Chapter 3: Quarantine
Frustration had been building since the music had first started and it was beginning to reach boiling point. Dean was still conveniently lost in the lyrics of the current song while Sam silently fumed beside him. He hadn't moved from his hunched position and if he could slouch anymore his chin would be on the floor. They were now into their third hour of driving and hadn't said a word to each other because every time Sam went to say something Dean would start to sing.
As if just the music wasn't bad enough.
Not sure how much longer he'd be able to keep himself from a total hissy fit, which he knew would come to haunt him later, Sam decided to check up more on the case they had picked out. Dragging his laptop out of the backseat he put the computer on his lap and turned it on. Pulling up the news articles he had found and saved, he began to read them again, this time taking in each and every word now that he knew that this was their gig.
Vale was a small town of about 2000 people with a mayor and a small council. It only had one historical attraction and was very popular for hunting things like pheasant.
Yah, now this town's gonna be popular for hunting something else completely.
Dean finally notices his brother reading intently and decides now would be a good time to talk about something that wouldn't cause more tension then there already was. Reaching over he turned down Quiet Riot and cleared his throat.
"So what else did you find on this place?" he asked as Sam looked up from the laptop and then glanced back down to go over what he had picked out once again to relay it to his brother.
"It's a small place, like two thousand people. Not known for much except for The Old Stone house which is a Eastern Oregon museum. The town was placed under quarantine only three days ago and the first murder was committed the day after that one and the second murder was committed last night." Sam finished and looked up at hi brother to get his response.
"Ok, so whatever is killing these people definitely is responsible for the missing voices. What exactly does it say about the murders? Any details on whether the person was restrained or alive when the heart was removed?"
"Nope, nothing. They just say they were found in their homes, on their beds, with their heart missing. Not much detail. So what you think that once we get in we hit the morgue?"
"Sounds like a plan to me." Dean kept his eyes on the road, his mind racing with what the murderer could be. He also predicted the next question that came out of the younker's mouth.
"How are we gonna get into the quarantine zone?" Sam asked still looking at him and also trying to think of ways to bypass the blockades he knew were waiting a mere three hours away. It had just started to get dark out so by the time they got to Vale they'd either have to worm their way in or keep driving to find a motel to whole up for the night.
"I'm still working on it. I was thinkin' feds? Maybe doctors?" Dean really didn't know what to do. He kind of had an urge to just wing it but knew that his brother was not gonna like that idea at all.
Such a stickler for details Sammy.
"I don't think the doctors thing is gonna work. We could try the feds but…what do we really know about quarantine? I mean maybe we could just pretend to be someone for the town and say we were on vacation or something and try to get in that way." Sam was sceptical about it but he had heard of it working before.
Neither of the boys had a solid strategy on how to get in. To say they felt comfortable with the whole quarantine thing would be a lie. After what had happened just the day before they had a sudden urge to stay away from so called viruses and mystery diseases. But still, they both knew this was their job and that they chose this case. They couldn't abandon it now.
"Well we got another three hours to figure this out so…I'll have something by then," Dean told Sam with resolution.
Sam wasn't so sure but knew that if all else failed they'd just wing it. He had faith in himself but even more than that he had faith in Dean. They could get past anything and anyone, nothing had yet come between them and a hunt.
Yah and let's keep it that way.
So he went back to the research as Dean once again leaned forward and turned up the music. They both knew yet again that the music was the only barrier standing in between them, creating a false silence for them to lose themselves in their own thoughts.
Only two hours later, thanks to Dean's driving, they arrived at the edges of Vale and were greeted with a site they hoped they wouldn't have to come across for a while longer. They came across a road block surrounded by police and a few army troops spread out here and there. Feds were walking from tent to tent on the side of the road along with CDC men in those ridiculous looking white bubble suits.
As they approached the road block the police officer on the side of the road waved them down and stepped towards the car with a flashlight in his hand because, as Sam had expected, it was night now.
"You boys looking to get in? This is a quarantine zone and no one can go in or out sorry. You guys are gonna have to turn around and find another way through." The officer ran the script that Dean suspected the officer had memorized earlier.
Sitting quietly until he finished Dean formed his face into one full of worry and slight panic. Looking at the cop with wide eyes he asked, "Is everyone alright? Is anyone hurt?"
The cop's eyebrows knitted together and looked the boys over trying to gage whether or not they were telling the truth. He has his doubts because he had seen the license plate on the old Chevy classic and if they tried to say they lived here then chances are they were lying.
Sam had picked up on his brother's plan and immediately changed his own appearance. Pulling out his best scared, puppy-dog eyed look he stared at the cop from the passenger seat.
Obviously the looks must have been convincing because the older man, probably in his late 40s, looked at them concerned.
"You boys from around here? Cause your license plate says this car is from Kansas."
Dean answered quickly having already finished weaving his thick web of lies, "Our family lives here. We got a call about five days ago from my uncle in Kansas saying that he was selling his car cause he knew that I always had loved it. We headed out there that day and picked it up. Is anyone in there hurt? Do you know if our family's alright?"
Well at least the feelings about the car were true.
The officer once again looked them over and seemed to accept their story as he waved over a fed and quickly relayed their story to him. The fed then turned to them with a near emotionless face that seemed to be contagious because no one else that the boys could see, other than the cop, seemed to having any emotions showing at all.
"You boys realize that if you go in there chances are you'll catch whatever it is that's spreading. If you go in you aren't coming out until we get the figured out. There's no turning back gentlemen."
Dean looked at him having not changed his expression of worry and silent pleading.
