Supernatural by Carver Edlund.
Everything is in here, I mean, everything. From the racist truck to me having sex.
- Moondoor. - Wait, is that...?
Defend the Queen of Moons.
- I love you. - I know.
- What's the second trial? - An innocent rescued from hell...
- ...and delivered unto heaven. - Aah!
- Sam? - It's done.
Kevin Tran. Thought you could elude me forever.
- He's gone. - The little geek made a run for it.
What the hell?
What the hell is this?
"1951 "?
Give me five minutes with some clippers...
Ah, shut up.
Uh, what time did I lay down?
You took a siesta around noon. Yesterday.
- I'm sorry. Uh... - That's why we don't have nice things, Sam.
- You okay? - Yeah, I'm fine.
Just... Uh, you know what? I'm gonna get dressed. We should go find Kevin.
Hey, hey, hey. Easy, easy, sleeping beauty.
Look, man. I've hacked into every security camera around Garth's houseboat...
- ...Kevin's hometown, where Mrs. Tran lived. - And?
Well, nothing so far.
- Dean, we have to find him. - I know. I know.
Garth is out looking for him. We've got a hunter APB out on Kevin.
We'll do what we can from here. While you get better.
I'm fine.
- I can still go out there. I can still hunt. - Really?
This is stupid.
All right. You hit that target, we'll talk about you getting back out there.
No problem.
Look, the second trial hit you harder.
I don't know whether it was just more intense or what.
It felt the same. Until the next day.
So we're gonna sit tight...
...keep an eye out until you, uh, get better.
It's from Charlie.
"In the neighborhood, found you guys a case." Found us a case?
In the neighborhood? How the hell does she know where we are?
Uh, well, she doesn't. Not exactly, at least.
She tracked our cells, then the signal went out.
Huh. This place must be in some kind of, like, Bermuda Triangle.
Are you saying we can make phone calls here...
...and nobody can track us? Man, I love this place.
Your highness.
What's up, bitches?
You okay, Sam?
Yeah. No, I'm good. Yeah.
- What are you doing in Kansas? - Uh...
A comic convention, in Topeka. Heh.
- In the middle of the week? - Girl's gotta get her collectibles.
So you gonna invite me into your dungeon...
...or do I gotta answer your questions three first?
Follow us. Let us introduce you to the Men of Letters.
Holy awesome.
Too bad they got wiped out. That is what they get for the sexist name.
Well, anyway, that's our skinny. How about you?
Um...
Made a deal with the Yesteryear weirdos.
We're gonna team up to stomp the Shadow Orcs.
- You are still coming to the jubilee, right? - Wouldn't miss it.
So, what about this case you brought us?
Oh. When I was in Topeka, I saw this pop up over the wire.
Tom Blake, a checkout clerk in Salina who went missing on his way home from work.
He was found dead yesterday. His insides? Liquefied.
Locals have no idea what happened.
They tried to bury the report so people wouldn't freak, but I flagged it.
I've eliminated the following things that go bump in the night.
Wait a second. When did you become such an expert?
Well, after you guys left, I dug into all things monstrous.
I'm a wee bit obsessive. If "a wee bit" means completely.
I also found this series of books by Carver Edlund.
Did those books really happen?
Wow.
That is some meta-madness.
Thanks for saving the world and stuff.
- Sorry you have zero luck with the ladies. - Wha...?
We need to find every single copy and burn them.
- They're online now, so good luck with that. - Awesome.
Well, you two crazy kids deal with that.
I will go see if there's anything to this, uh, case of yours.
- I'm coming with you. - Whoa!
Are you sure you're okay?
- Yes. - No.
- You're taking a knee. - I'll go with you.
Look, no disrespect, but there is a big difference...
...between reading about hunting and actually hunting.
I'm coming with.
- For serious? - Okay.
If you can hit that target, then we can talk about you...
What?
All right, if you're gonna do a ride-along, then, uh...
...you gotta lose the novelty T-shirts.
Son of a pantsuit.
Mm, yeah
I used to think maybe you loved me Now, baby, I'm sure
And I just can't wait till the day When you knock on my door
Montage.
Trials? That's never good.
Yeah, and our prophet's in the wind.
What about, uh, Castiel? He seems helpful and dreamy.
He's MIA, with a tablet of his own, doing God knows what.
I mean, to be honest, this whole thing is...
I mean, Sam's a tough son of a bitch, but Cass is saying that these trials...
...are messing with him in ways that even he can't heal.
If it's any consolation, having read your history...
...there is pretty much nothing the Winchesters can't do if they work together.
Thanks.
Must be nice, having a brother, someone to always watch your back. Heh.
- Yeah. No brothers or sisters? - Actually, I have two.
