Roads of Reckoning

Route 666

Earl May, 2006
I come out of the gas station bathroom and back to the Impala to where Sam is studying a map on the roof of the car. He looks up to me as smiles as I approach.
"Hey. I think I found a way we can bypass that construction just east of here. We might make it to Pennsylvania faster than we thought."

Dean hangs up the call he was on and turns to us. "Yeah. Problem is, we're not going to Pennsylvania."
Sam looks to me and then back to Dean.
"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."
Sam and I stare.
"Believe me. She never would've called, never, is she didn't need us." He gets into the car. "You two nerds coming or not?"

We cruise along the highway and Sam quizzes Dean.
"So, by old friend you mean...?"
"A friend that's not new."
Sam scoff. "Yeah, thanks. So her name's Cassie huh? You never mentioned her."
"Didn't I?" Dean doesn't look away from the road. There is a long pause of silence.
"Yeah. We went out."
I snap my book shut and scoot forward in the back seat, my head between the two brothers.
"No way! You mean Dean Winchester, dated somebody? For more than one night?" I tease.
Dean snap his head to me and glares.
"Am I speaking a language you're not getting here? Dad and I were working on a job in Ohio, she was finishing up college. We went out for a couple of weeks."
"And...?" I press. Dean shrugs.

Sam looks back to me with a smile on his face but shakes his head slightly, telling me to drop it. I huff and lean back in my seat.
"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?" Sam asks.
Dean shifts in his seat.
"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 stays silent and stares ahead.
"Dean!" Sam scolds.
"Yeah. Looks like it."
Sam shakes his head and huffs.

•———————————————————————•
We walk into the newspaper office, just missing the end of a heated conversation between a young woman and the mayor. She turns to us and freezes when she spots Dean. She's pretty, I'll give her that much.

"Dean." She stares at him.

"Hey Cassie."

I look to Sam, who shrugs at me. This is hella awkward.  Dean finally clears his throat.

"This is my brother Sam." Sam gives a small smile which Cassie returns before turning her gaze to me. She turns her attention to me, her look slightly judgmental.
"And that's Demi. She a family friend."
I give her a short nod and she turns back to Dean.
"Sorry about your Dad." Dean says.

"Yeah, me too."

We sit on the couch in Cassie's house as she carries in a tray of tea.
"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."

Dean tilts his head. "Why?"

"He was scared. He was seeing things." She states as she pours us each a cup of tea.

"Like what?"

"He swore he saw an awful looking black truck following him."

Sam chimes in. "A truck? Who was the driver?"

She shakes her head and passes me a cup. "He didn't talk about a driver. Just the truck. He said it would appear and disappear. And, in the accident, Dad's care was dented, like it had been slammed into by something big."