Chapter Twenty Nine
PREY
Chopping down the old man had done little to cool the rage that Jason Voorhees felt. But soon he would feel much better. Soon he knew the blood would flow and he would have the joy of the kill.
When he was young, before things changed, his father had told him never to tolerate tricksters. That was why his father, even though his mama disagreed with him, refused to let him go to the summer carnival. He said that it was a den of tricksters and he would not allow the money that came from the sweat of his brow to support such people.
That dark haired woman had tried to trick him. She tried to make him think that his mother was talking through her. She needed to pay for that. Carney folk were evil and she was of their ilk. He would find her and the others and they would all pay.
Fueled by his fury, he focused his senses on his task, hunting his prey. As he stomped through the brushes he scanned the muddy ground with his good eye looking for foot prints. His ears were listening for any sounds from braking branches, the shaking of bushes, splashing from puddles, even right down to the thump of a quickening heart beat. His nose lead him forward by detecting the subtle perfume of sweat and fear in the woods before him.
Soon he knew he would catch up to his prey. Then the killing would start. He quickened his pace.
Ryan leaned Morgana's unconscious body against a tree.
Then he quickly looked around the brush for a weapon, any kind of weapon. He found a broken tree limb lying in the mud. Lifting up the hefty piece of wood, he propped it up against his shoulder, like a baseball bat, and headed over to Micki.
“Get behind me.” he told Micki.
“What the hell are you planning?” Micki asked, a mix of surprise and fear on her face.
“That asshole is going to track us down sooner or later. If he is so set on killing us I for one am going to make it hard for him.” he told her swinging his makeshift club back and forth in front of him in a testing way.
“Couldn't have said that any better myself.” said a voice from the woods.
Suddenly the woods in front of them erupted in light as several flashlights were turned on at the same time.
Both Micki and Ryan had to blink several times to clear their vision. But they both recognized the white haired man who stepped out of the woods in front of them.
“Sheriff.” Ryan said, a rush of relief running through his body. He immediately dropped the tree limp, which hit the muddy ground at his feet and splashed his shoes and pants in the process.
“You people are extremely hard to track down.” Sheriff Lloyd Landis commented as he expertly flipped his double-barreled shotgun over his shoulder and slid it into the weathered looking brown leather holster strapped to his back. “It's just lucky you two were making so much noise or we would've missed you. By the way, I loved the smoke signal. Only thing is was it necessary to burn the Voorhees house down?”
“That wasn't exactly planned.” Ryan admitted.
“Well, it made our job that much easier.” Landis said. “Though I have to say that running off into the woods wasn't the smartest thing for you to do.”
“We had no choice at the time.” Ryan told him. “I have to tell you, Sheriff, that Phil's dead.”
“Then I guess we're done.” Landis said, with relief.
“Unfortunately, not.” Micki told him.
“But didn't you just say...” Landis began.
“Lloyd, Jason's back.” Ryan said, cutting him off.
“What?” Landis said, in total shock. “And how the hell did that miracle happen?”
“A man named Lewis Vendredi.” Ryan told him.
Upon hearing the name Landis shook his head. “Vendredi. You're telling me that son of a bitch is back in town and has something to do with this.”
This time it was both Micki and Ryan who were surprised.
“You know him?” Ryan asked.
“Pamela's stepbrother.” Landis said. “I knew him when I was a younger man, and I didn't like him one bit. The guy was a total jackass.”
“He's the one responsible for all this. He and Pamela brought Jason back from the dead originally. He used Phil's death to bring Jason back.”
“He was always into weird crap. No one in these parts wanted anything to do with him. The problem was that he was Pamela's brother and Pamela was a member of the Cunningham family. No one around here ever fucked with the Cunninghams, so we had to tolerate him. I, for one, was happy to see him leave.”
“Well, you won't have to worry about Lewis again.” Micki told him. “Jason killed him.”
“Then there is justice in the world.” Landis said. He was silent for a moment. But when he spoke again he was all business.“We need to get you people to safety.” With that he ordered the deputies, troopers, and highway patrol men to point down their flashlights and come out of the shadows. Ryan counted twelve of them. He also noted that all the officers were armed with assault riffles.
“Where'd you get all the firepower?” Ryan asked.
“This is Crystal Lake.” Landis said as answer. “You don't know when you'll have some hockey masked super killer running around the woods slaughtering people. A few AK-47s would seem to be standard issue.”
“But I thought you believed that all these murders were simply copycat killings.” Ryan stated.
“I had a change of mind after I saw what that fucker Phil did to Main Street.”Landis told him. “We'll set up a little surprise for our buddy Jason at Camp Crystal Lake.” Landis smiled, it wasn't a pleasant sight. “Now let's get you folks to safety.”
“But what about the others?” Micki asked. “What about Shawn and Carol?”
Landis' smile disappeared. “You didn't mention there were other survivors out there.”
“It was a little overwhelming when you came out with the flashlights and firepower.” Ryan commented.
“And why in the name of sweet Jesus did you people separate in the first place?” Landis asked.
“I suggest you ask them, if or when you find them.” Ryan said. “We had nothing to do with that. They took off all on their own.”
