by A. Eggleston
She wrestled him down, making sure he could not escape. With her abnormally long and sharp fingernails, she began scratching every inch of him. The demon moved so quickly, it was but a flurry of arms flailing, and blood spraying. In that hellish voice, and with a touch of insanity, the demon laughed.
Steven tried to push her off, but she was moving too fast. Every time he thought he could block her away, she grabbed him, and cut him. His eyes widened when she lowered towards him, looking into his eyes. "Tell me," she bellowed as she continued scratching his skin. "do I look pretty?!" She laughed again. It sounded so inhuman and disturbing.
Steven saw this as his best chance to throw her off. He grabbed her by her shoulders and rolled to his left side. "Fuck, no!" he said to the Deadite. He pushed her off of him and sent her tumbling down the stairs.
Evelyn ran to him and helped him back up. "Come on." she said as she led Steven down the stairs with her to capture the demon.
Jill had rolled into the living room. Before she could have a chance to get back up, Evelyn jumped on top of her and pinned her down.
She could feel the immense power and physical strength that the demon had within her. Evelyn was able to hold her down, but not for very long. She looked up to Steven, who had just joined beside her. "Quick," she instructed him. "get me something to knock her out!"
Steven's mind was all over the place. He didn't know what to get that would knock out a Kandarian demon. "Like what?" he asked.
Evelyn grunted as she struggled to keep Jill down. She could feel the demon starting to break from her grip. "Anything!" she said angrily. "Now go!"
He ran off and disappeared into the kitchen, leaving only the sound of his clumsy footing as a sign that he was doing what he was told to do.
Jill kicked and waved her arms around to break free. Evelyn felt Jill starting to slide out from under her. Before she could give her the chance to escape, Evelyn pinned her arms down to the floor, putting her full weight on top of Jill.
Suddenly, Evelyn felt herself being launched up in the air, with Jill still beneath her. She looked down and saw the entire room below her, she figured she must have been ten feet above the ground.
Still suspended in the air, Jill swiftly flipped forward, slinging Evelyn off of her back. Rasped, and her voice layered, she howled.
Evelyn flew across the room and hit the front door, causing the small trio of glass windows on it to shatter. She fell hard on the floor, landing on her side. The fall knocked the wind out of her. Evelyn struggled for breath, gasping desperately, as she slowly stood up. She saw Jill lowering down to the ground and creeping towards her.
Her neck and shoulders started to convulse and twitch. The bones in her body made an awfully loud snapping noise. She spoke to her. Her voice was not one, but a multitude of sickening demonic voices. "He'll be so happy when we bring him your soul!"
Evelyn didn't know what she was talking about at first. "He?" Once she thought about it, the answer came to her, but she needed to say it aloud. "Freddy?"
"He's the one who freed us." she hissed. "And we serve him by delivering the souls of the innocent to him." The Deadite opened her mouth and spilled blood down her neck and onto the floor. "Oh, he has quite a torturous death in store for you! Now," Jill raised her hands and began to charge at Evelyn. "JOIN US--"
A loud bang echoed in the air. Whatever it was, it rendered Jill speechless. She fell down to the floor, unconscious.
Once she fell, Steven had been revealed to be right behind her. He was holding a cast-iron skillet in his hands, wielding it like a baseball bat. His nostrils were flaring, and eyes stared wildly at Jill's possessed vessel of a body. He waited until she dropped to the floor before he lowered the skillet. He looked at Evelyn. "What now?" he asked her.
Evelyn unlocked her gaze from Steven and looked past him. She spotted the door to the right of the staircase. She remembered that it led to the basement. Her eyes returned to Steven. She straightened her arm, and pointed to the door. "There." she said, still out of breath. "We'll put her in the basement."
By the time Steven had gotten a hold of Jill's arms, and Evelyn had secured her ankles, Jill had already woken up and started resisting. She writhed and shrieked as they both carried her to the basement.
