Maybe this was just some really weird prank. He then remembered how real the knife was that Dean had held to his throat earlier and quickly decided that it was safest to assume that all of the weapons were legitimate.
Sam then watched as Bobby carefully filled the two syringes with a brown, syrupy liquid.
"What are those for?" He asked skeptically.
Bobby peered at Sam while he continued working. "I'm filling these with spider venom. As far as I can tell, these are the best bets to dropping our spidey friend."
Sam frowned. "Wouldn't a spider be immune to its own venom?"
Dean decided he would add his own knowledge. "Nope. A spider holds its venom in a gland sack behind its fangs so it never penetrates its blood stream. In the event that a spider, or snake for that matter, is injected with its own venom, it will die when the venom circulates through its body."
Sam raised his eyebrows and nodded his head in understanding. He then pinched the bridge of his nose to fight off the headache that was fast approaching him and laid his head back on his pillow. "Learn something new every day." He sighed. "I'm not even gonna ask where you got the venom."
Bobby smiled as he glanced at the clock. "It's probably better if you don't." He agreed, then, to Dean, "We'd better get this show on the road. It's almost three a.m."
Dean handed Bobby one of the guns and took one of the syringes from him. "Okay," he grinned, "If you need me, I'll be tucked in my bed…with a pistol and poison under my pillow, of course."
Dean sat in his bed and taped his I.V to the side of his arm to make it look as though it were still inserted. As he was fixing his covers, he glanced over to Sam. The poor guy looked like he was about to hurl, but he had to hand it to the kid, he was taking all this in better than he expected him to.
Sam looked back and forth between the two hunters. "So, what's my part in all this?"
Dean snorted a little bit. "Actually, we have a very important role for you. It's called, 'the guy who lays in his bed and acts like a patient with a busted foot."
Sam moaned. "No, seriously."
"I am being serious. You have no part in this. Just try to act as natural as possible and let me and Bobby handle this. The only thing you'll accomplish by trying to help will be getting in our way, and that could kill all of us." Still seeing doubt in Sam's eyes, Dean issued a warning. "I ain't kidding. You try anything stupid and I'll shoot you myself."
Hidden in the far corner of the room, Bobby waved at Dean. "Someone's coming." He whispered.
Dean instantly dropped his head to his pillow and closed his eyes. His breathing became calm and even, as though nothing unusual at all was going on in the room. Before Sam had a chance to pretend he was asleep, the door opened and Charlotte the nurse walked in, pushing a cart with all the equipment used to check patients' vitals. Her eyes widened a little when she realized that Sam was awake.
"Well, hello there." She beamed at him. "I wasn't expecting anyone to be awake in here. How are you feeling?"
Sam took a deep breath and managed to smile back at her. "Yeah, I feel fine, thank you. I just woke up."
Charlotte went to Dean's bedside first, checking his blood pressure and pulse. "Looks like your roommate isn't having any trouble sleeping." Then, turning back to Sam, "Has he woken up at all tonight?"
Sam felt his breath hitch a little at the question. "N…no. At least…..I don't think so. I…..I just woke up myself."
"That's good. The poor dear really needed some rest. Hopefully the antibiotics we gave him have knocked back the effects of the bite and he'll be a new man by morning." She finished with Dean and wheeled her cart up to Sam's bedside. "Now, let's see how that ankle is doing. Is it causing you discomfort?"
Sam winced as he looked down at his foot. In the far corner of the room he couldn't help but notice Bobby's silhouette and he once again felt his face heat up. His heart was beating so hard in his chest that he was surprised Charlotte couldn't hear it from where she was standing. He forced himself not to look in Bobby's direction and instead focused on the question.
"It's throbbing quite a bit, but as long as I don't move it, it's not too bad."
Charlotte nodded her head. "Yes, unfortunately that's to be expected. The dose of Morphine you're on should be knocking the pain back enough so that it's bearable for you. Is that what's keeping you awake?"
Sam shook his head as he watched Charlotte sit on the side of his bed and strap the blood pressure reader to his arm. "No, I'm not sure what woke me up. It just happened." Charlotte gave the ball of the reader a few squeezes, and Sam felt the strap tightening around his bicep. 'Just calm down.' He admonished himself.
A few moments later, Charlotte frowned as she let the air out of the strap. She then took Sam's hand and placed two fingers on the inside of his wrist. Afterward she looked deep into Sam's eyes. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?" She asked.
Sam cleared his throat a bit as he again nodded. "Yeah, I feel fine. Why?"
She took a stethoscope and placed it to Sam's chest. "Because your vitals are as if you've just run a marathon." She answered as she listened to Sam's heartbeat. It only took a moment before she removed the stethoscope and hung it back around her shoulders. "Yeah, you're not doing okay. Your heart is racing sporadically." She took the thermometer machine off the cart and placed the tip of it under Sam's tongue. Ten seconds later the machine beeped and she removed it and discarded the protective sleeve. She brushed her hand along Sam's forehead and down the side of his cheek. "Well, you don't have a fever, but your skin is very clammy and sweaty." She frowned down at him again. "It's not a wonder you couldn't sleep with your blood pressure as high as it is." She stood and smoothed her skirt. "You may be having a reaction to your medication. I think I should get a doctor to come have a look at you, and give you a sedative to help calm you down."
