Chapter 1 - Pulse

Courtney

Everything always starts with "I thought I was normal." Every book, every movie; the person always has to be normal.

My story starts with the fact that I never was normal. Normal was never an option for me. Ever since I can remember, I knew I was different. Not a freak, just different. I believed in things, I heard things… I saw things. Things that would have scared the living shit out of anybody else. Things that gave kids nightmares.

I had seen the thing in my closet. It had killed my brother.

And something had come here. Tonight. And now this was happening. One second, I was walking with my friends, trailing after the tour guide, and the next, I was alone. Stranded. In the middle of the night. In a fricking graveyard.

I mean seriously, come on! It felt like the beginning of some sad, low budget horror film. One minute there, the next, gone. Nothing. Not even a ruffle in the wind. The bitter October wind cut through my flimsy hoodie. I didn't even shiver. I was into movies. Like borderline obsessed with them, and if this was a movie, I knew what was going to happen next. Hallowe'en. Full moon. Stupid blonde girl running scared through a graveyard. Except… I refused to be that stupid blonde girl that everyone felt sorry for.

I dropped my bag and looked around. Assess the situation. Okay, it was dark. Really, really dark. I crouched down and after rummaging though the contents of my bag, found my flashlight.

I know, weird, but there was a lot of weird in my life, and even weirder things stashed in my bag. And hey, I'd learned from the best.

I gave the immediate area a once over, just to make sure I was alone; there was nothing but trees, headstones and darkness, then I pointed the beam of light ahead of me to where the guide had last been standing. The light flashed over an onyx headstone, and I stopped.

My thoughts were cut short. The only warning I had was the spatter of blood that suddenly appeared on the headstone.

I blinked, the blood disappeared, and I dove to the side, away from my bag and the bullet that was now lodged in the tree straight ahead.

Only one weapon left in my arsenal; stupidity.

I leapt up, my legs becoming slightly tangled by my dress over jeans fashion statement, made a mad dash for my bag, and I started to run. Not the normal, oh frick I need to get away run either. It was more like, fuck, I'm gonna die.

I'd never had that feeling before, the fight or flight fire burning through my veins. It had always been an easy decision for me; fight, or get the fuck outta there before the guns come out.

Apparently the guns had come out early. And so I was running. Running through the impenetrable darkness, having no sense of direction. Just running, because at least I could put some distance between myself and the thing shooting at me. I didn't even want to see it's face if, or when, it finally got me. And I still didn't know what IT was. Was it human? Was it someone I knew? Could it be a shape shifter, or was it a demon?

And where the hell was everyone? Don't panic, don't panic. I, like everyone else around here, had heard stories of things happening, legends, but nothing ever like this. Not people just disappearing only to have moments later some crazy psycho serial killer after you. I darted through the headstones, behind mausoleums, searching for solace in the trees, but nothing could be found. The darkness itself should have been enough. The best hope I had was getting to the edge of the forest on the outskirts of the graveyard and losing it there.

How do you know it's alone? My overactive brain suggested. I mentally hit the 'off' switch and flipped into survival mode. Run, run, run. Thrum, thrum, thrum. One foot in front of the other. Quick, quick, quicker… Don't stumble. Just run. I fell into the steady rhythm, my breath panting almost soundlessly as I tried to hold onto those last few moments of life.

What about Aliese? Had she vanished too? Where did the people go when they… poofed out? Did they die? Was I stuck in some kind of invisible bubble?

Was I dead?

No, no, no. Aliese. I needed to find and save Aliese. She would be scared. She wouldn't have vanished. She was part of me… I would have known. She was the only one left. She was still here… If 'here' was a place anymore.

BANG!Another bullet just whipped beside my head, sending tendrils of fine, glowing hair whipping around my face. My breath was coming in shorter gasps now, and I could feel the fire in my lungs and my legs were on fire, and I wouldn't, couldn't, hold on any longer. My feet burned, and I knew I'd have blisters tomorrow. Stupid flats. I should have worn runners. I kicked them off while still running. The edge of the trees was just a few feet away, and as I closed the distance between the trees and me, I had a sudden realization.

I might not live to see tomorrow.

I might never got the chance to see him again.

The thought brought along bitter, heart broken feelings. Feelings that I'd tried to suppress since he'd left. Almost four years ago…

"Hey!" The voice calling for me didn't break my stride. It was the thing behind me, and I wouldn't let it fool me.

One more step… and I broke through the edge of the woods. A few feet in, I leapt over a fallen log, careful not to touch or break any of the other branches (quite a difficult feat) because I knew a good hunter would be able to track me in a matter of seconds.

But I didn't really care anymore. No Aliese… No parents… Not even him.

I held my breath as I heard the branches scraping against each other, and two distinct sets of foot steps. I crouched low, absent mindedly clutching at my faithful Beretta 93R. The grip was warm beneath my palms, but I steadied my hand, bringing it up and resting it on the fallen tree as a base.

The foot steps stopped. A black spider crawled onto my right hand. I looked down at it, my eyes flickering over the carved wood, and flicked it off.

