Girl!Sam Episode 4 - Phantom Traveller - Part 3
Sam and Dean were settling into their seats on the plane. Dean was sitting in the aisle seat and Sam was in the middle. The window seat was unoccupied. Dean had pulled out the emergency manual and was attempting to read it. He was close to panicking already and the plane hadn’t even left the ground yet. Sam tried to say something. “Just try to relax.”
“Just try to shut up!” Dean snapped back. The plane began accelerating for take off and Dean put the emergency sheet away and gripped the armrests of his seat.
Sam glanced down and put her hand on top of her brother’s. Dean looked down at their hands and then up at her. Sam didn’t say anything, just smiled reassuringly. Dean laid his head back against the seat as he allowed her to pry his hand from the armrest and interlace her fingers with his in a firm grip.
After takeoff Dean released his death grip on Sam’s hand, but he was obviously still very tense. Sam thought she heard him humming. She listened for a moment. “Are you humming Metallica?”
“It calms me down.”
Sam had really hoped he’d calm down after takeoff. “Look, Dean. I get you’re nervous, all right, but you gotta stay focused.”
“Okay.” Dean’s voice was tight.
“I mean, we’ve got 32 minutes and counting to track this thing down, or whoever it’s possessing anyway, and perform a full on exorcism.”
“Yeah. On a crowded plane. That’s gonna be easy.”
“Just take it one step at a time all right. Now…who is it possessing...”
Sam’s strategy seemed to be working. She was getting Dean to focus on the job, distracting him from his phobia. “Well, it’s usually gonna be somebody with some sort of weakness. Ya know, a chink in the aror that the demon can worm through. Someone with an addiction or some sort of emotional distress.” Dean was looking around at everyone and everything with nervous energy.
“Well, this is Amanda’s first flight after the crash. If I were her, I’d be pretty messed up.”
“Uh hum.” He stopped the flight attendant as she passed. “Excuse me. Are you Amanda?”
“No, I’m not.”
Dean grinned, but it wasn’t his usual self-assured grin. “Oh, my mistake.” She smiled and continued walking. He glanced down the aisle toward the rear of the plane and saw the other flight attendant. He turned to Sam. “All right. Well that’s gotta be Amanda back there so…I’ll go talk to her, and I’ll get a read on her mental state.”
“What if she’s already possessed?”
“There’s ways to test that.” Dean pulled a plastic bottle from the duffle bag. “I brought Holy Water.”
Sam snatched it from him and put it under her jacket. “No. I think we can go more subtle. If she’s possessed, she’ll flinch at the name of God.”
Dean liked it. “Huh. Nice.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and headed toward Amanda.
Sam stopped him. “Hey.”
He leaned back down. “What?”
“Say it in Latin.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Hey!”
Dean came back again. “What!”
“Uh…in Latin it’s Cristo.”
“Sam, I know! I’m not an idiot!”
Dean walked toward the back of the plane where Amanda was preparing the drink cart. There was a moment of turbulence and Dean clutched the headrests of the seats. The turbulence passed and he cursed under his breath as he continued walking back toward Amanda. “Hi.” He tried to smile.
“Hi.” Amanda smiled brightly. “Can I help you with something?”
“Oh, no. I’m just a bit of an uneasy flyer. It makes me feel better to just walk around a little bit.”
“Oh, it happens to the best of us.”
“Well, of course, you being a stewardess, I guess flying comes easy to you.”
Amanda laughed. “Yeah, you’d be surprised.”
“Really. You’re a nervous flyer.”
“Yeah, maybe. A little bit.”
Dean was relaxing somewhat and using more of his charm. “Now how is it, being a stewardess, you’re scared to fly?”
“Kind of a long story.” Amanda hedged.
“Right. I’m sorry for asking.”
“It’s okay.”
“You ever consider other employment?”
Amanda paused a moment. “No. Look, everybody’s scared of something. I just, uh, I’m not gonna let it hold me back.”
Dean was amazed. He shook his head, averted his eyes, and muttered “Cristo.”
“I’m sorry. Did you say something?”
Dean looked at her and smiled uncomfortably. “Cristo?”
Amanda was confused. “I didn’t-I’m…”
“Yeah, nothing. Never mind.” Dean turned and walked back to his seat next to Sam. She was waiting to hear what had happened. “All right. Well she’s gotta be the most well adjusted person on the planet.” Dean said disgustedly.
“You said Cristo?”
“Yeah.” Dean tightened his seatbelt.
“And?”
“There’s no demon in her. There’s no demon getting in her.”
“So, it’s on the plane and it could be anyone, anywhere.”
The plane hit some more turbulence. “Oh, come on. That can’t be normal!”
“Hey…it’s just a little turbulence.”
“Sam.” Dean looked at her and whispered. “This plane is going to crash okay. So quit treatin’ me like I’m frickin’ four.”
