WIP Big Bang 3/4
Story Title:
Fandom: Supernatural
Link: only at my live journal
Summary: Dean never went to Stanford to get Sam when John went missing. Six years later Sam gets a phone that will forever change his life.
Warnings: lots of cannon character deaths (John Winchester, Ash, everyone at the Roadhouse)
Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Bobby Singer, Pastor Jim, Jesse Moore, Richard Moore, Caleb, Tommy, Ellen, Ash, Meg Masters, Castiel, and several oc’s
Pairings: Sam Winchester/Jesse Moore
When I Started** It was suppose to be my 2012 Nano. It failed.
How I Lost My Shit; I got bored with and tossed it aside and then I saw a post about a WIP Big Bang and thought, I can do this!
How I Finished My Shit: Hey I have plenty of time. Oh gotta check in, write, write, Oh look it’s Tumblr! Oh gotta check in, better do some writing, Oh look it’s Tumblr. OMG IT’S DUE TODAY! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! Sigh. Okay it is 90% finish as of today. I have two more scenes to go, so please bug me!
my lovely artwork was done by the amazing
matchboximpala Go and show her some love!
Other notes: I’m not a medical professional, I got all my medical info from M*A*S*H, various CSI’s and Wikipedia.
NO BETA READER, I repeat NO BETA READER!
The Harvelle Roadhouse
Logan County, Nebraska
“Hey Ellen?”
Ellen Harvelle looked up from her weekly invoices with a frown. Bob Daily, her bar manger stood at the doorway. Bob was a former Hunter whose luck had ran out when a Black Dog had mauled his leg almost a year ago. An infection had set in and he ended up losing his left leg below the knee. Like many Hunters she knew, he had no family apart from a sister in Seattle that he saw once a year at Christmas. She had hired him when her daughter Jo had decided to start hunting fulltime.
“We’re almost of beer nuts and pretzels,” Bob said apologetically, “and Murray is down to half a case of onion rings.” Louis Murray was an ex-army cook who needed a fresh start after coming home from a two tours Iraqi that had left him with a PTSD. If he wasn’t cooking, he could be found wandering around the countryside with his beloved camera. Several of his photos had appeared in The Logan Free Press and the Nebraska Monthly.
“Ah crap,” Ellen replied in an annoyed voice. “Didn’t you order place an order on Monday?”
“I did, and they shorted the order again, and I called them and they refuse to deliver a small order,” Bob replied with a shrug. “We can live without the onion rings but not the beer nuts or pretzels.”
Ellen sighed and rubbed the side of her head. “Okay, go and ask Murray if he needs anything else and I’ll run into town. I have to go to the bank anyways so an extra trip to Costco won’t be out of my way.”
Ellen left her small office and went into the bar area. It was two in the afternoon and there was already a half a dozen Hunters eating lunch, watching ESPN, cleaning weapons, checking emails or playing pool. The Roadhouse had changed over the years. Before Bill had died, the Roadhouse was only open from 4pm to midnight and closed on Sunday but her financially situation had changed after she had buried her husband. The Roadhouse was now opened at noon seven days a week, she renovated the kitchen, installed Wi-Fi, Satellite TV, a shooting range in the back and anything else she could think off that would make the Roadhouse appealing to the Hunters Community. It had worked like a charm and the Roadhouse became known a safe haven for Hunters who were between jobs, looking for information or needed a break from the Supernatural world. She had three strict rules about the Roadhouse: no sex, no drugs and arguments were settled outside.
She nodded to a few Hunters, male and female, and she made her way to the back of bar and knocked on Ash’s office door and pushed it open. Miles Asher, Ash to his friends, was surrounded by five computer screen, three land lines that never showed up on her phone bill, a printer/scanner/fax machine combo and a host of other computer sundries that she had no clue what they did. Ash was talking into a headset while his fingers flew over the keyboard and he nodded in her direction indicating he would be with her in a minute.
Ash had shown up at the Roadhouse almost five years ago when Ellen had put an ad in the paper looking for a part time bartender. Ash knew nothing about bar tending other than the fact he liked beer but he his real genius was in computer programming and before she knew it, Ash had appointed himself has her tax accountant and for the first time in years the Roadhouse showed a profit and in lieu of a salary, Ash had asked for unlimited beer, food and claimed the old storage rooms has his own. His bedroom looked like a Frat House with empty coffee cups, beer bottles, computer parts, magazines, dirty clothing and god knows what else littering the floor but his computer room was immaculate. Everything had it place and God help anyone who touched, moved or borrowed anything without his permission. He wasn’t a Hunter per say, but he could throw knife with the best of them.
“Did you hear anything else about Dean?” Ash asked in an anxious voice when he finally got off the telephone. Everyone at the Roadhouse had been stunned when Ash had announced three days that John Winchester was dead and Dean was in the hospital fighting for his life.
Dean and Ash had been firm friends from the moment they had met four years ago. They had bonded over Led Zeppelin, chicken wings and beer, argued about football (Green Bay Packers vs. the San Francisco 49ers), debated about guns and knives and both agreed that Jo was off limits much to her daughter’s disgust. Jo had a hopeless crush on Dean which over the years had turned into a good friendship much to Ellen’s relief.
