World So Cold

40. The Magnificent Seven

"Not much. Crop failure and a cicada swarm outside of Lincoln, Nebraska. Could be demonic omens."

"Or could just be a bad crop and bug problem."

"Yeah, but it's our only lead."

"Any freaky deaths?" Laurey asked, frowning to see multiple black eyes.

"No, nothing Bobby could find -- not yet, anyway. Laurey?"

"Dunno yet."

"It's weird, man, Laur," Dean said. "I mean, the night the Devil's Gate opened, all these weirdo storm clouds were sighted over how many cities?"

"17," Sam and Laurey answered.

"17. You think it would be "Apocalypse Now," but it's been five days and bupkis." Sam looked at him, startled while Laurey looked at him with a frown. Dean paused. "What are the demons waiting for?"

"Beats me and Laurey."

"It's driving me crazy. I tell you two, if it's gonna be war, I wish it would just start already."

"I don't know, man. Be careful what you wish for."

The next morning, Dean, Sam, Laurey and Jonathan pulled outside a farmhouse. Dean got out munching on a hamburger. The air was filled with the sound of cicadas.

"Hear those cicadas?" Sam questioned.

"That can't be a good sign," Dean commented.

"No," Laurey said. "No, it can't." She grabbed Jonathan's hand. "Stay close."

Bobby walked up and greeted them. "So, we're eating bacon cheeseburgers for breakfast, are we?"

"Well, I sold my soul," Dean replied. "Got a year to live. I ain't sweating the cholesterol."

"So, Bobby, what do you think?" Sam questioned. "We got a Biblical plague here or what?"

"Well, let's find out," Bobby answered. "Looks like the swarm's ground zero."

Dean pounded on the farmhouse door. "Candygram!"

They picked the lock and opened the door. Dean entered first, followed by Laurey, and Sam behind them with a gun drawn. Jonathan had been instructed to stay in the car, which he'd begrudgingly agreed to. They covered their noses and disgust and Laurey choked back a gag.

"That's awful," Sam said.

"That so can't be a good sign," Dean noted.

They crept through the house, stopping in the second room and heard what sounded like panicked screams.

"You hear that?" Laurey asked.

They kicked open the next door. The sounds were coming from a television set. A family of three was seated on the couch, several days dead. Sam, Dean and Laurey recoiled at the increased stench.

"Oh, my God," Sam muttered.

Bobby entered the other side of the room and recoiled in horror.

"Bobby, what the hell happened here?" Sam wondered.

"I don't know," Bobby replied.

"Check for sulfur," Dean suggested.

"Yeah."

The four of them investigated the room. Dean heard a noise out front and signaled to the others that they were going to check it out. Bobby, Sam and Laurey circled around the other direction.

Out front, Dean exited cautiously, gun drawn, and looked around. As he came around the house, Dean was knocked to the ground by a man with a shotgun; Isaac. His wife, Tamara, came up behind him.