Sam woke up slowly, nursing a large headache and strange burning sensation on his hand. "Psst. Are you awake?" A girl's voice called in a hushed whisper.

"Hmm?" Sam responded without opening his eyes. He wasn't able to move his arms or legs. Sam's chest was tied to a post with a large rope, and he could feel his ankles roped together, as well.

"Please be awake." The girl almost begged. "I can't sit here and listen to these girls scream across the room anymore. I need to talk to someone before I descend into insanity." Sam forced his head to jerk upward as he blinked. He realized the voice was telling the truth. He looked across the room to see two girls tied to posts, just like him, but they were screaming for help. One girl, a redhead with curly locks, was even crying.

"Where am I?" He surveyed what seemed to be an unfamiliar basement.

"The basement of my apartment building." The voice confirmed. Sam looked to his right to see yet another girl tied to a post. She was calmer, though. "I wonder if my parents even know I'm here at all…" She said to herself.

"Are you Meredith?" Sam asked her suddenly. For the first time, the mystery girl looked frightened.

"How do you know me? You're working with him aren't you?! Why else would he bring a guy down here? I'm so stupid talking to you!"

"Hey. Hey. I'm not working for anyone. I don't even know why I'm here." The honesty in Sam's voice was evident, but Meredith was raised to be smart. She couldn't be too sure.

"You think a handsome guy in a suit and tie, like yourself, can just randomly get kidnapped by the man that's taken all of us girls? It's one thing if you were a family member of someone else that he kidnapped to cover his tracks, but no. You're just here alone because the old guy wanted to switch things up? Sure. Then, as if that weren't enough, you know my name? What information are you keeping from me?" Her eye's narrowed.

"I-I'm Sam Scott. I'm with the F.B.I… I was working your case… and theirs."

"Well, Detective, you found us." She said with sarcastic triumph. Their conversation seemed to die, but the room was still loud with the screams coming from the other two girls. They were yelling things like "help!" and "get us out of here!" and they seemed like they weren't planning on stopping anytime soon. Sam pitied them, knowing he and Dean had both been in the lobby, right above the girls, recently, and hadn't heard one peep.

"Don't squirm when he comes back." Meredith told Sam. He stopped immediately to look at her.

"Who? Do you know who he is?"

"I don't know his name. He works here. All I know is if you're squirming he'll tighten the ropes and knock ya out again. Hurts like a b*tch when you wake up, don't it? I hope he doesn't getcha again. The fever, chills, headaches… That's why those poor things are screaming as much as they can, when he ain't here, because they know they'll have to stop when they hear 'im coming. Otherwise, they're unconscious again and feeling like crap before they know it."

"Everything hurts." Sam mumbled.

"It goes away within the first couple of hours the original time. That's when he's able to start controlling your mind and stuff, I think. He hasn't made me do anything, but I've seen him turn other girls into his minions. I think he wants to make an army." She told him. "...Where'd he touch you?"

"Huh?"

"Where'd he touch you?" She seemed comfortable with the fact that she was talking about something supernatural, which was usually complicated for Sam and Dean to explain to people like her.

"You know he's not human?" Sam asked with disbelief.

"I've been here for almost a week. I was the first to get taken. I've gotten a grasp on that fact by now. I'm surprised you're not flippin' out, Mr. Fed."

"I kinda deal with these things on the daily." Sam shrugged, beginning to squirm again. He had to escape and tell Dean.

"What? Like X-Men?" She asked.

"Something like that." Sam forced a smirk as he tried to get his throbbing hand free.

"That's where he got you?" She asked, peeking over to see Sam wince when the top of his left hand made contact with the rope. It had a few red fingerprints on it, and they burned worse than fire.

"Guess so…" Sam thought back to going to see Meredith's parents, and he suddenly remembered the old man working at the front desk. He could barely see and had to grab Sam's hand to evaluate the fake ID. "It was the guy working the front desk…" He whispered the revelation to himself.

"Hey." The girl tried to snap him out of moment of realization. "Do you think my parents are okay?"

Sam's brows furrowed in confusion. "Yeah. I talked to them earlier, they were just upset you were missing."

"Look behind us." Meredith instructed. When Sam looked, he wished he didn't. It was what seemed to be parents and small families all tied up to different objects in the large hotel basement. Sam had originally thought the four girls and himself were the only one's down there, but the rest just seemed to be unconscious. "I can't tell if he's brought them down here yet. He ties members of the same family as far away from the others as possible. He seems to be targeting real small families. The girl in front of you is practically being raised by her older sister, and the one in front of me lives with her single mom. I know them from school, but they're a little worked up to talk right now."

"And you're an only child…"

"What about you?" Meredith looked Sam over. "He seems to take a girl first and then take her family to cover his tracks. After that, since he runs the hotel, he just says the room is empty. Were you staying here or something?"

"No, I think he knew my brother and I were on to him… He wouldn't have just taken he and broken his pattern of girls for no reason."

"Well I hope you're brother doesn't end up in the pile of sleeping beauties behind us." Meredith said flatly. Sam swallowed, not wanting to talk about Dean, or the fact that he could be hurt or currently hurting Hayley.

"Why are all the families unconscious?" He asked Meredith. "Why are you the only person who seems to be awake and emotionally stable?"

"Like I said, I've been here the longest. I've learned how to deal." She shrugged. "They squirmed."