Secrets Will Kill You The Sequel

The only way to kill these things was to burn them so we fixed together some gas cans and they were like tiny fire extinguishers. It was how Travis killed jack’s dad and if we didn’t hurry, we wouldn’t find bodies, we would just be finding remains. I didn’t like the idea of just killing some random guy who seemed just as normal as the next guy…and Sam found something.

“What if he doesn't hulk out? I did a little homework. Uh, I've been checking out the lore on Rougaroos”

“What? My 30 years of experience not good enough for you?” Travis asked.

“What? No. No, I-I- I just wanted to be prepared. I mean, not that you didn't…” he stammered a little.

“Sam loves research” I helped. “It’s true” Brit said. “He keeps it under his mattress right next to his KY. It's a sickness” Dean said. I saw Sam made a face. “It is” I nodded, agreeing with Dean.

He just shook his head. “Look, everything you said checked out, of course, but uh. I found a couple of interesting stories about people who have this rougaroo gene or whatever. See, they start to turn, but they never take the final step. See, if they never eat human flesh, they don't fully transform

“So what? Go vegan, stay human?” Dean inquired.

“Basically. Or in this case, eat a lot of raw meat, just not…”

“Long pig”

“Right”

Dean smiled a little, liking his new word. I rolled my eyes at him. “Good on you for the due diligence, Sam…but those are fairy tales” Travis said and went to pour himself another cup of coffee.

“Fact is, every rougaroo I ever saw or heard of...took that bite”

“Well that doesn’t really mean that Jack will” Brit said in Sam’s defense.

“So what do we do? Sit and hope and wait for a body count?”

“No, we talk to him. Explain what's happening. That way he can fight it” Sam said.

Travis started to laugh. "Fight it? Are you kidding me? You ever been really hungry? I mean, haven't-eaten-in-days hungry?”

That got mine and Dean’s attention. “Yea” we both answered.

“Yeah. Right then. So somebody slaps a big, juicy sirloin in front of you, you walking away?” Hell no. “That's what we are to him now, meat on legs. I'm sorry. I'm sure he's a stand-up guy, but it's pure, base instinct. Everything in nature's gotta eat. You think he can stop himself 'cause he's nice?”

“I don't know. But we're not gonna kill him unless he does something to get killed for” Sam said firmly and then he left the room and Brit quickly followed him. I hung my head and sighed.

“What's up with your brother?” Travis asked, completely confused by Sam’s whole reaction. “Don't get me started” was all Dean said.

The next morning, we all headed to Jack’s place. “Alright…so you know that I’m down with having a little chat with this guy…but I need to know that if it comes down to it, then you’ll buck up…” I started, glancing at Brit.

“Meaning?”

“Meaning…we might most likely have to burn Jack alive. You heard what Travis said. He’s gonna turn. They always turn”

“Since when you take the word of any other hunter who isn’t your father?” she snapped and my stare became hard.

“Well, he never mentioned anything about a rougaroo not turning…so I don’t know. Maybe he wont be able to fight it, maybe he will be”

“And that’s what we have to remember…maybe he will be”

“But, even if Sam is against it in the end, I need to know that your head will be clear and ready to get the job done, lets face it Brittney, you’ve become Sam’s bitch”

“I have not become Sam‘s bitch” she scoffed.

“He says jump, you say how high”

“I do not!” she raised her voice a little and looked at me like I just stabbed her. “This is why I cant tell you anything! You throw it out of proportion”

“I do not”

“But you assume things. Maybe I’m Sam’s bitch because he understands me and I understand him”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Last time I checked I was the one who understood you and you and Sam weren’t a thing anymore which took away your right to say you and Sam understand each other and so you cant be Sam’s bitch…which is what you are”

“Why? Because I’m not your bitch anymore?” she hissed.

“Brit, you know I never considered you my bitch”

“Oh really”

“Yea! Really! All I’ve done was try to be there for you…and now you and Sam have this evil inside you both”

Then, I saw Dean and Sam pulled off to the side of the road so I did the same and Brit jumped out before I even stopped the truck. She started to pace. I got out as well and saw Dean and Sam were arguing and Brit spun around with fury in her eyes.

“You know, you have evil inside yourself too, Mel!” she shouted at me.

“But, I don’t use it for the crap that you and Sam are pulling!” I shouted back.

“But, you admit that you do have evil inside you…at least I don’t look at you the way you look at me!”

