Chapter Eleven: Getting the Salt

To know a thing well, know it limits. Only when pushed beyond its tolerances will true nature be seen. Do not depend only on theory if your life is at stake.

-Bene Gesserit Commentary

There were fifteen people in the basement of the old Church. It was a refurbished recreation room with a long table lined with chairs. A flower and paisley tablecloth was laid across it with cups of water, milk, and cookies as if this was just a regular Sunday. There was an altar at the back of the room with a cross and three lit candles. There were women, old men, young men and men in their middle ages. What stood out to Sam and Dean most powerfully and was most sobering was that there were no children. None, not out of any of the fifteen survivors. They walked into a room full of worried and frightened faces. It didn't take a genius to know that these people had no idea about what was happening to them, to their friends, and to their town. Ellen introduced them as hunters, told these worried frightened people that they were here to help. If only it were that simple. Sam thought, swallowing. Up until this point he hadn't seen the effects of his choices but now the weight of the guilt swung into his stomach with the power of a sledgehammer. He wanted to leave the room, run away. I did this. It was all his fault.

"You guys hip to this whole demon thing?" Asked the tall soldier from behind them.

"Yeah." Dean said, turning to face him. "Are you?"

"My wife's eyes turned black." An older man, one in his early fifties with a dark tan and gray hair that was thinning at the top of his scalp said. "Kind of makes you embrace the paranormal." His name was Roger, printed on a plastic nametag that was still attached to his blue suit. Roger Pemberton. He had square glasses that framed his dark eyes. Submissive, he barely looked up from his fingers. Instead he stared, haunted at an empty corner of the room.

Dean turned back to Ellen, telling her to catch them up. Sam couldn't bring himself to look away. He felt that he had to stare, had to see. This was his responsibility. He brought this on. Bobby's words, even though they'd been said during the short hours he'd been possessed still rang in Sam's ears. "This is your fault. Don't look at me. This is your fault." Bobby had said that he didn't mean them, but Sam wasn't so sure. He'd let everyone down. He was a disappointment. He had to make it up to them. What about Gail? The very strange girl who'd been assigned to watch over Dean, to act as his bodyguard. At least that's what she said. And who wasn't doing a very good job of it. Sam didn't see any reason not to believe her and she'd already sent his brother flying once today. But where did she go? Why had she wandered off? Dean seemed to think that they were better off without her, but Sam wasn't so sure. Gail was at the very least superhuman, she wasn't awed or wowed by the presence of an angel. She accepted them as a standard part of life, their existence wasn't in question. And she looks at us like we're… Well, vermin. She didn't think they were special. She didn't even know who we were. That contradicted everything that he'd learned so far. The demons had said he was important. The angels had said that Dean was important. Now, Dean was slated to be Michael's vessel, the Apocalypse was nigh and Gail? She'd looked at this town, it's dead, and it's people, shrugged and said: "meh, seen worse". I've never heard of Eternals. Which was, he had to admit, a stupid name.

"Wait." Dean said. "You were hunting with Jo?"

"Yeah," Ellen nodded. "For a while now."

Sam blinked, that was surprising to say the least. Ellen had always been against Jo hunting. His gaze swung around the room again, looking from each hopeful face to the next worried one. Guilt knotted his stomach. They had to get these people out of danger. Where is Gail? She could help them do it.

"Don't worry, Ellen." Dean said. "We'll find her."

Sam thought that sentiment was all well and good but they had other priorities to consider. He liked Jo as much as the next guy and still felt guilty about the time when he'd been possessed and nearly killed her. But that wasn't what was important here. "Either way," he said, breaking into the conversation. "These people can't just sit here. We have to find a way to get them out."

Ellen shook her head. "No." She said. Her gaze moved back around the room. "It's not that easy, I've been trying." The way she ended the sentence suggested that they'd already attempted to make a run for it.

Sam swallowed and looked around the room, seeing the results of the attempt before his eyes. "How many or you were there?" He murmured, his eyebrows furrowing his forehead with worried creases.

