Fayetteville, North Carolina
A man suspends a woman, Jacki Prescott, from the ceiling of an empty room. He then puts a bucket beneath her, cuts her throat, and starts drinking the blood pouring from the fatal wound.
At the bunker, Sam is researching the Mark of Cain on his laptop when dean comes in. Sam hastily closes the laptop and Dean shows him an article on Jacki's death. He figures that some kind of monster is responsible, but Sam hesitates to take on the case. When Dean wonders why he doesn't want to check it out, Sam agrees to check it out.
As Dean drives the Impala to Fayetteville, Sam keeps checking the Internet and Dean finally calls him on it. He tells his brother that they have to face the truth, even if they don't like it, and he plans to keep doing what they do as long as he can. As Dean drives, he asks Sam to be there with him.
When the brothers arrive in Fayetteville, they go to the sheriff's station. The sheriff tells them that they already identified the killer, Rick Willis. His fingerprints were on the murder weapon and he left his dog tags by Jacki's body. When the brothers ask where Rick is, the sheriff admits that Rick set himself on fire and killed himself, leaving his wife and child behind. The sheriff says that it's the third suicide in six months, and confirms that there was no bite marks on the body. As the Winchesters leave, Dean wonders if a demon possessed Rick.
The Winchesters visit Rick's wife Beth and she explains that Rick just got back from deployment. She insists that Rick didn't kill any more than he had to, but admits that was Rick was incredibly thirsty after he returned. He drank from the garden hose and the bath tub, but his skin dried out until it bled. Dean asks where Rick was deployed but Jemma explains that the information is classified and she doesn't know. As they leave, Beth says that her friend Jemma Wilson is married to Rick's fellow squadron member, Kit, and Kit was having the same symptoms as Rick.
When the brothers talk to Jemma, she insists that Kit is just going through a phase and will soon be back to normal. However, Jemma admits that Kit went out the night before and hasn't come back, and confirms that Kit has been incredibly thirsty since his return from deployment. When the brothers leave, they find Cole Trenton waiting for them. He explains that he and Kit were military brats together and he heard that Kit was in trouble. The brothers admit that they're working a case and that Kit may kill just like Rick did. They don't want Cole's help, but he says that he has a contact in Military Intelligence that can find out where Rick and Kit were deployed. The brothers reluctantly accept Cole's help but as they go, Cole insists that they're not going to hunt and kill his friend.
That night, Kit goes into a convenience store and starts drinking all the bottled water he can find. When a clerk tries to stop him, Kit cuts his neck with a broken bottle and laps up the blood from the floor.
As the Winchesters stop for dinner, Cole receives an email from his contact. Kit and Rick were sent to Iraq to rescue an American POW, Major Matt Jones, from a prison at an Iraqi cemetery. The contact sends footage from Rick's helmet cam, showing Jones attacking the two soldiers. The email confirms that the government reported the mission as a failure and Jones was killed by his guards.
Sam gets a local alert from the police and the trio head to the convenience store. Kit escaped after drinking the clerk's blood, and Jemma calls Cole and insists that her husband isn't in her right mind. Cole promises to save Kit, and Jemma suggests that her husband may have gone to his father's old cabin. Once Cole hangs up, he confronts the Winchesters and realizes that they plan to kill his friend. Cole insists that Kit needs help, not a bullet, but the brothers warn him that if Kit can't be cured then they'll have to put him down. The Winchesters then drop Cole off at Jemma's house. As soon as they pull away, he goes to his Jeep and drives for the cabin. The brothers are down the street watching, having anticipated that Cole would go off on his own, and follow him.
When Cole arrives at the cabin, he goes inside and finds dead rats on the floor, split open for their blood. He finds Kit in the bedroom, his skin dried out and bleeding. Kit lunges forward and grabs Cole, saying that he can't stop. A wormlike creature drops from his mouth into Cole's, just as the Winchesters arrive. They kill another worm as it emerges, and Kit shoves past Dean and escapes.
Cole staggers to his feet, gagging, and says that he can feel the worm moving inside him. The Winchesters tell him about the Khan worms that they encountered before, and figure that the creatures inside of Kit are related. They explain that in their last encounter, they discovered that the worms could be driven from their host body by electrocution. Sam leaves Dean to do it while he goes to find Kit. Dean rigs a battery with a jumper cable and warns Cole that it's going to hurt, and Cole tells him to do whatever it takes so he can reunite with his family.
As Dean prepares the cables, Cole realizes what the Winchesters go through and admits that he was wrong to try and kill Dean. Dean applies the cables but the worm doesn't come out. Cole tells him to continue, but his heart stops and Dean has to resuscitate him. Once Cole recovers consciousness, Dean says that if he electrocutes Cole again then it will kill him.
Dean calls Sam, who says that he's going to Jemma's house in the hopes that Kit went there. After he hangs up, Dean and Cole go over what has happened and figure that they dehydrate Cole and drive the worm out of him. The two men go to work, starting a fireplace and blocking the chimney to turn the cabin into a sweat lodge.
Jemma finds Kit in the house, drinking water from a flower vase. She goes to him, saying that they'll fix what happened, but Kit grabs her by the throat and says that he can't stop. A worm crawls out of his mouth, but Sam arrives and kills it, then knocks Kit out. Once he makes sure that Jemma isn't possessed, Sam calls Dean to tell him what happened. He figures that they have no choice but to shoot Kit and Cole, but Dean doesn't want to kill their new ally yet. Once Dean hangs up, he drinks some bottled water and Cole stares at it, licking his lips.
Sam talks to Jemma, who admits that she saw an actual monster for the first time. She then wonders who Sam really is.
At the cabin, the smoke forms and Cole wonders if something got inside his father and transformed him into a killer the same way. Dean admits that it's possible, and Cole says that he understands why Dean had to kill his father. He then asks Dean to do the same if the thirst turns him into a monster. Dean refuses, telling Cole to fight harder than he ever has in his life to pull through. When Dean takes another drink of water, Cole asks him to tie him to a chair. However, when Dean sets the bottle down, Cole lunges for it and Dean tackles him. Dean prepares to shoot him and Cole figures that he can't do it, and figures that he's a monster.
Sam tells Jemma about hunters and assures her that Dean is trying to find a cure for Kit. They realize that Kit has escaped and Sam has Jemma stay back while he searches for the soldier. The lights go out and Kit grabs Jemma from behind. He throws her aside and tackles Sam, knocking the gun out of his hand. They fight and Sam manages to grab the gun.
At the cabin, Cole attacks Dean again and a worm emerges from his mouth. Dean manages to shove Cole away and stomps the worm when it lands on the floor. As Cole gasps for breath, Dean calls his brother. Sam admits that it's too late and looks at Jemma, cradling Kit's body in her arms.
Later, the brothers prepare to leave town. Sam admits that he wishes he hadn't had to kill Kit, and Cole tells him that he understands. Dean warns Cole that he hasn't seen even a small part of all the monsters that they've seen, and Cole says that he's had enough and is going home to his wife and son. Once he leaves, Dean tells Sam that he's not to blame for killing Kit. Sam isn't consoled, and Dean admits that sometimes even when they do everything right, the victims still die.
Written by Gadfly on May 22, 2016