RIGHTEOUS ⁴ - DEAN WINCHESTER

Eight

"So, they're all people we know?" Sam asked as he, Dean, Jenny and Bobby walked through the house.

"Not just know. People we couldn't save." Dean stated the obvious as Jenny paused. The three boys paused next, turning to face her. "What is it, Jen?"

"I saw something on Nathaniel. I think it was a tattoo but— I don't remember seeing one on him before. It looked like a brand?"

"I saw a mark, too, on Henriksen." Sam spoke, Bobby looked between the two.

"What did it look like?"

"Uh, paper?" Jenny raised a finger and Dean handed her a slip along with a pen. "Thanks." She leaned over a nearby table, sketching the mark quickly before turning back around to Sam.

"That's it." Sam nodded in confirmation as Bobby took the paper from Jenny, inspecting it.

"I may have seen this before. We got to move. Follow me." Sam, Dean and Jenny frowned in confusion as they followed Bobby.
"Okay, where are we going?"

"Some place safe, you idiot." Bobby snapped at Sam, who raised his brows in offense. Bobby picked up a few books before leading the younger Hunters to a basement room. It was made entirely out of iron, covered from floor to ceiling in pentagrams and Devil's Traps.

"Bobby, is this..." Bobby nodded to Sam

"Solid iron. Completely coated in salt. 100% ghost-proof." Bobby smirked a bit, nodding at the door.

"You built a panic room?"

"I had a weekend off." He shrugged, opening the door.

"Bobby." Dean placed a firm hand on Bobby's shoulder, smiling. "You're awesome."

"Panic room was Jenny's idea." Bobby gestured to Jenny, who shrugged with a smirk.

———

Jenny tapped some salt into a shotgun round, glaring into it before clicking a cap on. After a moment, she sighed, slumping.

"See, this is why I can't get behind God." Dean spoke, Jenny's brows raising at him like he had just read her mind.

"What are you talking about?" Sam frowned at his brother, who set a bullet down.

"If he doesn't exist, fine. Bad shit happens to good people. That's how it is. There's no rhyme or reason— just random, horrible, evil— I get it, okay. I can roll with that. But if he is out there, what's wrong with him? Where the hell is he while all these decent people are getting torn to shreds? How does he live with himself? You know, why doesn't he help?"

"I ain't touching this one with at 10-foot pole." Bobby shook his head. Dean stayed quiet, nodding slowly.

"Centuries of famine, plagues and wars." Jenny had a hard look on her face, looking to the three. "And we just now discovered angels exist. Why didn't they try and stop any of it?" The four kept looking at one another, but none of them had an answer.

Bobby cleared his throat. "Found it."

"What?" Sam looked to Bobby, who raised the book he was holding.

"The symbol you saw— the brand on the ghosts..." Bobby trailed off and Jenny stood up.

"Yeah Bobby?"

"Mark of the Witness." Jenny's expression dropped, Sam and Dean noticing that she already knew what it was.

"Witness? Witness to what?"

"The unnatural." Jenny answered Sam, turning to him and Dean. "People that died due to the supernatural. These ghosts were forced to rise. Nathaniel... I saw him go to Heaven. Something brought him down to kill me. Just like Meg tried to kill Sam. Someone rose them... on purpose."