December 1st - December 3rd, 2008
When night fell, Dean pulled over so we could get some sleep. I let Sam stretch out in the back, and I laid up front with my head on Dean's leg as he sat up in his seat.
I don't know how much sleep I actually got before I woke up to Sam's voice, "What are you doing?"
"What's it look like I'm doing?" Dean asked.
I sat up, yawned, and stretched when I realized Dean was looking at a newspaper over my head.
"Are you looking for a job?" I asked.
Dean pointed at me and nodded. "Yahtzee."
Sam shook his head. "We just finished a job like two hours ago."
Dean shrugged. "Adrenaline's still pumping, I guess. So, what do you think... Cedar Rapids, Tulsa, or Chi-Town?"
"I am all for working. I really am. But you got us chasing cases nonstop for like a month now. We need sleep," Sam said.
Dean nodded. "Yeah, we can sleep when we're dead."
Sam sighed. "You're exhausted, Dean."
Dean shook his head. "I'm good."
"No, you're not." Sam rolled his eyes. "If you can't stop for yourself, then do it for Maddi, she needs sleep."
I yawned. "I'm good. I just got some rest."
"See? We're all good," Dean said.
Sam gave me a dirty look and then directed his attention back to Dean. "You're running on fumes, and you can't run forever."
"And what am I running from?" Dean asked.
"From what you told us. Or are we pretending that never happened?" Sam asked.
I rolled my eyes. "Why do you have to pick at things?"
Sam furrowed his brow at me. "I'm not, I'm just—"
I raised an eyebrow at him. "You are. He already told us a little about it. Take what you can get, dude."
Sam glared at me. "I—"
Dean cleared his throat and snapped the newspaper on his lap. "Stratton, Nebraska. Farm town. A man gets hacked to death in a locked room inside a locked house. No signs of forced entry."
"Ghost?" I asked.
Dean nodded. "Yeah, sounds like it."
Sam sighed and flopped back down in the back seat.
After driving for a few hours, we finally pulled up to a big, beautiful, run-down house in the middle of nowhere. As we walked up to the house, we passed a for sale sign near the front steps.
"Boy, three bedrooms, two baths, and one homicide. This place is gonna sell like hotcakes," Dean said sarcastically.
Sam smirked, and then we walked through the front door and into the kitchen.
Dean found a strange spot on the wall that looked like it had a hole in it and was patched at some point. "Hey, check this out." He knocked on the wall. "It's hollow." He raised his eyebrows. "Huh."
Sam shrugged. "It's probably a dumbwaiter. All these old houses had them."
"Know-it-all," Dean whispered under his breath as Sam walked away.
Sam turned back. "What?"
Dean shrugged. "What?"
Sam thought for a second. "You said—"
Dean furrowed his brow. "What?"
Sam shrugged and shook his head as if he was confused. "Never mind."
Dean smirked at me when Sam turned around, and I giggled quietly. We followed Sam into a bedroom as he pulled out his EMF meter.
Dean shrugged. "Well, no bloodstains, fresh coat of paint, it's a bunch of bubkis."
"Needle's all over the place," Sam said, indicating the EMF meter was going crazy.
Dean nodded. "Yeah... power lines."
"Great." Sam sighed and then tucked the meter into his pocket as he opened the closet door. "Uh..."
Dean and I walked over and saw a creepy doll head sitting on the floor. It had all of it's hair cut off, and it was strange because it wasn't just lying on the floor. It was like someone had propped it upright.
"Well, that's super-disturbing," Dean said.
"Think it got left behind?" Sam asked.
"By who?" Dean asked. "Unless Bill Gibson likes to play with doll heads."
A moment later, we heard the rumbling of a large vehicle and car doors slam. When we ran over to the window, there was a moving van and a truck parked outside. Two men, a woman, a girl, and a boy with a dog, were staring up at the house with excitement.
"Uh-oh," Sam said.
"I thought you said this place was still for sale," Dean said.
Sam shrugged. "Apparently, it's not."
