Chapter 2

Dean woke the next morning, very uncomfortable. Sam was already up and on the laptop. Sam arched an eyebrow at him before tossing a shoe at him. Dean had to sit up in a flash to protect his vital parts. "Bitch."

"She reject you after all?"

"No, just… shit kept happening." Dean grabbed his clothes for a shower. "Look into the old mill, will you?"

"Did your canvassing not pan out?" Sam snorted but waved off his brother that he was on it.

"Pretty vague."

"Maybe we're just wasting our time here." He called after his brother who flipped him off before the bathroom door shut. "Maybe we should just move on." No answer.

So, Sam did the research just to humor his brother. Nothing of interest to him. Local interest stories interviewed older residents who swore the old mill was haunted but there had never been anything to happen there that would substantiate any of their claims. No suicides, murders or even accidents. Hell, the gossip was pretty vanilla. What did grab his attention was an accident just a few months ago on the road to the next town over. A bus and a train collided. A few casualties and many injured, including an amnesia victim. There were no pictures but Sam imagined it had been pretty horrific. And then to happen in front of a graveyard. If there was anything going on in this town, it was about that.

Dean walked out as Sam was printing out a few articles. "See, I knew there was something here."

"Don't know what it is yet or even if there is anything. Just a story I want to check out."

Dean picked up a sheet of paper to read and frown. "Seems familiar."

"Cause only every town in the good ol US claims it really happened in their town. We just have to wait a year to see if the dead passengers stop any cars from getting stuck on the tracks."

"That's what it is! I heard it was a school bus though." Dean flopped down on his bed and dried his toes on the edge of Sam's bed.

"You're really disgusting. That girl should be glad she didn't hook up with you last night."

"We… we're supposed to hook up later." Dean gave his brother a tight grin. Sam rolled his eyes. "Hey um…" Dean had no idea where he was going or if he should even voice this out loud. "You ever… like meet someone and just… can't do the deed cause… Never mind."

"Did you have some equipment difficulties?"

"No." Dean threw a pillow at his brother. "I just… kind of… felt bad for… doing what we both wanted to do anyway… I just… I don't know. She was really nice."

Sam stared at his brother, who had a… wistful?! expression on his face. "She was nice?"

"Just you know… like… nice to talk to."

"Wow… don't… get up too fast now. You're growing as a person and it might make you a little light-headed."

"Shut up."

"Did you… spend all night talking to her or something?"

"It wasn't all night." Dean busied himself with putting on his socks and shoes and avoiding Sam's gaze at all costs. "You hungry? I'm starving."

"Wait, Dean… are you trying to tell me that you didn't sleep with her and you're… falling for her?"

"I don't know! I just… like her."

"Oh, Dean, Dean. You were bound to grow up someday." He wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. Dean grabbed his jacket and threw open the door. "Hey Dean?"

"What?" Dean spun around.

"Just… be careful. After… you know… Cassie…" He held up his hands in surrender at the murderous look at his brother's face. "I'm just saying. Situations like that put a person's emotions in a vulnerable state. If you're really into this girl, it could be risky… emotionally… especially if it doesn't work out."

"You're such a girl." Dean walked out the door, leaving Sam to scramble around to follow before he got left behind with no breakfast.

--

Sam knew that his brother moved fast but this was… Olympic speed dating. Personally, it took Sam months to achieve this kind of comfort level with a lady. Despite Dean's hopeless ways with women, he always managed to charm one or two out of their pants. Sam hoped this girl strung him along for the whole length of the case, just to give Dean a taste of his own medicine. Sure, he felt for the guy for meeting this girl just after getting his heart smashed by his ex but, hey, welcome to the human race.

Of course, he loved witnessing the awkward encounter at the coffee shop. That lasted for all of ten seconds though. Either this girl was easy or Dean was just that good. When Dean returned, his head had yet to return to earth. "Dean."

"Right, yeah." Dean handed his brother his coffee. "Do you recognize her?"

"Yeah, she was our waitress last night."

"No, yeah. I mean… Do you know her from somewhere before?"

"No." Sam shook his head and showed his brother the further dirt he'd dug up. "Check this out. So my train wreck, the driver died and none of the witnesses saw why he stopped and possibly anyone who did died."

"Your point?"

Sam slid another article on top. "This."

"Sam, this is from a week later."

"It was discovered a week later but there was evidence of rain runoff into the grave. It rained the night of the crash."

"You think the bus driver got distracted because he saw someone desecrating a grave?"

"It's possible… and it's possible it wasn't just a grave desecration. Let's go check it out?"

"Sure, dude… but at night… cover of dark and all."

"And we won't be able to see anything. We need a good cover to get in there during the day."

--

The groundskeeper scratched his bald head. "You boys are just in time. I'm supposed to fill it back in this week. Let me tell you, keeping the tarp over it and keeping the kiddies out has been a real pain in the ass."

"Yeah?" Dean peered down to the casket.

"I come up here after I got those wreck vics graves dug cause I seen the stone is knocked over the way it is."

"Any significance?"

"Don't know what there would have been. The marker's old as Adam… can't even read it." The older man reached down and flipped the stone over. "Pastor from Minnesota called down, asked the name on the record. Told him the same thing I'm telling you. This grave was centuries old. Probably the first man to die in these parts. The stone is worn to hell."

"Huh…" Dean motioned to Sam. "I think we're done here."

"You might want to look at this first." Sam pointed to where he'd been examining the contents of the grave. The top of the casket had been replaced. "Where'd the first man to die in these parts centuries ago get the money to replace his casket parts?"

"County paid for that. The asshole who busted up the place, knocked a hole in it. Maybe they thought they were stealing jewelry or something." Groundskeeper snorted. "That guy… I looked him up. Local research buff. He was a holy man. Buried him in his robes."

"Do you still have the original piece?"

"Going out to junk now that the official investigations are over." He jerked his head over to the pile of crap in a dumpster. "Feel free. I really need to set this guy back to rest."

Dean felt a pit growing in his stomach as he followed Sam to the dumpster. Sam hopped in to pull out the busted up piece of wood. He showed Dean what he'd been looking for. Scratch marks in the wood, busted from the inside out. Dean nodded that he'd seen. It felt so familiar, he wanted to puke. "Let's go, man."

--

Dean went out for their dinner after flipping through his dad's journal and coming up with nothing. This was familiar. He knew this. He'd heard about this. Pulling out his phone, he made a phone call while he waited for their burgers. "Dad, I know that you're not picking up and… I don't even know if Sam called to tell you that I'm okay… I… We're on a case that… well…"

He snapped the phone shut and paced the foyer of the burger joint while he went over the words to say. He didn't know what he knew. He just knew something. Whipping the phone out, he tried again. "Look, Dad. You sent us here. I checked it out. There was a stupid haunting that wasn't. There was a bus collision with a train near a graveyard. A grave desecration… Dad, looks like someone climbed out of a centuries old grave. I know you've done this hunt before but I can't find any of your notes on it and I… I'm at a loss. The grave's original occupant was there but whatever crawled out four months ago is gone. County did a thorough job. They're closing it up tomorrow but… there's nothing else. I'm not seeing any evidence of zombies… Just… call me when you get this message."

TBC