Cora was nervous, and the oddity of her situation sunk in when she was half a mile down the road. Dean was sitting next to her in the passenger's seat staring at one page of some beaten old notebook, muttering to himself. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel when they got closer to the site of the crash. Her lungs became weak and she couldn't breathe as easily, horns and sirens blaring in her ears. She was almost overcome with the memories and the only thing that snapped her back to present was Dean,
"Stop." He said and she obeyed, she didn't even think that there might be a car behind her she simply halted in the middle of the road, thankfully no one else was driving on this damned stretch of highway. He could feel the evil in the air, the very essence of it burned his skin and he wanted to scream. He wanted to punch his hand right through the windshield of the car, but he contained himself, for Cora's sake. These bastards took my brother it was his mantra, something he could repeat to himself to give his body a reason to still function, to live. And they are going to pay. He didn't have time for tears yet, maybe he wouldn't have to be the one to cry. He squinted into the blackness in front of them for a good five minutes, and then he saw them. These bastards took my brother. Two glowing pinpoints of light, headlights in the distance. He looked in the rear view mirror and sure enough a matching pair was coming up from behind. And they are going to pay.
"Sam, what's going on?" It was Drake whose head was reeling, who needed answers and wanted them now. Sam took a deep breath and gave Drake what explanation he had figured out,
"We're dead. Both of us, we died, no more breathing, heartbeat, gone." He said and Drake nodded,
"Yeah, I kinda figured that much out on my own, Einstein" Sam rolled his eyes and continued,
"But I don't think we're supposed to be dead yet, I think we died before our time, and now we can't go to….wherever it is we're supposed to go. It's like we're in the waiting room for the afterlife." Drake shook his head,
"You mean like purgatory?" Sam shrugged,
"Sort of, I guess, I was thinking about that. But if it is purgatory here….why is it just us? I think we're in pre-purgatory….pre-anything."
"Well, how do we get out?" Drake asked and Sam scratched his head,
"I don't know, but I'm willing to bet that we have a lot of time to figure it out."
"What are you doing, are you trying to get us killed?" Cora hissed at Dean when she saw the approaching lights.
"Start the engine." He said and she frowned,
"No more orders, explain" she barked and he sighed,
"If those sons of bitches run into us….we die, if they run into each other…"
"They die?" Cora finished for him and he shrugged,
"It might work." He said as she turned the key in the engine,
"And if it doesn't?" She asked and he smirked,
"Never even crossed my mind."
"Who are these people all around us, then?" Drake asked and Sam peered at the translucent figures that were circling them, eerily unaware of their presence.
"I think those are people who are ahead of us, who are dead and…where they're supposed to be." Drake nodded,
"You realize they're getting more distinct, easier to see." Sam nodded,
"I think that once we can fully see them, our fates, so to speak, will have been decided" Drake nodded,
"We're never getting back, are we?" Sam let out a long sigh, he had been thinking that for awhile, and that had brought him thoughts about Dean, he knew his brother would do anything to bring him back, but what if it hurt him….what if it killed him?
"I don't think so" Sam said and Drake nodded,
"I figured, I mean, no one ever dies and lives to tell about it."
The horns of the big rigs were blasting in their ears but Cora's eyes had a look of steely determination. She was waiting for the right moment to swerve, right before they were hit, right before the crushing blow of the trucks, she could pull out and ride on to safety as they smoldered behind her, they each being the other's demise. They were getting closer; the road underneath her was shaking with the force. 100 yards, 50 yards, 10 yards, it was all a blur, but then they were close enough and she swerved. She pulled out from in between them the sound of screeching rubber in her ears as she sped on unscathed. Dean let out a whoop beside her as he twisted around in time to see the two evil trucks collide and burst into flame. Cora allowed herself to laugh triumphantly in celebration of her victory. Once she had calmed down she looked at Dean with raised eyebrows,
"How did you know that would work?" She asked and he smiled,
"They're soul riders…the truckers on hell's highway, getting hit by one takes you halfway to hell…two, and you're already there."
"So now that they're gone, our brothers, they'll…" her eyes brimmed with hope and Dean had to look away.
"There still dead" he said softly, and the heartbreak returned to his eyes, "but there's one more thing I can do to help, but you'll have to pull over…please." Cora pulled over a mile down the road and Dean got out and faced the scene of the accident. She stood beside him and he started to speak. "One life for one life less worthy, one that no one will miss. One life for one life less worthy, one that never behaved. One life for one life less kind and caring, one life that will just fade away. One life for one life less worthy, given here is my unworthy life today." Cora was confused but when she felt the earth shake under her feet her eyes grew wide and she quickly hopped to the curb,
"NO" she tried to scream but was not heard over the roar of the two trucks, they were on fire and screaming mad. Both of them were driving down the road at the same time, right towards Dean. She could only watch in absolute horror as the two eighteen wheelers mowed him down.
Doctor Mitchell had the unfortunate duty of taking the young Winchester's body and preparing it for the morgue. She didn't want to have to do it, to admit defeat and that the young man was dead. One life was gone, and another would never be happy again. She opened the door to Sam's room tentatively and walked in slowly. She was halfway to the bed when she heard the most unbelievable sound in the world, the slow, soft beep of the heart monitor.