"Ricky didn't do it!" Hunter screamed to the detective, slamming her hand on his desk.

"Then why did he escape?" Detective Moreno asked, maintaining his cool even though Hunter didn't.

"Because he was just as scared as the rest of us! Please don't put him down as wanted."

"We still need to look for him. He knows what happened in that cellar. So you all think this has something to do with Lucy Malloy?" Moreno's tight-lipped demeanor reminded Hunter of Agent Smith from The Matrix.

"Yes," she said. "Someone or something is picking us off! Five people died today! What's taking you sons of bitches so long to get this fucker?"

"You can leave now, Miss Green."

"This isn't the first time something like this has happened here, is it?" Hunter demanded.

Moreno narrowed his eyes at her. "What do you mean?"

"I think you know exactly what I mean."

"Please leave, Miss Green. Before I get pissed."

She left his office in a huff to join the others, who'd already been questioned. By that time Beth had already arrived. Hunter leaned on the chair Coop sat in and looked at Beth. "That detective is a son of a bitch."

"Can you blame him?" Tia asked. "He looks like he's been up for a week."

"We've kept him pretty busy tonight," Gerald chimed in.

"So what happened?" Beth asked.

"There was a power outage," Hunter said, claiming leadership as she had since this whole thing started. "Michelle, Greg, and Ricky went down to the cellar to check it out. When the lights came back on, Michelle and Greg were dead and Ricky was gone."

"Do they think your friend Ricky did it?" Beth asked.

They all nodded.

"Ricky had already said he was leaving," Tia said. "I don't blame him. I just hope he's okay."

Hunter took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "That detective is hiding something."

"What do you mean?" Beth asked.

Coop looked up at Hunter. "Hunter, don't start that shit. Are you crazy?"

"Coop, we can't keep pretending that this town doesn't have secrets!"

Beth was riveted. "What do you mean, Hunter?"

"I've heard things," Hunter said. "Terrible things but I wouldn't believe them."

"What?" Beth pressed.

"This isn't the first time kids have fallen prey to a serial killer in this town."

"Beth, shut up!" Coop screamed. Tia folded her arms tightly and looked away from the confrontation while Gerald seemed to fall apart even more.

Beth pulled her to the side, not far from the front desk. "What are you talking about?"

Hunter was trying to keep her breath steady. "It's gonna sound crazy because it's exactly what you're writing about. A long time ago, this town was wiped clean of all the kids by a killer named Freddy Krueger, the motherfucker that wouldn't die!" she whispered.

"Hunter, no," Beth said, as she thought of the dream Nathan had.

The short, fat and balding desk sergeant looked up at the both of them. "Krueger?' he said. "What in the name of God do you know about Krueger, young lady?"

They both turned to him. "What do you know, sir?" Hunter demanded.

The sergeant's voice was ominous. "A lot more than I want to. I nearly got fired for it. Come with me. By the way, I'm Sergeant Barnes."

Barnes had another officer cover for him as he made his way to a file room that was free of personnel. "The only reason I'm showing you this is because these killings could have something to do with him." He unlocked and opened a dusty file cabinet. He pulled out a heavy folder and placed it in Beth's hands. "There's everything I could save: Coroner's reports, news clippings, profiles, everything."

Beth sat down in a nearby chair. The file was too heavy for her to stand with it. "What do you mean save?" she asked.

Barnes was silent for a moment. Then, "You ever hear of the Springwood Gentrification Project?" he asked.

"No," Beth responded.

"It happened decades ago. The name of this town used to be Springwood."

Beth gasped. "So everything in here refers to the Springwood Slasher?"

Barnes nodded. "Sure does. After Krueger nearly wiped this town's teenage population out, this company came in and tore everything down, renaming the town. They built a monorail system, a university, and made like everything was perfect all over again. It was no longer a ghost town and everyone was happy. Almost every file here referring to him was destroyed, except what I could salvage. The people that bought property were told not to say anything about what had gone on before, so eventually it all passed into legend. Say anything about it now and folks think you're crazy.

"I was the only one that believed the kids," Barnes continued, "when they said that Krueger never died, that he was visiting them in their dreams. At first I didn't, but the pattern kept repeating itself. I pursued it everytime and that made the force very unhappy. So I was demoted to desk sergeant."

"So there is an Elm Street?" Beth asked.

"Absolutely, only it's Oak Street now."

"Oak Street?" Hunter said. "That's where the warehouse is! The one where they found Lucy!"

"1427 Elm Street," Barnes said. "It was the first thing that they tore down so many years ago. That house was a curse; the kids said it was Freddy's house. They built a warehouse there and it almost covers the whole block. They were trying to erase the house from everyone's memory."

