May 18th, 2009 - Kripke's Hollow, Ohio
Saint Martin's Hospital
They stayed at a different motel in Ohio while they waited for Bobby to be released, coming to visit him every day at the hospital until that day arrived.
It had been three days since Bobby had last spoken. Amy stood outside the doorway with Sam as they watched the old hunter sit in a wheelchair and stare out the window.
As they watched Bobby, Dean came down the hallway, holding a manila envelope. He stopped at the door, leaning against the frame. "What's it been like three days now?" he asked. Sam sighed. "We got to cheer him up. Maybe I'll give him a backrub."
"Have fun with that," Amy muttered.
Sam turned to his brother. "Dean."
"Well, what, then?"
Sam sighed. "Look...we might have to wrap our heads around the idea that Bobby might not just bounce back this time," he said quietly.
There was a brief pause.
"What's in the envelope?" Sam asked after a moment.
Amy looked down at the envelope in Dean's hand. It read 'X-Ray' in big, red, letters.
"Went to radiology," Dean explained as he opened the envelope and pulled a photo out. "Got some glamour shots."
He handed Sam the photo and Amy leaned on his arm to see. It was a chest x-ray of Dean's ribs. Carved into each rib were strange symbols stretching across every visible inch of the ribcage.
"What the..." Amy trailed off.
"Let's just say the doctors are baffled," Dean said, glancing around.
"Holy crap," Sam said.
"Yeah, well, Cas carved you two one, too," Dean reminded them.
Sam's phone began to ring. He answered it. "Hello?" Confusion flashed across his face. "Castiel?"
"Speak of the devil," Dean muttered.
"Ah, St. Martin's Hospital. Why? What are you-" Sam stopped mid-sentence. "Cas?" He glanced at the screen before hanging up the phone.
"What was that about?" Amy asked.
"He, uh, wanted to know where we were," Sam explained.
Castiel suddenly appeared, walking down the hall towards them as he passed two doctors pushing a cart.
"Cell phone, Cas?" Dean asked as the angel reached them. "Really? Since when do angels need to reach out and touch someone?"
"You're hidden from angels now—all angels," Cas reminded him. "I won't be able to simply—"
"Enough foreplay," Bobby suddenly cut Cas off. "Get over here and lay your damn hands on."
Nobody moved. Bobby looked over his shoulder at them. "Get healing," he ordered. "Now."
"I can't," Cas admitted.
Bobby turned his wheelchair around to face them. "Say again?" he threatened.
Cas walked into the room. "I'm cut off from heaven and much of heaven's power," he explained. "Certain things I can do. Certain things I can't."
"You're telling me you lost your mojo just in time to get me stuck in this trap the rest of my life?" Bobby growled.
"I'm sorry."
"Shove it up your ass." Bobby turned back to the window.
"At least he's talking now," Dean muttered.
"I heard that," Bobby snapped.
Cas walked back over to them. "I don't have much time. We need to talk."
"What's going up?" Amy asked.
"Your plan to kill Lucifer," Cas began.
Dean nodded. "Yeah. You want to help?"
"No. It's foolish. It can't be done."
"Way to be blunt, Cas," Amy said.
"Yeah, thanks for the support," Dean agreed."
"But I believe I have the solution," Cas continued. "There is someone besides Michael strong enough to take on Lucifer. Strong enough to stop the apocalypse."
"Who's that?" Sam asked.
"The one who resurrected me and put you on that airplane. The one who began everything. God. I'm gonna find God."
Amy looked down, smirking slightly.
Dean ushered Sam and Amy into the room and closed the door. He turned back to Cas. "God?"
"Yes."
"God."
"Yes!" Cas exasperated. "He isn't in heaven. He has to be somewhere."
Amy looked back up, trying to make it look like she had no idea God was only a few miles from them.
Dean thought for a moment. "Try New Mexico," he joked. "I hear he's on a tortilla."
Cas frowned. "No, he's not on any flatbread."
Dean sighed. "Listen, Chuckles, even if there is a God, he is either dead—and that's the generous theory—"
"He is out there, Dean."
"—or he's up and kicking and doesn't give a rat's ass about any of us," Dean finished.
Cas glared at him.
"I mean, look around you, man." Dean walked further into the room, standing behind Cas. "The world is in the toilet. We are literally at the end of days here, and he's off somewhere drinking booze out of a coconut. All right?"
Cas spun around to face Dean. "Enough," he snapped. "This is not a theological issue. It's strategic. With God's help, we can win."
Dean chuckled. "It's a pipe dream, Cas."
Cas advanced on Dean. "I killed two angels this week," he said quietly. "My brothers. I'm hunted. I rebelled. And I did it, all of it, for you, and you failed. You and your brother destroyed the world and I lost everything, for nothing. All because you couldn't listen. So keep your opinions to yourself."
"What about Amy?" Dean asked.
"I warned you about Lilith and Ruby months ago!" Amy argued. "Told you what would happen if you listened to her!"