"Thirty."

"So you lost half." Dean said. It was a sobering thought. Gail's question about the missing bodies had come back to niggle at his mind. Damn her. He was just glad that she wasn't here to make sarcastic comments. Or maybe the sight of these people would teach her a damn lesson in fucking humility. He could only hope. The girl behaved like she'd never seen war or death, something that Dean had already seen too much of. Well, she'll learn. Maybe then she'd get knocked off her high horse. Again, he could only hope. "Well," he said. "There's three of us now."

"You don't know what it's like out there." Ellen said. "They're everywhere, round every corner, three people can't cover fifteen. We'd lose a lot more just trying to get to the outskirts of town."

Sam nodded. He found that surprising. The path into town had been strangely clear, especially if that many demons were wandering around. He didn't want to question Ellen's experiences, that was the last thing on his mind but it did make him wonder about what Gail had said. Why the hell can't she be less cryptic? Or maybe she just enjoyed taunting them. Taunting Dean. Sam couldn't say that he completely blamed her. "Gail." He said. Looking at Ellen, he scanned the room again. "We have Gail, if we can find her then it'll be four not three."

"Gail?" Ellen asked. She remembered the girl who'd been with them. The one who'd smiled at her and disappeared. The thought of her helping sent chills up Ellen's spine, she wasn't even sure why, they just did. There had been something…cold in her eyes. Unpredictable. "The girl you came here with?"

"If she'll help." Dean said. First Ruby and now Gail. Sammy's really racking up the attraction to the monster babes. Ruby had lied to them and betrayed them. Gail was even more erratic than she'd been. She doesn't even pretend to be on our side. She wasn't some magical trump card. We have to do it ourselves. "Either way, we can't trust her Sammy. She'd probably just feed them all to the demons."

Sam frowned at his brother and shook his head. Dean was probably right, but there wasn't any harm in asking her. "What if we get everyone guns?"

"What?" Dean asked in a low voice. "You're gonna arm up baby bump over there?" With a small motion of his hand, he indicated the pregnant woman sitting next to a younger man.

Sam looked into her terror filled eyes and swallowed again. What was this? Shoot down all of Sam's ideas day? His brother seemed determined to oppose anything that came out of his mouth. He's still sore about me siding with Gail over him. Dean had been acting like a prick to her. It was only natural. And we don't know how strong she actually is. What would antagonizing her have gotten them? If we can actually convince her to help us… Sam didn't know, but he had a feeling that Gail could be a powerful ally. Something we're in short supply of. He sucked in a deep breath. "Look," he said. "More salt we can fire at once the more demons we can keep away. Unless you've got a better plan…" He trailed off, watching as his brother's eyes circled the room again.

Those harsh hazel eyes, green in the low lighting of the room tightened as they passed over the priest. The Father stood at the back of the room, helplessly clutching his books while trying to keep some semblance of order, of control over he refugees. Looking into the brave man's eyes, Dean relented. "We passed by a sporting goods store on Main when we were coming into town." He said. "They probably still have enough guns in stock."

"And there was a mini-mart right across the street." Sam nodded. "They'll have salt."

"Alright." Dean sighed, regretting the words as they came out of his mouth. "It's a plan." A plan? He thought. I barely trust Sammy and now I'm thinking about letting him go out into a town full of demons on his own? He had to be crazy.

"Right." Sam agreed and turned to Ellen. "You stay here, we'll go."

"Maybe we'll even find that retard Gail." Dean coughed. Like we'll actually convince her to join the party.

Ellen still didn't like the plan. "What about—"

"If Jo and Rufus are out there," Sam said. "We'll find them, Ellen. Trust us."

I hope so. Ellen thought as she watched the boys head towards the door. Because believe me, we don't need anymore trouble. Ryan, the soldier who was on leave from Iraq unbolted the door and let the boys out. Ellen pursed her lips worriedly as they disappeared and the smooth, polished oak double doors slammed shut behind them. But that was exactly what her gut said they were going to find. Trouble. More of it. That was what the Winchester's always found. I just hope it doesn't come back to bite us. There was still the problem of that mystery girl. Gail. The one neither boy had explained.

