A Nightmare Reborn Ch. 07

"You bitch!" Freddy gaped as his left arm was severed and thudded to the ground.

Alice stood back and screamed at him like a wild animal, rage and anger seething from her eyes like fire. She kicked the arm away and lunged again. Freddy deflected her blows with his one hand as Alice forced him back towards the cave wall. Lori's heart was thundering as she watched, scared to death but swept away in the momentum of Alice's attack. She found herself gripping the pillar with both hands as she watched.

Freddy fell backwards and landed on the flagstone as fire raged around him. His bloody stump was spouting blood in a high-pressure stream as he looked to Alice, his bladed fingers over his face.

"Kill him!" Lori screamed and slapped the pillar.

Alice raised her hand high, Freddy's own infamous bladed glove composed in the final blow against him. She said, "You're dead."

And then she stopped.

Alice choked and staggered back. The blades on Freddy's hand had extended out and elongated faster than the eye could follow. The five, eight-foot long lengths of metal from Freddy's hand had impaled through Alice's body as she looked at him. Lori gasped as she watched the amorphous stiletto like knives poke out the back of Alice's t-shirt and glimmer with red blood. Alice dropped her gloved hand to her side and looked at the stretched out knifes piercing her ribs, left breast, sternum and heart.

"Alice!" Lori screamed.

She looked at Freddy with eyes that were blurry with tears and the cloudy touch of death. Blood trickled from her mouth in a steady stream as Freddy smiled up at her, his face alive with glee and uncontained joy. He jerked the blades out and Alice collapsed to the stone segment in a pool of her own blood. Freddy stood over her and waved his bladed index finger mockingly as his left arm suddenly popped out of his body, regenerated and complete again. He said, "Tell me, Dream Master… how do you kill what's already dead?"

“You don’t,” Alice wheezed as blood seeped from between her lips.

Freddy looked at Lori and bellowed with laughter until he disappeared from her sight like a ghost. Lori's paralysis broke and she ran to Alice, hopping and jumping across the stones. As Alice died, the entire dream world seemed to grow darker and more dangerous. The walls of the cave were closing in on her as she reached her friend and knelt beside her. She cradled Alice gently in her arms and brushed her beautiful red hair out of her pale face. Alice smiled at her, "Oh look what I've done..."

Lori couldn't speak as hot tears stung her eyes and a thick lump formed in her throat. She stroked Alice face once with fingers that trembled and then held her left hand to the dying woman's chest. She hadn't been able to save any one. From the moment her mother had been murdered by Krueger to Will being slain to now, Lori knew she had failed in every possible way. Her guilt swelled inside her like a terrible cyst, threatening to burst and poison her. She closed her eyes and tried to resist the breakdown that was almost upon her.

"Lori," Alice said with no small effort as she coughed up blood that spattered her chin, "Lori listen to me. Don't carry the weight of the dead. He'll use it against it you. Draw strength from them and finish what we started."

"I will," she looked into Alice's glassy eyes as her breathing became watery and strained, "I swear I will."

"Don't look back," Alice smiled at Lori and then saw beyond her into what lay beyond the world, "You have a choice..."

Lori watched in stupefied horror as Alice Johnson took one final breath that rattled in her throat for a moment and then escaped from her lips along with her soul. The Dream Master died in the netherworld between reality and fantasy comfortable in the arms of Lori Rollins. Fat tears rolled down her flushed cheeks as she brought her fingers to Alice’s open eyes and gently shut her lids. Lori hugged Alice to her body and sobbed for her friend. The universe seemed to grow so quiet it was unbearably loud.

"I swear it," she said through gritted teeth, a promise not only to Alice but also to Will and to her father and to her mother and everyone else who had died under Freddy's blades, "I swear to God."

Lori took a deep breath and then kissed Alice gently on the lips.

"I'll see you again," she whispered and laid Alice down flat on the flagstone. She looked at her hands and saw they were covered in blood. Alice's blood, wet and warm against her flesh. In her hands was the essence of life. And then, a new sensation…

Lori could feel it rising inside her, devouring her rage and fear. Something hot and overwhelming passed from Alice to Lori like a spectral arc of electricity. Lori threw her head back, her mouth wide open as the power of the Dream Master was bestowed upon her. Her hips bucked in an invisible orgasm as she was filled to capacity with the power. Her teeth chattered and her skin burned with the sheer energy of the gift being given to her.

