Dean walks down a dim hallway, grimly, turning towards a door and pulling out a gun. He slides out the clip, taps it on the gun, then replaces it. Inside the room, there is a Crater Lake poster on the wall. Below it is a young blond man, Duane, tied to a chair.
Nearby are a young woman, Pam, and her twin brother, Pete, a middle-aged woman, Dr. Lee, and a tough-looking black man, Mark, all standin around looking around nervously. Duane looks up as Dean opens the door and enters, raising the gun.
"No, no, no, no, no, you're not gonna...no, I swear! It's not in me!" Duane stammers, frantically. "Oh God." Pam said, fearfully. "We're all gonna die." Pete said, panicked. "Maybe he's tellin' the truth." Mark said as Dean advanced toward Duane, cocking his gun.
"He's not him, not anymore." Dean said. "No, stop it! Stop it! Ask her, ask the doctor! It's not in me!" Duane pleads, frantically. "I just...I can't tell." Lee said, unsure. "No, please, don't. Don't. I swear, I..." Duane pleads to Dean.
"I got no choice." Dean said and Duane starts sobbing. "I swear, it's not in me, it's not in me! Don't, don't. Please!" Duane pleads until Dean fires twice.
I had my head buried in my pillows, thinking that this would help with the pain in my head. I let out a pained groan when I heard something crash. I look up, slowly, to see that the lamp on the bed side table had knocked over and broke on the floor, somehow.
I look over at the other side of the bed and see that Sam was laying on the floor, groaning in pain. "Sam..." I whispered when I hear the the door open. I look up to see Dean had entered chewing on jerky and carrying a six-pack of beer.
He stops and looks at us as me and Sam sit up, panting. "Guys?" Dean asked, concerned. "No..." Sam whispers as I give a fearful look towards Dean.
Dean was driving while Sam was navigating with a GPS device, which speaks directions. "Continue on O-R Two-Two-Four West." The GPS said. "There are only two towns in the US named Rivergrove." Sam said.
"How come you guys are so sure it's the one in Oregon?" Dean asked as that Oregon poster pops up in my minds eye. "There was a picture. Crater Lake." I said and Sam nods. "She's right." He said.
"Okay, what else?" Dean asked. "I saw a dark room, some people, and a guy tied to a chair." Sam said. "Yeah, me too." I said. "And I ventilated him?" Dean asked. "Yeah. You thought there was something inside him." I said to him.
"What, a demon? Was he possessed?" He asked us. "I don't know." Sam and I said, in unison. "Well, all your weirdo visions are always tied to the Yellow-Eyed Demon somehow....so was there any black smoke? Did we try to exorcise it?" Dean said.
"No." I said.
"Nothing, you just plugged him, that's it." Sam said.
"Well, I'm sure I had a good reason." Dean said. "I sure hope so." I muttered. "What does that mean?" Dean asked as he looks up at the rearview mirror at me but I don't reply to him.
"I mean, I'm not gonna waste an innocent man." Dean said and Sam and I raise an eyebrow at him. "I wouldn't!" Dean exclaims. "Never said you would!" Sam said to him. "Fine!" Dean yells. "Fine!" Sam shouts back at him and I sigh.
"Look, we don't know what it is. But whatever it is, that guy in the chair's a part of it. So let's find him, and see what's what." I said as I look between the boys. "Fine." Dean growls. "Fine." Sam and I said and we sit in silence as Dean continues driving down the road.
We pull into the town, passing a large billboard advertising Crater Lake. We pull up in front of a wooden shop; out front the older man from my vision is cleaning a rifle; he wears a short-sleeved blue shirt with a multi-pocket brown vest.
The boys and I get out and approach him. "Morning." Dean greets. "Good morning. Can I help you?" The man asked us. "Yeah." Dean said as he pulls out a badge. "Uh, Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard, Billy Ethridge. U.S. Marshals." Dean said and the man looks at us, confused.
"What's this about?" The man asked. "We're looking for someone." I said and Sam nods. "A young man, early twenties. He'd have a, a thin scar right below his hairline." Sam describes.
"What'd he do?" The man asked. "Well, nothing. We're actually looking for someone else, but we think this young man could help us." I said. "Yeah, he's not in any kind of trouble or anything; well, not yet." Dean said then he looks at the man's arm which had a distinctive tattoo. "I think maybe you know who he is...Master Sergeant." Dean said and the man gives him a curious look
"My dad was in the Corps, he was a Corporal." Dean replied. "What company?" The man asked. "Echo-2-1." Dean said and the man nods. "So can you help us?" I asked him. "Duane Tanner's got a scar like that. But I know him. Good kid, keeps his nose clean." He said after hesitating for a moment.