Cas turned back to Sam. "You chose not to listen to her and look at what happened."
Bobby turned back to them. "You didn't drop in just to tear us a new hole. What is it you want?" he asked.
"I did come for something. An amulet."
Amy nodded. "Dean's necklace."
Dean turned to her. "What?"
"She's right," Cas agreed. "It burns hot in God's presence. It'll help me find him." He turned to Amy. "Do you know where I should start?"
Amy shook her head. "Uh, no, sorry," she said quietly. "I've got no clue."
"A God EMF?" Sam asked. Cas nodded.
Dean pulled out his necklace. "What, this?"
Cas nodded again. "May I borrow it?"
"No."
"Dean. Give it to me," Cas ordered.
Dean paused, looking down at his necklace. After a moment, he took off the necklace. "All right, I guess." He held it out to Cas, pulling it back when the angel reached for it. "Don't lose it."
Cas took the necklace.
"Great. Now I feel naked," Dean muttered.
"I'll be in touch."
In the blink of an eye, Cas was gone. Amy sighed.
"When you find God, tell him to send legs!" Bobby shouted.
Amy walked over and stood by Sam and Bobby. "Cas is going to be...disappointed, to say the least," she muttered.
Dean leaned against the window. They stood there for a few seconds, then Bobby's phone.
Bobby answered his phone. "Hello?" There was a slight pause. "I can't hear you."
Pause.
"Where are you?"
Pause.
"Colora—Colorado?"
Another pause.
"River Pass, Colorado?"
Bobby paused again, then. "Rufus? You there? Ruf—Rufus?"
Gunshots could be heard over the line, then the call cut out. Bobby turned to the others.
"What's in River Pass?" Dean asked.
"Rufus. Sounded like trouble with demons. You three mind checking it out?"
Dean nodded. "Yeah. Few demons, nothing we can't handle." He pat Bobby on the shoulder. "You take care. We'll see you in a few days."
"See ya, Bobby," Amy muttered.
They left Bobby in the room and headed out to the Impala
May 19th, 2009 - Pass, Colorado
They reached River Pass early the next day. Dean drove over a bridge, slowing down when he reached the halfway point.
"Why are we stopping?" Amy asked.
"Bridge is out," Dean explained.
They got out of the car and Amy got a good look at what remained of the bridge. The middle section of the bridge had split and collapsed, hanging only by a few metal pieces. A ramp made by the fallen sections led down to the rest of the bridge, which lay in the river below. The river wasn't too deep, and there were hundreds of stones to walk on, but getting the Impala across would be impossible.
Dean kicked a rock over the edge. "This is the only road in or out."
Sam pulled out his cell-phone, holding it up. "No signal," he informed them.
"Rufus was right. Demons got this place locked down," Dean said.
Amy looked over the edge. "How are we supposed to get in?"
"Looks like the only way is across the river," Sam said. "Guess we're hiking in."
Dean sighed. "And the hits just keep on coming."
They circled around to the back of the Impala. Dean opened the weapons box in the trunk and passed out their shotguns and pistols, grabbing the demon knife as well. After they had loaded up on ammo, he closed the trunk back up and they headed for the edge of the bridge.
Amy wasted no time jumping over the edge. She slid on her feet partway down the ramp, running the rest of the way to the part of the bridge that covered the water below. When she reached the water, she looked back to see Sam and Dean carefully climbing down.
"You could have hurt yourself, you know," Dean scolded.
"How?" Amy asked. "It's not like I jumped into the river."
"Just, be more careful," Sam said as he joined them. "We don't need you to break your legs or anything."
Amy scoffed. "'Be more careful' says the guy who hunts monsters for a living." She turned around and grabbed the metal railing, which had bent down, forming a ladder up to the other side of the bridge, and climbed up.
Once Sam and Dean had rejoined her at the top, they headed into town. The neighborhood seemed deserted. They walked past a blue two-door sedan, which had been overturned in the empty street. Amy watched as Sam and Dean ducked down to examine it, shotguns ready. Sam shook his head, telling them it was empty, and they carried on.
There was another car further up. The door was open and the engine was still running, indicating the driver had fled quickly. As they approached, Amy heard music playing from the radio. Sam reached into the car and turned off the engine. Silence fell once more.
They continued walking, passing a banner hanging over the street that welcomed people to the seventy-fifth anniversary of River Pass's pioneer days. There was a red classic Mustang near it. It was parked carefully by the sidewalk. Sam looked inside, walking away when he saw it was empty. Dean smiled admirably at the car and whistled, before following his brother.
Amy paused at the Mustang as she studied it. There was something about it, something to do with the show, that seemed familiar. But why would a Mustang remind her about something?
Brushing off the thought, Amy hurried off to catch up with Sam and Dean. Further up the road, there was a silver car with the windshield shattered. A trail of blood led out of the car and there was a baby stroller lying underneath the left front wheel.
