The Red Strokes

10. Faith

Sam, Dean, Delaney and Elaina parked and opened the trunks. Dean and Delaney both pulled out two tasers.

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

"A hundred thousand volts," Dean replied.

"Damn."

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

"Is it still here?" Sam and Elaina 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 and Delaney started to take the kids upstairs, but a hand grabbed their legs, knocking them back down. The children screamed and ran to the top of the stairs.

"Sam! Laney!" Dean and Elaina called.

Dean and Elaina shot their tasers and missed. "Sam, Laney, get 'em outta here!"

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

Delaney threw her taser to Elaina. "Take it and don't miss!"

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

Dean and Elaina moved around the basement on high alert, shining their flashlights into corners. "Come on!"

A ragged, hairy creature leapt up and shoved Dean and Elaina backwards. Dean and Elaina lost their weapons and flashlights as they fell. Dean glanced around, scrambled across puddles of water to grab a taser and pressed it on the creature as it moved toward them, electrocuting them. Electricity moved from the creature through the water and to Dean. The two shook and twitched. The creature fell, and Dean lost consciousness.

Elaina quickly took her friend's pulse and sat next to him.

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

HOSPITAL

Sam, Delaney and Elaina stood at the desk with a receptionist.

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

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

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

Sam, Delaney and Elaina 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."

Sam, Delaney and Elaina noticed a doctor walking toward them and glanced at the cops, as the former said, "Excuse me."