Chapter 59: Welcome to the Real World, Bitch
Cell Block C, Number 3.
Thick concrete walls blocked all sound from entering or leaving, and the only reinforced steel door was locked tight, leaving just a narrow observation window.
This place was normally reserved for the most violent offenders, but tonight it had become an unprecedented battlefield.
The cell was bare-bones—just a bolted-down cot and a metal chair. Nancy lay on the bed under a thin blanket, her face pale under the harsh fluorescent light.
Edward sat in the adjacent chair, holding a syringe filled with clear liquid, the needle catching the light with a cold gleam.
"Listen carefully, Nancy," Edward's voice was steady and strong, carrying an almost hypnotic calm. "Remember what we went over. Once you're in the dream, don't panic. Fear is his fuel—the more scared you are, the stronger he gets. Just treat him like any other disgusting pervert."
"Your job isn't to beat him—it's to piss him off. Make him attack you," Edward spoke slowly, making sure every word sank in. "The moment you feel pain, the instant you see yourself bleeding—that's the signal. I'll immediately hit you with the epinephrine, which will force you awake. In that exact moment, you grab him with everything you've got and don't let go. Understood?"
Nancy took a shaky breath and nodded hard. Her body was still trembling, but her resolve was iron.
For Tina. For Rod. For Glen. She had to do this.
"Good girl." Edward set the syringe within easy reach on the bedside table. "Now relax and try to sleep. Think of him as a spider you're about to trap. We've already set the web."
Outside the cell, in the security monitoring room, Lieutenant Donald Thompson and several trusted officers stared at the screen like their lives depended on it.
On that screen, his daughter was lying on a cot, about to use herself as bait to lure out a monster that only existed in nightmares.
Donald's palms were slick with sweat. He'd never felt this helpless in his entire career.
Alan, standing behind him, said quietly, "She'll be fine. Trust the process."
Time crawled by.
Inside the cell, Nancy's breathing gradually became deep and steady. She was asleep.
Scorching air. The damp stench of rust. The bone-rattling roar of boilers.
Nancy's eyes snapped open and she found herself back in that familiar, terrifying place—the abandoned boiler room on Elm Street.
Tangled pipes, like a monster's arteries, constantly belched white steam, wrapping the entire space in hazy fog.
"Clang... clang... clang..."
That grating metallic screech echoed from deep in the darkness, getting closer.
Nancy's heart hammered, but she forced herself to remember Edward's words, swallowing the scream that threatened to tear from her throat. She didn't run. Instead, she turned around to face the direction of the sound.
Freddy Krueger's figure slowly emerged from the steam. His face—burned like overcooked meat—wore his trademark sadistic grin. His red and green striped sweater looked particularly grotesque in the dim light.
"Well, well, well, look who's here—my favorite little girl," Freddy rasped in that voice like nails on a chalkboard. "Miss me already? Come to join your friends in hell?"
"Freddy," Nancy said, her voice shaking but clear. "You're nothing but a coward who can only play tough guy in people's dreams."
The grin froze on Freddy's face.
He hadn't expected this little rabbit—who usually only screamed and ran—to actually talk back.
It surprised him. And pissed him off.
"What did you just say?" He stepped closer, dragging his claw across a nearby pipe, throwing sparks.
"I said you're a COWARD!" Nancy summoned every ounce of courage and yelled. "In reality, you're just burned-up trash! You can only hide in dreams and pick on kids! If you're so tough, come face me in the real world!"
Those words hit Freddy like gasoline on a fire.
What he hated most was anyone reminding him of how he died—burned alive like an animal.
That was his shame.
"You little BITCH!" Freddy shrieked, his form blurring as he rushed toward Nancy like a demon. "I'll teach you what happens when you run your mouth in MY world!"
Nancy barely had time to react before she was slammed to the ground by overwhelming force. Freddy loomed over her, grinning, and raised that deadly steel-clawed glove high.
"I'm gonna slice that pretty face off, piece by piece!"
The cold steel talons slashed down!
Nancy didn't close her eyes. She stared at those approaching blades.
Just as the claws were about to reach her face, she suddenly thrust her left hand up to meet them!
"SCHLICK!"
The razor-sharp blades punched straight through her palm, and white-hot agony made her whole body convulse. Blood dripped through the gaps between the claws.
Now!
Determination flashed in Nancy's eyes. Fighting through the searing pain, her impaled hand clenched tight, gripping Freddy's glove with every ounce of strength she had!
At the same time, in the cell in the real world—
Nancy's body, lying on the cot, suddenly spasmed. Four deep puncture wounds appeared out of nowhere on the back of her clenched left fist, blood immediately pouring out!
"There's the signal!"
Edward's reaction was instantaneous. The second those wounds materialized, he'd already grabbed the syringe and jammed the entire dose of epinephrine into Nancy's arm without hesitation!
"Hold him tight!" Edward commanded.
In the dream, Nancy felt an indescribably powerful force explode from deep inside her body, like lightning coursing through every nerve.
The entire boiler room began violently shaking—walls cracking, pipes bursting!
Freddy realized with dawning horror that an irresistible force was acting on him, trying to rip him out of the world he controlled!
"NO! This is MY world!" He roared, frantically trying to yank free from Nancy's grip, but her hand was like a steel vise, welded to his glove.
"WHOOSH!"
In reality, Nancy suddenly bolted upright on the cot, eyes flying open, gasping for air.
And with her awakening, a man in a red and green striped sweater, wearing a fedora, with a face covered in burn scars, was dragged out of thin air with her—tumbling onto the bed in an undignified heap!
Freddy Krueger had been pulled into the real world!
He stared around wildly at the concrete walls, the harsh fluorescent light, Nancy in front of him, and the unnervingly calm young man standing by the bed.
"What the fuck... where am I? Is this still a dream? Where did you drag me?!" Freddy's mind was completely shorting out. His vaunted dream powers had vanished without a trace.
"Heh..."
A voice with a hint of dark amusement spoke near his ear. Freddy instinctively turned his head and came face-to-face with Edward's smiling expression.
"Welcome to the real world, asshole. Time to see how you handle a real ass-kicking."
Before the words even finished, Edward's fist, with a sound like a baseball bat cutting air, connected solidly with Freddy's face.
"WHAM!"
The impact sounded like a sledgehammer hitting meat. Freddy was launched sideways like he'd been hit by a goddamn freight train, smashing into the concrete wall hard enough to crack it, then sliding to the floor like a broken puppet.
In the monitoring room, Donald and the other officers stood frozen, watching Freddy materialize out of nowhere on the screen—then get absolutely demolished by a single punch.
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