A/N: Sorry for the long wait. School has been kicking my ass. Anyone else stuck in the middle of this snow storm on the east coast? Im so bored! Anyway, hope you guys like this chapter. Leave a review and tell me what you think!
Episode: Route 666
Disclaimer: I only own Allie Winchester
I woke up in the back seat of the impala once again. I've been waking up on this back seat for so long, I was sure my body was going to be permanently imprinted on Dean's leather seats. My head felt fuzzy from another dreamless sleep. Sam was crinkling an old map and Dean was on the phone with someone. Man, I couldn't wait till I had my own room again.
"Ok. I think I found a way we can bypass that construction just east of here. We might even make it to Pennsylvania faster than we thought." Sam said.
Dean lowered the phone and shook his head, "Yeah. Problem is, we're not going to Pennsylvania."
"We what?"
"I just got a call from an, uh, old friend. Her father was killed last night, think it might be our kind of thing."
"What?"
"Yeah. Believe me, she never woulda called, never, if she didn't need us."
"By old friend, you mean…"
"A friend that's not new." Dean retorted.
At that moment, I sprung up from the backseat. Everything clicked into place and I really wish it hadn't. Dean only got really defensive and secretive about certain specific people…people he felt vulnerable around and I can only think of two people that could be…
"No," I simply said.
"Shit, I thought you were sleeping." Dean jumped.
"No," I repeated.
"Allie, shut up."
"You're talking about Cassie!"
"I said shut up!"
"So her name's Cassie, huh?" Sam smirked from the front seat. "You never mentioned her."
"Dean, no."
"You keep saying that and I'm gonna keep ignoring you," Dean said.
"Dean," Sam pushed for more info about this Cassie chick since he was away at school when we got the pleasure of meeting her.
"Fine, we went out!" Dean sighed.
"You mean you dated somebody," Sam asked in disbelief. "For more than one night."
Dean wasn't one for sappy romantic relationships. He never was. Even when we were younger and girls surrounded him in high school. Granted we were never around long enough to get into something serious, but he never complained about it either.
Cassie was the one exception. For some reason, she got Dean wrapped around her pretty little finger when Dean and I did a hunt back in Ohio. However, that sweet lovey dovey bull crap died the same day she called us crazy for "hunting ghosts." She broke Dean's heart, leaving me to deal with the damages, and ever since, she's been the number one bitch on my shit list. You know how many assholes I have come across since then, and yet she still manages to hold first place? Yeah.
"Am I speaking a language you're not getting here? Allie and I were working a job in Ohio, she was finishing up college. We went out for a coupla weeks."
"And…?" Sam asked. Dean shrugged and I moped behind them. "Look, it's terrible about her dad, but it kinda sounds like a standard car accident. I'm not seeing how it fits with what we do. Which by the way, how does she know what we do?"
"Yeah, Dean. How does she know?" I asked dramatically.
"Allie, I am so close to throwing you out the window." Dean threatened.
Sam put two and two together, "You told her. You told her, the secret! Our big family rule number one. We do what we do and we shut up about it. For a year and a half I do nothing but lie to Jessica, and you go out with this chick in Ohio a coupla times and you tell her everything?" Dean stayed silent, shifting slightly in his seat uncomfortably. "Dean!"
"Yeah. Looks like it." Dean said grumpily.
Dean continued to look out the window and not engage in eye contact or conversation with either of us for the rest of our ride to Ohio.
The second that we passed the sign that said "Welcome to Ohio," I grew even grumpier. I was mad at Dean for treating this personal case like it was no big deal, I was annoyed that I was gonna have to face Cassie as if I wasn't holding a grudge, and I was probably going to be the person Sam goes to with all his nosy questions about Dean and Cassie because Dean will be too pissy to answer.
Our first stop was the newspaper office that Cassie worked at. When we walked in, everyone who worked there looked like they had a stick up their ass. First thing I thought of was how perfect this job was for Cassie.
I immediately recognized Cassie. She was towards the back of the office talking to someone that looked like it could be one of her superiors. Once he walked away, she turned around and spotted us.
Cassie and Dean stared at each other for a couple of seconds before either one of them said a word. Next to me, Sam was smirking since he's never seen Dean like this around a girl and yeah I agree, it was quite a sight the first time around. Comical even.
"Dean." She said.
"Hey Cassie."
Sam was still smiling to himself and since it was starting to make me sick, I elbowed him in his side.
Dean cleared his throat and motioned towards Sam and I. "This is my brother Sam, and you remember Allie." Sam smiled politely at her but I kept a straight face. Her polite grin faltered and returned her gaze back to Dean. "Sorry about your dad."
"Yeah, me too."
The tension was getting so thick I was ready to gag in front of everyone. So I cleared my throat and took a step forward, cutting off the staring contest between Dean and Cassie.
"How about we all go somewhere so we can talk about why we're really here." I said. Before anyone could respond, I turned on my heel and walked out the door.
We went to Cassie's house that she shared with her mom to talk about the real reason as to why we were here. Ironically, she didn't think her dad's death was due to a normal incident. She thought the cause had to do with something right up our ally. Weird!
On the way there, Dean made it clear that he was annoyed with how I was acting, and told me I better play nice or else he was going to "kick my ass into next year." Crazy thing is, it was an actual threat. Not just bull crap. Therefore, I tried my hardest to keep my mouth shut.
