The news shocked me, but as always I didn't let it show. "Dean, you have to stay calm," I said, stepping into the path of his pacing. "Tell me about what you know."

Taking a deep shaky breath, Dean leaned against the Impala. "A kid was up late one night, saw a guy get dragged under his car, heard some strange noises. Sam and I started researching, and we discovered this town has a ridiculous amount of missing people."

"Do you have any idea what's taking them?"

"No, we were…" Dean leaned his head back, staring up at the stairs. "We were going to start on that tomorrow. That's why we were sleeping. Sam insisted we'd need an early start. And I teased him about it." Dean rubbed a hand over his face, and I could see him fighting for control.

Suddenly a truck came around the corner, making the most awful racket I had ever heard. For some reason, Dean spun around, staring at the truck as it made its way down the road. "That's the noise…" he said, making for the driver's side of the Impala.

"Dean, what are you doing?" I quickly moved over to his side of the car and put my hand on the door, stopping him.

"That noise…that's exactly like the noise the kid described hearing when the guy got taken." Dean tried to move my hand off the door.

"Dean, stop. Focus. We need a plan. We need to go back to the hotel for a couple of hours, figure out what's going on."

"We don't have a couple of hours!" Dean was yelling now, his hands clenched into fists at his side. "Sammy doesn't have a couple of hours!"

"Dean, we are going back to the hotel. That's an order." I didn't say anything else, didn't think I'd need to. I didn't even try to move his hand off the door anymore, just waited for his usual "Yes sir" and a ride back to the hotel.

Dean just stared at me for a second, than spoke just two words. "Fuck you," he spat out, then shoving me out of the way, he jumped into the driver's seat. I was barely able to climb into the passenger seat before he hit the gas and sped off after the car.

There was an uncomfortable silence for about thirty seconds before I went off on him. "Dean, I gave you an order! What the hell are you thinking chasing after some truck?"

"I was thinking that my baby brother is in trouble somewhere, and that every second we stood there talking was another second he could be dying!" Dean yelled, his fingers clenching the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were pale as ghosts.

I sighed deeply, trying to keep from raising my voice again. "Dean, I understand you're worried about Sam, but-"

"No Dad, you don't understand!" Dean answered tersely, and if he hadn't been going so fast, I felt sure he would have pulled the car over and thrown me out. "You haven't had to watch him get the life choked out of him by an extension chord! You haven't had to watch his eyes bleed, or his heart almost get ripped out, or his visions get so painful he can barely walk! And you haven't been here to joke around with him, and you weren't there when Jess died, and you can't tell when he's lying, and you haven't sat in this car with him talking for hours while he makes fun of you for still owning cassette tapes!"

"Dean," I answered, shocked at this outburst coming from my eldest son, "I know I haven't always been there for you and Sammy-"

"You don't get to call him that!" Dean's voice rose even higher, and the car swerved a little, matching his anger. "Only I get to call him that. You don't."

"Dean…" I didn't know what to say, so I kept my eyes on the road ahead. "I…frankly I didn't expect this from you."

"Why Dad? Because I'm the good little soldier?" Dean kept his eyes on the road, but I could see the fire burning in them from a mile away. "Well, not when it comes to Sam."

I watched his shoulders rise, his tension evident in every fiber of his body. I knew he expected me to yell at him, to try to order him around again, but one look in his eyes and I couldn't. "Ok," I said simply. Dean whipped his head around to look at me, but didn't get a chance to say anything, as the truck we were following suddenly screeched to a halt in front of a filthy looking ancient farmhouse.

We waited a few minutes, then got out of the car. "You swing around back," I said to Dean, and he nodded, creeping off into the trees. I went up to the front door, where I was unexpectedly met by a little girl. Before I could open my mouth, I felt something hard connect with the back of my head, and I fell into darkness.