( PAPER MOON )

DURHAM, WASHINGTON

BAR
[ ☾]

        We follow a mystery person into the bar, outside the door, and as they enter the bar, bikers look at the person approvingly.

       The mystery person enters to a bar full of bikers, both men and women. We now see brief glimpses that the person is what appears to be a beautiful woman - a bracelet, red painted lips. She starts walking through the bar, looking the patrons up and down.

      "I know, right?" A Female says.

       The mystery woman continues perusing the bar until she settles on a young man who blatantly returns her interest. Scene cuts to outside the building, the woman slamming the man up against the wall and ripping open his shirt.

       "Damn. Girl after my own heart." He says.

       "That's the idea, sweetie." She says.

       "What the hell?" The Biker says. The mystery woman grows claws and slashes the biker's throat. He falls to the ground where she attacks him snarling.

SUPERNATURAL

LAKE
[ ☼ ]

        A boat cruises past on the open water. Sam and Dean—sunglasses on—are kicking back and drinking beers at the waterside. Sam has his right arm in a sling. "Hey, something I needed to ask you." Dean says.

       "Shoot." Sam says.

       Dean looks amused. "You've been... Kicked, bit, scratched, stabbed, possessed, killed... And you sprain your friggin' elbow?" He asks.

        "Dude, it was more than a sprain. All right?" Sam asks. "And it was a friggin' demon, but..."

      "What?" Dean asks. "That sling come with a slice of...crybaby pie on the side?" Sam smiles despite himself. "Please." They laugh and sit companionably for a moment, then Sam turns to study his brother.

      "How you doing?" Sam asks.

      "Golden, man." Dean says.

       "Come on." Sam gives Dean his puppy dog look.

       Dean deflects. "Seriously, I'm good. I am. You know, we got... Three more cases of this stuff on ice in the trunk. Taking some 'we time.'... best decision we ever made." He says. They toast.

       "Hear that." Sam says. The boys take a swig of their beers and sit back. A moment passes.

      "See that thing in the paper this morning?" Dean asks.

        Sam huffs out a breath. "Maybe it was an animal kill." He says.

       "It was three kills, and it was in the same town, all within the last month."

       "Yeah, you're right. We should call some guys, have 'em fix it." Sam says.

       Dean nods. "Good. Smart." He says.

       "Done." Sam says as another moment passes.

       "Or...We could be in and out." Dean says. "It's a milk run."

       "Right, because that happens... never."

       Dean takes off his sunglasses and rubs his face. "Look, Sam, what we're doing here, it's good, okay? You and me hanging out. But I need to work... I need this." He says. Sam takes his glasses off and looks at Dean in concern.

        Sam frowns. "If things go sideways... I mean, like, an inch, you gotta give me the heads-up." He says.

        "Done. You got my word." Dean is almost standing before he finishes. He hurriedly grabs his chair, eagerly moving off toward the Impala and leaving Sam still sitting, sighing heavily and frowning in disbelief.

CAFE
[ ☼ ]

        Elena and Caroline were sitting outside of a neighborhood cafe. Elena had decided to stay in Kansas since Caroline was her only friend here. "How are you holding up?" Care asks Elena.

       "I think about as good as a girl with amnesia can get." Elena says as she sips her coffee.

       Caroline reaches over and places her hand on top of Elena's. "It's gonna get better." She says.

        "Yeah." Elena says. "But you didn't see what Dean did the last time. He shoved me off, like...like he wasn't telling me the full story."

       "Dean is respectable. He's respecting what you want in life." Caroline says. "He wants you to be happy."

       "But what if me being with him was the only time I was happy?"

SHERIFF'S STATION
[ ☼ ]

        Sam and Dean are dressed as Game Wardens. Dean hands over his fake ID to the Sheriff, while Sam simply flashes his. The Sheriff looks at them in relief.

       "Gentlemen. Well, I'm not gonna lie. We're damn glad to see you." He hands back Dean's ID. "You boys must come up on stuff like this all the time."

       "Oh, yeah." Dean says.

       "Oh, yeah."

       "Yeah, definitely." Says Dean.

       "Hell, seen raccoons in rec rooms and bears in swimming pools." The Sheriff says. "But this? You tell me."

        "Yeah." Dean says. The Sheriff pauses, looking at the brothers in expectation of a good story. Dean realizes and immediately starts spinning one. "Oh. Well, uh...Where do we start? What with, uh...Logging."

       "Ice caps." Sam says.

       "Bitcoin. Yeah." Dean says. The Sheriff looks on in scepticism. Dean starts to get flustered. "Obama."