Moments later when her eyes opened, they glowed blue.

"I was wondering if you two were more than friends, " Freddy chuckled from behind her, "Such a touching little kiss."

Lori heard his words, but with a new context. She took the glove off Alice's limp hand.

"Any tongue, Princess?"

Lori stood up, her back to Krueger and his old glove in her hand.

"Lez-be-friends?" he taunted her, wiggling his fingers in the air and dancing like a demonic cheerleader, "So hot! Lori and Alice sitting in the tree! F-U-C-K-I-N-G!"

"She was my friend," Lori said and threw his glove into the boiling fire water.

"I'm sure she was," Freddy laughed, "But I can't tell you how satisfying killing her was, Lori. It was on my wish list of things to do before the new millennium, but you know how hectic things can get, right?"

Lori turned and faced him, her eyes no longer glowing but filled with her own internal fire. Her hands were clenched into fists as she stared at him.

"So scary," Freddy sneered as his black coat whipped around him in the gusts of ember-laden wind, "Let's wrap this up, shall we?"

Freddy opened his right hand and flashed his wicked blades.

"Once and for all," he added with an arrogant grin.

Lori opened her right hand and concentrated. There was flash of pain in her fingertips as she summoned her new power to task. Freddy looked at her, again feeling uncertain as she concentrated. This was the part he hated most. He hated the goddam uncertainty of it all. No matter how much he planned for it, these stupid kids were always trying to one up him. Freddy growled and stepped forward, but was suddenly compelled to give Lori some room as she glared at him.

From her fingers sprang five, long metallic claws that were identical to the ones Freddy wielded and equally as dangerous. He watched with no small measure of loathing and fear as Lori held her hand out, blood streaming down her forearm in thin ribbons. She worked her fingers back and forth and then motioned for Freddy to come to her as Alice had done. She was mocking him in his own domain. Freddy felt his seared flesh burn anew with pure hate as he gritted his rotted out teeth and prepared.

"That's a cute parlor trick, bitch," Freddy growled.

"Come to me," she said quietly.

"And just who the fuck do you think you are?"

"I'm the Dream Master," Lori gave him a secret smile and then added "… bitch."

***

Loomis was taken by surprise as Michael lunged from the shadows. The machete hissed through the air and lodged in one of the large pipes bolted to the dust-covered ground. Loomis teetered on the edge of the basin and almost lost his balance when Michael grabbed him by the neck and pulled him forward roughly. Loomis gasped and struggled for air as Michael choked him. He batted at Michael as hard as he could, and from the way Michael was jolting from the hits he knew it had to hurt.

"Gack!" he squirmed in Myers grip as his shotgun fell to the floor. The killer only looked at him impassively and squeezed harder. The veins in the doctor's eyes began to burst and spread out across the whites. His vision was going blurry as the life was taken from his body slowly. He thought of his father and how he had failed him. Loomis kicked futilely at Michael and then again once more before his eyes began roll back into his head.

And then there was a gunshot.

Myers staggered back and Loomis was freed. He fell hard, gasping for air as he rolled towards the basin. He grabbed onto the lips of the huge hole, his fingers scraping across the rusted steel seal and rivets. Vertigo swept over him as his body was pulled down into the basin, his only lifeline his worn out fingers. There was another burst of automatic gunfire as Michael fell backwards against the pipes. His head hit hard and busted open one of the sheet metal tubes.

"Doc?" Tessa came running up to the basin, her gun still trained on Michael, "Matthew?"

Loomis looked up into the flickering lights hanging from the ceiling, "I'm here!"

"Hang on!" she shouted and shouldered her Uzi, "I'll get you out."

And then a shadow fell over her. Tessa saw the horrified look in Loomis eyes and before either of them could react Jason gripped Tessa's shoulder and flung her back against the wall. She rebounded off the surface hard and fell to the dirty floor. Jason saw his machete on the ground and grabbed it, looking at Tessa like a shark about to bite into a swimmer.

She staggered onto her feet, her eyes spinning from the blow to her head. She raised the Uzi up to fire and felt it rip away from her as Jason's machete caught it. The gun spun away from her and slid into the shadows between the pipes. Tessa cried out and reached for her boot knife, a long ten-inch hunting blade. She unsheathed the dagger with her left hand and tried to stab Jason but only found his huge hand waiting for her. He grasped her wrist and slammed her against the wall again, lifting her up by the neck so her feet were dangling. With one quick, insanely easy maneuver he forced her to stab the dagger through her own right shoulder. Tessa screamed as the blade punched through the meat and bone and lodged in the wall.

