CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

FOLLOW THE LEADER

Hearing the sweet scream of horror from that bitch Carol Martinez was a symphony to Phil's ears.

“Now, my friend,” Lewis chuckled with glee, “it's time to play.”

Phil was now unleashed. He charged like a force of nature out of the woods into the clearing.

“The evil's shown itself!” the Goth witch screamed as if channeling a Gypsy from a B-grade horror film. Her Marilyn Mansonesque boyfriend grabbed her arm and dragged her into the woods. Surely they will make it to safety, Phil mused in a primal sort of way.

“OH SHIT! OH SHIT! I am SO outta here!” the bald guy screamed while urinating in his kaki's. Phil thought his name was “Shawn”. Shawn grabbing the arm of the guy who thought he was a Jamaican and moved to follow the two Goths into the woods. Phil, pursuing “Shawn” and the wanna-be Jamaican, quickly caught up with the fleeing duo.

Phil charged them and rammed his machete into back of the guy with the dreadlocks. The pseudo-Jamaican let out a scream of pain and cried “Oh...chit!”

Phil roughly jerked his machete sideways and pulled the attached victim free from the bald guy's grip.

As this happened, something fell from behind the false Jamaican's ear and landed on the ground at his feet. Both he and Phil looked down at it. It was a joint.

The guy pulled off his sunglasses and said unhappily “Chit, man.”

Then Phil locked a restraining hand on the fake Jamaican's shoulder and pulled the machete upwards, splitting him in half. A shower of blood sprayed from the body as it fell to the ground.

After being drenched in his friend's blood, Shawn let out a girlie-like scream, then he hysterically took off into the woods in a run.

Phil decided not to pursue him. It would be more fun to wait and track him down later. Anyway, he had better piggies to slaughter.

Turning around and raising his machete over his head, he charged straight for Carol Martinez.

The screaming girl stood frozen in place and totally oblivious of him. She seemed unable to take her eyes off the Filipino girl's severed head on the ground at her feet.

Good. Phil thought, This'll be an easy kill. But as he came up to her and started to bring the machete down, someone flung themselves into Carol and knocked her out of the way. He was just able make out that it had been Micki Foster before his forward momentum slammed him mask first into the van, leaving a force impression in the metal . As his machete glanced off the roof Phil lost his grip, watching the instrument fluidly fly from his hand and into the blood-soaked earth behind him.

In short order the sound of gunshots, followed by the sting hot lead moved across upper back. Pulling himself free from the deeply dented vehicle, he turned around and saw Highway Patrol officer Marshack standing before the firepit with his gun aimed and poised to shoot again.

Micki was in the process of helping Carol Martinez up when Rashid and Ryan ran up to her.

“You ok?” Ryan asked, concerned.

“I am. But, I'm not too sure about her.” Micki said, indicating Carol who looked dazed and shaken.

“The head... it was real...” Carol mumbled to herself. “This can't be real. But it is real. I saw it....”

“We have no time for this.” Rashid told them, looking over at at Phil, who was only a few feet away. “We must make our escape now, while Officer Marshack has Mr. Raman occupied.”

Neither Micki nor Ryan debated with him. Together they each grabbed hold one of Carol's arms and started to drag her along.

“I knew this was all bullshit. But how can it be bullshit.....?” Carol droned on while Rashid lead them into the darkened woods.

Phil saw his machete lying on the ground a couple of feet away, right between him and Officer Marshack. He took a step forward and Marshack shot at the ground in front of him. More out of instinct than fear, Phil jumped back.

“I don't think you want to try that, buddy.” Marshack told him.

Phil was definitely starting to get annoyed by this little man. He took another step forward and Marshack shot again. The bullet hit the ground inches away from Phil's right foot. This time he didn't even flinch. He took another step and started to bend down to pick up the machete.

Marshack shot at the machete. The bullet knocked it sideways out of Phil's grasp. “I said not to do that.” Marshack told him. Phil ignored him and continued to go for the weapon.

Marshack quickly loaded five more shells into his gun, aimed, and shot. The bullet ricocheted off Phil's hockey mask and imbedded in the side of the van behind him.

Now Phil had had enough. He ignored Marshack's further warning and grabbed the machete. Then, like a raging bull, he charged at Marshack.

Two more shots rang out and hit Phil twice in the chest, but it didn't even slow him. He was committed.

Marshack was just about to take one more shot when Phil ran him through the gut with his machete. The impact and pain caused Marshack to drop his pistol.

“Fuck you!” Marshack cursed at him. Then he spit on Phil's hockey mask.

Phil lifted Marshack off the ground on the blade of his machete and flung him backward into the firepit, splitting him from the mid-gut down between his legs in the process.

With the snap of braking bones, Marshack landed on his back across one of logs. His landing seemed to stir up the embers. With a spark and a puff of smoke his pant legs started to burn.

Marshack cried out and tried to move, but all he could manage is wiggle slightly. It was obvious he'd broken his back and was now helpless to stop the inevitable.

