by A. Eggleston
The Necronomicon...
"Where is it?" mumbled Ash. Maybe it's still here. Ash didn't hesitate to move to the kitchen where Freddy had resurrected himself. Maybe, thought Ash. just maybe I can fix this before it starts. He rushed to the counter only to find it sans Book of the Dead. Ash slammed his fist on the counter. "Damn!" he exclaimed. "Krueger must've taken it with him."
Ash retreated from the kitchen and headed for the basement to pack up his weapons. "Let's see how you like a couple bullets in your skull, you bastard." said Ash.
Bloody duffel bag in hand, Ash emerged from the basement, and turned to walk to the front door.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
There was someone on the other side of the front door. Ash stepped forward, setting his bag full of guns, ammunition, and his chainsaw, to the corner of the entryway, just a few feet from the door. He lifted the curtain in front of window next to the door, and briefly peeked outside. He looked and saw that it was a cop. Not long afterward, Ash saw the blinking red and blue lights coming from the policeman's car, reflecting off the glass.
Ash composed himself, wiping off any excess blood that may have dried up on his face. He turned the doorknob and opened the door wide. "Hello, Officer." he greeted, nonchalantly. "What brings you here tonight?" Ash kept an ignorant smile on his face. He was no stranger to this kind of scene. All of the Deadite killings he had caused over the years...the screaming, the gunshots...they were bound to attract attention from the police. Somehow, he managed to smooth-talk his way out of every problem.
The officer stood at roughly the same height as Ash, but he was much younger. He adjusted his glasses before he spoke. "Officer Harris." he introduced himself. "Some of your neighbors called in, saying they heard a bunch of screaming coming from this house."
Ash pretended to look confused. He scrunched his eyebrows and darted his eyes at the houses in front of him. "Ummm..." he dragged on. "Are you sure you got the right house? 'Cause from what I hear, Mrs. Brady across the street likes to hit the sauce every now and then-- "
Harris interrupted. "We got six calls specifically mentioning 1428 Elm Street, sir."
"Oh." said Ash. He leaned back, desperately looking for a viable excuse, in other words, a good lie. Ash smacked the middle of his forehead with his palm, as if he had just realized something. "You know what?" said Ash, still keeping the fake smile. "I bet that screaming you were talking about was my stereo. I had it on earlier."
Officer Harris looked at Ash skeptically.
"I'm into some heavy stuff." he defended. "I probably should have turned it down, huh? Sorry, I guess that was kind of a boo-boo on my part." he chuckled.
Officer Harris continued to stare him down, seeing if Ash would break down, but he didn't. "Uh-huh." he said. "And, what's your name, sir?"
"Ash Williams, Officer." he said.
"Alright, well--" Just then, the walkie-talkie on Nathan's belt went off. He listened until the signal cut-off.
Just a few minutes earlier, Freddy had begun to spread his mischief in the town of Springwood. After they had fled Steven's house, several of the kids, including some of the neighbors, had dialed 911. "I'll be right there." said Harris.
"What was that all about?" asked Ash.
He hesitated before answering him. "A bunch of kids were murdered a few blocks down from here."
"That's awful."
"Yes, well..." he said. "Mr. Williams, you have a good night, and, " Officer Harris looked at his wristwatch. 1:56 AM. "try to get some sleep."
The cheeks on his face were growing sore from all the smiling. "Will do." said Ash.
Officer Harris turned around and quickly raced to his car. Ash shut the door behind him, watching through the small window on the front door, waiting for him to leave. "...Not." he added.
Ash watched in the direction that Nathan drove away. He had no doubt in his mind that Freddy had killed that woman. The squeal of the sirens, as well as the flashing lights from the hood of the car, faded as he left.
Ash picked up the duffel bag and stepped outside the house. He figured that wherever
Officer Harris was headed, Freddy had to be there too. If he couldn't stop him right then, at the very least, he could prevent someone else from ending up dead.
