Jump the Shark Part 2

Adam's truck backed out of the space. He'd parked right over a sewer grate, which was half open. Dean got out of the truck and approached the grate, aiming the shotgun. There was blood on the edge. Dean got up and headed past Sam and Angela, who were leaning on the hood of the Impala.

"I winged it." Dean said. "Did you see anything?"

"I didn't get a good look." Angela replied.

"What the hell is this thing?" Dean asked.

"Why, who, should we go after it?" Adam asked.

"No, no." Dean shook his head. "In that maze? That thing's long gone."

"All right, so, we don't know what it is, but we do know who it's going after." Sam said. "Joe Barton, Adam's mom—

"And Adam." Dean said. "It was under his truck, just waiting for him."

"It set a trap, and I walked right into it." Angela replied.

"Doesn't matter. Sam's right, there's a pattern. Joe Barton was a cop. I'm pretty sure he helped out Dad. So we've got him, Dad's girl, and his son."

"All the people Dad knew in town." Sam said.

"At least we know why it's back." Dean replied.

"It wants revenge." Adam said.

Dean, Sam and Angela looked at Adam.

~/~\~

The door opened and Adam, Sam, Dean and Angela entered.

"Grab your stuff. We'll hit the road." Dean said.

Adam flipped on the lights and headed upstairs. Sam and Angela sat at the kitchen table.

"We shouldn't leave." Sam said.

Angela thumped her injured ankle on another chair.

"Yeah, let's stay here, where the kid's mom got ganked." Dean nodded. "Good one."

"I'm serious." Sam said.

"No, Sam, we're gonna take the kid, we're gonna drop him off at Bobby's, and then you, me and Angie are gonna come back here and finish what Dad started.

Angela had an ace bandage in one hand.

"How?" Sam asked. "We got no leads, no witnesses. We do have what it wants."

"You want to use the kid as bait?" Angela asked. "That's why you want to stay here?"

"Maybe this thing will come back. We could train Adam, get him ready."

"He could die, Sam." Dean replied.

"We could all die, Dean." Sam replied. "Even if we do kill this thing, there are tons of other freaks that want revenge, on Dad, on us, on Angie. What if they find the kid instead and he's not ready?"

Angela unrolled the ace bandage and started wrapping her ankle. Adam returned, backpack over one shoulder.

"I'll do it. Whatever it takes, I'll do it. I want to do it."

Dean and Angela looked at Sam, who looked at Adam.

~/~\~

Three gunshots. The first one made a hole in a piece of metal, through which Sam and Adam are visible, Sam holding a gun. The other side of the metal is a sign, 'No trespassing;, 'Trespassing on this property is strictly forbidden', 'Violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in accordance with Minnesota penal code .8', on which two red rings have been spray painted. There were three small holes close together inside the smaller ring. Sam lowered the gun.

"Whoa." Adam breathed.

"It's easy." Sam said. "Just feel the recoil and time the trigger pulls. Three taps." Sam held the gun out to Adam.

"Yeah?" Adam smiled a bit.

"Go ahead." Sam said.

Adam took the gun and moved in front of Sam. He fired three times, kicking up leaves; all three shots hit the sign, fairly close together, one on and two inside the inner ring. Sam grinned. A distance away, Dean and Angela were leaning against the Impala. Dean shook his head and looked away.

"Beginner's luck, right?" Adam asked.

"Nah, man." Sam replied. "You're a natural. Good shooting." He clapped Adam on the back.

"Thanks." Adam smiled.

~/~\~

"So, then we lit it on fire." Sam said.

"With a homemade flamethrower?" Adam asked.

"Yeah. They're easy to build. I'll show you." Sam replied.

"That is some job you got, man."

"Being a hunter isn't a job, Adam. It's a life." Sam said. "You're pre-med. You got a girlfriend, friends?"

Adam nodded.

"Not anymore you don't." Sam replied. "If you're really gonna do this, you can't have those kinds of connections, ever. They're weaknesses. You'll just put those people in danger, get them killed.

Dean, across the room, looked away. Angela set her jaw slightly.

"That's the price we pay." Sam said. "You cut 'em out, and you don't look back. There's only one thing you can count on. Family."

"Sam." Angela said.

Sam looked over.

"Can we talk to you?" Dean asked.

Dean and Angela got up and went over by the stairs. Sam followed.

"What the hell was that?" Dean asked.

"What?" Sam asked.

"'Hunting is life. You can't have connections.'" Dean said. "Dad gave you that exact same speech, remember? It was just before you ditched us for Stanford. You hated Dad for saying that stuff, and now you're quoting him?"

"Yeah, well, turns out Dad was right."

"Since when?" Dean scoffed.

"Since always." Sam replied. "Guys, when I look at Adam, you know what I see?"

"A normal kid." Angela said.

