"This cabin hasn't been used in years," John Strode said he stared down at the sleeping body of Jacob Johnson. "We should be safe here for as long as we need to stay."
"Good," Tommy Jarvis told him. "Because we're going to stay here until Jacob's well enough to go back to the U.S." "He got impaled pretty bad, but at least the hospital patched him up pretty good," John said. "As long as we keep the wounds clean and he gets plenty of rest he should be good until he's on his feet again." "Which is our next problem," Tommy said as he looked down at Jacob. "He's scared to sleep because of Freddy, but he needs to learn to use his dream powers. He's got real power, if he can harness them, we might be able to take on Freddy, Jason, and Michael Meyers." "The dude's 13, isn't that putting a little too much pressure on him?" "I was 12 when I had to kill Jason the first time," Tommy said. "And that was without powers. Jacob's the best shot we have to save people, we can't waste it." * "Why can't I wake up?" Jacob asked as he felt his bandaged chest while standing in a dark void. "Tommy? John? Anyone? Am I dead?" Jacob closed his eyes and focused on being somewhere safe. Somewhere where Freddy Krueger could never reach him. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a field that he'd never seen before, but it felt like the perfect dream. He'd never felt more at peace. "I must be dead." "No, Jacob," a voice said as he turned around to see a woman in white standing not too far away. She had dark brown hair with a white streak running down the side. "You're in a safe place now. Welcome to the Beautiful Dream." Nancy Thompson greeted him as the former victims of Freddy Krueger appeared behind her, ready to greet the new Dream Master. "You're-- you're the Dream Warriors," Jacob whispered. "But how?" "This is a safe haven for the victims of Freddy Krueger to go to after their souls were released from his body," Kristen told him. "You're Jacob, Alice's little boy. We've been waiting for you, we just didn't think you'd be here so soon." "What am I doing here?" Jacob asked. "If I'm not dead, then--" "You're high of pain killers and sleeping pills, little man." Kincaid told him. "Your body is fighting to stay alive," Kristen said. "The lack of sleep over the last few months hasn't helped. As long as you stay the hell out of Springwood you might stand a chance or recovering." "Wait, if all the victims of Freddy are here, then..." "No, your Mom's not here, she's still alive, buddy," Rick said as he emerged from the crowd. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to meet you." Jacob immediately ran into Rick's arms, hugging him tightly as tears fell down his face. "It's alright, Jacob," Rick said as he returned the embrace. "We're all safe now. This is kind of like our own little slice of Heaven. We're free here." "Is- is my Dad here?" Jacob asked. "Freddy killed him, so he must be here, right?" "Come on, I'll show you around," Rick said, ignoring the question. "We've got a lot to show you, and not a lot of time. Freddy's power is growing, and if you don't stop him, he'll get out of Springwood and go after every child in the world." "How am I supposed to stop him?" Jacob asked. "Mom couldn't stop him and she had all of your powers." "It's more than the powers," Nancy told him. "Your will needs to be greater than Freddy's. Your pureness has to be greater than his evil." "I'm not pure," Jacob told her. "I swear and I've looked at my friend's dirty magazines and this one time I tried a beer, but I didn't like it. And Tommy has weed on him that he says will relax me when I'm ready to try it. I think I kinda want to." "Those things don't make you impure," Joey told him. "Hell, we've all done those things. Looking at naked chicks was kind of my one defining trait." "Yeah, you were kind of overcompensating for being bi-sexual because you didn't want to admit you liked looking at dudes, too," Kincaid teased him. "Admit it, Joey, sneezing made your dick stiff when you were alive. Surprised you died a virgin considering you were willing to hump anything that moved." Joey just shrugged it off and lightly nodded in agreement as the group continued to lead Jacob through the field. "So Freddy really did kill all of these people?" Jacob asked as he saw the large group walking around him, all ranging from four to eighteen years old. "Freddy was killing people long before he got torched," Nancy said. "He was a mass child murderer as a human, killed dozens of kids before he got caught. A lot of them were older siblings and relatives of the Elm Street kids he started killing after he became a murderer in the Dream World." "And because we come to the Beautiful Dream the same age we are when he killed us, our older siblings are younger than us," Phillip said as a young girl walked beside him. "This is my older sister by about seven years." "And I get to come here when I die?" Jacob asked. "No," Rick said. "Because Freddy's not going to kill you. You're going to finish him for good and end up in a much better place when you die." "You said my will had to be