CREEPY CRAWLIES

nside the house, Larry and Dean come downstairs, finishing a tour. "You've got three choices - carpet, hardwood, and tile." Larry says.

Dean notices a jar full of bugs on a nearby table. "Whoa. Someone likes bugs."

"My son - he's into insects. He's very... inquisitive." Larry says.

Outside, Lynda is still talking to Sam. Elena had joined him after eating a few ribs. "Who can say "no" to a steam shower? I use mine everyday." Lynda says.

"Sounds great." Sam sounds uninterested.

While Lynda continues talking, Elena notices a tarantula crawling towards her hand, which is resting on a table. A few feet away, Larry's son, Matt, is watching excitedly.

"Excuse me." Elena pushes Lynda out of the way and picks up the spider, bringing it over to Matt. "Is this yours?"

Matt takes it from her. "You gonna tell my dad?" He asks.

"I don't know." Elena says.

Sam comes over to the two. "Who's your dad?"

"Yeah, Larry usually skips me in the family introductions." Matt says.

Elena flinches. "Ouch."

"First name basis with the old man - sounds pretty grim." Sam says.

"Well, I'm not exactly brochure material."

"Well, hang in there. It gets better, all right? I promise." Sam says.

"When?"

"Matthew." They turn to see Larry and Dean walking towards them. "I am so sorry about my son and his... pet." Larry says.

Elena waves it off. "It's no bother." She says.

"Excuse us." Larry walks away with Matt.

"Remind you of somebody?" Sam asks.

Dean looks over at Larry, who is yelling at Matt. He looks back at Sam, confused. "Dad? Dad never treated us like that."

"Well, Dad never treated you like that. You were perfect. He was all over my case. You don't remember?" Sam asks.

"Well, maybe he had to raise his voice, but sometimes, you were out of line." Dean says and Elena felt awkward watching the brother's bicker.

Sam scoffs. "Right. Right, like when I said I'd rather play soccer than learn bowhunting."

"You guys bowhunt?" Elena asks.

Dean nods. "Bowhunting's an important skill."

"Whatever." Sam rolls his eyes. "How was your tour?"

"Oh, it was excellent. I'm ready to buy." Dean says and Sam laughs. "So you might be onto somethin'. Looks like Dustin Burwash wasn't the first strange death around here."

"What happened?" Elena asks.

"About a year ago, before they broke ground, one of Larry's surveyors dropped dead while on the job. Get this severe allergic reaction to bee stings." Sam says.

Elena grimaces. "More bugs." She says.

"More Bugs."

hile Sam drives through the neighborhood, Dean looks through their father's journal. Elena leans over his shoulder. "You know, I've heard of killer bees, but killer beetles? What is it that could make different bugs attack?" Dean asks.

"Well, hauntings sometimes include bug manifestations." Sam says.

"Yeah, but I didn't see any evidence of ghost activity." Dean says.

"Yeah, me neither."

"Maybe they're being controlled somehow. You know, by something or someone." Dean says.

"You mean, like Willard?" Elena says over his shoulder and Dean turns his head over at her. They were really close.

Dean clears his throat. "Yeah, bugs instead of rats." He says.

"There are cases of psychic connections between people and animals - elementals, telepaths." Sam says.

"Yeah, that whole Timmy-Lassie thing." Dean thinks for a second and realizes something. "Larry's kid - he's got bugs for pets."

"Matt?" Sam asks.

"Yeah."

"He did try to scare the realtor with a tarantula." Elena points out.

Dean speaks to Elena. "You think he's our Willard?" He asks.

"I don't know. Anything's possible, I guess." She says.

"Ooh, hey. Pull over here." Dean says.

Sam pulls into the empty driveway of one of the Oasis Plains homes. "What are we doing here?" He asks.

"It's too late to talk to anybody else." Dean gets out of the car and opens the door to help Elena out.

"We're gonna squat in an empty house?" Elena asks.

"I wanna try the steam shower. Come on." Dean says, but Sam doesn't move. "Come on!" Reluctantly, Sam pulls the car into the garage, and Dean closes it.

t Lynda's house, she enters her bedroom, turning on the light. She turns on the television and takes her hair out of the bun. A woman on her TV talks.

