"I dunno. I've been off work for a while, relaxing, and was wondering how you were doing." His voice sounded faraway and dreamy.
"You're drunk, aren't you?"
This produced a gale of laughter from Buck. "No! This comes naturally. If anything, I'm cleaner than usual. Yep. Decided not to take the pills my doctor insists I take."
"Pills?"
"Yup!" he chirped. "My shrink gives me these things that kinda keep me on an even keel most of the time." A little sinisterly he repeated, "Most of the time." Then he was bright and cheerful again. "But I'm not in the mood to be on an even keel, you know? Sometimes I like it when the boat's rockin' a bit. A little rock. A little roll. Gotta love it."
"You should get some sleep, Buck." She was trying to sound neutral. But apparently she tried too hard.
"Don't patronize me!" he shouted. Then, just as instantly, he acted as if his outburst had never happened. "I'm not really sleepy. Hard to sleep during the rock and roll, you know. So I thought I'd go visit a friend of mine in the hospital."
Laura tensed. "You stay away from Shelby."
"Tell you what. Let's play a little game." The idea of a game made him giggle. The sound gave Laura chills. "I'll race you to your sister's room. Winner take all. How's that?"
"Buck, don't…"
His voice overrode hers. "I'm on my way. And don't waste time. You know how long it takes to complete even a 911 call. And those hospital phones just ring forever. See ya there, and maybe we'll talk.
"And remember, winner takes all."
He hung up.
"We have to get to the hospital," Laura shouted before Doug could speak. They raced out the door.
* * *
What's a game without a cheat? Buck asked himself as he climbed a back stairway at the hospital. He had called from a pay phone just outside. Laura could never reach the hospital in time.
In time for what? Now, there was the $64,000 question. That's for me to know and Laura to find out.
Buck chuckled to himself as he exited the stairwell. Shelby's room was just down the hall.
Ah, the things he had done to ensure Laura would be his. The conspiracies. The crimes.
Yes, the crimes.
Buck checked the hallway. It was empty. He continued toward Shelby's room.
He had done so much, but Laura had still rejected him. And she wasn't just playing hard to get any longer. She was playing never to get.
He put his hand on the doorknob of Shelby's room. As he looked to the left and right, the hallway appeared to be empty. Buck slipped silently into Shelby's room.
Shelby lay there, in a pained sleep.
Now it was time to wait for Laura to arrive. In the meantime, there was one last thing to do.
Buck smiled grimly and withdrew the straight razor from his pocket.
Chapter 14
Laura and Doug burst through the Emergency Room doors.
"You get security," Laura ordered. "I'll go up to Shelby's room."
"You shouldn't go up there alone," Doug insisted.
"I have to. Maybe it's the only thing that will keep Buck from doing something crazy."
"If he hasn't already." They both knew this was a possibility. But Laura felt she had already wasted too much time to argue.
"Just do it. I'll be okay." With that she ran off. Doug seemed almost frozen in place, torn between following her and calling security. Laura couldn't worry about that. She just had to hope his paralysis would end so he could do his part and get help.
* * *
The elevator couldn't reach the third floor fast enough. Laura pounded on the Open Door button as soon as the three lit up on the panel above her. At the first movement of the doors, she immediately tried to force them open faster. The doors themselves seemed to resist her as if on Buck's orders.
"Come on!" she yelled, and squeezed out the opening as soon as there was room. The hallway seemed dimmer than it should be, and Laura realized that someone had turned off most of the overhead lights. It made the going slow, but she finally reached Shelby's room. Inside it was even darker.
"Buck?" she called tentatively from the doorway. There was no answer. She reached for the light switch on the wall. Fluorescent bulbs buzzed to life.
And Laura shrank against the doorframe in horror.
Covering Shelby's bed was a swarm of plastic tubing. The liquid in it now, though, was red. Blood was backing up into them. Shelby's blood. Laura forced herself to move toward the bed. So thick was the tangle of tubing, she could not even see her sister's face.
