10x02 - Bad Rain - Part Three: In the Madness
Episode number: 10x02 of Season 10 Fan Fiction (S10FF)
Title: Bad Rain
Subtitle: In the Madness
Author: dracox-serdriel
Word count: 2,467
Rating: PG-13/Teen
Warnings: language, transformation atrophy, canon-level violence
Sam didn't know what to make of Sliver. He seemed genuinely scared and confused about what was happening to him, but on the other hand, he was a shifter with fangs and claws that wouldn't recede. If a naga and a werewolf thought it safest to chain him, who was he to argue?
He pulled Sliver into the main room while Dodge bleached the bathroom to remove any sign of the supernatural, like sloughed shifter skin and blue-and-black blood. Since it was the only room without windows, they opted to keep Sliver there after covering the floor with towels.
"I can tell you don't want to kill me," Sliver said suddenly. "If you were the kind of hunters to kill any monster you'd meet, you would've put a silver bullet in my heart already."
"Would that even work on you anymore?" Sam asked.
"I don't know," Sliver replied.
"You want us to help you? Then help us," Dodge said. "Start by telling us why your own people chained you up."
"Everyone on The Serum goes through a period of transition. Depends on what you are and how long you've been that way, but it's a pretty rough six weeks, especially the last week. At that point, everyone needs to be chained up."
"Or what?" Sam asked.
"One of the side effects is acute transformation attacks," Sliver replied. "They're random and unpredictable and... they're bad."
"Elaborate on 'bad,'" Dodge ordered.
"It's a combination of your first full moon as a werewolf and the transition period of a vampire," he replied.
"So you have an insatiable bloodlust, amplified senses, and no control over who you attack or how much you feed," Sam summarized.
Sliver seemed surprised that the hunter knew what being a monster felt like.
"Let me guess, you black out and can't remember it," Sam added.
"Yes and no. Yes, I blacked out during, no conscious choice in what I was doing, but I remembered everything later," he replied. "But it's like an out-of-body experience, like you're watching yourself do all these things. They chained me up because there wasn't anyone around to watch me, and one of the rules is no violence, no turning, no media."
Dodge asked, "Rules? Rules for what?"
Sliver bit his lip and shook his head.
"The deal was you talk and we help you," Sam said. "What rules?"
"I can't... I can tell you all about me and The Serum, but I can't talk about the EDA. It's... we can't do it."
The shifter closed his eyes and shook his head. Then he started rocking back and forth, as if the movement could prevent the conversation from continuing.
Sam wanted to escalate to less polite means of acquiring information, but Dodge pulled him into the next room.
"We gotta move this guy," she said.
"What?"
"He just told us he can turn into a vamp-wolf-shifter at any moment with a guarantee of him being violent."
"I've got silver bullets."
Dodge shook her head. "Maybe that's what Crosby wanted. He wanted to stick us with this guy because he's gonna be just like the other five victims."
"Dead?" Sam asked.
"If we shoot him, we've got a body on our hands that just happens to share similarities with the other homicide victims. Crosby wants to keep hunters away from the EDA. Tell me a better plan than implicating us in the serial homicides."
"Or maybe he left Sliver with us so we'd think he was another hunter. We unchain him, and the guy kills us both when he... transforms, or whatever."
"I think it's safe to say that whatever is going on is bigger than one shifter, and if we're forced to kill him, we may never get another chance to figure this out," she replied.
"Dodge, this guy basically told us he's a frenzied killing machine. If putting him down is the only way to stop him, we put him down."
"I'm not disagreeing. I'm saying we to get him away from innocent people, so if he does get out, there's no one to hurt. That, and my partner keeps calling me. If she hasn't already started looking for me, she will soon. It won't take her long to find this place."
Sam considered the situation. Dodge was right, there was no arguing with that, but where could they take him? Best case scenario would be somewhere with medical or veterinary resources. Then they might be able to put him down with heavy-duty tranquilizers instead of a bullet.
"Okay, you're right," he said. "I'm gonna call Dr. Robert. He's one of my dad's old hunter contacts. He might know a doctor or someone who can help us. We should take my truck... plenty of room for Sliver under the cap."
