SPOV

"What if we all have it?" Pam- the assistant- asked. She was clearly in shock. "What if we all go crazy?"

"You've gotta stay calm." Dr Lee told her. "All we can do is wait. The marshals are bringing help."

But it seemed there was no getting through to Pam. "I can't, I... No, I've got to go." she started for the door that lead into the waiting room.

"Pam." Dr Lee called after her.

"No, you don't understand." Pam turned to her. "My boyfriend's out there. I gotta make sure he's okay." she said before leaving.

I stood, following right behind her. We couldn't afford to lose any more people. If she left, she was gone, and I couldn't have that.

"Hey, hey, wait. Wait, please." I hurried to catch her. She stopped and turned, giving me the chance to speak. "Look, I know you're upset, all right? But it's safer if you stay here for now. Help is coming." I assured her just before we could hear the sound of the Impala outside. "There they are."

"Sammy! Open up!"

I walked over to the door just as Dean, Lizzie and the Sergeant stepped up to is. Unlocking the door, I held it open for each of them before closing and locking the door again.

"Did you guys get to a phone?" I asked as I turned to my brother and friend.

"Roadblock." was all Dean said before nodding to the Sergeant as he gestured to Lizzie, me and himself. "We're gonna have a word. Doc's inside."

"All right." the Sergeant nodded back to him before walking off to find the others.

Once he was gone I turned to Lizzie and Dean. "What's going on out there?"

"We don't know." Dean was clearly frustrated and annoyed by the whole thing. "I feel like Chuck Heston in The Omega Man. The sarge is the only sane person we could find. What are we dealing with? You know?"

"Yeah, doc thinks it's a virus." I explained.

Dean looked surprised as he turned to look at Lizzie. "Like you said before...? This can't be real."

I wasn't sure what Lizzie had said to him earlier, but from what I'd seen so far, I believed it was real. "I think the doc's right."

"Really?" Dean looked more surprised.

"Yeah." I nodded. "And I think the infected are trying to infect others with blood-to-blood contact. Oh, but it gets better. The virus leaves traces of sulfur in the blood."

"You have got to be shitting me." Lizzie stepped back, shaking her head as she sighed. "A demonic virus?"

"Yeah, more like demonic germ warfare." I noted. "At least it explains why I've been having visions."

"It's like a Biblical plague." Dean muttered.

"Yeah. You don't know how right you are, Dean. I've been pouring through dad's journal. Found something about the Roanoke colony."

"And?" he pressed for more.

"Dad had a theory about Croatoan. He thought it was a demon's name, known as Dever or sometimes Reshef. A demon of plague and pestilence."

"Well, that's terrific." he smiled lightly, being sarcastic. "Why here? Why now?"

"I have no idea." I shrugged. "But, I mean, who knows how far this thing can spread. We gotta get out of here. We gotta warn people."

"They got one. In here." the Sergeant called.

This got Dean's and Lizzie's attention in an instant. They turned and started for the sarge, meeting him in the waiting room as I followed them.

"What do you mean?" Dean asked.

"The wife." I answered. "She's infected."

"We gotta take care of this. We can't leave her in there. My neighbours, they were strong." the Sergeant told us. "The longer we wait, the stronger she'll get."

Dean pulled out his gun without a second to waste before he walked past us all, headed for the storage closet we'd locked Mrs. Tanner in.

"You're gonna kill Beverly Tanner?" Pam asked, disgusted.

Before we did anything rash, I needed to know this was our only option. "Doctor, could there be any kind of treatment? Some kind of cure for this?"

"Can you cure it?" Dean pressed.

"I don't even know what it is." the doctor was terrified. The weight of someone's life was on her shoulders. But if we didn't kill her because of something the doc said, then the rest of us could die.

"I told you, it's a matter of time before she breaks through." the Sarge wanted this done now.

"Just leave her in there." Pam pleaded. "You can't shoot her like an animal."

Dean didn't listen though. "Sam, Liz." he nodded to us before he moved to the storage room door.

Lizzie and I followed him. As much as I didn't really want to do this, I could see we didn't have any other choice. So once the Sarge and Dean had their guns ready, I reached for the storage room door handle, unlocked it, and pushed the door open. All the while, Lizzie pulled out her own gun and took a step back just in case.

