So clever,
Whatever,
I'm done with these endeavours.
Alone I walk the winding way.
(Here I stay)
It's over,
No longer,
I feel it growing stronger.
I'll live to die another day,
Until I fade away.
Why give up, why give in?
It's not enough, it never is.
So I will go on until the end.
We've become desolate.
It's not enough, it never is.
But I will go on until the end.
CROATOAN
It had been a week. Just seven days since the crossroads demon and things were starting to get back to normal. We were camped out in a motel taking it easy for a while. Dean and I had walked down the road to the local liquor store to grab a six pack and some snacks. It was dark, a little chilly out, and the perfect weather for cuddling. I slipped my arm around Dean's waist, under his jacket, smiling.
The demonic induced nausea had passed, thankfully, now I was just hungry – all the time. I'd been eating my way through a cow the last few days – burgers, steaks, milkshakes, now I was on to the beef jerky. I snatched a piece out of the open bag that Dean had in his hand, munching away happily.
"Hey slow down there applepie or you're gonna end up with heart burn," Dean said with a laugh and I grinned at him.
"I'm so hungry! I don't know what's gotten into me. Maybe I have an iron deficiency," I said thoughtfully, still walking with my arm around his waist. Dean frowned, looking down at me. I shrugged, grabbing another piece of jerky out of the bag, it was soft and tender just how I liked it.
We walked in silence for a little longer until Dean spoke, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Well, maybe we should get you checked out by a doctor," he said. I raised my eyebrow at him.
"It's just a couple of cravings Dean, I'm not sick, I hardly think it calls for a doctor," I said, looking ahead of us to the motel.
"Just being cautious, that's all. Maybe you have a parasite," he said with a grin, and I laughed.
"Uh huh, a parasite eh?" I said, shaking my head.
"Yeah, you know..." He stopped me and turned to face me. "...the kind that take 9 months to mature and then wreak havoc on the rest of your life."
My eyes widened and he swallowed, looking a little anxious. "You think I'm pregnant?" I asked, my mouth hanging open. "Dean, I'm on the pill!"
"Yeah, and stress can throw that out, along with a lot of things. When's the last time you actually..." his voice trailed off and I thought about it, doing a rough calculation in my head. The months had kind of been jam packed and I hadn't thought about it. But it had been since before Oklahoma, and that had been... several months ago.
I frowned, looking up Dean with a sigh. "Yeah," he said. "Thought it'd been a while."
"I'm not pregnant Dean," I said with a frown. He sighed and kissed me on the forehead.
"We should check, just in case," he said quietly and I watched him silently.
He started to move toward the motel, but I suddenly couldn't move, all the possibilities running through my head. Seeing that I hadn't followed, Dean turned and came back to me.
"What is it?" He asked, looking at me concerned.
"What if I am?" I asked quietly, suddenly a little afraid.
His brow furrowed as he looked at me, and then he smiled, lifting my chin up with his free hand to brush his lips along mine.
"Then we deal," he said as he pulled away, "I should think our lives would take a bit of a 180, but that's not necessarily a bag thing..." His eyes twinkled a little and I watched him, assessing where his head was at.
"Are you sure about that?" I asked, cautious. "Because we haven't actually talked about this … like ever."
Dean sighed and nodded at me, watching me as much as I was him.
"Yeah I know we haven't, but maybe we should? Maybe it's time we have that chat. Soon." I looked over at the Impala, and shook my head, this night had just gotten really, really weird.
Dean inclined his head toward the motel room, and started walking again, I followed close behind. Dean's arms were full with the beer and beef jerky, so I opened the door to the motel room when we got there, walking inside.
"Sam?" I called out, wondering where he was.
Suddenly Sam sat up from in between the two beds in the room, he'd been lying on the floor. He gasped for breath, shaking and looking around the room.
"Sam?" Dean asked, frowning and putting down the things he was carrying. We circled around to look at at him, our earlier conversation forgotten.
"Are you ok?" I asked, crouching in front of him. Sam struggled to focus on my voice, his eyes were dilated and anxious. Then suddenly he came back into his body, the vision – as I assumed it was – passing.
"No..." Sam muttered, looking at up at Dean in alarm and grabbing my hands. I held them and frowned.
"What is it?" I asked quietly, Sam just shook his head, not moving, and for the second time tonight, we waited things out for Sam.
Impala
Dean was driving. We'd packed up almost immediately following Sam's vision and were in the car within half an hour, heading toward Oregon. Sam had relayed a very distressing vision he'd just had where he'd witnessed Dean going into a room and shooting someone who was tied to a chair.
Sam was using the GPS navigator to direct us. I smirked a little because I was usually the map person, and I used actual maps – I still wasn't completely trusting in these new systems.
"Continue on O-R Two-Two-Four West," the GPS instructed us. Dean looked over at it with a frown, he didn't like them either.
"There are only two towns in the US named River Grove," Sam said, speaking of the vision he'd just had.
"How come you're so sure it's the one in Oregon?" Dean asked.
Sam paused, closing his eyes as if reliving the vision. "There was a picture. Crater Lake," he answered.
"OK, what else?" Dean asked, eyes back on the road.
"I saw a dark room, some people, and a guy tied to a chair," Sam said.
"And I ventilated him?" Dean asked, looking over at Sam with a frown. I leaned forward, wanting to participate in the conversation, I'm sure I wasn't the only one feeling uneasy about the content of Sam's vision.
"Yeah. You thought there was something inside him," Sam said with a nod.
"What, a demon? Was he possessed?" I asked, my mind throwing around ideas on why it was that Dean would shoot someone in cold blood.
"I don't know," Sam said.
"Well, all your weirdo visions are always tied to the Yellow-eyed Demon somehow... so was there any black smoke? Did we try to exorcise it?" Dean asked.
"No. Nothing, you just plugged him, that's it," Sam said anxiously.
We all frowned and fell silent, contemplating that.
"Well, I'm sure he had a good reason," I said quietly and Dean looked over at me with a smile.
"I sure hope so," Sam said quietly, not quite as supportive of Dean as we'd expected.
"What does that mean?!" Dean asked, looking at Sam in surprise. Sam didn't answer, just looked out the window for a few heartbeats.
"Dean's not going to kill an innocent man, Sam," I said with a frown, looking at our little brother. Sam raised his eyebrow at me.
"I wouldn't!" Dean said, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I never said you would!" Sam exclaimed looking over at Dean.
"Fine!" Dean said, a little angrily, but probably more hurt than anything.
"Fine! Look we don't know what it is. But whatever it is, that guy in the chair's a part of it. So let's find him, and see what's what," Sam suggested.
"Fine," Dean said with a scowl.
"Fine," Sam countered, staring at Dean.
I threw my hands up in the air and sat back in my seat. Oh this was going to be a fun drive to Oregon with these two butting heads.
River Grove, Oregon
We'd driven through the night, it was now early morning and we passed a large billboard advertising Crater Lake as we pulled into town, parking out the front of a shop. I looked around at the trees and mountains in the distance and smiled.
"Wow, it's pretty here, we should come to Oregon more often," I said, tapping the front seat and leaning forward.
The boys looked around at the town, their minds not so much on the view. They were looking at a man across the street, sitting out the front of an old shop, rustic and weathered. He was cleaning a rifle, chatting to people as they passed him. He wore a short sleeved shirt and old hunting vest over the top.
"He was there," Sam said, pointing at the man.
"OK, let's check it out then," Dean said, getting out of the car, Sam and I following.
We wandered across the road up to the man, he paused to look at us, giving us the once over.
"Morning," Dean said to him as we reached the store.
"Good morning. Can I help you?" The man asked us, looking curious.