Dean didn't believe that monsters could become human again, and he certainly didn't believe that The Serum could do it. Dean didn't even believe that that monsters wanted to be cured, yet Cas insisted that a faction of Eve's descendants had been after a cure for thousands of years.
These thoughts ran through Dean's head as he and Cas strolled into the FBI morgue with stolen ID cards and uniforms. The security guard waved them in, but she gawked as they passed by her desk.
"Hang on, you're not Steve," she said to Dean.
Cas touched her forehead, and she immediately fell asleep. They carried her back to her post and continued into the building, straight into the morgue proper.
"I don't hear anyone else nearby, but we don't have more than an hour," the angel said.
They moved quickly and quietly, taking samples from each victim, including blood, hair, skin, and one tooth. Cas insisted on a bit of muscle tissue, which Dean harvested using a method he learned on YouTube.
It certainly took longer than an hour. They had just finished with Simon Berkowitz, the third victim, when an older man pushed into the lab.
"You can't be in here," Dean said with the air of authority.
"This is my morgue!" the man protested.
"It's your morgue at six a.m. Is it six a.m.?" Dean asked.
"No, it's five-oh-six, but - "
Dean interrupted, "No buts. This morgue is mine for another fifty-four minutes!"
The old man stared at Dean for a solid minute before turning around and marching out the door. "You have until I finish my coffee!" he shouted over his shoulder.
"Impressive," Cas said. "We need to leave."
They boxed up everything and proceeded to the back exit. When a lab tech spotted them, he followed, as if they didn't have enough annoying crap to deal with right now.
"Hey! You two! You can't take materials without the right paperwork!" the lab tech barked.
Dean didn't know what the best move was here. Should he hand off the bag and let Cas take it out while he held the prying co-worker up? Or should Cas touch his forehead and put him to sleep?
Before he could decide, the angel dragged him out the door by his collar and pulled him into kiss. Dean reciprocated, and soon the two men were making out heavily in the alley that ran behind the building.
When the nosy co-worker burst into the alley, indignant and angry, he didn't shout or scream. Instead, he stood inside, flabbergasted and, frankly, shocked at what he saw.
"I, uh, you... just give me your paperwork when you're done!" he said before slamming the door shut.
"Quick thinking," Dean said when Cas stepped away.
"I saw it in various movies. It's always highly effective," Cas replied.
The two circled back to the Impala with their spoils.
"I know Sam texted me last night," Dean said, "but he hasn't replied or picked up since. We should really check on him. You still have the address for that motel?"
Castiel nodded.
Dr. Roberts had come through with a name: Natalie Young. She worked as a veterinarian for money, but she had a supernatural practice on the side.
The downside was that her practice was nearly six hours away. They left immediately, thankful that it was the dead of night, but it was almost seven now. The sun was coming out.
Sam had taken a minor detour and stolen animal tranquilizers from a vet clinic so that they could keep Sliver out cold for the ride. Unfortunately, he doled out the last dose over an hour ago, and from the sound of it, the shifter was waking up.
"Hey, chill out," Dodge said through the cap's window. "Sliver, calm down!"
"Where are you taking me?"
"To a doctor," Dodge replied. "A woman who might be able to help you."
Sliver stopped moving around so much.
"You mean it? You're really trying to help me?" he asked.
"Yeah, we are. Even though you're not telling us anything," Sam replied.
"I can't tell you about the EDA," Sliver said. "But I can tell you about The Serum."
"Go on," Dodge said.
The shifter moved so he was sitting right behind the window.
"My sister took The Serum about a year ago," he began. "She was cured."
"Cured?" Sam asked. "Of what?"
"Of our heritage. Of being a monster. I thought she was nuts, and I was there with her through six weeks of hell, but after that, she was so... human."
"Human?" Dodge repeated. "You want to become human?"
