A Nightmare Reborn Ch. 04

A NIGHTMARE REBORN: FREDDY VS. JASON 2

CHAPTER 04

BASED UPON CHARACTERS CREATED BY:

Wes Craven: A Nightmare on Elm Street

Victor Miller: Friday the 13th

John Carpenter: Halloween

Victor Salva: Jeepers Creepers

Clive Barker: Candyman, Hellraiser

CREATIVE CONSULTANTS:

Sean Renaud, Tessa Alexander and Miriam Belle

EDITOR:

Miriam Belle

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

-"I got a few emails asking me why the Sheriff's Office in this story was a little different from the one seen 'Freddy vs. Jason.' Simply put, I like the old design from the original 'Nightmare on Elm Street.' It had a lot of character. Call me a sucker for the oldies..." –bluefox07

***

CONVERGENCE

Sunday, May 15th 2005

Matthew Loomis had expected to arrive in Springwood shortly after eight in the morning. He had hoped to take a shower and gather himself up emotionally before calling Mary Stilfreeze and taking a look at whatever it was his ex-wife wanted him to see. He had also hoped that the memorial service for the victims of the Springwood Massacre of 2002 would be a quiet forum to share memories and for the few survivors to find some resolution. He had hoped that the coincidental proximity to a Friday the 13th two days ago wouldn't mean anything amounting to more than superstition from a frightened man.

But as his taxi slowed along the incline of the freeway off ramp, Loomis knew that things had already gone wrong. He knew that the impossible, or to be more exact the highly improbable had happened. The veil of death had been draped over Springwood yet again. Heavy, roiling storm clouds gathered in the sky above the city, threatening to kill the morning sun. In this fading light he saw an SUV and a beaten-up white Chevy truck blocking the road bumper to bumper. Two men dressed in simple civilian clothes stood by while a long, sleek Springwood Police cruiser parked in front of them.

"It seems to be a road block," Loomis understated as two police officers got out of the cruiser and walked towards the taxicab. He wondered what could have happened during the night that would have necessitated the mobilization of civilians in law enforcement duties? He supposed it was a silly question. He already knew. But he wanted to believe that the Springwood PD was conducting parade traffic control. He wanted desperately to believe anything else other than the obvious was happening here.

But he knew better.

The driver of the cab, a thin wiry black man named Bobby rolled down his window and waited for the cops as they approached. He leaned out the window and asked, "What's going on?"

"Where ya heading to, Bobby?" the lead cop, a short attractive woman asked.

"I was taking this fare into town to the Inn," he said amiably. Bobby looked a little nervous, and Loomis figured he had every right to be. As he sat there, he couldn't deny that seeing the cruiser and trucks in the middle of the road made him feel nervous too. And being as this was the town of Springwood, anything like this probably made its citizens dive for the nearest storm shelter.

"You got a name?" the female cop asked Loomis, her eyes unreadable behind her dark glasses.

"Dr. Matthew Loomis," he replied with a friendly smile.

The expression on the cop's uniquely ethnic face turned from impassive routine to surprise and recognition. She stood back and put her hands on her gun belt. Though the light seemed to be fading to a cold dim, her beautiful café au lait skin was warm and a light all its own.

"From New York?" she asked.

Loomis cocked a quizzical brow, "Indeed."

"Please step out of the car, sir," she instructed him. She had a faint ghost of an accent that Loomis could not quite place and as he stepped out into the misty morning air. As he stood there he realized he was also at least a foot and some change in inches taller than her. This didn't seem to bother her at all as she looked up at him, her dark hair almost neutrally iridescent in the sunlight. Loomis stood there, dressed in his typical black suit and gray trench coat, and waited as the female cop whispered to her partner.

"May I ask what this is about?" Loomis leaned forward and read her nametag, "Officer Alexander?"

The officer smiled warmly at Loomis, her stern façade melting away rapidly as she reached out for his hand, "Tessa Alexander, Springwood Police department," she said and motioned to her partner, "This is Officer Sean Renaud."

"A pleasure," Loomis smiled as Officer Alexander's grip became almost painful. Her smile was so genuine that he doubted she knew she was hurting him. 'Let size not be a measure of one's strength,' he thought to himself. Once she released him from her grip, he took Sean's hand and shook it.

"Doctor," Sean nodded, his face not nearly as open or welcome to his greeting, but still friendly enough. Loomis studied him for a moment, and knew he recognized the elements in the man's dark African features that denoted fatigue and anxiety.

