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Hunting Humanity VIII	By : greenwizard11 Category: Supernatural > Slash - Male/Male Views: 1469 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Supernatural Universe. No monetary gain is being made from this story.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
Sam sat in the living room with Natalie and she was leaned up against him. “I know everything got really screwed up, but look at the bright side,” Natalie brushed his cheek.

“And what would that be?”

“Two people love you enough that they thought boarding up hell wasn’t worth losing you. They did what they thought they had to do. I’m not saying I agree with it. I mean, knowing that when we thought we were alone that really weren’t...”

Sam nodded. “Yeah, not a very pleasant thought. I just… It...”

“I know. Just keep in mind that you got to put your daughter to bed last night because they did something hasty. And you said Liam did apologize.”

“He did at least, yeah.”

“Liam is a little more self aware than his other half. That probably came with having to have so much self control as a vampire. I couldn’t read his mind then, but since he turned human I’ve caught some nasty memories I think he would rather forget.”

It was then that Dean and Liam headed toward the front door with their bags. “Alright, we’ll be back,” Dean called to them.

Sam sat up. “Wait. Where you headed?”

“Washington. I caught a case.”

“You want me to come with?”

“Do you want to come?”

“On a hunt? Why wouldn't I?”

Liam smacked Dean on the shoulder. “Told you.”

Dean let out a little sigh. “I don't know, man. Because lately with you, up is down and down is sideways, you know? I don't know what you want.” Sam gave him a little glare. “Okay. You want in? Fine. Sure thing.” He handed a picture of a girl with someone in the background over to Sam. “Photo leaked from the crime scene. Girl was murdered in her room, doors were locked, the windows were locked.”

Sam took a good look at it. “Who's the wallflower?”

“Exactly. Best guess, ghost caught on film. So, you're coming?”

Sam stood up. “Does it look like I'm staying? Just give me a minute.”

Two days later they were standing in the girl’s room looking at the closet with her mother. “I scrubbed for hours. I'll have to rip up the carpet. My daughter, Casey... She picked out the color herself.”

“We're very sorry for your loss, Mrs. Miles,” Sam offered their condolences. “You mentioned Casey had no known enemies. What about at home? Anything unusual you may have noticed? Uh...Electricity acting up or lights flickering, TV on the Fritz?”

She shook her head. “No, no fritzing. No cold spots, either.”

Dean blinked at the mention of cold spots. “Sorry. Out of curiosity, why do you mention cold spots?”

“I'm sorry. That must sound strange, but it's been three days since...And the police have found nothing. I'd have to sell my house to afford a private investigator, so when the Supernaturalists called...”

“Whoa, uh, sorry, the...um...Supernaturalists?”

“I know to the FBI it's not exactly orthodox. But these men had answers that no one else had, and I owe it to Casey to listen.”

“Now, they brought up cold spots in relation to...?” Sam asked.

“Signs of the paranormal, I suppose. They're coming by today to take a look.”

“And did these Supernaturalists give you a name?” Dean asked curiosly.

“They’re called, um… Ghostfacers.”

The three men exchanged looks. Sure enough they found a white van with the logo at a nearby cafe. They walked in and found Ed and Harry sitting in a booth. Sam and Dean took a seat beside them, looking very annoyed. “Ah, the Winchesters. Yay.” Harry said sarcastically.

“Said no one ever,” Ed added.

“Cute,” Liam shot them a glare.

“All right, shut up and listen,” Dean got their attention. “This is how it's gonna go. You two clowns are gonna get into that mystery machine outside, and you're gonna leave town or I'm gonna put holes in your knees.”

The two men rolled their eyes. “Ahh, first of all, you guys don't scare us. Say, hola to my little pistola,” Harry lifted his shirt a little to reveal a gun tucked in his waistband.

Dean raised an eyebrow. “Am I supposed to be impressed with that treasure trail or the lady gun you got hiding in your, uh, pants there?”

“Both? Look, whether you like it or not, we are handling this situation.”

“Really?” Dean was getting even more annoyed. Because I see a couple of fame whores who are pointing their camera at a mom who just lost her kid.”

“Guys, we are investigators, and we have every right-” Ed started.