Dean fixed up Ash’s beat up Honda Civic and showed him how to basic car repairs and in turn Ash taught Dean the basics about computer hacking. Dean even dragged Ash on a few salt and burns cases but the hunting life was not cut out for Ash. Dean dropped in several times a years and Ellen turned a blind eye and nose to scent of pot that sometimes lingered around the two men.
“He’s having another MRI this afternoon,” Ellen said in a heavy voice.
“I guess no news is good news,” Ash replied in an uncertain voice drumming his fingers on his desk.
“I’m heading into town, do you need anything?” Ellen demanded leaning against the door still.
“Yeah got some stuff to mail out,” Ash muttered shoving a half a dozen envelopes at her, “and I need a large bag of peanut M&M’s, no make that two bags instead, and coffee pods for my baby.” Ash had recently bought a Keurig Coffee Machine and has a result cut back on beer intake which wasn’t a bad thing in her opinion. Like too many people she knew, Ash had a drinking problem.
“No problem Ash,” Ellen replied stuffing the envelopes in her oversized purse that had been a gift from Jo last Christmas. It was some fancy Italian designer purse that made the woman at the local gun store green with envy. She studied the computer screens for a minute before turning to Ash. “What is all this stuff?”
“My latest project,” Ash replied in an animated voice. “You see a couple of months ago Deano had this great idea about setting up a Hunters data base, so I spoke to some of the other Hunters, like Bobby, Rufus, Jefferson, Caleb and they thought it was a great idea. Eventually the Hunters data base is gonna contain information of every single supernatural creature, how to kill it, weather patterns over the last hundred years, exorcisms rituals, omens, prophesies, legends, and myths. Hell, even Bobby Singer has agreed to lend us some of his books so we can start uploading some of the rare occult books online.”
Bobby Singer had one of the largest occult book collections on the planet and getting Bobby’s stamp of approval on the project would hopefully encourage other Hunter to share their stories and resources.
“Isn’t that going to be dangerous having all that information out there?” Ellen asked in a curious voice. Computers had made hunting easier. No more lost hours spent looking through old micro-film or musty newspapers or waiting for mail from the weather service but she knew that a lot of older Hunters didn’t like or trust computers.
“Knowledge is power,” Ash replied seriously leaning back in his chair cracking his knuckles, “and let’s face it Ellen we need an edge over those bastards. Something big is looming on the horizon and we need to be ready.”
Ellen nodded thoughtfully and went back into the bar area, and grabbed Murray’s long shopping list. She decided to take her jeep instead of her truck because the damn thing was leaking oil again and she didn’t want to be stranded in town in case it broke down. She gave a half hearted wave to Evan Thompson has she passed by him on the road leading to the Roadhouse.
The demon that had possessed Evan Thompson body mentally sneered at the Roadhouse pathetic protection has he entered the bar. He ignored the salt line and Ellen should have really checked the iron line on the floor because it was rusted straight though due to all the salt that had been tracked in over the winter. The Devil’s Trap on the ceiling was useless because there was small hair line crack in the plaster. He had jumped at the chance to go top side when Azazel had approached him with a plan to murder every single Hunter he could find. The demon had jumped into Thompson’s meat suit three days ago, discovered the existence of Roadhouse and knew he had hit pay dirt when he walked in. There were eight Hunters eating, drinking and talking completely unaware that the fox had been let into the hen house.
The demon joined a few Hunters at a table and accepted a drink that he had no intentions of drinking because he knew it was laced Holy Water and refused a basket of chicken wings and fries claiming he ate before coming to the Roadhouse. Two more Hunters came in, bringing the head count to ten Hunters. He excused himself from the table and headed to the bathroom.
The demon nodded at the other man in the stall and suddenly lashed out with a knife stabbing him in the neck and he watched the blood spray paint the bathroom wall red. He started to laugh has he dipped his finger in the blood and starting chanting under his breath while drawing sigil on the wall; nothing could get in or more importantly could get out of the Roadhouse. The demon was still laughing when he went back into the bar and unleashed firestorm of hell.
Ellen sighed deeply has she waited in line at First Nebraska Bank when her cell phone rang. She had breezed in and out of the Post Office and Costo and was now stuck in the line from Hell at the bank. “Hello?”
“Ellen!” Ash screamed into the phone shoving his tablet, UBS keys, cell phone and hard drives into the safe in his office while the smoke detector blared in the background. “Demon in the Roadhouse, he’s fired the place, sealed us in!” He kicked it shut thanking God that it was fire proof and started to coughed uncontrollable because of the thick black smoke. “Ellen, everything is in the safe! Dean knows the passwords! ” Ash crashed to his knees unable to breath and his vision started to swim.
Ellen didn’t remember the drive back to the Roadhouse and she watched hopeless has the Roadhouse burned to the ground. There were no survivors. She was vaguely aware of the fire investigators saying something about arson and indentifying some of the bodies through dental records or DNA because of the charred conditions of the bodies. She closed her eyes and wept has the black smoke drifted into the blue Nebraska sky.
Part ??