"Atoka Valley County began mandatory insecticide spraying across a wide swath of the district today. Authorities say the decision to spray was made because of several recent cases of West Nile virus, coupled with a dramatic increase in the mosquito population of some areas."

As she is watching the news, a large spider crawls out of Lynda's hair and onto her face. She gasps and swipes it away. She turns off the television, frightened. A few moments later, Lynda is in the shower.

While she is washing her hair, a very big spider crawls out from behind the showerhead. In a matter of seconds, hundreds of enormous spiders begin crawling out from the tiles. Lynda opens her eyes and screams.

She breaks through the glass of the shower doors and tries to run away. A trail of blood leads from the bathtub to the bedroom floor. Lynda is lying there, dead, as several smaller spiders run across her body.

t the Oasis Homes in the morning, Elena sits down on a couch. The house was already furnished. Sam approaches her. "You alright?" He asks her.

"Yeah." She says.

He sits down next to her. "I was thinking about what you said a couple of days ago."

"About what?" She looks at him.

"You said you felt like you were useless." He says.

Elena sighs. "Let's be realistic." She says. "You guys are the professionals here. I'm just...some girl tagging along."

"Well, you did save us from that Bloody Mary job. That was smart." Sam smiles. "Dean and I could never think of something like that."

Elena smiles also. "Thank you for making me feel better." She says and nudged her shoulder with his.

"No problem." Sam gets up and approaches the bathroom door, where the shower can be heard running. He knocks. "You ever comin' out of there?" He asks.

"What?" Dean yells.

"Dean, a police call came in on the scanner." Sam says.

"Hold on." Dean says.

"Someone was found dead three blocks from here. Come on."

The bathroom door opens. Dean is standing there, in the steam-filled room, with a towel on his head. "This shower is awesome."

"Come on."

t Lynda's house, Sam, Dean and Elena pull up and get out of the car. They approach Larry, who is finishing talking to someone on the phone. Lynda's body is being carried out in a body bag on a stretcher. "Hello. You're, uh, back early." Larry says.

"Yeah, we just drove in, wanted to take another look at the neighborhood." Elena says.

"What's goin' on?' Sam asks.

Larry looks over at them. "You guys met, uh... Lynda Bloome at the barbeque?" He asks.

"The realtor." Sam says.

"Well, she, uh... passed away last night."

The gang is shocked. "What happened?" Dean asks.

"I'm still tryin' to find out. Identified the body for the police. Look, I-I'm sorry, this isn't a good time now." Larry says.

"It's okay." Elena says.

"Excuse me." Larry leaves.

"You know what we have to do, right?" Dean asks.

"Yeah. Get in that house." Sam says.

"See if we got a bug problem."

A few minutes later, they climb over the fence, up the side of the house, and through Lynda's bedroom window. The outline of her dead body is drawn on the carpet. "This looks like the place." Dean says.

They walk over to another part of the room. Dean picks up a towel, and drops it when he sees it is covered in dead spiders. "Spiders. From Spider Boy?" Dean asks.

"Matt - maybe."

Later that day, Dean, Elena, and Sam pull up at the curb. Across the street, Matt gets off a school bus and begins walking.

"Isn't his house that way?" Elena asks, pointing in the opposite direction.

"Yup." Sam says.

"So where's he goin'?" Dean asks. They get out of the car and begin following Matt.

They find him in the woods, examining a grasshopper. "Hey, Matt. Remember me?" Elena says and steps closer to him.

"What are you doin' out here?" Matt says.

"Well, we wanna talk to you." Dean says.

"You're not here to buy a house, are you?" Matt asks. Dean shakes his head. "W-wait. You're not serial killers?"

Sam and Dean laugh. "No, no. No, I think you're safe." Sam says, smiling.

"So, Matt... you sure know a lot about insects." Dean points out.

"So?"

"Did you hear what happened to Lynda, the realtor?" Elena asks.

Matt squinted his eyes at her. "I hear she died this morning."

"Mm, that's right. Spider bites." Dean says.

"Matt... you tried to scare her with a spider." Sam says.

Matt straightens up. "Wait. You think I had something to do with that?" He asks.

"You tell us." Sam says.

"That tarantula was a joke. Anyway, that wouldn't explain the bee attack or the gas company guy." Matt says.