“No, you don't,” Dean cut him off. “You know why? Because you're just gonna get in our way.”

“Or you're gonna get somebody else killed,” Liam pointed out. “Remember last time? Or have you been hit in the head a few too many times?”

Harry rolled his eyes again. “Oh, my God, Menudo. Will you guys relax? We know what we're doing.”

Dean snorted. “Really? And what about the rest of the Bad News Bears, huh? Where's the fat one? And the girl? There was a girl, right?”

“They.. we dropped them. They were dead weight,” Ed avoided Dean’s gaze for a second.

“Sounds more like they grew brains and dropped you,” Liam commented with a condescending smirk.

Ed’s eyes narrowed. “What is your problem? You were a threatening little sarcastic asshole with us the last time too.”

The blond gave a little shrug. “Stupid makes my head hurt and that makes me cranky. What can I say? Part of my charm.”

“So, here's the deal,” Dean brought them back to topic. “A ghost will land you two dead in five seconds flat.”

Harry gave a mocking little chuckle. “A ghost? Oh. They think it's a ghost. It's so not a ghost.”

“Okay. We'll bite. What do you think it is?” Sam asked.

Harry got a very smug smirk. “Okay. I've waited all my life for this. Amazon me, bitches.”

Liam turned to Dean. “Can I just…?”

Dean shook his head. “Too many witnesses, babe.”

Sam stood up. “Like we were saying, you were just going, right? Great.”

“Good talk,” Dean mumbled as he got up to leave too.

The three men went back to the motel and Sam got on his laptop to find out what Harry and Ed were talking about. “Uh, guys?” he called out after a few minutes. “Ed and Harry wrote a book.”

“What?” Dean came over to look at the screen.

“Yeah. Uh, ‘The Skinny on Thinman’, by America's foremost Supernaturalists.”

“What the hell's a Thinman?”

“I don't know. Um...” He pulled up a black and white picture of a runner with what looked an awful lot like the figure in Casey’s picture in the background. “Whoa. Check that out, though. That does kind of look like whatever was behind Casey Miles, right?”

Dean gave a little shrug and went back over to sit on the bed. “Or Garth if somebody shaved his face off. Big whoop.”

Sam pulled up an article. “Here we go. Uh, Thinman, an urban legend started on the world wide web, lurks in the background of his victims' lives until he's ready to kill them.”

Dean snorted. “Yeah, because everything started on the Internet is true. Like, uh, oh, the shark attacking a helicopter, they write the book on that one, too?”

“Dude, real or not, thousands of people have posted to the site. It's like Thinman is the new Bigfoot or something.”

“Or Thinman is just a ghost with a brand name.”

“You saying that because you really think it's a ghost or because you don't like the Ghostfacers?”

“Dean, you saw the picture, it’s the same figure,” Liam pointed out. “I don’t know what that means, and I don’t like it, but...”

“A girl died in a locked room, spells ghost right there,” Dean shot back.

“Maybe it got in there before it was locked up,” Sam threw out the idea. “Who knows, Dean? But how can people all over the world see the same ghost? Spirits don't exactly hop around.”

“I know that. But right now the veil is all kinds of screwed, okay? Ghosts could be popping up anywhere.”

“Yeah, but, Dean, Thinman sightings date back a couple years. The veil's only been a problem for, what, the last six months?”

Dean grabbed his own laptop and powered it up. “Well, you know, people still see Elvis all over the damn place. Look, all I'm saying is those douchewheels ain't experts on crap.”

“I agree with you there,” Liam said as he scooted closer to see.

“What are you doing?” Sam asked.

“I'm checking the local deaths to see if there's any candidates for ghosts,” Dean answered.

Liam shook his head and then rested it on Dean’s shoulder. “You are so stubborn.”

“Isn’t that like the pot calling the kettle black?”

“Yeah,” Liam had to agree as he placed a soft little kiss on the side of Dean’s neck. “But whatever the hell is going on here, we will figure it out. We always do.”

About two hours later Dean let out a little sigh. “Alright, over the past six months, there have been three unnatural deaths in Springdale, none of them connected to Casey Miles, and none of them violent.”

