CHAPTER NINETEEN
KILL ZONE
Will Peters had just finished counting out the register and was putting the last figure on the evening closing report. It had been a quiet evening, so quiet that he'd let the evening help off early.
The entire evening he'd only had two sales. Both had been made to a couple of very nice Filipino ladies who'd decided to be brave and set up camp in the woods near Camp Crystal Lake.
He'd given them the typical warning about “Camp Blood,” though he did it in a tongue in cheek way. This had amused the ladies, though it was obvious they, like all the other tourists, knew that Jason was no longer a threat.
The women had each bought one of Steven's all in one camping kits, so though it was only two sales it was a nice chunk of change for the evening. He was sure Steven would be pleased, since he recalled from when he ran the business that typically evenings were light.
He wondered if Steven had had a chance to ask his cousin about the Winter Festival. He was sure if Steven had he'd tell him when he checked up on the business. It was just that he was a bit nervous about the answer. Katherine had been his first and only love, so it had been an eternity since he'd had to deal with the pressure of asking anyone out on a first date. And, given the fact that Steven's cousin was an extraordinarily beautiful woman didn't help either.It all made him feel like an insecure teenager, which he wasn't sure was a good or bad thing.
He was about to ponder on this subject further when a large hulking figure smashed through the front door of the store.
Phil had enjoyed breaking through the door, it was just the kind of dramatic entrance he wanted. He could see it had the desired affect, because that old fool, Will Peters, was standing behind the register with a totally startled look on his face.
After a few moments, the supposedly tough old military man got his composure and managed to speak. “You'd better think twice about what you're thinking about doing. All I have to do is press a button and I'll have the sheriff here before you can get away with one thing.”He said, with false bravado. “Also, if you're thinking about getting tough with me it's only right that I inform you that I have a gun under this counter.”
Phil wasn't impressed. Neither of the old man's threats bothered him one bit. To show his disregard, Phil picked up a metal rack of hunting jackets and threw it against the far wall. The rack smashed and sent the jackets scattering in all directions.
Peters must've pushed the button, because suddenly the room was filled with the sound of a very loud bell ringing. Phil looked around the room and found the sound was coming from a large electronic bell that was located toward the back of the room over a door marked “EMPLOYEES ONLY,” next to a wooden display cabinet full of different styles of knives.
Perfect. He thought. I can kill two birds with one stone.
Phil started toward the doorway.
“Stop.” Peters said, holding up the gun from under the counter and pointing it at him. “Stop or I'll have to shoot.”
Phil ignored him and continued toward the annoying bell.
“Stop. I'm not kidding!” Peters yelled at him.
Then Phil heard gun shots and felt a couple sharp pains in his side, yet to his amazement he was still standing.
Phil looked over at Will Peters. The old man had a look of shock on his face. Yet, the old sucker shot him again.
This time the bullet hit him in the gut. He felt the sharp pain of impact, yet it had no affect on his new powerful body.
Phil glared at Peters.Though he wasn't hurt, Phil was getting annoyed with this old fool.
Before Peters could shoot him again Phil charged the counter and busted through it. Then he grabbed Peters by the hand that he had the gun in and crushed it. Peters rewarded him with a loud, agonized, scream.
With his free hand Phil grabbed Peters by the throat, but this time making sure he didn't crush the old man's neck like he did the drunk in the alley. Still Peters' eyes bugged out and he started coughing.
Phil dragged Peters over to where the annoying bell was. With his free hand he reached up and grabbed a hold of the bell. Then there was a shower of sparks and silence as Phil ripped it off the wall. Then Phil simply dropped it on the floor with a loud clang.
Then he turned to the display cabinet and smashed the glass. He grabbed a large bowie knife out of the display. Then he slammed Will Peters against the employee door and rammed the knife into his gut. He felt the knife blade hit the door behind Will's body and imbed into it.
Phil let loose of Will Peters neck and stepped back to look at his handiwork. It had been a very satisfying kill.
Peters coughed a couple times and bloody drool began to dribble from his lips. He looked up at his killer and said, “I'm sorry, Micki.” Then his body went limp and his head drooped.
