Chapter Thirty-Five

Dean awoke to knocking at the door. It was Jo.

"Dean? Dean, wake up." She waited a minute before pounding on the door again.

Dean burrowed deeper into the covers, covering his head completely to help block out the noise.

"Dean!" Jo yelled, becoming impatient.

"What?" he yelled back, huffing as he threw the covers off of himself. He pulled on his boxer shorts and a pair of Sam's pajama bottoms and walked to the door.

"What?" he repeated grouchily when he opened the door. "You do realize that it's…" He glanced at the clock on Sam's wall. "…6:00 in the morning, don't you?"

"Um…" Jo was having a hard time tearing her eyes away from Dean's naked chest.

What little patience Dean had waned. "What do you want, Jo?"

Jo forced herself to look Dean in the face. "Um, have you seen Liz? Bobby said you might know where she is." She glanced behind Dean at the bed then quickly refocused on his face when she realized that it was empty.

"Good one, Bobby," Dean muttered. Audibly, he asked, "Did you try the basement?" He tried and failed to stop a yawn.

"She's not in the basement."

"Okay," Dean said in a placating voice. "Did you look?"

Jo's eyes narrowed. "Yes. Sam's gone and so, apparently, is Liz. We need—"

"Sam's gone!? You could've led with that, Jo," Dean said, jolting into action. He left the door open while he pulled on a shirt. All trace of tiredness was gone from his face when he looked at Jo again. "This is not good, Jo."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Jo answered sarcastically. "Bobby was more concerned about Liz being gone than Sam, though. What's going on, Dean? I feel very out of the loop."

Dean was barely listening, though. "This is all my fault," he said to himself. "I was going to check on her, and I fell asleep instead. Why did I fall asleep?"

"Stop being a freak, Dean, and tell me what you're talking about. I can't really do anything to help until I'm up to speed."

Dean forced himself to stop and address Jo. "Liz went down to Sam last night and I told her that I would check on her. I didn't, and now they're gone. I shouldn't have fallen asleep."

Jo put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault, Dean," Jo reassured him. "Save the guilt and brooding for after they are found."

"I do not brood," Dean objected.

"You kind of brood," Jo insisted.

"I do not!"

XXX

24 Hours Missing

"There's no trace of them, Bobby," Dean informed the other man. "I tried every way I know to track them, supernatural and not, and I can't find the faintest trace of which way they went. Not even a hint of a suggestion."

"I'm having the same kind of luck. They had to have left some trace, though," Bobby insisted.

"If they did, I can't find it."

XXX

48 Hours Missing

"You said that you flashed on a map that had Decatur, Illinois, circled?"

"That's right," Dean replied.

"You're breaking up, Dean," Bobby told him through the static-filled line. He sounded very far away. "Ellen and I will head your way. We're about 10 hours behind you. Let us know if you find anyth—" The line went dead. Dean closed his phone and turned to Jo.

"Let's head to Decatur."

XXX

4 Days Missing
Decatur, Illinois

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"Not even in the abandoned warehouse on 5th?"

"It was empty."

"Did you try the clubs?"

"Yeah. No one had seen them."

Dean was getting Jo up to speed on the areas he had searched throughout the night. They had taken to searching in shifts. Dean always took the night shift. He knew that Jo could handle herself, but at the same time, he did not want to have to search for another person. He watched as Jo gathered her supplies and prepared to head out for the day.

She heaved a sigh. "I guess I'll check out the residential areas, go door-to-door maybe."

"Be careful," he told her. It was the last thing that he said to her every morning before she left. At first it had been a point of contention between them, but she soon accepted it without comment. It still annoyed her; she just was not vocal about it anymore.

"I'll see you at eight," she said and headed out the door.

Dean watched her go then plopped down on the bed and tried to shut his mind off. He had barely gotten any sleep since Liz and Sam had come up missing. He was worried because when he reached out into the ether, he could not connect with Liz. The only thing that kept him from losing hope was that it still felt like she was somewhere out in the ether, just not where he could get to her.

He tried to sleep, but every time his eyes started to feel heavy, energy seemed to radiate from inside of his chest, and he would start fidgeting restlessly. This went on for the better part of an hour before he finally nodded off.

He fell into a dreamless sleep that ended abruptly when he flashed on Liz.

She was in a room. It was dark and dank and smelled horrible. She had gone beyond tears and pleas long before, but she was still fighting futilely to keep her feet away from the rats and vermin that nipped at them. She could not move. She could not think for fear that the rats were going to get a grip on her foot and climb higher. Dry sobs began again. She thought she was over the crying. Apparently, she would never get over the crying. One of the rats got its teeth into her toe. She wiggled her foot ineffectually, tears slicing down the side of her face as the panic set in.

