"In The Months That Followed"

[Jet]

(Note: This story takes place in the hours following Alice Hardy's killing Pamela Voorhees and leading up to her death at the start of Friday the 13th II. Jason, Friday the 13th, and all other characters are property of their creators and I'm not trying to make any money off of them in any way.)

Jason, with mother tucked safely under his arm, dashed through the woods back to his shack, the police were on their way and he couldn't be found, if he was they would never stop coming after him.  He'd wanted desperately to go after the bitch who he'd just watched murder his mother, but he knew he had to get away, that he would have to wait to avenge Mommy. He could already hear sirens in the distance, wondering how soon they would be there, it was a lot harder to judge their proximity to him with the wind howling like this; it was almost as though the woods themselves were mourning Mommy. He reached his shack quickly, but he could still hear the sirens, they were still too close! Stopping in his tracks, frightened and crying as he tried to figure out what to do, Jason saw the little girl from the bottom of the lake again, the one who had received him the day he died. She said nothing, merely pointing to the broken path that would take him to his childhood home. She was right, Jason knew it, and he followed her instruction without question, nobody would think to look for them there.

Alice Hardy had just survived what she was sure was the worst thing she would ever experience, barely getting away from a woman who should have had no reason to want to hurt her. They were all dead, all her friends, even Bill, poor Bill. She and she alone had survived, but she'd had to kill another woman to do so, a woman who's only desire was to avenge her son's tragic death. She laid down in the canoe she'd escaped in... Wait, she thought, escaped? What did I have to escape from? Mrs. Voorhees is dead, I killed her. But, she realized, she had felt an irresistable urge to flee the scene, a feeling that she was still in danger, a feeling she just couldn't shake. Well, whatever had caused her to feel the need to get in this canoe, she was safe now, surrounded on all sides by the waters of the mighty lake. Nobody could hurt her now.The next thing she felt as she sat up was an arm: tiny, cold, and decayed, wrapping around her throat to pull her under. JASON! It had to be Jason!

She awoke several hours later in a hospital bed, nobody believed her about Jason, they all said it was a dream and nobody seemed too interested in going out to the lake to look. As she sat listening to Sgt. Tierney, trying to answer his questions as best she could, all she could think of was Jason, how he was still down there, and how she had to go back out there to know for certain.. It wasn't like she wasn't going to have to go back out there anyway, she'd need to recover her belongings, sort through her friends' things to get them to their families, things only she could do, though nobody could make her do them. A voice in her head screamed to her to just walk away, never return to Camp Crystal Lake for any reason and just shut the door on that whole chapter of her life, to go back to California while she still could. But, she just couldn't listen to that voice, Alice had to know about Jason, had to know the whats and whys of the situation she had just survived, and she wouldn't leave Crystal Lake until she did.

Nestled in his childhood bed, Jason clutched George and wept, a part of him getting the same feeling, that he should just leave, walk away from all this while he still could. But, he had to avenge Mommy, had to keep everybody away from Camp Crystal Lake or someone else was going to die. He knew now in his grief that Mommy was The Phantom, the person who had done all those things the people in town talked about in fearful tones when they talked about the camp, and he knew why she did them, too. She was not just avenging him, she was protecting other little boys and their mommies from suffering the fate that had befallen her and Jason, and he knew that he would have to continue her work, he would have to become The Phantom. He rose from his bed, placing George gently beneath the blankets, and in that instant he was no longer a frightened child, but an avenging hero, a dark protector of the lake and all those it wished to kill, all the children. He could never be recognized, his identity had to remain a secret or some evildoers would want to interfere with his work and he couldn't have that, if they interfered and he failed, innocent people would die. He'd need a mask, the sack he used to keep his laundry in would do! He snatched it up from the floor in his closet and with Mommy's scissors cut out a hole for his eye, securing the sack around his neck with a length of rope before walking out of his house back into the woods. Jason Voorhees, the frightened little boy who'd laid there moments before sobbing on his beloved teddy bear, was gone, replaced by The Phantom, a man with work to do.

[3timesbefore]

Part II

He couldn't believe his eyes.

