Chapter 15: Demons on a Plane

Back at the motel, the trio of hunters were researching, with images and articles taped to the walls and strewn across the beds, and Sam was looking at something on the computer. Dean is reading something on one bed while sitting on the other. George was examining the pictures and articles on the wall.

"So, every religion in every world culture has the concept of demons and demonic possession, right?"

George made a noise of agreement while examining an article.

"I mean Christian, Native American, Hindu, you name it."

"Yeah, but none of them describe anything like this," Dean observed.

"Well, that's not exactly true. You see according to Japanese beliefs, certain demons are behind certain disasters, both natural and man-made. One causes earthquakes, another causes disease."

"And this one causes plane crashes?" Dean got up from the bed. "All right, so, what? We have a demon that's evolved with the times and found a way to ratchet up the body count?" Dean asked, disbelievingly.

"Yeah. You know, who knows how many planes it's brought down before this one?" George remarked. Demons were dangerous. You couldn't gank one, like your average monster. The best you could do was exorcise them, and even then they can come back. Dean snorted, turning away.

"What?" Sam asked.

"I don't know, man. This isn't our normal gig. I mean, demons, they don't want anything, just death and destruction for its own sake. This is big. And I wish Dad was here." Dean said.

"Yeah. Me too."

"Make that three of us." George sighed.

Dean's phone rang and he answered it. "Hello?"

"Dean, it's Jerry."

"Oh, hey, Jerry," Dean greeted.

What is it? George mouthed. Dean shrugged.

"My pilot friend...Chuck Lambert is dead."

"Wha—Jerry, I'm sorry. What happened?" Dean asked in a worried tone.

"He and his buddy went up in a small twin about an hour ago. The plane went down."

"Where'd this happen?"

"About sixty miles west of here, near Nazareth."

"I'll try to ignore the irony in that," Dean said.

"I'm sorry?"

"Nothing. Jerry, hang in there, all right? We'll catch up with you soon." Dean hung up.

"What is it? Another crash?" George asked.

"Yeah. Let's go." Dean said.

"Where?" Sam asked.

"Nazareth."

Back in his office, Jerry was looking through a microscope.

"Sulfur?" Dean asked. Jerry nodded. "Well, that's great. All right, that's two plane crashes involving Chuck Lambert. This demon sounds like it was after him."

"I don't mean to be disrespectful to a dead guy or anything, but that would be great news, if it were true," George stated.

"What's the bad news?" Dean asked.

"Chuck's plane went down exactly forty minutes into flight. And get this, so did flight 2485," Sam said.

"Forty minutes? What does that mean?" Jerry asked.

"It's biblical numerology. You know Noah's ark, it rained for forty days," Dean informed him.

"Or like when Jesus spent forty days in the desert with barely anything, resulting in forty days of Lent. The number means death," George continued.

"How did you know that?" Dean whispered. George mumbled something inaudible.

"I went back, and there have been six plane crashes over the last decade that all went down exactly forty minutes in," Sam said.

"Any survivors?" Dean asked.

"No. Or not until now, at least, not until flight 2485, for some reason. On the cockpit voice recorder, remember what the EVP Said?" Sam asked.

"'No survivors,'" George realized.

Dean thought for a moment. "It's going after all the survivors. It's trying to finish the job."

George paced around the room while Sam and Dean attempted to find the numbers of the survivors.

"You have one new message," the phone spoke.

"Hi! This is Timothy, just wanted to see how you were doing. Could you call me back?"

George sighed. Timothy didn't deserve her. Always traveling, not likely to stay faithful. It took everything she had to not pick up the phone and call him, tell him that she loved him and didn't want to get hurt. If it wasn't for what happened to Jess, George would be less afraid to quit hunting. Now, she wasn't the type to drop everything for a guy, but Timothy was just the tip of the iceberg.

She fiddled with her necklace, thinking until Dean opened the door and looked in. "Georgie," she scowled at the nickname, "Need your help with the survivors."

Dean was driving and Sam and George were on the phone.

"Really? Well, thank you for taking our survey, And if you do plan to fly, please don't forget your friends at United Britannia Airlines. Thanks." Sam hung up.

"And thank you! Now, remember, even though flying is an easy way to travel, your safety is much more important. We hope the next time you fly, you have a fantastic experience." George hung up around the same time.

"All right. That takes care of Blaine Sanderson," Sam said.

