Going in Circles
Summary: Crop circles and revenge, a bad combo for our boys…
Thank you for the lovely reviews and the pep talk. Just what I needed.
Chapter Two
"So you find anything?" Dean asked as Sam got back into the car.
"Nothing," Sam answered wearily. "I looked through everything I could think of."
It was almost dark. While Dean had spent the afternoon carefully asking questions of the locals, Sam had spent the afternoon in the local library. It had not been easy going. The owner's house was the only one nearby and he'd found nothing out of the ordinary about it or the family. Nor had he been able to find anything specific about the area or the road other than a few accidents.
"Nothing at all?" Dean asked, tiredly rubbing a hand over his face.
"I even asked the librarians if they knew anything," Sam said in frustration. "They had all heard about the crop circles, but as for anything else going on, not even a hint of anything odd."
"Indiana isn't exactly crop circle central."
"Or an alien hot-zone," Sam shook his head.
"That doesn't explain the EMF," Dean frowned. "Something happened in that field."
"Except there's nothing in the papers," Sam sighed. "At least that I could find. It's not like you can look up 'middle of nowhere' very easily."
"The guy who owns the land is named Winters," Dean said. "He owns a huge tract of land, farms it with his son. They both have houses on the edge of the property. The son lives just down the road from the circle where we were. They're well thought of. Hard working guys. Honest. When I mentioned insurance fraud for the corn, a guy in the diner nearly took a swing at me for even suggesting there was any funny business."
"Maybe we should go talk the owner," Sam suggested. "He would know if something had happened on his land better than anyone."
"Or maybe… we should see what he's up to. Check it out," Dean pointed. "Looks like Mr. UFO made bail."
They both watched as the man they'd met in the field got into a tiny foreign car a block ahead of them. "Let's see where our favorite Martian is going." Dean slowed to a crawl so that the man would pull out in front of them. "Winters said this was the third crop circle this week. What you wanna bet this guy knows exactly where the others are?"
"We're just going to follow him?"
Dean shrugged. "You got a better idea? He might watch too much X-Files, but he knows more than we do right now. A guy at the post office said he's been in town since the first crop circle showed up. Flew in only a few hours after the news got around."
"Where do you think he gets the money to wander around investigating crop circles?" Sam wondered out loud.
"Probably gets signals through the chip the aliens implanted. Tells him how to play the stock market," Dean offered derisively.
"Yeah, cause credit card scams are so much more normal," Sam raised an eyebrow.
"It's not like we're salaried," Dean said, almost defensively. "I like to think of it as public funding for services rendered to the community." He frowned, keeping his eyes on the car in front of them as it headed out of town, back into the country. "And I resent being compared to Mr. I-wear-a-tin-foil-beanie-to-keep-the-alien-rays-away."
"Just cut the guy some slack," Sam said. "He believes in some weird stuff just like we do. Wouldn't kill you to be civil to him."
"Yeah, it might," Dean shot back. "Ghosts regularly kick the crap out of us and I'm guessing he's never seen more than the Roswell museum and that crop circle." He rolled his eyes and waved his hand in the direction of the car in front of them. "Which is apparently where he's going right back to."
"He must like that jail," Sam observed. "He's gonna get himself arrested again."
"Maybe it reminds him of his abduction," Dean replied, a wry twist to his lips. "He misses the mother ship."
He pulled to the side of the road behind the man's car that appeared packed to the gills with all sorts of equipment. As soon as the car was stopped, the man got out, grabbed a backpack and started to head into the field. Sam and Dean hurried to follow.
"Hold up there, Scooter!" Dean shouted.
"This could be the most important scientific discovery in years!" the man shot over his shoulder, still heading further into the field. "If you're not going to help, then leave me alone!"
"Oh we're here to help," Dean said, trying for sincerity, but only managing it half-way. Sam fought not to smile. Dean and sincerity didn't always mix well.
"Really?" the man said, slowing his hurried walk.