The rat was suddenly kicked away from her. Oh god. He was here. Oh god, oh god, oh god. The panic became worse instead of better. Oh god. She flinched as he sliced another wound into her arm. Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god. The cut was shallow enough that it would clot on its own, but not before the blood had run down her arm and dripped on the floor, further exciting the rodents that crowded together there.

When the first drop of blood hit the floor, there was a frenzy. He laughed. It laughed. Oh god. Then it grabbed around her throat and squeezed and squeezed. Her arms and legs were tied, so there was no way to fight against the demon. Still she struggled as best she could. It was winning; she was dying. She was…

Dean woke in a state of panic, gasping for breath and frantically trying to throw imagined rats away from him. It took him a minute, but when he awoke fully, he realized that what he had thought were rats attacking him was actually Jo trying to wake him up. She looked up at him from the place on the floor where she had landed, her mouth rounded in an 'O' of surprise.

They stared at one another, the moment stretching between them uncomfortably. Finally, Dean rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Jo answered, pulling herself up off the floor but maintaining a good six feet between them. "What happened?"

Dean sighed and closed his eyes. He reopened them almost immediately when he remembered the darkness he had just been in. "I finally flashed on Liz," he informed Jo. "She's in a room. It's dark, and she's scared. It was a very helpful flash." The last was said with heavy sarcasm and more than a little frustration.

"At least you were able to see her," Jo pointed out. "Maybe whatever is blocking you is starting to weaken."

"Maybe," Dean mused, trying not to think about rats and being strangled. "Here's hoping it's not too late when I finally am let in."

XXX

9 Days Missing

Dean was in the middle of a conversation with a man about a girl he had seen who matched Liz's description when he was suddenly in Liz's mind again. Not much had changed. The rats were still there. The darkness was still there. Liz was obviously drugged, though: everything was fuzzy, and the fear that had been so palpable the last time he was in her head was now deadened.

"Dean," a voice called. Dean didn't recognize the voice, but Liz did. It was the voice of the demon, and she was still lucid enough to flinch at the sound. Apparently, the demon was still with Liz, but it was no longer in Sam. Dean wasn't sure how to feel about this turn of events. He didn't have long to ponder Sam's fate, though, because the demon addressed him again.

"Dean, if you want Sam, come and get him. I'll even leave you Liz to show how merciful I can be. Ah, but you are probably wondering where exactly Sam is. Did you get my little message about Decatur? I bet you did. Sorry about that. I had to keep you from ruining the fun; surely you understand. You'll find them in Dallas. I would tell you in which state, but I wouldn't want to take any of the fun of finding them from you. Happy hunting, Dean. Not to hurry you or anything, but you have about three days, tops, before Liz dies from malnutrition and dehydration. Like I said, no pressure, though."

That was all the information that Dean got before he was catapulted out of Liz's consciousness. Only a few seconds had passed, so the man he was talking to had not even noticed that he had been gone. Jo turned questioningly when Dean abruptly stopped talking.

"What's up?" she asked, glancing around the area. She assumed that he had seen something that alarmed him and was looking for any sign of danger.

"Change of plans," he answered, pulling out his phone and calling Bobby.

XXX

2 Days Later, 11 Days Missing
Dallas, Maine

Bobby had headed to Texas to look for Liz, and Ellen had taken Oregon. Jo had planned to go to Georgia to look, but Dean had insisted on Maine so strongly and with such conviction that she changed her plans and decided to accompany him. Hunters who owed Bobby were covering the rest of the cities: Bobby had spent half of a morning calling in the favors. Dean was absolutely certain that he had chosen the right place, but nevertheless, he was glad that Bobby had covered the rest just in case.

The desperateness of the situation had gotten Dean onto a plane, and he had tried his hardest to keep Jo from realizing how terrified he had been throughout the flight. Dallas, Maine, was a small town, and he and Jo had already covered most of it. It was harder on foot, but he despised the rental that they had picked up and only drove it when necessary. He still felt naked and exposed without the Impala.

Dean knew instantly when he was at the right house. It was a decrepit, rundown one-story building. The shrubs were overgrown, and there was a large 'No Trespassing' sign hung on the gate. He tried to reach out with his mind and find where Liz was in the house but did not have much success. Liz was not dead, but she was not far from it, either.