They continued on. The hunters hadn't gotten very far before Amy heard the familiar sound of a gun being cocked. She spun around, gun poised, then lowered it. Ellen stood behind them, gun aimed. Amy had only met her once before, when she first met Sam, Dean, and Bobby. She wondered if Ellen remembered her.
"Ellen?" Sam asked.
Ellen kept the gun trained on them. "Hello, boys."
Dean glanced between Sam and Amy. Ellen lowered her gun, stepping closer.
"Ellen, what the heck's going on here?" Dean asked.
In response, Ellen splashed Dean in the face with holy water and raised her gun back up. Dean closed his eyes for a moment in annoyance. "We're us."
Ellen lowered her gun and walked past them without a word. The hunters exchanged a glance, before reluctantly following her.
"What is going on around here?" Amy whispered to Dean.
"I don't know," Dean said. "But I imagine we're going to find out soon enough."
Ellen led them to a nearby church. They stepped inside a doorway that had a devil's trap drawn in front of it and a line of salt across the threshold. Once they had crossed the trap and salt line with no problems, Ellen turned back to them.
"Real glad to see you boys," she said shakily, pulling Dean into a hug. After a moment, she pulled back, slapping Dean hard across the face. "The can of whoopass I ought to open on you."
Dean gingerly touched his face. "Ow!"
"You can't pick up a phone?" Ellen scolded. "What are you, allergic to giving me peace of mind?" She cast an angry glance at Sam. "I got to find out that you're alive from Rufus?"
"Sorry, Ellen," Dean muttered.
"Yeah, you better be," Ellen snapped. "You better put me on speed dial, kid."
Dean gave a small nod. "Yes, ma'am." Amy smirked.
Ellen turned to her. "Who are you?"
"I'm Amy. We met once a couple years ago," Amy reminded her.
Ellen nodded. "Right. You still with Bobby?"
Amy pointed to Sam and Dean. "I spend more time hunting with these two now, but I've still got a room at Bobby's whenever we go there."
"Hmm." Ellen turned and led them further into the room.
"What's going on, Ellen?" Dean asked as they walked down a set of stairs.
"More than I can handle alone."
"How many demons are there?" Sam chimed in.
"Pretty much the whole town, minus the dead people and these guys." Ellen gestured to a closed door behind her. "So, this is it, right? End times?"
Sam and Dean exchanged a glance. Amy looked down, deciding not to say anything.
"It's got to be," Ellen continued.
"Seems like it," Sam muttered.
Ellen turned to the door and knocked on it. "It's me."
A peephole slid open and then the door opened up. Ellen walked through the door and Sam and Dean followed. Amy walked in last, hearing the door close behind her. She glanced behind her, seeing a young man standing by the door, holding a rifle. She turned back to the room.
Amy counted a total of seven other people inside. Four people, one of them pregnant, sat at a table. A young man sat behind the pregnant woman with his arm around her.
"This is Sam, Dean, and Amy," Ellen explained. "They're hunters. Here to help."
"You guys hip to this whole demon thing?" the man by the door asked.
Dean turned to him. "Yeah. Are you?"
"My wife's eyes turned black," an older man at the table with glasses said. "She came at me with a brick. Kind of makes you embrace the paranormal."
Dean frowned. He turned to Ellen. "All right, catch us up."
"I doubt I know much more than you. Rufus called. Said he was in town investigating omens. All of a sudden, the whole town was possessed. Me and Jo were nearby—"
"You're hunting with Jo?" Dean interrupted.
"Yeah, for a while now. We got here, and the place—well, the place was like you see it. Couldn't find Rufus, then me and Jo got separated. I was out looking when I found you."
"Don't worry, we'll find her," Dean promised.
"Either way, these people cannot just sit here." Sam added. "We got to get them out now."
Amy looked around the room. She frowned, her eyes falling back on the man with glasses, who kept playing with a gold ring on his finger. She briefly remembered something about the four horsemen and how they each had a ring.
Ellen shook her head. "No, it's not that easy. I've been trying. We already made a run for it once."
"What happened?"
"There used to be twenty of us." Ellen left the rest unsaid.
Dean paused, looking around at the small group of remaining people. "Well, there's four of us now," he said helpfully.
Ellen scoffed. "You don't know what it's like out there. Demons are everywhere. We won't be able to cover everybody."
"What if we get everyone guns?"
"What, are you gonna arm up baby bump over here?" Dean nodded towards the pregnant woman, whose nervousness was now evident.
"More salt we can fire at once, more demons we can keep away," Sam reminded him.
Dean looked over at the group, then back to Sam and Amy. "There's a sporting goods store we passed on Main on the way in," he told them. "I bet they got guns." He dropped his bag next to the table. Sam and Amy dropped their bags next to his.
Sam turned to Ellen. "All right. You stay. We'll go."
"What about—"
Sam cut her off. "If Jo and Rufus are out there, we'll bring them back," he promised.
"We'll find them, Ellen," Amy assured her. "Don't worry."
