THE DREAM TEAM

AUTHOR'S NOTE/DISCLAIMER

My second rewrite of NOES 4. Once again, Nancy's still alive, via my fic Survivors. Replaces the deaths of Joey and Kincaid with the two guys who made fun of Sheila and then veers off differently from there. The African-American's name is Greg and the Caucasian's name is Steve. Everything up to now has happened exactly like the movie. The beginning of the fic uses some pieces of the actual film as well as some lines, but I'll try to make it as different as possible. For this fic, Alice actually has a crush on Joey rather than Dan. Rated T--but nothing worse than you'd see in an actual movie.

When Greg opened his eyes, he gasped. Where the heck was he? It was all black. He pounded on the hood and realized he was in a car. How the heck did I wind up here? he wondered. Grunting, he managed to pop open the hood. Then, he jumped out. He was unaware of the bones that were reassembling themselves. Suddenly, there was a loud click. Greg gasped. To his horror, there was a man wearing a brown fedora and a red-and-green sweater. But what caught his attention the most was the razored glove on his right hand. The man chuckled and Greg took off. He bumped into something and fell to the ground. The man chuckled and pulled the boy to his feet.

"Wh--who are you?" Greg whispered. The only answer was a chuckle. Then, the man jammed his razors into the boy's stomach. Meanwhile, Steve was reading a sports magazine and listening to the music video that was on MTV. The boy glanced at a picture of a woman in a skimpy waitress uniform. Man, she's hot, the boy thought to himself. He yawned and closed his eyes briefly. Suddenly, he heard a noise from his closet. What the heck? the boy wondered. The rattling came again. Curious, the boy got off his bed and went to check. To his surprise, the woman from the ad was in his closet.

"Hey, hot stuff. Wanna take your order?" she flirted. Steve gulped. Oh, boy, he thought to himself. The woman crooked a finger and motioned for him to come in. The boy did so, and then closed the door. There was a thumping noise, and then deep moaning. A few minutes later there was a horrified scream. Maniacal laughter rang out as blood leaked through the crack in the door. The next morning, Kristen Parker was sitting on a bench, a cigarette in her hand. She took a shaky drag.

"There you are," Alice Johnson said. "Rick's been looking all over for you," she continued.

"Have you seen Joey and Kincaid? I can't find them anywhere," Kristen worriedly stated.

"I'm sure they're around," Alice said.

"Well, I'm not so sure," Kristen responded. Then, she noticed the look on her friend's face. "We have matching luggage again," she said. Alice looked at her in confusion. "The bags under your eyes," Kristen explained, pointing for emphasis. "Nightmares?" she questioned.

"Yeah," Alice nodded. Kristen sighed. "Man, I hate dreaming," she complained. If only the hospital hadn't taken away our Hypnocil, she thought to herself.

"Mmm. I love to dream. I just hate the ones about my dad," Alice responded.

"How do you handle your nightmares?" Kristen wondered.

"My mom taught me…when I was little," Alice answered. "You ever hear of the Dream Master?" she queried.

"Sounds like a game show host to me," Kristen replied.

"No, it's a rhyme," Alice corrected her friend. "Just have to dream about some place fun. Remember you're in control," she continued.

"Oh, like lucid dreaming," Kristen commented. That's what Nancy taught us, she thought to herself.

"Uh, yeah…I guess," Alice said.

"How do you know so much about dreaming?" Kristen queried.

"Well, when it's all you have, you kinda become an expert," Alice told her.

"But you have to be careful when you dream. You never know what could happen," Kristen cautioned. Alice looked at her in confusion. "Never mind," she said. Then as the bell rang, "We better get going before your brother starts a search party." With that, they walked into the school. Kristen went into her homeroom, where Alice's brother Rick was discussing something with some of their classmates. But Kristen didn't hear what he was saying. All she could focus on were the two empty seats.

"Kincaid. Joey," she said. "No," she continued in a frightened voice. Rick stopped in midsentence.

"Kris, where were you?" he asked.

"He killed them!" she shouted.

"What?" Rick asked, coming over.

"NO!" she screamed. "He killed them! They're gone! He killed them!" she shouted.

"Kris, Kris, stop! What's wrong?!" he shouted, trying to hold her. It was to this scene that Roland Kincaid and Joey Crusel walked into.

"HE KILLED THEM! HE KILLED THEM!" Kristen shouted.

"Kristen!" Kincaid shouted. He and Joey rushed to her.

"No! No!" Kristen screamed.

"Kristen, Kristen, we're right here," Joey said hurriedly, coming up to the distraught girl and attempting to calm her flailing. She continued to struggle.

"KRISTEN!" Seeing no other choice, Kincaid slapped her across the face. The impact startled the girl into ceasing her action and she stared at them.

"Hey. It's okay," Joey told her.

"Kincaid! Joey! Thank God!" Kristen sighed in relief, throwing her arms around them.

"Kincaid's car broke down. We had to walk the rest of the way," Joey told her.

"I thought he had gotten you," Kristen admitted, hugging them tighter.

"Hey, we wouldn't leave ya," Joey assured.

"That's right, Little Sister. We're a team," Kincaid added. Rick and the others looked at each other, and then at the trio. What was going on?