"No. Meat." Sam replied. "Because to the demons and monsters out there, that's all he is. I hated Dad for a long time. I did. But now I think I understand. So we didn't have a dog and a white picket fence. So what? Dad did right by us. He taught us how to protect ourselves. So did your Dad, Angie. Adam deserves the same."

"Listen to yourself, man." Dean said.

"You think I'm wrong?"

"I think it's too late for us. This is our life. This is who we are, okay? And it's fine. I accept that. But with Adam, he's still got a chance, man. He can go to school. He could be a doctor."

"What makes Adam so special?" Sam asked.

"What, are you jealous of the kid?" Dean asked.

"Are you?" Sam retorted.

There was a pause.

"Guys… all this… it's not real." Sam said. "The dad Adam knew wasn't real. The things out there in the shadows, they are real. The world is coming to an end. That's real. Everything else is just part of the crap people tell themselves to get through the day."

"Dad didn't have a choice with us, okay?" Dean replied. "But with Adam, he did. Adam doesn't have to be cursed."

"He's a Winchester. He's already cursed." Sam said.

"No. No, whatever's hunting Adam, Angie and I are gonna find it."

"You already looked everywhere, Dean." Sam said.

"Well, then we'll look again." Angela said.

Dean and Angela left.

~/~\~

Dean and Angela opened the tomb. They turned on their flashlights and shined them around. Angela spotted a loose stone, large enough to hide a tunnel, and showed Dean. They worked it out of the wall with a crowbar. There was indeed a tunnel behind it. Dean and Angela shined the light along the tunnel and crawled in.

At the far end of the tunnel was another room.

"Home sweet home." Angela said.

Dean shined the light around. He stepped in blood; there was quite a lot of it next to a severed arm and a pair of large black glasses. Dean picked those up and looked at them.

"Sloppy Joe." He muttered.

Dean and Angela heard something in the tunnel and fired several times. The tunnel collapsed.

"Oh, son of a bitch!" Dean yelled.

Dean tried to make a call. No signal.

"Son of a bitch." Dean muttered.

~/~\~

Sam poured salt along every window and door. Adam nailed boards over every vent.

~/~\~

The vent in the floor, vent cover mostly off, remained unsalted and un-nailed-closed. Sam and Adam stood over it.

"All right. We've closed off every other way into the house." Sam said. "If this thing's coming, it's coming through here."

A creak sounded, like a door opening.

"You were saying?" Adam asked.

"Adam! Adam!" Kate called.

"Mom?"

"No." Sam said.

"Mom!"

Adam!" Sam yelled.

Adam took off downstairs. Sam chambered a shotgun round and followed.

~/~\~

"Mom." Adam said.

"Adam, wait!" Sam called.

"It took me, but I got away." Kate said.

"It's okay."

"I got away."

Adam hugged Kate. Sam aimed the shotgun.

"Adam, step away from her."

"Sam, what the hell?!"

"She's not your mother!"

"Adam, who, what is going on?"

~/~\~

Dean kicked the door out of the tomb. It remained sealed. Dean and Angela explored, pushing a skeleton out of the way with a foot. There was a sealed coffin with relatively fresh blood on the outside. Angela opened the coffin: it was Kate Milligan. Most of her.

~/~\~

"Get away from him!" Sam exclaimed.

"What is going on?" 'Kate' asked.

"You listen to me." Sam said.

"It's really her, okay?" Adam replied.

"There was too much blood. Your mother's dead. There was too much blood in the vents!"

Sam shoved Adam away from 'Kate'. Adam took the shotgun.

"Adam!" 'Kate' exclaimed.

"Shoot it!" Sam said.

"He's crazy! Honey, it's me!"

Adam pointed the gun at 'Kate', then at Sam, looking confused and terrified.

"Look, Adam!" Sam yelled.

"Honey, it's me!"

"Look, that's not your mother!"

"Baby, please!"

"Shoot it! It's not human!"

Adam leveled the gun at 'Kate' and smirked.

"I know." He said.

Adam hit Sam on the chin with the butt of the shotgun. Sam went down. 'Kate' smiled.

~/~\~

Dean opened another coffin. This one had the corpse of Adam Milligan. Dean and Angela put a hand to their mouths; there was quite a lot of blood.

~/~\~

Dean and Angela, now aware that Sam's alone with a monster, redoubled their efforts to escape. They looked around; there was a stained glass window above them, depicting an angel.

~/~\~

'Kate' was humming. Sam was tied to a table, unconscious. When he stirred, he noticed he was tied at the wrists and ankles, with duct tape across his waist. He struggled and groaned. 'Kate' was cleaning her fingernails with the point of a knife.

"Silver." Sam said. "No wonder none of the tests worked. You're not shape shifters. You're ghouls."

"You know, I find that term racist." She replied.

She emphasized the point by waving her knife. She sniffed Sam from hand to neck and nibbled his ear.

