A Nightmare Reborn Ch. 06

Lori was about to step out and join Loomis when Michael's body jerked. The killer slowly stood up and held his head for a moment, looking around as though he were confused. Alice could hardly breathe as she watched Michael Myers regain his balance, kneel down and then pick up his knife off the ground. The killer snapped his head directly to Loomis and no one needed to say he was pissed. Rage seemed to radiate off his body in the smoky dark.

"Let's go," Lori shouted, "Loomis, come on!"

He slammed the door shut behind him and put the car in gear as Michael walked back to his car. The stolen police cruiser revved and started following them fast as Loomis sped down Carpenter Street, blowing through stop signs and red lights as Michael pursued them. A mist of sweat had broken out over his forehead as he drove. He licked his lips, his heart racing in his chest as Michael followed.

"Take Saxon Avenue back into Springwood," Alice shouted as Michael rammed the back of the car, throwing them all forward. Lori braced herself against the dashboard as Michael hit them again."

"Won't it be sealed off?" Loomis jerked the wheel of the cruiser to the right, running over the sidewalk and a "School Zone" sign to make the turn. The wheels squealed and smoked as he did his best to stay ahead of Michael.

"There's an old bike trail leading out to the train yards," Alice said as Loomis pulled another hairpin turn, "We can follow the service roads to the power plant from there!"

"He's coming up on your ass, doctor!" Lori shouted as the interior filled with bright light again. The car was rocked and shuddered as Michael rammed them from behind, blowing out their taillights.

"Is that all you've got, Michael?" Loomis asked under his breath. He knew it was a silly question, but he asked it anyway. He knew what Michael was capable of, and a taunt like that only dared him to try harder. But Loomis didn't care. He was no longer a doctor of psychology or a student of the criminal sciences. He was the son of a murdered father seeking vengeance upon the man who held the knife. Loomis was simply another man tonight, and if he could manage it, he would see Michael Myers defeated before the sun rose in the sky again.

"Come on," he whispered and then looked to Lori, "When we arrive, you and Alice proceed to the supervisors office at the far end of the basin housing and lock the doors as we agreed. I'll distract Michael."

"Good luck," Alice said to him.

"To us all," Loomis replied and smiled warmly at her in the rearview mirror.

***

The Springwood Power Plant was silent and waiting in the early morning hours of Tuesday, May 17th as dark clouds rolled overhead. Only a few lights were still active at the plant, many of them having been shot out by drunken patrons of the local bars looking to squeeze off a few illegally influence rounds or kids with too much time to kill on Saturday afternoons. It was rusted out and covered with so much dust even the rain couldn't cleanse it. It was a relic that might as well have been a thousand years old.

The main structure was weathered and foreboding, the broken out windows of the offices and skylights looking more like empty eye sockets and open, jagged mouths than anything else. The complex itself had a distinct personality that many people believe was directly linked to the evil man who used to work there. It was as if though he had left his indelible mark on the place just by having been there. What the people of Springwood failed to realize was that this building was like the rest of the city. It belonged to a child killer named Fred Krueger.

The train tracks that led up to the plant were abandoned long before this night. There hadn't been a train stopped at the facility in years and because of the scandal concerning what had happened there, the owners of the Pacific line wouldn't use the property anymore. Even the men in charge of the plant abandoned it, relocating further along the highway to Elm Grove where the air seemed to be cleaner and free of evil spirits but close enough to collect the hard earned cash from Springwood.

When the rusty red Ford pickup came speeding along the main road, now paved with cracked slabs of cement and dirt, the power plant seemed to wake up. Lights flickered on and off as the placed prepared for their arrival. The truck kicked up no dust trail, only mud and grit from the neglected stretch of road as it roared past the broken heavy machinery and empty culverts. The headlights of the vehicle were like two powerful shafts of luminescence in the hazy air as Springwood burned in the distance. The early morning haze was not only warming in color from the rising sun, but also from the inferno tearing through the city. Small patches of open sky were forming in the thick cloud cover.

The truck sped along the side access roadway, navigating the abandoned forklifts and refuse metal until it reached the loading dock on the southeast side of the complex. At one time, large semi-trucks unloaded their cargo of supplies and huge rolls of copper wire for the massive turbines here. The dock had been manned by dozens of honest blue-collar workers who took a lot of pride in their work, never knowing a wolf ran among them. On this night, two lone police officers, separated from their chain of command and doing their best to overcome forces they didn't fully understand, brought a new wolf to the power plant.

The truck stopped and then backed up to the dock. The tailgate smashed against the concrete barrier, jostling the unconscious man in the bed. Jason Voorhees was still immobilized and still sedated with enough juice to knock out an elephant. Sean hadn't bothered with the niceties of removing the darts from his barrel chest, his only need to touch the killer being to hoist him into the bed of the truck. That had proven to be a difficult task in and of itself, requiring both he and Tessa to nearly give themselves hernias lifting Voorhees.

"Let's get in there before he wakes up," Sean jumped out of the truck, his Uzi slung over his left shoulder and a pistol tucked in the waistband of his jeans.

Following close behind, Tessa carried her own Uzi and motioned to Jason as she ran up the side stairs of the dock, "I figure we have maybe five more minutes before Gretzky wakes up."

