"Have you ever seen Nightmare on Elm Street?"

Dean pondered this question for just a second before its meaning started to sink in, and his eyes widened. "Freddy?"

"Yeah."

"Damn."

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"It wouldn't have helped us. It was just more bad news, and I'm sick of being the bearer of it."

The two sat uncomfortably as the minutes ticked by, not looking at each other. Finally, Dean licked his lips and broke the silence with a characteristic comment: "Well, at least we haven't met Frankenstein and the mummy yet. Things could always get worse."

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"So what's the consensus, then?" Dean continued. "Are we not allowed to sleep until he's taken care of?"

"I don't know how to kill him," Sam groused. "So my plan right now is to kill Michael Myers and deal with Freddy Krueger once he's the only one left."

"Yeah, well, your first plan was to kill Michael Myers and then take care of Jason. But that didn't work out, did it? Maybe we should just kill Freddy and then figure out Myers."

"Why?"

"Because we don't know how to kill either one."

Sam sighed and put a hand over his eyes. "I need a break."

"Me, too."

"Okay, why don't we kill Freddy and then kill Michael?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Gee, why didn't I think of that? How do you plan on killing Freddy?"

"Uh . . . We have to get him out of our dreams."

"Yeah?"

"I actually saw this movie. You have to wake up while he's attacking you in order to bring him out."

"No way are you doing it, Sam."

"Why not?" the younger hunter griped. "I have some freakish psychic ability that could be helpful. And I'm not letting you do it."

"You could die in there."

"So could you."

They stared uneasily at each other, neither willing to back down. Finally, Dean put a hand up over his eyes as though blocking his sight would erase what was going on. "I don't like this."

"You think I do? But we both know it has to be me. You can kill him as soon as I wake up. Make sure you wake me up."

"Why does it have to be you?"

"You're better at killing things," Sam insisted. "Besides, we may not have a choice in the matter."

"What? Why?"

Looking at his older brother, Sam drew a weary hand up to his face. "I haven't slept in a while, I think I'm still bleeding, and I'm practically dead on my feet."

"Not a good figure of speech, Sammy," Dean growled.

"Anyway, I think I'm going to pass out. And I have a feeling he'll attack when I do."

"You can't be dreaming if you're unconscious."

"I've already had a vision of him, Dean. He knows I'm here."

The elder hunter licked his lips nervously. "How do I wake you up?"

"I don't know. Just do what you usually do. I'm sure I'll wake up to it."

"And if you don't?"

"I will," Sam said calmly, trying to reason with his brother. "Now, we should probably go somewhere where it will be easier to control him when we've got him out here."

"Where? We can't go back to the motel because Michael Myers is there, and I don't think I can hold him off while waking you up and then killing Freddy Krueger."

"Wait a minute, Dean," the younger Winchester suddenly said. "We heard that noise a while back.""So?"

"So I'm pretty sure Michael Myers is here already."

Nearby, another twig snapped, and both brothers nearly jumped into each other's laps as they whirled toward the sound. Breathing heavily from sheer panic, they started to back away from where they'd heard movement. The forest became eerily silent as they waited.

"Do you see him anywhere?" Sam whispered after a few moments.

"Do you think I'd be standing here doing nothing if I did?" Dean retorted.

Sam took that time to shoot his brother a dirty look, and it was a good thing he did, because when he turned his head, he saw movement behind them out of his peripheral vision. Without a word, he violently shoved himself into his brother, taking them both to the ground. The swinging knife barely missed them.

"Sam, what the – look out!" Dean shouted, looking up from where he had landed on his back underneath his larger little brother and noting the crazed killer above them. His strong arms grabbed his brother's and he used all of his strength to roll them both out of the way.

The younger hunter was recovering by this time and managed to get up, one hand protectively covering the bleeding wound on his stomach that kept pulling painfully when he moved. "I guess we're taking care of Myers right now," he called to Dean.

Dean was struggling to get up, his broken cast reminding him of his throbbing but practically useless limb. He noticed his brother trying to distract Michael. They had decided on decapitation, so the elder Winchester figured that was the best course of action. Unfortunately, he had left his knife in the Impala. He either needed time to go get it – which he didn't have – or to steal Myers'. That sounded like an excellent plan, considering that then their enemy wouldn't be armed. He used a tree to drag himself up and looked back at where the fight was currently raging.

Sam dodged the knife as much as he could, praying his brother would run away. Somewhere in the back of his head, his logic promised him that Dean would never leave him, but he could still hope. Dean had stumbled to a dead branch by this time, determined to use it as the only weapon he currently had which might be useful. As his hands closed around it, he heard a sound that made his blood run cold: his brother.

Sam felt the knife slice through his shirt and skin like butter, dimly registering pain and the soft grunt that was torn from his own mouth. He blindly kicked out and thought his foot connected with something, but couldn't be sure. His vision was going gray around the edges. Normally, this would have concerned him, but his exhaustion clouded out his judgment and he felt too detached to care about anything. Instinctively trying to find his brother, his darkening eyes searched the area in vain. He let out the breath he had and crumpled to the ground.

The elder Winchester yelled when he saw Sam go down, angrily using his tree branch as a club. Somehow, Sam had managed to kick Michael Myers's hand as he fell, and the knife flew from his hand. Dean viciously slammed the wood into Myers's head, throwing the murderer off while he dove for the weapon. His fingers closed around the handle and he rolled to his back, ready to strike. But Michael was nowhere to be seen.

He looked around for a while, trying to understand what had happened. When nothing changed after almost a full minute of sitting and staring while wielding the knife, Dean got to his knees and crawled to his brother. He parted Sam's shirt to see how bad the wound was, wincing when blood prevented him from doing so. At his movement, though, the younger hunter's eyes fluttered open to slits.

"Wake me up, Dean," he mumbled slowly.

"What, Sam?"

"Wake me . . ." Sam muttered brokenly, as though speaking took up almost all of his energy. "Freddy . . . wake . . ."

Dean had forgotten about Freddy. And now that Sam was rapidly falling unconscious, they would have to deal with this new problem.

"Wait – stay with me until we get to the car, at least," he insisted, one hand on his brother's cheek. "I need a weapon!"

But Sam's only response was for his eyes to slide closed and his body to go limp. Dean momentarily panicked, checking the younger hunter's pulse and releasing his own held breath only when he felt the thump under his fingers. He prayed that Michael Myers would stay away long enough for them to take care of Freddy. They deserved that much, at least.

Then again, when had fate ever dealt them a fair hand?

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NOTE: I have been receiving the kindest reviews on this story, and I really can't tell you guys how good it makes me feel. I wasn't too sure about this story when I first posted it, but believe me when I say that your stellar comments are the only reason I've been keeping it up! Thanks!

By the way, I have a quick message for Poaetpainter: NO PENNYWISE!!! I have a thing against clowns. They terrify me. Not a lot of things scare me, but clowns do. I don't think I could even write in complete sentences if there were clowns involved. And that fear originated long before IT or the Supernatural clowns episode. I'll take suggestions on other "scary" creatures, though. Just not clowns. A big NO on clowns. Sorry about my irrational outburst. Thanks for reviewing, at least. You're great!