strong," Jacob told them. "I'm not strong like any of you." "You will be," Rick promised as he put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "As long as you're here, we're going to train you, show you how to use your brain and your powers to fight him. This isn't going to be easy, Jacob. We're really going to push you until you're the best while your body heals. But by the time we're done, you're going to be ready to face Freddy with everything you've got." "Are you ready, Jacob?" Nancy asked. "... I wanna see my Dad first," Jacob told them. "I need to talk to him before I start." "He's busy somewhere else right now, kid," Kincaid told him while he looked away to avoid eye contact. "But you'll get to meet him, but you have to train first." * "Alright, kid, show me what you've got!" Taryn said as she faced Jacob with her mohawk and punk clothing while holding two switchblades. They were standing in a neon lit back alley for the lesson. "What are you going to do against Freddy's glove when he pulls it out? How do you defend yourself?" Jacob thought about and pulled out a switchblade like Taryn's. "Wrong!" Taryn shouted as she kicked the switchblade out of Jacob's hand before doing another kick to send him flying back against a wall. "That tiny little thing's not going to do squat against a bladed glove! Think larger!" Jacob pulled out a machete as Taryn grabbed a chainsaw and cut the machete in half. "Freddy's always going to try to one-up you," Taryn told him. "You have to up the ante everytime he makes a move. He pulls out a sharp blade, you pull out something that'll cut through it like butter. Your dick has to be bigger than his in a fight! How are you gonna stop him from gutting you?" Jacob started to panic as Taryn kicked him to the ground and headed toward him with the chainsaw. "Fly or die, Jacob!" Jacob tried to think, but his mind was blank with fear as the chainsaw came within an inch of his chin. "You better learn to use your imagination because Freddy won't hold back." Taryn told him. * "It's called upgrading, kid," Mark said as walked Jacob through a warehouse. "Freddy's going to upgrade to match you, so you need to be able to go on the defense to avoid him." "Upgrading?" Jacob asked. "How do I do that?" Mark quickly turned around, having upgraded to his superhero form. He held two large blasters in his hands and looked much taller and bulkier. "You just picture what you want to look like in your head and make it happen." "So I can be any superhero I want?" Jacob asked. "I can be Spider-Man? Or Superman? Or She-Ra?" Mark just stared at him. "Well, we all have our heroes, but I was thinking of something more... original. Something that comes from you. It's not just about the flashy costume, Jacob, it's about the hero that's inside you. It's like Captain Marvel, you know the DC character?" "Actually he's called Shazam now for legal reasons." Jacob corrected him. "Whatever," Mark told him. "The point is, Billy Batson says a word and he reveals the hero form that he is on the inside. That's what you have to do. Find the hero that you are on the inside and let him loose. The hero that can protect your mom, and everyone else you care about. Go ahead, give it a try." Jacob took a deep breath and closed his eyes, focusing on the hero inside as he turned around. "Uh... Jacob?" Jacob opened his eyes and found himself standing there in his underwear. He screamed and covered himself. "We'll-- we'll work on it." Mark told him. * "So, how did Freddy kill you?" Jacob asked Jesse as he stood in a field with both him and Joey. "Threw me off of a cliff in a schoolbus," Jesse told him as Joey took his hand. "Luckily my girlfri-- my ex-girlfriend survived. She was fortunate enough to get out of Springwood after I died." Jacob looked between Jesse and Joey. "Uhhhh, you mean you two are--" "We helped each other come out when we got here after our souls escaped Freddy's body," Joey told him. "It's a funny story, we'll tell you sometime, but right now we need to work on your sonic scream. I was impressed when I heard you used it to get away from Freddy, but you need to weaponize it better. The next time he might be ready to keep you quiet before you use it. I might have survived if I'd been able to use mine." "It was cute that you tried, though," Jesse said as he pinched Joey's cheek. "But he's right, if Freddy knows your power, he'll try to shut you down before you can attack. He'll put you in a spot where your abilities are useless if you're not careful." "What's your dream power?" Jacob asked as he looked at Jesse. Jesse focused as his fists caught on fire. "It's not much, but it is a defensive power." "I've been training with him, too," Joey said. "Come on, Jacob, show me what you got." Jacob cleared his throat and tried to scream, but it barely came out as a whimper. "It worked the last time," Jacob said. "I don't get it." "Maybe you just need to be motivated," Jesse said as he tossed a fireball at Jacob's feet. "Maybe it's a fear thing." "Ow, stop it!" Jacob shouted as he tried to back up. "Cut it out! I said CUT IT OUT!" A sonic