WESTIN HILLS
CHAPTER 28- RESPECT YOUR ELDERS


“NOOOOO!” Lexi screamed at the top of her lungs as Freddy Krueger engulfed her with his fiery, oversized arms, lifted her off of the ground, and began wrenching her toward the blazing inferno inside the open boiler.

Feeling the intensity of the heat growing with every passing second, Lexi squirmed and wriggled with everything she had attempting to break Krueger’s vise grip around her waist. With no success, it became clear to her at that point that she was losing the battle. After all she had endured, she was still no match for the growing power of the dream master. A power that increased with each and every soul he added to his mantle. But this one was special. It was this one Freddy cherished most of all. The prized catch of eternity. Lexi. The soul survivor. The one that got away. He was REALLY going to enjoy this!

As the flames began to lick her flesh, Lexi continued to fight, but it was no use. Krueger had her and he wasn’t letting go. Not this time. There would be no escape and both Lexi and Freddy knew it. Perspiration poured off of her as she approached the door of the boiler with Freddy cackling loudly in the background. Feeling the scorching heat sear into her skin, Lexi let out an excruciating cry of pain and gazed into the orange and yellow fire and saw her demise contained within. Then, with a tear rolling down each cheek, she closed her eyes and prepared to accept her fate.

However, just as she could smell her hair beginning to burn, a surging force drew her backward out of the fire and more importantly out of Freddy’s grasp. Hitting the ground with a thwak, Lexi staggered around on the ground for a few seconds before she looked up and saw the dark shadow of a man standing over her. Then she passed out.

Back inside the boiler, the fireball Freddy, confused, peered out at the Man in Black with surprise.

“Who the hell are you?” Freddy called out in a deep, almost surreal voice.

“Your worst nightmare,” the Man in Black replied in an equally monotonous voice, staring down the wall of flames from behind those cold, unrelenting eyes.

Intrigued, Freddy stared at his new adversary with caution as if he had seen him someplace before. Oh fuck it, Freddy thought. He’s just another Johnny-come-lately. An asshole getting in my way. And for that, he would have to pay just like all the others. The little bitch will still get hers, he’d just have to deal with this fucker first. Reaching out from the flames, Freddy attempted to grab a hold of the man’s long black trench coat, when—

WOOOOOOOOOSH!

A shower of white foam overtook Freddy as the Man in Black unleashed a fire extinguisher, pointing its thin black hose directly at the source of the blaze. Within seconds, the once mighty torrent became a memory as Freddy howled into oblivion. Clutching the red extinguisher, the Man emptied the entire canister into the fire, smothering it and reducing it to a mere flicker.

Then all was quiet. Still sizzling, the fire’s last gasp finally went out just as the door on the boiler slammed shut.

An eerie quiet then fell upon the entire area as the Man in Black set down the extinguisher and knelt down beside the unconscious Lexi. He had to get her out of here, but how? And where exactly was here anyway? There were just too many questions. One minute he was in D-wing at Westin, the next he spotted Lexi on death’s door. With no time to think, he merely acted on pure instinct and pulled her away from the fire.

Seeing no other options, the Man picked Lexi up in his arms and carried her away from the huge boiler and down an adjacent metal walkway, hoping and praying to get as far away from Fred Krueger as possible.

But where would they go? What would they do? He had no idea, but one thing was for sure. Anywhere was safer than the boiler room.


***


Thump, thump, thump, thump.

That was the sound of Ty’s father slowly ascending the creaky old staircase to get to his room. Step by step, Ty recognized that all-too-familiar pander and rushed to get under his covers so maybe the old son of a bitch would leave him alone for a change.

Lying under the sheets, Ty felt something hard poke against the small of his back, and when he reached his hand down to see what it was, he smiled. There with to him in the bed was a large sledgehammer, its wooden handle extending across the length of the bed.

Soon after he grasped its handle, the door flung open and smacked against the wall with a bang. In stepped a heavyset forty-something smoking his trademark blunt of marijuana. Ty recognized the stench of the weed long before his father even entered the room. It was the type of fragrance that announced to the world that he was coming so they could prepare to deal with all his bullshit. He’d known that odor since he was a child.

Sure enough, it was his father, dazed and confused and obviously high on the pot. Curiously eyeing his son under the bed sheets, a plume of smoke rose to the ceiling as he stepped toward him.

“Boy, what the fuck you doin’ sleepin?” Jermaine Alexander asked, a half-burnt blunt hanging from his lip. “Time to get up and take your medicine.”

Grimacing in fury underneath the sheets, Ty clutched the sledgehammer until his knuckles changed color. He was really going to let him have it this time. For himself. For his mother. For everyone.

“Didn’t you hear me you little bastard?” the deep-voiced drug dealer questioned as he approached the foot of the bed. “Get your sorry ass up and take your meds so I can go fuck your whore of a mother.”

That did it. When he pulled back the bed sheet, Ty roared to life, howling in anger as he connected with the mallet of the sledgehammer right across his father’s skull. Falling backward away from the bed, Jermaine screamed in agony as he smacked the back of his head off of the floorboard. Ty, like a predator attacking its prey, pounced on him in a second, continually smashing his head in repeatedly with the sledgehammer, splattering the gray matter of his brains out across the floor and off the wall.

Sweating intensely, Ty finally let up a few seconds later, tossing the sledge to the ground with a whack. He then began to sob uncontrollably, re-living the pain of the experience all over again. Just like the first time he’d killed his father. Reluctantly, he took a step backward, staring down at his blood-stained hands in disbelief. Did I really do it again?

Exhaling loudly, he gathered his composure and walked over to the opposite side of the bed and wiped his hands on a towel. The white towel stained a dark crimson as he wrung his hands within its threads, cleaning himself up the best he could. Preparing to walk out the door, he decided to take one last look at what was left of his father. When he did, he was in for the shock of his life. His father wasn’t dead at all. Despite the smashed-in head, he sprang to his feet with blood and brains still dripping off of him. And on his right hand was a familiar brown claw with four finger knives attached to it.

By the time he realized it was Freddy Krueger, it was too late. Freddy rammed his claw straight through Ty’s midsection and out his back, goring him directly to the wall behind him and forcing blood up out of his mouth. Raising him off the ground with inhuman strength, Freddy then returned to his old self, complete with a floppy brown fedora and red-and-green striped sweater.

“You need to learn to respect your elders, kid,” Krueger snarled with that devilish grin across his burnt and scarred face.

At that point, everything became a blur to Ty, whose blood streaked behind him as his body rose toward the ceiling. Forcing Ty’s body into an awkward ninety-degree position, Freddy repeatedly slammed his claw in and out of his stomach while simultaneously snapping his neck against the ceiling.

Feeling Ty’s body go limp, Freddy let it drop down to the ground with a thud. Then, examining his claw, he noticed each blade was covered in blood, so he systematically licked each one, letting the excess blood dribble down his jaw like the gravy of a Thanksgiving turkey.

Mmmm, he roared, rolling his eyes back in his head in delight. Nothing like the taste of blood. Freshly squeezed.

And it would not be the last, he thought with a chuckle as he remembered there was still work left to be done.

LOTS of work.


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