Cassie walked into her living room carrying a tray of tea and cups. "My mother's in pretty bad shape. I've been staying with her. I wish she wouldn't go off by herself. She's been so nervous and frightened. She was worried about dad."
"Why?"
Cassie poured her tea, "He was scared. He was seeing things."
"Like what?"
"He swore he saw an awful-looking black truck following him."
"A truck," Sam said. "Who was the driver?"
Cassie handed us a cup of tea and even though I don't drink tea, I took it without a smart ass comment. "He didn't talk about a driver. Just the truck. He said it would appear and disappear. And, in the accident, Dad's car was dented, like it had been slammed into by something big."
"Thanks. Now you're sure this dent wasn't there before?"
Dean looked at the tea the same way I did. We're black coffee drinkers and this just looked like hot horribly flavored water.
Cassie said, "He sold cars. Always drove a new one. There wasn't a scratch on that thing. It had rained hard that night. There was mud everywhere. There was a distinct set of muddy tracks leading from dad's car...leading right to the edge, where he went over." Cassie bowed her head to hold in her tears, "One set of tracks. His."
Despite how much I hated Cassie, what happened to her dad was horrible, and I did have somewhat of a heart to feel bad for her.
"The first was a friend of your fathers?"
"Best friend. Clayton Soames. They owned the car dealership together. Same thing. Dent. No Tracks. And the cops said exactly what they said about dad. He 'lost control of his car."
"Can you think of any reason why your father and his partner might be targets?"
"No."
"And you think this vanishing truck ran them off the road?" I honestly did try my best to not sound condescending when I said that.
Cassie sighed, "When you say it aloud like that...listen, I'm a little skeptical about this...ghost stuff...or whatever it is you guys are into."
Dean huffed, "Skeptical. If I remember, I think you said I was nuts."
"That was then," She said. I rolled my eyes and this time, Sam was the one to give me a warning glance. "I just know that I can't explain what happened up there. So I called you."
An older woman walked through the front door. I followed Sam and Dean's actions and rose to my feet. Cassie walked over to her mother and placed a comforting hand on her lower back.
"Mom. Where have you been I was so…"
Mrs. Robinson looked past her daughter at my brothers and I. "I had no idea you invited friends over."
"Mom, this is Dean, a...friend of mine from... college. And his brother Sam, and his sister Allie."
"Well I won't interrupt you," She said.
"Mrs. Robinson. We're sorry for your loss." Dean said. "We'd like to talk to you for a minute if you don't mind?"
Mrs. Robinson shook her head, disheveled. "I'm really not up for that right now."
On that note, Cassie said it was better if we cut this meeting short and just continue tomorrow morning. She was worried about her mom and wanted to be with her before she went to bed.
"Look, I know you hate Cassie, but you need to lighten up," Dean said to me as we got dressed the next morning. Cassie called us earlier than expected because another one of her father's friends passed away on the side of the road. "She needs our help and we need to treat this like any normal case."
"Whatever," I said, slipping my flannel on and tying my hair into a pony tail.
"No, not whatever." Dean grabbed my arm to make me look at him. My shoulders slumped and I sighed feeling the lecture coming on. "She's hurting!"
"She hurt you!"
"Yeah, she hurt me. Not you. So let me deal with this the way I want to deal with it and let it go."
"Dean –"
"Drop it," Dean demanded and dropped my arm.
I rolled my eyes and fell back onto the bed, covering my face with my hands. At that time, Sam walked through the motel door, telling us the car was ready and we should go now.
"What's the matter with you?" Sam asked as I walked by him.
"Take a wild guess," I said, passing him.
When we arrived, several cop cars surrounded the area where the body was found. His car wasn't too far away and behind it was the ambulance carrying his dead body away.
The man talking to Cassie once again didn't seem to be happy with what she was saying. A look we often got when we told people our theories of so called accidents.
"Did the cops check for additional denting on Jimmy's car, see if it was pushed?" Dean asked.
The man Cassie was talking to looked at Dean suspiciously and pointed between the three of us. "Who's this?"
"Dean and Sam and Allie Winchester. Family friends. This is Mayor Harold Todd."
"There's one set of tire tracks. One…doesn't point to foul play." The Mayor said uninterested.
"Mayor, the police and town officials take their cues from you. If you're indifferent about..." Cassie trailed off.
"Indifferent!" The Mayor said astonished.
"Would you close the road if the victims were white?" Cassie fought.
My eyebrows raised in surprise, not realizing the underlying hidden issues of this case.
"You suggesting I'm racist Cassie? I'm the last person you should talk to like that." The Mayor said defensively.
"And why is that?" Cassie stood her ground, refusing to stand down to anyone, including the freaking Mayor.
"Why don't you ask your mother," The Mayor walked away, leaving the four of us alone. No one knew what to say, so I just scratched my head and looked away.
Back in the motel room, Sam and Dean got dressed in suits and ties while I dressed in a pant suit so that we could talk to the new dead guy's friends and look professional.
"I'll say this for her, she's fearless." Sam said as he fixed his tie in the mirror.
In his own suit and tie Dean grumbled, "Mm-hmm."
Sam grinned, "Bet she kicked your ass a couple of times." Dean glanced at him but ignored the comment. "What's interesting is you guys never really look at each other at the Same time. You look at her when she's not looking, she checks you out when you look away. It's just a...just an interesting observation in a...you know...observationally interesting way."
"Sam, stop. I'm gonna puke." I groaned.
"You think we might have more pressing issues here?" Dean said.
Sam held up his hands, "Hey, if I'm hitting a nerve."
