SPN: Mamba Dance 1/1

[jennytork]

SUMMARY: Sam and Dean are called to a zoo by an old friend. Animals -- specifically reptiles -- are becoming very aggressive. Can the brothers figure out what's going on when Dean becomes the victim of one of the most dramatic attacks yet?

NOTE: Written for spn_reversebang from the brilliant illustration by sillie82



There are just some days, Dean Winchester thought morosely, when it just doesn't pay to drag your ass out of bed.

Today honestly should have been named Murphy's Day, because that proverbial Law had been in effect since before sunrise. First, Dean had been startled awake by Sam having a nightmare. That would have been bad enough, except his sleeping Sasquatch of a brother had sleepwalked into Dean's bed and said nightmare had been complete with flailing limbs.

Dean's left forearm and thigh were still bruised from the powerful shove to the hardwood floor of the crappy motel that apparently couldn't even afford carpeting.

He was lucky he hadn't hit his head.

And then he'd had to put up with Sam's large hands skimming down his arms and legs and ribs and his asking if he was okay and finally Dean just pushed him slightly and told him to go get dressed, it was his turn to get breakfast. "And if you bring me back one of those granola and yogurt things, I will end you!"

By eight-thirty they were both dressed and fed and out of the motel room, driving to the Jefferson County Zoological Park And Aquarium. Dean sniffed as the guard let them through the gate once they showed their "ASPCA" IDs that Dean had made up the day before. "Zoological Park And Aquarium," he huffed. "Don't see why they don't just sack up and call it a zoo."

"That's not the proper terminology anymore," Sam pointed out as they pulled up outside the main office. "'Zoo' brings up images of animals in cages, treated inhumanely, nothing but display pieces. Now-a-days, zoological parks do so much more. They're research-oriented and conservation-minded and--"

"And I'm sorry I ever said anything," Dean interrupted, rolling his eyes. "I know what they are, Sammy. I'm not stupid." He got out of the car, giving the door an extra push he didn't really have to, and ignored Sam's bitchface as he straightened his suit jacket and headed for the office door.

He was so done with his brother's college-Joe "I'm smarter than you" attitude. It had gotten better for a while - they had even had one of their prank wars - but ever since their father had blown back into and then out of their lives in Chicago, it had begun to steadily creep back into Sam's dealings with him.

And Dean was heartily sick of it.

Sam caught up to him just as he reached the top step leading to the porch surrounding the modest building. "Hey," he said, grabbing Dean's arm and stopping him. "What is your problem, huh? What did I do now?"

"Nothing, Sam," Dean gritted out. "Just treating me like a damn ten year old again."

Whether it was from the words or from the hurt that Dean couldn't quite keep out of his voice, though he tried, Sam winced. "Look, Dean---"

"Save it, huh? I know I didn't go to college and I don't have that piece of paper trumpeting to the world how smart I am--"

"I don't either, man. Dropped out one semester away, remember?"

"But that doesn't mean you can keep treatin' me like I don't have a friggin' brain in my skull!" Dean broke off abruptly when the office door opened.

"I thought I heard you two out here," the older woman chuckled as she took both of them in. "Did you have any trouble getting past the gate?"

"No, ma'am," they chorused, stepping back to let her out of the building. Sam finished, "They think we're ASPCA."

She chuckled. "I can see Johnny taught you well." She smiled and curled her head around the back of Dean's neck, then looked at Sam. "Dammit, boy, am I gonna have to tie a brick to your head to stop you growing?"

Despite his anger, Dean had to grin at that one and Sam rolled his eyes slightly as he chuckled. "No, ma'am. I'm 23 - I think I'm done."

"About time. I think you're taller than your daddy now." She took a deep breath. "Well, are you ready?"

Dean tilted his head toward the Impala. "Just let me get some of the stuff from the trunk and--"

"Oh, I think Sam can do that while I get you briefed."

And just like that, Sam was dismissed. He scowled slightly, but headed to the Impala to get extra knives and salt rounds for the guns. "Don't forget the EMF meter," Dean called after him.

