So, in this ep we got to see how much Dean actually swears- though it's all bleeped over. I know I don't have him swearing through my story, but this side of him amused me, so he will be cursing in this chap, but it might not happen again…
Bamby
DPOV
I looked through the rear-view mirror to Liz as she sat in the back seat, looking out the window. Ruby hadn't been wrong when we saw her a few weeks ago. Since dealing with all those demons at the police station, Liz hadn't completely recovered. She got tired a lot faster than usual. Dizzy spells and headaches come and go. There were even a couple of times where she'd blacked out.
At first Sam and I thought it would be best if she stayed with Bobby, but he still went hunting and I didn't like the idea of her being alone. Besides, I had no idea how long it would take before she'd be better, and seeing as my own time was running out I really didn't want to give up any time I could spend with her or Sam.
Sure, this case probably wasn't the best idea. But it was something I'd wanted to do for years, and she insisted she was fine. As long as she stayed close and tried to be careful, we'd do the best we could.
I slowed the car down as we came to the only house on the street. Sam shined the light of his torch outside his window, taking a look at the house. Morton House, to be exact.
We'd found missing stringing along years. Whenever someone stayed at the Morton House on the 29th of February, they were never seen again.
"We doing this?" Sam asked.
Liz caught my eyes in the mirror, giving a gentle nod.
Turning back to Sam, I nodded. "Let's do this."
EPOV
Dean and Sam were sticking close to me as we moved through the Morton House. I understood why. They were worried. But I honesty felt fine. As long as I didn't move too fast or do too much... which was probably a bad thing considering our jobs.
But still, I didn't want to go stay with Bobby, which is what the brothers suggested after we realised it was taking me awhile to get better.
Moving through the house, we came to a stop as two lights turned to shine on us followed by the sound of two men screaming.
Dean turned his torch to them. "Freeze! Police officers! Don't move!" He moved forward, Sam and I behind.
"All right. All right. Take it easy, take it easy," Same told them. "Let's see some identification."
"Come on. Let's see some ID," I ordered.
The younger looking one who was dressed in camo gear, was practically shaking he was so scared. "What- are we under... under arrest?"
"We are unarmed," the one with the glasses assured us.
Dean took their ID's, looking at the camo guy's first. "Want to explain that weirdo outfit, Mr, uh, Corbett?"
Before Corbett could answer, the other guy no longer looked scared as he watched Sam and Dean. "I know you."
Dean paused a moment before shaking his head. "Yeah, sure you do. Give me some identification."
"Yeah, ho- whoa, hold on a second. I know the both of you guys. Yeah." Glasses nodded, gesturing to the brothers.
Corbett looked confused. "What?"
As I looked to each brother, I noticed the exact moment Sam seemed to recognise Glasses. "Holy shit!"
Just like Corbett, I was totally confused. "What?"
Sam looked to Dean. "Uh, West Texas... the... the tulpa we had to take out. Those two goofballs that almost got us killed... The Hellhounds or something?"
It took a moment before Dean seemed to remember. "Fuck me."
Glasses shook his head. "Yeah, we're not Hellhounds anymore, okay? It didn't test that well."
"Ed, what's going on?" Corbett asked.
Glasses- or Ed- answered. "They're not cops, buddy. No, not at all."
"Ed." Dean nodded. "Ed, you had a partner, too, didn't you? A different guy?"
"Oh, yeah, yeah."
"Is he around here somewhere?"
"He's running around, chasing ghosts."
"Okay, well, listen, you and Rambo need to get your girlfriends and get out of here."
Ed chuckled, stepping closer to Dean. "All right. Listen here, chisel chest, okay? We were here first. We've already set up base camp. We beat you."
Dean turned to Sam. "They were here first."
"Mm hmm." Ed looked so smug.
Dean grabbed Ed and pushed him up against the wall with enough force to cause a grunt to escape Ed's lips. I stood back a watched, smiling lightly. No one messes with Dean.
"Ed..." Dean started.
"Yeah?"
"Where's your partner?"
...
Now on the ground floor, in the front living room with the brothers, Corbett and Ed, I looked around at their gear. They had quite a bit of stuff for amateurs. Of course, most of it was useless. Most of it was camera stuff.
Are they filming a show? It would explain why they were both carrying cameras, and why Corbett had a few attached to his outfit.
"What are you doing in the Morton House, Ed. On a leap year. What are you thinking?" Dean was not happy. He heated it when civilians meddled with things they didn't understand.
"We're here to spend the night, okay? It's for our TV show," Ed explained as if that was common news.
Well, I was right about the camera.
Sam sighed. "What? Great. Perfect."
"Yeah, nobody's ever spent the night before." Corbett was a cheerful guy I noticed, even in these circumstances.
I looked over my shoulder to correct them. "Uh, actually, they have."
"Uh, we've never heard of them," Ed noted before shining his light on me. "And what's with the girl? She wasn't with you last time."
"Leave her alone," Dean warned.
"You wanna know why you haven't heard about the people that have stayed here? It's because none of them lived to talk about it." Sam dumped his bag on their table, reaching in to pull out some papers. "Look. Missing-persons reports going back almost a half century. John Graham stayed on a dare. Gone. Julie Wilkerson. Gone. There are tons more. All of them came to just stay the night through, always on a leap year. The only body they ever found was the last owner, Freeman Daggett."
Ed grabbed the papers, looking through them. "These look legit."
"They are legit," Sam told him. "Look, Ed, we ain't got much time here, buddy. Starting at midnight, your friends are going to die."
As if on cue, three people came rushing down the stairs, yelling and going on about something I couldn't quite understand.
"Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Guys! Guys! Oh, my god! Oh, my god! We got one! Corbett! Corbett, we saw one!" The skinner guy came rushing over to Corbett. "We saw one! It was a full apparition! It was like a class four. It was a spectral illumination! It-" He cut himself off, his eyes landing on Dean and Sam. "Hey, aren't those the assholes from Texas?"
"Yes," Ed answered simply.
I chuckled lightly. "You two are popular." I grinned at Dean.
The two new guys turned to me.
"Who's the hot chick?" the slightly bigger one asked, running his camera up and down me.
Dean rolled his eyes. "All right, let's have this reunion across the street, guys." He tried directing them to the front door. "Come on, come on. We'll get you ice cream. Our treat. What do you say? Let's go."
But they all ignored us, moving to crowd the computers.
The skinny one shook his head. "Yeah, I say no."
"Look at this." The girl gestured to the computer. "Look, look. Ed, Ed. No. No. Look at this. Okay, honest-to-god proof, all right?" She showed the group their footage on the laptop.
"Are you kidding me?"
"Yeah. No, not kidding."
"What kind of reading did we get?" Ed asked.
The skinny one answered. "Uh, it was a 10.9."
Ed was impressed. "10.9?"
"Yeah, it was 10.9. It was almost 11. I came out, and I was like, 'what's going on?' And I was like-" The skinny one cut himself short again, pointing to the screen. "Wait, watch this. Oh! He got blasted. It was crazy."
Shaking my head, I walked over to Sam and Dean as they stepped out into the walkway.
"Think we were off on this?" Sam asked. "I mean, that was just a death echo," he noted, having seen part of the footage.
"Yeah, but what's it doing here? Did anybody get shot here?"
I shook my head at Dean's question. "I didn't find any record of someone getting shot."
"Me neither," Sam added.
"What's a death echo?" We looked over to see the bigger guy standing a few feet away, recording us.
"Look, we got a problem here. That ghost ain't it," Sam told him.
"What's a death echo?" the guy repeated.
Dean sighed as he began to explain it. "Echoes are trapped in a loop, okay? They keep replaying how they died over and over and over again, usually in the place where they were ganked. It's about as dangerous as a scary movie."
"Chances are the echo isn't dangerous," I added. "But something else here is."
Dean nodded to me. "You're right. All right, we need to get out of here, guys. Come on. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Pack it up."
Sam started towards the others. "Guys, time is running out!"
"We're moving!" Dean ordered.
"What about all of our equipment?" the girl asked. "What are we gonna-"
Dean cut her off, "Lots of fun. Let's go."
"We got more material. We got all kinds of stuff. We'll make you guys recurring guest stars," the skinny one offered.
"Wait! Wait!" Ed called out, stopping all of us as he looked around the room. "Where's Corbett?"
...