"Oh, yeah," Dean nodded. "We're fascinated by this stuff. Aliens, crop circles, EMF."
"And the nodes!"
Dean blinked. "I beg your pardon?"
"The nodes on the corn stalks!"
"Nodes. Right," Dean nodded. "The nodes are…"
"The damage! But they're not damaged like they would be if humans had bent the corn over!" the man said excitedly. "They're…"
"Exactly," Dean said, looking almost panicked that the man was going to explain further. Sam knew neither of them was going to be able to keep a straight face if he kept it up.
"We haven't been introduced. I'm Tom Baker."
Sam gave him a friendly smile. "Nice to meet you, Tom. I'm Sam. This is Dean."
"Well… as fascinating as your nodes are… You want to tell us about the other crop circles?" Dean asked.
The man's eyes fairly blazed with excitement. "This one is exactly the same as the other two. They are the same size down to the inch. The same pattern in the corn, the same EMF levels, though the readings have faded in the other two. But they're practically identical! I've been trying to get these people to understand the importance of what is happening here."
"Where are the other two?" Sam asked.
"Within a few hundred feet of here." His eyes widened again in fervent obsession. "I suspect there are more, but I can't tell because the land is so flat and I haven't been able to arrange for a plane to fly me over the field yet."
"You think there are more?"
"Just from something Mr. Winters said… But all he cares about is his corn! As if his crops mean anything in the grand scheme of things!" That seemed to decide something in the man's mind and he quickly turned and headed further into the field straight for the circle. "They could be trying to contact us right now and all he cares about is feeding his cows!" he said angrily, trudging into the corn.
Sam and Dean shared a disconcerted look and then simultaneously shrugged and followed him.
"Dean, it's past dark," Sam warned. "We don't have any idea what's out here."
"I know," his brother replied quietly. "But we can't just let Mulder stay out here alone. He has even less of an idea what he's dealing with than we do."
"You got a flashlight?"
Dean nodded and patted his jacket pocket. "You armed?"
Sam grimaced and had to fight not to blush. "I've got some leftover salt packets from where we stopped for lunch. Does that count?"
Dean snorted. "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."
"What do you want me to do?" Sam asked testily, in truth embarrassed that Dean had caught him unprepared. It was like your teacher calling on you when you hadn't done your homework. "We can't exactly break out the shotguns. The guy would faint."
"Sam, the guy would faint if you told him you liked Picard better than Kirk." Dean paused momentarily. "On second thought, why don't you do that. We'll stash him in his car and then we can take care of business."
They stepped out into the crop circle to see that their new friend had already opened his backpack and retrieved his EMF meter, which was whirring and clicking audibly.
"The readings are even higher!" he said breathlessly.
"That's not a good thing," Sam heard Dean mutter under his breath.
Almost immediately Sam felt the faintest prickling at the back of his neck. In a matter of seconds, he was practically bristling like a startled cat.
"What is that?" Dean hissed, turning in a circle, looking all around.
The feeling intensified until it was almost a weight, pressing at them from all sides. Sam felt it like a rock pressing on his chest, on his whole body. The pressure grew, bearing down on his shoulders, nearly forcing him to his knees.
"We've got to get out of here," Dean whispered. Sam turned his head, an effort in and of itself, to look at his brother and knew that he too was feeling the strain. Black dots began to swim in front of his eyes and Sam faintly realized he wasn't breathing. But it was a distant realization and one that he could do nothing about. The pressure against his body was simply so great that he couldn't make his chest expand to allow his lungs to fill. His ears were ringing, his blood pounding audibly. He was going to suffocate in a wide open field.
Through a haze he saw Tom fall to the ground several feet in front of him. Only a few seconds later, the ground came up to meet him, the invisible force still pressing down on him until darkness clouded what remained of his vision. He heard Dean fall to the ground with a grunt as consciousness fled and he closed his already darkened eyes.
Barring disaster, more tomorrow…