The dry leaves were rustling in the tepid breeze as Kat entered the forest on her nightly jog. She never liked to be out alone at night, but it was too hot this summer to jog during the day. She came prepared for any unwanted attention though, with mace on a keychain jingling on her belt loop.
She couldn't wait to get out of this town. She had no specific plans, but she definitely didn't want to be a farmer—or worse, a farmer's wife. With those her only two real choices if she stayed, anywhere was better than here. Besides, once she had fought off each of the jocks on the football team, her dating prospects had dwindled to nothing.
For a moment, she thought she heard a second set of footfalls, and glanced back. No one else went jogging, at least she never saw them on her route. Except this time, there was someone. A male figure, thin and tall, wearing a hoodie in this heat. She couldn't see his face with only the light of the moon in the deep shadows of the forest. The path only skirted the forest though, she'd come out the other end in a few minutes, and she was confident that she could outrun him that long. She quickened her pace.
A minute later, she glanced back again. The man was still there, closer now. She ran even faster, but now, she reached for her keychain, pulling it out of her belt loop and easing her index finger up to the red button that would dispense the violent irritant.
"On your left," the man said, and pushed past her.
For a moment she saw his face, or at least his nose. Still it was enough to recognize him by. She'd seen him at school, though only ever at lunch and she had no idea what his name was.
As he continued past, she slowed her pace and let him have his lead. She reattached the mace sprayer to her belt loop.
Hoofbeats surprised her, and she barely had time to turn her head before horse and rider were upon her. It sped past close enough to force her off the path. "Hey! Watch it!" she yelled after him, but her words trailed off as she saw her own breath in the air. Her arm, where the side of the beast has brushed past her, was chilled, all the hairs standing on end.
She stopped, kneeling to touch the fallen leaves strewn across the path. Moonlight glinted off of ice crystals in horseshoe patterns along the trail. She took out her headphones and stood, peering around the bend in the trail where the rider had disappeared.
"Whoa," she said to herself. That had to rank as the weirdest thing that had ever happened in her admittedly short life, but she had no proof. Already, the ice was melting in the hundred degree heat. She would still tell Chloe tomorrow morning, even knowing that by afternoon it would be all over the school, and all the boys would likely be teasing her at cheerleading practice. Something like this was too good not to share.
She replaced her ear buds and continued her run.
Once she'd exited the shadows of the trees, the night was actually pretty bright. She looped around the edge of the forest and back toward town, when she saw that boy from before lying in the dry grass. He was splayed out in an unnatural pose, and entirely motionless. She had a sudden vision of the rider trampling him without even noticing.
"Hey, are you alright?" she called out. She pulled the headphone jack out of her phone and swiped up, ready to dial 911 if she had to. "Hey," she tried again, reaching for his shoulder, but she stopped there, a chill running through her body.
The boy's body ended at the shoulder. Blood spread from the ragged wound where his head and hood used to be.
Kat screamed into the night.
Sam had finally fallen asleep, slumped over the map table in the bunker, surrounded by books and empty coffee mugs. Days had passed since he last got any decent sleep, and biology finally caught up with him.
Dean came down the steps into the room, looking cheerful for the first time in ages. He drummed on the table with his open palms, startling Sam awake.
Sam sat bolt upright, a pencil falling from his cheek, leaving a deep crease.
"Rise and shine! We've got a case, Sammy!"
Sam's brow furrowed as he tried to separate dream from… whatever this was. "A case? Dean… Since when do we have time to take a case with everything that's going on? Or was I just dreaming that all reality is at stake?"
Dean's smile didn't waver. "Screw reality, Sammy. Screw the angels and screw the Jud-asswipes. We're doing this one. This one is on my bucket list."
"Your bucket list," Sam said. He exhaled heavily and tried to rub some life into his eyes. "Of course you have a creature-kill bucket list. Alright. What is it?"
Dean swiped his hand from left to right as if describing a marquee. "Headless. Horseman."
Sam pushed his chair back, taking a moment to process that. "Really?"
