BUGS, BUGS, AND MORE BUGS

onstruction workers are building a luxury home complex. The scene focuses on two employees from Oklahoma Gas and Power, Travis and Dustin. "Man, these are some phat houses, huh? I'd like to live here." Travis says.

"Yeah, too bad you can't afford it." Dustin says.

"Yeah, you're right. This neighborhood'll be damn expensive when it's done." Travis says.

"No, this place is perfect." He smacks a bug on the side of his neck. "Except for the mosquitoes."

Off in the distance, he can hear Dustin screaming for help. He turns and sees that Dustin has fallen into a hole in the ground. "Dustin?" He rushed over to the hole.

"Help me, I'm trapped! I broke my ankle!" Dustin yells.

"All right, I'll get a rope! He leaves."

Inside the hole, Dustin is clutching his bloody ankle, breathing heavily. He looks around nervously and sees that there are thousands of beetles inside the walls of the hole. Several of them have landed on his hand, and he frantically brushes them off.

"Oh, God." Outside the hole, Travis runs to a nearby truck and opens it. Back inside the hole, tons of beetles are beginning to cover Dustin's body.

They gather in groups on his clothing and skin. "Travis, help!" Dustin yells.

"Hang on!" Travis gets a rope from the truck. Inside the hole, Dustin is almost entirely covered in beetles.

"Travis, help!" Dustin continues to scream as beetles crawl inside his ears and nose.

"It's okay, Dustin! It's okay!" Travis runs back to the hole with supplies. "Dustin? Dustin, I'm here!" He looks into the hole with a flashlight, horrified. "Oh, God."

Inside the hole, Dustin is dead. He is bleeding heavily from the ears, nose, and eyes.

t a bar, Dean is inside and Sam and Elena are sitting in the car. Sam is reading a newspaper article about Dustin. A minute later, Dean comes outside, laughing and waving a wad of cash in the air. "You know, we could get day jobs once in a while." Sam says.

"Hunting's our day job. And the pay is crap." Dean says.

"Yeah, but hustling pool? Credit card scams? It's not the most honest thing in the world, Dean." Sam says.

"Well, let's see honest." Dean holds out one hand. "Fun and easy." He holds out the other, and gestures that "fun and easy" outweighs "honest". "It's no contest. Besides, we're good at it. It's what we were raised to do."

"Yeah, well, how we were raised was jacked." Sam says.

Dean shrugs. "Yeah, says you. We got a new gig or what?"

"Maybe. Oasis Plains, Oklahoma - not far from here. A gas company employee, Dustin Burwash, supposedly died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob." Sam said.

Elena had been listening to music on an iPod she found and was just now listening to the conversation. "Huh?" She asked.

"Human mad cow disease." Sam answers.

"Mad cow. Wasn't that on Oprah?" Dean asks.

Sam grins. "You watch Oprah?" Dean, embarrassed, can't think of anything to say.

Dean changes the topic. "So this guy eats a bad burger. Why is it our kind of thing?"

"Mad cow disease causes massive brain degeneration. It takes months, even years, for the damage to appear. But this guy, Dustin? Sounds like his brain disintegrated in about an hour. Maybe less." Sam says.

"Okay, that's weird." Elena says.

"Yeah. Now, it could be a disease. Or it could be somethin' much nastier." Sam says.

"All right. Oklahoma." Dean says. "Man. Work, work, work. No time to spend my money." They drive off.

ean, Elena and Sam get out of the car and approach Travis. "Travis Weaver?" Dean asks.

"Yeah, that's right." Travis says.

"Are you the Travis who worked with Uncle Dusty?" Dean asks.

Travis looks utterly confused. "Dustin never mentioned a niece or nephews." He says.

"Really? Well, he sure mentioned you. He said you were the greatest." Elena plays along.

"Yeah." Sam pops in.

Travis smiles. "Oh, he did? Huh." He says.

"Listen, we wanted to ask you... what exactly happened out there?" Dean asks.

"I'm not sure. He fell in a sinkhole, I went to the truck to get some rope, and, uh... by the time I got back..." Travis starts.

"What did you see?" Elena asks and steps closer.

"Nothin'. Just Dustin." Travis says.

Elena leans in to Dean. "He's lying." She whispers.

"No wounds or anything?" Sam asks.

"Well, he was bleeding... from his eyes and his ears, his nose. But that's it." Travis says.

"So you think it could be this whole mad cow thing?" Dean asks.

"I don't know. That's what the Doctors are sayin'."

Sam shifts his body weight. "But if it was, he would've acted strange beforehand, like dementia, loss of motor control. You ever notice anything like that?"

"No. No way. But then again, if it wasn't some disease, what the hell was it?" Travis asks.

"That's a good question." Elena mumbles.

"You know, can you tell us where this happened?" Sam asks.

"Yeah."

A while later, Dean, Elena and Sam arrive to the place where Dustin died. The sinkhole is surrounded by police tape. "Huh. What do you think?" Dean asks.

"I don't know. But if that guy, Travis, was right, it happened pretty damn fast. They duck under the police tape and look into the hole with a flashlight." Sam says.

"So, what? Some sort of creature chewed on his brain?" Elena asks.

