Both Sam and Dean Winchester were dressed in neat black suits as they stepped inside the morgue and approached the young man, flipping open their FBI badges. "Agent Tyler and Kramer. We're here to see the body of Cillian Hawke"
The coroner nodded after looking at the badges and led them to one of the drawers, pulling it open and tugging back a sheet to reveal the cold lifeless body of the male. "Here he is. Just died in his sleep."
The elder man said with a frown. He pulled on some gloves and handed a couple pair to Sam and Dean. "There was something strange." he pointed to a inky black growth that was gathered on the man's chest area near his heart. "This... we sent off samples of it to the lab, but it wasn't anything we'd seen before... not cancerous.. or... MRSA... anything.."
Dean scrunched up his nose a bit. "Do you know how long it's been there?" He asked the man, looking up from the corpse.
"Hard to tell." the man said with a shake of his head. "We're not even sure what it is. Feel free to take a sample. Just don't let it get on you."
"We would appreciate a sample. Have you had any other cases of this?" Sam said as the coroner moved away, grabbing a small glass container and a scalpel. He nodded as he cut away a piece of the black growth. It oozed and dripped a thick black liquid as he dropped it into the container and closed the top, handing it to Sam.
"Yes, we've had a few."
Dean nodded. "And the cause of death?"
"Seems to be natural causes." The man said. "His heart just gave out."
"And how many cases like this have you had? Including this one." Dean asked.
"I'd say... about four." He said with a nod, stroking his chin. "Do you have any idea what that is?" He asked, gesturing toward the black growth.
Dean shook his head. "No, but we're going to look into it," he said with a nod.
xx
When they left the morgue, Dean snatched the little container from Sam and squinted his eyes at it. "What IS that? It looks a little like ectoplasm to me... But why some seriously pissed spirit would leave ectoplasm on his victims is beyond me," he scrunched up his nose as he handed it back to Sam. "I say we do a little research on it. That is what you do best, geekboy," He smirked a little as they got in the car and started to the Laundromat to pick up Ella and Chuck.
"It doesn't make any sense, " Sam said with a frown. "It doesn't look like any ectoplasm I have ever seen before... but I don't know what else it could be." He took back the container and gave it a little shake as he climbed into the Impala. "Yeah, I'll start work on it as soon as we get back to the hotel. I wonder if Oshea had any luck talking with the victim's families."
Ella was putting the now clean and dry clothes back into the duffle bag when she heard the roar of the Impala's engine outside. She and Chuck quickly gathered their clothes and hurried outside, rain drizzling onto them as they both hopped in the back seat of the Impala. "How did it go?" Ella asked, pushing back a strand of damp hair from her face.
"Do we really have to go?" Chuck asked as he climbed into the car, glancing back over his shoulder toward the building. "Me and Amber were talking about fabric softeners."
"It went alright. Have you ever seen anything like this, Ella?" Sam said as he handed back the little container the held the piece of black growth. "Do you have any idea what it is?"
Ella rolled her eyes at Chuck, ignoring his comment as she took the small container from him and looked it over carefully. "Not a clue. Where did it come from?" She handed it back to him.
"The victims. They all had this stuff growing on their chests by their hearts." Sam said as he took the container back again. "Dean thinks it might be some kind of ectoplasm..."
"I said it could be," Dean corrected him. "We'll pick up Oshea, see if she had any luck, then head to the motel and see what we can find on your computer," He said with a nod at Sam.
When they pulled up to the spot where they were to pick up Oshea, Chuck was scratching at his chest, frowning as it seemed a slightly burning rash had begun to form on his chest. Oshea climbed into the back of the car, running her fingers through her hair. "How did it go at the morgue?"
"Found some weird black gunk on all four of the victims," He glanced back at Oshea. "All of their hearts just stopped, which is odd because they seemed to be in pretty good health. You know, other than the being dead part. What about you? Were the families any help?"
Oshea frowned a little as she took the container from Sam and looked it over. "Do you guys have any idea what this could be?" She asked giving the container a little shake. "Anyway... there is definitely a pattern. All of the guys complained of a weird rash on their chests and began to get very fatigued. Started sleeping for long periods of time until they finally went to sleep and never woke up."
"I haven't heard of anything like this," Ella said with a little frown.
They arrived back at the motel a few minutes later, after stopping by a small Chinese restaurant to grab takeout. "Neither have I, I'm going to start researching." Sam said as he stepped over to his laptop. Oshea yawned and stretched her arms over her head, going into the bathroom to take a shower. Chuck walked into the room with a frown, sitting down on the couch and tugging down his shirt collar to look at the ugly red place on his chest. He scratched at it with a deep frown.
Ella looked up from the container of fried rice she had been devouring, and arched a brow at Chuck. "What's going on over there, prophet dude?"
Chuck grimaced as he continued to scratch at the place on his chest until a little skin started to pull away and he drew a little blood. Sam's brows furrowed. "Chuck...? You okay?"
Chuck looked up and released his shirt, lowering his hand and nodding. "Yes... yes, I'm fine." Sam was about to say something else when his phone started to ring. He glanced at the caller ID then looked up at Dean, giving him a meaningful look.
"Yes, sheriff, this is Agent Kramer... what...? We'll be right there.." Sam hung up and looked over to the others. "Hey, Dean, apparently a guy just went to the hospital with one of those weird marks and he's still alive."
After a ten minute drive, filled with mostly Dean grumbling about having to leave his chicken behind at the motel, they arrived at the Pierce County Medical Center and flashed their badges at the woman at the front desk. "Ma'am, could you point us to the room of David Seville?" Ella asked, smiling politely at the woman.
The nurse nodded, her eyes wide after seeing the badges. "Yeah, of course! Has he done something wrong?"
Oshea shook her head. "No, of course not, he just needs to answer a couple of questions for us."
The nurse nodded and glanced at her computer. "Okay.. he's in room 311, second floor. Go right on up."