"Oh, I'm sure he does. Um. You know where he lives?" Dean asked. "With his family, up Aspen Way." The man replied. "Thank you." Dean said and we leave.
Across the street, Sam bumps into a telephone pole and glances at it in passing. He stops and stares at it. "Sam?" I said as I come up next to him to see a word is etched into the wooden pole.
CROATOAN
"Hey." I said to Dean answer he approaches it and looks at the word. "Croatoan?" Dean said, questioning. "Yeah." Sam said and Sam looks at him, blankly. "Roanoke? Lost colony? Ring a bell? Dean, did you pay any attention in history class?" Sam asked him. "Yeah! Shots heard 'round the world, How bills becomes laws..." Dean said and I give him a you serious? look.
"That's not school, that's Schoolhouse Rock." I said to him. "Whatever." Dean said, shrugging, and I sigh and shake my head. "Roanoke was one of the first English colonies in America, late 1500s." Sam said to him. "Oh yeah, yeah, I do remember that. The only thing they left behind was a single word carved in a tree. Croatoan." Dean said, nodding.
"Yeah. And I mean, there were theories — Indian raid, disease, but nobody knows what really happened. They were all just gone. I mean, wiped out overnight." I said. "You guys don't think that's what's going on here, I mean..." Dean said to us. "Whatever we saw in our head, it sure wasn't good. But what do you think could do that?" Sam asked him.
"Well, I mean, like I said, all of your weirdo visions are always tied to the Yellow-Eyed Demon somehow, so..." Dean said, shrugging. "We should get help. Bobby, uh, Ellen maybe?" I suggest to them. "Yeah, that's a good idea." Dean said and he pulls out his cell phone, then frowns at it.
"I don't have a signal." He said and Sam and I pull out our phones and I notice I have no signal either. "I don't either." Sam said and they look over at me. "That's a negative." I said and we walk to a pay phone, which Dean picks up then clicks the receiver several times.
"Line's dead." He said as he hangs up. "I'll tell you one thing. If I was gonna massacre a town, that'd be my first step." Dean said and we head back to the Impala.
We park outside a cabin--like house in the middle of nowhere, then we approach the front. By the door is a small, tacky plaque that reads BORN TO FISH; FORCED TO WORK. Sam knocks on the door, and a teenaged boy with dark spiked hair opens it.
"Yeah?" He asked and we flash out badge at him. "We're looking for Duane Tanner; he lives here, right?" Dean said. "Yeah, he's my brother." The boy said.
"Can we talk to him?" I asked him. "Oh, he's not here right now." The boy said. "Do you know where he is?" Dean asked. "Yeah, he went on a fishing trip up by Roslyn Lake." The boy replied.
"Your parents home?" Sam asked him. "Yeah, they're inside." The boy said as an older man's voice calls out to him. "Jake? Who is it?" The voice asked as an older man comes up to the door. "Hi, U.S. Marshals, sir, we're looking for your son Duane." Dean said to Mr Tanner. "Wh-why? He's not in trouble, is he?" Mr Tanner asked, worried.
"No, no, no, no. We just need to ask him a couple of routine questions, that's all." I said to him. "When's he due back from his trip?" Sam asked. "I'm not sure." Mr Tanner said. "Well, maybe your wife knows." I said. "No, I don't know, she's not here right now." Mr Tanner said and we give confused look towards him.
"Your son said she was." Dean said and Jake looks at us. "Did I?" He said, confused. "She's getting groceries. So, when Duane gets back, there's a number where he can get a hold of you?" Mr Tanner asked. "Oh no, we'll just check in with you later." Dean said and we turn and walk down the steps as the Tanners shut the door behind us.
"That was kind of creepy, right? A little too Stepford?" Dean asked us. "Big time." Sam said and I nodded. Looking furtively about, we sneak around to the back of the house, crouching below a window.
Inside, Mr Tanner comes out of the next room with a kitchen knife. Jake stands in front of his mother, who was tied up, and casually rolls up one sleeve. Mr Tanner cuts into his arm and lets the blood drip onto a wound in his wife's shoulder.
Immediately, the boys and I arm ourselves and kick down the back door. As we rush in, handguns raised, Mr Tanner rushes at us with a knife; Dean and I shoot him in the chest. Jake jumps out the window, shattering glass, and darts off into the woods. Sam aims at him through the window but hesitates, giving him time to get away.
Later, we drive up to the clinic and parked in front of the building. We get out of the car and Sam goes to help Mrs Tanner out and leads her to the door and I follow them while Dean opens the trunk. Inside, the clinic is quiet, dim, and empty.
