Chapter Two
The next morning, Buffy wakes up in the hammock all alone. Riley had gotten up earlier and hadn't returned to bed. Buffy gets up and gets dressed. She goes downstairs to find Riley cooking everyone breakfast. There's a huge stack of waffles, a serving bowl filled with scrambled eggs, and a plate of fried sausages, sliced pan fried ham, and nice crispy bacon. There's also lots of fresh fruit, just to keep the meal healthy.
"Good morning, sleepy-head!" Riley calls to her.
"Mornin'," Buffy replies, and she walks over and gives him a good morning kiss. "You do all of this?"
"I'm an early riser, you know that," he replies.
"Yeah, but I usually get early morning snuggles."
"Family tradition," says John, "Last to arrive has to cook breakfast for everyone else."
"That's not fair," says Buffy, "We had to come all the way from California."
"Rules are rules, Buff," says Riley, "Besides, I don't mind. It's been a long time since I've had a chance to cook for a large number of people. I mean, you and I usually order in."
"That's so we can spend more time doing . . . other stuff," she says, "And please don't say 'Rules are rules'. You sounded just like Ted."
"Who's Ted?" asks Wes.
"Total psycho who almost became my step dad a couple of years ago," replies Buffy, "When I wouldn't give him and my mom my blessing, he tried to kill me. Mom chased him off and we haven't heard from him since."
"Hunted by a psycho killer," says Debra, "Boy, you'll fit right in around here."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asks Buffy.
"Forget it, Buff," Riley interjects, "We're here to have a good time. Remember? Here, eat your breakfast before it gets cold."
He puts a plate of food in front of her, and begins filling her coffee mug up with fresh brewed coffee. Normally Buffy would press the point, but she figured Riley was right. They were supposed to be on vacation. All the Slayer stuff can wait. Besides, she was famished, and the food smelled delicious. So she pours on the maple syrup, fixed her coffee with just the right amount of cream and sugar, then digs in.
Everyone sits around the table eating and talking. Buffy begins to relax a bit more, as the conversation steers more towards normal stuff. They talk about what they're studying in school, how everyone knows each other, what they like to do for fun, things like that. Buffy and Riley had to edit their stories quite a bit, so as to not mention any Slayer related stuff. Still, it was nice to be able to sit around and have a 'normal' conversation, without it being about demons and monsters and eviscerations and such.
After breakfast, Riley takes Buffy on a hike through the woods. There's a trail that he used to like to walk as a kid, and he wanted to show it to Buffy. They walk along, quite content just to be in one another's presence. A twig snaps somewhere out in the bushes. Buffy stops and looks towards the sound.
"What is it?" asks Riley.
"I thought I heard something," says Buffy.
She tries to see through the bushes, but can't see very far. Riley looks as well, but the woods are very thick in this particular stretch of the trail and he can't see what made the sound either.
"It's nothing," he says, "Probably just an animal."
"What would an animal be doing out here?" asks Buffy. Again, she regrets saying it the moment the words leave her mouth.
"We're in the woods, Buffy. This is where they live."
"Sorry, I'm from the city. Most of the animals I see are in pet stores and zoos."
"Look, you're just jumpy, that's all. You've gotten so used to stuff jumping out and trying to kill you, you've forgotten how to relax. That's what we're here to do. Remember? Relax?"
"Yeah, I remember." Buffy looks back towards where she heard the sound, "I guess you're right. It probably was just an animal. Come on. Let's go back to the cabin."
"Whatever you want. This is your vacation."
"Our vacation," she corrects him.
"Okay, come on. This trail loops around back to the cabin. At this point, it'll actually be quicker to just keep going rather than turning back."
Buffy and Riley join hands and continue walking down the path. As soon as they are no longer in view, a mysterious figure steps out from the bushes.
Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma
When Riley and Buffy return to the cabin, they see that everyone else there has put on their swimsuits and are heading down to the lake. Riley and Buffy run inside and quickly get changed into their own swimsuits. Riley puts on a powder blue Speedo with yellow stripes down the sides, while Buffy puts on a hot pink thong bikini. They also grab their sun screen, some baggy clothes to wear over their swimsuits later on, and their sunglasses and towels, and then head out to join the others. When Buffy and Riley get to the dock, the others are all getting ready to go waterskiing.
"Hey Buffy," says Betsy, "Do you water ski?"
"Are you kidding?" says Buffy, "Honey, I'm from California. I was born to water ski."
Buffy slips her bare feet into the water skis and grabs the tow rope. Riley and the others get into the boat and take off at high speed. Everyone's extremely impressed with Buffy's skill on the skis. She does some truly amazing acrobatic stunts while being dragged around the lake. Only Riley understands that this is due in a large way to her being The Slayer. After a while they switch places, until eventually everyone gets a turn on the skis.
When they eventually get tired of waterskiing, they dock the boat. Then they go swimming for a while, toss the football around, play Frisbee, or just sunbathe. They build a bonfire on the beach and roast hotdogs for lunch. After lunch they do even more horsing around in the water. Betsy and Amy take their tops off to keep from having any tan lines.
Eventually the sun goes down. The wind begins to pick up bit, making the evening even cooler. The guys build up the fire and grab some blankets from the cabin to keep the beach party going. Heather breaks out the marshmallows and they begin toasting them over the fire. Then Amy breaks out the chocolate and graham crackers so they can make s'mores.
"So what's next?" asks Buffy.
"Let's tell ghost stories," says John.
"Come on," says Buffy, "Isn't that a little childish?"
"It's a Finn Family tradition," replies John, "Every time we sit around the campfire, we tell each other ghost stories."
"He's right," says Riley, "We used to do it all the time. Our parents even started it."
"Actually it was our grandparents," John corrects him, "Our parents just continued the tradition."
"Riley," says Buffy, "You know that I . . . I . . ." trying to come up with an excuse that doesn't involve mentioning that she's The Slayer and her whole life is one long horror story, "I'm not a very good story teller."
"Come on Buffy," says Debra, "It'll be fun."
"I'm sure you have some great stories to tell," Riley adds.
"Maybe she finds ghost stories too scary," says Betsy with a laugh.
"Well . . ."
"I'm sure whatever story you tell will be great," says Wes, "Just give it your best shot."
"Well . . . I guess . . ."
"Great!" exclaims Robert, "I was dreading going first. I'm kinda stumped on what story to tell."
"Okay, I do have a story," says Buffy. She takes a sip of beer to steady her nerves. She really didn't like having to perform in front of an audience, "What makes my story so scary is that it happens to be true."
"So it's one of those stories," Robert pipes in, "It happened to a friend of a friend of mine," he says sarcastically.
"Do you want me to tell this story or not?" says Buffy.
"We're sorry, Buffy," says Jamie Lee, "Go ahead and tell your story."
"Well," begins Buffy, "back in the year 1955, there was this teacher named Miss Newman. She taught English at Sunnydale High School. She was pretty new to the area, having just recently gotten her teaching degree. She was like, in her late twenties to early thirties. Anyway, she ended up falling in love with one of her students, a junior on the honor roll named James. The two of them began to see each other intimately."
"Wow, how romantic," says Amy, "Forbidden love."
"Yeah well, rumor of the affair got out," continues Buffy, "So in order to save her teaching career and James's academic future, she broke it off. But James wasn't willing to let her go that easily. On the night of the Sadie Hawkins Dance, he tried to get her to take him back. When she refused, he pulled out a gun and tried to force her to admit that she still loved him. When she tried to calm him down and get him to give her the gun, James shot her dead."
"Creep," says Betsy.
"When he realized what he did, he went into the music room, put I Only Have Eyes For Youon the record player, and then blew his brains out all over the classroom wall."