"Let's hope it's enough," Sean tried the metal side door to the loading bay, "Shit. It's locked."

"Groovy," Tessa nudged him aside and leveled her Uzi at the lock, "I have a key."

The lock sparked and blew away into hot chunks of debris.

"You're good," Sean kissed her cheek, "I never get tired of that key bit."

He kicked the door open and they looked inside the darkened expanse. A few lamps dimmed and brightened as electricity surged sporadically through the wireworks, creating intermittent pools of light in the bay. Sean could see some old desks and chairs, work stations and scattered junk that might have been state of the art back in 1968. The place smelled old and musty, closed up and shrouded like a tomb. The cavernous structure echoed every sound as they cautiously stepped inside. He wrinkled his nose and said, "Not very promising, is it?"

"I don't like it," Tessa said from behind his shoulder.

"What would you like?"

"A cold beer and several episodes of 'The Duck Factory' just to cleanse my mind," she said.

"What?"

"Nothing," she breathed, "Let's go."

Sean looked over his shoulder at the empty road they had just come from. He wondered how the doctor, Lori and Alice were faring. Was the plan still good to go, or had Michael gotten the better of them. He said, "One of us should have gone with them."

"They'll be okay," Tessa reassured him.

Sean didn't feel all that confidant suddenly.

"They'll be here," she said, gripping his arm firmly, "They may not be trained, but they've all done this before."

"Yeah," Sean took a deep breath and then stopped, his eyes wide as he looked behind Tessa.

"What's wrong?"

"Jason just woke up."

Tessa spun around on her heel and was terrified to find that Jason was no longer to be seen anywhere, around the truck or in it. His machete was gone as well.

"Fuck."

***

Not more than a minute after Sean and Tessa went into the plant, the police cruiser carrying Loomis, Alice and Lori came barreling down the road and chased by another police car. The pursuing car was flashing it's lights, though the man driving the vehicle had no interest in making his intentions known the rest of the world. He simply could not find the mechanism to turn them off. His single-minded pursuit of the prey in the car ahead was all consuming and un-accepting of failure.

"Listen," Loomis shouted as they drove along the west side of the complex doing fifty miles an hour, "I'm going to stop at the main entrance. Both of you get out and make for the offices."

"What about you?" Lori grasped the door handle, readying herself. Her heart was thundering in her ears as she grasped her gun with her free hand. The three magazine clips Sean had entrusted her with sat firmly in her jean pockets, hard and cold.

"Just do it!" Loomis said and then slammed on the brakes. The cruiser swerved to one side and skidded down the broken road before stopping with the passenger side of the vehicle facing the double-doored entry to the power plant. Lori opened her door and jumped out into a huge puddle, soaking her shoes and pants as she opened the back door for Alice. The two women clutched their guns and then began running. Lori turned back just in time to see Dr. Loomis try to pull away when the second police cruiser crashed into him, flipping his car over onto one side. Mud and sparks showered everywhere as the body of the car wailed, metal screeching against metal and glass rebounding off the wet ground. Lori saw Loomis inside briefly as the car flipped, scared and surprised.

"Dr. Loomis!" Lori screamed and made to go back for him when Alice grabbed her by the arm and jerked her back hard.

"No!" Alice yelled at her, "We have to go!"

The police car spun on its roof as the vehicle commandeered by Michael Myers sped past and screeched to a halt. Red and blue plastic showered the road as Loomis' car skidded to a rest on the shoulder of the access road. Sparks erupted from the grinding metal as it squealed along, smashing rocks and destroying the roof. The remaining cruiser only sat motionlessly as Michael kept his foot on the brakes, turning the smoky air into a red fog.

In the overturned car, Loomis could feel fresh blood trickling up to his forehead as he hung upside down, his seatbelt keeping him from falling. Through the blown out windshield, he could see the door of the other car open and Michael Myers stepping out. Loomis fought against the belt desperately, trying to free himself. He hammered the belt release button mercilessly but found it was jammed.

"Shit," he hissed as blood ran into his left eye and stung there. He could hear Michael getting closer and closer, his boots crunching and popping in the wet gravel. The smell of fresh rain wafted to his nose through the aroma of gasoline and burnt metal and wood smoke. Rain began to fall again as Michael moved in for the kill. He reached for his shotgun but found it was out of his reach, half way out the broken window on the passenger side. Like a drowning swimmer trying to reach the shore against the tide he realized he was no closer to being safe than he had been five minutes ago.

"Shit!" Loomis tried pulling on the shoulder belt again.

Michael Myers stood beside the overturned car on the driver's side as rain pelted him above. His lifeless eyes looked down at the cruiser, his ears hearing the sounds of his prey trapped and ready for the kill. Michael felt a certain sadistic satisfaction at the prospect of killing the cursed doctor. It was a completion of a circle, one that Michael wanted to be finished and done with. He remembered the dreams he had seen of the doctor and the things he did to mock him.

Michael knelt down on one knee and looked into the wide eyes of Matthew Loomis.

"So," Loomis said, "This is where it ends."

Michael raised his blade and struck.

...to be concluded...