Their names are Xbox and PS3.
I'm not getting any reception. Can I use your phone?
Mm, sure.
- Yeah? - Hey. It's me. You okay?
Yes, Dean, I'm still fine.
- Look, I can hunt... - Let the healing continue.
I'll check in with you later.
Close enough.
Come in.
Hi. Uh, Special Agent Hicks. This is my partner, Agent Ripley.
We're here about the body with the creamy filling.
Ah, right.
- I didn't think you'd have any interest in that. - FBI. We never leave a stone unturned.
- Mind if we take a peek? - Of course not.
I just need your signed chain-of-custody request and it's all yours.
- Sorry, the what? - Chain-of-custody request.
From your supervisor to mine.
Right. Uh, you know what?
You want to call my supervisor? He can give you the override.
Sorry. Unless he can get me the form...
- ...I can't give you access to the body. - But FBI.
I understand, dear, but paperwork is paperwork.
Of course.
Jennifer. Uh, it is Jennifer?
- Heh. Yeah. - Yeah. Um...
We have been on the road all day and this is strictly routine...
...dot the I, cross the T kind of thing.
If you could do us a solid...
Come back with the signed form...
...I'd be happy to do you a solid.
Until then...
- That never happened in the books. - Want to tell me what happened back there?
I'm sorry. I froze. I couldn't control-alt-delete my way out.
- Real-life role-playing is hard. - It's okay.
We'll come back later when, uh, Doris Do Right isn't here anymore.
- Oh, perfect. Breaking and entering. - No different than hacking.
Beg to differ. One I've been doing since I was a teenager...
...the other I've done once with you two walking me through it...
...and I had my arm broken.
What did you hack when you were a teenager?
Uh, NORAD.
Whatever you say, WarGames.
Why don't we go grab some grub while we wait?
Awesome. I got three stars.
So? I'm three levels ahead of you, man.
- Dude, stop. - I can't. I'm just too good.
Dude!
Whoa, no, dude. That's a bad idea.
Your face is a bad idea.
See? Nothing to worry about.
Maybe you should go first this time.
Uh-uh. Back on the horse, kiddo. Come on.
Hey there. I am Special Agent Ripley.
- This is my partner. - Save it. Your other agent's over there.
- What took you so long? - What are you doing here?
Working the case. Same as you.
Jake Hill. Librarian. Went missing yesterday, no relation to the other vic.
Coroner already swooped in and scooped up what was left of him.
Yeah, we met her. Bit of a stickler.
There's not a body, nothing to see, so why don't you head home?
Still haven't talked to the witnesses.
We can handle that. Charlie, go talk to the witnesses.
- I don't wanna miss the bro-ment. - Charlie.
I know you're frustrated, but you're also sick.
- I'm not leaving, Dean. - Hey, boys.
Special Agent Ripley, FBI and stuff.
- What game you guys playing? - "Super Eater."
"Underworld Adventures" or "Dimension Travelers"?
- "Underworld Adventures." - Nice.
So about that childhood trauma you experienced earlier...
I know you want to help. I do, all right? But...
Dean, you cannot take care of the both of us.
I need to be out here. "Play through the pain," right?
Come on, man. Don't quote me to me.
So the boys said they noticed something on the body's arm...
...before it covered them in years of future therapy.
Said it looked like a blue handprint.
Sounds like something you should read about. In a book. At home.
I'm not leaving until we find out whatever's doing this.
Whatever.
- You guys fight like an old married couple. - Charlie.
Does this mean we don't have to break into the coroner's office?
That's a great idea.
- Is he leaving? He's leaving. - That's all right.
- I stole your car. I know where he's going. - Cool.
Wait, you stole my car?
What took you so long?
I stopped for gas. Shut up. The body's in here.
What the hell?
Charlie. Charlie.
It's the coroner. I got this.
Hello.
Hey there. Front door was open.
- Oh. Uh, what are you doing here? - I, uh, came back...
...to get a blank copy of that form you asked for.
The FBI doesn't have chain-of-custody forms?
The field office had a power outage after catching fire.
Figured I could just borrow a copy or two.
Ah. Of course. Just give me sec.
What the hell?
It's empty.
Uh...
- They burned the bodies. - Already?
They think it's some kind of outbreak scenario.
Even got the CDC to sign off on it.
These folks run a tight ship.
Okay. Here you go.
Great. Perfect. Thank you.
Well, if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do in the morgue.
Uh, can I ask you a personal question?
I am new to the whole power-suit thing, and yours, heh, is killer.
Where do you get them?
This mean we need to take Silkwood showers, or is this a case?
Yeah, something about that mark the kids saw rings a bell.
