Chapter Twelve

Dream Dream Dream

Nero laid flat against the tree, the thick jungle around him muggy and damp. The mud he had covered his body in was cool at first but now his sweat was getting it into his eyes and it stung.

Something had been hunting him and it was still out there. The night was dark, clouds covered the moon and stars. The hunter was out there, stalking Nero. He had been for what seemed like days. From his own experience in the military Nero had ascertained only a few hours ago that whoever was hunting him was tracking him by his body heat. It wasn't just his experience that made him believe this was accurate, it was also just an instinct he could not explain. He was just sure of it. That was why he initially covered himself in mud. That is why he currently had his back pressed firmly against a tree.

He couldn't stay like this forever, he needed to move. He needed to find a way to flank his stalker, to know who his stalker was. It was the only way this was going to end without him dying. Nero still didn't know how he had gotten to this jungle. All he knew for sure was he had been on the Beowulf on a trip to recover artifacts from Old Earth and then things got cloudy. The next thing he remembered was waking up in this jungle. He had been listening for what seemed like hours and hadn't heard a sound outside of insects and the slight breeze that gave him the only comfort from the muggy heat. He took a deep breath and made a run for another thicket of tall trees.

His heart began to race as he moved into an open area and glanced down at his chest to see three small red and green dots in the shape of a triangle right appear over his heart.

It was the hunter's targeting laser.

Nero ran faster and as he got close to the tree line he went to the earth and summersaulted into the thicket just as an energy weapons projectile struck the ground where he stood a moment before. The ground burst into fire. He began trying to catch his breath as he put his back against another large tree trunk and looked around. He couldn't go on like this. The only weapon he had was a large bowie knife. He had no firepower to use against his would be attacker. But if he could get him into hand to hand combat then maybe he would have a fighting chance.

Nero knew running was pointless. He had been running for what he believed was days and the hunter was relentless. He didn't want to die but he was also done running. He hoped the hunter had some sort of honor. Nero spoke out loud for the first time since he had awoken in the jungle.

"Come out! Come out and face me like a man. Let's do this mano y mano!"

He stood with baited breath, hoping for a response or a sign his challenge would be accepted.

"You want me so bad well here ya go!" Nero shouted again into the darkness as he pulled the knife from his waist band and raised his hands above his head and walked from the thicket back into the clearing looking all around. The laser scope did not shine on him this time.

After a few moments he heard a rustling to his left. He turned and got his first glimpse of his attacker in the dying flames of the small fire started from the its missed shot. He watched in fascination as a bipedal humanoid, standing close to seven foot tall walked into the clearing. It wore a red and green suit of armor and long, hair-like appendages descended out the bottom of the armored helmet.

It walked into the clearing from a different direction. It stopped and just stood. It looked at Nero and his knife and then began removing it's armor. First, it removed the armor and apparent weapon covering it's arms, then it removed its large chest piece and finally it removed it's helmet revealing itself to not be human. It had reptilian skin and it's face had arthropod-like mandibles and no visible nose and it was covered in what appeared to be wet burns. It wore some sort of under armor jump suit that appeared very alien to Nero. It raised it's right arm as four long blades protruded out.

"Alright, let's do this," Nero said confidently as he marched towards the creature. The creature nodded and marched towards Nero.

The hunter swung it's blades down at Nero and Nero raised his large bowie knife up as the hunter's blades struck the bowie knife and sparks flew. Nero lifted his leg and kicked the creature in the stomach knocking it back a couple feet. The creature swung it's blades at Nero's head and Nero ducked and hammered two quick punches to the creature's stomach and an uppercut to it's head. It didn't seem to faze the hunter. It struck out with it's un bladed hand and connected a punch into Nero's left shoulder sending him to the ground. Nero was trying to get back to his feet when the creature brought it's foot down hard on his chest knocking Nero back to the ground and pinning him on his back. Nero swung his knife towards the creature's leg but it was inhumanly fast and brought it's blades down in a swiping motion and connected with the knife blade and knocked it free from Nero's grasp. The knife flew off and landed somewhere in the thicket that Nero sheltered in earlier.

