As the man struggled to push down the blade the rest of the way, Maxi remembered the ax. She raced across the room. It took all her strength to lift the heavy weapon. The wooden handle slipped in the blood flowing freely from her palm. She staggered toward the man as he bent over the guillotine - working feverishly on the jammed blade. She raised the silver ax over her head and then the ax began to fall. The blade sliced into the back of the man's head, sticking out like a knife buried to the hilt in a melon. He fell forward - onto the guillotine.

Selena screamed again. His weight had brought the blade down another fraction of an inch - just enough for Selena to feel the steel begin to cut her.

"Off! Off!" Selena was yelling through clenched teeth.

Maxi grabbed the man's t-shirt, but the flimsy cloth ripped away in her bloody grasp. The man fell back again and this time Selena didn't even scream. Maxi buried her fingers in the man's greasy hair, gripping the locks. She managed to pull the man off the guillotine, letting him drop to the floor at her feet. Even as he fell, the hands of his dead body seemed to cling to her - groping for her - trying to pull her down along with him.

   Friday the 13th: The Carnival, chapter 26