"What has happened here in Springwood?" Loomis asked.

A helicopter roared overhead causing Tessa to shout, "We've had a bit of situation here since last night! It'll be easier if you come with us..."

"Of course. I have my bags in the trunk," Loomis motioned to the taxi.

Bobby sat there in the drivers seat, watching them intently and eager to hear everything he could. Tessa motioned to him impatiently. Bobby shook his head, his face scrunched in confusion. She whipped her sunglasses off and glared, her lips cocked as though she had had to kick his ass into gear more than one time before. Bobby needed no third prompt. He held his hands up inoffensively, opened the door and hurried around to the trunk of the cab. As he pulled out the suitcase and box of files, Tessa noticed Loomis' amusement.

"He's my half brother," she explained. Bobby hurried past them to her patrol car a few feet away and set the luggage down by the rear bumper.

"I have no key to your trunk," he called.

Tessa turned and shouted, "And you're not getting one now, savvy?"

Bobby shrugged and went to his half sister. He cleared his throat, "Okay, are you taking this guy? I gotta get back."

"Yes, the meter is running isn't it?" Loomis reached into his pocket for his wallet.

"We'll take good care of him," Tessa said as Loomis paid the cabbie his fare.

"Thank you, doctor," Bobby smiled and got back in his cab. He started up the engine and pulled forward with a jerk and then stopped. He frowned and stuck his head out the window, "How do I get out of here?"

"Just flip a bitch and get back on the freeway," Tessa said, "Watch out for traffic."

"What?" Bobby laughed incredulously, "I'll have to drive to Elm Grove to turn around. And it's illegal! What would momma say?"

"She'd say get the fuck out of here before I kick your ass," she replied casually.

"Elm Grove, Tessa!" Bobby shouted, "That's a seventeen mile trip!"

"Look at the badge," Tessa pointed dramatically to her shield and then to her holster, "Look at the gun."

"Flip a bitch," Bobby relented and turned the car around to go back up the off ramp.

"And fix that damn tail light!" Sean shouted after him. Bobby stuck his arm out the window, his middle finger jutting out from his closed fist.

Sean smiled a little. "Asshole."

"Hey, that's my brother," Tessa slapped Sean's arm and then added, "Asshole."

"Half brother," Sean corrected.

Bobby cautiously turned back onto the freeway and then picked up speed by them, his tires purposefully kicking up dust and gravel off the shoulder. Tessa shook her head as he drove away across the overpass and then was gone. A cloud of dust washed over them and Tessa muttered, "Not the better half."

"One big happy family here in Springwood, yes?" Loomis ventured as they walked to the police cruiser.

"Something like that," Tessa said.

Loomis had to stop himself from being so conspicuous about looking at Officer Tessa Alexander. Her features were indeed exotic, and he could have sworn he saw not only bold African and Hispanic features in her face, but maybe even a little Asian in there as well. It wasn't often that Loomis found himself taken by physical beauty. He was so wrapped up in his work he really had no time to notice. But someone as lovely as this should have been modeling and rolling in cash, not dodging in the line of fire. Loomis allowed himself a momentary glance at her curvaceously petite figure.

'I love a woman with a gun,' he thought with a small smile as he gathered his luggage. Officer Renaud unlocked the trunk and Loomis put his belongings inside. Once they were seated in the cruiser, Loomis riding in the back and briefly feeling like an apprehended criminal, Tessa started the car and they were on their way around the roadblock. The two civilians, both weathered looking older men were both armed too. Loomis made eye contact with one of them and was startled by the haunted emptiness of his eyes.

"Those men were armed," Loomis said.

"Retired cops," Sean replied.

As they drove the quiet streets of Springwood, Loomis noticed that there were no townsfolk out and about. The town looked deserted and still. Occasionally, they would pass a lone police cruiser or another truck with some grizzled looking old man behind the wheel parked on a corner or blocking a street. In the sky, the foreboding storm clouds were gathering and melting together in a thick blanket. The sunlight was almost spent.

"Is there a curfew in effect?" he asked. Some of the houses they passed had yellow crime scene tape strewn all over the front porches and doors.

"Yeah," Sean answered, "Since four this morning."

"What happened?"