"Yeah," Dean said, pulling out a badge. "Uh, Billy Gibbons. U.S. Marshal, this is Frank Beard and Dusty Hill," he pointed in turn to Sam and myself. I gaped at Dean, shaking my head, one day someone was going to catch on to his ridiculous aliases – I just hoped this guy wasn't a ZZ Top fan.
"What's this about?" The man asked, apparently oblivious to the names.
"We're looking for someone," Dean said.
"A young man, early twenties," Sam said, "He'd have a, a thin scar right below his hairline," he gestured to where he'd seen the boy's scar in his vision.
"What'd he do?" The man asked, looking warily at us.
"Well, nothing," Sam said, looking innocently at the man. "We're actually looking for someone else, but we think this young man could help us."
"Yeah, he's not in any kind of trouble or anything; well not yet," Dean said, glancing down at the tattoo on the man's arm, recognising it. "I think maybe you know who he is... Master Sergeant," he smiled when he said that, pleased with himself. "My dad was in the Corps, he was a Corporal."
"What company?" The man asked, not giving us anything to work with.
"Echo 2-1," Dean answered without missing a beat.
"So can you help us?" I asked, looking over at him from where I was standing near Sam.
The man hesitated, then nodded. "Duane Tanner's got a scar like that. But I know him. Good kid, keeps his nose clean."
"I'm sure he does," I said with a smile. "Um, do you know where he lives?"
"With his family, up Aspen Way," the man answered, nodding in the direction we should take.
We thanked him and left, heading back toward the car. Sam wasn't concentrating and bumped into a telephone pole as we crossed the road. He glanced back and stopped, staring at something. I looked back and could see a word carved into the pole, CROATOAN.
Dean stopped when he noticed we had both returned to the pole, and he rejoined us.
"Croatoan?" Dean asked, when he saw the word.
"Yeah," Sam said with a nod. Dean looked at him blankly.
"Roanoke? Lost colony? Ring a bell?" Sam asked, looking at him. Dean continued to look blankly at him.
"Dean, did you pay any attention in history class?" I asked with a chuckle. I kind of knew the answer to that one, he'd been a bit of a player back then, more interested in chasing skirt than chasing grades.
"Yeah!" Dean said, offended. "Shots heard around the world, how bills become laws..." his voiced trailed off.
"That's not school, that's Schoolhouse Rock!" Sam said shaking his head.
"Whatever," Dean muttered with a frown.
"Roanoke was one of the first English colonies in America, late 1500s?" I said, looking at Sam who nodded.
"Oh yeah, yeah I do remember that. The only thing they left behind was a single world carved in a tree. Croatoan." Dean said, I was impressed, maybe he did pay more attention to the class than the class teacher.
"Yeah. There were theories – Indian raid, disease, but nobody really knows what happened. They were all just gone. Wiped out overnight." I said, thinking back to my own history class on the subject.
"You don't think that's what's going on here?" Dean asked, looking a little alarmed.
"Whatever I saw in my head, it sure wasn't good. But what do you think could do that?" Sam asked, looking at us both.
"Well, I mean, like I said, all of your weirdo visions are always tied to the Yellow-eyed Demon somehow, so..." Dean shrugged, voice trailing off.
"We should get help," I said, suddenly feeling sick to my stomach. "Bobby, uh, Ellen maybe?"
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Dean said, nodding and pulling his phone out of his pocket. He flipped it open and frowned, starting to wave it around, holding it in the air. "I don't have a signal," he said, looking at me.
Sam and I pulled out our phones, doing the same.
"I don't either," Sam said, glancing at me. I shook my head negative, I didn't either.
Dean took a breath and frowned, looking over at a pay phone and walking up to it. He picked up the handset, clicking the receiver a few times and listening.
"Line's dead," he said, hanging up. He turned to look at us, concern in his eyes. "I'll tell you one thing. If I was gonna massacre a town, that'd be my first step." I looked at him, my mouth twitching into a worried look as I gnawed at my bottom lip. Just once, I thought, just once I'd like to go somewhere nice and not have someone try to kill us.
Tanner House
We decided to pay a visit to the Tanner household on Aspen Way. Their house was a neat little cabin-style home with a large spacious lawn and native trees planted strategically around. It was something that I would have liked, if I were feeling domestically inclined.
Dean lead the way up the steps to the house and grinned, pointing at the little plaque on the wall near the door. It read Born to fish, forced to work. I smiled, story of our life. Sam rapped on the door and we waited for an answer. The door was answered by a teenage boy with spiky dark brown hair, the typical smart-ass look on his face that most teens have.
"Yeah?" He said, looking us over.
Dean flashed his badge at the boy. "Hi, we're looking for Duane Tanner, he lives here, right?"
"Yeah, he's my brother," the boy said, nodding.
"Can we talk to him?" Dean asked.
"Oh, he's not here right now," the kid said, his eyebrow cocked slightly up.
"Do you know where he is?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, he went on a fishing trip up by Roslyn Lake," the boy said, friendly, yet seeming a little too friendly.
"Are your parents' home?" Sam asked.
The boy smiled at us. "Yeah, they're inside," he said with a nod.
A middle-aged man came to the door, stepping into view. "Jake? Who is it?"
Dean flashed his badge again as Mr Tanner looked out the door at us. "Hi, U.S. Marshals, sir, we're looking for your son Duane."
"Wh-why? He's not in trouble, is he?" Mr Tanner asked, looking concerned.
"No, no, no, no. We just need to ask him a couple of routine questions, that's all." Dean said smiling.
"When's he due back from his fishing trip?" I asked from where I was leaning against one of the porch posts.
"I'm not sure," Mr Tanner said, glancing over at me with a bit of hesitation as if he was thinking about whether or not his son had told him this information.
"Well, maybe your wife knows?" I asked, stepping over to the door.
"Oh, I don't know, she's not here right now," Mr Tanner answered, appearing flustered and looking back into the house.
"Your son said she was," Dean pointed out, looking at the boy.
"Did I?" Jake asked, looking innocently at us.
"She's getting groceries. So, when Duane gets back, is there a number where he can get a hold of you?" Mr Tanner asked.
"Oh no, we'll just check in with you later," Dean said with a shake of his head. He turned, throwing me a look that told me he was no more convinced at their story than I was feeling. He walked down the steps behind us and Mr Tanner closed the door.
"That was kind of creepy, right?" I asked. "A little too Stepford?"
"Big time," Sam said, and Dean nodded while he looked around to see if anyone was around to watch us. Seeing that we were alone, he crept around the side of the house, Sam and I in tow.
We crouched low, walking under the windows until we came to the back where the kitchen was located. Looking in the window we saw a woman tied to a chair, gagged, and both Mr Tanner and Jake were with her. We watched as Jake rolled up his sleeve, and Mr Tanner cut his arm with a knife. There was already a wound in the woman's shoulder and at the sight of the knife we acted, pulling our guns out from under our jackets.
Dean kicked the door in with a grunt and Sam raced in ahead of us, gun drawn. Mr Tanner rushed at us yelling, yielding his knife. Dean didn't hesitate, shooting him three times in the chest, he fell to the ground. I was on the boy, and started to follow him as he jumped out the nearest window, the glass shattering around him. Sam cut me off, moving into the window, gun pointing at the kid. He hesitated, and the boy got away by the time I pushed in.
Medical Centre
River Grove
There was a medical centre in town, and Dean pulled up right out the front. Sam jumped out of the car, opening the back door where I was sitting with Beverly Tanner, the woman we had just rescued.
Beverly got out of the car, and Sam escorted her inside, I followed.
"Hello? Hello?" I called out as we got into the foyer. "We need a doctor here!"
A young blonde woman came rushing out, a look of concern on her face.
"Mrs Tanner? What happened?" She asked, looking at the three of us standing in the foyer.
"She's been attacked," Sam said, his arm around Beverly, who was looking like she was in shock.