"Mmm." She hummed. "Fresh meat. So much better than what we're used to."

"I should have known." Sam said. "It was the fresh kills that threw me. Ghouls don't usually go after the living. See, you're just filthy scavengers, feeding off the dead, taking the form of the last corpse you choke down."

"And their thoughts." 'Adam' replied. "And their memories. Like Adam, for instance."

"Well, we are what we eat." 'Kate' said.

"You're monsters." Sam said.

'Kate' drew he knife across Sam's arm, drawing blood.

"You know, you use that word a lot, Sam." 'Adam' replied.

'Kate' drank Sam's blood. 'Adam' thunked the knife into the table by Sam's head.

"But I don't think you know what it means."

'Kate' looked up. "His blood, it tastes different."

"Our father was a monster? Why? Because of what he ate?" 'Adam' asked. "He never hurt anyone, Sam. Living, anyway."

'Kate' pulled the knife free. "No, he was no monster. But the thing that killed him was. A monster named John Winchester."

Sam looked at her.

~/~\~

Dean broke a long piece of metal off one of the coffins and tried to use it to pry the door open. It didn't work.

"Holy crap." Dean muttered.

Dean and Angela stacked one coffin on another, stood on them, and used the metal bar to smash through the stained glass window. Dean grabbed the edge of the window and swung himself out, Angela followed.

~/~\~

There was a stab wound in Sam's side; 'Adam' dug a finger into it.

"Thanks to your daddy, my brother and I grew up on our own. At least we had each other." 'Kate' said.

'Adam' licked his finer. "Like you and your brother. Inseparable."

"Actually, it was very hard to get you on your own."

"Like you said, Sam, the only thing you can count on is family." 'Adam' said.

'Kate' drank some more blood, then licked her fingers. "And for 20 years, we lived like rats."

"Graveyard after graveyard, all that stinking flesh."

"Then we thought, 'hey, why not move up to fresher game?'"

"And we knew just where to start." 'Adam' smirked. He dug the point of the knife into the cut in Sam's arm. "Revenge, it's never over, is it, Sam?"

"First, it was John's cop friend, and then his slut, and then his son."

'Kate' pointed with the knife at herself, then at 'Adam'.

"Then I called John, but the son of a bitch was already dead."

"So I guess you, Dean and Angela will have to do instead."

"Dean and Angela won't interrupt us this time. We're gonna feed on you nice and slow, like we did with Adam."

"Oh, and, by the way, he really was your brother."

Sam struggled.

"You should know that."

"He was still alive when we took our first bites."

"And he was a screamer."

'Kate' and 'Adam' each opened gashes along one of Sam's arms. Blood dripped into bowls placed to catch it.

"Sam, the more you struggle, the faster you're gonna bleed out. So you might as well lie back and relax."

"Hey!" Angela yelled.

She and Dean appeared, aiming shotguns. Angela fired and 'Adam' hit the wall, a hole through his shoulder.

"Dean, Angie, they're ghouls!" Sam said.

Angela paused, then fired at 'Kate'. Blood spattered the wall; her headless corpse collapsed.

"Which means head shot." She said.

'Adam' slammed Dean, breaking a lot of glass on the way down. Dean grabbed 'Adam' and slammed his head down, then took his metal bar and tried to slam 'Adam's' head. 'Adam' dodged. They fought; 'Adam' went down, and Dean beat his head in. Silence fell.

"Dean!" Sam yelled. "Angie!"

Dean and Angela came over to Sam and cut through the roped and duct tape, grabbing a couple towels on the way. Angela helped Sam sit up and used to towel as pressure bandages.

"Come on. Come on." She whispered. "Come on. Hang on. All right, here we go. Here we go." She said. "Hang on, Sammy. All right."

"Thank you." Sam said.

She smiled a small smile. "That's what family's for. And we're family, right?"

He nodded, smiling a small smile.

"Keep pressure on that." Dean instructed.

~/~\~

"You sure we should do this?" Sam asked.

Adam's body, wrapped in sheets, was lying on a pyre.

Dean opened a bottle of lighter fluid. "Ghouls didn't fake those pictures. They didn't fake Dad's journal." He sprinkled lighter fluid over Adam. "Adam was out brother. He died like a hunter. He deserves to go like one."

"Maybe we can bring him back. Get a hold of Cas, call in a favor." Sam said.

"No, Adam's in a better place." Dean lit a match and tossed it on the pyre. Adam's body went up in flames. "You know, I finally get why you and Dad butted heads so much. You two were practically the same person."

Sam looked over.

"I mean, I worshipped the guy, you know? I dressed like him, I acted like him, I listen to the same music. But you were more like him than I will ever be. And I see that now."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"You can take it any way you want." Dean said.

A/N: Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! :)

Don't forget to review, review, review! Love y'all!

~Emily