Once outside the door, Dean put up his hand, stopping his brother as Sam headed towards the stairs. "Hey," he said. "Hold on a minute." This hadn't been something that he'd wanted to bring up in front of Ellen or the scared refugees, they needed to see the two brothers as a united front. Not one that's breaking apart. With two boys who could barely trust each other. Ellen doesn't need to see the reality. But now the door was shut and they were on the other side. He was free to air his concerns. Even though Sammy won't take them. "Why don't I just go?"

"What?" Sam asked. He looked up the stairs and then back at his brother and then up the stairs again. "Alone?" Here we go. Dean didn't trust him. He'd made that very clear in the parking lot. When we first met Gail. Sam forced himself to keep a frown off his face, he didn't want to think about Gail right now. He wanted to think about his brother and Dean's lack of trust. I need to figure out a way to get that trust back. He understood that he'd fallen off the wagon. He really did. I get that it's not something that's just going to come back right away. But this wasn't the time to have this discussion. Or the time to be benching me. Sam was a big boy, he understood the score and the risks. A hell of a lot better than those people in there!

"Well, yeah." Dean said. He was trying not to make a big thing out of this. He wasn't succeeding. He knew it, but couldn't stop himself. "Someone's gotta stay here and give them Shotgun 101."

"Yeah." Sam nodded. "Ellen." He turned and headed for the stairs again. It was only Dean's hand on his upper arm, almost tugging at the fabric of his tan jacket that stopped him. He looked back at his brother, seeing the concern in his brother's eyes. Silently, he tried to swallow his irritation. I'm not two years old, Dean.

I don't want you out there, Sammy. That's what Dean wanted to say. "Look," he said. "It's gonna go a lot faster if you stay here." Out of the line of fire and away from the demon blood. Gail had said something about his brother's addiction never going away. Damn me if I could only remember exactly what she said. He hadn't wanted to believe it. But it was a concern. "Okay?"

"While you go get guns, and salt, and look for Jo, Rufus, and Gail?" Sam asked. "That's stupid." I just need you to trust me.

"Well," Dean paused. "Maybe not Gail." I don't need her getting her claws into you either.

"That's stupid." Sam said. "And whether you like it or not, we need Gail."

"Don't start on her." Dean snapped. "I don't need your feelings for the latest demon babe in our lives getting in the way here."

"Gail isn't a demon, Dean."

"And that's exactly why you shouldn't be going out there!" Dean tried to keep his voice under control, but he'd nearly found himself shouting. Instead, he forced his voice back down to hiss. "I can handle this without you!"

"You know," Sam said, his own voice low. "You can just come out and say it."

"Say what?" Dean asked, his voice spiking nervously.

"That you don't want me going out there." Sam said. "Around demons."

"I didn't say that."

"Around Gail."

"I didn't say that."

"You're afraid I'll take one look at the blood and fall off the wagon."

"I didn't say that!"

Sam stared at his brother for another long moment. No. He thought, swallowing the rising anger. But that's exactly what you're thinking. How could they go out there with Dean not trusting him? How could they function as a team and hope for any kind of success? Sam didn't know, but he wasn't about to let his brother push him around. There was falling in line and there was being Dean's bitch. Sam was willing to do one but not the other. "Fine." He said. He couldn't stop his voice from coming out chilled as he turned and stomped up the stairs. "Let's go."

Sitting in the office chair at the mini-mart, Gail kicked her legs up on the desk as she rotated back and forth in the swivel chair. Pulling out the most recent security footage, she pushed the black tape into the VCR and pressed play. The small office had two televisions, one used for viewing old footage and one constantly showed what was going on in the store. Tossing what was left of her slushie in the garbage bin, she wrinkled her nose in disgust. It was murder sitting back here with the door closed and locked, watching the feed. No one had even come into the store.