"and Dennis Holloway," George piped up. "They're not flying anytime soon."

"So our only wildcard is the flight attendant Amanda Walker," Dean said, annoyed.

"Right. Her sister Karen said her flight leaves Indianapolis at eight pm. It's her first night back on the job," Sam informed.

"That sounds like just our luck."

"Dean, you do realize this is a five-hour drive, even with you behind the wheel, right?"

Dean sighed, "Yes, I do. Call Amanda's cellphone again, see if we can't head her off at the pass."

"I already left her three voice messages," Sam told him.

"And I left her five," George was starting to get worried.

"She must have turned her cellphone off. God, we're never gonna make it."

"We'll make it," Dean promised. George wasn't too sure.

The three hunters rushed into the airport and checked the Departure board.

"Right there. They're boarding in thirty minutes," Sam read.

"Okay. We still have some cards to play. We need to find a phone." Dean picked up a courtesy phone. George tried to hear what was going on.

"Airport Services," The voice on the other end said.

"Hi. Gate thirteen."

"Who are you calling, sir?"

"I'm trying to contact an Amanda Walker. She's a flight attendant on flight, um...flight 4-2-4." Dean tapped his foot impatiently. "Come on..."

"This is Amanda Walker," Amanda greeted.

"Miss Walker. Hi, this is Dr. James Hetfield from St. Francis Memorial Hospital. We have a Karen Walker here," Dean lied smoothly.

"Karen?"

"Nothing serious, just a minor car accident, but she was injured, so" Dean was interupted.

"Wa—wait, that's impossible. I just got off the phone with her." Shit, they were so dead.

Dean paused. "You what?"

"Five minutes ago. She's at her house, cramming for a final. Who is this?" Amanda asked.

"Uh, well...there must be some mistake," Dean attempted to lie.

"And how would you even know I was here?" Sam went around Dean to try to hear what was going on. "Is this one of Vince's friends?"

"Guilty as charged." He seemed relieved that he could make an excuse.

"Wow. This is unbelievable," Amanda spat.

"He's really sorry," Dean said.

"Well, you tell him to mind his own business and stay out of my life, okay?" Yikes.

"Yes, but...he really needs to see you tonight, so—"

"No, I'm sorry. It's too late," Amanda sighed.

"Don't be like that. Come on. The guy's a mess. Really. It's pathetic."

"Really?" She seemed hopeful.

"Oh, yeah."

"Look, I've got to go. Um...tell him to call me when I land." Amanda hung up.

"No, no. Wait, Amanda. Amanda! Damn it! So close."

"Thank you for flying United Britannia Airlines." The intercom spoke.

"All right, it's time for plan B. We're getting on that plane," Sam declared.

"Whoa, whoa, now just hold on a second." Dean was wide-eyed. Suddenly George remembered he had a huge fear of planes, but she tried to convince him.

"Dean, that plane is leaving with over a hundred passengers on board, and if we're right, that plane will crash, and innocent people will die," George looked at him, a pleading look in her eyes.

"I know."

"Okay. So we're getting on the plane, we need to find that demon and exorcise it. I'll get the tickets. You get whatever you can out of the trunk. Whatever that will make it through the security. Meet me back here in five minutes," Sam ordered. Dean looked at him anxiously.

"Are you okay?" George asked.

"No, not really," Dean admitted.

"What? What's wrong?" Sam asked.

"Well, I kind of have this problem with, uh..." Dean trailed off.

"Flying?" Sam finished.

"It's never really been an issue until now."

"You're joking, right?" George asked between snickers.

"Do I look like I'm joking? Why do you think I drive everywhere?" Dean scowled at her snickers. "Well, at least I'm not scared of spiders."

"Spiders can kill you!"

"So can planes!"

"Planes are man-made and, therefore, can be controlled! Spiders can't be!"

"Man, have you even seen any movies with robots in them? Those are man made and yet they kill people!"

Sam sighed at their bickering. "All right! Calm down, you two. We'll go."

"What?" Dean asked.

"George and I will do this one."

"What are you, nuts? You said it yourself, the plane's gonna crash."

"Dean, we can do it together, or I can do this one by myself. I'm not seeing a third option, here."

"Come on! Really? Man..."

"Flight attendants, please cross-check... before departure," the intercom spoke.