Sam looked up from his own screen. “Okay, that's not exactly a recipe for a vengeful spirit. There have been a bunch of unexplained deaths pinned on Thinman. Um, a victim dies, then, a couple weeks later a photo pops up of the victim with Thinman photo bombing.”

“So, Thinman's stalking folks?” Dean asked his brother.

Sam nodded. “According to the lore.”

“According to the idiots. How come none of these victims pinged our radar?”

“Maybe because most of it is horse crap,” Liam suggested. “I mean, I’ve been around a long time, and I’ve never heard of anything quite like this. Spirits showing up in pictures and videos, yes, but never the same one in multiple pictures.”

“You could be right,” Sam said as he looked through the pictures. “I'm pretty sure the mysterious deaths can be chalked up to non supernatural causes. That and, honestly, most of these photos look pretty fake.”

“Even Casey’s?” Dean seemed confused.

“Except Casey's. Casey's photo wasn't doctored. Whatever was behind her was really there.”

Dean blinked. “Okay, well, that doesn't make any sense. I mean, how could something be both real and fake at the same time?”

Sam could only shrug. “Well, a girl is dead, and that's about as real as it gets.”

Liam bit his lip. “What I don’t get is this. Casey took that picture only moments before she died. If she was dead, then how in the hell did the picture get uploaded?”

“No clue. It was originally posted to a Thinman fan forum, but the IP address was blocked,” Sam said.

“Whoa, wait,” Dean furrowed his eyebrows. “This thing has fans? Of course it does. Okay, well, then somebody wanted this photo on the internet, and I'm guessing that the ghost didn't hop online to post it.”

Liam tilted his head. “None of this is making any sense.”

They decided to go to the police station to try and find some kind of lead. They asked to see the evidence from Casey’s crime scene, and the deputy brought them everything in a white plastic box. “Is the, uh, sheriff around?” Dean asked. “There's a couple questions we'd like to ask him.”

The deputy shook his head. “Uh, sorry to disappoint. Sheriff's on a hunting trip. But, uh, I appreciate you agents being here. I could use all the help I can get.”

Sam found Casey’s phone and he picked it up. The screen was cracked. “Wait a second. Was this cracked when you found it?”

“Yeah, man. Maybe she dropped it? 911 call went dead at 11:59.”

“Wait, what time was the photo posted?” Dean asked.

“Around 2:00 am,” Sam answered.

“But the coroner has the death at midnight. How could she have posted the photo from her phone? That’s impossible.” Dean thought out loud.

“Or supernatural,” the deputy got a weird little smirk on his face.

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Why would you say that?”

“A couple fellas came by, uh, asking questions about the girl's death, suggested they might be able to help. They, uh, gave me a book they wrote about, um...”

“Thinman?” Dean guessed.

“Not a fan?”

Dean let out a little huff. “You could say that.”

The next morning they were called about another murder at a diner. They headed out to take a look around. “Agents, thanks for coming,” the deputy greeted them.

Dean got very annoyed when he saw Ed and Harry poking around the body with their camera. “What are these two crapshoots doing here?”

“I figured it wouldn't hurt to go a little ‘Medium,’ you know? Uh...two counties over, folks were combing the place for a poor little dead boy back in August. The cops let a psychic do her thing. They found a body a day later.”

“Is there any, uh, security cam footage?” Sam asked.

“Uh, yeah, just...” the deputy led Sam over to a computer.

Dean started over toward Ed and Harry, and Liam followed. “Am I the only one who finds this weird?” Liam asked quietly. “I mean, where else besides a TV show would some amateur ghost chasers be allowed to be filming a crime scene like this?”

“No, you’re not,” Dean answered before stepping up beside the two other men. “I thought I told you to beat it.”

Harry just looked at him very smugly. “Oh, well, what are you gonna do. You gonna out me, agent?” he said in a slightly threatening manner.

“Okay, look, playing paparazzi at a crime scene; who does that help but yourselves?”

“The bloggers, Dean, the believers, everyone who needs just a little proof to know that Thinman is out there.”

“You throw the right Tibetan symbol into the mix, you dumb asses ever think the Thinman comes to life as a tulpa?”

Liam let that tumble around in his mind. “You know, that might actually make sense. Didn’t you tell me you first met these clown on a tulpa case?”

