The first thing Dean
became aware of was a steady, annoying beeping off in the distance. He tried to roll onto his side but was
stopped by something. He sighed and
forced his eyes open. Dani sat in a
chair next to the bed he lay in.
She smiled at him.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” he answered.
His tongue felt thick and the words came out a little muddled. “What
happened?”
Dani leaned forward.
“You got wacked in the head with a shovel and blacked out."
"So we came to the hospital? I thought the rule was broken bones and massive bleeding."
"You were bleeding pretty well," she counted. "You've got like 17 stitches."
"Where's Sam?"
“He’s talking to the doctor,” she answered. "They want to keep you over night."
"Well that's not happening."
"Sam and I already agreed to it."
"You both just decided that without me?"
She shrugged. "We would have asked, but you unconscious.
. . .
Sam and Dani headed down the hall on their way to the
hospital cafeteria. This section of the
hospital was mostly empty; the only other people visible were the nurse behind
the desk at the head of the hall and one orderly mopping the floor. Dani turned toward Sam, intending to make
some kind of comment about hoping they could find something besides Jello but
stopped and cocked her head, looking at the door they had just passed.
“What?” Sam asked, noticing the shift in her mood.
“Something’s wrong with this one,” she said moving closer
to the door and peering in. There was a
young man lying in the bed inside, completely still, with lots of tubes and
wires running between him and the equipment near the bed.
“He is in a
hospital,” Sam said, slightly amused.
“No, something different,” she answered without taking
her eyes off of him. She gently pushed
the door open. She didn’t know what or
how she knew, but something was definitely wrong. She could just feel it. Dani stepped into the room and cautiously
moved toward the bed.
Sam
hung back by the door. “Dani we can’t just go into random rooms.”
“I
know, but-“ Then several of the monitors
started going off, breaking the strange silence of the room and making Dani
jump. The boy’s body started
seizing.
She gasped. “Get
help,” she said over her shoulder to Sam, who was already starting down the
hall, yelling for the nurse. Dani took a
step toward the bed. She knew if someone
was having a seizure you were supposed to keep them from hurting
themselves.
As she reached out for the boy his hand shot up, latching
onto her wrist. Dani cried out,
instinctively pulling back but finding she couldn’t. His grip was too strong. Almost no one was too strong for her since
she’d become a werewolf. She took a
breath to shake her surprise and leaned over him, pressing her hands against
his shoulders to keep him from smacking his head against the wall.
Two nurses and a doctor hurried into the room quickly
moving into place around the bed. One of
the nurses starting moving the pillows to pad the bedrails while the other quickly
started reading off stats. Dani tried to
step back out of the doctor’s way as he moved to do his work but the boy was
still holding her too tightly.
The nurse who had been talking suddenly stopped,
midsentence. “He’s showing brain
activity,” she said, sounding mystified.
“Yes, too much activity,” the doctor said. “1 mg of atvian please.”
The nurse picked up a syringe and small bottle, lifting
it to measure it out.
The boys eyes flew open and he struggled to suck in a
breath, his shaking suddenly stopped.
“Never mind,” the doctor said, holding up a hand to the
nurse with the needle. They had all stopped, and were staring at him, dumbfounded. The boy’s frightened gaze locked on Dani and
he muttered something. It was quiet,
garbled but she could have sworn he said her name.
The doctor leaned over him, “Hello…Alfie? Can you hear
me?”
The boy didn’t respond, just kept panting and staring up
at Dani.
“All right,” the doctor said, some of the surprise
leaving his expression. “We’re going to
need to move him to ICU. Call Dr.
Brenner, tell her to come in. Tell her that
the John Doe woke up.”
One of the nurses nodded and headed out.
“Let’s move him,” the doctor said to the other
nurse.
As they started to move the bed out of the room, the boy
started and tightened his hold on Dani’s wrist even farther, making her wince.
The doctor looked at her for the first time. “Do you know him?” he asked.
“No,
I’ve never seen him before.” Dani said, shaking her head.
“We’ll
he seems to think he knows you. Could
you come with us, just for a little while, until we calm him down.”
“Yeah, sure. I guess so.” She glanced at Sam, hanging
back by the door, to make sure that was ok.