"Good!" says Heather, "Bastard kills his girlfriend. He deserved to die!"
"Good story Buffy," says Wes, "Not very scary though."
"Well if you guys would stop interrupting me, I could get to the scary part," she tells them.
"We're sorry Buffy," says Amy, "Go ahead with your story. I'm enjoying it so far."
"Okay," says Buffy, "So James shoots Miss Newman, and then kills himself. But so great is his grief, their spirits can't pass over into the afterlife. They're bound to the halls of Sunnydale High forever. And whenever the Sadie Hawkins Dance comes around, at the hour of the original murder, they possess the bodies of two people and relive their last minutes on Earth. James possesses a boy, Miss Newman possesses a girl, and they re-enacts the murder and suicide, always hoping to change the outcome. And they are doomed to continue this endless cycle until Miss Newman survives being shot, and forgives James for shooting her."
"Does she ever forgive him?" asks Amy.
"I don't know," replies Buffy, "The school blew up last year, so they have nowhere to haunt."
"Really?" asks Stephanie, "How'd that happen?"
"Oh, um, gas leak," says Buffy, "I guess that goes to show why you should never smoke in the bathroom at school."
"So that's it?" says Robert, "That's your story?"
"Hey, I told you I wasn't very good at telling stories."
"Well I liked it," says Amy, "It was romantic and creepy."
"Okay, well I've got a story for you guys," says John, "And this one isn't just true. It also happened . . . at this . . . very . . . lake."
"Oh," says Riley, "I love this one."
"Don't spoil it!" warns Amy, "I haven't heard it yet."
"Me either!" says Betsy.
"Go ahead, John," says Debra.
"Okay," says John, "Right across the lake there used to be this summer camp for kids. It was called Camp Crystal Lake. You guys might have noticed the rundown old cabins while we were waterskiing. You can still see the camp from right here on the beach during the day if you look across the lake with binoculars. Anyway, back in 1957 there was this little boy named Jason Voorhees. He was born with some sort of birth defect, caused him to be hideously deformed. Well, his mom, Pamela, took a cooking job at the camp. But because she was divorced . . ."
"I thought she was a widow," says Riley.
"Hey, I'm telling the story!" replies John.
"Sorry," Riley apologizes.
"Now where was I?" says John, "Oh yeah! Well, divorced or widowed, in any case she was a single mom. So she brought Jason to camp with her so she could keep an eye on him. One day, when she was preparing lunch, a couple of the camp counselors snuck off into the bushes for a little hanky panky. Now, no one knows exactly what happens next. Some say that Jason tried to swim out and play with the other kids, others say bullies pushed him into the water. In any event, Jason drowned."
"Oh, poor kid," says Amy.
"Yeah well, Mrs. Voorhees had a complete mental breakdown. Her son was her whole world, and hearing that Jason had drowned just crushed her. She had to be sedated and hospitalized. They dragged the lake, but couldn't find Jason's body. After a few months of intense therapy, Pamela Voorhees was released from the mental institution. Soon after her release, she disappeared. The following year, two camp counselors at Camp Crystal Lake were found brutally murdered."
"Was it Pamela?" asks Buffy.
"That's what the working theory was at the time," says John, "But no one knew where to find her. She had fallen completely off the grid. And remember, this was the 1950's. It was a lot harder to track someone down back then than it is today. But because they couldn't find her, and they had no other suspects, the murders went unsolved. The camp closed down after that. Every once in a while the owners would try and reopen it. Every time, something would stop them from opening. Fires, poisoned water, whatever. No one could ever be caught sabotaging the place though. After a while, the place developed a reputation for being cursed. The townies even nicknamed the camp 'Camp Blood'."
"So that's what RJ was going on about," says Buffy.
