Chapter 3: The Claw and The Doll
Freddy had no idea how long he had been wandering the corridors of Hell. Days? Weeks? Months? All he knew was that he had been wandering for far too long. The screams of the damned sounded further than ever and while his body strangely did not tire, Freddy was becoming more agitated by the second. "If I don't see some action soon, I will scream!" He growled. In his frustration, he raised his blades to the nearby wall, scrapped them against it for a few minutes, and ripped them away with a trail of sparks tailing them. It was the only sense of warmth he had felt since escaping his personal Hell but that suited him just fine.
He felt better in the cold.
As he walked, the former Springwood Slasher examined his finger blades, the blueish-black blood of the Cenobite that had kept him prisoner still staining the metal. "Hmmm. To be honest, I wasn't even sure it was possible to kill these assholes." He whispered to himself. "Guess it pays to be wrong sometimes." He chuckled. "And if I was able to take care of that little bitch, that means I can take care of that Needledick once and for all." His chuckle died as he recalled the situation that he was in. "But first, I need to find my posse. Now where oh where could those assholes be?"
It was then that Freddy was suddenly stopped in his tracks by a familiar sound. One that shocked yet excited him at the same time.
The sound of children laughing.
"Ah! What music to my ears," Freddy cooed. "I wonder where it's coming from." He quickened his pace, overjoyed to hear that the sound was growing closer and closer with each step he took. His mouth watered. His blades clinked. He reveled in the thought of all the little tykes he could hear and how quickly he would turn those shrieks of joy into those of terror. He could hardly keep from chuckling.
With a turn of the corner, Freddy found it. Hidden away at the end of a smaller corridor was a door. The sound of children laughing was ringing from inside.
"Well, well, well," Freddy snickered. "And here I thought children were innocent." As he made his way toward the door, it occurred to him for a moment that this could very well be a trap, bait to lure him back to his personal Hell. But he shrugged it off. As far as he was concerned, now that he had escaped once, he had no reason to fear the Cenobites or their petty torments. Even without his dream powers, he still managed to slay one of them and he'd slay plenty more to return to earth, to Springwood, to his children.
Once he was within grabbing distance, Freddy wasted no time pushing the door open. The light blinded him for a few moments, not because it was particularly harsh but because he had become so used to the darkness. He shielded his eyes with a grunt and waited for the agony to die down. Once it did, he peered inside and smiled.
The room behind the door was a classroom, one belonging to kindergarten. The room was practically crawling with brats of all shapes and sizes, boys and girls in equal measure. The air was filled with their shrieking and laughter as they played all matter of games, all without a single adult in sight.
Freddy stepped into the room and was immediately grabbed by one of the girls, a blonde little thing dressed like a ballerina. "Play with us!" She squeaked.
"Ok," Freddy cooed as he allowed himself to be led into the growing circle of kids. His suspicion of this being some sort of trap grew given the girl's lack of fear of him but rather than strike her down now, Freddy decided to wait and see just what was going on here. He looked around the room as they played, his eyes scanning for anything that might seem out of the ordinary.
Then he saw her. A raven-haired girl in a purple dress, her eyes holding a malice that Freddy had never seen on a child's face before. She was sitting on a chair by herself in a corner near where a door outta be and staring at Freddy. In her hands, she clasped a doll dressed in a rainbow shirt and overalls. The logo sewn to his overalls read "Good Guys"
"Good Guys, huh?" Freddy thought as a sense of Deja Vu came over him "Where have I heard that before?" Freddy racked his brain trying to remember where he had seen that logo, no, seen that doll before. It was only after a couple of minutes of pondering and mindlessly dancing among the children that he remembered. He remembered seeing a movie with his posse called Chucky Goes Psycho. A move that was allegedly based on the real killings of a supernaturally possessed doll.
It couldn't be, could it?" Freddy muttered. He placed his blades against his fingers and tapped them. "Could it be?"
The girl slipped from his grasp and he allowed her to fall back to her friends for the time being as he approached the girl in the chair. Once he was in front of her, he got down on one knee and smiled. "That's quite a nice dolly you've got there, little girl. What's his name?"
The girl failed to respond with anything but a continuation of her glare. The doll, however, robotically picked up its head and said. "Hi! I'm Chucky! I'm your friend to the end! Hidei-Ho! Hahaha!"
"Just like the movie." Freddy thought. "But this can't be the same guy right? Surely he would have killed these little shitstains by now. Unless.."
Then it hit Freddy like a ton of bricks.
"Holy shit, don't tell me I stumbled into this little bastard's personal Hell?" Freddy leaned in close and studied the doll's face. He half expected the girl to flinch or at least back away but she did not. She simply stood there, glaring at him with her knowing eyes. He ignored her staring for the moment and focused on the doll. It seemed completely ordinary, blinking and laughing in that annoying child-like voice.
