Bless the Broken Road

28. Hunted

Ava woke up from the vision/nightmare, gasping.

The man behind her stared. "Hey, honey?"

"Oh."

"You okay?"

"No, I just had another nightmare. It's fine, it's nothing. Just go back to sleep."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." She laid down again, still panting.

ROADHOUSE

Sam and Lily entered the Roadhouse and heads turned. Ellen was behind the bar and looked up as they approached.

She smiled knowingly. "Sam. Lily."

"Hey, Ellen," Sam greeted, grinning sheepishly. "You don't seem that surprised to see me or her."

"Well, your brothers have been calling, worried sick, looking for you two."

"Yeah. Figured they might."

"What's going on between you four?"

"So, um, how's Jo?"

Ellen nodded. "Well, I don't really know."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I haven't seen her in weeks. She sends a postcard now and again."

Lily tilted her head. "Well, what happened?"

"Well after she worked that job with you boys and girl, she decided she wanted to keep on hunting. I said "not under my roof", and she said "fine"."

"So we're probably the last people you want to see right now," Sam said.

Ellen let out a throaty chuckle. "Oh, don't get me wrong. I wish I could blame the hell out of you boys. It'd be easier. Truth is, it's not your fault. None of it is. I want you to know that I forgave your daddy a long time ago for what happened to my Bill. I just don't think he ever forgave himself."

"What did happen?"

"Um, so, why did you two come here, sweeties?"

"We need help."

Later, Ellen, Lily and Sam were talking to Ash, who was looking around furtively.

"What am I looking for, Sam, Lily?" Ash asked.

"Other people, other psychics, like me," Sam replied. "As many as possible, and we need a nationwide search."

Ellen frowned. "But I thought there was no way to track them all down. Not all of them had nursery fires like you did."

"Well, no, but some had to. Start there."

Ash left and eventually emerged from his back room with a piece of paper in hand and gave it a flourish. "Done, and done."

"That was fast."

"Well, apparently, that's my job. Make the monkey dance at the keyboard."

Lily met his eyes. "Just tell us what you got, Ash."

"Four folks fit the profile nationwide. Born in '83, mother died in a nursery fire, the whole shebang."

"Four? That's it?" Sam asked.

"Sam Winchester from Lawrence, Kansas, Max Miller from Saginaw, Michigan, Andrew Gallagher from Guthrie, Oklahoma, and uh, another name. Scott Carey."

"You got an address?"

"Kind of. The Arbor Hill Cemetery in Lafayette, Indiana. Plot 486."

"So he's dead?"

"Killed, about a month ago."