“You need to calm down.”
“Well, I’m sorry. I can’t.”
“Yes. You. Can.”
“Sis, stow the touchy-feely, self-help, yoga crap-“
Sam got in his face. “Listen to me. If you’re panicked, you’re wide open for demonic possession. So you need to calm yourself down. Right now.”
Dean knew she was right. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Good. Now.” Sam pulled out their dad’s journal. ”I found an exorcism in here that I think is gonna to work-the Rituaro Mono.”
“What do we have to do?”
“It’s two parts. The first part expels the demon from the victim’s body. It makes it manifest, which actually makes it more powerful.”
Dean didn’t like the sound of that. “More powerful?”
“Yeah.”
“How?”
“Well, it doesn’t need to possess someone anymore. It can just wreak havoc on its own.”
“Oh. And why is that a good thing?”
“Well…because the second part sends the bastard back to hell…once and for all.”
“First things first, we’ve got to find it.”
Dean walked up the aisle with his Walkman/EMF meter, checking each row of passengers as discretely as possible. He reached the front of the plane and Sam got up and joined him. “Anything?”
“No. Nothin’. How much time we got?”
“Fifteen minutes. Maybe we missed somebody.”
“Maybe the thing’s just not on the plane.” Dean said optimistically.
Sam gave him a look. “You believe that?”
“Well, I will if you will.” Just then, Dean’s EMF meter started picking something up. The co-pilot came out of the restroom and smiled at them as he headed back into the cockpit. “Cristo.”
The co-pilot turned around and his eyes were completely black. Sam and Dean stood in shocked silence as he went inside and closed the cockpit door. They turned and walked back toward the rear of the plane and Amanda.
Sam shook her head. “She’s not gonna believe this.”
“Twelve minutes Sam!”
They walked into the rear compartment and Amanda turned around. “Oh, hi.” She said cheerfully, recognizing Dean from earlier. “Flight’s not too bumpy for you I hope.”
“Actually, that’s kinda what we need to talk to you about.” Dean said as Sam pulled the curtain closed.
“Um…okay. What can I do for you?”
“All right. This is gonna sound nuts, but we just don’t have time for the whole ‘the truth is out there’ speech.”
Sam jumped in. “All right, look. We know you were on Flight 2485.”
Amanda was nervous. “Who are you?”
Sam continued without answering her. “Now, we’ve spoken to some of the other survivors. We know something brought down that plane and it wasn’t mechanical failure.”
“And we need your help…” Dean explained. “…because we need to keep it from happening again. Here. Now.”
“I’m-I’m sorry. I’m very busy.” Amanda tried to go around Dean, but he blocked her.
“Whoa, whoa. Wait a second. I’m not gonna hurt you, okay. But listen to me, um, the pilot, from 2485, Chuck Lambert…he’s dead.”
“Wh-what?! Chuck is dead?!”
“He died in a plane crash. And that’s two plane crashes in two months. That doesn’t strike you as strange?”
Amanda didn’t know what to say.
“Look.” Sam said gently. “There was something wrong with 2485. Now maybe you sensed it, and maybe you didn’t, but there’s something wrong with this flight too.”
“Amanda, you have to believe us.” Dean pleaded.
She stared at them for a few seconds. “On…on 2485 there was…this man. He had these eyes.”
“Yes!” Sam exclaimed. “That’s exactly what we’re talking about.”
“Well, I don’t understand. What exactly are you asking me to do?”
“The co-pilot…we need you to bring him back here.” Dean clarified.
“Why? What does he have to do with anything?”
“Don’t have time to explain. We just need to talk to him, okay.”
“Well, how am I supposed to go into the cockpit and get the co-pilot-“
Sam interrupted. “Whatever it takes…do whatever it takes. Tell him there’s something broken back here. Whatever will get him outta that cockpit.”
“Do you know that I could lose my job if-“
“Okay, well you’re gonna lose a lot more than that if you don’t help us out.” Time was running out and Dean was not about to die in an airplane.
Amanda looked them in the eyes and could tell they were serious. “Okay.” Dean stepped aside and she walked up to the cockpit to get the co-pilot. He stood by the door waiting for co-pilot while Sam opened the journal to the exorcism.
The co-pilot came through the curtain. “Now what’s the problem.” Dean knocked him to the floor before he could realize they were there. He duct-taped his mouth and straddled him, pinning him to the floor.
“What are you doing?!” Amanda demanded. “You said you were gonna talk to him.”
“We are gonna talk to him.” Dean said as Sam poured some Holy Water onto the co-pilot’s torso. It began burning him like acid, but didn’t hurt Dean’s hands where he was holding him down.
“Oh God. What’s wrong with him?”