"So, you're Chucky huh?" Freddy whispered. "You sure don't look like much."
"Hey, wanna play?" asked the doll.
"Actually, I prefer to slay." Freddy brandished his blades as he said this and chuckled deeply. "And I've heard from the grapevine that you do too."
"Hi! I'm Chucky. And I'm your friend to the end! Hidey-Ho! Hahaha!"
Freddy tilted his head. "What's wrong with you, man? You were far more fun in that movie of yours. Unless," Once again, Freddy nicked his chin with the tips of his blades, ignoring the trickle of blood that trailed down them. "Maybe you can't. Maybe you're only a toy in this world."
Chucky blinked. "I like to be hugged."
Freddy leaned in closer and whispered. "Blink twice if you need help."
Chucky said nothing but he did blink twice.
And as soon as he did, the room fell silent. Every little boy and girl playing in the classroom suddenly stopped and turned to Freddy. He could feel all eyes fall on him at once and as he looked around, he found he was surrounded. No more joyous laughter. No more innocent smiles. Just the same dead condescending stares as the girl holding Chucky.
"You should have stayed in your own Hell." The girl said as blood trickled from her nose. "You don't belong here."
"Freddy growled as he stood back up, "You got that right bitch!" He flexed his blades. "And I'm clawing my way out of this cesspool!" With a single swipe, Freddy slapped Chucky out of the girl's grasp while simultaneously slashing her stomach open. Her innards spilled out and she fell to her knees with a gasp. The doll hit the wall and slumped to the floor, repeating "I like to be hugged." over and over again. Freddy whipped his arm to get rid of the blood and pointed at the little girl he had just eviscerated. "Playtime's over bitch!"
The girl looked up from her own wounds at Freddy, pointed back at him, and uttered an inhuman shriek. At once, all the other kids in the classroom pounced on Freddy. Caught by surprise, the former dream demon could only utter a cry of shock before he was brought to his knees. He gritted his teeth as he felt the little monsters sink their own teeth into his charred flesh. One of them rammed their thumb into his right eye socket. "Gah!" He held his face and moaned the children continued to tear into him.
"Enough!" With his right arm, Freddy backhanded the children in front of him, fought through the pain he was in, and jumped to his feet. "I'm the fucking boogeyman you little shits! You don't eat me!" He clinked his blades together. "I eat you!"
The children he knocked back screeched in fury as they rushed at him but this time he was more prepared. He waited for one of the kids, a boy in a black shirt, to leap right at him and held his bladed hand out. He snickered as the kid impaled himself on the blades and struggled through the pain. Another one of the little kids, a little girl in blue, sank her tiny teeth into one of Freddy's legs and he responded by kicking her away. Then he grabbed the leg of the boy impaled on his blades and ripped him away, tearing him apart in the process. The resulting gore splattered on the kids, leaving them disoriented long enough for Freddy to slash them across the neck. It was a vicious cycle of the children's attacks being stopped or slowed by the sudden splattering of their comrade's blood and Freddy cutting them up to create more. The last of these kids managed to miss the splatter, only to trip and slide on the now blood floor, stopping right next to Freddy.
"It's a tough lesson you gotta learn, kid." Freddy beamed. "Life's a bitch and if you wanna get ahead in it, you gotta step over people!" He raised his foot as he said this and despite the boy crying and begging for mercy, Freddy ended his suffering with a final stomp to the face. He relished in the sensation of what used to be the child's face covering his shoes like mud.
"Gotta watch where I step!" Freddy chuckled as he looked around and admired his bloody work. He hadn't felt a rush like this in a long time and even the fact that these weren't real children did nothing to dampen the high Freddy was experiencing. He had almost forgotten about the raven-haired girl and turned to finish her off. "One little bottle of beer on the-
He suddenly felt his neck tighten up.
-"wall." He wheezed before being lifted and smashed against the ceiling, losing his hat in the process. Dazed by the sudden jerking, he needed a few seconds to comprehend what he was looking at. When his vision cleared up, he was astonished to see the girl had reverted to her true Cenobite self. Gone was the purple dress and long black hair. Now her clothing consisted of a long black gown open at the front and black pants. Barbed wire wrapped around the girl's chest and her stomach, which Freddy thought he had cut open, being held open by tongs from the inside. Her intestines were trailing out of the opening like red, dripping tentacles and on her face, a horrific smile was plastered.
"Shit! I forgot about that," Freddy growled. "Of course, the little bitch is a Cenobite!"
"You will not escape here," She rasped as she smashed Freddy against the wall. "You are in the domain of Almighty Leviathan now! You spent your entire life as the hunter but now you are the hunted." She smashed him against the other wall, causing him to cough up blood. "Once the abuser, now the abused!" She smashed him against the ceiling once more and cackled as he fell limp. "Do you understand your place now, Krueger!?"