The young man by the door opened it up and the three hunters walked outside. Dean stopped at the foot of the stairs, turning to Sam.
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Hold on." He gestured to Amy. "Why don't we just go?"
"What? Just you two?"
"Well, yeah. Somebody's got to stay here and start giving them Shotgun 101."
"Yeah. Ellen." Sam pushed Dean and started going upstairs. Dean reached a hand out, stopping him.
"No no no. It's gonna go a lot faster if you stay and help, okay?"
"While you two go get guns and salt and look for Jo and Rufus?" Sam questioned. He scoffed. "That's stupid."
"We can handle it."
Amy sighed in frustration. "Can we please just go already?" she asked. "The faster we find what we need, the faster we can get back and get these people out of here."
Sam stared at his brother for a moment. "You don't want me going out there," he suddenly realized.
"I didn't say that."
"Around demons."
"I didn't say that," Dean repeated.
"Fine, then let's go." Sam headed up the stairs.
Dean sighed. Amy tugged at his arm as she followed Sam upstairs. "Come on."
"I'll get the salt. You two get the guns," Sam said as they walked down the street, past the silver car with the shattered windshield.
"We'll go together."
"Dean, it's right there," Sam said in annoyance. "Can we at least do this like professionals?"
Without waiting for a reply, Sam headed in the direction of the Quick-Mart at the corner. Dean watched him for a moment, then turned and headed in the opposite direction. Amy started to follow, but Dean turned back around, stopping her.
"Hey, listen, I want you to go with him," Dean told her, nodding to Sam.
"What?" Amy asked, confused.
"Just...make sure he doesn't do anything."
Amy sighed. "You mean make sure he doesn't do anything demon-related?"
Dean nodded.
Amy sighed again, reluctantly turning to follow Sam. She paused, turning her head back to Dean. "He wasn't lying you know," she said. "The demon blood in his system and his powers? They really are gone." She turned back and ran after Sam.
Amy walked through the doors to the Quick-Mart. A bell chimed above her head and she looked around, not seeing Sam anywhere.
"Sam?" she called out quietly.
Sam's head appeared above one of the shelves. He frowned upon seeing Amy. "What are you doing here?"
Amy shook her head as she made her way towards Sam. "Sorry. Dean wanted me to come with you."
Sam sighed. "You mean he wanted you to keep an eye on me."
Amy nodded. "Yeah. I told him there was no need to but...well, you know Dean."
"Whatever," Sam muttered. He handed Amy a plastic bag. "Put some salt cans in here. As much as you can fit."
Amy took the bag, kneeling down next to Sam.
As they were filling up the bags, Sam and Amy heard the door open and the bell above the door chime.
Sam slowly stood up, looking over the shelf. After a moment, he knelt back down. "Demons," he whispered. "Two of them."
Amy nodded. "We can take them," she whispered. "You got the knife?"
Sam nodded. He started to reach for it, but froze when one of the demons walked to the fridge directly in front of them.
Amy frowned when the demon opened the fridge and began filling a backpack with water bottles. Why would a demon be stocking up on supplies.
Sam slowly reached for his shotgun, which was lying on top of the cans of salt. As his hand passed over the salt cans, he accidentally knocked over a few of them, alerting the demon.
The demon threw something at Sam, then rushed at them. It threw a punch at Sam, who dodged. Sam grabbed the demon by the shirt, shoving him into the wall. The demon grabbed Sam by the neck and they began to struggle.
The other demon suddenly grabbed Amy from behind, wrapping an arm around her neck. She dropped to her knees, causing the demon to lose his grip. She held out her hand and a shelf fell down on top of the demon, knocking it to the ground.
"Amy!" Sam called out.
Amy turned around to see the other demon on the ground and Sam holding the bloody demon knife. He tossed the knife to her and she caught it. Turning back around, she noticed that the demon was still on the ground under the shelf, trying to get out. Figuring the demon was trying to trick her, Amy quickly stabbed the knife into the demon's throat. It stopped moving, it's head dropping limply on the tile.
Amy frowned as Sam walked up to her. The demon hadn't flickered with light like they normally did.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," Amy said, still frowning, "but something isn't right here."
"What do you mean?"
"I'll tell you when we find Dean. He'll wanna hear this too."
As if on cue, the bell above the door chimed again. Sam quickly pulled Amy down.
"Sammy?" Dean's voice called out. "Amy?"
Sam sighed in relief, standing back up. Amy stood back up as Dean rounded the corner to the aisle they were in.
Dean spotted the demons on the ground. "What happened in here?" he asked.
"We were attacked by demons," Sam explained.
"If they even were demons," Amy muttered.
Sam and Dean turned to her. "What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"I told you something didn't seem right about this," Amy told Sam. "The demons didn't glow when we killed them. Come to think of it, they didn't use any of their normal demon powers."
"Are you sure?" Dean asked. "Maybe you just didn't notice during the fight."
Amy shook her head. "No, there's definitely something off about this. That red Mustang outside reminded me about something when we passed it, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was."