Dean and the Sergeant stepped into the room, guns aimed at Mrs. Tanner as she sat in the corner, her knees to her chest, tears running down her face.

"Mark." she looked up at the sarge. "What are you doing? Mark, it's them. They locked me in here. They tried to kill me." she cried. "They're infected, not me. Please, Mark. You've known me all your life. Please."

"You're sure she's one of them?" Dean asked me, needing confirmation.

I nodded. "Yeah."

Just like that, he stepped further into the room and shot the woman, pulling the trigger three times.

DPOV

The sound of glass shattering had Sam, Liz, the Sarge and I hurry to the back room where the doc and Pam were. Dr Lee was checking over a panicking Pam who seemed to have dropped some test tubes of Mrs. Tanner's blood.

"Oh, God. Is there any on me? Am I okay?"

"You're clean." Dr Lee assured her. "You're okay."

"Why are we staying here?" Pam turned to Sam, Liz and me. "Please, let's just go."

"No, we can't, because those things are everywhere." I thought that was pretty obvious, but this chick just wasn't getting it.

"She's right about one thing." Sam started, speaking lowly so Pam and the doc couldn't hear us. "We can't stay here. We gotta get out to the roadhouse or somewhere. Let people know what's coming."

"That's a good point." I nodded. "Night of the Living Dead didn't exactly end pretty."

"I'm not sure we got a choice. Lots of folks up here are good with rifles." the Sarge noted. "Even with all your hardware, we're easy targets. So, unless you got some explosives..."

He was right too. The moment we stepped outside, if we didn't have the proper cover, we we'd be goners. There were too many of us to protect, and too many places for people to be hiding.

"We could make some." Sam suggested, looking to a cabinet behind me. Walking past, he headed over and grabbed a bottle of potassium chlorate off the top shelf.

"Hey! Let me in! Let me in, please!" someone called as they pounded on the front door of the building.

All of us hurried out to see who it could be, and if they were a threat or not.

"It's Duane Tanner." Sarge told us as he moved to let him inside.

"Oh, thank God." Duane let out a breath of relief once he was inside and safe.

After locking the door again, Sarge showed Duane around through to the waiting room, the two of them passing Sam, Liz and I on the way.

"That's the guy that I..." I made a motion to signal cutting a throat.

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

If I killed him in his vision, there must be a good reason. Considering the situation, I was beginning to see what the problem must be. So without waiting a moment longer, I stepped up to Duane.

He was looking from face to face. "Who else is in here?"

"Hey, whoa, whoa, easy there, chief." I grabbed his arm before he could go any further. "Hey, doc, give Duane a good once-over, would you?" I told her as I pulled Duane to the back room.

"Who are you?" he asked me as all of us headed into the doc's room.

"Never mind who I am. Doc?"

"Yeah, okay." she nodded, knowing what to do.

"Duane, where you been?" Sarge asked.

"I was on a fishing trip by Roslyn. I came back this afternoon. I saw Roger McGill being dragged out of his house by people we know. They started cutting him with knives. I ran. I've been hiding in the woods ever since. Has anybody seen my mum and dad?"

"Awkward..." I muttered, earning a slight nudge from Liz.

The doc moved to check over Duane, back came to a stop as she stood in front of him. Leaning down, she checked out his leg. "You're bleeding."

Everyone backed up a little.

But I stepped forward. "Where'd you get that?"

"I was running. I must've tripped."

I didn't trust him. I didn't trust anything at this point. "Tie him up." I told the sarge. "There's rope in there." I nodded to one of Sam's and my bags we'd brought in.

Duane stood up. "Wait-"

I pulled out my gun in an instant. "Sit down!"

"Sorry, Duane. He's right. We gotta be careful." the Sarge explained before he moved to grab a chair.

"Careful? About what?"

"Did they bleed on you?" I asked.

"No. What the hell? No!"

"Doc? Any way to know for sure?" Sam was always the one needing to know all the options. "Any test?"

"I've studied Beverly's blood work backwards and forward." the doc answered.

"My mum?"

She ignored Duane and went on. "It took three hours for the virus to incubate. The sulfur didn't appear in the blood until then. So, no, there'd be no way of knowing. Not until after Duane turns."