There had been times during those long, cold, lonely years in the woods, times when he had wanted so much to see his mother round the next bend, or at the lakeside, sitting on the dock and dipping her bare feet in the water as she enjoyed the peace of a summer day. He would go to her then, kneel before her and be accepted back into her loving arms, just as he had when he was still a small child. But never had he seen his mother round the next bend, or at the lake. He had only seen the occasional hovering light, or a child spirit dancing near the main cabin. A few times he had even seen a huge monster high up in the trees, a fur covered thing that leapt and swung from branch to branch, prowling the woods from up high. But never his mother, not until that awful night when the Alice-bitch had chopped her head off.

Now he was seeing the same wretched girl at the same wretched camp where all roads seemed to lead. It was a perfect and sadistic blending of two awful things: the girl who had killed his beloved mother, and the place that had killed him. He stopped in his tracks and felt the hunting knife that was in the pocket of his jeans. Every particle of his being was screaming at him to take it out and creep over to where she was standing on the porch of the girls' cabin, grab her from behind and drag her back to the very same spot where she had sliced his mother, but one particle that was not him spoke softly, soothingly amidst the blood rage.

Now is not the time, Jason. You must follow her home and kill her in her own house. Make it messy. Leave a scene behind. Then they will get the message that anyone who comes back to Crystal Lake will be destroyed.

He nodded slowly, still unable to stop clenching his fists.

Besides, sweet son of mine. I want to see you do it.

***

Alice was aware of eyes watching her. Her blood was already cold, had been ever since she passed the barrier between the safe world of town and her apartment, and Camp Crystal Lake. She didn't know why she thought she could handle this. She supposed it was because her parents had been part of the '60s revolutions that had reshaped the landscape for women and the working class, and had passed their idealism down to her. Women need not cower in the kitchens and living rooms of the world, her mother always said. They could handle themselves in any environment, be it political or corporate.

But this was not a campaign stage where she could deliver a passionate speech about what she would do if she were governor. It was also not a boardroom, where she could sit in a comfortable chair and discuss the latest earnings of the company. This was hell on earth, a blood soaked children's camp she had barely escaped from just weeks ago. The killer had been a woman, oddly enough, empowered not by the women's lib movement but pure madness. The lake had taken her son Jason - she would never forget that name, not after the canoe hallucination - and Mrs. Voorhees was going to murder anyone who came back to this cursed forest. Except Alice had beaten her, had triumphed where everyone else had failed. Now their eyes were watching her, Brenda and Bill and Steve Christy. Each of them had been slaughtered like pigs in a pork store, their bodies flung at her and strung up in trees to taunt her. Poor Bill had been nailed to the door with so many arrows, and one had been in his eye-

Stop. You beat the bitch. Cut her fucking head off. She's dead and buried. Worm food now.

Part of Alice had sympathy for Pamela Voorhees, sympathy even now, as she felt her dead friends staring at her from the trees and cabins. The woman had been driven insane by the death of her son, and Sgt. Tierney had told her a bit of the backstory. Jason had been deformed, and Mr. Voorhees had taken off not long after. Pamela had raised him alone in the depths of the forest, bringing him along with her when she got the job at Camp Crystal Lake because there was no-one else to watch him. But no, no she couldn't allow herself to feel any sort of guilt over what she had done. Mrs. Voorhees had done unspeakable things to her friends, people who hadn't even been born yet when Jason had drowned. None of them had been responsible.

[Jet]

Part III

Jason stood there and watched her for a few more minutes, his overwhelming desire to slice her up like a pork roast mixed with an occasional thought of getting Mommy and George and just getting the hell away from this place. Seriously, had anything good ever happened there? He reflected on that a moment, wondering if the very soil here wasn't somehow tainted by evil. He had drowned, his mother had been butchered by the whore he now stared at, obviously others had died here, even children, he'd seen them in the lake as he drowned, the body count here was high, very high. What the hell is with this place?

Alice had gotten the last of her things together, putting them all in the back of the little, red VW Sirocco she had bought, wishing she had taken Sgt. Tierney up on his offer to come out here with her. This was her second time out here, she'd been back a few days after the massacre to help them find Jack's body, and she hoped she would never see it again. She took one last look around, noticing that the crime scene tape had been taken down and in some places left to flop lifelessly in the wind. What a mess, she thought, then shook it off, remembering what a real mess had looked like a few short weeks before. She needed to go back to California, she knew that, but she just wasn't ready yet, whatever there was to face, she would have to face it here in Crystal Lake.

