THRILLER • SUPERNATURAL

FOUR - INTO THE WOODS

"Another nightmare?" Inquired Dean, glancing over to the passenger seat. Sam cleared his throat awkwardly and didn't answer. His silence spoke volumes. After a moment silence he added, much to all their surprise. "You wanna drive?"

Sam wondered whether his brother had hit his head recently because never had he heard those words come out of his mouth. His Baby was precious to him, normally he would never let anyone even touch the wheel. A laugh escaped Sam as he stared back at Dean with wide, surprised eyes. "Dean, your whole life you never once asked me that." He pointed out.

Dean backtracked at the sight of the incredulous look Sam was giving him. "Just thought you might want to. Never mind."

"Can I drive?" Grace spoke up, smiling innocently.

Sam laughed and Dean shook his head before turning back to look at her. "Maybe when you're sixteen." In disappointment, Grace pushed herself away, hitting her back against the leather seats as she did so.

Sighing, Sam started. "Look, guys, you're both worried about me." Of course they were, he was family and he was hurting. "I get it, and thank you, but I'm perfectly fine." Dean just hummed, he didn't really believe Sam's words and neither did Grace. She may not have been an expert in losing people, but she knew what being haunted felt like, and it wasn't very nice. Sam reached over and grasped the map before unravelling it all and focusing on where John Winchester had sent them. "All right, where are we?"

"We are just outside of Grand Junction."

From the back of the car, Grace watched as her Uncle folded down the map in his hands before letting out a heavy, burdened sigh. "You know what? Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon."

"Sam, we dug around there for a week." Dean reminded him as he kept glancing between his brother and the road. "We came up with nothing. If you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica—"

"—we gotta find Dad first." Sam finished for him, cutting Dean off abruptly.

Grace fiddled with her long sleeves again and rested her head back against the leather, feeling comfort in the car. "Dad disappearing and this thing showing up again after twenty years, it's no coincidence." Dean identified and even Gracie could see there was some sort of a pattern there. "Dad will have answers. He'll know what to do."

But what if he didn't? Even John Winchester didn't know everything.

Sam studied the map he had tightly between his fingers and frowned at the paper. "It's weird, man." He admitted and Grace leaned forwards again to stare at the giant red cross marked on the map. "These coordinates he left us. This Blackwater Ridge."

"What about it?"

"There's nothing there. It's just woods." Sam stated, puzzled, and then placed down the map, resting it on his lap. "Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?"

Grace plastered on a hopeful smile. "Maybe we'll find out when we get there." God, did she hope that was true.