Andy picked himself up from the ground, finding he’d fallen a good six feet. He found he no way to climb up, so he’d have to follow the dark catacomb until he found a way out.
“Great, John has my flashlight,” Andy said to himself. “And the battery my cellphone probably doesn’t have enough of a charge to last me to the end of this labyrinth. Fucking Candy Crush,” Andy pulled out the gold shilling. “Well, you’ve kept me alive so far, let’s see if you can get me out of this mess.” Andy started making his way through the darkness while holding his backpack, pulling a bottle of absinthe out. “No, save it for after,” Andy told himself as he put the bottle back. “Don’t want to waste it on this place.” * “So, how exactly are we supposed to fight a supernaturally dead zombie mass murderer?” Jacob asked as he sat in the passenger’s side seat of the van. “We didn’t really bring any of the heavy artillery.” “We’ll stop off along the way,” Tommy said as the car pulled onto the freeway. “The major thing is to save as many people as we can. Hopefully, this kid that you said has a power that can stand up against him.” “I don’t know what kind of power he has,” Jacob told him. “I just know I felt it when I pulled him into my dream. But he hasn’t been back in the dream world since last night. Maybe Jason already got him.” “Hopefully we can put him down again, hopefully for keeps this time,” Tommy told him. “You sure you’re going to be okay?” “Yeah, why?” Jacob asked. “Why is everyone suddenly interested in my life? No one was this concerned when I was twelve and pissing my bed from the nightmares about Freddy. Or when I was comatose and stuck in the dreamworld for two years.” “I was just trying to scare you by showing you that I was scared,” Tommy told him. “Look… your mom trusted me to take care of you, to train you. And I barely got you out of town before you ended up getting impaled fighting The Shape. This whole looking after a kid thing wasn’t something I was expecting but… I should have treated this more seriously. I fucked you and Andy up royally.” “If you’d left me in Springwood with my grandparents, Freddy would have killed me within hours,” Jacob said as he stared out of the window. “You did save me. Look, I didn’t ask you to try to be my Dad, that would have never worked for anyone. And yeah, you did kind of just toss me to the wolves with no real training, but… I’m still alive. And between you and John, I’ve been learning a lot these last four years. I think I have a really good chance of beating Freddy someday.” “Someday?” “I’m not ready to go back there,” Jacob told him. “I still need to master these powers, and just how much I can do.” “You’re scared,” Tommy said. “So I am. I don’t want you going unless you’re ready. You, John, Andy… you’re my brothers now. If we face Freddy, we face him together as a team. When you say it’s time, then we’re all going. We’re going to kick Freddy’s ass as a unit. You get to call all the shots on that one, kid. So, you ready to fight Jason Voorhees?” “Yeah,” Jacob said as he tried to smile. “When we get closer to Jersey I’ll see if I find the kid through his dreams and see what’s going on. If anyone’s still alive, that is. Tommy… Jason’s probably already murdered a lot of people. Why’d you stop for the night instead of just going on?” “Because I’m trying to pay more attention to what you and Andy need,” Tommy said. “From now I’m going to be a better big brother. I’ve been treating you two like soldiers instead of actual kids. I’m going to better, I promise. Still not used to having to take care of people and keeping them alive for this long.” “Sounds like you need to pay attention to what you need, too,” Jacob said. “We’ll work on that.” * “So, what’s the point of having to go in circles?” Cody asked as he leaned back against the wall. “Why hasn’t he tried to kill us yet?” “You said you lost the one thing you needed to fight him,” John said. “What was it that you lost?” “A gold shilling,” Cody told him as he stared down at the ground. “Whoever has a piece of his gold is immune to his powers. He can’t kill you and or just take it from you. He tried to run me down with go-cart before, but it just went right through me.” “Is that he had those trees tear your clothes off? To get to the coin?” “Yeah,” Cody told him. “He could indirectly use his magic to get me even if he couldn’t hurt me. But the coin fell out of my pocket when they tore my pants off. That was the only way to save Bridget.” “No, you came up with a good plan to fight him,” John said. “It can still work.” “Andy’s got the backpack with the stuff in it,” Cody told him. “We have nothing to fight him with now. If he came for us now, we’d be sitting ducks.” “That’s