“I don’t look at you any way…”

“Yea ya do! Like I’m some kind of freak or like I’m an idiot. Like I don’t know the difference between right and wrong. No, cause Melissa knows what’s best since she’s Melissa friggin Stern”

“Well, I know more than you obviously…do you know right from wrong Brittney? Do you really? Cause I just don’t know anymore…”

“You have no idea at all what Sam and I are going through. There is demon blood in us, Mel. This disease is pumping through our veins and it cant just go away. We’re trying to take this curse and make something good out of it! And you could be doing the same thing if you just choose to embrace it instead of hiding it”

I was trying so hard to restrain from just punching this girl out. If she tried to convince me to join her and Sam again, I swear I will….

“I have had the friggin disease in me my whole life and not once have I ever thought about going down the path you and Sam are on…because it’s wrong Brittney! But you don’t get it because you are Sam’s bitch…but you don’t need Sam to be a bitch. Because that’s what you are, Brittney. You’re a freakin bitch!” I spat.

Then, her fist flew up and got me right in the face. I stumbled a little, feeling a welt form on my cheek. I put a finger up to it and saw blood came off onto my finger. I taught her how to punch like that…. I saw the punch made everyone get quiet and Sam and Dean were looking over at us as Brittney kept her hard eyes on my own. I felt the anger and adrenalin from the hit boil inside me.

“Now it’s my turn” I said and then I swung my fist and it collided with her face.

She stumbled more than I did and Dean and Sam continued to just stand, frozen in their spots, staring at us but I kept my eyes on Brittney. She faced me again…and then lunged at me and we both were taking swings at each other and it got a little messy but when I pinned her down to the ground, I felt Dean wrap his arms around me and pulled me off her as Sam got her off the ground and was holding her back as Dean was holding me back as he made me back up so we were a good twenty feet away from each other.

“That’s enough! Both of you!” Dean scolded.

“Brittney, stop it!” Sam chided.

“Hey! Hey!” Dean said, putting his hands on my shoulders and he shook me slightly to get me to look at him. “Stop it…alright?” he said with a gentler tone, staring into my eyes.

I just nodded and then avoided his eyes. What the hell got into me? “Give me your keys” he said and without questioning it, I gave him the keys to my truck.

“Hey!” he said to Sam and when he turned around, he threw the keys to him. “You take that one in the truck and I’ll take this one in the car, we cant risk having one of them attacking the other while on the road, it’ll just be a bigger mess than we what we need” he instructed and Sam nodded.

“Get in” he said to me as he walked around to the drivers seat of the Impala.

Brittney and I had a stare off…not moving…not taking our eyes off of each other…there was no glaring or sneering…just staring at one another. “Melissa” Dean said and I snapped my head at him to see he was giving me a hard stare.

Then, I reluctantly got into the passenger side of the Impala as I saw Sam was telling Brittney to get into the truck. Hmm maybe we’re both these guys’ bitches….

Dean got in and started driving as Sam was driving right behind us. It was silent at first…but it didn’t last long. “What the hell, Mel?” he snapped at me.

“I don’t know…” I murmured, looking out the window.

“You don’t know. Huh” he nodded, not buying it.

“I don’t” I snapped.

“Fine…just don’t clock me…” he made fun but I couldn’t find it in me to crack a smile. He was un-phased though. “We have enough problems with Sam and Brit, we don’t need you and I to start fighting too” he said and I didn’t respond.

I hesitated when I opened my mouth to speak. “Do you think I’m wrong for not using…my inner self…to help people? Maybe…I’ve been using it the wrong way...”

“No…I don’t think so. You cant just switch sides like that…and I know you. Your instinct is bigger than all of ours…maybe not mine…but you get the jist…” he said but I couldn’t even crack a smile at him.

I just sighed and sat back in my seat. When he realized I wasn’t going to respond, he just put his attention on the road.

We met with Jack in his backyard and introduced ourselves, telling him we needed to talk about how he’s changing…how his probably feeling his bones move under his skin, how his appetite is increasing…Dean made a crack about the game Hungry Hungry Hippo and it freaked Jack out a little but we told him what he was and how his father was the same thing…and then he called us crazy. We explained to him how he’s only going to get hungrier…and Dean used his word long pig again. If he continues to use the word I’m gonna have to punch him out. Sam told him how he could fight it off and how others have but we told him that it wouldn’t be easy and that if he fed once, we would have to stop him…and that’s when he asked if someone ‘stopped’ his dad, we told him yes and he told us to get off his property. I noticed a neighbor looking over at us, while cutting a bush as Jack raised his voice so I thought it would be a good idea to leave now so we did.

When night fell, we decided to follow Jack. He was on a bench and I saw how he was watching a woman undress through the window in her apartment. “Dean” I said and hit his arm so he would look to see Jack rising to his feet. “Damn it Jack” I muttered as he took off toward the apartment.