Dean grabbed Ed, pulling him towards the door. Sam, Dean and I didn't need to say anything to have a plan. We all understood what had to be done. We needed to get these guys out of here. Then Sam and Dean would come back and look for Corbett while I kept the others safe.
But they weren't making it easy.
Ed struggled against Dean. "No man left behind."
A scream rang through the house.
Ed froze "That was Corbett."
With that, the nerds started to panic as they rushed for the stairs.
"That was Corbett! Corbett!"
"Corbett! it's okay!"
"Corbett, don't worry!"
"Where are you, dude?!"
"Corbett!"
"Guys!" Sam yelled after them, but they just kept going.
...
We rounded the corner of the hallway, finding the others as they continued to look for their friend. We could still hear Corbett's screams. But there was no way to pin point them. It was like they were bouncing off the walls.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Come on," Dean called.
Sam stepped up to the others. "He's not here. Let's go. Let's go."
The skinny one started to argue. "No. No. No. But that's Corbett. No, that was Corbett. Didn't you hear that?"
Dean ignored him, trying to lead them out of there. "Go, go, go, come on."
"He's this way," I told them. "Come on. He's this way." One by one they started following Sam and me.
"Here we go." Sam nodded. "Here we go. Keep it moving. Keep it moving."
Everyone was yelling over each other as we moved through the house. I knew there was no way we were going to get these guys to leave without their friend, but we needed to keep them moving and keep them together. That would hopeful keep the ghost from getting anyone else.
...
I stood with the brother by the front door again, watching as Sam tried to open the door. But it was too late. It was past midnight.
Giving up, Sam stood, turning to his brother, pissed. "Well, it's 12:04, Dean. You good? You happy?"
"Yeah, I am happy," Dean answered sarcastically.
I stepped back as Sam shook his head at him. "'Let's go hunt the Morton house,' you said, 'it's our Grand Canyon'."
"Sam, I don't want to hear this."
"You got two months left, Dean. Instead, we're gonna die tonight." Sam picked up a chair and threw it at the door. It smashed on impact, breaking into pieces.
"Whoa!" The bigger guy- who I now knew was called Spruce- came over to us. "What the hell is going on guys?"
Sam turned to him, still very, very pissed. "I'll tell you what's going on. Every door, every window, I'm guessing every exit out of this house. They're all sealed."
Maggie- the girl- had overheard him. "But w-why are they sealed?"
"It's a supernatural lockdown, okay?" Dean explained. "Whatever took Corbett doesn't want us to leave, and it's no death echo. This is a bad mother, and it wants us scared."
One of the EMF readers began to go off suddenly.
Spruce looked through his camera. "Uh, guys, the camera's fritzing again."
Ed checked the EMF reader. "Whoa. Whoa. Guys, the EMF's starting to spike. This is a big one!"
"Okay." I stepped closer to everyone. "Stay close. Something's coming, so everyone stick together."
Another apparition appeared.
It was a heavy-set man who appeared to be drunk. He clearly had no idea he was a ghost, which was normal for an echo, as he played out what must have been his last moments alive.
"Is this the same echo you guys saw earlier?" Dean asked.
"No, it's a different guy," Harry- the one, besides Ed, who recognised the guys- answered.
Dean sounded as confused as I felt. "Multiple echoes? What the hell's going on?"
Sam shook his head. "Beats me."
"Okay. All right. All right. All right." Dean moved to the apparition, standing in front of it as he began to yell and wave his hands around. "Uh, hey, buddy! Hey. Hey. Wake up. You're dead! Hello!"
"What's he doing?" Harry turned to Sam and I. "What's he doing?"
"It's rare, but sometimes you can shock an echo out of its loop if you can talk to the part of the ghost that's still human," Sam explained.
"But usually you have to have some kind of connection to the deceased," I added.
"Come on!" Dean was still yelling. "Wake up! Be dead! Huh?"
"You guys hear that?" Harry asked, looking around.
Ed seemed to hear it too. "What's that sound?"
"You guys hear that?" Harry repeated, freaking out.
"Snap out of it, buddy, huh?" Dean kept going. "Come on, what are you waiting for? You're gonzo! You're dead!"
Suddenly, bright lights shined on the apparition before we heard the sound of a train horn blearing. It was as if the apparition was hit by an invisible force, flying backwards as blood spurted over the place like if a train had hit him.