Bobby pushed around his chow mien noodles with a sigh. He didn’t feel like eating but he knew running on an empty stomach was not a smart idea. No one wanted to brave the food in hospital cafeteria so Tommy and Caleb made a food run to a Chinese place near Dean’s motel and brought back several Styrofoam containers. He ate another fork full of noodles and pushed the plate away. Pastor Jim frowned at him but didn’t say anything since his own food was barely touched.
One of his phones started to ring and he sighed when he saw ‘unknown name, unknown number’ on the screen.
“Hello,” Bobby said in a no nonsense voice prepared to become a Federal Agent of need be. He knew that Joshua might have to forward calls to his ‘supervisor’ if things got too busy.
“Bobby? It’s Ellen,” she said in a hoarse voice and she continued on before Bobby could say anything. “The Roadhouse is gone Bobby, it burned to the ground this afternoon.”
“Oh my God Ellen!” Bobby gasped and went completely white much to the alarm of the small group. He swallowed several time until he found his voice. “What the Hell happened?” He mouthed the word fire to the group and Caleb, Tommy and Pastor Jim exchanged grim looks with each other while Sam and Moores stared at him.
“Demon got in somehow, sealed the exits and fired the place,” Ellen replied choking back a sob. “Ash called me while I was at the bank. Oh God Bobby, I listened to Ash die over the phone.” Ellen had listened to Ash’s nonstop coughing until a deathly silence filled the air.
“Ellen, where is Jo?” Bobby demanded urgently impatiently wiping his eyes. “Was she there?” He loved Jo; she was the daughter he never had.
“She’s with Rufus somewhere in Washington State hunting a water wraith,” Ellen choked out. “I cursed the day she started hunting but thank God, oh thank God she wasn’t there with me.”
Jo had been ready to fly back to Nebraska but Ellen had ordered her to stay put and warned Rufus that if anything happened to her little girl, she would kick his ass across the Pacific Ocean.
“Who died Ellen?” Bobby demanded has the group looked at each other in shock. Bobby bit his lip has Ellen started to list all the Hunters that had died this afternoon. Some of the best and brightest Hunters he had ever met, dead before their time.
“Where are you?” Bobby replied after several seconds of agonizing silence.
“I’m at the Sheriff’s office, waiting for the Fire Marshall and for someone from the insurance company.” Ellen said tipping her head back and staring at the ceiling. “I don’t have anywhere to go.” Her entire life was nothing but ashes now.
“Ellen, Caleb and Tommy are with me, I can get them on an airplane- “Bobby stated and both Hunters shoved their chairs back ready to go at a moment’s notice. Caleb already had his phone out and was looking for flights to Nebraska.
“No, they need to stay put because the demon is long gone by now. Ellen replied in a matter of fact voice. “It got what it wanted. It’s not coming after me, but you should be worried about yourselves right now.”
“But-”
‘No buts Bobby Singer,” Ellen said sharply. “What you need to be doing right now is calling every Hunter you know and warn them that all Hell is breaking loose. If a demon could get into the Roadhouse, then no one is safe.”
“Damn it Ellen,” Bobby cursed but seeing the wisdom in her words pulling out his other two cell phones. “The minute you get everything sorted out Ellen, get on a plane and get to Missouri,” Bobby half order and begged.
“I will Bobby,” Ellen replied in a softer voice. “Take care of yourself.”
“What happened?” Pastor Jim demanded; he already knew that something catastrophic had happened at the Roadhouse and people had died judging by Bobby’s conversation and devastated expression. He could only pray that it wasn’t as bad as he feared.
Bobby took a deep breath before speaking. “Demon fired the Roadhouse and burned it to the ground; Ellen was the only survivor.”
There was a collective gasp from the group.
“Oh my God,” Caleb said in a stunned voice after several seconds of silence trading an agonizing look with Tommy. They had stopped in at the Roadhouse five days ago before picking up the job in Arkansas. “How did it happen? I though the Roadhouse was protected, no supernatural creature should have been able to do that.”
“Ellen doesn’t know; Ash called her saying a demon had fired the place and no one could get out, she listened to him s die over the phone.” Bobby said in a rough voice, his face a mask of pain.
“Who died?” Pastor Jim asked softly bracing himself a large a body count. The Road house was very popular with Hunters and at any given time there would be at least half a dozen Hunter, and double that on the weekend.
“The Hartley twins, the Mackay sisters, Bob, Murray, Dale, Jason and Tara, Two Clouds, and Ash,” Bobby choked out. “Eleven Hunters dead in total.” Bobby swallowed before continuing on. “We need to get on the horn and contact every single Hunter we can and warn them about what happened at the Roadhouse.”
Tommy suddenly gasped, pulled out his cell phone and had a frantic conversation with his sister Hailey and his younger brother Ben. After their encounter with the Wendigo, Hailey had started working with US Forest Services and kept a very close eye in Black Water Ridge and the surrounding mountains incase another Wendigo or worst moved into the area. Ben who had been drifting through life like so many of his friends had turned his life around and was studying Wildlife Conservation at a local community college.
Pastor Jim and Caleb nodded, pulled out their cell phones and started calling the Hunters that they knew.
“Bobby?” What’s the Roadhouse?” Sam demanded in low voice. Something about name rang a bell but he couldn’t track down the memory.
