Baby rumbled into the small, awkward parking lot of Top Dog & Dairy. It was open, with a few cars in the parking lot and a winding line of people at the front.

"Oh no, no no no," Emalee said in a panic, shrinking down in her seat.

"Hey, no one's gonna recognize you," Dean said. She rolled her gaze to him.

"It's still weird."

"And anyways, they might recognize me," Marley spoke from the back. Emalee nodded emphatically. 

"Well, what're we gonna do, just walk up there? And how are we gonna prepare with all these people around?" Dean glared out the window as he pulled into a parking spot.

"I... don't really know," Emalee sighed. They all went quiet for a minute. "Ah, fuck it if anyone sees."

Dean shrugged and patted Baby before he shut her door. Emalee paced at the back of the car, waiting for Dean to unlock it. After a few more seconds of struggle, he popped it open, then unlocked the second lock with more ease, revealing an armory's worth of guns, ammo, knives, machetes, and the like. 

"Sweet," Emalee said, grinning. They worked smoothly together, with a few bumps and rough patches considering they didn't know each other's routine. Marley emerged from the backseat, glancing over her shoulder again and again in paranoia. 

"Relax, Mar. Nobody's gonna care." She handed Mar a slightly rusted, blood-flecked machete. Marley took it hesitantly. "Got your knife and gun?"

"I have the knife you got me."

"Anything silver?"

"Nope." Emalee frowned and looked over at Dean, who ducked back into the pile of weapons, rifling through them.

"Here you go. Loaded with silver bullets," he grunted, handing Marley a handgun. She took it and examined it.

"Why silver?"

"Because," Emalee started, loading her own gun with silver bullets, "silver's the only thing that kills shapeshifters. Two to five in the chest, and boom. Dead."

"Oh. You, uh, might want this more than I do. I'm not a very good shot," Marley stammered nervously. She didn't want something like that in her hands. She barely even wanted to carry a small knife. She never wanted to have to decide whether or not to end the life of something - or someone. 

"Keep it, Mar. You'll need it," Emalee said solemnly.  Marley swallowed and tucked the gun into the side of her waistband, like the others were doing.

"Careful, don't bring attention to your weapons," Dean hissed to the two. Both nodded.

"This ain't my first rodeo, idiot," Emalee said with a scoff. Dean rolled his eyes and let Emalee lead them around the back of the ice cream shop and to the tiny little house behind it.

"This is their HQ?" Dean asked incredulously. Emalee shot him a glare.

"Yep." Emalee circled the house quickly, careful to keep out of sight. "The side entrance is still here! C'mon." She jogged to the side of the house facing the woods and ducked beneath piles of foliage, heaving open a pair of well camouflaged storm cellar doors. "Inside, hurry!"

Marley took a deep breath and crouched down, edging into the cellar with Dean and Emalee on her heels. The room was fairly spacious, with lamps set in the walls and nothing but stone furnishing it. Emalee eased the cellar doors shut as quietly as possible, wincing and cringing at every creak.

"We must move silently from now on," she whispered, her voice barely audible. The others nodded and crept along one winding corridor. They might as well have been shadows on the walls for all the noise they made. 

Then, predictably, Marley tripped on something. Emalee and Dean flinched against the wall, listening.

"Get up! Flatten yourself against the wall!" Emalee hissed. Marley stumbled to her feet, face pale. She backed against the wall, terrified. Boots clamped down the hall towards them. Emalee whipped her head around, looking desperately for a place to hide.

"There! Go, now!" Emalee shoved Marley and Dean towards a small door, presumably a closet. She shoved them inside and shut the door behind them just as the footsteps rounded the corner.