Sam shakes his head. "No, there'd be an entry wound. Sounds like this thing worked from the inside."

"Huh. Looks like there's only room for one. You wanna flip a coin?" Dean offers.

"Dean, we have no idea what's down there." Sam says.

Dean picks up a nearby coil of rope. "All right, I'll go if you're scared. You scared?" He says.

"Flip the damn coin." Sam says.

Dean chuckles and takes a coin out of his pocket. "All right, call it in the air... chicken." He flips the coin, and Elena catches it in midair.

"I'm going." She says.

"I'd bet it's pretty disgusting down there." Sam says. "Are you sure you wanna go down there?"

Elena nods. "I already feel useless most of the time. I wanna do something if I'm gonna hang with you knuckleheads." She says and Sam frowns.

"I said I'd go." Dean protests.

"I'm going." Elena backfired.

Dean finally gives in. "All right." She begins tying the rope around her waist.

"Don't drop me." Elena says.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

hile Dean drives the Impala, Sam is examining a dead beetle in his hand. "So you found some beetles. In a hole, in the ground. That's shocking, Elena." Dean says and she rolls her eyes.

"There were no tunnels, no tracks. No evidence of any other kind of creature down there." She says.

"You know, some beetles do eat meat. Now, it's usually dead meat, but-" Sam starts.

Dean interrupts. "How many did you find down there?" He asks.

"Ten." Elena says. "And it was disgusting."

"It'd take a whole lot more than that to eat out some dude's brain." Dean says.

"Well, maybe there were more." Sam suggests.

"I don't know, it sounds like a stretch to me." Dean says.

"Well, we need more information on the area, the neighborhood. Whether something like this has ever happened before."

As they drive through town, they pass a sign for an open house, decorated with red balloons. "What?" Sam asks.

"I know a good place to start." Dean said. Another sign reads, 'Models Open. New Buyers' BBQ Today!' "I'm kinda hungry for a little barbeque, how 'bout you?"

Sam gives him a knowing look. "What, we can't talk to the locals?" Dean asks innocently.

"And the free food's got nothin' to do with it?" Sam asks.

"Of course not. I'm a professional." Dean says.

"Right." Elena says and they pull over and get out of the car.

They begin walking down the street to the open house. "Growin' up in a place like this would freak me out." Dean admits.

"Why?" Elena asks.

"Well, manicured lawns, "How was your day, honey?" I'd blow my brains out."

"There's nothing wrong with 'normal'." Sam says.

"I'd take our family over normal any day." They approach the house and knock on the door.

The homeowner, Larry, answers. "Welcome." He says.

"This the barbeque?" Elena asks.

"Yeah, not the best weather, but... I'm Larry Pike, the developer here. And you are... ?"

Elena motions towards the boys. "Elena. I'm just a friend along for the ride. They're the one's you want to talk to."

"Dean. This is Sam." Dean says and they shake hands.

"Sam, Dean, good to meet you. So, you two are interested in Oasis Plains?" Larry asks.

"Yes, sir." Dean says.

"Let me just say - we accept homeowners of any race, religion, color, or... sexual orientation." Larry says and Elena holds in a laugh.

Sam and Dean realize what he is trying to say. "We're brothers." Larry seems slightly embarrassed.

"Our father is getting on in years, and we're just lookin' for a place for him." Sam says.

"Great, great. Well, seniors are welcome, too. Come on in." Larry takes them outside to the backyard. There are lots of people walking around, chatting and eating.

Elena continues to laugh and pats the brothers on their backs. "You said you were the developer?" Sam asks.

"Eighteen months ago, I was walking this valley with my survey team. There was nothing here but scrub brush and squirrels. And you know what, we built such a nice place to live that I actually bought into it myself. This is our house. We're the first family in Oasis Plains." Larry says.

They walk over to his wife. "This is my wife, Joanie." Larry says.

"Hi there." She says nicely.

Dean offers his hand. "Hi." Dean says and they shake hands.

"Hi, nice to meet you." Joanie says.

"Sam, Elena and Dean." Larry says and Elena shakes her hand.

Sam shakes her hand. "Sam."

"Pleasure."

"Tell them how much you love the place, honey. And lie if you have to because I need to sell some houses." He says and Elena fakes a smile.

"Right." She says and they laugh.

"Elena, Boys, will you excuse me?"

Larry leaves. "Don't let his salesman routine scare you. This really is a great place to live." Joanie says.

A very energetic woman approaches them. Her red hair is pulled back in a tight bun. "Hi, I'm Lynda Bloome, head of sales." She says.

"And Lynda was second to move in. She's a very noisy neighbor, though." Joanie leaves.

Elena leaves and makes her way to the food. She couldn't help but pick up some and eat. "She's kidding, of course. I take it you two are interested in becoming homeowners." Lynda says.

"Well..." Dean drones.

"Y-yeah, well..." Sam stutters.

"Well, let me just say that we accept homeowners of any race, religion, color, or... sexual orientation." Lynda says and smiles.

Dean laughs. "Right. Um... I'm gonna go talk to Larry." To Sam. "Okay, honey?" He walks away, smacking Sam on his ass. Sam and Lynda share an awkward silence.