Chapter 38

Sam woke up feeling like shit. He couldn't recall why he was waking up. What had happened? He played the day back through his head. He had woken up in the woods. Then he went to town. There was a stampede. A showdown at the farm. And he remembered. The tranquilizer. Animal Control. Curtis Shawn.

"Dean!" Sam shouted before he really collected himself. It didn't take long for him to realize that Dean was right there with him, allowing his little brother to use him as a pillow. The tiger licked his brother affectionately to reassure him that he was fine. Thanks to Sammy, Dean was okay. And thanks to Dean, Sam was safe.

Sam rolled over and smiled at Dean, his head still groggy from the drugs. "I'm glad you're okay." He said through slightly slurred words. Dean did his best to smile. "And good job with the cows."

Dean purred as a show of gratitude to his brother's concern and compliment. However, just because the stampede was dealt with didn't mean their work was anywhere close to being done. The tiger urged his brother up to his feet, making sure to stable him as he tried to get his wobbly legs under control.

"I know, I know." Sam chuckled as he tried to balance himself. "We've got work to do." He unzipped the tent, not entirely sure how Dean had managed to zip it shut. Maybe a light bite or a dainty claw? Either way, it didn't matter much. He was safe thanks to his big brother rescuing him. Now it was his turn to rescue his brother from being cat.

Dean followed Sam to the Impala. Sam let him in and explained the plan. "Okay." He started as he quickly changed into his F.B.I. costume and got the car going. "We're off to interview Agitha Brown. Hopefully she'll reveal something useful in pegging this monster's identity. After that, we'll figure out how to kill it. Then you'll be a human again. Good?" Dean nodded. "I just hope it's that easy."

The drive to the local hospital where Agitha was being kept as they monitored the stab wound in her shoulder was more difficult than it needed to be due to the now-torn-up roads from the stampede and the fact that Sam had to be careful to avoid anywhere the animal control would spot them. He pulled the Impala up and turned to Dean. "Sorry, man. This time you gotta' stay here." Dean nodded his understanding before Sam added an obvious point. "And stay out of sight!"

Sam left his tiger in the car and made his way into the hospital's sterile and moderately decorated interior. Using the obvious benefits of posing as an F.B.I. agent, he was directed to Agitha's room right away. What he found was an oddly more healthy woman than he expected. He had read online that she had 'survived' the attack, but it didn't say that she was essentially unharmed. But he figured to himself that to a non-Hunter, a stab wound to the shoulder was serious. To anyone in the Winchester business, that was just another day at work.

"Hi." He introduced himself meekly, being sure to hold his badge up in plain sight for her aged eyes to read. "F.B.I." He stated with a smile. "Just wanted to ask you a few questions about the attack at the vet."

"I already told the police." She explained. "I'm not sure I have anything new to say."

"I'm not looking for new." Sam answered. "I just want to hear it all from your lips rather than some police database. If you don't mind."

Agitha put down a small book of crossword puzzles and took off her reading glasses. "It's not like I've got anywhere else to be." She smiled warmly, and Sam felt almost like he was talking to his own grandmother. Unfortunately, Sam had only met one of his grandparents, Samuel Campbell (whom Sam was named after), and that was anything but pleasant. This was almost what Sam figured every other boy in the world experienced with a grandparent. Warmth. Kindness. Gentleness. Love. Not deception. Abuse. Being taken advantage of. Hunting.

"Thanks." Sam smiled genuinely.

"It's not like my puzzles are going anywhere." She laughed mildly. "What can I answer for you, sweetie?"

Sam cleared his throat and gathered his thoughts. "The day you were attacked…" He started. "Did you see the culprit?"

"Jumped right to the million-dollar question, didn't you?" She laughed humorlessly without ever making eye-contact with Sam. "You're going to put me in the loony house."

"I promise I'll do no such thing." Sam vowed.

"What do I care?" She chuckled lightly. "I'm too old to worry much about my future."

"Why would I put you in a loony house?"

"Well, because of what I'm about to tell you." She explained as if it should have been obvious. "No one else believed me, and quite frankly, I don't blame them." She said. "But you asked me to tell you what I saw, not necessarily what actually happened."

"Is there a difference?" Sam asked a bit confused.

She laughed heartily at that. "There shouldn't be." She managed to get out between chortles. "But at my age, with these eyes, I just can't be sure." She grew a bit more serious. "I remember vividly what I saw." She paused. "But I also know what I saw isn't possible."

"Tell me." Sam encouraged her. "I believe anything." He laughed for reasons unknown to her. She looked at him in a way that urged him to elaborate. "Let's just say I live in the world of things people don't believe are real."

"Oh?"

"For instance." Sam couldn't believe he was saying this, but her grandmotherly presence just pulled it out of him. "My big brother, he's a tiger now."

"A tiger?" She smiled, clearly intrigued.

"Yeah. Something turned him into the biggest, most proud tiger you'd ever seen in the world."

"I think we'll be seeing a lot of each other." She patted his hand gently.

"Why's that?"

"At the loony house." She laughed. Sam did too. "I was at the vet, my poor baby was sick. I've never seen a cat look so miserable."

"Then you've never seen my brother when I told him to wait in the car." Sam and Agitha laughed together.

"I wish I had." She joked before continuing. "As I waited in the lobby, something came crashing into the building. It looked like something out of The Chronicles of Narnia or something."

"What was it?"

"It had the body of a young woman, not a bit of clothing on…" She added with a disapproving raise of her eyebrow and tightening of her wrinkled lips. "But the waist down was like a horse or a deer."

"Sounds like a centaur, or a fawn…" Sam speculated.

Agitha looked at him like he was speaking another language. "I've not a clue." She admitted. "Anyway, she had a spear that looked like it was crudely made from the branch of a tree or something. She stabbed everyone in the waiting room, but no one died to it." She paused. "Until later. Then they all seemed to die like spies biting down on cyanide pills."

"Interesting."

"The next thing I knew, I crawled out and called the police. They came and said there was nothing in the building except bodies. Not even animals in the back."

"So the animals were set free?"

"I guess so."

"Do you remember anything else?" Sam asked.

"That's pretty much the whole story." She admitted. "Sorry if that didn't help much."

"No, it was very helpful. Thank you!" Sam smiled as he excused himself and headed back to the Impala. He wandered through the halls of the hospital almost in a trance as he let all the information she had given him bounce around his mind. He tried to connect it to anything he had read or learned over the years.

Dean was waiting patiently in the car. As soon as the Impala door opened, a gleeful gaze overcame him as he looked fondly at his younger brother. Sam smiled as he relaxed into the leather seat of Dean's baby. "Yeah, she told me a lot." Sam explained to his brother. "But I can't connect it to anything off the top of my head. It's definitely something we haven't faced before."

The tiger looked forward out of the windshield very intentionally. "Yeah, we'll go back to the camp and I'll do some research."