Whispers of a Ghost

Chapter 20-

You ended up back at Skull Rock, hiding under the large boulders as the bats squawked and flew around in the dark sky above you. They were searching the woods for you, but after nearly 10 minutes, they seemed to give up and disappeared.

"Okay, that was close." Robin said as you all slowly stood up and stepped out from under the rock.

"Yeah, too close." Eddie agreed.

You glanced around, your eyes shifting over the treetops, but the bats were definitely gone. Thank God.

"Oh, s-shit." Steve suddenly said and you spun around just in time to see him stumble sideways into the side of the rock.

"Oh my God." You gasped, rushing to his side and grabbing his shoulders to keep him up right as he leant his back against the rock, steading himself.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." He winced, squeezing his eyes closed.

"No, no, no, you're not. Shit, Steve, you're losing a lot of blood." You said, taking in just how much blood was trickling from the bite marks. "Here, sit down before you pass out."

Gently, you eased Steve down to his knees before Robin knelt beside you.

"So the good news is I'm pretty sure wooziness is not a common symptom of rabies. But if you start having hallucinations or muscle spasms or you start feeling aggressive, like you wanna punch me, let me know." She rambled nervously.

"Robin?" Steve asked, opening his eyes.

"Yeah?"

"I kinda wanna punch you."

You snorted softly, "if he's still sarcastic, he's fine." You said, trying to reassure her.

"Here, use this as a makeshift bandage." Nancy said, handing you a piece of material that she ripped from her jumper.

You nodded your thanks and looked down at the long white strip of material before turning back to Steve who met your eyes.

"This is going to hurt." You warned.

He nodded, "do it."

You waited a second, letting him prepare himself before he lifted his arms out the way and sat up straight on his knees before you wrapped the material firmly around his stomach causing him to stifle a groan.

"I'm sorry." You apologised, lifting your head as he glanced down at you with pained eyes before he looked away while you finished securing it around his torso. "Too tight?"

"No, that's good."

Steve was breathing heavily as you lowered your hands, a little relieved when blood didn't immediately start seeping into the material before he reached out towards you, grabbing your injured arm causing you to hiss.

"How bad is it?" He asked worriedly.

"It's fine. