Title: Screams in the night
Author: Arianna Castellis
Spoilers: All episodes
Rating: T (or PG-13)
Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to WB. I'm making no money off this, which is sad because I have none.
A/N: Unbetaed. If anyone is interested in helping with this, please drop me a line ;)
Please read and review! Notes to reviewers at end of chapter.
Chapter Two
Sam and Dean took stock of their surroundings. They were staying in the only motel in Durant. The town wasn't quite a one-stoplight town, but it was close. Not for the first time, Dean wished an evil SOB would pick a decent sized town to stalk. Small towns always seemed to notice strangers.
"There's the auditorium," Sam pointed to a building sitting alone on one side of the highway. Then he pointed across the street. "And there's the school. According to the woman at the front desk, the people for summer stock stay in the dormitories during the summer. The scene shop is also at the school."
Dean looked at the newspaper printouts he held. "The first person to disappear worked in the scene shop." He and Sam made their way back to their hotel room.
"Yeah. The second was an actress. Both of them have been replaced for the season, but the third victim was an extra that they have decided not to replace."
"He was also the only victim not killed at the lake," Dean commented. Sam looked over his shoulder. "It says here that he was found on the outskirts of town. Someone was throwing a party for the staff and Dave was walking back to the dorms. His body was found the next morning."
"So whatever is killing these people is not connected to the lake?"
"Apparently not. So, no lake monster for you this time, either."
Sam ignored him as he turned on his computer, showing his research into Durant's past. "There hasn't been any record of anything happening in Durant like this in the past 50 years."
"That's odd. There's almost always some history with these things. They don't just come out of nowhere."
"So what now?"
Dean stood up. "Let's start out by talking with the scene shop."
& & & & &
Nate poured over the latest drawings. The scene shop was behind in schedule and Max, the Technical Director, was not going to be pleased. But losing Chris had been hard and Steve still hadn't managed to fit in well since his arrival. Not that it was easy to come in mid-season and try to get along with people who had already bonded, but Nate still needed a working scene shop.
Don't know
what to do?
Hey, pal-
I mean you-
yeah.C'mere and kill a
president
Nate couldn't help but grin. Sara was the only other person he knew who liked Sondheim as much as he did. He'd have to dig in his collection for Into the Woods later.
He looked up as he saw the door open and two guys about his own age step inside.
John and Steve were working on a flat in the back of the shop, so Nate stepped away from the drawings. "Can I help you?"
"Hi. I'm Sam and this is Dean. Were journalism students up at the University of Oklahoma. We're interested in doing a story on the deaths from this summer."
The noise in the back of the shop stopped, letting the lyrics from below echo through the silence.
Hey, pal,
don't despair-
You wanna shoot a president?
c'mon and shoot a
president...
Sam looked at Dean and Dean shrugged slightly. Nate knew they probably had no idea what kind of music was playing.
"Hey John," Nate called back. "Go ask Sara to turn the music off for a bit."
John left the back and headed down towards the cellar. Nate turned back to the intruders, feeling dread build up in his stomach. "What exactly do you think you're going to find?" he asked.
"We're hoping to write a story on what has happened out here this summer," Dean explained.
"What happened was terrible," admitted Nate. "But it has just been a tragic series of events. There's really not much to write that hasn't already made it into the papers."
"But we'd still like to find out what we can," continued Sam. "Maybe someone has heard something that can help identify what happened to those people."
Nate tried to ignore the shot a fear he felt when thinking about the screams he'd heard the night of each attack. The best thing was to get these guys away from here before they asked too many unanswerable questions. "Look, you can't do this here. This is a working scene shop and we're behind. If you want to talk with people away from the shop, that's fine, but don't bother anyone here."
The boys agreed and left the shop, leaving the crew tense. Nate turned to his guys. "Okay everyone. I'm going to go track down Max and let him know we've got some college students sniffing around our work site. No one is to talk to them in the shop. Let's get these flats finished and over to the auditorium before dinner tonight."
& & & & &
"He knows something," Dean sated as he and his brother walked back towards the motel.
"Yeah, but what? And how are we supposed to find out if we can't talk to the people in the shop?"
"Well, there's always the actors. What was the name of that second girl?"
"Stacy," said Sam, pulling out a list from his pocket. "She was killed just over a week ago."
"Why don't we head over to the rehearsals and see if we can find someone who's a bit more willing to talk."
The auditorium was cold and dark after being in the bright sunshine from outside. Sam and Dean waited in the back quietly, knowing they would be kicked out for interrupting a rehearsal.
After a few minutes of watching rehearsals, a woman in the back called. "Okay everyone. That's it for act II. We've got a fifteen minute break before everyone needs to be back here." There were some groans and mutters from the crowd. "Smoke 'em if you've got 'em."
Dean tapped Sam on the arm as he began to follow a group of actors outside to where he assumed they would 'smoke 'em'.
They went back into the sweltering heat to see a group of people draped across the steps and leaning against the building. A box of cigarettes was being passed around. They stayed just outside the door, Dean sitting on the steps near a pretty blond and Sam leaning against the wall.
"God, I can't stand Debbie!" complained the blond. "She is such a Diva."
"Yeah," agreed another. "Why couldn't she have gotten herself killed instead of Stacy? At least Stacy was cool."
"Or even Zach," said one of the guys. "He's always fawning so much over Debbie that it makes me sick."
"Well, I think it's all down right creepy," said the first girl. "All these people getting killed by some random animal."
"Is that what they're saying it is?" asked Dean.
The crowd looked at Dean and Sam as if seeing them for the first time. "Just who are you?" asked the blond.
"I'm Dean and this is Sam. We're journalism students from the University of Oklahoma."
"Are you looking for a story about the attacks? You think there's something to all this?"
"Don't you?" asked Sam.
No one answered for a moment, each looking to the others for what to say. The door by Sam opened and a head poked out. "Everybody back inside!"
Amidst groans and stamping of cigarettes, the actors piled back in. The blond was the last to go in. "Look, I don't know what's going on, but I think it's weird. Before coming out here I was told that my biggest concern would be armadillos getting under my car. I can tell you that none of us really know anything about what's going on and we've been talking about it for a couple of weeks. If you want answers, go talk to Nate in the scene shop."
"Why? Has he said something to you?"
She shook her head. "No, but he hasn't seemed surprised every time they'd told us someone else has died."
TBC
Thank you to all my reviewers! I wouldn't have gotten the next chapter out as quickly without you. I'm pleased that everyone seems to be enjoying the story so far.
Reo- I am so honored to be your first review. It just made my day.
Greywolf Lupous – I'm from the hot sticky south and my relatives in CA don't understand until they get here just how icky it can be.
Saynt Jimmy – Nope, it's not a whumper. Although I have to admit I'm not even sure what that is.
Mary – Tell me about it. I like a good romance every now and again, but it's nice to just read a story that's about the evil bad guys and not about the next pretty girl.
Is anyone interested in a hint to finding out what is plaguing OK? I can give a hint without giving away the monster if anyone wants to try their luck in finding it.