Sliver said, "You don't get it. You can't get it. Being a shifter doesn't mean you can transform into other people, it means you have to transform into other people. If we don't imitate other people, we look like melted Barbie dolls. No features, no scars, no characteristics of our own. If you want to be a person, to look human, you have to constantly be aware of your skin. All I want is an identity, a face of my own. With my own scars and sun damage and every other little thing that you guys get just for being born right. You know what happens to shifters like me and my sister who try to stay in one shape for more than a few days? We shed in our sleep. For no reason! It's like our bodies are designed to keep us as nobody. Try keeping your 'ability' secret after waking up with no face and your bed covered in sloughed skin."
"When you say your sister was cured, you mean she's human now?" Sam asked.
"Not completely," Sliver replied. "She's still got some supernatural in her, but she hasn't shed her skin all year. No violent outbursts, no blood lust. Nothing."
"But not really cured," Sam said.
"Cured enough," Sliver said.
"Why did you wait so long to take it yourself if you sister was cured a year ago?" Dodge asked.
"It was expensive. Most people couldn't afford it. I started saving up, but it would've taken me years to get that kind of money. Then this program started, they said that they'd supplement payment for The Serum if you'd do these extra medical tests. Said they were refining the formula, trying to cut back on the transition period. All I needed to do was once daily medical testing, and I got the cure for less than a thousand dollars."
He took a moment before continuing. "Everything seemed fine. I went through all the same things my sister did, anyway. Then I caught wind of people dying. I heard that this serum we got was different from the original, that this whole thing was an experiment for a new formula. I don't know if it's true, but everyone that I knew who took this new formula is dead. That's why we call it The Purge."
"If this serum worked, why bother with a new formula?" Dodge asked. "Seems risky."
"Nobody knows. Some say this new serum isn't even from the same guy, that a hunter or witch with a vendetta hijacked the whole operation for revenge. Other people think that the serum is only marketed as a cure, but it's actually some kind of mad scientist trying to make a super race. What can I say? Paranoia is easy when everyone you know is dying."
The drive continued in silence for another hour. Dodge flipped through the radio stations, but they were all shoddy. She switched to her phone, but even the wireless and cell signals were spotty in this area.
Finally, they arrived at a converted farmhouse that served as Young's Animal Clinic. Natalie had instructed them to park behind the extension.
For the umpteenth time, Sam tried to call Dean to update him, but the call wouldn't go through.
"I should've called him at our last pit stop," he griped.
"No phones," a young woman said abruptly.
Sam nearly jumped out of his skin. He hadn't noticed anyone approach the car.
"I'm Natalie Young," she continued. "Where is the patient?"
"In the back," Dodge replied.
Sliver cooperated, willingly following Natalie into the clinic with the two hunters bringing up the rear. They were led into a loft-like room with a high ceiling and an eclectic collection of occult and medical equipment. Natalie directed Sliver to a cot.
"You've taken The Purge?" Natalie asked abruptly.
"Yeah, I am," Sliver replied.
"How long?" she followed up.
"Six weeks."
"When did you discontinue it?"
Sliver shook his head when he said, "Six days ago."
Natalie looked impressed. "How did you survive so long? Most I've seen died one or two days after their last dose."
"Guess I'm just lucky."
Then he screamed, and his body began to writhe.
"You two, hold him down!" Natalie yelled.
After several uncomfortable minutes, Sliver became still and silent. Soon after, he closed his eyes and drifted off to unconsciousness.
"You are Sam?" Natalie asked.
"Yeah, thank you for helping us," he replied. "This is Dodge."
"It's good you brought him. He's not the first I've seen, but I must tell you, the others that were brought to me all died. Nothing I did seemed to help."
"Have you learned anything about what's happening to him?" Sam asked. "Anything at all?"
"I know that The Purge only took individuals in the prime of health. They were all forced to go off the grid, if they weren't already, which isolated anyone who had a support system. By the time they realized they were in trouble, they had nowhere to turn. As far as I can tell, all the victims lived in New Jersey. And they all died the same exact way."
"So, you know what we know," Dodge said.
"I also know several treatments that failed," Natalie said. "Your friend will be out for at least an hour. That should give us time to discuss the options, providing he lives that long."
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