"Dude, come on!" Yells Dean impatiently as he walks to the Impala. He hears Sam's "Hold on" faintly as he walks out of the hotel room. They just finished a job in Idaho and are driving to Pennsylvania to check out their next case. Sam finally comes out of the hotel room after a couple more minutes. "Dude, what were you doing in there?" Dean quips half-heartedly, not expecting a response. Sam just glares at him in reply and then gets into the car. Dean gets into the car after his brother. He puts one of his favorite rock songs on that he knows annoys Sam like crazy. Then he starts driving them to Pennsylvania.

"We're sorry for your loss," Sam says to an older woman after they've gotten settled in her living room. "Do I have to go over this again?" The woman asks the fake FBI agents in front of her. "We're sorry. We work for the Federal government so we have to do a separate investigation. We promise we'll make it quick." The older woman nods her head in a gesture to continue. "We understand that your son went down to an underground storage area and then later on that night you found the body," Dean says. He wants to get this over with as quickly as possible. Talking to grieving family members is always one of the harder and less enjoyable parts of the job, but it's necessary most of the time. The woman nods her head confirming the information they had read from articles online. "How long was he gone before you found the body?" Dean asks.

"Well, I had gone to the store to get some groceries and I was there for about an hour and a half. When I got home I asked his sister where he was. She said that he went down to the storage area and that she hadn't seen him since. We tried calling him but there was no answer so we decided to go to the storage area to see if something happened. I saw a body from the top of the stairs and immediately called an ambulance. He had been there since about 2 pm and by that time it was around 6 pm. They say he died from blood loss." The woman finishes her sentence tearily sounding like she is going to cry any second. "One more question if that's okay," Sam says gently. The older woman nods her head letting him know it's okay to go on." "Where is your granddaughter currently? We may want to ask her some questions." "She left town yesterday." "Okay." Sam smiles at her reassuringly. "Thank you for your time and information." She nods her head at them and smiles back and then they walk out the front door. After a brief discussion, they walk back to the Impala and decide to go to the coroner's office to look at the victim's body.

They flash their fake FBI credentials at the coroner who looks at the badges closely before being satisfied that they are FBI. "Can we see the body of Nicholas Johnson?" Dean asks. "Sure." The coroner walks over to one of the mortuary cabinets and pulls it out to show them the body. "This was a weird one. The victim has two nasty bite marks on his arm that go almost down to the bone. He also has some sort of venom in his system according to the toxicology report. As for what he died from I assume it was blood loss. His family said he wasn't found for a good four hours give or take and that is certainly enough time to die from two bites that deep. My best guess is that the animal that he was bitten by was a Gaboon viper or some other type of snake." The coroner finishes her explanation. "Thank you. If anyone else dies similarly to how he died please call the number on this card, okay?" "Sure." Sam and Dean thank the coroner once again and then leave and walk back to the Impala. "You can do the research and I'll go get dinner, okay?" Sam looks like he's thinking about arguing but then he just shakes his head in confirmation. "You okay?" Dean asks, a little worried. "Fine. Just tired." Comes the immediate reply. "If you say so." Says Dean. Then he drops Sam off at their hotel and drives around the town to look for a diner.

When Dean comes back into the hotel room Sam is sitting at the table reading something on his computer. "You find anything?" Dean asks. "Not yet. I started looking for supernatural snakes because I thought that sounded like a good place to start. None of the supernatural snakes match the M.O. though, so now I'm trying to look for real animals that match the bites and venom and go from there." Sam finishes his explanation. "Okay. I'm going to go out for a bit. Call me if you find something." "Sure," Sam says distractedly, already back engrossed in whatever he had been reading. Dean shrugs back on his jacket, walks back to the Impala, and then drives around the town looking for a bar.

When Dean gets back to their hotel room it's about 2 am and his younger brother is asleep. He notices that Sam's laptop is open and goes over to it to see what his brother came up with. The webpage it was on was talking about Arachne. As in the girl who got turned into a spider because she boasted about her weaving from greek mythology. In response to this, she got vengeful and decided that she would attack anyone who trespassed her territory. He had to admit it fit the M.O. The two bite marks were from the spider's fangs and the venom because the spider was poisonous. It made sense why she didn't attack the witness since she didn't go all the way down but why didn't she attack the people who went down to collect the body? Maybe it's a specific storage room that you have to go into for her to realize you're there. Spiders are blind after all. Plus, it would explain why there was only one death. Dean shakes his head to clear it. He shouldn't have been overthinking it. Arachne was evil and their job is to kill evil. She might have been human at one time but would have been a spider for a couple of millennia by now. Plus, Sam overthinks enough for both of them. He thinks about waking Sam up to confirm but quickly rejects the idea. They can confirm in the morning. Plus, Sam needs sleep. He's seemed tired recently. Dean gets into the bed closer to the door and falls asleep soon after.