We all flinched back at the brutality of the moment. Then it was all gone.
When it was over, Harry was looking around again, still freaked. "Where the hell did it go?"
...
"Dude, there's no records of any of this here. No one got shot here. Obviously, no one got run over by a freaking train." Dean told Sam and I as we walked through the house, trying to find Corbett or anything that could help us get the hell out of here.
The other were right behind us, scared and way out of their league.
"Did the echoes take Corbett?" Maggie asked.
"Yes," Dean answered automatically before he corrected himself. "No. I don't know. We don't know what's doing what here. That's what we're trying to figure out, okay?
"All right, stay close," Sam told them. "Okay, look, um, death echoes are ghosts, okay? Now, ghosts. They usually haunt places where they lived or where they died."
"Except these mooks didn't live or die here," Dean noted.
"So, what are they doing here?" Maggie was doing all the questioning as she filmed us.
"Hey, give the lady a cigar." Dean turned to her, grinning sarcastically. Until his eyes landed on the camera. "All right, seriously, does looking at this nightmare through that camera make you feel better or something? I mean..."
"Um... I, uh..." She hesitated before nodding. "Well, yeah. Uh, yeah. I think so. Mm-hm."
Before Dean could respond, I grabbed his arm and pulled him along.
...
We entered some kind of office, with stuffed animal heads on the walls. Taxidermy freaked me out, but dusty, old, creepy taxidermy? Yeah this was the worst.
Sam moved to one of the desks, grabbing what looked like a framed certificate. "Freeman Daggett, house's last owner, officially commended for 20 years of fine service at the Gamble General Hospital."
"He was a doctor?" Dean and I asked at the same time.
Sam shook his head, turning to us. "Janitor."
"This looks like his den," Dena noted. "When'd you say he died. '64?"
"Yeah, heart attack." Sam answered.
"What are these, C-rations?" Maggie shined her torch light on a cabinet full of boxes.
Dean moved over to check it out. "Yeah, army-issued, three squares. Like a lifetime supply."
"God, is that all he ate?"
"One-stop shopping."
I moved to one of the lockers, finding a safe. When I tried it, it wouldn't budge. "We got a locked one," I called over my shoulder. A moment after, Dean was behind me, but before he could do anything, I used my mind to unlock it.
Dean turned to me, disapproving. "Liz."
"I know. But it's faster and we don't have a lot of time," I noted. I was vaguely aware of Ed talking behind us. "You know, I could even try getting us out-"
"No," Dean cut me off sharply, stepping closer. "No more, Liz." He left no room for discussion as he pulled open the locker and took the large box out of it.
"Huh." Sam began to read for a pamphlet he found, "'Survival Under Atomic Attack' An optimist."
Dean put the box down on one of the tables and started going through it. "Crap." He threw some stuff out. "Crap." He threw more out. "Taxidermy." More thrown out. "Okay. You said Daggett was a hospital janitor?"
"Yeah." Sam nodded, coming over as we all watched Dean.
"Eww." Dean pulled out three tags. "Got three toe tags here. One, death by gunshots, train accident, and suicide."
My face twisted in disgust. "Oh, God! Eww."
Sam looked just as grossed out as he stood next to me. "Eww!"
Harry looked confused. "What?"
"Well, that explains why all the death echoes are here." Sam tuned to the others to explain. "They're here because their bodies are here... somewhere in the house?"
"Daggett brought the remains home from the morgue," I added.
"To play," Dean finished.
It took a moment before Harry and Ed got it. "Eww! Ugh!"
Spruce shook his head. "That's nasty, dude."
"Right." Sam nodded.
Dean paused a moment, looking around the room. "Wait a minute."
I sighed, realising what he'd noticed. "Where's Maggie?"
DPOV
I found Maggie in one of the rooms, freaking herself out as she tried to find Corbett. She turned to me, her flash light shining in my face as she jumped and gasped.
"Closer to the herd, okay?" I told her.
"Maggie?" Harry came rushing over, with the others behind him. "Maggie?"
"She's fine," I assured them.
Liz and Sam waited for me before we lead them back through the house again. I watched Liz carefully. I hated the fact she'd used her abilities. It may have only been for something small, but I was beginning to think it was like an addiction. She used it for anything and everything, and couldn't seem to stop.
