Late that night, the three sat in the room, watching a movie. Freddy stared at the screen, bored, as the movie played through. Jen was half-asleep, leaning on the arm of the couch. Chelsea paused the movie and walked out into the kitchen to get a drink. Jen's eyes closed, and Freddy smiled. He reached over, snatched up the remote, and cranked the volume up to max. He threw the control down as she walked back in, yawning. Chelsea sat down, glanced at him warily, and picked up the control. She hit play and the volume blasted the speakers.
Jen fell off the couch in surprise with a thud, and Chelsea screamed in fright. She grabbed the control and hit mute, leaning back on the couch, heart pounding. Freddy howled with laughter, nearly falling off the couch himself.
"SO not funny!" Jen yelled, getting back up. She grabbed a pillow and chucked it at him. It hit him flat in the face and fell to the floor.
For a moment, anger flashed in his eyes as he glared at her. They held their breath as he stood and picked the pillow up off the floor. He tackled Chelsea, dragging her to the floor, and pounding her with it. Jen grabbed the other pillow and leaped down on them, whacking them back.
Chelsea finally stood up, grinning. Jen stood up beside her, and they looked down at Freddy; he was hidden beneath a pile of pillows. His hand shot out and grabbed her ankle, dragging her to the floor, screaming. He threw the pillows off and sat up, holding her against him. Her screaming instantly turned to hysterics as he ran his finger over her stomach.
"No! Don't do that!" she screamed, laughing. "Stop!" She twisted under his grip, giggling furiously. He grinned and tickled her harder. She burst out laughing, squirming violently. "Stop, Freddy! Quit it!"
Jen stared down at them, half-smiling. He was okay…unless you counted the fact that he was a fucking murderer! Trying to kill them!
"Freddy, enough!" She pulled free and sat on the couch, catching her breath. Freddy sat up, smirking. Chelsea sighed and flopped onto her back. Freddy reached up and tickled her stomach again. She giggled and slapped his hand away, yawning.
"It's time for bed," Chelsea said suddenly, standing up and stretching.
Freddy's eyes glinted; that feeling had grown stronger, pulsing within her. He watched them walk up the stairs, but Jen lagged behind. He stared at her.
"You're sleeping down here tonight," she said and marched up the stairs. Freddy smirked as his form dimmed.
Jen and Chels appeared in the boiler room, angry.
"I knew we couldn't trust him!" Jen yelled. "I knew this would happen!"
They walked down the catwalk, and Freddy's shadow loomed on the wall ahead of them. Jen raised her fists, but Chelsea just stared, unafraid. The feeling was pulsing within her again, beating with her heart, and a dark, low shadow raced through her mind.
"Relax, Jen. He won't hurt us," she muttered in a low tone, sitting down on the side of the walkway. Jen stared in shock at her as she swung her legs over the side, kicking them back and forth.
"And how do you know that?" she demanded.
"I don't know it… I feel it," her friend replied. Jen glanced back at the wall as Freddy's shadow vanished.
"Well, let's get out of here. It's too creepy." Jen hauled her to her feet, and they made their way down the catwalk. Chelsea felt a wave if pain shoot through her skull; she winced, and stopped. The feeling was never this strong in the real world… Maybe it only happened here…
"Jen, we need to get out of here," she moaned, trying to ignore the shooting pain. "There's something wrong." Jen looked back at her and noticed that her friend's face had paled.
"Yeah, and we might wanna get you to a doctor. You don't look so good." They wandered farther, ignoring the slasher watching them from behind. He narrowed his eyes, watching them round the corner. Almost there…
Chelsea winced again as the dark, low shape screamed in her mind.
It was in a cage, jumping off the sides, trying to escape. A key in the lock was slowly opening… The creature stopped and seemed to stare at the door, waiting…
"Jen! We have to go! Now!" Jen looked at her fearfully. Her friend was reeling from the presence within her, staggering against the railing. She held her head, trying to will away the pain.
Freddy appeared fifty feet away ahead of them, flexing his blades. Her fear of the creature was making it stronger, more powerful. Almost like him… He could feel her heartbeat quicken as her mind raced, desperately trying to contain the dark creature. He smiled. The door would soon open, revealing the terror inside.