Sam wakes up early the next morning. Instead of trying to get more sleep, he decides to look at his computer until Dean wakes up. He figures Dean will probably wake up soon anyway. He seems to be able to sense when Sam's awake, probably something from when they were kids. Still, he goes about his morning routine as quietly as he can and then plugs his charger in the wall so he can look at his laptop without it dying out on him. Then after making sure nothing happened to the Arachne web page he decides to read a book online to pass time. "Sam, you awake?" Dean asks, lightly shaking his shoulder. "What? Yeah. Sorry. I must have fallen asleep." Dean thinks about commenting on Sam's tiredness but decides against it. Sam doesn't miss the sideways glance Dean throws at him though. "You ready to go get breakfast?" "Yeah. Let's go." They decide to walk to breakfast instead of drive since it's a nice day out. Once the waitress had given them their food they figured they could talk about the case without being overheard. "Arachne right?" Dean whispered. He didn't think they were being overheard but you never know. "Yeah. As far as I can tell anyway." Dean shrugged. "It's not the weirdest thing we've hunted recently. "How do we kill her?" Dean asked. "Cut off her head then burn the corpse. Nothing particularly unusual." Sam said. "Okay. Let's wait until later this evening and then we can go back to the storage area and get rid of the insect." "Spiders aren't technically insects…" Dean just glares at him. "Never mind." Sam sighs. Then they pay for their food and walk back to their hotel room.

They park the Impala in the parking lot of the apartment complex. It's about 9 at night right now because they didn't want to do this hunt too late in fear of waking someone up and getting caught by cops. Dean lifts the Impala's false trunk up and after taking a machete and handgun for himself he takes two more and hands them to Sam. They start walking towards the stairs that lead down to the storage area only taking out their weapons when they're sure no residents are watching them. Dean goes down the stairs halfway signaling Sam to stop behind him. He looks for the spider and sees her in the storage area on the far right. She looks like a black seething mass of grotesque limbs. Dean signals to show Sam where she is and then starts walking down the rest of the stairs. Once he gets to where the storage area is, he starts breaking the lock on the door by shooting at it with his gun. He then starts shooting at Arachne trying to get her to turn around so that Sam can cut her head off from behind. The bullets don't wound her but they do well at getting her attention. He has her turned around now so he decides to keep shooting to give Sam the time he needs to finish the job. He's going so slow because although spiders are blind they can sense people so if she senses him and turns around it's over. Sam sticks to the shadows making sure he isn't seen. The hardest part is trying to get on the side of her to cut off her head.

He almost makes it but when he pulls out his machete while he's on the right of her she realizes he's there. "Sam!" Dean yells trying to warn him. It's too late. Arachne charges at him way too fast for him to use his machete and sinks her fangs into his leg. "Son of a…" Dean curses. Arachne hasn't let go of Sam's leg yet and he can feel his strength starting to ebb away. While Arachne's distracted Dean uses his machete and cuts off her head after a couple of swings. He quickly pulls Arachne's fangs from Sam's leg, wincing when he pulls them out. He pushes Arachne's corpse away from Sam so he can assess the damage she did to his brother. "Sammy, stay with me, okay?" Sam stares at him and tries to nod although it looks more like his head is slumping than anything. "I have to go get something from the car, okay? Stay awake. I'll be back." Dean runs back up the stairs to the Impala to get the first aid kit and his phone. He's going to have to call 911. There's no way he is going to be able to get Sam up the stairs with his leg wound, especially since Sam could fall unconscious at any moment. He goes back to Sam and after making sure he's still awake starts bandaging his leg to try to stop the bleeding. He could quickly die from blood loss or go into shock. Once he knows that the bleeding is starting to stop a bit he calls 911. The operator says it will be 10 minutes so Dean takes the first five to hide Arachne's corpse. He can come back for it later to burn it. Then he waits beside his brother making sure he stays awake. Once he hears the ambulance he runs back up the stairs to get them to go faster. After the emergency workers ask him questions that he's not sure he's even understanding, he manages to get them to get a stretcher so they can bring Sam up the stairs. He goes in front of them to feel Sam's pulse, to make sure he's breathing, and is encouraged by the shallow, rapid heartbeat. Dean knows that's an irregular heartbeat but he's just happy his brother's breathing. The emergency workers put Sam on the stretcher and bring him to the ambulance which Dean follows until they almost forcefully tell him to go into his car and follow the ambulance. He does, wishing he was close enough to check Sam's pulse and make sure he's still alive.