Sam and Dean exchanged a look.
"Let's get back to the church," Dean suggested. "We can figure out something there."
Sam and Amy nodded. Dean led them out of the store, grabbing the bag of guns on the way out. Amy wiped the blood off the demon knife, and pocketed it, before following them outside.
They walked back to the church. The young man from before let them in and they entered the room.
Dean looked around the room. He cleared his throat. "Alright," he began, "the three of us are gonna show you guys your way around these guns here." He pointed to the bag. "With enough of us armed, we should be able to get you guys out of town and to safety." The hunters started wordlessly distributing the guns to everyone, then split up into groups.
Dean showed two of the older men how to pack salt rounds. Once they were comfortable enough to pack the rounds on their own, he went over to the man who stood guard by the door, Austin.
Ellen worked with the man with the ring, Roger, and Michael, the pastor. Sam worked with the pregnant woman, whose name Amy learned was Genevieve and her husband, Josh. And Amy worked with Autumn, the only teenager of the group.
"How long has all this been going on?" Amy asked.
"Almost a week," Autumn said. "Started up last Thursday."
Amy gave her a small smile. "Don't worry. Sam, Dean, and I have a bit more experience with demons. We'll get you guys out of this."
Autumn smiled back. She nodded towards the shotgun sitting between them. "So, how does this all work?"
The hunters spent the next several minutes showing the small group how to work the guns. Autumn proved to be a fast learner, quickly picking up how to load the shotgun shells. Amy nodded in approval.
"Not bad," she praised. "You're a fast learner."
"I'm more of a hands on learner," Autumn explained. "You know what I mean?"
Amy nodded. "You do better by doing something, rather than listening and trying to memorize," she said. "I'm the exact same way."
"You are?"
"Oh, yeah," Amy confirmed. "Didn't really find out until high school, though. I would forget everything a teacher said the moment after they said it. But then I had that one teacher in high school-"
"Who noticed and decided to try a different teaching method?" Autumn finished.
"Exactly," Amy said with a small laugh.
Ten minutes later, Amy spotted Sam sitting in the corner by himself.
"Hey, you gonna be okay over here by yourself for a moment?" she asked. "I need to go talk to Sam real quick."
"No problem," Autumn said. "I've got the hang of this now, I think."
Amy gave the teen a quick smile, then headed over to Sam. Dean seemed to notice Sam sitting by himself as well, because he quickly joined her.
Amy sat down next to Sam. "You okay?"
Sam looked down, but didn't say anything.
Dean sat down on the other side of him. "What's wrong?"
"It's just...at the store," Sam began. "Those demons, if they were demons, were possessing teenagers. I mean, I had to slit some kid's throat. And if they weren't demons, like Amy thought, then I slit a human kid's throat."
Dean frowned. "Yeah, I've been thinking about that since we got back here." He leaned forward to look at Amy. "You said you didn't think they were demons?"
Amy shook her head. "No, I don't," she confirmed. "They didn't glow when we killed them and a shelf I pulled down on one seemed to pin it to the ground. It couldn't even get out from under it."
"So, any ideas on what it could be, if not demons?"
Amy frowned, trying to remember. "Do you remember what Zachariah said when we were at Chuck's house that day after all this went down and the cage was broken? About the horsemen?"
Sam frowned, turning to her. "You think we're dealing with a horseman?" he asked.
"I don't know for sure," Amy said. "I don't remember which one made their first appearance on the show. But I do remember one thing-" she turned her head towards Roger, who was fumbling a shotgun shell as he tried to load it "-they all wore rings."
Ellen suddenly stepped in front of them. "I'll be back."
The three hunters looked up. "Where you going?" Dean asked.
"I can't sit here on my ass," Ellen said. "My daughter's out there somewhere. I'm not back in half an hour, go. Get these people out of here." She started to turn away.
The Winchesters and Amy quickly stood up.
"No, wait. I'll go with you," Sam offered.
"Whoa, hold on." Dean turned to Sam. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
Sam and Dean headed out another door. Amy started to follow, but stopped, deciding it was better for them to talk alone.
"So," Ellen began, directing Amy's attention to her, "how long have you been hunting with Sam and Dean?"
"Little over a year." Amy leaned against the wall. "After that whole gate to Hell thing a couple years ago, I started living with Bobby-"
"Why'd Bobby let you live with him?" Ellen asked.
Amy shrugged. "I didn't have anywhere else to go at the time. No family. Anyway, he, uh, he showed me how to hunt and after a few cases with him, Sam and Dean started letting me hunt with them. That was last January, I think."
"Huh." Ellen nodded.
Sam and Dean came back into the room. They walked over to Ellen and Amy.
"Ready to go?" Sam asked.
Ellen nodded. "Yeah." She turned to Dean. "Remember. Half an hour, if I'm not back-"
"Get these people out of here," Dean finished.
Sam and Ellen each grabbed a shotgun and left.
Dean turned to Amy. "You figure out if we're really dealing with a horseman yet?"
