A Torn Family

Chapter 13

"Well maybe he's gonna meet us there." I woke up to hear the boys arguing.

"Who's meeting us where." I cracked my neck and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

"I think Dad's gonna meet us at these coordinates he sent us." Dean answered, glancing back at me. "Either that, or Sammy messed up and missed something."

"I didn't miss anything." Sam grumbled. "And Dad's just been so easy to find up until now. Why shouldn't he just show up to meet us out of the blue?"

"You're a real smartass, ya know?" Dean rolled his eyes at Sam. "Don't worry, I'm sure there's something in Fitchburg worth killing.

"What makes you so sure?" I asked, leaning up into the front seat.

"Because I'm the oldest, which means I'm always right."

"No it doesn't." Sam scoffed.

"Yeah, it totally does."

"I'm with Sam."

"You realize this means you're right when it's just you and Sammy, right?"

"Take it back, I'm with Dean."

"We're twins!"

"Shut up, Sam!" I snapped at him.

We finished the drive into town, and Dean ran into a nearby coffee shop to get us some caffeine. I lay upside down on Baby's hood, while Sam sat staring off at some playground.

"Nobody's heard anything weird going on." Dean came back out and handed Sam his drink. "Sit up, Luce. I'm not giving you a drink if you're gonna spill it on my baby."

"Fine." I sat upright on the hood, and accepted my hot coffee, sighing in content when the bitter liquid washed down my throat.

"Dean, you got the time?" Sam asked, still staring at the abandoned playground.

"Ten after four." Dean glanced at his watch. "Why?"

"What's wrong with this picture?" Sam nodded to the playground.

"School's out, isn't it?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, so?" I asked. "It's just an abandoned playground... oh. Oh, I get it."

"Yeah." Sam nodded at us. "So where is everybody? This place should be crawling with kids right now."

Dean went to talk to some mom on the playground, and found out that a bunch of kids had gotten sick. Like, hospital sick. We decided to check it out, and broke out our disease control badges. Well, Dean and I did. We had to make Sam a new one, his had been destroyed at some point.

"Guys, I am not using this ID." Sam said as we entered the hospital.

"Why not?" Dean asked.

"Because it says bikini inspector on it." Sam whined, and Dean scoffed and high fived me.

"Don't worry, she won't look that closely at it." I grabbed his shoulder in reassurance. "Hell, she won't even ask to see it. It's all about confidence Sammy." I spun him so he faced the front desk lady.

"Hi." Sam put on a fake smile. "I'm Doctor Jerry Kaplan, Center for Disease Control."

"Can I see some ID?" The woman requested, and Dean and I kept ourselves from collapsing in laughs.

"Yeah, of course." Sam grabbed his ID, strategically placing his thumb over the words 'bikini inspector'. "Now, could you direct me to the pediatrics ward?"

"Just go down that hall, turn left, up the stairs, you'll see them."

"Thank you." Sam said, before turning to face us.

"Told you it would work." Dean whispered when Sam was close enough to us.

"Follow me, it's upstairs." He grunted at us, and I fought to keep my grin off my face.

We were greeted by a Doctor Hydaker. Who promptly led us into the room where all the infected children were being treated.

"Oh, I'm glad you guys are here." The doctor sighed as we entered the room filled with the anxious parents. "I was just about to call the CDC myself. How did you find out, anyway?"

"Oh, some GP- I forget his name." I said when neither of my brothers spoke up. "He called Atlanta and must have beat you to the punch."

"So, you say you got six cases, so far?" Sam asked from my left while Dean walked between us a few steps ahead of us. Our usual formation. The two of us flanking our older brother.

"Yeah, in five weeks." The doc stopped and turned to face us. "At first I thought it was bacterial pneumonia, not that newsworthy. But now... the kids aren't responding to antibiotics. Their white cell counts keep going down. Their immune systems aren't doing their jobs. It's like their bodies are wearing out."

"You ever seen anything like this before?" Dean asked.

"Never this severe." The doctor said, glancing up from a clipboard he held.

"The way it spreads- that's a new one for me." A nearby nurse added.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It works its way through families." The nurse said, and I couldn't help but squint. Something about this hunt seemed really familiar. "But only the children, one siblings after another."

"You mind if we interview a few of the kids?" Dean asked.

"They're not conscious." The nurse said, a sad expression on her face.

"None of them?" Sam asked.

"No."

"Can we talk to their parents?" I asked, glancing quickly at my brothers, who nodded.

"If you think it'll help." The doctor shrugged sadly.

"Yeah, yeah." Dean nodded at the doc. "Who was your most recent admission?"