Freddy glared at her, his mouth and nose covered in blood. He tried to say something but wound up coughing up a wag of blood instead. Cautiously, she brought the former dream demon closer to herself. "I'm sorry, what was that I couldn't quite hear you."
Freddy trembled as he lifted his head up to the girl's ear. "I said...I know my place...and it's back on Elm Street, bitch!" Freddy tried to rake his blades across her face, only for her to subdue them with more of her intestines. The girl sighed as she lifted the struggling Freddy away from her and wrapped her guts over his other limbs, stomach, and neck.
"What a shame," She said. "Guess you'll have to be broken for another decade or two. Oh well. Farewell."
The intestines started to pull in full force, threatening to tear Freddy into pieces. As his right wrist was pulled, Freddy's coveted glove was pushed off his hand. He waited for the sound of it cutting into the wooden floor to signify the moment it would be over, the moment he would die.
But it never happened.
Instead, what Freddy heard was the sound of sadistic laughter and the squelching sound of flesh being cut. Looking down, he saw a certain doll flailing his bladed glove around almost like a whip, cutting the intestines one by one. The child Cenobite screamed in agony as her guts were cut and Freddy fell hard into the desk below. She cradled her severed innards into herself and stared daggers at the doll who had done this to her. Long gone was his friendly freckled face. Now, his features were twisted into that of a demonic sneer.
"Don't fuck with the Chuck!" He shouted.
"Impossible!" The Cenobite growled. "How were you able to regain your anatomy?"
"You got me there, Gloria Gutspill." Chucky said. "If I had to guess, that walking overcooked weiner over there distracted you long enough to take your mind off the task at hand." The doll shook his head. "Never send a kid to do an adult's job."
"You little bastard!" It was a this moment that the child Cenobite realized she still had one full-length intestine left and used it to ensnare Chucky. The surprised doll dropped Freddy's glove and struggled in the grasp of the bloody organ. He was lifted up and smashed against the ceiling like Freddy before him, all while the Cenobite laughed.
"You got a lucky shot in and if you were smart, you would have used that moment to land a killing blow! But now, both of you will pay for your crimes! Pay with your flesh!"
"I got a better idea!" Freddy suddenly shouted as he leaped behind the Cenobite. Before she could react, he grabbed some of her severed guts and wrapped them around her neck. He pulled at the ends with all his might, taking great pleasure in the choking and coughing sounds she made. She pulled on her guts to no avail and then released Chucky, allowing him to fall with a thud as she raced her largest intestine toward Freddy.
"Now, now" Freddy cooed as he brought his hands to her neck. "We're only playing. There's no need to get...snappy!" And with a single jerk, Freddy snapped her neck backward. The tentacle-like intestine fell lifelessly to the floor and in a few moments, its owner followed.
Freddy laughed in ecstasy as he watched the dark red blood pool around the Cenobite girl's body. He noticed it reach the brim of his hat which he picked up and put back on, squeezing the brim with his thumb and index finger and wiping the blood off with a single stroke. He waltzed through the blood puddle, taking care to watch his step, and reclaimed his blades just as Chucky got up.
"Uh...what happened?" Chucky shook his head and waited for his vision to clear. He uttered a cry of shock as he noticed the dead Cenobite lying before him. "Shit! He turned to Freddy. "What the deal, asshole? Don't you know it's rude to steal another guy's score?"
"Not my fault the bitch spilled her guts," Freddy commented. "Besides, you don't look like the kinda guy that can satisfy a woman."
"I'll have you know, I have a wife and the sex is good!" Chucky defended. "And the best part? No rubber required!"
"That's not what the movie said." Freddy chuckled.
"Movie? What movie?"
"They made a movie about you back on Earth," Freddy explained. "Chucky Goes Crazy or some shit like that. The production value was shit but I guess they got the look right."
"I don't believe this," Chucky replied. "There's a movie about me and I didn't even get a cut? I oughta sue somebody!"
"Well, we are in Hell. "I'm sure there's a bunch of lawyers around here," Freddy suggested.
The two killers stared at each other in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Then suddenly, the air was filled with roaring laughter from the both of them. It was hearty enough to cause the bottom of the chalkboard to vibrate. Chucky fell into the now bloody floor while Freddy wiped a tear from his eye using his blades.
"Hahahaha!" Chucky tried to talk through his dying laughter. "T-That was hilarious!"
"What can I say?" Freddy wheezed. "I kill me!"
"More like you killed that Hentai bitch!" The two roared in laughter once again. After what seemed like an eternity, the laughter finally died down as the two killers were reduced to contented pants and sighs.
"So...you know who I am but just who the hell are you?" Chucky asked.
"The name's Krueger." Freddy fixed his hat. "Freddy Krueger."
"Freddy Krueger eh?" Chucky repeated. "I think I've heard that name before. From Springwood, Ohio right?"