He nodded and she turned her gaze back to the doctor. “Ok, for a few minutes.”
.
. .
“Is he all right, do you think?” Dani asked the nurse
hovering nearby.
While the nurse had settled him in the ICU the boy had
relaxed enough to let go of Dani’s arm, leaving bruise marks. He looked like he was asleep now. He was very pale and thin, with dark brown
hair and smallish features. Dani had
always been bad at judging ages, but she guessed he was in his
mid-twenties.
“He’s stable,” the nurse answered. “He hasn’t been alright since he got here.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
Dani turned her gaze away from the patient to look up at the nurse.
“We don’t know for sure,” she answered, coming to stand
by the foot of the bed. “He’s been here
for almost two years now. Somebody just
found him on the side of the road one night.
He was covered in cuts and burns and had suffered massive brain damage.”
“What happened?” Dani interrupted her, furrowing her
brow.
“Well they never found out for sure,” the nurse said,
“but I was there when they brought him in. There is no possible way some of that could
have been an accident. They think some
psycho must have kidnapped and tortured him and then left him to die. It’s a miracle he didn’t.” She looked down at him sadly. “No one knows who he is; we only know his
first name because he was wearing a nametag when they found him. He didn’t fit any missing person report in the
area and no one ever claimed him. They
say an unnamed benefactor pays his bills but no one ever comes to see him. He’s been in a coma the whole time, barely
hanging on, until today.”
The nurse started when a doctor came in, knowing she’d
been saying more than she should. The
doctor either hadn’t heard or didn’t care. She was later-thirties, with wavy
dark hair and a confident bearing. She
stepped over to the monitors and looked them over. “Is this correct?” she asked the nurse,
pointing to one of the screens.
“I reset it three times,” she answered. “That’s the right reading.”
“Hum.” The doctor stepped closer. “I have never seen this type of activity in a
persons’ frontal cortex without stimulation in the auditory region.”
“Does that indicate a problem?” the nurse asked.
The doctor shook her head slowly, still studying the
screen. “No,” she said finally. “I don’t think so. Everything else looks pretty good all things
considered.” She smiled and shook her
head. “I have never seen such good
readings from him. I never would have
thought so before, but he may finally pull through.”
“So
you think he’ll be all right?” Dani asked.
“We won’t know for sure until he wakes up.”
.
. .
Dani’s ears pricked as she was about to leave the room. Someone was talking quickly down the hall,
sounding agitated. She focused her
hearing in on the sound.
“I’m
sorry,” a woman was saying. It sounded
like it wasn’t the first time she’d said it.
“But only family members are allowed in the ICU.”
“Ma’am,
this is a federal investigation and we believe this patient has crucial
information.”
“Then
you’ll have to clear it with the doctor first.”
“The
information is also time sensitive. We
need-“
“I
can’t just let you in there,” the nurse cut him off.
Dani
stood and moved to the front of the bed.
She had a feeling this wasn’t good and wondered which patient they were
trying to get to. Was it Dean? This would be a good opportunity for any
monster or demon to have a go at him.
The
nurse’s voice stopped and one set of footsteps quieted. Yep, definitely not
good. Dani looked down at her phone, and
pulled up her contacts to call Sam.
Before she could press the phone button, the door flew open. A tall blond man stood in the doorway,
another man just behind him.
Dani’s
gaze flicked to the bed. Were they here
for this guy?
The
blond man held out a placating hand. “Step aside please young lady,” he
said. “This need not concern you.”
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“We
have business to attend to,” he explained.
His tone was pleasant but only on the surface. “If you could please step aside.”
Dani
felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up as the man took a step
closer. Something was not right about
these two. There was something about their scent, human but something extra
she couldn’t place. “Actually, I’d
rather stay,” she said, dropping halfway into a fighting stance.
Something
glinted in the second man’s hand; a knife, just peeking out from under his
sleeve.
“I
asked you politely,” the first man said, a menacing light creeping into his
eyes. “Please don’t make me remove you.”
“Sorry,
I’m not letting you in here unless a doctor ok’s it,” Dani said.
“Very
well.” The man stepped toward her.
Dani
brought her leg up, kicking the man in the gut with all the force she had. He flew backward, slamming into the other man
and the two of them landed in a heap in the hall. Dani slammed the door of the room shut and
leaned against it, bracing her feet against the floor.