Landis motioned to one of his deputes. Ryan recognized the deputy that came over as Roy Turner.
“Ok, Roy, I need you and a couple of the guys over there to check the woods between here and Voorhees house and look for a couple of survivors who might be still out there. If you run into Jason Voorhees don't be heroes. Shoot first and run like hell. I don't want you guys ending up in body bags. If you find those people head back to Camp Crystal Lake, that will be base camp.”
“Understood, Sheriff.” Turner said.
Ryan watched as Turner headed over to the other officers and chose a couple of the state troopers to go with him.
“Now, Steven,” Sheriff Lloyd Landis said to Ryan, “let's get this show on the road. We got a surprise party to set up.”
Jason could sense he was closing in on his prey. He knew there were two victims awaiting his blade. Through the boots on the soles of his feet he could feel the vibrations caused by their stumbling footfalls. He could also feel the rhythm of their fearfully racing hearts. It called to the raging beast within him. His ears could now detect the sloshing of their feet in muddy ground, along with the snapping of branches and shuffling of bushes along the trail ahead. Then there was the smell. The sweet perfume of fear, that grew stronger by the moment. It compelled him with the promise of the kill.
He hoped one of the two prey he was tracking might be the woman who pretended to be his mother, but more than likely it would merely be the bald guy and girl he was stalking before the old man and the trickster interfered with him before. Still, he knew he would track her down eventually, then make her pay. He would make them all pay.
He quickened his pace even more. Soon the blood would flow.
“Come on, Chief!” Shawn said as he dragged Carol Martinez along with him by her arm. Carol didn't resist, but she didn't help either. She was a dead weight slowing him down.
“I saw him. I actually saw him come out of the zit. But that can't be true, because things like that don't happen in reality. But I saw it....” Carol mumbled to herself.
Then, Shawn heard the sound of shuffling brush and the snapping of branches. He looked back and panic shot through him like a lightening bolt. Jason Voorhees was stomping towards them with the focus of a charging bull.
“Oh my god, oh my god!” Shawn screamed out. “Come on. Come on. He's coming, Chief. He's coming!” He continued to try to pull her, but she continued to slow him down.
“No!” Carol finally screamed back at him. “It's not real!” She jerked her arm free of his grip and jumped back from him.
“Fuck!” Shawn yelled. “Fuck this shit.” But a moment later he felt a sharp pain in his lower back and his legs went numb. He stumbled, fell forward, and landed face first in the mud. Clumps of wet dirt filled his mouth and splashed in his eyes. He spat out the foul tasting muck. He tried to wipe his burning eyes, but found his hands were soaked as well. Finally he found a dry spot on his shirt sleeve and cleared his vision.
He tried to move his legs. They were useless. I'm paralyzed! his mind yelled at him. Like he really needed to be told that.
He tried to use his arms drag himself forward, but it felt like he was dragging a lead weight. I'm dead meat! he told himself. Oh, my god, I'm gonna die!
He looked over at Carol and begged her to help him. “Help me....help me, Chief!” Carol shook her head at him and waved her arms in front of her like she was trying to wipe the image from her sight. “No...no. I don't believe this...It isn't real!” Then she backed up against a nearby tree and squatted there. She put her hands over her ears, closed her eyes, and continued to shake her head.
Shawn heard the sloshing sound of Jason's boots coming toward him. Then the splashing stopped. He felt a slight pull at his back. He knew Jason was standing over him. He also knew the tug he felt was Jason pulling his machete out of his back. Now what?How's he going to finish me off? Shawn asked himself. He knew a moment later when he felt the blade hit the back of his skull and split his head in half.
Jason looked down at his handiwork. His new body had work well so far. When he threw his machete it had felt so natural. His aim, as always had been right on target. And, now when he brought his machete down on the bald guy's head it easily split it like a ripe melon. The blade hit so hard that it went completely through the head and embedded itself in the mud beneath the head.
Jason pulled the machete free of the mud and the bald guy's head. There was a puddle of blood forming around the remains of the head, looking very much like a red halo in the mud. Jason thought it looked pretty.
Then Jason heard the sound of muttering nearby. He looked over to where the sound came from. He saw a dark haired girl sitting against a tree. For a moment he thought it was the trickster, but then he realized it was the other one. It was the one that the bald guy was dragging with him when he tried to get away from him at his mama's house.
Jason started toward her, half expecting her to start running. After all, they all ran from him. But to his surprise she just sat there and continued to mutter to herself.
As he came to a stop in front of her and raised his machete over his head to strike a killing blow she looked up at him and did something totally unexpected. She laughed at him. “You can't hurt me.” she told him. “You're not real. You don't exist.”
Jason cocked his head. He was confused. This woman was laughing at him. She was telling him he wasn't real. This didn't make sense to him. Usually women would scream and run from him in terror. Why wasn't this one doing that. Even more confusing was that he didn't sense any fear from her. But he did sense something that oddly reminded him of his mother. Specifically, it reminded him of how he sensed her while she was killing those counselors all those years ago.
Jason lowered his machete. Though the dark part of him screamed for him to kill this woman, Jason decided he needed to take a moment to consider what he should do with her. He looked at her and cocked his head again.