by A. Eggleston
He opened the door to his Oldsmobile and hopped in. He slammed the door shut and panted heavily as he turned the ignition. I swear, if this thing pulls a horror cliché on me and won't start, I'm gonna be really pissed. Fortunately for him, his car was able to start without trouble.
He looked ahead and saw Freddy's gargantuan arm extended above the edge of the cliff. Without a second thought, Ash put the car in Reverse and stomped on the accelerator. Ash sped in reverse as Freddy pierced the ground with his steel blades, each stab marked closer to Ash.
Ash drove this way for a short distance. He nervously looked behind him to see where he was going, and in front to watch as Freddy rose up. He stood like a giant before him.
Freddy raised his hand up in the air and struck his glove down, aiming for Ash. He missed him by a hair, and momentarily got his blades stuck in the ground.
This was enough time for Ash to turn his car around, put it in Drive, and speed down the pathway that led to the cabin. At least this way, Ash would be able to get some distance between him and Krueger.
When Freddy spotted the fumbling demon slayer slip from away from him, he was filled with rage. That tool thinks he can run away from me? I don't think so! He clenched his fists and snarled. His fury had affected the environment around him. This was the dream realm. It did and acted however Freddy wanted it to. And when Freddy was pissed, that was when darkness fell.
The warm, beautiful, sunset had now dropped like a basketball from a clumsy kid's hands. It grew ever darker, and that frightful darkness was covering the sky like a tarp. The leaves on the trees shriveled up and fell the ground. The bark had decayed to a pale gray.
Freddy lifted his feet and chased after Ash, moving slowly, but still getting closer to him. His booming voice reverberated all throughout the woods. He taunted Ash as he moved closer. "FEE FI FO FUM, I SMELL THE BLOOD OF THE CHOSEN ONE!"
Ash lifted his gaze from the dirt road to the rear view mirror. He saw Freddy coming towards him, and getting closer as the seconds went by. "Damn it," Ash said under his breath. "He's getting closer."
Since Freddy now stood at such an incredible height, he didn't have to move quickly in order to shorten the distance between him and Ash. Wherever he went, darkness followed, and encapsulated the sky. In a matter of seconds, the entire sky had turned black. It became increasingly difficult for Ash to see in front of him.
There's a good chance I could crash and flip this thing over any second now. I could ram it against a tree and not even see it coming...like last time. Guess I should learn from my mistakes, huh? Ash turned on the headlights, and saw that the cabin was just down the hill. All he had to do was get there before Freddy could get to him.
Ash drove down the hill, narrowly weaving past the trees and brush as he descended further down. His nerves had gotten the best of him. He gripped the steering wheel tighter, his hands shook uncontrollably, and his heart started to beat rapidly. Ash worried that he wouldn't be able to make it in time. What happens if Freddy actually wins this time? What'll happen to everyone? What'll happen to me?
He looked back in the mirror again, and much to his surprise, Freddy was gone. It was like he just disappeared in the woods somewhere. Ash had no idea where he could have gone. Frankly, he didn't care. As long as he could get to the cabin safely, maybe--just maybe--he could steal the Necronomicon back from Freddy, and wake up in time to undo this mess.
Ash stopped the car once he was a few yards from the front of the old, wooden cabin. He didn't bother to turn the car or the lights off. Freddy might be able to kill me here, but I don't think wasting the gas will have any effect the classic. Ash jumped out of the car and walked towards the cabin.
It was exactly as Ash had remembered it. A small, one-story cabin, smack dab in the middle of the woods. There was one window on each side of the front door. The windows had been crudely boarded up, while the door had two holes right in the middle. The shingles were old, the wood was rotting, and the chain holding the swing on the front porch seemed like it was about to break at any second. He looked back just to make sure Freddy was nowhere to be seen.
The air was quiet. Aside from all of the dead trees and fog everywhere, it was actually calming. There was absolutely no noise, except for the light whistling coming from the wind. Ash felt safe enough to put his foot on the front porch step, and proceed to the cabin.
