Dean and Cas entered St. James Medical Center and approached Marty at the front desk. "Hey, Marty. Is Dr. Corman around?" Dean asked him. "You haven't heard?" Marty asked in surprise. "Heard what?" Marty grimaced, leading them back to see Dr. Corman's body on the lab table. "Guy's been dry for the last twenty years, but this morning, he left work, went home, and drank himself to death." Cas leaned forward to speak into Dean's ear. "It's Famine," he said, his breath fanning hot against Dean's neck. "Pardon?" Mary asked while Dean's brain momentarily short-circuited. "W-would you, uh... Would you give us a moment, please?" he stammered out. "Sure," Marty nodded. "Thanks!"
Marty exited to give him and Cas some privacy. "Crap! I really kind of liked this guy," Dean looked down at the dead coroner. "They haven't harvested his soul yet," Cas said, hovering his hand over the body. "Well, if we want to play 'follow the soul' to get to Famine, our best shot starts with the doc here." When a demon showed up to harvest the soul, they followed it to a Biggerson's restaurant. Dean sat inside the Impala waiting, when Cas reappeared in the passenger's seat holding another cheeseburger.
"Seriously?" Dean snapped, annoyed. "These make me... very happy," Cas informed him, taking a big bite. "How many is that?" Dean asked curiously. "I lost count. Somewhere in the low hundreds. How's your hunger faring, Dean?" Dean swallowed, watching Cas' Adam's apple move as he swallowed bite after bite. "I- uh... W-well, I..." Cas stopped eating to look over at him with those pretty blue eyes. "Dean?"
Oh, God, just the way he said his name. His eyes flickered from Cas to the backseat. "Dean, what's wrong?" Instead of answering, Dean grabbed Cas' lapels and slammed their mouths together again. Cas' mouth opened as he let out a strangled groan and Dean slipped his tongue inside. His angel tasted like cheeseburgers, but he didn't care. "Dean, we can't go back to the motel room. Sam-"
"Back of the Impala-"
It wasn't a far move, but Cas still managed to get them there without having to leave the interior of the Impala. All the warnings Cas had given earlier had flown out of both of their heads as they continued to let things heat up.
Sam was struggling against the handcuffs Dean had put on his wrist. "Ugh!" he slumped against the bathroom wall when suddenly he heard the dresser being moved, unblocking the bathroom door. "Guys? Guys, what happened?" he called out. "I don't think it worked. I think I'm still-" The bathroom door opened, and two demons entered the tiny space. "-hungry," he finished softly.
"Look at this," the female sneered. "Someone trussed you up for us. Boss says we can't kill you... but I bet we can break off a few pieces." The male leaned down, breaking Sam's cuffs. Sam knocked him violently back and he crashed against the shower wall. "Ugh!" Sam tackled the female demon and brought her crashing down onto the glass table in the main room. He grabbed a shard of glass, slashing her throat with it. Latching onto her neck with his mouth, he began to drink her blood.
"Ugh! Get him off! Get him off!" she cried to her male companion. The male demon tried to rip Sam off of the female, but he didn't budge and the demon only succeeded in ripping part of Sam's shirt. The demon grabbed a piece of wood in order to attempt to hit Sam with it, but Sam turned to face him, mouth and chin bloody, and raised his hand to telekinetically fling him against the wall. "Wait your turn," Sam snarled.
As soon as he finished off both demons, he stumbled out the door and hijacked one of the cars in the motel parking lot. He drove until he got to a Biggerson's where he saw the Impala parked outside. Not even bothering to check the Impala and just assuming Dean and Cas were already inside facing Famine, he made his way into the restaurant. Instead of his brother and the angel, all he found inside were five demons and Famine himself.
Famine looked like an old man in a wheelchair. All the humans in the restaurant in the booths and in the kitchen were all dead thanks to his power. Unable to focus on the fact that Dean and Cas were missing at the moment, Sam instead focused on the Horseman. Two of the five demons guarding Famine moved forward to attack him. "Stop!" Famine cried. "No one lays a finger on this sweet little boy. Sam, I see you got the snack I sent you."
"You sent?" Sam echoed. "Don't worry, you're not like everyone else," Famine assured him. "You'll never die from drinking too much. You're the exception that proves the rule. Just the way... Satan wanted you to be. So..." the Horseman lifted his hands and gestured at the demons guarding him, "... cut their throats. Have at them!" Sam just stared at him for a long moment. "Please, be my guest," Famine insisted.
Sam lifted his hand, closed his eyes, and pulled all five demons out of their hosts at once. The demon smoke all pooled on the floor at their feet, and then he lowered his hand. "No," he shook his head, opening his eyes. "Well... Fine," Famine said. "If you don't want them... then I'll have them." With a gesture of his hand, all the demon smoke funneled into his mouth. As soon as it was all gone, Sam stepped forward and held a hand out toward Famine. "I'm a Horseman, Sam. Your power doesn't work on me."
