Saturday, April 9, 2011

No One Chooses This Life (4/5)


Chapter 4
Back on the Road Again…
(11-weeks)



Highway 41

Molly led them to a cabin in the woods and Sam trailed behind. As they walked inside she spoke.

“This is it. This is where I saw him.”

Dean glanced around the cabin noticing the knives.

“Must have been his hunting cabin. Huh. Seemed like a real sweet guy.”

Sam walked into the cabin with his brows furrowed. His voice caused Dean to turn and face him.

“No markers or headstones outside.”

Molly’s eyes widened.

“You’re looking for Greeley’s grave?”

Sam nodded and Jo spoke.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

Dean started walking around again looking for clues. Mostly he just wanted to get away from Molly. A ghost, not knowing she’s a ghost was kinda creepy to him. He spoke over his shoulder from across the room to answer her question.

“So we can dig up the corpse and salt and burn it.”

Molly let out a disbelieving laugh.

“Oh. Sure, naturally.”

Sam shrugged.

“It’s a way to get rid of a spirit.”

Molly gave Sam and Jo a hopeful look as she spoke.

“And that’ll save David?”

Jo hesitated before speaking. She didn’t want to lie to Molly, but how do you tell someone her husband’s moved on because she died fifteen years ago?

“Well…this is what will help both of you, provided there’s a corpse to be found.”

“So, how do we find it?”

Jo shrugged at Molly and Sam went off to help Dean look around.

“Uh, not sure. After Greeley died, I think Sam said his wife claimed the body, and that’s the last anyone saw of her. So, a good guess is she brought him back here, but they had a thousand acres, and he could be buried anywhere on them.”

Molly nodded. When they finished searching the house and didn’t find anything they moved outside to search the rest of Greeley’s property. Dean was walking in front, Jo next to Molly and Sam bringing up the rear as they moved through the dark woods.

“What exactly are we looking for?”

Sam called out from behind Molly.

“Greeley’s house. Maybe he’s buried there. Look for roads or paths or something. Stay close to Jo.”

“Yeah, okay.”

As they continued walking Molly heard a whisper in the distance. She frowned slightly. She knew that voice. Before she could chalk it up to her imagination she heard it again, “Help me, Molly.” Her eyes widened.

“David?”

Molly ran toward the sound and away from Jo. She could hear them calling her, but she ignored them. The only thing that mattered was David. Suddenly, right out of the bushes Jonah Greeley appeared and grabbed her by the arms.

Molly screamed. Jo stopped in her tracks when she saw Greeley. Damn it, thought Jo. She lifted her gun, pointed, and shoots Greeley. He disappeared and Jo moved toward Molly to make sure she was okay.

“Oh god...”

The sound of a gunshot had Sam and Dean running to find Jo and Molly. They finally caught up to them and Dean’s heart pounded frantically in his chest. The thought of Jo possibly being shot sent had sent a jolt through him like he’d never felt.

When Dean saw they were both fine he took a minute to even out his breathing. Sam’s voice broke through the silence.

“Hey! You two all right?”

Molly turned towards Dean and Sam. Her hands trembled as she spoke.

“What has that son of a bitch done with my husband?”

Sam looked between Jo and Dean before trying to speak calmly.

“Just take it easy, all right? You’re gonna see David again. You will.”

It was then that Dean noticed the path to their right. He squinted, got their attention, and pointed to it.

“Hey. Follow the creepy brick road.”

Molly glanced at Jo and she nodded.

“Go ahead.”

They started down the path, in the same order they had been previously. They walked in silence until Molly could no longer take it.

“That thing shoots rock salt?”

She motioned towards Jo’s gun and she nodded.

“Yup.”

“And plain salt keeps away spirits?”

Jo shrugged and Sam spoke.

“Simple remedies are always the best. In most cultures, salt’s a symbol of purity. So, it repels impure and unnatural things. Same reason you throw it over your shoulder.”

They turned a corner, the trees thinned out, and Greeley’s house came into sight. Dean let out a tired sigh.

“You know, just once, I’d like to round the corner and see a nice house.”

Dean stood outside and motioned for Sam to head in first. He moved inside and glanced around before calling out to Dean, who was still outside.

“Any headstones outside?”

Dean snorted.

“Yeah, right. Is it ever that easy?”

Sam sighed.

“I guess not.”

As Dean glanced around the room he noticed a staircase towards the left of the room. He cleared his throat and spoke while he motioned to the stairs.

“Jo and I will upstairs. We’ll see if we can find any notes or records telling us where he’s buried. You two just check down here.”

Sam nodded.

“All right.”

Dean nodded towards Jo and she made her way over to him. They took the stairs slowly, walked down the hall, and into the room guns drawn. When they finished checking the room making sure Greely wouldn’t pop up anywhere, they started going through his stuff.

Dean watched Jo as she rummaged through the papers covering Greeley’s floor. He wasn’t sure what to say to break the silence. He knew she was mad at him, but he wasn’t sure why. Yeah, they’d been fighting a lot lately, but it didn’t mean he cared about her less.

Dean just wasn’t used to having someone in his personal space aside from Sammy and it was more difficult than he originally anticipated. Jo could feel Dean’s eyes on her, but she refused to be the first person to speak. He had been such an ass the past few days and she was tired of his shit.

She wasn’t sure what his problem was, but if he didn’t talk to her about it this thing between them would never work. Dean cleared his throat and spoke as Jo moved on from the papers to a photo album that was lying on the dresser.

“Nice shot earlier with Greeley…”

“Thanks.”

“You’re okay?”

“Fine.”

