As a boy, Tommy Jarvis witnessed Jason Voorhees destroy his entire world. As an adult, Tommy vowed to destroy Jason if he ever came back, but realized he'd need help.
His first recruit: Jacob Johnson, the Dream Master, who trained for two years with the Dream Warriors themselves. Jacob is still learning to master his powers, but will soon be ready to take on Freddy Krueger. Next was John Strode, whose mother Laurie had been stalked by Michael Meyers for decades. Having killed John's friends, Michael started stalking John to kill him before trying to find Laurie. Finally, the group found Andy Barclay. Terrorized by the serial killer Charles Lee Ray, who had possessed a doll named Chucky to continue his killing. After a two year kidnapping by the Cult of Thorn, Andy had to find a new strength or risk his mind being broken. Together the quartet vowed to save as many lives as they can while putting a stop to the evil that plagues humanity. * One Year Later On an ethereal plane on another level of existence, not heaven, not hell, but somewhere that could be anywhere or everywhere, a dark haired boy sat on the floor of what looked like a child's bedroom. As he sat there, he threw down one playing card after another as he played a very long game of solitaire. Soon, a blonde haired boy slowly walked in with a pained expression on his face. The dark haired boy could only smile as he focused on his game of cards. Even though both looked to be no older than 12, the two brothers had been alive an eternity. But that's another story for another time. "Welcome back, brother," the boy said, barely able to contain his laughter. His voice didn't sound like what you'd expect to hear from a child. It was more adult, like the kind of voice you'd hear coming out of Jeff Goldblum's mouth. "How long has it been? Twenty, twenty-two years? Did something go wrong?" "I was murdered," the blonde boy whispered as he sat on the floor where the two once again began playing an age old card game of War. His voice did sound like a child's, innocent and loving. "By an evil as powerful as yours." "Come now, brother," the dark-haired boy said. "You know nothing is more evil than me. And I saw your death. There is television here, you know. But it's not the dying part that makes you upset, is it?" "I-- I fell in love," the blonde boy whispered. "And it got taken away. I have to get back to Earth. I have to find him. I have to make sure he's okay." "You know the rules better than that," the dark haired boy told him. "We have to play for the chance. We have to play for a human body to inhabit." "I'll win, brother, I always do." "Ah, but now you have something at stake," the dark haired boy said with a sinister smirk. "And this time, when I win, the first thing I will do when I emerge on Earth will be to find your precious Max... and rip out his internal organs one. By. One. And when his heart is the only thing that's left, I'll devour it. And you can watch from right here as I kill your beloved." * Somewhere on Earth Max Madison gasped for air as he shot straight up, finding himself sitting in a darkened bedroom. He started taking deep breaths as he felt his chest, finding his wounds cleaned and covered in gauze, as well as his left leg patched up where a machete had been stabbed through it. Feeling the top of his head, he realized his lucky cap wasn't there. Instead he saw it on the bed post at the edge of the mattress. "Grady?" Max asked as he threw the blanket off, putting his feet on the floor. As he tried to stand he found himself nearly collapsing under the weight on his injured leg. He fell backward, staring up the ceiling. "Will? Anyone?" The door opened as Jacob Johnson walked in, turning on the light. "Your friends are dead, dude. Sorry, best to rip that bandage right off. You were the only survivor of Jason's latest massacre." "Please, no," Max said as the tears started falling. "I should be dead, too." "Get it together, bud," Jacob told him as he sat down on the bed next to Max. "You survived for a reason. Now suck it up, you need to rest so you can heal. There's work to do." "What the hell are you talking about?" Max asked. "I have to bury my brother. I have to bury my friends. I have to bury my boyf-- my friend." Jacob seethed as he looked away. "Yeah... about that." From downstairs, Tommy Jarvis was cleaning his guy when he heard Max's voice screaming. "YOU BURNED THEIR BODIES!?!" * "I had to sedate him," Jacob said as he sat on the chair downstairs. "He'll be okay when he wakes up and understands we had to make sure they weren't coming back as zombies. Didn't want that happening again." "I love how we've had to start taking precautions to keep the dead from rising," Tommy told him. "First it was guys like Jason, now it's ordinary dead people." "So, are we heading back to L.A. to get Andy and John? It's been two days." Jacob asked. "We can't leave Max here alone," Tommy told him. "I'll go make sure they're okay. If Max wakes up, give him the tour, let him know what the deal is with Jason. Just try to keep him calm. I'll be back with the guys and hopefully the new kid in a day or so." * Cody Ingalls, Andy Barclay and John Strode sat on the curb, all three of them covered head to toe in green and red blood. "I think we deserve a drink after this," Andy told them. "And maybe a shower. In that order." "Well, at least we're all alive," John said, trying to improve Cody's mood. "That counts for something, right?" "My girlfriend told me to go fuck myself," Cody told them. "I loved Bridgit. I killed two Leprechauns for her." "Relax, more are coming for you," Andy said as he patted Cody on the back. "You're cursed now, remember? You'll have Leprechauns hunting you until the day you die. Neat, huh?" "I fucking hate you guys," Cody told them as he sat there. "Seriously fucking hate." "Taking it better than I thought he would." John told Andy. * Four Days Earlier A young girl ran through the woods late at night, having gotten lost walking home. It didn't take long until she realized someone, or something, was following her. She was still minutes from home so she started picking up the pace and started running. After a minute, the girl turned around, realizing that she was only being chased by a dog. She smiled at her stalker before the dog ran away, whimpering. It disappeared into a yard as the girl started sensing something was wrong. As she slowly turned around, she saw a pale jester with a stretched out grin running her. He wore a full red and black jester costume with grey skin. The girl screamed as she started running into the forest, constantly looking back to make sure the jester wasn't catching up. Turning around for a quick glance, the jester was gone. As the girl turned her attention forward, the jester stuck out a cane, tripping her. The girl fell forward, getting her dress dirty as she tried to pick herself up. The jester giggled hideously as if that was all it could do as the girl rolled onto her back. But instead of screaming, the girl started laughing. The jester looked at her in confusion as the girl shouted. "NOW!" A baseball bat flew into the jester's face, sending him reeling back as a shotgun blast hit its kneecaps. As the jester began regenerating immediately, a teenage boy walked out, carrying a jack-in-the-box. A knife slit the jester's wrist as the blood dripped into the open box. A haunting version of 'Pop Goes The Weasel' played as a dark smoke sucked the jester into the box where it was quickly closed. "Tape," Jacob Johnson said as Tommy Jarvis reached into a bag with one hand while holding the shotgun with the other. He tossed it to Jacob, who quickly sealed it. "Let's get this thing to the vault." The girl stood up as John Strode slapped him on the back. "Nice job, Andy." "I don't get why I always have to be the bait," Andy said as he pulled off a blonde wig. "And the girl." "Because you're just do darn pretty in that dress." Jacob told him as he grabbed the bag to shove the box in. "Don't you get any ideas, once this dress comes off, it's staying off... Give me a minute, I need to rephrase that," Andy told him. "I just want to go home and have a drink before bed. Been dying to open that bottle of absinthe I swiped on our last job." "Whoa," Tommy said as he stopped. "You... stole a bottle of absinthe. And you weren't going to share with the rest of us?" "I was saving it for a special occasion," Andy said as he looked at his watch. "Oh, look, it's midnight. Reason enough for me, let's party!" "I still can't believe you let him drink," John told Tommy. "He's 12." "He's also been tortured, brutalized and separated from his mom," Tommy said. "Let him have his vice. Hell, we smoke pot. Jacob likes to retreat into the dream world to unwind for... whatever he does in there. This life, chasing monsters, saving people... it's a lot of stress. Gotta keep ourselves from going insane somehow." "You mean beyond the fact that we have to deal with masked serial killers, possessed dolls and dream slashers on an almost daily basis?" John asked. "Well, we haven't actually seen those specific assholes in a long time," Jacob said. "They might actually all be dead." "They're never dead," Andy assured him. "They always find a way back." * L.A. In a large cavern under an old hollowed out tree in the park, a pair of black buckled shoes with short legs wearing green and white socks wandered through a dusty mess, with a few rays of moonlight shining through. Finally stopping and observing blood pieces of a body strewn throughout, the intruder started frantically looking until he found a large black pot filled with gold pieces. "Rest in Hell, me brother. Know that you're pot of gold is safe with me," the creature said as he started counting the gold pieces. "A shilling is gone! Every Leprechaun has 100 gold shillings! Someone stole it before murdering me bastard sibling! I'll track down the thief! Run if you dare, and run if you can! You'll never outrun me, I'm a Leprechaun!" * In an old abandoned Victorian house in the Midwest, Tommy opened a locked vaulted door in the basement, leading into a large room filled with antiques, making it look like a pawn shop. There were several items adorning the room, such as a music box, a kaleidoscope, a snowglobe, a ham radio, a ghostface mask, and a gold medallion among others. Tommy sat the Jack-in-the-box down on a shelf before sealing the vault and heading back upstairs. In the living room, Andy had fallen asleep on the couch as John took the liquor bottle out of his hand. Andy had fallen asleep before he even get the lid off. He put a blanket over the boy and took a long drink from the bottle himself. "He's had a long night," John said as he sat in a chair. "These late nights can't be good for him." "Duh, that's part of why he drinks," Jacob said as he played on the laptop. "The other part is that he still really misses Danny. The Cult of Thorn really fucked him up during the two years they had him. They worked