"Yeah, really," Dean said. "Come on. With all the shifts in reality, all sorts of weird stuff has been popping up. That was that Penanggal in Peoria, the Naga in Riverside, and that Death Worm in Tucson. It's about time we got something good."
"But a headless horseman?"
Dean gave one exaggerated nod. "There was a witness and everything."
"Okay, fine. So, where are we going?"
"Hudson Valley, New York. Car's packed, so get some coffee in you." He clapped Sam on both shoulders. "Wheels up in five." Dean breathed deeply and patted his shoulders a little more lightly. "Make that ten. Take a shower. Change your clothes."
Half-way to New York, Sam had his laptop balanced on his knees, and he was holding his phone up to the window, searching for a signal. Dean took a curve at speed, and the book laying on the dashboard slid off. In his rush to catch it, Sam knocked his computer onto the floor.
He paused to collect himself, tamping down his anger and frustration. "Dean, could we just pull over somewhere? Preferably somewhere with WiFi? I can't help but think we're going into this a bit blind."
"No can do Sammy. It's a twenty hour drive from Lebanon Kansas to Upstate New York. I think I can make it in twelve." He looked down at his speedometer and pressed the pedal a bit further down. Baby purred throatily in response.
"Why the rush on this one?"
"Because it's fresh, Sam. I'm not letting this one get away. It struck last night, and there's no telling how long it will stick around. That and we've got a witness."
"What's the difference? Won't the witness still be there tomorrow if we show up—" Sam grabbed the dashboard as Dean swerved the bare minimum to avoid a squirrel. "—alive! Not to mention, having done the research."
"Come on, Sammy! I've been doing the research on this one since I was six years old. I've known how to kill one since I was nine."
"Alright then, catch me up. What's the lore say, outside of that Sleepy Hollow cartoon."
"Hey, don't knock the cartoon. Those cattails on the hollow log thing was genius." He smiled over at Sam to see his brother giving him the 'patience wearing thin' expression.
"Okay. Running water is his primary weakness. He can't cross it. Same thing with hallowed ground. If you make it into the cemetery, or a churchyard, you're gold."
"So far, that was all in the movie. Or maybe it was the Johnny Depp one. How do we kill it?"
"Hold your horses, Sam," Dean said, smirking at his own pun. "Iron can hurt it, even cage it. But to actually kill it for good, you need to dig up its head and pour salt in its mouth."
"And to do that, we'll have to figure out who it is."
"Exactly. And that's why we need to talk to the witness as soon as possible, while it's fresh in her memory. He's bound to be wearing a family crest or some insignia of rank."
"I hope so Dean. If she can't remember anything, what then? Between the Revolution and the Civil War, this whole area is one big battleground."
"We'll figure it out, Sammy. We always do."
Dean glanced at the clock and urged a little more speed out of the Impala.
"Have I ever told you, that you are the best friends a girl could ever have?"
The dry grass crunched beneath their feet in the late evening heat as Kat walked at the side of the road with her two friends. A glow hung in the west where the sun had set an hour earlier.
"Of course, Kat, it's not like we were going to let you walk alone," Emily said.
"Yeah," Chloe added. "Irv was being a jerk anyway. I wouldn't have wanted a ride from him, the way he was laughing with his friends." She gave her a reassuring smile. "We believe you saw the horseman."
Emily looked a little less certain, but she was there for her friend. "Was it really headless?" she whispered.
"I don't know," Kat said. "I didn't see its head anyway. I was too focused on the horse to be honest. That kid was definitely headless though."
All three of them shivered in the sweltering night air.
Kat couldn't get those frosty hoof prints out of her mind. She even just about believed she could hear the sound of the charging beast. A moment later, she realized she could. She whipped around. "Did you guys hear that?" she asked, eyes darting in all directions.
"Hear what?" Emily asked.
Chloe wrapped her hands around Kat's arm, her eyes going wide. "Don't even kid about it, Kat."
"Shh." Kat was sure now she heard it, but the sound of her own heartbeat was getting in the way. She tried to brush off Chloe's grasp.
