ROUTE 666 PART 3
Cigarette smoke and booze permeated the bar parking lot as Alice watched people filter in and out of the building. Some people were either wholly sober or totally drunk, tripping over their friends who tried to carry them out. No one took notice of Alice though, and she watched them silently as they got into their cars, flashed their high beams in her eyes, and pulled out of the parking lot.
Alice looked on with a thousand-yard stare as she brought her beer to her lips. She tipped her head back to drink when another ray of headlights blinded her, but this time she heard the low hum of a familiar car pulling up beside her. Alice turned her head and saw Sam climbing out of the Impala.
"Of course I'd find you at the bar. You're turning into Dean," Sam said with a laugh and walked over to her.
Alice scoffed and tipped her beer down her throat. "And you're gonna get killed by Dean. Did you really take his car?" she said slowly. Clearly, this wasn't her first beer of the night.
Sam smiled nervously and stood to her right, leaning against her bike. "Yeah, but He won't notice. He should be looking into old records right now."
"At the library? I don't think it's open at this time." Alice asked, tilting her head back to take another drink.
Sam hesitated momentarily, but his words came out before he could think of anything else. "No…he's at Cassie's house."
Alice halted and slowly pulled her beer away. Her face hardly looked like it had changed, but her eyes gradually began to boil. "Oh….I see," she said roughly.
Sam felt his heart clench a little with her flat remark. It sounded completely harmless, but her eyes were blazing with this intense heat, making him a little nervous about speaking again. Still, he pushed on and promised himself he wouldn't backpedal no matter what she said.
"Alice…." Sam began gently, waiting for her to look at him. She never did though. "I know you're stressed right now."
Alice tensed a little. She clenched her beer bottle tightly and slowly put it on the ground. For some reason though, the slow and deliberate way she did it made Sam's heart speed up. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about, Sam?"
"So you're not jealous at all of Cassie?" Sam pushed on with no hesitation. He jumped though when Alice snapped her head and glared coldly at him. immediately, he held his hands up in a defensive manner. Hoping to relay a silent message that he meant no harm by his words. "Just…just hear me out. Please? I just think you should know this."
Continuing to stare at him, Alice slowly began to calm down. She picked her beer back up and held it tightly. "What is this really about?" she said, sounding defeated.
"It's about Dean. Alice…what are you so worried about?"
"I'm not worried, Sam." Alice shook her head.
Sam didn't look at all convinced and knew she was lying when she opened her mouth. "Really? Alice, I've been with you constantly for the past year. I know when you're lying. Please…you can tell me what you're thinking. I won't judge."
"Sam..."
"You're my closest friend," Sam quickly interjected. "I don't want you to think that there's anything between Dean and Cassie. Because I know there isn't," he insisted.
Alice's face slowly began to turn sullen, and her eyes became hollow and bleak. "How do you know?" she said dejectedly.
"Because I know my brother…and I've seen how he looks at you. Have you seen the look in his eyes? The way he talks about you? I've never….seen Dean this happy before. There's no way he's going to give that up….no way," Sam responded genuinely. He didn't know any other way to explain it, but he hoped this was enough. He prayed that this was enough.
Alice's face, usually masked and unreadable, faltered a little. Giving away to these raw emotions that slipped through the cracks of her facade. Her eyes were fierce and burning, but not with an intense range of jealousy anymore. She still looked sullen and discouraged...but not without a hint of odd clarity.
Alice lowered her shaking head. "I know, Sam. I knew all this time that it was just in my head. My own personal shortcomings," she said with a deep sigh, pouring out the rest of her beer and tossing the empty bottle away. "I gotta talk to him before all this is over..."
This was the clarity that began to shine through her bleak eyes. Alice always knew that these feelings of dread weren't real. That the image she saw of Dean and Cassie was never there. It was nothing but a figment of her imagination and emotions. Something she had never once learned to control in all her years. Even when Aiden was still alive, her inner demons always seemed to grab a hold and taunt her with false scenarios that never really happened.
This was one of them.
An ugly game made up by the demons in her mind.
"I think that's a good idea." Sam nodded his head and took in a sharp breath. He couldn't deny that hearing Alice say this herself felt good. To know that she was already aware. "You're the type of person who doesn't relay their emotions to anyone and bottles them up. And I think this was a defense mechanism you developed a long time ago. I want to let you know that you no longer have to do that. At least not with us. We got your back no matter what."
A faint hint of a smile slowly stretched to her lips. "You're a good friend, Sam. My only friend, actually." Her smile slowly settled into a neutral expression as she thought to herself. "I'm…really glad I met you two. I don't know where I'd be in life if I didn't run into you and Dean back at Blackwater Ridge." Alice raised her hand and patted his shoulder. She then crept her hand further up and grabbed the top of his head, ruffling his hair until he started to laugh.
It wasn't long after that when Alice's phone began to go off. She released Sam, and still smiling, pulled out her phone to see that Dean was calling.
"It's Dean," she said before answering. She waited momentarily when her eyes suddenly went wide. "Wait, what!"
The signs were as clear as day. Mayor Todd's body lay splayed out on the ground with his limbs contorted oddly. His skin was as white as snow, and his eyes were milky and empty. A sign that he had been dead for only a couple of hours. Alice later realized that he must've passed away sometime last night, unseen by anyone until morning.
After silently looking over his body for another minute, Alice signaled the forensics team to cover him back up with a tarp. She stood back up and was immediately handed a clipboard with the report on it.
"Thanks," she said, walking back over to Sam and Dean waiting by the road. "Every bone crushed, and his internal organs were turned to mush. The cops are all stumped. It's like something ran him over," she explained while reading off the report on the clipboard.
"Something like a truck?" Dean asked.
Alice nodded. "If the shoe fits."
"Any tracks?"
"No. Same situation as last time."
Dean huffed, growing frustrated with the way things were turning out. "What was the mayor doing out here anyway?" he asked.
"He owned the property. Bought it a few weeks ago," Sam answered while looking at the report.
Dean looked perplexed and glanced over to the body still covered by the tarp. There was still one question he had that was going unanswered. "But he's white, he doesn't fit the pattern."
Alice nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and the accident didn't happen while driving on the road either," she frowned and ran her fingers through her hair, looking just as puzzled as Dean was. "Maybe the pattern is something else. We're missing something. I just know it." It was getting frustrating now because the pieces they did have still weren't fitting together. It was like they were missing just one more thing. One big thing.
Dean and Alice sat by each other on separate computers, staring at old articles that went back to the 60's. Turns out, this wasn't the first time strange killings had happened. It appeared to be quite an incident, but it didn't look like the paper covered much of the event.
"Here." Cassie walked up and handed them both a mug filled with tea.
"Thanks," Dean thanked her. "So we're trying to find some link between those killings back in the '60s and what's going on now. There wasn't a lot about it in the paper."
"Not surprising. Probably minimal policework too. Back then equal justice under the law wasn't too literal around here," Cassie said, pulling up a seat.
At that moment, Alice felt her phone begin to go off in her pocket. She scooted her chair back and fished it. "Sam? You find anything out?" she answered.
Sam's voice could be heard on the other end. "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."
Alice pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at Cassie and Dean. "Sam says Mayor Todd had bought a plot of land that has been abandoned, and that the previous owner was the Dorian family." Her eyes then fell on Cassie. "Dorian… why does that name sound familiar?"
Dean looked perplexed, "Didn't you say the Dorian family used to own this paper?"
Cassie nodded. "Along with everything else around here. Real pillars of the town."
Alice nodded and handed the phone off to Dean. She turned back to her computer and began to look up things about the Dorian family. It wasn't long into the search that something suspicious popped up. "How about that…" she muttered while leaning back in her chair.
Dean scooted closer to check out her screen. "What is it?"
Alice moved the screen over a little so he and Cassie could see. "This is Cyrus Dorian. He vanished in April of '63. The case was investigated but was never solved. It was right around that time that the string of murder was going on back then." She gestured the phone back and put it up against her ear. "Sammy, did you get that?"
"Yeah. I pulled a bunch of papers up on the Dorian place, it must've been in bad shape when the mayor bought it." Sam said.
Alice frowned. "Why's that?"
"The first thing he did was bulldoze the place."
This puzzled Alice, and she gave Cassie a side-eye. "Mayor Todd knocked down the Dorian place?"
Cassie confirmed it by nodding. "It was a big deal. One of the oldest houses left. He made the front page."
"Do we have a date?" Dean spoke, eager to learn more.
"Was there a date?" Alice asked, waiting for Sam to rustle through the paper she could hear through the call. After a moment, Sam got back to them.
"Ahhh. The 3rd of last month," Sam said.
Alice nodded in response and once again gave the phone to Dean so she could look it up. After pulling up the article, her face hardened immediately, eyes blazing like a furnace. "That's funny, and you wanna know why? Mayor Todd bulldozed the Dorian family home on the 3rd. The first killing was the very next day," she finished before exchanging a knowing look with Dean.