       Sam watches the exchange in disbelief then jumps in to save his brother before he makes more of a fool of himself. "You know what? Maybe—maybe, uh, you could walk us through the attacks. Any similarities, anything weird." He says.

        "Only thing weird about them was how similar they were. Folks torn clean through. Hearts... absent."

       "Hearts absent as in—" Dean starts.

       "Consumed, most likely."

       "And there were no witnesses?" Asks Dean.

       "Well, the town square attack, the parking lot... Those were real late." He says. "But the bar? Hell, with how jammed the place was, you'd think somebody other than Tommy would've seen something."

        Dean jumps on this piece of information. "And what did he see?" He asks.

       "Honestly, not much. Now Tommy ain't exactly what we call a reliable witness." The Sheriff says. "And he's telling anybody who'll listen he saw some girl go out back with Barker, and she got torn up, too."

       "So there was a second victim?" Dean asks.

       "Well, sure... Except Tommy's a drunk. There's no body, no D.N.A., no blood trail, no nothing to suggest that." The Sheriff says as a Deputy approaches, handing the Sheriff some paperwork. "Give me one sec."

       "Yeah." Sam says. Both Deputies walk away. The brothers quietly discuss the information they were given.

       "Hearts missing. Sounds wolfy to me, right?" Dean asks.

      "Yeah. Pretty brazen, even for a werewolf." Sam says.

       "You think it was the girl?"

       Sam shrugs and turns to his brother. "Let's find out." He says.

       Later, the scene opens back at Panheads. Sam and Dean are seated at a table with the biker – Tommy – that the Sheriff told them about. A large mug of beer sits on the table in front of him.

       "Yeah, Barker and I have been raising hell, chasing tail, and riding for a long time." Tommy says. "Part of him always knew when his clock ran out, it wasn't gonna be pretty. To go out like that? By some animal? Just ain't right." He shakes his head in disbelief.

        "You mind, uh, you mind telling us what went down?" Dean asks.

       "It was just another party, you know? Barker went out back." Tommy says. "The next thing you know, everyone's yelling and screaming, and he's all torn up."

       "Now the sheriff mentioned you thought there might've been a girl involved." Sam says. "You think she was killed, too?"

       "Nope." Tommy is shaking his head he reaches for his beer, taking a large swig.

      "So there was no girl?" Dean asks.

       "Couldn't say." He shakes his head again and looks at Dean nervously out of the corner of his eye.

       Sam is doing his earnest, puppy dog thing. "You know we're not cops, right?" He asks.

      "Badge is a badge."

       "Well, you should also know that working outdoors the way we do, we see some – some pretty weird crap." Dean says. "Stuff that we can't explain. I mean, hell, half the stuff, we wouldn't have believed it ourselves had we not seen it together."

       "Well, you don't have to live in this town, mister." Tommy says. "You don't have to deal with the ridicule."

      "I'm just saying that crazy might not be half as crazy as you think."

       Tommy speaks hesitantly. "So if someone were to tell you they saw a ghost, you'd...believe that?" He asks.

       Dean looks over at Sam and back again. "Just assume we believe everything." He says.

       Tommy nods decisively. "Okay, then. The other night, I was taking a ride past the old Sturges farm." He says. "You know, thinking about the rides me and Barker used to go on. I saw her, man."

      "Saw her, who?" Sam asks.

       "The girl." Tommy says.

       "What, after the attack?" Asks Dean.

       "Hell, yeah. She was just standing there, all bloody, watching me. So—so I turn the hell around, I-I ran back, thinking, damn, you know, she—But..." Tommy starts. "She was just gone. Like, gone."

       Sam nods. "Like a ghost." He says.

       "No, I don't give one red cent in hell what the cops say." He says. "She was there. She was eaten. She's a freakin' ghost." He takes another large swig of his beer and Dean turns to Sam raising his eyebrows.

FARM
[ ☾]

        Scene opens at night on an old farm. The boys pull up in the Impala. They get out and look around, leaving Baby's lights on. Both have pistols. "Ghosts don't shred people like that." Sam says.

       Dean fiddles with his .45, ejecting the magazine and checking it. "Yeah, well... This flea bag, looks like she ain't done chowing down on Sons of Anarchy just yet." He says,

      "Guess she likes bad boys."

       Dean grins. "Well, wait'll she gets a load of us." He says.

       The boys turn on their flashlights and guns in hand, walk towards a seemingly deserted barn. Dean gestures with his gun for Sam to circle around the back while he takes the front. Sam sets off towards the back.

        Meanwhile Dean continues forward, coming across several dead chickens scattered on the ground. When he reaches the door, there are several deep scratches across its surface. He enters quickly and cautiously, gun aimed and ready and scans the interior, doing a quick but efficient search with his flashlight.

