Chapter Text
Chapter 1: The Crash
“He’s late,” Alexis stated bluntly with a twinge of annoyance as she glanced down at her phone. 11:43. “Thanks again for waiting will me. You’re the best you know.” She smiled over at the boy sitting next to her in the driver's seat.
“Hey anytime, Alex, you know that.” He smiled back, “You sure you don’t just want me to drive you home? It’s no big deal, I promise.”
Alex smiled at him weakly. He was too kind sometimes and she always felt bad for not being able to return the favor. “Nah, I’m sure he’s almost here. But thanks for offering Tye.” She dropped her gaze from him, a little embarrassed, “You really are the greatest, I don’t know what I’d do without you sometimes.” Alex glanced up and finally met his gaze, he was smiling at her, big and wide, his clear blue eyes shining. “What?” Tye looked away and smiled down to himself. “Tye, come on what?” Alexis pushed his shoulder lightly.
He chuckled a little and shook his head lightly, “Nothing. You’re just kinda amazing.”
“Me? What? No! You’re the one who’s waiting here with me all night!” Alexis insisted.
“Okay ya I’m pretty awesome, but so are you! Waiting out here all night for your dad to pick you up, believing that he will even though he’s, like, an hour late. You… you always see the best in people.” A shy smile slipped over Tye’s lips as he continued to look at her. Alex could feel her cheeks burning as his gaze fell heavily on her. She peeled her eyes away from him and fiddled with the zipper of the sleeve of her leather jacket. “Alex…” Tye’s voice was low as he said her name and it drew her gaze back toward him. Lights passed over their faces pulling them out of the moment. They both looked up seeing a car pulling up next to them.
“Well, I guess that my dad,” Alex started, “Thanks again for waiting with me.” Alexis leaned forward put her arms around his neck and gave him an awkward hug. Tye instantly slipped his arms around her waist and squeezed back, nestling his head in her neck.
After a few seconds too long they pulled apart and Alex gathered her bag and hopped out of the car. “Later love,” she called back at him with a smirk and wave before shutting the passenger door. Alex popped open the door to her dad’s old subaru outback and tossed her bag into the back. She started to buckle her seat belt as her dad pealed out of the parking lot. Alex kept her eyes forward as they sat in silence.
Her dad cleared his throat. “Sorry I was late.” Alex could feel his gaze on her but her anger was starting to boil up to the surface. “So, uh, how was the tournament?”
“Fine.” She grunted continuing to look forward.
He sighed, “Look, Alexis-”
“Since when do you use my full name dad?” Alex moaned.
“Okay sorry, Alex. I’m sorry, okay, I know I was late and I’m sorry!” he took a deep breath, “Look I know that I haven’t necessarily been the best dad. I’m not around much and ever since your mom…” He trailed off.
“Dad,” Alex began, “It’s ok. I’m sorry. I’m just… tired” She huffed. They pulled to a stop as the traffic light to cross road ahead turned red.
“I’m gonna try harder, okay. I know it’s been hard on you here last few years since Jake’s been at college.” Alexis looked over at her dad at the mention of her brother. Her father started to pull into the intersection as the light turned green. He continued “He always took better care of you than me.”
They were halfway across the intersection when a pair of headlights blinded Alex as they speeded toward the car. “Dad!” she screamed as the other vehicle slammed into the driver's side of the car and pushed them off the road. She just barely registered the driver: older, trucker hat, and… black eyes, before Alexis lurched to the left on impact and then flew back to the right slamming her head into the window. Then everything went black.
“So how is she doc?”Jake mumbled, taking Alex’s hand. She was really messed up. Bandages were wrapped around her head because of the crack to her skull, IV bags dripped into tubes connected to her arms, there was a tube down her throat breathing for her, and there were scratches all down her arms and all over her face from the glass of the broken windows.
The doctor gave him a sad smile, “She’s stabilized, that's the best news. We stopped the internal bleeding and her ribs are only fractured. She took a serious hit to the head, but luckily there have been no signs of swelling in the brain. In hindsight, your sister is very lucky son. It could have been much worse. We’ll know more when she wakes up though. You should, um, try talking to her. Some studies say that helps.”
Jake watched as the doctor put Alex’s charts on the end of her bed and left the room. He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. Tears stung the backs of his eyes and he fought to keep them from spilling over. “Hey squirt,” he said to her. He tried to keep the sadness and fear out of his voice as he spoke, “The doc says you’re gonna be ok.” he paused, “You know I, uh, I heard you got 1st at your last meet. Nice job Alex.” He smirked a little, “You always were the talented one.” He swallowed hard, trying to think of what to say next. “That, ah, guy that ran you off the road, he was, he said he didn’t know what happened.” Jake could feel the anger boiling inside him, “That he didn’t remember running you a quarter of a mile off the road. He kept his foot on the gas for a quarter of a mile Alexis and he acts like he doesn’t remember doing it! And now you’re… stuck here. And it's just us now squirt.” The tears were streaming down his face now. “The accident… dad he… he didn’t make it. It’s just you and me now kid.”
