"So little time.
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game.
I try to stay awake and remember my name,
But everybody's changing, and I don't feel the same.

You're gone from here;
Soon you will disappear,
Fading into beautiful light.
'Cause everybody's changing,
And I don't feel right."

-Keane, Everybody's Changing

Chapter 1: Big Surprise—People Die

Dean nudged the body with the toe of his boot.

I sighed dramatically to signal my boredom; his head snapped up with a pinched expression. "What? Dead body not exciting enough for you, princess?"

I leaned against the trunk of a tree, arms crossed across my chest. "People die all the time, Dean."

His expression clearly displayed his displeasure and confusion at my statement. (What? It was true.) "What is with you lately, Kate?"

Now I looked at him like he was the insane one. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

His eyebrows raised as he turned back to the body. "It means you've had a case of chronic bitchiness all freaking day, that's what."

I shrugged myself away from the tree and marched towards my brother. "We see dead bodies every damn day. Why is this one any more special than the last one?" Some part of me realized what I was saying was extremely callous; the majority of me didn't give a damn.

Dean straightened and faced me, his eyes scouring over every inch of my face. "Something's up with you. Did something happen yesterday?"

I squinted. "I was with you, you idiot."

"No. You were alone for a few hours, checking out that lead on Grandma Crazy. What happened there?"

"Nothing." God, how many times did we have to do this? "I asked questions, she answered, just like I told you yesterday." I whirled away from him and began prodding the torn-apart body for any clues.

This whole case was bat-shit. It started with a chick choking to death on spiders, then some nerd get hit by a meteor, and now this guy got mauled in a forest. And holy hell, was this corpse shredded. I stuffed my fingers into the bloodied flesh of his leg, feeling for a cellphone. Ah, got it.

Dean grumbled behind me, something about Sam, as I flicked through the phone. Blood from my fingers smeared the screen. I grimaced, wiped them on a cleanish spot of the dead guy's pants, and kept scrolling.

"The last person this guy talked to was some chick," I said, eyes on the screen. "Amelia. We—"

"RUN!"

Dean was instantly on high alert, scanning the woods with a drawn gun. I glanced up from the phone, saw nothing, and went back to the screen. Dean had it covered.

"KATE! DEAN! RUN!"

Annoyed at being interrupted again, I flicked my glare towards where the sound was coming from. Bolting through the trees was the speeding, lumbering form of my gigantic brother. He looked frantic. Why the hell didn't he just shoot whatever was chasing him?

"Kate!" Dean barked, yanking me to my feet by my upper arm. "What the hell?! Let's go!" He gave me an urgent shove, pushing me in the direction of the edge of the forest.

I rolled my eyes and stuffed the phone into my leather jacket. At a jog, I took off for the Impala.

"Sammy!" Dean stayed a bit behind, making sure his brother got away from whatever was hot on his ass.

They must have caught up to each other pretty quickly because the next thing I knew, I had two large hands gripping each of my arms, dragging me at a breakneck pace towards the Impala. (Apparently, a swift jog wasn't going to cut it with these two.)

My brothers threw themselves into the car, as I fluidly slid into the backseat. Dean was burning rubber before I even closed my door.

"What the hell was that?!" Dean demanded, casting a frantic, concerned look to his brother.

Sam's shaking hand ran through his long hair. "I-I don't know! It looked like a Hellhound!"

I was getting hungry. I opened my mouth to voice this concern, but Dean cut me off with a disbelieving "Hellhound?!"

Sam shook his head in disbelief. "There was a giant, black, snarling monster chasing me. Hellhound is the only thing I can think of that matches up."

I went to inquire about stopping at a McDonald's, but Dean cut me off again. "It's not like you can outrun a Hellhound, Sam." Dean cast a suspicious glare on Sam. "Did you make some deal with the devil that I don't know about?"

I rolled my eyes. Fine. Gum would do just fine. I fished around on the floor, looking for a stray packet.

Sam's hands flew up. "I don't know what it was, Dean! And if it was a Hellhound, I have no idea why the hell it would be chasing me!"

The dirty blond threw a disbelieving look. "And you didn't try just shooting the bastard?"

"I did!" Sam defended. "It knocked me down, and I dropped the gun before I could get a shot off!"

Dean grumbled about slow reflexes and directed his attention back on the road. I stuffed a stick of gum in my mouth.

Dean looked in the rearview mirror, searching for any sign of the black beast behind us. Satisfied with what he saw, his sharp gaze locked onto mine in the mirror. I snapped my gum.

Before Dean could bitch anymore about me, Sam asked, "So, what happened with the body? Any leads?"

I sat forward, pulling out the bloodied cellphone. "Yep. The guy has been in touch with this chick Amelia. She's been texting him nonstop for days with that this worried shit, and he didn't respond to any of it. But, he called her right before he croaked." I tucked the phone back into jacket after memorizing her contact info's street address. "If we're lucky, she heard the whole shebang."

Dean was tense, and Sam looked at me in concern with those Big Ol' Sam eyes.

I raised an eyebrow. "What? You know that would help us solve the case."

"Yeah…" Sam threw Dean a worried look before turning back towards me. "But—"

"Well, did you find any leads when you were prancing around the forest?" I challenged, cutting of his clinginess.

Sam blinked before solemnly answering, "Not really. Just pieces of Adam's torn shirt."

Dean shook his head. "Whatever the hell killed that guy better not have taken a liking to the Winchester scent." Sam's expression pinched at that.

I reached towards the radio and cranked up one of Dean's cassettes.


We spent the night in the motel and—what do ya know—zero Hellhounds showed up in the night.

"It's almost as if there was none to begin with," I told Sam while lacing up my boots at the couch.

Sam's concerned eyes soaked in the sight of me. I rolled my eyes and turned away to finish my other boot.

"Sam, can you come help me load up the trunk?" Dean called, moving out the door.

"Yeah," the taller brother answered, following close behind. Sam threw me a slight, parting grin as he closed the door; Dean didn't look back.

I tugged my leather jacket on, ran a hand threw my long, shaggy hair, and called it good. I knew those two were talking about me, and I wanted to know what they thought their plan was.

I crept around the motel, keeping my boots silent as I got just within earshot.

"I don't know what we can do, Dean, if she doesn't want to talk about it." Sam sighed.

"She doesn't even understand what there is to talk about!" Dean snapped.

Sam held up his calm-down hands. "Look, I know that there is something wrong here. But if she won't admit it, what can we do?"

Dean shook his head. "Something happened yesterday, and I'm going to find out what. Until then, she's… she's a liability, Sam. Did you see how she acted when you screamed for us to run? A snail could have passed her, man! She didn't care!"

Sam suppressed another sigh. "Shouldn't we sit down and talk to her about this?"

Dean turned slightly away, running a hand down his face. "Yeah. Later. Until then, she's sitting this case out." (Ha. As if, big brother.)

Sam snorted. "You tell her that."

"I will," Dean shot back. He turned away from Sam, stomping in the direction of our room. With a sigh, Sam followed.

Well they could have fun bitching at the empty motel room all they wanted; I was going to talk to Amelia. I hot-wired the nearest truck and smirked. I was the one with Dead Adam's cellphone; I was the one with Amelia's address.

I peeled out in time to see my brothers push back out of the empty motel room, see me speeding away, and curse.