Author's Notes: Hi all! I almost thought I wasn't gonna get the chance to post this, because I was having issues logging in, but thankfully I got in, and here I am a postin'! Yay! Like I said before, we're coming down to the wire...the story's winding down and getting close...woooo! I'm getting antsy thinking about it. But, I'm a nerd. (and I love it!)

Some shout outs:

Dianne: I'm glad you're enjoying the story so much! I agree that it's good for Sam to have someone else to talk to. That was part of my reasoning for putting Sarah in the story. I thought he deserved some happiness after everything he's been through, particularly with saving Dean. And I love Bobby, so any little cameo he gets in my stories always makes me a happy camper. :D

Zane: I know I never write things in here to you (mostly since I talk to you every day), but just wanted to let you know that I don't think this story would have happened without you edging me on every day and letting me bounce ideas off of you. As like with most of my stories, this is dedicated to you. 3

Also, I'm in the process of trying to write some other stories...and seemingly not having the best of luck. This is my final year for college, and I'm trying to get into this program to study in Korea over the summer, so I'm frazzled and torn every which way. It's bonkers! But I'm trying my best...so keep an eye out for these stories sooner or later ;)

Sam felt hot.

Very, very hot.

When he opened his eyes, he found that he was standing in the middle of a large, expansive desert. The sky was a bright, almost blinding shade of golden yellow—almost as if the sun had burst and flooded it with color. That would possibly explain the heat, too. He looked down at himself. He was wearing his boots, a pair of jeans, a button up plaid shirt and his jacket, like usual. Why was he dressed in so much on such a scalding hot day, he wondered?

Out in the distance, Sam heard something that chilled him immediately. It was the cry of a horse—only it sounded otherworldly, and haunting. He quickly glanced around him in every direction. Not a single person was in sight. No, all he could see were miles and miles of sand. However, to his left was a very distinctive rock formation. It was tall—certainly much taller than Sam, and probably a two- or three-story building. And it ran a long way sideways. Its sides curved around, almost, like it was surrounding something. He was too far away to see, and so he stepped towards it, as if instinctively pulled its way.

But he stopped moving. The horse's cry came once more, and Sam instinctively looked up toward the brilliantly shining sky. He squinted his eyes so tightly that he could barely see anything. But, for some reason he knew that he had no sunglasses on him, so he had no way to protect his eyes from the glare. He searched the sky for the origin of the sound, only to finally see, way off in the distance, a small black speck. That had to be it. As he watched it, he felt a sense of dread fill him. He felt glued in his place…like he couldn't move even if he tried.

The speck grew larger and larger as it approached with blinding speed. Soon he could make out its silhouette—a horse, sure enough, but with something atop it. Along came another cry, though louder and more wailing this time. He winced and tried to cover his ears, only to fail. He was transfixed on the creature. Sitting upon the horse's back, he could see a man wearing what looked like a crown, carrying a bow. But the details were lost on him. The sky blinded him.

But then, out of the blue, the sky changed colors. The bright, golden glow disappeared completely, and was now replaced with a dull mix of black, grey and flashes of white. Sam heard several rumbles of thunder, sounds so loud that they made him fall to the ground, covering his ears. The whinnying of the horse had become dangerously loud as well. Though his hands distorted his hearing, Sam could still hear the cry loud and clear. It sent chills through his body once more.

Sam stared up at the sky almost out of defiance. There, he saw the horse and the man in better detail. The horse itself was a shade of snowy white, while the man wore robes of the same color, with what looked like blue fabric draped over parts of it. Atop his head did sit a crown, which glowed gold despite the torrential backdrop. Although Sam could not see his face, he could see the man's strong, muscular arms holding a bow at the ready. Only…he had no arrows.

This whole thing was beginning to scare him. But, like before, Sam stared, transfixed, at the large man before him. The horse gave another bellowing cry, and before the young hunter had a chance to blink, both it and the man atop it shot off into the distance.

The last thing Sam remembered hearing was a loud clap of thunder before waking up suddenly. He shot straight up in the bed, covers dropping down to his waist. Sweat glistened over his bare torso and his face. He looked down beside him, where Sarah slept peacefully. He stared out the window to his left for a moment. The sun had just begun to light up the city—he could see it through the curtains. It must have been maybe five, six o'clock in the morning, he thought.

