Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Chapter 14 Work

Dean woke early the next morning. So early Sam was still snuggled in his blankets. Dean was happy Sam had seemed to have no nightmares last night. Maybe talking about it had helped, who would have thought. He dressed quickly in sweats and T Shirt and pulled on his scrappy old cross trainers. He scribbled Sam a note telling him when he would be back and left the motel. He walked quickly down the road till he came to a park he had seen on the way to the motel yesterday afternoon.

At the park there was a football field marked out next to a toilet block so Dean decided to run around outside lines of the field. Dean walked a lap around the field as quick as he could walk without breaking into a run. He was glad the park was empty at this time of day because he was worried how well he could run at this point in his recovery. He stopped and did a few light stretches and started to jog slowly around the field.

After a lap of jogging he increased his pace to a fast jog. Now he stared to feel his injury's that were not quite healed. His broken arm throbbed and his ribs and left side started to burn first then his left shoulder felt the cast was to heavy to hold up. He felt the muscles complain loudly at this new stress. After four laps his back felt uncomfortable and his legs started to feel wobbly. Instead of stopping he pulled the Winchester stubbornness card out and increased his pace so that he was going at a slow run. At lap seven he got a stitch. A stitch! He hadn't had a stitch in years. How stupid. Dean knew what to with stitches: run through them. At least that's what he did. On his ninth lap Dean's headache came back. It pounded hollowly in his ears and his right knee which he had thought was completely healed was starting to feel loose and clicky. He was struggling for breath and just about had his tongue hanging out. Dean pushed into his tenth lap putting everything he had left into it, going at a fast run almost breaking into a sprint and for the last 300ft he did sprint.

Dean didn't stop but slowed down slowly over half a lap. He had the biggest stitch he'd had in his life. He walked the rest of the lap with his hand on his hip and then spotted a tap outside the toilet block. He walked over and drank from the tap and then put his head under for a few seconds. He kept his head down and let the water drip of his head rather than try to shake it and add to his headache, he was feeling enough spikes of pain as it was. After a couple of minutes he walked over to a low fence and did some slow stretches. He walked back to the motel as fast as his trembling legs would let him. As he walked his stitch eased off and his left side started to feel better but his headache and sore back remained.

He walked into the motel room to the shower running so Dean grabbed a bottle of water and drank it down with some Tylenol to dampen his headache. The shower shut off and Dean staggered to the kitchen to make coffee. As he pulled two cups out the cupboard the room suddenly spun and he was down on one knee feeling very dizzy and hot. He stood slowly and felt slightly less dizzy but still very hot. He pulled his T shirt off and used it to fan himself then wiped sweat off himself with it.

After a few minutes he went back to making coffee feeling slightly better but still hot. He just finished the coffee making when Sam came out of the bathroom completely dressed except for his shoes. He took one look at Dean and rushed over to him.
"Dean, what the Hell? Your note said you were going for a jog. What the hell happened?"
"I don't know. I got hot when I came back."
Sam felt Dean's forehead. "Wow, you're pretty warm, I'll get you some Tylenol."
"I just had some," said Dean. "Headaches back."
"Did you go jogging with a headache?"
"No, it came while I was out."
"Come over here." Sam walked Dean to the sink, pushed his head over the sink and used a glass to pour cool water over Dean's head. After a few minutes Sam stopped pouring water and grabbed a towel to dry Dean off.
"How do you feel?"
"A bit better. Thanks."
Sam took note of how slowly Dean was moving even though Dean was smiling slightly to make Sam feel better.

They stood in the kitchen and drank the coffee, Dean still in just his sweat pants and shoes. Sam kept an eye on Dean worrying about how warm he still looked. His face was still quite flushed as he leaned against the bench top. Sam noticed some sweat slide down Dean's chest right down to his low slung sweat pants. Suddenly Sam started to feel hot and flustered. He watched with fascination as a drop of sweat ran into Dean's navel. Damn that looked, Sexy! 'Oh god.' Sam thought. 'I'm at it again. well its Deans fault this time standing there with his top off sweating.' At least Dean had put enough weight back on to think of him as sexy, not much but a little.
"Well, I better go hit the shower." Dean pushed himself off the bench and walked slowly toward his bag.

An hour later the boys were back on the road and Dean went into a deep sleep immediately. Sam woke him after an hour so he wouldn't get too sore but he woke to another blinding headache and took more headache tablets and drank more water. They stopped for breakfast and got the local paper. Sam used his laptop to see if there was work in the area. Dean drank more than he ate so Sam decided to keep a closer eye on his brother's appetite. After an hour Dean pushed the laptop aside.
"So you up for a salt and burn next state over."
Sam raised his eyebrows surprised at Dean's comment, he hadn't seen anything.
Dean took the paper from Sam and opened it to the obituary page and showed Sam what he had circled.
"Miss Jane Farr's funeral has been delayed until the eighth of July at Happy Meadows cemetery in Duwitch Kentucky, due to maintenance problems at the cemetery. Okay?"