Beth flipped through the file. The coroner's report's were grisly. There were deaths that plainly suggested that the victims were slashed or stabbed with four blades simultaneously, but there were deaths associated with them, the deaths of friends which were much more strange and mysterious. One victim, a Debbie Porter, was crushed, almost like a bug; Jennifer Caulfield, a patient at the Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital, was found with her head embedded in a mounted television; Kristen Parker was burned to death; Greta Phillips had consumed large quantities of food and choked to death. The list went on and on.

"Could Krueger really be the one behind this?" Hunter asked.

Beth looked her squarely in the eye. "Nathan had a dream that Krueger was keeping Matthew captive. When he and I went back to the hospital, Matt had gone into cardiac arrest."

"Oh no," Hunter muttered.

"And stranger than that, the spirit that Lucy wrote about in her journal is Jason Voorhees. All of the murders so far match what I've heard about Voorhees. I think they're both loose . . . somehow." Beth turned to Barnes. "Ever hear of Crystal Lake Research Facility?"

"No," Barnes said. "And I can definitely tell you there's no such thing as Jason. If these killings match his style, then it may just be a copycat."

"How can you be so sure?" Hunter asked.

"There is no Jason. That, my dear, really is a legend."

•••

It had begun to snow by the time Ricky was fifteen miles out of Springlake, now it was snowing harder. He drove as fast as he could without skidding, trying his best to see through the white.

The rest of them could sit around in that town and wait to die all they wanted, but he would not be the one. He would be the one that had actually seen the killer and lived to tell about it.

Whoever the bastard was, he was either pretending to be Jason, or he really was. The hockey mask said it all. He'd been able to escape the cellar before meeting his death. Michelle and Greg hadn't been so lucky.

He feared for Tia's life. But he feared for his own even more.

His Chevy suddenly chugged and slowed to a stop.

Not fucking now!

He tried to start it again, turning the ignition to no avail.

Fuck!

He got out and walked over to the front of the car. He brushed the falling flakes from his eyelashes as he checked under the hood.

Maybe it was the weather, but the Chevy was as good as dead.

He slammed the hood down in frustration and kicked the car.

Ricky noticed headlights approaching from the distance and waved the car down.

It was a police cruiser.

Just my fucking luck!

The cop car slowed to a stop and two officers got out. The chunky officer swaggered over to him. "Havin' trouble, young man?"

"My car is dead," Ricky said.

"Where ya headed to?"

"Home."

"You live in Springlake?"

"I go to school there, but I'm going home."

"You in some kinda rush?"

"What's with all the questions?" Ricky asked, exasperated.

The officer smirked. "Help me and I'll help you."

"Hey, Forbes!" the thin officer called to his chunky partner. "That's the kid."

Forbes turned to the other officer. "What kid?"

"He's wanted. He just killed two students, possibly five."

Forbes looked back at Ricky. "Oh yeah." He pulled the cuffs from his hip. "Sorry, son, I gotta take you with us."

Ricky shook his head. "No. I can't go back to that town! There's a fucking killer loose!"

Forbes stepped forward. "I understand and as soon as we make certain it's not you, then you're free to go home."

•••

Hunter was half asleep in the passenger seat of Beth's truck. They were on their way to the Malloy house. Beth had stopped at her room and picked up Lucy's writings to take with her.

"Hunter!" Beth said. "Wake up! Are you crazy?"

Hunter yawned. "Beth, this is crazy! Do you know what time it is? Dr. Malloy is gonna roast us for waking her up this time of night."

"Just tell me I'm going the right way," Beth said impatiently.

Hunter strained to see through the falling snow. "It's hard to tell. I guess you're going the right way."

Beth rolled her eyes. "You guess? Thanks a lot, Hunter."

They pulled up in front of the Malloy home shortly after. It was a large sprawling estate. The Malloys were loaded. Both of Lucy's parents were scientists. Beth had a hunch they'd know the mystery of Crystal Lake Research Facility.

"Are you sure you're not just doing this for your book?" Hunter asked as she rang the doorbell.

Beth was offended. "I promised Nathan I would help him, and it makes no sense for these students to keep dying."

Hunter gave her a crooked smile. "You like him, don't you?"

Beth didn't answer.

Charlene Malloy opened the door with a Martini in hand. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"Hi, Dr. Malloy," Hunter said. "My name is Hunter Green and this is Beth. I know it's late, but maybe you can help us."

"What do you want?" the woman demanded. She was half drunk and deprived of sleep.

"Lucy went to school with us."