Sam rolled his eyes for real and shook his head even as he opened the trunk.

"I think the hibernating animals heard you squabblin' out here," she said in a near-whisper as she pulled out a map of the grounds. "He still givin' you a hard time?"

"Aaah, I'm used to it by now," Dean sighed. "Sick to death of it, but used to it."

She turned a brown-eyed stone stare on him. "You're not stupid, boy. Don't you ever forget it and don't you rip you two apart over it. You're stronger together than apart, and you know it."

Dean stared at her, then slowly began to smile. "Thanks, Josie."

She nodded and pointed at three different enclosures as Sam walked up. "So here is where the troubles have been. Four reports in the aquarium - one death, but it was a shark and not a human, thank God. Two in the North American enclosure - a moose running amuck and a wolf attacking
the tram. Three injuries in those attacks, but they'll all live."

Sam nodded. "And here?" He touched the third enclosure.

"The Reptile House," Josie sighed. "That's where it seems to be concentrated. There's been twelve incidents over the last month."

"Right," Dean nodded. "So that's where we go first." He took the EMF meter from Sam, and Josie raised an eyebrow.

"That's not a commercial one," she remarked. "Who made that?"

"Dean did," Sam said, and Dean's eyes widened at the unmistakeable note of pride in his voice. "Works better than a commercial one, too."

Josie smiled at Dean. "You always were good with machines." She folded up the map and pocketed one of the guns Sam handed her. "Still haven't quite forgiven you for taking apart my VCR, though."

"I was eight!" Dean protested as Sam boggled at him then slowly began to smile.

"Still." She grinned at them, then nodded as she sobered. "Follow me."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So here's where the bulk of the activity has been?" Sam asked as they walked inside the dark, humid enclosure.

Josie nodded. "We've had handlers come in to find the alligator sleeping in front of the door. There's been snakes let out of their pens - we had a Eastern Diamondback rattler missing for the better part of two weeks. She's been found and didn't hurt any people. There's still an unaccounted for chihuahua, though."

Dean froze. "You're kidding, right?"

"Not this time," she sighed. "We don't have any proof, as what was in her gullet was unidentifiable, but she had recently eaten about the time Fifi went AWOL."

Its sleep was violently disrupted as its glass and steel mesh cover was slid to the side and it was jerked from its comfortable coils by coldwethate and dropped unceremoniously to the cold stone floor.

"We've had creatures acting out of character," Josie went on as they walked on, the low whine of Dean's EMF meter a background accompaniment to her tale. "Docile creatures suddenly aggressive, aggressive creatures even moreso.....turtles trying to snap their locks off....."

"Turtles I can handle," Dean grumped. "Snakes....." He shuddered.

Poked and teased and irritated beyond the point of rationality, it struck and hit empty air. It curled back into a 'get away from me!' threat stance, opening its maw and showing its black inner mouth lining to further press the point that it wanted to be left alone.

Josie smiled at him. "Still not a fan of the reptiles, huh?"

"He's worse than ever," Sam said with a gentle headshake. "Not quite sure why."

"Dude," Dean said, turning to face him. "You spend three months in New Orleans and around the swamps there with alligators and snakes and assorted crap that wants to eat you, and then you can talk to me about my aversion to reptiles."

Alone, it seemed, was not to be. It was poked and teased and irritated more, until it had no choice but to turn on its grey tail and bolt. And still the prodding continued, even as it fled.

Sam held up his hands. "Okay, point taken."

Dean rolled his eyes and shook his head. Licking his lips, he turned back to Josie. "So - did anything happen to set this bout of energy off? Was someone hurt in here? Did someone die?"

"Well, see, that's the thing," Josie said as they walked on. "We're not entirely sure. Someone's always fainting in here from the heat or the humidity or the fact that the place is loaded with snakes. What happens after they leave here, we're rarely told. So I'm just not sure."