Nero tried to use every bit of strength he had to break free from the foot that held him down but it was futile. The creature raised it's bladed arm up and held it in the air and looked down at Nero and then it's mandibles began to move as it spoke. The voice seemed out of place coming from the creature.

"It's been fun Nero but this Fredator has other prey to attend to," it said in a guttural voice.

"Do your worst!" Nero said, turning his head slightly and spitting at the creature's other leg.

The bladed arm came down fast but when it should have lashed into Nero it instead went through him as if he wasn't there and buried itself in the ground he lay on. The creature began to shimmer and it morphed into a regular man wearing boots, dark pants, a red and green striped sweater and a black hat but the man like the creature before was also covered in wet looking burns. Instead of the four blades that protruded from above the creatures right hand there were now four blades attached to a glove the man was wore and those blades were stuck in the ground that Nero lay on.

Nero lifted his hand and looked at it in confusion. In that moment he remembered where he had seen that glove before, remembered the discussion on the Beowulf. Everything came back to him quickly. Freddy Krueger was real and was after Nero in his cryo-sleep. Nero would have believed it all to just be his imagination taking the events of their trip to Earth-1 and the aftermath and forming them into a crazy nightmare but he felt the cold mud, felt the trees dig into his skin as he lay against them for days, felt Freddy punch and stomp him. He had felt the dehydration, the hunger. He knew with certainty the legend of Freddy Krueger had to be real, no matter how crazy it seemed. He wondered if the fact he was slowly disappearing was part of Freddy's plan. He didn't think so because Freddy seemed irritated at what was happening.

"Okay Nero, you got lucky this time, but tell that bitch when you get there that I'm going to make her pay!" Freddy snarled as he watched Nero completely disappear.

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Lieutenant Warlock Rollins of the Unified Coalition Military was leading a charge against a race of adversarial aliens called the Kruegons from planet Elmwood. The galactic battle had raged for days now. Many of the men, women, and Noc'Tralians that served under Lt. Rollins had fallen thus far and it was beginning to look like the Kruegons held the higher number of remaining ships. Warlock was in the process of turning his small fighter ship back around to come back in for another offensive maneuver when his radio crackled to life.

"Lt. Rollins, what's the status. Are we winning?" Captain Nero Ramos of the S.S Englund asked from a small holographic screen above the controls of Warlock's ship. Nero was a tall Hispanic man wearing a blue uniform with slick hair and unusually pointy ears that gave Warlock the heebie jeebies every time he saw them. They didn't seem right and looked were out of place..

Warlock looked quickly at the captain on the screen. He still didn't know what he thought about serving under a captain that was so young and arrogant but this was his career, this was his duty. At least he thought it was because he couldn't remember the events of his life before this particular battle had started three days prior. Everything that came before was all a haze to Lt. Rollins. No matter how hard he tried to remember anything about his life outside this battle nothing ever came to him. It was almost like he had been grown in a lab three days ago and his entire life had been lived flying this fighter ship in the war against the Kruegons and wearing the red uniform he was currently dressed in.

"We are losing men fast Captain Ramos! I need backup and I need backup soon! The Kruegons are outnumbering us!" Warlock called back to the captain as he completed his turn and began flying back towards the enemy ships.

"Roger that, Lieutenant!" Captain Nero said as he could be seen on the small screen turning his attention to another screen on the bridge of the S.S. Englund. "Lubdan, we need to send another group of fighter ships out to assist Lt. Rollins now!"

Warlock could see a small young man appear on the other screen, his hair red and his uniform blue.

"I CAN'T DO IT, CAPTAIN! I DON'T GOT THE MANPOWER!" Lubdan responded regretfully.

Captain Nero Ramos returned his gaze forward and from the small screen in front of Warlock he seemed to be looking Warlock dead in the eyes.

