Sam woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the door. Groaning he rolled over and opened his eyes a crack to see the time. The knocking got louder and Sam sighed figuring Dean had locked himself out of the room… again. He was half tempted to just close his eyes and go back to sleep, but then he heard the voice drifting through the door.
"Get yer lazy asses up and open the door"
Bobby's gruff voice was unmistakable even through wood. Sam waited to see if Dean woke up first, because frankly he was tired and didn't want to get up. When the knocking kept going and Dean didn't make a move, Sam figured that his brother must have gone out early. Rolling out of the bed, he pulled on his jeans and tee and unlocked the door for Bobby.
"It's open" Sam muttered and shuffled off towards the bathroom.
"What the hell took so long?"
"Well, I thought Dean would open the door…"
"Dean? You expected that one to open the door? He's not even here"
"I know that now…" Sam said and closed the door.
Bobby grew impatient waiting for Sam to actually get ready and started looking through John's old journal again. He chuckled at more than a few entries in there. John's mission for revenge… He'd always told him he was an idiot for chasing that bastard down. When Sam finally came out of the bathroom, Bobby closed the journal and looked at him with a raised brow.
"You take longer than most girls I know of"
Sam flipped Bobby off and shook his head. "So where's Dean?"
The expression on Bobby's face told Sam that this wasn't going to be a fun conversation. "Aint got a clue. Figured you'd be the one to know."
"Well see without the Impala, I can't hear when he leaves" Sam paused and looked around for any sign of where his brother may have gone. "You really don't know?" Seeing Bobby shake his head Sam cursed and pulled out his phone. "Let's just hope he answers" he muttered and rang his brother's phone. 4 rings and to voice mail. He tried again. And again. "He's not answering…" Sam said and pulled up the GPS tracking app on his phone. "Got him. He's… yeah he's in the middle of the woods" Sam said and held up his phone for Bobby to see.
"The woods? Jersey has woods?" Bobby said in a laughing tone
"Actually yeah, there's a lot of farming out here and… that was rhetorical. Right." Sam said and grabbed his jacket. "So, you driving?"
Bobby nodded and pulled out his keys. "Let's go save his ass… again" He muttered and the two boys walked out of the room.
Sam woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the door. Groaning he rolled over and opened his eyes a crack to see the time. The knocking got louder and Sam sighed figuring Dean had locked himself out of the room… again. He was half tempted to just close his eyes and go back to sleep, but then he heard the voice drifting through the door.
"Get yer lazy asses up and open the door"
Bobby's gruff voice was unmistakable even through wood. Sam waited to see if Dean woke up first, because frankly he was tired and didn't want to get up. When the knocking kept going and Dean didn't make a move, Sam figured that his brother must have gone out early. Rolling out of the bed, he pulled on his jeans and tee and unlocked the door for Bobby.
"It's open" Sam muttered and shuffled off towards the bathroom.
"What the hell took so long?"
"Well, I thought Dean would open the door…"
"Dean? You expected that one to open the door? He's not even here"
"I know that now…" Sam said and closed the door.
Bobby grew impatient waiting for Sam to actually get ready and started looking through John's old journal again. He chuckled at more than a few entries in there. John's mission for revenge… He'd always told him he was an idiot for chasing that bastard down. When Sam finally came out of the bathroom, Bobby closed the journal and looked at him with a raised brow.
"You take longer than most girls I know of"
Sam flipped Bobby off and shook his head. "So where's Dean?"
The expression on Bobby's face told Sam that this wasn't going to be a fun conversation. "Aint got a clue. Figured you'd be the one to know."
"Well see without the Impala, I can't hear when he leaves" Sam paused and looked around for any sign of where his brother may have gone. "You really don't know?" Seeing Bobby shake his head Sam cursed and pulled out his phone. "Let's just hope he answers" he muttered and rang his brother's phone. 4 rings and to voice mail. He tried again. And again. "He's not answering…" Sam said and pulled up the GPS tracking app on his phone. "Got him. He's… yeah he's in the middle of the woods" Sam said and held up his phone for Bobby to see.
"The woods? Jersey has woods?" Bobby said in a laughing tone
"Actually yeah, there's a lot of farming out here and… that was rhetorical. Right." Sam said and grabbed his jacket. "So, you driving?"
Bobby nodded and pulled out his keys. "Let's go save his ass… again" He muttered and the two boys walked out of the room.
Onyx was still waiting for any kind of signal from her sister. No gps on her or the mustang, which meant nothing for her, or Ash, to track. Shit she didn't even know what her sister had been hunting, so she really was at ground zero on this one. She hated not having any traces to go off of. More than that though… she hated this fucking town. She remembered what went down the last time she was here and she really hadn't wanted the surge of memories that came with it.