Steven lowered her momentarily to open the door. At the same time, they both swung her body back and forth, and then threw her down the stairs. Steven slammed the door shut and turned the lock. Both of them sunk down to the floor and leaned back against the door, feeling Jill hit against it and try to break it open.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
And then, just as quickly as it happened. The noise had ceased. She was silent.
Both Steven and Evelyn felt their heart rate lower and start to relax.
"Yeah," said Steven. "I think that should keep her for a while."
Evelyn had felt like she was forgetting something. Something that was aching in the back of her mind. And then, it came to her. She continued to stare off in the distance. "Steven?" she asked dryly.
"Yeah?"
"Doesn't your basement have a door that leads outside?" she asked, hoping she was wrong.
Steven nodded his head. "Yeah." he answered. "Yeah, it does." he shrugged her comment off. "But it's locked from the outside, there's no way she can--" he stopped himself. After witnessing it for himself, he knew that yes, she could, and absolutely will.
They both looked at each other with frightened eyes.
"Steven," Evelyn warned him. "considering what we've just seen for ourselves: the crawling on the ceiling and the levitating, I don't think we should rule out breaking down a door."
"What do you suggest, then?" he asked.
"For you, something sharp and pointy." she said poignantly. "Me, I'm starting to grow fond of weapons that require bullets."
Chapter Twenty Two
Steven turned the knob on the front door, slowly and quietly, while Evelyn lifted the curtains and peeked out the window. She wanted to make sure that none of the neighbors were outside and able to see them. Steven pushed the door open, and took a wide stride forward to avoid the pile of broken glass on the patio where Evelyn had been thrown in the air and hit the door. She followed right behind him.
His hands were growing increasingly sweaty. He fought to stop his hands from shaking. He knew that he needed to stay focused, but the more he walked, the more difficult it became to overcome. He looked behind him to see Evelyn, steadily gripping the revolver with both hands and looking warily around her. Seeing her so collected only made him feel worse about himself.
"Where did you get this from, anyway?" asked Evelyn, referring to the revolver.
Steven didn't look back at her. He kept his eyes locked in front of him, in case Jill should happen to appear. "My parent's room." he responded. "Top shelf of the nightstand."
They stepped down the concrete steps, and veered of the pathway. They walked across the empty driveway in front of the garage, and headed towards the wooden gate that led to the backyard.
The bright, yellow, light bulb that lit above the front door had failed to reach them beyond that point, so they were know immersed in the dark of night. It was a full moon. The hazy gray light that shown from above dimly illuminated around them, helping to vaguely see what was in front of them.
Steven was now in front of the white picket fence that divided the front and back yard. There was a crude, rusted, latch keeping the fence closed. Steven raised his hand to unlock it, but something in the back of his mind prevented him from doing so.
All he could think about was his sister. Her happy, sweet face. How she could always make him laugh no matter how depressed or mad he was. Jill was like his best friend. And here he was, about to step through that door, and kill her. He couldn't bring himself to do it. He had realized that for the entire time he was contemplating opening the fence, he was holding his breath in. He lowered his arm, and let out a big exhale.
Evelyn stepped beside
him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Steven," she said sympathetically. "what's wrong?"
He continued to stare at the picket fence, refusing to look at her. He found himself stuttering when he first began speaking. "I--I--" he managed to compose himself. "just...don't know if I can do this." He started shaking his head, not wanted any of this to be true. "I can't---I can't go through with this. She's my sister. I'm killing my sister, Evelyn!"
Evelyn grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. She lifted his chin up, forcing him to look her in the eye. "Listen to me." he said sternly. "I understand exactly how you're feeling right now. You look at her, and what those things turned her into, and you still see just a small part of who she was before. And you want that part to still be alive. With you..." She thought about Cooper. Her eyes became foggy with tears, and her voice started to break, but she fought to keep it steady. "But, Steven, you also have to understand that that thing is not your sister anymore. You have to let her go."
Steven reluctantly nodded his head "yes." and mumbled, "Okay." Steven looked down beside the door, and spotted an axe just a few feet away from him. He bent over to pick it up and gripped the wooden handle in front of him. Steven finally put his hand on the lock. "Let's get it over with."
