Chapter 8: Let's Start a Riot Part 2
"Sorry we're late." Freddy replied. "Had to make sure the riot would last a good long while." He looked down at the boxes before him. "I take it these are the gifts you were talking about?"
Fae nodded. "It wasn't easy but I think you'll appreciate them. Go ahead! Open them up."
Freddy and the other slashers walked up to the boxes and picked up the ones with their names on them. As he couldn't read, Jason waited until the other boxes were claimed before picking up his. The slashers separated and opened their gifts as Fae watched with great interest.
Freddy's eyes widened once he saw what was inside the box. "No way...it's you..." Slowly, he reached into the box and pulled out his finger knives, the same ones taken by the Springwood Police Department over a year ago. "Never thought I see you again, my pretty! He planted a kiss on the weaponized glove and slipped it on his right hand, moaning with pleasure as he did so. "Ahhh yeah!" He purred. "Fits like a glove..." He looked inside the box again and saw his old fedora resting upon a red and green striped sweater and black pants. Next to the fedora was a pair of work boots.
Jason's box contained his old machete. This was the only old item in the box, resting alongside a new hockey mask, jacket, shirt, pants and boots. Michael's box contained a new mask, albeit the same make and model as the ones he wore before, a few kitchen knives, a mechanic's suit, and shoes. Bubbha's box contained a fresh change of clothes as well, including a new butcher's apron. What really excited the simple-minded man, however, was the chainsaw resting on top of the clothes. As he picked it up, he could tell it was filled with gas and ready for a massacre. "The Saw is Family" was engraved on the side.
"I figured you prefer to make your own mask Bubbha." Fae said. "So I just focused on getting your family back."
Bubbha giggled uncontrollably as he hugged the chainsaw and hopped around. This continued until he was stopped by Freddy who at this point had already gotten dressed. "Hurry up and get dressed already, dumbass." He demanded. Bubbha ceased his squealing but only moaned at Freddy in a confused tone.
"I better help him out." Fae sighed as she box up from the boxes and helped Bubbha into his clothes. By then, both Jason and Michael were dressed as well. Freddy continued to snicker as he looked over his glove. Even without his dream powers, he felt all-powerful with this glove on his hand.
"Hey Fae! I got a question." He asked. "You've been helping us out a lot and while I can't speak for the rest of these bozos, you certainly got my gratitude." He turned to Fae just as she had finished dressing Bubbha. "But what's keeping us from killing you now that we're done with ya?" He laughed, expecting her face to twist in fear. To his surprise, however, she turned to him with a look of pure neutrality.
"You got me there." She shrugged. "There's really nothing preventing you from killing me now that you have no use for me but for some reason, I just don't see that happening. At least not now." She walked up to the confused Freddy and removed a piece of paper from her cleavage. "Besides, I still haven't given you the map." She handed it over to Freddy.
"The map?" Freddy asked as he took the paper and carefully unfolded it. "You mean to the Necromomicon Ex-Mortis right? The book that can give me back my dream powers!"
Fae nodded. "It's quite a ways from here but if you guys can steal a vehicle or something, I'm sure you can make it there in less than a week."
Freddy giggled as he folded the paper back up and placed it underneath his hat. "Thanks babe!" He suddenly wrapped his arm around Fae's waist and shoved his tongue down her mouth. Fae struggled in surprise for a few seconds before fully realizing what was happening and letting it continue. The other slashers watched with interest before their attention was stolen by the sound of an explosion from outside. This explosion also brought an end to Freddy and Fae's oral embrace.
"Looks like the calvary's arrived." Fae gasped as she was out of breath. "I've helped you guys as much as I can. You're gonna have to fight on your own from here on out. Best of luck."
Freddy chuckled as he readjusted his hat. "Luck's something we don't need. Not when we have our tools of the trade." With this, Freddy brought up his finger knives. Jason and Michael brandished their machete and knife respectfully and Bubbha followed suit with a few yanks on his chainsaw. Once the weapon was revved up, he roared triumphantly and rose it over his head.
"What the fuck is that?" A voice spoke out loud from outside the room.
"I don't know. But it sounds like a chainsaw." A second voice suggested.
"Let's go!" Freddy snickered as he and the others made room for Bubbha.
"Open this door right now!" The guards began to bang on the door.
"Ready?" Freddy called as he brought his hand up.
"Open it now!" The guards shouted as they began to kick the door.
"Set?"
Fae was already groping herself as the thought of the carnage to come.
The door gave in and fell into the room.