Dean was in the aisle seat, and was anxiously reading the safety card. Sam was next to him and George was leaning her head against the window. Even though she looked bored, on the inside, she was squealing. This is the first time she had ever been on a plane, and she couldn't wait.

"Just try to relax," Sam attempted to comfort him.

"Just try to shut up," Dean countered.

When the plane took off, Dean was jumping at every rumble and sound. Sam smirked.

Dean was leaning back, humming to himself. George raised an eyebrow, Metallica?, and Sam looked over.

"You're humming Metallica?" Sam asked in disbelief.

"Calms me down." "Calms him down." George and Dean blinked at each other.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Look, man, I get you're nervous, all right? But you got to stay focused."

"Okay."

"I mean, we got thirty-two minutes and counting to track this thing down, or whoever it's possessing, anyway, and perform a full-on exorcism," George reminded him.

"Yeah, on a crowded plane. That's gonna be easy," Dean said.

"Just take it one step at a time, all right? Now, who is it possessing?" Sam questioned.

"It's usually gonna be somebody with some sort of weakness, you know, a chink in the armor that the demon can worm through. Somebody with an addiction or some sort of emotional distress." Dean said.

"Well, this is Amanda's first flight after the crash. If I were her, I'd be pretty messed up."

"Mm-hm." Dean turned to a flight attendant. "Excuse me. Are you Amanda?"

"No, I'm not," the flight attendant spoke, irritated.

"Oh, my mistake."

"Mm-hm," the flight attendant rolled her eyes.

Dean looked to the back of the plane to Amanda. "All right, well, that's got to be Amanda back there, so I'll go talk to her, and, uh, I'll get a read on her mental state."

"What if she's already possessed?" George asked. The female hunter was worried for the flight attendant.

"There's ways to test that." Dean went into his bag and came out with a bottle of holy water. "I brought holy water."

"No." Sam snatched the bottle and tucked it inside his hoodie. "I think we can go more subtle. If she's possessed, she'll flinch at the name of God."

"Oh. Nice." Dean turned to go.

"Hey," George whispered.

"What?"

"Say it in Latin."

"I know." Dean left again.

"Okay. Hey!" Sam said.

"What?!" Dean asked, clearly annoyed.

"Uh, in Latin, it's "Christo"."

"Dude, I know! I'm not an idiot!" Dean made his way to the back of the plane.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your first officer speaking..." The copilot spoke.

George shifted uncomfortably in her seat, fiddling with her necklace. She looked at Sam. "Well, this seems like it'll be an... interesting flight."

Sam laughed. "Well, obviously, considering there's a demon on board."

"Of course, yeah. Demons do make flights pretty interesting." She laughed softly. "Best damn in-flight entertainment there is. A creepy demon with black eyes opens the emergency exit door."

After a moment of silence, Sam looked at her. "Are you alright? You seem," he paused, looking for the right word, "nervous."

"Nervous?" George was bouncing her leg, "No, just... excited, I mean, this is my first time on a plane, after all." She smiled at Sam.

"Are you sure? Because-"

"Sam!" She was exasperated, "I am fine, okay! Even if I wasn't, I can take care of myself!"

Sam frowned and made puppy eyes that made George, though she would never have admitted it, blush. No, don't give me that look. "Alright, just trying to be helpful, that's all." George looked out the window, sighing She didn't deserve Sam being kind to her. It's her fault he's back into hunting anyway. If Sam had only known that if she hadn't kept her big mouth shut Jess...

Her thoughts were interrupted by Dean returning to his seat. "All right, well, she's got to be the most well-adjusted person on the planet."

"You said "Christo"?" Sam asked.

"Yeah."

"And?" George urged him to go on, still uncomfortable from the... could that even be called a fight?

"There's no demon in her. There's no demon getting in her."

"So, if it's on the plane, it can be anyone. Anywhere," Sam sighed.

The plane shook. "Come on! That can't be normal!" Dean exclaimed

"Deep breaths, Dean, it's just a little turbulence," George attempted to calm him down.

"Guys, this plane is going to crash, okay? So quit treating me like I'm friggin' four."

"You need to calm down." Sam said

"Well, I'm sorry I can't."

"Yes, you can," Sam told him.

"Dude, stow the touchy-feely, self-help yoga crap, it's not helping."

George tried a new tactic. "Listen, if you're panicked, you're wide open to demonic possession, so you need to calm yourself down. Right now." Dean took a long, slow breath.

