by A. Eggleston
When Ash lifted his head to look at Freddy, he was gone. He expected him to see Freddy struggling to get up from the ground, aching and bitching about the pain he was in, but that was not the case. He simply had vanished. All that remained were the puddles of blood that expelled from his body from the saw blade. Ash, in a flurry of movement, looked off to the distance, left to right; hell, even up to the sky, but did not see Krueger. All that was around him were the circle of Deadites.
Out of nowhere, a hole in the concrete instantly appeared behind Ash's feet. Inside the hole was a vision that looked like Hell itself: Fire-y, dark, with smoke entering its way to the outside.
Freddy leapt like he had been shot out of a cannon. For a split-second, he hovered, suspended in the air with his legs bent and his arms out, "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon"-style. He was right, his powers in the real world were almost matched to his powers in the dream realm.
The hole disappeared from underneath him as his boots touched the ground. Freddy pulled back his right arm and prepared to launch his blades deep into Ash's spine.
Ash heard the sound of Freddy's boots landing on the concrete behind him. His reflexes took over, causing Ash to quickly whip around to see Freddy, aiming his knifed fingers towards him.
He acted quickly. Ash leapt to his left, narrowly missing Freddy's knives. While he still had his arm extended, Ash grabbed him by his forearm and twisted it toward his back. His bone snapped.
"Ah!" shouted Freddy. Ash had him bent over, the back of his gloved hand touching his scapula. He felt Ash pushing and twisting his arm. Freddy bent his left arm and hit Ash in the throat with his elbow.
Ash yelled. "Ow!" He let go of Freddy's arm and rubbed his throat with his left hand, feeling the tender spot where Freddy's pointy elbow had hit him.
Freddy used the opportunity to attack Ash again. He lifted his leg and kicked Ash hard in the stomach. He watched as Ash fell back into the circle of Deadites.
His fall was caught by a group of Deadites. He was trapped, like a fly in a spider's web. Two Deadites lowered down to the ground to restrain his feet, keeping him from escaping. Another two held his arms back to keep him from attacking them or Freddy.
As he looked closer, he came to realize that the two demons holding his arms were Buck and Anthony. He had to look close to recognize them, as their features were now heavily distorted, and their skin was a sickly gray color.
Another one, who stood directly behind Ash, grabbed both sides of his face and forced him to watch as Freddy neared him, aiming his blades at him.
Evelyn, Faith, and Steven all stood at the front of the store in awe. For only mere minutes, they watched, motionless, feeling as if they couldn't do anything to help Ash.
Once they saw the Deadites take Ash captive, holding him down while Freddy came ever closer with his blades pointed at him, they instantly felt a surge of adrenaline rush through them.
Evelyn put her hand on Faith's shoulder and practically screamed in her ear. "Go get him some ammo!"
"Gotcha!" Faith left Evelyn's side and ran to the other side of the store to grab boxes of ammo from the fallen shelves.
"Hurry!" Evelyn instructed before Faith had gone too far. She then took a few extra steps forward to talk to Steven. She grabbed his arm to get his attention. "Steven, I want you to go get his--"
Steven interrupted her before she could finish her instruction. "I know, I know, the hand. I'm on it." Steven ran over to the pile of glass on the east side of the store to grab Ash's metal hand.
Evelyn sprinted over to the Garden department to grab more fuel for Ash's chainsaw. She found herself having to hurdle over debris and avoiding glass as she made her way across.
After only less than a minute had passed, the three of them met up and ran out of the store, carrying everything Ash would need. Evelyn carried four bottles of fuel, two in each arm, along with his barbed chain. Faith carried about five boxes of shells and bullets in one arm, and Ash's pump shotgun and 9mm pistol in the other. Steven held Ash's metal appendage in his right hand, and the Book of the Dead cradled in his left arm.
"He's gonna kill him!" Faith said hopelessly. "We have to stop him somehow!"
Evelyn dropped everything in her arms, leaving it to fall to the ground. "Here," she said as she grabbed Ash's 9mm away from Faith. "Is it loaded?" she asked.
"Yeah, but the safety's on." replied Faith.