His ears twitched. Something was not right. Ash heard a low moan coming from the distance. It was a low, warbled hum that Ash only heard when something horrible was going to happen. It was the unseen force making its way towards him. The sound became unnervingly louder.
Ash turned back around and saw the evil. It was heading towards him at a daunting speed. Once he confirmed his suspicions, Ash ran to the cabin, opened the door and slammed it shut, stopping the evil from making contact with him.
The evil, only seen by the unlucky ones who fall prey to its demonic hold, exuded something different about it. It forced itself upon the front door, putting intense pressure on the door handles, hoping it would bust open. Its deep, dark, moan shook the entire cabin. Before retreating back into the forest, it sent Ash a warning sign. Piercing through the walls beside the front door, were the four, steel, blades belonging to Freddy's glove.
Inside, on the other side of the cabin, Ash barricaded the door by standing in front of it, holding his arms out wide to hold either side. He kept one ear to the door, listening and waiting for the evil to go away. Once the noise had stopped, Ash lowered his arms and stepped away from the door. He took a deep breath in and out to calm himself. After the commotion was over, Ash realized that he had been sweating bullets the entire time. Ash wiped the sweat from his forehead with his palm, and ran it across his black hair. He sidestepped to the window to make sure it actually gone. There was nothing out there, aside from the fog that settled at the ground.
Ash took the time he had to walk around the inside of the cabin. It was dimly lit, the only sources of light came from the few small reading lamps in the corner. The rest of the room was filled with shadows.
It was so much like how he remembered it, right down to the blood splattered walls. It was quite frightening. He turned to his right and paced around the room in a counter-clockwise pattern. He walked past the end table with the small reading lamp, the rocking chair in the corner that gave him an eerie feeling to look at it. Judging from the way that it faced him, he felt like it was staring at him. Next to that was the fireplace with the deer head mounted above. He stared at the buck for a brief moment, remembering what it did last time he was here--briefly re-animating to laugh at him and drive him further into insanity. Good times. He quickly brushed it off and walked past. The pale, wooden floorboards creaked with almost every step that he took around the living area of the cabin.
Before crossing to the opposite side of the room, Ash passed a faded wooden table that contained a stack of books pushed up against the corner, a green-shaded reading lamp, and an old tape recorder. It was inside those recordings that held the phonetic pronunciations of the Necronomicon. And Ash was dumb enough to listen. If only I hadn't pressed Play. It was hard not to dwell on the past when those cruel reminders were now all around him. And for the time being, there was no escape.
Ash only looked at it briefly before making his way to the other side of the room.
There was an old couch with most of the upholstery faded and torn. Beside it was a grandfather clock that had stopped ticking. The hands were locked at 9:16. And on the floor was the entrance to the fruit cellar. It was simply a square cut in the floorboards with a chain wrapped around locks in each corner, keeping the entrance secure.
Being back was unnerving for him. He knew that this wasn't real, that it was just a dream, yet another of Freddy's dirty tricks. But the fact that he knew so much about the horrors he had experienced here, and that he was exploiting those fears, it made Ash feel violated. He knew that Freddy has been inside his mind. Through each and every dark corner, and knows his ev
ery fear, weakness, and anything else he can and would use to defeat him.
Ash shook it off. He kept reminding himself what his reason was for being here. He mumbled to himself as he stared down cellar entrance. "The book--right, right--I gotta find the book." Ash looked away from the cellar and gazed out the window. "Question is, where is he keeping it?"
CREAK!
Ash whipped around and looked out into the hallway, where the noise had come from. He expected Freddy to come out from the shadows. Ash was eager to blow the bastard's head off. He reached for his shotgun and aimed it, preparing for Freddy to rear his ugly head, literally.
Stepping out from the shadows, at first, was the sight of a delicate, bare foot. Hanging just a couple of inches above the ankle, was a flowing, lacy, white, nightgown. A woman fully emerged out from the dark. Her strawberry blonde hair nestled just below her pale shoulders. Her brown eyes twinkled and her full, pink, lips curled up into a smile when she saw Ash.
"Linda..." he said, surprised.