"I'm pretty sure we are," Amy said, looking around the room, "I just don't know which one."
"Well figure it out," Dean instructed. "The faster we get this all figured out, the faster we can get back to Bobby."
Amy nodded. "Right."
Five minutes later, there was a pounding on the door. Dean quickly looked through the peephole, then moved what was blocking the door and opened it.
Ellen walked through the door, a solemn look on her face.
"Where's Sam?" Dean asked, noticing the lack of his brother.
Ellen looked at Dean but didn't say anything. She shook her head and sat down at the table next to Autumn, who handed her a water bottle.
"They took him?" Genevieve asked. "Demons took him?" Her voice started to shake. "Oh my god. What if they're in here? The demons?"
"Could they get in?" Michael asked.
"They shouldn't be able to," Amy said. "Getting past a devil's trap and salt line is something practically no demon can do." She let out a long breath. "Okay, I need to figure this out. When did all of this start?"
"Around the time Rufus first came into town, I think," Ellen said.
"Do you know why Rufus came to town?" Dean asked. "Was there a specific omen?"
Ellen shrugged. "He said something about water. That's all I know."
Dean turned to Michael. "Padré, you know what she's talking about—the water?"
"The river," Michael explained. "Ran polluted all of a sudden."
"Let me guess," Amy said, "last Wednesday?"
Austin nodded. "And the demon thing started up the next day."
"Anything else?" Amy asked.
Austin and Michael exchanged a glance. "Maybe, but it's pretty random," Austin said.
"Good. Random's good."
"Shooting star—does that count?"
Dean and Amy exchanged a glance.
"Real big," Austin continued. "Same night. Wednesday."
"That definitely counts," Dean agreed. He walked over to the bookshelf and pulled out a Bible, flipping through it.
"So, uh, you think that all this comes from outer space?" Austin asked.
Amy scoffed. "No, of course not, that's ridiculous."
Dean found a passage and started reading it aloud. "And there fell a great star from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell upon the river, and the name of the star was Wormwood. And many men died."
"Revelation eight ten," Michael said nervously. "Are you saying that this is about the apocalypse?"
"Something like that," Amy said with a nod.
"And these specific omens, they're prelude to what?" Dean asked.
"The four Horsemen, right?" Amy asked.
Michael nodded. "Right."
"Which one rides a red horse?"
"War."
Dean nodded. "That cherry Mustang parked on Main."
"You can't think that a car—"
Dean cut Michael off. "It's the way I'd roll. I mean, think about it. It all makes sense. If War is a dude and he's here, maybe he's messing with our heads."
"Turning us on each other," Ellen finished. "Jo called me a black-eyed bitch."
Dean stood up. "They think we're demons, we think they're demons. What if there are no demons at all and we're all just killing each other?"
"Wait, just back up. It's the apocalypse?" Michael asked.
Dean gave the man a small smile. "Sorry, Padre."
The room fell silent for several moments.
"So now you're saying that there are no demons and war is a guy," Austin finally asked.
"You believed crazy before," Dean reminded him.
Someone started banging on the door.
"Open up! It's Roger!"
As Austin checked the peephole, Amy turned back to the room. "Out of curiosity, who owns that red Mustang?"
"Roger, I think," Josh spoke.
Realization crossed Amy's face. "Austin, wait-"
Austin either ignored or didn't hear her. He opened the door and Roger hurried in, breathing heavily as if he had been running.
"I saw them, the demons," he said in between breaths. "They know we're trying to leave. They said they're gonna pick us off one by one."
"Wait wait wait. What?" Dean asked.
"I thought you said there were no demons," Austin said.
"There aren't," Amy said. "Trust me." She narrowed her eyes at 'Roger.'
"Where did you go?" Dean asked.
"I thought someone should go out and see what's going on!" Roger explained.
"Where did you see the demons and what did they say exactly?" Dean demanded.
"We just sit here, we're going to be dead," Austin said.
"No, we're not!" Dean snapped.
"They're gonna kill us unless we kill them first," Roger continued.
"Oh are they now?" Amy asked threateningly.
Roger nodded. "That's what they told me."
"Hold on. Hold on." Dean tried to calm everyone down.
Austin shook his head. "No, man, we got people to protect. All right, the able-bodied go hunt some demons." He picked up a shotgun, handing it to Josh.
"Whoa whoa whoa," Dean said as Austin continued passing around guns. "Slow your roll. This is not a demon thing."
Amy saw Roger twist his ring, grinning at the hunters menecanly. His expression suddenly changed to panic as he pointed to her, Dean, and Ellen.
"Look at their eyes! They're demons!" he cried out.
Amy looked around at the group, confused. Genevieve gasped and Michael quickly raised a shotgun.
Dean pushed Ellen and Amy out of the room. "Go, go!"
They hurried out of the church, barely dodging a shotgun shell as Austin fired at them.
"Move!" Dean yelled.
