Night of the Hunter

Chapter Ten

*Jared's P.O.V.*

I followed Jeff down the hallway as the screaming continued, making my heart pound harder and harder. I knew wherever the scream was coming from, Freddy was bound to be there. We were getting closer and closer from the sounds of the screams, and when we reached the end of the hallway, we met a closed door. Jeff was quick to open it, showing no hesitation or fear. Sure enough, Freddy was there, and he wasn't alone.

"Well look who came to join us?" Krueger glared.

"Leave! I won't let you two die!" Elijah ordered.

"We aren't going anywhere without you" Jeff retorted, standing his ground.

"Aww, well isn't this sweet" Krueger laughed.

"You shut up and let him go!" Jeff demanded.

Right then, the floor began to crack beneath Elijah's dangling body, seeing as he was hanging by his wrists from the ceiling with a rope. You could see the raw skin showing through from where the rope had rubbed against his wrists and the droplets of blood that were forming, only to trickle down Elijah's arms. The floor continued to bust apart, caving in and exposing the fiery pit beneath him now.

"Be careful what you wish for" Krueger growled, instantly cutting at the rope that was holding Elijah.

"No!" I screamed.

Elijah made eye contact with the pit below him now, only making him panic. He began squirming, making the rope dig deeper into his torn flesh, causing him to scream at the top of his lungs in pain and agony.

"Elijah, stop! You're making it worse" I begged.

Jeff stood there, watching Krueger and all I could think was that I had to do something. Rushing over to the table, I grabbed one of the scalpels and ran towards Krueger, immediately jamming it into his back. He stopped cutting the rope as he yelled in pain, reaching around with his right hand to grip the scalpel and tearing it out. I backed away as he turned to face me, tossing my previous weapon into the open pit.

"Jeff, get Elijah!" I ordered.

"You think you'll stop me, Jared?" Freddy snarled, even more pissed off sounding.

"I do, and I will" I shot, continuing to walk backwards.

Krueger walked towards me, instantly putting out his right hand to his side, and showing the glove with his deadly weapons. My heart raced and all I could think was that I was about to die. Jeff was attempting to pull Elijah towards safety, but it all seemed pointless. There was no way we could get close enough to grab him and pull him in, and I think Elijah knew it. I stood here, defenseless, not a single weapon in my grasp. Suddenly, my back collided with the wall behind me, and there was no more escaping.

"Say goodnight, kid!" Freddy roared.

Swinging his right hand, I ducked, squatting down and instantly grabbed another knife from the table, jabbing it into his stomach. Crawling out, I watched as Jeff continued to try and lower Elijah to where he could grab him, but the rope was unraveling.

"Jared, grab him!" Jeff shot.

"Don't! You'll fall in, Jared" Elijah snapped.

"I'm not letting you die" I spat.

"We can't live forever anyways.. Just kill this bastard and get revenge for all of us. Set our souls free" Elijah begged.

"No, Elijah! We can all win" I spoke.

"Save the others" Elijah retorted.

"Jared, look out!" Jeff shrieked.

Turning to my left, Krueger was there and I instantly felt his blades slice my left arm, causing me to scream. Collapsing to the floor as I gripped my arm, I fell onto my back, looking up at Krueger.

"Now it's really the end for you!" he roared again.

"No!" Jeff yelled, as he jumped Freddy from behind, wrapping his arms around his throat.

But Krueger was quick to flip Jeff off of him and directly onto the table where the knives were. Jeff screamed, and I thought the worst. Getting to my knees, I spotted Krueger, who was back at the rope, preparing to finish it.

"I'll see you in hell, kid!" he yelled, slashing the rope and splitting it in two, sending Elijah down into the pit.

All I could do was watch as the screams from Elijah echoed through my head. Turning my focus back to Jeff, he was gone and I was left alone with Krueger.

"Jared! Jared! Wake up!" a voice echoed.

My focus came back to Krueger, who was now in front of me.

"Next time, you're mine. Time to wake up, kid" he snarled, flicking his knives at my face.

And with that motion, I awoke from my dream, only to find myself at the table again.

"Jared, you're bleeding!" Adam exclaimed.

My sleeve was slashed, and sure enough, blood was saturating the fabric and gliding down my arm from the four slashes. Looking up and around at the table, I realized Elijah was gone.

"Where's Elijah?" I questioned.

"Why?" Adam asked.

"Just tell me!" I demanded.

"He went to the bathroom".

I didn't waste any time, getting up and rushing for the bathroom. As I was rushing down there, the fire alarm blared, making me cover my ears as I ran. Dr Williams cut me off, and Jeff was trailing behind him.

"Jared, we've got to exit the building" Dr Williams ordered, shouting over the alarm.