Evelyn clicked the safety off. "No problem." she said. She then closed one eye and looked through the sights.
Faith warned her. "Careful, don't shoot Ash!"
Evelyn took a few steps to the side, making sure that her angle was precise and that her target was exactly where she wanted it to be. "I won't." she said intently. She squeezed the trigger.
BLAM!
The bullet left the barrel of Ash's 9mm pistol, and grazed the scalp of the Deadite to Ash's right, holding him down. The bullet then traveled onward, finally stopping once it hit Freddy's skull.
The bullet hit Freddy straight it his left eye just as he was about to launch his four blades into Ash's stomach. The impact caused Freddy's left eye to explode. His head tilted back as thick, dark, blood sprayed out of his eye socket. The gooey texture of his eyeball against the hard metal of the bullet sounded like a TV dinner exploding in the microwave.
"Argh!" Freddy shouted as he covered his eye with his left hand. Half of his face was drenched with his own blood. The bullet went straight through his socket and was now lodged right in his temporal lobe. The bullet was still hot in his skull and the pain was unbearable. Freddy stepped back and retracted his glove away from Ash.
Steven gripped the metal hand tightly in his. He held his arm back, ready to throw it as far as he could. "Ash!" he yelled hoping that he would be able to hear him.
With one less demon holding him captive, Ash was able to turn around and see Steven about to throw his metal hand back to him.
"Catch!" warned Steven. He catapulted the metal hand across the parking lot, hoping that it would reach far enough to land in Ash's direction.
The metal appendage soared past the sea of Deadites that had packed themselves in the S-Mart parking lot. As it started to fall, it was just out of reach from the pack of demons that circled themselves around Ash and Freddy.
A single hand reached up amid the crowd of Kandarian demons. The metal appendage smacked against Ash's palm as he caught it. He lowered his arm down, elbowing random Deadites behind him that tried to take the hand away. Ash locked his replacement hand back onto his wrist and began to use it to its full extent.
He bent his metal fingers, forming his hand into a fist. He whipped around and sucker-punched one of the demons that had been holding his arm down. He then shifted his body and launched his elbow into the face of another Deadite that had tried to grab him.
Once he finally broke through the wall of undead that had blocked him in, he ran over to trio of young warriors, both delighted and relieved to see them carrying the weapons he left behind. He pointed to Faith, who was carrying Ash's pump shotgun, as well as the ammo that went along with them. "Quick. Ammo" he ordered.
Faith held a box of shotgun shells in front of him as he brought out his double barrel.
Ash grabbed a handful of shells and stuffed a few inside his shirt pocket as well as the bullet belt strapped across his chest. He then took two more and used them to load his shotgun. He cocked his gun, hearing a click as the twin barrels locked in place. He waved his fingers at her, gesturing for her to hand him the other weapon. "Gun!" he ordered bluntly. He put the shotgun back in the holster and proceeded to grab the remaining gun that Faith held in her hand.
He put his pump shotgun in the other holster behind his back. The two shotguns were positioned in opposite directions, the stocks pointed upward and the barrels downward, forming an X-shape behind his back.
Evelyn offered Ash's 9mm pistol and his barbed chain to him. "Here." she said as he returned them.
"Thanks." Ash said as he grabbed the pi
stol, the barrel was still hot to touch. He placed it back in the holster that Ash kept tucked away at his right side. He took the chain and wrapped securely around his wrist. He looked up at the kids and ordered them further. "Now you guys go get something to protect yourself with, it's too dangerous out here."
The three of them nodded in agreement. Faith replied, "Okay." as they hastily made their way back to find weapons of their own.
Before he had a chance to get away, Ash touched Steven on the shoulder and forced him to turn around to look at him. "Steven." Ash called.
Steven looked up at him, wondering what it was that he had to say.
He looked into his eyes intensely. His tone of voice was utterly serious. "I think now's the time to read out those incantations. If you don't do it now, you won't have another chance, you got me?"
Steven nodded. "Yes, sir."