"Hello? Hello?" I called out. "We need a doctor here!" Sam shouts then a young man and woman, who looked very similar in facial feature, rush out to us. "Mrs. Tanner, what happened?" The girl asked us. "She's been attacked." Sam replied and the man turns and yells. "Doctor Lee!"
Then a woman, Dr Lee, wearing a lab coat rushes in and sees Mrs Tanner. "Bring her in." She said and Sam nods. "Okay." He said and the man leads Sam and Mrs Tanner into a back room while Lee follows. Dean enters, carrying the canvas-covered body of Mr Tanner hoisted over his shoulders.
"Is that —" Lee started to ask until Dean speaks over her. "Mr. Tanner?" He said. "Was he attacked too?" Lee asked and Dean and I exchange a look. "Uh...no, actually, he did the attacking and then he got himself shot." I said as Dean nods. "Shot?" Lee exclaimed, shocked. "Yeah." Dean and I said.
"And who are you?" Lee asked Dean. "U.S. Marshal. I'd show you my badge, but uh..." Dean said as he gestures towards Mr Tanner's body. "I can vouch for him." I said as I hold up my badge and she looks at it then nods. "Bring him back here." Lee said and we head to the back room towards the lab.
Mrs Tanner was seated on a stool with her shirt off; Dr. Lee sits across from her, treating the wound on her left shoulder. "Wait, you said Jake helped him? Your son Jake?" Lee asked and Mrs Tanner nods. "They beat me. Tied me up." She said and the young woman and man, that greeted us, both shake their heads.
"I don't believe it." The woman said. "Me either." The man said. "Pam. Pete." Lee said to them, warningly, and they look at her and nod before Lee turns back to Mrs Tanner. "Beverly...do you have any idea why they would act this way? Any history of chemical dependency?" She asked. "No, of course not. I don't know why. One minute they were my husband and my son. And the next, they had the devil in them." Beverly said and the boys and I share a look at her last words.
"We gotta talk." Dean said to us and we exit the lab. "Those guys were whacked out of their gourds." Dean said. "What do you think? Multiple demons, mass possession?" Sam asked. "If it is a possession there could be more. I mean, God knows how many, it could be like a friggin' Shriner convention." I said and Sam sighs. "Great." He grumbles.
"Of course, that's one way to wipe out a town, you take it from the inside." Dean said and Sam shrugging. "I don't know, guys. We didn't see any of the demon smoke with Mr. Tanner, or any of the other usual signs." Sam said. "Well, whatever. Something turned him into a monster. And you know if you woulda taken out the other one there'd be one less to worry about." Dean growled at Sam.
"I'm sorry, all right? I hesitated, Dean, it was a kid!" Sam shouts. "No, it was an it. Not the best time for a bleeding heart, Sam." Dean growls. "Okay, enough boys!" I said just as Lee stalks out of the lab, her heels clicking loudly on the floor.
"How's the patient?" I asked her. "Terrible! What the hell happened out there?" She exclaimed. "We don't know." Dean said. "Yeah? Well, you just killed my next door neighbor." Lee said. "We didn't have a choice." I said. "Maybe so, but we need the county Sheriff. I need the coroner..." Lee said.
"Phones are down." Sam said and she sighs. "I know, I tried. Tell me you have a police radio in the car?" Lee asked us. "Yeah we do. But it crapped out just like everything else." I said and Lee runs her hands over her face.
"I don't understand what is happening." She said, scared. "How far is it to the next town?" Dean asked her. "It's about forty miles down to Sidewinder." Lee replied. "All right, I'm gonna go down there, see if I can find some help." Dean said then he claps both mine and Sam on the shoulder. "My partners'll stick around, keep you guys safe." He said.
"Safe from what?" Lee asked. "We'll get back to you on that." Dean said and he starts to leave.
Later in the lab, I was leaning against a counter, staring at the body of Mr Tanner while Sam begins pacing. Lee was sitting on a stool, looking at something in a microscope. "Huh." She said, confused. "What?" Sam and I asked. "His lymphocyte percentage is pretty high. His body was fighting off a viral infection." Lee said.
"Really? What kind of virus?" Sam asked as I raise an eyebrow. "Can't say for sure." Lee said, shaking her head. "Do you think an infection could have made him act like that?" I asked her. "None that I've ever heard of. I mean, some can cause dementia, but not that kind of violence. And besides, I've never heard of one that did this to the blood." Lee said.
"Did what?" Sam asked. "There's this...weird residue. If I didn't know better I'd say it was sulfur." Lee said and my eyes widen. "Sulfur." Sam and I said and we exchange a worried look then we stare, intently, at Mrs Tanner, who is still huddled on the stool in the lab.
