Author's Note: Hi everyone! I'm back a day early! Hoping to keep the hellhounds at bay... I want to thank Pizzapig, angelofheaven001, nourss, numb3rs mystery, EllyKayWasHere, Gustin azza, liebedero, Lady No Da 201, Nyx Ro, AlElizabeth, demonsinger, Mysterious Prophetess, Vampy, Jasper6509, if-llamas-could-fly, Hasmik Aharonyan, celestialstarynight, VGiselleH, FireChildSlytherin5, captainassbutt, savannaharaiza5, FireAngel5683, Minipou, LilyBolt, drsummers, BranchSuper, Mizunou, Eliza Ghost, RoseDragon666, Shorty22133, Vanya Starwind, Angel if Nightfall, Silvermoon of Forestclan, guest, xAnita88x, and guest for their awesome reviews. Many of you have predicted that I would not let things get better for the Winchesters but would instead have things take a turn for the worst... lets see if my reputation holds up...
Chapter Fifty-Three: Light 'Em Up
Dean trailed behind his parents and Cas as they hiked through the dark, damp underground tunnels. He wasn't too thrilled about being out on this hunt with both him and his dad still injured from the last hunt, but this couldn't wait. Besides, if they hustled, there wouldn't be any problems with this. A hunt that had had a body count in the dozens the first time around wouldn't claim a single life this time. If they timed it correctly, this would be easier than a salt and burn.
Dean vaguely remembered his father coming back to their crappy motel room night after night, getting more and more frustrated as people kept on dying. Dean would leave Sammy sleeping in their bed and go try to comfort his daddy, letting him know that he was a good man and that it wasn't his fault that people had died, and that he killed lots of bad things and that he'd kill this thing too. And Dean stayed up with his dad every night to comfort him until the night that his dad had had enough of what he saw as his own failure and had gotten way too drunk before coming back to the motel. That had not ended well. Dean suppressed a shudder at that particular memory.
But it hadn't been too long after that night when the case had been cracked. It wasn't a creature that was killing the people, but rather a group of creatures. Szazlabu were viscous centipede like beasts that would come to about Dean's knees at the time of their hatching and would grow in length to be at least eight meters long. They had super sharp teeth and ate human innards. What Dean had read in his father's journal was that a nest of them had hatched in this town and the juveniles had gone out to help themselves to the population. The mother was long dead, as the gestational period for the eggs was longer that the lifespan of the creature, but the hatchlings were born self sufficient. What Dean knew was that there were always fourteen eggs, the eggs were nearly indestructible until just moments before hatching, and that the babies always eat exactly twenty-four hours after hatching. It was like a bizarre math problem. He wondered if Mrs. Bradley would appreciate him sharing it with the class. Dean had figured out when the attacks started and subtracted twenty-four hours, so they knew when the critters would hatch. Now they where on their way to burn the fourteen eggs to a crisp. No hatched Szazlabu, no dead townspeople. Everyone wins. Well, everyone except the Szazlabu, but they were creepy bug-like monsters that ate people's internal organs, so who really cared what they wanted anyway.
"Do you know how close we are?"
Dean looked up and saw his dad looking down at him with eyes that were completely white. Alastair. He'd found him again. He was here to take him away and torture him while wearing his father's body. Oh god. Oh god, no. Please, no.
"Dean?" His mom was looking at him with a concerned expression. Couldn't she see what was wrong? Didn't she know that her husband was possessed?
Wait, no. Dad couldn't be possessed. He'd gotten an anti-possession tattoo months ago. That's why Alastair hadn't used any of them before now. This wasn't real. It wasn't real. It was another hallucination. It had to be.
"What?" Dean asked, hating the way his voice cracked.
"Are you okay?" His mother squeezed past his dad and placed a hand on his face. Dean was pleased to note that all her hesitation and fear from just a few days ago seemed to have passed. Now she just seemed concerned about him. But he needed that to stop as well. If she knew how nuts he really was, she'd turn her back on him again for sure.
"Yeah, sorry. Just thinking."
"Your dad asked if you knew where the nest was."
"Uh, no. Dad was here in the other timeline, but just noted the entrance to the tunnel. I was never down here that time."
His father nodded. "Okay then, we'll just keep going. You sure you're okay?"
Dean forced a smile to his face. "Yeah."
No one looked convinced, but they started walking once again. Cas hung back and walked by his side, which was difficult since the tunnels were so narrow. But the boy didn't mind the slight discomfort the crowding in caused since having the angel close by gave him a sense of comfort. Not that that was something he'd ever admit to, of course.
Dean almost groaned out loud when he heard the growling of the hellhound right on his heels. Not real, not real, not real, not real. Dean closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt Cas' hand rest on his shoulder and he looked up at the angel and smiled.
"This hunt will go better than the last one, Dean."
"I know, Cas."
"Then, what is troubling you?"
"What isn't?"
"Dean?"
"Never mind. I'm just… it's nothing. Let's just fry us some eggs and go home."
It was only a few minutes later when the tunnel opened up into a slightly larger area. It wasn't a large cavern or cave like Dean had been expecting but he assumed that it was the best that Mama Bug had been able to find. The young hunter counted quickly and discovered that all fourteen eggs were there. He walked up to one of them and poked it with his finger. It was as hard as a rock.
"We're a bit early. These things won't burn yet."
"Better early than late." His dad replied. "We'll just get them ready and then wait"
Dean nodded his approval at the plan and then reached for the pack that Cas had brought with him. Both Dean and his father had been forbidden from any heavy lifting on this job. The boy unzipped the bag and pulled out bottles of lighter fluid. He handed them out to the others, keeping one for himself, and then they got to work.