Sheriff Landis felt his nausea returning as he slipped past the still seated body of Deputy Campbell and headed over to the dispatch radio, which was on the far side of the desk. Picking up the microphone he pressed the button and began to talk. “Sheriff Landis to Unit 014, do you copy. Come in Cort. Over.”
“This is Cort. I copy, Sheriff. Over.”came the static filled reply.
“All hell has broken loose back here, Cort, and I need some assistance.” the sheriff told him. “I got both deputies on duty here dead. I got three suspects locked up in the evidence room and one on the loose. Over.”
“We still have a situation here too, Sheriff. The crowd around here hasn't disbanded. If anything the crowd has increased. It appears the word has gotten out about the murders. None of the backup I requested has arrived. Though, I got a message from the Essex Highway Patrol and their three unites are do at anytime now. Over.” Cort sounded stressed.
“Is there anyway you could spare me someone. I'm stuck here by myself and I really can't trust that my guests in the evidence room will stay quiet. Over.” Landis said.
“I could spare Deputy Justin. I know it isn't much, but it's the best I can offer right now. Over.” Cort said, frustrated.
“At this point I'll take what I can get.” The sheriff said. “When the Highway Patrol gets there send one of the unites my way. Over.”
“You got it, Sheriff. Over.” Cort agreed.
“I'm counting on you to handle that situation out there. Over and out.” the sheriff concluded.
“Understood, Sheriff. Out.”
Then there was nothing but static over the radio.
Sheriff Landis shook his head and grumbled. “Goddamned bureaucrats.” He said, thinking about how the county had cut his budget a couple years ago. It was their stance, and that of the local voters, that with the threat of Jason gone they really didn't need to maintain a large sheriff's office. And, since the Cunningham County Sheriff's Department wasn't a real sheriff's department, but a private security force maintained by the estate of the Cunningham family, they basically had a free hand in the matter.What they hadn't counted on was all the new murders and the tourism that was now overpowering his reduced office.
Yep, he thought, you bureaucratic buttheads really fucked the pooch this time. But, of course, the people at city hall would find a way to throw the blame on his shoulders.
Well, that was fine with him. The thought of resigning and getting the fuck out of this town was looking more and more appealing.
Then he heard a buzzing sound coming from a panel full of red lights that he knew was for monitoring the burglar alarms for all the shops in town. Now one of those light was blinking and the buzzer was going off.
“When it rains, it pours.” he said, shaking his head and sighing in frustration.
Phil had just finished filling the pockets of his black trenchcoat with metal tent spikes and was heading back toward the broken knife display when the image of Lewis came up to him.
“I must say I'm very impressed, my friend.” Lewis said, looking around at the damage Phil had done to the Army/Navy Store and nodded. “I see you've managed to gain a bit of control over your new strength.” He said, indicating Will Peters body, which was still pinned to the wall by the bowie knife stuck in his gut. “You managed to kill him without crushing him in the process.” He said, smiling.
Phil walked up to Will Peters and pulled the knife free from his body and the door as easily as if it were stuck in butter. The body fell limply to the floor, like a puppet with it's strings cut.
With a quick flick of his wrist, Phil sent most of the blood sticking to the blade splattering on the floor. Then he slipped the knife into the sheath he'd put on earlier.
“You definitely look ready for the job at hand, my boy.” Lewis said, with a look of approval.
But Phil wasn't finished. He went over to the knife display and took out the shining new machete. Though it had the corny looking name CAMP CRYSTAL LAKE written in blood looking paint on the blade, it felt good in his hand.
Lewis nodded with approval. “Yes, my friend, now you are ready.”
Deputy David Justin's patrol car just cleared the crowd and was now heading toward the Army/Navy Store, as the sheriff had instructed. With all the other deputies, as well as the highway patrol, and a number of locals Deputy Cort deputized busy with the crowd it was left up to Deputy Justin to check out this possible burglary. Not that he was too worried about the situation. He figured at the most it was a couple tourist who'd gotten rowdy because of all the excitement and took things a bit too far.
As he drove up to the store he could see that the front door had been smashed in. “Unit 005 to base. Over.” He said into the microphone of his CB.
“This is base. What you got for me, son? Over.” He heard Sheriff Landis' voice come from the speaker.
“I'm approaching the store. It appears the door is broken in. Over.”