"Doctor Lee?!" The girl called out, and another woman came running from the back room to greet us.
"Bring her in," the doctor said, waving us through to the other room. Beverly was crying now, the events of the last hour starting to sink in.
I saw Dean at the door of the medical centre, Mr Tanner's body hoisted over his shoulder and I rushed to open the door for him. He smiled gratefully at me as he carted the body into the foyer.
The doctor turned to stare at him. "Is that...?"
"Mr Tanner?" Dean said, finishing her question.
"Was he attacked too?" Dr Lee asked, looking up at me.
"Uh... no, actually, he did the attacking and then he got himself shot," I answered, looking at her.
"Shot?" Dr Lee asked, shocked.
"Yeah," Dean said grimly.
"And who are you?" Dr Lee asked him.
"U.S. Marshal," Dean and I both said in unison. He looked up at me with a chuckle.
Dean looked at the doctor, "I'd show you my badge, but..." he gestured to the dead body still hanging over his shoulders in a fireman's carry.
The doctor shook her head, gathering her wits. "Oh, sorry. Bring him back here." She waved us through to the back room where everyone else had gone.
Shortly after Dr Lee was treating Beverly in the examination room. She was seated on a table with her shirt off, and the doctor had bandaged up her left shoulder where she'd been cut.
"Wait, you said Jake helped him? Your son Jake?" The doctor looked at Beverly incredulously.
Beverly was close to tears again, nodding away at the questions. "They beat me. Tied me up..."
"I don't believe it," the blonde nurse said, staring at Beverly.
"Pam," Dr Lee cautioned her with a warning look, before turning back to her patient. "Beverly... do you have any idea why they would act this way? Any history of chemical dependency?"
"No, of course not. I don't know why. One minute they were my husband and my son. And the next they had the devil in them," Beverly replied, crying.
I looked over at Dean and frowned when I heard that. Sam was looking around the room, thinking. We were all thinking it. Demons.
"We gotta talk," Dean said quietly to us both, and nodded toward the waiting room. We left the doctor to her examination and exited through the door.
"Those guys were whacked out of their gourds," Dean said forcefully as soon as we were alone.
"What do you think? Multiple demons, mass possession?" Sam asked, looking anxious.
"If it is a possession there could be more. I mean, God knows how many, it could be like a friggin' Shriner convention," Dean said passively, he was calm, but it was like the calm before the storm because I could tell there was something brewing underneath the surface.
"Great..." I muttered, crossing my arms and sighing.
"Of course, that's one way to wipe out a town, you take it from the inside," Dean said, it was a frightening proposition.
"I don't know man, we didn't see any of the demon smoke with Mr Tanner, or any of the other usual signs," Sam looked at me and frowned. "Did you feel anything?" He asked me.
I thought about it, my whole body had been feeling sick for a long time now, it was becoming hard to distinguish between regular stress and demon sense. I shrugged. "I don't know, I don't think so though," I said. Dean frowned.
"Well, something turned him into a monster," he said, then he turned to Sam. "And you know if you would have taken out the other one there'd be one less to worry about," he chastised Sam.
"I'm sorry, all right? I hesitated, Dean, it was a kid!" Sam said defensively.
"No, it was an 'it'. Not the best time for a bleeding heart, Sam." Dean said, giving him a hard stare.
Dr Lee walked out of the lab, her heels clicking loudly on the linoleum floor. The boys stopped their staring match and looked over at her.
"How's the patient?" Sam asked.
"Terrible! What the hell happened out there?" Dr Lee asked, casting a gaze around at all of us.
"We don't know," Dean said, turning to face her.
"Yeah?! Well you just killed my next door neighbour!" The doctor said, angry.
"We didn't have a choice," Dean said with a frown.
"Maybe so, but we need the county Sheriff. I need the coroner..." She stopped, looking harried.
"Phones are down," I said, and she nodded at me.
"I know, I tried," she replied. "Tell me, you have a police radio in the car?"
"Yeah, we do. But it crapped out just like everything else," Sam said, an apologetic look on his face.
"I don't understand what is happening," the doctor said, starting to look worried. Dean exchanged a look with me, one I didn't like.
"How far is it to the next town?" He asked the doctor and I bit my lip.
"It's about forty miles down to Sidewinder," the doctor replied. Dean considered and I shook my head at him, letting him know I didn't like his idea.
"All right," Dean said, ignoring me. "I'm gonna go down there, see if I can find some help." He clapped Sam on the shoulder and looked over at me. "These guys will stick around, keep you guys safe."
"Safe from what?" Dr Lee asked. Dean looked at her, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"We'll get back to you on that," he said, starting to walk for the door. I stalked after him, grabbing his arm.
"You're not leaving me here Dean," I said quietly, "we shouldn't be splitting up, we have no idea what's going on here."
Dean turned and pulled me out into the foyer where we had some privacy.
"That's exactly why you should stay here, it's safer," Dean said, looking at me worried.
"Oh don't you start that chauvinistic, over protective crap on me Dean Winchester," I said, glaring at him. He sighed, reaching out to brush a hand along my cheek.
"That's not going to work either, buster," I said with a smile and he groaned in frustration.
"Yes, it's safer here. That's exactly why one of us should be going with you. You might need the back-up," I reasoned with him, and he shook his head stubbornly.
"She's right," Sam said, stepping into the foyer and clearing his throat.
Dean threw his hands up in the air and turned to look at us both. I crossed my arms over my chest and raised my eyebrow.
"I'm coming with you, Sam's more than capable of handling things here," I said, giving him my best no-negotiation tone.
"I hate it when you two gang up on me!" Dean said, but he nodded at me and I smiled, walking toward the door.
"We'll be back as soon as we can," I heard Dean tell Sam. "Just, don't do anything stupid."
Stupid. I shook my head, laughing to myself. All we seemed to do these days was stupid stuff. Maybe it should be our motto, into the fray with stupid intentions!
About ten miles out of town we came across a wrecked car sitting in the middle of the right hand lane. Dean pulled to a stop behind it, picking up the shotgun that was lying between us on the seat.
"Wait here," he told me, and got out of the car.
"Like Hell!" I muttered, and got out of the passenger side, my handgun drawn and ready to go. Dean shook his head at me in frustration but turned his attention to the car in front of us. The side windows were smashed out, glass littered the ground. I gulped at the baby seat in the back, it was covered in blood. I didn't want to think about whose these people were.
There was blood everywhere, and I started to feel nauseas just looking at it. Dean stooped to pick up something, when he stood up he showed me a large bloody knife. I swallowed hard, looking around us into the trees. We were out in the open, sitting ducks. Dean seemed to have the same idea and inclined his head back to the Impala. I tried to appear casual as I walked back, but my heart was racing a mile a minute, I couldn't get my mind off that babyseat, and what had likely happened here.
Once in the car, I relaxed, breathing a little bit. I wound up the window, just the same, and it made me feel a little better.
"You ok?" Dean asked, looking at me.
"Yeah," I said, nodding.
"Cause you look a little pale," he said, worried.
"Yeah, it's just, there... there was a baby in that car," I said, biting my lip. He paused and looked at me.
"Yeah, yeah I know," he said quietly. He tossed the knife into a plastic bag and put it on the floor in the back so we didn't have to look at it. With another worried glance at me he started the car up, and eased around the wreck, I nodded, we had to get to the next town over and get help.
Five minutes later we were coming up to the bridge, rounding the corner only to find it was blocked by a couple of cars and half a dozen men with guns. I recognised the boy from earlier, Beverly's son, as being among them. Dean pulled the car to a stop about ten yards away, exchanging a concerned look with me.
"This isn't good," I said, and he nodded.
Something banged on the roof of the car and we jumped.