“Harvelle Roadhouse is in Logan County, Nebraska,” Bobby replied has his fingers flew over the tiny keyboard of his cell phone. “It’s a bar run by Ellen Harvelle that caters to Hunters. If you’re looking for a job, need info or need a place to kick back and enjoy a few beers, the Roadhouse is...was the place to go.”
“But why do I know that name?” Sam demanded in a puzzled voice.
“You spent a summer there when you were two and half years old. Bill Harvelle was your father’s mentor and Bill died on a job and your daddy never forgave himself,” Bobby replied in a somber voice. John had never gone into the details of what had exactly happened and he never set foot in Nebraska again. Ellen had never mentioned the Winchesters until Dean had shown up at the Roadhouse four years ago looking for some help.
“Jesus, I never knew that,” Sam replied with a frown. Sometime it was hard to believe that John Winchester had been a normal person until his mother was killed by something supernatural. “I always thought that dad became a Hunter on his own.”
“Everyone starts somewhere Sam,” Bobby replied in sad voice thinking about his own introduction to the Supernatural world and like John he had paid a terrible price. “No one was willing to take John on because he had you kids. Ellen agreed to look after you and Dean so Bill could show John the ropes. I sometimes wonder what your lives would have been like if Bill hadn’t died.” He shook his head; there was no point on speculating on what could have been.
“Bobby, is there anything we can do?” Jesse asked in anxious voice feeling like a third wheel. Caleb, Tommy and Pastor Jim were talking softly in the background. Richard was on his tablet reading about the Roadhouse fire on one of the local Fox affiliates.
“Yeah,” Bobby relied pulling out another cell phone and pulling up the contacts and handing the phone to her. “Call everyone on that list and tell them you’re a friend of Bobby Singer and the Roadhouse is gone and to go to ground.”
Almost twenty minutes later the group compared notes has Richard wrote everything down. They had reached over fifteen Hunters and left voice messages with a half a dozen Hunter with strict instructions to call back as soon as possible.
“You know I’ve been thinking,” Tommy said slowly drumming his fingers on his knees, “the body count is wrong, it’s really fifteen Hunters, more if you count last year.”
“Go on,” Pastor Jim said slowly not liking were this conversation was heading while everyone listened anxiously.
“Okay, eleven at the Roadhouse, John Winchester, Steve Wendell, Olivia Lowery, and didn’t you say that AJ went missing in February? That makes fifteen that we know of.” Tommy said grimly.
“Jesus Christ,” Caleb venomously swore has several things fell into place and threw an apologetic look at Pastor Jim. “Last year five Hunters died as well and at least three Hunters that we know of went missing. Oh Christ, we’re being hunted down.”
“That makes sense,” Sam said feeling sick to his stomach. “A major increase in Supernatural activity, especially demonic activity and if there is not enough Hunters to deal with it, things will get out hand very quickly.”
At any given time there were thirty to fifty active Hunters in the United States and if Caleb was right, the remaining Hunters were in serious trouble.
“Isn’t there someone we can appeal to?” Richard demanded. “There must be someone who can help us.”
“Who? Who do we tell?” Caleb snapped harshly. “Do you think anyone is going to believe us? They would call us crazy and lock us up and throw away the keys. Hell, one day ago you would have thought we were all crazy if we had told you about the supernatural world. Even if people believe us, the general population would panic and not to mention the theological implications would hit the religious world like a thunderclap.”
“It’s true,” Pastor Jim broke in a calm voice before Caleb could start ranting. He had spent many hours debating with his mentor Father Michael and several Hunters over the same question. “It raises some very sticky questions.”
“Yeah, like where is God in all of this,” Sam replied in a serious voice. He had asked the same questions when he was younger and had never been satisfied with Pastor Jim’s answers. He had always envied Jim with his unquestioning faith in God.
“So where is God in all of this?” Richard demanded echoing Sam’s question. He had gone to church on a semi-regular bases until Susan died but now he went once or twice a year and some years he didn’t go at all.
“God acts through us.” Pastor Jim said simply fixing Richard with a challenging stare. “You know about the Supernatural world and what you do with that knowledge is up to you.”
“I know I want to do something,” Richard muttered fidgeting nervously. He owed Bobby and Pastor Jim a debt he could never repaid and he shuddered to think of what would have happened if they hadn’t made it to the room in time. “But I don’t think I’m cut out to be a Hunter like you guys.” Getting thrown down a flight of stairs or spending days in the wilderness hunting down of supernatural creature was not for him.
“Research,” Bobby said thoughtfully staring at Richard. “You’re too old to be a Hunter but research would be right up your ally and I always need help manning the phones.” There were some days his phones didn’t stop ringing until midnight.
“I can do that, I’m pretty good at using a computer if I say so myself,” Richard replied and much to his bewilderment Caleb and Tommy started to snicker and Sam let out a muffled a snort. “What?”
“You’ll see when you get to Bobby’s place,” Tommy replied with a wide grin and Richard stared him, “You see, Bobby’s stuff isn’t in a computer, it’s in books; very thick, old and heavy musty books and most of them aren’t in English.”
Richard stared at Bobby in horror. “You’re kidding me?”
“I hope you’re a fast learner,” Bobby replied in a mild voice.