“Ok, proceed. But be cautious and don't pull any of that Dirty Harry crap. You got that, boy? Over.” The sheriff said.
“I know, Sheriff.” Justin said, slightly incensed.
Justin knew exactly what the sheriff meant. Hell, everyone at the office knew about his little mistake and constantly reminded him of it.
Who could forget the story of how, during his first week as a deputy in Crystal Lake, he had answered a call about an intruder at a local farm and while investigating a noise got kicked by the farmer's mule. The thing was though this in itself would have been embarrassing, he had his gun out at the time and ended up shooting the mule in the butt in the process.
Ever since his coworkers have constantly ribbed him about being the best ass shooter in the county. Some of them have even started addressing him by the annoying nickname of “Ass Blaster.”
Justin parked his patrol car across the street from the darkened store. Getting out, he pulled out the light he had on his belt and turned it on. Cautiously he headed across the street and looked through the main window.
There was a single lamp lit behind the counter,which looked to be broken, so most of the shop was in shadow. Still he could make out movement in there. Making his way to the broken doorway, the red haired, freckle faced, deputy flashed his light inside the shop and exclaimed, “Sheriff's deputy. Stay where you are and put your hands up. Don't try any funny business!”
Justin's light illuminated a large, hulking, figure, wearing a dirty hockey mask over his face. In the figure's left hand was the glint of a large blade.
“Ok, mister, I'd put the weapon down.” He said, putting his hand on the butt of his pistol.
The figure before him simply stood there looked at him, as if assessing his next move.
“I'm not kidding. Drop the knife and put your hands behind your head, or I'll have to shoot.” Justin said, trying his best to sound in control of the situation. But the truth was just the opposite, he was scared shitless and was fighting the urge to run. There was something about this guy, something that told him this was serious. He pulled out his pistol and pointed it at the figure. “I mean it.”
Phil stood and watched as that fool Deputy Justin stood in the doorway shining a light in his eyes, shouting orders, and pointing a gun at him. None of this really bothered him in the least. If anything he could smell the fear coming off this ridiculous excuse for a deputy. It amused him.
He knew all it would take was the flexing of a single muscle to start this idiot shooting. Though he wasn't afraid of any real injury since he'd already found out that bullets couldn't kill him. It was just that they still hurt like a bitch going in. Yet, he knew he had better things to do than playing face off with this fool.
“What are you waiting for?” Lewis asked, from behind the remains of the counter, where he watch with interest.
“I said drop the knife and put your hand behind your head, damn it. Do it now or I'll shoot!” The deputy yelled at him.
Then Justin shot a warning shot over Phil's head. The shot hit the wall above the employee door, which was right behind Phil.
Ok, asshole, Phil thought, playtime is over. Now he was pissed. He charged Justin.
Justin got three more shots off at Phil. Two shots hit him in the chest. The third one grazed him in the shoulder. Pain seared Phil's chest, but instead of slowing him down it fed into his rage.
Phil lifted the machete over his head and clasp it with both hands. Then he brought the blade down on Justin's head. The strike was so powerful that it sent the blade cutting through Justin's hat, into his skull, down through his neck, and halfway through his chest.
Then Phil felt Justin's gun go off one last time. The shot was point blank and knocked him backward. He hit a rack of winter coats on his way down and sent it careening across the floor.
Sitting up, Phil saw that Justin's body had split open into a vee and was spraying the area around it in blood. Then justin's knees buckled and he fell backward into the doorway.
Slowly, stumbling up, Phil checked his stomach and found that, though it was slick with black blood, the hole had already closed. He had no doubt that the exit wound in the back was closed as well.
“You really need to stop going out of your way to get shot.” Lewis told him. “Though it may seem like you're impregnable eventually they will take their toll on your body.”
At that moment Phil had wished he could say something because he wanted to inform Lewis it wasn't by choice that he was now a easier target to shoot at.
“Still, I most say you are really showing some panache in your killing style. I look forward to seeing what surprises you come up with next.”
Phil bent down and picked up his machete, which he'd dropped while he was falling. Then he started for the door and stepped over Justin's body, which was still continuing to drain blood all over the floor.
As he headed out the door he heard Sheriff Landis' voice coming from Justin's walkie talkie. “Report,....Unit 005 come in. Over. Deputy Justin report.....”