Currents

Chapter 10

I woke up to Sam's phone ringing, I covered my face,
Dean said" Don't give me that dirty-diaper look. I ain't calling you." Sam answered his phone,
He said" Hello? The sheriff? Uh, yeah. Uh, I mean, uh- Okay, um, so, uh, what's up with the body? Yeah, yeah, that's, that's um... that's our kind of number. Hey, question- how does a sheriff of Sioux Falls get wind of a case in Ohio? Well, we'll look into it. Thanks, Sheriff. Yeah." He put his phone down," That was Sheriff Mills. She caught us one."
Dean said" Oh, I feel bad. We didn't get her anything."
" I can't believe I'm about to say this but I hope you're watching cartoon smut, 'cause reading Dick Roman crap over and over again is just self-punishment."
" It's called Anime, and it's an art form."
I groaned" Sam, why'd you have to say anything?"
——
We pulled up to a abandoned house,
Dean said" Well, this looks nice. Check around back?"

We got into the house, moving things around,
Sam said" Well, there's a semi-functioning bathroom and one unrancid bedroom."
Dean said" Define semi-functioning and do not use the words, hole in the floor." Sam held up his fist, I laughed, leaning against the wall, Dean held out his fist... Sam won, again, Dean with the rock, he's yet to learn!
Dean and I walked into the room,
Dean said" How does paper beat a rock? It's stupid." Sam ignored him, I smiled,
I said" I'm not in this."
" It's stupid."
" No, it's not." I walked away from him, biting my lip to stifle my laughter.

They came back from speaking to a witness, we started researching.
Dean said" Yep. Nothing that turns a dude into a crypt keeper. You?"
Sam said" Uh, well, greater Canton turns out kind of a hot spot for weird dead bodies."
" Hmm. You don't say."
" Yeah. News archives. They're not exactly reporting, uh, mummifies. But still- 1928, three deaths cited as spontaneous combustion. Bodies shriveled despite no signs of fire."
" Little stretch, but okay."
" '74, three bodies found with leathery decay. Uh, '57, three more- severe dehydration. But this time one made the front page. Girl named Terry Cervantes found a corpse near her church."
" Any pattern here other than the location?"
" Random vics, random years. But they seem to drop in threes."
" That's two down, one to go. All right, let me drive for a sec."
" What, are you gonna look up more anime, or are you strictly into Dick now?" Dean didn't reply, just typed in something on the computer, then pulled up surveillance feed." Are those local feeds?"
" Yeah."
" How did you do that so fast?"
" A little tutorial from Frank. Don't worry. We'll pretend this never happened. Now, mummy numero dos was found at the gas n' sip near main street, correct?"
" Yeah."
" All right, well, here's all the cameras around that store." We looked at the cameras' feeds,
" You need to teach me that trick." Dean looked at him,
" Hey, check it out- Timberlake."
" Wait a sec." Sam pulled the laptop to him,
" You can't let me bask in the glory for one second, can you?"
" Shut up. Look." He showed us the screen again, identical, same person, different times.
" He hasn't aged a day, has he? All right, well, if he's been popping up for decades now, then somebody's bound to know who he is, right? Is there any chance that, uh, Terry's still local?"
——
We were staking out,
Dean said" So, what exactly is this thing? Some sort of vampire who got too sucky?"
Sam said" Nope. Coroner's report said there was blood in both bodies. 300 year old blood, but blood."
" Dudes, dudes. Uh, fedora dude." We saw him walk out of the fence and down an alley," All right, let's do this. Let's move fast."
" Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's the plan here, exactly?"
" Don't die." We got out of the car, running to the alley the fedora dude went down." He's heading downtown. All right, you two take the street. I'll take the alley. I'll meet you in the middle."
Sam and I got to the middle and saw Dean jump the guy and a very bright red light. Then they were gone... what the hell just happened?! I looked at Sam, then ran my hand through my hair.