"Go!" Freddy brought his hand down and watched as Bubbha rushed toward the guards and rammed his chainsaw into their guts. The guards had no time to even realize what was happening, let alone fire their weapons which fell uselessly to the ground as the power tool pureed their insides. The resulting splatter fell upon the other slashers as well as Fae. The Springwood Slasher's insidious laughter drowned out the slasher lover's moans of ecstasy as the carved-out guards fell to the floor. Once they were dead, Bubbha wasted no time taking the scalpel from the pocket of his new pants and removing the first guard's helmet. As the others watched, Bubbha crudely cut the man's face off and placed it over his own, taking in the stench of blood as he evened it out.
"Well, I'll be damned." Freddy cooed in awe as Bubbha turned to look back at his new partners. From behind the dead man's face glinted the eyes of a truly deranged killer. "I guess that's why they call you Leatherface, huh?"
Leatherface said nothing but simply returned his attention to the now bloody doorway which he walked out of. Michael and Jason followed as well, each hoping to get their pound of flesh before escaping. Freddy felt the same way but couldn't leave without turning to Fae and tipping his hat. "Thanks for everything babe! Kill ya later!" He left after his new partners and Fae continued to touch herself to the corpses of the men before her. "My fucking pleasure!" She screamed into the sky.
"Wh...What is this..." Vivian stepped back as the beings before her stepped forward. Teddy had gotten back to his feet and used his body to block the only exit to the room, not that it would make much of a difference in this situation. Vivian Malachite was not leaving this room alive.
"Vivian," The pinned being began. "We heard about your little plan and while I must commend you for your act of charity for the Earth, I'm afraid we cannot allow it to go any further."
Vivian snapped toward Teddy. "You cocksucker! You sold me out!"
"Don't even start!" Teddy argued. "After all, the only reason these monsters are here is that you tried to sell me out first! In any case, I made a deal with them and this is my way of paying my half."
"A deal?" Vivian asked. "What are you talking about? What deal?"
As if to answer her, a hooked chain suddenly flew toward Vivian's flank and snagged itself into her flesh. The Head of Black Rose Sanitarium cried out in pain as the chain pulled her toward the right. She pooled her weight into her feet to keep herself from falling over and gripped the grimey chain with both hands, trying to pull the hook out.
"We depend on humans to open the box." The pinned being continued as he stepped closer to Vivian. "To taste our pleasures. It is how we continue as a race, as explorers, as the Order of the Gash!" He turned his head and another hooked chain ensnared Vivian's other flank, earning another cry of pain from the mad scientist. She let go of the first chain with her right arm and gripped the second chain with it instead, pulling on both chains simultaneously to keep them from pulling her apart. This was a futile effort on her part and everyone in the room including her knew it. Teddy felt a pang of guilt in seeing Vivian suffer but was able to chase it away by reminding himself why this was happening in the first place.
"It's either you or humanity Vivian." He thought. "And I think the answer is obvious here."
More hooked chains dug into Vivian's flesh, dyeing her lab coat in blood as she fell to her knees. Her glasses fell to the floor and shattered upon impact. The pinned being crushed them further as he loomed over Vivian. "Fear not." He whispered as he kneeled down and caressed her bloody cheek. "This is not the end for you. No, rather it is a new beginning! Sure, there will be some trial and error but in time, you will come to know our pleasures the way we do and you will think to yourself, "To think I hesitated."
Vivian gulped down the blood pulling in her mouth from all the wounds she had accumulated and tried to turn her face toward Teddy. Once she realized she couldn't, she simply rasped his name. "Teddy?"
"Yes." Teddy said, doing his best to hide his fear and this time succeeding.
"I guess you do have some balls after all. Let's just hope you don't fucking trip over them!" Vivian let out an insane howl of laughter as the pinned being snapped his fingers. The chains quickly retracted, each one taking a part of Vivian with it into the darkness. Teddy was covered in the resulting blood spray and cried out as he tried to wipe it from his eyes. Once he had managed that, he could see the pinned being standing over him now.
"W-What do you want now?" He croaked. "Y-You got her so go!"
"Not yet!" The pinned being argued. "Not without you!"
"What!?" Teddy gasped. "N-No! We had a deal! You take her and let me go!"
"You opened the box." The female Cenobite stated. "So you must taste our pleasures."
"No! We had a deal you bastards!" Teddy cried. "We had a fucking deal!" As Teddy continued to yell in defiance of his fate, the sound of a chainsaw whirring grabbed his attention as it did the Cenobites. All parties looked to the back of the hallway where the surveillance footage still played. On the screens, Teddy could see the guards and inmates alike being mowed down by a group of four men. One wore a hat and bladed glove, one wore a hockey mask and wielded a machete, one wore an emotionless mask and wielded a knife and the last man waved around a chainsaw. Thinking back to his notes, Teddy's blood froze as he recognized who these men were.
"Strange." The lead Cenobite spoke. "I was under the impression that inmates were supposed to be locked up in a sanitarium rather than free to kill each other."
"It..It happened just before you got here..." Teddy droned as he walked closer to the screens like a zombie, his eyes glued to the carnage broadcasted before him. "They found a way to destroy...the collars..."
"Never mind." The lead Cenobite scoffed. "Let the rabble fight amongst themselves. We have much more pressing matters to intend to, don't we Theodore?"
"W-Wait a minute!" Teddy turned to his tormentors with fear in his eyes. "We had a deal.." He repeated feebly.
"Do not waste your breath on petty pleas for reprisal!" The pinned being demanded. "You'll need it for screaming."
Teddy felt tears well up in his eyes and held his head in his hands. "What do I do?" He thought fearfully. "I already gave them Vivian! What else could they possibly want?" It was at that moment that Teddy suddenly remembered just who he was watching slice and dice the men on his payroll on the screen. Four of the most dangerous men in America. Four of the vilest human and nonhuman beings to ever roam the Earth. Four souls so much more worthy of pain and anguish than he was. Looking back on the screen for a few seconds before once again turning to the Cenobites yet again, he made his decision. "Wait! How about another deal?"
"No more deals." The lead Cenobite growled. "Now is the time to taste our pleasures!"
"B-B-But just look at the screens!" Teddy pointed to the surveillance footage behind him. Do you not see the four monsters tearing apart everyone in sight?"
"And what of them?"
"Look man," Teddy retorted as he pointed to the screen. "Do you see the three masked men and the asshole in the ugly sweater? Those are the four most dangerous inmates in Black Rose Sanitarium! These are the men Vivian had in mind when she was creating her killing machine! Wouldn't you rather have them than me?"
The Cenobites stared at the screens for a few moments before looking at each other.
"Here's what I'm proposing. If I can get you all four of their souls, all four of these motherfucker's souls, you have to let me go! I'm just one soul! What's one soul compared to four? Come on here!" Teddy could feel the tears flowing down his face once again and his knees tremble. He had never been a religious man but had never been more tempted to pray to God for help as of right now.
After a few more exchanges of silence, the lead Cenobite spoke up again. "Very well, We will accept your second offer. Deliver us onto these souls and we shall grant you a reprieve. But know that if you fail, it will be you who pays the price." The ground began to shake once again and after a few moments, Teddy found himself back in the surveillance room alone. The only sign Vivian or the Cenobites had even been there was the few droplets of blood drying on the floor and the Lament Configuration next to it. Once Teddy was able to fully comprehend all that had happened within the past few minutes, he got up and cautiously picked up the box.
"Those fucking bastards tried to double-cross me!" He thought angrily. "Even when I held up my end of the bargain, they still...errr.." Sighing in defeat as he knew anger would not get him anywhere, Teddy placed the box in his pocket and glanced at the screens one final time. It would seem Freddy and the other Points of Interest were rapidly making their way toward the Sanitarium doors. It wouldn't be long before they made it outside and back out into the world. Four of the deadliest killers not only out in the world but working together? The very idea chilled Teddy to the core.
"I have to do this." He told himself. It's like with Vivian, I'm sending these monsters to Hell not just for my sake but for the sake of humanity!" Speaking his former boss's name brought the image of her ultimate creation floating in a tank back into his head. "But first, I need to take care of one last thing." Teddy shut the surveillance footage off and made his way to Project Cain.
"Shoot them!"
"Don't let them go!"
"Kill them all!"
The guards yelled over each other in a frenzy as they released their bullets upon the approaching killers. Jason was at the front of the group, taking the bulk of the ammunition which did little to even slow him down. Behind him, Michael bled from the few wounds he had sustained but marched forward regardless. Behind him, Freddy howled with laughter as Leatherface roared in bloodlust.
"Dammint! He's not going down!" One of the guards shouted.
"Aim for the others!"
"I'm trying!"
By the time the guards had finally run out of bullets, Jason and the others were already within striking distance with their weapons. As a reward for being their shield, the other slashers stood back as Jason took the first strike, cleanly decapitating three of the guards in one slash. Leatherface went next, throwing himself into the middle of the bewildered group and waving his chainsaw manically, resulting in two more heads rolling on the floor. He then proceeded to dig his chainsaw into the stomach cavity of a female guard, relishing in her pained screams as the spinning blades dyed her face red with her own offal.
Freddy and Michael took care of the last remaining guards as this was happening. One of them tried to strike Michael over the head with his baton but the Shape grabbed his wrist and broke it, forcing him to release the weapons as he screamed in pain, using his knife, Michael stabbed the man in the stomach and pulled his weapon down, watching as his innards spilled onto the floor below. The female guard behind him screamed in terror, dropped her empty gun and tried to flee. Michael noticed this and gathered the man's entrails into a noose-like shape. He tossed the noose over the girl's head and gripped it tightly once it was around her neck, stopping her in her tracks and pulling her off her feet. The girl kicked and screamed as the Shape pulled her closer to him, gagging and choking all the while. Once she was close enough, Michael grabbed her head and squeezed until her eyeballs popped out of their sockets.
As with Michael, the first guard Freddy went after also tried to hit him with a baton. "This is the real world asshole!" He screamed. "You're powerless here!"
"Oh yeah?" With a single swipe of his arm, Freddy was able to relieve the man of all the fingers of her right hand just as he was bringing down the baton. The hard black stick fell into Freddy's ungloved hand and the Springwood Slasher smashed it into the man's kneecap. He continued to beat the guard with his own baton until the thing snapped in half, the top half flying over Freddy's shoulder. By this time, the man was dead. "Tsk. Cheap garbage!" Freddy tossed the other half of the baton aside and directed his attention toward the final guard of the group.
The man shook in his boots and reeked of urine as he threw down his gun and ran down the hallway toward the front entrance. Freddy smiled as he slowly made his way toward the young man, clinging his finger blades against each other all the while.
"Come on! Come on!" The man pleaded as he stood before the entrance, trying to use his keycard to open it. After what seemed to him like an eternity of fumbling for the keys, the man felt relief wash over him as the screen he slit the key card into beeped and the doors unlocked. "Oh Thank God! Now I ca-" He stopped mid-sentence as he turned around and found Freddy right behind him. Before he could react, Freddy grabbed him by the arm and shoved all four of his finger blades into his stomach. The man cried in pain as the blades wrung out his intestines which Freddy proceeded to shove in his face.
"Thanks for showing us the door!" Freddy laughed. "That took a lot of guts! Hahahahaha!"
The man's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell dead onto Freddy who proceeded to shove him off. By this time, the other three slashers had made their way to him. "Well, gentlemen, shall we?" He gestured to the entrance door which slowly began to open thanks to the guard's key card.
The murderous quartet made their way outside, relishing in the cool night breeze. From inside the sanitarium, they could still hear the sounds of screaming, gunfire, and general chaos. With one of the wardens dead and the other preoccupied, the chaos would last well into the night and end with a giant fire consuming the entire building. The slashers, of course, had no knowledge of this nor would they really care if they did. Now that they were free, it was time to search for the Necronomicon.
But first, they would have to get some wheels.
"If we wanna get our hands on that book this year, we'll need some wheels," Freddy said out loud. "I have a plan. Just follow my lead." The Springwood Slasher led his unlikely companions to the side of the road where they wandered for a good half-hour, the sanitarium getting smaller and smaller behind them as they went one. Every once and a while, a vehicle would drive past the group and Freddy would give it a quick appraisal of "Nope." or "Uh-uh!" before it vanished into the night. When a white van with a giant cross on its side appeared on the horizon, however, Freddy flashed his rotten teeth in a crooked smile. "Bingo!" He turned to his fellow killers. "Watch my lead and then take action!"
Freddy inched closer to the road and waited until the van was close enough to jump out in front of it. The van quickly pulled its brakes but not before hitting Freddy on the shoulder, sending the Springwood Slasher rolling down the road. Once the van had made its complete stop, an elderly couple jumped out from either side.
"Oh Dear Lord!" The woman cried. "We hit someone!"
"We better get him to the hospital and fast!" The man stated. "Oh God, I can see blood!"
As the couple inched toward the man laying before them, they remained blissfully unaware of the insidious smile on his face, nor the three masked men stalking toward them from behind.
Teddy had a surprisingly easy time getting to Vivian's secret room. Most of the guards and inmates he encountered were either dead, dying or too busy killing each other to notice him. At some point, he came upon a nurse with no mask and a fire axe wedged into her back, no doubt stolen from the case outside one of the exits for use in the event of a fire. Any other time, Teddy would have puked upon the sight of such a grisly scene but right now, he felt empty. He wondered if this was caused by his exposure to the Cenobites and whether or not it would be permanent. He guessed only time would tell and as of right now, that was not something he had a lot of. With both hands, he wrenched the ax out of her back and continued on his way.
Once he was there, he wasted no time hacking the interface next to the door with his axe, hoping that it would work or at least, that the door would forever remain strong enough to keep Cain in. The interface gave out upon that single strike and the door opened. Teddy marched inside and found himself standing face-to-face with the monster his boss had created, the one she hoped would end humanity's reign on Earth.
"Say hi to Abel for me," Teddy whispered and he smashed the axe through the glass tube and into Cain's head. The creature let out a low groan as it fell out of its shelter and onto the floor. Screaming with all his might, Teddy continued to hack into the monster, covering himself with its black blood.
Project Cain had ended before it even began.