Keeping up with the Joneses

Part Seventeen

**** WARNING, this chapter is upsetting. I had a very hard time writing it, so please read at your own risk. ****

Sara woke up to the smell of wet air and chemicals. She opened her eyes, looking at her surroundings. When she tried to move her arms, she found them bound behind her back. She looked around frantically, realizing what had just happened.

"Joey!" She yelled, searching the room with her eyes. She saw him lying on a table, likely unconscious. She struggled even harder against the restraints, desperately trying to find a way to get to her brother.

"He'll wake soon." A deep voice came from behind her. She jerked her head around, eyes finding a tall man who had a horribly excited expression on his face. "Azazel sends his regards."

The yellow eyed demon's face flashed across her mind, and she spat at the demon who stood before her.

"Whatever you want with me, it has nothing to do with my brother."

The demon chuckled. "Oh, but, it does. See, we need you to suffer. And what better way than watching your brother being tortured to death?"

Sara screamed, her throat stinging from the volume. "If you touch him, I swear to god--"

"You'll what? Sick your little friend Avery on us? Sorry honey, but she's gone. As for the Winchesters..." He walks to face Sara head on. "Their time will come soon enough."

Her eyes traveled to another demon who walked toward the table that Joey was on, holding a knife. "No. No, no no no. Please."

She couldn't see exactly what the demon was doing to her little brother from her position on the ground, but she heard loud and clear as a scream tore its way from his throat. She screamed along with him, struggling as hard as ever.

"Now, that won't do," the demon in front of her said, pulling a syringe from his pocket. Sara flailed about, doing anything in her power to keep him from sticking whatever it was in her. "The more you struggle, the more it will hurt." The needle pierced through the skin on her forearm, and she went limp in a matter of seconds. She was still conscious, though, and the demon lifted her head by the hair so she could see what they were doing to Joey.

He continued to scream. He screamed for his sister, for his parents. He screamed incoherent words and pleaded for it to stop. Sara could no longer scream, but tears poured freely from her eyes and her whole body burned with the horror she was witnessing. Her worst nightmare, right in front of her.

It took a long time, to Sara, it seemed like hours. Days, even. Joey's cries quieted to whimpers as he lost more and more blood, the weakness in his body evident in his voice. Sara was moaning as the drugs slowly wore off. She sounded like a wounded animal, breath coming in short gasps as the pain of what she was seeing overpowered everything else.

"Finish it." The demon holding her head up said. Sara gave a weak scream, watching as the demon slit her brother's throat. He shuddered for a moment, going limp the next. The unexplainable grief Sara felt became too much to bear. Even as the drug wore off the rest of the way, she stayed slumped in her spot. She felt the ropes that bound her hands being untied and she fell to the floor, sobbing loudly like a child and wishing that she was dead.

"Let's have a little fun, shall we?" Three demons crowded around Sara, one of them lifting her from the ground. They began to punch her, kick her, til she saw stars. Every time she would fall, one of the demons would hoist her back up for her next round of beatings. She begged for them to kill her, but they didn't seem to want to give her the satisfaction. She felt her ribs splinter, she watched as blood spilled from her mouth and nose.

The demons were laughing. When she was sure she couldn't take any more, they let her stay down on the floor while they took turns kicking her. Vaguely, she heard a crash. Two shots fired, and all three demons opened their mouths and exited their hostages in streams of black smoke.

Sara was now too weak to cry. She heard footsteps rush her way and felt a hand roll her to her back.

"Oh, my god." Though she could barely see, she clearly heard that the voice belonged to Bobby.

"Joey," Sara groaned, turning her head to the table that her baby brother laid dead upon. She whimpered, that being the most she could do as tears streamed from her swollen eyes. Bobby got up to check on him, coming back to Sara's side with a sickened expression on his face. "Please..." She whispered. "I need to see..."

Bobby shook his head. "No. I promise you that you don't want to."

"Bobby, please. I need to say goodbye." Bobby reluctantly sat Sara up and pulled her arm around his shoulders, supporting her by the waist with his other arm. He practically carried Sara to the table, where she laid her eyes upon her greatest nightmare. She lifted one of her bloodied hands shakily, caressing Joey's face gently. The sobs became stronger then, and if Bobby hadn't been supporting her she knew she would've been bent over by the weight of her grief. "I'm so, so sorry, buddy. This is all my fault." Her words were broken by the heaving of her crying. "I love you so much. Rest easy, JJ." She cupped his cheek one final time, then placed a kiss on her fingers which she planted on his forehead.

Bobby bent down then, his right arm going under Sara's knees and his left wrapping around her back. Sara whispered something to Bobby then, right before she went unconscious. The words almost brought him to his knees, but he walked back to his car with tears in his eyes.

He didn't want to risk the questioning that would come with bringing Sara to a hospital, and he just happened to know an ex-doctor in the area. It was about an hour and a half away, located in upstate New York. Though he knew Sara probably couldn't hear him, he spoke to her, telling her to hang on and that it was all going to be alright.

He pulled out his phone, pressing Dean's contact and listening to it ring.

"Yeah?" Dean's voice came after the fourth ring.

"Dean," Bobby said, his voice dark. "You might want to get Sam and sit down for this."

On the other end, Sam watched as Dean's face dropped, then he motioned for them both to sit as he pressed the button to put Bobby on speaker.

"What is it, Bobby?" Sam's voice came.

Bobby took a big, shaking breath. "It's Sara. I'd rather tell ya the whole story in person, so I'll send you the address. It's bad, so hurry."

Bobby's words sent the brother's world into a spin. They both looked at eachother, terrified expressions on their faces. "We'll be there," Dean said between shaking breaths. Bobby hung up the phone, sending the address he was heading to in a text.