“Okay, you stay in the car, it’ll be easier if just Sam and I go” he instructed and I nodded.

Then, he got out and gestured something to Sam and the two of them rushed toward the apartment with their flamethrowers. I turned around to see Brit sitting in the truck and we made eye contact for a moment but then I turned back around to see Jack climbing up the fire escape and I got tense when he was looking into the apartment…but then I saw him shake a little and then back off and jumped back down off the fire escape and I leaned forward in my seat as I watched him race off. Then, I saw the woman scream from her window and I saw she ran off into a different room. I quickly called Dean.

“What?” he grunted.

“Hey, uhh Jack left”

“Yea, little late there, sweetheart” he snapped slightly but I still smiled a little at him calling me sweetheart…but I snapped out of it.

I just laughed a little and hung up.

~~~~

We got in front of Jack’s place and we all got out to see Travis’ car on the other side of the street. “I guess now we know where Travis is” Dean said, handing me a flamethrower.

“That stupid son of a bitch” Sam commented as we all approached the porch.

I slowly opened the front door and then Dean went in first…but the stench of iron and copper hit me first. I looked to the side into the living room and a wooden chair was fallen over and there was a blood trail. They all started to follow me into the living room as I followed the blood trail to behind the couch where there was a pool of blood and a chunk of flesh was still sitting. We all exchanged a look as Sam walked over to it to analyze it.

“Oh, God. Think that's Travis?” Dean asked. “What's left of him” Sam sighed. “Guess you were right about Jack” Brittney said and I looked at her to respond but I heard a creak and spun to see Jack coming at us.

I pushed Dean and Brittney out of the way and Jack slammed me into the wall and when I fell to the floor, I felt my head hit the coffee table hard and the smell of my own iron filled my nose as I blacked out.

I could hear some thumps, some grunts and some yelling but I just couldn’t will myself to open my eyes. I started to feel someone get really close to my face and then to my neck and my ear as I felt someone breathing on me and to say it was too close for comfort was an understatement. But, then I felt myself start to wake up and when I opened my eyes, I saw Dean was hurt, against the wall but he was doing his best to crawl over to me. I saw Sam and Brit bust out of a closet and they started to fire their flamethrowers at jack and I covered my head with my arms as I felt Dean cover me with his body to shield be as Jack was being burned alive. Jack started to scream…but eventually he just fell to the ground and continued to burn. Dean helped me up as I felt where I hit my head and some blood came off onto my fingers and I hissed. We all looked at each other but I saw the sad and defeated looks on Sam and Brittney and I couldn’t help but give them my own sad look.

~~~

We all walked out and Brit walked to the truck and got in. “Umm we can switch now, Sam” I said and he eyed me. “Really. We’re fine now” I told him and I saw him and Dean exchanged a look but he gave me the keys.

I got in on the drivers side as the boys got in the Impala and we took off. It was silent…really silent…it was like a deadly silence. “You know…you did the right thing…you and Sam…that guy was going crazy…becoming a monster…there was no turning back” I babbled a little and she stayed silent. I sighed.

“Look…I want to say I’m sorry…I’ve been really hard on you and…I forget that even though I’ve dealt with this stuff my whole life, that doesn’t mean you have…it’s just that the idea of you having what I have…and getting more powerful than I am…it scares the crap out of me” I attempted in making a crack but I was really serious.

She didn’t attempt in smiling anyway. “Don’t worry about it, Mel…I really don’t want to talk about it” she murmured. “You don’t want to talk?” I asked.

She still didn’t even try to smile. “There’s nothing to say…except that I’m sorry I was the one who swung at you first” she said and I saw her lips twitch but it wasn’t a full smile…but I took it anyway.

“But, Mel…I cant keep explaining myself to you…I know you’re the one who has had to deal with this thing your whole life…but it’s just all…different…it’s something Sam and I have to deal with…and you can deal with it with us too if you really wanted to…”

I sighed in annoyance as I kept my head straight. “But, I know you look at it in a different way…I just cant make you understand it…it doesn’t matter though. I’m done with these powers. It’s playing with fire…I’m done with everything” she said, keeping her head forward.

“Really?” I asked, glancing at her. She just nodded slightly. “Well, that’s a relief…thanks Brit”

“Don’t thank me. It’s not for you. Or for the angels. Or for Sam. It’s my choice”

“But, is Sam still going to be doing this thing?”

“No…he’s done with it too” she answered and I just nodded.

Then, I sighed and gripped onto the steering wheel with both hands. I felt relief wash over me and a weight was lifted…but then I started to feel like it was just too easy. I couldn’t tell if she was lying or not…and usually I was able to tell…she got better at it…and that, alone, scared me.