We walked outside to greet them at the bottom of the porch, but we were just greeted with strange and confused looks.
"Can I help you?" one of the men asked.
"Hi. Are you the new owner?" Sam asked.
The man furrowed his brow. "Yeah. Brian, my wife, Susan, my son Danny, my daughter Kate, and my brother-in-law Ted." He shook his head. "You guys are...?"
"This is Mr. Stanwyck. I'm Mr. Babar. County code enforcement," Dean said as he and Sam pulled out their badges.
"We had the building inspected last week." Brian shook his head. "You're really with the county?" He nodded at me. "Who is she then?
Dean put his hand on my shoulder. "Bring your kid to work day."
Brian raised his eyebrows curiously, looking from Dean to me.
Dean cleared his throat. "She was a blessing at a young age."
Brian shook his head. "So, what's the problem?"
"Asbestos in the walls, a gas leak..." Sam nodded. "Yeah, I'd say we got a problem."
"Asbestos?" Susan asked, "Meaning what?"
"Meaning, until this house is up to code, it's uninhabitable," Sam explained.
Brian put his hand up and shook it. "Whoa whoa whoa. You're saying we can't stay here?"
Dean nodded. "It's a health hazard. You don't want to."
"Hold up. We just drove four hundred miles," Ted spoke up.
Dean nodded. "There's a motel just down the road. 'Til this gets cleaned up, I suggest you stay there."
"All right, and what if we don't?" Brian asked.
Dean shrugged. "Well, you get a fine, or you go to jail. Pick your poison."
Brian turned to his family. "One night. One night, and I'll take care of everything, ASAP, I promise."
Dean nodded. "Yeah, you do that."
Kate, who seemed like she could be about fifteen or sixteen, rolled her eyes. "Another motel? Awesome, Dad. I hope this one has hooker sheets, like the last one."
"Danny!" Susan yelled.
"Come on, Danny!" Brian waved for him to come back from the field with their dog.
We drove to speak to the woman who cleaned Mr. Gibson's house. She was the one who found him dead when she went to clean. Sam and Dean walked up to the front door and spoke to her for a few minutes and then returned with a few things she gave them.
"So?" I asked.
"Well..." Dean put the car in drive and pulled away. "She said when she found him, he was ripped apart. Blood everywhere."
Sam nodded. "She had cleaned his house for five years, but said she didn't really know much about him 'cause he was super private."
"So, you guys didn't really get anything?" I asked.
Dean shook his head. "We didn't say that."
Sam handed me pictures. "She gave those to us. Apparently, they are his wife and daughter. His wife died during childbirth, and then his daughter killed herself about twenty years later."
"She say why the daughter killed herself?" I asked.
Dean shook his head. "No."
Sam nodded. "No flickering lights either, but she said she heard rustling in the walls a lot. Every day she went."
"Rats?" I asked.
Sam nodded. "That's what she thought, but she said she never saw any."
I shrugged. "Okay, where are they buried then?"
Dean shook his head. "Not buried, cremated."
Sam nodded. "So it probably wasn't the mom or the daughter. Whose ghost was it?"
Dean shrugged. "I don't know. But I say we give that place a real once-over and see."
Later that night, we pulled up to the house, but the moving van and truck were back, and the lights in the house were on.
"Crap." Dean scoffed.
"What do we do now?" I asked.
Sam shrugged. "We could tell them the truth."
"Really?" Dean asked.
Sam shook his head. "No, not really."
A moment later, a blood-curdling scream echoed from the house, and Dean sped up down the driveway. When we hopped out, we ran up to the door and pounded on it, and when it opened, we charged in.
"We heard screams. What's going on?" Dean asked, staring at the entire family as they stood nervously in the den.
"Oh, you two! Did you touch my daughter?!" Brian yelled at Sam and Dean.
"What?! No!" Dean shouted.
"Who are you guys?" Brian growled.
Sam put his hand up. "Relax, please. You have a ghost."
"A ghost." Brian scoffed.
"I told you!" Kate shouted.
"It's the girl!" Danny yelled.
