Maddison Winchester: Journal 1 {Supernatural}

8 Bugs: Part 1

March 23rd – March 26th, 2006

"Whatcha reading?" I asked, leaning over and resting my head on Sam's shoulder.

We were sitting on the hood of the Impala, waiting for Dean to come back from hustling pool in the bar we were parked in front of.

"This man died of human mad cow disease. Something seems off about it," Sam said.

"Why?" I asked, "I mean, it may not be the most common thing, but it does happen, right?"

"Yeah, but this guy's symptoms appeared and killed him within an hour," Sam said, looking down at me.

I sat up. "Oh, wow. That could definitely be a case."

Dean came out of the bar and shook money at us with a proud smile on his face.

"Ya know, we could get day jobs once in a while," Sam said, annoyed.

"Hunting's our day job. And the pay is crap," Dean responded while counting the money.

"Yeah, but hustling pool? Credit card scams? It's not the most honest thing in the world, Dean," Sam said, still frustrated.

Dean held out his hands. "Well, let's see, honest." He shook one hand. "Fun and easy." He shook the other hand, acting as though it was much heavier. "It's no contest. Besides, we're good at it. It's what we were raised to do."

"Yeah, well, how we were raised was jacked." Sam laughed.

"Yeah, says you. We got a new gig or what?" Dean asked, going back to counting the money.

Sam stood up. "Maybe. Oasis Plains, Oklahoma... not far from here. A gas company employee, Dustin Burwash, supposedly died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob."

"Huh?" Dean asked, confused.

"Human mad cow disease," I said.

"What? How did you know that?" Dean asked.

"I just know things," I said, then looked at Sam, who winked at me and smirked.

Dean shrugged and thought for a second. "Mad cow. Wasn't that on Oprah?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it was."

Sam looked at us, confused. "You guys watch Oprah?"

Dean and I looked at each other. He shook his head at me slightly, not wanting me to say anything. He was weird about Sam finding out that we watch 'chick-flick' type movies and shows together. Dean's favorite to watch was Dr. Sexy MD, my favorites were Desperate Housewives and The Golden Girls, and we both really enjoyed watching Friends. We really did watch almost any that could be named, but Sam and Dad didn't know. It was a fun little thing we kept to ourselves, but Dean was always worried we would get caught.

Dean cleared his throat and looked back at Sam. "So, this guy eats a bad burger. Why is it our kind of thing?"

"Mad cow disease causes massive brain degeneration. It takes months, even years, for the damage to appear. But this guy, Dustin? Sounds like his brain disintegrated in about an hour. Maybe less," Sam explained.

"Okay, that's weird," Dean agreed.

"Yeah. Now, it could be a disease. Or it could be something much nastier," Sam said.

"All right. Oklahoma." Dean sighed, and we all got into the car. "Man. Work, work, work. No time to spend my money."

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Dean parked the car in front of a big warehouse with a sign on the front that read, Oklahoma Gas & Power Co. We got out and walked up to a man placing paperwork on the hood of a company truck.

"Travis Weaver?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, that's right," the man said, looking slightly confused.

"Are you the Travis who worked with Uncle Dusty?" Dean asked.

"Dustin never mentioned being an uncle," Travis said, eyeing each of us.

"Really? Well, he sure mentioned you. He said you were the greatest," Dean said.

"Yeah," Sam said, and I nodded in agreement.

Travis smiled. "Oh, he did? Huh."

"Listen, we wanted to ask you... what exactly happened out there?" Dean asked.

"I'm not sure. He fell in a sinkhole. I went to the truck to get some rope, and, uh... by the time I got back—" Travis paused and looked down at me, clearly uncomfortable.

"What did you see?" Dean asked, urging him to continue.

"Nothin'. Just Dustin," Travis said, looking down at me again.

"No wounds or anything?" Dean asked.

It was clear that Travis didn't want to answer that question. He kept looking at me like he thought I couldn't handle what he was about to say. Dean covered my ears and urged Travis to continue.

Travis started talking again, even though I could still hear. "Well, he was bleeding... from his eyes and his ears, his nose. But that's it."

Dean removed his hands. "So, you think it could be this whole mad cow thing?"

"I don't know." Travis shrugged sadly. "That's what the doctors are sayin'."

"But if it was, he would've acted strange beforehand, like dementia, loss of motor control. You ever notice anything like that?" Sam asked.

"No. No way. But then again, if it wasn't some disease, what the hell was it?" Travis looked confused.

"That's a good question," Dean said.

"Ya know, can you tell us where this happened?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." Travis turned and opened his door.

He handed Dean some papers and explained how to get to the location.

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