A/N: Happy Sunday! Sorry if the edits are really bad. It's finals week so I wanted to get this chapter up as quickly as possible so I could focus on studying. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I only own Allie Winchester
Episode: Bugs
Dean and I were in some random bar in some random town in some random state playing people for their money in games of pool and darts. We were somewhere south because almost everyone was in jeans, cowboy boots, and flannels. Oh, and the accents were dead giveaways too.
"That's all right sweetheart," Dean said to me after he shot the last ball, the eight ball, into the middle right pocket. It was him versus me and a random guy who was willing to bet one hundred dollars on the game. It was my job to make this guy lose the game while Dean played perfectly. We pretended like we didn't know each other. "Better luck next time." He swiped the money away from the guy standing next to me and started walking towards the bar area.
"Sorry," I pretended to act guilty to this guy so that he didn't notice that he had just been hustled. "I really thought I was going to beat that guy."
"It's all right," The guy, whose name I never bothered to get, said with a mischievous smile. He took another step closer to me so that we were almost chest to chest. My butt was against the pool table, giving me little to no room to escape. All I could smell was the alcohol that remained on his breath. "I know a way you can make it up to me."
I knew that's where this was going. To be fair, this guy was cute and if I didn't just hear him indirectly ask for sex because I "owed" it to him for losing the game, then maybe I would be interested on any other given day. However, the attraction was lost when he tried cornering me into having sex with him by not letting me leave.
"I'm sorry, I'm not interested," I tried stepping around him, but he grabbed my wrist tightly into his hand and basically yanked me back to where I previously was. I took a deep breath to try and calm myself down before I dug out my knife from my boot. "Let go of me."
"You lost me a hundred bucks," He glared at me. I glared right back at him. This guy got aggressive fast—too fast. If he was doing this to me now, whose to say he hasn't done the same thing to other girls in the past? This guy was scum. "You owe me."
"Hey," Someone said behind him. Dean stood there glaring at the man with his hands stuffed in his leather jacket, but if looks could kill, this guy would be dead meat. "I believe I heard her tell you to back off."
"This doesn't concern you. You can take my money but the girl is free game." The guy smirked. "Maybe when I'm done with her, I'll give you a turn."
My mouth dropped open after he referred to me as such an object. It isn't the first time a guy at the bar was nothing but a disrespectful bastard to me because all he wanted to was sex, but it still hurt when I was treated this way. It would hurt anyone's feelings that were to be in this situation.
Dean nodded before punching the guy in the face. He grabbed his bleeding nose, hunching over from the pain giving Dean another free shot at his face. He clocked him one in the jaw. Now, the guy was on his knees.
"Let's go," Dean held my hand and walked me out of the place before the guy could retaliate or the cops were called. Sam was waiting by the car, leaning on the hood and reading the paper. He had no interest in hustling people for money and he didn't want to drink so he stayed out here. Dean stopped in front of the car and looked at me concerned. "Are you okay?"
"What happened?" Sam asked, setting the paper down and standing up straight. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion but his eyes also glazed over with concern.
"Nothing, I'm fine," I shook my head, crossing my arms over my chest and looking away. I didn't like all this attention.
"Some asshole at the bar couldn't take no for an answer," Dean answered for me. I glanced up at Sam, watching his reaction slowly change from confused and concerned to angry and protective. "Every part of me wants to go in there and finish that guy off. I'll kill him."
"Dean, don't," I said. We were lucky enough not to be followed by the guy or have the police be called. I didn't want to jeopardize that or put me even more in the spotlight. "I could've handled it back there."
"I know you could've," Dean said. "But I didn't have the patience to wait."
"Are you sure you're all right?" Sam asked one more time. He was starting to settle down when he realized I didn't want anything else happening in that bar tonight.
"Seriously guys, I'm fine," I said, looking at both of them.
"…smash his head in," Dean was talking to himself behind me, grumbling on about how much he wanted to kill that guy. I gotta say, having protective brothers did come in handy every once in a while.
"I promise," I said one more time to Sam since Dean was off in la la land…his la la land being a murderous rampage. "Besides, I got us a hundred dollars to spend for the next couple of days."
Sam laughed, getting the hint that I wanted to change the subject. "You know, we could get day jobs once in a while."
"Hunting's our day job. And the pay is crap." I told him.
"Yeah, but hustling pool? Credit card scams? It's not the most honest thing in the world, Allie."
"Well, let's see honest," I hold my right palm out. "Fun and easy." I hole my left palm out higher in the air, showing that fun and easy out weighs being honest. "It's no contest. Besides, we're good at it. It's what we were raised to do."
"Yeah, well, how we were raised was jacked," Sam said as if proving his point.
"Eh, toh-mate-toh, toh-mot-toh," I waved him off and pointed to the paper. "Did you find us a new gig?"
"Are you sure you don't want me going back in there?" Dean pointed behind him. His mind was still racing with ideas.
"Dean," I warned.
"Seriously, Al. I haven't seen it get that bad in a while," Dean said. He was right. Dean hasn't seen it get that bad in a while, but I barely let guys hit on me when I'm around my brothers. What Dean doesn't know is that it can get that bad a lot. Hell, it can get worse than that, which it probably was going to if Dean didn't step in. Being a girl who only goes to sleazy bars late at night…its common. It sucks but its true.
"This is normal for you?" Sam couldn't help but get distracted again.
"So new gig or not," I asked, not answering his questions because I didn't want to talk about it. I get that Sam wasn't here so he wouldn't know, but I didn't feel like going into details about my terrible bar experiences.
Sam sighed, not wanting to move away from this conversation but did so anyway. "Oasis Plains, Oklahoma - not far from here. A gas company employee, Dustin Burwash, supposedly died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob."
"What's that?" Dean asked, pulling himself away from his thoughts and started listening to the case. He glanced behind him one more time at the bar and leaned forward to look at the paper.
"Human mad cow disease," Sam answered.
"Mad cow," Dean looked up. "Wasn't that on Oprah?"
"You watch Oprah?" Sam paused to look at Dean.
I smirked as I watched Dean get embarrassed. His mouth opened, searching his mind for something else to say. "So this guy eats a bad burger. Why is it our kind of thing?"
"Mad cow disease causes massive brain degeneration. It takes months, even years, for the damage to appear. But this guy, Dustin? Sounds like his brain disintegrated in about an hour. Maybe less."