Part four
Fandom: Supernatural
Link: only at my live journal
Summary: Dean never went to Stanford to get Sam when John went missing. Six years later Sam gets a phone that will forever change his life.
Warnings: lots of cannon character deaths (John Winchester, Ash, everyone at the Roadhouse)
Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Bobby Singer, Pastor Jim, Jesse Moore, Richard Moore, Caleb, Tommy, Ellen, Ash, Meg Masters, Castiel, and several oc’s
Pairings: Sam Winchester/Jesse Moore
When I Started** It was suppose to be my 2012 Nano. It failed.
How I Lost My Shit; I got bored with and tossed it aside and then I saw a post about a WIP Big Bang and thought, I can do this!
How I Finished My Shit: Hey I have plenty of time. Oh gotta check in, write, write, Oh look it’s Tumblr! Oh gotta check in, better do some writing, Oh look it’s Tumblr. OMG IT’S DUE TODAY! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! Sigh. Okay it is 90% finish as of today. I have two more scenes to go, so please bug me!
my lovely artwork was done by the amazing
matchboximpala Go and show her some love!
Other notes: I’m not a medical professional, I got all my medical info from M*A*S*H, various CSI’s and Wikipedia.
NO BETA READER, I repeat NO BETA READER!
The Harvelle Roadhouse
Logan County, Nebraska
“Hey Ellen?”
Ellen Harvelle looked up from her weekly invoices with a frown. Bob Daily, her bar manger stood at the doorway. Bob was a former Hunter whose luck had ran out when a Black Dog had mauled his leg almost a year ago. An infection had set in and he ended up losing his left leg below the knee. Like many Hunters she knew, he had no family apart from a sister in Seattle that he saw once a year at Christmas. She had hired him when her daughter Jo had decided to start hunting fulltime.
“We’re almost of beer nuts and pretzels,” Bob said apologetically, “and Murray is down to half a case of onion rings.” Louis Murray was an ex-army cook who needed a fresh start after coming home from a two tours Iraqi that had left him with a PTSD. If he wasn’t cooking, he could be found wandering around the countryside with his beloved camera. Several of his photos had appeared in The Logan Free Press and the Nebraska Monthly.
“Ah crap,” Ellen replied in an annoyed voice. “Didn’t you order place an order on Monday?”
“I did, and they shorted the order again, and I called them and they refuse to deliver a small order,” Bob replied with a shrug. “We can live without the onion rings but not the beer nuts or pretzels.”
Ellen sighed and rubbed the side of her head. “Okay, go and ask Murray if he needs anything else and I’ll run into town. I have to go to the bank anyways so an extra trip to Costco won’t be out of my way.”
Ellen left her small office and went into the bar area. It was two in the afternoon and there was already a half a dozen Hunters eating lunch, watching ESPN, cleaning weapons, checking emails or playing pool. The Roadhouse had changed over the years. Before Bill had died, the Roadhouse was only open from 4pm to midnight and closed on Sunday but her financially situation had changed after she had buried her husband. The Roadhouse was now opened at noon seven days a week, she renovated the kitchen, installed Wi-Fi, Satellite TV, a shooting range in the back and anything else she could think off that would make the Roadhouse appealing to the Hunters Community. It had worked like a charm and the Roadhouse became known a safe haven for Hunters who were between jobs, looking for information or needed a break from the Supernatural world. She had three strict rules about the Roadhouse: no sex, no drugs and arguments were settled outside.
She nodded to a few Hunters, male and female, and she made her way to the back of bar and knocked on Ash’s office door and pushed it open. Miles Asher, Ash to his friends, was surrounded by five computer screen, three land lines that never showed up on her phone bill, a printer/scanner/fax machine combo and a host of other computer sundries that she had no clue what they did. Ash was talking into a headset while his fingers flew over the keyboard and he nodded in her direction indicating he would be with her in a minute.
Ash had shown up at the Roadhouse almost five years ago when Ellen had put an ad in the paper looking for a part time bartender. Ash knew nothing about bar tending other than the fact he liked beer but he his real genius was in computer programming and before she knew it, Ash had appointed himself has her tax accountant and for the first time in years the Roadhouse showed a profit and in lieu of a salary, Ash had asked for unlimited beer, food and claimed the old storage rooms has his own. His bedroom looked like a Frat House with empty coffee cups, beer bottles, computer parts, magazines, dirty clothing and god knows what else littering the floor but his computer room was immaculate. Everything had it place and God help anyone who touched, moved or borrowed anything without his permission. He wasn’t a Hunter per say, but he could throw knife with the best of them.
“Did you hear anything else about Dean?” Ash asked in an anxious voice when he finally got off the telephone. Everyone at the Roadhouse had been stunned when Ash had announced three days that John Winchester was dead and Dean was in the hospital fighting for his life.
Dean and Ash had been firm friends from the moment they had met four years ago. They had bonded over Led Zeppelin, chicken wings and beer, argued about football (Green Bay Packers vs. the San Francisco 49ers), debated about guns and knives and both agreed that Jo was off limits much to her daughter’s disgust. Jo had a hopeless crush on Dean which over the years had turned into a good friendship much to Ellen’s relief.