Brian turned to them. "Both of you relax." He turned back to us. "What are you guys playing?"
"Your family's in danger. You need to get out of the house now," Dean warned him.
Suddenly, all of the lights in the house went out.
"What the hell?" Ted asked as he looked around.
"Nobody move!" Dean shouted.
Then we heard their dog barking outside, but then it changed to a whine.
"Buster!" Danny shouted.
When Buster howled and yelped again, we followed Brian and Ted as they ran outside.
"Buster! Buster! Buster!" Brian yelled.
"What the hell?" Ted pointed to the ground. It had bloody drag marks in the grass.
My heart sank as we followed the bloody trail that led to the moving van. It had Too Late written in blood on the side of the van.
"Buster!" Danny screamed from the porch.
"Go back inside. Go!" Brian turned and pointed for Susan, Kate, and Danny to go back.
"We are not the bad guys, but you're in danger," Dean said.
Sam nodded. "First thing's first. You got to get your family out of here."
We all ran back in and gathered the rest of the family and ran back out.
"Head to the motel I was talking about. You'll be safe there," Dean said.
"What are you gonna do?" Brian asked.
I gasped when we ran up to the cars and realized all of the tires had been slashed.
"Oh, no! Oh, come on! Oh, come on!" Dean ran up to the Impala and examined all of the tires.
Sam ran to the Impala and popped the trunk. "Dude, the guns are gone. So is the—" He shrugged. "Basically, everything is gone!"
Ted shook his head. "Truck's no good."
Brian nodded next to the moving van. "Tires slashed."
"What kind of ghost messes with a man's wheels?!" Dean yelled.
"What's going on? What's going on?" Kate asked nervously and then screamed, causing us all to jump. "She's there! She's there!"
We all looked around frantically but couldn't see anything.
"Where?!" Susan shouted.
Kate pointed out into an overgrown field that led into the woods. "She was right there in the woods!"
"What's a ghost doing outside?" Dean asked.
"You want to stay and find out?" Sam asked.
"Everybody inside." Dean put his hand on my back and waved toward the house.
"Are you crazy? We need to get the hell out of here!" Brian yelled.
"In what?! This ghost is hunting us! Everybody back inside now! Move!" Dean shouted back, and everyone started running.
In the living room, Dean circled us with a line of salt. "Whatever's outside, it can't get in this circle. As long as the salt line is unbroken, this is the safest place to be."
"Safe from ghosts?" Brian asked.
Dean nodded. "Yes, as a matter of fact."
Brian shook his head and stepped out of the circle. "Okay. I'm not listening to this anymore. Come on. I got to get my family out of here. Let's go." He gestured for his family to come, and they started moving.
Dean put his hand up. "Nobody's going anywhere until we kill this thing."
"Sir, please," Sam said calmly, "This is what we do. Just... trust us."
"You hunt ghosts?" Danny asked.
Dean nodded. "That's right."
"Like Scooby-Doo?" Danny asked excitedly.
I shrugged. "We're even better."
"You saw her outside, right?" Sam asked Kate, and she nodded. "Okay. Does she look like either one of these girls?" He showed her the pictures of Mr. Gibson's wife and daughter.
Kate pointed to the daughter. "Her. She was paler and a lot dirtier, but that was her."
Danny nodded. "That's the girl in the walls."
Sam turned to Dean and me. "So, it's the daughter."
"That girl in the picture... she— she's dead?" Susan asked.
Sam nodded. "She killed herself inside this house."
Susan and the kids looked horrified.
Dean shrugged. "So, what. The maid got her story wrong? Rebecca wasn't cremated?"
"Maybe her spirits attached to something in the house," I suggested.
"She hung herself in the attic, right?" Dean asked.
"You want to babysit? I'll check it out," Sam said and started walking away.
Dean patted my back and pointed. "You go get in that circle too."
"Look..." Ted said and moved out of the circle, causing Sam and me to stop in our tracks. "I don't care who hung themselves where. Maybe something is going on here, but—"
"It's a spirit, man." Dean turned to him.
