Down the Rabbit Hole

Last Rites

Soundtrack:
Bobby Darin – Dream Lover
Manfred Mann – Blinded by the light
Sheena Easton – A dream worth keeping

"Do you want to play a hand?" Lacey lowered her sunglasses and looked over at Sophia and Dorothy who were sat at a table on the lanai, playing Jim rummy. Lacey was laid out on one of the sunbeds, a magazine open on her lap.
"Oh, no, I'm good. I need some sun, I've been indoors so much over the last few months, I'm just soaking it up."
"Well, let us know if you change your mind. I need someone else to try and beat Ma." Dorothy told her as she dealt another hand.
"Give me a couple of hours to tan and I'll play you both then." Lacey assured them. Dorothy nodded and she and Sophia went back to their game. Lacey lay back on the bed and readjusted her sunglasses. She read a couple more pages of her magazine before discarding it and closing her eyes. It was getting easier to slip away now, she only had to concentrate for a few seconds before she was opening her eyes and finding herself standing on a blacktop road in a wooded area. Ahead of her was open road, as she turned around she spotted Dean, standing by an abandoned car.
"Hey." She said, walking over to him. He looked up, startled for a moment, before realising it was her.
"Hey." He glanced back down at the bloody knife on the ground.
"What's going on?" Lacey asked.
"Still trying to figure that out myself." He bent down and picked up the knife. "Sam had a vision about me popping some guy, no idea why so we came here and..." He trailed off. "And people are going crazy, like practically rabid. Something to do with this Croatoan word we saw carved into a post in town." Lacey's head shot up.
"Croatoan?"
"Yeah, the whole Roanoke colony thing?"
"Oh, yeah, I remember the story, I've just heard about it since then." Dean raised an eyebrow.
"You've dealt with these things before?"
"Just the once, I don't really know much about them though, pretty sure it's demonic though." Dean nodded.
"The cell service is down, which is not a good sign, I'm gonna see if I can get some help from the next town over, you wanna come?"
"Sure." Lacey followed him to the impala. They drove a short distance down the road before a bridge came into sight. Blocking the way was several cars, their owners milling around beside them, toting guns. Dean came to a stop and rolled down his window as one of them approached the car.
"Hey."
"Sorry. Road's closed."
"Yeah, I can see that. What's up?"
"Quarantine."
"Quaratine? What is it?" Dean asked, frowning.
"Don't know. Something going around out there."
"Uhuh. Who told you that?" Dean asked, not sounding convinced.
"County Sheriff."
"Is he here?"
"No. He called. Say why don't you get out of the car and we'll talk a little?"
"Well, you're a handsome devil, but I don't swing that way, sorry." Dean laughed nervously, clearly unconvinced by his answer.
"I'd sure appreciate it if you got out of the car, just for a quick minute."
"Yeah, I'll bet you would." Dean put the car in reverse and they began to move backwards at an alarming rate. The guy grabbed hold of Dean, getting dragged along by the car. The rest of the people at the road block began to fire at them. Lacey ducked down and let out a squeal as Dean swung the car around, losing the guy hanging onto them as they turned.
"Well, that was less than fun." Lacey said as she straightened back up.
"Tell me about it."
"What now?"
"Head back into town and meet up with Sam at the medical centre." Dean shrugged before cursing under his breath and slamming on the brakes as someone stepped out in front of the car, gun pointed at them.
"Hands where I can see 'em!" The guy barked.
"Son of a..." Dean turned the engine off.
"Get out of the car! Out of the car!" Dean slowly opened the door and stepped out, Lacey slid across the seat and got out behind him.
"All right, easy there big guy." As Dean shut the door he pulled out his gun. "All right, put it down!"
"Lower it now!"
"Put it down!" Lacey rolled her eyes at the two of them.
"Are you one of 'em?" The guy glared at Dean.
"No! Are you?"
"No!"
"You could be lying!"
"So could you!" Lacey fake yawned, pointedly, in Dean's direction.
"All right! All right. We could do this all day, all right? Let's just... let's take it easy before we kill each other." They both relaxed a little.
"What's going on with everybody?"
"I don't know."
"My neighbour... Mr Rogers, he..."
"You've got a neighbour named Mr Rogers?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not anymore." Dean and Lacey exchanged a look. "He came at me with a hatchet. I put him down. He's not the only one, I mean, it's happening to everyone."
"I'm heading over to the Doc's place, there's still some people left." Dean told him.
"No, no way. I'm getting the hell out."
"There's no way out, they got the bridge covered, now come on." Dean nodded in the direction of the car as he got back in.
"I don't believe you."
"Fine, stay here, be my guest." Dean shrugged. The guy hesitated for a moment before lowering his rifle and pulling a hand gun from his jacket. He pointed it at Dean as he got in the car. Lacey let out a groan and slid across the seat towards Dean, who still had his gun out too. "Well, this ought to be a relaxing drive.
"You're telling me." Lacey muttered, leaning back in her seat to stay out of the line of fire.