so hard to break him and make him loyal to their new chosen one that they succeeded too well. They gave him something to hold onto and care about. That kid was the reason Andy didn't completely break." "When we know more about the Cult, we'll go back for the kid," John told him. "My mom and Karen are still working on that." "In the meantime, we have an entire room of deadly cursed objects," Tommy said as he walked in. "That seems to grow by the day. Didn't realize there was this much evil out there. We really do need to expand this team." "With who?" John asked. "Everyone we've tried to recruit thinks we're the ones that are psycho, like that Sydney girl." "Who, in short order, pegged John as a mama's boy, me as a psycho willing to sacrifice children, Jacob as a chronic masturbator and Andy as an alcoholic." Tommy told them. "Well, I do love my mom." John said. "I have a lot of turn ons." Jacob told him. "I did teach a 12-year-old to field strip a rifle in twenty seconds." Tommy added. "If Andy were awake, he'd already be taking two shots of gin since he has to do that everytime someone calls him an alcoholic," Jacob said. "Well, how about that sheriff we saved from Bughuul. That kid he was looking after was willing to join us." "We already have two kids, we're at our quota," John said. "We need fighters, or at least someone that has knowledge of the supernatural shit we keep running into." "Well, how about this guy?" Jacob asked as he turned the laptop around. "Guy out in L.A. claims that a Leprechaun killed his friends and kidnapped his girlfriend. Got a nice little bodycount that he's wanted for. Girl's backing him up, but no one's believing either of them." "Could be something there," Tommy told him. "Where's the guy now?" "Police are looking for him now," Jacob said. "If he's dodged the police for this long, and if this Leprechaun story is legit..." "We leave in the morning," Tommy told him. "Gear up and get a thermos of coffee ready for Andy." * L.A. The young blonde woman sat on her bed as she listened to the news report about the police still searching for the young man wanted in connection for four murders on St. Patrick's Day. Cody Ingalls had always been in trouble with the law, ever since he was taken in by a con man after the death of his parents. His guardian since Cody was 8, Morty taught Cody all about how to con and cheat, always focusing on the goal. Bridgit stared a picture of her and Cody, taken not too long before that horrible night when she'd been kidnapped by a Leprechaun, who intended to make her his bride. Cody had risked everything to save her, even losing his guardian Morty in the process. Cody had successfully saved his girlfriend and killed the Leprechaun, but the police wanted Cody in relation to the murders that the Leprechaun had committed. Even Bridgit's backing up Cody's story didn't help as she hadn't been present for any of the murders and no one would believe that a Leprechaun had done it. So Cody went on the run until he could find a way to clear his name. A tap came from the window as Bridgit went to open it as Cody quickly climbed in, falling to the floor. He quickly got to his feet and kissed her. "Did you miss me?" "Cody? You shouldn't be here, the police are looking for you," Bridgit told him. "They have orders to shoot on sight." "Already thought of that," Cody said as he pulled the gold shilling out of his pocket as Bridgit started to scream. Cody quickly put his hand over her mouth. "Now, I know what you're going to say--" "Cody, that coin nearly got us killed! You said you didn't need it anymore." "Well, that was kind of before I had four murders pinned on me," Cody told her. "I went back and found the coin. Might come in handy if it protects me from bullets. Maybe it'll even bring me luck in clearing my name." "Or bring another killer to your doorstep," Bridgit told him. "Cody, please, get rid of the coin before more people get hurt." "Trust me, no one's going to get hurt," Cody told her. "It's going to be okay, we can be together and this whole thing will be over." A sound came from outside the door as it started to open. Bridgit's father walked in, finding his daughter standing by the window alone. Cody hid under the bed, trying to remain as quiet as possible. "Bridgit?" her father asked. "Are you okay? I thought I heard voices." "No, Daddy, everything's fine," Bridgit said as he walked past her and brushed open the curtain, seeing nothing outside. Meanwhile, a pair of men's brown shoes stuck out from under the bed. The man looked down and frowned. "I knew it, it's that boy," her father said as she pulled the blanket back, finding just the shoes. "What are these?" "Those-- those are mine," Bridgit told him as she saw Cody sneaking out of the room as his back was turned. She grabbed her father and quickly hugged him. "Oh, Daddy, I was so scared! I'm just glad to be home safe." "Don't worry, baby, you'll never have to see that horrible murdering boy again," her father said. "The police have orders to kill on sight." Bridgit glanced down into the yard where Cody was running across the lawn. "That was my favorite pair of shoes," Cody said as he saw a police car coming up the street. He ducked behind a tree as it passed. "This coin has to help me. Just gotta figure out how to use it." * Andy spit a mouthful of coffee out. , "What the hell is this shit? This isn't the gourmet stuff!" "We don't have any more gourmet stuff," Jacob told him. "Haven't had a chance to go shopping lately." "Then I'm glad I brought this," Andy said as he pulled out a beer bottle. "That'll get me through breakfast." "So, how are we supposed to find this guy once we get to L.A.?" Jacob asked as he grabbed the bottle away, at which point Andy pulled another one out. Jacob grabbed that one as Andy pulled out a third. "I can do this all day, brotha!" Andy told him. "Jacob can find him through his dreams," Tommy said. "This job should be easy. We find the guy, we see if his story's legit. If it is, we offer him a deal. We help clear his name if he helps us with whatever he knows on how to kill Leprechauns." "I don't even need him to sleep since my powers have been growing," Jacob said. "If the guy evens yawns I might be able to pinpoint him." "Then focus on that," Tommy said. "If you can, set up a meeting so we can talk as soon as we hit town." "Got it, boss," Jacob said as he looked at Andy. "I know why you drink." "Do you?" Andy asked. "I know why you masturbate to those letters under your bed." "Why are searching through my room?" "Why do you keep trying to pry into my mind to see what the Cult did to me over those two years? I know how to keep my memories hidden, that's why you can't see them when you dream." "I just want to help you," Jacob said. "You don't have to keep your pain to yourself." "Yeah," Andy said as he looked out the window. "I kinda do." * Lubdan the Leprechaun, wearing a cape and top hat walked down the street, trying to sense his missing shilling. "The coin came through this street, perhaps it's where the thief and I shall meet," Lubdan said as he a man holding a 'Cash 4 Gold' sign. He had a gold nose ring and looked bored holding the sign. "Cash for gold?" Lubdan asked. "I could always use more gold." "No, you give us gold, and we give you cash, dude," the man said. "That's how it works." "Does it now?" Lubdan asked. "I'll be taking your gold, lad. Hand it over, and you might be allowed to live." The man lowered himself to Lubdan's eye level and started poking him. "Fuck off, little ma--" Lubdan grabbed the man's nose ring and ripped it off, taking a good chunk of his nose with it. The man started screaming as he fell back and tried to crawl away. Lubdan laughed as he held up the nose ring in the moonlight, peeling the remaining skin off. "It's not me shilling, but it's a start!" * "I don't think this situation can get any worse," Cody said as he stared down at the pair of sandals he'd found in a garbage bin. "I lost Morty, my shoes, my freedom, and I'm in danger of losing my girlfriend. And all of because of that little green bastard. Too bad I can't wish him back to life to kill him all over again." Finding his way into the woods, Cody found a large tree to rest under. "Tomorrow morning I'll find a way to use this coin to prove that I didn't kill anyone. Maybe I can use it's magic and prove that the Leprechaun was real." Cody let out a yawn as he sat back and closed his eyes. * "Found him," Jacob said as he sat in the van. As he focused, the van faded away, replaced by the woods Cody had rested in. Turning his head, Jacob found Cody sleeping under a large oak tree. Carefully approaching him, Jacob was about to put a hand on shoulder when a thunderstorm started over his head. "Great." Standing up, Jacob heard the crashing sound of water flooding toward him, burying him under a wave. Trying to breathe, Jacob started swimming toward the top of the water, before something grabbed his ankle, pulling him back down. A man in a hockey mask was just below him as Jacob struggled to get away. "Hey, wake up!" Andy said as he shook Jacob awake. He opened his eyes and found he was soaking wet. "That's a lot of sweat." "That's not sweat, that's water," Jacob told him. "I found Cody in the woods, but before I could get to him, I was thrown into a lake somehow. There was something pulling me under, but I couldn't see clearly." "There's a small wooded area where we're headed," John said as he looked at the map on the laptop. "He might be in there." "Then that's where we'll start," Tommy said as he looked in the rearview mirror at Jacob. "Are you going to be okay?" "A quick change into some dry clothes and I'll try again," Jacob said as he pulled off his shirt. "I don't know what went wrong." "There's no lakes near those woods," John told him. "I think you're getting your dream wires crossed." "Or it's a vision of something else," Jacob said as he reached for his bag. "It's just weird since I've never had overlapping visions before." "Let us know if it happens again," Tommy told him. "The last thing we need is your dream powers going haywire." * "Ah, the woods is where my shilling be," Lubdan said as he sensed his coin. "I'll claim it and start a new killing spree. I'll add me brother's gold to my own, and become the richest Leprechaun ever known!" * Jacob went to sleep once again, finding Cody sleeping in the woods. "Cody, wake up," Jacob said. "We need to talk." Cody opened his eyes and sat up. "Who the hell are you?" "My name is Jacob, and we think we can--" Jacob saw a sudden fear in Cody's eyes and turned around in time to Jason Voorhees stomping toward them with a machete. TO BE CONTINUED...
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Ed's Note - Be sure to catch up on Mighty Max, and then NW: The Gathering, before you carve into Nightmare Warriors!
by Tobias ChristopherJust a body. Meat, bones, some skin... Archives
July 2020
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