Ted shook his head. "No, it's just some backwoods hillbilly bitch, and I'm not about to sit around here waiting for her to go all Deliverance on my ass."
"Well, nobody's leaving the house," Dean said.
"Stop me," Ted said and started walking again.
"Listen, man. I've got a gun. You don't get your ass back in that circle, you're gonna have yourself a third hole," Dean threatened.
Ted sighed angrily and joined his family in the circle.
Sam walked back over to Dean and me and whispered, "Dude, you don't have a gun."
"And?" Dean asked. "I'm not letting that bastard or anyone else die tonight."
Sam sighed. "You cool?"
Dean nodded. "Go."
Sam turned and left the room, and then Dean pointed for me to get in the circle again.
"Hey. Fonzie," Ted taunted, "Question for you. This indestructible force field made out of salt... have to be kosher stuff, or what?"
"Knock it off, Ted," Susan said.
Suddenly, there was a creaking sound.
Kate gasped. "What was that?"
Susan held Kate and Danny to her and looked around. "Shh..."
Slowly, a closet door opened, and the ghost walked out into the room.
"Mom..." Kate said nervously.
Dean stepped into the circle with us, putting his arm in front of me, so he was between me and the ghost. "All right, everybody stay calm. She's a ghost. She can't come in the circle."
The ghost continued to step toward us, and I saw the shine of a knife in her hand.
I nudged Dean. "Uh, she has a knife."
Dean nodded. "Yeah, she still can't cross the line."
"But if she's a ghost, she shouldn't be able to carry weapons like that," I said.
"Remember Jacob Karns?" Dean asked. "He had a hook hand for a weapon."
I nodded. "Right, because he was connected to his hook. If she hung herself, why would she have a knife?"
The ghost continued walking toward us and then stopped to look down at the salt line. She furrowed her brow, looking confused, and then stepped on it.
Kate gasped. "I thought you said ghosts couldn't cross the circle."
Dean shook his head. "They can't. She's not a ghost!"
"Shoot her! Shoot her!" Ted yelled.
"Yeah, about that... go, go, go! Move!" Dean yelled and then grab the girl's arm as she went to swing her knife at him.
The girl screamed frantically as she fought with Dean, and I grabbed her wrist as she tried to swing at him. I twisted it until she dropped her knife.
"Hey!" Sam yelled as he ran in, causing her to look at him, and then he shined his flashlight in her eyes. She screamed in pain and then ran away.
We ran outside, but no one was to be found. Sam shined his flashlight around, but we couldn't see anyone.
"Hey. You okay?" Brian asked as he ran up behind us.
"Where is everybody?" Dean asked.
"Hiding," Brian said.
"All right, go get them," Dean said.
Brian looked confused.
Dean gestured for him to run. "Go. Go get them." He turned to Sam and me. "So, it's not a ghost."
"So, it's just a girl?" Sam asked.
Dean shook his head. "It's not just a girl. It's psycho Nell. I'm telling you, man... humans."
"So, who is she then?" Sam asked.
Dean shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's the daughter, Rebecca. Maybe she didn't hang herself."
"Wouldn't she be a lot older by now?" I asked.
Sam nodded. "Yeah, dude. She'd have to be like fifty years old by now."
Dean shrugged. "Well, I don't know. What'd you find in the attic?"
Sam shrugged. "Some old junk. I found Rebecca's diary. That's about it."
"I wish you'd found a howitzer." Dean scoffed. "Listen, we got to get this family safe. I mean, it's just a human, so they can make a run for it. We just got to hold her off."
Susan, Kate, and Brian came running around the house to meet up with us.
"We're okay," Susan said.
"Danny! Ted! We got to go!" Brian yelled back to where they had come from.
Ted came around the corner. "I'm good!"
Susan walked a little bit back toward where they had come from. "Danny! Come on!"
"Danny, buddy, we got to go!" Brian yelled.
"Told you, it was some crazy bitch," Ted said to Dean.
Dean nodded. "Yes, you did."