Sam looked over at Dean puzzled.
"I did some research on our cemetery in Duwitch and you wouldn't believe it, they have had some trouble burying the stiffs over there the last month. Three people are yet to be buried all due to 'maintenance problems'. Turns out a 'mysterious invisible force' is playing with equipment and throwing rocks and dirt at the staff. Dean wiggled his eyebrows at Sam.
"And it all started with Claire Hooper, a young woman who supposedly committed suicide. She was the last one to be buried before the trouble started up. But the newspaper reporter put just a hint of doubt in his story that it wasn't suicide. She had a good sized insurance policy and the husband was quite the drinker and abuser, apparently." Dean pushed the laptop around for Sam to read the newspaper article.

Sam read the article a frown of concentration on his face as Dean finished his coffee.
"Ah... Dean it doesn't say anything about the insurance claim here or the police report."
Dean leaned over and opened two .Jpg files he had saved to the laptops hard drive. One was the page of the police report of a domestic dispute involving one Joe Hooper the other was the insurance docket for Claire Hooper's life insurance.
"Where did you get these Dean? You didn't break into these sites did you?" Sam felt he was starting to rub off on his brother.
"I wouldn't do that," said Dean innocently.
"No," Sam smiled, "you wouldn't do that but its good work none the less. So it's a straight salt and burn of her bones. You think she's pissed and wants Joe's blood. Why doesn't she just leave the cemetery?"
"She probably hasn't worked out how to leave and go get him, Sam. She's only been dead about a month so we need to shag ass down there and put her to rest before she works it out."
"If she was killed by Joe maybe we should just let her get her revenge."
"That sounds good for justice and all but if she doesn't manage to leave the cemetery she may kill someone else in frustration. It sounds like these attacks are getting worse as time goes by. You know what angry spirits are like."
"Yeah well it's a six hour drive so we can do it tonight, if you feel up to it."
"Let's hit the road."

The boys arrived in Duwitch just as night started to fall. They ate first then got a motel room. When they had settled in Dean pulled out the local directory to see where the cemetery was located and what the surrounding area was like. Sam used the internet to find out more about the cemetery itself. He found their website informative and even found the section where Claire would be buried. Sam crossed referenced his findings with Dean and they came up with a place to leave the car and a plan of how to go about the job. At what they felt was a reasonable time they left for the cemetery. As they unloaded the car Sam raised his eyebrows at Dean as he took the second shovel out of the car and moved toward the cemetery. They walked quietly to the section they had memorized. It wasn't a long walk and the area surrounding the cemetery was vacant on one side and forest plantation on the other, nice and private. Using their flashlights the boys had to dodge rocks and piles of dirt as they neared Claire's grave.
"Defiantly signs of an angry sprit," said Dean looking at the strewn about rocks.
"Yeah, she seems pissed." Sam murmured, approaching Claire's grave.

Once at the grave Sam opened the weapons bag and pulled out two shotguns loaded with rock salt, a container of rock salt, lighter fluid and more rock salt rounds. Dean made sure the guns were loaded and after putting more rounds in his jacket pocket dropped the weapons on the bag. Sam had already started to dig in the area next to the headstone so Dean grabbed the other shovel and started to dig next to him.
"Are you sure you should be digging?" queried Sam.
"No idea, but it's better than sitting around."
"Don't over do it."
"I'll take it easy and stop when I've had enough."
Sam looked up at Dean; he was digging carefully, using his left hand in its cast as a pivot point only, mainly using his right side to dig. If nothing else he was adaptable. And when did Dean agree so readily? He was so used to Dean arguing the point when it came to his health that Sam realized he had a retort on his tongue that he now couldn't use.
"Just be careful," he said lamely.

After twenty minutes of digging Dean had begun to flag but by now they were more than five feet down and the dirt was getting softer and easier as they went. Dean had worked up quite a sweat and could feel his heart thumping in his chest. Suddenly he got goose bumps on the back of his neck and his heart hitched for a second. Dean knew that feeling, it wasn't to be ignored. He planted the shovel into the ground using his left elbow and right hand to vault out of the hole into a roll coming up onto his feet at the bag snatching up a shot gun. Sam looked up in amazement as Dean vaulted out of the hole. 'how did he do that?' Even with a broken arm and not yet at 100% Dean looked like a cat. His flexibility showing as he rolled up and grabbed the weapon in one smooth movement. Bastard! Sam knew if he tried that he would look all arms and legs even if he managed to pull off the roll. Sam couldn't see anything but knew Dean felt the sprint just by his actions and the look in his eyes.
"Keep digging, Sammy. I've got your back." Dean breathed heavily bringing the weapon up and flicking off the saftey.

Sam had dug only a few more shovels when the shot gun fired and Dean went flying backward.

TBC