That's when I saw it.

That one word.

Croatoan.

I would never, never in a million years, forget that one moment where everything stopped. The trees halted their calming sway, the wind grew still and time seemed to all but stop. Just for that second.

Then I started to scream.

Those things following me, shooting at me, meant nothing anymore.

Everyone was gone. EVERYONE. No one would be spared. No one would ever be seen again. And that meant my friends, my family.

Aliese.

Now I was asking for it. My death wish. Just kill me now. Kill me and save me from myself.

Maddi and Annabell, the girls I'd been with when everyone had disappeared, my friends, they were gone. Gone and never coming back. And probably Cami, too. My next door neighbor.

It felt like they took too short a time to find me.

And when they found me, it felt like eternity.

Me, being the abnormality that I was, stood straight up and turned to stare at the two black shapes pointing their guns at me. I pointed mine straight back. I blinked again, just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. Just to make sure that I was still alive.

"You shot at me."

The shock of my words jolted the night, and I distantly heard a wolf howl. Great, cue the horror movie sound effects. The things didn't lower their weapons. I wished they'd just shoot already.

"You were screaming," the taller one stated. His gun dropped half an inch.

From experience, I knew that monsters didn't need guns. So… definitely human. My finger froze on the trigger. I hesitated.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a husky voice warned; the shorter one. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. As if I would really listen to someone who was just trying to kill me not five seconds ago.

My life was already Hell. "Just so happens I've decided that suicide is my best course of action right now. So shoot." I snapped, marveling at their stupidity. God, if they took very much longer, I would have to kill myself already.

Apparently, my words got through to someone. The taller of the two lowered his gun and motioned for the other to do the same. While they were distracted with that, I held up my flashlight and pointed it at them. "Bang," I whispered. They blinked in surprise and held up their hands to shield their eyes.

I shook my head sadly. They could both be dead by now. Out loud, I asked, "What the hell are you?"

Now that I had pierced the darkness, their features came into light. I stifled a gasp. The shorter guy looked older, about 25, with short dark hair and sharp features. He wore a dark blue jacket, jeans and a pair of worn out hiking boots. I did have to admire his muscle for a moment, I mean, come on, 19 year old girl here, but other than that, he just glared at me and his arm twitched with his raised his gun. I smiled cheekily into the darkness in response.

But when my eyes found him, I could feel the pulse in my head, pounding so loud that it nearly drown out every other sound. He was even more handsome than I could have possibly hoped to remember. His shaggy light brown hair came to just above his bright green eyes, and he wore nothing more than a hoodie and jeans and a pair of well-worn sneakers. He looked so… normal. Average. In my eyes, though, he was… perfect. My knees shook and my head felt light. I hated the feeling, yet I never wanted it to end. Swallowing the feeling, I allowed my self a breath. Just one.

Not what, who.

"Sam Winchester." I whispered into the darkness, lowering my light and putting the safety on my gun. "Never thought I'd see you around here again." My words were sharp, bitter. Painful.

It was quiet for a long moment before I heard the shorter one, which I now knew to be Dean, mutter, "Do you know everybody around here, Sammy?" In an exasperated voice.

Sam took a couple steps foreword. "Courtney? Is that you?"

Anger flared. "The one and only, Winchester. Now you wanna explain to me what the hell happened?"

"Courtney, I had school. You knew-"

Rage clouded my vision. "Knew?! Is that why you just took off? I never even got to say goodbye!"

Something sparked in Sam's eyes and he took another step closer to me. We were just about touching now. "I wasn't the one that said never come back. I was 19. Hell, you would have been only what, 16? I thought you would forget about me."

He'd left. Left and he'd never came back, never explained a thing to me. And now he was feeding me this? All these poor, lame excuses?! Who the hell did he think he was?

"Guys," Dean tried to interrupt. "We've got bigger problems-"

"Forget?!" I shrieked. "How could I ever possibly forget the first guy I ever-"

"Whoa, too much information. Someone wanna fill me in?" Dean interrupted, this time successfully. "Let's start with how the hell you two know each other."

I shook my head, the internal fire still burning. I really, really wanted to punch Sam, just to have something to compare my pain too, but that would have been counter productive. Sam muttered a "long story" to Dean before it started again. 'It' being the main abnormality that was me. My visions.

Blood… Guns… Shouting and pain…

Demons.

"We'll be waiting…"

My eyes snapped open and I found myself staring into concern filled light green orbs. I groaned and tried to sit up, but Sam's hand on my shoulder stopped me.

"Don't move," he urged, gently pushing me back down.

"Oh, as if now you care," I snapped, pushing his hand away. When I sat up, my head started to swim, but I picked myself up carefully with next to no effort. But even as my internal battle between beating the shit out of Sam and letting him live for just long enough to flee from my sight ragged uselessly, I felt the first flicker of hope.

He had come back.

"Courtney, it wasn't-" Sam started.

"Look," Dean cut Sam off again, appearing to the right of me and holding up my bag. "I'd love to sit here and watch Desperate Housewives play out, but we've gotta go."