Dean fixed up Ash’s beat up Honda Civic and showed him how to basic car repairs and in turn Ash taught Dean the basics about computer hacking. Dean even dragged Ash on a few salt and burns cases but the hunting life was not cut out for Ash. Dean dropped in several times a years and Ellen turned a blind eye and nose to scent of pot that sometimes lingered around the two men.
“He’s having another MRI this afternoon,” Ellen said in a heavy voice.
“I guess no news is good news,” Ash replied in an uncertain voice drumming his fingers on his desk.
“I’m heading into town, do you need anything?” Ellen demanded leaning against the door still.
“Yeah got some stuff to mail out,” Ash muttered shoving a half a dozen envelopes at her, “and I need a large bag of peanut M&M’s, no make that two bags instead, and coffee pods for my baby.” Ash had recently bought a Keurig Coffee Machine and has a result cut back on beer intake which wasn’t a bad thing in her opinion. Like too many people she knew, Ash had a drinking problem.
“No problem Ash,” Ellen replied stuffing the envelopes in her oversized purse that had been a gift from Jo last Christmas. It was some fancy Italian designer purse that made the woman at the local gun store green with envy. She studied the computer screens for a minute before turning to Ash. “What is all this stuff?”
“My latest project,” Ash replied in an animated voice. “You see a couple of months ago Deano had this great idea about setting up a Hunters data base, so I spoke to some of the other Hunters, like Bobby, Rufus, Jefferson, Caleb and they thought it was a great idea. Eventually the Hunters data base is gonna contain information of every single supernatural creature, how to kill it, weather patterns over the last hundred years, exorcisms rituals, omens, prophesies, legends, and myths. Hell, even Bobby Singer has agreed to lend us some of his books so we can start uploading some of the rare occult books online.”
Bobby Singer had one of the largest occult book collections on the planet and getting Bobby’s stamp of approval on the project would hopefully encourage other Hunter to share their stories and resources.
“Isn’t that going to be dangerous having all that information out there?” Ellen asked in a curious voice. Computers had made hunting easier. No more lost hours spent looking through old micro-film or musty newspapers or waiting for mail from the weather service but she knew that a lot of older Hunters didn’t like or trust computers.
“Knowledge is power,” Ash replied seriously leaning back in his chair cracking his knuckles, “and let’s face it Ellen we need an edge over those bastards. Something big is looming on the horizon and we need to be ready.”
Ellen nodded thoughtfully and went back into the bar area, and grabbed Murray’s long shopping list. She decided to take her jeep instead of her truck because the damn thing was leaking oil again and she didn’t want to be stranded in town in case it broke down. She gave a half hearted wave to Evan Thompson has she passed by him on the road leading to the Roadhouse.
The demon that had possessed Evan Thompson body mentally sneered at the Roadhouse pathetic protection has he entered the bar. He ignored the salt line and Ellen should have really checked the iron line on the floor because it was rusted straight though due to all the salt that had been tracked in over the winter. The Devil’s Trap on the ceiling was useless because there was small hair line crack in the plaster. He had jumped at the chance to go top side when Azazel had approached him with a plan to murder every single Hunter he could find. The demon had jumped into Thompson’s meat suit three days ago, discovered the existence of Roadhouse and knew he had hit pay dirt when he walked in. There were eight Hunters eating, drinking and talking completely unaware that the fox had been let into the hen house.
The demon joined a few Hunters at a table and accepted a drink that he had no intentions of drinking because he knew it was laced Holy Water and refused a basket of chicken wings and fries claiming he ate before coming to the Roadhouse. Two more Hunters came in, bringing the head count to ten Hunters. He excused himself from the table and headed to the bathroom.
The demon nodded at the other man in the stall and suddenly lashed out with a knife stabbing him in the neck and he watched the blood spray paint the bathroom wall red. He started to laugh has he dipped his finger in the blood and starting chanting under his breath while drawing sigil on the wall; nothing could get in or more importantly could get out of the Roadhouse. The demon was still laughing when he went back into the bar and unleashed firestorm of hell.
Ellen sighed deeply has she waited in line at First Nebraska Bank when her cell phone rang. She had breezed in and out of the Post Office and Costo and was now stuck in the line from Hell at the bank. “Hello?”
“Ellen!” Ash screamed into the phone shoving his tablet, UBS keys, cell phone and hard drives into the safe in his office while the smoke detector blared in the background. “Demon in the Roadhouse, he’s fired the place, sealed us in!” He kicked it shut thanking God that it was fire proof and started to coughed uncontrollable because of the thick black smoke. “Ellen, everything is in the safe! Dean knows the passwords! ” Ash crashed to his knees unable to breath and his vision started to swim.
Ellen didn’t remember the drive back to the Roadhouse and she watched hopeless has the Roadhouse burned to the ground. There were no survivors. She was vaguely aware of the fire investigators saying something about arson and indentifying some of the bodies through dental records or DNA because of the charred conditions of the bodies. She closed her eyes and wept has the black smoke drifted into the blue Nebraska sky.
Part ??