"Okay, that's weird."
"Yeah. Now, it could be a disease," Sam shrugged. "Or it could be somethin' much nastier."
"All right," I clapped when I saw Dean look behind him one more time. If we didn't get out of there soon, Dean was going to charge back in there. "Oklahoma."
"Allie—"
"Now, Dean," I said, hopping into the back seat.
"Dammit," He mumbled a couple of other curses under his breath before hopping into the front seat and driving west to Oklahoma.
I was walking down what seemed to be an endless long aisle in some sort of enclosed transportation vehicle. I was alone with nothing but the strong stench of sulfur. Rows of seats were to my left and to my right, unoccupied. The windows on the side were small and shaped like an oval, letting the natural light through. I was on a plane.
I finally reached the curtain and ripped it aside. The copilot from the plane we saved in Pennsylvania was standing right in front of me. His once normal and human eyes were replaced with dark black orbs. He smiled at me, but there was no joy behind that smile—only evil. My heart raced so fast I thought it was going to explode out of my chest. I felt the sweat gather on my hairline, and my knees become weak from the fear.
He grabbed me by the shoulders and hauled me against the wall. "You're next, Baby!" He wickedly laughed. He opened his mouth to let the black smoke that was gathered in his body out into the world. I never got to see where it went.
"Allie!" I woke up to Dean's voice and two pairs of worried eyes looking at me. I straightened up in the back seat and heard a couple of cracks in my back.
"What?" I asked, but I knew what they were going to say.
"Were you having a nightmare?" Sam asked.
Great. I didn't want to worry Dean with another twin with nightmares. Although I'm sure he has his fair share with nightmares—I mean it comes with the job—I didn't want him feeling as if he had to be as worried about mine as we are with Sam's.
"Yeah, but it was nothing," I waved it off. "Just your average hunter's nightmare." But I was lying. Those black eyes have been visiting me in my sleep for months, always telling me that I'm next. It was what the co-pilot said to me in Pennsylvania.
"Okay," Dean said. He turned around. I knew he didn't believe me, or else he wouldn't have blown it off so fast, but I was lucky that he dropped the conversation. Sam on the other hand was still staring at me. "Well, we're here."
We were in front of a gas and power company building. In front was a man that Sam pointed out as the guy who worked with our victim.
"Travis Weaver?" Sam asked as we approached him.
The guy turned around, "Yeah, that's right."
"Are you the Travis who worked with Uncle Dusty?" Dean asked.
Travis narrowed his eyes at the word Uncle. "Dustin never mentioned nieces or nephews."
"Really?" Dean acted surprised. "Well, he sure mentioned you. He said you were the greatest."
"Yeah," Sam said.
Travis smiled, "Oh, he did? Huh."
"Listen, we wanted to ask you... what exactly happened out there?" Dean asked.
"I'm not sure. He fell in a sinkhole, I went to the truck to get some rope, and, uh... by the time I got back..."
"What did you see?" I asked.
"Nothin'. Just Dustin."
"No wounds or anything?" Sam asked.
"Well, he was bleeding…from his eyes and his ears, his nose. But that's it." Travis shrugged.
"So you think it could be this whole made cow thing?" Dean asked.
"I don't know. That's what the doctors are sayin'."
"But if it was, he would've acted strange beforehand, like dementia, loss of motor control. You ever notice anything like that?" I asked.
"No. No way. But then again, if it wasn't some disease, what the hell was it?"
I glanced at my brothers. That's what we were trying to figure out. Dean shrugged his shoulders, "That's a good question."
"You know, can you tell us where this happened?" Sam asked.
Travis nodded and walked away to get a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote down the address of an upcoming neighborhood he was in the midst of building when his partner died.
It wasn't hard to find which house was the one that Dustin—or should I say "Uncle Dusty"—died at. There was police tape surrounding the sinkhole. It was dark and deep inside. That would be a horrible way to die.
"Huh," Dean said, looking down into the darkness. "What do you think?" I was thinking of all the horrible ways I'd rather die than suffering in a dark hole all alone.
Sam lit the flashlight and shined it down the hole. "I don't know. But if that guy, Travis, was right, it happened pretty damn fast."
"So, what? Some sort of creature chewed on his brain?"
"Eugh, gross," I crossed my arms over my chest and tried getting that disgusting image out of my head.
"No, there'd be an entry wound. Sounds like this thing worked from the inside."
"Huh. Looks like there's only room for one." Dean said, looking at me as if I was the one that was supposed to go down there.
"You're crazy if you think I'm going down there," I told him.
Dean sighed and didn't even bother trying to fight it because he knew he would lose. He turned to Sam, "You wanna flip a coin?"
"Dean, we have no idea what's down there," Sam said as if it was crazy that Dean was even considering going down there.
Dean turned around and picked up a coil of rope. Then he walked passed us and neared the hole. "All right, I'll go if you're scared." He glanced once more at Sam. "You scared?"
Sam rolled his eyes and grumbled, "Flip the damn coin."
Dean chuckled and took a coin out of his pocket, "All right, call it in the air…" Dean peeked up one more time at Sam, "Chicken."
Dean flipped the coin and Sam caught it in mid air. "I'm going." Sam took the rope from Dean's hand and walked past us.
"I said I'd go," Dean said. There was a hint of smirk on his face.
"I'm going."
"All right," Dean put his hands up in defense while Sam began tying the rope around his waist.
"Don't drop me," Sam said as he lowered himself down into the hole.
Dean laughed to himself as helped Sam gently lower himself into the ground. I glanced from Sam to Dean and slapped my oldest brother on the arm. "You did that one purpose."
Dean looked at me. "It's not my fault he's an idiot."
I snickered next to him. Below us, Sam was groaning about the disgusting conditions from down under.
We drove away after Sam climbed back to ground. Sam was playing with a beetle he found in the hole. It was dead and it was gross. I didn't know why he was playing with it but it made me want to vomit.
"Ew, Sam," I finally said after I had enough of watching him examine this bug. "Can you throw that thing away or something?"
"Yeah, here," Sam pretended to throw the thing back at me. I flinched, thinking that he actually did it and slapped him across the back of his head after realizing it was a joke. He was laughing at me from the front seat. "That's not funny."
"So you found some beetles. In a hole, in the ground." Dean said like it was obvious. "That's shocking, Sam."