scream blasted out, knocking Jesse and Joey onto their backs. "There may be hope for him yet." Joey told him. * Rick found Jacob sitting on the roof of his house in the Dream World, just staring out into The Beautiful Dream. "Kincaid and Debbie are waiting for your strength lesson," Rick said as he took a seat next to Jacob. "Are you crying?" "I suck at this," Jacob told him. "I can't use any of my powers right. Freddy's going to slaughter me." "You need to have faith in yourself," Rick said as he put an arm around Jacob. "You know I sucked at martial arts when I first started, right?" "You? No, you're the greatest, Mom showed me the home videos of you from your matches." "Those were after a few years of practice," Rick told him. "It took a long time before I started getting good, just like you are. I was younger than you when I started. Hell, I was your age before I started getting really confident. You can't give up, every child and teenager on Earth needs you to be strong enough to beat Freddy." "I don't wanna be The Dream Master," Jacob whispered. "It's too much pressure. What about what I want, Uncle Rick?" "Well, what do you want?" Rick asked. "What is it that you want the most?" "I wanna see my Dad," Jacob told him. "I want him to tell me that he loves me and that he's been watching me grow up into the man he's proud of. The man who's taking care of Mom since he's not around. Where's my Dad, Uncle Rick? Freddy killed him, he should be here." "Jacob, I don't think that--" "He's not here, is he?" Jacob asked. "Is he in Heaven? Is he in Hell? Tell me the truth, please." "Dammit, Jacob, I didn't want to tell you this early," Rick said. "I wanted you to be older and more confident in yourself." "Just tell me," Jacob pleaded with tears in his eyes. "I want to know where my Dad is." "... Freddy has him," Rick said as he stared away. "He's had him since before you were born." "How? Mom set him and Greta and Mark free," Jacob told him. "I trained with Mark, he told me what happened." "Freddy was able to recapture Dan," Rick said. "Your Dad tried to stick around just long enough to make sure you were born safely. He was going to try to stay in the Dream World so he could be with you every night when you fell asleep, but... Freddy got to him. He planned to use Dan's soul to weaken Alice, but then Alice trapped Freddy's spirit in his own house." "So where's my Dad now?" "Freddy's house," Rick said. "His soul's in there... somewhere, trapped and tortured within its walls. He's going to use your father to try to distract and weaken you when you go to face him." "Freddy's got my Dad?" Jacob asked as he stood up. "And he separated me from my Mom? This fucker's going down!" "That's the spirit we need!" Rick said. "Go get him, kid! You ready to learn to use those powers?" "I'm going to do this for my parents," Jacob told him. "Bring it on." * "Alright, kid," Kincaid said as he saw Jacob approaching. "Hit me in you think you've got--" Jacob punched Kincaid hard enough to send him through a brick wall. As he picked himself up, Kincaid laughed. "Well, shit, I think the kid's getting it!" Two Years Later For the past two years, Jacob trained harder and faster, getting better the harder he worked until he was finally able to win against every Dream Warrior against their various powers. Taryn, Kincaid, Debbie, Joey, Jesse, Mark, and every other person there had finally been defeated. Everyone, that is except Nancy. He'd even tapped into his older hero, taking an adult form that looked like a cross between his father and uncle with an outfit like the one his mother had worn in her first triumph against Freddy. Over the next two years, Jacob's body had grown in the Dream World, and the real world as well. His hair had grown longer and shaggier as he'd grown several inches. One day he found Nancy waiting for him in the field. "It's been two years," Jacob told her. "I need to go back. I'm ready to face Freddy and save my Dad." "You haven't faced your final challenge," Nancy told him. "You're not ready until you've learned to take Freddy's power from him. Fear gives him his power, if you go against him with anything less than total fearlessness, you're doomed to lose. He feeds on your fears, Jacob, that's how he was able to return. You need to be able to take back the power you gave him." "He has my Dad, how am I supposed to face him without being afraid?" Jacob asked. "I've mastered every power I have, isn't that enough?" "You've mastered every power except for the one that matters the most," Nancy told him as Jacob looked at his hand, which was starting to fade. "What the--" "Your body is ready to wake up," Nancy told him. "You're returning to the real world." "What? No! I need to learn that last power!" Jacob shouted. "Please!" "You need to master that power on your own," Nancy said. "Good luck, Jacob, take care of your new family. When you return to the living world, find Andy Barclay, he'll be able to help you face Freddy." "Wait!" Jacob shouted as he vanished from the Dream World. * Just North of the Canadian Border "Fucking Wendigos," John Strode