"Well, in 1978, Steve Christy inherited the place from his parents. He took out a loan from the bank and started fixing the place up. He planned on making it a camp for underprivileged kids. He spent a year fixing it up. Finally he was nearly ready for his grand reopening. He hired a bunch of kids from the city as camp counselors and to help with the last minute repairs. Then, on Friday, June 13th 1979, someone stalked and killed each of the counselors . . . one . . . by . . . one."
"Pamela Voorhees," says Buffy.
"Right," replies John, "She had gone through them all, one at a time, until there was only one counselor left. A girl named Alice. But Alice was made of tougher stuff than Pamela realized. Once she realized Pamela was the killer, Alice fought back."
"Good for her!" says Betsy.
"Alice managed to wrestle Pamela's machete away from her. Then she took the machete, and chopped Pamela Voorhees's head right off!"
"Yeah!" cheers Heather.
"Way to go Alice!" exclaims Betsy.
"That's what I would've done," says Buffy.
"Now you would think that the terror of Crystal Lake would be over," says John, "But in fact, it's just beginning. Two months after surviving that night at Camp Blood, that Friday The 13th, Alice disappeared. The kitchen in the house she had rented in town was covered in blood. Her body was never found. Legend has it, Jason Voorhees rose from the grave to seek revenge for his mother's death. A revenge he will continue to seek if anyone should ever wander into his woods."
"Really," says Buffy, now feeling a little uneasy.
"Five years after the original murders, a man named Paul Holtz opened up a counselor training camp just a few miles away from the remains of Camp Crystal Lake. He wanted to teach kids how to be effective camp counselors so that tragedies like what happened to Jason in 1957 wouldn't happen to other kids. Once more, one by one, someone was killing off the camp counselors."
"Jason," says Buffy.
"Jason," says John, "One by one, he stalked and murdered each and every counselor at the camp. Until there were only two left. Paul, and his girlfriend Ginny. Jason attacked Paul first. Then, leaving Paul for dead, he went after Ginny. Ginny managed to keep Jason from killing her long enough for Paul to come to her aid. Then the two of them managed to team up on Jason, and take him down by stabbing him through the chest with his own machete. But you can't kill something that's already dead. Jason crawled away and took up residence in the barn of the Higgins family's summer cabin, just a little ways from here. As it happened, Christine Higgins and a bunch of her friends were spending that weekend at the cabin."
"Let me guess," says Buffy.
"One by one, Jason stalked and killed all of Christine's friends, until she was the only one left. She tried to hide from him in the barn, but Jason came after her. When he was distracted by a friend of hers that wasn't quite dead, she took and axe and whacked him right in the head. He went down and didn't get back up."
"Yeah! Way to go Christine!" says Heather.
"The police and paramedics took Jason's body to the county morgue. There, Jason got up off of the autopsy table, killed the medical examiner, and then gutted a nurse like a fish on his way out the door. On his way back to Camp Crystal Lake, he stumbled across the Jarvis household. The house next door was being rented for the weekend by a bunch of college students. So Jason stalked and killed them, one by one, until the only ones left were Trish Jarvis, and her twelve year old brother Tommy. When Jason was distracted by Trish, Tommy took up Jason's machete and hacked him up until there was nothing left to rise up and continue killing."
"Go Tommy, go!" says Robert.
"Tommy was so traumatized by the events of that night, he had to be hospitalized. His sister, Trish, was sent to live with her father. They buried Jason's body next to his psycho loony mother. He remains there to this day. But every once in a while, when June 13th lands on a Friday, the murders start up again. They say Jason's thirst for vengeance is so great, even death itself won't stop him."
Just then the alarm on John's watch goes off, "Look at that," he says, "It's midnight. Happy Friday the 13th everyone."
"Whoa," says Wes, "Great story."
"Yeah," says Buffy, "Great. Riley, I'm getting kinda chilly. I'm gonna go get my sweater. Come with me?"
"You don't need a sweater Buff," says Riley, "I'll keep you warm." He puts his arm around her shoulders.
"I'd really like to get my sweater," says Buffy, "Now."
