Chapter 26: The Reveal

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Sheriff Jackson stared at me for a moment from the wooden pier, his face unreadable. Then his eyes flickered over to Jason. I could feel Jason tense up right next to me, his hand gripping his machete tightly, but did not take a step closer to the sheriff. Right as Jackson's eyes fell back upon mine, a dark figure I didn't notice before rose up from where it was crouching.

"Ok I think I got the symbols down. Hopefully they are accurate...would've been easier if we drew them on a more smooth surface-" the figure said before stopping in mid sentence and turning around to face me and Jason. It was Matt. In his hand he held chalk. He had been drawing strange symbols into the pier's wooden boards at his and Jackson's feet. They were going to summon something from the book.

Matt's face changed from surprised, confused, and then finally horrified when he noticed Jason standing right next to me. The chalk fell from his trembling hand. "J-Jason? Wha...Roy...What is going on?" he asked, turning to face the sheriff. Sheriff Jackson was still staring at me. The pieces slowly started to come together in my head. Matt was pulled into this. He had no idea what he was doing. Jackson was the one behind this strange meet up.

The question was...Why?

Jackson finally spoke. "It's Friday the 13th, Matt. You didn't think he would show up on his day?" Jackson asked, still staring at me. Matt was too stunned to answer. His mouth kept opening and closing like a fish but no sound came out. Jackson closed the Necronomicon shut and gave it a gentle pat on its leathery spine.

"I appreciate you finding the book for me. You have no idea how long I waited to finally get my hands on it," he said to me. I narrowed my eyes. "You stole the book from my dad's cabin. You knew it was there this whole time," I said. Jackson nodded his head.

"Carson was never going to tell me where he hid the book...But when you came along, and showed no sign of remembering who I was...I decided to use you to help me find it."

I remembered back to when Carson hinted that he had taken care of hiding the book; but then I had to be the one who found it and took it out of its hiding spot. I wish I had never removed it from where I found it. The book has been nothing but trouble.

"Why do you want the book?" I finally asked.

Jackson narrowed his eyes and gestured to Jason. "Why don't you ask your serial killer friend! He's the one who has ruined so many families who had lost loved ones to his machete! He killed my brother!" Jackson shouted, his voice echoing over the rippling red waters of the lake.

More pieces began clicking together in my head. The fight at the grocery store. Jackson becoming unhinged at Ralph Jr. when he mentioned his brother. Jackson's brother had been one of the victims. I saw Jason shift a little at the corner of my eye. It looked like the sheriff's words had affected him a little. Jackson's grip on the book tightened so much, it turned his knuckles white.

"Ever since I lost my brother, my life has never been the same. My parents had divorced and eventually I moved away from everything I knew. I spent years trying to find any kind of information on Jason, but nothing ever came up. It was like he was a ghost. I tried looking up more evidence of Jason's existence but found out his information was classified by the police in this town; so I became a sheriff and was able to access all the information I wanted with the Voorhees family." Jackson gave the book another pat.

"That's how I found out about this book. It had belonged to Mrs. Voorhees. The night she was killed, the police entered her home and began looking through the house. The book had been hidden under the floorboards...and one young sheriff in training had found it while looking around...and you know who that young sheriff was?" Jackson asked me.

"...Carson," I said.

Jackson nodded his head. "Carson found the book. He placed it in the evidence lockers and never dealt with it after that...until I arrived years later, trying to break in and steal it. He caught me in the evidence locker with the book in my hands. He ripped the book away from me...said the book was too dangerous for me to read from...said I should move on with my life and forget I ever saw this book," Jackson explained. I realized I had been clenching my teeth this whole time and loosened my jaw.

"Maybe you should've listened to Carson and just moved on with your life...I know it hurts to lose a loved one, but you can't bring him back from the dead. There's always consequences," I said, which caused Jackson's eyes to narrow. "My brother didn't deserve to die! He was innocent! Just like all the other camp counselors here! How is it fair that my brother remains dead while his killer gets to live?! How is it fair that so many are dead...and yet you are the only one he allows to live?!" he shouted.

My eyes widened in surprise at Jackson's words. I hesitated before turning my head to Jason. Jason didn't turn his head down to look at me. He still stared at Jackson and the book. I could see his whole body was tense. Jackson did bring up a good point though. Why did Jason let me live? When we had first met, he had no intensions of stabbing his machete through me. I couldn't have been any more different then the teenage counselors. What made me so special from everyone else he had killed?

Matt coughed next to Jackson and broke the silence. "Wh-what a-am I doing h-here then?" stuttered Matt, shaking nervously. Jackson turned and shoved the book into Matt's chest. "You said you knew how to read Sumerian...I want you to read from the book, and bring back my brother."