The pain was nearly blacking her out as she struggled to keep conscious. She wouldn't die passing out or losing her head. She would meet this asshole face to face to spit in his eye when he delivered the final blow. Tessa shuddered as her shoulder rippled with excruciating pain. She refused to cry and kicked him hard in the thigh, screaming, "Fuck you!"

Jason seemed to understand this comment and raised his machete for the kill.

"Tessa!" Loomis screamed as he tried to pull himself up out of the pit and then to Jason, "No, don't do it!"

More automatic gunfire sounded off from the shadows. The cloth of his ratty jacket shredded and blood misted from the torn meat across his right shoulder as Jason was thrown back to the ground. Sean came running past, his gun unloading every round into Jason's body with precision accuracy. He looked at Loomis and screamed, "Get her out of here now!"

Loomis finally pulled himself out of the basin and managed to reach Tessa. He grabbed the dagger and pulled hard as Sean squeezed the trigger and let loose another volley of unrelenting bullets. Jason convulsed and rolled as his body was punctured and shredded by the bullets. Sean was screaming and yelling as he fired, spraying Jason with all the ammunition he could muster.

"Get him into the basin!" Loomis yelled after Sean as he supported Tessa, "Do it now!"

The Uzi ran dry and clicked for a second before Sean threw it to the ground. Jason was already getting up, his body smoking from the multiple bullet wounds. Not wanting to give Jason a moment to breathe, Sean tackled him hard and they both went rolling across the narrow walkway. Sean kneed him hard in the groin and then positioned himself against the wall, pushing with his legs against Jason. The hulking killer rolled to the lip of the basin, his hand clumsily reaching out to find something to hold on to.

"You got him!" Tessa screamed, "Do it!"

Sean gave a final kick to Jason's hockey mask and the behemoth went into the basin, but not before he grasped the policeman's ankle. Sean growled against his teeth as Jason's iron grip crushed the bones and meat in his left ankle and foot. He kicked hard against Jason's face as the weight of the killer began pulling on him. Sean grasped the pipe behind him and held on tight as he was dragged into the basin with Jason.

"Loomis!" he screamed, the veins in his arms tight and his veins bulging out as he held on.

The doctor rested Tessa against the wall and rushed to Sean's side. He fell to his knees and began trying to pry Jason fingers away. The digits were locked into position by a strength Loomis could not understand or even begin to counter. Blood was now beginning to gush from the mess of Sean's ankle. Every thing below his calve was twisting and pulling loose as Sean screamed and kicked wildly at Jason with his free foot.

"Let go, goddam you!" Loomis screamed at the masked killer.

Sean felt his grip loosening, his fingers raw and taxed to their limits.

"Don't let go Sean!" Loomis roared and began pounding on Jason's fingers. "Hang on!"

There was a final moment of clarity for Sean as he felt his body simply give out against the power of Jason's might. There was a sudden jerk and then a sliding sensation as he was yanked backward. His shirt rode up, exposing his backside to the grit and broken glass of the walkway. He didn't have time to scream or even think as Loomis blurred past him and he fell into darkness with Jason. There was the strange feeling of being airborne as they fell, a long drawn out journey through final night.

"Sean!" Tessa screamed, her voice shrill and desperate as Sean's head rebounded off the steel lip of the basin with a heavy *thock* sound. His hands flew into the air and then he was consumed by shadows. Loomis scrambled to the edge and looked down as Tessa fell to her hands and knees beside him.

Jason and Sean landed at the bottom of the basin hard, their impact echoing in a bass reverberation. Sean rolled to his right and when he tried to stand, he found his shattered foot and ankle were unwilling to accommodate him. He lost his balance and fell forward as Jason reached out for him. He felt the killer grasp his arm and pull. Sean knew what was coming and tore the pistol from his waistband.

"Fuck you!" he shouted with all his might and fired the gun into Jason's face and torso. The basin lit up with each deafening report, giving them brief glimpses of the fight below like a slow strobe light in a basement. After the fifteenth shot rang out there followed a blood-curdling scream from the darkness. Tessa covered her mouth and reached for her gun as the screaming became watery, as though Sean were drowning. There was an audible cracking sound and then all was silent, save for the heavy breathing of Jason Voorhees below them.