Sam adamantly shook his head. "No, that's really not necessary. I do this all the time when I'm in hospitals. I'm not a good patient. I get really panicky when I have to spend the night in one of these places." He even managed a smile. "Honestly, it's not any reaction to medication, and I don't need any sleeping aid. It's just the way I am. I'm fine, really."
The corners of Charlotte's mouth turned down as she pondered a decision. "Well, I suppose it will be okay. None of your numbers are at a dangerous level, they're just much higher than what they should be while your body is at rest." She smiled down at him once again. "Just try to get some sleep, okay?" She turned as she headed toward the door with her cart. "This will all go much easier if you're both asleep."
Sam sat up upon hearing her words. "What did you mean by that?" He asked.
She looked at him inquisitively. "Your night will go by easier for you if you're sleeping, of course. What else would I mean?"
Sam almost felt a little foolish. He leaned back against his pillow once more. "Oh, right. Okay, I'll try to get back to sleep."
As soon as Charlotte left the room, Dean opened his eyes. "Dude, you need to chill. Everything's gonna be fine. Just try to relax."
An angry look crossed Sam's face as he turned to Dean. "And how am I supposed to chill? Huh?" He argued, keeping his voice barely above a whisper. "Excuse me, but I've had a crazy assed night so far. First, I wake up to you standing over me, threatening to break me in half. You pull a knife on me, there's a guy with a gun lurking in the corner over there, you've got a gun under your pillow and we're all sitting here waiting for some mutant spider monster to come in and try to kill us!" He frantically threw his arms up in the air. "But you're right…..I should just try to relax!"
Dean sighed. So much for the kid taking this better than expected. A small smile crossed his lips as he silently sympathized with him. "I'm sorry, really, I am. But you don't have any other choice here. I do mean it when I tell you not to be afraid, though. Bobby and I are true professionals, and we'll gank this monster with very little trouble. Believe it or not, it's kinda what we do."
Sam chuckled a little bit. "Like on the movie 'Men in Black'?"
Dean frowned at first, but then gave in to a grin. "No, not like that. 'Men in Black' is a movie, a dumb one at that. What we do is very real. We take care of things that most people can't." Dean shifted his position on his bed. "But I am ultra-cool like those guys, though, without the stupid monkey suits."
Sam shook his head. "Sounds like a blast." He said, emphasizing the sarcasm in his voice. "Is there some sort of class you can take or license you need to do this line of work?"
"Nope," Dean answered. "There's no way to teach it, you have to do it." He decided to change the subject away from monsters to try to calm Sam down a little. "Speaking of which, what do you do?"
Sam lifted his head up and propped himself on his elbows. The change in position seemed to bother his foot and he groaned a bit as he readjusted his hips. "I'm a student at Stanford Law. Just this year I've started work as an apprentice lawyer. I graduate in two years and hope to take the bar exam immediately after that."
Bobby took a few steps out of his hiding spot as he entered the conversation. "That's great, kid. Congratulations."
Never comfortable taking compliments, Sam shrugged as he gave an embarrassed grin. "Thanks. I've put in a lot of work, pretty much my whole life I've wanted to be a lawyer."
Dean nodded. "That's good, Sam. I kinda would've liked to have gone to school myself." He gave a quick glance at Bobby, "But I could never leave the job. It's more of a lifestyle than anything else."
Bobby changed the subject back to Sam. "Are you from California?"
"No," Sam answered, "Originally I'm from Kansas, but my parents died when I was very young and my grandfather, Samuel raised me. He was a Marine so we moved around a lot. I must've gone to thirty different schools growing up."
Dean raised his eyebrows. "Yeah?" he retorted. "Now there's something we have in common. My dad was a Marine too. We were always moving around. It was great. I could pretty much do whatever I wanted in school, and by the time the teachers and principal caught up with me, I was out of there."
Sam smiled at Dean's answer, but shook his head. "I hated it. I was always the new kid. I never made any friends, and I always felt like an outsider. I used to pitch a fit whenever we'd have to move again."
"Well," Dean teased, "It looked to me like you had a close friend last night. Who was that cute little blonde with you when I came in?"
The tension in Sam seemed to melt away as a huge smile crossed his face. "That's Jess. I met her my first year in Stanford. She's my angel. I seriously don't know where I'd be without her."
Dean and Bobby exchanged a quick glance and they both smiled. "That's nice." Dean answered. "It's good that you have someone like that."
The conversation froze as a rumbling sound could be heard beyond the hospital room door. The three men all quickly resumed their positions as the noise grew louder and closer. It was the sound of something large being wheeled down the corridor. In the space below the door, Sam could see the shadow of feet stopped just on the other side. His heartbeat quickened once again as he lay waiting to see what would happen next.
"Close your eyes." Dean whispered to Sam. "Don't let it know you're awake, and stay completely still."
It took every ounce of strength Sam had, but he managed to lie motionless. As his eyelids closed, he could see the doorknob turn slowly and the light from the hallway bleed into the room as the door opened.