Dean turned away, having enough, "Let's go."
Sam snickered and followed behind him. That's when I realized I had to lighten up. Sam was having fun teasing Dean without me. We couldn't have that now, could we?
Dean drove down a wet country road to find the dead guy's friends down at the fishing pier. Yeah, I had to stop calling him the dead guy.
We walked over to two older men having lunch and beers.
"Excuse me. Are you Ron Stubbins?" Sam asked.
One of the men, assuming Ron, nodded.
"You were friends with the—I mean Jimmy Anderson?" I asked.
"Who are you?" Ron asked.
"We're Mr. Anderson's insurance company. We're just here to dot 'I's' and cross 'T's'."
"We were just wondering, had the deceased mentioned any unusual recent experiences?" Sam said.
"What do you mean, unusual?" Ron asked.
"Well visions, hallucinations…"
"It's part of a medical examination kind of thing. All very standard." Dean said.
Ron looked between the three of us skeptically. "What company did you say you were with?"
"All National Mutual. Tell me, did he ever mention seeing a truck? A big black truck?"
"What the hell you talking about? You even speaking English?" Ron said, getting worked up. Usually this is would be our time to leave and take a break, but the guy sitting next to Ron spoke up, gaining all of our attention.
"Son, this truck, a big scary monster looking thing?" He asked Dean.
"Yeah actually, I think so." Dean said.
"Hmm," The friend hummed.
"What?" I asked.
"I have heard of a truck like that," He said.
"You have?" Sam asked. "Where?"
"Not where. When. Back in the '60s there was a string of deaths. Black men. Story goes, they disappeared in a big, nasty, black truck."
"They ever catch the guy who did it?" I asked.
"Never found him. Hell, not sure they even really looked. See there was a time, this town wasn't too friendly to all it's citzens."
"Thank you," Sam said.
The three of us walked back to the impala parked near the edge of the pier. For the first time, I realized that Cassie wasn't entirely loco and that she was right when she said her father's death wasn't a normal human accident. Now, I was used to dealing with ghosts, demons, and wendigos, but scary ghostly monster trucks? Yeah, I don't know about that.
"Is this actually happening? I mean, seriously, a ghost truck? Is that even possible?" I asked.
"You know, I was thinking. You heard of the flying Dutchman?" Dean asked.
"No."
"Yeah," Sam said. "A ghost ship, infused with the Captain's evil spirit. It was basically part of him."
"How do you know that?" I looked at him like he was the biggest nerd ever.
Both my brothers ignored me.
Dean nodded, "So what if we're dealing with the same thing? You know, a phantom truck, an extension of some bastard's ghost, re-enacting past crimes."
"The victims have all been black men."
"There's got to be more than that," I shook my head. There was no way that every recent victim tied into Cassie's family was a coincidence. "They all seem connected to Cassie and her family. Dean you should go back and talk to her."
"Really?" Dean seemed surprise that I suggested it.
"Well I don't want to do it," I sassed.
"Yeah, and you might also want to mention that other thing," Sam said to Dean.
"What other thing?" Dean asked.
"The serious, unfinished business?" Sam filled in the blank. Dean continued to stay silent. "Dean, what is going on between you two?"
"All right, so maybe we were a little bit more involved than I said." Dean admitted.
I watched Sam's face soften as realization hit. Yeah, Dean was in love for the first time ever. Cassie was his first love and maybe that's what made me so mad, because for the first time Dean has ever showed vulnerability to someone other than Sam and I, it had to be her, and she had to ruin him.
"Oh, Ok," Sam said.
"OK, a lot more. Maybe. And I told her our secret, about what we do. And I shouldn't have."
"True that," I commented.
Dean rolled his eyes.
"Ah look man, everybody's gotta open up to someone sometime." Sam said, cutting him some slack.
"Yeah I don't. It was stupid to get that close. I mean, look how it ended." Dean said. Sam glanced between Dean and I, a smile inevitably pulling on his lips. And to be honest, Sam's giddiness for Dean's slowly showing soft side was becoming infectious. I bit my lips, trying to hold in my grin, but my lip was twitching upwards too. Dammit, Sam! "Would you stop!" Dean yelled at us, more Sam than me. "Blink or something!"
"You loved her." Sam said.
"Oh God," Dean said in disgust and turned around towards the car.
"You were in love with her, but you dumped her."
"Well…" I said in a high pitched voice. I didn't want to exactly rat Dean out, but I also didn't want Sam to get the wrong facts. Okay, maybe I did want to throw Dean under the bus just this once. He finds a way to do it to me all the time!
Sam's eyebrows raised in surprise and Dean stayed silent as if it was something to be embarrassed about.
"Oh, wow. She dumped you," Sam said.
"Get in the car," Dean said annoyed. Sam and I still didn't move, smiling to ourselves, "Get in the car!"
Well, it's currently two in the morning and Dean has yet to come back from talking with Cassie. I knew this was going to happen, and I'm not surprised or annoyed, but this shin dig better end more civil than the last time.
"Can I ask you a question?" Sam asked me as I laid half unconscious in finally my own bed now that Dean was gone.
I peeked one eye open, the other covered by the surprising fluffy motel pillow, "No."
"Why do you hate Cassie so much?"
"Sam," I groaned and sat myself upright to look at my twin brother with a squinted gaze. "I don't hate Cassie. I don't hate anybody."
"That's a lie," Sam cocked his head to the side and smirked.