"Right," says Riley, "your sweater." He turns to the others around the fire, "We'll be right back." The two of them walk off towards the cabin.
"I think you scared Buffy," laughs Robert.
"If you think she's scared now," says Wes, "Just wait until I tell her my story of The Springwood Slasher and the kids of Elm Street. She won't be able to sleep for a week"
Buffy and Riley walk quickly up the path to the cabin. As they approach the door, a dark figure watches them enter the cabin from the shadows.
Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma
As soon as they're inside the cabin, Buffy whirls on Riley. "Are you insane?" she hisses at him, "Why on Earth, out of all the places you could have taken me for a vacation, did you choose a lake that's cursed? What, you couldn't get reservations in Hell?"
"What are you talking about?" asks Riley.
"What am I talking about? What? Are you, like, totally mentally challenged or something?"
"Buffy . . ."
"There's an undead serial killer with a machete, who likes to kill people on Friday the 13th, running around in the woods. And you take me here for vacation? On Friday the 13th no less!"
"Buffy, Jason's just an old legend!" Riley tells her, "He's not real!"
"So all that stuff John said was just made up?"
"Well . . . not exactly."
"What do you mean 'Not exactly'? Riley? Riley?"
"Well . . . Jason was a real person. He really did drown in 1957. And his mother did actually go on a killing spree at Camp Crystal lake and got killed by one of her intended victims."
"And that girl's disappearance?"
"That's real too, but it was never actually tied to Jason or her mother."
"And those other murders?"
"They all really happened, but not by any undead monster. The person who committed those murders was as human as you and me. Just very deranged. They think he may have believed himself to actually be Jason Voorhees. They couldn't prove or disprove it, because his fingerprints and dental records didn't match anything they had on file. They buried him next to Pamela Voorhees, and put Jason Voorhees on his headstone, just because they didn't know what else to do with him and they wanted to put an end to the stories that he didn't drown and was living in the woods somewhere."
"And the other murders since his burial?"
"Copycats. One was a paramedic named Roy Burns. Another was actually the kid who killed this alleged Jason, Tommy Jarvis. He killed a bunch of people, including the sheriff and his deputies, kidnapped the sheriff's daughter, then disappeared. Nobody's seen him since."
"And you're sure he isn't out there still killing people?"
"Buffy, really? An undead serial killer? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?"
"Riley, what the hell do you think vampires are?"
"Yeah, but that's different."
"Different how?"
"Vampires are freshly killed bodies possessed by demons. Jason, if the guy Tommy killed even was Jason, isn't fresh. He's been rotting in a coffin for years."
"You know, there are other types of undead Riley. I know! I've fought them all! Mummies, zombies, and more than my fair share of vampires!"
"But those all require some sort of spell or ritual or demon possession to rise from the dead. Jason isn't a vampire, Buffy. He's Jack the Ripper in a hockey mask."
"Actually," says Buffy, "Jack the Ripper was a vampire."
"He was? How do you know?"
"When I first began my Slayer training, I asked my first watcher Merick about vampires I would have heard of. He told me that Jack the Ripper and the Roman emperor Caligula were."
"Caligula and Jack the Ripper were both vampires?"
"Yep. The same one actually."
"Look, Buffy, as fascinating as all this is, the fact remains that Jason is just a legend. That's all, nothing more."
"Riley, before the government recruited you into The Initiative, what did you think vampires and demons were?"
"I see your point."
"This begs to be researched. I think I ought to call Giles."
"Buffy, it's midnight."
"Yeah, but California's three hours behind us. So it's only 9:00 in Sunnydale."
"True, but have you forgotten that his friend Olivia is visiting him this week? I'm sure the last thing they want is your . . . um . . ."
"Coitus interuptus?"
"Exactly. You can call him tomorrow. Besides. I give you my word, you have nothing to be frightened of."
"Oh! . . . You're so lucky you're cute!"