There were two sets of eyes on Alice at that moment, unbeknownest to she or Jason. The second set of eyes belonged to one Capt. Michael Haile of U.S. Army Intelligence, his eyes were there by order of General Elias Voorhees. He didn't know the full story about Elias and Pamela, or Jason, and he really didn't care, he was there to do a job and that was it. He, of course, was going to receive quite a hefty payout from this job in both cash and promotions; Voorhees had promised him he would make a new rank every year for the next few years, then he would get that idiot Senator he owned to nominate him for a General's star after a few years as a Colonel. But, none of that could happen if this girl found out about General Voorhees' relation to this Jason and the ensuing scandal kept him from becoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. So, Haile would do what he had to do, even if it meant killing the bitch, to ensure the success of General Voorhees as well as his own. I wonder why he's so worried about this girl and not about the press, Haile thought, before deciding it didn't matter, he had his orders and they involved the death of Alice Hardy, if needed, not Dan Rather.

Jason saw the other man in the woods as he walked back towards his shack, something inside him told him that this was a man he should avoid. Somehow, he didn't know how, but he just knew his father had sent this man and that made him bad news. He pondered for a minute the thought of killing this man, letting him be the start of the message the new Phantom was sending, but his mother's voice cautioned him against it. If he killed this man, it would bring his father here, and the last thing they needed was EV roaming around these woods looking for them. He backed away slowly, so as not to make a sound, and took the back way to his shack, his father's man had never even noticed. Jason heaved a sigh of relief once he could no longer see or smell that man, the calls were getting a lot closer, but, such was life for The Phantom.

[3timesbefore]

Part IV

He had allowed the strange man in the woods to survive another day and Alice as well. Both of them were about the luckiest people in the world, though neither knew it. But one death exemption was all Jason Voorhees would give. If he ever saw either of them in the woods again, the man he would kill outright and string his entrails from the high branches of at least a dozen different trees, and Alice, well, Alice would be dragged kicking and screaming back to his shack so mother could witness her execution.

That was why he had to act fast. He knew he would not be able to resist the murderous urge that throbbed in his psyche even now, as he knelt before his mother in the shrine, all thirty-five candles lit and glowing. If he saw Alice in the woods again he would slaughter her. His mother wanted him to learn Alice's address and dispatch of her there, smearing her own blood on the walls as a message to everyone, but Jason could not fathom a way he would ever know that vital piece of information. If the man sent by his father had not been lurking nearby he might have tried to follow her home, but he couldn't exactly run behind her car all the way back to wherever it was she was staying.

He needed a plan. It wasn't out of the question. He had not survived this long in complete isolation on bittersweet childhood memories and hope. He had formed many plans in regards to filling his belly, looting lonely farms and stores on the edge of town, and building the very shack that was now home to him and mother. While a bit more complex in nature, the Alice situation was really no different. He had to work his mental muscle the same way he worked his biceps when lifting a heavy tree trunk. He had to think. If something was important enough, that made for great motivation. Now, he already knew he couldn't simply follow her all the way home from Crystal Lake; indeed, had no way of knowing if she would ever come back to the camp again. That left simply wandering the streets and back alleys of town, which was of course impossible during the daylight hours

So damn ugly. Hideous looking.

when there were people out and about. At night, however, that was a whole other story. Main Street of Crystal Lake at midnight, even ten o'clock, was a ghost town. At times it was possible to even see a tumbleweed or two. With a long coat and modified hood on, he sometimes prowled around freely, and at a distance it would simply look like a normal person out for a stroll. He had a series of hoods made from Higgins Haven pillowcases

like her they smell just like Chris, her pretty brown hair

that were not as obvious as the one with a single eyehole. Wearing that in town, even during the darkest, moonless night, was inviting trouble. Someone would see it and immediately assume a bank robber, or worse. No, if he kept his head down, an open-faced hood just covering the back of his deformed head, and the long coat's collar turned up, he could do it.

And he also knew what her car looked like, so his eyes knew where to go. No wild darting here and there and everywhere, Jason had the image locked in his mind. A little red Volkswagen. Since she was staying close enough to visit the scene of her heinous crime, she had to also be close to town. Buying her groceries would be done during the daytime, but there was a chance she visited in the evening and at night to have a drink at the local bars. There was also an all night diner - he knew from raiding their dumpsters - only a block from that curious hobby shop that had suddenly closed down a little while ago. He still wondered what had happened with that place. He had stolen some doll house kits from there once to patch up the leaky spots in the ceiling of his shack. In any event, there was an outside chance that his mother's killer would be in town at night.

