The Heroes' Paradox

10. Faith

Sam, Dean and Daisy parked and opened the trunk. Dean pulled out three tasers.

"What do you have those amped up to?" Sam asked.

"A hundred thousand volts," Dean replied.

"Damn."

"Yeah, Daisy and I want this raw head extra frickin' crispy. And remember, you only get one shot with these things. So make it count."

They moved down the basement stairs with guns and flashlights.

A noise caught their attention and they moved towards a cupboard.

"On three," Dean whispered. "One. Two. Three."

Dean swung the door open, revealing a young boy and girl crouched inside, covering their ears.

"Is it still here?" Sam whispered and the kids nodded.

Dean looked at the boy. "Okay. Grab your sister's hand, come on, we gotta get you out of here. Let's go, let's go." They moved towards the stairs. "All right, go!"

Sam started to take the kids upstairs, but a hand grabbed his legs, knocking him back down. The children screamed and ran to the top of the stairs.

"Sam!" Dean and Daisy called.

Dean shot his taser and missed. "Sam, get 'em outta here!"

Sam threw his taser to Dean. "Here take this!"

Sam ran up the stairs and moved the children out of sight.

Dean moved around the basement on high alert, shining his flashlight into corners. "Come on!"

A ragged, hairy creature leapt up and shoved Dean backwards. Daisy pushed her brother out of the way. She lost her weapons and flashlight as she fell. She glanced around, scrambled across puddles of water to grab the taser and pressed it on the creature as it moved toward her, electrocuting her. Dean's eyes widened, but he couldn't get to his sister without hurting himself. Electricity moved from the creature through the water and to Daisy. The two shook and twitched. The creature fell, and Daisy lost consciousness. As soon as he was able, Dean ran to his sister and cradled her head.

Sam ran down the stairs and saw Daisy and Dean in the corner, the former unmoving. "Dean! Daisy!" He ran over and half lifted Daisy, holding her face. "Daisy, hey. Hey."

Dean shook his head. "I couldn't stop her, Sam."

"We'll get her help. She'll be okay. She has to be. We're not losing her."

HOSPITAL

Sam and Dean stood at the desk with a receptionist.

"Sir, I'm so sorry to ask," the receptionist said. "There doesn't seem to be any insurance on file."

"Right. Uh, okay." Sam pulled a card from his wallet and handed it to the receptionist.

The receptionist glanced at the card. "Okay, Mr. Burkovitz."

Sam and Dean saw two cops waiting and walked over.

"Look, we can finish this up later," one of the cops said.

Sam shook his head. "No, no, it's okay. We were just taking a shortcut through the neighborhood. And, um, the windows were rolled down, and we heard some screaming when we drove past the house, and we stopped. Ran in."

"And you found the kids in the basement?"

"Well, thank God you did," another cop said.

Sam and Dean noticed a doctor walking toward them and glanced at the cops. "Excuse me."