"Dean, I gotta talk to you. Now." Sam told me before walking out of the room.

I turned to Liz. "You watch him. He does anything you don't like-"

She pulled out her own gun. "Shoot until he's dead." raising her gun, she aimed it at Duane, a focused look in her eyes. "I got it."

"Good." I nodded before following Sam out of the room and into another.

"This is my vision, Dean. It's happening."

"Yeah, I figured."

"You can't kill him. Not yet. We don't know if he's infected of not."

"Oh, I think we're pretty damn sure." I argued. "Guy shows up out of nowhere. Got a cut, his whole family's infected."

"All right, we should keep him tied up and wait and see."

"For what? For him to hulk out? Infect somebody else? No thanks, can't take that chance." I told him before moving to leave. He pressed a hand to my chest to stop me. I shrugged at him. "Hey, look man, I'm not happy about this. It's a tough job. You know that."

"It's supposed to be tough, Dean. We're supposed to struggle with this. That's the point."

"What does that buy us?"

"A clear conscience, for one."

"Well, it's too late for that."

"What the hell's happened to you?"

"What?"

"You might kill an innocent man and you don't even care. You don't act like yourself anymore, Dean. You know what? You're acting like one of those things out there."

Having heard enough, I went to leave again. This time when he tried to stop me, I grabbed his arm and pushed him across the room before leaving, and locking him in there.

"Hey." he rushed to the door, trying to open it. "Open the damn door. Dean." he called after me as I walked away. "Don't do it, Dean! Don't."

I pulled out my gun, checked to see how many bullets I had, and then walked back into the room with everyone else, closing the door behind me. Duane's eyes fell straight to my gun as I stepped up to stand next to Liz.

"No, no, no." Duane shook his head, terrified. "You're not gonna..." but the look in my eyes told him everything he needed to know. "No, no, I swear, it's not in me."

"Oh, God." Pam stepped back. "We're all gonna die."

Sarge turned to me. "Maybe he's telling the truth."

I shook my head. "No, he's not him, not anymore."

"Stop, stop it!" Duane gestured to the doc. "Ask her. Ask the doctor. It's not in me!"

Dr Lee looked from me, to Duane and then back. "I can't tell."

"Please, don't." Duane begged. "Don't, please. I swear, it's not in me. It's not in me, I swear. I swear, it's not in me." he cried. "Don't. Don't."

Raising my gun, I aimed it at his head. "I got no choice."

Finger on the trigger, I had every intention on shooting him. I knew it was what I should do. Taking chances hardly ever worked in my line of work. You shoot first, ask questions later. You deal with the problem before it got out of control.

But as Duane continued to cry, Pam and Dr Lee looked scared, Sarge was clearly unsure, and Liz continued to stand next to me with her gun now lowered... I just couldn't do it.

"Damn it." I lowered my gun, turned around and left the room.

EPOV

Standing with Dean and Sam, the three of us stood in silence as we made explosives out of whatever we could use and find in the building.

"It's been over four hours." Dr Lee walked into the room. "Duane's blood is still clean. I don't think he's infected. I'd like to untie him, if that's all right."

Dean didn't answer. He just looked away and got back to work. Sam was the one to speak.

"Sure, yeah." he nodded. Once the doctor was gone, he looked over at his brother. "You know I'm gonna ask you why."

Dean didn't stop working as he responded. "Yeah, I know."

"So, why?" Sam asked. "Why didn't you do it?"

I'd been there. I'd been standing right next to Dean. Seeing him ready to shoot the guy had scared and worried me a little.

If Duane had made a move, I would have shot him. He wouldn't have been a person, so I would have shot him. But until then, I wasn't going to do a thing. Not until I was sure. Yet Dean had walked into the room- without Sam- with the full intention of shooting someone just to be safe.

Knowing he was willing to do that for others eased my mind. But only a little.

Knowing he was willing to kill people without asking questions increased my worry. But my worry was for him, not because of him. Being able to do that must have done something to his mental health.

Not that I thought he was crazy. I was just concerned about him. He was my friend, and the last thing I wanted was for him to have to carry around a weight like murder. He was a good man, and better than that.

Ignoring Sam question, Dean cleared his throat. "We need more alcohol."