"Harry. Harry, I got an 8.6 and climbing fast. Something huge is coming. Look. Something big is coming." Ed called as we all entered the office again.
Harry checked his watch. "It's past 11, you guys."
"What?" I stopped in the middle of the room, not liking the sound of that. "Nobody move! Hold on. Hold on. Stay quiet."
The torches went out, leaving us in the dark.
"No!" Liz yelled out before there was a crash against some boxes.
"Liz." I tried following the noise, moving towards it. "Liz!"
The torches flicked on suddenly.
I found Liz lying in a pile of boxed rations, looking a little out of it. Moving to help her, I made sure she was okay.
"What happened?"
She shook her head. "I felt something touch me and I tried pushing it away, but I couldn't see. Next thing I knew, I was the one flying through the-" She cut herself short as she looked over my shoulder. "Where's Sam?"
I spun around to see Sam missing from our group. "Sam?" I called. "Sam?"
Spruce looked around the room from where he stood, recording. "Where'd he go?"
Maggie gasped. "Oh, no."
I moved to where Sam had been standing, the only sign he'd been there was hi torch that sat on the ground. I picked it up and stood again, tensing my jaw as a bad feeling settled in my stomach.
"Sam!"
EPOV
Dean's hand had a firm grip on mine as he stormed through the house, looking for his brother. "Sammy!"
"Corbett!" Ed called. "Sam!"
"Corbett! Talk to us!" Harry joined.
"Sam!" Dean's panic was practically radiating off him. It was increasing my own worry, which was making me feel worse.
Whatever had pushed me had been strong, and I was still a little woozy from the impact. But Sam's safety was more important at that moment, so I was determined to fight though it for the sake of my friend.
"Corbett! Corbett!"
"Sam!"
"Sammy!"
...
"Dean." I tugged on his arm, looking behind us. "Dean, we lost the others."
He came to a sudden halt, turning to see that we had, in fact, lost the others. All of them. They were gone.
"Great!" He groaned as his grip tightened on my hand.
We followed the sound of what I guessed was arguing and some kind of fight.
When we found Spruce, he was standing in a doorway, filming Ed and Harry struggle with each other in the worst fight I'd ever seen. Maggie stood off to the side, yelling at them to stop.
Dean pushed through the group, letting go of my hand as he grabbed Ed and Harry, pulling them apart. "What the fuck are you doing?! Cut it out! We're down by two people." Shaking his head, he came back to me, grabbing my hand again as we continued our search. "Sam! Sammy!"
SPOV
I was tied to a chair in an almost completely dark room. If it wasn't for the lights on Corbett's many cameras, I wouldn't have been able to see anything as I woke up.
We were in the basement, sitting and tied to a chair each. We were both on the ends of a table, some of the other chairs occupied by what I assumed were the bodies of the echoes that were stuck here.
The place was a mess, covered in thick layers of dust and many spider webs. But I could still see the gist of how everything was decorated. It was like some old, twisted children's birthday party.
It's My Party was playing in the background, skipping so it repeated the chorus over and over again. Cake sat on the confetti covered table, party hats on the corpses' heads.
On the other end of the table, Corbett began to wake.
"Corbett," I called to him with hushed tones. "Corbett. Hey. Corbett, hey."
Slowly, he woke up and looked over at me. "Sam?"
"Corbett, hey, you got to keep listening to my voice, okay? I'm right here. Stay awake."
"Don't listen," another voice spoke. I watched as a tall man- who I assumed was Dagget- came into view, picking something off the table before moving to stand behind Corbett. "It stops hurting, so don't worry."
I tried to sound calm as I focused on Corbett, but my voice still shook a little. "Corbett, stay with me. Stay with me, you got it? I'm right here. Hey. Stay with me. Don't," I told Dagget. "Don't!"
He ignored me, piercing whatever he'd grabbed right through the back of Corbett's throat until it poked through the front, killing Corbett.
"No. Corbett! No! Corbett!"
DPOV
"Corbett! Where'd you guys go?"
"Where are you guys?"
"Dean, what are you doing?"
I sat Liz down on the chair next to me, the stress and everything tiring her out. Yeah, maybe hunting with her like this wasn't our best idea.