Sam shrugged, "There were no tunnels, no tracks. No evidence of any other kind of creature down there. You know, some beetles do eat meat. Now, it's usually dead meat, but—"
"How many did you find down there?" Dean asked.
"Ten," Sam said.
"It would take more than ten bugs to eat some guy's brain out," I said, still pissed at Sam's prank.
"Well, maybe there were more," Sam said.
"I don't know, it sounds like a stretch to me," Dena said.
"Well, we need more information on the area, the neighborhood. Whether something like this has ever happened before."
"I know a good place to start," Dean looked out the window and slowed down by a sign that said "MODELS OPEN. NEW BUYERS' BBQ TODAY!" "I'm kinda hungry for a little barbeque, how 'bout you?"
I smirked behind them, "I'm starving."
Sam was giving Dean a knowing look. Dean saw that and scoffed, "What, we can't talk to the locals?"
"And the free food's got nothin' to do with it?" Sam asked.
"Of course not," Dean said. "I'm a professional."
"I just want the free food," I admitted with a raise of my hand.
"Right," Sam scoffed.
Dean pulled over in front of a newly polished home. You could tell it was new by the way there was no speck of dirt anywhere on the building and the grass was the greenest green ever.
"Growin' up in a place like this would freak me out," Dean said as we walked to the front door. I nodded my head, agreeing with him.
"Why?" Sam asked.
Dean held up a couple of fingers as he counted off the reasons, "Well, manicured lawns, "How was your day, honey?" I'd blow my brains out."
"There's nothing wrong with normal," Sam disagreed.
Dean was having this conversation with the wrong person. Sam was the one who left this family so that he could possibly have a chance at this manicured lawn bullshit fantasy. Bringing up that old memory, pissed me off the more I looked at this house—a house that Sam could possibly be living in right now.
I shoved past Sam and Dean as this new attitude grew within me, "I'd take our family over normal any day."
Sam and Dean shut up after that as I knocked on the door. Sam and Dean stood behind me without saying anything when I man in his late forties opened the door. He was wearing a nice grey suit and a welcoming smile.
"Welcome," He said.
"This the barbeque?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, not the best weather, but... I'm Larry Pike, the developer here. And you are..."
"I'm Allie, and this is Sam and Dean," I said, pointing to my brothers behind me. I shook Larry's hand.
"Good to meet you," He said. "So you three are interested in Oasis Plains?"
"Yes sir," Dean replied.
"Let me just say - we accept homeowners of any race, religion, color, or" He looked at Sam and Dean respectfully, "... sexual orientation."
It took me a second to process what Larry said, but when I realized that he was indicating towards Sam and Dean being gay for each other, I snorted.
Dean's eyes went wide, "We're brothers."
Larry's cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
"Our father is getting on in years, and we're just lookin' for a place for him." Sam explained.
"Great, great," Larry nodded, happy with the change of conversation. "Well, seniors are welcome, too. Come on in."
Larry walked us through the house and into the fenced in backyard. People in both business suits and plain ol' clothing were eating hot dogs and hamburgers from paper plates.
"You said you were the developer?" Sam asked.
Larry nodded, "Eighteen months ago, I was walking this valley with my survey team. There was nothing here but scrub brush and squirrels. And you know what, we built such a nice place to live that I actually bought into it myself. This is our house. We're the first family in Oasis Plains." We approached a woman about his age. She was dressed suit pants and a blouse. "This is my wife, Joanie."
"Hi there," She smiled at us.
"Hi," Dean shook her hand.
Sam and I moved to shake her hand.
Larry smiled at all of us. "Tell them how much you love the place, honey. And lie if you have to because I need to sell some houses."
"Right," Joanie laughed.
"Will you excuse me?" Larry smiled at my brothers and I and walked away to talk to other potential buyers.
Joanie smiled at us, "Don't let his salesman routine scare you. This really is a great place to live."
A very energetic woman in a long black pencil skirt, white blouse and a blazer bounced next to us. Her black hair was pulled into a high bun. "Hi, I'm Lynda Bloome, head of sales."
"And Lynda was second to move in," Joanie pointed out. "She's a very noisy neighbor though," She said sarcastically. Joanie left us alone with Lynda. I knew I was going to forget all these names in a little bit. Just give me some time.
Lynda laughed, "She's kidding, of course. I take it you three are interested in becoming homeowners."
"Well…"
"Y—yeah, well…"
Sam and Dean both nodded nervously. I gave them a weird look.
"Well, let me just say that we accept homeowners of any race, religion, color, or..." She glanced between Sam and Dean, "sexual orientation."
I laughed again. Now I know why Sam and Dean were nervous a couple of seconds ago. I wrapped my arms around each of their elbows and pulled them close to my side. "They're really excited to start their new life together."
Dean forced a laugh and pinched my arm discreetly. I grimaced under the sting of his fingers, but made sure to keep the smile.
"Right," Dean said. "Um...I'm gonna go talk to Larry." Dean pulled away from my grasp and looked at Sam. "Okay, honey?" He walked away, slapping Sam's ass for good measure.
Sam bit his tongue so he wouldn't say anything stupid to Dean.
Lynda decided to fill the awkward silence by using her pitch to sell the house to Sam and I. My shoulders fell when I realized I got trapped in this boring conversation with Lynda when I should have went with Dean.
"…and who can say no to a steam shower? I use mine everyday!" Lynda smiled at us.
"Sounds great," Sam said, uninterested. I thought I was going to learn a new trick today: how to sleep with my eyes open while standing up. I looked up to see Sam focused on something else other than Lynda. I followed his gaze to the table behind her. My eyes went huge when I saw the giant ass spider crawling towards Lynda's hand. "Excuse me." Sam said.
Lynda walked away, not even noticing the spider. Being the weirdo that Sam is, he lets the gross thing crawl into his hand. Sam walked the tarantula over to a teenager who looked disappointed to have been caught.
"Is this yours?" Sam asked. I walked over next to him.
The guy took the spider back from Sam. "You gonna tell my dad?" He looked pissed off, like we were a bunch of rich folks wanting to tattle tell on kids.
"I don't know," Sam shrugged. "Who's your dad?"
He scoffed, "Yeah. Larry usually skips me in the family introductions."
"Ouch," Sam winced. "First name basis with the old man—sounds pretty grim."
