Killing Me Slowly

But then we heard a scream coming from upstairs and Dean was the first to take off as I was right behind him and Brit and Sam followed and we all raced up the stairs. We ran to the nearest room and saw Darla cowering in the corner and then saw the judge’s smoldering skeleton and his ashes. Darla started to babble a little and the sheriff was notified and he was here in seconds.

“You okay, Sheriff?” Sam asked.

“'Course I'm okay”

“It was a ghost!” Darla claimed. “It wasn't a ghost. Unless ghosts leave footprints” he said, gesturing to the footprints leading out the room to the balcony.

“I am telling you, Elias Finch was here. He did... that, and then he walked out that door” Darla insisted.

“Rope didn't kill him. Seen it before”

“Well, you got any idea where he could be?” Brit asked. “Could be a thousand places” “Well, you got a way to flush him out?” Dean questioned.

“'Course. We're gonna form a posse. Then we're gonna string Finch up right. Put a bullet in his head for good measure”

“That actually sounds like a good plan”

“You four should come along. Meet downstairs at dawn”

“Yeah, we'll be there”

“Get yourselves some real gear first” he finished and then walked out with Darla.

“Well, I think we ought to pay our respects to Finch” I said. “I was thinking the same thing” Sam agreed.

It got dark quickly as we headed out to the cemetery, just on the outskirts of town…well, look at me saying outskirts…and we found Finch’s grave…empty. Maybe we weren’t looking for some flaming bird after all, maybe the Phoenix was just some dude in cowboy boots. So, then, we agreed to split up so Sam and Brit could go get the colt while Dean and I stayed here to hook up with the posse. We agreed for them to be back here 11:00 A.M. sharp and then we watched them both ride off on the back of a horse with Sam in the front and Brit in the back and I felt so bad for the horse.

The next day, we went to go meet up with the posse but really no one was there…I was at least expecting the sheriff…but, then someone started shouting, “The Sheriff's dead!”. So, I guessed he wasn’t being part of any posse anytime soon. When we went to go check it out, we found his skeleton and his ashes just outside the saloon, and it looked just like the judges and Dean just had to open his mouth and ask who the sheriff was now because guess who gets to where the shiny, pointy star badge that says Sheriff on it. Yea, my guy.

So, then, we headed to the deputy’s place and knocked. “Who's there?” he called from the other side, but I could hear some shakiness in his tone.

“Candy gram for Mongo” Dean said in a high pitched voice and I rolled my eyes.

But, the deputy opened the door and Dean had his gun pointed at him. “Howdy, pilgrim” I smiled.

“I ain't no pilgrim”

“All right, back up. Is that any way to greet your new boss?” Dean flashed his badge.

The guy scoffed and then went back to packing his suitcase in a hurry. “Missed you at the posse this morning. We were a two man wolf pack, thanks to you…”

“What's going on here?” I interrupted, gesturing to the suitcase.

"Going to visit my sister”

“Well, she'll have to wait” I crossed my arms.

“But if I don't…”

But, I walked over to him, to put my hand on the case to slam it shut and he jumped back since I almost got his fingers caught. “Finch said he was coming back for the former Sheriff, Judge Mortimer and you. That's two down and one to go” I snapped, losing patience.

“Then just let me go!”

“You really think you can outrun him? He is going to kill you. Unless…” Dean reeled him in.

“Unless what?”

“Unless we gank him first”

“Gank? What's gank? Mister, lady, you're crazy. No way. You're on your own”

“We’re not asking you to throw down with him. We’re asking you to play your part” I said.

“My part?”