Ash smiled. "Good." He let go of Steven's shoulder. "Now, if you'll excuse me..." In the blink of an eye, Ash had turned all the way around, hurling his barbed chain at a random Deadite that had tried to sneak up behind him. The chain wrapped around the demon's waist and brought him to his knees. Blood sprayed all around him, staining the concrete with dark, red, puddles. Ash grabbed his pistol and brought it out from the holster. He pulled the trigger, shooting the demon in the head. Before Ash walked over to the lifeless demon to retrieve his chain, he turned back to Steven, repeating his instruction. "Go on, move it!"
Steven's eyes went wide. "Oh--Okay!" He turned around and headed back inside the store.
Ash walked over to the corpse and unwrapped the bloody chain from its body. He looked over, noticing that the circle of Deadites had been broken. They were all scattering aimlessly. One thing that stood out the most, was that Freddy was no longer there. Only a minute ago, he was standing about forty feet away, covering his eye and screaming in pain. And now, he was nowhere to be seen. "...Where'd he go?" he mumbled to himself.
Steven had opened the Necronomicon to the section he had previously bookmarked with his thumb. The top corner of the page still had a small indent where his finger had been. He spoke aloud the words from the Book of the Dead as he jogged back to the store. His eyes never left the wrinkled, blood-sprawled pages as he nonchalantly jumped over the corpses of Deadites on his way back inside.
His eyebrows scrunched and he slowly spoke each word, and awkwardly mispronouncing each syllable. "Nos...fe..rah...tos." He spoke aloud, hoping that by speaking loud enough, it would make up for his gross mispronunciation. "Al...le...memnon..." He jumped over another body and was now only twenty feet away from the destroyed barricade that covered the automatic doors. "K--Kan...?"
At that moment, when his left foot had touched the ground, Steven felt something wrap around his ankle. Whatever it was, it was tightening around him, squeezing him like a python. Before he even had a chance to look down to see what it was, he felt it pulling him away, violently.
Steven was thrown off of his feet and fell to the ground. He shouted the last syllable of the first section of the incantation, mixing it with his surprised screams. "Daaah!" The back of his head smacked against the concrete, almost knocking him unconscious. He then felt himself being dragged along the hard, rough concrete. He was being pulled so fast that everything moving past him appeared to be a blur. The friction of it caused him to burn through his clothes. His shirt rode up, leaving his back exposed to the moving ground. The skin was being ripped off like a band-aid. Every inch of his back was now being scraped and scratched. It burned like fire on his skin. "Aaaah!" he cried in agony. Steven looked ahead of him, seeing what holding onto his ankle.
It was a tree branch. Although the branch was no thicker than his index finger, It was strong enough to trap him and pull him away from his friends. From the store. From safety. Steven's gaze quickly leapt upward, anxious to know where the sentient branch was taking him.
He saw an image of a large tree. It's image was getting bigger by the second to his eyes as Steven got closer to it. The trunk was larger than any tree he had seen before. It must have been six or seven feet wide; wide enough to seem like two trees combined. He also noticed another odd thing about it: Aside from the other trees beside it, this one seemed to be staring at him. As if it had a face. He could see it now, the bark on its base was moving, it was contorted to form a vile face. He recognized it. It looked very similar to Freddy's. It was like the burnt flesh that made up his face was now replaced with aged tree bark.
Steven's eyes watered and he allowed himself to scream helplessly as the tree pulled him in, accepting that at within a matter of seconds, he would be splattered to death.
Chapter Thirty Six
"Aaaaaaaaaah!!!" was the only thing that could escape Steven's mouth as he was dragged closer towards the base of the tree. His mind couldn't make sense of it all. He had never been so afraid in his entire life. The fastest roller coaster didn't compare to the shock that he was experiencing.
His entire back felt like it was on fire. He couldn't stand the feeling of being dragged along the concrete at what felt like thirty miles per hour. He could feel pieces of gravel becoming lodged in his back, stuck in his muscle tissue, as no traces of skin existed on that area anymore. He wasn't quite sure, since he couldn't see behind him, but he felt as if the only thing touching the concrete now were his muscles and bare spine. It vibrated along the hard surface. The friction of it filed down the bone. The only thing Steven wanted was for the pain to stop. I don't care if I die anymore. Just, please God, make it stop! Make it stop!