Satisfied, Phil turned and started to walk toward the woods. He had finished his business here. Still, he slowed down enough to relished the smell of burning flesh and the sound of Marshack's agonized screams.

Rashid and the others came up on Julius, Morgana, and Shawn, who was busy ripping off his blood splattered shirt.

“That is very unwise, young man, given the chilliness of the evening.” Rashid told him.

Shawn looked at him with a surprised expression on his face.“I'd rather fucken freeze.” he said. He was now in his undershirt. He threw his ruined shirt on the ground in front of him in disgust.

“So, is it really like being in the movie?” Carol said, giggling to herself. Making it obvious that recent events had definitely put a strain on her sanity.

“Fuck you, bitch!” Shawn blurted out at her.

“I think it is unwise for us to stand here and continue this banter. It is most likely that Officer Marshack has succumbed to Mr. Raman. Even with the head start he has provided us it is still likely Mr. Raman could catch up with us before we can get to a safe place or find some assistance. Thus I would suggest we keep our conversations to a minimum.”

“It's too late to worry about that.” Morgana told him. “I can sense the evil of this place and it's growing by the moment. It's only a matter of time. We're all doomed.”

“I will not accept that assessment, young woman.” Rashid told her. “It is most obvious you have not been well trained in the use of your gifts. We who know the ways of The Art know that there is no such thing as absolutes.”

“But I've seen it.” She countered.

“What you saw was mere possibility.” he told her. “In the great way of things there is always a choice.” Then he looked over at the others. “With that said, it is now your choice. Shall we waste more time, or shall we make our retreat?”

“Can we just get the fuck out of here.” Shawn said. “I, for one, would like to live.”

“Lead the way, Rashid.” Ryan said.

It was obviously the others were in agreement, because nothing more was said and they all followed as Rashid lead the way.

Lewis came out from behind the trees in front of Phil. “Bravo, my friend.” he said. “Excellent work back there. I especially like how you handled the highway patrol man.”

Phil tried to ignore him and continue tracking his prey. But then Lewis put up his transparent hand and Phil felt a telling jolt of pain in his head. He stopped immediately.

“But, now we must go on to the next phase of our masters' plan.” he continued.

Next Phase? Phil thought. From what he could gather of “The Plan” it seemed rather simple. He was supposed to kill people and Lewis was supposed to get brownie points with The Ancient Ones and at a certain point get his body back. And, of course once this was done he'd be free of Lewis. That was all he wanted to know. But given the fact that Lewis had the power to make his head explode with a mere thought, he figured it was wise to play along and let him ramble on.

“Don't worry, my dear boy, you will still have the pleasure of killing all of them, the only thing is three of our friends are to be given very specific consideration in regards to their demise.”

Then, Lewis gestured for Phil to follow him. “But let's move on and I'll explain as we proceed.”

Phil obediently followed as Lewis led the way.

Julius listened to the silence as he walked and almost wished he'd hear something. Anything would be better than the waves of tension that flowed over him from the others. It was at times like this that his gift seemed more like a curse.

Thankfully, Morgana had managed to regain enough strength that she no longer needed him for support. Yet she still walked beside him, which was comforting to him. But he doubted it would make any difference for either of them if anything happened.

“Does anyone know where we're going? Or are we lost?” he asked finally.

“I've been attempting to keep us on a steady course by tracking the North Star.” Rashid informed him. “It is most likely we will eventually come to a road or a shelter or possibly even run into a search party. It is logical that Sheriff Landis will have sent out search parties by now.”

“Great.” Julius said, unenthusiastically. “And, what we're gonna do if that psycho in the mask shows up?”

“We're gonna die.” Morgana said matter-of-factly.

“That's really encouraging.” Micki commented.

“Why can't you understand, I saw all of us dead.”

Julius could definitely understand. While he was helping to hold her up he got flashes of her vision. Even now he felt a chill thinking about it.

“As I told you, young lady, what you saw was only one possible outcome.” Rashid reminded her.

“Yet, at the moment it seems like the most logical one.” Shawn said. “Has anyone forgotten that our buddy out there has a very big knife. What the hell kind of defense can we put up? What are we supposed to do pelt him with sticks? Or how about we pull out the big guns and scatter and hope he doesn't catch us.”

“Oh, be assured, my young friend, we have far more resources than you believe.” Rashid told him, looking over at Micki and Ryan. “My friends and I have been in worse situations than this and have managed to survive.”

Julius could believe it. He could definitely sense a strong energy around the three of them. It seemed strongest round Rashid. If he could visualize the power around the Egyptian it would be a blinding light. To a lesser degree he could sense a similar energy around Micki as well.

“Well, unless one of you got some firepower shoved up your ass I still say we're out classed by the big guy.” Shawn countered.

“It must be obvious even to you, given the events back at the campsite, that firearms are useless in this situation.” Rashid told him.

“Well, then I hope you got some kind of Mr Miyagi, Karate Kid, crap in mind.”

Carol chuckled at this. “I'd like to see that.” she said. Then Julius noticed a look of fear come across her face.