But we were here now, and I had to work, which is why I was going through Dagget's box of thing's again.
"Okay, so Daggett was a cold war nut, okay? He was- he was an amateur taxidermist. He liked to slow dance with cadavers, and all he ate were C rations. So what the hell are we looking for?!" I threw some stuff off the table.
Maggie shook her head. "Horrible little life."
I paused at her words. "Yeah, a lonely life... a cold war life. He was scared. He was scared... he was scared."
"Scared of what? What?" Harry called after me as I grabbed Liz's hand again and rushed out of the room, pulling her along. "Dean, where are you going?"
"Wait, don't leave me in here, you guys." Maggie followed behind the rest of us.
...
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where are you going?"
I let go of Liz's hand as I answered Maggie's question and moved to the basement door. "Guys like Daggett back then, the ones who were really scared of the Russkies. They built bomb shelters. I'm guessing he's got one. I'll bet you it's in the basement."
Opening the door, I stepped in and headed down the stairs, Spruce right behind me with the other close behind. That was until the basement door slammed shut.
Spruce paused, looking at the closed door. "Um, who closed the door?"
"Shit." I hurried back up to the door. "It did. It wants to separate us," I told him as I tried the handle, but it wouldn't budge. Without having to see her, I could practically feel Liz getting ready to open the door with her mind. "Don't, Liz!"
"Dean?" She was right there on the other side.
"Listen to me! Get the others, go to my duffle bag and get the salt! Make a circle and get inside!"
"But Dean-"
I sighed, hearing how much she was hating this, which was about the same amount as I was hating it. "Liz, just do it, please."
There was a short pause before she answered. "Okay, just... be safe."
We didn't need to say anything else before we moved, getting to work.
EPOV
Despite how crap I felt and how worried I was, I still managed to make a ring of salt and order the others to get in it with me.
"Guys, guys, I don't want to die, okay?" Harry looked to his friends, clearly freaking out on a massive scale. "And I don't want you to die."
"Harry, listen- listen to me, okay?" Ed put a hand on Harry's shoulder to show some kind of support. "Listen. If we don't die... it's totally okay if you, uh, do my sister."
I rolled my eyes and groaned, while Maggie punched Ed.
"Nice." She glared at him. There was a pause before out lights began to flicker. "Hey guys, hey guys, it's coming again," she noted, looking through the camera.
"Oh, god. Oh, okay. Guys. Get in close." Ed pulled the three of them together so they were huddled in a circle.
I kept my back to them, facing the outside of the circle, watching for whatever was coming. Despite Sam and Dean not wanting me to use my ability, if I had no other choice, I was going to do it.
"Oh, god."
"Oh god, oh god."
As I continued to look around, I froze as an apparition appeared. Only it wasn't just any apparition... it was Corbett. A bloody, frozen on the spot, unable to speak, Corbett.
DPOV
Spruce followed me as I searched the basement, his camera watching my every move. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
"What?"
"Earlier, you, Sam and Lizzie... Sam said you had two months left?"
"Yeah, it's complicated. A while ago..." I cut myself and stopped, looking at the camera. "No. No. No. I'm not gonna whine about my fucking problems to some fucking reality show. I'm gonna do my fucking job." Shaking my head, I continued my search.
"Is it cancer?"
"Shut up," I snapped, moving on. Until I was stopped by some kind of sound. "You hear that?"
"Is that music?"
"Yeah, it's coming from behind this wall." I gestured to a cabinet before grabbing and moving it out of the way, pulling it from the wall.
"Wow, you're strong."
I turned to flip the camera off before I moved to open the door I'd uncovered. When it wouldn't open, I broke it down. "Sam!" Stepping in, I moved quickly, pulling out my gun and shooting Dagget.
Hurrying over I started untying Sam as Spruce moved to look around the room.
"Oh god." He filmed all the dead bodies, the camera stopping on the newest one. "Oh, no, Corbett."
EPOV
We all sat in the circle, waiting. Well, I was waiting, the others were waiting and freaking out.
"Oh god, what have we done?" Ed rocked himself pack and forth. "Oh god."
"Ed." Harry rested a hand on his friend's shoulder, stopping his rocking. "Ed."
"Yeah?"
"Corbett's a- he's a death echo. He's reliving his own murder."