"I'm not leaving without Elijah!" I shot back.

Tearing myself away from him, I rushed to the bathroom with both Jeff and Dr. Williams following. Smoke was trailing out from under the door, and the sprinklers were shooting water all over us now. Opening the door, Elijah was in there, covered in flames that were being diminished due to the water. I was too late.

"Jared we need to go!" Jeff yelled.

Crews came in, using the fire extinguishers, and instantly spraying down Elijah and the room. Jeff grabbed hold of me and was quick to tug me from the room as we then followed Dr. Williams out of the building. Everyone was standing out there, waiting until we were told it was safe to go back in.

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*Jeff's P.O.V.*

Jared was soaking wet, and blood covered his left arm still. He looked completely dazed.

"Jared... Are you OK?" I asked, standing next to him.

"I could have stopped him. I should have killed that bastard when I had the chance" he spoke, not even looking at me.

"Don't blame yourself. We both tried. We couldn't do anything else" I replied, standing in front of him now.

"We had him, Jeff... We wounded him" he continued, locking eyes with me now.

"You wounded him, Jared. You were braver than I was" I admitted.

"I don't even know where it came from. I saw the knives, and I just charged him" he confessed.

"And you hurt him, twice. I know you can do this Jared, we both can" I encouraged.

"I hope you're right... I can't lose anyone else" he spoke, softly.

His arm was still bleeding slightly, and I quickly took my shirt off, and held it against the wound applying pressure.

"Here, this should help to slow the bleeding" I stated, pushing down on it.

He slightly flinched at the pressure, but continued to look at me.

"Thank you, Jeff" he spoke.

"For what" I asked.

"For everything. Since you've been here, I swear I'm a different person. I don't feel so weak anymore" he added.

"You've always had it inside of you, Jared. You just didn't know how to unlock it" I replied, knowing I couldn't take credit for it.

"But you helped, you showed me how to use those inner strengths" he retorted.

"Maybe, and if that's the case, then I'm glad. But you've always had it inside you" I reminded, taking my right hand and gently pushing away a strand of his wet hair from his face with my fingers.

I felt my heart pound a little harder with that motion and he was definitely giving me a different look. But a smile softly formed on his lips, giving me a reassuring gesture the he wasn't disgusted, which made me smile back now, pulling my hand from his face.

"Everyone back inside" Dr. Williams announced, breaking the concentration between Jared and I.

One of the nurses came over to us and I gestured to Jared.

"Come on, we need to take you to the E.R. to get that wound cleaned and covered" she noted.

Taking my shirt from the wound, I held it in my left hand as Jared and nurse Summers headed for the building and I trailed behind with Blake. Adam was walking with Jay, who was clearly upset about Elijah.

"What happened?" Blake asked, pushing his glasses up so they rested on the bridge of his nose again.

His black and blond hair was matted down from the wetness, and the lenses of his glasses had soft droplets of water on them which would have bugged me if I had been wearing them.

"What do you mean?" I asked back.

"Elijah. Clearly Jared was in a dream, or else he wouldn't have been cut like that. But Elijah?" Blake continued.

"Yeah, Jared and I were both there. Freddy had Elijah, but Elijah kept telling us to leave him. He knew he was going to die" I answered.

"What happened in the dream?" he asked.

"Freddy dropped Elijah into the flames... hence the incident in the hospital. Jared and I saw Elijah in the bathroom, burning alive" I spoke, trying not to let my emotions get the best of me.

"Jeff... how are we going to stop him? It all seems impossible. We're dying off so quickly" he stated, seeming hopeless that anything would work.

"We will stop him, Blake. I promise you that" I said, sounding more confident than I had been in a while.

"I hope so, because I'm scared I'll be next" he said, and that was when I noticed the tears filling his eyes behind those lenses.

"Blake, I will protect you. I swear it to you" I spoke, stopping him in his tracks and hugging him tightly.

His arms wrapped around me, and I could feel him sobbing against me. I may have only know these boys for a few days, but they were like family to me. They were all I had in here. And I feared losing them as I had my own brother.

"I know that... you can't save everyone... I mean, you've tried before, and... Freddy still got them. But I don't want to be a burden...for you" he cried.

"You're not a burden, Blake. You are my friend. And I'm going to stop Krueger. But I need you to stay strong. If we can't get the Hypnocil, we all need to fight him" I reminded.

"I will fight him as long as I can... I just don't want to die" he spoke.

"And you won't. Just stay positive".

Releasing our hug, he backed away and wiped his eyes to clear the tears away. Everyone was already in the building, leaving Blake and I alone.

"Thank you, Jeff" he smiled, faintly.

"You're welcome" I smiled back. "Come on, let's go in".

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