What had that dream been about? Was it another premonition of what was to come? And if it was, how soon did Sam have to stop it?

Sarah shifting around in her sleep beside him caught Sam's attention. He looked down at her again, willing himself to calm down. He slid back beneath the covers, resting his head against the pillow. His heart still pounded in his chest and blood pumped harshly in his ears. It had felt so real. And those cries…the despair they had given him. Sam didn't know what to think of them. They were frightening. There was no other word for them.

He took a deep breath, and then sighed. He grabbed his phone from the small table to his left. The bright screen lit up his face in the fading darkness of Sarah's room. Should he tell Dean now? No, he thought. He could wait to tell him when he saw him later that day. For now, he needed to go back to sleep.

But he hesitated. Would he see more dreams like that one?

God, he hoped not.

. . .

The ride home proved to be a little bit more than Sam could apparently handle. He and Sarah had shared a long good-bye that ended up with him hesitating in the parking lot, not wanting to go. But he knew he had to. And once he turned the engine over, there was no looking back.

Taking down Lilith was his focus now. If he didn't stop her, then there would be nothing to come back to. And he refused to let that be the case.

When he arrived at the hotel room door, he paused in front of it, just listening. Inside, he could hear the water running. Dean must have been in the shower. He slid his cardkey through the slot, the door gave a light click and he went inside. He had already eaten breakfast. From the looks of it, Dean had had his ordered in. It sat on the dresser by the television, along with a copy of the bill.

While Sam waited for Dean to come out of the shower, he sat on his bed and watched some television. But he didn't pay much attention; his mind was elsewhere. Memories of that dream plagued him pretty badly. Now he was coherent enough to know that he had seen the Horseman of Pestilence and Conquest in his dream. For all he knew, it could have even been a psychic message that he had been freed.

That was when his attention to the television finally clicked back in place. It was on the news channel, and Sam listened attentively after the mentioning of 'sudden widespread disease'. He turned the volume up somewhat.

"The Chinese leader, Wen Jiabao, has denied claims that the food industry has seen a slack in quality, despite the tens of thousands of children who suddenly have fallen ill due to the presence of melamine in products such as from milk, milk powder and yogurt…"

Sam didn't watch the news on television often, but he kept up with it through feeds and articles on the internet. He would have remembered reading something about this. The fact that he hadn't, coupled with the dream from the night before, made him uneasy. He turned the volume up a little more as he saw Dean emerge from the bathroom, toweling himself off.

"Jesus!" Sam exclaimed suddenly.

Dean hurriedly covered his bare front with the towel after nearly jumping right up into the ceiling. "Damn it, Sam!" he bellowed in fright. He clutched the towel against his privates. "I thought you were still at Sarah's!"

Sam covered his eyes and muttered, "I thought you'd have heard the television on! Or the door opening!"

"Well, keep your eyes closed! I need to grab my clothes."

The younger hunter did just that while Dean rummaged around for clean boxers, jeans and a shirt. Once he had dressed completely, he coughed and said, "You can look now."

Sam and Dean may have been close, and they may have seen each other naked once or twice in their adult lives, but it was definitely not something either wanted to relive. There were just certain things about your brother that you shouldn't ever see, or ever know. This was one of those things, in Sam's opinion.

"So what're you doing back so early?" Dean asked. He began picking at his breakfast, having taken it from the dresser over to his bed.

"Dean, it's like ten o'clock. It isn't early. And anyway, I needed to come back. You said Bobby had important stuff to tell us, remember?"

"Yeah, but I figured I wouldn't see you at least until the afternoon. S'what I told Bobby."

Sam shook his head. He stayed quiet for a moment so as to let Dean chew down some of his food. After a while, he said, "I told Sarah."

He didn't know how he expected Dean to react. Angry, maybe, or frustrated. Scared. Worried. Any number of emotions, really. What surprised him was the fact that the older hunter simply looked at him, plopped some scrambled eggs in his mouth and gave a curt nod, as if he understood and agreed.

Not wanting to push it further, Sam let it go.

"So what's Bobby got to tell us?"

"I wath gonna call 'im afder breakfatht," Dean said through a mouthful. He swallowed. "But this stuff tastes…well. It's not bad. But fuck. I wouldn't call it breakfast. I'm done."

