Freddy vs. Ash

by A. Eggleston

  "Go ahead."

  Evelyn raised her eyebrows as a voice other than her own entered the air. She recognized it as Freddy's.

  He stepped out from behind Ash's shadow, showing his retched face to her. "Shoot him." he said with a sinister smile. "It just means I'll have you all to myself."

  She gritted her teeth to the point where they scraped and grinded against one another. She felt her face get hot as her blood boiled in anger. "You bastard! This is all your fault!" she said. It was at that point that she realized that killing Ash didn't have to be an option. It's still my responsibility to open the rift. Maybe that will be just enough to get rid of Freddy. It might not save Ash, but at least I won't have to be killed by either of them.

  She then switched her aim from Ash to Freddy, moving her hand only a few inches to her left. "If you won't give him back, I'll do it myself." Evelyn squeezed the trigger.

  BLAM!

  The bullet went past Ash and went straight through Freddy's left shoulder. His blood sprayed from the wound, almost like a mist. He let out a small scream "Aah!" as he bent down slightly from the pain. When he looked back up, Evelyn was already running away.

  Evelyn raced across the parking lot, hoping to get as far away from Freddy and Ash as possible. I can't believe Ash the one I'm running from now. she thought. Could this get any--No, no. Don't say that. The last thing I want to do now is jinx myself. She noticed Ash's yellow Oldsmobile in her sights. It was abandoned, free of any demonic presence. And I never locked it, either. She forced herself to run faster as she extended her arm out to grab onto the door handle.

  She swung the car door open and jumped inside. As soon as her legs entered the car, Evelyn swung around to slam the door shut. Without hesitation, she grabbed the lock on the side of the door and pressed down, locking it. She did the same on the passenger side. She quickly leaned over to the backseat, her knees sliding across the aged white leather interior, and locked the doors in the back.

  The light of the moon illuminated sparingly on the passenger side of the car. Sitting in a crouched position, facing the passenger window, Evelyn placed the Necronomicon on the seat in front of her. She flipped the book open to the passage on opening the rift. She began the incantation for what she hoped would be the final time.

  Still gripping the book, Evelyn leaned over to clearly see the words in front of her. "Nosferatos. Alememnon. Kanda." As she continued to read the remainder of the passage, she gradually calmed down from the overall silence around her. Not a single outside noise could be heard from inside the Delta 88. The only things audible to her ears were the sound of her legs sliding across the leather, and the crumpling of the thick pages as she turned them. "Kanda. Demontos. Kanda." The passage was almost complete. It was then that her anxiety rose and her nerves heightened. She was so close, she prayed that she would make it through. Out of the complete, almost stifling, silence, Evelyn spoke the final word in the passage. "Kanda."

  As soon as the word escaped her full, fearfully twitching, lips, she felt a smile curl in the corners of her mouth. It was finally safe to breathe easily. She exhaled for the first time in what seemed like hours. The bones in her body rattled out of sheer excitement and anticipation. She closed the book and continued to hold it closely.

  The strands of her long, and now ratted, black hair flowed in front of her face as she slowly raised up. The only sounds made were her heavy exhales, which came out in short bursts. She kept a steady and watchful eye out in front of her, monitoring the passenger window as well as the back. Aside from the parking lot, which was rife with the bodies of deceased Deadites, the area was completely empty. The only thing in her sight was the portrait of the streetlamps shining down upon the dead bodies, laying in pools of their own blood.

  Okay, now what? she wondered. Exactly how long is it before this takes effect? I'm safe in here right now, but...what if this takes all night? I might not make it by dawn. Evelyn slowly lifted herself upright, straightening her back. There was a moment of silence, complete and utter silence. It was soothing. Peaceful.

  CRASH!

  The glass window behind her shattered into a hundred pieces. She felt the small shards hit her skin, like sharp, stinging drops of rain.

  Before she could even react from the broken window, she felt a pair of hands ring around her neck. She felt their grimy, almost decomposed, texture as they squeezed her neck tighter and tighter.

