by A. Eggleston
Ash was unfazed. He continued to give Anthony the evil eye. "I'm listening."
"A few years ago," he said. "something bad happened here."
"Look Anthony, we're not around a campfire, so cut it out with the ghost stories and start explaining. Chop, chop."
"Well--uh," Anthony was a bit intimidated at this point. He was about to spit out the
town's dirty little secret to some stranger.
"Sometime today, maybe?" Ash said.
Buck rolled his eyes. Now he's at a loss for words?
Anthony cleared his throat. "You see, a few kids were, uh--slaughtered--a while back." his voice was hushed.
"…'A few'?" Buck cut in. "Try forty-two! Plus ten more kids back when that big guy waltzed his way in here--"
"Shut the hell up, man!" Anthony turned to Buck, his voice still hushed.
Ash was growing impatient, so he walked over to Buck. "Alright. You," he pointed to him. "I want some answers. Now."
He stood still, leaning on the mop handle. "About ten years ago, there were a string of murders that spread from here all the way to Crystal Lake in New Jersey. Over a dozen kids and one cop were slashed to death. They were stabbed, disemboweled, and chopped to death with some kind of blade. And the first murder," he paused. "was in that house."
Boy, I know how to pick 'em, don't I? Ash thought. "Okay." he said. "So, who did it? Was it like a--uh--" Ash was trying to find a word to describe "Deadite" without actually saying it.
"The police never caught him." Anthony joined in. "But they thought it was some copycat killer of--uh--somebody else. I can't remember who it was." he said, lying.
"So one kid gets killed in that house, and you're trying to tell me that it's haunted?" he asked. Ash wasn't denying the existence of supernatural forces, but he's seen scarier things than ghosts.
"It was more than one kid, Ash. People have been dying in that house for years." Anthony said.
"Look, buddy. I've seen uglier things than some ghost sneaking up behind me in the hallway." Ash said. "If you ever have a real problem, then come to me. Otherwise, lose it with the unsolved mysteries."
Ash turned around and prepared to walk away. He could faintly hear Buck and Anthony talking amongst themselves. "I don't know, Buck. Maybe we should just tell him. I'm not gonna do it, though. You do it." Anthony whispered. Ash kept right on walking. He didn't need to deal with this. But he couldn't get that one question out of his mind. Have you experienced any nightmares? Maybe that was just a coincidence, or maybe he was on to something. Ash swallowed his pride and went back. He looked at Buck and asked, "Why did you ask if I've been having nightmares?" Buck and Anthony looked at each other and nodded. It was time to tell him the whole truth.
He looked around, noting how many people were in the store. "Follow us to the break room." instructed Buck. "We'll tell you everything you need to know about this place."
They did tell him everything. They told Ash that many years ago, the nice little town of Springwood had a child killer running amuck. The police had no leads, no one had a clue who it could be. Before they knew it, every child on Elm Street was missing. Gone. Eventually, the police had one suspect. His name was Fred Krueger. He worked in the boiler level of the city's power plant. He lived in a nice, little house on Elm Street with his wife and daughter--Well, sort of--Krueger strangled his wife to death, and his daughter was seized for adoption.
The police broke into Krueger's home without a warrant. In the basement, they found locks of hair with bows and ribbons still in them, pieces of clothing, little kids' toys. They all belonged to the twenty-nine boys and girls that were reported missing. The police even found the murder weapon. Actually, several of them. Different variations of the same contraption: A metal glove with knives on the fingers. All of them had speckles of blood on them. The cops raced over to the power plant and caught Krueger with his blades pierced inside the body of child number thirty.
Fred Krueger was taken to court, and it seemed like there was no way he could get out of it. He gave his testimony to the Judge and still claimed that he had done nothing wrong. He pulled out every trick in the book. He pled insanity. His mother was a nun who was locked in a mental institution and raped hundreds of times by the criminally insane. He claimed that none of the items were his, that he had merely put on the glove for self-defense. The parents in the public gallery weren't buying it and neither was the jury.