Sam turned to Amanda. “Look, we need you calm…we need you outside of the curtain…” Amanda tried to protest but Sam continued. “Don’t let anybody in okay. Can you do that? Amanda!”
“Okay. Okay.” She went out and closed the curtain behind her.
Dean struggled with the demon and punched him again. “Hurry up Sam. I don’t know how much longer I can hold him.”
She doused him with some more Holy Water and began the ritual. The demon knocked the water bottle out of her hands. He bucked Dean off of him and knocked Sam to the side, hitting the wall. Dean recovered and jumped back on top of him. Sam began reading again, but the demon knocked Dean off once more and ripped off the duct tape. He grabbed Sam by her jacket and pulled her close. “I know what happened to your boyfriend.” Sam’s eyes widened in shock. “He died screaming. Even now he’s burning!”
Dean cut the demon off with another punch. “SAM!”
Sam finished reciting the first part of the ritual and put the journal down to help Dean hold the co-pilot while the demon was expelled from his body. He began thrashing and kicked the journal under the curtain and down the aisle of the plane. Black smoke came out of the co-pilot’s mouth and he went limp.
“Where’d it go?” Sam asked.
“It’s in the plane. Hurry up. We’ve gotta finish it.”
The plane suddenly jerked and began to dive. Dean was thrown backwards into the compartment, but Sam was holding onto the doorframe. She pulled herself forward and crawled along the floor, looking for her dad’s journal. All the passengers, including Dean, were screaming as the plane shook violently. Sam reached under a seat and got to the journal. She flipped to the marked page and began reciting the second part of the ritual. As she said the final words, a bolt of electricity went through the plane and it began to straighten out.
People were starting to calm down and ask each other if they were okay. Sam looked back to see Dean standing in the doorway, looking as pale as she’d ever seen him. She fought the urge to jump up and give him a hug. They’d almost died. Again. Why was she stopping herself exactly?
Dean gritted his teeth. “Think you could have made that a little closer Sammi?”
Oh yeah…that was why. “It’s Sam.”
The plane had turned around and headed back. Once they landed, the FBI began interviewing everyone about what had happened. Sam, Dean, and Amanda were the only ones who knew what had really happened.
The co-pilot was even less helpful than the rest of the passengers. “I don’t know what happened. I was walking through the airport, and then it all goes blank. I don’t even remember gettin’ on the plane.”
Amanda didn’t tell the agents about the Winchesters or what had really happened. She just mouthed Thank You to them from across the lobby where she was still answering questions. They nodded their heads in recognition of her gratitude.
“Let’s get outta here.” Dean glanced over at Sam as they walked away from the gate. “You okay?”
Sam knew he was referring to what the demon had said to her. She stopped and faced him. “Dean. It knew about Jesse.”
“Sam, these-these things…they read minds. They lie, all right. That’s all it was.”
“Yeah.” She whispered.
“Come on.” Dean walked ahead and Sam slowly followed.
Dean and Sam stood next to the Impala talking to Jerry Panowski.
“Nobody knows what you guys did. But I do. A lot of people coulda been killed.” He shook their hands. “Your dad’s gonna be real proud.”
“We’ll see ya around Jerry.” Dean walked around to the driver’s side. “Ya know, Jerry...”
“Yeah?”
“I meant to ask you…how’d you get my cell phone number anyway. I’ve only had it for like six months.”
“Your dad gave it to me.”
Sam turned around. “What?”
“When’d ya talk to him.” Dean asked coolly.
“Well, I didn’t exactly talk to him. But, uh…I called his number and his voice message said to give you a call. Thanks again guys.”
As Jerry walked away, Sam turned to her brother. “This doesn’t make any sense Dean. I’ve called Dad’s number like fifty times. It’s been out of service.”
Dean and Sam leaned against the hood of the car, side by side, as Dean dialed their dad’s number. When he heard it pick up he leaned toward Sam and held the phone so they could both listen. “This is John Winchester. I can’t be reached. If this is an emergency, call my son Dean. 866-907-3235. He can help.”
It was the first time Sam had heard her dad’s voice in four years. Her eyes filled with tears as she thought about all the wasted time, especially after what Jerry had said about how proud her dad was. She couldn’t look at Dean, and she definitely couldn’t tell him how she felt. It was her fault she hadn’t spoken to their dad in so long. But this was good. Now they knew for sure that he was still alive, or had been within the last week anyway. They had to keep going.
Dean didn’t say a word as Sam got in the car and slammed the door. He was pretty sure he knew what she was thinking, but he didn’t know what to say. If he still knew her like he once did, she’d let him know when she was ready to talk. Maybe when the time came, he’d know what to say. For now he simply got in the car and turned the key in the ignition. They’d just have to keep moving and hoping they’d hear from Dad soon. They had to keep going.
Hope ya liked it.
Next: Bloody Mary