Chapter 7: Together or Not at All

Dean felt his heart begin to beat rapidly and a cold sweat broke out on his face.

"Dean, what's wrong?"

"We have to go, now!" Dean gave Sam a shove towards the car. He had to get Sam out of this place.

"Why? What's happened?"

"Get in the car!" Dean ordered none to gently. He jumped into the driver's seat and started the ignition. He pulled out of the driveway so fast that tires actually squealed.

"Dean, what the hell is wrong? I'd say you look like you've seen a ghost but ghosts don't scare you…not like this."

"I'm not scared. We're just leaving."

"Leaving for where?" Sam waited for an answer but Dean didn't give one. He was growing more frustrated with every mile Dean put between them and Mary Rains.

Dean drove straight to the motel and pulled into a parking spot right in front of their room.

"Now will you tell me what is going on?" Sam asked.

Dean got out of the car and went into their room. Sam hurried behind him desperately wanting some answers.

Sam stood and stared as Dean began to grab their items and shove them into a duffle bag.

"Dean, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm packing. We're leaving." He went into the bathroom and grabbed the toothbrushes and paste.

Sam put his hand on Dean's arm and stopped him. "I'm not going anywhere until you explain why you look like you're on the verge of a panic attack."

"It's time to go, is all. You said it yourself. Sarah was the key to this mystery. Now that she's dead the case is over. There's no one left for the horseman to kill."

"You don't know that," Sam insisted. "As a rule these things don't just stop. Usually the violence escalates."

"But with the whole family dead there is no one left to do violence against. So, let's get out of here."

Sam sat down on his bed and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not leaving."

"Oh yes you are," Dean said.

"Sarah's last words to me were for me to find this thing and kill it. I'm going to do that with or without your help."

"Damn it Sammy, stop being so stubborn!"

"It's Sam, and you're calling me stubborn. That's funny."

Dean sighed in frustration and sat down on his bed. "This isn't a game. We don't have time for you to have a temper tantrum. I need to get you far away from Stars Common before nightfall."

Sam was truly confused. "Why? What's going to happen tonight?"

"Today was the first time I had ever been to that farm, and yet I recognized it. I saw it in my dream two nights ago."

"The night you woke up calling my name," Sam guessed.

"Yes."

"What happened? In your dream I mean."

Dean closed his eyes, seeing the images replay in his mind. "You died, all right. The horseman was chasing you through the cornfield and then through the meadow. You made it to the farm house and were starting up the stairs. For some reason I was coming out of the house. You stopped and the horseman caught up to you and…and cut off your head."

"It was just a dream."

"No it wasn't." Dean stood up and began to pace the room. "I've had nightmares before. I don't get them often, but they do happen from time to time. Sam, this was like no other dream I've ever had. Even after I woke up I still thought you were dead. We can't stay here. I won't let this thing come after you."

"Let's say you're right. The ghost of Jacob Rains is coming for me next. Who's to say that if we run away that will protect me? It's a ghost. They aren't limited by time and space."

Dean plopped back down on his bed. Sam was right. Even if he did get Sam out of Stars Common it didn't mean that he would be safe.

"The way I see it, we have about five hours before the sun goes down. I think it's pretty obvious what we have to do. We have to stop this thing. Are we agreed that the horseman is actually Jacob Rains."

"We're agreed. It makes sense that he's exacting revenge on those who killed him."

"There's more though. Tom didn't play a part in killing Jacob. If it was just revenge on Jacob's part, he had no reason to go after Tom."

"Unless," Dean said, "he went after Tom to punish Sarah. Sarah played a direct roll in his death by telling her fiancé and brother what happened."

"True, but what if Tom was killed because someone else was jealous of the attention being given to Sarah."

"You mean Mary."

"Exactly! Mary's lost the last member of her family, but the town is actually breathing a sigh of relief. No one is comforting her, noticing her. Then she sees Sarah getting the sympathy of the entire town and sees Tom protecting her, and she gets angry and jealous, and she wants to make Sarah suffer the way she is suffering."

"So the horseman is doing Mary's bidding. Jacob is taking care of his sister from the grave. Mary tells him who to go after and he does it."

"That's what I think," Sam agreed.

"So anyone who pisses off Mary is in danger," Dean said, looking Sam in the eyes.

"We have to find Jacob's head. If we can salt and burn it then the ghost should be vanquished."

"There's just one problem. We don't know where to start looking and the only two people who do know where it is are dead."

"Well, let's start thinking," Sam sighed. Obviously Jim and Brian cut the head off to confuse people. They were upstanding guys; no one would guess they could do something so awful. They leave the book behind but take the head. They're not going to take it to their place. Someone might find it and then they would be facing prison…or worse."

"So we don't need to search Sarah's house."

"They couldn't just throw it on the side of the road. That would hurt their cover story of a headless horseman. Maybe they put it in the cornfield?"

"That's a possibility, but then you would get crows and other birds flying in and drawing attention. No," Dean finally concluded, "someone would probably discover it."

"That means they would need to bury it somewhere."

"Great," Dean said and began to pace once again. "This town is surrounded by woods. They could have buried it anywhere."

"Tell me about your dream," Sam suddenly said.

"What?"

"Your dream, what happened exactly?"

"I already told you, you died."

"No, back up. What happened before that?"

"You were running through the cornfield. Something was chasing you. The horseman was chasing you. Then you ran out of the corn and into the open meadow or yard in front of Mary's house."

"You said you were just coming out of Mary's house," Sam interrupted.

"Yeah."

"Were you holding anything?"

Dean tried to concentrate, recall the dream more closely. "I can't remember. My attention was drawn to you so quickly that I didn't get the chance to look at my hands. You don't think Jim and Brian would have had the balls to actually bury Jacob's head on his own property do you?"

"It makes sense," Sam said. "If the head was discovered insects and other animals would have removed any evidence that might have been left behind."

"Not to mention no one probably would have bothered to look there in the first place. If Jake was killed on Perkins Road why search the farm?"

"At the moment it's our best shot," Sam said.

"Fine, I'll go out there, but I want you to stay here."

"What? Why?"

"Because I don't want you anywhere near that farm."

"Dean, that's crazy. You can't search the entire property by yourself. You don't have enough time before the sun sets."

"I'll be fine. The important thing is that you're safe."

"I thought we already had this conversation. Just because I'm not at the farm doesn't mean I'll be safe."

"I'll make sure your safe if you stay here. I'll pour a circle of salt around the room and I'll leave you the shot gun with the rock salt bullets."

"So you expect me to stay here and hide while you go play tag with a very dangerous and very pissed off ghost. No…I won't do it." Sam was shaking his head. "Either we go together or neither of us goes at all."

"Damn it, be reasonable!"

"I am being reasonable. I say we go out there together and start searching. If we haven't found anything by 4:30 we BOTH come back here and stay inside a circle of salt until morning when we can start again."

"Sam, don't make me tie you to that bed," Dean warned. "You know I will if I have to."

"I'm right and you know it."

Dean let out a long and deep sigh. Sam could see the frustration he was feeling. It was almost palpable, but he was standing his ground. They would do this together or not at all.

"Fine, let's go, but we are leaving before sun set."

"Good." Sam said, relieved that Dean had stopped fighting him. He knew Dean was concerned because he loved him, but he had to understand that Sam felt the same way about him. He wasn't ready to risk Dean's life anymore that Dean was willing to risk his.