“The lore changes blog to blog,” Ed pointed out. “He's not a tulpa.”

Dean clenched his jaw a little. “Alright. Right here, right now, cut the crap. Do either of you actually know what Thinman is?”

“Of course we do!” Harry exclaimed.

Ed nodded. “Thinman, is part man, part tree. Some people believe that he emerged from the nightmare of an autistic boy.”

Liam just shook his head. “That is the most retarded...”

“Fellas, you want to see this,” the deputy called out to them.

They all walked over to where Sam and the deputy were looking at the footage. There was a flash of the figure in the parking lot, and then only seconds later it was stabbing the manager inside. “Alright, so, how did he jump from the parking lot to the diner? The doors were locked.” Dean looked to his companions.

“Locked, not locked, it doesn't matter. Everyone knows Thinman can teleport,” Harry said.

“You shut up before you hurt yourself,” Liam grumbled.

“You Feds believers now?” the deputy looked over at them.

They watched the footage a few more times, then went and grabbed something to eat before going back to the motel to regroup. “I was all over that place, no EMF,” Liam sighed as he sat on the edge of the bed with his food. “So can’t be a spirit of any kind that I’ve ever heard of.”

“Okay. Just grasping at straws here, but when I think teleport, I think crossroads demon,” Sam threw it out there.

Dean snorted. “Demon that likes to stab and watch YouTube. Why not?”

“Oh, by the way, speaking of which, the video of, uh, Trey getting knifed it's already online. It has, like two thousand views. It's like somebody wants people to see Thinman in action.”

Dean shook his head. “It's because people will watch, because people are sick.”

Sam nodded in agreement. “And when did viral go from that baby chimp falling out of a tree to killer ‘Candid Camera’?”

Dean got a bit of a goofy grin on his face. “You know what video would have gone viral if we still had it? When you were five and you got dressed up as Batman and you jumped off the shed because you thought you could fly.”

Sam couldn’t help but grin too. “After you jumped first.”

“Hey, I was nine, and I was dressed up like superman, okay? Everybody knows that Batman can't fly.”

“Well, I didn't know that. I broke my arm.”

Dean gave a little chuckle. “I know you did. Man, I drove you to the ER on my handlebars. Good times.”

Liam rolled his eyes. “You…? Wow. You thought you could fly.”

Dean raised an eyebrow. “We were little kids. And didn’t you once tell me you nearly got killed because you thought you could get milk from a bull?”

Liam bit his lip. “When I was five and didn’t know the difference. But...” He went quiet a moment. “Maybe that’s it.”

“Maybe what’s it?” Dean perked up a little bit. “What’s in your head?”

The blond turned to his husband. “Well, you said people are sick, right? There have been a few times now where we’ve looked into things only to find out that people were behind it. Thinman has a cult following, so some psycho who had access to a good costume could make it look good, you know? And believers would just swallow the crap.”

Sam thought about it a minute. “You could be onto something. Only thing is, you saw the footage. The figure was outside, and then seconds later inside a locked diner.”

Liam let out a little sigh. “Yeah, that’s the part that’s stumping me a little.”

Then there was a knock at the door. Dean went to answer it and found Ed standing there looking upset. “What?” Dean growled.

“I got to tell you guys something important, and then the case is yours.” Dean clenched his jaw and motioned for him to enter. Ed came in and turned to them as Dean shut the door. “Alright, either you bleed Ghostfacers red or you don't. If Spruce wanted to start a startup and Maggie's heart was in the roller derby, who am I to stop them? But Harry, I couldn't let him give in to his girl. I mean, she called the Ghostfacers stupid. Stupid! Can you believe that? You know, I don't care how much money her daddy's hedge fund has. I just couldn't watch Harry become a corporate stooge.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Okay, this all sounds like sad times at Bitchmont High. What does this have to do with the case?”

“Harry was gonna leave, so I needed to give him a reason to stay. I made up Thinman.”

“Super,” Liam sighed.

“So you're saying that this crap is actually crap?” Dean glared at Ed.