"fucking hell sis… can't you maybe, just maybe, not be such a loser?" She muttered to herself as she looked over a map and tried to figure out anything she could about where her sister might be. Growling with frustration she picked up her phone and dialed Ash's number.
"Yo"
"Do you have anything on her yet. I mean ANYthing. Like, I'll take a rumor at this point"
"That's a negative. I have nothing… not even a whisper"
"Well… shit."
"Yeah, feel the same. I'll reach out if I find anything" He muttered and ended the call.
Onyx growled again and tossed her phone on the table. She ran her hands over her face and through her hair. Pulling in a long breath she actually entertained the idea of pulling out some tarot cards or a crystal ball or something. Even at that she was certain that she'd never get anything. Divination was her sister's thing… not hers. If she had any magic in her blood at all, it was with nature, and even then she didn't always get the results she wanted. She often was able to connect with and even draw out the beasts and the creatures, but often times she connected too deeply to them. It made it easier for her to hunt the more human things, while her sister usually took on the less human ones. Not an ideal situation, but it had worked for them. Now though, right now she'd give almost anything to have some of her sister's skill of finding without searching. Looking over her map once more, she decided the only way she was going to find anything was by getting out there and searching. She'd start in the tavern and work her way from there.
Dean surfaced into a dim consciousness, that state between sleep and awake. He could hear sounds, but was fighting to get his mind to surface and his eyes to open. His body felt so very heavy, and his head ached with more pain than his worst hangover ever brought. As his mind started to focus just a bit more, he could feel that his lungs were fighting to function properly. As if he couldn't get quite enough air into them, and his whole body was on fire because of it. No… quite the reverse actually, he couldn't breathe because his body was on fire. Damn his arms were heavy. Getting his eyelids to open just slightly, he could see the barn that he had some memory of. Then he heard a sound that eased some of the worry inside him. It was his brother's voice, and right now that was the best sound his ears could ever hear. They were just mumbled whispers that he couldn't pinpoint, but he took relief in knowing he was here. He tried calling out, only to find that his voice didn't work, at least not yet. He kept trying, trying to make some sort of sound. Finally, even though it felt like he had swallowed sand, he managed to say one word. His brother's name came out on a croak, but it was at least a word.
Sam and Bobby had been walking through the thick of the woods for over an hour and Sam could tell Bobby was just about done and ready to go back. That's when Sam spotted the shifter remains.
"Bobby… over here… " Sam called out as he knelt down to examine the shed skin. Turning his nose he made a sound of disgust. "This isn't like any shifter I've seen before… the skin is liquidated. Like it's breaking down or something. And it smells horrible…" Sam said and picked up a stick to prod at the pile of gunk. He was so not about to touch this shit with his bare hands. As the stick made contact with the shed skin, it bubbled and turned to liquid, seeping into the soil under it. He looked up as he heard Bobby approach. "Have you ever seen anything like this before?"
Bobby shook his head and took the stick Sam had been holding, examining the remains on the end of it. "Can't say that I have. This is either a really old creature that no hunter has found before, or something completely new. Whatever it is, it's disgusting" he tossed the stick to the ground and nodded to something in the distance. "And it looks like there was more…"
Sam got up and followed the trail of blood to another pile of gunk in the distance. "Jeez, what the hell are these things?"
"More importantly, where the hell is your brother?"
"Well, something walked away from this place… and was dragging something very large as well." Sam got up and followed the trail. "Bobby! There's a barn over here."
"You mean someone actually LIVED out here?"
"Looks like it was just a barn… maybe storage or something" Sam walked closer, but slowly. He didn't know what to expect inside. He heard Bobby come walking up and he snapped his fingers to get his attention. Motioning for him to stop, Sam tilted his head to listen. "Did you hear that?" He watched as Bobby just shook his head. "I thought I heard-"
"Sam…"
"Dean?!" Sam called out. He could have sworn he heard his brother calling his name. And there it was again…
"Sam…."
Sam went running, the word was soft and followed by a lot of coughing, but it was most certainly his brother. "DEAN!" He called out and finally heard some sort of movement behind a large stack of hay. Rounding that corner he was stopped in his tracks by what he saw. His brother was there, barely moving and struggling with breathing, lying next to… he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Holy shit…" Sam muttered and took a deep breath. That was the last person he expected to just stumble across. Taking in the situation, he noticed that something was clearly wrong with Dean, and the girl wasn't in any better shape. "Bobby! Bobby over here… I need some help!" Sam yelled out.
"What the- " Bobby said as he looked over the scene before him. "I'm not even sure I want to know"
"They're buring up…" Sam said as he checked for a pulse on first Dean, then the girl. "We need to get both of them back to the motel fast."