said, covered head to toe in blood as he held an axe in his hand. Just beyond the dismembered beast stood a group of frightened hikers, all of whom had assuredly urinated themselves in fear. John could actually smell the odor standing in the updraft. "That was the only one around here as far I can tell, so you should be safe." The group continued to stand frozen as John just walked away calmly as if he'd done nothing more than swatted away a gnat for them. * John returned to the cabin he was sharing with Tommy Jarvis and the still comatose Jacob Johnson. The cabin was deep in the woods of a Canadian forest, one which one involved many twists and turns to find. A series of discrete markers guided the way, one that taken months for the two to learn without having to use a map. As he opened the door, Tommy stood with his back to him while washing the dishes. "What did we talk about when it came to coming home with bloody clothes?" Tommy sighed without turning his head. "How'd you know?" John asked as he started stripping down. "I know what blood smells like," Tommy told him. "Especially when you're covered in gallons of it." John scooped up his bloody clothes and carried them through the door. "Yeah, well I'm still not used to the whole murdering monsters thing," John said as he dropped the clothes in a hamper to be washed later that day. "I thought we'd be going back to the States by now." "Jacob's still not awake." Tommy told him. "It's been two years," John told him as headed to the bedroom to put on some clothes. "Meanwhile we've been living off the land, killing our dinner and going without alcohol. The only trips we ever make to the outside world is for medication for the kid. Tommy, he's not waking up. We should just..." "We're not letting him die," Tommy said bitterly. "I made a promise to his mother. He's still alive, and he's going to wake up, he just needs more time. As soon as he's back with me, we'll go back to the States and start tracking down Michael Myers to finish him. Then we'll face Freddy, and Jason and whoever else gets in our way." "And what if he's already gotten to my Mom?" John asked. "I told you, I have people," Tommy told him. "If your Mom was in trouble, the cell phone I keep charged would ring three times, then hang up. If it rings four times and hangs up, we've found Alice. Five times... Jason's back. The cell phone hasn't rang once since we've been here. Your Mom is safe, I promise. Get dressed, dinner's almost ready. The venison should be ready to eat in an hour." "Always meant to ask this, but where did you learn to kill and cook animals?" John asked. "When you're on the run, you learn to survive or you die," Tommy told him with a sadness in his voice. "And I learned to survive." * Jacob gasped as he sat up, seeing he was in an unfamiliar place. "Jacob?" Tommy asked as he ran into the room. "You're awake!" "Andy Barclay," Jacob said as he threw the covers off of him. "We have to find Andy Barclay." "Who?" Tommy asked as he tried to keep Jacob on the bed. "Slow down, cowboy, you've been in a come for two years, you're going to have atrophy and--" Jacob quickly stood up with no effort and looked at Tommy. "Get me a pair of shoes, already. I know where the next member of our team is, but we have to hurry, I think he's in trouble." "What's going on?" John asked as he looked into the room. "Why are you standing up?" "John, get the truck ready! Jacob, who the fuck is Andy?" "I think it's the kid we talked about from the news before we went to find John," Jacob told him. "The killer doll kid. We need to track him down now." "Whoa, hang on," Tommy told him. "You just woke up. You've been in a coma for two years." "Which is why we're running out of time to find Andy," Jacob said. "And... to save my Dad. It's a long story, but he's out there and we need to save him." "Okay," John told them as he ate some venison. A hungry Jacob yanked it out of his hand and started ripping it apart with his teeth. "I think you need to tell us everything, kid. Start at the beginning." * Haddonfield, Illinois In an underground catacomb, a man in a black robe waited, his face shrouded in mystery as an underling approached him. "Bring me the boy." Soon, Andy Barclay walked into the room, dressed in all black. His hair had grown longer and he had a large sword on his back. He quickly kneeled before the robed man, staring at the ground. "What is your purpose?" "To protect the Chosen One." "And how far will you go to protect him?' "I will lay down my life," Andy said. "The Chosen One's life is all that matters. My life means nothing in the grand scheme of the cult." "He's ready," the robed man said. "Michael Myer's time has ended. It's time for the new Chosen One to ascend. A new day begins for the Cult of Thorn, and it begins with the death of Michael Myers." TO BE CONTINUED...
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Ed's Note - Be sure to read Mighty Max before you carve into The Gathering!
A Special Seriesfrom the mind of Tobias Christopher! Archives
October 2019
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