        He clicks off the light when he hears a low voice, aiming his gun at her. We see a mystery woman from behind. She is wearing the same bracelet as the woman in the opening scene and she is on the phone.

       "Stop ignoring my calls. Pick up the phone and call me right now. This isn't how it's supposed to go." She says. "Look, I've been down this road before and I'm not going to..."

        She stops abruptly and sniffs the air, then suddenly bolts away from Dean. Dean runs after her and she runs straight into Sam who catches her. Sam points his gun at the mystery woman but hesitates, recognising her.

       "What?" Dean asks. Sam grabs the woman's sleave, spinning her towards Dean. "Kate?"

        Flashback to episode 8.04 Bitten, where the boys stumbled onto a movie made by the woman, documenting how she, her boyfriend, and his best friend were turned into werewolves. The woman looks terrified while the boys look... not-shocked, but definitely disappointed.

       Later, the boys have tied Kate hands with heave rope and secured them to the rafters. "I know who you are." She says.

        "Congratulations." Dean says.

       "After what happened at school, I thought you'd let me go."

       "Yeah, well, that was before you started dropping bodies." Sam says.

      "What?"

       Dean looks smug. "Guy at the bar saw you before you went all Wolverine on his buddy. So...Surprise. Here we are." He says.

       "Kate, you said you were gonna go straight." Sam says. "What happened?"

       "I guess things change. Being this..." She starts. "I tried to be strong, but the hunger was too much. Too hard. It's not like anyone gave me a handbook on how to be a werewolf."

       "Looks like you're doing a pretty good job so far." Dean says sarcastically. "Break some hearts, then you eat 'em."

       "I was on my own. I...evolved." She says.

       "So that's what you call killing innocent people?" Sam asks.

       "Whatever you're gonna do, just...do it."

       The brothers look at each other, then Dean pulls back the hammer on his .45 and points it at Kate. He hesitates briefly and Sam puts a hand on Dean's arm, stopping him. Dean uncocks the weapon as Sam indicates that they need to talk.

       "Hey. You know what?" Sam asks. "Let me do it."

       "Why?" Dean asks. While they talk, Kate uses one claw to work at the rope she's tied up with.

       "Because... I think you should sit this one out."

       "What are you talking about?" Asks Dean.

       "You're not ready, Dean." Sam's phone rings, it's the Sheriff. Dean turns to look at Kate who stops moving briefly. "Hello?"

       "Warden, we had another animal attack over at the high school gymnasium. Guy was a security guard." The Sheriff says. "Same M.O. as the other three."

      "When?" Sam asks.

       "Deputy said the victim's blood was still warm when he got there, so had to be less than an hour ago."

        Sam nods. "Of course. Thank you. Um, I'll be in touch." He hangs up the phone and looks at his brother. "We got a problem."

        "What, besides, uh, werewolf Barbie over here?" Dean asks.

       "Yeah." Sam says. In the background, Kate is still working away at the rope. She's nearly sawed right through it. "There was another kill, across town, just before dark."

       "Well, how did Kate get her murder on and then get back here b—" Dean starts as Sam scrunches up his face and raises his eyebrows. "You don't think she did it."

       "Look... I don't know, man. But as far as I'm concerned—" Sam starts. Suddenly the rope snaps and Kate breaks free, bolting out the door.

       "Damn it!" Dean yells.

IMPALA
[ ☾]

       "All right, if she's not icing people, then why play the big bad wolf?" Dean asks.

        "Maybe she's running with a pack? You know, trying to protect them?" Sam asks.

        "Well, a hell of a price to pay. She was about two seconds away from taking a dirt nap." Dean pulls a pink phone out of his pocket and starts fiddling with it.

       "What is that?" Sam asks.

       "It's her phone. Let's see who she was booty calling when we pulled up." Dean pressed redial.

        "Thank you for calling the Lincoln Motel. Can I help you?" The person says. Dean hangs up and the boys jump the Impala and take off, dust flying.

        Sam and Dean are in the Impala, talking. Dean raises his eyebrows at Sam. "So what's this about me not being ready back there?" He asks.

       "I'm—I wasn't... trying to start something, Dean." Sam says. "I was just saying, I thought that was the whole point of us taking a break. You know?"

       "Oh, no. No, yeah. I get that. And, you know, there's no worries there." Dean says.

       "Okay."

       "But I gotta ask. What about you?" Dean asks.

       "What about me, what?"

       "Are you ready?" Asks Dean.

       "Why wouldn't I be ready?" Sam asks.

       "Lester."

       "Lester?" Sam asks.