"Sam…" Dean's voice croaked out as his eyes opened just enough that he could make out the figures before him. He let out a ragged breath. "Bitten" He said and then blacked out again.
Sam furrowed his brow and looked up at Bobby. "Did… did you hear him say 'bitten'?"
Bobby just nodded and sighed. "Yeah. Let's get them out of here and back where we can figure out just what the hell is wrong with them"
Everything was so bright… so blindingly bright that she couldn't see a damn thing, but she knew she had to keep running. She could feel something behind her, not chasing her, but rather waiting. She didn't want it to find her… so she ran. She ran as fast as she could, but felt she wasn't getting anywhere. Her leg ached so badly and she began to lose the ability to use it. She screamed in agony as she felt something grip her leg and pull her down. She swung out with her arms, determined to find something, anything, to connect with.
Sam ran to her as she screamed, and ducked just in time to avoid her fist. "You find anything yet Bobby?!" Sam busied himself with trying to calm her as Bobby scoured every resource he brought with him about what the hell they'd been infected with.
"Not a damned thing. There aint nothin' in anything about a human bite mark that infects with toxins…" Bobby slammed the last book he had closed and rubbed at his eyes. "I wish one of them would wake the hell up" seeing Sam struggle to calm the girl, he got up and went to help.
"We have to get her fever down, and really soon" Sam said as he struggled to keep her arms contained.
Everything was so bright… so blindingly bright that she couldn't see a damn thing, but she knew she had to keep running. She could feel something behind her, not chasing her, but rather waiting. She didn't want it to find her… so she ran. She ran as fast as she could, but felt she wasn't getting anywhere. Her leg ached so badly and she began to lose the ability to use it. She screamed in agony as she felt something grip her leg and pull her down. She swung out with her arms, determined to find something, anything, to connect with.
Sam ran to her as she screamed, and ducked just in time to avoid her fist. "You find anything yet Bobby?!" Sam busied himself with trying to calm her as Bobby scoured every resource he brought with him about what the hell they'd been infected with.
"Not a damned thing. There aint nothin' in anything about a human bite mark that infects with toxins…" Bobby slammed the last book he had closed and rubbed at his eyes. "I wish one of them would wake the hell up" seeing Sam struggle to calm the girl, he got up and went to help.
"We have to get her fever down, and really soon" Sam said as he struggled to keep her arms contained.
"Then I guess you need to go get some ice boy…" Bobby said and nodded towards the door. "I been dealing with this girl most of her life, and this is not going to be easy."
Sam nodded and grabbed however many containers he could find and carry and ran for the ice container near the office. Filling everything to the brim, he quickly made his way back and shuffled all the containers onto the nearest flat surface. Bobby was struggling to avoid getting walloped by her long limbs, and didn't even see Sam come back in. "Bobby!" Sam hollered to be heard above the screaming woman. When the other man turned around, he motioned at the ice and gave him a look as if to say what now?
"Fill the damned tub with as cold of water as you pour, then toss the ice in it…" He stated firmly and got up to check on Dean, who had barely moved aside from breathing.
Sam knew that this was a shitty thing to do to a person, as his brother had dropped him in an ice bath or two before. When the water level got high enough he started bringing in the containers of ice and dumping them. After a few minutes the temperature in the bathroom even dropped. He was not looking forward to what was going to happen next.
"Sam, need yer help" Bobby's voice drifted into the room over the sound of running water.
"Yeah, coming…" he shut the water off and hustled out the door, finding Bobby struggling to even get the girl sitting upright, let alone lift her. "Shit Bobby" He muttered as he ran over and just lifted the girl into his arms. He chuckled at the look on Bobby's face as he carried her into the bathroom.
"Ya don't need to haul her on yer own ya idjit" Bobby's voice carried surprisingly strongly.
"Bobby, she weighs like 170 and I'm well…" He shrugged and let out a long breath to prepare for setting her in the freezing tub.
"A moose, yeah I know…" Bobby muttered and stepped closer into the bathroom, grabbing a towel and prepping for the chaos that was soon to ensue.
Sam slowly lowered Jade into the water, his own hands going quickly numb from the icy water. When his arms were elbow deep, he let her go and nearly jumped back expecting her to scream and wake up. His brow furrowed when all she did was just lay there in the ice. "Is- is that normal? I mean, usually you drop someone in ice they react violently"
Bobby looked at the watch on his wrist. "Give it just a-"
Bobby didn't even get his sentence out before Jade pulled in a deep breath and they braced for a loud scream and flailing limbs, what they got in return was…
"Holy. Fuck." Her words were barely more than a whisper before she looked around, her eyes went wide and she let out a shiver of a breath. "Shifters. Three. Rare." One more shaky breath and she blacked out, reaching for her calf.