.
. .
Sam’s
phone buzzed once and he pulled it out of his pocket.
“Who’s
that?” Dean asked.
“Dani,”
Sam answered, reading the text message that had just come through. “She says there’s trouble in the ICU.”
.
. .
Dani shoved back against the door as the men
rammed into it. She readjusted her feet,
getting ready for the next impact. These
guys were definitely stronger than humans.
Unfortunately for them, so was she.
She was sure she could hold out for a few minutes at least, but she
didn’t know how long the door could take this. About the time she expected them
to ram the door again, she looked up and saw both men standing on either side
of the bed. How did they-?
She
sprang at the closest one, the shorter one who had the knife, knocking him, and
herself, to the floor. She tried to
shift more of her weight on top of him to hold him down but he came back with
his elbow, catching her in the jaw. She felt
the cold floor against her cheek. As
Dani tried to push herself up, the man grabbed her shoulder rolling her onto
her back. He pressed his forearm against
her chest, pinning her to the floor.
“You’re strong for a little human girl,” he taunted.
Dani
bared her fangs, lunging for the man’s upper arm.
“Oh,”
he said, flinching back for a brief moment.
“That explains it. You know we
really didn’t want to do it this way.”
He drew back his free arm, a long silver knife gripped in his hand, the
same kind Dean had given her when she first started hunting.
Then
he stopped, a confused expression crossing his face. A blue light shone out from his eyes and
mouth. Dani raised her arms to shield
her eyes. She opened them again a moment
later, in time to see the man topple off of her. Sam stood beside her, holding a bloodstained
knife just like the one the man held. He
turned and tossed the knife over hand.
It embedded in the other man’s chest.
He dropped his knife, just inches away from sending it into the boy’s
body, and grabbed the weapon in his chest with a gurgling cry. He fell forward, then slid off the bed.
For
a moment, Dani stared up at Sam, and Sam stared at the spot the man had been, the
only sound their rushed breathing. Then
Sam looked down at her.
“You
all right?” he asked, offering her a hand.
“Yeah.”
She took it and let him pull her to her feet. “What were they?”
“Angels,”
Sam huffed.
“What
do they want with him?” she asked, jerking her head toward the bed. He must have been out pretty good again,
because he hadn’t moved since the altercation started.
“I
don’t know.” Sam slid his knife into his
inner coat pocket. “But it’s not good whatever it is.” He knelt to pick up one of the knives from
the floor, then handed it to her. “This
is the only thing that can hurt them.”
“You
think there are more?” Dani asked as she
took the blade.
Sam
shrugged. “There usually are. We need to get out of here, can you get him?”
She
nodded. “Not going to be a problem.”
“Ok,
I’m going to get Dean. Meet us by the
car as quick as you can.”
“Ok,”
Dani nodded but grabbed his arm as he started to go. “Wait, what do I do if someone stops me and
wants to know what I’m doing with him?”
Sam
made a face. “You may have to just hit somebody. We don’t really have time to mess around.”
.
. .
Dean
sat up straighter as Sam hurried into his room.
“What’s up?”
“Angels
just tried to kill that guy Dani was with in the ICU.”
“Is
she ok?”
Sam
nodded. “They're both fine but we’ve got
to go.”
“All
right, early check out.” Dean clapped
his hands together. “Find me some pants
and let’s boogey.”
.
. .
Dani
froze, hands hovering over the boy. She
couldn’t get him out with all this stuff attached. But they wouldn’t have it here if most of it
wasn’t important. He had been in a coma
for years after all.
“Mmm.” Dani grunted, waggling her fingers
agitatedly. She just couldn’t make
herself pull anything.
She
jumped at a noise from down the hall.
Someone was coming. Things were
likely to be bad whether it was hospital staff or those creep’s friends.
“Fine.” She reached for an IV. “Sorry about this.”
Dani
quickly removed anything attached to the boy, then hauled him up draping his
arms over her shoulders, distributing most of his weight across her back. Well,
he’s still breathing, she thought, feeling his breath tickle the back of
her neck. That’s good at least.
