Bless the Broken Road

10. Faith

Sam, Dean and Zach parked and opened the trunk. Dean pulled out three tasers.

"What do you have those amped up to?" Sam asked.

"A hundred thousand volts," Dean replied.

"Damn."

"Yeah, Zach and I want this raw head extra frickin' crispy. And remember, you only get one shot with these things. So make it count."

They moved down the basement stairs with guns and flashlights.

A noise caught their attention and they moved towards a cupboard.

"On three," Dean whispered. "One. Two. Three."

Dean swung the door open, revealing a young boy and girl crouched inside, covering their ears.

"Is it still here?" Sam whispered and the kids nodded.

Dean looked at the boy. "Okay. Grab your sister's hand, come on, we gotta get you out of here. Let's go, let's go." They moved towards the stairs. "All right, go!"

Sam started to take the kids upstairs, but a hand grabbed his legs, knocking him back down. The children screamed and ran to the top of the stairs.

"Sam!" Dean and Zach called.

Dean shot his taser and missed. "Sam, get 'em outta here!"

Sam threw his taser to Dean. "Here take this!"

Sam ran up the stairs and moved the children out of sight.

Dean moved around the basement on high alert, shining his flashlight into corners. "Come on!"

A ragged, hairy creature leapt up and shoved Dean backwards. Zach pushed his brother back. He lost his weapons and flashlight as he fell. He glanced around, scrambled across puddles of water to grab the taser and pressed it on the creature as it moved towards him, electrocuting him. Dean's eyes widened, but he couldn't get to his brother without hurting himself. Electricity moved from the creature through the water and to Zach. The two shook and twitched. The creature fell, and Zach lost consciousness. As soon as he was able, Dean ran to his brother and cradled his head.

Sam ran down the stairs and saw Zach and Dean in the corner, the former unmoving. "Dean! Zach!" He ran over and half lifted Zach, holding his face. "Zach, hey. Hey."

Dean shook his head. "I couldn't stop him, Sam."

"We'll get him help. He'll be okay. He has to be."

HOSPITAL

Sam and Dean stood at the desk with a receptionist.

"Sir, I'm so sorry to ask," the receptionist said. "There doesn't seem to be any insurance on file."

"Right. Uh, okay." Sam pulled a card from his wallet and handed it to the receptionist.

The receptionist glanced at the card. "Okay, Mr. Burkovitz."

Sam and Dean saw two cops waiting and walked over.

"Look, we can finish this up later," one of the cops said.

Sam shook his head. "No, no, it's okay. We were just taking a shortcut through the neighborhood. And, um, the windows were rolled down, and we heard some screaming when we drove past the house, and we stopped. Ran in."

"And you found the kids in the basement?"

"Well, thank God you did," another cop said.

Sam and Dean noticed a doctor walking towards them and glanced at the cops. "Excuse me."