SPN 1.01
'PILOT'
The fire department has arrived and is putting out the flames. Several gawkers are kept back by the police. Pan over to the other side of the street, where JOHN sits on the hood of the IMPALA, cradling SAM in his arms, DEAN leaning on his side.
***
SAM
The weapon training, and melting the silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors.
They cross the parking lot to the same IMPALA from the flashback scene.
DEAN
So what are you gonna do? You’re just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?
SAM
No. Not normal. Safe.
DEAN
And that’s why you ran away.
SAM
I was just going to college. It was Dad who said if I was gonna go I should stay gone. And that’s what I’m doing.
DEAN
Yeah, well, Dad’s in real trouble right now. If he’s not dead already, I can feel it. I can’t do this alone.
SAM
Yes, you can.
DEAN
Yeah, well, I don’t want to.
SAM
(beat)
What was he hunting?
DEAN opens the trunk of the IMPALA. It is full of weapons, papers, and other clutter; he pulls up a shotgun and uses it to brace the trunk open. He digs through the clutter.
DEAN
All right, let’s see, where the hell did I put that thing?
SAM
So when Dad left, why didn’t you go with him?
DEAN
I was working my own gig. This uh, voodoo thing, down in New Orleans.
SAM
Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself?
DEAN
I’m twenty six, dude.
(He pulls out several papers.)
All right, here we go. So Dad was checking out this two lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago, this guy. They found his car, but he vanished. Completely M.I.A.
SAM
So maybe he was kidnapped.
DEAN
Yeah. Well, here’s another one in April, another one in December ‘04, ‘03, ‘98, ‘92, ten of them over the past twenty years, all men, all the same five-mile stretch of road. It started happening more and more, so Dad went to go dig around. That was about three weeks ago. I hadn’t heard from him since, which is bad enough.
(He pulls out a small tape recorder.)
Then I get this voicemail yesterday.
He presses “play”. The recording is JOHN’S voice, and is broken up, full of static.
JOHN’S VOICE
Dean... something big is starting to happen... I need to try and figure out what’s going on. It may... Be very careful, Dean. We’re all in danger.
SAM
You know there’s EVP on that?
DEAN
Not bad, Sammy. Kinda like riding a bike, isn’t it? All right. I slowed the message down, I ran it through a gold wave, took out the hiss, and this is what I got.
He presses “play” again. An eerie woman’s voice whispers slowly.
VOICE
I can never go home...
SAM
Never go home.
DEAN stands and shuts the trunk, leaning on it.
DEAN
You know, in almost two years I’ve never bothered you, never asked you for a thing.
SAM
All right. I’ll go. I’ll help you find him. But I have to get back first thing Monday. Just wait here.
DEAN
What’s first thing Monday?
SAM
I have this... I have an interview.
DEAN
What, a job interview? Skip it.
SAM
It’s a law school interview, and it’s my whole future on a plate.
DEAN
Law school?
SAM
So we got a deal, or not?
***
Sounndtrack: "Rambling Man" The IMPALA is parked in front of a pump. SAM is sitting in the passenger’s side with the door open, rifling through a box of tapes. DEAN comes out of the convenience mart carrying junk food.
DEAN
Hey! You want breakfast?
SAM
No, thanks. So how’d you pay for that stuff? You and Dad still running credit card scams?
DEAN
Yeah, well, hunting ain’t exactly a pro ball career. Besides, all we do is apply, it’s not our fault they send us the cards.
SAM
Yeah? And what names did you write on the application this time?
DEAN gets in behind the wheel.
DEAN
Uh, Burt Aframian. And his son Hector. Scored two cards out of the deal.
SAM
That sounds about right. I swear, man, you’ve gotta update your cassette tape collection.
DEAN
Why?
SAM
Well, for one, they’re cassette tapes. And two, Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica? It’s the greatest hits of mullet rock.
DEAN
Well, house rules, Sammy. Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole.
He snatches a tape from Sam and pops it in; "Back in Black" by AC/DC blasts from the speakers.
SAM
You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve-year-old. It’s Sam, okay?
DEAN
Sorry, I can’t hear you, the music’s too loud.
***
They drive past a sign: "Jericho 7". Sam is talking on his cell phone.
SAM
Thank you.
(to DEAN)
All right. So, there’s no one matching Dad at the hospital or morgue, so that’s something, I guess.
DEAN
Check it out.
There is a crime scene in progress on a bridge ahead of them - police tape around a beat-up car, several police cars, various people in uniform milling around. On the riverbed below, several more people are conducting a search.
DEAN
Let’s go.
***
DEAN and SAM come back to the bridge, stopping the car near the entrance. They get out and look over the edge.
Behind them, the headlights of Dean's car turn on and the engine starts.
DEAN
What the-
SAM
Who's driving your car?
DEAN slowly pulls the keys out of his pocket and jingles them. The car jerks into motion, heading straight for them. They run.
SAM
Dean? Go! Go!
They reach the railing of the bridge and leap over to get away from the possessed car.
Dean shuts the trunk of his car and leans on it.
SAM
Your car all right?
DEAN
Yeah, whatever she did to it, seems all right now. That Constance chick, what a bitch!
SAM
Well, she doesn't want us digging around, that's for sure. So where's the job go from here, genius?
Dean throws up his arms in frustration, then flicks mud off his hands. Sam sniffs.
SAM
You smell like a toilet.
***
SAM
Well, that should do it. Thanks for your time.
(As Sam starts to open the car door, he pauses and looks back.)
Mr. Welch, did you ever hear of a Woman In White?
JOSEPH
A what?
