The Winchester Three (S4): Lazarus Rising

Ch 6 Section 2

Angel laid in the front seat of the Impala as the radio loudly played Eye of the Tiger. She was trying to block out any and every obsessive thought that was telling her she was in danger. Safe to say nothing was working because every little noise she heard she was convinced it was something trying to kill her.

Something banged heavily on the roof of the impala making her screech in surprise. She bolted upright but sagged in somewhat-relief when she saw it was only Sam. Turning the radio off she carefully opened the door and climbed out.

Sam studied her worriedly, "How are you doing?"

"How am i doing? Is that even a question?" Angel moved the hair from her face before frantically pulling up her sleeve to reveal the raw scratches marring her skin, "I mean look at this! Like, what the hell?!" When he tried to take her arm to study the scratches she shooed him away, "Don't touch it! It's bad enough already."

Sam gave her an exasperated look as Dean joined them with a pink box in hadm. He handed over the box which consisted of her favorite pastries, chocolate cake donuts with frosting, hoping to help her relax or at least cheer her up. Angel took the box slowly, eyed it warily, and tossed it into the Impala with a disapproving frown after thinking the possibility of choking and dying was too high. Both of her brothers watched the actions worriedly as her normal behavior would have been digging in immediately, much like Dean.

Dean turned from appalled to worried as he turned to Sam, "What did Bobby say?"

"Um, wel..." Sam sent Angel a cautious eye, "You're not gonna like it."

Dread filled her, "What?"

"It's ghost sickness."

Dean cocked his head in confusion, never hearing that before, "Ghost sickness?"

Sam nodded, "Yeah."

Angel's eyes widened in terror, "God, no." She leaned back until her back hit the Impala, "Not ghost sickness..."

Sam's face softened in worry, "Yeah."

She stared at him for a beat, fear building up more and more, "I don't even know what that is."

"Yeah..." Dean shook his head, "Me either."

"Okay." Sam rolled his eyes before explaining, "Some cultures believe that certain spirits can infect the living with a disease. Which is why they stopped displaying bodies in houses and started taking them off to funeral homes."

"Yadda, yadda, yadda." Angel hurried him along, "Get to the nitty gritty, Sam."

"Symptoms are you get anxious-"

"Then scared, then really scared, then your heart gives out." Dean finished in realization before looking down at Angel, "Sound familiar?"

"Fan-friggin-tastic." Angel panicked as her breath started coming quicker, "We haven't even had a ghost job in weeks!"

"Well, I doubt you caught it from a ghost." At both of their curious looks Sam pressed on, "Look, once a spirit infects that first person, ghost sickness can spread like any sickness through a cough, a handshake, whatever. It's like the flu. Now, Frank O'Brien was the first to die, which means he was probably the first infected. Patient zero."

Dean nodded, "Our very own outbreak monkey."

"Right. Get this, Frank was in Maumee over the weekend. Softball tournament. Which is where he must have infected the other two victims."