"Head to town. We'll take it from here, okay," Sam said, and Ted nodded.
"Danny, come on, baby! We're leaving!" Susan yelled.
Brian walked over to Susan. "Danny, we got to go!"
"Brian, where—" Susan started to get choked up. "Where is he?"
"Danny!" Brian screamed.
"Danny!" Susan turned to run around the back of the house.
Brian grabbed her before she got too far, but she was hysterical. "Suse, Suse, Suse. We will find Danny, I promise you."
Susan shook her head. "No."
"No. Take Kate and go now," Brian instructed, "Now, while you still have a chance."
Susan shook her head. "Not without Danny."
Brian pulled her into a hug. "We will find him."
"I am not going out there with Mom alone," Kate said.
Dean nodded. "She's right. Until we find your son, the safest place for you right now is in the shed."
Kate shook her head. "I am not going in there either."
"Yes, you are. It is the best defense. The windows are boarded up. It's got one door. It's our best shot right now. Trust me," Dean said.
Brian nodded. "Suse. Kate. Go."
Dean turned to me. "You too."
I rolled my eyes. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Oh, I'm not," Dean said.
"Maddi, go keep the girls safe. We will take care of this," Sam said, trying to make it seem like they were just giving me a job.
I scoffed. "Yeah, right, I'm not stupid." I turned, pulled out my knife just in case, and walked around the back of the house to the shed. I knocked on the shed door and heard screams from inside. "Shh... it's Maddison. Let me in." Slowly the shed door opened, and I stepped inside. "I guess I'm with you guys."
Susan nodded and cried as she held Kate.
"We should put something in front of the door," I said and spotted a small picnic table in the corner. "Can you help me move that?" I pointed.
Kate and Susan got up and helped me put the table on its side and push it in front of the door.
"Okay, that should be good for now," I said and then sat on the floor, leaning against the wall.
About twenty minutes later, we heard a knock on the door.
Kate and Susan jumped, gasped, and clung to each other. I put my finger up to my mouth and listened.
Knock! Knock!
"Maddi, it's Sam."
I stood up. "Help me move the table."
Susan and Kate stood up to help me, and then we opened the door. Sam and Brian walked in and moved the table back.
"Did you find Danny?" Susan asked nervously.
Brian shook his head. "No, but we will."
"Where's Dean?" I asked.
"He's in the house with Ted," Sam said.
Brian shook his head. "Look, why are we just standing here? Let's go in. Let's check the house."
"We have to wait for those guys to get back, okay?" Sam asked.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"It's me," Dean said.
Sam looked at Brian. "Help me out."
When he and Brian finished moving the table, Dean walked in by himself.
"Did you get Danny?" Susan asked.
Dean shook his head and sighed. "No."
"No?" Susan asked, "Well, where's Ted?"
"He's outside," Dean said.
"Well, why doesn't he come inside?" Susan asked.
"Because I had to carry him out. I'm sorry," Dean said, honestly.
My heart sank, feeling sorry for them.
"You're— What does that mean?" Susan asked nervously, "What does that mean, you're sorry?"
"Are you saying that he's dead?" Brian asked.
Susan shook her head frantically. "No. No, he's not saying that he's dead." She looked at Dean. "You're not saying that, are you?"
Dean sighed. "We were in the walls, and she attacked."
Susan covered her mouth and started to cry. "Oh my god."
Dean shook his head. "And I couldn't get to him in time."
"Uncle Ted is dead?" Kate cried.
Dean shook his head and looked down, ashamed. "I shouldn't have left him alone." He looked up at Brian, who was now holding Susan. "I'm very sorry." He looked down again and walked out.
I looked up at Sam and then followed Dean out, closing the door behind me. "Dean?"
"Go back inside, I'm fine," he said as he leaned against the shed.
I sighed. "It's not your fault." I leaned up against the shed next to him.
Dean shook his head. "I'm not talking about this, Maddison."
I stood up and walked in front of him. "Look, all I'm saying is... you have to stop blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong." He didn't look at me, so I sighed and walked back into the shed.
