"What do you mean he kills an innocent man?" I'm shocked to hear this because I can't see Dean doing something so careless. "Why did he kill him? Why do you think he was innocent?" The questions keep bubbling out of my mouth. I will do anything to prove that Dean isn't that capricious.
"I don't know, Nic." Sam tells me. "He thought there was something inside him."
That makes more sense to me. If a demon was inside the man, yea I can see Dean killing him if we can't exorcise the evil out.
"Where did this take place, Sam? When?"
"Rivergrove. And I don't know, soon?"
I grab Sam's laptop and search for Rivergrove. "There are only two towns in the US called Rivergrove. Which one Sam?"
Sam hangs his head and closes his eyes. "Look up Crater Lake."
"Oregon. Crater Lake is in Oregon, which is lso where one of the Rivergrove's is," I reveal.
Now that we have a location, I go up to wake Dean. It's 6 a.m. so I know he'd be waking up soon anyhow.
Sam's GPS on his phone alerts us to continue driving on the road we are on; Dean behind the wheel and I'm leaned up on the back of the front seat watching Sam research more about Rivergrove, Oregon. Nothing is coming up as suspicious activity; no unknown deaths, no abnormal disappearances.
"How come you're so sure it's the one in Oregon?" Dean asks, taking his eyes off the road long enough to glance at Sam and then me.
"There was a picture. Crater Lake," Sam says
"Okay, what else?"
"I saw a dark room, some people, and a guy tied to a chair," Sam explains his vision.
"And I ventilated him?" Dean questions his brother.
"Yeah. You thought there was something inside him."
"What, a demon? Was he possessed?"
"I don't know," Sam says, and by the tone in his voice I can tell he is becoming agitated at all the questions.
"Well, all your weirdo visions are always tied to the Yellow-Eyed Demon somehow ...so was there any black smoke? Did we try to exorcise it?"
"No. Nothing, you just plugged him, that's it. "
"Well, I'm sure I had a good reason," Dean defends himself.
"I sure hope so," I say, laying a hand on Dean's shoulder.
"I'm not gonna waste an innocent man. "
I raises my eyebrows at his protest. We both know that Sam's vision most likely always come true.
"I wouldn't!" Dean insists.
"I never said you would," I tell him. "We don't know what this is. But whatever it is, that guy in the chair's a part of it. So let's find him, and see what's what."
When we get to Rivergrove we pull onto Main Street and park in front of a billboard advertising Crater Lake. I look at Sam and he nods. We see a man sitting on a porch so we decide to ask him about the guy from the vision.
"Morning," Dean says as we approach the man.
"Good morning. Can I help you?"
"Yeah," We pull out our badges. "Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard, Vicki Blue. U.S. Marshals.
"What's this about?" he asks, eyeballing us.
"We're looking for someone," Dean tells him
"A young man, early twenties," Sam says. "He has a thin scar right below his hairline.," Sam motions to the area the scar would be.
"What'd he do?" the man inquires
"Well, nothing. We're actually looking for someone else, but we think this young man could help us," I tell the gentleman.
"Yeah, he's not in any kind of trouble or anything; well, not yet. I think maybe you know who he is . . . Master Sergeant. My dad was in the Corps, he was a Corporal," Dean says with a smile on his face and pride in his voice.
"What company?"
"Echo-2-1," Dean replies.
"So can you help us?" Sam asks.
The man hesitates then speaks, "Duane Tanner's got a scar like that. But I know him. Good kid, keeps his nose clean."
"Oh, I'm sure he does. Um. You know where he lives?" I ask.
"With his family, up Aspen Way. "
"Thank you," I tell him, turning to follow the boys back to the Impala.
As we are walking down the street, Sam clumsily bumps into a light pole. He stops and looks at it. "Guys."
Dean and I turn back to him and see him pointing at something on the pole. On closer inspection, I see the word CROATOAN carved into the wood.
"Croatoan?" Dean asks.
"Yeah," Sam says and Dean looks at him blankly.
"Roanoke? Lost colony? Ring a bell? Dean, did you pay any attention in history class?" Sam asks incredulously.
"Yeah! Shots heard 'round the world, How bills becomes laws . . ."
I laugh and tell him, "Honey, that's not school, that's Schoolhouse Rock."
"Whatever."
"Roanoke was one of the first English colonies in America, late 1500s?" I explain.
"Oh yeah, yeah, I do remember that. The only thing they left behind was a single word carved in a tree. Croatoan."
"Yeah. And I mean, there were theories — Indian raid, disease, but nobody knows what really happened. They were all just gone. I mean, wiped out overnight," Sam continues the explanation.