Wouldn't want to be a gentlemen unless it paid. Then again…
"Alright we'll let you through but you're doing this on your own risk. Don't expect to stay in there without problems."
And with that they opened the road block, letting the boys through before closing it again. As they drove further from the fences less and less light got to them eventually plunging them into darkness. Obviously the town was also under a curfew. Dean glanced around in front of them finally spotting the town a few miles ahead where there were few, if any lights.
Great, no bar, no nothing. Only Mr. Emo asking his damn questions. No distractions…wonderful.
They got to the turn little while later and stopped at the first small motel they found. Dean ran in to get them a room. As he entered he noticed no one behind the counter so he walked up and pressed the bell on the desk. A few moments later a middle aged man walked out from a back room looking at him questionably but didn't say anything.
"One room with two beds." Dean told the man who momentarily didn't move a look of shock crossing over his face. He then snapped out of it and grabbed a pen and paper and began scribbling across it. Dean looked at what the man was doing confused.
Then the man held the pad out to him. Dean took it and read, "Twin or queen?" That's when Dean's brain kicked in dragging out of his habits that had been driving him so far. This man had lost his voice…of course. So had everyone else in this town.
"Two queens thanks." Dean said with signature grin. Handing the pad back to the man and getting his key when the man presented it to him once again with the pad that read "Room 3".
Thanking him, Dean turned and walked back towards the car so they could grab a parking spot and settle themselves in the room. Once they had put all their bags in the room and were settled it was the same familiar scene. Dean sitting on the bed with his weapons set out on the bed across for him to clean, Sam sitting at the small table with the laptop in front of him researching things that had the power to steal voices.
"So Sammy. You find anything yet?" Dean asked looking up from the glock he was cleaning to look at his brother and wait for his response. It's not like he needed to look at the gun to know what he was doing anyways.
Sam sighed and rubbed his eyes already starting to feel tired and that damn headache had come back full force.
"Not anything that would explain the hearts too. I mean I keep coming across things that take hearts and one or two things about a silencing spell but nothing that would match hem together. The spells don't require any kind of sacrifice so I'm ruling the whole spell thing out. I dunno, I'm not getting anything that could work."
Dean sat there thinking over everything they knew but once again coming up empty handed when he tried to match it to the demons and ghouls he had memorized. So instead he tried to find facts that seemed out of place or just strange.
"Well this thing is taking people's voices from them and then taking their hearts. Why would they take the voices though? Just a sick control thing or a weakness?"
"Well it could be that whatever this is is sensitive to noise or some kind of sound that people make but there's loads of different things that the sound could be." Sam was still looking at the computer screen but now his eyes were slightly squinted against the pain building in his temples. He absently rubbed at his head while skimming the page.
Dean picked this up and protective Dean kicked in.
"You alright Sammy?" He tried to sound passive but knew that chances were this was going to lead to a vision and he wasn't looking forward to that.
"Yeah it's just a headache. Don't worry it's not a vision," Sam said still squinting at the screen.
Dean figured he was telling the truth so he chalked it up to the computer screen his brother was constantly staring at. Also the fact that they just had one hell of a week and the stress was probably finally taking it's toll on the younger.
"Alright, how bout we get some rest. We gotta head over to the morgue tomorrow to check out those bodies. Then I guess we should go talk to family and friends. You know the drill."
"Yah alright. Probably won't be able to find anything right now anyways." San closed the laptop and grabbed his sleeping stuff out of his bag disappearing into the bathroom while Dean packed up his cleaned weapons and put them back into the duffel they had come out of.
When Sam emerged they traded places, Sam sitting on his bed and Dean going to the bathroom to get changed.
Looking at the clock Sam saw it was one in the morning. They hadn't slept since they got to Rivergrove except for a few hours after everyone had vanished.
No wonder I'm so damn tired.
Lying back on the bed he decided he'd close his eyes for a few seconds until Dean got back and then he'd try to bring up the secret again. As much as he knew he should let it go for a while he just couldn't. He was angry and worried and more than anything, scared about this secret. He wanted to know what the hell this Demon wanted from him.
Do I really want to know? What would it change anyways? You'd still be no match for it…and your powers wouldn't come in handy.
Not for the first time Sam wondered if it was just his powers that the Demon wanted and again he thought that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to just give them up to him. They were never there to save the ones he loved and it would give him a chance to be normal again. The pain and headaches would go away and he wouldn't have to worry about hunters finding out about him and deciding he was some kind of supernatural threat too.
But what would happen to me when he took them?
When Dean emerged from the bathroom he saw his brother lying on his bed softly snoring. Having not pulled the cover over himself Dean went over and did it for him. Carefully he ran a hand softly over his brother's tired face and sighed.
Why my brother? What did he ever do wrong?
"I'm so sorry Sammy, but not yet. I can't do that to you." And Dean turned away and went to his own bed lying down and settling in before turning off the light and placing his hand under his pillow to grab the warm hilt or his oh so faithful hunting knife.
Two hours later found the boys both sound asleep. It was the first quiet, uneventful sleep they had had as long as they could remember.
The peace was carefully disturbed as an almost nonexistent mist flowed from under the door, not making a sound. It edged towards the boys and carefully swirled around their heads but never touched them. Slowly it seeped into the tiny opening between their lips and ducked inside for only a second before pulling back. It then disappeared under the door leaving no trace that it was ever there.
Neither boy was disturbed as a white mist silently leaked from there mouths muffling their quiet snores. The mists slipped across the floor and followed the same path as the other had travelled and disappeared into the night
Somewhere in the distance a box slammed shut.