I closed the door behind me, then I walked over to Sam, who was leaning against the wall reading a notebook. Brian was trying to comfort Susan while she sat on the floor, crying about Ted and Danny.
"So?" Sam asked as I joined him.
I shrugged. "Dean's being Dean."
Sam nodded and went back to reading.
"She killed my brother. Now she killed my son." Susan cried.
Brian shook his head. "No, Danny is alive."
"No, no, he isn't." Susan cried.
Brian nodded. "Yes, he is. Do you remember what he said about the girl who lived in the walls? She said he could stay."
I nudged Sam, causing him to look up and listen.
Susan shook her head. "No. No. I just don't understand why this happens to us. I mean, we're good people. We're a good family."
Dean walked back in and leaned in the corner of the room away from everyone.
"What happened to Andy happened, okay?" Brian asked. "I cannot change that. But I will find Danny, I promise you. And when I do, we are gonna be fine. You and me, the kids, we're gonna be fine."
Susan nodded. "Okay."
Sam looked down at me with a questioning look and then went back to reading.
Brian walked over to Dean and whispered, "What's our next move?"
"We find Danny, but first we have to figure out how she gets around so quickly," Dean said.
Brian nodded.
"Andy, your son?" Dean whispered.
Brian sighed and looked over at Susan and Kate to make sure they were oblivious to the conversation. "Oldest... he got himself killed in a car accident last year."
Dean shook his head. "I'm sorry."
Brian nodded. "It nearly tore Suse and I apart. Still could, I imagine. That's why we moved here. Fresh air, fresh start. Not even my line. Marriage counselor. 'Course, she might be right. After all, what could possibly go wrong in the country?"
Dean shook his head. "I'm getting your son back. If it's the last Godforsaken thing I do."
"Why do you care so much?" Brian asked.
Sam jumped up. "Dean." He shook the notebook like he had just discovered something. "We gotta talk." He nodded to walk outside, and Dean and I followed behind.
"What is that?" Dean asked.
"Rebecca's diary. I just finished reading it," Sam said.
"And?" Dean asked.
"That girl back there? Pretty sure she was Rebecca's daughter," Sam said.
"Rebecca had a kid?" Dean asked.
"It's all she talks about. Being pregnant, being ashamed of being pregnant," Sam said.
"Jeez, rent Juno and get over it." Dean scoffed. "Wait, why kill herself after the baby?"
Sam shrugged. "Maybe because her dad called her a dirty little whore and said he was gonna lock the baby up."
"Why would he say that?" Dean asked.
"I don't think I want to know the answer to that." I groaned.
Sam looked down at me and nodded.
"Oh, gross." Dean groaned.
Sam nodded. "Yeah."
"So the daddy was the baby-daddy too?" Dean asked.
Sam nodded. "Dude was a monster, Dean."
Dean raised his eyebrows. "Wow, a story ripped from an Austrian headline. Humans, man." He shook his head. "So she's been locked up her whole life?"
"You saw her eyes. Has she ever seen light?" Sam asked. "She's barely human."
Dean nodded. "Okay, so, what, then, she's been caged up like an animal, and she busts out and ganks dear old dad slash granddad?"
Sam shrugged. "I guess."
I shrugged. "I probably would've too if I'm honest."
Dean nodded.
"I'm sure her life was Hell, guys. It doesn't mean she gets a free pass for murder," Sam said.
"I'm not saying that," I said.
"Like you know what Hell's like." Dean scoffed.
Sam sighed. "I didn't—"
Dean shook his head. "Forget it."
Sam looked at Dean carefully and then continued. "So, where do we find her?"
Dean shrugged. "Kid's gotta eat, right?"
"What?" Sam asked.
"He kept her hidden, locked up, but he had to feed her, didn't he?" Dean asked.
Sam shrugged. "I guess."
Dean nodded. "I think I know where." He turned to me. "Go back to the shed."
"Dean..." I groaned.
He pointed and gave me a stern look. "Go."
Kate, Susan, and I waited in the shed in silence for about fifteen minutes before strange noises started coming from outside.
