Chapter 3
Sam leaned into the hard backed chair, raising his hands above his head to stretch out the tight muscles in his shoulders. "This is driving my crazy!"
Dean's eyes fluttered open as he woke from his light sleep. "Huh?"
"I can't find a damn thing about whatever Sheksah is! I've scanned every known damn web site and not a thing! Nothing!" Sam ran a hand over his face and through his hair.
Dean sat up and smiled. "You mean to tell me that you – geek boy of the century – can't find the answer? Mark that down in your diaries folks!"
"Shut up." Sam said with a frown.
"Aw, have I hurt you're feelings Sammy? C'mon over here and your big brother'll give you a hug to make you feel better!"
"Get a life Dean." Sam mumbled as he stood up. "Gonna get me a soda. Want anything?"
"Nah, I'm good." Dean said a huge grin still plastered over his face.
Sam left the room and walked the short distance to the soda machine, fishing in his pocket for loose change. He deposited the necessary coins into the machine and selected his soda, listening to the clunks as the machine sent the correct drink down into the shute.
Sam pulled the ring tab and took a healthy slug of the drink before he realized that he wasn't alone. Standing beside him was a young boy – perhaps 6 or 7 with shaggy blonde hair. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and was standing perfectly still looking up at Sam.
"Are you okay?" Sam asked. "Are you lost?"
"You won't find anything." The little boy replied, his gaze unwavering from Sam's face.
Sam frowned down at him. "Huh? Did you lose….."
Before Sam could continue, the young boy cut him off. "Sheksah. Frelos heelosim. I am here and I am not. Prestin sato pirnist Sheksah. Go away and stay away. Or pay the price."
Sam blinked rapidly several times and stared down at the little boy. "Wha…what's going on?"
The little boy physically shuddered as his eyes glazed over and then cleared before he suddenly turned and began to run away from Sam. Sam stared after the retreating figure trying to fathom what had just happened. He took a deep breath; the scowl returning to his face.
He turned and began to walk slowly back to the room, the words the boy had said still ringing in his ears.
As Sam pushed open the door to the motel room, he stopped and turned back to the parking lot, once more scanning the lot to try and find any evidence of the little boy. Sam couldn't spot and single person anywhere nearby.
Dean came up behind Sam and looked over his shoulder. "What's going on? Something exciting happening out there?"
"Not sure. Perhaps nothing." Sam relayed what had just happened near the soda machine.
"And this kid said that word again, Sheksah." Dean said with a frown.
"And a whole string of other words too. There has to be something to all of this." Sam said, once more sitting down in front of his laptop, his soda now forgotten.
"Well, while you were out making new friends, we've got an appointment at the morgue. So let's go Hayley Joel and check out some dead people." Dean said, grabbing his keys off the dresser.
Within half an hour, they were entering the lower levels of the hospital, the drab grey walls making an intimidating scene. As they approached the entry doors, Sam leaned over and pressed the button marked entry. The doors slid open in front of them. The brothers slowly entered the huge room, a blast of icy air greeting them.
The sounds of someone attempting to whistle drew their attention to one of the room where someone dressed in hospital scrubs was hunched over an examination table.
"Go and see what he's doing." Dean whispered as he nudged Sam.
Sam turned and frowned at his brother. "Dean. You are sick! I'm not gonna do anything like that!"
"Go on Sammy. Go check it out."
"Dean, get a life!" Sam said with exasperation. "If you're so keen, you go on over there!"
That was when the whistling mortician turned around and faced them. "Can I help you gentlemen?" He asked in a very refined English accent.
"Ah, we're looking for Doctor Carmody." Sam half smiled.
"So it appears you've found him but I seem to be at a distinct disadvantage. Could you please fill me in on whom you both are and what you are doing here?
Dean reached for his ID and lifted it up and he slowly approached the Doctor. "Detectives Young and Taylor. Sergent Mercer would have been in contact with you advising you of our visit."
"Ah yes. Dan did call me not long ago." Dr Carmody said as he removed a very bloodstained pair of latex gloves and deposited them in a refuse bin. "And what can I do for you?"
"We'd like to see the bodies of the victims from the Lehmann Cave tragedy." Dean replied.