"You know about those?"

"There is somethin' going on here. I don't know what... but something's happening with the insects. Let me show you something." Matt says.

He picks up his backpack and beings walking with them to another area. "So, if you knew about all this bug stuff, why not tell your dad? Maybe he could clear everybody out." Elena says.

"Believe me, I've tried. But, uh, Larry doesn't listen to me." Matt says.

"Why not?"

"Mostly? He's too disappointed in his freak son." Matt says.

Sam scoffs. "I hear you." He says.

"You do?" Dean says.

Sam turns and gives him a look. "Matt, how old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Well, don't sweat it, because in two years, something great's gonna happen." Sam says.

"What?"

"College. You'll be able to get out of that house and away from your dad." Sam says and Elena looks over at him. Obviously he had a special connection to this kid.

"What kind of advice is that? Kid should stick with his family." Dean says.

Sam sighs and glares at him. "How much further, Matt?" He asks.

"We're close." Matt answers. Sam glares at Dean one more time before he continues walking. A few moments later, they reach a large clearing.

The sounds of hundreds of different insects can be heard among the trees. "I've been keeping track of insect populations. It's, um, part of an AP science class." Matt says.

"You two are like peas in a pod." Dean says, but Sam ignores him.

"What's been happening?" Elena asks.

"A lot. I mean, from bees to earthworms, beetles... you name it. It's like they're congregating here." Matt says.

"Why?" Dean asks.

"I don't know."

Sam points to a dark patch of grass a few feet away. "What's that?" He asks.

Curious, they walk over to it and discover hundreds of worms. Dean steps on some of them, and they fall into the ground, creating a hole. He crouches down and uses a stick to poke around in the hole.

"There's somethin' down there." Dean puts the stick down and puts his hand into the hole. With a disgusted expression, he feels something inside the hole. He brings his hand back up, and everyone looks horrified. Covered in dirt and worms, is a human skull.

am, Dean and Elena pull up outside the local university and get out of the car. They take the box of bones out from the backseat and head towards the building. "So, a bunch of skeletons in an unmarked grave." Elena says.

"Yeah. Maybe this is a haunting. Pissed off spirits? Some unfinished business?" Dean lists.

"Yeah, maybe. Question is, why bugs? And why now?" Sam asks.

"That's two questions." Dean points out and Sam ignores him. "Yeah, so with that kid back there... why'd you tell him to just ditch his family like that?"

"Just, uh... I know what the kid's goin' through." Sam says.

Elena stands there awkwardly. "I'm gonna go head inside." She takes the box from the boys.

"Yeah alright." Sam says and turns to his brother.

"How 'bout tellin' him to respect his old man, how's that for advice?" Dean says.

"Dean, come on." They stop walking. "This isn't about his old man. You think I didn't respect Dad. That's what this is about." Sam says.

"Just forget it, all right? Sorry I brought it up." Dean says.

"I respected him. But no matter what I did, it was never good enough."

"So what are you sayin'? That Dad was disappointed in you?" Dean asks.

Sam gets frustrated. "Was? Is. Always has been."

"Why would you think that?" Dean asks.

"Because I didn't wanna bowhunt or hustle pool - because I wanted to go to school and live my life, which, to our whacked-out family, made me the freak." Sam confesses.

"Yeah, you were kind of like the blonde chick in The Munsters." Dean jokes.

"Dean, you know what most dads are when their kids score a full ride? Proud. Most dads don't toss their kids out of the house." Sam says.

Dean put his hands in his pocket. "I remember that fight. In fact, I seem to recall a few choice phrases comin' out of your mouth."

"You know, truth is, when we finally do find Dad... I don't know if he's even gonna wanna see me." Sam says.

"Sam, Dad was never disappointed in you. Never. He was scared." Dean says.

"What are you talkin' about?"

"He was afraid of what could've happened to you if he wasn't around. But even when you two weren't talkin'... he used to swing by Stanford whenever he could." Sam's smirk fades. "Keep an eye on you. Make sure you were safe."

"What?" Sam asks.

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me any of that?"

"Well, it's a two-way street, dude. You could've picked up the phone." Dean says and Sam stares at him sadly. "Come on, we're gonna be late for our appointment." He walks away.