Chapter 7
They slowly made their way up the staircase; Dean went first followed closely by Sam and then Karla and Felicity at the rear. They reached the next level only to find another empty room at the top.
"What the hell?" Dean muttered looking around, a deep frown on his face.
"Guess we need to find another exit somewhere in here." Sam said beginning to look around the walls.
It was Felicity who found the exit in the shape of a sliding doorway. She happened upon the trigger to open it with her foot. "Ah guys, think I've found it."
Once more Dean led the way with the torch slowly transcending another flight of stairs coming face to face with a heavy wooden door at the top. He reached for the handle and to his surprise, it opened easily. He made his way through the door and found himself in a kitchen.
Karla came up beside him. "We're in the Conrad kitchen." She whispered.
"So how do we get outta here?" Dean asked as he leaned heavily against the wall. His face was now a mask of pain and sweat.
"I guess we go out the door." Karla said, walking towards the back door. She turned the handle and the door opened easily enough.
Sam looked over at Dean and smiled.
"Shut up!" Dean said with a sneer which turned into a grimace, his eyes fluttered as if he were about to pass out
"You okay Dean?" Sam enquired, taking the few steps to reach Dean's side.
"No but I think I'll live – perhaps – maybe " Dean said as he limped out the back door letting Sam guide him the rest of the way to where the Impala was parked out the front of the mansion.
"Keys." Sam said bluntly.
"I can drive Sam." Dean said.
"No Dean, you can't. Give me the keys now." Sam insisted. "Or do you want me hotwire the car?"
Dean reached into his pocket and took out the keys, tossing them to Sam whilst mumbling, "Why did I have to get such a pain-in-the-ass little brother?"
Felicity and Karla slipped in the back seat of the Impala and Dean slowly eased himself in the passenger seat.
"Okay, where is the hospital?" Sam asked as he started the car up.
"Hospital?" Dean asked.
"Yeah hospital Dean. You need to see a doctor – in fact, we all need to see a doctor." Sam said, glancing down at his brother's blood soaked top.
"He's right." Felicity said from the back seat. "I've got a real bitch of a headache." She gently patted the large purple bump on her forehead. Both Sam and Dean turned to look at her. "Well! I have!" She responded with a deep frown.
Felicity guided them to the local county hospital. Upon arrival, they all shambled into emergency where Dean was taken immediately into an examination room for assessment and suturing, whilst the others were checked out in ER.
The nurse who was tending to Karla's injuries pulled the doctor aside and whispered, "Dr Borden, that's Karla Hartford – the girl who went missing earlier this month at the Conrad Mansion."
Dr Borden frowned. "Are you sure?"
"I'm positive! Do you want me to call the police?"
"Yes, go do that now." He replied.
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Dean lay patiently waiting for the doctor to suture his wound. Although he was needled up with anaesthetic, he seemed to feel every jab of the suture needle as it pulled the edges of his wound together.
"All finished." The doctor announced. "Just let me put a bandage on that."
Once the bandage was placed over Dean's wound, the doctor left the room to find a bed for him for the night much to Dean's remonstrations that he didn't need it.
He sat on the side of the hospital gurney, pulling on his dirty, torn and bloody t-shirt. Suddenly, a shudder went through his body at the temperature in the room dropped notably. He slowly got off the gurney and began to look around the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a shimmering light beginning to form. As he watched, the light began to take on a form. After several seconds, the statuesque form of a masculine Negro dressed in tattered rags took a solid form. His hair was close cropped and greying at the temples and around his neck hung a noose.
Dean backed up a few steps coming into contact with the gurney as the apparition slowly shambled towards him. When he was within arms distance, he reached and out put his hand on Dean's shoulder.
"I'm not here to hurt you Dean Winchester." The apparition didn't use his mouth to talk – he was in contact with Dean through his mind.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Dean asked.
"My name is Saul. We need you to help us." He projected into Dean's mind. "Many years ago, we were slaves belonging to Charles Conrad. He was a cruel and hard man. He would beat man, woman or child for any reason – sometimes he would have people executed for his pleasure and entertainment. His tolerance to his slaves was low. A cruel man in life and an even more cruel man in death."
"Why are you telling me this?" Dean asked.
"You have to stop him – you and your brother. He has been taking young girls from the town for some time now. He uses these poor souls as his own slaves until he tires of them and has them commit suicide in the most horrid ways."
"Where do we find him?"
"The Conrad family crypt is located at the Memorial Cemetery. For the sake of the town and its people, you must stop him!" Saul took his hand away from Dean's shoulder and before Dean's eyes vanished.
Dean was still standing staring at the space where Saul had been when Sam came into the room. "Dean? You okay?"
"I just had a visitor." Dean replied, his voice barely audible.
Sam looked at the door he had just come through and frowned. "I've been outside and no-one has come in. You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine and I know what we have to do." Dean said, grabbing his leather jacket.
Sam grabbed for his arm. "Dean, you should be resting! You'll re-open your stitches!" He said.
"Sammy, there's something more important that we have to do at the moment. I was just visited by the ghost of a guy called Saul. He told me that Conrad is behind all the disappearances. I know what we have to do. C'mon we gotta get to the cemetery."
"Okay, but afterwards, we come back to the hospital, okay?" Sam warned.
"Yeah, yeah. Sure. C'mon!" Dean said shrugging off Sam's hand.
The brothers made their way out to the waiting room where they ran into Felicity and Karla. Felicity intercepted Sam, "They called the police and they're on their way here! What do we do now?"
"C'mon." Sam said as he followed Dean out the main hospital doors.
"Flick, shouldn't we wait here for the police?" Karla said as Felicity grabbed her arm and began to drag her through the doors.
"Tell me Karla. Do you want to try and explain all that's happened to the police right now?" Felicity said as she ran to keep up with Sam and Dean. Karla didn't answer – she just jogged along behind Felicity.
"Sammy! Keys!" Dean said. Sam tossed the keys to his brother. Dean slid cautiously into the driver's seat, taking care not to pull at his stitches.
The four of them climbed into the car and left the hospital parking lot in a squeal of tires.
"Where are we going?" Karla asked.
"Point me in the direction of the Memorial Cemetery." Dean said, as he took the corner a little too fast.
"Whoa! Easy tiger!" Felicity said as she disentangled herself from Karla. "Wanna get there in one piece!"
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Please let me know what you think so far thanks.