"Well, I'm not exactly brochure material."
"Well, hang in there. It gets better, all right? I promise." Sam said. I turned my head to look at Sam with furrowed eyebrows. It never got better for Sam—only when he left for Stanford.
"When?" The boy scoffed.
"Matthew!" Larry yelled behind us. The three of us turned around to find Larry and Dean exiting the house and walking towards us. Larry was focused on the tarantula in his son's hand. "I am so sorry about my son and his…pet."
"Its no bother," Sam assured him.
"Excuse us," Larry walked away with Matthew.
We watched Larry talk down sternly to Matthew. He was using obnoxious hand gestures and his face was getting red from being so mad. I didn't get why though, it really was no big deal.
"Remind you of somebody?" Sam asked Dean and I, pulling me away from the staring.
"Dad?" Dean asked. Sam nodded. "Dad never treated us like that."
"Well, Dad never treated you like that. You were perfect and Allie is his little girl. He was all over my case. You don't remember?"
"Well, maybe he had to raise his voice, but sometimes, you were out of line," Dean defended our father.
Sam scoffed, "Right. Right, like when I said I'd rather play soccer than learn bowhunting."
"Bowhunting's an important skill," Dean replied.
I hated talking about this. "Whatever," I turned to Dean, ignoring Sam's hurt expression. "How was your tour?"
"Oh, it was excellent," Dean said. "I'm ready to buy." I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest. He looked at Sam, "So you might be onto somethin'. Looks like Dustin Burwash wasn't the first strange death around here."
"What happened?" Sam asked.
"About a year ago, before they broke ground, one of Larry's surveyors dropped dead while on the job. Get this severe allergic reaction to bee stings."
"More bugs."
"Gross," I said.
Dean nodded, "More bugs."
We walked out of there and back to the car. This time Sam was behind the wheel and Dean sat in the passenger seat, flipping through Dad's journal.
"You know, I've heard of killer bees, but killer beetles?" Dean asked, glancing at Sam. "What is it that could make different bugs attack?"
"Well, hauntings sometimes include bug manifestations." Sam said.
"Yeah, but I didn't see any evidence of ghost activity."
"Yeah, me neither."
"Maybe they're being controlled somehow. You know, by something or someone."
"Yeah, that whole Timmy-Lassie thing." Dean snapped his fingers. His eyebrows furrowed as he thought of something. "Larry's kid—he's got bugs for pets."
"Matt?" I asked.
"Yeah," Dean nodded.
"He did try to scare the realtor with a tarantula," Sam shrugged.
"You think he's our Willard?" Dean asked.
"I don't know," Sam shook his head. "Anything's possible, I guess."
Dean glanced out the window and stood up straight. "Ooh, hey. Pull over here."
Sam pulled into an empty driveway in one of the Oasis Plains homes. The lights were out and there was no car in the garage.
"What are we doing here?" Sam asked.
Dean got out of the car and opened the garage manually. "It's too late to talk to anybody else."
"We're gonna squat in an empty house?" I asked through the open back window.
"I wanna try the steam shower," Dean said, waving Sam to drive in. "Come on." Sam didn't move, reluctant to break into an open home. "Come on!" Dean yelled one more time. Sam reluctantly pulled into the garage and Dean closed it behind him.
The one thing that sucked about living in a vacant home was the lack of furniture in it. We had no where to sit or sleep. I was trying to make myself comfortable on the hardwood floor with one of the blankets from the impala.
"Hey, Allie," Sam said. He set Dad's journal dad on the floor next to him. He was sitting on the floor next to me with his back against the wall. Dean was currently in the steam shower, taking a hell of a long time too. I opened one eye to acknowledge that I was listening. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"
"I'd rather not," I said honestly.
"Come on, Allie. You've been mad all day. You know you can talk to me about anything." Sam said. I felt like I've heard that line a million and one times.
We were interrupted by the police scanner buzzing in Sam's duffel bag. We glanced at each other for a couple of seconds before Sam moved to get the scanner out of his bag. Someone else died in the neighborhood and the police were on their way.
I ripped the blanket off of me and glanced at my phone for the time. It was already six in the morning. I went the entire night without sleeping.
Sam walked to the bathroom door and knocked, "You ever coming out of there?"
"What?" Dean called out.
"Dean, a police call came in on the scanner," I yelled, pulling on a fresh pair of jeans.
"Hold on," He said.
"Someone was found dead three blocks from here," Sam explained. "Come on."
The bathroom door opened and Dean poked his head out, a towel wrapped around his head.
"This shower is awesome," Is what he said.
Sam rolled his eyes and walked away, "Come on."
We pulled up to a house that looked identical to the one we were squatting in. Only this time, there were police cars surrounding it and other people carrying out a dead body on a stretcher.
Larry was standing outside the house with an umbrella over his head. He was dressed in another fancy suit.
We walked up to him. He looked at us, surprised to see us here. "Hello. You're, uh, back early."
"Yeah," Dean nodded. "We just drove in, wanted to take another look at the neighborhood."
"What's going on?" Sam asked.
"You guys met, uh…" Larry glanced behind him at the stretcher, "Lynda Bloome at the barbeque?"
"The realtor," I nodded. That's the one Sam and I got stuck with while Dean toured the house.
Larry nodded, "Well, she, uh…passed away last night."
Wow I wasn't expecting the victim to be her. We were just talking to her less than twelve hours ago. For some reason, I felt guilty about it.
"What happened?" I asked.
"I'm still tryin' to find out. Identified the body for the police. Look, I-I'm sorry, this isn't a good time now."
"It's okay," Sam said.
"Excuse me," He walked away towards the police officers.
Dean turned around to look at Sam and I. "You know what we have to do, right?"
"Yeah," Sam said. "Get in that house."
"See if we got a bug problem," Dean said.
We snuck to the back of the house when the police were distracted and climbed in through the back window. We were in her bedroom. The air was still foggy from the steam shower. Someone outlined where the dead body would be with tape on the bathroom floor.
"This looks like the place," I said to my brothers, pointing at the tape.
Dean picked up a towel on the ground. A bunch of dead spiders dropped from the towel. Dean looked at us expectantly, "Spiders. From Spider boy?"
"Matt," Sam said. He shrugged, "Maybe."
I was thankful that we had a lead and we could go back to the house so that I could get some sleep. I was exhausted.