She
started down the hall at a quick pace. There
didn’t seem to be anyone else out and about anymore. The halls were actually
suspiciously empty and quiet; the sound of the boy’s feet dragging behind them
too loud. Dani tried not to think too
much into that, and picked up her pace.
Come on, there’s
got to be a back exit somewhere.
She rounded a corner and stopped short. There was the door out she’d been looking for, but right under the exit sign stood a man in a suit. He raised one arm ever so slightly out from his side and then a knife slid into his hand from his sleeve. Two could paly at that game. Dani growled low in her throat and extended her claws.
“Come on Sam,
keys.” Dean held out his hand for them.
“Nope, I’m driving. I don’t know what all they gave you
in there.”
Dean rolled his eyes, but got in the passenger seat.
Dani
jerked open the passenger door and scrambled in, pulling the boy in behind
her. Sam slammed the door once they were
in, then jumped into the driver’s seat, starting the engine before he had his
door closed.
“You
ok?” Dean asked, turning around in his seat to look at Dani as Sam did a rolling
stop out of the parking lot.
“Mmhmm.”
She nodded and started rearranging the boy’s limbs so he was more on the
seat. She laid his head on her lap and
furrowed her brow. His breathing was
louder now, labored.
“Doesn’t
look like anyone’s following us.” Dean
studied the hospital warily.
“Maybe
we got lucky and there were only three,” Sam said. “What do you think they want with that kid
anyway?”
“I
don’t know.” Dean turned his gaze to the
back seat. “Wait…” He stared at the boy for a moment, looking
like he might remember him from somewhere, but the connection wouldn’t quite
complete. Then the light clicked
on. “That’s Alfie.”
“Who?” Sam and Dani chorused.
“Remember
when we went to that auction for the demon tablet?” Dean asked, looking at Sam.
Sam
nodded. “Right Alfie, the kid
angel. I thought Cas killed him.”
“Maybe
he wasn’t dead when he took him back to heaven.” Dean was thinking out loud. “Then when the angels fell he ended up here.”
Sam
nodded. “That’s possible I guess. But didn’t Cas say…”
“Wait
a minute,” Dani interrupted. “You think
this guy’s an angel?”
“He
was,” Sam said. “He may not be now.”
“Well
if he is, why would the other angels want to hurt him?”
“Who
knows,” Dean said. “But if they want him
dead there’s a good chance we don’t.”
“So
what are we going to do with him?” Sam asked.
“Go
back to the bunker, those stiffs won’t be able to get to him there.”
“I
don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Dani said.
Alfie was starting to shake; not seizing like before, but his hands were
trembling and he definitely sounded like he was having to work way too hard to
breath. “Is there another hospital we
could take him to?”
“No
he won’t last there.” Dean shook his
head. “He won’t last long anywhere out
in the open if these guys are after him.
We’ll take him to the bunker and have Cas fix him there.”
“If
we can get ahold of Cas,” Sam said.
“Hey,
think positive.”
Dani
bit her lip and tried to remember how long it had taken them to get to town
from the bunker. She jumped when Alfie
started. He opened his eyes and for a
second Dani thought they flashed a bright blue.
He glanced around, confused, then his unfocused gaze rested on
Dani.
“Where
am I?” he mumbled, his words slurred and hoarse. “What happened?”
“It’s ok,” Dani said, laying a hand on Alfie’s
shoulder. “It’s all right, you’re going to be ok. We’re friends. We’re going to take you somewhere safe.”
Alfie
moaned and his eyes fluttered most of the way closed again. His lips moved like he was muttering
something but there was no sound.
Dani’s
expression darkened and she took his hand. “I bet you do,” she whispered, rubbing her
thumb against his. “It’s going be ok.”
“Can
you hear him?” Sam asked, glancing back
at them.
Dani
nodded. “He says he needs to go home,”
she said quietly, not looking up. “To
see his parents. He says he needs to
tell them he’s sorry.”
He
moaned again, and there was more pain behind the sound this time. He squeezed Dani’s hand, but his grip wasn’t
as strong as when he’d grabbed her in the hospital. “I know you do honey,” she said. “We’ll find out where you live. Just relax.
It’s going to be ok.”
She
thought she saw his eyes flash again before they closed the rest of the way and
his hand went limp in hers.