Her words were short and Dean let out a frustrated sigh. One of the things that had attracted Dean to Jo was that he could talk to her. After he took the time to get to know her, and she broke through his walls, he found he was comfortable telling her things that he would normally only tell Sammy.

But lately, he just wasn’t sure how to talk to her anymore. Every time they spoke, they fought. Maybe he was wrong about Jo…maybe his life just didn’t have room for one particular woman. He shook himself out of his thoughts and tried talking to Jo again.

“Jo…”

She cut him off.

“Dean can we not do this right now? We have a job to focus on. Look at this…”

She trailed off and he looked at her for a few seconds before moving towards her and turning the book slightly so he could see it. Jo watched as he looked through some of the photos. She swallowed hard before speaking in a soft voice.

“It’s Greeley and his wife. It’s a love letter he wrote her…it’s beautiful. I don’t understand how a guy like this can turn into such a sonava bitch.”

Dean shook his head.

“Spirits like Greeley are like wounded animals Jo…lost and in so much pain, they lash out.”

She nodded.

“And he lashing out on Molly because she accidently hit him with the car. I get it…sometimes I just don’t understand it.”

“We’re not here to understand why he’s doin’ it Jo, we’re here to take him down.”

“I know. I can’t wait to fry that mother…”

She shrugged and paused before continuing.

“I just kinda feel bad for ‘em. Oh, by the way I’m not tellin' Molly about David…you or Sam can do that.”

Dean grunted.

“Damn it…”

Jo opened her mouth when the sound of a window shattering and Molly screaming broke the silence in the house. Dean and Jo looked at each other for a second before running out of the room and down the stairs. By the time they got into the room guns drawn Sam was panting hard.

He looked up at them and there was worry in his voice.

“He’s got Molly!”

Dean motioned to the window and the three of them jumped out of it one by one. They made their back down the path. Dean was pissed. He was tired of this bull shit. They’d been at this all night and they were running out of time. Dean’s jaw tensed as he spoke.

“This guy is persistent.”

Dean turned his head and saw Jo next to him. She glanced it briefly and it was the first time in days she hadn’t looked at him with anger on her face.

“We’ve gotta find Molly.”

Dean nodded.

“More importantly, we’ve gotta find Greeley’s bones, and no pressure or anything, but we’ve got less than two hours before sunrise.”

As they continued down the path Sam stopped and frowned. He was so stupid…he knew where the bones were.

“Hey.”

Dean glanced at Sam and when he realized Sam had stopped moving he paused.

“What?”

“The tree.”

Dean and Jo both frowned at Sam.

“What?”

Sam started moving again as he explained.

“The tree in front of the hunting cabin. In one of the photos in Greeley’s house there’s no tree, but when we were there earlier I saw one. It’s an old country custom, Dean…planting a tree as a grave marker.”

Dean paused, shook his head at Sam, and walked away from him. He spoke over his shoulder as he headed back down the path.

“You’re like a walking encyclopedia of weirdness.”

Jo grinned and Sam nodded as they followed Dean down the path.

“Yeah. I know.”

Once they reached the clearing they made their way quietly up to the cabin. Dean, Sam and Jo looked through the window. Molly was strung up from the ceiling and they could see Greeley leaning over her with a knife. Sam turned to Dean.

“You and Jo go get Molly. I’ll find the burns and burn ‘em.”

Dean nodded, glanced at Jo, and motioned for her to follow him. She and Dean and they made their way around to the door. They got in position on either side and on the count of three they kicked through the door. Greely turned in surprise and both Dean and Jo shot a round of rock salt at him, making him disappear. Molly’s eyes widened and she gave them a look of relief.

“Oh, thank God.”

Dean smirked.

“Call me Dean.”

While Dean was moving towards Molly; Greeley reappeared behind him, lifted two fingers, and lashed out at Dean leaving a long slit across his cheek. Dean turned and glared at Greeley.

“This guy’s really pissing me off.”

Dean charged him and Greeley raised his hand and flung Dean across the room and into the wall. Greeley angrily walked towards Dean and right as he lifted his hand again Jo shot another round of rock salt at him. When he disappeared she ran over to Dean and bent down next to him.

There was worry in her eyes when she spoke.

“You okay?”

He grunted.

“I’ve been better. Go untie Molly…I got it…”

Jo hesitated, but got up and went over to Molly. As she was untying her Greeley came back again. Dean’s eyes widened as he appeared behind Jo. Dean stood and yelled out to Sam.

“Hurry up, Sam!”

Greeley grabbed a knife from the wall and charged at Jo. Dean slammed into Greeley knocking him into the wall. They wrestled back and forth while Jo finished untying Molly. When Molly was free, Jo grabbed her gun and raised it towards them.

She frowned.

“Dean stop! I can’t shoot him that way.”

Right as Greeley was about to shove the knife into Dean’s stomach he stopped, a look of shock crossed his face, and he reared back screaming in pain. Flamed engulfed his body until he disappeared. Dean laid on the floor for a few minutes until Jo and Molly made their way over to him.

“You okay?”

Dean glanced up at her. Her body was tense, brow furrowed, and she was breathing heavy. His face softened and he nodded.

“I’ll live.”

Some of the tension eased out of her body as the worry ebbed slightly off her face. She smirked and kicked him in the boot lightly.

“Well then get off the damn floor and let’s blow this joint…Sam probably waiting on us outside.”

Dean groaned, but got up and followed Jo and Molly outside. As they walked back toward the impala Dean rubbed the back of his head. Tonight has been ridiculous, but at least Greeley was gone. One ghost down…one to go…

Chapter 5

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