I slapped my palms on the mattress, "Well, Sam, I don't know what you want from me." I said like a teenage girl who put too much effort into trying to explain herself.
"It's kinda crazy, you know? Dean being in love and all. I never thought I'd see the day."
"Yeah, I guess," I shrugged. After Cassie called us crazy for following our psycho dad who brainwashed us to believe in ghosts, Dean sped out of Ohio and it was the quietest and scariest ride of my life. Dean was swerving around every corner and blasting his rock music. Every time I tried to talk to him he would jerk the car to shut me up. Every town we stopped at Dean would spend his night with a random tramp from a skimpy bar. "But you didn't see him afterwards. That girl tore his heart in two and I was ready to kill her."
"I know the feeling," He laughed.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Remember Jimmy Buckley from when we were in the 9th grade back in Indiana? He dumped you for Haley Stats."
I glared at the memory, "Yeah…"
"When you came back to the motel room crying, Dean was about ready to go bash that kid's face in. I had to hold him back from leaving the room."
I couldn't help but grin at the thought of Dean beating up a fourteen year old on my behalf. Jimmy was my first real heartbreak, and the first time I ever cried over a boy. I always thought Dean was over the top when it came to me and boys. But now that I can finally see it through his perspective…it makes sense.
"Well it wasn't my finest moment in life."
"Maybe you should ease up and let him have fun," Sam suggested.
I wished I could roll my eyes and tell Sam to mind his own damn business, but my gut was telling me he was right.
"If this whole ordeal ends with Dean wearing a smile, I'll be happy for him, but if not, she better sleep with one eye open for the next year and a half," I sarcastically smiled sweetly and plopped my head back on the pillow.
"You and Dean are scary alike," Sam said with a smile and shake of his head.
"Don't remind me," I smirked.
That night, I fell asleep easier than I did the night before.
I woke up with a pillow thrown at my face from Sam who was scrambling around the room, getting changed and gathering his research.
"What the hell, Sam! You're supposed to be the nice brother and wake me gently!"
"The Mayor was killed last night." Sam said bluntly.
"What?" I said, now on full alert. "Did you call Dean?"
"Yeah, he's going to meet us there. Let's go!"
Sam and I took a cab to the field where the Mayor was run down by a runaway car and tragically killed. It was snowing when we go there and it was cold as shit. When we approached the police, I saw the body and it was the scariest scene I had ever seen on this job. I had to hold in my gag.
"He's with me," Sam pointed to Dean behind the caution tapes after we showed him our fake detective IDs.
The cop left us alone and Sam turned to Dean and with a sly grin, "Where were you last night? You didn't make it back to the hotel."
"Well…"
"I'm guessing you guys worked things out?" Sam asked, glancing at me sideways with an I told you so look.
"We'll be working things out when we're ninety. So what happened?"
I decided to step in and explain so that we didn't have to talk about Cassie anymore. "Its disgusting. Every bone crushed. Internal organ's turned to pudding. The cops are all stumped, it's like something ran him over."
"Something like a truck?" Dean asked.
"Yep."
"Tracks?"
"Nope."
"What was the Mayor doing here anyway?"
"He owned the property. Bought it a few weeks ago." Sam said.
"But he's white, he doesn't fit the pattern," Dean said.
"Killings didn't happen up on the road. That doesn't fit it either."
Since we were at a stump, Dean left us to visit Cassie at her newspaper gig for some more information since yesterday he didn't seem to be doing much of that. As he did that, Sam and I went to the courthouse library to look into their town history.
"Yo Sasquatch," I whispered to Sam as he shuffled through the shelves. Sam turned his head to glare at me, but I pointed to a dusty box on the top shelf. "Can you get this for me?"
Sam rolled his eyes but got the box down for me and even helped me go through it. Perfectly enough, the box contained old town records from the 60's that served right up our alley.
"You found it," Sam said as he held a file and started dialing Dean's number.
"Neither of you give me enough credit," I said.
Sam ignored me and spoke to Dean on his phone. "Ok, the courthouse records show that Mr. and Mrs. Mayor bought an abandoned property. The previous owner was the Dorian family for, like, 150 years. – What?"
"Put him on speaker," I slapped his shoulder.
Sam lowered his phone and raised the volume, "This Cyrus Dorian. He vanished in April of '63. The case was investigated but never solved. It was right around the time the string of murders was going on back then." Dean said.
"Well I pulled a bunch of papers up on the Dorian place, it musta been in bad shape when the Mayor bought." Sam said.
"For the record, I found those papers." I commented.
"Why's that?" Dean asked. Not to me, but to smarty pants Sam.
"The first thing he did was bulldoze the place." Sam said.
Dean's voice muffled as he turned to talk to Cassie, "Mayor Todd knocked down the Dorian place?"
"It was a big deal. One of the oldest houses left. He made the front page." Cassie answered.
"You got a date?" Dean asked Sam.
I fingered through the files and pulled out a piece of paper with the answer to Dean's question. "The 3rd of last month."
I heard typing from the other side of the phone call and assumed that Dean was looking something up on the internet. "Mayor Todd bulldozed the Dorian family home on the 3rd. The first killing was the very next day."
"There's our missing piece," I said.
During the night, Dean got a frantic phone call from Cassie screaming for him. Apparently the killer truck was right outside her house, getting ready for the kill. Since I grew somewhat of a heart in the past 24 hours, I went with Sam and Dean to Cassie's. However, when we got there, the truck was nowhere to be found and Cassie and her mom were sitting in their living room in the pitch black dark. They closed and boarded up their windows during the scare.