Steven lifted the latch and pushed the door to the fence, causing it to creak eerily as it swung open. Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel right now... Steven thought to himself. Eeeeeeerrrrrrr...
He emerged further into the yard with Evelyn following close beside him. Steven held up his axe, while Evelyn gripped the handle of the gun tighter, preparing for the Deadite to spring up at any moment. Evelyn checked behind them every few seconds, while Steven kept his gaze in front of him.
They arrived to the back entrance to the basement. Evelyn and Steven stood next to each other, and stared in fear when they notice that the bolted-down, twin doors had been busted open. They stared down the dark, almost cavernous, basement below them. It was dimly lit, but there was still no way to tell if she was still down there or not.
"She got out." Evelyn concluded.
Steven had looked all around them when they entered the backyard. As far as he could tell, they were all alone. He had no idea where she could be. "Where is she?" he asked.
Evelyn kept looking down the entrance, keeping a watchful eye. "Well, if she's still out here, I think we should stop keeping our backs turned."
Steven nodded, enthused. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."
They both turned around simultaneously.
The first thing that they see is Jill's pale, mutilated face uncomfortably close to theirs. Steven and Evelyn gasped and their eyes widened in shock.
Jill opened her mouth, making her shark-like set of teeth visible under the moonlight. She howled, her pitch was so high that it pierced both of Steven and Evelyn's ears.
Steven expressed his discontent. "Shit."
The demon raised her bony, gray hands and launched at both of them. Evelyn ducked and veered to her left, escaping her.
Steven was not so lucky. Jill grabbed him by the waist, tackling him and sending them both falling into the thick darkness of the basement. Steven dropped his axe on the ground as Jill sent him rolling down.
Evelyn couldn't see either of them, she could only hear what was going on. She crawled over to the entrance, and peeked over the edge, listening. She heard the loud thumping of the both of them tumbling down the wooden steps, as well as Steven shouting. His voice became quieter the further down he descended. After a few seconds, the falling ceased. At that point, all Evelyn heard was Steven straining and shouting in fear. Following that was the sound of Jill's wicked laughter.
"Steven!" Evelyn shouted. She desperately hoped that he was okay.
Immediately, she heard his voice speaking back to her. As he spoke, he sounded hurried. "Get ready!" he warned. "I'm coming up!"
Evelyn did what Steven said. She stood up and took a couple steps back from the entrance. She held the gun in front of her and aimed it, knowing Jill would follow behind him.
She heard footsteps heavily shuffling up the wooden steps. Evelyn pulled the hammer back until it clicked four times, cocking it. She held the gun steadily as she waited for both of them to emerge.
Coming up from the darkness, Steven frantically ran up the stairs with Jill following closely behind him. As soon as he stepped on the grass, Steven ducked down to the ground, thus allowing Evelyn to fully see her target.
Evelyn squeezed the trigger and shot Jill.
BLAM!
A small bullet hole appeared on Jill's collar bone. This time, a semi-thick stream of green blood pumped from her bullet would as the Deadite screamed in pain, and fell back down the basement steps.
Evelyn ran over to Steven, and knelt down to the ground where he was sitting. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Steven plugged his finger in his ear and wiggled it around in an attempt to make the ringing stop from the gun blast. "Yeah." he answered. "Is she dead?" he asked, unsure.
Evelyn turned away from Steven and looked down the basement. She listened closely. It was silent. Not even a creak echoed from down the stairs. She still held the gun securely in her hand, the barrel was still hot. Evelyn lowered further down, trying to catch a glimpse of Jill's hopefully dead body.
Evelyn felt a pair of bloody hands grab both sides of her head and squeeze tightly, pulling strands of hair from her scalp. Evelyn screamed and pushed back, dragging Jill out with her. Jill's right arm and chest was streaked with the blood that poured down from the bullet wound. The Deadite panted and made unintelligible noises as she held on to Evelyn.