I took a step forward. "Don't, Matt! It'll bring back a monster!" I explained, remembering back when me and Jason had to fight off the undead EMTs. Jackson glared at me. "My brother isn't a monster. The man standing next to you is the monster! He killed hundreds of people here. They don't call it Camp Blood for nothing." Jackson turned back to Matt.

"Read from the book, Matt," Jackson demanded through gritted teeth. From where I stood, I could hear the book whispering from Matt's hands: Read me...Read me...Read me...Matt trembled from where he stood on the pier. His eyes flickered over to me and Jason. His hands shook as they held the book. Eventually, he turned the book over in his hands and began to flip through the ancient yellowed pages carefully.

"Matt! Don't-!" I started to say, but the sheriff cut me off. "Shut it!" he snapped. I looked over to Jason for help, but he was still as a statue. He wasn't moving towards them because they stood over the water. I decided to take the risk and ran onto the wooden pier towards the two. My shoes thudding loudly on the old, wooden planks.

Jackson saw me coming towards them and stepped in front of Matt, guarding him. The sheriff took a swing at me with his fist but I dodged out of the way. The next swing caught me off guard as it came right towards my face, knocking me off my feet and almost causing me to fall off the pier and into the water. My cheek stung from the punch. I could already my face beginning to swell up.

"I'm not going to ask you again," Jackson said as he stood over me, fists clenched, before turning his head over to Matt. "READ THE DAMN BOOK!" he shouted, scaring Matt so much, he began reading hastily from the book. The words at first sounded like mumbo jumbo nonsense, but then my brain began translating what Matt was saying.

I shakily got to my feet, only to get punched right into the gut. I fell backwards onto my ass, the breath knocked out of my lungs. I coughed violently, wrapping my arms around my sore stomach. I heard Matt stop reading for a second, concerned for me, but then went back to reading after being threatened by Jackson again. The young sheriff stood over me, glaring down at me. The red full moon outlining his body in red. His face hidden in shadow.

"You still don't seem to understand. I am bringing my brother back from the dead; and no one is going to stop me," he snarled. I looked over Jackson's shoulder. "Wanna bet?" I asked him. Jackson's face turned white. Jason had appeared right behind the sheriff, his machete tight in his hand. His eyes burning brightly behind the mask. Jackson quickly moved to his right, causing Jason to miss his spine, and instead, slice his left arm. Jackson screamed in pain as he staggered back towards Matt, clutching his bleeding arm. The blood splashed onto the chalk lines on the ground.

The pier beneath us began to shake. The water began to tremble and bubble; almost as if it were boiling. Matt stopped reading when the pages began to flutter rapidly and black blood began to spill from them. He screamed in horror, dropping the book, but the book defied gravity and just hovered there in front of him. "What's happening?!" he screamed in terror. Jackson didn't respond as he fell to his knees, still clutching his left arm.

Jason fell to his knees in front of me, wrapping one arm around me while his machete stayed in his other hand, the blood glinting off of it. I scanned the waters; looking for a possible Eldritch god to rise up and swallow us whole. Instead of seeing Cthulhu, I saw multiple hands shoot up from the waters and grab onto the pier.

Up from the waters came a small army of the undead. Their skin hung from their bones like tattered fabric. Their eyes were milky white and drained of all life. Their teeth were sharp, while their remaining hair was covered in moss and fish bones. Their clothes still clung to them, which was what made my blood turn to ice. They were wearing camp counselor shirts. They were all Jason's victims...and there was around a hundred of them surrounding the pier. Their mouths hung open as water came gushing out of them. They moaned as they came rising out of the cold depths of the lake, reaching towards us. A few began stretching their clawed hands towards Jackson, who had quickly got to his feet and began moving away from the edge of the pier.

"I have brought you back to life! You listen to me now!" Jackson shouted before pointing over to Jason with his good arm. "There is your murderer! Jason Voorhees! He is all yours!" he shouted to them. The undead counselors all turned their decaying heads over to Jason, then began advancing towards him. Jason got me and himself to his feet and began fending them off. His machete fought off the undead at unnatural speeds. Stabbing and slicing them three or four at a time. I stood behind Jason, recovering from where I got hit by Jackson.

I felt cold hands grab my shoulders from behind me. I cried out and began fighting against an undead counselor. Jason turned around and stabbed it through its' skull. The undead counselor stopped moving, and fell backwards, back into the water. Multiple rotting hands grabbed Jason from behind and pulled him closer to the edge of the pier. He wrestled against them, but there were too many. His machete fell out of his hand and clattered to the wooden boards.

