Survive, Boy, Survive

Chapter 21

Sam said" Please tell me that's everything."
Dean said" Yeah." He chuckled," No, not even close. You see, the men of letters kept files on every demonic possession for the last 300 years, I mean, we've got Borden, Lizzy, all the way to Crane, Ichabod." Sam took the files and put them down, then groaned." How you feeling?"
" Honestly, um... my, uh, my whole body hurts. I feel nauseous and like I'm starving at the same time, and everything smells like rotting meat."
" I've had that hangover. Jager, man." He scoffed," Maybe you should, uh, take a break, get some air."
" Dean, the only thing that's gonna make me feel better is finishing this."
" All right. Well, I'll go get you some grub, keep your strength up." He walked away from us,
Cas said" Morning. I like this bunker. It's orderly." I groaned, and rolled over on the table to lay on my stomach.
Sam said" Oh, give us a few month. Dean wants to get a ping-pong table and River wants a gumball machine." I glared at him,
" I've heard of that. It's game, right?" Cas groaned,
" Are you okay?"
" My wound isn't healing as quickly as I'd hoped... but I am getting better. And you're getting worse."
" Well, two trials down, one to go."
" And the final test, do you-you know what it is?"
" I have to cure a demon."
" Of what?"
" That's what we're trying to figure out."
Dean said" Soup's on." He sat the tray next to Sam, he really needs to go on a food run." I think is, uh..." He took a sip of the beer," Oh, it's still good."
" A half-drunk beer, jerky, and three peanut-butter cups?"
" Yeah, we're-we're running a little low." Sam and I looked at him," I'll make a run."
Cas said" Dean, I can go with you." Dean's ignoring him," Dean. I'm sorry."
" For what?"
" For everything."
" Everything? Like, uh... like ignoring us?"
" Yes."
" Or like bolting off with the angel tablet, then losing it 'cause you didn't trust me? You didn't trust me."
" Yes."
" Yeah. Nah, that's not gonna cut it. Not this time. So you can take your little apology and you can cram it up your ass."
" Dean, I thought I was doing the right thing."
" Yeah, you always do." Sam cleared his throat,
He said" Hey, uh, do we have a room 7B?"

We walked into the room,
Sam said" Dude, go easy on Cas, okay? He's one of the good guys." Dean turned on the light,
Dean said" Dude, if anybody else- I mean anybody- pulled that kind of crap, I would stab them in their neck on principle. Why should I give him a free pass?"
" Because it's Cas."
" What are we supposed to be looking for down here?"
" Um, anything on case 1138. It was a class 5 infernal event- St. Louis, March 8th, 1957."
" Class 5 infernal event?"
" Yeah. See, the letters have this whole rating system. The Exorcist would have been a class 2." We started looking around the room,
" All right, so, what makes this puppet show so special?"
" It was weird."
" Weird how?"
" No clue. One of the files just had a note written in the margin about room 7B and the word weird with three exclamation points."
" Good times."
" Yeah."
" Hmm." Me and Dean looked at paint on the floor, looked like a circle line.
" Got it."
" Sammy, check this out." Dean pulled the shelved forward, then they opened up, I looked in,
" Is that a devil's trap?" We walked into the room,
" It takes up half the room." I saw shackles everywhere," These chains- They have spellwork etched into them."
" So we have a dungeon."
" Finally. What do you got there?" Sam pulled a film reel out of the envelope he had.
" Movie night?"

Sam got the film playing, we started watching it. Then we saw Abaddon filming it,
Sam said" Wait, is that Abaddon?"
Dean said" It's not killy enough. It's got to be the, uh, the chick she possessed." I kept watching, a demon was chained up,
" Hey, those chains look exactly like the ones in our dungeon."
Cas said" In your what?"
Dean said" Demon on a leash- Cool." Then they were doing an exorcism, the footage went white before focusing again. The possessed woman was dead. Then the film stopped," Well, that was weird... with three exclamation points."
Sam said" That wasn't a normal exorcism. They changed the words."
Cas said" I believe lustra is latin for wash or cleanse."
Dean said" Oh, yeah, 'cause that was the most freaky thing was the vocabulary. What about the bloody high five or the chest burster? Anything else on the film, like director's commentary, sequel, maybe?"
Sam said" Yeah, listen to this. The older priest, Max Thompson, bit the dust in '58, but the younger one is still alive and still in St. Louis."
" Think this kind of weird is worth the drive?"
" Dean, everything in those folders- the possessions, the deals, all of it- we've seen that before, but that- that was all new. Yeah, it's worth the drive."
" All right. Let's roll." We got up," Not you." He pointed to Cas,
Cas said" Sam is more damaged than I am."
" Yeah, well, you know, even banged up, Sammy comes through."
" Dean, I just want to help."
" We don't need your help. Just stay here and-and get better." He walked away, I looked at him, then followed behind him quickly. 
———
We were back at the bunker, they got Thompson's things from the younger priest.
Sam said" I can't find Cas. You think he blew town?
Dean said" Sounds like him. So it turns out that, uh, Father Thompson recorded all of his demon-cure tests. This one here, this was the last one- two days before he died." He handed Sam the thingy, I'm getting really confused with all this old stuff. Dean said it was like a cassette tape.. but not a cassette tape, which really only confused me more.