"Okay, so go get your sweater and let's go back with the others. I understand Wes has a really scary story for us."
"I can't wait," says Buffy sarcastically.
She runs upstairs and grabs her sweater. She didn't really need it, it was quite comfortable by the fire actually. But she had used getting her sweater as a ruse to be able to talk to Riley about Slayer stuff while out of earshot of the others. Going back without it would look strange. She slips it on and then the two of them head back down the trail to the lake. As they walk down the path, a dark shape stands on a heavy tree branch above them.
Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma
The dark figure drops down in front of Buffy and Riley. He carries a machete in his hand, and has a Bowie knife belted to his hip. He's wearing dirty blue jeans and a red plaid flannel shirt. His face is covered by an old hockey mask with faded red arrows in the cheeks and forehead.
With lightning quick reflexes, Buffy kicks the machete out of the attacker's hand, sending it flying end over end up into the air. Then in the blink of an eye, she does and amazing spinning thrust kick, driving her foot right into their assailant's chest. The masked man goes flying backward, slamming hard into the trunk of a very large oak tree, at least ten feet behind where he was standing.
Buffy reaches her hand up and lets the machete fall into her grasp, grabbing it by the handle with ease. She runs at her dazed attacker with the machete raised to strike, but at the last second Riley steps in between them.
"Buffy, no!" he shouts.
"What?" says The Slayer, "What the hell, Riley?"
Riley reaches down and pulls the hockey mask off of the attacker's face. He's a young man, maybe seventeen years old, with short dark hair. He looks like a much younger version of Riley's cousin, John.
"This is my cousin Sean," Riley explains, "John's little brother." Then Riley turns to his cousin, "Sean, what the hell are you doing?"
"At the moment?" asks Sean, "I think I'm bleeding internally."
"What the hell are you doing jumping out at me like that?" says Buffy, "You could've gotten yourself killed!"
"It was just a joke," he replies, "Trying to scare you, is all."
"You're lucky I didn't take your damn head off!"
"No kidding," says Sean as he gets back to his feet, "What are you, like a twentieth degree black belt or something?"
"Or something," says Buffy.
"How long have you been out here?" Riley asks him.
"A few days. I've been camping over where the Shepherd's place used to be"
"What do you mean used to be?" asks Riley.
"You remember that little girl who used to live there with her folks? Tina?"
"Yeah. Cute little blonde kid right? Yeah, I remember her."
"Well, you heard about what happened to her dad?"
"Yeah, he drowned. The dock collapsed under him or something."
"Yeah, well Tina saw it happen, and it messed her up something awful. She ended up in a mental hospital. So anyway, last year her mom and her doctor brought her out here for some intense psychotherapy. Something about facing her fears or confronting her personal demons or whatever. Well, the whole thing blew up in the doctor's face . . . literally. Tina pulled a Tommy Jarvis."
"A Tommy Jarvis?" asks Buffy.
"She went total ape shit. Killed her doctor, her mom, and the kids who rented the house next door for a birthday party, everyone. Then she blew up the house. She tried to tell the cops that Jason did it. That Jason Voorhees rose from the dead and murdered everyone, if you can believe that. Last I heard, she was sent back to the mental hospital where they keep her restrained and heavily sedated. Her boyfriend's up in Sing-Sing doing life without parole for accessory to murder."
"Wow," says Riley.
"Yeah," says Buffy, looking right at Riley, "Wow."
"We're heading over to the beach," says Riley, "We're gonna drink a few beers, toast some s'mores, and tell ghost stories. You wanna join us?"
"No thanks," says Sean, "I've got a pretty sweet set up out in the bush. Besides, I hate s'mores. Even the name. 'They taste so good you gotta have s'more.' Yech. Besides, it's gonna storm later tonight. I wanna be in my tent before the rain really starts coming down."
"Suit yourself."
"And no more jumping out at people," says Buffy, "There are far more dangerous things in the woods tonight than maniacs with machetes."