They hurried outside and ran down the street. Only when they were out of eyesight did they stop to catch their breath.
"So, hold on," Ellen said in between breaths, "you think we're dealing with a horseman?"
Amy nodded. "Not just any horseman, though. I'm pretty sure we're dealing with War."
"How do we stop him?" Dean asked.
"The only way I know of is to get that ring," Amy recalled, "after that this whole demon thing should stop."
"How do we get his ring?" Ellen asked.
Amy shrugged. "Chop it off his hand if we have to, I guess."
Dean and Ellen exchanged a glance.
Ellen turned back to Amy. "I'm not going to ask how you know this," she said, "especially considering I've heard you're a pretty damn good hunter, but how are we supposed to cut the ring off a horseman's hand?"
"That, I don't know," Amy admitted. "He's obviously not just gonna hold out his hand and let us cut off his finger."
Dean nodded. "We need to figure out a plan." He turned at the sound of the group from the church coming down the street. "But first we need to get out from the open."
Ellen stopped him. "No, we need to find Rufus and Jo."
Dean paused, before nodding again. "Okay, yeah. But we need to move, now!"
They hurried back down the street.
"Any ideas where they are, Ellen?" Amy asked.
Ellen pointed to a house with smoke coming from the chimney. "I'm guessing they're in there."
Dean hurried up, walking faster down the street. "Come on," he said. "Let's move."
They reached the house Ellen had pointed out and headed up onto the front porch. The front door was locked, but there was a window open slightly next to it.
Ellen frowned, looking at the open window. "This is too easy," she muttered.
"Think they rigged it?" Amy asked.
Ellen nodded. "Wouldn't kill a demon, but it would be a little hard for a demon to attack anyone with no limbs. Okay, stand back."
Amy and Dean moved out of the way while Ellen tossed something through the window and ran out of the way.
There was a loud explosion. Ellen quickly hurried through the now rig-proof window while Dean stood next to it, out of sight. Amy hid around the corner, ready to jump into the fight if she needed to.
Amy heard movement inside the house and a moment later, Dean reached through the window, pulling Rufus through the window, pinning him to the ground.
Dean hauled Rufus up, slamming him to the wall. "Listen to me," he snapped. "I'm not a demon. Think, Rufus. All those omens."
"You go to hell," Rufus growled. He kicked Dean in the crotch, then kneed him in the stomach and punched him in the face.
Rufus's gun flew across the porch into Amy's outstretched hand. He turned and saw her holding it, lunging towards her.
Dean quickly grabbed Rufus again, pinning him against the wall. "Rufus! The polluted water, the shooting star, the red Mustang—it's War. I'm telling you, it's War."
"You're damn right it is." Rufus punched Dean in the face, before lunging for Amy once more.
"The horseman, Rufus!" Amy shouted. "The four horsemen of the apocalypse!"
Rufus suddenly paused. "Horseman?"
Amy nodded.
"Yes," Dean confirmed. "He's turning us against each other. You're hallucinating."
Rufus blinked several times. He looked back and forth between Dean and Amy. "The Horseman," he muttered. "War."
"Yes."
Rufus looked around. "Did you figure this out all by yourself, genius?"
Dean pointed to Amy. "Actually she did."
Amy stepped forward, handing Rufus back his gun. "Hey," she greeted, "I'm Amy."
Rufus looked her up and down. "Amy, huh? Bobby's told me a few things about you."
"Nothing too bad, I hope."
Struggling could be heard inside and they hurried through the window. They were greeted by Ellen pointing a shotgun at their faces.
Dean held his hands up. "Whoa, whoa!"
"We all on the same page?" Ellen asked.
Amy nodded. "Yeah."
Dean and Rufus exchanged a glance and nodded as well.
"Good." Dean looked over at the blonde woman standing next to Ellen. "Hi, Jo."
Jo nodded. "Hey."
"Okay, we got to find War before everybody in this town kills each—" Dean was cut off by the sound of firing gunshots. Everyone ducked. "Damn it! Where's Sam?"
Rufus jerked a thumb towards the ceiling. "Upstairs."
Dean and Amy hurried upstairs. There was a door at the end of the hallway that was closed. They hurried over, swinging it open.
Sam was inside the room, tied to a chair. "Dean, Amy, it's not demons," he said instantly.
"Yeah, we know," Amy said as Dean untied his brother. "It's the horseman, War."
Sam nodded. "He's using his-"
"Ring," Dean finished. "Amy already figured all this out. We just gotta find a way to get it from him."
There was another gunshot outside. Amy peered out the window, seeing the small group from the church directly outside the house.
Dean suddenly pulled her away from the window. "We gotta move, come on."
They hurried downstairs and out the back door, hurrying off towards Main Street.
"Where are we going to get the ring?" Sam asked.
"Mustang," Dean said as the mentioned car came into view. They stopped. "You still got the knife?"
"I've got it," Amy said, pulling it out of her pocket.
Dean nodded. "Good." He gestured them over to a nearby car. They ducked behind it, waiting for War.
