Chapter Four – Phantom Traveler

Take a look to the sky just before you die. It's the last time he will. -Metallica-For Whom the Bell Tolls

Sam sat on the end of his bed in the motel trying to watch some mindless sitcom on the TV while Dean was in the shower. They were heading to Pennsylvania to meet a guy that Dean and dad had helped in the past. Sam couldn't help wondering why the guy hadn't called their Dad instead of Dean, but maybe after they met up with him and talked, he could explain; and maybe the guy could give them a clue as to their father's whereabouts.

Sam wanted so badly to get back on their Dad's trail so he could find this thing that had killed Jessica, 'cause God, he missed her so much. Dean was right, Sam was having trouble sleeping since she'd died; he had nightmares regularly now, and he was having a hard time facing those dreams. They brought her back to him, them jerked her away all too quickly.

They kept bringing up how much he'd known before Jess had died; and he should have listened to his dreams. If he had maybe he would have been able to prevent her death and that was what got him the most. When he thought of his time at Stanford, he only thought of Jess. School paled in comparison to wanting to spend the rest of his life with Jess.

Sam sighed as he thought about Jess; he should have told her the truth about his past. At the time, he didn't tell her not because he feared she would think he was crazy; but because he wasn't a part of that life anymore. He wanted to be someone else. But he knew if he'd told her, Jess wouldn't have thought he was crazy; no, she would have understood, and she would probably wanted to meet his brother and father. She would have asked questions; tons of questions; she would have wanted to know everything. She would have stood by him right now if she were alive. She would have fought alongside him.

She had always believed in him; she would have encouraged him to make up with his father and she would have wanted whatever he wanted. She would have liked his family, especially Dean. Sam smiled as he thought of her and Dean having lively conversations. They were both such animated people and hell Jess would have stood toe to toe with Dean. They were so a like; they even shared the same birthday. She would have understood all of Dean's bullshit and seen right through all of it to see the real Dean; the Dean that only Sam knew.

Jess would have been like Dean when he'd had to keep the peace between Sam and their dad, except Jess would have made sure both men talked it out instead of letting the feelings fester. Sam chuckled at the thought of Jess making his larger than life father take a timeout until they'd made up. He would have probably gone apoplectic the first time; but then he would have done exactly as said. Sam had no doubt in his mine; Jess would have been in control of all the Winchester men.

Sam realized he'd made a mistake by waiting to ask Jess to marry him; by not asking as soon as he knew that was what he wanted. He should have taken the step forward instead of waiting, because for the life of him, right now he couldn't think of a single good reason he should have waited. Jess had been the best thing to happen to him and now she was gone; but he knew she was somewhere watching over him and he had no choice but to move forward. Dean needed him to find their Dad and Sam needed their Dad to help him find this thing that took Jess; took his Mom. So, Sam needed to stay for now and do whatever it took to find their father.

Man, being a Winchester was hard; being a Winchester was the hardest thing Sam had ever done. It took a toll on him; Sam had struggled with this his whole life. Being a Winchester came with a price and sometimes Sam felt like it was too steep a price that they paid with the lives of the people they loved and lost along the way.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jerry Panowski hung up the phone after talking with Dean about the problem he had here with the plane crash. He was worried it was something supernatural and he hoped it stayed confined to this one plane. He knew how quickly something this evil could attach itself to things and move on to others.

When his family had first moved into their new home three years ago, they'd heard the rumors of it being haunted, but he'd laughed it off. That kind of stuff wasn't real, it was only good for making movies. He'd laughed until the first time he'd come face to face so to speak with the thing that wanted to kill his family just to get them out of its house.

But Jerry learned the hard way that the movies were mild in comparison to what he and his family had gone through for months before he was able to track down John Winchester. A friend of a friend of a friend had given him John's name and soon the big man had shown up at his door with his oldest son Dean and the two had taken care of that spirit within a day. It was amazing how quickly they'd been able to dispatch with the thing after all his family had endured with the thing.

His wife had been ecstatic that they were free of that evil thing and so Jerry had asked the two men to stay the weekend and they'd talked; Jerry had learned a lot from John and Dean about the hunting life and about a younger son Sam, who was in school. John had seemed so proud of his sons, both of them; Dean for following his father in this quest to conquer evil and Sam for getting a full ride to Stanford.

Jerry sighed as he snapped back to the present; when this plane had crashed and he'd heard that eerie voice over the black box recording, he knew what he was hearing was not of this world. And he knew he needed to call John Winchester. He'd gotten John's voicemail, but it had led him to Dean, and he was glad he had him and Sam on their way to help him out. He worried about this whole thing, but at least he'd taken the first step; the right step in calling in the Winchesters.