On the wall behind the bed, in dripping red letters, were the words help wanted.
Tears welled in Laura's eyes. She glanced at the other end of the bed. Something was wrong. It was the size of the feet. Somebody had neglected to remove Shelby's shoes. Pulling the sheet off, Laura discovered black tennis shoes. She recognized them instantly. As quickly as she could, she cleared away some of the tubing obscuring the patient's face.
On his face was etched terror greater than any Laura had ever seen before. Buck lay in the hospital bed. Dead.
The unearthly laughter began then. It didn't come from any particular place in the room, but surrounded her. It was a harsh, cruel rasp, and it threatened to close in and crush Laura. The sound of a dead bolt sliding into place came through the laughter. That sound Laura could pinpoint, and she spun toward the door.
There stood Shelby in her bloody hospital gown. Twin streams of thick, red liquid gushed from her nose. As she pulled her hand away from the lock, Shelby was laughing. Somehow, that sourceless sound was emanating from her. Her eyes were bloodshot, cold, evil. Not Shelby's at all.
"So are you going to apply for any of these jobs, or what?" Shelby's voice croaked. It was like listening to two voices at once: Shelby's doubled by that of some ancient evil thing a millisecond behind. The sound was disorienting.
"What are you talking about?" Laura's voice was quivering with terror.
"What do you think?" answered the double-voiced monster that had been her sister. "You wanted a job so badly. I gave you four wonderful opportunities." The thing started walking toward Laura. "Although I know you weren't keen on working at the hospital, things are a little… heh heh heh… dead around here."
It gestured to Buck and laughed again. Laura wanted to retch, scream, and fall to the floor clutching her ears at the same time. Somehow, she remained on her feet, and backed toward the curtain that divided the room in half. Earlier today, that far half of the room had been empty, save for some equipment.
"Let me introduce myself," said the duel voices. "I'm Freddy Krueger."
"That's impossible," Laura cried in disbelief. "He's been dead for years."
One sinister eyebrow went up and the thing laughed again. When it stopped, the voice was deadly serious.
"Don't bet on it."
Instantly Laura knew the voice was telling the truth. Before her stood Shelby, possessed by Freddy Krueger. Laura became certain of one other thing: Her life was nearly over. Despite that realization, or perhaps emboldened by it, Laura stopped backing away.
"You leave my sister alone!" she yelled.
The thing just laughed in its eerie, echoing way. "You mean fire her? Why, she's been my invaluable employee." It gestured toward Buck's inert form. "Her latest masterwork. Of course, he had meant to kill himself over you, anyway. He was about to slash his wrists so you'd find him beside your sister." Another chilling laugh. "We changed his job description."
Laura had begun to back up again. She bumped up against a water cooler, nearly upsetting it.
"How about coming to work for me? You set 'em up, and me and your sister will, as they say, knock 'em dead!"
"I'd never be responsible for someone else's death!" Laura yelled defiantly.
"You already have been," the thing replied. "Of course, it has been on a freelance basis. You didn't even know what you were doing, with all the applications you filled out. Death certificates, that's what they really were."
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"No!" She couldn't believe she was somehow responsible for the tragedy that had befallen Buck and the others. She refused to believe it.
"Yes, you wanted a job. No matter what. I saw it in your dreams. I'm good at seeing things like that," he chuckled. "Now I'll put you on the payroll. The pay is good — you and your sister will live. And that pretty much covers the benefits, as well."
"Never!" Laura glanced at the door. Where was Doug and the cavalry?
Freddy directed Shelby to move forward. "Let me tell you this," he hissed. "If you refuse, your sister will die of a brain hemorrhage tonight." It licked its lips. "Of course, I have to decide whether to let you live to see that happen."
"Let me tell you something," Laura found herself saying. A look of surprise temporarily interrupted the menace set in Shelby's face. "You're giving me my sister back. And you're going back to where you came from. And this time, flush it!"
The thing froze. It studied Laura, as if judging her a real threat. Then its eyes went wide and it burst into fresh, evil laughter.