When they get to the hospital the ambulance workers bring Sam to a door that says authorized personnel only and Dean is forced to wait in the waiting room with the promise that someone will be there to talk to him shortly. Fifteen minutes after they take Sam through the door he assumes to see if they need to do surgery on his leg, a female nurse comes to talk to him. "Sir, are you related to the patient we just took to get treated?" "Yeah, he's my brother. Is Sam going to be okay?" "We believe so. Your brother lost a lot of blood even with the bandage you put on him because of how deep the bites were. We stitched the bites and he should make a full recovery and be able to walk after a little rest." "But?" Dean asked knowing there was something the nurse wasn't telling him. "Well, he doesn't seem to be responding to stimuli. His eyes are open but whatever he's seeing is not there." Dean nods his head. He knows what's going on and he also has an idea of what the nurse is suggesting.

"Did you check for poison?" The nurse looked taken aback by the question. "No…" "Do it then," Dean says a little more forcefully than he intended. "Please." He added as an afterthought. "Umm…" Dean glared. "Okay. I'll do it. Please fill out this paperwork while I'm gone okay?" Dean nods. The nurse leaves and Dean starts quickly writing stuff on the paperwork that are all lies. About half an hour later the nurse comes back. "You were right. There's a neurotoxin in your brother's bloodstream. Dean nods. She's just confirming the stuff he knows anyway. "Here's the paperwork," Dean says. She nods and then leaves the room. Dean thinks about what to do next. He knows he has to go burn Arachne's corpse but he wants to make sure Sam's okay. He decides to go to Sam's room to check that he's okay and prove to himself that his brother's still alive. After ten minutes of staying in his room and convincing himself that Sam is okay, he walks to the Impala and starts driving back to the apartment complex. He should only be about an hour at most he tries to reassure himself even as he feels a feeling of dread settle into his stomach

Sam feels like he's falling. He suddenly jolts awake out of the darkness and back into awareness. As he slows down his beating heart he takes in his surroundings. He was in another hotel room just like all the other ones they had been in over the years but his brother was nowhere to be seen. He tried to remember if Dean had told him he was going somewhere but just started to get frustrated when he realized there was a gap in his memory. For some reason, he couldn't remember what he had done yesterday and when he tried all he got was a killer headache. He looked around the room looking for clues or at least a note from his brother. After searching for a while he concluded there were none. Then he called every cell phone Sam knew Dean had and they all went to voicemail. He was going to have to figure this out on his own. Just then he heard a light knock at the door. He opened the door expecting to see a maid or something but what he saw was completely different. He saw his brother lying mangled and bloody on the floor. Sam swallowed then crouched to check Dean's pulse. It was erratic and felt like it was fading by the second. "Dean, what happened?" I'm going to call 911, okay?" "Sammy." Dean slurred and then grabbed his hand tighter than Sam expected him to be able to in his current state. "Don't talk. I'm going to get help okay?" Dean's eyes slip closed. "Dean, Dean?" Sam was near panic but he checked his brother's pulse praying to any good deity or entity that Dean would be breathing when he checked. He wasn't. Sam started CPR on his brother, tears stinging his eyes. He was quickly tiring from the compressions. Now that Dean didn't have a death grip on him he quickly went to grab his phone and call 911. Then he restarted CPR. He knew since five minutes had passed it was unlikely Dean would start breathing. "No, no, no." Sam kept whispering to himself quietly. Not ready to give up. Never ready. He was getting tired though and his breathing was getting erratic and he soon ended up sinking into unconsciousness against his will.