"Good. Now, I found an exorcism in here that I think is gonna work. The Rituale Romanum." Sam said.

"What do we have to do?" Dean asked.

"It's two parts. The first part expels the demon from the victim's body. It makes it manifest, which actually makes it more powerful."

"More powerful?" Dean asked, nervously. George nodded. "How?"

"Well, it doesn't need to possess someone anymore. It can just wreak havoc on its own," Sam informed him.

"Oh. And why is that a good thing?" Dean asked.

"Well, because the second part sends the bastard back to hell once and for all."

"First things first, we got to find it." Dean walked slowly up the aisle with his EMF meter, getting odd looks but no readings. Sam suddenly clapped him on the shoulder, George next to Sam, and he jumped.

"Ah! Don't do that," said Dean, obviously jumpy.

"Anything?" Sam asked.

"No, nothing. How much time we got?" Dean asked.

George sighed. "Fifteen minutes. We might've missed someone."

"Maybe the thing's just not on the plane," Dean suggested.

"You believe that?" Sam asked, doubt bleeding through his tone.

"Well, I will if you both will." Dean looked down as the EMF meter spiked. The copilot exited the bathroom and headed towards the cockpit.

"Dean, what's going on?" George asked.

"Christo," Dean spoke.

The copilot turned slowly to face them. His eyes were black. The copilot got into the cockpit. Dean and George looked at Sam. Well, George thought, that diminishes any shred of optimism.

The three hunters headed to the back of the plane towards Amanda.

George sighed. "She's not gonna believe this, you realize that."

"Twelve minutes, dude," Dean reminded her.

"Oh, hi. Flight's not too bumpy for you, I hope," Amanda said. She was blonde and had brown eyes and was... extremely attractive. Vince really was missing out.

"Actually, that's kind of what we need to talk to you about," Dean said as Sam closed the curtain.

"Um, okay. What can I do for you?" Amanda asked, confused.

"All right, this is gonna sound nuts, but we just don't have time for the whole "the truth is out there" speech right now."

"All right, look, we know you were on flight 2485," George told her, attempting to make this as quick as possible.

Amanda's smile disappeared which was replaced with one of nervousness. "Who are you guys?"

"Now, we've spoken to some of the other survivors. We know something brought down that plane and it wasn't a mechanical failure," George continued, ignoring Amanda's question.

"We need your help because we need to stop it from happening again. Here. Now," Dean said.

"I'm sorry, I-I'm very busy. I have to go back-" She tried to brush past Dean, who stopped her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a second. I'm not gonna hurt you, okay? But listen to me, uh...The pilot in 2485, Chuck Lambert. He's dead," Dean informed her.

"Wait. What? What, Chuck is dead?" Amanda was visibly shocked.

"He died in a plane crash. Now, that's two plane crashes in two months. That doesn't strike you as strange?" George looked at her, trying to get her to see the truth.

"I-"

"Look, there was something wrong with 2485. Now maybe you sensed it, maybe you didn't. But there's something wrong with this flight, too," Sam informed her.

"Amanda, you have to believe us," Dean said.

"On...on 2485, there was this man. He...had these eyes." Amanda admitted.

"Yes. That's exactly what we're looking for, Amanda," George grinned.

"I don't understand, what are you asking me to do?" Amanda asked.

"Okay. The copilot, we need you to bring him back here," Dean instructed her.

"Why? What does he have to do with anything?"

"Don't have time to explain. We just need to talk to him. Okay?" George wished that she would just hurry up. Before they knew it, this plane was going to go down and they wouldn't have even began to exorcise the demon.

"How am I supposed to go in the cockpit and get the copilot-"

Sam cut her off. "Do whatever it takes. Tell him there's something broken back here, whatever will get him out of that cockpit."

"Do you know that I could lose my job if you-"

It was Dean's turn to cut her off. "Okay, well you're gonna lose a lot more if you don't help us out."

Amanda hesitated. "Okay." She left and went to the cockpit. She knocked on the door and said something to the copilot, who followed her back. Sam pulled out the holy water. Dean pulled out John's journal and handed it to George, who opened it.

"Yeah, what's the problem?" The "copilot" asked.

Dean punched him in the face, knocking him down. He and Sam pinned him down and put duct tape over his mouth.