"Freddy! Whatever you're doing, stop it!" Jen screamed. He blinked, coming out of his thoughts, and looked at her.
"I'm not doing anything. I swear it's not me this time," he replied coolly.
Chelsea leaned against the metal, eyes closed.
Her mind darkened to pitch-black, then suddenly flashed. The creature was free! It let out a scream and bounded from the cage, vanishing into the darkness once again.
"What the hell?" Jen said. A deadly calm had settled over her friend. She stood up and stared at the floor. Freddy's eye twitched as she leaped over the railing, disappearing below. Both ran over to the railing, peering over. She was gone.
She was hidden in a small room, where prying eyes couldn't see. She screamed as her skull pushed out, forming a narrow muzzle. Her fingers lengthened to become three-fingered hands with deadly killing claws. Eagle legs formed, equipped with killer blades on the second toes. Her vision sharpened and her tail swished. Her jaws opened and she let out a primordial screech, renting the room with the shriek. She moved out of the room, onto a catwalk and stepped carefully up the stairs.
Freddy averted his gaze as he was hit with the mysterious presence. Jen turned and froze, seeing something approaching out of the corner of her eye.
"Oh, my God!" she screamed. Freddy whirled and stared.
Intelligent, glittering eyes calculated their moves. There were two of them; one gave a startled jerk and the eyes shifted to the other. Her chest rose and fell evenly, giving them the impression that she was a quick-footed predator.
The hand claws flexed, getting used to their new strength. The tail lashed behind her lazily. Her nostrils flared, inhaling the scent of her prey. A tremor ran through her legs as she crouched slightly. One prey smelled completely different from the other, that was obvious enough.
An image of a three-headed serpent filled her mind, and her gaze turned to the one that had screamed.
"Kill her!" one head wailed.
"Yesss….kill her!" another head screamed.
"Spare the other," the third howled.
Her tail swished, bobbing her head in hungry agreement. The killing claws rose up, deployed and ready to rip flesh open.
"Chels? It's me, remember?" Jen asked, backing away. The Velociraptor paid no attention to her words, slowly stepping towards her.
Freddy's eyes glinted. So this is what he'd felt: a fear of her favorite predator hurting and killing her friends. He smiled as the Dream Demons' plan crept into his mind, showing him what could happen.
The raptor snarled, pulling back its lip to reveal sharp, glistening teeth. She walked past Freddy as if not seeing him, bobbing her head. Her prey turned and fled, racing down the walkway. She threw back her head and howled before leaping after her.
Jen slid down a metal pole, crying, as the hissing shriek met her ears. Looking up, she could see the dark creature thumping across the grating towards her. She let go and dropped the rest of the way to the floor, glancing back. The raptor was just about to reach the railing.
She took off down the hall, slipping under pipes and over twisted pieces of metal. Everywhere she went, she could still hear the primordial screech following her. Jen stopped at a clearing, looking around for her pursuer. The raptor stared back hungrily from the catwalk across from her. She looked ahead and saw a door, bolting in and locking the door.
Chelsea stepped up onto the thin strip of metal, crouching on the railing, watching. She snarled and jumped to the floor, landing with a dull thump. Screaming, she charged at the door, slamming into it with her full weight. Her prey screamed inside as the door window shattered from the force, and she screamed again, raking her claws down the metal door with metallic shrieks.
Freddy watched the scene from a catwalk, watching the black-and-red creature jump away, only to charge the door again. He tilted his head as the raptor trudged away, glancing at the door, then moving behind a boiler, crouching into a running stance. He smiled; clever girl, waiting for her prey to come to her.
Jen cried into her arms, her hands wrapped around her knees. Her friend had become a bloodthirsty killing machine and she didn't know how to help her. The raptor screamed outside again, and she looked up, thinking. If Chelsea were to see it was her and not prey, would she attack? She wiped her tears away and stood up, slowly walking over to the door. Taking a deep breath, she reached out a trembling hand and grabbed the handle.
Chelsea's head perked up as the door began to open. Screaming, she charged out from behind the boiler. Her prey's face was contorted with shock as she leaped, slamming into her with her hind feet. The slid in a ways, and Freddy leaped down to the floor to get a better look at what was going on.
"Chelsea! It's me! Please, you have to remember before you become as bloodthirsty as what Freddy is!" Jen cried, knowing the price if she failed.
The raptor clamped its jaws onto her throat, holding her in a death strangle. Yet, she did not bite. The raptor's eyes narrowed, fighting with conflicting minds.
"Kill her!" the Dream Demons screamed.
She felt her prey move under her and placed a clawed hand on its face, drawing blood. The smell of blood overwhelmed her olfactory system and she inhaled deeply, drawing it in.
"Please, Chelsea. Don't you remember the last day of school? Your last day with Dustin?" Jen pleaded, crying.
Hrr? Chelsea froze as memories danced across her mind, drawing her attention away from her prey.
Chelsea and her friends were sitting on the school steps on the last day of school, cheering as students ran around them, whooping and laughing. The sun was shining brightly, showering the bright green grass with brilliant light.
Jen was talking to her about making their own little movie while she and Dustin hugged. They'd been so happy that day, too joyful for words to describe. They packed up their stuff and began walking to her house. As Dustin turned to leave, she caught him and he turned, smiling. They embraced each other and kissed, not wanting to leave the other… But he had to go home…
Tears slid down her scaled cheeks, and she slowly released her friend. She sat on her haunches, crying in shame for almost killing her best friend.
Jen stood and hugged her awkwardly, trying to calm her. The raptor leaned its head against hers, tears spilling onto her shirt. The clawed hands gently wrapped around her, embracing her.
"It's okay, Chels. I know you're sorry. You didn't have control," she soothed the wailing Velociraptor.
"Kill her!" Freddy suddenly bellowed, standing in the doorway. "Kill her, raptor! She's not of your blood or mind! Kill her!"
The elongated head turned towards him, pupils contracting to slits. Her jaws were wide open, spittle running onto the stone floor. The raptor turned, deploying her killing claws. Her tail lashed behind her angrily, striking the walls hard.
Freddy took a step back as she pounced, landing on him, shoving him to the floor with her hind paws. The second toe shot to his throat, and she stood above him, snarling. Her eyes glittered dangerously, showing no mercy for the one who'd slaughtered her friends.
"You failed, Krueger," she snarled, digging the claw in farther. "You've slaughtered my friends, but you fucked up when you tried to get me to kill Jen."
Freddy glared up at her, readying himself. He smashed the glove into the side of her head, and she rolled off him with a sharp yelp. She leaped to her feet, and they circled each other.
Chelsea charged him, and he raised his glove. She snapped at it, and he drove two blades into her side. Fresh blood spilled onto the ground as she stumbled away. She threw her head forward, emitting a full-hearted screech.
Freddy chuckled as she circled, sizing him up, wary now. He followed her every move, bracing himself whenever she made a mock-charge. She suddenly darted forward, seizing the glove in her jaws.
Blood trickled to the floor as the razors dug into the sides of her mouth. She refused to let go, tugging hard on his weapon. He pounded on her head with his fist, trying to pry her off. She clawed at him with her forelimbs as he backed away, trying to pull her off. She snarled between pulls and kicked him in the stomach, sinking her claw in. He grabbed her leg, wrenching it free, along with a plume of vile blood.
They fell to the floor, locked in bloody combat. They kicked and punched at each other, willing the other to back off. Chelsea clamped down harder as he twisted the razors around in her mouth to get her off.
She leaped away suddenly, glove in hand. Freddy stood, appalled. Chelsea sported a punctured side, a bleeding mouth, and a bruised skull. Yet, she'd pulled the damn glove off! She exhaled sharply and grabbed the glove by the leather.
Freddy watched in horror as she shredded the glove, tearing the leather apart, flinging it onto the floor. Pieces of metal flew off, hitting him. A large piece clanked at his feet and he looked down. It was the shield plate from on top. She snarled, spitting the remaining metal at his feet. All that remained was a shield plate, four razor blades, and a few strings of leather.
He slowly lifted his head to look at her, anger raging. His upper lip quivered, and she bared her teeth at him, trying to put on the tough act. Freddy snapped his hand and a second glove formed around his wrist. He watched her expression as her triumph turned to horror. The red lights darkened, the only light flickering from the fires within the boilers.
And suddenly, every once of rage Freddy had ever felt—rage for his years of imprisonment in the dark abyss every time he was sent to Hell—coursed through him. He clenched his fists, tensed his body, then forced his volcanic fury through every corpuscle and twisted cell of his being.
Slowly, before her eyes, Freddy began to distort, to change—his very skin becoming an expression on incendiary wrath.
In the space of mere moments, Chelsea found herself staring into the eyes of something utterly feral. She was already terrified of Freddy, but this transformation, this apotheosis into the embodiment of a hellish dream demon…
His eyes had become narrow slits with a dead black dot of a pupil. His ears had become pointed, like those of a devil. His lips were black, his teeth jagged and sharp. His whole face had taken on the look of eternal evil. While his skin—his skin was now the color of blood, only more pitted, more sunken, more a tangle of veins inside a shadow of psychotic slaughter.
He raised his right hand. The glove... The blades were longer, sharper, more curved—truly now a nightmare of precision-steel talons. In the midnight blackness, all Chelsea could see were those two yellow eyes. The eyes of snarling hatred… The eyes of death…
"Not so courageous now, huh, bitch? You know, you're in my territory now…" he sneered cruelly, walking quickly towards her.
Chelsea jumped away as he swiped at her, missing her by mere inches. She backed away as he came at her again, and this time she ran. She didn't care where or how she got away, as long as she put some distance between them.
"Chelsea! Run!" Jen screamed from above. She cringed as Freddy lifted his head towards her.
"You're next, bitch!" he snarled, giving chase after her friend. He raced after her, slicing pipes clean in half as he went in fury. The raptor-girl in front of him suddenly leaped up onto a catwalk, landing nimbly, and taking off towards Jen. He flicked a blade, and the grating in front of her collapsed, taking her with it. She landed heavily in front of him, motionless. He glared down at her as she slowly twisted her head to look at him, dazed.
Chelsea tried to move her legs; they were still paralyzed by the fall. She snapped at his hand as he leaned over her, desperately trying to defend herself. He grabbed her by the tail and dragged her away, letting go, and throwing her against a boiler. She howled as the scalding metal seared her side and fell to the floor once more. He picked her up again and threw her into a network of pipes, spewing hot steam into the room as they broke from impact. She bounced off them until finally landing sorely at his feet, yelping and whimpering.
"Chelsea!" Jen screamed, trying to find a way down to them. She peered anxiously over the railing down at them. "Chelsea, run! He'll kill you!" She grew quiet as Freddy turned to look up at her.
"She's already dead, bitch! Dead meat!" he screamed back at her, motioning to the raptor. "Look at her: does she look like she's in the condition to run? I don't fucking think so! So don't start your useless bitching!"
The raptor-girl moaned and slowly pulled herself to her feet, hanging onto a nearby pipe for support. She exhaled sharply, spitting blood onto the floor. If they didn't wake up for sure, she'd either die here or die from her injuries in the real world if they ever did wake up again.
Freddy turned suddenly back to her and slammed a boot into her side. She collapsed on the floor again, howling. He sneered down at her, twitching his blades. This bitch… Once he got rid of her and her annoying bitch of a friend, he could get back to his children…the sweet, innocent little girls of Elm Street.
"You fucking, broke-ass, sadistic bastard maniac!" she screamed hoarsely up at him. Her legs were vibrating, slowly getting their feeling back.
Freddy placed a blade to the side of her tail and quickly dug it in, pulling it back out just as quick. She gave a pained yelp, and he chuckled cruelly. Her eyes darted anxiously, looking for some way out of her predicament.
"You fucking, dim-witted, know-it-all bitch," he taunted back at her. She glared up at him, readying herself. The feeling had come back into her legs and it was now or never.
Freddy leaned closer, concentrating on her wounds. He lowered a blade to her scalded flank and plunged the razor in.
Almost immediately, he was thrown back with force as she kicked her legs out hard. He slammed into a boiler with a bang, slumping down onto the floor. The raptor-girl stood up painfully, limping badly towards Jen.
"Jen, wake up and wake me up! Hurry! Otherwise he'll kill me!" she yelled, wheezing from her injured ribcage. Freddy got to his feet and charged her, furious, glove raised. Chelsea cringed in fear as he reached her, and started to bring the blades down at lightning speed.
Jen closed her eyes and instantly awoke. She turned to her friend and slapped her hard. With a sharp yelp, her body twisted—and Jen was staring into the face of a prehistoric beast. She screamed and drew back.
Chelsea looked around wildly, trembling. Blood trickled onto the floor, staining the carpet. Her tail convulsed madly, shaking her entire body.
"He-he- I- Oh, God, I never wanna fall asleep again!" she howled. Jen put a finger to her lips. There was the sound of approaching footsteps.
"Quick! Stand in the corner!" Jen hissed, pushing her friend. The raptor leaped into place right as Jen's mother opened the door and screamed.
Both held their breath; Jen's eyes had widened.
"Oh! Is that new?" her mother asked, pointing at the still raptor-girl. "I've never seen that before."
"Uh, yeah!" Jen hastily agreed. "Got it off e-Bay from Jurassic Park."
"Well, clean your room, Jen. It's leaking fake blood on the carpet," her mother said, closing the door. They listened to her dispersing footsteps, and Chelsea relaxed.
"God, we need to figure out a way to change you back…" Jen eyed her friend, thinking. Chelsea hung her head.
"How can we? Freddy'll kill us as soon as we set foot back in the dream world." She stepped onto Jen's bed and sat on her haunches, killer claws lowered. Blood trickled from her wounds onto the sheets.
"Oh, come off it, girl. If we can act out another 'kill' or something, maybe, just maybe, he'll change you back," Jen suggested. "And get off my bed. You're getting blood all over the sheets."
The raptor glanced at the blood and gingerly stepped off. She stared solemnly out the window, her limbs sagging in defeat.
"Face it, Jen. Freddy's got us beat. The next time we fall asleep, we're done for. And I highly doubt he'll change me back. He'll probably say it's enough torture for me to be stuck this way forever." Jen stared at her friend disapprovingly.
"Girl, when was the last time you admitted defeat? Especially from a sadistic, undead, burned freak? Huh? Never! And two years ago you whooped his ass!" Jen informed her. "You stood up to Jason fucking Voorhees and lived to tell about it! You outsmarted both of them! Why, I bet you could whoop Michael Myers', Chucky's, and Leatherface's asses too!"
Chelsea stared at her, still daunted. She just didn't get it.
"Jen, last time I whooped his ass, we were still all together! Still a team! But look what happened: Hope got eaten by that flying sniff-freak, Dustin got killed by the same creep with a fucking throwing star, Erica's gone missing, and what's left? Us. Just the two of us. We only defeated them both because we were a team!"
Jen remained quiet, a chill running down her back. She was right. They'd gotten rid of them for the time being… only because they'd been a team. Now almost every one of them was dead, except for Erica; she'd gone missing a month ago.
"I… We were together, but it had been your bravery that had actually gotten Freddy back to his own world," she mumbled.
"Only because you forced me to," the raptor retorted sourly. Jen sat down beside her.
"Well, we could still try. Because I'm sure as hell you don't want to remain a dinosaur for the rest of your life."
Chelsea stared out the window, a flicker of hope in her eyes. Unless Freddy changed her back, she'd stay a raptor forever. She'd have to hide out, eventually get discovered, and get sent off to some science lab for experimenting. Her hatred burned, and the wounds bubbled.
Jen stared in shock as the blood trickling down from her injuries began to bubble and hiss, drawing back in and healing. She looked up as the raptor turned towards her, eyes ablaze with rages of hatred.
"Let's go kick that motherfucker's ass all over dream land."