“One old photo of a butler, a lot of Photoshop later, and I posted on one of those horror forums under anonymous, and it blew up. Yeah, I only faked one case for us, and then we're packing up to go home when somebody posted a sighting of Thinman, so...we went after it, and that's how the Thinman became a crowd sourced legend. Look, we were at the front of it. It felt like something. It was so awesome to have a following, and Harry, he was just so into it.”

“So looks like you were right about the faked photos,” Liam looked to Sam.

Sam nodded. “And you could be right about there being a sick fan behind these murders.” Then he turned his attention back to Ed. “Ed, you have to tell him.”

Ed sighed. “You don't get it. We were the Thinman guys. Without the Thinman, we're just guys; we're just puffs.”

“What?” Dean blinked.

Ed looked at his feet. “If I tell Harry, he's gonna leave the Ghostfacers.”

Sam glanced over at Dean for a moment. “Listen, if you don't tell him, he's gonna leave anyway. Trust me here. Secrets ruin relationships.”

“And they have a way of coming out eventually whether you wanted them to or not,” Liam pointed out. “We would know.”

Ed swallowed hard and gave him a little nod. “Okay, well, I'll just tell him when the time is right.”

“Time's right now, chief,” Dean motioned to the door.

“Well, he's not here. Uh, he's out in the woods, uh, searching for Thinman.”

Sam shook his head in disbelief. “Okay, because Thinman, or whatever the hell this thing is, has killed two people, and now Harry is in the woods alone.”

“I dropped him off by some trees behind a grocery store. Guys, come on. He's gonna be fine.”

“And the last victim was taken down in a diner on a crowded street, so that makes that so much better,” Liam’s tone was dripping with sarcasm as he followed his companions out.

Ed got in the car with them while they drove out to find Harry. “He should be around here somewhere,” Ed looked around.

Suddenly Harry ran out in front of the car and Dean had to slam on the breaks. He was holding his side and bleeding. “That doesn’t look fine,” Liam sighed as he followed Dean out of the car.

It turned out Harry only had a shallow cut across his chest. Sam pulled out their med kit and cleaned him up and put a bandage on him. “That too tight?”

“I'm good. I think I'm just gonna have to staple it when we get back to the motel.” He turned to Ed. “We were right, Ed! Thinman's real.”

“Yeah,” Ed mumbled quietly as he looked away.

Dean came back from looking around in the woods. “Some fresh tires tracks back over there. I took some photos.”

“What for?” Harry asked.

“Because that car might belong to whoever knifed you.”

“Well, whoever cut me was Thinman, and Thinman doesn't drive. It was Thinman, jackass! I mean, I shouldn't have to connect the dots for you guys. I figured, you know, you guys were intelligent.”

Liam shot him a little glare. “Uh, after you have a little chat with your partner you might be eating those words.”

“What’s he talking about, Ed?” Harry was confused.

Ed bit his lip. “I’ll tell you back at the motel.”

They all went back to the motel, and they gave Ed and Harry a few minutes, but then Sam went to check on them. He met Ed coming out. “Hey. How did it go?” When Ed walked away without giving him an answer he went in to check on Harry. “You okay?”

Harry shook his head. “I just got punched right in the feels. None of it was real, Sam. Ed was just pretending, and now he wants me to pretend like this is just something I could get past.”

Sam nodded. “I know what you mean. Look, there are things you can forgive, and there are things you can't.”

“So, which one is this?”

“That's something you got to figure out for yourself.”

There was a knock on the door and Dean poked his head in. “Hey, uh... I got a bead on those tire treads, if you want to...”

Sam stepped out into the hallway with Dean and Liam. “So, what’s up?”

“So, the tires were only made for one kind of car. It's a 1989 Geo Metro,” Dean explained. “Town this small, there's only one registered here. Deputy says it belongs to a guy named Roger who works night security down at the mill on the north side of town.”

“So, Liam really could be right, but then how did he teleport?”

Dean shrugged. “I don’t know. Let’s go find out.”

They headed down to the mill. The deputy was waiting for them. “I thought we said my partners and I would take care of this,” Dean said to him as they got out of the car.

“Look, guys, my boss is AWOL. We don't have a warrant. My ass is on the line if this thing goes sideways.”

Dean let out a little sigh. “Alright, just stay back.”