Sam, being the saint that he is, made Cassie and her mother tea to help calm them down. Dean sat beside Cassie protectively and I had a chair near Mrs. Robinson. I kept glancing at Dean and Cassie and surprisingly could actually see the love between the two. It made me want to yak.
"Maybe you could throw a couple of shots in that." Cassie said with shaky hands as Sam handed her a cup of tea.
"You didn't see who was driving the truck?" I asked. Dean looked at me, his eyes slightly narrowed and he looked somewhat confused. This is what I get for not being sassy to the girl.
"It seemed to be no one. Everything was moving so fast. And then it was just gone. Why didn't it kill us?"
"Whoever was controlling the truck wants you afraid first." Dean said.
"Mrs. Robinson, Cassie said that your husband saw the truck before he died." Sam spoke to her mother.
Mrs. Robinson didn't answer right away. She was shaking in her seat on the couch next to Sam.
"Mom?" Cassie asked worriedly.
"Oh. Martin was under a lot of stress. You can't be sure about what he was seeing."
"Well after tonight I think we can be reasonably sure he was seeing a truck. What happened tonight, you and Cassie are marked. Ok? Your daughter could die." Dean said protectively. "So if you know something now would be a really good time to tell us about it."
"Dean…" Cassie warned lightly.
"Yes." Mrs. Robinson finally admitted. She sounded relieved but nervous, and I figured she'd been holding in this secret for a long time now. "Yes, he said he saw a truck."
"Did he know who it belonged to?" I tried to ask as sweetly as possible.
"He thought he did," She answered.
"Who was that?" Dean asked.
Mrs. Robinson physically got more upset and tried her best to hold in her tears but that just wasn't happening. Her hands clenched on to her tissues and her eyes were squeezed tight, as if she's trying to unsee the memory we're bringing up.
"Cyrus," She said. "A man named Cyrus."
Dean and I looked at each other at the name. Cyrus sounded really familiar.
Dean pulled out a newspaper from his bag and showed it to Cassie's mom, "Is this Cyrus?"
Mrs. Robinson looked at it and nodded her head, "Cyrus Dorian died more than 40 years ago."
Pause. The paper clearly stated that Cyrus Dorian went missing, but it never said whether he retuned home or was found dead.
Dean caught on too, "How do you know he died, Mrs Robinson? The paper's said he went missing. How do you know he died?"
Mrs. Robinson continued to explain through her tears, "We were all very young. I dated Cyrus a while, I was also seeing Martin...in secret of course. Inter-racial couples didn't go over too well back then. When I broke it off with Cyrus and when he found out about Martin, I don't know, he, changed. His hatred. His hatred was frightening."
"The murders," Sam said, putting two and two together. Cyrus's hatred made him a murderer.
"There were rumours. People of colour disappearing into some kind of a truck. Nothing was ever done. Martin and a... Martin and I, we were gunna be, uh, married in that little church near here, but last minute we decided to elope as we didn't want the attention."
"What about Cyrus?" I asked.
With my question, Mrs. Robinson completely broke down. I had clearly hit a nerve, but it meant that my question was important.
"The day we set for the wedding, was the day someone set fire to the church. There was a children's choir practicing in there. They all died."
A silence fell around us as we sunk in the information. Killing a bunch of kids just because you're "pissed" is deep. I couldn't even imagine what Mrs. Robinson was feeling. Although it's not her fault that it happened, she must have felt extremely guilty. I know I would if I was in her position.
Sam broke the silence first with a soft tone, "Did the attacks stop after that?"
Mrs. Robinson was now full on sobbing, "No! There was one more. One night that truck came for Martin. Cyrus beat him something terrible. But Martin, you see, Martin got loose. And he started hitting Cyrus and he just kept hitting him and hitting him."
"Why didn't you call the cops?" Dean asked.
"This was forty years ago. He called on his friends, Clayton Soames and Jimmy Anderson, and they put Cyrus' body into the truck and they rolled it into the swamp at the end of his land and all three of them kept that secret all of these years."
"And now all three are gone," I said.
"And so is Mayor Todd." Dean added. "Now he said that you of all people would know he is not a racist. Why would he say that?"
"He was a good man. He was a young Deputy back then investigating Cyrus' disappearance. Once he figured out what Martin and the others had done he...he did nothing, because he also knew what Cyrus had done."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Cassie asked.
"I thought I was protecting him," Mrs. Robinson called. "And now there's no one left to protect."
"Yes there is," Dean said, wrapping his arm around Cassie again.
Cassie looked down at her hands nervously and Mrs. Robinson…well, she continued to cry and shake next to Sam.
Now that we had all the info we needed, how the hell were we gonna stop a killer ghost truck from running over the Robinsons?
Cassie asked us to wait outside for her until her mom fell asleep. So here we were, awkwardly standing by the impala outside of her house, trying to come up with some brilliant plan to save Dean's love's ass. Sam and I leaned against the impala while Dean stressfully paced back and forth in front of us.
"Ah, my life was so simple. Just school, exams, papers on polycentric cultural norms." Sam reminisced with a smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes. If you asked me, hunting seems way easier than all that crap…just more dangerous.
"Well I guess I saved you from a boring existence," Dean said.
"Yeah, occasionally I miss boring."