Bobby pushed around his chow mien noodles with a sigh. He didn’t feel like eating but he knew running on an empty stomach was not a smart idea. No one wanted to brave the food in hospital cafeteria so Tommy and Caleb made a food run to a Chinese place near Dean’s motel and brought back several Styrofoam containers. He ate another fork full of noodles and pushed the plate away. Pastor Jim frowned at him but didn’t say anything since his own food was barely touched.
One of his phones started to ring and he sighed when he saw ‘unknown name, unknown number’ on the screen.
“Hello,” Bobby said in a no nonsense voice prepared to become a Federal Agent of need be. He knew that Joshua might have to forward calls to his ‘supervisor’ if things got too busy.
“Bobby? It’s Ellen,” she said in a hoarse voice and she continued on before Bobby could say anything. “The Roadhouse is gone Bobby, it burned to the ground this afternoon.”
“Oh my God Ellen!” Bobby gasped and went completely white much to the alarm of the small group. He swallowed several time until he found his voice. “What the Hell happened?” He mouthed the word fire to the group and Caleb, Tommy and Pastor Jim exchanged grim looks with each other while Sam and Moores stared at him.
“Demon got in somehow, sealed the exits and fired the place,” Ellen replied choking back a sob. “Ash called me while I was at the bank. Oh God Bobby, I listened to Ash die over the phone.” Ellen had listened to Ash’s nonstop coughing until a deathly silence filled the air.
“Ellen, where is Jo?” Bobby demanded urgently impatiently wiping his eyes. “Was she there?” He loved Jo; she was the daughter he never had.
“She’s with Rufus somewhere in Washington State hunting a water wraith,” Ellen choked out. “I cursed the day she started hunting but thank God, oh thank God she wasn’t there with me.”
Jo had been ready to fly back to Nebraska but Ellen had ordered her to stay put and warned Rufus that if anything happened to her little girl, she would kick his ass across the Pacific Ocean.
“Who died Ellen?” Bobby demanded has the group looked at each other in shock. Bobby bit his lip has Ellen started to list all the Hunters that had died this afternoon. Some of the best and brightest Hunters he had ever met, dead before their time.
“Where are you?” Bobby replied after several seconds of agonizing silence.
“I’m at the Sheriff’s office, waiting for the Fire Marshall and for someone from the insurance company.” Ellen said tipping her head back and staring at the ceiling. “I don’t have anywhere to go.” Her entire life was nothing but ashes now.
“Ellen, Caleb and Tommy are with me, I can get them on an airplane- “Bobby stated and both Hunters shoved their chairs back ready to go at a moment’s notice. Caleb already had his phone out and was looking for flights to Nebraska.
“No, they need to stay put because the demon is long gone by now. Ellen replied in a matter of fact voice. “It got what it wanted. It’s not coming after me, but you should be worried about yourselves right now.”
“But-”
‘No buts Bobby Singer,” Ellen said sharply. “What you need to be doing right now is calling every Hunter you know and warn them that all Hell is breaking loose. If a demon could get into the Roadhouse, then no one is safe.”
“Damn it Ellen,” Bobby cursed but seeing the wisdom in her words pulling out his other two cell phones. “The minute you get everything sorted out Ellen, get on a plane and get to Missouri,” Bobby half order and begged.
“I will Bobby,” Ellen replied in a softer voice. “Take care of yourself.”
“What happened?” Pastor Jim demanded; he already knew that something catastrophic had happened at the Roadhouse and people had died judging by Bobby’s conversation and devastated expression. He could only pray that it wasn’t as bad as he feared.
Bobby took a deep breath before speaking. “Demon fired the Roadhouse and burned it to the ground; Ellen was the only survivor.”
There was a collective gasp from the group.
“Oh my God,” Caleb said in a stunned voice after several seconds of silence trading an agonizing look with Tommy. They had stopped in at the Roadhouse five days ago before picking up the job in Arkansas. “How did it happen? I though the Roadhouse was protected, no supernatural creature should have been able to do that.”
“Ellen doesn’t know; Ash called her saying a demon had fired the place and no one could get out, she listened to him s die over the phone.” Bobby said in a rough voice, his face a mask of pain.
“Who died?” Pastor Jim asked softly bracing himself a large a body count. The Road house was very popular with Hunters and at any given time there would be at least half a dozen Hunter, and double that on the weekend.
“The Hartley twins, the Mackay sisters, Bob, Murray, Dale, Jason and Tara, Two Clouds, and Ash,” Bobby choked out. “Eleven Hunters dead in total.” Bobby swallowed before continuing on. “We need to get on the horn and contact every single Hunter we can and warn them about what happened at the Roadhouse.”
Tommy suddenly gasped, pulled out his cell phone and had a frantic conversation with his sister Hailey and his younger brother Ben. After their encounter with the Wendigo, Hailey had started working with US Forest Services and kept a very close eye in Black Water Ridge and the surrounding mountains incase another Wendigo or worst moved into the area. Ben who had been drifting through life like so many of his friends had turned his life around and was studying Wildlife Conservation at a local community college.
Pastor Jim and Caleb nodded, pulled out their cell phones and started calling the Hunters that they knew.
“Bobby?” What’s the Roadhouse?” Sam demanded in low voice. Something about name rang a bell but he couldn’t track down the memory.
