Standing Outside the Fire

45

[Hunteri Heroici]

EXT. PARK – DAY

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

A man wearing a suit and a wedding ring sat at a park picnic table and sent a text message on his cell phone. Message sent, he set the phone down and fingered his wedding ring.

"Gary?" a young woman called as she walked up behind him.

Gary stood and faced her. "Olivia. After last time I – I didn't think that you would come."

"I wasn't going to, but..."

"I'm glad you did."

"So am I." She took Gary's hands and they smiled at each other. There was a muted thumping noise. "Do you hear that?"

"What?"

"The thumping noise. Is – is that you?"

"You can hear that?" He groaned and bent over slightly, in pain.

"Gary!"

Gary put a hand to his chest. "Aah!"

"Gary!"

Gary fell back towards the picnic table, gasping in pain.

"Gary, what is it?" Olivia asked.

Gary sat on the bench and pulled his shirt open.

"Gary! Gary!"

Gary's heart was thumping dramatically in his chest, pulling his skin upwards in a cookie-cutter heart shape. Gary groaned and Olivia screamed. Olivia was splattered with blood.

EXT. GAS 'N SIP – DAY

Sam was talking on the phone while filling the Impala. Castiel was leaning against the front of the car.

Sam said into the phone, "Right, yeah. No, just, uh – just call us whenever you find something." Dean walked out of the store. "Yeah. Yeah, course." Dean removed the tops from two bottles of beer. "Right. No, I – I, uh..." Dean handed Sam a beer. "Yeah, hey, you know what? Uh, Dean's here. He really wants to talk to you." He handed the phone to Dean.

Dean spoke into the phone. "Ms. Tran, yeah, hi, uh..." He hung up and tossed the phone back to Sam. "Tunnel. What's going on in Tran-land?"

"Well, uh, Garth finally got them to his houseboat, but Kevin's having a lot of trouble reading their half of the tablet. So far, bits and pieces. Nothing about boarding up Hell."

"Garth has a safe-houseboat?"

"Dude, I don't even ask questions anymore."

Sam took the gas pump out of the Impala. Dean walked to the front of the car, where Castiel was reading a newspaper. Francesca was standing nearby, periodically glancing at it.

"What's the word, Cas?" Dean asked.

"It's a shortened version of my name," Castiel replied.

Francesca laughed and Dean gave her a look before saying, "Yes, it is. I meant what's the word on the Word? Any, uh, tablet chatter on angel radio?"

"Oh, I couldn't say. I turned that off."

"You can do that?" Sam said in a questioning tone.

"Yeah, it's a simple matter of blocking out certain subsonic frequencies," Castiel told them. "I could draw you a diagram if you want."

"No, that's – we're good," Dean said. "Why'd you flip the switch?"

"Because it's a direct link to Heaven. And I don't want anything to do with that place – not anymore."