On the outside, he looked like just any other guy: blonde hair, blue eyes, pale, unsuspecting face. But inside, was the most vile and twisted human being who ever lived. He just sat there with phony sincerity for the lives of those little kids.
Unfortunately, because the police searched his home without a warrant, all of the evidence they found was inadmissible in court. Krueger was free, just like that. Even though he should have been put to death for what he did, he walked down the steps of the courthouse, arrogant and smiling.
Later that day, he returned to the power plant to begin a new killing spree. It had been a while, and Krueger was just aching to lure the next little kid into his rusted, bloodied, boiler room. He didn't just kill them. He'd lure them in, promising them candy, and toys, and whatnot. Then he'd trap them, keeping them locked in the boiler room for hours, just to watch them beg and cry. He loved it when they cried. Especially the little girls, because they were just so...fragile. Then he'd corner them, molest them, and finally when all of their innocence had been taken away, he'd kill them slowly with his knifed fingers. He threw their dead bodies in the furnace to be burned, leaving no evidence. Just in case.
Krueger was plotting his next move when the parents of Springwood joined together and set the whole plant on fire. They stood together, taking justice into their own hands as they watched it burn to the ground. Fred Krueger was dead.
But that wasn't the whole story.
Ash felt as if he'd heard enough. He'd seen disgusting excuses for human beings, but this story made him gag. Buck and Anthony continued to tell him that, yes, Fred Krueger was dead, but only for a short time. Ash kept waiting to hear that he came back from his grave to swallow people's souls, and unfortunately no one had a shotgun on hand, but he never did.
Many years after his "death", children were reportedly dying in their sleep. They would have such horrific nightmares, they claimed, that they were afraid to go to sleep, believing that they would die. These kids have reported seeing a man in their nightmares, with burnt skin, razors for fingers, and went by the name "Freddy".
What Buck and Anthony couldn't explain, however, was exactly how this Freddy guy would appear in a bunch of teenagers' nightmares and kill them in their sleep. So, with
their long and sordid tale at an end, Ash left them and carried on, less confused, but more afraid.
Ash's shift was over at 5:00 pm, and normally he'd return home, relax for a bit, and move on to his night job of demon slaying, but something more important had caused him to make a change of plans.
He high-tailed it out of the parking lot and got on the road. As he drove, Ash took one hand off the wheel and dug in his shirt pocket. He pulled out the note that read "The words: Klaatu Verada Niktu" just to remind himself one last time. Because this time, he planned on doing it right.
"Alright, I think I got you know." he said to himself.
Ash drove off into the sunset with one destination in mind: The old, demolished, power plant on the edge of town.
Chapter Four
The road stretched out for miles, winding from left to right on the outskirts of Springwood. This part of town was pretty much desolate. It had no homes or schools, even most of the trees were decayed and barren. Even so, the tallness of the trees on both sides of the road enveloped the pathway. The rickety branches creepily loomed over, as if forming a tunnel high above the road. This was a sight all too familiar to Ash.
As he slowly drove down the narrow road, he examined the nature, or lack thereof, surrounding him. He had a gut feeling that the Necronomicon had to b
e hidden somewhere in this isolated area.
The further Ash drove, he could see a small figure in the distance. He figured it must have been the old power plant. He cruised his way out of the trench of woods, and into the open trail that led to the plant. It was completely deserted and there was not shred of plant life to be seen. A strange feeling washed over his entire body, like his conscience letting him know this was a bad place to be.
Before he knew it, he ran over a dip in the road, which caught him off guard. The sudden rise and fall of the car caused him to slam on the brakes, stopping the car to a screeching halt, nearly causing him to bang his head on the steering wheel. He looked up and noticed he was right in front of the power plant.
"I got to stop daydreaming." Ash said to himself.
