A Hunters Heart

A Stiff Situation

Hey guys sorry it has been so,long school and life have just been,beating the crap out of me. But hopefully I will get back into the swing of things fast. Anyway enjoy this chapter
Al&AD

Are you sure you're ready for this, Cas?"
"Dean, that is the 17th time you've asked that and it was only a two hour drive. I'm fine."
Castiel had convinced Dean to let him tag along to get the next ingredient. Conveniently, a case popped up only a few hours away that looked like it might be what they needed. A few people in Jacksonville had lost their motor ability out of the blue, so the hunters were at the hospital that housed them.
"Can I help you?" a middle-aged woman with brown curly hair walked up to Cas and Dean. She was wearing a lab coat and holding a clipboard. Her name tag read "Dr. Melissa McCall", and she was obviously put off by the two men in suits.
"Yes," Dean replied, "I'm Agent Hetfield and this is Agent..." Dean sighed, "Styles. We're from the CDC and we're here to take a closer look at the group of people that were recently paralyzed."
"Oh, of course, pod C7B. We've been expecting someone, but we were supposed to get a call first."
"Well, you know the higher-ups, they've always got something better to do."
"I should hope not. This may be a new virus on our hands and the recent outbreak is more than we can handle."
Dean knotted his eyebrows, "Outbreak? I thought it was just a few of your elderly residents."
"That's how it started," Dr. McCall seemed distressed as she started walking towards an elevator. The boys followed. In the elevator, the doctor continued to explain, "When one of our younger patients got a visit from her grandparents, they were about to leave when they both fell, causing a few bruises and a concussion for one. They were admitted through the urgent care. We assumed it was due to their old age and purely coincidental that they were both affected at the same time. Right this way," The doors opened to a sea of plastic. Staralyzing mist was ejected into the small area before they walked further onto the floor. There were about a dozen people moving from room to room with masks covering their faces, gloves and blue paper socks covering their shoes.
"Is all of this really necessary?" Dean asked as he and Castiel each handed a mask.
"You tell me. After the two Patient 0's were admitted, the virus spread to every person on the floor. This whole pod is now paralyzed and the only thing we can do is isolate them and order more wheelchairs."
"Can you show us to the two grandparents rooms?" Castiel spoke up.
"Right this way," the woman ushered the two men to two rooms at the end of one of the halls. Looking inside, they could see a woman sleeping with a neck brace. When they peeked into the other of the two rooms, they were expecting to see a similar scene. Instead, they ran into a small hispanic woman in a dark green janitorial jumpsuit. The room was polished clean and the bed was empty.
"Maria," Dr. McCall asked the woman, "Where's Mr. Kline?"
"Mr. Kline passed away a few hours ago. Sorry, I just go where I'm sent. Excuse me, it's time for the afternoon sweep of the rooms." Maria pushed a cart past them, leaving nothing but confused faces.
"I'm sorry, Agents," The doctor continued, "I wasn't aware of this."
"Can we see the cause of death?" Dean asked.
"Of course," Pulling the a few papers out from the clear pocket outside the door, Dr. McCall looked tired all of a sudden, "Undetermined. It could have been his old age, but he was in perfect health before he got here. If you would excuse me, I have to follow up with the doctor."
"Right," Dean said as a farewell. Then he turned towards Castiel, "Really? Styles?"
"He is a very well known artist. Wait, this whole visit and that's the first thing you ask?"
Dean sighed and looked in Mrs. Kline's room, "I think I found a place to start."

An hour later, the hunters walked out of Mrs. Kline's hospital room with her entire life story.
"Well," Dean spoke as the exited the room, "I thought I knew every way to torture somebody, but here, I have a first-hand experience with the latest and greatest. That was awful."
"Normally I would argue, but that woman did seem very adamant about telling us all about herself."
"And we're no closer to our monster than we were an hour ago."
"We know that her family were hunters." Cas said with hope lining his words.
"Yeah, but not our kind of hunters. These people hunted wild animals. There's no way that has anything to do with the fact that she can't move anything from her shoulders down."
The hunters were at a loss. Looking around the pod of hospital rooms, they could see that the halls were no longer teeming with life. The staff seemed to have dispersed, leaving a few nurses sitting at computers and a doctor or two milling from room to room with carts carrying medication. Nobody seemed to notice the hunters, so they stayed off to the side of the hall and talked.
"We know what we're looking for," Castiel said, "This is definitely an Oduzet hexbag."
"Yeah, but why all these people? What connects them?"
"I don't know, Dean, but if these people were all paralyzed by the same witch, maybe we should go somewhere private."
Dean's face turned to a deeper red. "Private? W- What do you mean, 'Private'?"
Castiel's head tilted as he gazed at Dean, "I mean to say that the witch could be here. If we are to continue this conversation, we should probably leave to the point where we aren't within earshot of other people. What did you think I meant?"
"That." Dean answered quickly, "Yeah, you're probably right. Let's get back to the motel." Dean put a hand protectively on his pocket, patting it and walking the direction of the hospitals exit.