Dean had finished burning Arachne's corpse in record time. He couldn't get rid of the dread the entire trip but now that he was with Sam waiting for him to wake up the dread was starting to ease a little. Dean was pacing the hospital room when he saw Sam start moving a bit in the bed and heard him whispering something in his sleep. It looked like he was having a nightmare. "Sammy" Dean asked quietly. Sam was whispering stuff like '"no", and "Dean" and it was getting higher in volume until he was almost yelling. Dean went over to his brother trying to help him when Sam arched his back and then started seizing. Dean was getting worried now. He hit the call button by Sam's bed and there was a nurse there almost at once. The nurse checked her watch and then went over to Sam to make sure his airways were clear and that he could breathe. Then she just waited, knowing that she would have to administer medication if it lasted more than five minutes. Dean knew what she was doing when he tried to explain, but, when he tried to explain, but, but he still wanted to scream at her to do anything to help his brother. Mercifully, the seizure stopped soon after, less than five minutes, and a new one didn't begin. The doctor checked Sam's IVs and added some new ones then she left. Dean started pacing again, pretending he was having a conversation with his unconscious brother until he could control his heartbeat and emotions.

Sam woke up suddenly feeling like he was trapped. He was in a vertical position but when he tried to walk he felt a barrier push him back. He was basically in an invisible box like the ones mimes sometimes pretend to be in. Fighting a wave of claustrophobia he took in his surroundings. There was a path in front of him and it had different types of blades coming from every direction. After staring at all the blades mortified for a few seconds he looked straight across from where he was standing. He saw Dean sitting in a chair, tied up, looking between him and the blades worriedly. That's when what had happened earlier came to him full force in his mind. He had watched Dean die in front of him. Had tried CPR to save him. So how was he alive, tied to a chair, relatively unharmed? Dean looked at him and then started blinking, using his eyes to send a message in morse code since he couldn't do it with his hands. He knew he had just seen Dean die not too long ago but they died a lot in their line of work. He was certain that this was his brother. Just as that last thought crossed his mind he felt it get cold in the room. Well, at least he knew what was trapping them if not who. The invisible barrier lifted suddenly and he steadied himself so that he didn't fall over. Sam could still feel the presence of the ghost and was reasonably sure if he didn't start moving he would be pushed. He looked at Dean and he blinked "Be careful" with his eyes. He nodded and then he felt the ghost put a piece of fabric over his eyes. So now he couldn't see the blades. Sam sighed and started walking hesitantly. He put his hands out to try to feel where the blades were. The first blade that stabbed him went into his leg. He pulled it out trying not to scream from the pain the action caused. He continued walking. The second blade grazed his arm which wasn't bad so he kept walking. He felt his strength waning though. The wound in his leg was starting to burn as he continued to walk on it. The next knife went through his stomach and that was his ultimate downfall. Already off-balance from his leg he fell onto another blade that went straight through his head. The last thing he saw before he was killed was the spirit descending on Dean. The last thing he heard was Dean screaming his name. Then all he knew was darkness.

It had been three days since Sam first came to the hospital and two since his first seizure. Dean had been pacing around the room a lot and when that failed to calm him down he started looking in lore books. He wasn't sure what he was looking for but it was better than sitting there doing nothing. Sam's eyes had not closed once and it was starting to unnerve him. The only thing he could think of to help Sam was African Dream Root but he didn't want to do that unless he had no other choice. He wasn't even sure if African Dream Root would work anyway. He was grasping at straws and getting so desperate that he considered the idea of getting poisoned by one of Arachne's children and somehow intertwining his hallucinations with Sam's. Yeah, he was getting desperate and he knew it. He kept trying to find something that may help in the lore books though just in case Sam didn't wake up on his own. He knew Sam was strong but he had to do something or he would feel like he was abandoning his little brother. Dean knew he could never do that. Just as the last thought crossed his mind Sam started becoming agitated and saying his name. "Sammy?" Dean asked. He was wondering if he should push the call button when Sam started having another seizure. Dean frantically pushed the call button as soon as he saw Sam convulsing. The doctor came in again doing the same thing she did last time. The seizure lasted longer this time and seemed even more violent than the first one was. When the seizure hit the 6-minute mark the doctors got to work administering Anti Seizure medication. Eventually, Sam's convulsions eased and he settled back into the bed. Dean released a breath and once the doctors were once again out of the room he continued his mission of trying to find something to help his brother.