2:14 AM. It had been raining. The street lamps above illuminated the concrete streets below. The roads glistened, reflecting the rusted gold coloration of the street lights. Even the sky seemed darker than usual. It was covered with wispy clouds, masking away the stars. Only the moon was visible. It glowed, giving off a strange presence. Ash's dented, yellow Oldsmobile barreled down the streets, zooming by one house after the other.
When Ash saw the swarm of police cars from the Springwood PD surrounding the two-story house in the middle of the street, he immediately stomped on the brakes. The car screeched to a halt. Without pause, Ash opened the door to his car, and stepped out.
A small crowd had gathered behind the yellow and black police tape that shielded the front of the house. The neighbors stared in shock as the coroners rolled out two gurneys, each containing a body bag, one with large patches of blood forming on the outside. Meg was under there.
Just outside the house, in the lawn, police officers were questioning several of the partygoers, the ones that didn't run off screaming, anyway. Among them was Officer Harris, who had arrived there about ten minutes earlier. Standing next to him was Lieutenant Moore. When he got the call, it seemed consistent with the types of murders done by Freddy.
But now, Lt. Moore wasn't so sure what was going on now. For so many years, Springwood had been so peaceful, and now, it's as if it was all unfolding again. Although, it wasn't Freddy's usual pattern of killing: Most of the murders usually began on Elm Street. This was just a few blocks down from there, but still. It usually happened to someone alone, after they had just fallen asleep. None of the kids were asleep. There was no alcohol in either of their systems, so they couldn't have passed out. And the first victim, she wasn't alone. Moore remembered something like this back in 1984 with the murder of fifteen-year-old Tina Grey. She was killed in bed and her boyfriend, Rod Lane, was convicted of murdering her. He "committed suicide" in his jail cell shortly thereafter. But, from what the surviving kids had told them, Kyle had exhibited behavior that was abnormal to his usual nature. How does a timid young man turn into a lunatic killer with "white eyes" in an instant? he wondered. All he could think about at that moment was how everything was running smoothly until this Ash Williams moved in a few days before. From what Harris had told him, he too had been exhibiting strange behavior. Lt. Moore briefly looked away from the kids and spotted Ash getting out of his car.
Ash slammed the door to his car shut, and made his way through until he had a front row view of the crime scene. He watched the bloody gurney that was following behind. The body bag apparently hadn't been zipped up all the way. Right before her body had been taken inside the black coroner's van, her arm, streaked with own blood, fell out and hung there, lifeless.
Ash quickly averted his eyes. I was too late. He thought. Maybe if I showed up sooner, I...could've saved them. He didn't see her face. He didn't know who was under that bag. It could have been anyone for all he knew. It could have been Evelyn that was slashed to death and lying in her own blood. He hoped that it wasn't.
He looked past the gurneys, and saw Evelyn emerging from the front door. She had her right arm slung over Cooper's shoulder. She was limping. Soon, Steven, Jill, Faith, followed behind them. Jill held her left arm, giving her extra support as they walked down the front pathway.
Ash was relieved when he saw that Evelyn and the rest of them were still alive. He ducked under the police tape and ran towards them. "Is everybody alright?" he asked, even though he knew the answer.
Evelyn looked up from the ground. "Ash?" she asked. What are you doing here? she wondered.
His voice was sullen, no longer angry. "Does this look 'alright' to you?" Cooper interjected, referring to the stab mark on Eve
lyn's ankle. "She got stabbed by one of our friends. At least, we thought he was. If you ask me, he was more like a maniac. So excuse us if we don't feel like conversing with another one." He had been through enough yelling in one night to waste anymore on Ash.
All five of them kept trying to get past him, but he put his hand in front of him to block them. "Listen to me!" he said, trying to get all of them to pay attention. "You're in danger, all of you!"
Evelyn stiffened and looked at Ash more intensely. Her voice became smooth and serious. "Ash, what are you talking about?"
He looked at Evelyn, as well as Cooper and the rest of them. He wanted to tell them everything, but couldn't. At least not there, where the police and a small portion of Springwood would overhear, and probably have him locked up. "It's just--" he tried to search for the right words. "You gotta believe me. You're not safe. None of you are. The real killer's still out there, and I want to tell you the whole story, but you have to come with me!"