The next day we waited for Matt's bus at the bus stop by his house. His bus came to the stop after a couple of minutes of us waiting there. Matt walked off the school bus and towards the woods.
"Isn't his house that way?" Dean pointed to the opposite direction of where Matt was walking.
"Yup," Sam said.
"So where's he going?"
We glanced at each other before getting out of the car and following Matt. I waved my hand in front of my face, swatting the stupid mosquitos away from my face. This was just like being in the same woods we hunted the wendigo in. Except this time, we didn't have to watch our back for any scary monster.
Matt was standing by a tree, letting a huge grasshopper crawl onto the back of his hand.
"Hey, Matt," Sam said, causing him to turn around. "Remember me?"
"What are you doin' out here?" Matt asked, not amused to see us.
"Well, we wanna talk to you," Dean said.
"You're not here to a buy a house, are you?" Matt looked at us suspiciously. Dean shook his head. " W—wait. You're not serial killers?"
I laughed next to my brothers. In a way, we kind of were serial killers, but we just didn't kill people.
"No, no. No, I think you're safe," Sam grinned.
"So, Matt…you sure know a lot about insects." Dean said.
"So?" Matt didn't care for us being around him.
"Did you hear what happened to Lynda, the realtor?" I asked.
"I heard she died this morning," Matt replied.
"Mm, that's right," Dean said. "Spider bites."
"Matt…you tried to scare her with a spider," Sam said, trying to ease him into where we were going with this. Accusing him of killing Lynda and Dustin.
Matt caught on quickly, "Wait. You think I had something to do with that?"
"You tell us." Dean said.
"That tarantula was a joke." Matt shook his head. "Anyway, that wouldn't explain the bee attack or the gas company guy."
"You know about those?" I asked. Every report about the gas company guy said he had mad cow disease. There was nothing that mentioned the possibility of being attacked by bugs.
"There is somethin' going on here. I don't know what... but something's happening with the insects. Let me show you something."
Matt let the grasshopper go, picked up his book bag and walked away. I looked at my brothers and followed him.
Sam continued the conversation as we walked, "So, if you knew about all this bug stuff, why not tell your dad? Maybe he could clear everybody out."
Matt shook his head, "Believe me, I've tried. But, uh, Larry doesn't listen to me."
"Why not?"
"Mostly? He's too disappointed in his freak son."
Sam scoffed, "I hear you."
I almost stopped in my tracks to stare at the back of his head. He was seriously gonna bring up Dad right now? With some kid? We lived completely different lives than Matt and Larry. There was no way Sam could compare himself to these two.
"You do?" Dean asked Sam. He was offended too.
Sam turned around and gave Dean a look to be quiet. He turned back to Matt, "Matt, how old are you?"
"Sixteen," He answered.
"Well, don't sweat it, because in two years, something great's gonna happen," Sam told him.
"What?"
"College," Sam said. My heart dropped to my stomach. "You'll be able to get out of that house and away from your dad." Now there were tears stinging, threatening to fall. I couldn't listen to this anymore. I was tired of hearing Sam constantly making snide remarks about our father and how terrible he was to him—when in reality he wasn't that awful. Sam had no idea what he was talking about.
"What kind of advice is that?" Dean said. "Kid should stick with his family." Dean glanced at me and saw that I was near my breaking point. I don't know why Sam's words were affecting me so much. Dean wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side.
Sam sighed and ignored him, "How much further, Matt?"
"We're close," He said.
A couple of minutes later, I composed myself again. We reached a large clearing in the middle of nowhere. Everywhere you turned, you could hear thousands of insects hiding in the trees.
"I've been keeping track of insect populations. It's, um, part of an AP science class." Matt explained.
"You two are like peas in a pod," Dean shook his head, comparing Matt to Sam. I couldn't help but grin.
Sam glared, "What's been happening?"
"A lot. I mean, from bees to earthworms, beetles... you name it. It's like they're congregating here."
"Why?" I asked.
"I don't know," Matt shrugged.
Sam walked a few steps ahead of us. "What's that?" He was pointing a dark small mountain of dirt in the middle of the grass.
We followed him to the small mountain where we found hundreds of earth worms slithering away in the brown dirt. Dean lightly stepped on the dirt and it instantly caved in, creating a small hole in the ground. He reached over to grab a stick and poked inside the hole, hitting something with a soft clank.
"There's somethin' down there," Dean said.
Dean dropped the stick and stuck his hand down there in the hole. His facial expression was one of disgust as he dug around in there. I grimaced from the side, but couldn't take my eyes off of him. Dean eventually pulled something out of the ground and we looked at it horrified. No one was expecting him to pull out a skull.
My brothers and I immediately took the skull to the closest University. After we found the skull, Dean rummaged even more and found a couple of other human bones. We collected what we found and placed in the box Sam was currently holding.
"So, a bunch of skeletons in an unmarked grave," Sam started as we walked to the front entrance.
"Yeah. Maybe this is a haunting," Dean said. "Pissed off spirits? Some unfinished business?"
"Yeah, maybe. Question is, why bugs? And why now?"
"That's two questions," Dean answered like a smart ass.
I didn't bother trying to be in this conversation. Every time I looked at Sam, I am reminded that he loved his life at college more than he liked living with me Dean, despite our hunting jobs. I hated that his advice to Matt was to leave his family behind because it would make him happier. Is that how he really felt?
"Everything okay, Allie?" Sam asked.
Dean looked between us nervously. He knew I was pissed and hurt with Sam's comments and he wasn't going to stop me if I decided to verbally blow up on Sam because deep down, Dean felt the same way I did.
"No, Sam." I stopped walking, causing Sam and Dean to turn around and look at me. Sam looked surprised by my sudden outburst but Dean looked like he saw this coming.
"What's wrong?"
"How could you tell the kid to just ditch his family like that?" I asked loudly. I knew I was overreacting. Sam told the kid to go to college, but it was the message in between the lines that got me.
"Just, uh…" Sam shuffled on his feet awkwardly. "I know what the kid's goin' through."
Dean decided to step in, "How 'bout tellin' him to respect his old man, how's that for advice?"
"Dean, come on," Sam sighed. "This isn't about his old man. Both of you think I didn't respect Dad. That's what this is about."
"Whatever," I said, walking away. "Forget I said anything."
"I respected him," Sam said. I turned around and narrowed my eyes. "But no matter what I did, it was never good enough."