He moved on autopilot, walking to the door and barely registering the effort that it took to break it down. When no one was on the first floor, he reluctantly prepared to head into the basement. He made sure that the safety was off of his gun and that Jo had followed him into the house before he opened the door that led downstairs.

He was unprepared for the stench. It was the stench of death and decay, and for a moment, despair overtook Dean as he thought they were too late. Then he was reeling away from the door, Jo moving away with him, both trying to keep from retching. They covered their mouths with their sleeves in an attempt to keep some of the smell out and continued down the stairs.

Jo stifled a scream as a rat brushed against her leg, gripping Dean's arm painfully as she did so. Dean tried to adjust his eyes to the darkness, but there was not enough light for him to see anything. He pulled a small flashlight from his pocket and shined it around the room.

There were several bodies cluttering the room. Rats were crawling all over them, and a couple of the bodies had appendages missing. It was a horrifying sight, but one that Dean did not look too closely at—Sam was not among them and he could feel that Liz was alive, so the dead would have to be dealt with later.

He turned his flashlight in a wide arc and stopped in his tracks when the light hit the back wall. Jo turned to see what the commotion was, freezing as she caught sight of what Dean's flashlight had revealed.

There, now bathed in light, was Liz. The sight of her was ghastly and worse than anything Dean had expected to find. She had been strung up on the wall in a position of crucifixion. The demon had used leather straps to secure her arms, neck, waist, and feet in place. That explained why she had been unable to fight the bastard in Dean's previous flash. There were cuts all over her body that had clotted, and dirt and muck were streaked across her body. A group of rats strained to reach her, and they could see bloody places on the soles of her feet where they had occasionally gotten lucky. She had been gagged and blindfolded and, as if to add insult to injury, she was naked. Angry red welts and bruises lined her skin, and Dean knew that if he looked closely, he would find finger-shaped ones on her neck. He did not want to think about the injuries he could not see. The ones that were hidden from view were usually the worst.

Dean shoved his way through the rats over to her with Jo following a step behind. Working together, they made short work of the restraints and lowered her down. Dean arranged Liz's boneless body over his shoulder and started back toward the stairs.

"Sam's not here," he said over his shoulder. His voice seemed too loud in the room.

Jo nodded in agreement even though Dean could not see her. "Where could he be?" she asked.

They heard sirens before Dean could answer. Jo's eyes widened and she hurried past Dean to the stairs. "I'll make sure that they are distracted so that you can get out," she said and ran upstairs.

"Jo, get back here!" Dean yelled, rushing after her as quickly as he could. "They might not even be coming here!" He glanced at Liz when he jostled her as he went up the stairs and came to a stop. He remembered that she was still naked. That was something that needed to be rectified soon. No matter how unobservant most people were, someone was bound to notice him carrying a naked, beaten woman down the street.

Dean made it to the ground floor in time to see Jo run out the front door. "Jo, get your ass back in this house! We'll go out the back way."

Jo ignored him, so he followed his own advice and headed for the back. He found a group of bushes and laid Liz behind them. He tried not to think about how horrible she looked as he raced to the front to collect Jo.

"Jo, get back here now!" He was livid as he grabbed her arm and pulled her along with him. He ignored her protests, not letting her go until he was back where he had left Liz. He took off his jacket and covered Liz it.

In the light from the streetlamp, Liz looked infinitely worse. It would have been easy to assume she was dead because she looked dead. Dean arranged her so that he could carry her cradled in his arms and have her almost completely covered then stood and started toward the hotel.

"We need to call Bobby and then get on the road to meet him, asap," Dean told Jo.

"What do you mean, 'we need to get on the road?'" she asked in disbelief. "Liz needs a hospital. Look at her, Dean!"

"I am looking at her," Dean replied irritably. "We can't take her to a hospital, though. End of story."

"Oh, no, it's not," Jo argued. "Liz needs medical attention now, and we are going to get her some."

Dean ignored her and rearranged Liz so that he was holding her with one arm and had the other free so he could get out his phone and call Bobby.

Bobby answered on the third ring, skipping the greeting. "I haven't found anything, Dean."

"I have. We got Liz. There's no sign of Sam, though." It had been a long time since his voice had sounded that shaky. He realized that his hands were shaking, too. He thought back to the scene he had just rescued Liz from and realized that she could have easily died like that, and probably would have if the demon had not had some other purpose for her.

"Dean?"

Dean started as he realized Bobby had been talking to him the entire time he had been lost in his thoughts. "Sorry, Bobby. I'm just…it's bad. Real bad. Liz needs a doctor, and she needs one now. Do you know anyone close?"