Alex felt heavy. Every limb and ounce of her body felt like it was made out of concrete. Even her eyelids felt like lead. After a great deal of concentration she managed to peel them apart. She glanced around. She tried to turn to look to the left and felt a pain shoot through her head. “Alexis?” She heard someone say, “Alex? Holy shit, HELP! Doctor! She’s waking up!” Suddenly a familiar face hovered into view. “Alex?”
The face came into focus and relief flooded into her veins. “Jake,” she croaked. “What happened. Where, where am I?”
“You’re in the hospital kid. You were in a car accident. I… I wasn’t sure if you were gonna wake up squirt.”
Alexis smiled weakly at the nickname and then looked around the room. She noticed nurses and doctors checking vitals and taking notes and Jake, but something was missing. “Where’s dad?” She wondered.
Jake’s face fell. Everyone in the room stilled and seemed to hold a collective breath. The nurses and doctor all glanced nervously between each other. Jake looked toward them, “Could we have the room?” The doctor nodded and everyone but Jake filed out. He cleared his throat uncomfortably and wouldn’t meet her gaze. “Look squirt, the truck that hit you, it was this big sixteen wheeler. It hit the driver’s side head on. Dad… his injuries were too serious… he didn’t make it.”
“What?” Alex croaked. “That can’t be true. No… NO!” Tears spilled down her cheeks as she continued to scream that that wasn’t right. Jake sat on the edge of the bed catching her flailing arms and pulling her close to him. Her shouting turned to sobs as she clutched her brother like he was the only thing stable to ground her.
“It’s okay, it’s gonna be okay.” he soothed as he stroked Alex’s back.
Alexis had been rewatching her favorites on her Netflix for the past week. She couldn’t go back to school yet, doctor’s orders. The whole house was quiet, too quiet. The silence seemed to close in on her, threatening to crush her like that car, then a gunshot ringing from the TV would snap her out of her revien and Alex would take shaky, deep breaths to calm herself down. She glanced back at the television seeing that a new episode of Firefly had started without her noticing. Alexis grabbed the PS3 remote and clicked back to the last episode. She huffed and sat up on the couch, her body ached from the movement but the pain dulled as she settled and sipped her tea.
There was the familiar click of the front door unlocking as the Firefly theme song filled the room. The door quickly flew open and Jake stepped into the house hands full of canvas grocery bags. The keys clattered to the ground as Jake struggled to hold everything. “I’ve got provisions,” he declared.
“Want help?” Alexis asked sitting up.
“No, no, I’m good. You just sit squirt.” he smirked at her.
“Sasquatch!” she hollered at him as he rushed into the kitchen before he dropped anything. He strolled back into the entrance hall and snatched the keys off the floor where he had dropped them. Jake tossed the keys into the bowl that they kept on a shelf by the door and sauntered into the living room that the hall opened into at the right. He flopped down on the couch next to her and sighed. Alexis slipped her feet over his lap as he focused on the TV. “Firefly? Really? Again Alex?” he raised a brow at her.
“It’s a great show!” she exclaimed kicking his leg lightly. Jake grinned at her and opened his mouth about to deliver a snide remark when a pounding on the door interrupted.
“I got it.” Jake said. He stood making a show of removing her legs from his lap and dropping them back on the couch. Alex stuck her tongue out at him as he went to the door and then returned her attention to her show. She registered the mumbles of her brother and whoever was at the door, but couldn’t catch much of the dialogue until she heard Jake say, sounding more exhausted than ever, “We just buried our dad.” A wave of sadness swept over Alexis as she remembered the intense cold that seeped through her jacket as she laid a bunch of lilies on her father’s coffin; the cold wind that stung her cheeks as his body was lowered into earth; the tears that spilled down her face as she tossed a handful of dirt into the grave. Alex was pulled from her memories when the TV was paused and the couch shifted underneath her as Jake sat next to her.
“Hey Alexis, I’m Agent Sam DeGraw from the FBI.” The man said.
“He wants to ask you some questions about the accident.” Jake said slowly like he was scared to spook her.
“Okay… But I don’t see what a car accident has to do with the FBI.” Alex said slowly as she looked over at the man who now occupied the chair to her right. He was really tall, with soft brown eyes, scruff on his chin, and long shaggy brown hair. He sat leaned forward, elbows on knees, tie dangling in front of him, and looked concernedly at Alex.
