Ash knew the blow buried in Jason's torso would not kill him, so he immediately shouted through the broken doorway, "Get out through the window!" Marty reacted faster than her still-shaking boyfriend and dragged David toward the far side of the bedroom. She shoved the window open, letting cold night air and thin lake fog rush into the room.
A thick oak branch stretched past the window less than an arm's length from the sill. Marty climbed out first, and the branch bent slightly beneath her weight as she wrapped both arms around it. She turned and reached back for David, who awkwardly climbed through the opening, caught his foot on the frame, and nearly fell before Marty grabbed the back of his shirt. The two steadied themselves, worked their way toward the trunk, and climbed down to rejoin everyone outside.
Jason watched another couple escape him and seemed to shake with rage. He could not curse or shout, but the violent swing of his machete said enough as he turned it toward Ash. The greatsword was still wedged deep in Jason's body, so Ash released the hilt and slipped aside before the machete could take his head off.
At the opposite end of the hallway, Melissa and Eddie discovered that their own escape route was useless. The window they had run toward was locked tight, and Eddie repeatedly slammed his shoulder against it without making the heavy glass move. Melissa had only managed to pull on a shirt before fleeing her room, and she stood beside him in her underwear while desperately striking the window with both hands.
Jason suddenly abandoned Ash again.
He turned, raised the machete, and hurled it down the corridor.
The weapon spun through the air before burying itself in Eddie's back. The tip punched through his chest and drove him against the windowsill, leaving him staring down at the blade in stunned silence as blood spread across his shirt. His knees finally gave out, and his body collapsed against the wall.
Ash had thought Jason's attention was firmly fixed on him after their exchange, yet the killer had still managed to claim another victim the instant Ash gave him an opening. Jason immediately started toward Melissa, who had fallen beneath the window and appeared too terrified even to scream.
Ash's expression darkened.
"You've got terrible manners, kid. Guess I'll have to teach you some."
He grabbed the greatsword's hilt with both hands, planted one boot against Jason's back, and pulled with all his strength. The silver blade tore free from rotten flesh and bone, sending Jason face-first onto the floor.
Ash did not give him time to rise.
The greatsword came down in a cold silver arc and cut cleanly through Jason's right shoulder. His entire arm struck the floor with a heavy thud, but Ash was already reversing the blade for another swing. The second cut severed Jason's left arm just as neatly, leaving the massive killer sprawled in the hallway without either limb.
Jason's regeneration was astonishing, but Ash doubted even he could instantly grow entire arms back. Jason still tried to force himself upright, shifting his torso and using what remained of his shoulders as though sheer stubbornness could compensate for the missing limbs.
Ash raised the sword again, intending to finish the dismemberment before Jason recovered.
Melissa suddenly ran toward them.
Ash stared at her in disbelief. Her own bedroom had a window, yet instead of retreating through it like Marty and David, she had chosen to sprint past an undead killer toward the stairs.
Before Ash could stop her, Jason's severed right arm twitched on the floor.
The dead hand moved by itself.
Its fingers closed around Melissa's ankle and yanked her feet out from under her. She screamed as she crashed onto the floor beside Jason.
During the struggle, Jason's hockey mask slipped away.
Ash finally saw what decades beneath Crystal Lake had done to him. Jason's face was a ruined mass of gray-green and dark brown flesh, with large sections rotted away enough to expose bone. Part of his lips were missing, revealing stained teeth and decayed gums beneath.
Then Jason opened his mouth.
A thick black substance pushed between his teeth and formed into something resembling a long tongue. The viscous mass stretched toward Melissa's face as she struggled helplessly beneath him.
Ash immediately understood that whatever was inside Jason wanted more than simply to kill her.
"That is disgusting."
He seized Melissa by the arm and hauled her backward before the black substance could reach her mouth. She scrambled to her feet and immediately clung to Ash as though he were the only solid object left in the world.
Melissa's entire body trembled against him, but Ash's first thought was still absurdly practical. She was attractive, certainly, but Heather was prettier, had a better figure, and was already his girlfriend. Apparently his taste in women had been excellent all along.
He pushed that useless thought aside.
"Stay awake. This really isn't the time to cling to me."
Ash forced Melissa behind him and turned back toward Jason with the greatsword raised.
The hallway was empty.
Ash froze.
Jason was gone.
Both severed arms had disappeared with him. Even the machete that had been buried through Eddie's body near the far window was missing.
Ash stared at the empty floor for several seconds.
"What the hell?"
He had looked away for only a moment.
A nearly seven-foot undead killer with no arms had somehow vanished from a second-floor hallway, recovered both severed limbs, retrieved a machete from a corpse, and disappeared without producing enough noise for Ash's enhanced senses to track him.
If Houdini had ever performed a disappearing act like that, every magician in America would have retired on the spot.
Ash had to admit one thing.
Jason's stealth was completely maxed out.
"If killing you lets me steal that trick, it might almost be worth the trouble."
With Jason nowhere in sight, Ash stopped searching the hallway and escorted the barely functional Melissa downstairs. They left the cabin and found nearly every survivor gathered around Heather, Gwen, Tina, and Nick, who were the only people outside carrying firearms.
Ash pushed Melissa gently toward Nick.
"Did Jason come out here? He disappeared upstairs."
Nick caught Melissa before she stumbled.
"No. We haven't seen anything."
Heather's attention immediately moved to Ash's side. His shirt had been sliced open beneath the ribs, exposing a thin line of blood where Jason's machete had grazed him.
"You're hurt."
Ash glanced down.
"It's barely a scratch. I moved before the blade landed properly."
Heather still looked concerned, but Ash shook his head.
"My healing will handle it. It'll probably be gone before long."
The Enhanced Healing ability Ash gained from the West Virginia cannibals was nowhere near Jason's supernatural regeneration, but shallow cuts and bruises disappeared unusually quickly. His muscles had already stopped most of the bleeding, and the wound was beginning to close.
Around them, Nick's remaining friends were finally confronting the reality of the night.
They had already found Ben and Kate dead inside and beside the RV. Michael and his girlfriend had never reached the party, Judy and Dan remained missing after disappearing into the woods, and several more people had died inside the cabin.
Nick's original group had numbered fifteen when everyone was counted.
Only six were still alive.
Two couples had survived upstairs because Ash intervened, while Nick and Melissa completed the remaining group. Without Ash standing between Jason and the others, even that number would have been smaller.
None of the survivors had ever experienced anything remotely similar. Some cried openly, others demanded that someone call the police, and several spoke over one another until the clearing dissolved into frightened confusion.
At least one lesson had finally reached everyone.
No one suggested running into the darkness alone.
For the first time since arriving at Crystal Lake, every survivor understood that staying together was not paranoia.
It was the only reason they were still alive.