"Oh-ho-ho. Hey!" Dean said, as a man leaned down to look in the open window at us. I silently cursed Dean for leaving his window open, what was he thinking? The man looked innocent enough, middle-aged, short dark hair, dark eyes and regular casual clothing on. He looked like he'd just walked out of the local diner having just been out for a meal. But there was an underlying threat I thought I could feel, a gut feeling, something about this whole set-up wasn't right.
"Sorry," the man said, "road's closed."
"Yeah, I can see that. What's up?" Dean asked, looking at him.
"Quarantine," the man said with a nod.
"Quarantine?" I asked, frowning. "What for?" I was quietly fingering my gun which I had tucked down between me and the door, it just felt like things were about to go crazy, I kept thinking back to all that blood in the car we'd passed.
"Don't know," he answered me. "Something going around out there."
"Uh-huh," Dean said, "who told you that?"
"County Sheriff," the man replied.
"Is he here?" Dean asked, looking over at the group of people blocking the road.
"No. He called. Say, why don't you get out of the car and we'll talk a little?" Dean laughed nervously at that suggestion and I found my finger getting a little itchy on the trigger of my gun as I tried to keep my expression innocent and casual.
"Well, you are a handsome devil, but I don't swing that way, sorry," Dean said with a chuckle. The man didn't laugh, nor did he appear to find Dean's humour funny.
"I'd sure appreciate it if you go out of the car, just for a quick minute," the man said. Dean tossed me a quick look that usually proceeded one of his rash actions, and I braced myself for whatever was coming.
"Yeah, I bet you would," Dean said to the man, slamming the car into a quick reverse and spinning the wheels, sending us hurtling back the way we had come.
The man grabbed Dean's collar and hung on, dragged by the car. The men at the roadblock began firing at us, and Dean swung the car around to put some distance between us, the man was thrown free of the car as we raced back down the road, the way we had come.
We were coming back through town within minutes. Dean drove us slowly through the main street, when out of the blue the man from the store who we'd seen earlier stepped into the road, brandishing a rifle at us. Dean stopped the car.
"Hands where I can see 'em!" He ordered us and I complied, raising my hands up. Dean put his up too.
"Ok!" Dean called out, throwing me a concerned look.
"Get out of the car! Out of the car!" The man yelled at us.
We opened our doors slowly and started to climb out.
"All right, easy there big guy," Dean said, staring at the man. He kept his gun trained on Dean mostly which presented me with the perfect opportunity. I pulled my handgun on him.
"All right, put it down!" I ordered him, holding the gun out and aiming at him.
He swung his gun on me next. "Lower it now!" He yelled and I shook my head.
Next Dean had his gun out too, joining the stand off. "Put it down!" He said angrily to the man.
The man struggled to decide on who to keep his gun on, looking from me to Dean. "Are you one of 'em?" He asked us and we shook our heads.
"No! Are you?" Dean asked.
"No!" The man exclaimed.
"You could be lying!" I said, thinking about the man we'd just left lying on the side of the road.
"So could you!" He said back at me.
"All right! All right," Dean said, holding his free hand out to the man. "We could do this all day, all right? Let's just uh, let's just take it easy before we all kill each other."
I glanced over at Dean but I didn't relax on my stance. Dean was lowering his gun, and it seemed to relax the man in front of us.
"What's going on with everybody?" He asked us, frowning.
"I don't know," Dean answered honestly, and I nodded.
The man looked around us. "My neighbour... Mr. Rogers...he..."
"You have a neighbour named Mr Rogers?" Dean asked, amused.
"Not any more," the man said in all seriousness. Dean shook his head. "He came at me with a hatchet. I put him down. He's not the only one, I mean, it's happening to everyone." I shook my head, something about shooting someone called Mr Rogers just seemed wrong.
"We're heading over to the Doc's place, there's still some people left." Dean said to him.
"No, no way. I'm getting the hell out," the man said, shaking his head.
"There's no way out, they have the bridge covered." I said to him and he looked at me.
"I don't believe you," he said.
"Fine, stay here, be my guest," I said, I didn't really care one way or the other.
Dean and I climbed back into the car, the man hesitated, looking between Dean and myself. He pulled a handgun out of his pants and then climbed into the back seat sitting between the two of us. I turned and pointed my own gun at him, he had his rifle pointed at Dean, and handgun at me.
"Well, this ought to be a relaxing drive," Dean muttered to me, putting the car into drive. Fortunately for us, it was only a short one.
When we reached the medical centre I got out of the car, dropping the gun I had trained on the man who we'd learned was called Mark, though Dean had taken to calling him Sarge after his old military rank. I banged on the door to get Sam's attention.
"Sammy? Open up!" I said, completely forgetting out cover names. Interestingly enough, no one seemed to notice.
Sam opened the door and let us in.
"Did you guys get to a phone?" Sam asked and I shook my head.
"Road block," Dean said. He turned to Mark and nodded toward the interior of the centre. "I'm gonna have a word. Doc's inside."
Mark left us with a short nod, and Sam looked at the pair of us. "What's going on out there?"
"Man, I don't know," Dean said, throwing his arms up in the air, still carrying his handgun. "I feel like Chuck Heston in the Omega Man, I mean, Sarge is the only sane person we could find!"
"What are we dealing with, do you know?" I asked Sam, looking at the youngest of us, he looked tired and worried.
"Yeah. Doc thinks it's a virus," Sam answered, looking back toward the inner room.
"Ok, great. What do you think?" Dean asked him.
"I think she's right," Sam said, nodding.
"Really?" Dean asked, stopping his pacing and looking thoughtful.
"Yeah. And I think the infected are trying to infect others with blood-to-blood contact." Sam said, shrugging his shoulders. "Oh, but it gets better. The uh, the virus? Leaves traces of sulphur in the blood."
"Sulphur?" I said with a frown. "A demonic virus?"
"Yeah, more like demonic germ warfare. At least it explains why I've been having visions. Maybe why Beth has been so sick..." Sam said, looking over at me.
"It's like a Biblical plague," Dean said, looking out the window and tucking his gun into his waistband at the small of his back. I tucked my own in the same place inside my own waistband and ran a hand through my hair.
"Yeah. You don't know how right you are Dean. I've been poring through Dad's journal, found something about the Roanoke colony," Sam said, looking back at Dean.
"And?" Dean asked.
"Dad always had a theory about Croatoan. He thought it was a demon's name. Sometimes known as Deva or sometimes Reesha. A demon of plague and pestilence." Sam said, gulping and looking at us.
"Well, that, that's terrific!" Dean said sarcastically. "Why here, why now?"
"I have no idea. But Dean, who knows how far this thing can spread? We gotta get out of here, we gotta warn people," Sam said looking worried.
Suddenly Mark's voice called out to us. "They've got one! In here!"
We all rushed into the next room and Dean looked at Mark. "What do you mean?"
"The wife, she's infected," Sam informed us.
"We've gotta take care of this. We can't just leave her in there," Mark said. "My neighbours, they were strong. The longer we wait, the stronger she'll get."
Dean pulled his gun, barely even hesitating before stalking into the examination room where Beverly was now being held prisoner. I exchanged a concerned look with Sam before following him.
"You're going to kill Beverly Tanner?" Pam asked, looking freaked out at Mark who was now standing in the room, gun out.
Sam stepped up, trying to calm the situation down. "Doctor, could there be any treatment? Some kind of cure for this?"
The doctor hesitated, looking at Sam.
"Can you cure it?" Dean asked directly.
"For God's sake, I don't even know what 'it' is!" The doctor said, looking scared.
"I told you, it's just a matter of time before she breaks through," Mark said, nodding at the supply room where they had locked Beverly.
"Just leave her in there, you can't shoot her like an animal!" Pam cried out.
"Sam," Dean said, but Sam hesitated, shaking his head. Dean looked at me, serious and demanding my help. I bit my lip, but pulled my gun out just the same with a nod.