"You know a woman named Mary Stilfreeze?" Tessa asked as they turned down another picture-perfect suburban residential street. The fully-fledged oak trees that lined almost every street should have been vibrant and green for this time of year. Instead, the foliage looked grayed and washed out, like some universal artist had thinned out his palette of color for Springwood. The natural power of color was tainted, and like the people who lived here, was sedated and filled with fear. Even the sunlight lost its potency in Springwood. The dulled beauty of the town was indicative of its cancerous past and wounded spirit.

Loomis paused, and then said, "Yes I do. She's my ex-wife."

"Does she have a history of violent behavior, doctor?"

'A history of adulterous behavior, maybe,' he thought grimly and the said, "Not that I know of. Has something happened to Mary?"

"Two days ago she was found on the back road leading out to Crystal Lake," Sean turned in his seat and looked at Loomis, "Tessa here was one of the officers who found her."

"She looked half dead when we got to her," Tessa said, "It was pure luck that we even found her. I was on a routine patrol."

"Good God," Loomis felt a sick emptiness in his stomach at the very mention of the cursed lake, "Is she alright now?"

"She was taken to Fairview Hospital," Tessa told him and then added, "But she tore her room apart, beat an orderly with his own med tray and ditched out."

Loomis looked at Sean, his face shocked. He said, "I find that hard to believe."

"Believe it or not," Sean said evenly, "But she was picked up again early this morning at Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital. She was caught not only destroying the drugs in the medical storage, but she also apparently murdered a nurse and took her passkey and uniform."

Mary had killed someone? Surely it was a mistake. Mary may have been an adulterous, selfish workaholic, but a murderer? Loomis could not bring himself to believe that for even for one minute. Not Mary. Loomis felt dizzy. It was like a bad dream, something out of a nightmare.

'A nightmare in Springwood?' he thought bitterly, 'Now there's a novel idea.'

"Are you certain she killed the nurse?" he asked.

"Well, she was wearing the woman's uniform," Tessa said and took her sunglasses off as they pulled onto main street. She looked to Loomis in the rear view mirror, her imponderable dark eyes hinting at genuine sympathy. She said, "We found the body in the trunk of a car stolen from the hospital about the time your ex-wife took off."

"Is my ex-wife the cause of these road blocks?"

"No," Sean said. Something in his voice sounded pained, even angry as he answered, "That's something else entirely."

"Anyway," Tessa said, "She's been in a holding cell since we picked her up. She's been screaming your name. I mean, I assume you're Matthew from New York?"

"She's the only person who calls me 'Matthew,'" Loomis said quietly and then after a moment asked, "Is it routine for Springwood Police to patrol other towns? Crystal Lake isn't just around the bend from here."

Tessa said, "Ever since 2002, the departments in Springwood, Elm Grove and Crystal Lake have been doing joint patrols. A check and balance system to cover the miles in between towns. The idea is anything we miss, they catch and vice versa."

"You're referring to the massacre in 2002?" Loomis ventured.

Tessa looked at him in the mirror, surprised, "Yeah, actually. How did you know?"

"Aside from the what the newspapers said?" he leaned forward in his seat, "Actually, I'm a criminal psychologist specializing in the field of super-killers."

"Super-killers?" Sean asked.

"Killers who seem to defy the laws of physics and reality," Loomis said plainly.

The two police officers were silent for a moment as the shared a mutual look of surprise. Sean looked back at him, "And what brings you to Springwood, doctor?"

"Mary called me," he looked out the window, "She said it was imperative that I come here right away."

"Well doctor," Tessa said as she pulled the cruiser into the back parking lot of the Springwood Police Department, "Whatever the reason, your timing is amazing."

Sean opened the door for Loomis and he stepped out into the stale air. The world seemed to have fallen ill as Sean and Tessa escorted Loomis inside. He listened intently as they walked from the rear parking lot to the front of the building, footsteps echoing off the silence. It was so quiet he could have heard a pin drop. Loomis didn't even hear cats or dogs. It was the calm before the storm.

He wondered if this was maybe what his father had encountered visiting Haddonfield for the first time back in 1978 to recapture Michael Myers.

Once inside, the noise level change drastically. Phones were ringing off the hooks and the four officers who were taking the calls looked stressed and fatigued as they went about their business. He could feel their tension and fear, as though it were a tangible field of energy around them. It both energized them and yet threatened to strangle them.

"Fear in Springwood is death, so I hear," Loomis said under his breath.

"Pardon?" Tessa asked as she signed the doctor in at the front desk.