"You're right. But it will work on them." Famine's eyes widened in fear as Sam used his powers to rip out all the demon souls he had consumed. His nose bled with the effort, but the souls exploded from Famine and Famine slumped down in the wheelchair, his eyes empty. Breathing heavily, Sam winced and made his way over to the dead Horseman, taking his ring from his finger and slipping it into his pocket. He needed to find Dean and Cas. "Guys? Dean? Cas? You there?" He searched every inch of the restaurant, but only found dead bodies. No brother. No angel.
He headed out to where the Impala was parked and then froze. The back windows were fogged up on the inside and he could just barely make out two forms lying horizontally on top of each other through the glass. "Oh, crap," he groaned. Inhaling deeply, he pounded on the back window. The two figures inside seemed to scramble, startled by the interruption and Sam turned his back, pacing a few steps away. A few moments later, he heard the door open and shut. "Sammy?" Dean asked.
He turned, taking in his older brother's appearance. Dean looked terrible. Not only were his clothes rumpled from being thrown back on quickly, but it looked like he had been in a major fight. He had blood on his arms and bruises forming in several places and kept flexing his jaw painfully. "A-are you alright?" Sam asked him. "F-fine," Dean winced. "Just, uh... just a little sore. W-what are you..."
"I killed Famine."
Dean's eyes widened. "Y-you... Oh." Dean finally seemed to register the red stain around Sam's mouth and looked back at the restaurant. "Oh." Cas had also exited the Impala, but he wasn't in as bad a shape as Dean. One of the perks of being an angel, Sam guessed, being able to clean yourself up. "Alright, well... we should get back to Bobby's then..." Dean glanced over at Cas.
Back at Bobby's they got Sam locked back in the panic room for his second demon-detox. Dean winced rubbing his shoulder as he and Cas stood outside the panic room door listening to Sam's screams. "Let me out of here, please! Help!" Sam cried. "That's not him in there," Cas said quietly. "Not really." Dean nodded, head pounding with the motion. "I know." Cas turned to look at him. "Dean, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you so badly. I did try to warn you before-"
"I know, Cas. Don't worry about it. I'll heal..." He flinched as Sam continued to scream and then winced from the pain of the motion. "Dean..." Cas seemed to hesitate with what to say, and then he seemed to settle on something different. "Sam just has to get it out of his system. Then he'll be-"
Dean cut him off. "Listen, I just, uh... I just need to get some air." He left the basement, slipping out Bobby's front door into the scrapyard. He hissed as he sat down on the front steps, tears springing to his eyes.
Everything was so messed up. There was no way he could deny any more that he wanted to be with Cas. Sam was drinking demon blood again. Mack... She had been asleep when they returned, and as such, he still hadn't seen her yet."I'm afraid she became a part of this the second Lucifer laid his hands on her." Michael's words echoed through his head. The door opened and Bobby wheeled out onto the porch. "You okay, boy?" he asked. Dean took a shaky breath, lifting his head from his hands. "Honestly... no. What the hell are we doing, Bobby?"
"You wanna get more specific?" the old man asked. "When did everything in our lives start going to shit?" It was a rhetorical question... mostly. He knew when everything started going to shit. It all started when John decided to up and disappear while trying to track down Yellow Eyes. If he hadn't disappeared, Dean wouldn't have gone to get Sam from Stanford, which meant that Jess might not have died, John might not have died... basically a lot of people might still be alive, Dean wouldn't have had any reason to sell his soul to save Sam, Cas wouldn't have had to raise his sorry ass from Hell, he wouldn't have broken that first seal setting off the chain of events that led to this moment right now.
Typical... it boiling down to being all his dad's fault. Dean felt tears sliding down his cheeks, but he made no effort to wipe them away. His back was still to Bobby, so the old man couldn't see anyway. The door opened again, and this time the newcomer came over to sit beside him. "Hi, Daddy," Mack said, leaning into his side. "Hey, bug," he hugged her with one arm, pressing a kiss on top of her head. "What are you doing up?"
"Uncle Sammy woke me up," she mumbled, hugging Skittles close to her chest. Bobby slipped back inside as quietly as he could, giving the father and daughter some privacy. "Why are you crying?" Mack asked, looking up at Dean. He paused for a moment, trying to come up with an answer for her. "I'm just tired, bug. I'll feel better when I get some sleep." It would take a lot more than just a good night's rest to make him feel better, but she didn't need to know that. "Come on. Let's get you back in bed."