[Jet]

Part V

Michael Haile had followed the girl in the little VW into town, as per the General's orders, and so far she hadn't done anything to arouse any sort of suspicion, or even interest. He was pretty sure he would be able to tell the General tomorrow that this girl was no threat to any of them. The stupid bitch doesn't have a clue what sort of thing she's right on top of, Haile thought with an internal laugh, not a clue.

Alice might not have had a clue about the twisted conspiracy she had been drug into, or why the man in the older blue Mustang had been following her, but she knew he was there. Her paranoia caused her to reach into her glovebox and withdraw the small caliber automatic she'd purchased the day she left the hospital and place it on the seat next to her. It was a Walther PPK, or James Bond's gun as the guy at the pawn shop had told her, not that she cared, all she wanted was something handy that she could conceal and carry in case......

In case of what, Alice? She asked herself. It's not like Mrs. Voorhees is coming back, you cut her fucking head off. Nobody comes back from that! Head off, done deal, cancel Christmas!

But what about Jason? She reminded herself. It was him that grabbed me, I know it, even if nobody believes me.

Then where the Hell is he? If he wanted to get me, why has he not shown up yet? He's surely not in a Mustang following you.

Then I don't know......

It was then that a honking of horns snapped Alice back from her internal argument, it seemed she was holding up traffic and people were not happy with her for it. Flooring the gas pedal she got through the light and on her way to the tiny apartment she called home as quickly as she could.

Haile wondered for a second if the girl had made him, but knew there was no way she could've, especially not with her sitting there in traffic as long as she had been. Nope, he concluded, that girl's just shellshocked and shot out, no threat to anyone.

[Rene]

Part VI

Jason sat in his one rickety chair, as he pondered the situation. Already he had donned the long coat he had been bold enough to snag from an unattended car seat a few years ago, and had selected the least obvious of his hoods to wear. He twisted the pillowcases’ fabric in his hands almost nervously, as he once again went over his plan.

Walking to town was no real chore, it was something he’d done countless times before, whenever he needed something that the woods and houses near the lake could not provide. Tracking the girl to her house would prove more difficult, but truthfully, was it really any different then the hunting he’d done for as long as he could remember? The only real difference in tracking a deer and tracking this girl would be the location. While he knew the woods like the back of his hand, town was a bit more unfamiliar, however he knew his way around well enough. And if he didn’t find her tonight, well, he’d return the next. And the night after that as well, however long it took. If he owed anything at all to Mommy, it was to find her killer and make her suffer, just as Mommy had suffered and he was suffering now.

He gripped the pillowcase even tighter, wringing it as if it were that girl’s neck he held in his calloused hands.

The very thought of that Alice girl killer going on with her life, living, laughing and feeling the warm sunshine on her face while Mommy fell broken and bleeding made him see red. Oh, Mommy didn’t have to worry. He would make it extremely messy. If anyone had ever doubted that coming into these woods to that cursed Camp was a bad idea, the mess he’d make of Alice would surely make believers of them all.

Oh, he’d go tonight, for sure, and when he found that bitch he’d show her what true vengeance looked like. Perhaps he’d even let her have a glimpse of his face before offing her, just to frighten her all the more. If anyone deserved to be afraid, it was that Mother-killing whore. For once his disfigurement might serve a useful purpose, after all he would  be playing a monster tonight. A righteous, avenging one, but a monster nonetheless; taking an eye for an eye.

It was settled. He rose from the chair, stuffing the hood into the coat’s large pockets. Enough time to slip it on before he left the woods, he wanted to feel the night air on his skin for a little while, and think of how soon she would never feel that, or anything else ever again.

Of course he couldn’t forget Mommy. She would want to see this, and it was only right. After all, weeks ago he’d watched her fall, the only witnesses to her demise himself and Alice. It was only fitting that when he’d tracked the girl down, that it be exactly the same way, only this time she would be the one bleeding, the one dying. This time, Mommy would watch as he took up her mantle and claimed justice for both of them.

He slowly, almost reverently opened the door to his back room, now home to her shrine. The light from the candles danced in the darkness, it was if even the tiny flames topping each one understood that tonight would be a night of justice. Reaching out gently for her head, he smoothed the flyaway hair, and took a deep breath before settling her into the nicest of the pillowcases he’d taken from Higgins’s Haven. Now, he was ready to go and do what had to be done.