It was late at night, and the boys decided to stay out, leaving Alice behind at Cassie's house. Despite Cassie's repeated attempts to come up with a conversation starter, Alice did not seem interested in talking. Instead, she buried herself in her work and had been at it for hours. It was both concerning and impressive to see someone so committed, but also concerning due to Alice's insomnia.
Even though she felt awkward, Cassie walked out into the living room and set a cup of coffee on a spot that wasn't covered in loose papers. "Dean said you drink coffee when you pull all-nighters. I thought you would want some," she said, sounding unsure about herself.
Alice frowned and looked up from her work for the first time. She stared at the steaming mug of black coffee, then back to Cassie, who looked nervous. "He did? Ah…thank you, Cassie." Alice said awkwardly before reaching down and taking the tiniest sip of her coffee.
She gently set the mug back on the table when something glowing caught the corner of her eye. She turned her head and saw a light shimmering through the window's blinds, followed by the low rumbling noise of an engine. For a moment, Alice thought it was the Impala pulling back into the driveway, but after silently listening, she quickly realized that it didn't sound right. It couldn't have been the boys.
"Are Sam and Dean back?" Cassie asked. When she approached the front door, Alice suddenly pulled her back, preventing her from opening it. "Wait. What are you doing?"
"It's not them," Alice said, her voice dropping dangerously low. She pulled Cassie behind her before taking a slow step toward the window. She gazed through the blinds just as bright headlights turned on and blinded her, the sound of a revving engine quickly coming to her ears. Alice turned away from the window just as the lights inside the house began to flicker.
It sounded like the truck was on all sides of the house, running right up towards the four walls and coming inches shy of hitting. Cassie reacted immediately and pulled Alice away, using her free hand to shut the blinds. She tried her best to block all the windows, but an unknown force caused all of them to burst open, letting wind spill in and sending the lost papers flying all over the place.
"Alice! Alice!" Cassie cried out as she backed into a corner, feeling trapped and scared in her home.
Alice heard the truck outside right outside as she stepped between Cassie and the front door. She held her hand up for Cassie to stay put before turning and heading for the door. Ignoring Cassie's pleas, Alice grabbed the handles and pushed the doors open, letting the bright headlights fill the dark hallway.
The heavy engine noise made the porch vibrate as she stepped down, coming face to face with the mysterious truck at long last. It was exactly how others had described it to be. It was a large four-door black truck with an engine loud enough to hear a mile away. Fog rolled in around the machine, giving it a supernatural feeling, and the heavy smell of gas in the air was enough to choke on.
The truck continued to rev its engine, jolting forward a couple times like it was threatening to ram straight through Alice and the house. It even backed up a bit before gassing it and speeding right up to the front porch, stopping just a hairs distance away.
All of these threats didn't even make Alice flinch though. She was like a statue and didn't even move, standing still with her arms crossed and face unreadable. She stared down the truck for only a minute until it began to back away. Instead of speeding towards the house though, it just disappeared into the darkness, and the loud engine noise ceased to rattle.
Alice waited for at least another minute before descending the steps. She quickly looped around the house to ensure nothing was broken. Once she deemed everything safe, she headed back inside where Cassie was already on the phone with Dean.
Cassie was beside herself as the boys sat around her, Mrs. Robinson and Alice. She was shaking like it was cold in the room and refused to look anyone in the eyes. If there was any doubt left in her mind about this being supernaturally related, it was gone now. This singular moment is what solidified what the boys had already believed.
Alice, on the other hand, didn't look rattled at all. She was calm and had an inquisitive look about her. She wasn't sitting like everyone else but pacing back and forth across the room, trapped in a spiral of brainstorming about the close encounter.
"You didn't see who was driving the truck?" Sam asked, turning to Alice.
Alice seemed to have picked up on his voice and stopped pacing. "Sam…there was no driver. There was no one behind the wheel." She walked back over to the couch and sat down beside Cassie. "After I…confronted the truck, it didn't do anything else and just slinked back into the darkness. Disappearing like it wasn't even there in the first place."
Dean nodded silently, thinking for a moment. "Do you think it just wanted you afraid?"
"That's what I was thinking," Alice responded with a sharp nod. "I was clearly not its target. So that's probably why it went away," she said, glancing briefly at Cassie and her mother. "Mrs Robinson, Cassie said that your husband saw the truck before he died."
Mrs. Robinson didn't respond but did start to shake.
Alice cocked a brow. "Mrs. Robinson?"