Something blocking its path. Something hurting it from behind. The big warm thing is moving but it's in its path. Get out of the way!

"Well," Sam sighed. "It's a starting point, at least. Any way to know who comes here on a daily basis? Any record of---"

Move!

Dean's EMF meter suddenly emitted a piercing whine.

Not moving! Pain! Not moving! Bite it! Make it move!

"What the hell..." Dean asked, looking down at it.

Strike!

All three gasped as a large grey coffin-shaped serpentine head suddenly shot into view. Its black maw was revealed for just a moment before it clamped down on Dean's hand.

The EMF meter went flying and Dean cried out in shock and pain as the agitated snake pumped venom into his veins.

"DEAN!" Sam yelled, drawing his gun and aiming at the snake that was still latched on and still biting.

"Wait!" Josie suddenly yelled, putting her hand over Sam's.

"Wait? What the hell?" Sam growled. "That thing's---"

"-being held there!" Josie said, pointing.

Sam followed her gaze and saw the snake's 8-foot body whipping around thin air, trying desperately to coil around something that seemed to be shaped like an arm. Sam readjusted the gun and fired one shot.

There was a flash of light as the salt shell dissipated the invisible spirit, and the snake instantly detached and fell to the ground, displaying its black maw and hissing its anger and fear.

"Dean," Josie said, having drawn her own gun. "Come to stand beside me. Move slowly, but make it plain that you're moving away from the mamba."

"Mamba?" Dean asked, holding his bitten hand to his chest as he did as she instructed. "My EMF---"

"We'll get it later. Sam, step behind me."

Sam did as he was told, reaching out to pull Dean behind her as well. As one, the three moved backward, away from the snake.

Seeing they weren't going to harm it, the snake closed its mouth and spun, shooting like a rocket back into the shadows.

Josie fired.

The snake jerked as the tranquilizer dart impacted. It spun again and came right at them, hissing and displaying. Just as it was mere inches from Josie's retreating foot and rearing back to strike, it fell limp.

"Damn, that took longer than I thought to work," Josie growled. "Sam, I need your jacket." As she bundled the unconscious snake into it, she ordered, "Get Dean to the clinic. He needs antivenin and he needs it yesterday."

Sam saw Josie scoop up the EMF meter as he pulled Dean toward the door. "C'mon, you."

"Wait!" Dean dug in his heels. "Josie, what's--"

"That was a black mamba, Dean," she said, her voice eerily steady. They knew that only happened in moments of extreme crisis. "One of the most deadly snakes in the entire world. The second it injected its venom into your hand, the clock started ticking."

Dean's feet finally started moving as he followed Sam. "How long?"

The answer sent ice plunging into his veins faster than the stinging burn of the venom. "Fifteen minutes, Dean."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The veterinarian on duty gasped as three people shouldered their way into her clinic. "What the hell---"

"Black mamba bite," Josie said succinctly. "Meat of the left hand. T-plus four."

"Damn!" the veterinarian said, taking Dean's hand and turning it over. "Grade?"

"Severe," Josie replied, putting the EMF meter on the counter and setting the jacket beside it.

"Gotcha." She motioned toward a table. "Get his jacket and shirt off and lay him down."

Dean swatted Sam's hands away and did it himself. As he crawled onto the table, he said, "I thought you were a veterinarian."

"I'm also authorised to treat people who have been injured by our animals," she assured him, starting an IV easily and patting his shoulder. She went to a large refrigerator and brought out a box. Heading over to him, she said, "Do you have the--"

"Yeah, he's tranqued." Josie had unwrapped the mamba and was holding its head over a beaker, milking its venom glands. "Tank 12 open?"

"Yeah, Golly had her babies overnight and we moved them to Tank 15. It's larger."

"Seriously?" Josie beamed. To the Winchesters, she explained, "Golly is a Burmese Python. Her handlers thought she was a boy and named her Goliath. We took his word for it - until Golly got pregnant."

Dean chuckled slightly. "That would do it." He hissed as the contents of a vial were injected into his arm. "That's the antivenom?"