It would be tonight, there was no way around it.

[Jet]

Part VII

Alice looked out the window as the Blue Mustang passed by, again. That was three times in the past hour. Sure, Crystal Lake was a small town, but it wasn't that small, and if this person was lost they could've stopped a hundred places and got directions to wherever they were going without ever having to pass by her apartment, let alone pass by it three times in an hour. Who could it be? Could it be Jason? No. Jason is dead, he drowned. Then what about some other family member? A brother? Or maybe his father? What had happened to Jason's father? Panic overtaking her senses as she tried to imagine what relative of the woman she killed might be stalking her led Alice to pick up the phone and call the only living friend she had in town.

"Police Department, Lt. Tierney." Tierney's confident professionalism shone through his voice, honed by years and years of police work.

"Ed, thank God, it's Alice!" She said, her voice shaking.

"Alice, hi." Ed laughed, he'd been stepping in as sort of a substitute father for Alice ever since he pulled the badly damaged girl from the lake; he'd saved her life, so he felt responsible for helping her to get it back, "How's my pretty girl today?"

"I'm scared, Ed." She replied, tears welling up in her eyes, "I think someone's following me."

On the other side Ed rolled his eyes, even if he felt a little guilty about it. Alice always thought someone was following her, the poor girl was jumping at every shadow. Of course, you would be, too, if you'd just gone through the Hell she has, Ed. "Okay, sweetheart, who do you think is following you?"

"I don't know, I only know he drives a Blue Mustang and he followed me back from the camp and he's passed by my house three times in the past hour." Alice answered, she knew Tierney would want all the information he could get, "It's a Fastback Mustang, dark blue, got a white racing stripe down the side."

"What about the driver?" Tierney asked, writing down everything she told him for immediate follow up. Sure, the chances were this guy was another gossip mongering reporter, but just in case 'Mustang Man' was bad news he wanted to give his guys the best chance to nail this guy before he had a chance to do something to Alice.

"He was white, short hair, black or dark brown." Alice remembered, "He wore sunglasses, they looked like pilot's glasses."

"All right, I've got a couple of my guys going out to look for this guy." Ed replied, his voice strong and soothing, "Have you got your gun?"

"Yes." Alice squeaked, "It's right beside me."

"Okay, put it in your purse, and go to the bar." He instructed, "I'll be there in half an hour, tell Big Mike I said to let you stay in his office until I get there. We'll have some dinner and then I'll take you home and check your house, just to be safe."

"Okay." Alice nodded, feeling a little embarrassed for being so jumpy and ashamed for making Ed go through all of this. It's like I'm a little girl again, having my daddy check my closet for the boogeyman.

"All right, half an hour." Ed repeated before hanging up. I'll be glad when this whole thing is over for that poor girl and she can finally have her life back. I guess until then I'm checking closets for boogeymen.

Twenty Six Minutes Later

Ed had arrived early, knowing every second he spent away from Alice was another second she spent in fear. He knew she was in good hands with Big Mike, a former Marine and known gun lover who didn't take shit off of anyone, but he knew she wouldn't breath easy until he arrived. He walked in to find Big Mike sitting on the couch with Alice, his two usually foul tempered Rottweilers: Mean and Nasty, happily nestled at Alice's feet. "Thanks for taking care of her for me, Mike." Ed smiled, walking over to meet Alice.

Alice leapt to her feet and ran to him, grabbing him tightly, "Thank God you're here." She whispered, her voice still shaking.

"Okay, it's okay, you're okay." Ed reassured her, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you, neither is Mike."

"You can count on that, Alice." Big Mike replied, his voice a gentle, comforting snarl that told her that he might be a Grizzly Bear, but she was very much under his protection.

"Yeah, I know. Thank you, Mike." She smiled, turning to Mean and Nasty, "And thank you, boys."

Mean and Nasty just looked up at her, their stumps of tail wagging at mach three.

"That means they like you." Big Mike informed her, "So you're definitely good people."

Alice simply smiled at Big Mike, feeling truly safe here with all of them. Wonder if they're all willing to move into my apartment with me?

"So," Ed began, "Let's talk about this guy in the Blue Mustang."

"Or you take her someplace and I'll take a couple of my real redneck patrons and give 'em both a six pack and we'll fuck him and his car up." Big Mike offered, as far as he was concerned that girl had been through enough since that night at Camp Blood and he wasn't about to let her go through any more, to that end he'd already beaten the shit out of Crazy Ralph for bothering her with all that death curse garbage.