It was at that moment that Julius felt a large hand clamp down on his shoulder. An overwhelming feeling of anger and hatred flooded into his body. But underneath those feelings he could sense something darker, colder, and inhuman.

Then, he was roughly spin around and ended up looking up into the hate filled eyes behind Phil's hockey mask. He saw movement from Phil's other arm and braced himself for either being run through or chopped by Phil's machete. But, instead Phil's other hand came up and latched onto his neck. Where's the machete? He found himself thinking as he struggled for breath.

He heard Morgana scream. He saw her charge his attacker out of the corner of his eye. Phil swatted her away like a bug.

Then he was lifted off the ground and slammed against the trunk of a nearby tree, knocking the remaining air from his lungs. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Phil pull something out of his pocket. With a glint of metal he saw as Phil raised his hand th shining new tent spike.

Then he realized what Phil had in mind. Panic overwhelmed him. Since he was a child he'd had a recurring nightmare about being staked like a vampire. Now he knew that nightmare was about to become a reality. Hysterically, he started punching and kicking at Phil. If he could he would have screamed. Yet, none of this could stop what was about to happen.

He saw the guy Carol had identified as Freeman charge at Phil. But he was easily backhanded. Still, the distraction had given Julius a few precious seconds, for which he was eternally grateful.

Even with him struggling, Phil still managed to get the spike in position over his heart and started to push it in. Pain seared his chest as the metal point ripped through his flesh and broke through bone on into his life giving pump. Then, he felt it bore out through his back and into the trunk of the tree.

Phil released his grip on Julius and left him to hang free. Pain spasmed through Julius' body. He tried to scream, but only a gurgle and blood came flowing from his lips. Then, mercifully, the incredible pain and shock. overtook him and he passed out.

Phil watched with mild amusement as the Goth guy's body jerked one last time and went totally limp. He had to admit he loved the irony of this kill. I'm such an artist. He thought with pride.

He looked over at the Goth girl. She was crying and trying to pull away from Micki, who was trying to holding her back from going after him again.

Steven was trying to help his cousin as well by putting up a restraining arm and trying to pull the two of them back toward Rashid and the others.

Phil was amused to see that the Egyptian was just standing behind them mumbling to himself.

But then his amusement turned to surprise when Rashid lifted his hand, and with a sudden spark, a ball of fire appeared in his palm. The Egyptian lobbed the fireball at him. It landed on the ground in front of him and before he knew what happened the fire expanded and encircled him.

Pulling his machete from his belt, he raised it over his head. It was time to go to work again. He took a step and tried to go through the fire, but the heat was so intense that even with his new body he found himself unable to proceed.

“Holy shit!” he heard Shawn say.

“Now, run!” Rashid exclaimed. “We must make our escape with all expediency.”

“But Julius!” the Goth girl screamed back.

“I'm sorry. It's too late.” Rashid told her.

“No!” she yelled, as Freeman and Micki started to drag her back into the woods.

Shawn took Carol Martinez by the arm and followed as Rashid led the way.

A few moments later Lewis came out of the woods behind him. He didn't look pleased. “You weak minded fool!” he cursed at him. “You let them get away!”

Phil grunted and pointed at the circle of flames around him. It was at that moment that the flames simply disappeared without a trace.

Surprised, he looked around in confusion.

“Idiot. That old fool tricked you with a simple illusion.” Lewis informed him.

Then, Lewis simply shrugged his shoulders. “ Oh, Well, thanks to that old man we may not have culled the herd sufficiently to my liking, but still things are going in the right direction.” Then he smiled at Phil. “Keep faith, my friend, soon our mission will be completed and we shall both get our due.”

Several yards away, Rashid started weaving, stumbled, and fell to the ground.

“Rashid!” Micki yelled, letting loose of Morgana. She ran over to her old friend and mentor.

She turned the old man over. He looked pale and exhausted. “We must continue.” He said weakly, trying to get up. Micki carefully helped him and managed to get him on his feet. “My deception will have only afforded us a few minutes ingress at the most.”

“What deception? You mean the fire back there.” Shawn said, as he came over with Carol Martinez in tow. “That was amazing, Chief.”

“Yes, unfortunately, I was only able to maintain the illusion for a short duration of time.”

“You mean that was all in our heads?” Shawn asked, amazed.

“Why not. That seems logical to me.” Carol said. “But a lot of things seemed logical to me that turned out not being true. It's really getting hard to tell what's real and what's not around here.”

“You're tell me, Chief.” Shawn said, shaking his head.

“Come on, people. Rashid is right. We'd better get a move on.” Ryan said, as he came up to them with Morgana. Tears were still running down Morgana's cheeks, but she was no longer fighting Ryan. She seemed resigned to follow where ever she was lead.

Micki offered to help Rashid, but he pushed her hands away. “I'm fine now.” he said. Then he took the lead again.

Finally, after few minutes, they came out into a clearing.

“It can't be !” Micki exclaimed , a shocked expression on her face.

“Fascinating.” Rashid said, equally surprised.

“I can't believe it.” Ryan said, as he looked across the clearing at the rundown facade of the Voorhees house.

RETURN