My eyes widened and I made a quick grab for my bag, but Dean held it back, out of my reach. I stumbled and Sam had to catch and steady me before I could fall. I glared at Dean. His eyebrows rose. "Give it," I snarled, glaring with as much hate as I could possibly muster without having another fainting spell again.

Dean chuckled and stared at me in amusement. Apparently to him, this was all just a game. Well, I liked games, but not tonight. Sam was here. I could be semi-grateful for that. He might have the answers that I lacked. Aliese was… I don't know. I still needed to find her.

Sam hovered next to me, waiting to catch me if I fell. Which, if I did happen to fall, wouldn't have been because of the visions. I'm just naturally uncoordinated. I took a slow, deliberate step away from him. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see him flinch. Dean muttered a low, 'ouch,' before slinging my bag over his shoulder and turning his back on me and started walking. Sam took a step ahead of me, hesitated, glanced back and opened his mouth, but decided better of it and turned his back on me, shoulders slumped.

As much as I felt that Sam should have to at least share a portion of my pain, I felt a sharp stab of pain in my chest.

Subtly, without making even a whisper of noise, I reached for my pocket to check for my Beretta. Empty. "Shit," I whispered, staring at their retreating backs. They were going slow enough for me to catch up, but not fast enough for me to find an escape.

"Just precautionary," Dean shouted back at me, glancing over his shoulder. "You'll get it back when we're sure we can trust you. Now… You coming or not?"

I hesitated. As much as I didn't want to let them out of my sight, especially Sam, I knew what they were going to do. "Where exactly is it that you're going?" I asked, partially because I hoped I was wrong. Mostly because I wanted Sam to turn around and talk to me again. I mentally told my heart to shut up.

But it wasn't Sam who answered me. He stayed, back turned, facing the far side of the cemetery where I could see the dim outline of a low, dark car. I stared at his back.

"Out of town." Dean answered. "You can either come with us," he glanced sharply at Sam. "Or find your own way out. But there's nothing left. We-"

"I know." I said sharply, remembering the lone word engraved on the bark. I raised my head. "but I have to stay."

This caused Sam to not only turn around and stare at me, but for his eyes to widen in horror. "What?" He whispered, barely audible.

"Listen, girl-" Dean began.

"It's Courtney."

"Uh huh, okay, Courtney, just come with us, we'll contact someone that you can stay with, we'll drop you off, and you can go on living as if this never happened. This is just a weird, random nightmare."

"I can take care of myself."

At the suspicion and sheer disbelief with which his gaze directed at me, I rolled my eyes. "Sammy here taught me. And John." Now that I'd said it… "Hey, where is your dad?"

You know when you have those points in time that life just seems to hate you? Ya, this must have been one of mine. Sam looked at me like I'd just announced I was going kill myself, and Dean stared at me, his fists clenched, as if he wanted to punch me and dump holy water down my throat. Which, he probably did.

OH. Oh shit. I stared at Sam until he looked away. I spoke to Dean, but my attention was on Sam. I shook my head sadly. "I'm sorry, but I have to stay."

Apparently, I wasn't the only one who couldn't hold onto the anticipation and jitteriness any longer. Sam whipped around and turned to glare at me. "Why, Courtney? Why do you always have to be in the middle of it? Can't you just give it up this one time? Do you have a death wish or something?"

My eyes hardened and my smile was forced. "Well, I can honestly say that I've never run away from anything. Can you say the same thing, Sammy?"

Sam was frozen by my words, his eyes shocked and vulnerable. I honestly felt sick after accusing him of it, but… if it was true, then ya, he had run away from us. "Courtney, I'm sorry. Can we please go now?"

Aliese. Aliese, Aliese. My mind prodded me, making every thought come back to her. I needed to find her. I shook my head. "I've gotta find Aliese, my sister," I explained to Dean's blank stare. "I'm not leaving without her. We'll… We'll catch up with you in the next town, or something." Trying to reason with people who know you're lying is harder than you'd think.

Dean glanced between Sam and me, but I just stared over his left shoulder, out into the ever pressing darkness. Dean shook his head, and I let out my breath. In silent agreement, we started walking. At one point between point A and point B, Dean handed me back my bag and we arrived at his car. At some other time, I would have taken the time to admire his car, but not know. I was drained, and I needed to find my sister.

"So it's true," I whispered, getting into the backseat of the Impala and staring out the window.

"What's true?" Sam spoke up, his voice blank.

"Croatoan." I replied, taking the time to become aware of the engines purr and watch the scenery start to shift. "I saw it on the tree back there."

Sam and Dean glanced at each other, this… knowing look that I couldn't possibly understand.

"Fuck," Dean stated, stepping on the gas.

I looked between Dean and Sam, but they refused to notice my stare. Oh sure, shoot at a girl, but when she wants answers, pretend she's not even there. Nice gentlemen you'll make.

I sighed and leaned my head against the back of the seat. I just wanted to find Aliese. Everything would be better then. Maybe something would make sense.

Maybe I'd find answers. And my visions would stop.

"We'll be waiting…"