"Hold that thought, Mike." Ed asked, he might take him up on it later.

"Okay." Alice said, "I noticed he was following me as I was returning from the camp this afternoon. I had just come back from getting the last of everybody's stuff and was going home to sort it out and send it back to their families when I saw him following me. I tried to shake it off, but then he started passing by my house."

"Okay." Ed nodded, "And did he approach you?"

"No." Alice answered, shaking her head, "But he kept coming by my house, three times in an hour."

"Okay, well, if he was going to try to hurt you he would've tried something other than driving by your house over and over." Ed said, he knew sometimes criminals like to case a place before making their move, but not that obviously and not always from the same angle, "Did the car look familiar? Like maybe this guy might've seen you somewhere before and you didn't recognize him?"

"No." She shook her head, "Why?"

"Well, you're a pretty girl, Alice." Ed started, "Maybe this guy saw you somewhere and wanted to talk to you, ask you out or something. Mike, you ever have a guy with short dark hair and a blue Fastback Mustang come in here?"

"Nope." Mike replied, "Because I'd sure as Hell remember that car."

"Okay, then most likely what we've got is another reporter." Ed sighed, he was getting a little sick of having to run these tabloid scumbags off, "He probably was waiting for you to stick your head out the window so he could snap some pictures for the weekly world news or some other piece of shit gossip rag."

"Maybe." Alice nodded, what Ed was saying was making sense, this guy probably was another in the seemingly endless stream of gossip writers who had been stalking her since the morning Ed found her in the lake; one of them had even disguised herself as a nurse to try and get into her hospital room to take pictures of her.

"Just in case I want you to stay here tonight." Mike chimed in, "I'll let you stay in my apartment upstairs with me and the boys. You can take the bed and I'll crash on the couch."

"That's sweet, Mike, but I can't impose on you." Alice said, "Thank you though."

"Impose? What the fuck is impose?" Mike sighed, "Nah, it's settled, you're staying here tonight. If you feel like you're imposing just fry a couple eggs in the morning and we'll call it even."

"Alice, it's a good idea." Ed said, stopping her from declining a second time, "It'll give me time to find this guy in the Mustang, find out which rag he works for, and send him packing. Plus it'll give Mike a decent breakfast for the first time since his last old lady decided she couldn't stand him anymore."

"Okay." Alice nodded. At least I'll know the source of the noises I hear tonight.

"Good, it's settled then." Ed smiled, "Come on, let's have that dinner I promised you, then I'll see you in the morning for breakfast." And maybe soon we'll all be able to sleep again, once this Jason bullshit is finally put to rest next to his mother.

[3timesbefore]

Part VIII

A strong, late summer wind whipped at his long coat and the sides of his modified hood as he walked the deserted streets and back alleys of town, searching for the mop headed girl who had killed his mother. He wanted to grab a thick handful of that mop and pound her face into the stove, all the while telling her exactly how heinously she had robbed him, even though he hadn't used his voice in many years. He would explain how a mother was precious and sacred, and he would next take an ax, find her own mother and chop her like firewood even though he could never possibly fulfill that promise. But somehow, even in his own fantasy he could not make his crypt door-vocal cords produce a sound, and as he ruined Alice in her own kitchen he could only bark like a goddamn dog, the sounds turning to the high, mournful keen of a loon on Crystal Lake at dawn.

That wasn't even the worst of it. He still had not yet located Alice, though Crystal Lake was small and easy to navigate. The depth of his impotence shocked him: powerless in his fantasies as well as real life. He truly was a wretch.

You need not worry, my honey child, his mother said from the pillowcase, which was slung over one shoulder. The sight of my death mask and your coming deed is enough. Words are wonderful, but only in certain cases. This night requires only the two things you brought with you.

The trees swayed in the wind and seemed to agree, whispering darkly about the tale of Pamela and Jason, of people who stood watching just beyond the flickering circle of campfire flame. Sometimes those people came to get you even after you left the woods, and sometimes they brought a mother's death mask and a shiny, needle sharp icepick.

