Reckless and Brave

LXXXVIII. (88) Imagine (Part II)

Dean's gadget squealed and he said into the radio, "K C 5 Delta Oscar, come in."

"K C 5 Fox Delta Oscar, go ahead." Bobby answered.

"Bobby, it's Dean and Holly. We got problems."

"Please help." Holly said in a broken voice.

"It's okay, boy, darling. That's why I'm here. Is everyone alright?"

Dean grabbed his sister's hand for comfort as he said, "No. It's--it's--it's Jo. Bobby, it's pretty bad."

"Okay. Copy that. So now we have to figure out what we do next."

"Bobby, I don't think she's--" He stopped.

"I said, what do we do next, Dean? Holly?"

"I don't know." Holly said softly, as Dean leaned his head on his hand for a moment.

Dean nodded. "Right. Okay, right."

"Now tell me what you got." After a moment, Bobby continued. "Before he went missing, did Cas say how many reapers?"

"I don't--he said a lot of things, I guess. Does the number matter?"

Holly frowned. "Yeah, does the number really matter, Bobby? I just--a lot, I guess. Maybe. I don't know."

"Devil's in the details, Dean, Holly."

Ellen tapped Dean and Holly on their shoulders with a bloody hand. Dean held up the microphone. "Bobby, it's Ellen. The way he was looking, the number of places Castiel's eyes went, I'd say we're talking over a dozen reapers, probably more."

"I don't like the sound of that."

Dean's brow furrowed. "Nobody likes the sound of that, Bobby, but what--wh--what does that sound like?"

"I think he's planning to unleash Death."

Holly raised an eyebrow. "You mean, like, this dude and taxes are the only sure thing?"

"As in Death. The horseman. The pale rider in the flesh."

"Unleash?" Dean asked. "I mean, hasn't Death been tromping all over the place? Hell, I've died several times myself."

"Not this guy. This is--this is the angel of death. Big daddy reaper. They keep this guy chained in a box six hundred feet under. Last time they hauled him up, Noah was building a boat. That's why the place is crawling with reapers. They're waiting on the big boss to show."

Holly sighed. "You got any other good news, Bobby?"

"In a manner of speaking. I been researching Carthage since you've been gone, trying to suss out what the devil might want there. What you said just drops the last piece of puzzle in place. The angel of death must be brought into this world at midnight through a place of awful carnage. Now, back during the Civil War, there was a battle in Carthage. A battle so intense the soldiers called it the Battle of Hellhole."

"Where'd the massacre go down?" Dean asked.

"On the land of William Jasper's farm."

Holly stared at Jo, tears brimming her eyes. She heard Dean say, "Now we know where the devil's gonna be, we know when, and we have the Colt."

Sam nodded. "Yeah. We just have to get past eight or so Hellhounds and get to the farm by midnight."

"Yeah, and that's after we get Jo and Ellen the hell out of town."

"Won't be easy."

"Stretcher?"

"I'll see what we got." Sam went off to go look.