Seeing that Dean wasn't going to answer, Sam sighed and walked off to go get what we need.

The moment he was gone, I put everything down and turned to Dean. "I know it didn't feel like it at the time, but you did the right thing." I rested a hand on his arm. "And because of that, Duane has a chance to get out of this alive. In my eyes, that pretty much makes you a hero."

He stopped working but didn't look to me. "I was going to kill him, Liz." he argued.

"But you didn't." I shrugged. Without over thinking it, I leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. "I'll always remember that." I whispered in his ear.

His head turned to look at me then, our lips barely an inch apart. Our eyes locked, and I felt my cheeks redden as I thought about kissing him.

It wasn't the first time I'd thought about it. Hell, I'd thought about doing a lot more than just kissing him. Dean was attractive, funny, strong, great at his job, caring. He had a bit of a bad-boy attitude about him, but he was also one of the kindest people I'd ever met. He was everything a girl could want...

The sound of scream coming from the supply room had both of us turn to see the door now closed. We could hear Pam and Sam inside, struggling.

Pulling away from each other, we hurried to the door, pulling out our guns as we looked through the small window a saw Pam straddling Sam, holding him down. Sarge came to stand behind us, his gun out as well.

"Break the door down!" I yelled.

Sarge and I stepped back as Dean got in position before he kicked the door in, opening it. I stepped inside in an instant, both Dean and I shooting at Pam until she was on the ground unmoving.

"Sam." I went to step forward, Dean right there beside me.

But Sarge stopped us before we could finish taking a second step. "She bled on him." he told us. "He's got the virus."

DPOV

"Doctor, check on his wound again, would you?" I asked. When no one moved, I looked up at the doc. "Doctor!"

"What does she need to examine him for?" Sarge shook his head. "You saw what happened."

Dr Lee stepped up to Sam as he sat on an examining table. "Did her blood actually enter your wound?"

"Come on, of course it did!" Sarge snapped.

"We don't know that for sure!" Liz barked back at him. She'd come a long way from being scared of Sam this morning, to backing him up now.

"We can't take a chance." Duane argued.

"You know what we have to do." Sarge shrugged.

But there was no way anyone was doing anything to Sam. "Nobody is shooting my brother."

"He's not gonna be your brother much longer. You said it yourself." Duane wasn't letting it go.

"Nobody's shooting anyone!" I yelled.

"You were gonna shoot me!"

I stepped closer to Duane. "You don't shut your pie hole, I might." the only thing that stopped me from doing it then and there, was Liz's hand as she pressed it against my chest to keep me back.

"Dean, they're right." Sam spoke up for the first time. "I'm infected. Just give me the gun and I'll do it myself."

I shook my head. "Forget it."

Sam looked to me. "Dean, I'm not gonna become one of those things."

"Sam, we've still got some time-"

"Time for what?" Sarge interrupted me. "Look, I understand he's your brother, and I'm sorry, I am. But I gotta take care of this." he pulled out his gun.

"I'm gonna say this one time. You make a move on him, you'll be dead before you hit the ground. You understand me?" I warned. "I mean, do I make myself clear?"

"Then what are we supposed to do?!"

I looked to Sam again, before looking to everyone else. Reaching into my pocket, I grabbed my keys and handed them to Liz. "Get them out of here. Take my car. You got the explosives. There's an arsenal in there. You got enough firepower to handle anything now."

She shook her head. "Dean, I'm not leaving you two."

"Get them to safety." I nodded to the others as I spoke to her. "You deal with this. Get help if you can't stop it. Then go to the Roadhouse. Go back home... We've got it here."

"Dean, no, no." Sam clearly didn't like my decision. "Go with them. This is your only chance."

But I'd made up my mind. If Sam was going out, I was going out too. "You're not gonna get rid of me that easy."

"No, he's right, man." Sarge stepped towards me. "Come with us." but when I didn't say anything, he didn't try again. "Okay, it's your funeral. Come on." he nudged Liz before walking out with Duane and the doc right behind him.

Liz didn't move at first. She just looked down at the keys to the Impala, unmoving and silent. Then she turned for Sam and threw her arms around him in and tight hug. "I'm sorry." her voice shook as she spoke. Pulling back, she turned to me, I could see tears in her eyes. "If you make it out-"

I cut her off. "I won't."

