CHAPTER FOUR.
By the side of the road lay a smashed pumpkin, bright orange flesh a lurid splatter against the much darker ground. I briefly wondered why I hadn't noticed it before, but I guess my attention had been rather taken up by Sam's disappearance.
I drew Dean's attention to it, before walking over there, kneeling down by the smashed fruit curiously. Something about the things sudden appearance unnerved me, especially as I couldn't think of a rational explanation as to why a solitary pumpkin had been smashed at the roadside.
"What are you thinking of, Jenna?" Dean asked, quietly, as he stood behind me to stare down at the offending item.
"This has something to do with Sam's disappearance in some way," I murmured, poking the pumpkin experimentally.
I guess it was a vain hope that I briefly held that it would just get on up and just tell me already where Sam was. That was something we'd have to work out between us.
"Scoop some of that shit up, Jenna - we're asking around, see if anyone's seen Sammy," Dean said, brusquely before striding off to the cafe without further word.
I scooped up some of the pumpkin in a tissue I had in my pocket, before sliding the whole lot into my pocket. I briefly wondered whether Dean was merely thinking of eating the pumpkin rather than using it as some kind of evidence, but I didn't think even Dean would eat something we'd scraped up off the side of the road.
I followed the other hunter, and remained silent - mostly - as he questioned the few inhabitants of the cafe. I couldn't help but feel their animosity towards us - strangers from out of town in their midst - and I couldn't help but think of the movie Deliverance. As soon as we'd found Sam, these guys of this little town could kiss my ass goodbye as far as I was concerned. The whole place, as well as the townsfolk made me uneasy.
As expected, none of them had seen a thing, or so they said, but I doubted they would tell us, even if they had. Talk about a closed community.
In the end, Dean left the cafe, grumpily, looking just as dissatisfied as I felt right then.
"Let's try and find a motel round these parts. I wanna check the web, look for local legends or something!" Dean muttered, before getting into his Impala, and waving me almost impatiently to my own Mustang.
I rolled my eyes at the elder Winchester before doing just that, starting the car up and following the Impala slowly down the street.
For one brief instant, high up on a hillside overlooking the town itself, I swore I saw the fuzzy outline of a horse and it's rider, rearing up against the true blue sky, before galloping off out of sight, with a sepulchral laugh and neigh, followed by the slowly fading sound of hooves ...
to be continued ..