"Wait... Beth..." Sam said, frowning. I shook my head at him, joining Dean.
We approached the room, guns ready.
"Are you sure about this?" I whispered to Dean quietly, he just nodded at me, turning his eyes to look at me. He wasn't happy, that much was clear, but someone had to do it – it would have to be us.
I nodded my readiness and reached out to carefully open the door. Dean and Mark took up defensive positions behind me. I carefully opened the door, looking at Dean and then swung it open, pushing up against the wall to let the two men pass me.
Beverly was huddled on the floor in the corner, her knees drawn up. She jumped as soon as the door opened.
"Mark, what are you doing? Mark, it's, it's them! They locked me in here, they, they tried to kill me!" She cried out. "They're infected, not me! Please, Mark! You've known me all your life! Please!" She begged him not to shoot her, crying, and Mark struggled, looking at her.
"You sure she's one of them?" Dean asked, looking back at Sam.
Sam looked distressed, but he nodded. Mark pulled back, unable to go through with it. Dean closed his eyes for a split second, then looked up at me, uncertainty in his eyes. I looked at Beverly and then thought about the others, her husband and son who had turned on us like wild dogs. I nodded, giving him my support, it had to be done.
Dean stepped forward, raising the gun and shooting Beverly three times. Sam and Mark flinched, the other women were crying, upset at the direction this situation had taken, they left the examination room, and I looked about, wondering if this was the last room any of us would see for a while.
I was standing at the window with Mark, peering through the blinds. There was a crowd of people, infected people, starting to gather outside, standing in the mist of the evening, lit up only from the street lights.
Sam and Dean were going through the duffel bags of weapons we'd brought in from the Impala, loading the guns, checking the blades of the knives. Sam was staring at Dean, his face unreadable but clearly there was something on his mind. Dean was saying nothing, silent and broody, methodically loading the guns and checking their safeties.
There was a shout from the other room and we all came into the room. Pam had dropped a vial of blood all over the floor, and was freaking out.
"Oh god! Is there any on me? Am I ok?" She asked, brushing at her arms.
"You're clean, you're ok," Dr Lee said, reassuring the girl.
"Why are we staying here? Please, let's just go!" Pam asked, looking at us all.
"No, we can't, because those things are everywhere," I said, talking about the infected people outside.
Pam bent over, hands on her knees. "Oh god!" She muttered, her breathing erratic and frightened.
"Hey, shh, shhh, shhh," Dr Lee said to her, trying to calm her down.
"She's right about one thing," I said to Dean, "We can't stay here. We've got to get out of here, get to the Roadhouse? Somewhere. We have to let people know what's coming."
Dean looked at me and nodded. "Yeah, good point. Night of the Living Dead didn't exactly end pretty," he said with a smirk and I smiled at the attempt at humour. There was one thing you could always count on in a life or death situation, and that was Dean coming up with some bizarre movie reference.
"Well, I'm not sure we've got a choice. Lots of folks up here are good with rifles – even with all your hardware we're, we're easy targets," Mark said. "So unless you've got some explosives..."
Sam was looking at the medical supply shelf behind Pam and smiling.
"We could make some," he said, raising his eyebrows and nodding at the shelf. He took down a bottle of Potassium Chloride and I grinned. We could indeed.
Suddenly a pounding started at the door. Dean and I ran out, leaving Sam to the chemicals.
"Hey! Let me in, let me in! Please!" Came a voice from outside.
"It's Duane Tanner!" Mark said, running and opening the door to let Duane in. The boy had a backpack on and was limping.
"Thank god," he said, gasping for a breath and stumbling inside.
"Duane, you ok?" Mark asked, locking the door behind the boy and following him as he moved into the building. Dean watched him and turned to Sam.
"That's the guy I...uh..." he clicked his tongue and ran his thumb across his neck as if he was slitting the guy's throat.
"Yeah," Sam said with a nod.
"Who else is in here?" Duane asked, looking around.
Dean grabbed Duane's arm and pulled the boy to a stop. "Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, easy there, chief," he said looking over at Dr Lee. "Hey Doc! Give Duane a good once-over, would you?"
The doctor nodded and led the way back into the examination room, Duane followed her, looking confused.
"Who are you?" Duane asked, glancing back at Dean.
"Never mind who I am," Dean said, nodding at the doctor. "Doc."
"Yeah, ok," Dr Lee said grabbing some gloves from the dispenser on the wall.
"Where you been Duane?" Mark asked the boy, who took a seat on the examination table.
"On a fishing trip up by Roslyn. I came back this afternoon. I … I saw Roger McGill being dragged out of his house by people we know! They started cutting him with knives! I ran, I've been hiding in the woods ever since," he looked sincere, and certainly bedraggled like someone who had spent the better part of the day hiding and running through woods.
Duane looked around at everyone, a frown on his face. "Has anybody seen my mom and dad?"
Dean turned to me and attempted a joke. "Awkward..." he said, grimacing. I shook my head and punched him in the arm lightly, rolling my eyes.
My eyes were drawn to a deep gash in Duane's leg.
"Where did you get that?" I asked, pointing at it.
"I was running, I must have tripped." Duane answered, looking down at the wound as if he was seeing it for the first time.
"Tie him up, there's rope in there," Dean said, suddenly all business.
"Wait..." Duane said confused, getting off the table.
"Sit down!" Dean yelled at him, pulling his gun and cocking it.
Duane backed up, looking over at Mark, scared.
"I'm sorry, Duane, he's right. We've gotta be careful." Mark said to the boy.
"Careful? About what?" Duane asked.
"Did they bleed on you?" Dean asked, still holding the boy at gunpoint.
"No, what the hell? No!" Duane answered, looking freaked out.
"Doc? Anyway to know for sure, any test?" Sam asked, always the cautious one.
"I've studied Beverly's bloodwork backwards and forwards," Dr Lee said. Duane's ears perked up at the name.
"My mom?" He asked
"It took three hours for the virus to incubate. The sulphur didn't appear in the blood until then, so... no, there'd be no way of knowing. Not until after Duane turns," the doctor finished.
"Dean, I gotta talk to you. Now." Sam said. Dean glanced at Mark who nodded at him. The three of us left the room.
Once out of earshot Sam turned to us with his usual worried look. "This is my vision, Dean. It's happening."
"Yeah, I figured." Dean said.
"You can't kill him, all right? Not yet. We don't know if he's infected or not," Sam argued, trying to make his point.
"Well, I think we're pretty damn sure. Guy shows up out of nowhere, he's got a cut on his leg, his whole family's infected?" Dean was making some pretty good points of his own.
"All right, then we should keep him tied up, and we should wait and see." Sam said.
"For what? For him to Hulk out and infect somebody else? No thanks, can't take that chance." Dean said, starting to push past Sam, heading back to the examination room. Sam put his hand to his chest, stopping him.
Dean sighed. "Hey look, man, I'm not happy about this, ok?" He glanced over at me, the same look in his eyes that he'd had before he'd shot Beverly. "But it's a tough job and you know that."
"It's supposed to be tough, Dean. We're supposed to struggle with this, that's the whole point," Sam said. I frowned and crossed over to the hallway that would lead us to the room Duane was tied up in.
"What does that buy us?" Dean said, still arguing with Sam.
"A clear conscience, for one!" Sam said, frowning.
"Well, it's too late for that," Dean said, trying to push past Sam again.
Sam stopped him again. "What the hell's happened to you?!"
"What?" Dean asked frowning, looking at Sam.
"You might kill an innocent man, and you don't even care! You don't act like yourself anymore, Dean. Hell, you know what? You're acting like one of those things out there." Sam said, and I stared at the both of them.
