Chapter 2
Marty Beechem. Oldest hunter that Sam knew anymore and he wasn't that old. Only 57 years old. Still, Sam had to use what was at his disposal. Sam made the introductions and the man had seized up.
"Winchester, huh?" The old man looked her up and down. "I didn't think there were any women in the Winchester clan. Heard that's why ol' John got started."
"This is Alice. She's Dean's daughter." Sam explained, clearing his throat against a lump.
"Well, our women are dying off. We need new blood. The wars have taken so many of us. I mean… whole families got killed off."
"How do you mean?" Alice pressed.
"Just some story that some hunter told me once. Elkins was his name. Said he went to pick up a gun from a family of hunters in Kansas once. Campbell or something. He found the gun but the family wasn't there. Murdered. Some yokels were saying that the father murdered the mother and the daughter which was a shame cause I heard that the ladies could hold their own."
"Really," Alice cut in. "So like… they kicked ass and everything?"
"Yeah."
"What were their names?"
"Campbell… Trying to remember. I had to look it up after Elkins told me. Got my curiosity."
"Alice, we really have to get going soon." Sam interrupted. He hated it when hunters got going telling tales cause then they never shut up. They wasted enough time following dead leads anyway.
"Aw, come on, Uncle Sam. I want to hear about 'em. I never get to hear stories about other hunters." She begged. Damn her and Dean's genes. Sam didn't think he could say no to that face.
"Samuel." He blurted out. "Samuel Campbell back in 1973, I think it was."
"Wait what?" Sam's faced drained of all color. "Did you say Samuel Campbell?"
"Yeah, why?"
"My grandfather died in 1973… His name was Campbell."
"Well, these guys were out of Kansas. Lawrence if I'm not mistaken. Had a wife by the name of Deana and a daughter Mary."
Sam sank into a chair and breathed slowly in and out of his mouth. "No, it's not possible."
"Uncle Sam?" Alice blinked at him.
All the pieces were there but it was just too much of a coincidence. "It can't be the same family because you said the daughter died, too."
"Well, I don't know… I didn't know these guys and Elkins is dead, you know that."
"Yeah, I know that but…. It's a strange coincidence."
"Uncle Sam?" Alice started to put together the pieces of the puzzle and swallowed hard and turned to the hunter. "Do you have pictures?"
"No, but… go ask Ellen Harvelle."
"Dude, Ellen's been dead for five years." Sam snorted but didn't get to his feet.
"Then ask her daughter."
"Jo is too young to know about the Campbells."
"Hell… she seems to know of every hunter ever to walk the earth and you know she carried a torch for your brother forever. Seemed like she was the only blonde in the world that he ever said no to."
"Maybe."
Alice waited a couple of hunts before bringing it up again. She didn't even have to be that specific about it because she knew it had been on his mind lately. "Can we go ask her?"
"No."
"Uncle Sam!"
"NO, I said No, dammit!" Sam beat his fist on the steering wheel.
"I'm calling Aunt Sarah!" She pulled out her cell phone. Sam grabbed it from her and almost chucked it out the window but he just held onto it and took a deep breath. "Don't you want to know if your mother was a hunter?"
"I'm afraid to know."
"Why?"
"It means there really is no escape from this life, Alice. It means that… no matter what, it's always going to come down to a Winchester and the hunt and… I don't know if I want that knowledge. I've got two kids and I don't want them hunting, Alice. I don't want you hunting…"
"Sometimes a person has to make a choice, Sam." She sniffed into her jacket arm but cleared her throat. "You either run your life or you let your life run you. Pick one."
TBC
