Prologue-The First of Many
Kelly suddenly awoke from what felt like a long and deep sleep. Upon doing so however, she took in her surroundings. Home. Her old room. Everything was left as it had been the last time she'd been there. Whenever everything went to Hell. Whenever Kelly found out what had happened to her mother. And whenever Kelly had found something to channel all her hate into: Deadites. That was also when she realized the doofus at work that had tried to hit on her, and failed miserably, wasn't such a tool. That he was right about everything she had doubted, and was her best chance at surviving what she faced now. But she could have sworn that the last thing she, Ash & Pablo had been doing was driving away from that cabin in the woods, headed to Jacksonville, FL to do who knew what with Ash, who had unconvincingly tried to tell her and Pablo that the worst was behind them. Nevermind the fact that the Necronomicon, the Book of the Dead, was once again in the possession of one of the entities that had wrote it, the Dark One, Ruby Knowby. And nevermind the fact that not only did the whole deal Ash had made with her not feel "right", but something was brewing out in the world. The last thing the trio had heard from the news on the radio was that massive sinkholes were opening in various places around the world. But Ash had cut it off, chalking it up to "the news always being so depressing".
Despite these memories, Kelly now found herself in her room at home. And to further add confusion to the whole situation, she could hear familiar voices downstairs. Her parents, who were both supposed to be dead after falling victim to the Evil that created the Deadites. And also...Ash? Pablo? The dull sound of their voices sounded pleasant, as if they were talking to each other, and enjoying each other's company. Something that didn't make sense at all. Again, based on what Kelly thought she remembered. She made her way downstairs, her confusion giving way to curiosity. As she reached the bottom she saw Ash & Pablo at the kitchen table with her father, talking among themselves as if they had known each other for years. And her mother, preparing something to eat at the counter, occasionally chiming in on whatever the three at the table were discussing. It was then that Kelly's presence was noticed by everyone.
"Well, look at that, the Dead has risen," Ash joked.
"We were starting to worry about you Kell," Pablo added. "You've been asleep almost all day."
"What are you guys doing here?" Kelly asked the duo.
"What? We can't pay a friend a visit?" Ash asked back. "It's not like it's anything out of the ordinary."
"And it's not our fault that somebody is apparently catching up on their beauty sleep," Pablo teased with a shit-eating grin.
"Why don't you sit down, Honey?" her mother said from over at the sink. "You must be hungry."
"She's making your favorite," her father added.
Kelly's confusion was back, and written all over her face. But she took a seat at the table anyways, and probed to find out what was up. "What's the occasion?"
"Wow, you must be really out of it, Babe," Ash said. "Of course, part of the reason nobody has really checked up on you is because you can kinda get away with it, it being your birthday and all. We figured you were sick of us and were having some alone time or something."
"I didn't even realize that I had been sleeping, or I can't remember going to sleep..." Kelly mused. "What happened with the Necronomicon? What's Ruby doing with it? And how are they still alive?"she asked, gesturing towards her parents.
"Who's Ruby?" her mother asked back.
"Necro-what?" her father asked with a befuddled expression.
Only Ash & Pablo seemed to know what she was talking about, judging by the quick looks of surprise on their faces, as if they had known about the Book and the Deadites, and Kelly hadn't, and were wondering how she knew such information. But they played dumb anyway.
"Either the shit you were smoking was pretty damn good, or the dream you had was pretty crazy," Pablo responded, a nervous laugh attached.
"I'll say," Ash added.
"Or maybe," her mother began, "she's dwelling on the past and not enjoying what could have been," she finished with an ominous look on her face.
"Why can't you just accept what you're seeing, Baby?" her father asked, somewhat mournful irritation in his voice. "Why can't you just play along?"
Kelly's confusion was beginning to turn into fear. And sure enough, it was well founded. Her mother's features twisted into the horrible creature Kelly had last remembered seeing her as. And her father, (whose Deadite transformation she had not witnessed), also began to change, large scars, as if from some knife (Ruby's Kandarian Dagger), forming on the right side of his face, and across his forehead.
Kelly then got up from the table quickly and backed herself into a corner of the room. Ash had jumped into action, attaching his chainsaw, which had been under the table the whole time, to his stump. Pablo took out his broken bottle, truly pathetic next to what Ash was packing. Ash glanced at Pablo for a second, and raised a skeptical eyebrow. Pablo just shrugged in response. The two then moved over in front of where Kelly was, ready to protect her from the Deadite duo that had once been her parents.