Dean lost his temper, grabbing Sam and throwing him across the room into a wall, stalking into the hallways, pushing me ahead of him as I was half blocking the way. Once in, he turned and locked the door behind us, Sam was banging on the window, still arguing with Dean.
"Hey!" Sam said. "Open the damn door, Dean! Don't do it Dean! Don't! Beth, open the door!"
I looked between the pair of them. Dean pulled out his gun from the back of his waistband, dropped the clip out of his gun, tapped it against the butt and then replaced it. He paused for a moment, looking at the gun and then walked into the examination room, I was following him, right behind.
Duane was tied to the chair, Mark, Pam and Dr Lee all standing nearby. Dean stared at the young man and his eyes widened at what he saw there.
"No, you're not gonna... No, no, I swear it's not in me!" Duane begged, looking terrified.
"Oh God. We're all gonna die," Pam cried, leaning back against the wall.
"Maybe he's telling the truth," I said to Dean, looking at the boy.
"No, he's not him, not anymore," Dean said, cocking the gun and half-raising it.
"Stop it! Ask her, ask the doctor! It's not in me!" Duane said, tears in his eyes as he looked at Dr Lee. Dean looked questioningly at her, and she stepped back, looking worried and panicked.
"I... I can't tell," she said.
Duane sobbed. "Please, don't. Don't, please. I swear, it's not in me, it's not in me, I swear, I, I swear it's not in me. No, don't."
Dean struggled, looking at the boy. "I got no choice," he said resolutely. He pointed the gun at Duane, his finger hovering over the trigger. Duane's head fell to his chest as he sobbed, everyone else stood watching, you could cut the tension with a knife.
I saw him hesitate, just for a moment, a slight tremble of the hand, and it was enough for me. I stepped forward, and gently took Dean's arm in my hand. He looked at me, the uncertainty starting to show in his eyes. I looked at him, letting him see that it was ok to stand down, that we could find another way. He looked back at Duane and tried to steel his resolve but it was gone.
"Dean..." I said softly. "I have a doubt." He blinked and then nodded, lowering his gun with a grimace, turning his eyes to me.
"Damn it!" Dean exclaimed, turning and walking out of the room. I stared at his retreating back and then looked at Duane who was crying with relief.
"Thank you, thank you..." he said. I frowned, it wasn't me he should be thanking.
A few hours later we were still waiting on the results for Duane's blood work. Sam and Dean were in the other room getting together the supplies to make the Molotov cocktails. I slipped away and found the doctor in the room next door to the examination room, it was some sort of lab where she was conducting the blood work.
"Hey Doc," I said, stepping in and closing the door.
"Hi Beth, how can I help?" She asked, looking at me.
"Uh, I was wondering if you could run a blood test on me?" I said, looking at her.
"Why? You haven't been exposed to any of the infection have you?" She asked, confused.
"No, no I haven't... I want you to uh, to run a different kind of test." I said, I couldn't even get the words out it was that damn terrifying an idea. But we'd discussed it, and I had agreed, and well... what better opportunity than right now?
"I need you to run a general work-up, I haven't been feeling my usual self lately – and there's a chance... I might be pregnant," I said to her finally, forcing the words out.
"Oh," she said to me, smiling. "Dean?" She guessed, with a raised eyebrow. I nodded. She smirked. "Couldn't say I blame you, can't be easy working with two hot guys."
I laughed and shook my head.
"Yeah, listen Doc. We're not really marshals..." I said, hoping she wouldn't freak out about it. "They're brothers, I grew up with them. This kind of situation we're in? All the nut-jobs out there? This is kind of par for the course with us, this is our job, it's kind of like... X-files I suppose, but for real."
The doctor looked at me, eyes widening and then strangely, she nodded and seemed to just, accept the truth. I was amazed really.
"OK. Yeah, ok, after the day I've had, why not? Well let's get a blood sample, and see where you're at, hmm?" Dr Lee said and I nodded.
Once she was on her way to testing the blood, I returned to the room where the boys were. We worked away on the bottles for a while and then I started to pace the room, feeling angsty. I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer to the question, maybe it was easier just not knowing.
Dean frowned, watching me pace, but he didn't say anything. Eventually Sam got up and wandered off, heading into the lab to check for more supplies.
There was a brief conversation held where the doctor raised her voice at Sam, and I frowned, going into the room, Dean following me. Sam was looking at a print out of results in front of him, his eyes curious.
"Whose blood work does this belong to?" He asked the doctor, and she looked down, refusing to answer.
"Answer him!" Dean said, stepping into the room. "What's going on here?"
Sam was reading it and tilted his head to the side. "It's mine," I said, looking at Dean, and he frowned.
"Huh?" He asked, looking confused.
Sam looked up suddenly, staring at me. "Why did you get this run?" He asked.
I shrugged. "I haven't been feeling real well lately," I said to him, well that was true at least.
"Is she ok?" Dean asked, looking at Sam.
"Yeah, yeah everything seems to be perfectly normal... other than an abnormally high level of HGC," he said, looking over at me, I looked at him curious.
Dean frowned. "Thought you just said she was ok?"
Sam glanced down at the floor, a small smile on his face, and when he looked back up at Dean, a chuckle escaped his lips.
"OK, so we've already established you didn't pay attention in History, Dean. But did you pay any attention in Biology?" He asked his brother.
I was shaking my head, face in my hand, and I had a sickening thought at where he was going with this.
Dean gave me his usual trademark smirk, a swagger nod and looked me over. "Of course I did Sammy, female anatomy I believe I aced," he snorted, winking at me. I laughed, that much I could agree on. Sam looked between the two of us and gave an exasperated sigh, rolling his eyes.
"Dean... you're, you're unbelievable man! How can you know so much about some stuff, and yet be completely clueless about others..." Sam said, throwing his hand in the air, looking at me. He raised his eyebrow and I just knew, I knew that's what he was saying.
Dean frowned, looking at me. "Um, what the hell is he talking about?"
I sighed, looking up at Dean, my mouth twitching. "You remember last night... that little conversation we were having... on the way back to the motel?"
"Yeah," he nodded. I didn't say anything, just looked at him, raising an eyebrow and waiting. He'd get it, just give him a second. Sam snorted, barely containing his laughter at his older brother. Finally the realisation hit Dean and his eyes widened, shocked. He leaned in to me, resting his forehead against mine.
"Really?" He asked softly and I nodded.
"Looks that way," I said carefully. The doctor was smiling at us both, not really understanding the full implications of what this news meant to us all. Everyone always assumed people would be happy to find out news like this, but we weren't ordinary normal people.
"Congratulations!" Dr Lee said, beaming at us.
We looked over at her, and then at Sammy, who was shaking his head at us. "Well you've really gone and done it now you pair," he said to us, chuckling away. He walked past us, patting Dean on the back.
"Now we really do have to get out of here," he said as he left the room, shutting the door behind him. I had to agree, the man had a point.
An hour later and we were all back to business, still making explosives, none of us discussing our news. It was as if it hadn't happened, and would remain that way until the danger was out of the way.
Dr. Lee came into the room, hands in her pockets and looked at Dean.
"It's been over four hours. Duane's blood is still clean. I don't think he's infected. I'd like to untie him, if that's all right," she said.
Dean shared a look with Sam, and then Sam nodded to the doctor. "Sure, yeah," Sam said. The doctor left and Sam looked over at Dean.
"You know I'm going to ask you why," Sam said quietly.
"Yeah, I know," Dean replied.
"So why? Why didn't you do it?" Sam asked, looking in the direction of where Duane was.
Dean didn't answer, just looked at me. "We need more alcohol," he said. I went to stand and get some, but Sam put a hand on my arm and shook his head.
"I'll go," he said with a smile. He stood up and went into the dispensary. I turned to Dean and fixed my gaze on him.
"You ok?" I asked, and he looked over at me with a half-smile.