Walking past a dark furniture store on the corner and then turning right onto a different street, Jason Voorhees felt the pocket of his coat that held the icepick and breathed a sigh of relief. His mother was right, as usual. There was nothing he could ever hope to tell Alice that would adequately describe how she had turned him into that loon skirting the misty watertop. What little humanity he had was gone now, and he was but a creature screaming out from that awful lake covered by graveyard fog. He was so wrapped up in the image of his childhood self thrashing in the lake, screaming for his headless mother, and his hulking adult form baying at the full moon from a nearby dock, that he didn't notice the street had turned residential. Large old clapboards replaced storefronts, and he snapped himself out of his trance to examine each driveway car as he passed them.

Oh my God, Ma, he thought as a flower of pure, sugar coated excitement bloomed in his chest. That's it. The little red bug.

It was parked beside a faded Victorian at the dead end of the street, standing out from all the others from its placement. Everything screamed that he had finally found his girl. Sure, there had to be other cars like the one she had driven to revisit the scene of her horrendous crime, but the way that crumbling old house stood out like a midnight beacon under a cockeyed crescent moon...

He felt that old familiar music again, the kind that lulled him to sleep in the shack, guided him to easy meals of venison in the forest, and also to the camp that miserable night just a few short weeks ago. This was where Alice lived. He hoped she was alone so she would die that way, but if she had anyone with her, especially some bastard picked up from a tavern or night shift cop, he would be shredded along with her.

Jason stalked quickly yet casually up the middle of the wet street, savoring the new fantasy of going up against a full grown man. He stepped to the side only once and paused on the grass while a young girl in a slicker happily splashed through puddles. He was in such a good mood that he felt no malice towards this pretty child, instead listening as she sang Itsy Bitsy Spider. It was a song very unlike the music of the forest and his own demented psyche.

Suddenly, a sharp voice from a nearby house.

"Jessie, you get in this house right now."

"Oh, mom," the girl replied.

"Right now."

Then she was off towards a rectangle of yellow light spilling from a front porch and Jason had the rain slick street to himself again. He marched up to the Victorian with confidence and purpose. The first floor was dark as a whole, but a dimly lit second floor window showed a figure behind the lace curtain. If he wasn't mistaken, the figure had a mop head.

[Rene]

Part IX

Gripping the pillowcase housing Mother’s head, he pondered the best way to enter the old house. He wasn’t going to gain entry by ringing the bell like some door-to-door salesperson, obviously. Although his hands were fairly twitching with the desire to kill her here and now, the more rational part of him knew that it would be better to watch, and wait.

His outrage and thirst for vengeance balked at the idea of giving her a chance to possibly leave town, but Mommy was silent, and the rational part of his mind reassured him that the important thing was, he’d found her and it wasn’t like she’d be able to slip away without him knowing. No, he’d waited weeks for their revenge, he could afford to wait a little while longer. Besides, it would give him time to think about exactly where he’d jam that ice pick first…

He watched her move about aimlessly behind that lacy curtain, wondering if she had any idea what was in her future. It looked like she was talking on the phone, speaking so loudly he could almost hear her outside. What was going on? Was she inviting someone over to further complicate his plans? He paused, mulling over this new possibility.

Even if that bitch had lopped off Mommy’s head in what was merely a stroke of luck, what chance would she stand against Jason, who’d survived years in the woods on little more than wits and brute strength? Alice was absolutely nothing to fear, but what if she were not alone? Earlier fantasies aside, the thought did fill him with a little bit of trepidation, until his mother spoke.

“Go ahead, Jason, there is nothing to worry about. You are strong, this will be easy work.”

She was right, of course. He knew that he was strong, he’d have to be to survive being hurled out into the elements to fend for himself all of those long, lonely years. “The window, Jason. It’s the best way.”

His eye fixed on a small, dark window down the side of the house that apparently looked in on the bathroom. It looked as good as any to climb in through, and it thankfully was unlocked. Quietly sliding it open, he eased through and found himself in the house where that girl dared to continue breathing.

[Jet]

Part X: Alice gets X'ed Out

Alice had just made it back to her own house, leaving Big Mike, Mean, and Nasty at the bar after two of Ed's guys, Mike Garris and Rick Cologne, had found, and almost certainly roughed up a gossip writer named Michael Hale. With the nightmare of the Fastback Mustang finally over Alice had decided to come home, even though Big Mike was sure to tell her she was still welcome to stay. After a few calls from her mother, none of which ended well, all she wanted was a shower. Slipping out of her robe and into the warm, welcoming water stream proved almost orgasmic for her, at least, until her reverie was disrupted by the phone.