Loomis shook his head, "Nothing deputy."

"You alright?" Tessa eyed him.

The doctor shrugged, "A little taken back by all this."

There was something about this woman that engendered immediate trust, and when she put her hand on his shoulder Loomis felt slightly more at ease. She smiled, "It'll be okay."

'Will it now?' Loomis wondered.

"Sheriff Williams would like to see you, doctor," Sean said from behind them.

"Of course."

He was led past the bullpen and to the office of Sheriff Thomas Williams. The sheriff was an older man, his face gruff and weathered with an unspoken air of he'd "been there and done that before." Loomis could see that his normally well-combed graying hair had been disheveled during the course of his shift in complete frustration. His lips were pursed into a thin white line as he looked up at them.

On his desk, amidst all the papers and reports was a large ashtray. Several spent cigars were abandoned there in the yellowed glass receptacle, the more recent one smoldering still. Loomis inhaled the scent of genuine Cubans deeply and relished the aroma. From the look on Sheriff Williams face, he doubted he would be offered one anytime soon.

"Sheriff Williams," Tessa said and motioned to the doctor, "This is Doctor Matthew Loomis."

"So you're 'Matthew'?" Williams looked at Loomis. His blue eyes were set back in worn out sockets. The Sheriff looked like he was ready keel over from exhaustion. In his large hand he held another blazing stogie, with which he indicated for Loomis to take a seat. He said to Sean and Tessa, "You two go and take stock in the armory. I want that ordinance checked and prepped by noon."

"Yes sir," Sean nodded and the two officers were gone.

As Williams leaned back in his seat, the springs creaked and popped. He looked to Loomis and said, "I've heard of you, Dr. Loomis."

"My reputation precedes me?" Loomis smiled, "I'm flattered."

"I saw you on 'Sixty Minutes' a few years back," the sheriff took a long drag on his cigar and rubbed his eyes, "Something about a nutcase killing people in Chicago?"

"Locals called him the Candyman," Loomis said and then added, "Something of an urban legend... I think you can relate."

Williams ignored the implication and said, "You're considered to be one of the top minds in criminal psychology."

"By some," Loomis said, "By others, no. Often, my findings aren't very popular."

The sheriff nodded.

"If I may ask," Loomis began, "Are road blocks typical of Springwood hospitality?"

"I apologize for any inconvenience," Williams said, his voice tinged with an impatient edge, "We've had a bad night."

"How is Mary, Sheriff?" Loomis asked, "May I see her?"

"She's physically fine, roughed up something fierce with some cuts and bruises," the sheriff replied, and then said, "But mentally? I don't know, Doc. Our local shrink looked her over and says she suffering from severe exhaustion, maybe a psychotic break."

"The doctor who examined her?"

"Dr. Campbell," the sheriff said, "He works with Westin Hills and the department as a consultant."

'Lori's father,' Loomis thought to himself, 'How convenient.'

The sheriff seemed to be holding back, as though he wanted to say more. Loomis had a growing suspicion that whatever was happening here in Springwood, Mary was connected and neck deep in it. And what's more, Campbell and Sheriff Williams knew it as well. But there were politics to be played here. Loomis knew he must tread lightly if he were going help anyone.

"I heard she might have been involved in a murder," he said.

"I see my officers talk," Williams shrugged and shook his head, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Can't keep a secret here in Springwood for very long."

A moment of uncomfortable silence passed between them. Loomis hoped he hadn't gotten Tessa or Sean in trouble. They seemed to have enough trouble as it was already.

"The murder charges?" Loomis insisted.

"We found a Westin Hills nurse folded up in the trunk of her own car shortly after your ex ditched Fairview Hospital," Williams said, "She was wearing her uniform and had her pass key."

"Could she have been set up?" Loomis asked, "I mean, considering she was found in the condition she was in at Crystal Lake, isn't possible there's more going on here?"

Loomis could already see that the sheriff wasn't a man to suffer challenges in his jurisdiction, let alone his own office. There was a harsh edge to the man that he could tell wasn't entirely natural. The sheriff was either a product of a hard life or a hard career, though rarely were those two things separate entities. Loomis imagined being the sheriff in a town like Springwood could harden even the most gentle of people. Williams continued, "Ms. Stilfreeze fingerprints are all over the car, the body and the three thousand dollars worth of medication she destroyed at Westin Hills."

"My God," Loomis whispered and then, "What drug did she destroy?"