The New Warriors

By R.J. Strong

Chapter One: The First Warrior

Sara sat in Science class, the dead frog strewn out in front of her like a body on a slab. She really wasn't affected too much by the sight of the guts and gore. That stuff never bothered her. What bothered her was how shaky the scalpel was in her hand as she went down to cut away at the intestines. It was the coffee, the caffeine. It always made her body quake.
"Sara, pay attention," barked Mrs. Larky as she passed by the table.
"Sorry..." She nearly dropped the scalpel in to the tray.
The teacher continued on her way, but Sara knew she wasn't going to get much of anything done today.
"Sara, you okay?" whispered Jacob, nudging her arm with his elbow.
"I haven't slept much lately. It's nothing major."
"Nightmares?"
"How'd you know? You haven't..."
"Yeah, I have. It's getting worse every night."
"Do you think he's getting closer?"
"Yeah, I do."
"But Freddy Krueger is..."
Mrs. Larky was next to them again, her eyes glaring as if the two teens had just etched "Death to Larky the She Wolf" in to the table.
"You know the rules Sara," growled Larky.
"Yes ma'am."
"That name... I never want to hear that name out of your mouth again."
"Yes ma'am."
The bell rang.

The rest of the day was a blur. She couldn't remember if she had homework in algebra, or English, or both. Everything just melted together, and all she could think about was going home, and collapsing on the couch. But not even that was an option. Not since he was getting closer.
It started a few months ago, and it had been getting worse ever since. Once those kids, the ones who escaped from the mental institute came in to school, screaming about Freddy, everything came crashing down.
Up until that day she had never even heard of him, the man with the glove, but then... then that night, the night she first heard his name, she saw him. She saw him in her dream, standing there, those knives on his fingers. He was smiling, cackling, leering at her. There was blood on the blades. Little red specks danced across the silver glint of his knives, and she knew that hers would soon be joining those little red specks.
But for a little while it died down. There were rumors that he was dead, that some girl named Lori had killed him. That gave Sara a little piece of mind, but not much. Soon that was shattered just like everything else as of late. Lori was dead, found gutted in her bedroom.
Her father, a coroner, had said it was one of the most horrific things he had ever seen. He had let it slip one evening when they were eating dinner. He sometimes did stuff like that, let stuff slip. That happens when you have no one else to talk to. Her boyfriend Will was found a week later, his head split in two. The police were stumped, they had no idea what could have done it, but Sara knew. She kept her mouthed closed though. After going to the library, she had seen how touchy the subject of Freddy Krueger really was. Everything there was on him was gone, blacked out from history, or at least, her town history. When she had gone to the next town over she had seen it all.
That's when things went from bad to worse.
"Hey!" Jacob sat down next to her, his back pack crashing down on the cement. "How long have you been sitting here?"
"What?" Sara looked around her. She must have parked herself out in the open lunch area, and never even realized it. "I guess since eighth."
"Well, you need yourself a nice nap." He let her rest her head on his shoulder.
"I would if I could Jacob. I would if I could."
"Well, I could watch you. I mean, make sure nothing happens. It may work."
"I guess, although that does sound a bit creepy." She punched him in the shoulder.
"Well, either a nap with me being the life guard, or passing out, and letting old burger face get you."
"Eh, creepy it is!" She picked up her bag. "You're driving."

Everything started out fine. She was in a hammock, behind some big, old southern mansion. She could here the wind whistling through the willows, and the creek of the hammock as it swayed back and forth. It was a romance novel heaven.
"This isn't so bad." She let her eyes scan the landscape. It seemed peaceful enough, and empty. That was the key. It had to be empty. If he was there, she would be able to see him. He could hide in a crowd, or creep around in some corridors. No, he would be in a nice, open space.
"You shouldn't have said that." A voice seemed to echo out across the grounds.
"Oh no... NO! Not this time."
It was to late though. The branches of the trees swept down, and grabbed for her. Instead of getting her, they swatted the hammock, ripping it to pieces. Sara went rolling to the ground, her head hitting the hard dirt. She could feel the pain, the small bit of warm blood dripping down her forehead.
"You just gave me the perfect entrance."
She looked up, and saw the red and green stripes covering the trunk of the tree. She saw the silver tips to the two large branches that jutted out to the sides. And she saw that face, the charred face, in the middle of the tree.
"Couldn't you leave me alone for five minutes?" She screamed at the tree, and tossed a clod of dirt at it. The branches just swatted it away.
"Sorry, Sara, I don't work on your schedule. Now time to pay the piper, bitch!"
The two branches swung at her again, getting close to catching her. She stepped back again, this time letting out the loudest scream she could.
The whole dream began to shake, the house behind her collapsed, and the ground began to crack. Everything seemed to be shattering at the sound of her voice.
"Leave me alone!" At that, the tree burst in to splinters, a few cutting past her arms.
"I'll be back, bitch!"

She sat up, her body covered in sweat.
"Jacob... Jacob..." She looked over to him. "Jacob!"

To be continued...