"Jason!" I cried out as I grabbed his machete and began fighting the undead counselors off of him, but it was no use. Jason struggled and moved violently to get out of their grasp. More undead counselors grabbed onto Jason's arms and legs. More arms wrapped around his torso and a few dug their nails into his broad shoulders. I swear I heard him grunt in pain.

Jackson grinned from where he stood watching. "Take him back to Hell...where he belongs," he commanded. The hands seemed to obey as they pulled him closer and closer towards the water. Jason could feel him losing against his victims, his eyes widening in horror from behind the mask. I continued stabbing the undead, but there were too many of them. Jason stretched his right hand out towards me, his eyes pleading for help. In a blink of an eye, he fell into the lake with a splash.

"JASON! NOOOO!" I screamed, dropping the machete and running over to the edge. I went down on all fours and reached out for his hand. I saw Jason's gloved hand reach out towards me from under the water, but he was too far down. Bubbles came up to the surface, causing the water's surface to ripple, distorting my ability to see. The bubbles stopped and the lake became calm again. Jason disappeared into the darkness of the lake.

Tears came to my eyes. He was gone. I screamed till my throat was raw, as more tears trailed down my face. My whole body shook. My heart felt like it was being cut in half with a knife. He was gone forever. I heard the sound of bubbles popping from the water. I opened my eyes when I saw something white slowly make its way up to the surface. Jason? Hope rose up in my chest.

My hopes immediately died when I saw what it was. His mask floated up to the surface. Just his mask. No Jason with it. I picked it up out of the water and held it in my hands. No shining hazel eyes stared back up at me from the mask, just the empty sockets.

Behind me, I heard Jackson approach me from behind. "Get up," he demanded. It took me what felt like hours to finally force my legs to work. I slowly got to my feet, Jason's mask still in my hands. I turned around to face Jackson. Jackson had ripped off a piece of his uniform and tied it around his bleeding arm. Behind him, Matt was shaking uncontrollably after seeing what he had just seen; The Necronomicon had stopped floating in mid air and was now back in Matt's hands. Matt held the book by the tips of his fingers. Terrified to be even touching such a cursed book. Jackson seemed calm about the whole thing.

"Now I have to figure out what to do with you," Jackson muttered as he looked at me. He looked over to Matt and the book. "Is there anything in there about sending people to another realm?" he asked. Matt didn't answer. All the blood had drained out of his face and his eyes were wide with horror.

"Matt! Focus! Is there anything about sending people to another realm? Could be Hell for all I care," he asked again. Matt jumped from Jackson's sudden words and began flipping through the pages. "Th-th-there i-i-i-is...a s-s-sspell on s-s-sending s-s-s-omeone-" "Perfect, say the spell," Jackson interrupted. Matt stared at me from where he stood. His eyes were full of fear and sadness. He didn't want to read from the book again.

"Read from the book, Matt," Jackson demanded through gritted teeth. When Matt still didn't do anything, Jackson pulled out his gun and aimed it at Matt. "Read from the book or I'm going to put a bullet through your skull." he snapped. Matt twitched before opening his mouth. "Y-y-you can't k-k-kill me...y-y-y-you need m-me to read from the b-b-b..." he said, but couldn't bring himself to say the word "book." Jackson stood there for a moment before nodding his head. "I guess you are right...but I can still convince you read from it," he said and slowly aimed the gun at me. I froze where I stood, staring down the end of the barrel.

"Will that make you read?" he asked Matt. When he saw the look on Matt's face, he sighed. "I'm not the bad guy here, Matt. I am just trying to get my brother back. We have gotten rid of the real evil," he explained.

"But we don't need to kill..." Matt said, looking over to me.

"I'm not asking you to kill. Just to...temporarily transport... until I get my brother back," he explained. Matt hesitated. I shook my head. Matt lowered his head. "I'm s-s-s-sorry...I don't want h-h-him to kill you," I heard him mutter. My shoulders fell in defeat as I watched Matt begin reading from the Necronomicon. The winds began to pick up around us.

Eventually, the winds picked up more and more till it became what looked like a hurricane above the water. Trees and plants got uprooted from the ground and were sucked up into the hurricane. The water sloshed and rose up in big waves across the lake. The hurricane finally turned into a pitch black vortex hovering above the lake. Matt and Jackson held on to dear life to the pier. Lightning flashed all around the vortex.

I grabbed onto one of the wooden posts of the pier, but it was no use. I was being pulled by the invisible force. There was nothing I could do to avoid it. I was lifted off the pier and into the air. I screamed as I was sucked into pitch black darkness. Falling through nothingness, till I had no idea what was up or what was down...

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