  She screamed before her airways had become so constricted that no noise could escape at all. "Aaaaah--ack!" She then heard a low, menacing growl come from outside the car. It was a sound she had come to recognize as the evil incarnation of Ash.

  "JOIN USSS!" Ash bellowed. He pulled her towards him, bringing her out from the shattered car window.

  Evelyn gasped and shouted as the shards on the edges of the broken window tore through her clothes and sliced her arms, sides, backside, legs, and her spine. Her skin was cut and scraped. She was strangled until she was on the brink of blacking out. Her neck was pulled, feeling like it was going to be ripped from her shoulders at any moment.

  After a slow and downright torturous capture, Evelyn was swiftly yanked out from the car. She felt the back of her clothes, as well as her bare arms become raw from the cuts. Even though the long scratches across her body burned and stung, she fought the pain. She continued to try to pry herself away from Ash's now brutally strong arms. Never once did she release the book.

  Evelyn yelled at him with such anger that her voice was booming. "No!" she protested. "No!"

  His voice was warbled and other-worldly when he growled in her ear and nodded his head up and down. "Yes..."

  Ash wrapped his arms around her waist. He pinned her arms to her sides and restrained her. The more she moved, the tighter his grip became. He forcefully dragged her away from the car, leading her back to Freddy. He had her face away from the front of the store, looking directly at Freddy.

  He walked slowly to her. His expression was cold, like he had no intention of showing her even the slightest bit of mercy. "Thought you could run away, huh bitch?" He stepped closer to her, now only a few feet away. "Now you know it's not that easy." He looked down at her, examining her freshly cut body. The scratches that she had acquired were minor. A few cuts here and there on her arms. A couple of small rips in her shirt. Only a few spots of blood had stained her body. I can do better than that...

  A minor gust of wind blew through the uncomfortable silence in the air. It caused the leaves to rustle for a brief moment before disappearing.

  Freddy used one of his knives to brush away the dark strands of hair in front of her face. He examined her face, noticing how she glistened from sweat, and the bruise on her cheek, as well as the natural redness in her lips. He looked into her eyes, green as freshly cut grass. They looked into his with pure hatred. Her pupils were as small as a grain of sand.

  He smiled deviously as he watched her continue to struggle for freedom. Even though everyone she knew and loved in this world was dead, and there showed no sign of the evil ever stopping, she kept on fighting.

  There was absolute silence in the S-Mart parking lot. Not one sound was made, aside from the subtle creaks and moans coming from the trees.

  His blade traced down from her face to her neck, lowering more until he lingered on her collar bone. "So was mild, little, Evelyn using my book, thinking she could get rid of me?" he asked.

  She stared at him coldly. She gave him nothing that would signify fear. This time, her tone and her expression was smooth and strong. "Why do you ask, Freddy?" She tilted her head to the side, almost matching the smile he was giving her. "Do you think I did something?" she taunted. "Are you afraid that a few pages is all it takes to undo all of this? What you've worked so hard for?"

  In an instant, his face was mere inches from hers. His hot breath fell upon her. He was so close that they could hear each other breathing. "You know what, bitch?" he scowled. He cut through her shirt using his blades, leaving small slash marks above he
r chest. "Even if you did pull off that spell," Through the rips in her shirt, Freddy sliced the skin between her breasts, and dragged down to her stomach. He watched her closely as she winced. "that book is still mine. And nothing can hurt me now. Nothing."

  In the distance, a strike of lightning briefly flashed behind the dark red clouds. It was bright white, and thin as a strand of hair.

  "You sure about that?" said Evelyn, with a cocked eyebrow. "'Cause I'm starting to think all of your smartass lines are just compensation. You're actually scared of me."

  Freddy grimaced, giving her an up-close view of his sharp teeth and rotted gums. He pulled his blades out from under the thin layer of skin, and stepped back. "You know what, bitch?" he asked as he raised his bladed glove up to the sky.

  As soon as his arm lifted up, a subtle crash of thunder echoed. It was soft, barely heard by their ears. Next, came a strong gust of wind. Unlike the previous one, it lingered, becoming stronger as time passed.

  Evelyn laughed at him.

  He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "What are you laughing at?"

  She leered at him. Her voice was low and steady. "You call me a bitch and a cunt. And you still wave those knives in front of me and expect me to be scared of you." She spoke to him with venom in her voice. "It doesn't work anymore. I've done my part, and I know where you're going. So go ahead and kill me. Because you're going to die, too."

  "You know what? This one isn't for power, or to make myself stronger, it's just to hear you scream." His intention was to slice her from face to stomach. At that very second, nothing else existed but he and Evelyn, and there was nothing he wanted more than to watch her bleed to death.

  As soon as the words left his charred, blistered mouth, a much louder crash of thunder entered the air. It was so loud and booming that it could have been mistaken for an explosion. The boisterous noise was matched with a lightning strike that was so close to them, it filled the dark town with a white flash, flashing like strobe lights.

  Freddy brushed away the crash of thunder and white lightning. Instead, he saw it as perfect ambience for a kill that was long overdue.

  Evelyn had kept her eyes half shut, flinching and turning her head in anticipation for whatever Freddy had prepared for her. Out of the small sliver of vision through her squinting eyes, she saw a massive, swirling, portal opening behind Freddy.

  She stared in awe of the rift for a brief moment. She marveled at the bright blue and white lights flashing from within. It was truly a mesmerizing, but frightful sight. It was a swirl of dark, thick clouds leading to a seemingly endless black hole. To her, it looked like the image of a tornado being turned to the side.

  Its sheer magnitude was intimidating. The portal had opened just on the other side of the parking lot, nearing the demon-riddled streets. Everything surrounding the rift was being pulled violently inside. It was like a powerful gust of wind was forcing everything it could inside of it. Cars that had been abandoned in the parking lot were now rolling backwards, towards the thunderous, flashing rift. The trees on the side of the lot leaned to the side as they were being drawn inside, their roots unhinged from the dirt.

  Evelyn's gaze went back to Freddy in that brief moment. She saw his copper plated glove coming down upon her. Before she could anticipate the fatal blow by his knives, she felt herself being shoved away. Freddy's knives barely missed her skin, merely scratching the side of her arm.

  Her vision was blurred as she was shoved to the side and felt herself sliding across the body of the Delta 88. She stumbled, but did not fall. After she quickly regained her footing, Evelyn turned back to see what it was that pushed her. Whipping her raven hair out of her face, she saw that it was Ash who had prevented her death.

  Ash stepped in front of Freddy and grabbed his wrist as it lowered down. With his brute and evil strength, he squeezed and twisted Freddy's wrist until he heard his bones crack.

  "Argh!" cried Freddy. His body was hunched over, trying to pull himself away from Ash's grip, but it was impossible.

  As Ash had him in his clutches, his body remained still as a statue, while his face twitched and contorted. The two sides of himself, the good and the evil, were colliding. His inhuman strength and violent rage was still alive within him, but his humanity was breaking through once more. Even through his pale, glassy eyes, he emoted what appeared to be great internal confliction. Instead of a gritted scowl, his mouth gaped and his lips curled. His nose scrunched. He was slowly coming back.

  Evelyn stood only ten feet away from them, clutching the book in her hands and wondering, "How is he able to do that?" She looked at Freddy, ignoring his pained state, as there was something on a much grander scale taking place before her eyes. By looking at Freddy's back, she noticed that he too was being affected by the rift. A part of himself was being pulled by the incredible force. Glowing beams of pure, white, light surfaced from his back and escaped out into the open air. They were glowing and flew with such magnificent smoothness and speed, that they resembled shooting stars. Most found their way across the lot and through the town, entering into the bodies of the Deadites that were causing chaos downtown. Some wandered aimlessly all through the town. Others were directly drawn into the portal.

  She stood with her back at the door of the yellow Oldsmobile, almost in disbelief of what she was seeing. Her eyes darted back to Freddy, studying his face. Judging from his obvious struggle against Ash, it seemed as though his strength was depleting. After only viewing the specs of light for a few seconds, she came to realize what they were. "The rift is tearing their souls away from him." she said. "They're going back where they came from."

  The souls that entered the Deadites where those had been affected indirectly during Freddy's resurrection, not killed by him, but rather possessed by the spirits he had unleashed to consume the entire town. The ones that wandered in all directions, were those that had been killed by him. They could not return to their earthly bodies, instead they were destined for the afterlife. Those that were pulled into the rift were Freddy's previous victims from years past, the children who risked their lives to stop him, and were destined peace, once and for all.

  The powerful wind blew his brown fedora off of his head. He turned to see it fly off into the rift. Freddy then saw the souls that had taken years of plotting to accomplish, all being stripped from him within seconds. With each precious soul that left his body, he felt weaker until he was ultimately powerless. "No!" he shouted. Pure, unfiltered, rage had consumed him. "NO!"

  He turned back to Ash, who looked at him with a smirk on his face. He stood over him, which was easy for him considering how Freddy was slowly lowering to the ground, barely able to hold himself up.

  With his soul now back in his body, Ash had a newly-found virility. He inhaled deeply. "Damn, it's good to be back." he said. He crouched down a few inches to look at Freddy in his eyes. His pained, listless eyes. "Without any soul food in you, looks like you're the bitch now, huh?" He twisted his wrist until it could not turn anymore, hearing the bone snap once more.

  "Ah!" yelped Freddy. He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt Ash let go of him. But his relief was short-lived when he looked up to see Ash's fist speeding towards his face. His head knocked back from the impact of the punch. Now that most of his strength had gone, the blows to the face seemed even more painful than before.

  Ash made sure not to give him even a second to fight back. He hit him with everything he had. He punched him a second time in the jaw, watching blood shoot out of his mouth as his knuckles hit against his jawbone. He watched Freddy stumble and step back. This was the perfect chance for Ash to lift his chainsaw and hit the base of it against the top of Freddy's head.

  Freddy dropped to the ground like a bag of sand. This time, it was him that was groaning in pain, at the mercy of someone stronger than him. He didn't like it at all. He looked up at Ash's smug, confident face, feeling his blood boil the more he had to look at him. He saw Ash lift his foot up and prepare to stomp on his h
ead. Freddy acted quickly and rolled over, narrowly missing the boot that was about to squash his head. He got up to his feet and, without a second thought, kicked Ash in the stomach. It took a lot out of him just to exert the energy to do so.

  Ash stood up, ignoring the pain in his stomach from the kick. He then moved towards him and launched his right elbow straight at Freddy's eye. He shouted in pain yet again while Ash stepped back to deliver an uppercut to his abdomen. As he bent over in pain, Ash bent his arm to launch his elbow at his head. Freddy moved away, escaping his attack.

  He rushed over to grab Ash's left wrist and twisted it behind his back. He pushed harder until Ash was bent down, crying out in pain.

  Evelyn watched as Freddy bent Ash's arm, not stopping until it would break. She felt something building inside her. It told her to stop standing around and being a bystander. To actually do something. To fight alongside Ash. She gripped the book tightly so it wouldn't slip from her hands. She ran to Freddy. "Let go of him!" she shouted as she jumped toward him, tackling him to the ground.

  Freddy was forced to let go of Ash and was instantly met with a mouthful of gravel, feeling about one hundred and fifteen pounds of pressure on top of him. He looked up and saw Evelyn's angered face looking down at his. She delivered punch after punch straight at his jaw, nearly breaking it.

  Each punch was harder than last. She looked into his pale, unfeeling eyes. They were the same eyes that served as each of her friends' dying image. Every time she hit him, she thought of Cooper. Of Steven. Of Faith. Of Ash. Everyone she cared for, and everyone she witnessed become a victim of his, she fought for them. Even when all was lost, she risked her life for them. When she prepared another, Freddy blocked her.

  His palm smacked against her knuckles as he swung his bladed glove at her face. Although she backed away, the knives still cut her left cheek. The scratches were pink at first, but within seconds, they became darker until they bled.