"We're not going anywhere with you." Cooper said sharply.
All five of them began to walk away from Ash.
He didn't want to be responsible for any more deaths. Ash turned around and shouted, "If you don't, he'll slice you to death just like he did with them!"
Evelyn froze where she was. She couldn't help but think that maybe Ash was right. She had her doubts about him, sure, but she knew he wasn't a bad person. He wasn't evil by any means. Evelyn knew what evil was, and she knew when it festered inside of someone. So far, in her eighteen years, she had only seen what she thought was the height of evil two times. The first, was her father, after he drank to his heart's content. Seeing him slouched, but still towering over her young self. It horrified her. And the second, was tonight, when Kyle had raped and killed Meg. He was glad about it, like it gave him some kind of satisfaction to have her blood on his hands. She had never seen Kyle like that before. She didn't think he was capable of that. She didn't think anyone was. And his eyes were different. she recalled. They were just...blank.
Ash's words echoed in her mind. The real killer's still out there! She began to think whether or not it was possible that it was someone else. While she didn't fully know yet, she didn't want to take the chance of either of her friends winding up dead. "I think we should go." Evelyn said to all five of them.
Steven, Jill, and Faith protested, but Cooper words stood out amongst them. "Are you crazy?" said Cooper.
Evelyn let go of Cooper's shoulder and stood up without him. "No, Cooper," she said, trying to find her center of balance. "I'm not. I may have lost some blood, but not my sanity." her voice became shaky again from standing in the cold. "Look, he's right. It's too dangerous to be out by ourselves. And, I trust Ash. I say we all go with him."
Cooper tried to talk her out of it. "We need to get home, Evelyn." he pleaded.
"Well," Evelyn countered. "Jill and Steven's home is a crime scene right now, so they need us. Ash can drop us off, we'll all be together, and everything will be fine, okay?" Evelyn waited for a response. Cooper still didn't say anything. "Okay?!"
"Alright, alright!" said Cooper. "We'll do it." He turned his head and looked at Ash. He had been staring at him, waiting for him to say something. "Hey Ash?"
Ash raised his chin as a way of letting Cooper know he had his attention.
"Does that P.O.S. of yours seat six?" he asked.
He stepped closer to Cooper and, for some reason he couldn't explain why, he chuckled. "Nope."
All six of them crammed themselves in his Delta 88 like sardines, and quickly took off. Ash was planning to take them to the other side of town to Cooper and Evelyn's apartment like he agreed, with Cooper giving him directions from the passenger seat.
Lt. Moore and Officer Harris and just finished interviewing their share of witnesses when they saw Ash's beat up, yellow, car racing down the street. Harris caught a glimpse of the kids in the car, and who was driving it. They had wanted to bring them to the station for more questioning, and maybe find cause to place them in Westin Hills if need be, but that plan had just been ruined by the mysterious stranger with the metal hand and the large chin.
"Harris?" asked Lt. Moore.
"Yes, Lieutenant?" replied Officer Harris.
"What did you say that man's name was, again?"
"Uh--Ash. Williams." Officer Harris again replied.
"I want the whole department to keep a close watch on him." Moore said sternly. "If he's somehow involved in this, I want him and the whole lot of them sent up to Westin Hills. I'll be damned if this happens again."
"Yes, sir."
Chapter Thirteen
It was nearing 2:30 AM. Evelyn, Jill, Faith, and Steven packed themselves in the backseat of Ash's Delta 88, while Cooper sat comfortably in the passenger seat. Ash had to drive all the way to the other side of town to get to their apartment. He had come to know Springwood well enough not to feel lost as Cooper shot out directions.
They had entered a long stretch of road, so there was no need for Cooper to tell him where to go at that point. After a period of silence, he decided to make use of the time he had.
"So, Ash," he began. "you claim to have a logical explanation to what just happened back there?" Cooper leered at him as he waited for him to respond. He was still skeptical as to how Ash was planning to explain himself.
Ash turned his head and looked at him for a second before returning his focus to the road. "I never said it was logical, kid."