"Wait. What are you doing? You said you were just gonna talk to him," Amanda seemed to be extremely nervous. Then again, what civilian wouldn't be?

"We are gonna talk to him." Dean splashed holy water on his skin, which sizzled. Thank God for holy water, George thought.

"Oh, my god. What's wrong with him?" Amanda was on the verge of panicking.

"Look. We need you calm. We need you outside the curtain," George said to her gently, but firm.

"Well, I don't underst-I don't know-"

George cut her off. "Don't let anybody in, okay? Can you do that? Can you do that? Amanda?"

"Okay. Okay." Amanda left.

"Hurry up, George," Dean hissed. "I don't know how much longer I can hold him."

George began to read, feeling a bit nauseous. "Regna terrae, cantate Deo, psallite Domino-" She was cut off when the Demon broke free briefly and hit all three of them until Dean managed to subdue the demon again. George picked up where she left off. The Demon knocked Dean off again and pulled the tape off his mouth. He grabbed Sam and George by their collars.

The Demon looked towards Sam. "I know what happened to your girlfriend! She must have died screaming! Even now, she's burning! And you," the demon looked towards George, "You better keep an eye on your boyfriend, we've got our eyes on-"

Dean recovered and hit the Demon as George sat there, unable to comprehend what the demon said. No, Timothy cannot be in danger, they only had a one night stand.

"George!" Dean called

George recovered and began reading again. She put the book down and helped Sam and Dean pin down the Demon, who kicked the book up the aisle.

"I got him," George said.

The Demon exited the copilot's body and disappeared into a vent.

"Where'd it go?" Sam asked.

"It's in the plane. Hurry up. We got to finish it."

The plane suddenly dipped and heaved violently. George struggled to retrieve the book as Dean splayed himself against the exit door, screaming, while Sam was still in the back of the plane. George managed to grab the book and read the rest of the exorcism. A bright electrical charge ran through the entire plane, which then leveled out. There was a numerous amount of people asking if everyone was okay. Amanda sighed in relief. Dean came out from behind the curtain. George stood up.

The passengers from the flight were disembarking to an area that was milling with uniformed agents. The copilot was seated in a wheelchair with a blanket wrapped around him, being questioned by an FAA Agent. Sam, Dean, and George were standing across the way.

"Sir, can you tell me what happened?" George overheard the FAA Agent say.

"I don't know. I was walking through the airport, then it all goes blank. I don't even remember getting on the plane," the copilot told the agent.

Amanda was being questioned by another agent.

"Anything else?" The agent asked her.

"No, that's all." She mouthed "Thank you" when she saw the three hunters. They nodded.

"Let's get out of here," Dean said as he, Sam, and George headed for the exit. "You two okay?"

Sam and George both stopped and turned.

"Dean, it knew about Jessica," Sam said.

"Sam, these things, they, they read minds. They lie. All right? That's all it was," Dean attempted to console his brother. George doubted Sam believed it.

"And what about Timothy, huh? The demon said they, whoever 'they' is, had their eyes on him. How do you explain that?"

"Again, Georgie, they read minds and lie."

She sighed, "Okay, yeah, I get it."

"Come on," Dean said.

George realized that she couldn't visit him. If she did, that would put him and even more danger. Best to leave him alone.

"Nobody knows what you guys did, but I do. A lot of people could have been killed." Jerry shook their hands. "Your dad's gonna be real proud."

"We'll see you around, Jerry," Sam said.

Dean began to head off. "You know, Jerry."

"Yeah?"

"I meant to ask you, how did you get my cellphone number, anyway? I've only had it for like six months.

"Your dad gave it to me," Jerry admitted.

"What?" Sam asked.

"When did you talk to him?" George questioned, hoping that this would lead them closer to finding John.

"I mean, I didn't exactly talk to him, but I called his number. His voice message said to give you a call. Thanks again, guys." Jerry left.

"This doesn't make any sense, man. I've called Dad's number like fifty times. It's been out of service," Sam said.

Dean dialed a number. As the voice message began, he turned it so Sam and George could hear too. "This is John Winchester," the voice message spoke, "I can't be reached. If this is an emergency, call my son, Dean. 785-555-0179, or my daughter, George. 202-555-0100. They can help."

Sam fumed and got into the car. Dean and George followed, and they drove off. George couldn't help but smile at the fact that John Winchester called her his daughter.

What did you think? A little too long?