"Over and over forever," Maggie added.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, taking a deep breath to control my annoyance. Dean better hurry up.
SPOV
"What's this Daggett guy's problem anyway?" Spruce asked as the three of us left the bunker and walked into the basement.
"Loneliness," I answered.
"What, he's never heard of a Realdoll?" Dean was only half joking.
"No, no, no." I shook my head. "Daggett was the Norman Bates, stuff-your-mother kind of lonely. I mean, that's why he lifted these bodies from the morgue, threw himself a birthday party, except they were the only ones who would come. Anyway, so, at midnight, he sealed them in the bomb shelter and went upstairs and OD'd on horse tranqus."
Dean looked to me, confused. "How do you know this?"
"'Cause he told me."
"Oh." He nodded, surprised. "Okay, so now that he's dead, what? Same song, different verse, trying to get people to come to his party?"
"Pretty much, yeah. Stay forever."
"Are those real bullets?" Spruce gestured Dean's gun.
"It's rock salt."
EPOV
Harry was singing softly, staring blankly ahead. "Ghostfacers. We go to places the others will not. Ghostfacers. Stay in the kitchen when the kitchen gets hot."
The lights began to flicker again.
"Guys?" Maggie faced the camera towards the walkway. "Corbett..."
Once again, he appeared, acting just like he had before. Unmoving and silent, moving slightly and making undiscernible noises as if he were choking.
Ed paused as if he just realised something. "Guys, it's-it's Corbett. He's-he's-he's trapped. He's in a lot of pain, you know? We got to try and... We got to try and pull him out of his loop. We have to." he stood quickly, turning to face Corbett.
"Ed?" Harry watched him.
"Corbett. Corbett, it's- oh, God."
"Don't cross the line of salt."
Ed hesitated a moment before shaking his head and stepping over the salt. "I gotta do it, Harry. Corbett, listen to me. Okay, I'm not gonna hurt you. Listen. Listen. Oh, god. Corbett. Oh."
"Get back!" Harry warned.
Corbett's ghost began to flicker, causing Ed to jump back and retreat back into the circle.
Ed shook his head in defeat. "I can't, okay? He's not hearing me, okay? He won't stop dying."
DPOV
I was trying to break down the door so we could get out of the basement. Part of me was actually wishing for Liz's help. But I was glad she had listened to me and left the door alone. I just hoped she and the others were okay.
"Seriously?" Sam looked to Spruce who was still recording. "You're still shooting?"
"It makes him feel better," I explained. "Don't ask."
The light began to flicker then.
"Ah, hell, guys. Get in your ghost-role thing. Something's coming." Spruce warned as he spun around. He yelled out as Dagget pushed him to the ground, "Oh, my- oh!"
Dagget moved towards him, but Sam reacted quickly, shooting the ghost. Dagget disappeared... for the time being.
EPOV
Harry nodded. "I... I know how we can get through to him."
"How?" Ed asked.
"Ed..." Harry hesitated a moment before going on. "He had feelings for you."
Ed looked totally confused. "Huh?"
"He wanted you," Harry explained.
"Wa-wanted me to what?"
I rolled my eyes, patience gone. "Corbett was in love with you. He was gay for you."
Harry nodded at me. "Exactly." He turned back to Ed. "And you know what you've got to do. You can do it, Ed. You've always been the brave one. Yes, you can. You make us brave. Maggie, right?"
She nodded quickly. "Yeah. Yeah you do. You totally do."
"Ed... you got to go be gay for that poor, dead intern. You got to send him into the light," Harry encouraged.
Ed hesitated a moment, looking over to Corbet before he carefully steeped out of the circle and over to the apparition. "Corbett."
"Maggie, no. no." Harry tried to stop her from leaving the circle as well.
"It's okay," she assured him, moving over to record Ed with Corbett.
"Corbett, look," Ed started, taking his glasses off as he spoke. "Hey, it's just Ed, buddy. It's just me. Hey, hey, Corbett, listen to me. Listen to me. I- we... okay. You meant... Corbett, you meant a lot to the team. You meant... you meant a lot to me. You know, never back down... never say a bad word, okay? I remember that, Corbett. I-I remember that. I remember because I love you, Corbett. I really, truly love you. Do you remember that? do you?"