"Yeah, I'm good," he answered, leaning over to kiss me briefly.
"Are you happy?" I asked, looking at him, not sure how he was taking the news really. I wasn't even sure how I was taking it. It was a complication, perhaps a welcome one, perhaps not.
He leaned in to kiss me again, this time in his more characteristic deep and passionate way, drawing it out and leaving me wanting more. I groaned a little when he pulled away. He paused to nod in answer to my question.
"Are you happy?" He asked in turn and I nodded with a smile.
"Getting better now," I said, grinning at him.
Dean chuckled and leaned in to kiss me again, but we were interrupted by some yelling in the dispensary. We were instantly on our feet and across the room to the door, which was locked. I looked through the little window to see Sam on the ground, Pam standing over him with a blade. Dean pushed me out of the way, kicking in the door and I rushed in, gun drawn, shooting her in the back three times. She convulsed and fell to the floor. Sam was writhing on the floor, reaching out to us, I went to help him up as did Dean, but Mark pulled him back. I hesitated.
"She bled on him. He's got the virus," Mark said. Sam pulled his hand back as I reached for it, realising that it was true. Dean looked stunned and I shook my head.
"No, no..." I said, going to Sam's side. "Come on Sammy, you're gonna be ok, you'll be fine," I said, getting under his arm. I was careful not to touch the blood that was seeping out of his chest where Pam had cut him, but no one was leaving my brother on the floor like this.
We moved him to the examination room. Sam was sedate and quiet, tears in his eyes as he looked down at the floor. Everyone was surrounding him, Dean paced angrily around the room.
"Doc, check his wound again, would you?" Dean said. She didn't move and Dean paused to look at her. "Doctor!" Dr Lee startled, moving toward Sam.
"What's she need to examine him for? You saw what happened." Mark said.
"Did her blood actually enter your wound?" The doctor asked, hopeful that it hadn't.
"Come on, of course it did!" Mark said.
"We don't know that for sure," Dean said, disagreeing.
"We can't take a chance," Duane said, agreeing with Mark.
"You know what we have to do," Mark said, looking at Dean.
"Nobody is shooting my brother," I said sternly, my hand going to my waist where I had my gun lodged.
"He isn't gonna be your brother much longer. You said it yourself," Duane said to me and I frowned.
"Nobody is shooting anyone!" Dean shouted, stopping his pacing.
"You were gonna shoot me!" Duane countered angrily.
"You don't shut your pie-hole, I still might!" Dean threatened him, eyes flashing.
"Dean, they're right. I'm infected; just give me the gun and I'll do it myself." Sam said quietly.
"Forget it," Dean said to him, shaking his head.
"Guys, I'm not gonna become one of those things," Sam said, looking between the two of us.
"Sam, we've still got some time," Dean said.
"Time for what? Look, I understand he's your brother, and I'm sorry, I am. But we gotta take care of this," Mark said, pulling out his handgun.
My gun was out in an instant, pointed directly at him.
"I'm gonna say this one more time, and one more time only," I said, looking at everyone with a quiet fury. "You make a move on my brother and you'll be dead before you hit the ground. You understand me? Do I make myself clear?!"
Mark looked at me, not even attempting to raise his gun up. "Then what are we supposed to do?!" He yelled at us.
Dean tossed Mark the keys to the Impala.
"Get the hell out of here, that's what. Take my car. You've got the explosives, there's an arsenal in there. You two go with him," Dean said. "You've got enough fire power to handle anything now."
"What about you two?" Mark asked.
"We're staying," I said.
"What, no. No. Go with them, Dean, Beth. This is your only chance!" Sam said, anxious and upset.
"You're not getting rid of us that easy Sammy," I said quietly, lowering my gun.
"No, he's right. Come with us," Mark said looking at us.
I stared at Dean and he stared back at me. We both knew we weren't going anywhere, this was where we had promised to be, for each other, and for John.
"Are you crazy? You have a family to think about now," the doctor said, looking at me then Dean. I shook my head at Dean.
"Sam is our family," I said softly. "We promised to look after him." Sam's face broke and he started to sniff back tears. I put my arm around him, brushing his hair out of his face like I used to when we were teens and he'd get sick.
"Ok, it's your funeral," Mark said after a moment. He led the way out of the room with Duane and Dr Lee.
As they left Dean shut the door and locked it, turning to look at us both.
"Wish we had a deck of cards, or a foosball table or something." Dean quipped, always with the joke-in-the-face-of-death. I smiled at him, I swear I was the only one who laughed at his jokes sometimes, but then, maybe that was all that mattered anyway.
"Dean... Beth... don't do this. Just get the hell out of here," Sam begged us.
"No way," Dean said, shaking his head.
"Give me my gun, and leave," Sam said, looking at me.
"For the last time, Sammy. No." I said, staring at his brown eyes.
Sam slammed the table causing me to step back a little toward Dean. "This is the dumbest thing you two have every done!"
"Oh, I don't know about that," Dean said with a grin, looking at me. "Remember that waitress in Tampa?" I shuddered, thinking about it. Waaaay too much tequila that night, for sure.
Sam just shook his head at us. "Guys, I'm sick. It doesn't have to be over for you."
"No?" Dean asked, looking at him.
"No, you can keep going," Sam said.
"Who says we want to?" I asked, looking at Sam.
"What?" Sam asked, frowning.
Dean crossed to the other wall, sitting down on the edge of a desk, pulling out his handgun and holding it in his hands for a while before setting it next to him.
"I'm tired, Sam. I'm tired of this job, this life... this weight on my shoulders, man. I'm tired of it," Dean said, taking a deep breath. I looked at him sympathetically and crossed to wrap my arms around his waist for a hug, he pulled me into him but kept looking at Sam.
"So, what... you're just going to give up? You're just gonna lay down and die? Especially now?! You guys have something to live for now, something worth leaving the job for," Sam said, looking at us. "Look, I know this stuff with Dad has..."
"You're wrong. It's not about Dad. I mean, part of it is, sure.. but..." Dean faltered, not voicing what he was thinking.
"What is it about?" Sam asked.
There was a knock at the door and we all looked up with a frown. Dean picked up his handgun and crossed to the door. Dr Lee was standing on the other side. He opened the door and looked out at her questioningly.
"You'd better come see this," she said. We all got up and followed.
Outside the clinic, the streets were empty. It was deathly quiet, not even the sounds of insects or animals. The people we'd seen earlier were all gone.
"There's no one. Not anywhere. They've all just... vanished." The doctor said, looking a little frightened.
The Next Morning
Dawn had finally come, washing away all the shadows of the night, and the haunting feeling that even though there was no one around, we still felt like we were being watched.
Dr Lee was looking through the microscope, Sam was seated on the exam table.
"Well, it's been five hours and your blood is still clean. I don't understand it but I think you dodged a bullet," she said to him.
"But I was exposed. How could I not be infected?" Sam asked.
"I don't know. But you're just not. I mean, you compare it with the Tanner samples..." she paused to look through another microscope. "What the hell?"
"What?" I asked, going over to her, curious.
"Their blood. There's no trace of the virus. No sulphur. Nothing." She said, looking at the three of us with some concern. I frowned, wondering what this might mean.
A short time later we were all preparing to leave. Mark and Duane were loading up a truck, Dr Lee was standing in the door way to the clinic, watching us all.
"Hey, the Sarge and I are getting the hell out of here, heading south. You should come," Duane said to the doctor.
"I'd better get over to Sidewinder, get the authorities up here. If they'll believe me. Take care." She said with a smile. Mark waved to her, then to the three of us, who were leaning against the Impala.
Dean looked at Sam. "What about him?" He asked the doctor.
"He's going to be fine. No signs of infection," she said with a smile. We said our farewells and Dr Lee went back inside as Mark and Duane pulled away down the street.
