Check Yes or No

16. Something Wicked

"Don't worry, she won't look that close, all right? Hell, she won't even ask to see it. It's all about confidence, Sammy." He spun Sam to face the desk and kept walking.

The receptionist looked up.

"Hi," Sam greeted. "I'm Doctor Jerry Caplin, from Disease Control."

"Can I see some ID?" the receptionist asked.

Dean snickered from where he was standing, stopping when his wife gave him a look.

Sam shot his brother a dirty look. "Yeah of course." He quickly flashed the ID. "Now, could you direct me to the pediatrics ward please?"

"Okay, well, just go down that hall, turn left and up the stairs."

Sam approached his grinning brother, giving a major bitchface.

Dean was still grinning. "See. I told you it would work."

Sam growled. "Follow me. It's upstairs."

The five of them walked down the corridor and Dean looked into a room they passed. An old evil-looking woman sitting in a wheelchair slowly turned her head to look at him. An inverted cross hung on her wall.

"Dean!" Sam and Carrie called.

Dean followed his younger brother and wife, glancing back toward the room.

A doctor led them down a hospital corridor.

"Thanks for seeing us, Dr. Hydeker," Sam said.

"Well, I'm glad you guys are here, I was about to call CDC myself," Dr. Hydeker replied. "How'd you find out anyways?"

"Oh some GP, I forget his name, he called Atlanta and musta beat you to the punch."

"So you say you got six cases so far?" Sam questioned.

"Yeah, five weeks. At first we thought it was garden variety bacterial pneumonia. Not that newsworthy. And now..."

"Now what?" Carrie pressed, holding Asher and Elyse's hands tightly.

"Kids aren't responding to antibiotics. Their white cell counts keep going down. Their immune systems aren't doing their job. It's like their bodies are wearing out."

"Excuse me, Dr. Hydeker," a nurse called, handing him some forms to look over and sign.

"You ever see anything like this before?" Sam asked Dr. Hydeker.

"Never this severe," Dr. Hydeker replied.

"And the way it spreads... that's a new one for me," the nurse added.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"It works its way through families. But only the children, one sibling after the other."

"Do you mind if we interview a few of the kids?" Dean wondered.

"They're not conscious."

"None of them?" Carrie asked.

"No."

"Can we, uh, can we talk to the parents?" Dean questioned.

"If you think it will help," Dr. Hydeker replied.

"Yeah. Who was your most recent admission?"

They made their way to a hospital waiting room where a man was sitting in a chair and the trio stood in front of him.

"I should get back to my girls," the man said.

"We understand that, and we really appreciate you talking to us," Sam replied. "Now you say Mary is the oldest?"