"Mom?" Cassie began, becoming concerned by her mother's silence.
"Oh. Martin was under a lot of stress," Mrs. Robinson began, weeping. "You can't be sure about what he was seeing," she said like she was trying to convince herself rather than Alice and the boys.
Alice tightened her jaw but did try to keep her voice still and reasonable. She always had a feeling that Cassie's mother was hiding something. "Well…I guess we can all say that he was seeing a truck. Let's all be honest with each other right now, because now is not the time for deception. Right now…you and your daughter are in danger. If we don't get answers, then it goes without saying that it's only a matter of time before…the truck comes for you. Mrs. Robinson…we know you're hiding something. We need you to tell us," Alice finished, a bit surprised that she managed to stay calm and not let her frustration be known.
Mrs. Robinson nodded her head, no longer able to deny what her husband saw in his last moments. "Yes. Yes, he said he saw a truck."
"Did he know who it belonged to?" Sam asked.
"He thought he did."
"Who was that?" Dean followed up.
Mrs. Robinson's face became grave as she continued to weep. "Cyrus. A man named Cyrus."
Sam, Dean, and Alice picked their heads up simultaneously and gave each other a knowing look. Dean reached into his bag and pulled out a newspaper article regarding Dorian's death. He lifted it up so Mrs. Robinson could see the picture.
"Is this Cyrus?" Dean asked.
Mrs. Robinson shook her head. "Cyrus Dorian died more than 40 years ago."
Alice took the newspaper article to look over it. After a moment, she turned back to Mrs. Robinson. "How do you know he died, Mrs Robinson? The paper's said he went missing. How do you know he died?"
"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," she expressed, shaking terribly.
Alice swallowed as her expression hardened. Her mind forced her back in time to relive Jefferson Cromwell and his intense anger and hatred. She never knew him when he was alive, but his ghost conveyed those emotions more in death than when he did walk the earth. When Alice was younger, she never understood why Jenna stayed with him. Now that she was older, it dawned on her that her fear and his anger made her stationery.
"Anger, huh…" Alice muttered without thinking. She opened her eyes and saw Dean staring at her. She saw the concern crawling onto his face, but he quickly relaxed when Alice made a motion with her hand, silently telling him that she was okay. "So…that was when the murders happened?"
Mrs. Robinson's hands trembled with the memories, and it looked like she was trying to keep herself composed as she recalled them. "There were rumors. People of color disappearing into some kind of truck. Nothing was ever done. Martin and a... Martin and I, we were gonna be, uh, married in that little church near here, but last minute we decided to elope as we didn't want the attention."
"And Cyrus?" Dean asked.
Mrs. Robin thought about it for only a second, but that was all it took for her to break down completely. A look of horror flashed across her face, and she became deadly pale with fright. "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," she wailed out.
"Did the attacks stop after that?" Sam asked softly.
"No! There was one more," she sobbed. "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 spoke up.
"This was forty years ago." Mrs. Robinson said with wide, tear-stained eyes. "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."
Alice hunched over and took a second to absorb the information. It all made sense now. The pieces were now fitting together, and that last little bit of information was finally in her grasp. "And then there were none…." She closed her eyes until a question popped into her head. "But what about Mayor Todd? How does he fit into all this? 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," Mrs. Robinson swallowed hard.
Cassie was beyond shock, but she was still able to find her words and speak up. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Mrs. Robinson turned her body around and grabbed her daughters' hands, squeezing them tightly. "I thought I was protecting them. And now there's no one left to protect."
Alice shook her head and stood up. "I don't see it that way. There's still one." She quickly gestured between Cassie and her mother before signaling Sam and Dean to follow her. The boys exited their seats and followed Alice onto the front porch. "At the edge of Cyrus Dorian's land. Back in the swamp," she said, recalling the location that Mrs. Robinson spoke of. "You know what that means?"
Dean nodded begrudgingly. "Yeah. We gotta pull the truck from the lake somehow. That means…getting into the lake," he finished.
"Not it," Sam said quickly.
"Not it," Dean followed up, turning back to Alice, who looked at them with wide eyes and an open mouth. "I…I don't want to get wet. It's gonna be a long night."
Alice opened and closed her mouth several times, searching for an argument. But after coming up with nothing, she closed her mouth and stomped down the steps. "I swear, you're a bunch of freaking girls! Fine! I'll do it!" she snapped back at them while heading to the Impala to get things ready.
Dean flinched. "You're great. I love you!"
"Shut up, Dean!"