"I didn't think it would be." Cooper retaliated. "Old man." he added.
At this point, Evelyn was fed up with their bickering. She poked her head out from the backseat, and told them, "Okay, you know what? This isn't the time for you two to fight like little kids." She turned to Ash. "Ash, just tell us what you know."
"That shouldn't take long." Cooper muttered under his breath.
Evelyn promptly smacked him in the shoulder. "Shut up." she said curtly, and leaned back in her seat.
Faith, sitting in the seat right behind Cooper, had been watching out the window as the telephone poles, the trees, and the road all sped past her. She stretched her legs as far as she could in the cramped space she was in. "And make it interesting." she joked. "I'm starting to fall asleep back here."
Ash briefly looked at her from his rearview mirror, scrunching his eyebrows. "That," he began. "oddly enough, brings me to my point."
"What do you mean?" asked Jill as she tucked her blonde hair behind her ear.
Ash leaned further back in his seat, gripping the wheel tighter. He tried to remember how Buck and Anthony had told him about Freddy, hoping to find a way to tell them without shocking them...or make them think he was deranged. "You guys know about what happened in this town, right?"
They all collectively shook their heads from side to side, meaning "No."
How could they have just kept these kids in the dark like that all these years? Ash thought. "Okayyy..." he said. This is gonna be a long drive. he thought. "From what I've heard, Elm Street's got a pretty bad reputation for, you know, getting hacked and slashed in your dreams by a guy named Freddy Krueger. Ring any bells?"
They just stared at him in disbelief.
Ash continued while he still had their attention. "He used to live here. He worked in the boiler level of this city's power plant. He killed thirty kids in this town. He was arrested, but the police didn't sign a search warrant in the right place, so he was let go. That night, the parents got together, covered the place in gasoline, and watched him burn."
"Oh, God." Evelyn said in disgust.
"It didn't stop there." Ash replied. "Ever since then, Freddy's been haunting people in their nightmares. The thing is," Ash hoped everyone wouldn't erupt in anger, or worse, laughter. "If he kills you in your dreams, you ain't comin' back."
"That's bullshit!" yelled Cooper.
"Wait--wait!" Evelyn cut in. "But, Kyle and Meg weren't asleep."
"Well," Ash said, a little bit ashamed. "That's kind of where I come in."
E
velyn, Faith, Jill, Steven, an even Cooper leaned in, anxious to hear what he had to say.
"You see, I," he stumbled around his words for the first time in hours. "I may have been the one who brought him back from the dead."
Cooper snickered. "Really?" he amused him. "How'd you do that? Voodoo?"
Ash loosened his grip on the steering wheel and steadied himself. He knew he had to tread lightly at this point with how he was going to explain himself. "I wasn't much older than you guys are right now." he said, almost sullenly. "My girlfriend and I went to a secluded cabin in the mountains where we found something...evil. It destroyed my life forever."
"What did you find?" asked Evelyn.
"The Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. Roughly translated: the Book of the Dead. I don't know how long it's been around. All I know is that it's home to evil, Kandarian spirits, and it has the power to resurrect the dead. And once they do, you're pretty much screwed."
"So you're telling us," said Cooper. "that this guy was possessed by a...Kandarian demon?" Cooper pointed his finger to the right. "Turn here." he directed him.
Ash turned the wheel. "Not necessarily."
Steven poked his head out from in-between Faith and Evelyn's shoulders. "Well then, what was it?"
"Freddy." Evelyn concluded.
"You got it." said Ash.
"I'm sorry, but," Cooper interjected. "are any of you buying this?"
"I'm not." Steven said.
"No." Jill joined him.
"Nope." Faith said.
"I'm sorry, Ash." Evelyn sympathized. "I want to believe you, but this just doesn't make sense."
"Yeah," Cooper agreed. "Freddy didn't kill those people."
Evelyn's mind flashed back to that moment when she saw Kyle hovered over Meg's body. She remembered how evil and sadistic he looked. And his eyes... "But," Evelyn countered. "There was something different about him." She turned to Steven. "Steven, you saw him up close."