Sighing, she stepped closer to me. "I won't forget what you did here today, Dean." reaching up on her toes, she pressed a kiss to my cheek, lingering for a moment longer before she stepped back and walked out. She didn't even turn around once.

Stepping up to the door once she was gone, I closed and locked it.

"Wish we had a deck of cards or a foosball table or something." I joked, moving to take a seat across from Sam.

"Dean, don't do this. Just get the hell out of here."

I didn't even have to think about my response. "No way."

"Give me my gun and leave."

"For the last time, Sam, no."

He slammed the icepack he'd been pressing against his wound, on to the table next to him. "This is the dumbest thing you've ever done."

"I don't know about that. Remember that waitress in Tampa?" I shivered at the memory.

"Dean, I'm sick." a tear rolled down his cheek as he spoke. "It's over for me. It doesn't have to be for you."

"No?"

I wasn't going to just leave him here. I wasn't going to let him go through this on his own. I'd always been there for him when we were growing up. I took care of him, it was my job. He was my baby brother and I loved him. If he was going down, then so was I.

"No, you could keep going."

"Who says I want to?"

"What?"

"I'm tired, Sam." I chuckled lightly, trying to soften the tension in the room. "I'm tired of this job. This life. This weight on my shoulders. Man, I'm tired of it."

"So, what?" So you're just gonna give up? I mean, you're just gonna lay down and die? Look, Dean, I know the stuff with dad had-"

"Your wrong." I cut him off. "It's not about dad. I mean, part of it is, sure-"

"Then what is it about?"

The sound of a door opening and closing shut us both up as I pulled out my gun, ready for anything. But as we looked to the window in the door, we saw Liz standing there as she knocked.

Sighing, I unlocked and opened the door for her. "I thought I told you-"

She stopped me there. "Shut up and come with me. Both of you." she told us before turning around and walking off.

Sam and I shared a quick glance at each other before we followed her out of the building. The others were standing on the sidewalk, watching our surroundings, with confused looks on their faces.

"There's no one." Liz shrugged. "Everyone just... disappeared."

As I looked around, seeing she was right, I found my eyes landing on the pole Sam, Liz and I had been looking at earlier. The work Croatoan still sat there, just like it had in that village all those years ago.

SPOV

"Well, it's been five hours and your blood's still clean." Dr Lee informed me. "I don't understand it, but I think you dodged a bullet."

I frowned, confused. "But I was exposed. How could I not be infected?"

"I don't know, but you're just not. I mean, when you compare it with the Tanner's samples..." she turned to the microscope again, only to freeze. "What the hell?"

That didn't sound good. "What?"

She shook her head. "Their blood. There's no trace of the virus. No sulphur, nothing."

Hearing that, it didn't ease my mind at all.

EPOV

"Doc, the Sarge and I are getting the hell out of here, heading south." Duane told Dr Lee as he and Sarge piled some stuff into the back of a pickup. "You should come."

"I'd better get over to Sidewinder." she shrugged. "Get the authorities up here, if they'll believe me."

I told her and the others when we'd left Sam and Dean, that we were actually marshals... They hadn't minded, but it meant we couldn't help with the cops or anything.

Sarge nodded to her before he got in the pickup with Duane, the two of them driving off.

"What about him?" Dean gestured to Sam, the three of us leaning against the Impala.

"He's gonna be fine." she assured him. "No signs of infection." was all she said before she offered a light smile and headed back into the building.

But despite all the smiles and waves goodbye, I wasn't feeling too good about the whole situation. There were too many unanswered questions, too many mysteries...

Dean turned to Sam, who shrugged. "Hey, man, don't look at me. I got no clue."

"I swear, I'm gonna lose sleep over this one." Dean shook his head, moving around to the driver's side. "I mean, why here? Why now? Where the hell did everybody go? It's not like they just frigging melted."

"And why was I immune?" Sam added.

"Yeah." Dean nodded. "You know what? That's a good question. You know, I'm already starting to feel like this is the one that got away." he opened his door before stopping. "Liz, keys."

Sighing, I walked around, holding the keys in my hand. "Can't I drive?"