"So what?" I shook my head. "You think Dad was disappointed in you?" Dad was hard on all of us, not just Sam. However, Sam was the one that gave Dad the hardest time to when it came to following orders.
"Was?" Sam laughed. "Is." He corrected me. "Always has been."
"Why do you say that?" I asked, dumbfounded.
"Because I didn't wanna bowhunt or hustle pool - because I wanted to go to school and live my life, which, to our whacked-out family, made me the freak."
"Yeah, you were kind of like the blonde chick in The Munsters." Dean chimed in.
"Shut up, Dean," I said, not in the mood for his smart ass comments.
"You know what most dads are when their kids score a full ride? Proud." Sam said. "Most dads don't toss their kids out of the house."
"I remember that fight." Dean said, wagging his finger at Sam. "In fact, I seem to recall a few choice phrases comin' out of your mouth."
I remembered that fight too. We were all a motel room. Dad made all four of us share a room because he didn't think it was safe enough for one of us to get their own room—including him. He had to be around his kids at all times during the night.
I was doing my homework when the fight between Sam and Dad broke out. Dad told him that he couldn't go to college—that it wasn't safe for him to be on his own for so long, and I silently agreed with him—selfishly because I didn't want to continue this journey without my twin brother. He was the one who was always able to calm me down when things got too stressful.
Dean and I sat silently on one of the beds as Sam and Dad screamed at each other. Their faces grew to be so red and the veins in their necks were popping out of their skin. They were that mad. Dad told him no, said that if he left that he shouldn't come back. That was the breaking point for Sam. So when Dad left to blow off some steam at the bar, Sam packed up all his stuff and left. Our goodbye lasted for about ten seconds. He wanted to leave before Dad came back.
I glared, "Sam, Dad was never disappointed in you. He was scared!"
Sam opened his mouth to reply, but when he wasn't expecting that last part, he shut his mouth. "What are you talkin' about?"
"He was afraid of what could've happened to you if he wasn't around." I said.
"Allie," Dean tried warning me to keep my mouth shut, that if I were to keep talking, Sam would look stupid which would leave him in a bitchy mood.
I ignored him and continued. "But even when you two weren't talkin'... he used to swing by Stanford whenever he could." Sam's face dropped after hearing that our father still cared about him. "He would go to keep an eye on you and make sure you were safe."
"What?" Sam mumbled.
"Yeah," I said. "Just because you stopped hunting didn't mean that everything we hunted just stopped existing. I know we don't talk about it, but whatever the hell killed Mom is still out there. God forbid it found you while you guys were in the midst of your hissy fit."
It wasn't rare for me to sometimes blow up on one of my brothers. But for some reason, this specific explosion surprised Sam and sent Dean in silence.
"Why didn't you tell me any of that?" Sam asked.
"Dad may have not picked up the phone," I said with a glare. "But did you?" Sam and Dad's radio silence was a two-way street. Sam could have been the bigger person and picked up the phone, but he didn't.
"Come on," Dean said, stepping between the both of us. He was looking at Sam, knowing he wanted to continue the conversation—to make me feel better and make everything right. "We're gonna be late for our appointment."
I was the first one to walk inside and find the Anthropology department.
"So, you three are students?" The head of the anthropology department walked into the room. When we first met him, we handed him the bones to do some research on while we waited in one of his classrooms.
"Yeah, uh, we're in your class—Anthro 101?" Sam said.
"Oh, yeah," The Professor nodded, but in reality he had no idea who the heck we were.
"So, what about the bones, Professor?" Dean asked.
"This is quite an interesting find you've made. I'd say they're 170 years old, give or take. The timeframe and the geography heavily suggest Native American."
"Were there any tribes or reservations on that land?" Sam asked.
"Not according to the historical record. But the, uh, relocation of native peoples was quite common at that time."
I wanted to ask about the local legends and mention some of the other history of the land, but I couldn't seem to find my voice. It was like all my breath had been taken away from my last conversation with Sam.
Luckily, since he and I are twins, he had the power to read my mind. Well not technically, but whatever.
"Well, are there any local legends? Oral histories about the area?" Sam asked.
The professor nodded, "Well... you know, there's a Euchee tribe in Sapulpa. It's about sixty miles from here. Someone out there might know the truth."
"All right." Dean smiled.
We drove straight to Sapulpa after leaving the university. We stopped at the diner the professor told us to look for a man named Joe White Tree. He was a Native American man that apparently had the answers that we needed.
Just like he said, Joe White Tree was sitting at a table by himself playing with a deck of cards.
"Joe White Tree?" Sam asked as we approached him. "We'd like to ask you a few questions, if that's all right."
"We're students from the university," Dean added.
"No, you're not," Joe said, looking directly at Dean. "You're lying."
Dean seemed taken back. "Well, truth is—"
"You know how starts sentences with "truth is"? Liars." Joe said. He barely opened his mouth when he talked.
"Have you heard of Oasis Plains?" I asked, trying to help get the attention off of Dean. "It's a housing development near the Atoka Valley."
Joe pointed between Sam and I and looked at Dean. "I like them. They're not liars." I rubbed the back of Dean's back comfortingly so he wouldn't say anything else. Joe continued, "I know the area."
"What can you tell us about the history there?" Sam asked.
"Why do you wanna know?" Joe asked.
"Something... something bad is happening in Oasis Plains. We think it might have something to do with some old bones we found down there - Native American bones."
Joe sat back in his seat, "I'll tell you what my grandfather told me, what his grandfather told him. Two hundred years ago, a band of my ancestors lived in that valley. One day, the American cavalry came to relocate them. They were resistant, the cavalry impatient. As my grandfather put it, on the night the moon and the sun share the sky as equals, the cavalry first raided our village. They murdered, raped. The next day, the cavalry came again, and the next, and the next. And on the sixth night, the cavalry came one last time. And by the time the sun Rose, every man, woman, and child still in the village was dead. They say on the sixth night, as the chief of the village lay dying, he whispered to the heavens that no white man would ever tarnish this land again. Nature would rise up and protect the valley. And it would bring as many days of misery and death to the white man as the cavalry had brought upon his people."
"Insects," Dean said. "Sounds like nature to me. Six days."
Joe continued, "And on the night of the sixth day, none would survive."
Dean and I exchanged looks. We were coming up on the sixth day very fast if we weren't there already.
