- "And I, I'm darkness, I'm anger, I'm pain
I am master
The evil song you sing inside your brain" -

Kimberly Hart carefully picked her way though a dense jungle. Trees rose high above her head to form a thick canopy. The sun managed to penetrate the trees with a few scattered rays giving her precious little light to navigate by. The air was dense with humidity. It wasn't long before her brown hair hung heavy with moisture and her pink and white night gown became drenched with sweat. The plants around her were like nothing she had ever seen. She was no expert on the matter but she could at least be certain that nothing so large existed in California.

She tried to remember how she had arrived in this place, in her night gown no less. Unfortunately she found that she had no idea. Her bare feet treaded carefully on the moist jungle floor. She would have no protection if she unwittingly disturbed the hiding place of some kind of poisonous insect or snake. Her eyes wandered to the trees. If she could find one suitable for climbing the higher vantage point might allow her to see more of the jungle. If she was out here...perhaps others were as well. There might be a building or camp site nearby.

All of the tree's branches seemed too high up to even consider trying for. Then she spotted a fallen tree. If she climbed onto that it would be quite a jump...but with years of gymnastic training on her side she would be able to catch the branches of the tree next to it and begin her ascent. She had almost reached her destination when suddenly her foot sank into something mushy and a terrible smell assaulted her. Her foot jerked away instinctively. The act caused her to lose balance and fall to the ground.

For a long moment she stared, trying to comprehend what she was seeing. Lying on the jungle floor, half hidden by foliage was the enormous body of a pterodactyl. The corpse was in advanced stages of decay. A section of it's abdomen was collapsed where she had accidentally stepped on it. Maggots and half rotten intestines spilled from the wound. Rotten flesh clung to most of the body. A few places seemed to have been neglected by the ravages of time, leaving leathery pink flesh intact.

She quite suddenly became aware of a strange sensation on her foot and gasped when she realized it was covered in slimy decayed matter and writhing white maggots. Kim stood and scraped her foot along the jungle floor to clean some of the mess away, then shook her foot to dislodge the maggots. She reached to pull an enormous leaf from a nearby plant to wipe away the gore when a sudden movement made her freeze.

Kim watched the corpse intently for a moment wondering if she had imagined it. Concluding that it must have been an animal scurrying over the body she reached for the leaf again, although kept one watchful eye on the dead lizard. This time there was no mistaking it. The thing's wing twitched. Her heart raced and her eyes grew wide as the creature lifted it's head. The head shook violently from side to side, splattering her with maggots and foul smelling grey matter. She knew that she should run, but a mixture of fear and fascination held her in place.

The pterodactyl planted it's wings against the ground and pushed. Slowly it rose, it's wings lifting it higher and higher until it towered over her. It stared, eyeless sockets regarding her quizzically. Startled by the movement the maggots in it's left eye socket writhed frantically. The flesh of it's right side had been stripped away leaving gleaming white skull exposed. A loud screech tore from it's undead throat before it lunged forward, snapping it's sharp beak at Kimberly. She barely leapt back in time to avoid injury.

Finally Kimberly regained her senses. She didn't want to risk provoking the monster to attack by running so she started to back slowly into the jungle. The pterodactyl beat it's powerful wings and leapt into the air. More of it's innards spilled out as it took flight. A mass of rotted intestine splattered to the ground while the rest continued to dangle obscenely from it's punctured side. Caution was thrown to the wind as Kimberly turned and ran. Behind her the creature screeched in fury and began to give chase.

The forest was a blur as she ran, thought giving way to instinct as she dodged vines and leapt over rocks and fallen tree branches. The creature always sounded as if it were right behind her. Some part of her realized that the dense jungle should be impeding the creature's pursuit. This place she was in did not seem to be constrained to the same laws as the real world. It almost seemed like...like a dream.

Kimberly's flight through the jungle as well as her thought process were both abruptly interrupted. Sudden intense pain seized her as the creature's talons dug into her flesh. It had aimed for her shoulder, but the creature's massive size meant that the center talon hit the mark while the other two ripped through her chest and arm. The undead hunter was not able to keep hold of it's prey however. Kimberly's running momentum forcibly ripped the talons free and propelled her to the ground. Blood drenched her left side from the three deep gashes.

Running hadn't worked, which meant it was time to fight. Kimberly forced herself to stand and dropped automatically into an expert defensive position only to find that her opponent had disappeared. Unwilling to believe that the danger had passed so simply she held her stance. Loss of blood was beginning to make her woozy. The sounds of the jungle faded away until she was left in total silence. Her heart raced as she watched the shadows around her for any signs of danger.

"Sorry. That was an outdated model, wasn't it?"

From out of the darkness a man emerged. Kimberly's stomach twisted into a fearful knot at the sight of him. His face was horribly scarred and twisted into an amused smile. One hand bore a glove fitted with long deadly blades. His appearance was horrible, but that wasn't what caused Kimberly's fear. She was accustomed to fighting many monsters conjured by Lord Zedd that would beat this man in an 'ugly and scary looking' contest. No, it was something else that unnerved her about him. He radiated a sense of almost tangible malice. True evil. Something that she had only ever felt those few times she had been unfortunate enough to be face to face with Zedd.

"I can try for a Firebird next time."

"Who are you?" She demanded, doing an admirable job of hiding her weakness.

"Me? I'm new in town." He started towards her, his claws raised in an almost casual gesture.

"Wanna show me around town, Pretty in Pink?" His index and middle claws clicked together.

"How about I show you the way out?" Kimberly ran towards him and performed a sweeping kick that knocked the man onto his back. She brought her foot down on his neck and began to apply pressure.

"It's only our first date and you've already got me on my back with my legs spread."

Kim glared in disgust and slammed her foot down on the monster's neck. The neck collapsed under the pressure with a sickening crack. The scarred man grinned, blood staining his teeth and pouring from his mouth. Kim jerked back when she again felt something move against her foot. The threads of his red and green sweater were unraveling and snaking their way up her leg. She hopped backward to try and dislodge them. The threads effortlessly and painfully slid under her flesh and continued to wind their way up her leg from the inside.

Fearfully she looked at the man as he stood, spat a glob of blood onto the jungle floor then with a snap of his fingers made the wound on his neck disappear as if it never was.

"What are you!" She screamed as her fear betrayed her.

"Hired help." He replied. The threads were no longer attached to his sweater, instead snaking through her flesh of their own power. The pain was too intense for her to stand now. Kimberly staggered back, leaning against a tree for support.

"Name's Freddy Krueger."

For a moment Kimberly could do nothing but stare in horror as Freddy Krueger stalked towards her like a deadly predator moving in for the kill. She had to move. If she didn't move he would kill her. Her features hardened with determination. Hands clenched into fists.

Biting back her pain she forced her body to move with it's usual eloquent grace.

Freddy lunged for her when she moved, his claws slashing in a deadly arc. She flipped over his head, stumbling slightly on her landing. It wasn't enough to stop her fighting for her life however. She delivered a powerful kick to Freddy's back sending him crashing into the tree with a grunt of pain. He whirled, slashing out with his blades again. Kimberly dodged smoothly to the side. One arm blocked his strike while the other sent a fist slamming into his side. The strike sent him to the ground with a cry of pain.

"Lemme guess." Kimberly said. "Zedd sent you?"

Freddy growled in response as he picked himself up. Kimberly was pleased that she had managed to kill his sense of sick amusement. She ran, leapt, and delivered a flying kick that hit him square in the chest. The monster of a man flew backwards and was swallowed by the darkness of his own jungle. She sank into a fighting position again, waiting for his return. Long silent moments passed. As her adrenaline rush began to abate her body started to remember it's suffering. Kimberly allowed herself to stagger backwards, leaning against a tree to take the weight from her injured leg.

Time dragged on and still nothing happened. Kimberly began to think that she had perhaps defeated the monster, or at the very least driven him away. What happened next occurred so quickly that she was left with no time to react. The tree she was using for support came to life, two limbs impossibly bending inward to hold her in a crushing embrace. Kimberly screamed and struggled to dislodge herself from the tree's grasp. Freddy's laughter echoed through the jungle as the branches squeezed the air from her lungs. Black dots danced in front of her eyes. Gradually her struggles weakened then stopped all together as her world faded away.

Freddy stepped confidently towards his prey and grinned with satisfaction.

"One down. Five to go."