Sam moved to pick the lock but it was already open. They drew their weapons to enter, but the deputy stunned the brothers from behind. Liam whirled around, but not quite fast enough. He was hit in the chest at the exact same moment his fist made contact with the deputy’s face. Both men went down for a second, but Liam was back on his feet in no time. The deputy shot him in the right shoulder to make him drop his gun, but he kept advancing to grab the deputy by throat. He never saw the second figure come up from behind and hit him in the head with a crowbar.

Dean woke up and he and Sam were handcuffed to chairs in front of a woodsy tapestry. The deputy was fooling around with camera equipment while humming. He looked around to find Liam on the floor beside him still unconscious. “So, you're Thinman, huh? That would make sense if it didn't look like you just ate a fat camp. Oh, God, Sam, make him stop.”

“Hey, so, what's the deal?” Sam asked. “What are you, Norwood? You a demon? I mean, how did you teleport back at the diner?”

“Team effort,” Norwood smirked.

A man came out dressed as Thinman with a rubber mask that he took off. Dean rolled his eyes. “So, there was no teleporting, just a couple of douche bags doing the ‘Scream’ thing.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed. “Wait, I know who you are. You're the busboy from the diner. So, what, you just wanted to kill your boss?”

“Trey was a dick.”

“And what about Casey? What did she do?” Dean asked.

“She wouldn't go out with me, so I set her up with someone else, my knife.”

“Good one,” Deputy Norwood chuckled.

It was then that Dean noticed another body a few feet away. “I see the sheriff didn't make it out of town.”

“Well, he really should have given me the time off I asked for.”

“So, you killed him?” Sam raised an eyebrow.

“I didn't kill anyone. Roger did. He's the psycho. I'm the visionary. I don't blame you for underestimating me. Everybody does. Fancy Feds, coming in here, treating me like a paper monkey from the get go. But I was Thinman the whole time. Do you have any idea how good that felt?”

Dean glared at him. “No, sicko, I can't say that I do.”

Roger snorted. “Yeah, pretty boy doesn't know what it's like to feel invisible, to grow up in a town of three hundred people and nobody sees you.”

“They didn't see us,” Deputy Norwood agreed.

“So, how did you two meet? Wackjob.com?” Dean asked, trying to distract them while Sam worked on getting free.

“No. Just a couple of schmoes in an empty bar,” Deputy Norwood answered. “We hit it off. Turns out me and Roger, we're both total conspiracy theory junkies.”

Roger smirked. “And then we found Thinman, and, bam, we blew up all over the message boards.”

Sam shook his head. “So, what is this, then? Some sort of a twisted cosplay?”

“Cosreal,” Roger corrected him. “You know, blogging was fun, but...”

“But, let me guess, you wanted something more,” Sam finished the sentence.

“You realize what you two jackasses are doing doesn't make you Thinman. It makes you copycat killers,” Dean antagonized them a little.

Roger sneered. “It makes me Thinman. And you're not telling anyone I'm not, because you'll be too dead to talk.”

“Show time,” Deputy Norwood got the cameras ready.

“You three are lucky ducks. You're the stars of our best video yet. And when it goes viral, everyone will know Thinman's real.”

Roger put the mask back on and got behind Dean to slit his throat. “And, action!” the deputy called out.

Dean shut his eyes and braced himself, but Roger was tripped and fell. When Dean opened his eyes and looked down Liam was awake and had repositioned himself while no one was paying attention. “You little...” Roger growled as he got his bearings back. “It’s always the one you expect the least amount of trouble from. You just put yourself from last to first.” He roughly grabbed Liam and tried to drag the blond up on his knees, crying out and grabbing his forearm when he was bit. Roger was about to just stab him when they heard the door to the mill. “Damn it!” Roger growled and they went to see who it was.

Dean took a deep breath. “Leave it to you to not go down without one hell of a fight.”

Liam pulled a little at his restraints with his good arm. “And not always a bad thing. I just bought us some time, hopefully enough for one of you to get free.”

“Yeah, just about...” Sam twisted a little more and then he was free. Then he helped Dean get loose.

Dean knelt beside Liam. “They’ll probably be back in a minute, you good besides your shoulder?”