Steven acted quickly. He grabbed the axe that he had dropped on the ground, lifted it above his head, and swung it down between Jill and Evelyn's heads. With one fatal blow, Steven grunted as he chopped Jill's arms off at the elbow area.
Now that she was freed, Evelyn pushed herself back up. Jill's rotting forearms remained clamped to the both sides of Evelyn's head. Jill's radius and ulna peaked through her amputated flesh, and the ends of her forearms began to bleed. With her free hand, Evelyn pried the demon's fingers from her head and threw the lifeless body parts on the ground. They landed with a soft thud on the grass.
The Deadite howled as fluid sprayed from the cut-off points in her arms. Although her eyes were blank, the look of fury was quite visible. The demon opened her mouth wide and revealed her monstrous teeth.
After unwrapping herself from the cadaver arms, Evelyn looked up and pointed the revolver at Jill. She prepared to pull the hammer back and squeeze the trigger, when she saw Steven run out in front of her. Evelyn hesitated and lowered the gun.
Steven held the axe up and ran towards Jill. He swung the axe at her legs, chopping them off and causing her to fall to the ground.
Her torso began to shake and convulse on the ground. Her mouth still gaped open, the corners pointed, forming an empty smile. She continued to taunt him in that warbled voice. "Her soul burns in Hell!" she shrieked. Her arms and legs still twitched and shook on the grass.
It all happened to him in a rush. Steven continued to mutilate her body with the now bloody axe. He wasn't even aware of how many times the axe split her skin and bones apart. It all happened to him in flashes. He saw one of her arms being chopped at the shoulder. Next was what remained of her legs. Then her stomach. Crudely and unevenly, he sliced and diced his sister's body. He felt her warm, slimy blood being sprayed on his face and on his arms. He barely noticed how the color of the blood changed from red to green to black.
Out of the corner of his eye, Steven saw his sister's decapitated head. It looked at him. Taunted him. The one thing he feared most in his life was losing his sister. Since the horrible mess between Freddy and Ash began, he tried to protect her. Even when the she became possessed, he didn't want his sister to be gone. But, as he held the bloody axe to the moonlit sky, and his sister's own blood dripped onto his face, he realized that she was already gone long before. There was no going back. Swift
ly, and with a pained groan, Steven lowered the axe and split his sister's head semi-parallel down the middle of her face.
He felt Evelyn's hand touch him on his shoulder. She calmly tried to pull him away. With the handle still lodged in her head, Steven released the handle from his grip and turned away, wiping the blood from his face. Just as easily as he had succumbed to blinding rage, Steven broke down and cried on Evelyn's shoulder.
Evelyn hugged him, and couldn't help but allow tears to escape from both of her eyes. She had lost one of her best friends. She wanted to fall on the floor and sob like she did not too long ago when Cooper died, but she knew there was no time to waste. Evelyn wiped the tears from her eyes, let Steven go, and spoke to him gently. "We have to get out before the police get here." she said.
She prepared to walk away when she saw Steven still staring at Jill's chopped-up body. She wondered why he wanted to look at her like that for so long. All of her limbs were dislocated and bloody. Her ribcage was exposed and her intestines were splayed across what was left of her body.
Evelyn grabbed his arm and tried to lead him. "Steven," she said. "come on."
His tone of voice made him sound hopeless, but still with the intention of full-filling one last act for his sister. "No, not yet." he said. "We have to bury her."
"But," she sounded anxious. "we don't have a lot of time. The police are already looking for us."
He turned to her. "Then we'll do it quickly." he sniped.
"Fine." she said. Evelyn walked away to grab a shovel that was propped by the back door. She handed it to Steven, who promptly took it from her hands and planted the shovel into the dirt.
Steven had dug a hole in the ground that was about three feet deep. Both he and Evelyn gently laid Jill's body parts into the soil. Steven took the shovel and filled the hole with dirt. When it was finally filled, Steven released the shovel from his grip and dropped to his knees. He patted down the dirt firmly to flatten the surface, like he was planting flower seeds.