It may have been because his last memory of her was sawing her possessed body with a chainsaw, but she appeared more beautiful than ever before. However, Ash never let his guard down. He knew exactly what this was. But, still...he had loved her so much. A part of him was just happy to see her again, this time without the lacerations and cadaver eyes.
Linda walked closer to him, smiling and holding her arms open to him. "Oh, Ash!" she said joyfully. "It's really you!"
Ash held his ground. As much as he wanted to hold her again, he knew that it wouldn't be right. The aimed the shotgun in front of Linda. "Stay back." he ordered.
Her eyes began to glisten with tears. Her lips quivered and she lowered her arms to her side. "Ash..." her voice was light and soothing. "I only came to say goodbye." Linda held her silver, looking glass necklace close to her chest. "We never got to say goodbye. Oh Ash, I've missed you so much."
His hand began to shake, and he couldn't hold the shotgun to Linda's face any longer. He put his finger off of the trigger and lowered it down to the ground. He said only what he felt to be the truth. "I've missed you too, Linda." He thought that it would be best to get closure, because it would be the only chance he would get.
Linda ran into his arms and hugged him tightly. She buried her head into his chest.
Ash put his shotgun back into his holster and returned her hug. He decided that for the time being, he would savor the moment. He knew that this would be the only way he could have the chance hold Linda close in his arms one last time.
"I love you so much." said Linda.
Ash felt a knot forming in his throat as he fought back tears. "I love you too, Linda." he said. "I never stopped loving you."
Because it wasn't the real Linda, he knew he couldn't let his guard down for very long. In this world, he didn't know what might happen. It was false closure and false comfort, but still, it was the only kind he was ever going to get. Ash closed his eyes and held her close.
Linda spoke to him. She kept her head ducked down, so her voice was slightly muffled. Her tone was seductive. "If you could just do one thing for me, Ash?" she said.
His eyes shot open, and his eyebrows scrunched in confusion. This is gonna turn bad real quick, isn't it? "What?" he asked, waiting for things to go sour.
There was a hint of coyness in her response. "Could you get me an aspirin?" she asked.
Ash could feel her pushing away from him. He let go of her as she stepped back and lifted her head up.
By then, her voice had become shrill and modulated. It was frightening to the core. Her skin was now white as porcelain. Her eyes were blank, bloodshot, and black at the rims. She oozed black blood from her mouth, and her teeth were thick and fang-like. "'CAUSE I HAVE A SPLITTING HEADACHE!!!". On the top of her head, just off-center, was a large, gaping, jagged, split. Skeletal fragments and brains were partially exposed, and blood constantly poured from the wound.
Ash stepped back and pulled his hands away from her. He didn't feel afraid. He wasn't shocked or surprised. He was just disappointed. For a brief moment, he thought that maybe he could live the rest of his life without having Linda's mutilated body be the last image he had of her. That opportunity was taken from him in a matter of seconds.
He reached for his shotgun and prepared to shoot Linda, when she did something very strange. Strange enough that it made Ash pause.
Linda cackled loudly and tilted her head back during her burst of insane laughter. Her head kept leaning further back, and her voice became even more strained until it was but a guttural growl, and then eventually ceased. By that point, Linda's head had disconnected from her neck completely and fell to the ground. It thudded on the hard wood floor, briefly bouncing back up. The rest of her body soon followed, falling lifeless to the ground.
Ash stared in a mixture of disgust and confusion. He was frozen in place. Ash didn't know if he should shoot her, or just leave her alone.
Then, the body started to twitch.
He tensed up. He leaned in and put his finger on the trigger.
Linda began to bend her legs and her arms, planting her hands and feet firmly on the floor. She lifted herself from the ground and crawled out of the room. Her decapitated head, on its own, rolled out. She retreated back into the darkness where she had come from.
Still gripping the shotgun tightly, Ash stared wild-eyed into the dark hallway where Linda had disappeared. I think I'm starting to get a taste of what Freddy likes to do to his victims.
Tap...Tap...Tap...Tap...
Ash looked around the room to spot where the tapping noise was coming from. He couldn't seem to find who was doing it, or where it was coming from.
Scrreeeechhhh!!!