Dean poured the accelerant over all of the eggs along one of the walls, watching his family take care of the rest. Once the shells felt pliant, they'd light them up and watch them burn. The only risk was that the shells became pliant mere second before the juvenile Szazlabu hatched and there was a chance that some would emerge while burning. If that happened, they'd just pick them off with their shotguns, if the flames didn't roast the little beasts first.
Dean poked one of the eggs again. "Not yet."
All they could do was wait. Which Dean really didn't want to do. The longer they waited, the more likely it was that someone would ask him how he was doing, or why he seemed so jumpy, or some other question that he really didn't want to answer. Dean glanced around the large cavernous space to see hundreds of chains hanging down, each one ending with a sharp, bloody meat-hook. Soon, he knew, they'd be piercing his skin and pulling him high above the floor to hang for God knew how long until… No. It wasn't real. His parents were here. Cas was here. This space was in reality very small, not a huge never ending cavern. He was on a hunt, not in Hell. This was all a hallucination.
"Dean?"
"What?" He turned to his mom and knew by her expression that he had to look as panicked as he felt.
"Sweetheart, what is it? What's wrong?"
Well Mom, I'm insane and for a moment I thought I was back in Hell, so you and Dad would probably be best off pouring that lighter fluid on me as well and leaving me behind while you light this whole damned place up. It will be easiest on all of us because then you won't have to be stuck with me as your son and I won't have to see the fear and disappointment in your eyes. Dean shook his head to rid his mind of those dark thoughts. "Nothing."
"Dean, son, we can see that something is bothering you. Please, talk to us." His father pleaded.
"We got a job to do." Dean reminded them, desperate to get the attention off of himself.
Cas tested one of the eggs. "We cannot move ahead with the next step of this hunt yet, Dean. And your well-being is extremely important."
"So, you're all ganging up on me now?"
"Dean…" His mom started.
"Look, it's nothing, okay?" Dean insisted. After all, it wasn't like he couldn't deal with the hallucinations all on his own. He'd been doing it just fine since they'd started. The boy sighed and rubbed at the stitches on the right side of his face, trying to find the right words to make the others stop their worrying. "Just, I screwed up our last job and am a bit nervous now. And I know you guys gotta be feeling the same."
His dad sighed. "Dean, I know that we didn't handle things too well after what happened, but I swear to you that I'm not thinking that you'll have a repeat of last time. That wasn't your fault. Anyone going through what you went through would've reacted like that. Hell, they probably would've been worse. Cas says that that was after thirty years of constant torture. I can't even imagine how you can be sane after that. Most people wouldn't be able to come back from something like that. I knew people that went through far less and lost their humanity from it. Dean, you're a remarkable person. You really are. And I trust you. And even if something like that happens again, your mother and I will be there to help you through it."
Dean felt the tears welling up in his eyes and the lump in his throat. He couldn't believe that those words had just come from his father. "Dad, I…" He was about to tell his dad how much what he said meant to him and finally come clean about his Hell visions. If his dad had promised to stand by him, then maybe Dean could take that chance. But then, from the corner of his eye, the small hunter saw one of the eggs start to shift slightly. "Light 'em up! Burn 'em! They're gonna hatch now!"
Dean pulled a lighter out of his pocket and flicked it on just as his dad did the same. They both tossed the small devices onto the fuel drenched eggs and watched as they burst into flames. A high pitched screeching filled the small area. The flames spread quickly and the Winchesters had to start backing down the tunnel so that they wouldn't be burned as well. Cas could easily get them out of there and to safety, but they couldn't leave until they knew that all of the eggs were completely destroyed.
Unfortunately, it looked like their bad luck streak was far from over because three of the eggs suddenly broke open and large, nasty-looking flaming bug creatures skittered out and came right at them. Dean had no weapon that would work against them, so he tried to step away from them, to allow his parents to get a clear shot. But one of the Szazlabu must have seen him as easy prey (didn't everyone nowadays?) and launched itself right at Dean. The boy was knocked backwards by the flaming creature and fell to the ground. He cried out as he felt his clothes catch fire and tried desperately to hold the baby monster back with his arm so that it wouldn't eat him.
"Get the hell off my son!" His dad yelled but couldn't shoot the thing without risking hitting Dean.
Luckily, Cas was right next to the youngest hunter and ripped the Szazlabu off of Dean bare handed and threw it onto the ground. Dean's dad didn't hesitate to pull the trigger and blow the bug-like monstrosity into little bits. Then the man was pulling off his jacket and dropping down next the boy. Dean was lying on the ground, listening to another shotgun going off, but not really paying attention as he felt the flames burning away his clothes and licking at his skin. Maybe he'd been wrong.
He was underground. There were creatures all around him. There was screaming… possibly his own. And now he was on fire and burning. Maybe he was in Hell after all.
No. He had been rescued by Cas a long time ago. Hadn't he? This was just… he was going crazy. He was with his parents on a hunt, not in Hell. Not in Hell. Or was he?
He was vaguely aware that his dad was speaking to him frantically but he didn't know what was being said as he swept his gaze around. Dean closed his eyes as the tears began to leak out. He just wasn't sure what was real anymore.
Author's Note Part Two: I am hiding under my cot, locked up safely in my panic room, holding a shotgun filled with rocksalt, a Bible by my side, and a flask of holywater in my pocket. So bring it on! I hope you all enjoyed. Please leave a review to let me know what you think.
