Dreams of the flesh Ethan Campbell Dreams of the flesh Ethan Campbell An Ovi eBooks Publication 2025 Ovi eBookPublications - All material is copyright of the Ovi eBooks Publications & the writer C Ovi ebooks are available in Ovi/Ovi eBookshelves pages and they are for free. If somebody tries to sell you an Ovi book please contact us immediately. For details, contact: ovimagazine@yahoo.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the writer or the above publisher of this book Dreams of the flesh Dreams of the flesh Ethan Campbell Ethan Campbell An Ovi eBooks Publication 2025 Ovi eBookPublications - All material is copyright of the Ovi eBooks Publications & the writer C Dreams of the flesh E than Kreel had never been afraid of pain. It was a concept he had long since abandoned, trading away his body’s natural responses for something better, something refined. In the world of 2096, genetic sculpting was the new plastic surgery, and the underground black clinics of Neo-Chicago were filled with dreamers. Those who wished to be gods, monsters, or something in between. Ethan was one of them. But his dream was different. He didn’t want to be beautiful. He didn’t want to be powerful. He wanted to be horrifying. The obsession had gripped him since childhood. Ethan Campbell The sight of Freddy Krueger, the iconic burnt face, the melted flesh, the nightmare-forged claws, was the only thing that ever made him feel alive. Freddy wasn’t just a monster; he was fear incarnate. And Ethan wanted that for himself. * * * * * The transformation began in a neon-lit basement beneath a defunct pizza parlor. The surgeon, a rail- thin man with cybernetic fingers, examined Ethan with something between awe and disgust. “You’re sure about this?” The doctor’s lenses whirred, scanning Ethan’s DNA as he keyed in the modifications. “People usually want to look...better.” Ethan grinned, stretching his fingers over the edge of the operating chair. “I don’t want better. I want real.” The doctor shrugged. “Your funeral.” Then came the slicing. The peeling. The reassem- bly of flesh into something nightmarish. Ethan felt nothing; the clinic’s anesthetics had long since dead- ened his nerves. But when he woke up hours later, his body had changed. Dreams of the flesh His skin no longer held its smooth, human elas- ticity. It had become a mottled, uneven terrain of scorched flesh, hyper-sensitive to the air. The mirror on the far wall revealed the horror—his face, a gro- tesque masterpiece of surgical perfection. Raw, blis- tered, forever seething. Just as he wanted. And his hands... His fingers had been extended, reinforced with liv- ing bone. Each digit now bore a retractable, organic blade. They weren’t metal. They weren’t prosthetics. They were part of him. For the first time in his life, Ethan Kreel was him- self. * * * * * But then the dreams started. At first, they were beautiful. Walking through the darkness, feeling the weight of his new body. His claws clicking against the walls. People saw him and screamed. It felt right. Then he began waking up in strange places. An alleyway behind a nightclub, the stench of blood thick in the air. Ethan Campbell His apartment, claw marks slashed into the wood- en furniture. A motel room off the grid, red handprints smeared across the sheets. He told himself it was fine. That he had always wanted this. That he had chosen to become fear itself. But deep down, he knew something was wrong. * * * * * It wasn’t until he blacked out in his own bed and woke up standing over a man’s lifeless body that Ethan realized the truth. His body was no longer his own. The corpse lay sprawled on the cracked pavement, eyes frozen in terror. Deep gashes ran across his chest. The same pattern. The same rhythm. The same method Freddy Krueger used. Ethan’s breath came in ragged gasps as he exam- ined his hands. The claws dripped crimson. He had no memory of what happened. Something inside him had taken over. Dreams of the flesh * * * * * Desperate, Ethan returned to the surgeon, demand- ing answers. But the clinic had been abandoned, the basement stripped bare. He found a single recording left behind, a message blinking on a cracked tablet. “I warned you,” the doctor’s voice crackled. “The human body isn’t meant to hold nightmares. You al- tered too much. Your nervous system... it rewrote itself. It’s adapting.” Ethan’s skin itched, crawling like something alive. “You’re not just looking like a monster, Ethan. You’re becoming one. ” * * * * * Days passed in a haze of terror. Ethan locked him- self inside his apartment, shackling his hands togeth- er at night, but it didn’t matter. The dreams still came. And each morning, more blood. He tried cutting off the claws. They grew back within hours. He tried burning his flesh to undo the modifica- tions. Ethan Campbell The scars shifted , rearranging themselves into something worse. He tried to kill himself. But his new body wouldn’t let him. It was alive. * * * * * The final night came in a storm of fire and mad- ness. Ethan stood in front of the mirror, shaking. His face—his true face—had finally emerged from the flesh. The burned skin pulsed, his features contorting in a twisted grin not of his own making. A distant growl rumbled from his throat. The thing in the mirror was no longer Ethan Kreel. He saw its eyes flicker, burning with something old, something ancient. And then, with slow, deliberate movements, his re- flection waved at him. * * * * * Dreams of the flesh The police reports would later describe the mas- sacre at the Neo-Chicago underground as an act of incomprehensible violence. Limbs torn apart. Claw marks everywhere. No trace of the killer was ever found. But in the months that followed, whispers spread. People in dark alleyways claimed to have seen some- thing inhuman roaming the streets. A figure with a burned face , grinning from the shadows. No longer a man. No longer a myth. Just fear itself. Ethan Kreel had finally become the nightmare. Ethan Campbell Dreams of the flesh Ethan Campbell Ovi eBook Publishing 2025 Ovi eBook Publishing Design: Thanos Dreams of the flesh Ovi eBooks are available in Ovi/Ovi eBookshelves pages and they are for free. If somebody tries to sell you an Ovi book please contact us immediately. For details, contact: ovimagazine@yahoo.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the writer or the above publisher of this book An Ovi eBooks Publication 2025 Ovi eBookPublications - All material is copyright of the Ovi eBooks Publications & the writer C Ethan Campbell Ethan Campbell Dreams of the flesh Ethan Campbell, nat- ural born stand-up comedian who never made it any further from his toilet’s mirror, so he turned into writ- ing fantasy and para- normal stories.