This time when Sam woke up he was tied to a chair. He remembered that both he and Dean had died by a spirit and was starting to wonder how they both appeared to be alive. He looked over to Dean and saw a person standing next to him. He had a gun to his brother's head. His blood ran cold. That's when he noticed something. It appeared as if all sound had been sucked into a vacuum so that he couldn't hear anything that was going on. He knew Dean had been whispering his name when he woke up from reading his lips but he couldn't hear him. That's when the man with the gun started talking. "There is one bullet in this gun. There are six chambers. I'm going to ask you a question. Every time you tell me the wrong answer, I'm going to shoot this gun at your brother. Sam couldn't hear a word the man was saying, but he was quickly backhanded into silence when he tried to explain. Sam saw the man's lips move but when he tried to explain again that he couldn't hear the question the guy shot the gun. Sam couldn't hear it but he still flinched at the clicking sound that he assumed went off since Dean was still alive. The man asked another question but the result was the same as the first. The gun clicked again. Sam could feel his heartbeat beating against his chest but he figured it probably ten times worse for his brother. He had a bad feeling this would be it and he tried to convey how sorry he was to his brother. The man asked another question and this time the gun went off. The bullet went straight through Dean's skull killing him instantly. The last thing Sam saw before the gun was turned on him was the light leaving his brother's eyes.

It had been two days since Sam's second seizure and five days since he was taken to the hospital. Dean was still reading lore books and growing more restless by the hour. The only plan that made any sort of sense out of all the ones he had come up with was the African Dream Root. He didn't want to use that but resolved that if Sam didn't wake up by Sunday, it was Friday now, he would have no other choice. He had only left his brother's side when he had to do something vital, wanting to make sure he didn't have another seizure while he wasn't there. Sam started saying his name again and started convulsing soon after. Dean quickly pressed the call button again. He was getting used to the routine by now but it never got any easier to watch his little brother in pain especially when he had to allow doctors to help him and couldn't do anything himself. "Start compressions." Said one of the doctors. The doctor had checked Sam's breathing and this time his breathing had completely stopped. Dean sucked in a breath. He had heard the doctor and was staring at them silently begging them to get his brother to start breathing again. "He's breathing again." Said a doctor. The convulsions had stopped when he had stopped breathing and didn't start up again after he restarted. The doctors gave him more Anti-seizure medicine even though they were pretty sure, after taking some tests, that the last of the poison was draining out of his system. The doctors had also checked Sam's leg, which they had been leaving be, and reported that there was no sign of infection and that they would tell them more when Sam woke up, which they believed would happen soon. Dean sat back in the chair by Sam's bed hoping his brother would wake up soon.

Dean started awake suddenly. It was early Saturday afternoon. He looked around trying to figure out what had woken him. That's when he realized his brother was waking up. He knew because Sam was blinking which he hadn't done while he was under the venom giving the impression that he was sleeping or dead. "Sammy?" Dean asked. He was elated that Sam was finally waking up. He had been scared for a while especially after the first seizure but it looked like everything would be fine now. Sam choked something that sounded like "water" and Dean got some ice chips and gave them to Sam. Once Sam could talk and managed to get into somewhat of a sitting position with his still mending leg he looked at his brother. He had seen Dean die three times and he wanted to make sure it wasn't going to happen a fourth. "What happened?" He asked Dean. "Arachne. She bit you in the leg and transferred some sort of poison into your veins rendering you unconscious for about a week." Sam thought about that. It did explain why he had seen Dean dying. "Okay. Can we leave now?" "Sammy I don't think…" Sam glared at him but it held almost no anger in it. Dean sighed. He knew every second they were in this hospital was another second they could end up in jail. "Fine. We can go but we have to stay in a hotel around here for a couple of days before we hit the road again. Alright?" Sam nodded. Knowing this was the best answer he could hope for especially when Dean was still in big brother mode.

After signing early release papers Dean drove them to a hotel. The deal was to stay there for two days and then they could hit the road again. Sam figured he would have just enough time to find another case. His leg was still a little bit sore and he was limping a bit but having been in a hospital bed for five days has helped his leg heal faster. He still had a fear of Dean randomly dying but he figured that would never leave him completely. It was just another week in the life of a Winchester. He pondered this as he sat in the hotel room looking for another case. Dean had gone out but he wanted to have one when he came back. Dean came back about an hour later. "I found a case in Indiana. Want to check it out?" "Are you sure you're ready? We can stay another day or two if you're not. "Yeah. I'm ready." Sam replied, lifting his bag on his shoulder. "Okay. Let's go then." Dean walked to the Impala and got in the driver's seat while Sam got in the passenger seat. Then Dean started the engine and drove off to their next case.

THE END