Bobby was silent for a moment. "Let me make some calls. I'll get back to you, Dean."

XXX

They made it back to the hotel and were packed and ready to go before Jo raised any more objections. "We have to get her to a hospital, Dean," she reasoned. "She is seriously hurt. There is no telling what the demon did to her. She needs medical attention."

Dean blew out a frustrated breath. "I told you, Bobby's making some calls. He's going to call us back and let us know where to go."

Jo was equally as frustrated. "You're avoiding the reality of the situation, Dean. She might not survive until we can get her to whoever Bobby scrounges up to help us."

"We got her to drink some Gatorade; she'll make it until we get her some help."

"You're being an idiot. I'm not going along with this. Liz deserves more."

"Then you can stay here. We can't take her to the hospital because hospitals leave records. Someone might recognize her. Not to mention the fact that her father is probably watching every hospital within a two-hundred-mile radius of this place," Dean said angrily. He loaded Liz into the car and climbed into the driver's seat. "Last chance," he told Jo as he started the engine.

Jo sighed unhappily but climbed into the passenger seat nonetheless. "For the record, I don't like this," she said and looked out the window.

"Duly noted," Dean replied. He stepped on the gas and once again regretted letting Jo talk him into renting the more economical and practical Corolla. A Mustang would have come in handy right about now.

XXX

Dean's skin crawled as he tried to focus on what the doctor was telling him. He hated hospitals, and the doctor made him nervous. Dean was already nervous, so it made a bad situation worse.

"She's lost a lot of blood. You really should let me admit her," the doctor was saying.

"No hospitals," Dean insisted. "Just you." They were in the doctor's private practice within the hospital complex, and the man kept trying to talk them into admitting Liz to the hospital so he could perform more tests.

"Dean, if she needs to be admitted maybe we should—"

"No hospitals," Dean repeated adamantly.

The doctor sighed. "All right, if you are going to be stubborn about this, I will tell you what I can and get you on your way. The last two weeks were not particularly pleasant for your friend, as I am sure you are aware. She was raped, repeatedly, beaten, and malnourished. The good news is that most of the physical damage was superficial and should heal without incident. Mentally, it might take her much longer to recover, however. You will need to be patient with her on that front, as the smallest things might set her off. I am neither a psychologist nor a psychiatrist, but I think you might want to look into some counseling sessions when she is feeling up to it. She should also follow up with a doctor in a few weeks. Bobby should know someone who would be discrete. In the meantime, if you need anything, I have given you my number. I have also sedated her for the time being and arranged for transportation to your meeting place with Bobby. I am giving her a prescription for some sleeping pills. She will probably make use of those." The doctor handed Dean the prescription then fidgeted, absentmindedly searching his pockets. "Ah, yes, one more thing. I found this during my examination." He held up a diamond ring for Dean to take, casting his eyes downward. He finally met Dean's eyes with ones that spoke of the horrors he had found etched into Liz's body. "I hope you kill whoever or whatever did that to her."

"I intend to," Dean assured the doctor as he pocketed the ring.

The doctor nodded. "You will want to keep her sedated for a couple days. There is a small bag with the medicine and dosage you will need for that in the ambulance with Liz. I think that that is it. Tell Bobby that I said hello."

"Will do," Dean promised. "Can Jo ride with Liz?"

The doctor nodded. "Absolutely. Let me show you to the ambulance that will take you."

They walked with the doctor to the ambulance, and Dean helped Jo into the vehicle.

"Dean, you are coming with me now," Jo said. It was not a suggestion.

"No, I'm not, Jo. I have to find Sam. I have my cell. Call me the second anything changes, and I'll come."

Jo shook her head disappointedly. "Liz needs us, Dean. Sam can take care of himself."

"Liz needs someone. You'll be fine. I'll follow in a few days. Liz will understand."

Jo still looked torn. "I hope you know what you're doing," she said, shutting the ambulance doors in his face.

Dean watched the ambulance pull out of the parking lot and speed off. When it was out of sight, he slammed the doctor against the wall, holding onto him by his throat, and pulled out the ring that the man had given him earlier.

"Liz was not wearing a ring when I found her. What is this, and where did you get it from?"

The doctor looked sadly at Dean. "I never said I found the ring on Liz's finger," he said softly. He watched sympathetically as Dean processed what he had said.

Dean dropped the doctor and moved away from him. "What do you mean?" he asked, but his mind had already supplied several possibilities. "Never mind, I don't want to know."

The sympathetic look stayed on the doctor's face. "You really do not," he agreed.