“Harvelle Roadhouse is in Logan County, Nebraska,” Bobby replied has his fingers flew over the tiny keyboard of his cell phone. “It’s a bar run by Ellen Harvelle that caters to Hunters. If you’re looking for a job, need info or need a place to kick back and enjoy a few beers, the Roadhouse is...was the place to go.”
“But why do I know that name?” Sam demanded in a puzzled voice.
“You spent a summer there when you were two and half years old. Bill Harvelle was your father’s mentor and Bill died on a job and your daddy never forgave himself,” Bobby replied in a somber voice. John had never gone into the details of what had exactly happened and he never set foot in Nebraska again. Ellen had never mentioned the Winchesters until Dean had shown up at the Roadhouse four years ago looking for some help.
“Jesus, I never knew that,” Sam replied with a frown. Sometime it was hard to believe that John Winchester had been a normal person until his mother was killed by something supernatural. “I always thought that dad became a Hunter on his own.”
“Everyone starts somewhere Sam,” Bobby replied in sad voice thinking about his own introduction to the Supernatural world and like John he had paid a terrible price. “No one was willing to take John on because he had you kids. Ellen agreed to look after you and Dean so Bill could show John the ropes. I sometimes wonder what your lives would have been like if Bill hadn’t died.” He shook his head; there was no point on speculating on what could have been.
“Bobby, is there anything we can do?” Jesse asked in anxious voice feeling like a third wheel. Caleb, Tommy and Pastor Jim were talking softly in the background. Richard was on his tablet reading about the Roadhouse fire on one of the local Fox affiliates.
“Yeah,” Bobby relied pulling out another cell phone and pulling up the contacts and handing the phone to her. “Call everyone on that list and tell them you’re a friend of Bobby Singer and the Roadhouse is gone and to go to ground.”
Almost twenty minutes later the group compared notes has Richard wrote everything down. They had reached over fifteen Hunters and left voice messages with a half a dozen Hunter with strict instructions to call back as soon as possible.
“You know I’ve been thinking,” Tommy said slowly drumming his fingers on his knees, “the body count is wrong, it’s really fifteen Hunters, more if you count last year.”
“Go on,” Pastor Jim said slowly not liking were this conversation was heading while everyone listened anxiously.
“Okay, eleven at the Roadhouse, John Winchester, Steve Wendell, Olivia Lowery, and didn’t you say that AJ went missing in February? That makes fifteen that we know of.” Tommy said grimly.
“Jesus Christ,” Caleb venomously swore has several things fell into place and threw an apologetic look at Pastor Jim. “Last year five Hunters died as well and at least three Hunters that we know of went missing. Oh Christ, we’re being hunted down.”
“That makes sense,” Sam said feeling sick to his stomach. “A major increase in Supernatural activity, especially demonic activity and if there is not enough Hunters to deal with it, things will get out hand very quickly.”
At any given time there were thirty to fifty active Hunters in the United States and if Caleb was right, the remaining Hunters were in serious trouble.
“Isn’t there someone we can appeal to?” Richard demanded. “There must be someone who can help us.”
“Who? Who do we tell?” Caleb snapped harshly. “Do you think anyone is going to believe us? They would call us crazy and lock us up and throw away the keys. Hell, one day ago you would have thought we were all crazy if we had told you about the supernatural world. Even if people believe us, the general population would panic and not to mention the theological implications would hit the religious world like a thunderclap.”
“It’s true,” Pastor Jim broke in a calm voice before Caleb could start ranting. He had spent many hours debating with his mentor Father Michael and several Hunters over the same question. “It raises some very sticky questions.”
“Yeah, like where is God in all of this,” Sam replied in a serious voice. He had asked the same questions when he was younger and had never been satisfied with Pastor Jim’s answers. He had always envied Jim with his unquestioning faith in God.
“So where is God in all of this?” Richard demanded echoing Sam’s question. He had gone to church on a semi-regular bases until Susan died but now he went once or twice a year and some years he didn’t go at all.
“God acts through us.” Pastor Jim said simply fixing Richard with a challenging stare. “You know about the Supernatural world and what you do with that knowledge is up to you.”
“I know I want to do something,” Richard muttered fidgeting nervously. He owed Bobby and Pastor Jim a debt he could never repaid and he shuddered to think of what would have happened if they hadn’t made it to the room in time. “But I don’t think I’m cut out to be a Hunter like you guys.” Getting thrown down a flight of stairs or spending days in the wilderness hunting down of supernatural creature was not for him.
“Research,” Bobby said thoughtfully staring at Richard. “You’re too old to be a Hunter but research would be right up your ally and I always need help manning the phones.” There were some days his phones didn’t stop ringing until midnight.
“I can do that, I’m pretty good at using a computer if I say so myself,” Richard replied and much to his bewilderment Caleb and Tommy started to snicker and Sam let out a muffled a snort. “What?”
“You’ll see when you get to Bobby’s place,” Tommy replied with a wide grin and Richard stared him, “You see, Bobby’s stuff isn’t in a computer, it’s in books; very thick, old and heavy musty books and most of them aren’t in English.”
Richard stared at Bobby in horror. “You’re kidding me?”
“I hope you’re a fast learner,” Bobby replied in a mild voice.
Part four