He stepped outside of his car and walked up to the building, surveying it. It was about fifty feet tall and appeared to be 5,200 square feet. It was quite a large facility. Although, most of the building's structure had been demolished. The plant was condemned shortly after Freddy was murdered, so the building eventually decayed over time. The ground was laden with bricks, pipes, and other kinds of debris. The twin smokestacks still held up. The one on the left was covered in grime and soot, while the right had been cut off in the middle, the rim was cracked and pointed like a crown. The sun had set behind the power plant, forming a silhouette all around the building and contrasting the orange-pink coloration of the sky with the utter blackness that surrounded the plant.
Ash walked around to the left wing of the building and saw the lower level. It had rows of window openings on each side of the walls, but no glass. There was black soot that spread from the top of the windows and upward. Ash walked closer towards the lower level and heard a crunch at the base of his shoe. It was broken glass.
This must be where all the action happened. Ash pushed on the metal doors, but they wouldn't open. They were covered in too much rust.
Ash rammed it once with his shoulder.
Then twice.
When he banged on it for the third time, the door finally busted open. It made a horrible creaking noise at it swung open.
The whole area was pitch black. The only light that came through was from the door and the openings in the window panes. He tried turning on the light switch, but no go. Ash opted to just take the flashlight out of his coat pocket and navigate with that. The boiler level was so spacious and high. It was like a huge, rusted cave. If the book was here, how was he even going to find it?
He explored it for a while, tunneling his way through all of the boilers, water heaters, and the swarm of pipes that surrounded him. He explored every corridor of that twisted, metal maze. After a while, he was climbing up the metal stairs, nearing the top level. He glided his hand across the railing for support. They were cold and brown with rust. Ash looked down below to the ground and nearly got vertigo from the height. His head was spinning, so he figured it would be best if he just kept looking straight ahead. The grating creaked with each step he took.
Out of nowhere, Ash heard a loud squeal piercing his ear drums.
SQUEAK!
He jerked his head in the direction it was coming from, searching with his flashlight. So many questions raced through his mind in that fraction of a second.
What was that? Is this old, rickety grate giving out? Am I going to fall to my death from up here? Was that a person? Is there someone else with me? Does this Freddy guy still roam here? Why didn't I bring my Boomstick?
Following the squealing noise, was a loud clunk. A pipe broke loose and fell down behind him. Ash sighed in relief and laughed a little bit to calm himself. He pointed his finger at the pipe, as if it fell on purpose. "Yeah, real funny." He turned back around, stepped forward, and was immediately engulfed with chains hanging from the ceiling. He gasped in surprise. He could have sworn he didn't see those chains before. There were several wrapped around him, like boa constrictors. He examined them more closely. He grabbed one and held the flashlight above it. It was covered from top to bottom in dried blood. Blood that belonged to a little boy or girl, most likely. Ash let go of the chain in disgust and wiped hand on his pant leg. He unwrapped himself from the chains. "All right." Ash said. "Get it together." he assured himself and resumed down the stairs.
He was back down on the lowest level and ready to just give up and go back home. He walked closer to the exit, when the light from his flashlight spotted something that caught his attention. There was something on the floor, just slightly left of the double doors. He looked down to the floor and saw more dried, spotted blood, except it was in some sort of a trail. Ash veered away from the exit, and decided to follow the dark, red, line. He noticed a large furnace nearby and walked toward it. Maybe it's hidden in there. He opened up the furnace door, but didn't find the Necronomicon. All he saw was remnants of...tiny ribcages...little broken skulls...and other bones.
"Ugh..." he said in disgust. "Those two weren't lying."
He resumed following the trail. Finally, when it stopped, it ended on what appeared to be a cellar door on the floor. "Of course." Ash said, bitterly. "It's always gotta be in some Godforsaken cellar." He opened up the door and used his flashlight to search the entryway. It was pretty deep. Ash looked behind his shoulder and noticed that it was already dark outside. "Should I really be wasting my time like this on the possibility that it might be here?" he wondered. He looked back down into the cellar. "It probably won't take that long. Might as well." He went for it. He delved deep inside the earthen floors of the cellar. This was the part of the boiler room that was completely hidden and isolated. So, of course it was perfect for Freddy to hide, or to play fun, little, games with the children.
