It is a frosty January morning in Clifton, Tennessee. At 6am, the sun has barely risen into the overcast sky, but the city is constantly moving.

A pack of around 15 students are manoeuvring between the streets, pulling suitcases with wheels along the sidewalk, whilst carrying heavy instrument cases on their backs of all shapes and sizes. Boys and girls, tall and short, hair ranging from curly and pink to black and tied back.

The teacher marches at the front of the parade, stopping at the edge of every zebra crossing to wipe her brow and count the line of students.

"3, 5, 9, 12...May, Graham, Daisy, could you hurry up please?" she addresses the three students at the back of the line.

"Ok miss, chill out!" Graham remarks, and tug at the leather strap of the heavy satchel over his shoulder.

"She's treating us like kids," May moans as she brushes her purple fringe out of her eyes. "I mean seriously, we're 15, not 5."

"I know right." Daisy agrees, whilst checking her hair in a pocket mirror. "We could so just walk off and go to Taco Bell. I've never been to a Taco Bell."

"I've never been to Starbuck's." Graham adds.

Daisy suddenly stops in her tracks and shuts the lid of her make-up mirror. "You've never been to Starbuck's?"

"It's just never appealed to me!" Graham says defensively.

"So?" Daisy retorts. "Every teenager on this planet has been to a Starbuck's like once!"

"Daisy, stop shouting and get a move on!" the teacher calls from the other end of the street. "We're gonna miss the train!"


The station is enormous, supported by tall concrete pillars sheltered by a murky glass roof. Sure enough, there's a Starbuck's inside, as well as a Burger King, and a Target. Businessmen bustle about in their suits, careful not to stain them with the scalding latte in their hand, while parents attempt to direct their kids onto the correct platform without dropping their favourite toy. Two men in overalls and hardhats make their way over to the control office, carrying a toolbox each and bickering to each other.

"I swear to God, Sam, if this is a false lead, I'm gonna kill you for making me wear this." Dean mutters bitterly as he inspects his costume.

"It makes sense, Dean." Sam insists. "I gave Bobby a call and my theory checks out: there has been demonic activity over the last few days in every town this railroad passes through."

"Coincidence?" Dean suggests sceptically.

"If what Ruby says is true-"

"Which I doubt." Dean grumbles.

"-then the person the demons are hunting is moving around fast across the States. And what better to way to cross the country than by train?"

"I don't know, Sam...if the demons wanted to get this guy so badly, why didn't they just snatch him when he got off the train?"

"I...I don't know." Sam finishes as they approach the office and knock firmly on the door.

A round suited man opens up and squints his eyes through his half-moon spectacles.

"Are you the controller?" Sam inquires.

"We hear you've been having problems with your trains." Dean smiles, clutching his toolbox.

"About goddamn time!" the man snorts. "I've been trying to get a hold of you guys for days!"

The man leaves the door open for the pair to enter. Dean glances warily at Sam, who can only offer him a shrug in return.

Once inside the office, the brothers seat themselves on the blue spinning chairs in front of the controller's desk. They are surrounded with maps of the Nashville Railroad network, as well as various employers' certificates. The man plonks himself down on his office chair and wipes his spectacles with a rag from his glasses case.

"I sent the report of the inspection out last week." he explains. "These trains are no good. The lights keep flickering, and passengers are claiming that they can smell fumes. Not good for the reputation of the rail network, I tell you."

"Did the fumes happen to smell like eggs?" Sam asks.

The man raises his eyebrow. "Well how should I know? I've never boarded one of those things in my life! Now you're here, I want you to fix those tin cans, and if that's not possible, then they're getting scrapped."

"We'll do the best we can." Dean assures him.

"Well get your asses on the platform then!" the controller orders.


"Slave-driver." Dean declares as they board the empty train a few minutes later. From his toolbox, he grabs an EMF meter and starts scanning the seats studiously. "Nothing." he concludes. "Not a single spot of demon crap on this thing."

"You might be right." Sam nods, checking his own EMF meter. "Let's check the other trains."

"They've probably long gone by now," Dean groans. "Even if there even were any demons around here. Why do you have so much faith in her, Sam?"

"She hasn't failed us yet..." Sam says dismissively as they step out of the train and onto the platform.

Dean rolls his eyes and returns the EMF meter back into the toolbox in resignation.

"Come on, Sam, let's get out of here. I saw a Starbuck's on-site, let's check it out."

"Wait!" Sam's EMF meter begins to bleep. "I'm getting something...and it's approaching fast!"

Both men glance up, scanning the faces in the crowd of passengers waiting to board the train, but they're impossible to distinguish from one another. The sound of the EMF meter gradually fades to nothing.

"Damn it." Dean hisses.

"Well one thing's for certain: there's something supernatural in this place." Sam smirks. "Are you gonna admit I was right?"

"Shut up, doofus." Dean grunts. "We've got a job on our hands."


Graham stands alone outside the ladies toilets, scrolling aimlessly on the screen of his phone, when the door opens and Daisy and May emerge.

"Why do girls always have to go to the toilet together?" he asks.

"For protection." Daisy explains. "You don't know what pervert could be lurking in the cubicle. Safety in numbers."

"And to bitch about boys." May teases.

Graham sighs, and taps the screen of his phone. "I was just checking Facebook, and apparently Louise and Connor have broke up."

"Oh my God, no way!" Daisy exclaims sorrowfully. "They were only together for like, three weeks!"

"She could do so much better than him anyway." May says. "Come on, we've got to assure Miss Gardener that we're not dead."

The three students stroll calmly across the station and onto the platform, where their teacher awaits impatiently in front of the train soon bound for Memphis.

"I don't know where you three have been for the past ten minutes." she grumbles.

"In the toilet, if you must know Miss." May sighs.

"Well in that case, I don't want to know!" Miss Gardener declares. "Now get on the train, it's about to leave already!"

The teacher urges their students onboard and quickly directs them to their seats, watched unknowingly by Dean and Sam, who are standing on the platform, poised with their EMF meters bleeping berserk.

"Gotcha." Dean nods with a sly grin, and the two hunters dash towards the doors of the train. They hop aboard with the agility of an action movie star, just before the doors seal shut. The driver sounds the harsh sound of the horn, signalling the beginning of the journey.