SAM
A Woman In White. Or sometimes Weeping Woman? It's a ghost story. Well, it's more of a phenomenon, really. Um, they're spirits. They've been sighted for hundreds of years, dozens of places, in Hawaii, Mexico, lately Arizona, Indiana. All these are different women, you understand. But all share the same story.
JOSEPH
Boy, I don't care much for nonsense.
SAM
See, when they were alive, their husbands were unfaithful to them. And these women, basically suffering from temporary insanity murdered their children. Then once they realized what they had done, they took their own lives. So now their spirits are cursed, walking back roads, waterways. And if they find an unfaithful man, they kill him. And that man is never seen again.
JOSEPH
You think... you think that has something to do with.. Constance? You smartass!
SAM
You tell me.
JOSEPH
I mean, maybe... maybe I made some mistakes. But no matter what I did, Constance, she never would have killed her own children. Now, you get the hell out of here! And you don't come back!
***
Sam is driving Dean's car, and his phone rings.
DEAN (in phone booth)
Fake 9-1-1 phone call? I don't know, Sammy, that's pretty illegal.
SAM
You're welcome
DEAN
Listen, we gotta talk.
SAM
Tell me about it. So the husband was unfaithful. We are dealing with a Woman In White. And she's buried behind her old house, so that should have been Dad's next stop.
DEAN
Sammy, would you shut up for a second?
SAM
I just can't figure out why Dad hasn't destroyed the corpse yet.
DEAN
Well, that's what I'm trying to tell you. He's gone. Dad left Jericho.
SAM
What? How do you know?
DEAN
I've got his journal.
SAM
He doesn't go anywhere without that thing.
DEAN
Yeah, well, he did this time.
SAM
What's it say?
DEAN
Ah, the same old ex-marine crap, when he wants to let us know where he's going.
SAM
Coordinates. Where to?
DEAN
I'm not sure yet.
SAM
I don't understand. I mean, what could be so important that Dad would just skip out in the middle of a job? Dean, what the hell is going on?
He looks up suddenly, dropping the phone as he sees Constance in the road ahead of him and tries to brake. The car goes right through her as he slows to a stop.
DEAN
Sam? Sam!
Inside the car, we see Constance sitting in the back seat.
CONSTANCE
Take me home.
SAM
No.
She glares, and the doors lock themselves, Sam struggling to reopen them. The gas pedal presses down and the car begins to drive itself. Sam tries to take control but can't. The car pulls up in front of the abandoned house.
SAM
Don't do this.
CONSTANCE
I can never go home.
SAM
You're scared to go home.
He looks back, and she's disappeared, reappearing in the front seat. She climbs into his lap, aggressively sexual.
CONSTANCE
Hold me. I'm so cold.
SAM
You can't kill me. I'm not unfaithful. I've never been!
CONSTANCE
You will be. Just hold me.
She kisses him as he struggles to reach for the keys. She pulls back and disappears; a moment later Sam yells in pain as her image flickers in front of him, stabbing her hand into his chest. A gunshot goes off and Constance is startled; outside the shattered window Dean approaches, still firing at her. Sam manages to sit forward and start the car.
SAM
I'm taking you home.
He drives the car forward, smashing it through the side of the house. Dean runs to meet him.
DEAN
Sam! Sam! You okay?
SAM
I think...
DEAN
Can you move?
SAM
Yeah. Help me?
As Dean helps Sam out of the car, Constance picks up a large framed photograph depicting her and two young children. She looks at it, distraught. She drops the photo angrily and backs up; a bureau flies towards Sam and Dean, pinning them against the car. The lights flicker; Constance looks around, scared. Water begins to pour down the staircase as she goes to it. At the top are the boy and girl from the photograph. They hold hands.
BOY and GIRL (in unison)
You've come home to us, Mommy.
She looks at them, distraught. Suddenly they are behind her; they embrace her tightly and she screams, her image flickering. In a surge of energy, still screaming, she and the two children melt into a puddle in the floor. Sam and Dean shove the bureau over and go to look at the spot where they vanished.
DEAN
So this is where she drowned her kids.
SAM
That's why she could never go home. She was too scared to face them.
DEAN
You found her weak spot. Nice work, Sammy.
He slaps Sam on the chest where he's been injured; Sam whimpers in pain.
SAM
Yeah, I wish I could say the same for you. What were you thinking shooting Casper in the face, you freak?
DEAN
Hey. Saved your ass. I'll tell you another thing, if you screwed up my car, I'll kill you.
***
The Impala tears down the road; one headlight is out. Inside, Sam has the journal and a map open on his lap and is finding coordinates with a ruler, a flashlight tucked under his cheek.
SAM
Okay, here's where Dad went, it's called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado.
DEAN
(nodding)
Sounds charming. How far?
SAM
About six hundred miles.
DEAN
Hey, if we shag ass we could make it by morning.
SAM
(looks at him, hesitating)
Dean, um,
DEAN
You're not going.
SAM
The interview's in like, ten hours. I gotta be there.
Dean nods, disappointed.
DEAN
Yeah. Yeah, whatever. I'll take you home.
They pull up in front of the apartment, Dean still frowning. Sam gets out, leans over to look through the window.
SAM
Call me if you find him?
(Dean nods.)
And maybe I'll hook up with you later, huh?
DEAN
Yeah, all right.
(Sam starts to walk away.)
Sam? You know, we made a hell of a team back there.
SAM
Yeah.
Dean drives off.
***
In a scene much like the end of the flashback, a fire truck is parked outside the building, firemen and police keeping back gawkers. Dean looks on, then turns and walks back to his car. Sam is standing behind the open trunk, loading a shotgun. Dean looks at the trunk, then at Sam, whose face is set in a mask of desperate anger. Sam sighs, nods, tosses the shotgun into the trunk.
SAM
We got work to do.
He shuts the trunk.