"You heard him, Lieutenant. Looks like YOU'RE FUCKED! OVER AND OUT!" Captain Ramos said with a small grin.

Before Warlock could respond to the unbelievable statement of his captain the screen closed and Warlock saw an explosion to his right and left at the same time. His two guard fighter ships were destroyed by enemy fire leaving Warlock with no cover. He glanced at his scanners and a horrible realization hit him as he saw the Kruegons had over thirty five ships heading in his direction and he was now the only fighter ship left from the S.S Englund. He then watched in fascinated disbelief as the S.S Englund in the distance to his right disappeared into warp speed going in the other direction. He had been left behind by his captain and he didn't have a snowball's chance in hell.

"That motherfucker!" Warlock spat.

An alternating red and green light began blinking on the control panel before him, indicating he was receiving an incoming communication from the Kruegon's captain. Warlock was screwed either way so he accepted the transmission. As soon as Warlock saw the man on his screen the fog on his brain began to slowly dissipate.

He saw a man wearing a red and green striped uniform and he was covered in horrible wet burns with yellow eyes and blackened teeth and Warlock could see the man was wearing a glove on one hand with four razor sharp blades. Warlock remembered everything, how he had piloted the crew of the Beowulf to Earth-1 where they had brought back three artifacts. One of which was the very glove he saw the man holding on his screen. He wasn't with the crew when they researched the items but Nero and Butch had filled him in prior to Cryo-Sleep, telling him all about Fredrick Krueger, the killings, the glove being his weapon. They told him about how Candilynn had gone off the deep end and said the diary she had found on Earth-1 told stories of the man some called Freddy being a supernatural dream demon who could come after people in their dreams and if he killed them there they were dead for real. Warlock was a very superstitious man and being in his sixties and a pilot he had been in enough cryo-sleeps that he knew this was no ordinary dream. He had a bad feeling about the items ever since he had flown them back to the Beowulf. Something had just felt wrong and now he knew why.

"Warlock Rollins, this is Captain Fred. I just wanted to reiterate your elf eared boss' prognosis and let you know you are indeed FUCKED!" Freddy said on his screen.

"Well, Captain Fred, this is retired Marine pilot Warlock Rollins and you can go fuck yourself!" Warlock spat back and accelerated his fighter ship head on towards the squadron of Kruegons that were heading his way.

"OOOOH, NOOOO! You hurt my feelings, Rollins. Whatever will I do...oh, I know! I'll just blow your ass out of the sky!" Freddy said, laughing.

Freddy slammed his hand down on a control panel in front of him and Warlock watched as the largest ship in front of him lit up on it's front and a giant laser shot out and hit Warlock's ship head on.

Warlock was prepared for death. His had been a good life. He'd been on many adventures, fought in half a dozen conflicts and wars. If he was going out at least it was behind the controls of a fighter ship, even if it wasn't a real battle. The fighter ship exploded around Warlock but he didn't feel a thing. After a moment he was floating in the dead of space but he wasn't expanding. Instead, he noticed he was becoming transparent. He looked up at Freddy's ship defiantly. He couldn't hear Freddy or see him but as Warlock disappeared completely Freddy had something to say.

"Playtime's over, Varissa!"

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Talos was ready. He looked up at his deceased crew mate in their cryo-chamber as he waived his hand over the cryo-chamber room's control panel and finished inputting all the prompts required to gain access to the dreamscape once more. He hoped he could give the remaining crew member's the ace in the hole they desperately needed, a way to defeat Freddy and ensure he didn't get to spread his legend to Earth-2 or Somnium-5.

"You were a good friend. You may not know it but you are still helping your crew. Your death will not be in vain," Talos said as his index finger opened and a wire snaked out and connected itself to the control panel.

Moments later audible clicks could be heard as Talos-16's eyes closed and after countless attempts he finally made his way back inside to assist his friends.

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