"Yeah?" says Sean, "Like what?"
Buffy whips the machete at Sean's head. It sticks into the tree just behind him, mere inches above the top of his skull. The blade buries itself into the trunk of the massive oak, almost to the handle. Sean looks up at the handle of his machete, still vibrating from the impact. He looks back at Buffy in amazement, completely dumbfounded.
"Like me."
"How . . ."
Buffy just shrugs. "It's all in the wrist," she says.
Buffy and Riley start walking back towards the others. As soon as she's sure Sean isn't within earshot, she turns to Riley.
"Another copycat killer?" she says challengingly.
"We'll call Giles tomorrow," says Riley, himself beginning to doubt that the legends no more than that, just a legend, "I promise."
They get back to the bonfire and sit down with the others.
"What was all that shouting?" John asks them.
"Sean decided to pull a practical joke on us," explains Riley, "Buffy didn't find it very amusing."
"Oh God, I'm sorry about him. You know what a pain little brothers can be," says John.
"Actually, no." replies Buffy, "I'm an only child."
"Oh," says John, "Then take it from someone who knows. They're a pain in the ass."
Just then, lightning strikes in the distance. And a moment later, a thunder clap roars across the valley.
"I guess Wes's story will have to wait until tomorrow night," says Riley, "We'd all better get inside before that storm hits and we all get drenched."
They all pack up their gear and start heading back towards the cabin.
"I can't believe how fast the weather turned," says Buffy, "It was so nice out today, and now it's about to storm."
"Yeah, the weather out here can turn on a dime," says Robert, "It can be beautiful and sunny out one minute, then piss pouring rain the next."
"I heard it has something to do with the way the mountains are positioned around the lake," says Jamie Lee, "It causes a rapid shift in temperatures, especially after the sun goes down, which causes sudden rain storms. Or something like that."
No sooner do they get to the cabins front porch than the rain starts to come pouring down. They all quickly head inside. John immediately goes over to the fireplace and starts building a fire to warm up the living room. Debra and Jamie Lee volunteer to put on some coffee.
"So what are we gonna do now?" asks Buffy.
"I know," says Amy, "Do you guys have a Monopoly set?"
"We should," says John, "I haven't played it in years though."
"I don't really like Monopoly," says Buffy, "I play it with my friends Xander and Anya sometimes. Anya always wins."
"You'll like it the way Betsy and I play it," says Amy as she digs out the Monopoly board, "We're gonna play Strip Monopoly."
"No way!" says Buffy.
"Sure!" says Amy, "Look, it's easy. Instead of paying rent, you pay clothes."
"Sounds like fun!" says Wes, "I'm in!"
"Me too," says Heather.
"Hey girls!" Robert calls into the kitchen, "You wanna play Strip Monopoly?"
"Sounds like fun!" says Jamie Lee.
"Count me in!" calls Debra.
Everyone looks over to Buffy and Riley.
"Fine, we'll play," says Buffy, "But I get to be the shoe!"
Across the lake, just off shore from where the Shepherd's place once stood, a lightning bolt strikes the lake. Then another. Then a third. Beneath the waves, the decomposing body of Jason Voorhees lies impaled upon a steel rebar. The steel rebar acts like a lightning rod, drawing the electricity from the storm into it. The gloved hand of Jason grasps the steel pole he's impaled on. With superhuman strength, he bends the steel until it snaps off as though it were made of wood. He pulls himself from the rebar which was pinning him to the bottom of the lake, then begins his slow walk towards shore. The rain is coming down in sheets as his rotting head crests the water. His bones are exposed through the many cuts and gunshots he had endured over the years. There's a long gash along one side of his face, his left eye now long gone. There's an axe wound in his forehead. And around his rotted neck, a rusted heavy steel chain is locked in place with a heavy duty padlock. The undead killer wades out of the lake, and walks off into the woods.
Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma