Dean walked into the motel office and asked for a room. In the background he saw two boys who remind him of himself and Sam when they were younger. He sighed.

"Are you alright?" the woman asked him.

"Yes, I've just had a long day. I'm a doctor with the CDC and am here working on the recent rash of pneumonia cases."

"I've heard about that. Do you have any idea what's going on?" She looked back at her sons and Dean realized that probably all the parents in town were scared.

"Not yet," Dean said, "but believe me, I will find out and put an end to it."

SSSSSSSSSSS

After a full night of not sleeping, Dean got up and went outside to get some coffee. He saw the older of the two boys sitting on a bench looking dejected.

"What's wrong?" Dean asked.

"My brother's sick," he responded.

"The little guy?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, it's pneumonia," the kid answered. Dean froze.

"Where's your mom?" Dean asked.

"She's at the hospital with Asher," came the reply.

"What's your name?" Dean asked.

"Michael."

"My name's Dean and I need your help." Dean said.

"Help with what?" Michael asked.

"I know what's wrong with your brother."

"Yeah, pneumonia, I just told you," Michael said, rolling his eyes.

"It's not pneumonia. Something attacked your brother. I know what it looks like because once it attacked my brother. Well, twice actually. I can kill it. It's what I do."

"You're crazy," Michael said.

"Am I?" Dean asked. He saw something in Michael's eyes that told him that he knew something.

Michael hesitated. "This thing, is it a creepy guy in a long robe?"

"Yeah, so you did see it?" Dean asked, hopefully. If he saw it, he would be more likely to believe him and help him.

"I thought I was dreaming. This is all my fault," Michael said.

"No, this is not your fault," Dean said, forcefully.

"It's my job to protect him," Michael said.

Dean nodded. He knew the feeling. "Will you help me?"

"What do I have to do?" Michael asked.

SSSSSSSSSSSS

Michael was laying on his bed as Dean was setting up a camera, so he could observe from the next room. "If you kill it, will Asher get better?"

Dean pondered the question. "Honestly, I don't know. But, I hope so. The one thing I do know is that if I kill it, it can't hurt any more kids."

Michael nodded. Dean went into the next room to watch. About two hours later, Dean saw a figure on the monitor. He was jumping to run in there but knew he had to wait. The shtriga was only vulnerable while feeding. He watched as the figure approached Michael. Michael was sitting on the bed watching the figure wide-eyed. Dean had to restrain himself from running in.

Finally, the figure was bent over Michael and a glowing light appeared to be going from Michael's mouth into the Shtriga's. He jumped up, and grabbed his gun loaded with consecrated iron rounds. "Hey!" he yelled. The shtriga turned to look at him and Dean fired 6 shots into its head. The shtriga fell to the floor and wisps of light floated out of its mouth and out of the room.

"Is it dead?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Dean said. He walked up to it and kicked it. No response. Good sign.

"OK, Michael, I need to take this outside and salt and burn it. Then, I'll go to the hospital to check on Sam and Ahser," Dean said.

"No, please don't leave," Michael begged. He was scared and didn't want to be left alone.

Dean sighed. He couldn't really blame the kid. He was eleven years old and just found out that monsters were real. Plus he was scared for his sick little brother. Dean could relate to that very well. "OK, but I have to take this out into the woods and burn it. You can come with me if you want."

"Thanks," Michael said, relieved that he wasn't being left alone.

SSSSSSSS

An hour later they were back. Michael had waited in the car, while Dean had gone into the woods, but made him promise to be back in ten minutes. Protecting Michael was reminding Dean of protecting Sam. "You should get some sleep," Dean said to Michael.

"Promise you won't leave?" Michael asked.

"I promise. In the morning, we'll call your mom and make sure it's OK for me to bring you to the hospital."

Michael nodded and climbed into bed. Dean sat in a chair near his bed and watched him sleep and soon drifted off himself.