The questioning at the police station was a long, grueling process for every one of them. Vlad insisted that there was something out there, someone named Freddy who was responsible for this, but every time he stated as much, he was disregarded and ignored.

However, since they had no concrete proof that any of them were responsible, the police were eventually forced to let the gang go, all of whom were exhausted and wondering what do you next. "Well, that wasn't exactly how I thought I was going to spend my night." Jack moaned, rubbing his eyes.

"None of us expected it, Jack." Vlad responded. "The question is: what are we going to do?"

"First of all, I think we should find out just who this Freddy guy is, since he's apparently real, at least in some form." Maddie informed.

"But how are we going to stay awake?" Tina worried. "Sooner or later, we're going to fall asleep and then he'll get us!" Out of all of them, she was the one who was taking this the hardest.

"We'll just have to stay awake until we solve this mystery." Jack reasoned. He looked down at his watch. "Okay, my dad should be coming soon. Hopefully, he'll be able to help us." At the very least, he wouldn't be as bad as Mrs. Thompson. The instant she showed up, she started screaming at all of them, telling them how horrible they were for getting Nancy into this, and threatening Jack to stay away from her.

"Yeah, and how exactly do you intend to explain this?" Vlad demanded. " 'excuse me, dad, we need your help to defeat something that's killing us in our dreams'. The best case-scenario is that he'll refuse to believe us."

Before Jack could reply, a car showed up and an anxious couple walked up to Vlad. "What happened, Vlad?" his father demanded. "Why are you at a police station?"

"Like you're going to believe me," Vlad sneered. Over the years, he had built up a lot of anger towards his parents, and combined with their present situation, he saw no reason to control his temper.

"Don't speak to me like that, Vladimir." Mr. Masters snapped. "Now I want to now: why are you at a police station? From the call I received, it sounds like you and your friends are suspects in a murder."

"Fine, you want my answer; here goes." Vlad winced. "Some guy named Freddy attacked us. He attacked me a couple nights ago in my dreams. He said something about getting revenge."

"Vlad, that's ridiculous." Mrs. Masters told her son. "I told you before, that was simply a nightmare." There was a look on her face that Vlad picked up, though, indicating that she knew more than she was telling him. "Now just get in the car." Vlad sighed, knowing he had no choice in the matter, and beginning to feel like he was about to fall asleep.

For him, the trip home was mostly a silent one. I was expecting them to yell at me, but they haven't said anything. Vlad thought. This really isn't like them.

He walked into his room and sat down on the bed, forcing himself to stay awake. Vlad knew that whatever that thing was, it was not going to stop until it had killed him. He turned his light on, hoping that his parents wouldn't find out, and rummaged through his room, looking for something to read in order to keep him up.

However, he was unable to focus on the book, continuing to think about what had happened. Poor Rod; I never liked him, but he didn't deserve to be cut to pieces by some supernatural monster. Okay, first thing this morning, I'm going to find out everything I can about this thing. For now, though, he continued to read "Earth Abides".

X X X X X X X X X X

"I can't believe your parents let you out of the house, Nancy." Jack told his girlfriend, putting his arm around her shoulder. She was still rather shaken up and obviously not herself.

"What makes you think they know about it?" Nancy replied in a weak attempt at a grin, but soon burst back into tears, leaning against Jack's chest.

"Okay, so what are we going to do?" Maddie asked. Like the others, she had simply snuck out of her house after her hysterical stepparent refused to let her out of their sight. On one hand, it was nice to have parents that actually cared about her, but damn it, why couldn't they understand what was happening. She gave a loud yawn at that thought, her eyes on the verge of shutting.

"Did any of you get to sleep last night?" Tina asked. All of them shook their heads. "I fell asleep. I didn't mean to, but I fell asleep. I was wandering around my house when Rod showed up. At first, I didn't realize it was a dream, but he was… acting weird. He accused me of killing him, saying it was my fault that he was dead. Then he transformed into the same man I keep seeing in my dreams. I ran, not knowing where I was going. We kept going around in circles, and he nearly got me before I woke up." She leaned against Maddie's shoulder, crying softly.

"Did your parents notice anything?" Nancy asked.

"No, my mom's still on her trip." She replied sadly. "She wouldn't believe me, anyway; her whole life is about her latest boyfriend."

"I'm sorry, Tina." Maddie whispered. "We'll get through this, I promise."

"So where's Vlad?" Jack asked. "I thought he was going to meet us here." Vlad was already close to an hour late, which wasn't his usual behavior.

"Well, speak of the devil," Nancy remarked, seeing Vlad run towards him. Out of breath, he simply panted for a couple of minutes, letting out a couple of coughs.

"Sorry about that; I needed to sneak out of my house." Vlad explained. "My parents locked my door and took down the ladder by my windows. I had to crawl out and land on the ground, which was not a real pleasant experience, but here I am."

"So what are we going to do?" Maddie asked again.

"Look, the library's open, so we'll see what we can find out there." Vlad stated. When the others gave him skeptical replies, he stated: "Hey, at least it's a place to start."

"I think they've got a good paranormal section." Tina informed them, finally managing to speak in a calm voice. "Not that I ever believed in that stuff until now, but we ought to find something useful."

"Yeah, great idea," Jack began to smile. "Me and V-man here will see what we can find on this Freddy person. Since he's hanging around Springwood, there's got to be a record of him somewhere."

"Wait, what if we fall asleep?" Nancy asked in a worried tone. "This is probably going to take some time, and since all of us are exhausted, he may come after us."

"We'll just study together, then." Maddie declared. "If one of us falls asleep, the other can wake us up. In fact, we should probably do that tonight."

"Yes, that's not a bad idea." Vlad scratched his chin. "Of course, we may not be able to completely stick together. My parents have never liked you guys anyway and after last night, they think I'm hanging around potential murderers."

"Well, if one of you feels like you're going to fall asleep, just call me." Jack smiled. "You all have my numbers, so that should be pretty easy. I told my dad about everything, and he doesn't seem to be doing anything to stop me, so I think he may know something about him. Of course, when I questioned him, he just closed his mouth and walked off."

"Yeah, I noticed that about my parents too." Vlad remarked. "They denied it, of course, but they know who he is."

"If they know, why don't they tell us?" Tina inquired.

"Maybe it's some deep, dark town secret." Jack replied. "That would certainly make things more interesting, or maybe he even put a spell on them that doesn't allow our parents to tell us anything."

"We're getting ahead of ourselves here." Nancy interrupted. "Shouldn't we just head to the library and find out everything we can?"

"You girls look up stuff about the supernatural, creatures that attack in dreams, especially," Vlad instructed. "Jack and I will see what we can find out about Freddy." With a plan, the group walked to the library, still tired and on edge.

Once they got inside, Vlad immediately asked where the old newspaper articles were. Since Maddie already knew where the paranormal books were located, the girls immediately headed there.

"You know, I'm betting that nobody's looked at these in a long time." Vlad remarked, blowing dust off the newspapers. "Suppose we better get started."

"So assuming we get out of this alive, is there anyone you're interested in going out with?" Jack wondered.

"Not really, no." Vlad lied. There were girls that he looked at on occasion, but most of his attention was on Maddie. She knew he liked her, but… a relationship just wasn't possible between them.

"Come on, V-man, there's got to be someone!" Jack insisted. He knew his best friend well enough to know when he wasn't being honest with him. "Hey, if you tell me who it is, I can set you two up. You need to have some experience before you become an adult."

"I don't really want to talk about it." Vlad sighed, looking through the newspapers. "Let's just focus on the task at hand, all right?"

"Okay, if you want to be a party pooper." Jack complained, sitting down on the floor.

They looked through one newspaper after another, but neither of them found anything. If there was something big, it would be on the front page, but even after looking at the articles from cover to cover, there was nothing that jumped out at them. "Okay, maybe the next one." Vlad muttered, exhaustion beginning to overcome him.

Wait a minute; I just remembered something! Vlad exclaimed to himself. I did a report on this guy when I was in 8th grade! Let's see, back then, the stuff happened… six years before that, so what I want to check is the newspapers dating back 1973 and earlier. "Hey, Jack, I just figured it out!" Vlad exclaimed, looking over his shoulder, but his friend was gone.

Okay, that was weird. Vlad thought. Whenever Jack left the room, it was impossible not to notice. "Come on, Jack, where are you?" he called out, not caring that he was in a library. What would they do to him, anyway?

Groaning, he looked through the shelves, wondering where his friend could have disappeared to. One thing Vlad did notice, though, was that nobody else was around. That shouldn't be possible. I know libraries aren't considered cool, but there should be at least a couple of people in here getting an early start on homework.

He walked over to the front desk in order to ask if the librarian had seen Jack, but even that area was empty. "She's always there; this library is her entire life." Vlad told himself. "Come to think of it, I don't see anybody anywhere." His stomach was beginning to feel weak, since he had a bad feeling that he knew where he was.

"Hey, Masters!" a voice exclaimed behind him, nearly making Vlad jump out of his skin. "No talking in the library!" There he was, the man with the green and gray sweater, complete with knives for fingers.

Vlad ran away at top speed, heading for the doors, only to find them locked. He pulled with all his might, but they wouldn't budge an inch. He turned around to find an alternate route of escape only to see Freddy right behind him, a vicious grin on his face.

He screamed at the top of his lungs and sprinted. At this point, he didn't care what direction he was going; Vlad just wanted to get away from that thing. His heart felt like it was about to burst out of his chest from sheer terror.