He shook his head and set the platter of food at the foot of his bed, but not before grabbing one slice of toast. He grabbed his cell phone from the nightstand and flipped it open, then searched for Bobby's phone number. He hit the button. Sam watched. Soon Dean said, "Bobby? Hey, I got Sammy here, now. I'm gonna put you on speakerphone, okay?"

After Dean pressed a button on the phone, Sam scooted off his bed and took a seat on Dean's. The older hunter held the phone a ways away from both their faces.

"Boys?" Bobby's voice rang through the air.

"We're here, Bobby," Sam said.

"I got good news and bad news. Good news is, I found where Lilith's hiding out. Bad news is, it's…a hell of a long ways away from where you are, now."

Sam and Dean shared a look.

"Where is she?" Dean asked.

Bobby paused. "Salt Lake City."

"…Damn," Dean muttered. "What the hell is she doing all the way over there?"

"Probably messing with a seal," Bobby said. "But the problem is, I dunno if she'll still be there by the time you guys get there. She just moved there last night. Before, she was all the way in southern Georgia."

"Moves fast," Sam said, feeling a little helpless. How the hell had she gone that far in just one day? And what was more, if she wasn't going to stay there, how would they catch up with her?

"We're gonna have to hope she makes a pit stop around there," Dean said.

"It's a lot to hope for," Bobby said. "But I'll perform the ritual again another time today, see if she goes anywhere. And I'll do it twice tomorrow, too. In the meantime, you boys better try and get down there. Do whatever you can to stop her." Sam and Dean both nodded again. "I've gotta go for now. I got some things I gotta get done in the junkyard, and then I've got a hunter friend coming over to take a look at some of my books. With any luck, we might find some way to distract Lilith so she doesn't bounce around the country so freely and you guys can catch 'er."

"Thanks, Bobby," Dean said. "We'll call you later tonight, all right? Keep us posted."

"Sounds good, Dean. Sam. You two be careful."

With that, the phone call was over. Dean pocketed his cell and sighed. He looked slightly uncomfortable. Sam could only guess why. But, he said nothing. Instead he just gripped his brother's shoulder, and, in an attempt to crack a joke, said:

"So, who's driving?"

. . .

Dean and Sam left New Paltz, New York just after ten that morning. They had been on the road for about four hours, and the sound of Van Halen's "Everybody Wants Some" poured from the speakers. It had been nearly four solid hours of heavy metal music, and about now, Sam was getting tired of it.

He hadn't yet told Dean about his vision. Now seemed as good a time as any. With slight irritation he leaned forward and turned the volume dial left, and the song quickly faded to a quiet, almost inaudible tone. The look his brother gave him was almost comically vicious.

"Excuse you," Dean said, reaching for the dial.

"Dean, I need to tell you something."

That stopped him.

"What?"

"It's probably nothing like what you're thinking of, so stop worrying yourself already," Sam said lightly. He turned and faced Dean. "Last night…or, I guess this morning, I had what I think was another vision."

Sam had told Dean some time ago about the dreams he had had while his brother was gone. He had told him about the one in Fletcher that led him to the Colt, and about the one that involved Dean and the Incubus that had led him to destroying the creature once and for all. And now he was going to tell him about the one that involved one of the four horsemen.

After he did, Dean stared at him almost warily.

"Does it seriously have to get biblical?" he grumbled.

"Sorry, but it's just what I saw," Sam said. "He was…well. I'm pretty sure he was the Horseman of Pestilence and Conquest. And this morning when I came back to the hotel room, I watched the news, and there was an outbreak of poisoning in China that affected tens of thousands of kids and adults. Coincidence? I think not."

Dean kept his attention forward. Sam could see his fingers gripping the steering wheel tightly. "Bitch works fast," he said. He was obviously referring to Lilith.

"But not too fast that we can't get her. With the Colt, we can knock her back into Hell once and for all. I wish we had Ruby's knife as back up, but—"

"You know, I don't see how the hell she hasn't gotten that thing back yet. Didn't you say she's been missing it since even before you rescued me?" Dean chanced a brief glance at Sam from the highway. "She should have it by now. Ruby's like, the winner of finding random, powerful junk. Whoever has her knife must really not want her to—oh, shit."

"What?" Sam asked worriedly.

"How much you wanna bet that Lilith's the one who's got her knife?" Dean let out a terse sigh. "It'd make sense. Take away the only weapon that could do some decent damage. Does she know we've got the Colt back?"