"Whatever," I rolled my eyes and faced my two brothers to talk about business. "So this killer truck –"
"I miss conversations that didn't start with 'this killer truck.'" I whacked Sam in the chest with the back of my hand to shut up. Although, I couldn't stop myself from cracking a grin.
Dean chuckled next to us, "Well this Cyrus guy. Evil on a level that infected even his truck. When he died, the swamp became his tomb, and his spirit was dormant for 40 years."
"So what woke it up?" I asked.
"The construction of his house. Or the destruction." Dean said.
"Right," Sam snapped his fingers as he remembered. "Demolition or remodelling can awaken spirits, make them restless."
"Mm-hmm," Dean hummed.
"Like the theatre in Illinois, ya know?"
"And the guy that tore down the family homestead, Harold Todd, is the same guy that kept Cyrus' murder quiet and unsolved."
"So now his spirit is awake and out for blood," I sighed. Okay, maybe Sam's school work was more simple than hunting killer trucks.
"Yeah I guess. Who knows what ghosts are thinking anyway."
"You know we're going to have to dredge that body up from the swamp right." Sam said, looking between the two of us, frowning.
I groaned in disgust, "Gross." I've seen skeletons before, but I've never seen one that's been submerged under muddy water for forty years. I already knew that thing was going to be nasty.
Dean grinned in front of me and paused his pacing to look at me. "Look, Al, I appreciate you being so cool on this trip…sorta."
Did I hear him right? I quirked an eyebrow and stuck my head out in confusion, "Really?"
"Really?" Even Sam was surprised.
"Trust me, I know you could be worse," Dean said. I bit my lip and straightened up, looking at the ground. He had a point. I could be brutal to those that I don't like. "So, thanks."
"Yeah well, like I told Sam, if she makes one wrong move…" I trailed off when I spotted Cassie walking towards us out of the corner of my eye. Dean rolled his eyes and looked behind him at what I was looking at.
I turned to Sam who just laughed to himself and shook his head, "I'll say it again, you two are –"
"Don't." I held my hand up.
"Hey," Dean said.
"Hey. She's asleep," She looked between the three of us, tucking her hands into her back pockets. "Now what?"
"Well you should stay put and look after her... and we'll be back. Don't leave the house."
Cassie smiled up at him, "Don't go getting all authoritative on me. I hate it."
"Yeah we all do," I grumbled behind them.
Dean glanced behind us with a slightly embarrassed look and I swore his cheeks were tinting pink. I smirked and Sam looked down with a shit-eating grin.
"Don't leave the house please?" Dean mumbled.
My mouth dropped open in surprise. Cassie had literally broken him down to become a soft guy! Wow!
Unfortunately, next thing I knew, Dean and Cassie were making out in front of us. What I thought was going to be one peck on the lips had turned into a full out make out session. I frowned at the mouth sucking couple. Sam tried clearing his throat to make it obvious that the two of us were awkwardly standing there. And you know what Dean did? He held up his freaking finger, telling us to wait a second.
"Alright assholes," I said jokingly but somewhat serious. I tapped on the trunk of the impala as I rounded the car to get in on the other side. "We have a killer truck to catch."
Cassie and Dean pulled apart. Dean was glaring at me but surprisingly enough, Cassie was grinning at me.
"Wait, Allie," Cassie said before I could slide into the back seat.
"Me?" I froze and pointed to myself as if she had confused me for someone else.
"Yeah," She giggled.
I hesitantly walked over to her, glancing over my shoulder at Sam and Dean who were no doubt eavesdropping from the their spots in front seats.
I crossed my arms over my chest and watched her nervously. She sighed, "I know Dean told you what I said about your dad and your family."
"That we're a family full of psychos and –"
"Yes," Cassie cut me off, embarrassed to hear it said out loud again now that the real truth was out and she ironically needed our help against a spirit. "I wanted to personally tell you I'm sorry. You have every right to hate me, but…" She trailed off thoughtfully. "Have you ever been in love before?"
Her question threw me off, and I choked on my words. I've never really talked about my love life to anyone, and I didn't want to start now with someone I don't even consider my friend, and on top of that Sam and Dean were listening in.
I'll admit one person did come to mind, but there was no way I was admitting to that now. Especially when Dean was eavesdropping.
"Uh…"
"I'll take that as a yes," She smirked and my eyebrows popped up in surprise. "I only ask because if you have you know what its like and that you would know that I would never hurt Dean on purpose because I did love him. So… I'm sorry for what I said."
"Look, I don't hate you," I said. Great, now I feel bad about how I was acting for the past 48 hours. "I mean I did, but…" I glanced behind me again, looking at Dean's reflection off the side view mirror. "You're not that bad for the track record Dean has." I laughed to myself. Hearing that, Dean slammed on the horn, making me jump out of my pants basically and blowing out my ear drum. "Ah. Sorry I'm not good at this kind of thing. What I meant to say was, sorry for being a dick."
Cassie laughed, "No worries. Be careful out there. Make sure he comes back in one piece."
I smirked, "That's my job."
Dean drove to the destruction of the Dorian property. Behind it was a smelly cloudy swamp, where Cyrus had been laying for forty years. The thought of seeing this body made me want to hurl but I knew it had to be done.
Sam hooked a giant chain to the truck in the swamp and to a tractor we found at the construction site, where Dean waited to drive the truck out of the swamp.
"All right. Let's get her up." Sam called out to Dean.