Probably have to check the lore, or maybe Dad's journal.
Hurry up.
You need three jackets, three pairs of pants and you're set.
So simple, so smart.
- You should have a blog. - Okay. I'll get right on that.
Um, so, what about shoes?
- I can never find the right kind to go with... - Okay. I'm sorry, but I'm not a stylist. Heh.
Uh, well, thanks for the forms and the fashion advice.
You're the best. Don't go changing. Okay, bye.
- Leviathan? - Mm...
They consume their prey.
Well, maybe the vics were Leviathan.
No black goo on either scene, according to the reports.
- Dragons. They, uh... - No signs of burns on the vics.
I hate that thing.
- I want one. - Wait a second. Djinn.
Djinn vics don't get liquefied.
No, no, no. Not regular Djinn. According to this, there is a bastard offshoot.
Uh, their eyes light up blue.
They pass as humans, all that regular jazz.
Except these leave their victims with jelly-like insides...
...and supposedly, when they poison their victims...
...they leave behind a blue handprint.
I hate that thing. And I want one.
So do these things die like regular Djinn?
Silver blade dipped in lamb's blood, yeah.
Now we just gotta find the asshat.
All right. Well, breakthrough means snack time to me.
And I want to just, uh, stretch my legs.
I will pick us up some grub...
...and unlike you, Sam, I will not forget the pie.
- She seem a little off to you? - Since the second she got here.
Charlie, it's Sam. Uh...
Again. Call us. Okay?
Hey.
- Any word from Charlie? - Uh, no. Uh...
And there was no comic convention in Topeka.
I don't know why... I mean, why would she lie to us?
One way to find out.
What are you doing?
When I called you from her phone, I turned on her GPS.
Charlie?
Hey, Charlie, you in there?
Dean.
What the hell?
What the hell is this place?
Whatever it is, it belongs to Charlie.
Or some variation of her.
Who the hell is she, Jason Bourne?
All right, we got no forced entry, so either it was somebody that she knew or...
Djinn.
Here's all our missed calls.
- You got anything on her laptop? - Yeah.
Uh, she's been making donations through aliases...
...to Shawnee County General here in Topeka.
- Like a charity? - A patient. Gertrude Middleton.
We need answers. Uh, I'll take Gertrude, you keep Djinn-digging.
Gertrude's been in a persistent vegetative state for 16 years.
About a year ago, her condition got worse.
This ventilator's the only thing keeping her alive.
How did this happen?
She and her husband were hit by a drunk driver.
He didn't make it.
They were on their way to pick up their daughter.
- Their daughter? - She was 12.
She got into trouble after her parents' accident.
Nobody's heard from her since.
Folks have been donating to cover her care over the years.
It's a sweet gesture, but the truth is, she's gone.
- She ever get visitors? - A couple nurses thought...
...they saw someone in here reading to her, but nobody's officially signed in.
She's all alone.
- If you'll excuse me, I have to make rounds. - Thank you.
You got one hell of a daughter, Mrs. Middleton.
I promise you I will find her.
You're not going anywhere.
Wilhelm scream.
Do you know what I smell on you?
- Deodorant? A little pee, maybe? - Fear.
- Djinn smell fear? - Well, well, well.
If you know about Djinn, then you and your little friend are hunters, not FBI.
No. I'm more hunter-in-training.
Totally not worth killing.
Heh. Oh, but you are worth killing, sweetheart. Yeah.
You see, my kind, we prefer a more bitter taste to blood...
...than the run-of-the-mill Djinn.
We prefer the taste of fear.
And when I got a whiff of you at that morgue...
...oh, such delicious fear inside of you. I followed your scent.
I knew you'd make a meal fit for two.
For two?
No.
- So no chance of a recovery, huh? - No.
Gertrude seemed like a cool mom.
Kind, strong, taken from her family way too young.
Remind you of anybody?
- Did you find anything? - I think so.
Uh, a John Doe from nine years ago.
The original coroner wanted the body sent to the CDC...
...but the coroner's assistant "accidentally" ordered the body burned.
- New assistant? - Jennifer O'Brien.
Coroner's a hell of a cover for hiding kills.
My manly man friend's gonna come get you, you creepy power-suit lady.
Oh, let him come.
He reeked of fear as well.
Look at this. CDC? Never heard from Jennifer either.
- She faked the reports, burned the bodies. - Why'd she get sloppy after nine years...
...start leaving bodies where they could be found?
Well, let's go ask her. According to this...
...she owns two pieces of property in town...
...one 2-bedroom house about 10 minutes from here...
- ...and an abandoned shipping warehouse. - Of course she does.
Charlie.
Charlie. Hey. Hey, Charlie.
You okay?
Where's Charlie?
