Chapter 36: Winning by Quantity

Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Winning by Quantity

Chapter 36: Winning by Quantity

"I already told you, it’s Holy Water," Axel Vance replied calmly as Glen Lantz stared at the empty bottle in disbelief. Glen looked Axel over from head to toe and asked, "Aren’t you supposed to be a forest ranger? Why are you carrying around Holy Water that actually works?" Axel leaned back in his chair and folded his arms with a faintly mysterious expression.

"I wasn’t always a forest ranger," Axel said. Everyone at the table immediately leaned forward, clearly expecting some dramatic revelation about his past. Axel let the silence build for a moment before adding, "I used to be a police officer in Miami."

The entire group stared at him.

Nobody looked impressed.

Glen slowly rubbed his face. "You obviously don’t want to tell us." Axel shrugged because technically every word he had said was true, and explaining the system to a group of exhausted teenagers was nowhere on his list of priorities.

Nancy Thompson cared far more about the immediate danger than Axel’s secrets. She tightened both hands around the half-empty bottle and asked, "If you know about things like Holy Water, do you know how to stop Freddy?" The question wiped the amusement from Axel’s expression because that was exactly the part he had been trying to figure out.

Freddy Krueger was nothing like Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers. Physical slashers could be shot, stabbed, restrained, or at least forced to react to enough damage, but Freddy ruled the dream world where normal weapons and physical laws meant almost nothing. Axel remembered that Nancy’s story involved pulling Freddy into the waking world and fighting him there, but gambling everyone’s lives on reproducing that trick without preparation seemed reckless.

There was also another problem Axel remembered from the movies. Freddy fed on terror and became more dangerous when his victims feared and remembered him, which meant spreading panic through town could make the situation even worse. For now, Axel preferred protecting the people already being targeted while learning exactly how Holy Water affected the dream killer.

"I don’t have a guaranteed way to kill him yet," Axel finally admitted. "If you trust me, come back to Crystal Lake with me tonight. Staying together means somebody can watch you while you sleep, and that’s better than each of you waiting alone for Freddy to show up."

The teenagers exchanged uncertain looks because the phrase Crystal Lake did not exactly inspire confidence around here. Nancy was the first to push herself upright and said, "I’m going." Once she made the decision, Glen and the others gradually followed because none of them had a better option.

Axel stood and headed toward the counter before anyone could change their minds. He bought several cases of soda, bottled drinks, and anything else that could be conveniently carried back to camp. The teenagers watched him pile everything together but were too exhausted to ask why a supernatural emergency required so many soft drinks.

Outside, Axel loaded the supplies into his Ford pickup and told the group to squeeze in wherever they safely could for the short rural drive back. Everyone was too drained to complain much, and within minutes the truck was heading away from town toward the dirt road. The mood inside and behind the cab remained unusually quiet compared with the children Axel normally transported.

When the faded CRYSTAL LAKE WELCOMES YOU sign appeared beside the road, Glen stared at it with growing unease. "Wait, we’re actually staying at Crystal Lake? I heard people were murdered out there and—" Nancy immediately cut him off before he could finish.

"Glen, stop."

He closed his mouth.

Nancy glanced at the others and said, "We already have one dead man hunting us in our sleep. We don’t need to scare ourselves with another story tonight." Axel silently approved because the last thing he wanted was a truck full of sleep-deprived teenagers feeding their own fear.

The pickup eventually rolled into camp, where Ethel stormed out of the main cabin holding a dish towel like she was prepared to use it as a weapon. "You finally came back! Do you have any idea what those kids have been doing while you were—" Her anger vanished when she noticed seven or eight exhausted teenagers climbing out around Axel’s truck.

Ethel pointed at the group and then at Axel. "You went into town for supplies." Axel nodded with a perfectly straight face and replied, "I did."

"And you came back with teenagers."

"They heard Crystal Lake has beautiful scenery."

Ethel stared at him.

Axel spread his hands helplessly. "Apparently they were very enthusiastic about camping. I tried to discourage them."

The teenagers wisely said nothing.

Ethel’s suspicious gaze moved between Axel and the group several times. Axel had no intention of explaining Freddy because if his memory was right about the killer drawing strength from fear, spreading the story around camp might create another problem. As far as Ethel needed to know, several tired teenagers had simply decided to spend the night outdoors.

"The spare cabins are filthy," Ethel finally said. "Nobody has cleaned them since before I started working here." Axel waved toward the largest cabin and replied that the teenagers could stay with the children for one night, since nobody in the group looked capable of complaining about floor space.

Ethel sighed deeply and gave up. "Do whatever you want. Just don’t make me explain this to their parents." Axel promised nothing except that everyone would still be breathing by breakfast, which somehow did not improve her expression.

Axel pushed open the children’s cabin and raised his voice. "All right, everybody, look what I brought back." The children immediately sat up when they saw the cases of soda in his arms, and their sleepy expressions disappeared almost instantly.