We said our goodbyes to Joe and sped walked to the car, our minds wracking with a dozen thoughts about the sixth day.
"When did the gas company man die?" Sam asked.
"Uh, let's see, we got here Tuesday, so, Friday the twentieth."
"March twentieth?" Sam stopped. Dean nodded. "That's the spring equinox."
"The night the sun and the moon share the sky as equals."
"So, every year about this time, anybody in Oasis Plains is in danger." I said, putting all the pieces together. "Larry built this neighborhood on cursed land."
"And on the sixth night—that's tonight," Dean said.
"If we don't do something, Larry's family will be dead by sunrise." Sam said. "So how do we break the curse?"
"You don't break a curse. You get out of its way. We've gotta get those people out now."
Dean sped down the street towards Larry's home. Luckily they were the only family in the neighborhood. Dean tried getting Larry out of the house sooner than we would get there, but his phone call wasn't working so well.
"Yes, Mr. Pike, there's a mainline gas leak in your neighborhood."…"Well, it's fairly extensive. I don't want to alarm you, but we need your family out of the vicinity for at least twelve hours or so, just to be safe." Whatever Larry said back to Dean was enough to make him stutter and hang up the phone.
"Give me the phone," Sam snatched the cell phone out of Dean's hand. He flipped it open and dialed a number. "Matt, it's Sam. Listen. You have to get your family out of that house right now, okay?"…"Because something's coming."…"You've gotta make him listen okay?"
Dean leaned over for the phone, "Give me the phone, give me the phone." He grabbed the phone out of Sam's hand. "Matt, under no circumstances are you to tell the truth, they'll just think you're nuts."
"I'll drink to that," I said from the back seat. I couldn't even tell you how many times Dean and I have been called crazy. "Give me the phone." I snatched it from Dean's hand. "Matt, tell him you have a sharp pain in your right side and you've gotta go to the hospital, okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, okay," Matt hung up and I tossed the phone back to the front seat.
"Make him listen?" Dean looked at Sam. "What are you thinking?"
About twenty minutes later, we pulled up to Larry's home. As soon as Dean shut the car off, Larry charged at us, fuming for making up lies and stalking his home.
"Get off my property before I call the cops!" Larry yelled at us. Matt came running out the door behind his father.
"Mr. Pike, listen," Sam said, holding his hand out in defense.
"Dad, they're just trying to help," Matt defended us loudly.
"Get in the house!" Larry yelled at his son.
Matt looked at Dean and I. "I'm sorry. I told him the truth." Damn you, Sam.
"We had a plan, Matt. What happened to the plan?" Dean said.
"Look, it's 12:00 AM." Sam said. "They are coming any minute now. You need to get your family and go, before it's too late."
"Yeah, you mean before the biblical swarm," Larry scoffed.
"Larry, what do you think really happened to that realtor, huh?" Dean yelled at him. "And the gas company guy? You don't think somethin' weird's goin' on here?"
He shook his head, "Look, I don't know who you are, but you're crazy. You come near my boy or my family again, and we're gonna have a problem."
"Well, I hate to be a downer," I glared." but we've got a problem right now."
"Dad, they're right, okay? We're in danger." Matt said desperately.
"Matt, get inside! Now!" Larry yelled.
"No! Why wont you listen to me?"
"Because this is crazy! It doesn't make any sense!"
"Look, this land is cursed! People have died here. Now, are you gonna really take that risk with your family?"
"Wait." Dean said, shutting us all up to look at him like he's going to say something important. "You hear it?"
I listened closely and heard loud buzzing coming from the sky that was slowly increasing in volume. My eyes went wide and my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. We were too late and now the bugs were going to eat us alive. I felt my anxiety level heightened. Why was I so afraid of bugs? I would rather be facing off with a demon or an evil spirit right now—hell being face to face with a shapeshifter would be better than being surrounded by millions of bugs.
"What the hell?" Larry said softly.
The buzzing was getting louder and my face was getting paler.
"All right, it's time to go. Larry, get your wife." Dean said.
"Guys," Matt said. He was looking at the sky.
Everyone followed his gaze and looked up at the sky. The once sunset colored sky was quickly being covered with millions of bugs, blanketing the sky.
"Oh my god," Larry said.
"We'll never make it," Sam said.
"Dean," I whispered. His face dropped when he saw how white my face had gotten and how fast I was breathing. Why was this so scary to me? I felt pathetic and weak. I was a hunter dammit. I was supposed to be tough and here I was…acting like a seventh grade girl.
"Everybody in the house!" Dean barked at all of us. He took hold of my hand and walked with me inside. I thought I was going to throw up. "Everybody in the house, go!"
We stampeded inside and locked the door behind us. Larry had his hands on his head, not believing that we were right this entire time. Matt was wide eyed and freaking out.
"Okay, is there anybody else in the neighborhood?" Sam asked.
"No it's just us." Larry said.
"Allie, you've got to keep it together," Dean said quietly. I knew he was trying to comfort me, but his words only made me freak out even more.
"What's wrong with me?" I asked, my voice shaking.
"I don't know, Shortstack. I've seen you take on demons and ghost without even blinking. And now your frozen in fear over a few bugs?"
My eyes went wide. "Do I have a phobia of bugs?" I said loudly. Dean shrugged. "That's so embarrassing!"
Dean turned around to look at Larry. "I need towels."
"Uh, in the closet," Larry showed him where the closet was.
Sam turned to Matt, "Okay, we've gotta lock this place up, come on - doors, windows, fireplace, everything, okay?" They walked upstairs.
"Phones are dead," Larry's wife, Joanie, walked in, holding the house phone in her hand.
"They must have chewed through the phone lines." Dean said. He stuffed the towels under the base of the front door. Then the power went out. He looked around. "And the power lines."
"I need my cell," Larry said, picking up his cell phone. He held it up in the air. "No signal."
"You won't get one," Dean said. "They're blanketing the house."
"Shit," Shivers ran down my spine. I blinked the tears away.
Bugs stuck themselves to the windows to the point where we couldn't even see out of them anymore. All I could hear was the buzzing. It was getting closer and louder.
"So what do we do now?" Larry asked.
"We try to outlast it. Hopefully, the curse will end at sunrise," Sam said, descending the stairs with Matt behind him.
"Hopefully?" I asked loudly.