Dean backed the tractor up slowly, pulling the truck out of the water. The windows were down, making the pungent smell of dead Cyrus even stronger than it had to be. The smell made me involuntarily gag. Sam too for that matter. I slapped my hand over my mouth and nose and took a couple of steps backward.
"All right. A little more. Little more. All right, stop." Sam said.
Dean turned off the engine of the tractor and walked around to the trunk of the impala.
"I'm gonna puke," I gagged.
"Nice," Sam grinned.
"Hell yeah," Dean said.
Boys are gross.
"Now I know what she sees in you," Sam said, looking directly at Dean.
"Jeez, Sam. How many times are you going to bring this up?" I said.
Sam ignored me and took another step closer to Dean, "Come on man, you can admit it. You're still in love with her."
"Ah, can we focus please," Dean said annoyed.
"I'm just saying Dean."
Dean continued to ignore him and handed me a flashlight and Sam got the gasoline.
"Okay, let's get this done," Dean said, shutting the trunk of the car.
The boys walked over to the water soaked truck and opened the driver's seat door. The dead body fell out of the car with a thump.
"Oh my god," I choked and turned away.
"All right let's get to it," Dean grimaced.
Dean covered the dead guy with rock salt while Sam poured the gasoline. My incredibly helpful job was to shine the flashlight on the corpse as they torched it. Dean tossed the lighter onto the guy.
Together we watched the truck burn and I felt so relieved that we got this job done finally and could get the hell out of here. I mean, I'm happy Dean got reunited with his love or whatever, but I was tired of Sam drooling over the two of them.
"Think that'll do it?" Sam asked.
On cue, the killer ghost truck shined it's bright lights on us, sitting their threateningly with its engine revving.
Dammit.
"I guess not," Dean said.
"So burning the body had no effect?" Sam said loudly.
"Sure it did." I said. "Now it's really pissed!" I anxiously motioned to the truck that was ready to run me over and turn me into pudding.
"But Cyrus' ghost is gone, right?" Sam's voice kept rising as his anxiety level built. We were all gonna die.
"Apparently not the part that's fused with the truck," Dean walked backwards towards the impala.
"Where are you going?" I yelled.
"Going for a little ride," He said casually.
"What!" Sam exasperated.
"Gunna lead that thing away. That piece of crap, you gotta burn it."
"How the hell am I supposed to burn a truck Dean?" Sam shouted.
Dean tossed the bag with all of our salt and burn tools from the car towards Sam.
My head snapped between Sam and Dean, feeling knocked between a rock and a hard place. I was torn between helping Sam and following Dean to make sure he doesn't die alone by this stupid ghost truck.
"Shit," I hissed and sprinted towards the impala before Dean could veer off.
"What are you doing?" Dean yelled at me when I threw myself in the front seat.
I snapped my seatbelt into place. "You're not dying alone!"
"Get out of the car!"
"Dean, we don't have time to argue about this, now step on it!" I shouted.
Dean turned from looking at me to the killer truck and realizing he had no time to argue with me, he sped out of the property onto the dirt road. The truck sped right behind us. Dean steered the car in all kinds of directions to throw it off, but all it did was make it angrier and me nauseous.
"If we make it out of here alive, I'm gonna kill you," Dean said between clenched teeth.
"Dean, I know you're mad at me and we've been on rocks this entire hunt, but its only because I don't want to see you get hurt again." My body slid to the door side of the car as Dean whipped the impala to the right down a random road. "Cassie broke you, and I just didn't want to see it happen again. Okay? I'm sorry!"
The truck violently knocked the back corner of the impala. The car jerked to the side and Dean lost control for half a second. Okay, I'm really gonna get sick.
Dean never responded to me, granted he had a murdering spirit behind us and his attention was a little shifted.
"Call Sam," He demanded.
I pulled out my phone and rang Sam who answered on the second dial. I put the phone on speaker so Dean could listen in.
"Hey, you gotta give me a minute," Sam answered.
"Seriously?" My mouth dropped open. "Sam, we don't have a minute! What are we doing?" I asked, nervously looking back through the rear view mirror.
"Ahh. Let me get back to you," He said and get this – hung up on me!
Dean looked at my phone astounded, "Get back to me?"
"What the hell?" I yelled.
"Shit," Dean swerved. "Look, Allie. I get it. But I'm 26. I don't need my kid sister looking out for me."
"Yeah, well I'm 22 and don't need my macho big brother looking out for me either, but do you see me complaining?"
"Yes," Dean said as a matter-of-factly.
I rolled my eyes, "Whatever. Whether I'm younger or not, I'm always going to make sure you're alright."
My phone rang again and thank god it was Sam.
"This better be good," Dean said.
"Where are you?" Sam asked.
"In the middle of no where with a killer truck on my ass! It's like it knows I put the torch to Cyrus." Dean shouted into the phone.
"Listen to me, this is important. I have to know exactly where you are."
I shifted forward in my seat and squinted at the rectangular green street sign. "Decatur road, about two miles off the highway."
"Ok. Headed East?" Sam asked as if Dean and I were just going on a casual cruise in the impala in the mid afternoon.
"Yes!"
The truck backended the truck again, jerking me forward, almost through the windshield, but luckily, Dean stuck his arm out to stop me.
"You son of a bitch!" He barked.
"Oh, ahhh, turn right! Up ahead, turn right."
Dean swung the car down the road to the right at the very last second. I grabbed onto the door handle and glove compartment to steady myself. When did I take my seat belt off?
"You make the turn?" Sam asked.
"Yeah I made the turn!" Dean yelled frustrated. "You need to move this thing along a little faster."