Dean turned to Sam and frowned.
"Hey man, don't look at me. I got no clue." Sam said, raising his hands in the air.
"I swear, I'm gonna lose sleep over this one. I mean, why here, why now? And where the hell did everybody go? It's like they just friggin' melted," Dean said, looking a little distressed.
"Why was I immune?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, you know what? That's a good question," Dean nodded, adding to his concerns. "You know, I'm already starting to feel like this is the one that got away?"
We got in the car and pulled away from the town. It no longer seemed like the lovely little town it was when we'd first arrived. I couldn't wait to the see the back of it.
Dean pulled over at the first liquor store he saw, grabbing a six pack and a couple of cokes from the store along with some beef jerky, just in case I was having some cravings I guessed.
We pulled off the side of the road further down and got out. He cracked a beer for Sam and himself, and handed me a coke. I raised my eyebrow at him with a sigh. He chuckled. "Non-alcoholic for you cherry-pie, sorry." He said it, but I could tell he was going to enjoy this just a little too much, I narrowed my eyes at him but then smiled.
Sam was leaning against a fence watching us.
"So. Last night. You want to tell me what the hell you were all talking about?" He asked us.
"What do you mean?" I asked innocently.
"What do I mean? I mean that you're both tired of the job. And that it's not because of Dad..." Sam said, prompting for more information.
"Forget it," Dean said, dismissing it.
"No, I can't. No way," Sam said, shaking his head.
"Come on man, I thought we were all going to die, you can't hold that over me," Dean said with a groan.
"No, no, no, no. You can't pull that crap with me, man. You're talking." Sam said.
"What if we don't?" I asked, teasing with a smirk.
"Then I guess I'll just have to keep asking until you do," Sam said, Dean and I exchanged a look with a groan. It wouldn't be the first time Sam had tried the constant chatter to torture us.
Dean shrugged, looking at Sam.
"I don't know, man. I just think maybe we ought to... go to the Grand Canyon." Dean said. I smiled and nodded, that was a good one to add to our list.
"What?" Sam asked, not understanding.
"Yeah, you know, all this driving back and forth across country, you know we've never been to the Grand Canyon? Or we could go to T.J or Hollywood... see if you can bang Lindsey Lohan." He grinned at that.
"You're not making any sense," Sam said, shaking his head.
Dean paused, looking over at me, a smile playing on his mouth. He waved me over and I joined him, snaking in under his arm, and wrapping my arm around his waist.
"I just think we should take a break from all this. Why do we have to get stuck with all the responsibility, you know? Why can't we live life a little bit?" He looked down at me. "A normal life," he added and kissed my forehead.
"Why are you saying all this?" Sam asked and we frowned at him.
"No, no no no, guys, I'm your brother, all right? So whatever weight you're carrying, you need to let me help a little bit. You don't always have to be the older sibs who do it all you know."
"We can't," I said. "We promised."
"Who?" Sam asked, although he had to know the answer, surely.
"Dad," Dean said simply, shrugging.
"What are you talking about?" Sam asked, confused now more than ever.
Dean looked down at me and I swallowed. I nodded slightly, letting him know I felt we should tell him finally, and Dean considered, thinking long and hard.
"Look, right before Dad died, he told me something," Dean said, looking at Sam. "He told me something about you."
"What? Dean, what did he tell you?" Sam asked, looking concerned.
"He said that he wanted us to watch out for you, to take care of you," Dean said, looking down at the ground.
Sam shook his head, not understanding. "He told you that a million times."
"No, this time was different. He said that I had to save you. That we had to save you, Sam." Dean said, looking over at me.
"Save me from what?" Sam asked.
"He just said we had to save you, that nothing else mattered; and that if we couldn't..." Dean's voice trailed off.
"If you couldn't?" Sam prompted, looking at us.
Dean sighed, looking up at Sam. "That I'd have to kill you. He said that I might have to kill you, Sammy."
Sam looked shocked and stunned all at once. He swallowed and looked at both me and then Dean. "Kill me? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know," Dean whispered.
"I mean, he must have had some kind of reason for saying it, right? Did he know the demon's plans for me? Am I supposed to go Darkside or something? What else did he say?" Sam asked, getting angry.
"Nothing, that's it. I swear," Dean said.
"How could you not have told me this?" Sam asked, looking hurt.
"Because it was Dad, and he begged me not to," Dean said.
"Who cares?!" Sam said loudly, getting angry again. "Take some responsibility for yourself Dean! You had no right to keep this from me!"
"You think I wanted this? Huh? I wish to God he'd never opened his mouth. Then I couldn't have to walk around with this screaming in my head all day." Dean said, shaking his head.
Sam turned and took a few steps away, his face was fuming.
"We've just got to figure out what's going on , then, what the hell all this means," Sam said.
I looked down, silent, I didn't know how I could contribute to this conversation.
"We do?" Dean asked, looking back at Sam. "Because I been thinking about this, I think we should just lay low. You know? At least for a while. It'd be safer. And that way I can make sure..."
"What?" Sam interrupted, still angry. "That I don't turn evil? That I don't turn into some kind of killer?"
"I never said that." Dean said.
"Jeez, if you're not careful you will have to waste me one day, Dean." Sam said.
"I never said that! Damnit, Sam, this whole thing is spinning out of control. All right? You're immune to some weirdo demon virus, and I don't even know what the hell any more. And you're pissed at me, I get it. That's fine, I deserve it. But we lay low until we figure out our next move, okay?" Dean said, looking at his brother frantically.
"Forget it." Sam said.
"God you can be a selfish son of a bitch sometimes Sam," I muttered, shaking my head. Sam turned to stare at me.
"What did you say?" He asked.
"You heard me." I said, standing a little taller, looking at him. "You think any of this has been easy on us? And now we're just asking for a little time. In case you hadn't noticed Sam, we kind of have a whole lot of stuff to deal with that's unexpected and unplanned, not just you. All we're asking for is a little damn time to get our head around things, I don't think it's too much to ask!"
Sam frowned at me and started to open his mouth to speak again.
"Sam, please, man. Hey, please." Dean said, looking at Sam, his arm wrapped tightly around me. "Just give us some time. Give us some time to think, okay? I'm begging you here, please. Please."
Sam nodded reluctantly, looking over at me with a sad expression. I knew it, I knew I didn't have to say it but god it just pissed me off that sometimes it was all about Sam, and what Sam wanted, and what Sam needed. How about listening to his brother and sister for a change? Dean had spent his whole life looking after him, I'd spent a good decade doing it, a little common courtesy was all we were asking as we came to grips with life, and the change coming our way. I didn't think we were asking too much.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Song for this chapter is: Until the End by Breaking Benjamin
Many thanks to EarthhAngel for her wonderful beta reading and feedback; and also the great lines where Sam and Dean find out about Beth's "condition" :)
I watched The Heat last night with Sandra Bullock, OMG talk about funny. I think I laughed the whole way through it. I actually thought about doing a fanfic with Dean and Beth as the main characters, sort of a cross-over. Which then gave me the idea of doing it for the new Pacific Rim movie coming out if it ends up being any good (go the big Mech Warrior things!) … and THEN MsRahvin's review got me thinking. OMG I have to do it, I'm going to have to write a fan fic cross-over for The Princess Bride substituting Wesley and Buttercup for Dean and Beth. It won't be happening any time soon though – I just have to voice it here so I can remember it when I get around to it. ...there's still 6.5 more seasons to write yet! When I have no more SPN storyline, then I'll start cross overs LOL
Hope you liked this episode. For a reasonably event less episode it sure ended up long, hope I didn't bore you to pieces!
I'm away doing a girl's night out thing for tomorrow night, so will be a few days for an update – in the meantime – go read your favourite episode, then tell me why you like it so much! :D