Today's chapter is late and that is partly because I've been running around today and partly because I don't like it. But alas, the deadline is here (well...technically it was probably a few hours ago, but whatever) so here we are. Bear with me, we're getting to the good stuff! (I should be in advertising, with that pitch, don't you think?)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CHAPTER 14
Sam smells tequila around the same time he sees the Impala.
He'd awoken with a pit in his stomach and the knowledge that something was wrong. Dean's absence from the couch had been his first indicator, though with the way his brother had left, Sam knew it was possible he'd spent the night in the car. Which hadn't been directly outside the house, as Sam would've guessed it to be. He'd borrowed Lisa's Santa Fe again (this time without asking- she'd still been asleep when he'd awoken), cutting a few smooth loops around several streets before he'd caught sight of the familiar, sleek frame of the Impala and smelled the sweet stink of alcohol.
He approaches the car warily, gun at his side, somehow already knowing it's empty. There's a shape in the grass beside the back wheel on the side furthest from him, and Sam's stomach drops a moment later when he realizes it's a boot.
"Dean?" he whispers, but the name barely makes it past his lips before he's close enough to see that it's not his brother's foot. And that whoever that foot belongs to is dead. Inhaling sharply, Sam raises his gun the rest of the way and kicks experimentally at the body- the man on the ground is well past reacting, and Sam's attention has already shifted to a second body, this one a woman with her throat slashed. He finds the source of the tequila smell, remaining pieces of glass littering the ground, and by the time he's made a full circle around the car, he's fully panicking.
Dean's definitely gone. And it's looking like demons.
And there's blood that doesn't belong to either of the bodies on the ground.
Sam feels like a traitor, leaving his brother's Baby on the side of the road, but the Santa Fe is bigger and it's easier to get the bodies into the trunk. He finds a drop-sheet from the Impala and quickly cleans up what he can, rolling the dead demons into Lisa's car and speeding back to her house. Finding Dean is obviously priority one, but Sam knows there are steps that come first. Telling Lisa that Dean's missing is next on the list, followed by a quick corpse disposal. As terrible as it is, Lisa knows the area, and she'll probably have an idea for a good place to drop them.
But Lisa is in no position to answer any questions when Sam pulls back into the garage and makes his way into the house. She's pacing the halls screaming Ben's name, breathing hard but not yet crying, though she's close to it.
"Sam!" she rushes for him the moment he walks in the door, gripping at his t-shirt. "Sam, where is he? Where's Ben?" she demands.
"Lisa, listen to me," Sam coaxes, holding his hands up in surrender. "Dean's gone. He's been taken. Which means that Ben is probably with him."
Lisa shakes her head, releasing Sam from her hold and taking a step back. "What?" she asks, voice too high. "Where? Where are they?"
"I don't know," Sam answers, trying to keep the fear from his own voice. He wants to skip this part, wants to get right to the moment where they find Dean and he winks at Sam and Lisa and says something stupid like 'took you long enough' and then they all go back to Lisa's house and have a few beers and everything is okay again. But right now, that part is a long way off, and there is a tiny voice niggling at the back of Sam's head that's whispering about a different ending, one that doesn't involve anything but pain.
"I found Dean's car and a couple bodies…uh demons…a few streets over," Sam continues, holding her eyes. "We'll figure it out. But first, I need a place to dump the bodies."
Lisa blinks. "Dump the…? Are you serious?"
"Unfortunately."
"Jesus. Okay. Okay. I need to put my shoes on. I need to just…"
"It's okay. Just take a minute, get yourself ready to go. I'm gonna run back and grab the Impala. Stay calm Lisa. We'll find them. I promise." It's stupid to promise anything, but Sam's not just saying it for her benefit. Failure is not an option when it comes to Dean. This time, Sam is coming for his brother. This time, Sam will find him.
"The bodies are where?" Lisa shrieks.
They're standing half in, half out of the garage, Sam with both sets of car keys dangling from his fingertips. He bites his lip apologetically. "I didn't know what else to do," he shrugs.
