Waving Through a Window

25. Croatoan

Dean and Angie were in a dim hallway, grimly turning towards a door and both pulled out a gun. They slid out the clip, tapped it on the gun, then replaced it. Inside the room, there was a Crater Lake poster on the wall. Below it, a young blond man, Duane, was tied to a chair. Nearby, were a young woman, Pam, a middle-aged woman, Dr. Lee, and a tough-looking black man, Mark. Duane looked up as Dean and Angie opened the door and entered, raising the gun and sword.

Duane began babbling. "No, no, no, no, no, you're not gonna... no, I swear! It's not in me!"

"Oh, God," Pam said. "We're all gonna die."

"Maybe he's tellin' the truth," Mark guessed.

Dean and Angie advanced and cocked the guns. "He's not him, not anymore."

"No, stop it!" Duane cried. "Stop it! Ask her, ask the doctor! It's not in me!"

"I just... I can't tell," Dr. Lee admitted.

"No, please, don't. Don't. I swear I-"

"I got no choice," Dean said.

Duane started sobbing. "I swear, it's not in me, it's not in me! Don't, don't. Please!"

Dean fired twice while Angie stood by.

MOTEL ROOM

Sam was lying on the floor beside a motel bed and coming out of his vision. Angie was shaking his shoulder. The door opened and Dean entered, chewing on jerky and carrying a six-pack of beer. Sam sat up, panting.

"Sam?" Dean called.

"No..." Sam said.

The five got into the Impala and Charger. Dean was driving and Sam was navigating with a GPS device which spoke directions while the girls followed.

"Continue on O-R Two-Two-Four West."

"There are only two towns in the US named Rivergrove," Sam told his brother.

"How come you're so sure it's the one in Oregon?" Dean asked.

Sam had a flashback -- the Oregon poster on the wall. "There was a picture. Crater Lake."

"Okay, what else?"

"I saw a dark room, some people, and a guy tied to a chair."

"And I ventilated him?"

"Yeah. You thought there was something inside him."

"What, a demon? Was he possessed?"

"I don't know."

"Well, all your weirdo visions are always tied to the Yellow-Eyed Demon somehow... so was there any back smoke? Did we try to exorcise it?"

"No. Nothing, you just plugged him and Angie didn't stop you, that's it."

"Well, I'm sure we had a good reason."

"I sure hope so."

"What does that mean?" There was a silent beat. "I mean, I'm not gonna waste an innocent man. Angie's not gonna let me waste an innocent man." Sam raised his eyebrows. "I wouldn't!"

"I never said you two would!"

"Fine!"

"Fine! 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."

"Fine."

"Fine."

RIVERGROVE STREET

The five pulled into town past a large billboard advertising Crater Lake. They pulled up in front of a wooden shop. Out front, a man in a short-sleeved blue shirt and a multi-pocket brown vest, Mark was cleaning a rifle. Sam, Dean, Dahlia, holding Noelle, and Angie got out and approached him.