Jason heard the phone ring in the other room, he didn't know who it was but he knew it would definitely cause him trouble when it alarmed her, possibly alerting her to his presence. He'd found a box of bullets in her kitchen, that meant she had a gun, so he would need the element of surprise for sure.

Calm down, Jason, you'll be fine. She doesn't know you're here, but you need to silence that phone before she talks to someone, they might come here, then everything will be wrecked. Mother instructed him, turning his head somehow to face the phone jack on her kitchen wall.

"Mom!" Alice exclaimed as she picked up the phone, only to hear silence.

Jason had already pulled the plug, holding it so she wouldn't know it had come untethered from the wall, now he stood watching her from the shadows, waiting for his chance. It took a minute, watching her talk to her cat, watching her put tea on the stove, thinking about how this ungrateful bitch in front of him, the one who had taken his mother from him, hadn't wanted to speak to her own, growing angrier and angrier.

A scream! Mother's head in the bitch's refrigerator!

She's ready, Jason! I see her, son! Mother screamed to him.

Like a blink of an eye he was on top of her, driving the ice pick through her temple. In a matter of seconds she was lying lifeless in his arms, leaving him at a loss for what to do next. What do we do with her, Mommy?

We'll take her home, darling. The bitch doesn't deserve a decent burial, she didn't afford me one after all.

[Epilogue]

When Ed Tierney's call to Alice got cut off it only took him about ten minutes to round about six or seven of his biggest, toughest boys and double time it to her apartment. The sight they were greeted with: massive amounts of spilled blood, a boiled tea kettle, and no Alice, distracted them so badly they missed the man walking out the back door carrying two wrapped bundles.

Ed scanned the kitchen in horror, knowing wherever Alice was she was dead, that he had failed to save her. Tears in his eyes, he turned to Mike Garris, "Sgt. Garris, take Cologne and about four others, I want that God damned reporter hauled in yesterday."

"Yes, Sir." Garris nodded, motioning Cologne and a few others to follow him, they had some hunting to do.

Michael Hale met with General Voorhees the next morning, at Crystal Lake as the General had instructed after Hale's frantic phone call. He'd spent the night dodging police who'd already given him a decent, if uncontested, beating, and now waited for instructions from Voorhees.

"So, you didn't fight back?" Voorhees asked.

"No, Sir." Hale replied, "I knew if I did I would break my cover."

"Good, good." Voorhees nodded proudly, "And the girl knew nothing?"

"No, Sir, the girl was a basketcase." Hale shook his head, "She was so flipped out that she couldn't have put it together if she had to."

"Excellent." Voorhees smiled, "That leaves just that one loose end, Mike."

"The police, Sir?" Hale asked, apparently having given Elias Voorhees way too much credit for human kindness.

"No, Mike." Elias shook his head before opening Hale's with his .45, "You."

Jason had been watching this whole time as he prowled the woods for food, watching his father's man, then his father, waiting to see what would happen. Seeing his father kill that man so coldly frightened him almost as much as seeing his father enraged him.

Elias Voorhees could feel eyes on him, not only could he feel the eyes he knew who they belonged to, "Hello, Son." He began, "I know you're watching me right now, just like I know you don't have the balls to show yourself."

Hearing Elias taunt him like that caused Jason's blood to boil. Taking his mother's knife from it's sheath he readied himself for the kill, stopped only by the feeling of Mother's hand on his shoulder.

No, Jason, let him go. You can have at him another day, Son.

"I knew it." Elias laughed as he walked out of the woods, "Nothing like me at all."

It's all right, Jason, you'll get your shot at him. Now, let's find some food, then after we eat I want you to brush your teeth, say your prayers, and get into bed, you've got a long night's work in front of you, son.

Jason spared his father's shrinking image one last look, then turned back towards the shack, after all, Mother was right, he had to work that night.

[PhenomenalTL]

Follow up on this! It was awesome!

[Jet]

Follow up on this! It was awesome!

Thank you! Sadly my former partners and I aren't in contact or doing anything together anymore, so any sort of follow up is quite unlikely. Besides, we all sort of know what happens next anyway. Did you read the first one "In The Years Between?"

[PhenomenalTL]

Thank you! Sadly my former partners and I aren't in contact or doing anything together anymore, so any sort of follow up is quite unlikely. Besides, we all sort of know what happens next anyway. Did you read the first one "In The Years Between?"

Yes! Read all of them I believe...