Lisa looks lethal, and despite the current situation, Sam still finds a bit of humor in her bewildered, furious expression. She's staring at the trunk of her car as though it's been painted with polka dots, and Sam can't help but think of Dean's overprotectiveness of his own car. Sam watches with fascination as Lisa breathes a deep sigh, filling her cheeks and letting it out in a giant gust of air. She straightens a little, turning her attention back to Sam.
"There's a small stretch of forest a few miles away on Wingim Street. I drive by it on my way to work. Would that be a good spot?"
Sam forgets to answer for a moment, caught up in the stoic way Lisa stands and the glint of frantic intent in her eyes. She inclines her head toward him questioningly, waiting for an answer.
"That'll work," Sam confirms. He lets her take the wheel, sliding into the passenger seat of her car, weapons bag and two shovels flung into the backseat. Yet again, Sam knows Dean would kill him for leaving the Impala behind (this time tucked safely in Lisa's garage, at least), and he himself feels strangely about riding in the dark blue SUV, but there's no time and Lisa's car will be far less conspicuous.
There isn't much traffic this early in the morning, and they're able to shift the bodies from Lisa's trunk into the woods without much difficulty. The graves they dig are shallow and sloppy, but Sam doesn't care and Lisa doesn't know enough about dumping dead bodies to have an opinion. They finish quickly and slide back into the Santa Fe, dirt smearing the light leather seats. Lisa doesn't seem to notice, too busy gnawing at her thumbnail as they drive back to the house. All Sam wants to do is pick a direction and start searching, but he knows it's the wrong move. They need clues. Facts. An idea of who took Dean. They need a plan.
"How do you know he's not dead?" Lisa asks suddenly, hands wrapped around the wheel, fingers tapping nervously. They're stopped at a red light. The radio is off and the early morning air is just beginning to buzz with the indistinct energy of other people beginning to awaken. Sam glances at the clock: 8:47am.
It's Sunday, Sam realizes belatedly. He can't remember the last time he wasted a thought on the day of the week.
"He's not dead," Sam says. He doesn't look at her, instead watching as the light turns green. Lisa drives.
"How do you know?"
"If they wanted Dean dead, they'd had to have killed him on the spot," Sam reasons. The thought fills him with both pride and fear. Dean's always been an all or nothing kind of guy. "And there's not nearly enough blood at the car for him to be dead. Which means they took him. Which means he's alive."
Lisa bites her lip and nods, seeming to accept that. "Okay, so how do we find him?"
They're pulling back into the driveway now. "I'm guessing that whatever took him is the same thing that was after you. So we figure out what it is. Just...we move faster. A lot faster." Sam climbs out of the car, making his way to the front door. Lisa follows after, locking it behind her. "I gotta look at my notes," Sam says over his shoulder. He finds his laptop on the bed in the guestroom and walks it into the kitchen, taking a seat at the table and opening the computer. Lisa follows after again, pacing the space in front of him.
"What can I do?" she asks. "How can I help?"
Sam glances up from his screen. "You've already helped," he says. "You're doing good."
"Yeah, so good," Lisa grumbles, running her fingers through her hair. "My kid is missing, Dean is missing, and we just buried two stranger's bodies in a goddamn field not too far from my house. So. Good."
Sam wishes he could spare more sympathy for Lisa, but at the moment he can't afford it. There's too much at stake to take her feelings into account. Maybe that's insensitive of him, but he doesn't care.
"Look, wherever they are, they're together," he reasons, trying to at least set her mind at ease, if only slightly. "That's good news. Whoever's got Dean, Ben will be able to help him escape. It's possible they'll come stumbling through that door before we even have to figure out where they are."
Sam nods in the general direction of the front door, but his eyes are fixed on the screen in front of him, pulling up what little information he'd been able to find about anything strange happening in Lisa's town. As much as he'd like to believe his own words, he can't. Dean doesn't get 'got' unless the adversary is formidable, whether or not tequila is involved in the equation. And that probably means there's no easy escape from whoever snatched him. Behind him, Sam can hear Lisa's apprehensive pacing. He doesn't turn away from his research to look at her, but his tone leaves no room for doubt.
"And even if they don't, we will figure out where they are," he insists. "We will."
Until Wednesday!
