Chapter twenty six

DEFENSIVE MEASURES

“Ok, guys, this is really creeping me out.” Shawn said, as they walked through the clearing toward the weathered looking mansion that had once been the home of Jason Voorhees and his mother.

“This seems too convenient to be coincidence.” Ryan said.

“Most definitely.” Rashid agreed. “I would say that somehow we were lead to this location.”

“But why?” Micki asked.

“I have a theory.” Rashid told them. Then he turned to Ryan. “Correct me if I am wrong. Was it not at this house that you and Miss Kimble fought Jason Voorhees and sent him to hell?”

“Yeah, Jason was pulled down right over there.” Ryan pointed at the hole near the overturned jungle gym.

Rashid went over to the hole and looked in. “The gods of the ancients help us.” Then he motioned for the others to come over.

“What is it, Rashid?” Micki asked, coming over and looking down into the worm infested hole. It was filled to the top with squirming white bodies.

“This most certainly confirms my suspicions.” Rashid told her.

“Ok, Professor,” Shawn said joining them, “what new fun you got for us now?”

“Yeah, I'd like to know what you've come up with too.” Ryan said.

“It is my belief that we have reached a point of convergence.” Rashid said simply.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Shawn asked, baffled.

“Everything. The mask, the murders, Mr. Raman's transformation, the attack at the campsite, our journey through the forest, even these worms congregating in this hole have been events set into motion to lead to this specific place at this specific time.”

“Excuse me, but that sounds totally wacko.” Shawn said.

“Everything since I entered this damned forest has been wacko, but nobody wants to listen to me.” Carol added.

“I am most assuredly aware of how this sounds, but I affirm that what I am saying is true.” Then he looked over at Micki. “It confirms my vision.”

“What vision?”Shawn asked.

Rashid went on to tell Shawn and the others about his vision of the powerful being rising from the giant pustule.

“Haunted masks, super killers, and now someone coming out of a giant zit.” Carol said. “The world's gone totally nuts and I'm the only sane person in it.”

“That's a matter of opinion.” Shawn said. “Frankly, I never thought you were firing on all thrusters.”

“Kiss my ass.” she said, glaring at him.

“It's your fault we're here” Morgana said to Carol, accusingly. “It's because you refused to listen to the warning the spirits sent us.”
“Will you please get off that spirit crap.” Carol told her.

“This is not the time for recriminations nor arguments.” Rashid told them. “Now we must prepare ourselves for the inevitable confrontation with Mr. Raman.”

“So, what? You suggest we make a stand here?” Ryan asked.

“If I am correct we have no other alternative.” Rashid told him.

Ryan looked over at the shabby patch job the state police had done on the large bay window Jason had thrown him through. He had little doubt Phil would make quick work of it.

“Ok, then, Professor.” Shawn said, picking up a weathered looking shovel from the ground next to the hole and holding it up in front of him aggressively.“Let's give him a party he won't forget.”

Ryan remembered the shovel from his fight with Jason. He remembered it was of no help then. But, if it gave Shawn some confidence it wasn't his place to take that from him.

Then Rashid came up to him. “So, my friend, I believe we should gain access to the inside of the house and avail ourselves of whatever defensive implements that we can muster in a short time.

Ryan doubted they'd find anything more than a few pieces of cutlery in the remains of the kitchen, since he knew that the state police had removed anything useful, like guns or chainsaws, after the incident three years ago.

“All right. It's your show.” he said to Rashid as he started fishing around in the pockets of his jeans for the keys.

The moment Phil walked out of the woods into the clearing he saw the weathered mansion and felt an icy chill run through him. It literally felt like someone was walking over his grave.

The same couldn't be said of Lewis. “Perfect.” he said,with an enthusiastic grin on his face. “It appears, my friend, that our masters have lead us to the location of the final act of our little drama.”

Phil felt the chill go through him again. What was happening to him? From the moment he put on the mask he'd been too busy enjoying all the killing and chaos that he hadn't had time to worry about what would happen to him. Now, all of a sudden, that had changed. Now, he felt something he hadn't expected, fear.

He'd known what had happened to the other people who had wore the mask, but really hadn't thought much about it. Now he wondered what fate The Ancient Ones had in store for him.

Lewis must've sensed his unease because he glanced over at him and said, “Have faith, my friend, soon our task will be done and we can go our separate ways. I'll have my life back and you'll get what you're due.”

That's what I'm afraid of. Phil thought. But he knew he was helpless to change what was to come. He was after all merely a puppet of The Ancient Ones and Lewis.

Both Phil and Lewis watched as Freeman and the others headed into the mansion.

“ I think it would be amusing if we wait here for a bit and let our friends make whatever futile preparations they're planning. It will be that much more enjoyable when you crush them.”

That was fine with Phil. With the way he was feeling he was in no hurry.

Ryan held up the piece of wood while Rashid hammered the nails into it securing it to the window frame. Thanks to the hammer and box of nails they'd found discarded on the floor in the living room, as well as some of the wood from the cave-in of the floor of Jason's bedroom, they'd managed to at least attempt to reinforce the beams covering the bay window.“There.” Rashid said. “I believe we have done the best we can with this repair.”

Ryan grabbed onto the board and pulled. It held firmly.Yet he knew it still wouldn't hold up very long under the kind of assault Phil would put against it. Still anything was better than nothing.

“Well, once our buddy out there makes kindling of your work I've got a little surprise waiting for him.” Shawn said, with satisfaction, as he held up the weapon he'd been working on. He'd taken a baseball bat, he'd found in the rubble from Jason's room, and hammered nails round the upper portion of it to create a crude looking mace. He swung it around in a testing way. “Yep, that'll do it.” He smiled over at Ryan and Rashid.

“Whatever.” Carol said from behind him.

“And what're you planning to do, bitch him out and tell him he doesn't exist?” Shawn said, sarcastically glancing over at her in a dismissive way.

“Actually, I was planning on letting you distract him with your little Conan routine while I come up behind him and fry his ass with these.” She held up a disposable lighter and an old can of hairspray.

“All that thing's gonna do is blow up in your face.” Ryan told her. “But I have to admit you have the right idea.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Morgana said from the remains of the kitchen as she came in carrying a box with a couple oil lamps and four bottles with what looked like whiskey in them. Each bottle was opened and had a strip of black cloth sticking out of the top of them.

Micki came out the arched doorway of the kitchen just after Morgana. She was dragging behind her a gray colored sheet that was knotted at one end. And it appeared to have something inside it.

“So what you got?” Shawn asked, amused. “Looks to me like you're planning on challenging our buddy to a pillow fight.”

Micki's answer to this was to swing the sheet over her head and bring it down on a wooden end table next to the couch. There was resounding clank of metal on metal just before whatever was inside the sheet hit the table. The table shattered and splinters of wood flew in every direction.

“Holy shit!” Shawn exclaimed.

“Anymore questions?” She asked him.

“Yeah, what the fuck you got in that thing?” Shawn asked, in total amazement.

“Cans.” Ryan answered for her. “It's full of cans.”

Micki looked over at him with an impressed expression on her face.

Ryan smiled. “I saw that movie too.”

“Which.....?”Shawn started to say.

It was at that moment Phil busted through the boards covering the bay window.

RETURN