I stood up immediately and pulled out my knife.
Kate gasped. "Mom..."
Susan grabbed her and started rocking her as they sat on the floor. "It's okay. Shh. It's okay."
Then one of several boarded-up windows burst open, and we were all hit with glass. Susan and Kate stood up and screamed. Susan grabbed a rake and stared at the now broken window.
Suddenly, a knife stabbed through the wall, and Susan put herself in between the wall and me and Kate.
"Oh my god!" Kate yelled.
The noises stopped for a moment, and we looked around the shed for any openings. That's when we noticed the lower part of one of the walls starting to move.
"Mom," Kate whispered.
Susan shoved the rake at the bottom of the wall and leveraged it up, hoping that it would prevent the girl from getting in, but the wood cracked.
"Mom!" Kate screamed.
The girl finally broke through the wall, pinning Susan and the rake underneath the wall with her on top. Slowly, the girl crawled up to her and raised her knife.
Without hesitation, I ran up and stabbed her in the neck, causing her to drop the knife. She screamed wildly, grabbed my hand, and pulled me down to her as she stared at me with desperate, pleading eyes.
I felt terrible. She was given an awful life, and nobody could help her. I felt my throat tighten. "I'm sorry."
Suddenly, she was pulled out of the shed so quickly, it caused me to rip my knife out of her neck.
"Mom! Come on, Mom!" Kate ran over and helped Susan get up.
"Suse!" Brian yelled from outside.
Susan and Kate ran to the door, moved the table out of the way, and opened it. Brian and Danny were standing there, and they pulled each other into a hug.
I stood up and walked around them to the side of the shed, where I found the girl lying still with her eyes open. I knelt and closed her eyes.
"Maddi?" Sam asked from behind me.
I stood up and turned to see Sam and Dean standing there.
I walked up to them and handed my knife to Dean. "Here, I don't want this thing. At least not for a while."
Dean furrowed his brow as he took the knife from me. "What happened?"
"That's the second time I killed someone with it..." I said, starting to tear up. "Both of them were human."
Dean sighed. "You were—"
I shook my head. "You have things you don't want to talk about, and so do I."
Dean nodded. "Okay."
After Dean finished putting the new tires on the Impala, he jacked it back down. Sam walked around to the back to put a duffel bag in the now repacked trunk.
"So, this girl had a brother down in that basement too?" I asked.
Dean nodded. "Yeah, kid attacked me when I was trying to get Danny out."
I shook my head. "Messed up family."
Dean laughed. "Yeah, I'd say."
Brian and Susan walked over to us.
"Thanks for the head start," Dean said.
Brian smirked. "Why doesn't it surprise me you guys don't like the police?"
Sam shrugged. "It's sort of a mutual-appreciation thing, really."
Brian nodded and shook Dean's hand. "Well, thank you."
Susan looked down at me. "Thank you."
I nodded at her.
"You okay?" Dean asked them.
Susan shook her head. "No, we're the opposite of okay, but we're together."
Brian took Susan's hand, and they smiled softly at each other.
After picking up some food, we pulled over underneath an overpass.
We got out and sat on the hood, and Sam handed out the food. Dean took his burger, unwrapped it, stared at it for a moment, and then wrapped it back up.
"You okay?" Sam asked.
Dean sighed. "Ya know, I felt for those sons of bitches back there. Lifelong torture turns you into something like that."
"You were in Hell, Dean." Sam shrugged. "Look, maybe you did what you did there, but you're not them. They were barely human."
Dean nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I wasn't like them. I was worse. They were animals, Sam, defending territory. Me? I did it for the sheer pleasure."
Sam and I looked at him in shock.
"What?" Sam asked.
Dean nodded. "I enjoyed it. They took me off the rack, and I tortured souls, and I liked it. All those years, all that pain." He started to get choked up. "Finally getting to deal some out yourself. I didn't care who they put in front of me. Because that pain I felt, it just slipped away. No matter how many people I save, I can't change that. I can't fill this hole. Not ever."