"You know," she said, turning around to face the corpse of an old man. He was Indian, clearly one of the immigrants that came from India and the East. He was graying around his temples, he had a potbelly and his arms were stretched out helplessly towards the door. "You've really started to stink." His blood had pooled and dried across the floor. She'd decided that he'd died after being shot by his own shotgun, if the spray pattern across the chest of his ghost was any indication. From the smell, she could guess that he was only a day old. "Meaning that whatever went down here only started up recently." That much was obvious. If she had to guess, it started on the night that the final seal broke and Lucifer "escaped". Most of his powers were made available to him that night. It was only natural that Roon would kick up his heels and start having at little fun. It's what Mace would do. That got her a laugh.

It's not what I would fucking do.

The ghost of the old man was standing behind her, moaning. They always did that and it was always unnerving. She'd never liked ghosts and they tended to come to her in droves. One because I can see them. Two because she was a necromancer by trade. Or I was once, maybe, don't really remember. She blamed the memory gaps on Fade. It was all his fault that she could only instinctively control her abilities, that she couldn't remember how they worked. It was very frustrating. I don't want to burn him off or pop him. But this was getting annoying. Unaware of her own internal desires, the ghost of the owner of the mini-mart asked her to kill his wife again. Apparently, his wife had been the one to kill him. Gail guessed that this was probably a trend.

"God damn." She grumbled. "It's like you're on fucking repeat. You're dead mister. It's time to move on." She held out her hand behind her and waved it. "Shoo." Knowing that hadn't done any good, she returned to watching as the patrons of the market suddenly started murdering each other. With a yawn, she paused the tape and checked the time stamp on the video. "12:00 AM yesterday." Well, that was a good a confirmation as any. "At least I finally found one dead body." It wasn't very comforting. She leaned her cheek into the palm of her hand and pulled open a bag of almonds. Popping one into her mouth, she chewed and swallowed, trying not to gag on the wafting smell.

Wimp. Mace's voice was strong in her mind and the laughter reverberated through her. Mace had no problems eating over corpses. Mace had no problems eating corpses, though she/he preferred his/her prey living.

"Shut up." Gail growled. "I'm in charge of steering the meat sack."

The boys are on the move. Mace told her, voice lazy. She could feel the ancient being lounging in the back of her mind. She half expected Mace to start yawning. They have some plan.

"They can plan?" Gail asked as she switched off the video.

Wrong enemy in mind. This time Mace did yawn. They want to save fucking innocent villagers. Fuck it. Mace found the idea of the survivors as innocents to be a hilarious concept. I should just let Roon fucking play.

"You're already bored."

So is he. Mace replied. This whole fucking thing will be over soon. Just you watch. He's going to fucking break cover. It'll be a slaughter.

"Of about forty people." Gail sighed and chewed on another almond. She was going to need the food. "None of them important or able to defend themselves."

Fuck them. There was more laughter. They're going to fucking die anyway. You know that. You can read the fate strands kid, you fucking knew the different ways this could play out before walking into this town. Just like you knew the fucking xenophobic Winchesters wouldn't listen to anything you said.

"Knowing the future puts you and Roon on equal footing though."

Never been his skill. Doesn't understand how reality works. She felt the mental shrug. Besides, knowing the end of the fight ruins the fucking surprise. Roon's attitude is about enjoying not winning. That's why he's easy to kill.

Gail looked at the screen of the television and saw Sam walking into the mini-mart. "I knew he was going to come." She said. "He'll be ambushed by two, no, three others before Dean can get here. He can't stop them all."

Good thing you're here. Mace chuckled. Gail sighed. She knew that wasn't what her alter ego meant at all. Mace had something in store for the Winchesters. He like Roon was bored and needed a release. Gail knew what form that release would take and every time, it made her wince. But there was nothing she could do.

"Good thing."

A/N: Yay! More Horseman! Thanks to everyone who is reading, it's nice to know that some people are. Anyway, thanks for the story subscriptions and favorites, it means a lot.