"You don't think that's what's going on here, I mean - " I look to Sam.
"Whatever I saw in my head, it sure wasn't good. But what do you think could do that?"
"Well, I mean, like I said, all of your weirdo visions are always tied to the Yellow-Eyed Demon somehow, so . . ."Dean says.
"We should get help. Bobby, uh, Ellen maybe?" Sam offers.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Dean says, pulling out his cell phone, then frowning at it. "I don't have a signal."
Sam and I check our phones, getting the same result, no signal.
I point to a payphone and we make out way to it. Dean picks it up and clicks the receiver several times.
"Line's dead., he says, hanging up."I'll tell you one thing. If I was gonna massacre a town, that'd be my first step. "
We make our way to the Tanner residence on Aspen Way, a cabin-esque house in the middle of nowhere. As we approach the door, Sam reaches out and knocks. A teenage boy answers.
"Yeah?"
Dean flashes his badge. "We're looking for Duane Tanner; he lives here, right?"
"Yeah, he's my brother. "
"Can we talk to him?" Dean asks.
"Oh, he's not here right now," the boy informs us.
"Do you know where he is?"
"Yeah, he went on a fishing trip up by Roslyn Lake."
"Your parents home?" Sam speaks up.
"Yeah, they're inside."
"Jake? Who is it?" a male voice comes through the house.
"Hi, U.S. Marshals, sir, we're looking for your son Duane," Dean explains to the older gentleman.
"Wh-why? He's not in trouble, is he?"
"No, no, no, no. We just need to ask him a couple of routine questions, that's all."
"When's he due back from his trip?" I try to get answers by turning on my feminine charm.
"I'm not sure."
"Well, maybe your wife knows?" Sam inquires.
"No, I don't know, she's not here right now," Mr. Tanner tells us.
"Your son said she was."
"Did I?" Jake says, with a smirk on his face. Something about this kid rubs me the wrong way.
"She's getting groceries. So, when Duane gets back, there's a number where he can get a hold of you?" Mr. Tanner explains his wife's absence.
"Oh no, we'll just check in with you later," I say, reaching out to shake Mr. Tanner's hand.
We turn and walk down the steps as the door shuts behind us.
"That was kind of creepy, right? A little too Stepford?" Dean says, looking to me and his brother.
"Big time," I tell him.
We decide to look into this family further and the three of us sneak around the side of the house to see if we can find out why they are giving off such a weird vibe. At a window, we crouch down and Dean peeks into the open window as we hear Jake say, "It's okay, Mom. It's not gonna hurt." He grabs his gun and takes off toward the back door. Sam and I look at each other quickly and then follow Dean our own guns drawn. Inside, Mr. Tanner comes at us with a knife and Dean shoots him, killing him while Jake takes off and jumps out the window. Sam runs after him and I take off outside to try and cut him off. Jake is in the woods and gone before I even make it to the bottom step. Going back inside, the boys are working on untying Mrs. Tanner so I squat in front of her, telling her it'll be okay.
"Hello? Hello, we need a doctor here," I yell as Sam helps Mrs. Tanner inside the doctor's office. A blonde woman in scrubs comes running out and gasps, "Mrs. Tanner, what happened?
"She's been attacked," Sam tells the nurse.
"Doctor Lee?" the nurse calls out.
Another blonde, older woman who I assume is Dr. Lee rushes in. "Bring her in.
"Okay.
As the nurse lead Sam away to take Mrs. Tanner to an examination room, Dean enters, carrying the body of Mr. Tanner, covered in a canvas.
"Is that —," Dr. Lee asks.
"Mr. Tanner." Dean confirms
"Was he attacked too?"
"Uh... no, actually, he did the attacking and then he got himself shot," I tell her.
"Shot?" the doctor questions, surprised and startled.
"Yeah." Dean answers, solemnly.
"And who are you?" Dr. Lee demands.
"U.S. Marshal. I'd show you my badge, but uh . . ." Dean says and then motions toward the dead body he is carrying.
"Oh. Sorry. Bring him back here. "
"Wait, you said Jake helped him? Your son Jake?" the doctor asks Mrs. Tanner as she is finishing dressing the wound on her shoulder. Sam, Dean and I stand off to the side but listen intently.
Mrs. Tanner nods. "They beat me. Tied me up."
"Beverly, do you have any idea why they would act this way? Any history of chemical dependency? " the doctor inquires.
"No, of course not. I don't know why. One minute they were my husband and my son. And the next, they had the devil in them," she says, beginning to cry.