"That's right."
Chucky rubbed his chin in thought. "You know, I heard those stories about kids dying in their sleep over there. Said there was some bogeyman coming for them in their dreams. Don't tell me you..."
Freddy chuckled. "Hit the nail right in the head. You're looking at a fully bona fide dream demon!"
"A dream demon?" Chucky asked with a look of disbelief. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me!"
"Says the guy who transferred his soul into a fucking doll." Freddy deadpanned.
Chucky looked down at himself and then pointed to Freddy. "Tochue!" He walked over to one of the nearby desks, using the body of one of the slain children, and sat himself on the flat surface facing Freddy. "Well, Freddy, let's talk turkey. Starting with just how the fuck you escaped your personal Hell."
"Stroke of luck I guess," Freddy admitted. "Truth is, they made me forget all about my past as the Springwood Slasher. I was stuck living the life of an ordinary asshole for who knows how long before I started to remember."
"Sounds sucky," Chucky said. "But that's nothing compared to what they put me through."
"You could still remember who you were, couldn't you?"
"Oh I remember alright but that was about it. I couldn't move a muscle and the only thing coming out of my mouth was those stupid preprogrammed sentences! Imagine being surrounded by potential victims and not being able to kill even one of them!" Chucky uttered a sob. "What a nightmare!"
Freddy growled. "Just what gives those Cenobitches the right to treat us like this anyway!? Who gives them the jurisdiction!?" Freddy started pacing around the room. "Well, I won't stand for it! I say we start a plan of action, a Coup d'etat against the Cenobites to break out of Hell once and for all!" He turned to Chucky "You in?"
"Are you kidding? I want nothing more than to make these sadist dipshits pay for what they put me through! Count me in! Although," Chucky snickered. "I can't promise I won't stab you in the back afterward."
"Same here!" Freddy and Chucky chuckled as they shook hands. Whether or not either of them intended to actually hunt the other one down after all was said and done, not even they knew at the moment but for now, they were partners in crime.
"So what's the plan, chief?" Chucky asked.
"Well, considering what we've been through, I think we can safely assume that all the sinners in this realm are being punished the same way. There's an endless corridor of rooms like this one, tailored-made to torture the poor smuck caught in the middle of it. And I'm sure a lot of them would be just as happy to sink their claws into these Cenobitches as we will. In short, we need men."
"And I take it the only way we're going to get these men is by finding other personal Hells and freeing the poor saps stuck in there, right?"
"Correctamundo!" Freddy purred. "And it won't be easy. Those Hells are sure to be guarded by those sadist shitheads as well and they're pretty hard to kill."
"You said it," Chucky looked back down on the dead Cenobite lying next to his desk. "Looks like the best bet would be to target the injuries they inflicted on themselves."
"That seems to be the case," Freddy agreed. "In any case, there's three guys in particular we need to find. My posse."
"Your posse?" Chucky asked. "I didn't think a guy like you had any need for friends."
"It's a long story, trust me," Freddy said. "I might have actually heard about them. Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Leatherface."
Chucky once again rubbed his chin. "I definitely know those first two, guys after my own heart really. Not so sure about that Leatherface guy."
"Oh, he's just some redneck with the mind of a five-year-old and a chainsaw that won't quit. But he's good! Trust me!"
"And I'm also going to take a stab at it and guess we'll have to find their hells ourselves huh?"
Freddy growled in agreement."Unfortunately, I have yet to find the map to this damn place but you know what the Cenobites say. We have all of eternity!"
Both killers once again chuckled. "Alright," Chucky said. "I could use the exercise anyway." He leaped off the table and headed to the doorway with Freddy following close behind. As they walked through the hallway, Chucky's face started to change, taking on a load of scars and stitches. Freddy felt his own eye and realized that it had been restored. Once again, the two killers found themselves within the endless corridor that Freddy had been walking through for countless hours. Chucky put his hands on his hips and took in a huge breath. "Ah! Fresh air! Or at least as fresh as it can get in this dump."
"Hmmm..." Freddy looked carefully around the hallways. In the darkness, it was hard to make out but he could see the entrances to other hallways which were sure to lead to other doors which would lead to... "Freedom." He cooed.
"Alright, Chucky said as he approached one of the hallways. "Let's get this shit show started. The sooner I'm out of this hellhole, the better!"
"Agreed," Freddy muttered as he found himself walking toward a different hallway. As he peered inside, he could see that there was indeed a door at the end of it, one impossibly far away. It was hardly a speck in Freddy's vision. He sighed to himself. "Another dirty Cenobite trick," He thought. "They make these hallways and corridors inhumanly long. It's enough to break the spirit of any normal person." He looked down at his blades and smiled as they clinked against each other. "Heh! It's a good thing I'm not normal."
Freddy laughed as he began his long trek toward the door and toward the next soldier in his war against the Cenobites.