good to know lad,” Lubdan laughed as he jumped out of nowhere. “Very good to know. Now give me the coin and I might let the girl go.” “And what about us?” Cody asked. “You die, no matter what,” Lubdan said he stepped toward the boys. “I went through a lot of trouble for that shilling and I’ll have it back, along with your blood.” “So there’s no way that I win in this scenario, right?” Cody asked. “You’re brighter than you look, lad,” Lubdan said. “Now be a good little boy and give a poor Leprechaun back his shilling. Maybe I’ll be kind and give you an easy death, maybe I’ll just snap your neck and be done with it.” “And if I tell you to go fuck yourself?” Cody asked. “Well, then I’ll have to torture you horribly until you do give it back,” Lubdan said. “An easy death or a painful death, that’s your option. Choose wisely, boy.” “How about we go for a third option?” John asked as he rammed an iron pipe through the monster’s head, only to find out it was only an illusion. “Nice effort,” Lubdan told him as his voice echoed around the chamber. “But futile. If you won’t give the coin, I’ll kill you and take it off or your dead bodies myself. I look forward to hearing your screams.” “I don’t have the coin, John,” Cody told him as he took him aside “We’re fucked.” “Andy has the coin!” John realized as he grabbed Cody by the shirt. “That’s the gold piece he found in the woods. He’s got the coin, he’s here somewhere, we just have to find him and—“ “Hope that that little green fucker doesn’t get him first,” Cody told him. “Come on, maybe we can catch him in the tunnel!” As the two started running, the real Lubdan cackled in the darkness as he teleported away. * The light on Andy’s phone started to fade as the last his cell phone battery died. “Fuck,” Andy said as the tapped his phone. “Now my phone’s dead and I can’t even call uber to bring me a pizza. Is that a light?” Andy found a small wooden door and kicked at it until it gave way, shattering a mess of splinters and dust. “When’s the last place this place got a remodel? The 1400’s?” Andy asked as he spotted Bridget chained to the wall. He quickly composed himself and dusted the debris off. “Of course, I knew that’s where the door led the entire time. Nope, not wandering around like an asshole for the last half hour.” “He’s going to come back any minute,” Bridget said. “Please, help me!” “I got it,” Andy said as he started to pick the lock. “Then we’ll get you out of here so we can kill that thing. I’m, uh, sorry about your Dad.” Bridget sniffled a little bit as Andy released her. “At least you’re showing some sympathy. I don’t know know if Cody would say the same thing. I told him to get rid of that coin. He never listens when I tell him something is a bad idea.” “He’s 18 and full of hormones,” Andy told her. “I’m scared for what I’m going to be like when puberty hits me.” “A sweet little thing like you?” Bridget asked as she kissed the top of his head. “Is Cody here?” “He’s probably lost in the tunnels,” Andy told her. “We should go find him before it’s—“ Lubdan suddenly teleported in front of the two as Bridget screamed. As he got closer, Lubdan smelled the air before a snarl came over his face. “You!” Lubdan shouted. “You have me missing shilling!” Andy pulled the coin out. “Well, fuck me, I guess I do!” * John and Cody continued walking as a crunching sound was heard in the tunnels. “Do you hear that?” John asked. “The horrifying sound that you only usually hear in horror movies?” Cody asked nervously. “Nope. Definitely did not hear that.” John turned around to shine his flashlight down the tunnel, seeing nothing as he brought the light back toward Cody. “I guess it really was nothing,” John told him. “Let’s go find An—“ A force grabbed John by his leg, pulling him face-first toward the ground and dragging him back toward the tunnel. Cody tried to grab his hand but found himself grabbed from behind and forced onto his back. Cody shined his flashlight into the face a rotting corpse that had been trapped into the tunnels for 1,000. Cody screamed as stared into the corpse’s face before he suddenly stopped. “Oh, hey, Mr. O’Day, ‘sup?” The corpse knocked the flashlight out of Cody’s hand and started strangling him. “Is this about me dating your descendant?” Cody squeaked out. Another snarling corpse dragged John through the tunnel as the young hunter tried to find something to grab onto to stop the dragging. He finally clung to the entrance the corpse continued to try to pull him. “Oh, fuck this,” John said as he pulled his foot out of his boot and kicked the corpse in the face to get it to drop him, giving John time to get to his feet and get a proper grip on the iron pipe before bashing the corpse’s head until it was completely caved in. “Take that, you dead fuck! Is that the best you got!” Which was when John looked up to see a dozen more corpses running toward him at full speed. “Son of a whore!” John shouted as he started running. John ended up back in the same corridor as Cody, finding the young man held down with William O’Day’s hands wrapped around his throat. “Hey! Get your hands off of him, you damn dirty corpse!” John shouted as he swung the iron pipe, knocking O’Day’s head off. “Cody, move your ass!” Cody got to his feet as the two found the exit blocked. “These are the people the last Leprechaun killed over the last 1,000 years,” Cody asked. “You’re the only one with a weapon, so what do we do? And… you’re missing a shoe, probably not a good idea to run around like that in a lair of evil.” “Find a weapon and improvise,” John told him. “We have to fight our way out of here.” “Right!” Cody said as he grabbed O’Day’s arm, ripping it out of the socket. “Thanks for the hand!” Cody immediately came back and smacked O’Day upside the head with his own hand before following John out of the door to join the fight. * “Alright, let’s negotiate,” Andy said as he and Lubdan circled each other. “You want the coin. I want to get the girl out of here alive. So, let’s talk.” “I’ll skin you the second you let go of the coin,” Lubdan told him. “Wow, you are really bad at negotiation,” Andy told him. “Let’s start over. You let us go and you get the coin. That’s it, negotiations are set.” “I’ll drink your blood and use your skull as a cereal bowl,” Lubdan told him. “Okay, still not understanding how this works,” Andy told him as he grabbed his backpack. “As long as I have the coin you can’t kill me, can you?” “No, but I can kill her!” Lubdan shouted as he used his powers to start force choking Bridget. “Give me the coin or the girl dies!” Andy just closed his eyes. “Fine, just let her live and… I won’t fight you. You can kill me as long as she gets to leave.” “No!” Bridget said. “I can’t leave you here!” “Yeah, you can,” Andy told her. “I’m used to people leaving me. I’ll be fine. The coin’s in the backpack.” Andy tossed the backpack to Lubdan which hit the ground with the bottle of absinthe rolling out. “What’s this, then?” Lubdan asked. “A victory drink, it is. I could use one of these!” “Come on, man!” Andy told him. “I worked hard to steal that!” “Sorry, lad, but finders keepers!” Lubdan said as he popped open the bottle and started drinking. “Such a fine drink, really hits the spot, and when I finish me drink, your throat I will cut!” “That barely rhymes!” Andy shouted. “You call yourself a Leprechaun?” As Lubdan drank, he pointed his fingers as Andy, causing his feet to sink into the dirt, trapping him in place. Bridget tried to pull him loose as Lubdan tossed the empty bottle to the ground as he turned to face him. “Now, me boy, I’ll force me coin from your cold dead hand!” Lubdan said as he started coughing as he stumbled. “What have you done!” At that point, Cody and John ran in just in time to see Lubdan’s body starting to bloat and expand. “I see he drank the absinthe,” Cody said. “Which I mixed with wrought iron shavings. I’d planned to trick into a drinking contest, but this works, too.” Andy grabbed Cody by the shirt, pulling him close. “You… poisoned my absinthe?” As Lubdan continued to expand, he spotted Cody and held out his hand. Cody’s wrist started to glow as he screamed in pain. “I curse you, Cody Ingalls, with the Curse of the Irish!” Lubdan shouted. “You’ll be forever hunted by me kin until the end of your days! You’ll never know a moment’s rest! You and your offspring are forever cursed!” Before Cody could reply, Lubdan exploded in a shower of blood and body parts, coating everyone in the room. At the same time, all the reanimated corpses fell to the ground, once again lifeless. “That was actually kind of cool to watch,” John said as he wiped the green blood from his face. “Bridget, are you okay!?” Cody asked in an excited rush as he ran to her, but she backed away. “What’s wrong?” “I can’t do this anymore,” Bridget told him. “Every time I tell you that something is a bad idea, you do it anyway. I told you to leave that coin behind! Now my father is dead! Ian warned me that someday you’d get someone hurt and now look around you.” “Well, Ian’s point is kind of negated by the fact that he stuck his face in a fan,” Cody told her. “Plus he was kind of a dick to boot. Just let me get you home and we’ll talk this out. I love you.” “I love you, too,” Bridget told him. “I just can’t be with you anymore. I’m sorry, Cody, but we’re over.” Before Cody could stop her, Bridget ran out of the lair. John put a hand on his shoulder to comfort the young man. “I’m sorry, Cody,” John told her. “My girlfriend left me, too.” “Then she got killed by Michael Myers,” Andy added. “Brutally because John wasn’t there to save her.” “Thank you, Andy,” John said through gritted teeth. “You’re a real help. Anyway, Cody, we should really talk about your little legal problem and maybe joining our—“ “Nothing matters anymore,” Cody told him as he headed for the door. “No Bridget, no hope for the future, my best friends are dead… what’s the use? I might as well just turn myself in.” Cody left the lair as Andy and John followed, only to find themselves surrounded by police cars, but all the officers were passed out all around. “What the fuck?” John asked. * In New Jersey, Jacob yawned as Tommy helped him stand up. “You going to be okay?” “I used all my energy to make all of the cops fall asleep,” Jacob told him. “Luckily they were all into a long shift and were susceptible to hypnotic suggestions through their subconscious. Yeah, I figured out how to do that through my dreams.” Tommy realized Jacob’s nose was bleeding heavily and gave him a tissue. “I wouldn’t tap into that kind of power unless you absolutely have to. There’s no telling what kind of a drain it’ll have on you if you use it again anytime soon. Just stick to your normal powers until we know more about what you can do, alright?” * “You can do a lot of good in the world,” John told Cody as they sat in an alley. “You figured out how to kill that thing. We’d have never thought to get him to drink iron shavings to kill him.” “Plus you swung that arm like a pro,” Andy told him. “We could use you a guy like you.” “Not like I have anything left in this town,” Cody said. “Been losing in this place since I was 8. First I found out my parents were killed by the Lakeshore Strangler, then—“ Andy immediately hugged him. “Say no more, dude. You’re one of us now, whether you want to be or not.” “Andy’s right, it’s destiny,” John told him. “Trust me on this. We’ll explain everything once we find a place to clean up. And don’t worry, we’ll find a way to clear your name in this town, but first we need to get the hell out of here.” * Two Days Later “Fuck you guys so hard,” Andy said as he walked through the door of the team’s home in the woods. “Leaving us trying to find a way to stay hidden for two fucking days while you take a pleasure trip to New Jersey?” “That the new kid?” John asked as he saw Max huddled on the couch, staying silent. “Yeah,” Tommy told him. “Hasn’t really opened up yet.” “Gee, I wonder why anyone who hole themselves off after having your life destroyed?” Cody asked as he sat on the couch next to Max. “So, who’d you lose to end up in the Happiness Hotel?” “My brother, my friends and… my boyfriend,” Max whispered. “You’re gay?” Cody asked as he sat up and paid attention. “Yeah, so?” “Well, it’s just that… gay guys usually date other gay guys and never go after girls and… I had some problems with a former best friend constantly trying to steal my girlfriend and seeing you’d never go after a potential girlfriend… Fuck it, you’re my new best friend!” Cody said as he raised Max up to hug him. “Uh… okay,” Max told him. “What just happened?” “I’m going to take a nap,” Jacob said as he headed upstairs. “I’m going to get a drink,” Andy said as he headed to the liquor cabinet. “I’m going to check the pot garden, I could use some relaxation,” John said. “HOLD IT!” Tommy shouted at the group. “Everyone get back here, I learned something over this last week. I haven’t been the best guardian to these kids, and that’s my fault. I haven’t tried to be the responsible adult I should be. So, no more sleeping during the day unless we’re out for a hunt; no more alcohol, and no more pot. Sydney was right, she realized that we’re a not a real working unit and we’re going to fix that. We have to lives to save, and while we’ve been doing decent, we can do better. So, starting tomorrow we’re putting everything we have into fixing this unit. Soon we may have to face Freddy, Michael, Chucky and possibly Jason on top of some real heavy hitters. I want to be ready, so from now on we’re one team, one soul, one goal!” “Yeah, okay,” John told him. “I’ll give it a shot.” “I know I’m the new guy here and my opinion probably doesn’t mean dick, but I’m in,” Cody told him. “Okay,” Max whispered as he looked up at them. “Let’s do this,” Jacob said. Andy just looked around. “Now when you say ‘no alcohol’…” “Alright, Nightmare Warriors,” Tommy told the group. “Let’s go save the world.” NEXT… Jacob’s Insidious Quest!
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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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