"Antivenin," the vet corrected, patting his shoulder. "And might as well buck up - we've got 11 more to get in you."

Both brothers shuddered, but Dean nodded as she prepped the second vial. He closed his eyes as it was injected, then opened them owlishly and blinked as if he was confused.

"Dean?" Sam said, coming over to stand beside him.

"Dizzy," Dean slurred.

Sam shot a look at the vet, who nodded. "Normal," she replied, injecting a third vial into him and prepping a fourth.

"Here, I'll help," Josie said, washing her hands and coming over. She grabbed another syringe and the injections went twice as fast. She patted Dean's cheek. "You'll live now," she assured him. "Might not enjoy the ride for a little while, but it'll be over soon. And Merry and I'll be here the whole time."

"Mary?" Dean slurred, his eyes wobbling over toward the vet.

"Merry," she corrected. "Like Merry Christmas. Which is not my last name, so don't even try."

His lips tipped up and then he frowned. "Hey...Josie?"

"Yeah?"

"What'ja do with the ma...mam...."

"The mamba?" She smiled. "He's safely waking up in a tank. He'll be okay."

"Good." His eyes closed. "Hey...Josie?"

"Yes, Dean?" she chuckled.

"Where're ya gonna put the other one?"

The three looked at each other, then Sam asked, "Other what, Dean?"

"Th'other snake," he slurred as a flush rapidly crept up his neck and face, staining his pale freckles nearly black. "Green 'un....inna corner...." His free hand gestured airily. ".........lookin' at me like m'lunch....."

Six eyes cut to the indicated corner. The empty indicated corner.

"Dean?" Josie asked. "How...How big is this green snake?"

"Mmm....can' tell....twen'y? Thir'y?"

"Inches?"

"M-m.....fee'........oh G-d!" Dean arched, and a primal scream wrenched its way from his throat.

"Josie!" Sam yelled.

Merry peeled back an eyelid. "This is atypical," she reported. "Hallucinations are supposed to be mild, and the fever isn't supposed to take hold this fast!"

"Give him ibuprofin," Josie ordered. "Bring that fever down! Sam, I need you with me."

"I'm not leaving Dean," Sam ground out.

"Neither am I," Josie said, gesturing toward the equipment on the counter. "But I need your eyes to look at this venom and if I'm right - then Dean is in a world of trouble."

He was in real trouble. He had been since the green monstrosity of a snake had lunged at him from the corner and sank its fangs into his already damaged hand.

Josie set up a slide and put it into focus, nodding as she stepped aside. "Take a look at this." When Sam's eyelashes were touching the viewer, she said, "That's normal black mamba venom."

"....all right...."

She swapped the slides out and focused the eyepiece again. "That's from the mamba that bit Dean."

Sam leaned in again, and she could see him blink in surprise. ".....huh."

"Yeah."

He found himself in a forest. Armed with only a knife. And alone.

"Sam? Sammy?!"

The only answer was a horrible, sibilant sound.

His eyes narrowed. "Sam?" Just the wind in the leaves, he told himself as he slowly crept forward. Just the wind in the tops of the trees.....

He sensed, rather than saw, movement at the corner of his eyes. He turned. "Sam?" he called. "Sammy?"

There was the sound again.

He transferred the knife into his left hand to wipe his clammy right one on his jeans.

He heard it again. Louder. Closer.

He spun back, to find the huge green head glaring at him from between two trees.

He felt himself swallow hard.

The tremendous mouth opened, revealing fangs as large as his head.

And the huge snake struck.

"Dammit!" Merry swore. "Fever's 104.6 and climbing! He's gonna cook!"

"No, he's not," Josie said. "Start an ice bath." As Merry ran to comply, she looked at Sam. "So, am I right? Is that --"

"Ectoplasm?" Sam sighed. "Sure looks like it. Though how in the world it got inside that mamba's venom...."