We share a look between the three of us at her last words.
"We gotta talk," Dean says, exiting the room. Sam and I follow.
"Those guys were whacked out of their gourds."
"What do you think? Multiple demons, mass possession?"
"If it is a possession there could be more. I mean, God knows how many, it could be like a friggin' Shriner convention," Dean says, wiping a hand down his face.
"Great," I say, sullenly. A town full of demons, just what we always wanted.
"Of course, that's one way to wipe out a town, you take it from the inside," Dean says, looking through the window into the room that Mrs. Tanner and the doctor are in.
"I don't know, man. We didn't see any of the demon smoke with Mr. Tanner, or any of the other usual signs," Sam tries to explain away the idea of a demon-filled town.
"Well, whatever. Something turned him into a monster. And you know if you woulda taken out the other one there'd be one less to worry about."
"I'm sorry, all right? I hesitated, Dean, it was a kid!" Sam defends
"No, it was an "it". Not the best time for a bleeding heart, Sam. "
"Hey, no!" I whisper-yell, looking at Dean. "That kid disappeared into the wood before either of us could get a shot off!"
We are interrupted when Dr. Lee stalks out of the lab. "How's the patient?" Sam turns to her and asks.
"Terrible! What the hell happened out there?"
"We don't know," I tell her honestly.
Dr. Lee turns to Dean, "Yeah? Well, you just killed my next door neighbor. "
"We didn't have a choice," he tries explaining to her.
"Maybe so, but we need the county Sheriff. I need the coroner-"
"Phones are down," Sam tells her.
"I know, I tried, she responds then looks at Dean hopeful. "Tell me you have a police radio in the car?"
"Yeah we do," Dean lies. "But it crapped out just like everything else. "
"I don't understand what is happening. "
"How far is it to the next town?" Dean asks her.
"It's about forty miles down to Sidewinder."
All right, we're gonna go down there, see if we can find some help." Dean says, placing his hand on my shoulder. "Our partner will stick around, keep you guys safe."
"Safe from what?" Dr. Lee asks, timidly.
"We'll get back to you on that.," I say, turning to follow Dean out of the building.
"Dean, what do you think is going on?" I ask him as we drive down the road, passing a sign thanking us for visiting Rivergrove.
"I don't know Nic," he genuinely answers. "But something was making the Tanners attack each other. I just hope we can get the help we need and get this shit under control."
We come up on a sedan stopped in the middle of the road, no one around. Dean looks at me and, pulling his gun from his jeans, opens the door to get out of the car. I follow suit and we slowly approach the vehicle. I notice the blood before anything else. "Oh god! There's baby seat covered in blood!" I cover my mouth to try to stave off the nauseous feeling I have. Who would murder a baby?
Dean gazes through the broken driver side window and then glances down. He bends over and comes back up with a large knife, tinged with blood.
We get back in the Impala once we figure out that the family the abandoned car belonged to was nowhere near. We come up on to a bridge that is blocked by a roadblock consisting of several cars and a half-dozen locals with guns. I notice one of the crew is Jake Tanner, the boy who got away from me and Sam. Dean stops the car, frowning. Suddenly a loud bang sound throughout the car. Someone had hit the roof of the car. A man appears in the window of my side at the same time one appears on Dean's.
"Oh-ho-ho. Hey," Dean greets the newcomers, glancing back and forth between them.
"Sorry. Road's closed." The man on Dean's side says.
"Yeah, I can see that. What's up?"
"Quarantine," the one from my side grunts.
"Quarantine? What is it?"
"Don't know. Something going around out there."
"Uh-huh. Who told you that?" Dean asks.
"County Sheriff," the man snarls.
"Is he here? " This whole time I am paying attention to Dean and the man in his window that I don't notice the man on my side open my door.
"No. He called." The man tells Dean and then looks at the guy on my side and nods slightly. "Say, why don't you get out of the car and we'll talk a little?"
"Well, you are a -" Dean begins but cuts off when he realizes the man on my side has a hold on my arm, pulling me out. "Hey, hands off my girlfriend, you dick!"
Dean puts the car into a quick reverse; the man grabs his collar and is dragged along. The man holding me steps back and I am almost pulled out of the car before Dean swings the car around, shaking the his man off and reaches over, grabbing my shirt sleeve, pulling me into him. I cry into his shoulder; freaking out, with tears pooled in my eyes as we zoom away.
I calm down and slide back to the passenger side, wiping the tears from my eyes and off my cheeks.
"You okay, baby?" Dean asks, glancing over at me.
"Yea," I answer him softly.