“There have been some similar accidents recently, we’re checking to see if they’re somehow connected.” The agent said. His voice was soft and kind and yet firm all at once.
“Similar how exactly?” Alexis asked.
A little sadness shone in his eyes as he replied, “The drivers kept their feet on the petal long after the initial impact. That’s unusual. They should have slammed on the break or at least let the gas go but they didn’t.” He looked away from her eyes for the next part, “And all resulted in fatalities. You have been the only one to survive.”
“Oh…” Her voice felt smaller as she let out the word. She glanced across the room to the mantle that held the television seeing the old picture of her family from before it was broken. Her dad’s smiling face made sent a pang into her chest. When she looked back at the man he was looking at the photo. His eyes fell away from it and he wouldn’t meet her gaze.
“Can I just say how very sorry I am for your loss. I… I understand what it’s like to lose family.” he said solemnly. He looked back at her, new determination on his face.
“So the semi, your father didn’t notice it?” he asked.
“No. We were talking, fighting actually. I looked over at him and saw the headlights, but it was too late to do anything.” Alex said.
“And the driver,” Agent DeGraw started, “did you see him?”
“Ya… sorta. He was older. He was wearing a trucker hat, I think. And…” Alex trailed off, the next part sounded crazy. Black eyes. All black eyes. That’s crazy. Those eyes haunted her dreams but no one would believe that that driver had them.
“Alexis… it’s ok. Just tell me. No matter how strange it it.” He said slowly.
“His eyes… They were…” Alex hesitated.
“What? What about his eyes? Were they… black?” He asked cautiously.
“Ya. Ya they were. How… how did you know that?” She questioned.
“Lucky guess,” the agent shrugged and leaned back as if it was nothing.
“You never told me that part Alex.” Jake said.
“I didn't think it was important.” She replied.
“Well, I think that's it. Thank you for speaking with me Alexis.” Agent DeGraw stood.
“You can call me Alex. And no problem. If you need anything else just let us know Agent-”
He held up a hand to stop you. “Sam is fine.” He smiled at Alex and Jake. “I'll let you know if I need anything else.” With that he turned and saw himself out.
“Jake?” Alex asked. She sat at their kitchen table finishing the last of her mac n’ cheese and looked at him intently.
“Ya?” he replied.
“I was just wondering, what’s… like… what’s gonna happen to me?” she finished slowly.
Jake looked at her, his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion at the question. “What do you mean squirt?”
“Well we don’t really have any other family, and you’re off from school now but… you’ll have to go back soon and I’m just wondering what we’re gonna do about me.” she answered.
Jake’s eyebrows shot up. Does she really think I’m going to leave her? He asked himself. “I’m not going back to school.” he informed her.
“What?” Alexis exclaimed. “But you have to go back! You love school, and your friends, and you can’t just not finish!” she insisted.
“None of that matters anymore Alex. Dad is gone, and I won’t just leave you.”
“But you can’t just put your life on hold for me! I can’t hold you back, you’ll hate me for it!” she persisted.
“Okay now you’re just being ridiculous. I’m not putting my life on hold okay. I have a plan! I’m done with classes this semester so I’m going to just take online stuff for this last semester of school for you and I got a job at the library. I know what I’m doing Alex.” Jake roared.
Alex was quiet for a minute drinking in the information. “Oh…” she finally said meekly looking down.
“I’m sorry.” Jake started, “I didn’t mean to yell. But I do have a plan.” he said looking at her face. It seemed to be filled with uncertainty and sadness and pain. He missed he bright smile and the sparkle in her eyes that seemed to have flickered out sometime after the accident. Jack wished more than anything that he could return the glow and warmth that she once radiated; wished he could strike the pain from her features. He grabbed Alex’s hand reassuringly and softly said, “We’re gonna be fine squirt. I promise.” Alexis smiled back at him softly.
Sam slumped down on the edge of his motel room bed and tossed his fake FBI ID onto the table. He rubbed his face with his hand roughly and gave out an exhausted sigh. There had been three other accidents across the country that were the same as the one Alex was in. All had signs of demonic possession that seemed to go along with them. Not to mention the fact that they reminded him of the accident he had been in with his dad and Dean all those years ago. The why was what was stumping him. Why these targets? Why kill them? If Alex didn’t die is she still in danger? Why would they leave her alive? Every question or answer he came across lead to even more questions and more frustration. He wished Dean was here. He wished that someone could help him solve this.
Sam sighed and pulled out his laptop. Maybe if he dug into the individual victims pasts rather than the location he would find something. Some sort of connection that would provide some answers. He grabbed his other notes and checked the names of the other victims. There was a variety of ages, genders, locations, and socioeconomic statuses that made each victim different from the others. He looked at the first name on the list, typed it into the search bar and began his research.