"I don't understand. Are you saying my husband and Jake had a disease?" She asked, tearfully. "That's what we're trying to find out. Now, during the attack, do you remember....did you have any direct contact with their blood?" Lee asked her. "Oh my God. You don't think I've got this virus, do you?" Mrs Tanner asked, frantically.
"Beverly, I don't know what to think. But with your permission, we'll take a blood sample." Lee said. Mrs Tanner nods and lays her hand gently on Lee's.
Suddenly she grabs Lee's wrist and yells in rage, lashing out with her other hand. I advance on her and she tosses me against a glass cabinet, which shatters. Sam goes towards her but she picks up a scalpel, then he takes a fire extinguisher from the wall. She advances on him, still yelling, and he knocks her out.
"You okay?" Sam asked after we take a moment. "Yeah." I said, nodding, as I get up.
Later, after locking Mrs Tanner in a closet, Lee begins to look through the microscope again. Pam and Pete were huddled against the far wall. "What if we all have it? What if we all go crazy?" Pete asked, nervously. "You've got to stay calm. All we can do is wait. The Marshal's bringing help." Lee said to them.
"I can't, I...I've got to go." Pam said, frantically. "Pam!" Lee shouts. "No, you don't understand. My boyfriend's out there, I gotta make sure he's okay." Pam said and she hurries out of the lab. "Pam!" Pete shouts and he follows her out then Sam and I follow them all the way to the lobby.
"All right, wait, wait. Please." Sam said to Pam, who turns to him. "Look, we know you're upset, all right? But it's safer if you stay here for now. Help is coming." I said to her just as we hear the Impala pull up outside.
"There they are." Sam said as I smile. "Sammy? (Y/n)? Open up!" Dean's voice calls out and we go to the front door and let Dean and the man, we first met in this town, in. Both of them were armed.
"Did you guys, uh, get to a phone?" Sam asked Dean. "Road block." Dean said to the man. "I'm gonna have a word. Doc's inside." He said and the man leaves and heads to the back.
"What's going on out there, Dean?" I asked him. "I don't know, I feel like Chuck Heston in the Omega Man, I mean, Sarge is the only sane person I could find. What are we dealing with, do you know?" Dean asked. "Yeah. Doc thinks it's a virus." Sam replied.
"Okay, great. What do you think?" Dean said. "I think she's right." I said and Sam nods. "Really?" Dean said. "Yeah. And we think the infected are trying to infect others with blood-to-blood contact. Oh, but it gets better. The uh, the virus? Leaves traces of sulfur in the blood." Sam said.
"A demonic virus?" Dean asked. "Yeah, more like demonic germ warfare. At least it explains why Sam and I have been having visions." I said. "It's like a Biblical plague." Dean said. "Yeah. You don't know how right you are, Dean." I said to him. "I've been poring through Dad's journal, found something about the Roanoke colony." Sam said.
"And?" Dean asked. "Dad always had a theory about Croatoan. He thought it was a demon's name. Sometimes known as Deva or sometimes Resheph. A demon of plague and pestilence." Sam explains. "Well, that, that's terrific." Dean said, sarcastically. "Why here, why now?"
"No idea. But Dean, who knows how far this thing can spread? We gotta get out of here, we gotta warn people." I said. "They've got one! In here!" The man's voice shouts and the boys and I exchange a look then head into the room.
"What do you mean?" Dean asked. "The wife. She's infected." I said to him. "We've gotta take care of this. We can't just leave her in there. My neighbors, they were strong. The longer we wait, the stronger she'll get." The man said as he gestures towards the door. Dean barely hesitates before pulling out his gun and stalking into the lab.
"You're gonna kill Beverly Tanner?" Pam said, confused, as we enter the lab. "Doctor, could there be any treatment? Some kind of cure for this?" Sam asked Lee. "Can you cure it?" Dean asked. "For God's sake, I don't even know what it is!" Lee exclaims.
"I told you, it's just a matter of time before she breaks through." The man said. "Just leave her in there, you can't shoot her like an animal!" Pete exclaims. "Sam. (Y/n)." Dean said and we go to the door of the utility room, where Mrs Tanner is being held.
Dean and the man hold their guns ready; Sam carefully opens the door, and the two men take up offensive positions. Inside, Mrs Tanner is huddled on the floor, knees drawn up. She jumps at their approach.
"Mark, what are you doing? Mark, it's...it's them! They locked me in here, they...they tried to kill me! They're infected, not me! Please, Mark! You've known me all your life! Please!" She pleads to the man, Mark, who shakes and on the verge of tears. "You guys sure she's one of 'em?" Dean asked me and Sam. We nod at him as Mark pulls back, near tears. Dean then steps forward and fires twice.