"You had me going there for a second, little girl," it gasped. Then all humor drained instantly away. "Turn down the position at your own peril. Most people would die for a job like this. Many have."
Then it moved forward. Clearly the end was here. It would kill her. That didn't bother Laura nearly as much as she thought. How could she fight some otherworldly bully like Freddy Krueger? She had heard the rumors, but never believed them. Despite all the mysterious, violent deaths in Springwood, she had always believed they were performed by copycats or devotees. How could she have conceived that the real Freddy Krueger kept returning?
"That's right," Freddy told her soothingly. "Give yourself to me. I can always make you a lifeguard for my temp pool!"
Just like that, rage flooded into Laura. Freddy's comment reminded her of the beginning of this deadly chapter in her life. All she had wanted to do was have a job, her family, a boyfriend, and her friends. Then Chester had fired her. Shelby had been forced to lie to her. And Buck had come into her life and tried to hijack it for his own selfish needs.
Now here was some demon attempting to do the same thing.
No way.
"If you plan on killing Shelby," she growled, "I guess I have nothing to lose." With that, she grabbed the nearest metal object — a bedpan — and hurled it at Shelby's head. It struck with a loud clang.
Freddy just laughed, safe inside Shelby's body.
"This is going to hurt her a lot more than it will hurt me!" he declared. And kept walked inexorably forward.
Laura was aware that she didn't have the slightest idea of what to do next. Despite her resolve to defeat Freddy, she couldn't see herself stabbing at her sister with a scalpel, even if she came across one.
A cluster of machinery huddled in a far corner of the room. Running to it, she pulled out a heavy EKG machine. It was on rollers and moved easily. Still, it should pack some punch, she figured, and pushed it with all her might at Shelby.
With a snicker, and superhuman strength, Freddy batted the EKG machine away as if it were a plastic toy.
Laura pushed out another machine, one she did not recognize. Again it did little but halt Freddy's progress for a moment. This gave Laura time to scan the room. Her eyes finally landed on something that might help. On a counter behind her rested a small machine with handles like air hockey paddles. It was the defibrillator, like she had seen on the myriad of television hospital dramas, used to resuscitate heart attack victims.
A flicker of apprehension darted across Shelby's face when Freddy saw what Laura had spied. Laura knew she was on the right track. She pushed one last piece of equipment at her sister and ran for the defibrillator.
"You can't win, you know that," Freddy taunted. "You still have a chance to save yourself and your sister. Just think of the power you could wield through me!"
Laura flipped the switch on the defibrillator. A high-pitched whine indicated it was charging. She held up the paddles and faced her enemy.
"This is the only power I need!" Laura didn't know if that was true, but she advanced on Shelby anyway.
Shelby attacked with outstretched arms. Laura dodged them. Freddy was moving clumsily, it now seemed. Was Shelby in there, trying to fight Freddy? Laura couldn't think about that. She only acted, bringing the paddles down on Shelby's chest. For kicks, she yelled, "Clear!"
The paddles never touched Shelby, but a jolt sent her flying backward. At the same time, a shape materialized briefly around Shelby's form. Laura saw it for a flashing moment: a burned, gnarled creature, with eyes of pure evil. A tattered green and red sweater covered livid flesh. Then he blinked off as if someone had pulled the plug on a gruesome Christmas tree.
"Thought you'd get a charge out of that," Laura said after she recovered from the amazing glimpse of Freddy. It was the same scarred creature who had appeared as Warner Holbert in her nightmare.
Shelby staggered forward again, almost shambling. But the hate in her eyes had not diminished even slightly. This time, Laura didn't wait to be attacked. She rushed forward, and with a feint, planted the paddles on Shelby's chest once more.
Again Freddy burst into view around Shelby. Anger and frustration were clear in his expression. The vision disappeared as Shelby's body flew backward into the water cooler. This time it did topple and landed on the ground next to Shelby. The bottle bounced once, breaking free of the dispenser, and water poured from it. Shelby was slow-moving, splashing in the spreading puddle as if drowning in a deep pool.
Laura moved forward once more, but the wires securing the paddles to the machine had reached their limit. Freddy would have to come after her if she was to attack again. But he would be prepared now. And would stay out of range until he could strike.
Just then, the pounding started on the door.
"Laura? Are you in there? Laura!" It was Doug. Down the hall, other shouting voices approached. Soon the hospital personnel would unlock the door and flood in. More people would be in danger. She had to end this. Now.
And she knew how.
Freddy had gained control of Shelby's body and was beginning to stand. He glanced toward the door and licked his lips once more. Then he returned his gaze to Laura, smugly confident that she was unable to attack with the defibrillator machine.
He was wrong.
Dropping to the floor, Laura plunged the paddles into the puddle of water, the edge of which began just before her. There was a tremendous jolt, one that was sustained as electricity poured out of the machine and into the water. And coursed through Shelby's body.
Freddy appeared again, this time his form flickering on and off with the ebb and flow of electricity. Each time, his image stayed in view longer, until Laura could no longer see Shelby through him. He fell to the floor, shrieking in agony. Laura pressed her hands to her ears to close out the sound.
In the water, Freddy writhed and splashed. The lights of the room began to dim as power was diverted and circuits began to overload. Doug shouted from the other side of the door, his shouts becoming more frantic. A key finally entered the lock, but panic prevented it from being turned easily. The room became a strobing terror disco, flashing light and dark, Freddy on the floor, then Shelby.
Then the room went completely black.
Apparently, power went out all over. The struggling with the lock stopped momentarily. Laura could sense no movement within the room. She held her breath, waiting to see what would happen next.
She looked up toward the sound of the key being slid smoothly into the lock and turned swiftly. Just as the door opened, the emergency generators kicked in and an eerie twilight filled the room. Several doctors, nurses, and security officers froze in the doorway as they beheld the chaos.
Doug pushed passed them, paused briefly at the sight of Shelby, and ran toward Laura.
"My God," he cried. "Are you okay?"
"I don't know," she answered, looking past him. "Shelby!"
He turned. The crowd ha
d pushed its way into the room. A doctor and some nurses were crouched over Shelby, while security and another doctor viewed Buck's ghastly remains. Laura and Doug went over to Shelby.
"Is she… dead?" she asked, swallowing hard.
A doctor looked up, in shock. He gave her a piercing look, trying to place this room in some sort of recognizable universe in his mind. Obviously he was failing.
"No, she seems to be alive," he finally said. He continued to scrutinize her. "What the hell…"
Laura ignored him. "Find out if she's all right for real. I have to talk to the police."
"Yes," was all he could say in reply. Then he nodded to the nurses. They sprang into action, one bringing over a gurney on which to place Shelby. They were anxious to avoid dealing with Buck's body.
At the security guard's request, Laura allowed herself to be escorted to a waiting area until the police arrived. They allowed Doug to remain with her throughout her questioning by a stone-faced detective named Farthing. He asked her to relate her version of the evening's events and listened without interrupting. Betraying no emotion, no clue as to whether he believed her or not, he asked for clarification on a few items.
You believe the killer to be Freddy Krueger?
Your sister was «possessed» by Krueger?
Buck had come to kill himself in your sister's room, despondent over you?
Laura answered each question with an affirmative. Detective Farthing nodded to himself and hummed, still poker-faced. He flipped his notes back to the beginning and made a mark next to an item.
"You said that on the phone, Buck claimed to be taking some sort of prescription mood leveler?"
"Yes." Laura braced herself, waiting for Detective Farthing to declare her insane, or lying, and haul her away.
Detective Farthing only replied by nodding once more. Then he stood, walked toward the back of the little room as if working out something in his head, then turned back to Laura.
"The way I see it," he mused aloud, "your friend Buck wasn't quite playing with a full deck." He nodded again, as if making sure that this made sense and deciding it did. "We'll probably find some violent behavior in his past, and you said he didn't always take his medication."
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