She saw it! The horse's eyes glowed red, at least the one she could see. It was skirting the edge of the Christmas tree far, heading in their direction. "There! Look. Oh my God, run!"
She ripped her arm away from Chloe and took off as fast as she could, her soreness from cheerleading practice entirely forgotten.
Chloe grabbed hold of Emily's arm instead, letting out a yip of a scream. Emily peered into the darkness where Kat had been pointing. "Where?" she called out. The string of lights that fenced off the trees of the Christmas tree farm, and the slight motion of branches in the parched breeze were all she saw. "I don't see anything, Kat!"
Kat didn't turn to answer, she kept running in toward town. Somehow she knew the thing was back for her this time. It wasn't going to pass her by, it was going to take her head. If she looked back, she'd only see it leaning from its saddle, sword outstretched, ready to strike her down.
Chloe slowly loosened her grip on Emily's arm. "I knew she was crazy." She looked back over her shoulder. "What is she running from?"
The wind whipped past the two of them with a sudden chill. It felt like a bus had just torn by.
Emily pulled her phone out. "I'm so texting Irv about this."
Kat ran on. The pounding of hoofs seemed to be all around her, but the town was just ahead, and on the outskirts, the Tarry a'While coffee house would be filled with people at this hour. She took a turn through the sprinklers, pointlessly wetting the dead plants in the barren field. The neon sign of the coffee house was just past it.
The hoof beats grew more distant. Maybe she was wrong! Maybe it wasn't after her! Oh my God, she thought. What if it got Chloe and Emily?
She stopped where she was and looked around for the horseman, but couldn't see him. She looked back toward her friends, but decided not to head back. The horseman was still out there, and if he'd already killed them, she didn't want to be the one to find their bodies. What she could do was get help.
She ran again for the Tarry a'While, and as she hit the paved parking lot, she heard the hoof beats behind her again. She turned and saw the horse, it's eye glowing fiercely. The rider had no sword in hand, but reached out toward her with impossibly long arms.
She bolted with renewed speed, the door to the coffee shop just ahead of her. She burst through without slowing, and spun round, backing into the space between tables. The creature was charging straight for the door. "The horseman! It's here!" she yelled.
Conversations cut short and the townsfolk stared at her. Classmates with their books spread out between them peered past her toward the door.
She turned and ran for the back of the shop. "Kat?" called Ava from behind the counter. Kat paid no attention. She clawed at the back door, willing it to unlock, before turning on the women's restroom.
The glass entrance door shattered behind her, drawing attention from her. The lights flickered and went out. The room grew icy.
"It's real!" one of the patron's yelled, standing from his chair and staring at the equestrian intruder, a darker shape against the shadows of the room.
"What's real?" asked another. Still another screamed, and a fourth grabbed his companions and pushed them toward the exit as the phantom intruder pushed past tables on its way to the back of the restaurant.
Regardless of whether they saw it or not, people began panicking, running for the exit without heeding who or what was in the way. They poured through the broken door in their desperation to escape.
Outside, the Winchesters had just entered town. "Hey, Dean," Sam said, rapping knuckles on his brother's arm and pointing toward the fleeing crowd.
Dean made a hard right and pulled into the parking lot. They barely had the car stopped before both brothers stepped out. Sam grabbed the arm of one of the fleeing patrons."What's going on?" he asked.
The man tugged his arm away. "The horseman! It's in there!" he yelled and kept on running.
Dean popped the trunk, and grabbed a fireplace poker while Sam picked out a crowbar. They ran into the empty coffee house, scanning the overturned tables and glass-strewn floor.
"Where in there?" Sam said under his breath.
Dean leveled the poker at a door in the back of the room, hanging ajar. They approached the door slowly, and Sam pushed it open with the crowbar.
The ladies' room was devoid of horse and rider, but a young woman's headless corpse lay on the tile floor half in a stall.
"We're too late," Sam said.
Dean was on his phone. "Worse than that. I'm pretty sure that was our witness." He held his phone out to Sam, showing a grainy picture of a brunette cheerleader matching the dead girl's outfit. The headline under the photo read, "I barely escaped with my head!"