“Yeah,” Liam nodded, hissing a little as the restraints were pulled off him. “Just shot in the shoulder and tied up. All in all a typical Tuesday night,” he mused as they hid.

The two men did come back a little while later with Ed and Harry at gunpoint. “I'm a lover of the classics, Ed. And what we have here is a Frankenstein situation,” Deputy Norwood was saying as they walked into the room. “I'm a lover. I mean, wow, the creator. I mean, were gonna let one of you guys live to tell our story, but now, once you two are dead, there'll be no proof that Thinman was your brainchild.”

They paused in shock when they saw that Dean, Sam, and Liam were gone. Before they regained their senses the brothers jumped out. Dean wrestled with Roger and managed to get his knife and stab him with it. Sam knocked Deputy Norwood down, but the deputy was able to draw his gun and aim. Ed quickly stepped in between them. “Wait! No! No, look. Look at me. This is all my fault. Okay? It's all my fault!”

The deputy only smirked at that. “I got enough bullets for both of you.”

Before he could pull the trigger a shot rang out and hit him in the chest. Everyone turned to see Harry holding his gun. “Well, I’m a little impressed,” Liam commented.

“What now?” Ed looked at the two dead bodies.

“Now we cover our tracks,” Sam answered as he moved to inspect Liam’s wound a little closer. “Yeah, this was a through and through,” he said as he saw the exit wound. “Dean, I’m gonna take him to the car and bandage him up. You’ll need to find that bullet.”

“Yep,” Dean nodded as he thought about things for a moment.

Liam followed Sam out and was helped onto the hood before Sam got the med kit out. The blond whimpered when his shirt was pulled off. “This doesn’t look too bad,” Sam commented as he started cleaning him up. “It’s not even bleeding that much. But you need to stop getting into wrestling matches with people who have guns.”

“Don’t think I can do that.”

“You gonna be okay, dude?” Ed came over to check on him.

“Yeah,” Liam nodded. “This kind of thing happens to me a lot. Kind of why we keep telling you two not to go after the supernatural. Well, this time it was psycho people, but you get the idea.”

A little over an hour later Dean came back out. “So, are we good in there?” Sam asked.

Dean nodded. “Yeah. With the Thinman footage and the way I set the bodies, there should be enough breadcrumbs to make it look like those two psychos offed each other. How’s my husband?”

“I hurt, but I’ll live.”

“Well, we’ll get you something for pain and then put you to bed.”

Dean noticed Sam was watching Ed and Harry, and they all turned to watch and listen in. Then Harry came over toward them. “Can I get a ride from you guys?”

“Yeah, sure,” Dean motioned toward the back seat. Harry got in back next to Liam and they drove away. After a few minutes Dean glanced in the rear view mirror. “Harry, you okay?”

“Yeah. I mean, no. You roll with a guy so many years, you start to think he's always gonna be next to you. Like, when you're old and you're drinking on the porch, he'll be in that other rocking chair. And then something happens, and you realize that other chair has gone empty. You know what I mean?”

No one said anything, they just all sat lost in thought while Dean drove back to the motel. “You gonna be able to get your own room for the night?” Sam asked.

“No,” Harry frowned. “Ed handled everything.”

“Come on,” Sam motioned for Harry to follow him to the front desk. “I’ll have to explain the extra charge to my wife, but given the circumstances...”

“You have a wife?” Harry looked very surprised.

“Yeah, and it’s not easy.”

Dean took Liam back to their room and Dean gave his husband a pain pill and helped him into bed. “Stuff like that really makes you think, huh?” Dean said as he started to get undressed.

“It does,” Liam agreed. “The universe works in very mysterious ways. But it’s late and I’m tired. Though since I’ve got about twenty minutes to kill until the pain pill makes the room spin, what do you say we cuddle and find something on TV to take our minds off things until I pass out?”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Dean grabbed the remote and snuggled close. While Liam flipped through the channels Dean brushed some hair out of his face with a soft smile. “You know, I really don’t want to imagine what life would be like without you.”

Liam found an ‘I Love Lucy’ rerun on and settled back. “Don’t be an idiot again and you’ll never have to find out.”
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Hunting Humanity VIII