Dr. Malloy tried to shut the door, but Beth held her hand out. "Please, Dr. Malloy, there are other kids dying."

"I can't talk about Lucy anymore!" Dr. Malloy said. She leaned against the doorknob for support. "I can't! Please go away!"

"Dr. Malloy," Beth continued. "Your daughter knew things that could probably help us get a little closer to the truth. We can't waste another moment while people are dying."

Dr. Malloy gave in, opening the door wider and letting them inside. "Have a seat. Can I offer you a drink?"

"That won't be necessary," Beth answered for the both of them. The three of them sat down. The place screamed money. Everything was maghogany, crystal, and lace. Beth opened to an entry in Lucy's journal. "I need you to read that, Dr. Malloy."

The woman didn't really feel like reading, but she obliged. When she was through, she placed the book down on the coffee table. "I guess there's a lot I never knew about her."

"Your daughter was into dark magic and science," Beth said. "She ressurected a killer, possibly the one who killed her."

"I always wanted my daughter to pursue science, I thought the magic shit was just a phase."

"She mentions Crystal Lake Research Facility in the entry. Do you know anything about that place, or even if it exists?" Beth asked.

Dr. Malloy looked away from her. She wasn't interested in answering the question.

Beth leaned in. "What do you know?"

"It's the top secret lab where her father and I work."

"Where is it?"

"It wouldn't be top secret if I told you."

Beth was impatient. "Is there a Crystal Lake or not?"

Dr. Malloy shot up. "You wanna know where it is? I'll show it to you!"

•••

"This is ridiculous!" Ricky exclaimed from the backseat of the police cruiser.

"Would I be rude if I told you to shut up?" Forbes asked as he drove. "I've been nice so far, young man."

"I'm trying to tell you that you're wasting your time with me," Ricky said. "You should be out there looking for Jason Voorhees!"

The two cops chuckled from the front. "Jason Voorhees?" the skinny one, Styles, asked. "Are you college kids still huffing?"

Ricky groaned in frustration as the car surged through the snow. "Look at this motherfucker!" Forbes suddenly exclaimed and slammed on the brakes.

Ricky followed their gaze through the windshield and his breath stopped short.

Voorhees stood in the middle of the snowy road, his chrome mask gleaming in the headlights.

"That's him!" Ricky exclaimed.

"Who?" asked Styles.

"The motherfucker that killed my friends! He's the one you need to arrest!"

The two officers looked at each other. "I got him," Forbes said, starting to exit the vehicle.

"He's dangerous," Ricky warned.

"He's not even armed," Forbes said, then went to confront the man.

"If I were you," Ricky told Styles, "I'd pull off."

Styles ignored him.

Forbes swaggered over to Voorhees. "Any reason why you're standing in the path of a moving car?" he asked.

Voorhees was silent.

"Hey! I'm talking to you! You got a death wish or sumthin'?"

Again, silence from Voorhees.

Forbes stepped closer and pounded on the mask. "Hey! Are you retarded or sum--"

The killer's hand suddenly shot out and grabbed Forbes by the neck.

"Oh shit!" Styles exclaimed. He exited the car and aimed his gun at Voorhees. "Put him down or else, motherfucker!"

From the backseat, Ricky could see that both of the officers were about to die. He searched for a way out, but he knew it was in vain. The backdoors could only unlock from the outside and a plate of metal mesh separated the backseat from the front.

He was stuck.

Voorhees regarded Styles for a moment.

"I said put him down!" Styles screamed again.

Voorhees obliged by swiftly lifting his leg and bringing Forbes's spine down on his thigh, nearly snapping the officer in half. He came for Styles.

Styles immediately began to fire. "Stay back!" He ran around to the back of the car.

Inside, Ricky ducked behind the seat. He didn't know if Voorhees had seen him, but if he hadn't, he did not want to draw attention to himself.

Voorhees stopped, seemingly bored with chasing the cop. As he stood there, Styles fired bullet after useless bullet. His gun finally ran out. Styles looked at his gun, then at Voorhees; he couldn't believe this was happening. The bullets had no effect on the motherfucker!

He dropped the gun and took off.

He didn't get very far. In a flash, Voorhees was before him. Styles didn't have time to think of the impossibility of it. The killer lifted him up, briskly carrying him over to a nearby oak. Styles tried frantically to pry the gloved hand from his neck, his legs dangling. Voorhees then slammed his elbow down on a thick limb of the oak. Before Styles could struggle anymore, Voorhees brought his midsection down on the sharp, broken limb, impaling Styles until the other end poked from his guts.

He left the officer for dead, advancing for the car.

Oh shit! Ricky thought when he heard the driver's side door open. He held his breath, praying to God that Voorhees wouldn't kill him.

His heart jumped when he heard Voorhees banging against the mesh that separated the two of them. Then he stopped.

Ricky was going crazy. What was Voorhees doing?

He felt a small glimmer of hope. If Jason knew he was inside, he would've opened the door to the backseat, right? Ricky prayed that the suspicion was true.

Even more baffling: This fucker could drive?

Voorhees then floored it, speeding off into the distance and crushing Forbes's body in the process.

He was going home.

•••

Beth couldn't tell how far they had gone. Dr. Malloy had guided her through many winding roads in the blinding snow. They seemed to be miles from Springlake now. Despite the circumstances, the scenery was beautiful with the white snow drifts bordering the road and the large pines that protruded majestically from the ground.

Malloy instructed her stop at a brick one story structure surrounded by a tall high voltage fence.

"This can't be it," Beth said.

"Yes it is," Dr. Malloy said, fully sober now. "Let's go."

Beth slapped Hunter's knee. The girl had fallen asleep in the back of the truck. "Come on, Hunter!" Beth said.

The two of them followed the doctor's lead. Malloy used a special key to bypass the gate, then the three of them advanced to the building. Malloy swiped a card and entered what seemed to be a ten digit code on the panel and the large metal doors opened, like those of an elevator.

They were on the other side before another car pulled up. It was a police cruiser.

Voorhees exited the driver's side, promptly opening the door to the back.

Ricky screamed as Voorhees yanked him out by the collar.

"Come on, man, please don't kill me, man! Please!" Ricky sobbed.

Voorhees gave it no thought. He rose the boy's body high in the air and threw him against the fence.

Ricky's body sizzled against the high voltage metal for a number of seconds before finally falling to the ground and trembling for the last time.

Now Voorhees looked at the fence that loomed up ahead of him.

It was tall, probably about thirty-six feet.

One leap and Voorhees was on the other side.

•••

"This is it," Dr. Malloy told the two girls, gesturing to the body that lay inside one of the transparent drawers of the cryo-lab. "That's the body of Jason Voorhees."

They were in the basement of the lab. Only one level of the facility was above ground, but as the three of them descended down in the elevator, Beth saw that it was about five levels.

She could barely look at the body. It was covered by a sheet, but the face wasn't. The lab had removed the mask and what they saw was horrific. The skin was horribly decayed and uneven. One side of his face seemed to droop lower than the other.

Hunter suppressed the bile that was beginning to rise in her throat.

"That's gross," she said.

"He was caught a long time ago," the doctor began. "The government knew about him and wanted him stopped. After he was finally captured and killed, they sent the body over here so we could find out how he was able to survive so much. Every angle we've pursued has proven to be inconclusive, and we've had the son-of-a-bitch for almost two decades."

Beth was amazed. "Then whatever that is that Lucy wrote about--"

"She stole his DNA somehow," Malloy said. "She's come with me here many times. Maybe she did it while I wasn't looking or she pretended to be me one day and did it. Either way, Lucy was no dummy; I've punched that code a million times in front of her."

Beth began to piece it together. "So she stole his DNA, merged it with another body and called his spirit. She alluded to that in what she wrote." Then Beth had an idea. "Maybe after the spell took, the spirit recognized Jason's DNA and began to re-form into the body that it was familiar with."

"That would make sense," the doctor said with a grin, adding, "if magic were real."

Hunter spoke up. "So if there's no Crystal Lake, why is this lab named after it?"

"Everything you've ever heard of happened here. This was Camp Crystal Lake, until the gentrification project took over."

Beth was confused. "Wait a minute, I thought they only re-named Springwood."

"So you've already heard? It's true. The project stretched from there to here. They re-named the whole area Springlake. In fact, the name of this lab isn't even Crystal Lake Research Facility anymore, we just refuse to call it anything else since it's sole purpose is to figure out what makes this guy tick." Malloy gestured to Jason's enclosed body. "Forget whatever you heard about Massachusetts."

"Funny," Beth said. "The cop at the station didn't tell us that."

"This town is all about secrets. No one's really from here. We all chose to look the other way since everything seemed to be improving when we moved here. Of course, some of us knew better, and there are still some of us that have our little obsessions. I refuse to believe that Freddy shit. This here is real."

The doctor was about to say something else when the alarm sounded throughout the building.

Malloy rushed over to the security monitors. She saw the figure in one of the halls of the top level.

"Oh shit," she said.

"What?" the girls asked.

Malloy looked at them. "He's here."