Ash found himself in the main corridor of the cellar. It was much like the rest of the whole boiler level, just smaller. He passed through all of the pipes and pressure valves and didn't find a thing. Trenching a little further, past all of the equipment, Ash found a tiny room no bigger than a walk-in closet. A feeling of strange uneasiness increased within him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he instantly got goose bumps across his forearm.
It's here. Somewhere. I just have a feeling about it. There was a shovel in the far corner of the room. Without a second thought, he grabbed it and started digging the ground beneath him. He broke away the foundation with the shovel, digging deeper.
And deeper.
And deeper.
CLINK! Finally, at around four feet under, he stopped.
There it was. He could see it with his own eyes. Natorum Demonto. The Book of the Dead. It still looked faintly similar to how Ash remembered it. The book was wrinkled and rotted, and rightly so, since its front and back was constructed from human flesh. The front cover formed the shape of a disfigured and demented grimace, as if the book itself was being tortured. It was pretty much the same, except it had a little more wear and tear.
"My God." Ash gasped. "There it is." Ash threw the shovel aside, making a loud noise as it hit the floor. He dropped to his knees. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, and extended his arms, ready to grab the book. He stopped himself right before his fingers touched it. "Wait!" Ash said to himself. "The words, the words. Jeez, I almost forgot." He cleared his throat and sat up straight, preparing himself. He inhaled deeply and professed the words dramatically.
"Klaatu...!" he shouted. He paused for a moment to remember of that was correct.
"Verada...!" One more to go.
"Nosferatu-- I mean, Niktu! Niktu!" Ash became nervous. Last time he screwed up like that, an entire army of the dead rose from their graves and came after him. He didn't want that to happen again. He said it one more time, this time a little quieter, more genuine.
"Klaatu. Verada. Niktu." Ash pulled the book out of the dirt, and held it close to his face. He smiled in content, regaining his breath from the overall adrenaline he put himself through to find it. Ash looked dead straight at the Necronomicon. "Finally." he said.
"Soon, you and I...are gonna be no more."<
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It was pitch black by the time Ash had left the building. His muscles were sore from having to excavate and dig to find that book. He stumbled his way to his Oldsmobile, popped the trunk open and threw the Necromicon inside. It landed smack-dab in the middle, between an issue of Fangoria and an outdated chemistry textbook.
He fiddled through his keys, finding the right ones for his car, and unlocked it. He opened the front door and immediately felt a long, clawed, hand grabbing him by the back of his collar, pulling him back. The figure yanking him back made a rasped, hissing noise. Ash knew it had to be a Deadite.
He elbowed the creature in the ribs, releasing its grasp. Then, he quickly whipped around. "Hyah!" Ash yelled as he kicked it hard in the chest, knocking the demon down.
While it was on the ground, Ash reached in the passenger seat for his Boomstick. He aimed at the Deadite and took the safety off. He looked at the creature for a moment, waiting for it to get back up. It appeared to be a woman. She had long, reddish hair. It may not have been red hair, it could have been blood-stained hair, it was too dark to tell. Her jaw line had been elongated and disfigured like a gargoyle, revealing a set of rotting, green teeth. Her skin was gray-ish and flaky, like it was peeling off of her. And her eyes. Her eyes were blank and bloodshot, with black circles under her eyes.
The she-demon leapt up, quick as a cat, and said to Ash in that distorted, monstrous voice, "You will never stop us! His time is coming! He will be free, and you shall die!"
"And who might that be?" Ash teased the Deadite, never breaking away from his target.
The demon jerked her neck back, forth, and left to right, making a gut-wrenching snapping noise as she did so. "Freddy.” The demon laughed, sinisterly. "He will return, and you will be his servant in Hell!" She laughed, gleefully.