He painfully got to his feet, and Mack grabbed onto his hand as he led her back inside. Sam's cries were muffled now; the door to the basement had been closed. He and Mack headed upstairs to her bedroom and she climbed up into bed. He tucked her in, pressing another kiss to her forehead. "Daddy?" she asked sleepily as he was turning off the light. "Yes, princess?" he asked, hovering in the doorway. "Will you stay with me? To keep the nightmares away?" Dean's heart broke, and he nodded. "Of course."
He walked back over, sitting on the edge of her bed. She was curled up underneath the covers, the blanket pulled up to her chin. Skittles' head was also popping out of the edge of the blanket as Mack blinked sleepily up at him. "Close your eyes, bug," he coaxed her gently. She continued to blink sleepily a few more times and then finally complied as her eyes got too heavy to keep open.
The case after that was a rough one. The dead were rising in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Among them, Bobby's wife Karen and the local Sheriff, Jody Mills' son. That was Jody's first brush with the Supernatural. Her son ended up killing her husband and then she had to put her boy down. Dean felt bad for her, because he could never imagine going through something like that with Mack. Bobby also had to put Karen down... for the second time. Apparently, Death had sent her with a message for him. Everything that happened happened because he was helping Sam and Dean and was one of the main reasons Sam was still saying no to Lucifer.
After that, a couple of hunters killed Sam and Dean. Cas stayed with Mack in the motel room with their bodies until they came back to life, coaching them on how to navigate around Heaven. They would have left Mack behind, but after the zombie thing happened in Sioux Falls, Dean wanted to keep her close. Cas had given them the task of locating Joshua, the only angel he knew of that still talked to God. During that conversation, Joshua told them to back off. Apparently, God knew the apocalypse was coming, and had decided it wasn't his problem.
"Maybe... maybe Joshua was lying," Cas had suggested when they told him. "I don't think he was, Cas," Sam replied softly. "I'm sorry." He sighed, glancing at Dean. The elder Winchester was watching Cas move into the entryway and look up. "You son of a bitch. I believed in..." the angel trailed off. Dean struggled, wanting to approach Cas and offer him assurance, but unsure what he could possibly say. After standing there and not receiving any sort of sign or answer, Cas turned back to face them.
He pulled Dean's amulet he'd taken from him out of his pocket. "I don't need this anymore," he said, tossing it to Dean. "It's worthless." Dean stared at the amulet in his hand and then looked back at Cas. He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't get his voice to work. "Cas. Wait," Sam called out. Cas just disappeared without another word. "Daddy?" Mack asked, looking up at him. He swallowed, staring down at the amulet in his hand again.
"We'll find another way," Sam said. "We can stop all of this, Dean." Dean looked up at his baby brother. "How?" he asked. "I don't know, but we'll find it. You and me, we'll find it." The words sounded empty and desperate to Dean's ears. He picked up his bag and walked past Sam without saying anything or looking at him. At the door he paused, throwing the amulet in the trash, and then walked out.
"Uncle Sammy?" Mack looked up at him then. "Let's go, Kinley," Sam said. He grabbed his own bag, taking Mack's hand and together they left the motel room.
They had gotten wind of some demon activity in Blue Earth, Minnesota, so they headed there next. "Drive faster, Dean!" Sam urged him. "I can't!" Dean snapped. "Are you okay?" Sam scoffed, "Yeah, I'm amazing. How you doin', Kinley?" He turned in his seat to look back at her. They'd been right about the demon activity- there were demons in Blue Earth. More than they had anticipated. "'M fine," she replied, clutching the back of his and Dean's seat tightly as Dean gunned it down the road. "You ever seen that many?" Dean asked. "No. No way, not in one place," Sam shook his head.
This was insane. Suddenly, the Impala stalled in the middle of the road. "What the hell?" Dean hit the wheel. "Damn it!" They all turned to look out the back window at the approaching demons worriedly. Suddenly, a whole ass firetruck pulled up, spraying the demons with the hose. The Winchesters gaped, getting out of the car- it was holy water spraying out of the hose. One of the men in the firetruck started reciting what sounded like an Enochian exorcism and the demons all fled out of their hosts. "Well, that's something you don't see every day," Dean stated.
"You three alright?" the man who'd said the exorcism came over. "Peachy," Dean replied. "Be careful. It's... dangerous around here." The man turned away with that foreboding warning, and Dean called out to him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait." The man looked over his shoulder, "No need to thank us." He continued to walk off with Dean in pursuit. "No, hold up a sec! Who are you?" The man stopped, looking Dean dead in the eyes. "We're the Sacrament Lutheran Militia." Dean blinked, "I'm sorry- the what?" The man took a deep breath, glancing over at Mack and Sam before looking back at Dean. "I hate to tell you this, but those were demons and this is the apocalypse. So... buckle up."