Dakota Elizabeth Winchester

Chapter 15: Bugs Part 1

Kota and Dean were at a bar hustling pool while Sam waited outside. Dakota was on her third beer and had already made $100. She lined up her shot and sunk it. All the men she was playing with groaned.

"I won!" She exclaimed, putting on the façade that she had never won before.

"You sure you've never played this game, baby doll?" One of the men asked as he handed her a few crumpled bills.

"No. Never." Dakota lied, she had been hustling pool since she was 14 and poker since she was 15. She saw that Dean had just finished his game so she went to meet him.

"Good night?" Dean asked.

"$170." Dakota said.

"Nice. I haven't counted mine yet, but I'm thinking somewhere around $150." Dean said

"Great! Let's go get Sam." Kota said and they grabbed their beers and walked out. They found Sam sitting on the hood on the Impala with his back against the windshield.

When he finally looked up from the paper he was reading he said, "Ya know we could get day jobs every once in a while."

"Hunting's our day job and the pay is crap" Dean said.

"And more often than not, our night job." Dakota said taking a swig of her beer.

"Yeah, but hustling pool? Credit card scams? It's not the most honest thing in the world" Sam asked.

"You left out our hustling card games." Dakota pointed out.

"Yeah Sam, honest. Fun and easy." Dean said holding his hands as scales. It made the "fun and easy" hand rise up above the other. "It's no contest. Besides we're good at it. It's what we were raised to do."

"Yeah, well how we were raised was jacked!" Sam said.

"Says you." Dean said counting his money.

"And me." Said Dakota raising her hand.

"Traitor." Dean muttered at her under his breath, "We got a new gig or what?"

"Maybe. Oasis Planes, Oklahoma, not far from here. Gas company employee, Dustin Burwash supposedly died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob." Sam explained.

"Sorry, once more, but in English." Dakota said upon hearing the strange name.

"Human mad cow disease." Sam explained.

"Mad cow...wasn't that on Oprah?" Dean asked.

"You watch Oprah?" Sam asked.

"Yes, but only when he thinks everyone is asleep or he's on his own." Dakota answered. Dean stared at her in shock. "Dude, we've been sharing motel rooms for 22 years. And the last 2 and ½ years it's been just us. You had to know I would figure it out!"

Dean stood there sputtering for a moment before turning back to Sam and saying, "So this guy eats a bad burger, how is that our kinda thing?"

"Mad cow disease cause mass brain degeneration, it takes months, even years for the damage to appear. But this guy Dustin, sounds like his brain disintegrated in about half an hour or less." Sam told them.

"Okay, that's weird." Dakota said.

"Now, it could be a disease, or it could be something much nastier." Sam said.