Chapter 3: Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
(Trigger Warning is in place for mention of sexual assault)
A mere few days would pass after Alex Hollins and Amanda Sky visited Smith's Grove and Springwood Penitentiary before the black bus arrived. For the lab near Crystal Lake, it was only a few hours but the result was the same. The most dangerous killer from each location was loaded onto the bus escorted by men with SWAT team-like armor. A single man with a suit and sunglasses would take care of all the paperwork and legal proceedings, never making any more human contact than he had to. His inhuman presence unnerved all who so much as looked at him and while no one realized it, his leaving along with the armed guards and the slashers caused them to breathe out in relief.
Due to his unusual strength and undead nature, Jason was kept in a comatose state the entire ride to the train. Every time there were 10 or so minutes left before the previous dosage had run its course, one of the guards injected a new one. The rides with Michael and Freddy didn't require as much care. The guards on Michael's bus simply made it a point to never take their eyes off of him for even a second and the ones on Freddy's bus quickly learned to tune out his chatty voice.
"So just where the hell are you taking me, Jethro?" He asked the guard nearest to him as they reached the halfway point of their journey. The guard, of course, ignored him. "Oh what's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Once again, the guard said nothing in response. Now Freddy was beginning to lose patience. "Hey asshole, if you men in black motherfuckers are taking me out of Springwood, I should at least get to know wh-
Before Freddy could finish his demand, the guard rammed the butt of his rifle into his nose, nearly smashing it. Blood and spittle splattered onto the man's helmet as the former Springwood Slasher fell to the floor and covered his nose with his hands. His howls of pain caught the attention of the other guards who approached him, guns pointed right at his body.
"What's the meaning of this?" One of them asked the guard who had sent Freddy to the floor.
"Wouldn't shut up." He replied calmly, knowing that as long as Freddy didn't die, the most he would get was a slap on the wrist for his actions. He had worked for Black Rose long enough to know this.
The superior guard looked to Freddy and back to the other guard before groaning. "Help the prisoner back into his seat and someone call Martha to come look at his nose." He pointed a stern finger at the other guard. "As for you, see that you keep your outburst in check, got it?"
"Sir yes sir!" The guard saluted his superior who returned the favor and went down the bus as the other guards helped Freddy back into the seat. The former dream demon was still groaning and holding his bloody nose. Once the other guards had gone to fetch Martha, he glared at the remaining guard. "You'll pay for that." He growled.
To his surprise, however, the guard simply responded by laughing in his face. "Oh what are you gonna do? Kill me in my dreams? Face it asshole! Your days of killing kiddies in their sleep are over. There's no way to return to the Dream Realm and you're going to spend the rest of your life as a guinea pig." The guard laughed again as he resumed the original position he held before he had hit Freddy. "Karma's a bitch ain't she?"
Freddy continued to glare at the guard for a moment more before giving up and looking out the window. As much as he didn't want to admit it, everything the guard said was true. Even if he had found a way to escape this Black Rose Place they were taking him to, it would be completely pointless if he couldn't get his dream powers back. He'd just be a homeless old man with disfigured skin hated by every single human being on Planet Earth. That being said, he had no idea how to reclaim them.
A few hours later, all three buses arrived at the same train station. The station was mostly empty save for more guards and people in jumpsuits that Freddy quickly deduced were lesser criminals. What purpose they serve, he did not know nor care to know. Twice as many guards were needed for Jason due to his heavy size, and the black mass they created as they surrounded him blocked the sight of his undead body from both Freddy and Michael.
Freddy failed to recognize Michael and saw him as one of the many other criminals being loaded onto the train. Michael, on the other hand, remembered Freddy and glared at him, mentally promising to himself that he would tear the dream demon apart before long.
Freddy, Michael, and Jason were loaded into cars all their own two guards stationed at either door. An hour after arriving at the station, the train sounded its whistle which sounded to all three slashers like a woman screaming, and began its journey toward Black Rose. By then, the sun was beginning to set and the stars were already visible throughout the sky. Freddy couldn't help but stare at them for a while and contemplate on his situation.
"It's all their fault." He thought bitterly. "Hockey Puck and Captain Kirk. They're the reason I got pulled out from the Dream Realm again. They're the reason I got caught." He gritted his teeth in anger. "If I ever get a hold of those two, I'm gonna send them both to hell no matter what!" It was with these venomous thoughts that Freddy fell asleep as did Michael. If Jason had been awake and aware of his situation, he would be thinking the same thing as well.
Freddy was jilted awake by the train making its stop at the next station. Parked outside the station were four more black buses and the Black Rose Sanitarium was only an hour away. Their journey was almost over.
Great care was given to make sure the slashers were on different buses although this time they had company in the form of the lesser criminals, some of whom were already sitting in the seats when the trains arrived. Freddy deduced that this was because these criminals were from around here and was seated next to one of them. He was a heavyset man whose shaggy hair covered most of his face. He seemed to keep blubbering to himself and only seemed to notice Freddy when the former dream demon tapped on his shoulder.
"Is it true that everything's bigger in Texas?" He joked.
Freddy's attempt at humor utterly failed. The man simply turned to Freddy, gazed upon with one golden-brown eye peeking through his hair, and cried out in fear. He backed away toward the window and, upon finding he had put as much distance between him and the burned man as he could, curled up into a little ball and began sobbing.
"Great." Freddy sighed. "I got seated with the special ED."
Michael wasn't fairing much better. Knowing the risk he posed to the other criminals, the guards burrowed some of the tranquilizers from Jason's team and injected Michael with enough to keep him out for two hours. Jason himself was given his final dosage and sat at the back of the bus away from the other inmates. For the first time since he was captured, his face was covered in a mask, a burlap sack with eyeholes to be exact so as the keep the other criminals from realizing Jason was undead.
Once the buses were fully loaded, they began the last leg of the journey to Black Rose Sanitarium. The drive took them through the arid landscape of Texas and the intense heat from outside wormed its way into the buses, making everyone sweat. Freddy and Jason were the only ones not adding to the pools on the floors of their respective buses due to their undead useless pores. Regardless, Freddy still felt uncomfortable, especially after his new acquaintance fell asleep and used his right shoulder like a pillow.
Eventually, the buses pulled out in front of a giant building that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps it was. The building had a black and gray color scheme and was surrounded by a 20-foot fence with pointed joints jutting out from its top. A small sign reading CAUTION hung near the entrance and while the remaining text could not be read from the bus, everyone with more brain capacity than Freddy's new friend could tell by the picture of a stick figure being electrocuted that the fence would do the same to them.
The entrance opened up for them and the guards gathered all the inmates into a single giant line through the doors. Freddy felt as if he were a cow being led along with the rest of the herd to the slaughterhouse and as they neared the building that would be their new hellish home, he backtracked his mind and decided that he had it actually worse than a cow. A cow didn't know what was waiting for it inside the building if it was lucky.
Once all the other passengers were herded inside the entrance, the guards dragged out the unconscious bodies of Michael and Jason and attached them to dollies. They rolled the dollies inside and closed the gates behind them as the buses drove off. If Freddy had been able to see either of the two silent killers in that compromising position, he would have found it quite amusing.
Once inside the sanitarium, the prisoners were led down a maroon corridor lined with rows upon rows of cells. Freddy felt as if he was in one of those old prison movies, especially when he noticed more guards walking down the platforms before the cells. They were armed with guns and a few of them seemed to glare at the prisoners. Freddy and some of the other prisoners returned the favor, refusing to be intimidated by these bastards. The power they held was an illusion and they all knew it.
The corridor emptied into a giant bare room with a single platform hanging over it. Standing on that platform, clad in a white lab coat and a grey dress shirt underneath, was a woman with greyish-white disorganized hair. Her black-rimmed spectacles were ever so lightly tilted giving her the appearance of a mad scientist from a children's TV show. Such a look would have been comical if it were not for her twisted smile which seemed to stretch just a little too wide for a mere human, as if there were pongs pulling her cheeks back. The woman continued to wear this hideous smile until all the prisoners were lined up in front of her horizontally, Michael and Jason being wheeled up at both ends of the new line. Once this new line was finally formed, the woman moved her mouth to speak.
"Greetings! My name is Vivian Malachite and I welcome you all to Black Rose Sanitarium. I'm sure you have all sorts of questions as to why we selected you to be here today and the simplest answer I can think of is this: You are human scum."
There were murmurs and whispers of disapproval among the prisoners although not a single one argued against Vivian's statement. There was no point in denying the truth at this point anyway.
"All of you have made it a point to hurt other human beings for no matter reason than your own self-gratification. Some of you are arsonists. Some of you rapists. And some of you are just killers. One way or another, you are on the fast track to Hell and this is your first stop. That being said, I do have some good news."
More whispering. More murmuring.
"The real reason you are all here today is to participate in my experiments in human psychology. It is with your help that I and my staff hope to solve the mystery of human evil once and for all. To discover why you burned down your family home, why you forced yourself on that girl at the club and why you killed that poor man walking down the street. With your help, we can put an end to human evil once and for all."
This time, Vivian's words were responded to with jeers and death threats. One of the men even threatened to climb up to the platform she was standing on and rape her right in front of the crowd. Vivian's face didn't seem to so the slightest bit of fear or concern. She continued to smile her inhumanly wide smile and although he would never admit it to anyone, even Freddy was getting a little freaked out by her.
"I understand some of you may not be so keen on helping us better humanity but you have to look at the bigger picture here."
The jeering died down somewhat but not for long.
"You don't have a fucking say in the matter!" She burst into laughter as the crowd jeered again. She laughed so hard that tears welled in her eyes and she fell backward to the floor, feet kicking up in the air. It was at this moment that a scrawny-looking man with blonde hair and thick glasses ran up to the platform. He seemed to be in a panic and his eyes widened with fear as they fell upon the prisoners. He looked down at the still-laughing Vivian as if mentally pleading for her to continue and when she did not, he gulped and spoke in her stead.
"Before the official experiments can begin, we'll need to perform some basic tests with you. Those will begin tomorrow at 7:00 AM on the dot. The guards will now lead you to your cells. There's a...well...a little surprise waiting for you there."
With this, the man gave a shaky signal with his hand and the guards reacted to this by pointing their guns at the prisoners and marching them back down the corridor. Half of the group were made to climb a set of stairs near the entrance they had come into the building from to the second-floor cells while the rest were made to enter the first-floor cells. Freddy was among these prisoners and as he entered his cell, he spotted a toilet in the right corner of the room and a bed on the opposite side. Sitting on the bed, was a strange collar-like device. It was gray with a green line running over it.
"The fuck is that?" Freddy asked.
The guard answered with a butt to Freddy's head and a hoarse "Put it on!"
Growling at the guard but knowing he had no choice, Freddy walked toward the bed, picked up the device, and put it around his neck. Instantly, he felt a sharp pain all around his neck as if someone were holding a pocket knife to it, the blades already scraping the flesh and drawing blood. There was a loud "click" sound coming from the device followed by Vivian's voice.
"Greetings prisoner! I'm sure you're just dying to know what the device around your neck is for right? Probably literally!" Another round of laughter followed, this time close enough to Freddy's eardrums to cause the former dream demon pain. The guard seemed to smile as Freddy covered his ears. Soon enough, the laughter ceased and Vivian continued. "Let's call it an insurance policy. After all, we wouldn't want for you guys to do something sneaky like trying to start a riot or escape now, would we? I could explain exactly what the device would do to you if I were to press any of the buttons on my little remote but for now, all you need to know is that I can press those little buttons at any time and that only I have the keys to unlock them. Oh! And they can sense when someone is trying to destroy them. Have fun!"
Freddy pulled on the device and sure enough, it was now locked around his neck. He pulled on it harder and harder but it wouldn't budge. What did happen was that the green light turned red and began beeping. Another voice sounded from the device, this one robotic in nature.
"CEASE DISRUPTION OF DEVICE. FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN DEATH. 10...9...8..."
Freddy let go of the device and sighed heavily. He heard the guard chuckle as he walked away and fought the urge to glare at him. Instead, the former dream demon opted to sit on his bed and exhale. In a few hours, the sun would set again and he would try to get as much sleep as he possibly could before tomorrow. What kinda "of tests" they were hoping to put him through, he had no idea but whatever they were, he was sure of one thing, they would not be pleasant.
"Life's a bitch." He said to himself as he laid down. "And an ugly one at that."
"This is great!" Vivian shouted as she burst into her private study, her assistant Teddy trailing behind her. "After all these years, after all the investments and all the trials, Project Cain is finally underway!" She tore open one of the cabinets to her desk and got out a bottle of champagne as well as two glasses. She popped open the cork and poured champagne into both glasses before handing one to Teddy.
"Oh," He waved his hand. "I don't drink."
"You do tonight!" Vivian forced the glass into Teddy's hand and downed half of hers in one gulp. Teddy looked down at his drink, sighed, and forced down the contents. He wasn't much of a drinker and had to fight the urge to cough and gasp as the champagne flowed down his throat.
"Just think!" Vivian chirped. "Starting tomorrow, we can finally begin the test! And after that, the experiments!" She downed the last of her drink and poured herself some more. "And the best part? We have three of the greatest serial killers in history among our guinea pigs!"
"You mean Krueger, Myers, and Voorhees right?" Teddy asked.
"Of course!" Vivian opened up the laptop sitting on her desk and turned it so that Teddy could see the screen. The screen displayed all three of the killers as they had appeared in their prime with a box of text next to each picture. On the top of each box was a title, a name Vivian had given to the killers to emphasize their importance to her mission.
The Nightmare:
Real Name: Fredrick Charles Krueger
Born: May 19th, 1942
Body Count: 42 known victims
Points of Interest: Possesses the ability to invade the dreams of human beings and inflict fatal wounds from said state. His existence confirms the reality of a "Dream Realm."
The Shape:
Real Name: Michael Audrey Myers
Born: October 19, 1957
Body Count: 100 known victims, 50 unconfirmed kills.
Points of Interest: Seems to be unkillable and ages slowly.
The Juggernaut:
Real Name: Jason Voorhees
Born: June 13, 1946. Is reported to have died in 1957
Body Count: 200 known victims, 100 unconfirmed kills.
Points of Interest: Is the world's only fully confirmed undead being. Cannot be physically killed.
"Just think of all we could learn from these monsters!" Vivian downed her champagne in a single gulp. "We're on our way to the top!"
That's great." Teddy agreed. The assistant rubbed the back of his neck nervously and asked, "Since we finally have those three in custody, do you think you can finally tell me what Project Cain is?"
Vivian shot Teddy a look that told him he wouldn't be getting the answers he sought. This look was replaced by a forced smile. "In time Teddy. In time. There is something I need you to do for me first."
"W-What?"
Vivian began rummaging through her drawers. "As one might expect, we bumped into quite a few other points of interest while searching for the Nightmare, Shape, and Juggernaut. That killer doll story turned out to be bullshit and those sightings of the ghost of Ben Willis in Colorado couldn't be confirmed but there's still one more thing we haven't disproven yet. I want you to test it out."
"Oh um...sure." Teddy tented his fingers nervously. "W-What would you have me do?"
"Oh nothing much," Vivian said as she got back up from under the desk and presented a golden puzzle box to Teddy. "Just solve a little puzzle for me."