Slowly, recognition appeared on Corbett's face as he looked at Ed. "Hey. Ed?"
"Yeah. Yeah, Corbett, it's... Corbett, yeah, it's me. It's me. look at me. You got to help us, man. you have to help us, Corbett. Please. please. Please help us right now."
SPOV
"Take it easy. You all right?" I asked Spruce, helping him back to his feet.
He went to respond when the lights began to flicker again. "Uh, guys..."
Suddenly Dean flew through the air as Dagget threw him across the room. He grabbed me then, shoving me against the wall before he moved to attack Spruce.
Spruce backed up as much as he could. "This is bad. Very bad."
But before Dagget could get him the lights began to flicker again. Then, out of nowhere, Corbett appeared behind Dagget.
"Corbett?"
Corbett threw himself at Dagget, the two ghosts then began to struggle against each other, turning into a ball of light and dark smoke. A bright light followed as Corbett won, destroying Dagget's ghost and setting himself free at the same time.
With the ghosts gone, Spruce moved to Dean who was closer to him. "You all right, dude?"
Dean groaned, getting to his feet without a word
Spruce turned to me. "You all right?"
"God." I let out a pained grunt, getting to my own feet.
He recorded us as Dean came over to make sure I was okay. But the moment he realised we were still being film, Dean turned to Spruce and reached out to cover the lens with his hand. It was safe to say his patience was gone.
EPOV
I leaned on Dean, ignoring the cameras that were still on us as we walked down the Morton House porch steps. The sun was up and Dagget was gone. Once again, we'd won.
Stopping in front of Ed, I offered a small smile. "Thanks for, you know... helping Corbett. You did good."
He nodded. "Thanks for saving us."
Sam reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a piece of paper and offering it to Ed. "Call us if you ever run into trouble. Because doing this," he gestured to the house, "it's not as easy as it looks."
"Yeah." Ed chuckled lightly. "I think we get that now."
Hoping that they really had learnt their lesson, Sam, Dean and I headed to the Impala, ready to get the hell out of there.
DPOV
I sat with Sam and Liz, looking at a computer screen in the Ghostfacers' garage. They'd invited us over to see the movie they made of the Morton House case, and... I had mixed feelings about it. Sure, it was weird, but what was worse was seeing Sam, Liz and I on screen.
"So, guys, what do you think?" Ed asked excitedly. "Are you alright?"
I recovered, chuckling lightly as I looked over my shoulder at him. "You know, I kind of think it was half-awesome."
"Half-awesome?" Maggie beamed. "That-that's full-on good, right?"
"Yeah." Sam gave me a short nod before he turned to the others. "I mean it's bizarre how you all are able to honour Corbett's memory while grossly exploiting the manner of his death. Well done."
While he was talking I reached into the bag set between us, pressing a button, which went unnoticed by the others.
"It's a real risk you guys are taking here," Liz noted. "But good on you."
"Yeah, all right guys." Sam nodded as the three of us got up and moved to leave.
"Nah, that's reality, man," Ed called after us. "Yeah, Corbett gave his life searching for the truth, and it's our job over here to share it with the world."
Sam shrugged. "Right. Well, um, our experience, you know what you get when you show the world the truth?"
"A straightjacket," Liz answered.
"Or a punch in the face," I added. "Sometimes both."
Sam gave a short nod. "Right."
Harry scoffed. "Oh, come on, guys, don't be 'facer haters just because we happen to have gotten the footage of the century."
"Oh yeah," Ed agreed.
I watched them for a moment, wondering how they thought they were right. But instead of saying anything, I simply shrugged. "You got us there. Well we'll see you guys around."
"Peace out," Spruce called as we left, Ed closing the door behind us.
...
We hurried to the car, knowing we didn't have much time before they found the bag we'd left in the garage.
"We clean?" Sam asked.
Right on time, we could hear Ed and Harry yelling out in frustration.
We quickly got into the car
Once seated with my door closed, I looked to Sam. "Electromagnet wiped out every tape and hard drive that they have."
Sam shook his head. "The world just isn't ready for the Ghostfacers."
"It's too bad. I kinda liked the show." I grinned, looking through the rear-view mirror to Liz. "You wanna get out of here?"
Putting her seatbelt on, she smirked back at me. "Yes please."
Bamby