"I'd bet on it," Sam said. "I mean, I had to use it to open the Devil's Gate. And she knows you're alive again…"

Neither said anything for a few minutes after that. Dean didn't attempt to turn the music up, which told Sam that his brother was severely deep in thought. Although he wanted to ask about it, he refrained and stared out the window instead at the blurred scenery passing him by.

Eventually Dean said something that caught his attention.

"So how'd Sarah take all this?"

Sam couldn't judge from his tone whether or not Dean wanted a short or detailed answer. So he went for the short one. "She's okay with it. Sad I had to go, but you know."

Dean nodded. For a very brief moment, there seemed to be a kind of sadness in his eyes. Sam almost didn't catch it. Was Dean envious?

He shook his head.

"All right. I'm getting low on gas, here. We're gonna have to make a pit stop soon. You hungry?"

"A little." Sam rubbed his nose. "I just saw a sign for gas not too long ago. Should be coming up real quick. I think it was for Pittsburgh, actually." He blinked. This trip should have taken much, much longer. At least another hour. He slowly turned his head to Dean. "…How fast are you driving?"

Dean smirked wickedly. His response? He pressed harder on the gas, which sent them zooming further down the highway.

. . .

It was sometime around ten o'clock that night when Dean's phone started vibrating on the seat between him and Sam. The guitar rip at the beginning of AC/DC's "Rock 'n' Roll Train" was almost drowned out by the actual AC/DC playing on the radio. Sam immediately turned it down and picked up the phone, flipping it open.

"Bobby?" he said.

"Sam, Lilith's on the move again."

Sam's heart nearly dropped into the bit of his stomach. "Wait, what? What do you mean, she's on the move again?" He saw Dean's head turn, but he gestured fervently to the road. "What happened?"

"Far as I can tell," Bobby began, "she's moved again. I did the ritual, and this time, she came up as being in Oklahoma City."

"Oklahoma City?"

"Oklahoma City?" Dean repeated, sounding confused.

"Shh!"

Though irritated, Dean turned his attention back to the road. Sam rubbed his forehead. "So you mean to tell me that in the time it's taken us to get from Pittsburgh to…hell, where are we?"

"Illinois," Dean told him.

"Illinois. She moves way too fast." Sam sighed. "But, at least Oklahoma City is closer than Salt Lake."

"I don't think you boys have to worry about her going anywhere. At least, if I'm right," Bobby said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she left Georgia and arrived in Salt Lake around this time last night. And now, at nearly the same time, she's moved from Salt Lake to Oklahoma City. It's not much to go off of, but my guess is that she's going somewhere new every day at the same time. So you prolly have a chance to catch her there. She's on the outskirts, from what the map is tellin' me. I can't know for sure exactly where, but it's on the eastern side, where you boys'll be pullin' in from."

It was certainly a long shot, but it was also all that Dean and Sam had to go off of. Without any real proof as to whether or not it was true, they were going to have to take a chance. Sam gave Bobby their thanks and said goodbye to him, and immediately turned to his brother.

"Oklahoma City's about another eight hours from here, if I remember right," Dean said, still keeping his eyes on the road. "But I'm gettin' tired. I don't know if I can keep driving."

"We can make a pit stop," Sam suggested. "We don't even have to stay in a hotel and waste money. We can just…sleep in the car." He knew from experience that it worked.

Dean apparently understood that. "Effingham's just a ways away. We'll pull in there, find somewhere to park and take a power nap. Then we'll pick up where we left off and track her down."

That was the last word spoken between them. Dean turned the music back up and tore down the highway until he swerved onto an off-ramp and took them into the city. It was around ten-thirty then and, it being a Tuesday, cars were somewhat scarce on the roads. Dean drove around for a few minutes before he found a chain store parking lot to pull in to. He parked the impala underneath a tall lamppost, which bathed them in artificial light.

"All right, Sam. Get in the back," Dean said.

The nice thing about having a brother who cared about his car so much was that he took the time and effort necessary to make sure it was well taken care of. The back seat of the impala was clean, dry and surprisingly comfortable. Sam had to bend his legs, of course, and that was bound to hurt after a while, but for now, he was going to enjoy it. He grabbed his jacket from the floor and fluffed it into a makeshift pillow.

"I set the alarm on my phone for one," he told Dean.

"Sounds good to me. Night, Sammy."

"Night."