He didn't even think about it. "No. Keys. Now."

Rolling my eyes, I handed them over as I walked past him, purposefully moving too close to him. "You're no fun." I pouted before I got in and waited for him to do the same.

DPOV

Liz was asleep in the back of the car. I found it odd how she could sleep anywhere and at any time. Sam and I didn't like the idea of her getting her own hotel room whenever we were staying in a new town, so she slept on the couch- despite the fact we offered her a bed every time. It just seemed she was used to sleeping in uncomfortable places and space.

Sam and I were out in the sun, standing by a river, drinking a couple of beers. We hadn't said much until Sam broke the silence.

"So... Last night. You wanna tell me what the hell you were talking about?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, playing dumb. I knew what he was going on about.

"What do I mean? I mean, you said you were tired of the job. And that it wasn't just because of dad."

"Forget it." I shrugged.

He shook his head. "No, I can't. No way."

"Come on, man. I thought we were both gonna die. You can't hold that over me."

"No, no, no. You can't pull that crap with me, man. You're talking." he pushed.

"And what if I don't?"

"Then I guess I'll just have to keep asking until you do."

I sighed, turning away from the water. "I don't know, man. I just think maybe we ought to... Go to the Grand Canyon." I nodded.

"What?" he looked at me confused, a slight smile on his face.

"Yeah, you know..." I shrugged. "All this driving back and forth across country. You know, I've never been to the Grand Canyon. Or we could go to TJ. Or Hollywood, see if we could bang Lindsay Lohan." I grinned.

"And what about Lizzie?"

"She can come with us."

He shook his head, chuckling lightly. "You're not making any sense."

"I just think we should take a break from all this. Why do we gotta get stuck with all the responsibility? You know? Why can't we live life a little bit?"

"Why are you saying all this?" he asked, smile falling. But as I shook my head and went to walk away, he followed me. "No, no, no, Dean. You're my brother, all right? So whatever weight you're carrying, let me help a little bit."

"I can't. I promised."

"Who?"

"Dad."

He looked a little surprised and hurt by that. "What are you taking about?"

"Right before dad died... He told me something." I'd been keeping this in for so long, it felt wrong. It felt like I couldn't do it anymore. "He told me something about you."

"What?" there was a slight fear in his eyes now. "Dean, what did he tell you?"

"He said that he... He wanted me to watch out for you, take care of you."

Sam shook his head. "He told you that a million times."

"This time was different. He said that I had to, save you."

"Save me from what?"

"He just said that I had to save you. That nothing else mattered. And that if I couldn't, I'd-" I cut myself short, finding it hard to even think the words, let alone say them.

"You'd what, Dean?"

I looked to him then, meeting his eyes. "I'd have to kill you. He said that I might have to kill you, Sammy."

"Kill me? What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know."

"I mean, he must've had some reason for saying it, right? Did he know the Demon's plans for me? Am I supposed to go dark side or something?! What else did he say, Dean?"

"Nothing, I swear." I answered honestly.

"How could you not have told me this?"

"Because it was dad. He begged me not to."

"Who cares? Take some responsibility for yourself, Dean." he snapped. "You had no right to keep this from me!"

"You think I wanted this?" I was keeping my voice as calm as I could, despite the fact I wanted to yell back at him. "Huh? I wish to God he'd never opened his mouth. That I wouldn't have to walk around with this screaming in my head all day."

He turned away from me. "We just gotta figure out what's going on then, what the hell all this means."

"We do? I've been thinking about this. I think we should just lay low. You know? At least for a while. Be safer. And that way I can make sure-"

"What? That I don't turn evil? That I don't turn into some kind of killer?"

"I never said that."

"Jeez, you're not careful, you will have to waste me one day, Dean."

"I never said that! Damn it, Sam. This whole thing is spinning out of control, all right? You're immune to some weirdo demon virus, and I don't even know what the hell anymore. And you're pissed at me and i get it. That's fine. I deserve it. But we lay low until we figure out our next move, okay?"

"Forget it."

"Sam please, man, Hey, please. Just give me some time. Give me some time to think, okay? I'm begging you. Please, men, please."

He gave a short nod in agreement, leaving the conversation there. But I knew we weren't done. We weren't even close.

Bamby