He laughed to himself as he remembered the phrase his ten-year-old son had come up with when the guys had taken care of that poltergeist. His son had spent a lot of time hanging around Dean and now he had gotten into the same music Dean loved, and Dean's saying 'Zeppelin Rules'. His son had said that may be true, but he'd added his own flair to the phrase. Yep, it was true too. 'Zeppelin may rule; but Winchesters dominate!'

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Max Jaffey was still sitting outside in the gardens an hour after meeting with the two men from Homeland Security. He had thought about what he had said to them, especially about what he'd told them about the man with the black eyes. He hadn't told that to anyone else, not even the cops. He had been freaked about it and that was why he was here at Riverfront Hospital. Not just because he had felt like he was losing his grip on sanity, but because he knew that what he'd seen was in fact truly real.

At first, he'd thought he was just stressed from the crash itself, from the fact he'd almost died. He wasn't sure what he'd really seen in those first few days after the crash; not until he'd started having the nightmares. Then he'd thought he was just plain ass going crazy, cracking up. Then he'd come across a TV documentary called 'God's Warriors VS. Lucifer's Minions.' That's when he knew what he'd seen was real and that the man on the plane with the black eyes had been a demon.

The documentary had told of angels and demons and how religion had actual documentation on actual demonic possessions as well as a couple of angelic possessions. So, Max had done more research and he'd found out that demons were real, and they walked this earth. The smell of sulfur and the black eyes were just two of the clues to knowing a demon; and those were the two things Max remembered about the man on the plane.

Max had kept all that info to himself, though, when the two agents came to talk to him, because the last thing he needed was to let the staff here think he really could be crazy. He'd be leaving in a couple more days; going to stay with his mother; to help her out for a while, but to also protect her. He now knew what was out there in this world and those two agents had no clued what they were really facing. There was true evil out there and Max had decided he was going to face that fact and help as much as he could.

He was going to face up to what was out there and find his place in this world. He was going to fight evil and the way he saw it he had two choices, he could continue on his current path pretending to live a banal existence and do nothing with his knowledge or he could sack up and fight.

He had found this small militia group that called themselves 'Hunters'. He was going to become a Hunter. Now all he had to do was find some of them so they could teach him what he needed to know to survive and protect. He sighed as he got up from his seat and headed back to his room. Research' that was his best bet.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Amanda smiled and mouthed the words 'thank you' to the two good looking men that had helped on the plane. She slowly listened to the airport policeman acknowledge her statement and move on to talk to some other poor unsuspecting passenger about what had just happened during their flight.

She knew what they'd say, not much; and she knew what the cops would say, who really cares? She knew that no one had a clue as to what really happened up their thirty thousand feet about the earth. She barely had a clue herself.

And she'd just barely gotten that clue thirty minutes ago from the two men she watched leaving the airport. Whatever had really happened up there, all the answers went out the door with them. She didn't know all the details and what's more she didn't really want to know.

She was only interested and being alive and knowing all the passengers and crew were also alive. Thanks to Sam and Dean. That's all she'd gotten from them, their first names, before she was pulled into a question feast with the nearest cop.

She had been thinking that flying was a great way to meet new people, but this was pushing the boundaries to the extreme. She really didn't care about meeting new people anymore, especially if those people became something evil. No, she didn't need that at all.

She watched as the passengers were still milling around in confusion as were the rest of the crew. Amanda decided in that moment, that she'd had enough of this. She turned to grab her carry-on bag from a seat behind her and she slung it over her shoulder and began walking away from the noise.

"Amanda?" One of her fellow flight attendants called out to her. "Where are you going?"

Amanda stopped and slowly turned back to look at the woman calling out to her. She thought about her question for a moment, then replied, "The nearest bar. I need a drink."

"Mind if I join you?" Her friend, Jasmine asked. "I'm suddenly not in the mood to be near a plane."

"Yeah, sure."

The other woman quickly grabbed her carry-on bag and rushed to join up with the other woman. "Boy, this is the pits? Isn't it? Think I'm gonna sign up for beauty school and park my butt on the ground for a while."

Amanda smiled at the woman. Demons could come in for a wash and set too, she thought. "Yeah, I'm thinking of checking into a new career too."

"I bet you are; this is your second scare, isn't it?"

Amanda thought about that. Was she scared of flying? Maybe. "No, not really. It's just as dangerous on the ground as it is above it. But maybe we should take a trip to Bali, my treat. What do you think?"

Jasmine turned to look at Amanda and for the briefest second, Amanda could have sworn the woman's eyes went all black suddenly. Then they were back to her normal blue as she replied, "Sure thing. Always wanted to check out some sandy beaches and mingle with the natives. By the way how long do you think we've been down on the ground? Maybe forty minutes now?"

And as the two women walked out of the terminal, Amanda turned to the woman in surprise as she was suddenly pushed in front of the rapidly moving EMS vehicle heading out of the terminal.