"Allie," Sam stared at me, warning me not to make a big deal out of this or else I would scare the Pike family.
Dean came out of the kitchen with a can of bug spray. Bug spray? Against a million bugs? Was he joking?
"Bug spray?" Joanie questioned it too.
"Trust me," Dean said.
A creaking noise came from the fireplace in the family room. Time seemed to freeze as we all stopped what we were doing to stare at it. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I waited to be attacked. I couldn't force my eyes off of the fireplace to look for Sam and Dean.
"All right, I think everybody needs to get upstairs." Dean said. He grabbed my elbow gently in his one hand while he held the can of big spray in another. Even when we were supposed to be protecting the Pike family, Dean always made my safety his number one priority.
The bugs broke through the fireplace with a giant crack. They swarmed around us and yes, I did let out a girl squeal right next to Joanie. Her cry was louder which was the only reason why I still had a little bit of dignity left. We sprinted up the stairs, swatting away the small sons of bitches away from our faces. Dean was behind us spraying the bugs with the spray and a lighter so that a big flame erupted with it.
Larry opens up the attic in the roof and we climbed up the stairs. Sam helped me up and pushed me behind him—his way of protecting me from the bugs. Despite having an argument earlier, we were still there for each other.
Dean closed the attic shut behind him. The only sound that could be heard was our shallow breaths and the vibration of the bugs hitting the ceiling, the floor of the attic. Just when I thought we had caught a break in the attic, sawdust began to fall from the ceiling. The buzzing was getting louder as they chewed through the wood.
"Oh, God, what's that?" Joanie asked.
"Something's eating through the wood," I said worriedly.
"Termites," Matt said.
"All right, everybody get back," Dean ordered. "Get back, get back, get back!"
The Pikes moved together in the far corner of the attic and crouched down. A second later, the bugs finished off the ceiling and poured in through the attic like a waterfall and swarmed the room. Sam and Dean worked fast to try and cover the hole in the ceiling. I grabbed Dean's bug spray and lighter and used it, holding it out in front of me. They chewed in two more holes in ceiling. Sam and Dean stumbled backwards, overwhelmed by all the termites and other insects.
Dean took the bug spray away from me and used it himself. I crouched down and stuffed my head between my knees and covered my head with my hands. There was nothing else we could do. We were going to die and it was going to be a slow and painful death.
A couple of minutes later, the bugs seemed to stop and fly out the hole they came in. I looked up slowly and saw the light seeping in through the ceiling. Was it already sunrise?
Sam and Dean were the first ones to move and I slowly walked up behind them. The bugs were flying away from the neighborhood and towards the sun. My breathing started to even out and my heart beat was slowing down to a normal rhythm. Thank god, the bugs were gone. But out of all things to be afraid of…bugs? Really, Allie?
My brothers and I went back to the neighborhood the next day after some well deserved sleep. I mean, I didn't get much because all I could do was scratch myself constantly, thinking there were bugs crawling up and down my skin. I even showered twice in three hours just to scrub my body raw.
Larry was hauling a moving truck with a shit ton of furniture and boxes.
"What, no goodbye?" Dean asked him with a playful smirk on his face.
"Good timing," Larry said. "Another hour and we'd have been gone." He dropped a box and shook our hands.
"For good?" I asked.
"Yeah. The development's been put on hold while the government investigates those bones you found. But I'm gonna make damn sure no one lives here again"
"You don't seem too upset about it." I pointed out.
"Well, this has been the biggest financial disaster of my career, but…" Larry looked over his shoulder at Matt. He was doing some work in the garage. He smiled at his son, "…somehow, I really don't care." I was happy to see that such a shitty situation could somehow help this family with their relationships.
Sam walked over to Matt while Dean and I waited by the car. I pulled on the ends of my sweater, finding distraction in the fabric so I didn't have to look Dean in the eye. I knew he was going to try and start conversation with me,
"You know," Dean started. I told you. "You had quite the trip here in Oklahoma."
"What are you talking about?" I said, still not making eye contact.
"Waking up to your 'every hunter's nightmare'," He used air quotes when talking about my dream as if he didn't believe me when I said it was nothing. "Standing up to Sam the way you did, and finding your biggest fear and facing it."
"I can't believe I'm afraid of bugs." I said, more to myself than to Dean.
"Yeah, me neither. I didn't think you were afraid of anything."
I looked at my incredulously, "Really?"
Dean nodded, "Yeah. I swear that was the first time I really saw you look scared other than the time Sam left for college." There it was. The elephant in the room. "Speaking of…" I knew it. I lout of a big breath and turned to look at him, leaning my side against his car. "Now that you said what you had to say, I think we should cut him some slack." I opened my mouth to protest but he held up his finger. "He knows now, Allie. Let him process it and stop making him feel bad."
"He should feel bad," I whisper yelled at him.
"Allie," Dean warned me.
I bit the inside of my cheek and turned so that my back was now against the car. "Fine."
"Good," Dean said. After a couple seconds of silence Dean broke it. "Bugs? Really?"
"I can still hear the buzzing…" I mumbled.
Sam walked out of the garage with his hands stuffed in his pocket. He stood in front of me and Dean, looking out into the distance. We could tell by his face that he had something to say so we didn't move to get into the car.
"I wanna find Dad," He eventually said.
I kept my mouth shut like Dean wanted me to.
"Yeah, me too," Dean said.
"Yeah, but I just…I want to apologize to him."
Dean discreetly glanced at me like a smart ass. "For what?"
"All the things I said to him. He was just doing the best he could." Sam admitted.
I felt the air get lighter, happy that Sam could finally see Dad's side of the story and would stop playing the blame game.
"Well, don't worry, we'll find him. And then you'll apologize. And then within five minutes, you guys will be at each other's throats."
Sam laughed, "Yeah, probably." Sam looked at me. "I'm sorry, Allie."
I grinned, "Don't worry about it Sasquatch." I patted his bicep and hopped into the back seat of the impala. "Let's get out of here."
Sam and Dean followed in after me. Dean revved the engine and drove away, putting Oasis Plains in our rearview mirror.
"Really, Allie? Bugs?" Sam asked, looking over his shoulder at me.
"Shut up!" I screamed, plugging my ears with my fingers.
Great. Couldn't wait to spend hours in the car with my brothers and being the butt of all of their jokes. Yay me.
