Chapter 1: The Road to Nowhere

Dean Winchester silently wondered what time it was. He had stopped wearing a watch after about the fifth or sixth one, when he realized that a ghost's electromagnetic field could short them out. And honestly, he was too lazy to pull out his cell phone to check the time. All he knew was that it was dark and Sammy had fallen asleep in the passenger seat hours ago. Now Dean was getting bored. He had no one to talk to and didn't want to wake up Sam by turning the radio on. And one could only be interested in driving for so long. He was tired of the monotonous scenery. Nothing but black roads, black skies, and black woods.

At least we're almost there, he thought to console himself. Then we can check into a room and crash. He looked over at Sam. Or I can crash. He can just keep sleeping.

Sleep... Boy, was he tired. Almost there, though. Only about five more miles. No problem... Dean started in surprise when the silence was suddenly broken by the radio coming on.

"What the?" he muttered aloud as the station began to change itself. Rock music filled the Impala, then switched to rap, which was followed by static. Dean reached for the dial and turned it, but got nothing but static. He glanced over at Sam, relieved for the time being that he was still asleep. Good, he needed some rest.

Nothing but static... Until he heard the scream behind it. A voice followed, but the words were hard to make out.
Doesn't surprise me, the hunter thought as he strained to understand the EVP.

"...under the willow... under the... look... look in the trees... help me, help me..."

Dean frowned, trying to decipher the words through the static. They were spoken in a hoarse whisper by a decidedly female voice, though he couldn't be certain. He glanced over at Sam, but his younger brother was still dead to the world.

"...he's coming!" Another scream. "... she's in the house... she's powerful... she's... she's... she's..."

Dean leaned closer to the radio, trying to make out the message.

"...she's... Help!... Dean!"

Dean's eye's widened in surprise when he heard his name called across the EVP. Usually spirits only repeated words spoken when they were alive, or during their death. Rarely were spirits able to communicate new messages, not unless they were unusually strong. It was even more rare to hear spirits speak your own name.

"Dean... Winchester... Dean..." The voice began to fade as it continued to call his name, then suddenly Dean jumped back as the fading voice turned into an earsplitting scream. "Look out!!"

Sam jerked awake in the passenger seat.
"What-?"

The blare of the semi's horn cut him off. Dean swerved away from the blinding headlights just in time, slamming Sam into the window. Dean's distraction with the EVP message had caused him to drive into the other lane. Now he slowly pulled off onto the side of the road, shaken by the incident.

"Ow. What the hell, Dean?" Sam asked irritably, holding his head where he'd hit the window.

"Sorry, Sammy," Dean replied, turning to his brother, "I just-"

"Do you want me to drive for a while?" Sam interrupted

"No, I'm tired. Listen, Sam, what was it that you told me about this place we were headed?"

"Dean, it's about three o'clock in the morning; can't this wait till later?"

"Sam."

"If you listened when I told you things the first time," Sam grumbled, pulling himself up in his seat, "Then I wouldn't have to repeat myself all the time."

"Just tell me about this job," Dean snapped, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel impatiently.

"There's been a lot of construction in Jasper lately," Sam said, pulling out a few papers, "and a cemetary was dug up."

"A cemetery?" Dean asked, "Not just one grave?"

"A cemetery," Sam confirmed, "Why?"

"I only heard one voice on the EVP," Dean mused.

"What?" Sam asked, still trying to wipe away the effects of sleep.

Dean explained to Sam the incident with the radio.

"And it called your name?" Sam asked when he was done.

"First and last," Dean replied, "So that's all it is? A disturbed cemetery?"

"Yeah," Sam answered, a little peeved by the fact that Dean was brushing off the disturbing fact that the spirit had called out to him. "Activity there had been kicked up since and several unexplained murders have followed."

"So it should be simple, right?" Dean asked.

"Is anything ever simple, Dean?"

The older brother shrugged in confirmation.

"The spirits must be powerful, if they can cause murders and call out."

"And they're pissed, which is never good," Dean replied with a sigh, glancing at the now dead radio, "But why did she warn me if she was a vengeful ghost?"

"Maybe it wasn't a warning."

"What else do you call it?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow at Sam.

"I call it a coincidence."

"Sammy," Dean said, "Haven't you learned by now that there's no such thing as coincidence?"