"When it bit Dean," Josie pointed out, "it looked like it was being held there. There are tiny cuts to that snake's venom left venom sac, like it was sliced with a claw or something. The venom from the right sac is fine, but the left one is still pumping out that laced venom."

"You're saying whatever held it there put the ectoplasm inside the venom. To kill Dean."

"To kill whoever that snake bit." Josie sighed. "And deliberately set it on one of us. Dammit, I didn't want to have to do this."

Merry came in to hear the last two sentences. "You know we have to. He's bitten a visitor and you know the protocol."

"I know. Doesn't make it right."

"You want me to--"

"I'll do it," Josie said. "You take care of Dean. Sam, help her."

Sam stood up. "Wait, where are you going?" He watched as she took a drug from the top shelf and loaded a syringe with it. "Josie?"

"I have to destroy it, Sam," she said softly. "It's policy if any animal harms a visitor deliberately - which this one did. It's doubly necessary since the ectoplasm is reproducing with the venom." She shook her head. "I can't take the chance that this snake could get a taste for human flesh, especially now that we've determined there's something not natural going on with it. This could happen again and again. This part of it stops right here. Right now." She cupped his cheek. "I'm sorry."

Sam watched her walk out of the room, and turned back to Merry with a sigh. "Let's get him into the bath."

They pulled Dean's clothing off and Sam lifted him into a fireman's carry. The moment his hands gripped Dean's right leg and right arm, Dean let out a gasping wail and flailed his left hand as if he was holding a knife.

"Shit, Dean! Settle down, it's only me!"

It coiled around his right arm and his right leg and tried to get to his head. He swung and it backed off, only to return and coil around both legs and his body and it took all he had to keep its massive maw away from his head as he felt himself lifted off of the ground.



Sam had to regrip him and curl his body around, carrying him with both legs and his right arm restrained as he jogged toward the bath.

Dean struggled but it wasn't doing any good. He could feel the snake's warm breath against his cheek now, feel the ice of its scales rasping through his clothing....

Sam lowered Dean into the water and the shock of it set Dean to wailing and thrashing, trying to come out of the tub. "Dean, no, settle down, it's okay! Dean, can you hear me? Dean! Dean!"

Suddenly there was the most welcome sound in the world.

"Dean!"

"Sammy!" Dean swung with all his might. The knife connected right into the point where the snake's jaws met.

There was a tremendous explosion and the forest and the snake and the world dissolved into hot blackness. "Sammy!" Dean screamed into the sudden dark nothingness. "Sam! Sam!"

"Sammy!" Dean erupted from the water, eyes huge and breathing hard.

But the redness of his skin had begun to fade and his eyes were no longer glassy.

Sam cupped his cheeks and smiled. "His fever's broken!"

"Good," Josie said as she came back in, the corpse of the mamba in a box in her hands. "Because this isn't over."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As Dean got dressed and drank a can of a meal-replacement shake - Merry's orders - Sam and Josie talked as she autopsied the mamba. "What do you mean it's not over? Dean's gonna be fine!"

"The reason I called you boys in the first place is still here. Something is using my animals to terrorise my patrons. And it's escalating."

Dean nodded, finally strong enough to join in the discussion. "And it's using ectoplasm, which means it's a spirit."

"How long has this been going on?" Sam asked.

"A month. At least. Centred around the reptile house." She sighed. "Except for that ectoplasm in his venom sac and - understandably - traces of stress hormones in his muscles, our mamba checks out." She covered the remains with a towel and stripped off her gloves, slam-dunking them into the wastebasket.

"Okay," Dean said, rubbing his eye with the heel of his palm. "So let's back up. Ah, thanks!" he said, spotting the EMF meter and returning it to his pocket.

"I agree," Sam said. "Josie, you said this started about a month ago. Did anything unusual happen here around that time?"

"Kenny was fired," Merry spoke up.

"Yeah, but that's not unusual," Josie pointed out. "Staff rotates often around here, especially in the warm months."