However, after all that, Freddy appeared behind him, scraping his fingers against the wall, spraying sparks in every direction. Dear god, I'm doomed. No matter where I go, he's going to catch me. I've got to think of something else!

"There's no escape from me, boy." Freddy laughed, swinging his arm in Vlad's direction. He dodged, only to end up tackled by the burnt man, both of them falling to the floor.

Vlad kicked and punched as best he could, trying to get free of his grasp, but Freddy was just too strong. It took all the strength he had just to keep him from using those knives to cut his body open. Both of his arms were straining to hold that arm back, while Freddy lifted him up and shoved him against the wall.

Vlad swung out his leg, catching him in the stomach and weakening his grip enough for Freddy to let him go. He ran in the opposite direction, knowing that he wouldn't be able to escape long. Please… don't let me die, don't let me die.

X X X X X X X X X X

That was great; can't do research on an empty stomach. Jack thought as he walked back into the newspaper section of the library. "Hey, V-man, you manage to find anything?" Jack called out, but he didn't hear any response. "Okay, this is weird."

Suddenly, he heard a scream ahead of him. Careless of his own safety, he rushed to the source, realizing what had just happened. He saw Vlad, buried in a pile of newspapers, struggling with an unseen entity. Oh, no, he must have fallen asleep! I never should have left! "Wake up, Vlad!" He exclaimed, nudging him gently with his leg, then harder when he friend failed to respond.

Now truly frightened, Jack dived down and pulled Vlad to his feet, slapping him across the face to get his attention. "Help, help…" Vlad screamed, shoving Jack in the chest and falling back to the floor, panting hard. By this time, he had gotten the attention of the other residents who had gathered to see what was going on. "Jack… that's really you?"

"Yeah, you fell asleep." Jack responded. Looking at the confused crowd, he declared: "Don't worry; V-man just had a nightmare! You know how boring this stuff can get!" The crowd slowly dissipated, still giving him suspicious looks.

"Thanks, as if I wasn't mocked enough at school." Vlad complained. He touched his rapidly reddening cheek. "Did you have to hit me so hard?"

"Hey, it was the only way to wake you up!" Jack protested. He then turned far more serious. "Look, I'm sorry I left you. I know we're supposed to stick together, but stupid me, I thought nothing would happen and…"

"Enough, Jack." Vlad cut in before he could start his guilt trip. "Look, I've just realized: I did a report on him about five years ago. This guy's name is Freddy… Krueger, that's it! We need to look at the newspapers dated before 1973."

"Hey, are you guys all right?" Maddie asked. She, Nancy, and Tina jogged up to them, all of them extremely worried.

"Yeah, I just ended up falling asleep." Vlad replied. "Look, we better check the newspaper dating back over ten years."

"You could have been killed!" Maddie told him shrilly, hugging him tightly. "I thought we agreed not to fall asleep! What would I have done if I lost you, Vlad?" She wrapped him tightly in her eyes, as if he would disappear forever if she let him go.

"I'm right here," Vlad tried to reassure. Ordinarily, he'd be glad that she was more willing to show physical affection, all things considered, but under the circumstances, it worried him.

"Hey, here's something." Jack called out. He showed them a newspaper with the headline "Mysterious Fire Claims Life of Child Killer".

"According to this, he killed about twenty children and was freed on some sort of technicality." Nancy stated, her eyes looking over the text. "The photos of the bodies are just… just sick. What kind of person would do something like this?" Nancy visibly shuddered. Jack looked over the information and was equally horrified.

"Yeah, I remember that when I was a little kid, my parents never let me play outside by myself." Vlad remembered. "I screamed, but they looked downright terrified that something was going to happen to me. This… monster is probably the reason."

"I found a book that said that under certain circumstances, an angry spirit can return to wreck revenge on the people who wronged or killed him." Maddie informed. "It's generally some kind of spell, although I don't understand everything the book says on that subject."

"So what does it say about beating him?" Jack wondered.

"Well, it said that the spirit would return once it has achieved what it came for." Tina remarked.

"Since Krueger seems to have come back for our lives, I would suggest another method of getting rid of him." Vlad replied dryly. "Does it say anything specifically about ones that kill in dreams?"

"Hold on, let me see." Maddie muttered, looking through the book. "It states that these are some of the most dangerous and the only way to destroy it is to…" she continued looking through the book. "it doesn't say."

"So it tells us what this thing is, but not how to destroy it?" Tina growled. "Well, that's just great! So what do we do now?"

"We've just got to stay awake until we figure out a way." Nancy insisted.

"That doesn't give us much of a time frame." Vlad pointed out. "Assuming we even manage to stay awake, that only gives us a few days before our brains start going insane. A few days after that, we'll be dead anyway. We're going to need a lot of caffeine."

"Any ideas for stopping him, any at all?" Tina worried.

"This guy is strong, almost superhumanly so, but he's not completely invincible." Vlad informed. "There's got to be a way. We just have to keep looking."