Five minutes later, War came walking down the street. He approached his car, looking back over his shoulder. The three hunters crept out from hunting, grabbing the horseman as he reached for the door handle.
War laughed as Dean wrapped an arm around his neck. Amy held up the knife.
War held up his hands defensively. "Whoa. Okay. That's a sweet little knife," he said mockingly. "But come on. You can't kill war, kiddos."
"Oh, we know."
Sam slammed War's hand with the ring down on the mustang, holding it there as Amy brought the knife down across all four fingers.
The fingers and ring fell to the pavement. All of a sudden, Dean was holding onto nothing as War and the Mustang vanished.
Dean leaned down, picking up the ring. He looked around as he pocketed the gold ring. "We should make sure everyone is okay, before we get out of here."
Amy nodded. "Why don't you guys go ahead and do that?" she asked. "I'll run back to the church and grab out stuff."
"Okay," Sam agreed. "Uh, wait for us in front of the church when you've got everything. We'll come find you."
Amy gave him a mock salute. "Aye aye." She hurried off in the direction of the church.
Amy reached the church a few minutes later. The front door was wide open, from when the group had chased them out. She walked inside, past the bullet-ridden door from when Austin had shot them.
Their bags still lay by the table. She walked over to them, taking one more look around the room to make sure nothing was forgotten, before grabbing the bags and heading back outside. She sat down on the steps, waiting for Sam and Dean.
Sam and Dean walked around the corner. Amy handed them their bags and they started walking back towards the broken bridge.
"Was everyone okay?" Amy asked.
"Nothing too major," Dean told her. "Just a few scratches here and there. The pastor got shot, but he should live."
Amy nodded, not having anything else to say on the matter.
They reached the bridge as the sun started to set. Climbing back down the makeshift ramp and across the ravine, they headed back up to the waiting Impala. Dean opened the trunk and they put their bags in, before getting back into the car and driving off.
They stopped and got a quick meal, before stopping at a motel just out of town for the night. Amy was too tired to hold much of a conversation with Sam and Dean and fell into her bed, soon falling asleep.
May 20th, 2009
The next morning, Dean drove them to a rest area in view of a mountain. They sat at a picnic table as they ate breakfast.
Dean pulled out the ring, turning it around in his hand as he examined it. "So, pit stop at Mount Doom?"
Amy chuckled at the reference, but Sam didn't reply. He stared pensively at the ground, before finally speaking.
"Dean—"
Dean cut him off. "Sam, let's not."
"No, listen. This is important." Sam took a deep breath. "I know you don't trust me."
Dean looked away.
"Just, now I realize something. I don't trust me either," Sam admitted. Dean looked back up. " From the minute I saw that blood, only thought in my head...and I tell myself it's for the right reasons, my intentions are good, and it, it feels true, you know? But I think, underneath...I just miss the feeling. I know how messed up that sounds, which means I know how messed up I am. Thing is, the problem's not the demon blood, not really. I mean, I, what I did, I can't blame the blood or Ruby or...anything." He paused.
"The problem's me," Sam finally said. "How far I'll go. There's something in me that...scares the hell out of me, Dean. In the last couple of days, I caught another glimpse..."
"So what are you saying?" Dean asked.
Sam hesitated for a moment. "I'm in no shape to be hunting," he said. Dean looked away again. "I need to step back, 'cause I'm dangerous." He paused briefly. "Maybe it's best we just...go our separate ways." Sam looked up at Dean, waiting for an answer.
Dean licked his lips as he considered the idea. "Well, I think you're right," he finally said.
Amy looked up at him. "What?" she asked quietly. She didn't know why but she wasn't expecting Dean to just agree with his brother on this.
"I was expecting a fight," Sam said, voicing what Amy had been thinking.
"The truth is I spend more time worrying about you than about doing the job right," Dean admitted. "And I just, I can't afford that, you know? Not now."
Sam nodded. "I'm sorry, Dean."
"I know you are, Sam."
Sam nodded again. He swung his leg over the bench as he moved to stand up.
"Hey, do you, uh, wanna take the Impala?" Dean offered.
Sam shook his head. "It's okay."
Sam stood up. He took a few steps away from the table, then turned back. "Take care of Amy, Dean. And yourself."
"Yeah, you too, Sammy."
Dean and Amy watched in silence as Sam pulled his backpack from the backseat of the Impala. He ran his hand along the trunk as he walked towards a blue pick-up truck nearby. Sam said something they couldn't hear to the driver, before circling around to the passenger side and getting in. The truck drove off.
They watched the truck drive away, not looking away until it was out of view. When it was gone, Dean turned to her. "Ready to go?"
Amy sighed, nodding silently. She stood up from the bench and followed Dean to the Impala. She started to open the backdoor, but Dean stopped her.
"You can have shotgun," he muttered.
Amy closed the door back up and silently made her way to the passenger side. She opened the front door and slid in next to Dean. He started the engine and they drove off.