Cheers filled the cabin.

Axel began distributing the drinks while trying not to laugh at their reaction. Before returning to camp, he had quietly experimented with several bottles and discovered that his specialization could also work on suitable soft drinks instead of only plain water. Ten successful conversions had produced exactly the result he wanted.

[Holy Water successfully created.]

[Holy Water: EXP +30]

[Holy Water Lv.1 — 186/1000]

Axel found the discovery surprisingly useful. Children were far more willing to drink something sweet and fizzy than a suspicious bottle of plain water presented as supernatural protection. As long as the system recognized the liquid as suitable for conversion, he did not particularly care what flavor it had.

The children drank happily while Axel arranged the exhausted teenagers around the largest cabin. Nancy, Glen, and the others found places on spare mattresses, blankets, and sleeping bags beside the younger campers. None complained because after several sleepless nights, even a wooden floor looked luxurious.

Axel then returned to the pickup and carried several cases of prepared bottled Holy Water into the cabin. He stacked them against one wall like ammunition beside a defensive position, earning several confused looks from the teenagers. Axel ignored them and selected a corner where he could watch almost everyone at once.

"Try to sleep," he told the group. "I’ll stay awake."

Nancy looked uneasy. "And if Freddy shows up?"

"Then we find out how much Holy Water he can tolerate."

That answer was not especially comforting, but exhaustion quickly defeated fear.

The children fell asleep first, followed one by one by the teenagers. Their breathing gradually became slow and steady until the cabin was almost completely silent aside from the occasional creak of wood and insects outside. Axel remained seated against the wall with an open bottle of Holy Water beside him and watched carefully.

Nearly an hour passed before Glen’s eyelids began twitching rapidly.

Axel immediately focused on him.

Glen’s breathing accelerated while cold sweat formed across his forehead. His fingers curled against the blanket, and his entire body tensed as though he were struggling against something nobody else could see.

"Freddy," Axel murmured.

He moved beside Glen and tried shaking his shoulder. When that failed, Axel gave his cheek a sharp slap intended to wake him, but Glen did not react beyond another violent twitch. His eyes continued moving beneath his closed lids, showing that whatever dream had caught him was deep.

Then Glen’s body jerked.

His arms flailed violently.

A strangled cry escaped his throat.

Axel immediately grabbed him before he could injure himself against the floor. There were no cuts appearing on Glen’s body yet, which suggested the Holy Water he had consumed earlier was interfering with Freddy’s attack somehow. It was not enough to stop the nightmare completely, but that was already better than what happened to Tina Gray.

"Fine," Axel muttered. "If one dose isn’t enough, we increase it."

He supported Glen’s head and managed to get him to swallow controlled amounts of Holy Water whenever his reflexes allowed it. Axel refused to simply pour liquid into an unconscious person, but he kept administering small amounts until Glen’s violent movements gradually weakened. Within several minutes, the teenager’s breathing became steadier.

Axel watched him closely.

Glen twitched again.

Axel reached for another bottle.

"Quantity it is."

A second round of Holy Water finally caused the nightmare symptoms to fade almost completely. Glen relaxed against the bedding, his breathing returned to normal, and the sweat slowly stopped forming along his forehead. Axel nodded with satisfaction because crude as the method was, it appeared to work.

Then someone whimpered behind him.

Axel turned.

One of the younger children had begun tossing violently beneath a blanket.

"Of course."

Axel grabbed another bottle and moved across the cabin.

The rest of the night became a strange supernatural version of emergency medicine. Whenever someone started sweating, twitching, crying, or struggling in sleep, Axel rushed over, tried to wake them, and used additional Holy Water when the nightmare refused to release its grip. Each time, the symptoms eventually weakened.

Freddy seemed determined to keep attacking.

Axel was equally determined to keep drowning every attempt beneath more holy power.

Nancy began trembling shortly after midnight, followed by another teenager half an hour later. One child started screaming without waking, while Glen suffered a second brief episode before Axel suppressed it faster than the first. Bottles gradually emptied around the cabin as Axel moved from sleeper to sleeper without getting a moment of rest.

By the early morning hours, the cabin looked like the aftermath of a very unusual party. Empty soda cans and Holy Water bottles covered one side of the room while exhausted teenagers slept among blankets and pillows. Axel sat between them like a guard surrounded by supernatural medical supplies, waiting for the next nightmare to start.

One person never needed his help.

Russell had fallen asleep early and remained completely peaceful throughout the entire battle.

The chubby boy lay sprawled across his blanket with one leg hanging off the side. His mouth was open, loud snores filled the cabin, and a small trail of drool had formed beneath his cheek. Whatever Freddy was doing to everyone else, he apparently wanted nothing to do with Russell.

Axel looked at the sleeping boy and then at the nearly empty cases of Holy Water.

A slow smile appeared on his face.

"Looks like the courage water really worked."

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