"Sean!" she screeched and aimed her gun into the basin.

"No," Loomis put his hand on hers as she looked into the shadows.

"No!" she screamed at Loomis, "He's alive…"

"Tessa," Loomis held her to him close as she cried, "He's gone. Let him go."

Tessa let go of her gun and collapsed in Loomis's arms as the doctor tired to console her. Her body felt limp and a thousand miles away from her as Tessa tried to hold back the flood of pain. Her heart had been broken into two pieces, split right down the middle. She remembered telling Sean she didn't think everyone would make it out alive, that no matter what they were dead anyway. She wished now she hadn't said that.

She wished she had said something else.

Anything but that.

***

Lori stood toe to toe with Freddy Krueger in the confines of the dream world.

She raised her hand and when Freddy came at her, she didn't worry about what he was going to do. She could feel his movements in her body, as though she could read his mind. She felt the experience Alice had passed to her asserting itself as she dodged his wild slashes and erratically angry moves. They hopped from one flagstone to the other, thrusting and swiping, equally matched and equally determined to win.

"You know Lori," Freddy spat at her, "Your hubby is squealing like a pig to the slaughter in Hell…"

Lori felt a sting of anger in her heart, but resisted it.

"I know some hard hitting assholes down there who love tearing apart pussy's like him for breakfast…"

Lori ducked as Freddy's claws cut the air above her and took a lock of golden blonde hair. She countered and carved a chunk of the dream killer's shirt and chest out. The fabric and rotted meat splattered against the wall of the cave as they moved into the palace. Lori passed elaborate murals and frescos, most of them looking like something from "Dante's Inferno" as she and Freddy dueled. Their finger blades snapped and sparked in the hot depths of Krueger's world, metal against metal as the two fought for supremacy.

"When you get there, watch out for this mean motherfucker with the pins in his head… I mean this guy is wicked. He sure fucked your husband up… made him even curse your name and the day he met you!"

Freddy laughed.

Lori stabbed and removed one of Freddy's gnarled ears.

Krueger raged.

They were now in a long corridor leading to what looked like an oven. It made Lori think of the fairy tale, "Hansel and Gretel." She remembered the old witch being burned alive in her own oven after the little girl tricks her inside. She had always thought that story was scary when she was young, so dark for a children's tale. But now, as she backed her way up to the oversized oven she realized it looked more and more like a furnace. It was the oven in Freddy's tale, the place where the fires were the hottest and the pain lasted the longest.

"Who's that trip-trappin' on my fucking bridge?" Freddy guffawed as he caught Lori's shirt and tore her right sleeve away, leaving two wicked gashes across her shoulder, "I'll grind your bones to make my bread!"

Lori leapt through the air and swung at him again but missed.

"… And not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin!"

Lori landed behind and kicked him hard. The move was so deft and complete it was almost perfect. She knew she had never studied martial arts, but there was something inside her that had. She could feel it; or rather she could feel him inside her. She could see them all within her mind, guiding her and lending her their power. They were the ones, the souls, Alice had collected and kept with her, and now Lori was that keeper. That part of them Alice had retained was a part of Lori now.

"Mind over matter," she heard herself say as she delivered a brutal roundhouse kick to Freddy's face. The dream killer staggered back as blood spurted from his broken nose. He looked at the black liquid and glared at Lori.

"It's over, Lori," he said, "Give it up."

She stood ready for him, anticipating his next move.

"What will it take for you to walk away?" Freddy stared at her, pacing back and forth like an agitated wolf trying to figure out to catching the cunning rabbit eluding it, "I'm giving you the chance to walk away. Now, I never give my children that kind of offer…"

"You have nothing I want," she said evenly.

"Anything your heart desires," he said slyly as the fire in the boiler oven raged hotter, "Anything at all."

Lori looked at him thoughtfully and after a moment said, "Alice."

Freddy snorted.

“I want Alice back,” she stated clearly.

Freddy looked at her.

“I want my father and my mother…”

The dream killer hissed at her mockingly.

“But most of all,” she stared through his lies and his hate and his malevolence, her hair blowing in the arid wind and sweat beading on her forehead, “I want my husband back, you sorry son of bitch.”