Dr Carmody sighed deeply. "Such a terrible thing to happen to those poor young folk. Follow me." Dr Carmody turned and began to walk towards a row of cold chambers which were located towards the rear of the room. "Let's start with young Mr Steven Ricci, shall we?"
The doctor pulled on the handle for the door and swung it open, reaching inside to pull out the tray containing the body of Steven Ricci.
"Here you go." Doctor Carmody lifted the sheet covering the body. "As far as I can tell, all these young people died due to a massive brain aneurism. The only physical evidence being blood trails from their ears and eyes. When I checked their internal organs there was nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever. Now the brain on the other hand….. quite interesting indeed."
Both Sam and Dean looked at the body, their eyes drawn to the skull which was missing the top half exposing what lay inside.
"I think we've seen enough - you don't need to go on Doctor – we get the picture." Sam said, the color in his face draining away.
"Yes, yes, of course. So you don't wish to see any of the others?" He queried.
"I think we've seen enough." Dean said, the color of his skin matching that of his brother's. "Thank you for your time."
Sam and Dean both turned and left the morgue much more quickly than when they arrived. Their pace only slowing as they approached the end of the grey corridor at the lift.
Dean leaned against the wall sucking in huge deep breaths. "I swear I never wanna see that ever again!"
Sam repeatedly jabbed at the lift call button. "I really need to get outta here!"
The lift finally arrived and the brothers stumbled in and once more Sam began to repeatedly jab at the button to take them up to the ground floor. As the doors slid open, both Dean and Sam fought to get out of the lift first, Sam finally winning and heading straight out the front doors of the hospital, only stopping when he was a good distance from the entrance.
Dean finally caught up to him and without any words, they made their way to the sanctuary of the Impala.
Once back at the motel, Dean didn't stop the engine. "I'm gonna go into town and ask around. Perhaps there's some local legend or folklore that we don't know about."
Dean drove the short distance into town and parked the Impala in front of the local hardware store. As he entered the building, a small tinny bell sounded his arrival. He walked up to the counter and stood waiting for someone to appear.
After a minute, Dean began to grow impatient – patience not one of his stronger virtues. "Ah hello? Anyone around?" He called, rapping on the counter.
"Sorry! Be with you shortly." Came a man's voice from the back room. After another minute, the owner of the voice appeared. "Afternoon, how can I help?"
Dean smiled engagingly – this one of his strongest virtues. "Ah, me and my brother are on a roadtrip and we're in town for a couple of days and came across something which seemed a little unusual to us and was wondering if perhaps you or someone you know might be able to help us out."
The middle-aged man behind the counter grinned back at Dean. "Well now, why don't you just fill me in and I'll see if I can help you out."
"Well, my brother Sam is very interested in exploring caves and their history. The Lehman Caves close to here, do they have any history? I mean, Sam – my brother – kept hearing someone say some sort of word that sounded kinda ancient and he was just trying to figure out if the caves had an ancient Indian background or anything like that. There was this one word which kept coming up – Sheksah. Have you ever heard that before?
"Sheksah. Can't say I've ever heard that before or anything like it. But them Lehman Caves do have a little history behind them. Not that long ago – about 4-5 months to be precise – they were doing some exploring in one of the caves and came across some ancient burial site. The folks that were leading the dig had a massive argument about what kind of a find they'd made. Some of 'em were saying they were South American and some were saying Indian – can't say there'd be that much difference. Then a week later, 2 of the group were found dead at the mouth of the cave. Some that saw their bodies say they was drained of all their blood but don't take that as Gospel mind! Stories tend to get larger than life around here. And now last week, those young local kids….. just plain sad is what it is."
Dean reached out his hand to the local shopkeeper. "Thanks very much for your time sir."
"Please call me Tom and you are?"
"Dean. Dean Winston. Thanks again."
Dean said his goodbyes and went back out to the car. He made his way back to the motel room to find Sam once more hunched over the laptop.
Sam looked up briefly when Dean came in. "Anything?"
"Perhaps. Tom from the hardware store said that 4-5 months ago there were 2 more deaths at the Caves – apparently they had just discovered some ancient burial site with bones and then a couple of days later were found dead. Tom said that rumour had it that they were bled dry."
"Hm, perhaps I can find something about that on the net. It may give us some more to go on." Sam said as he began to tap at the keyboard again.