Dean drives back into town and suddenly the man we spoke to when we first hit town steps in our path, pointing a rifle at the car. Dean slams on the brakes.
"Hands where I can see 'em!" the man yells.
"Okay!" we both say, holding our hands up.
"Get out of the car!" he motions for Dean to get out. "Out of the car!" He points the gun at me, motioning for me to do the same as Dean.
We open our the doors and get out slowly. "All right, easy there, big guy," Dean says calmly.
As he stands, Dean pulls out a handgun and points it at the man.
"All right, put it down!" Dean demands.
"Lower it now!" The Master Sergeant insists.
I pull my gun while Dean has the man distracted. "Put it down!"
"Are you one of 'em?" he asks us, apprehensively,
"No! Are you?" Dean responds.
"No!"
"You could be lying!"
"So could you!"
"All right! All right. We could do this all day, all right? Let's just uh, let's take it easy before we kill each other," I say, lowering my gun.
The man relaxes slightly. "What's going on with everybody?"
"We don't know," Dean answers, loosening up his stance.
"My neighbor . . . Mr. Rogers, he —"
I giggle, "You've got a neighbor named Mr. Rogers?"
"Not anymore," he tells us. "He came at me with a hatchet. I put him down. He's not the only one, I mean, it's happening to everyone. "
"We're heading over to the Doc's place, there's still some people left," I tell him.
"No, no way. I'm getting the hell out."
"There's no way out, they got the bridge covered," Dean explains. "Come on, come back with us."
"I don't believe you. "
"Fine, stay here, be my guest. "
The Master Sergeant hesitates, then changes his mind. He pulls out a handgun and points it toward us as he heads to the passenger's side; Dean still has his gun up, following the man's movements.
I slide across the seat and am cushioned between them, a gun pointed toward me from either side. "Well, this ought to be a relaxing drive."
"I'm Mark," the man introduces himself. "You ain't really FBI, are ya?"
"No," I admit to him. "I'm Nicole Barker. This is Dean Winchester. Now can we please lower our weapons?"
We pull up outside the doctor's office and get out. Mark holds out his hand to help me exit while Dean rushes to the locked door and knocks. "Sammy? Open up!"
Sam unlocks the door and lets us in. "Did you get to a phone?"
No. They got the road blocked." He turns to Mark. "We're gonna have a word. Doc's inside."
"What's going on out there, Dean?
"Man, I don't know, I feel like Chuck Heston in the Omega Man. I mean, Sarge is the only sane person we could find."
"What are we dealing with, do you know?" I ask Sam.
"Yeah. Doc thinks it's a virus.
"Okay, great. What do you think?
"I think she's right. And I think the infected are trying to infect others with blood-to-blood contact. Oh, but it gets better. The uh, the virus? Leaves traces of sulfur in the blood.
"A demonic virus?" I ask, terrified.
"More like demonic germ warfare. At least it explains why I've been having visions.
"It's like a Biblical plague.
"Yeah. You don't know how right you are, Dean. I've been poring through Dad's journal, found something about the Roanoke colony."
"And?"
"Dad always had a theory about Croatoan. He thought it was a demon's name. Sometimes known as Deva or sometimes Resheph. A demon of plague and pestilence."
"Well, that, that's terrific. Why here, why now?"
"I have no idea. Who knows how far this thing can spread?" "We gotta get out of here, we gotta warn people."
"They've got one! In here!" Mark yells at us from inside the lab.
We take off toward the lab.
"What do you mean?" Dean queries.
"The wife. She's infected," Sam tells us.
"We've gotta take care of this. We can't just leave her in there. My neighbors, they were strong. The longer we wait, the stronger she'll get," Mark hurriedly reveals.
Dean barely hesitates before pulling out his gun and stalking into the lab.
Mr.s Tanner begs for her life as Dean points his gun at her, while Mark and Sam and I huddle at the door.
Dean looks to his brother. "You sure she's one of them?"
Sam nods. "She attacked us while you were gone."
Dean steps forward and fires twice. I glance up at Mark as he turns away and notices the tears in his eyes.
We hide out in the doctor's lab, discussing ways to get out of here alive. Sam offers trying to get to the Roadhouse to warn others of whatever this is we are dealing with, but that idea gets knocked quickly when Mark informs us that the citizens are good with firearms and unless we have some sort of explosives in our arsenal, we probably don't stand much of a chance getting away. We all are disappo8nted to realize this fate.
An unexpected frantic pounding on the door makes us all jump."Hey! Let me in, let me in! Please!"
Mark gets up and peeks through the drawn shades.
"It's Duane Tanner!"