At that moment, during his desperate plea with his maker, he felt the transition between the rough, unforgiving concrete, to the soft grass. Freddy had now been dragging Steven into the area just off to the side of the S-Mart building. It was the area that surrounded the parking lot, encapsulated by tall trees and shrubbery. It was meant to give the building an image of serenity. What better captures the image of a happy suburban town better than perfectly trimmed shrubs and blooming flowers?
Only now, the decorations that should ensure for a peaceful image have now become the instruments for something hellish. The tall oak trees had now become alive, controlled by a demonic presence. Their thick branches undulated like the tentacles of an octopus. The bark was broken and gray, as if it had clearly been dead for several years. As the trees moved, the sound of their creaking branches and rustling leaves caused an unsettling moan in the night air.
Steven opened his eyes and saw the base of the tree only ten feet from him. He could see Freddy. His hideous face looked only more menacing now likened inside the trunk of the oak tree. The image wasn't flat. His features were prominent, extending past the flat surface of the wood. It was three-dimensional. He could see Freddy's ears on the side of the tree. Sharp pieces of wood peeled off of the base to form his jagged teeth. The creases in the bark arched to resemble his brow bones. And then he saw what seemed to be his eyes. There were two dark holes cut in the base of the tree that formed the shape of Freddy's eyes. They were blank and vapid, showing nothing but utter darkness.
Just then, Steven's body was lifted up from the ground. It was so sudden that he didn't even have time to react. The branch that wrapped around his ankle had pulled him with suck force, that it almost dislocated the bones. He felt his body being thrown around as he was being lifted up. He was now suspended, upside down. Steven briefly viewed the parking lot at the top of his gaze. Scattered along the lot and in the streets were dozens of demons, also upside-down in his view. Before being turned away, Steven's eyes trailed up, looking at the strip of concrete that he was being dragged along. He could see a faint but long trail of blood beginning from the front of the store to directly below his head.
He was then coldly reminded of the scrapes and burns along his back as the gentle breeze hit him. Although the wind was soft and calm that night, it felt like a harsh rubbing alcohol against his fresh wounds. He felt raw and exposed with his back to Freddy. He knew that he was looking at what he had done to Steven. Admiring h
is work. Fucking bastard... Steven started to bleed again. He felt a warm stream of blood trail up his back, to his neck, and disappeared into his brown hair.
Freddy turned him around so that he could see his scared, weeping face. The bark that made up his filthy mouth moved in an unreal fashion as he laughed. "Ha ha ha ha ha!" The echoes of his laughter mixed in with the moans and creaks of the moving branches.
The branch that wrapped around Steven's ankle, the only thing keeping him from falling on his head and snapping his neck, began to tighten. He could feel the bark tearing into his skin, cutting off the circulation in his foot.
Steven felt the wind against his side as Freddy jerked him around like a rag doll. His body lifted upward, towards the sky. The first thing that Steven saw was a large, thick branch getting closer to him as he propelled in its direction.
SMACK!!!
His face slammed against the oak. He felt the bones in his nose shatter and blood pour from his nostrils. A wave of pain throbbed along his nose and forehead as he swung back down. Steven whimpered, feeling some of the blood rush back inside his nostrils as he suspended upside down.
Steven thought that the torture was over, until he felt the branch swing him to his left. His choppy hair covered his face, so he couldn't tell where Freddy was taking him.
SMACK!!!
His leg, hip, and shoulder crashed against the trunk of another nearby tree. Steven yelled out in pain. "Aaah!" Steven's entire left side was numb with agony.
He didn't even have another second to process the injuries he had sustained when he was hurled a second time to his right.
SMACK!!!
The pain he was experiencing on his left side was now equally matched to his right as Steven was slammed a second time. His body had hit the base of a tree, next to the one that Freddy had taken over.
Finally, the slamming, the careless tossing of his body, had ceased. Once it was all over, Steven now had time to feel everything Freddy had done to him. He felt as if he had broken every bone in his body. From his head to his toes, he buzzed from the shock, like he was a gong that had just been hit.