The shades were drawn as Mark and Angel peered through them beside each other cautiously. She shook her head and readied her hand gun when she noticed a few people were gathered outside, apparently just waiting.
She mumbled, "What the hell are they doing?"
Mark shook his head, "I'd say trying to figure out a way to get us out or get them in."
Behind them, Sam pulled out a hunting knife and checked the blade as Dean loaded a shotgun. As he did so, Sam sent anxious looks at him and the gun respectively. The sound of glass breaking followed by Pam's scream caused them all to tense and run into the lab.
"Oh God!" Pam stood above a broken vial of blood, freaking out, "Is there any on me? Am I okay?!"
Dr. Lee stepped in front of her, looking her body over before instantly consoling her, "You're clean, you're okay."
"Why are we staying here?" She pleaded with the doctor, "Please, let's just go!"
"No, we can't." Dean shook his head, "Those things are everywhere."
Pam sank down, trying to stop herself from hyperventilating, "Oh god…"
Dr. Lee eyed her warily and worriedly, "Hey, shh, shh."
Angel walked back over to the three men quietly, "Alright well she's right about not being able to stay here. We need to get the survivors to- to someplace safe, not the middle of ground freakin zero. Maybe the Roadhouse or Bobbys or somewhere else we deem safe enough."
Sam agreed, "And we need to warn people about what's coming."
"Yeah, good point." Dean nodded with a grimace, "Night of the Living Dead didn't exactly end pretty."
"Well, I'm not sure we've got a choice." Mark added, "Lots of folks up here are good with rifles. Even with all your hardware we're- we're easy targets. So unless you've got some explosives…"
The boys looked over to Angel expectantly, knowing damn well that was her specialty when she was a teen.
She looked between them like they'd gone nuts, "I don't run around with dynamite in my duffle, boys. But..."
She tapped her lips as she looked around, searching, before her eyes landed on top of a shelf that held multiple bottles of medical supplies.
She smirked as she walked over and grabbed one of the bottles, "We could make something."
Someone pounding frantically at the front door caught their attention and the four of them ran out towards the man's voice, "Hey! Let me in, let me in! Please!"
Mark hurried when he saw who was on the other side of the door, "It's Duane Tanner!"
Once the door was opened Duane limped in, sweaty and holding a backpack, "Thank god."
"Duane…" Mark looked him over, following him to the other room, "You okay?"
The Winchesters backed up and Dean turned to Sam, "That's the guy that I, uh…"
He clicked his tongue earning an eye roll from Sam, "Yeah."
Duane looked at Mark in a panic, "Who else is in here?"
When he tried to walk further into the room Dean grabbed his arm roughly, a distrustful scowl present as day on his face, "Hey, whoa, whoa, easy there, chief. Hey Doc!" She popped out of the lab, "Give Duane a good once-over, would you?"
Dr. Lee led the group into the lab, "Pam?"
Duane looked back at Dean, "Who are you?"
"Never mind who I am." He motioned with his gun, "Doc."
She nodded then scurried around, "Yeah, okay."
"Duane." Mark regarded him, "Where you been?"
"I was on a fishing trip up by Roslyn. I came back this afternoon. I… I saw Roger McGill being dragged out of his house by people we know!" His voice raised with panic and confusion, "They started cutting him with knives! I ran. I've been hiding in the woods ever since." He looked around frantically, "Has anybody seen my mom and dad?"
Dean turned to Sam and Angel with a joking tone, "Awkward…"
Duane was sitting on the stool when Dr. Lee surveyed his leg that appeared to have a deep gash in it, "You're bleeding."
Her pained and scared look flew up to everyone in the room who immediately tensed.
Dean scowled then motioned to him, "Where'd you get that?"
"I was running." Duane dismissed, "I must have tripped."
"You tripped?" Angel crossed her arms, tensing, "Yeah buddy real freakin convenient."
"Tie him up." Dean ordered, turning slightly, "There's rope in there."
"Wait…"
Duane got up to protest but Dean immediately pulled his gun on him, cocking it loudly, and yelled causing the kid to jump in fear, "Sit down!"
"I'm sorry, Duane, he's right." Mark shook his head when Duane looked to him for help, "We've gotta be careful."
"Careful? About what?"
Dean kept his gun aimed straight for Duane, "Did they bleed on you?"
"What?"
Dean yelled again, making him jump, "Answer the question!"
"No, what the hell?!" He panicked, "No!"
"Doc?" Sam turned to her, "Any way to know for sure, any test?"
She looked pained, "I've studied Beverly's blood work backwards and forwards."
Duane turned at that, "My mom?"
She took a breath, carrying on, "It took three hours for the virus to incubate. The sulfur didn't appear in the blood until then, so… no, there'd be no way of knowing." She looked at the kid grimly, "Not until after Duane turns."
"Well, then we tie him down until we know if he's the enemy or not." Angel motioned, going over to help Mark do just that, "Come on. Lets get him secure."
"Wait." Sam pulled her away before looking from her to Dean, "I gotta talk to you guys. Now."