- What the hell's going on? - I don't know.
- Maybe she needs a different antidote. - Charlie? She's burning up, man.
- We're not letting her turn to Jell-O. - Okay, okay. Uh...
Djinn poison puts your brain into a loop...
- ...while your blood boils, right? - Right.
Um, if the antidote didn't break the loop, we find a way inside.
Djinn take you to your happy place. Like a dream.
African dream root.
All right, let's do this.
Ah. Okay.
All right, I'm gonna need to go to sleep fast, so, uh, punch me.
Look, I know you don't want to, okay?
Oh!
You're a little off your game there, because that was, uh... That was pretty...
Come with me if you want to live.
I've always wanted to say that.
What are you doing in my dream?
You were attacked by a Djinn. The coroner, Jennifer, remember?
Djinn usually send you to your happy place.
No judgment, but you got a really strange sense of happy.
Wait, wait. No, no, no. Jennifer said her kind feeds off fear.
This isn't my happy place.
This is a nightmare of mine.
- What is this? - It's a video game.
- You're telling me this is a video game? - It was called "The Red Scare."
First-person shooter against vampires.
I copied it before it was finished...
...reprogrammed it to reflect my liberal politics...
...and then I released it for free.
Then they tracked me down and had me arrested.
- I was 12. - And you've been on the run ever since.
- How do we get out? - I don't know.
We gave you the antidote, it didn't take. I killed the Djinn.
Both of them?
You killed my mom.
We gotta get back, help Sammy.
Tell me about this game. Maybe if we can win...
I don't know how long I've been out, but I've been through this level 1000 times.
What?
I beat the level, save the patients, I get reset.
Only there's less weapons and the vampires are faster.
It's an infinite loop.
Like Pac-Man without level 256.
- Level what? - Nothing.
Wait, what patients?
Charlie?
I know who this is.
What are you talking about?
When you went missing, me and Sam found your little crash pad.
We saw the payments that you make for her.
So I went and visited your mom, looking for you.
She's why I'm in Kansas.
I sneak into the hospital whenever I can, and I just...
I read to her.
She used to read me to sleep at night when I was a kid.
She'd read me The Hobbit.
She's the reason I love the stuff I love.
I'm sorry for your loss.
She's not gone.
Sam?
Is this my nightmare or yours?
So... Heh.
It wasn't your mama who messed up. It was you.
- Shut up! - Unh! Aah!
I just came of age. I had to feed.
I screwed up.
Mom knew how to cover her tracks.
She always told me not to play with my food.
Maybe you should have listened to your mom.
This is it, the boss battle.
- We gotta save the patients. - Wait, wait.
You said that we're stuck in a loop, right? But in the real world, you're dying.
And I might be too. We gotta find a way to break this loop.
Okay. How?
I think the only way to stop this is to not play.
What? No, no, we gotta save them.
Nut up, Winchester.
See? You can't stop either.
This poison is designed to put your mind into a cycle...
...while your insides turn to mush, okay? And its fuel is fear.
Now, I think the only way to break this cycle...
- ...is to let go of the fear and stop playing. - You don't know that.
Your fear is creating all of this.
But you're not afraid of those vamps out there...
...you're not afraid of this game, of what it did to you.
Hey. Look at me.
You're afraid of losing her.
- Charlie, she's already gone. - No. You don't understand.
You don't understand. I was at a sleepover and I got scared...
...so I called my parents to come and get me.
They should never have been driving that night.
It wasn't your fault.
I just want to tell her that I'm sorry and I love her...
...and just have her hear it again.
I just need her to hear that one more time.
- But she can't. She can't. - I know.
Believe me, I know.
But you gotta let it go.
Game over, kiddo.
Mom?
Dean. Dean. Hey, hey! Come here.
You okay? What happened?
- What happened? - I'm okay.
Charlie?
I'm sorry.
I had to.
- So thanks for saving our bacon. - Heh.
Anytime, your highness.
You know you're gonna be okay, right?
Those books portray you as, like, one tough customer.
If anyone can get through the trials, Sam, it's you.
Thanks.
You know, you really should come back and dig through our archives.
You are definitely a Woman of Letters.
I like the sound of that.
Well, thanks for stopping by, Charlie.
Always wanted to get Tron'd.
What's next for you?
Gonna go by the hospital.
Gotta let it go, right?
What about you? You gonna let it go?
Never.
That's my boys.
I love you.
I know.
Okay, look, you were right. I should have laid low. I know.
I should have hung back. But I'm glad I was able...
What do you say we find our prophet?
Take all the time you need with your mom, okay?
One last time, okay?
"In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.
Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole...
...filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell...
...nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole...
...with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat.
It was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."