Kelly felt the same way she had whenever she had found out about all this shit with the Deadites. Her confusion as to why she was back in this situation added to her fear. Whatever skill and anger she had learned and mustered while fighting alongside Ash & Pablo had left her now. She could only look on in horror as she was reliving her worst nightmare again. Besides, there wasn't anything she could use to defend herself. But then again, Pablo was wielding a broken bottle...
But just as quickly as her parents had turned, they were just as easily dispatched, by some unseen force. The Deadite that had once been Kelly's mother had her head lopped off in a flash, a far quicker death than the grueling execution Kelly remembered. It was then that Kelly noticed a shady figure zooming across the room. After it had taken care of the Mom-Deadite, it zoomed across the room to the Dad-Deadite, ready to kill again. Only this time, the execution wasn't as swift.
The shady figure had stopped for a second, and Kelly could make out its shape. A man, with a hat atop his head. The figure was basically a shadow, so that's really the only distinct detail she could identify. Until the "Shadow" raised its right arm. Kelly noticed the hand, which wasn't a shadow like the rest of the figure, but a clearly detailed gardening glove, the fingers tipped with what looked to be knife blades. The index finger blade stood out, as it looked like a mini-version of the Kandarian Dagger. The figure raked this blade across the Dad-Deadite's face, the side that hadn't been scarred, the flesh searing and smoking. The Dad-Deadite pleaded for the figure to stop his suffering. Then, the Shadow spoke, a deep, throaty growl, toned with a fierce whisper. "What? I was just finishing your makeover." The Shadow then opened up the glove, all the blades raised, now identical to the index finger, and jabbed them into the Dad-Deadite's throat. As the figure took its glove out of the wound it had made, it then struck again, this time lopping the head off. With its glove raised above the Deadite corpses, the figure then started chopping the bodies into pieces, but the glove didn't make contact with them. It seemed to do the action simply with the gesture of the figure's hand.
Kelly had forgotten that Ash & Pablo were still in the room. Until they came up from behind, on either side of her. The two had become Deadites, and were about to deal the final blow. But then the Shadow shouted from across the room, in a mockingly heroic tone: "Don't worry! I'll save you!"
The Shadow zoomed across the room, its right arm, the hand adorned with the bladed glove, going straight through the Ash-Deadite's chest. The arm dislodged from the Deadite's chest, and lopped the head, arms, and legs off the torso. It jammed the blades of its glove into the Pablo-Deadite's face, right through its eyes. And for a finish, repeated the dismembering action it had performed on the Ash-Deadite. The former Ash & Pablo, now piles of various body parts, lay on either side of Kelly. She was trembling, overwhelmed by all that had just happened. The Shadow stood a foot or so away from Kelly. It moved closer, until it was a few inches from her face. Then, the head & face of the Shadow began to materialize. The hat was now identifiable as a brown fedora. The face was severely burned, a gaping hole visible on the left cheek. The eyes were bloodshot, looking almost a reddish-black.
Kelly closed her eyes, looked down, and turned away in disgust. The face then spoke to her, in a whisper. "Deadites. Ha! What a goddamn joke. I don't know why you're so scared of them, Gorgeous." The figure's glove came up, the index blade pointed out, and gently stroked Kelly's forehead, moving some of her hair off to the side. "Even though you try and hide it by being a vengeful "badass", they're still the thing you fear most in this world now." The face moved to the side, its lips right by her ear now. "You know what you should really be afraid of? Hmm?" Kelly didn't respond at first. Then the face shouted, right in her ear: "ANSWER ME!". Kelly flinched, and said: "What?" She opened her eyes to look at the face. The face smirked, pleased with its intimidation tactics. Finally, it said: "Me".
The figure then backed away slightly, and raised its glove over Kelly, ready to strike. As it came down, Kelly screamed, holding her hands up in an attempt to shield herself. But right as all this happened, Kelly opened her eyes, and found Pablo, reaching from the front passenger seat of the Oldsmobile to the back where she was, trying to calm her. Apparently she had been screaming hysterically, as if for her life. Ash had turned around too, but had to eye the road at the same time, so he finally stopped the car, and gave his full attention to Kelly. Both he and Pablo looked on in concern. Kelly once again found herself confused, as she had seemingly awoken from a dream, and was where she thought she had really been last. In the backseat of the Oldsmobile. Heading to Jacksonville, FL with Ash & Pablo.