It was the sound of metal blades scraping against a hard surface. The noise was ear piercing, and made Ash flinch.
Tap...Tap...Tap...Tap...
Scrreeeechhhh!!!
Ash knew that Freddy was with him, but he didn't know where. It drove him crazy.
"Ha ha ha ha ha..."
Gotcha! Ash heard Freddy laughing in the hallway. He readied his shotgun and soon heard the soft thudding of his footsteps coming closer towards him. "Come on out, Freddy!" he dared him. "I've had enough of your bullshit!"
Freddy emerged from the hallway, grinning and keeping his gloved hand held up to his side. In his left hand, Freddy carried Linda's head, grabbing a clump of her hair and swinging it back and forth.
Freddy looked different since the last time Ash had seen him. His charred skin was now even redder. His eyes were small, like a snake's. And his teeth were pointed, sharp, and shark-like. He grinned, looking back and forth between Ash and Linda. Freddy knew it pissed him off.
"You know how to pick 'em Ash." he said. "She's got a nice body, and..." Freddy held her head up in front of Ash's face. "she gives some pretty good head!" He forced Ash to stare at her lifeless face, permanently locked in a state of agony. Half of her face was split down the middle from when Ash had to kill her using his chainsaw. Freddy tilted his head to the side and taunted Ash in his graveled voice. "Love hurts, don't it?"
Rage had overcome Ash. He aimed his shot gun directly at Freddy's head. "Yeah, so do bullets!" Ash squeezed the trigger and unleashed a round of shells inside Freddy's skull.
BOOM!!! BOOM!!!
Krueger dropped to the ground and didn't speak a word. Ash couldn't see his face, but he noticed a puddle of blood growing in the spot where he landed.
Ash opened the barrels and removed the empty shells. Smoke rose from the barrels as Ash replaced them with two new ones from his shirt pocket. Once the gun was reloaded, Ash walked over to Freddy's unmoving body. He leered at him while still keeping a safe distance.
Freddy turned over and leapt back onto his feet as if nothing had happened to him. Not even a trace of the shotgun shells were visible on his charred face. Freddy stared at him with his snake-like eyes, and walked forward. With each step Freddy took, Ash took another step back. He taunted and poked Ash with the knive
s on his glove. "You see, Ashley..." he mocked. "You might have been the Chosen One in your world, but in here..." Freddy tapped his knife against his woolly sweater. "I'm the king."
Chapter Twenty Six
The end was coming. Under the moonlit sky, the swarm of Deadites hovered above the town. They circled, gradually lowering down, waiting to strike all at once. In the streets, the army of Deadites were ever-growing, and circling downtown Springwood. There were so damn many of them, and as long as Freddy continued to keep Ash in the dream realm, there was no stopping them.
Soon, the evil, under Freddy's manipulation, would take over all of Springwood. Then, his reign of terror would continue to spread, with the Deadites as his servants. All life, all youth, all innocence, would cease to exist. It would be Freddy's ultimate revenge: To rid the waking world of life and fill it with darkness. That was, unless, the mighty Chosen One were able to wake up from his dream.
Evelyn kneeled over Ash, her knees numbing from being on the concrete sidewalk. Her black hair slid from her shoulders and swung in front of her face as she tried to bring Ash back. She gently smacked her palm against his bloody cheek. "Ash, wake up!" There was no response. He was out cold. "Come on!" she yelled at his face. "Ash, please! You have to wake up!" She was careful not to shake him around too much. After getting body slammed against a brick building, getting slapped and shaken around doesn't really help much.
During her attempt to wake Ash, Evelyn heard the sound of several footsteps approaching her. She looked behind her to see Faith, Steven, Lt. Moore, and Officer Harris running towards them. Soon, they circled around the two of them.
Faith crouched down by Evelyn and lightly grabbed her arms, pulling her away from Ash. From then, Officer Harris kneeled down and pressed two fingers on Ash's neck, checking his pulse.
He turned to Moore. "He's still breathing."
Lt. Moore didn't mean for his next remark to mean that he was disappointed, but that he was astonished. "How?" he asked.