Dean glanced at Mark, who nodded. They left and Mark motioned to Duane.
"Sit in that chair."
In another room…
"This is my vision." Sam looked between them pointedly before his worried eyes met Deans, "It's happening."
Dean nodded, "I figured."
"Well, we just won't kill him yet." Angel instructed, "We'll wait till he shows signs like Beverly so we can make sure."
"Well, I think we're pretty damn sure." Dean argued with a scoff, "Guy shows up out of nowhere, he's got a cut on his leg, his whole family's infected?"
"Dean." Angel shook her head, "We can keep him tied up so we can know for sure."
"For what? For him to Hulk out and infect somebody else? No thanks, can't take that chance."
He started to push past them but Sam stopped him with a hand on his chest.
"Hey look, man, I'm not happy about this, okay? But it's a tough job and you both know that."
"It's supposed to be tough, Dean." Sam said, "We're supposed to struggle with this, that's the whole point."
"What does that buy us?"
"A clear conscience, for one!"
"Well, it's too late for that."
Sam stopped him from leaving again, "What the hell's happened to you?"
Angel walked over to them ready to play mediator, "Boys, come on-"
"What the hell does that mean?"
"You might kill an innocent man, and you don't even care! You don't act like yourself anymore, Dean. Hell, you know what? You're acting like one of those things out there."
Fire blazed in Dean's eyes, "Mm-hm."
Dean pushed past Sam a third time and when he tried to stop him again Dean hurled him against the far wall. He rushed back into the hall and locked the door behind him as Angel ran after him.
"Dean!" She rattled the lock as Sam came up beside her, "Hey!"
"Open the damn door, Dean!" Sam pounded on the door, "Don't do it, Dean! Don't!"
Dean walked through the hallway, exactly like Sam's vision. He turned towards Duane's door as he pulled out his gun and slid out the clip, tapped it on the gun, then replaced it before going inside.
"No, no, no, no, no, you're not gonna…" Duane blubbered, "No, I swear! It's not in me!"
"Oh God." Pam sobbed, "We're all gonna die."
Mark turned his head to Dean, unsure, "Maybe he's telling the truth."
"No, he's not him," Dean cocked the gun, "Not anymore."
"Stop it!" Duane yelled hysterically and looked to Dr. Lee, eyes pleading, "Ask her, ask the doctor! It's not in me!"
"I… I…" She swallowed in return at Dean's questioning look shaking her head as tears dropped from her eyes, "I can't tell."
"Please, dont." Duane sobbed at Dean, "Don't, please. I swear, it's not in me, it's not in me, I swear. I- I swear it's not in me!."
Dean's jaw clenched and he tried to pull himself together, to do the job his dad taught him to do, "I got no choice."
He pointed the gun at Duane with his finger hovering over the trigger, Duane sobbed as the others watched in tense silence. An inner battle was mulling inside him. He knew what he was supposed to do, he knew what his father would expect of him, but that nagging feeling scratched at the back of his head, causing him to falter.
Dean trembled, hesitated, and finally lowered the gun with a grimace, "Damn it!"
Duane panted in relief as Dean left the room.
Later on…
The Winchesters sat across from eachother at separate tables as they prepared the explosives into glass bottles with rags dangling out of them. A tense silence stretched between them as Sam kept sending curious looks to Dean.
Dr. Lee hesitantly entered the room, hands in her pockets as she looked between them, "It's been over four hours. Duane's blood is still clean. I don't think he's infected. I'd like to untie him, if that's all right…"
Angel shared a look with both of her brothers but her eyes landed on Deans questioningly. He nodded before lowering his head.
Angel turned back to the doctor, "Cut him loose."
Once she left Sam turned to Dean, "You know I'm gonna ask you why."
He nodded, avoiding both of their eyes and focusing on what he was doing, "Yeah, I know."
"So why?" Sam prodded, "Why didn't you do it?"
Angel sighed as Dean pointedly ignored the question.
She got up and headed towards the door, "We need more alcohol."
Sam shook his head and stopped her, "Ill get it."
He went into the dispensary and found Pam already there, "How you holding up, Pam?"
"Good. It'll all be over soon." She shut the door and locked it but Sam's back was turned so he didn't notice, "In fact, I've been waiting for this the whole time."
He turned curiously, "For what?"
"To get you alone."
She lashed out and knocked him to the ground. Once she straddled his chest, she hit him, hard, across the face. Outside the room, Angel, Dean and Mark all heard the commotion and armed themselves. Pam had a scalpel in one hand, which she sliced across Sams chest and then across her own palm, before placing her wound over his. Dean kicked the door open and shot her three times in the back. She convulsed and fell to the floor, dead. All four of them looked at each other in shock.
Sam, who was groaning and holding his chest, reached out a hand to his brother. Dean looked him over worriedly and carefully as he started to lean in to help him up but Mark pulled him back.
"She bled on him. He's got the virus."
Sam pulled his hand back at his words, looking down at his wound, and realizing it's true. Dean turned to Angel with a devastated look before they both looked back down at their brother with the same look.