"All right, you see a road up ahead?"
"No!" Dean shouted quickly.
"Wait. Yes!" I hit Dean's shoulder and pointed ahead. As Dean sped towards it, the front headlights illuminated the road.
"Okay, yes," Dean repeated.
I looked into my side view mirror and saw the truck was gaining on my side of the car. "Dean…" I said warily. Dean looked into the rear view mirror and stepped harder on the gas pedal.
"Ok, turn left." Sam said.
"Wha…" Dean stretched out his hand in front of me again and slammed on his breaks. The truck zoomed past us as he spun the impala left on a narrow dirt road.
"All right, now what?"
"You need to go seven tenths of a mile and then stop," Sam said.
"Stop?" I exclaimed.
"Exactly seven tenths, Dean." Sam repeated, ignorning me.
Dean inched his head closer to the speedometer, "Seven tenths, seven tenths," Dean repeated.
In about ten seconds, Dean slammed on the breaks and whipped the wheel around, turning the car backwards to face the killer truck that was just stopped and looking us.
"Dean, you still there?" Sam asked.
"Yeah."
"Yeah I am too," I rolled my eyes.
"What's happening?" Sam asked.
"It's just staring at us, what do I do?" Dean said.
"Just what you are doing, bringing it to you." Sam said.
"Wha…"
Before I knew it, the truck came barreling towards us, the fastest that it's driven yet. I didn't even have time to scream. I covered my eyes and slumped down in my spot on the seat. I heard the tires squeal and the engine rev. And then a couple seconds later, it was silent.
I peeked through my fingers and didn't see the truck anymore. I twisted around to look behind me but the truck was completely gone. Now I could only hear one engine and it was the impala's.
"Dean. You still there? Dean?" Sam asked.
"Again, so am I." I sighed.
"Where'd it go?" Dean asked shocked.
"Dean, you're where the church was," Sam said lightly.
"What church!" Dean exclaimed.
"The place Cyrus burned down. Murdered all those kids." Sam explained.
I looked behind me again, "There's not a whole lot left."
"Church ground is hallowed ground, whether the church is still there or not. Evil spirits cross over hallowed ground, sometimes they're destroyed, so I figured, maybe, that would get rid of it."
Dean and I paused to look at each other, repeating in our heads what Sam just said and wondering if we heard him right.
"Maybe? Maybe! What if you were wrong?" Dean yelled.
"Huh. Honestly that thought hadn't occurred to me," Sam said.
My mouth dropped open and I just stared at the phone. Dean yanked the flip phone out of my hand and snapped it shut, looking just as astounded as I was.
"Well it honestly didn't occur to me," Dean mimicked and slapped the steering wheel. "I'm gonna kill him."
My head fell back on the head rest and I exhaled a deep breath. At least we're alive.
We picked up Sam, and after Dean and I threw some colorful words in his direction for risking our lives on a hunch, we drove to the docks where we met up with Cassie. Sam and I decided to stay in the car while Dean said his goodbye because I didn't want to listen to that sappy crap and Sam wanted to respect their privacy…with the windows down.
"My mother says to tell you thanks again," Cassie grinned, and looked down to the ground. "This is a better goodbye than last time."
"Yeah well maybe this time it will be a little less permanent." Dean replied. I looked at Sam with and quirked an eyebrow. When will we ever have time to come back for free time? We still didn't know where Dad was.
"You know what? I'm a realist. I don't see much hope for us Dean." Cassie said honestly.
Whoa. Didn't see that one coming.
"Well I've seen stranger things happen. A hell of a lot stranger."
True.
"Good bye, Dean," Cassie tilted her head up and placed a chaste kiss on Dean's lips.
"I'll see ya Cassie…I will."
They stared at each other for a second before they separated, and Dean hopped into the passenger seat of the car and Sam drove off.
Sam and I waited until we were on the road to bring Cassie up. I watched Dean from the back seat and noticed his happier demeanor and lasting grin on his lips. In the end I was happy that Dean took us on this hunt despite my protests in the beginning. Dean finally got closure – something I never considered. And I was happy for him.
"I like her," Sam finally spoke.
"Yeah," Dean said absentmindedly.
"You meet someone like her, doesn't it makes you wonder if it's worth it? Putting everything else on hold, doing what we do?"
Dean looked at Sam for a moment and smiled widely. He reached for his sunglasses, slipping them on over his eyes. "Why don't you wake me up when it's my turn to drive?" Dean slouched in his seat and closed his eyes.
"Wait, Allie." Sam said, looking at me through the rearview mirror. "Have you actually been in love before?"
I froze in my spot in the back seat. Dammit, they did overhear mine and Cassie's short conversation.
Dean's ears perked up and he lowered his sunglasses down to make eye contact with me.
I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to talk about it, especially not to Dean. I gulped and plastered a fake smile on my face, hoping it looked believable enough to pass on as easy and playful.
"C'mon, Sam. When have I ever had time to fall in love?" I teased.
Dean shrugged his shoulders, believing me. Plus, he was around me most of the time, he would notice a boy hanging around me all the time. Or so you would think. Sam on the hand seemed more suspicious, but luckily dropped the topic of discussion and continued to focus on driving.
Thank god all this lovey-dovey nonsense was over. Now we could continue our lives without the drama…hopefully. All of us were happy and that's all that mattered. Next on the list was to find Dad and hopefully kill whatever it is that killed Mom. That's what matters now.