I do sincerely apologize for not updating sooner. I fully intended to work on this Sunday night, but a migraine had other ideas. So, enjoy this new chapter. It's getting harder to write Dean out of the episodes and write Adam in. Not that I didn't like Adam, but there was now way to take him from clueless non-hunter to master hunter overnight.
Enjoy!
Sam walked into the medical clinic dressed in his federal agent suit and slipped a mask over his face. He turned and handed one to Adam, who was also in a suit and looking somewhat bewildered. During the drive from Bobby's house to the first town effected by this sudden outbreak of influenza, Adam had freaked out over having to use fake ID's and pretend to be a federal officer. Had they not been trying to track down Pestilence, the third horseman, Sam would have chuckled about how similar Adam's reaction was to Dean under the influence of ghost sickness.
A few days after the incident with the pagan gods in the motel, after Sam and Adam had headed back to Bobby's to regroup, Gabriel decided to pop in. Bobby promptly shot him with rock salt, saying it served him right for messing with Sam and Dean so much. Gabriel made some smart ass comment about "doing his heavenly duties" and Bobby tried to shoot him again. Sam had managed to calm them both down long enough to figure out why Gabriel was there. As it turns out, if Sam could get all four of the horsemen's rings, he could open the cage that Lucifer had been in and, hopefully, shove him back in.
Of course things got awkward when Gabriel mentioned that his original plan, in case he was killed by Lucifer, had been to deliver the message to Sam via a porno.
Sam looked around at the people in the clinic waiting room, all sniffling and sneezing, blowing their noses. No one seemed possessed or violent and ready to kill anyone else.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the CDC is here," The female doctor who had met them at the door said. "But what we really need is vaccine."
"Have you noticed anything unusual about the strain?" Sam asked, hoping she would say something, anything that would give him the slightest clue as to what Pestilence's plan was. "Any signs of behavioral changes, aggression or homicidal tendencies?"
"Excuse me?" The doctor said, looking completely confused by Sam's questions. "We're looking at a mild case of the flu here. The only thing odd is that a day and a half ago there wasn't a single case and now I have over seventy."
"A day and a half." Sam heard Adam say next to him. "Isn't that when Bobby said the statues started crying?" Sam tried to hush Adam before anyone could hear, but the doctor looked at them in shock.
"Haha, that's my partner, always making a joke." Sam said, trying to distract the woman from Adam's comment. She just walked away muttering about making sure they got her some vaccine. Sam took Adam by the shoulder, directing him out to the car.
"Sorry, it just came out." Adam apologized. "I'm not good at this lying to the authority's thing."
"It's ok, we just try not to spook the locals if we can avoid it." Sam replied, knowing he'd made enough stupid comments in the past.
The two hopped back in the Impala and headed to the motel. Adam called Bobby on the way, hoping the older man had more information on where Pestilence was heading. Sam told him that all they had here was pretty much the same as the last few towns, just a bunch of sick people.
"He's got the Croatoan virus up his sleeve so why is he just hitting these towns with swine flu?" Sam asked.
"It doesn't matter why he's doing it, all that matters is that he's hit four towns and we're still eating his dust." Bobby replied. "Did you boys get anything? Any hint to where he's headed next?"
"No, there's no pattern." Sam replied.
"It just looks like he's heading east." Adam said, looking over the map in his lap.
"Well, just keep heading east then." Bobby replied.
"Bobby, we're in west Nevada, east is all there is." Sam sighed, frustrated that they were getting nowhere and no closer to saving Dean.
"Say, I've got an idea." Said a voice from the backseat. Adam and Sam turned and Sam saw Crowley sitting in the backseat as if he'd been there the whole time. He slammed on the brakes, mentally asking Dean for forgiveness for driving his baby so badly, and pulled the demon knife from his jacket. Sam lunged for the back seat, the knife only hitting the leather.
"Who the hell was that?" Adam asked, looking viably spooked. "Where did he go?"
Just then there was a tapping on the passenger window and there stood the demon.
"Fancy having a chat?" Crowley asked. Sam bolted from the car and advanced on Crowley, knife still in hand. "You're upset, we should discuss it, just not here."
"You want to talk? After what you did to us?" Sam said menacingly.
"What? I gave you the Colt!"
"Yeah, and you knew it wouldn't work against Lucifer." Sam spat, Crowley's presence bringing back memories of the friends they'd lost in that ill-fated fight.
Crowley proclaimed his innocence, insisting he didn't know it wouldn't work and blaming Sam for the deaths of Ellen and Jo because he chose to bring them along. During the arguing, Adam had gotten out of the car and stood looking between Sam and Crowley. The kid looked terrified, even after all he'd seen the last few weeks.
"So this is the new Squirrel. Kinda scrawny, might need to feed him." Crowley asked, circling the youngest Winchester.
"Thought you didn't care who I brought along for the ride?" Sam said, stepping between the demon and his brother.
"Ok, fine. Look, everything is still the same, we're all in this together, right?" Crowley said, brushing off his interest in the newest hunter. Sam lunged at Crowley with the knife again, hitting only air.
"Hey, knock it off already!" Crowley said from behind Adam. "I can give you Pestilence."
"What do you know about Pestilence?" Sam asked.
"I know how to get to him." Crowley said smugly. "Really, I thought the Colt would work. It's an honest mistake, but nothing's changed. I still want the devil dead, well, now the devil knows I want him dead."
"Yeah, and I'm sure he's so happy about that." Sam scoffed.
"They burnt down my house!" Crowley yelled. "They ate my tailor! I've been hiding under a rock like a bloody salamander, every demon has their eyes out for me! This is the last place I should be, standing in the road talking to Sam and Dean-light over there, under a frigging spotlight!"
Crowley pointed to the offending light and it exploded causing Adam to jump. Sam wanted to roll his eyes at the demon, but he'd learned that sometimes you had to hear the evil thing out. Crowley asked for help but neither Winchester spoke.
"Do you want the horsemen's ring or not? The demon asked. Sam tried to keep his face neutral but he knew some shocked showed through his mask of indifference. "Yes, yes, I know all about the plan to shove Lucifer back in his cage."
"Fine." Sam said.
"Great. Get in the car, I'll give you directions." Crowley said, walking calmly back to the Impala.
"Who is he?" Adam asked, also heading for the car.
"That's Crowley, a cross roads demon." Sam sighed, getting into the car and driving to where Crowley directed him.
When they arrived at Crowley's hide-out, Sam parked the car out of sight of the road. Not that it looked like the busiest road, but this was definitely an abandoned house and they didn't want any unwanted attention.
"Here we are, my life on the lamb." Crowley bemoaned, leading the brothers into the house. "Single pane glass, used contraception in the fireplace."
Crowley pointed to the fireplace and a fire roared to life in it despite there being little firewood present.
"My hearts bleeding for you." Sam said sarcastically. "How do you know about the rings?"
"I've been keeping a close eye on you, Moose."
"I've made sure there are hex bags everywhere." Sam said. "We're hidden from demons."
"All but one," Crowley responded. "That night you and your other brother broke into my house, my valet but a special coin in your car. A tracking device of sorts. Trumps all your little hex bags and spell work. It also works as a listening device, and oh, the things I've heard."
Sam would have groaned at the fact that this demon had managed to get the drop on them, but he knew it would make Crowley happy. Sam knew he should have checked the car better, but he was distracted by the loss of two close friends.
"So you want to cram the devil back in his box. I want in." Crowley said.
"You said you could get us Pestilence." Sam said, trying to get the location out of the demon so that he could just kill him.
"Well….I don't know where Pestilence is exactly. But I do know the demon who does." Crowley replied. Sam knew that he wouldn't get the location out of the demon just by asking. But he felt like Crowley was just dragging them along another dead end path.
"He's what you might call the horsemen's stable boy. He handles their itineraries, their personal needs. He's who you want, he can tell us where Sneezy's at." The demon explained.
"So how do we get him to spill?" Sam asked, he had a feeling that he wasn't going to like where this was headed. Torture was mostly out of the question, now that Sam had kicked demon blood and Dean was possessed.
"Well, nuts of his paygrade don't crack easy. No, we'll bring him here and then I'll sell him."
"Sell him?" Adam asked.
"Please, I've been selling sin to saints for centuries."
Hope you liked it, hope I didn't screw up too badly. I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible.