Chapter 7

Pulled, Shot, and Cut Into Place

"Wait…you 2 know each other?"

Leon stood next to Ash, their arms around each other's shoulders in a brotherly embrace, saying, "We do indeed, Jake. This big guy right here helped me with special training while I was going through the basics of the service. While I was there, he told me all about his mis-adventures fighting the spawn of the Necronomicon."

Ash turned to the rest, continuing, "At first, he thought it was bullcrap, but then he realized he wasn't the only one up Hell River without a paddle. What with me having to fight the evil dead 7 times now – twice with Krueger, if you wanted to know - and the Necronomicon having made me immortal afterwards—"

"Wait", Rebecca interrupted. "Immortal? Exactly when were you born?"

"1962."

"And how old are you now?"

"36."

Angela, Jacob, and Rebecca took it all in as it seemed too much to take in at once. Indeed, what was coming out of his mouth did indeed seem like bullcrap, but there could be no other explanation for what was going on. Having encountered the Book of the Dead so many times and won, Ash never completely ended up as one of them. On the contrary, his hard-fighting life had granted him a reward: the power to be immortal.

Just then, another member of the Secret Service, a war-hardened man with a craggy face and wavy black hair, came into the room, reporting, "Sorry, Leon, but the chief's ordered everyone on the White House grounds to stay on the property for at least the night. You and your…", he drifted off, eyeing the character that Ash put off before continuing, "friends…will have to stay the night here."

Ash, flexing his powerful gauntlet hand, was about to step forward and argue their case until the cows came home, but was stopped by a gentle put-out arm from Leon. Still angry, Ash stepped back, not saying anything. Leon then gave his thanks to his fellow agent, who then left the room as 2 medics came in with a body bag.

"Well…what do we do now?" Angela's question rang out in the now almost-hostile environment, as the medics took Ashley's body away. At this Ash looked down at her, replying, "I guess we have to stay here and save the demon-hunting for now, sweet cakes." Then he adopted his tone for picking up chicks, continuing, "What's a pretty lady like you doing in a place like this?" At this, Angela picked up an indignant tone, saying, "How can you afford to try hitting on me at a time like this? Besides, I'm already taken, tough guy."

Leon then stepped behind Angela, wrapping his arms around her, and joked, "Sorry, Ash, but I beat you to her this time."

"Can we stop this already?" Jacob's question forced everyone to stop the frivolity and remind themselves where they were and why. "If anyone comes across Krueger in their dreams, the rest of us will be the first to know. Try to wake each other up if you can, and whoever's dreaming needs to have a hold on Krueger when they awake."

Jacob's requests – almost bordering on orders – made Ash turn to Jacob with a start, demanding, "Look, buddy, I don't give a Deadite's ass how you got here, but when did you start calling the shots?" Jacob then looked Ash straight in the eye, replying in a just-as-angry tone, "Since I became the Dream Master after my mother died. Remember that, Ash-hole?"

At first, Ash had no idea what he was blabbering about, but then he remembered. Of course! How could he forget when Alice Johnson, the Dream Master, sacrificed herself to Freddy to pass her powers on to her son so he could help defeat him?

"I can see where the guy gets his charm", Ash retorted, which was met by sniggers from Leon and Angela, a hand on Jacob's shoulder from Rebecca, and Jacob's eyes rolling. And so the humor and insults stopped, replaced by personal preparations for the hard lag ahead…

biAs they drifted off, he could feel the presences of them all come in: the secret agent, the former medic, the SRT lady, not to mention the Dream Master and that chainsaw-wielding wiseass. He wanted nothing more to do with them again. No more would they interfere with his plans. And yet he had to wonder why the other 4 hadn't joined them yet.

"Ada, darlin'", Freddy called to her, "go and entertain our guests, while I finish the party preparations." No sooner had the words left his mouth than Evil Ada zipped through the skyline of the city.

"Now…let's see how they go against me this time."

His eyes finally opening in the dream world, Ash took a look around where he was, examining his surroundings.

"Well, looks like Toto's not in Kansas anymore", Ash weakly joked. This wasn't the boiler room that Freddy had so loved and lived in to kill his helpless victims. It had the same atmosphere, sure, but the boilers, walkways, and smoke were replaced by skyscrapers, work and office buildings, and ominous moans. He had no idea where he was, but he did know one thing: Ash and the others had a job to do.

Preparing for the worst, Ash grabbed at his prosthetic hand and twisted it off, stuffing it in an all-too-secure pouch on his holster. He then pulled the heavy chainsaw out of its holster, attaching its hoseclamp onto the wrist of his right arm.
"Groovy", Ash said in an unnaturally deep voice. He then began to walk down the street that he was on, looking around at every building, fearful that Krueger might jump out at him from nowhere and everywhere at once. As it turned out, it wasn't long before he was jumped, but not by Krueger.

A rotted, undead human shambled out from a dark corner to greet him, rotting from a thousand places, seeping blood and pus, and wearing a raggy shirt with pants to match. It was too far gone to determine if it was male or female, but Ash didn't care. What he did manage to notice was that it moved much too slow to be a Deadite. iNo chainsaw needed here, it's only a zombie. But even so../i

He grabbed the shotgun from its holster on its back, and, cocking it with his good hand and then catching the stock around the trigger area, took careful aim at the zombie's head, and squeezed. The ol' double barrel boomstick belched fire as the zombie's head was obliterated with a mighty boom. The body crumpled as the head exploded like an old pumpkin meeting the ground.

But the moaning never stopped. On the contrary, they seemed to be getting louder and louder by the second. Ash turned around to see that in the time it had taken to kill the solitary zombie, dozens more had met to take him down. Holstering the shotgun and grabbing the chainsaw's starter cord in one swift motion, Ash yanked on the cord, satisfied to hear the chainsaw thrumming on his wrist, to see the chain moving around the blade.

"All right…come get some", Ash whispered, and with a yell, dove into the crowd, swinging his chainsaw wildly into the flay. Steel met with rotting skin everywhere as arms, legs, heads, and blood went flying all around Ash, yet he not once managed to get bitten or scratched, even as he went insane on them. As more of them closed in on him, he unholstered his Remington once again, shooting at one side of the crowd as the chainsaw made mincemeat out of the other side. Pump, cut, shoot, pump, shoot, cut…the cycle went on in Ash's head as he kept on.

In about 20 minutes, which could've been 20 years, it was over, Ash covered in sweat and blood as he panted. But his work wasn't done yet; a female scream rang out in the city of the damned dead, loud and clear. Ash ran toward the scream, hoping it wasn't too late.