“Yeah. Bait” Dean finished.

~~~

We were in the community jail and we had the deputy behind bars while we waited for the Phoenix to come. I noticed Dean was glancing at the clock with a nervous look on his face.

"Never been late in your damn life, Sam, and now you're dragging ass?" he muttered. "Don’t worry. They'll be here" I assured him, grabbing his hand.

"So this is your big plan, huh? Just let me rot in here till Finch comes?" the deputy called from the cell as he paced a little and he started to freak out.

"Pretty much. Why's he gunning for you, anyway?" Dean asked him.

"I guess you missed the part where we hung him?"

"Well, I'm thinking to a thing like Finch, that's no big whoop. He would've just blown town, but he came back. That seems personal" I said.

"I'll tell you what...you let me out of here, and we'll talk"

Dean clicked his tongue. "No can do"

But, then, I jumped a little as I leaned off the desk and to my feet when the door swung open and Finch was standing there. Dean discreetly pulled me behind him as he protectively got in front of me. Finch came walking in and shut the door behind him.

"Open up that cell"

"Open it yourself. You melt people's faces off. I'll bet you got the juice to tear that apart easy, don't you?" Dean questioned.

"Unless you can't. Just like you couldn't break those cuffs when they strung you up" I said.

Then, I tossed a nail to him and he caught it but dropped it right away and his hand began to burn as he hissed and then snapped his eyes at me.

"Iron shackles...iron bars, iron nail. See a pattern?" I asked him. "Don't worry. Most creatures We meet can't get it up for iron. It's a common monster problem" Dean said.

"So you're hunters" he assumed. "Slash sheriff" Dean flashed his badge. I rolled my eyes.

"You know what this son of a bitch did?" Finch asked us as he walked over to the cell and stared the deputy with such anger and hatred in his eyes. "Do tell" Dean encouraged.

"I was married to a woman. Good woman-human. We lived outside of town, didn't bother anyone"

"Sure, freak with a heart of gold" Dean commented. I elbowed him in the stomach.

"You want to call me monster fine. But all we did was go into town. I go into the bank for five minutes. I come out, she's gone. And then I heard her scream..."

I watched him carefully as I could see him thinking back to it...replaying it all in his head. He exhaled sharply. "This man had her pinned in the alley. I go to stop him, he pulls his gun, shoots me, then her. She died in my arms..."

I felt Dean tense slightly beside me, now completely wrapped in this guys intense story. "Course, I don't die. The shots brought the Sheriff. Next thing I know, I'm in iron. That's why I want him just where he is: trapped, scared. I saved the best for last"

Dean thought about everything Finch said and then looked at the deputy. "Is that true?" he asked.

He didn't answer though...he continued to have a scared look on his face as he shrugged...which meant yes. It was true. Dean looked down slightly and then back up at Finch.

"Tell me...if you were in my position and you lost who I'm assuming is your mate..." he made a tiny gestured to me. "What would you do?" He asked Dean. That made him freeze up a little. "So, are you you really willing to die to protect this piece of filth?" he asked us.

"Nope...you can have him" Dean said and I think he was actually serious.

"What?!" the deputy exclaimed.

"Dean" I hissed. He didn't move though so I guess I had to take over. I stepped forward. "Look, truthfully, I could care less about him. He's a dick and a coward”

“Hey!”

“But this isn’t about him. We know what you are”

“Really?” Finch inquired.

“Yeah. So we kind of have to kill you” I shrugged.

“Well, if you know what I am, then you know you can't”

But, then, he quickly grabbed the deputy’s gun that was just hanging in it’s holster, on the wall and he shot the deputy right then and there. I jumped a little as my eyes widened.

“Wow, I should've seen that coming” Dean said.

Then Finch turned toward us and pointed the gun at us. Dean took my hand and we raced to the back of the jail and right as Finch fired again, Dean and I flew through the back window and onto the wooden floorboards.

“You good?” he asked me quickly as we went to scramble to our feet. “Yea” I said and we started running.

Finch came out back and continued to fire at us as we raced around the corner and got to the side of the jail. Then, we saw Sam and Brit and waved them over quickly to us.

“Hey, where's Colt?” Dean asked. “He's not coming” Brit said. “What?!” we both hissed. “But he sent this” Sam said, taking out the Colt, itself and handed it to Dean.

“Oh. Hello, beautiful” he said in awe. “Alright. Lets do this” he said, sticking it into the holster on his waist.

“Dean…be careful” I said, nervously.

“Ah don’t fret little lady” he replied, winking at me, tilting his head slightly.

I couldn’t help but smile a little and then watch him go out there in the open and feel nervous and scared again. “Get out here, Finch!” he barked.

“What are you doing?!” Sam hissed at him. “Mel, what is he doing?” he asked me, quickly. “Just wait” I told him.

“Come on! Let's do this!” Dean instigated.

Then, Finch walked out to the open as well a good ten to fifteen feet away. “So, this is how you want to die. Fine”

My hand went to Brit’s arm and her hand went up to grab my hand as well. We all watched as they both had a stare down and their hands hovered over their guns. My heart thumped hard in my chest as I felt it go extremely slow as the anticipation was killing me….

Then, they both drew their guns and a shot went off and at first I couldn’t tell whose shot it was and I felt my heart stop all together…but, then I saw that it was the bullet from the Colt that got Elias Finch right in the chest. He fell to his knees as his body burst into flames and then ashes.

“Yippee-ki-yay, mother…” Dean started to mimic Bruce Willice’s famous line from all his movies.

But, the town clock made me jump as it chimed and I looked over at it to see it was noon. I snapped my eyes back over at Dean. “Dean! The ashes!” I yelled.

He looked at the clock as well and then whipped out the bottle and raced toward the ashes as we went to follow…but, as he slid toward the pile of ashes, we weren’t in the west anymore. We were back in Bobby’s living room. Dean slid right into the rug and looked at the bottle, but tipped it over so we saw nothing was in there. So much for that….

~~~~

Apparently Rachel…Cas’ right hand woman…betrayed him and tried to kill him…but, he took care of her instead…but, this showdown made him not be able to get us all back unless he was able to touch Bobby’s soul…which explained why he looked so wiped out and drained since had a risk of blowing up. I was happy Bobby was in one piece and that Cas was still with us but we didn’t have any ashes and no way of getting the Mother of All.

“You gotta send us back” Dean said to Cas. “Dean, look at him. He's fried” Sam said. “I never want to do that again” Cas said, shaking his head. Dean looked at Bobby.

“Bobby, you…”

“I'm still kickin', Annie Oakley…” he said, referring to Dean’s hat hair. “Be back good as new in...a decade or two”

"And we screwed the pooch. Bobby, I'm sorry” he said, sincerely.

But, then, there was a knock at the door. We all looked at each other and Sam was the one to go answer it. I could hear a delivery guy ask for Sam and then say it was a package from a Samuel Colt. That made Sam take the package right away and bring it in here.

He set it on Bobby’s desk and opened it. He took out a letter first and Brit looked at it over his shoulder…well…more like from the side of his shoulder. “Dear Sam and Brittney, I got this address and date off your thingamajig…” he read.

“And I thought the enclosed might come in handy. Regards, Samuel Colt” she finished.

Then, Sam pulled out a bottle…it was the same bottle Dean had…but it had the ashes. “Is that what I think it is?” Bobby asked. “Ashes of a Phoenix” Dean said.

“You know what this means?” I asked.

“Yeah, I didn't get a soulonoscopy for nothing”Bobby said.

“Yes. And…” I started. “It means we take the fight to her” Dean finished.

Then, he put his hat back on and swiped the front of it, very western-style-like, I could almost hear the music play in the background. We had to do something about this western obsession of his….