"But," Merry said, coming fully into the room. "Kenny threatened you. Said he was going to come back and make us all pay for firing him without reason."

"There was a reason," Josie interrupted. "He was deliberately antagonising our serpents. He liked to make them strike at him. He seemed to get off on it. It wasn't safe and several of his victims struck at the glass when visitors were near. That's why he was fired."

"But he was one of our reptile experts. And he did like moose and wolves and sharks - and those were the other animals affected."

"Sounds like we might have ourselves a winner," Dean said, taking another sip of his shake and grimacing.

"Except for one little detail," Josie pointed out. "Kenny's still alive."

Sam nodded. "I'll to talk to him, then."

"Not without me."

"Dean, you can barely stand..."

Dean fixed him with a pointed look. "We're just going to talk to the guy, Sammy. I can handle talking." When Sam chuckled slightly, Dean frowned. "What? I can!"

"Fine, whatever. Let's just go." Sam shook his head and led the way out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As they approached the small house on the outskirts of town, Dean suddenly grabbed Sam's arm. "Do you smell that?"

Sam took a deep breath and gagged.

"I'll take that as a yes." Dean doubled back and got the salt and gasoline out of the Impala's trunk while Sam walked on up to the door.

As Dean joined him, he shook his head at Sam's knocking and calling for Kenny. "Somehow, I don't think he'll be answering."

"Stand back, then." He took the bandana Dean handed him and covered his nose and mouth with it before he kicked in the door.

Sure enough, there was Kenneth West, in his bedroom. And by the state and scent of him, he'd been there since the day he'd been fired.

Neither brother was too surprised to find snakes in cages in the house - and some cages empty. "Snakes," Dean gagged behind his bandana. "Why the hell did it have to be snakes!"

Sam didn't reply - too intent on salting the remains and pouring gasoline over them. When he lit the body, snakes came from seemingly everywhere, drawn by the heat.

The brothers ran, barely avoiding getting bitten or squeezed. As they made it outside, Dean grabbed the gas can and splashed its contents against the walls.

"Dean, what are you doing?" Sam gasped.

"Putting an end to this horror show once and for all!" He flung a lit matchbook behind him and the house seemed to explode into flame.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Merry shrieked as a tiny blast of flame erupted from the box that held the mamba's remains. Josie looked out the clinic window toward the reptile house.

Through one of the windows, she saw a large explosion of flame erupt and vanish.

A smile touched her lips and she whispered, "You taught 'em well, little brother." Touching the window, she said, even softer, "Just wish I'd'a been the one to dust John's ass with buckshot...."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The brothers stayed three more days, making absolutely certain that the spirit was gone - and Josie and Merry making absolutely certain that Dean was recovered.

But eventually, it was time to move on. Dean and Merry were in a tight little conversation while Sam and Josie walked to the Impala. The zoo was closed for the day, and everyone was heading to rest.

"You're sure he's going to be okay?" Sam asked, casting a worried eye at Dean.

"He'll be fine," Josie smiled. "Just make sure he keeps hydrated for awhile."

"Oh, don't worry. I will." He watched Dean smile and kiss Merry on the cheek before heading back to the Impala. "Tell me you didn't get your doctor's phone number...."

"Nope," Dean smiled. "Her husband would kill me." He hugged Josie. "Next time, don't wait till there's something weird in the pipes before you call, okay?"

"Same here, boy. Just because we had trouble with your dad don't mean we don't love you, hear me?"

"We hear ya, Josie." Sam hugged her. "Take care, okay?"

"You two do the same." She stepped back and watched them drive away, waving until the Impala cleared the gate and was out of sight. Then she turned back to Merry. "Husband?"

Merry smiled and spread her hands. "I know his type. Easier to fend him off that way than to explain that we're practically family."

Josie laughed. "Get inside and get cleaned up. I owe you a meal for all the work that went into the last few days."

"Okay, Momma." Merry grinned and went to do as she was told.

Josie looked after the Impala and whispered, "Take care, boys."

Then she closed and locked the gates.

END