We were building a board, trying to figure this out, Sam's phone rang, he walked to it.
He said" Dean?" I hit his shoulder, water-porting to him, he put it on speaker.
Sheriff Mills said" No. Why? Where's Dean?"
" The thing that's been mummifying people took him in a frigging ball of light and disappeared."
" You guys get that a lot?"
" Yeah, more than most people."
" Well, I got you into this, so-"
" No, no, no, you didn't. A-All you did was just-"
" Shut up, Sam. How can I help?"
" Well, um... how do you feel about driving and lifting boxes?"
——
Sam opened the door and Jody came in, with boxes,
He said" Hey, let me, uh- let me help you with those."
She said" No, I got these. You go get the other 20 in my truck."
" Seriously?"
" Yeah. I think Bobby may have had a slight hoarding issue. I could barely get the door open on that storage locker. And, um, I'm pretty sure something's alive in at least three of those boxes." We walked out,
I said" You take those three, I'll get the rest."
Sam said" Dude, how are you a hunter?"
" Let's go." I raised my hand and water lifted up like 7 boxes," Hurry up, man, you're taking ages."
" Show off."
" Mmhmm."

Jody said" Got it." We walked over to her, she pointed to fedora man,
Sam said" Is that a- is that a ring on his finger?"
" Uh..." She pulled a zoomed still from the picture," Yeah."
" I know that symbol." I looked at it, Sam looked through a book," The God of time."
" That's crazy."
" The thing is, with the old gods, once upon a time they were just short of invincible. But they got a lot of their mojo from worshippers, from people feeding them."
" These days, not so much."
" Right, they're not what they used to be. But they make up for lack of power with being twice as pissed and a lot more hands-on."
" Okay. So why's this god killing people?"

Jody said" So, How do we get Dean back? How do we even find this Chronos?"
Sam said" Best stab? We find a way to summon a god." We started searching, let's hope this doesn't take forever.
After a while,
Jody said" That's it."
Sam said" Dammit! Okay, yours sounds better. You first."
" It says here that people could summon Chronos to compel him to tell them their futures."
" And I've got the spell do it right here."
" So why the dammit?"
" 'Cause calling Chronos isn't the problem. It's making sure we summon him when Dean is right there... literally with his hands on the guy, so he can surf him back."
" That's not automatic?"
" No, it's more like we need to get the time on their end right to the exact second."
" Or we get an angry god but no big brother?"
" And he's trapped there forever." I dropped my head, dammit!
" Fine, you ass. You win for once. Enjoy. R." We looked at her as she read from a bottle of liquor," Who's R?"
" Rufus. A family friend. Wonder what they were betting over?"
" Well, whatever it was, Rufus sure was a sore loser."
" Yeah." I smiled,
" It's weird, huh? It's like their life's a big puzzle. You just keep finding pieces of it scattered all over the place. We should drink this. He'd want us to. Am I wrong?"
" It'd be rude not to."
——
I woke up to Jody,
She said" You are toast." I pulled my head up, Sam did too," I'll keep pushing. You go get some shut-eye."
Sam said" Uh, that's okay. I can, uh..."
" Do I have to use my mom voice?" Sam walked upstairs, I walked to the stairs and sat down, then Sam came running down, grabbing my hoodie along the way.
Jody said" All right, you asked for it, young man-" Sam showed her a piece of paper," Sammy, turns out Snider is Chronos. Wait, this is from Dean? How-"
Sam said" Just read."
" I rode him to 1944. Am working with Eliot Ness- yes, that one." She looked at Sam, I smiled," Tracked down Chronos. He's banging some chick named Lila Taylor, and we got a weapon. We're going after him. Take care of yourself, Sam."
" Look at the top."
" November 5th, '44."
" So now we know the exact date Dean had hands on Chronos. All we need is the exact time."
" Hoping, we ask someone who was there."
——
They got the time, we were doing the ritual, Sam did the words, this has to work. Then there was a bright red light and we saw Dean and the god,
Jody said" Dean!"
Sam said" Hey!" The god threw him back,
Chronos said" You! Destroyed everything!" I grabbed the stick that came with Dean, and threw it to Sammy.
He said" Hey, Chronos!" He turned to him, Sam stabbed him," Was that the best you got?"
" You want to know your future? I know your future. It's covered in thick black ooze. It's everywhere. They're everywhere. Enjoy oblivion." He died, I looked at my brothers, well... that's not good.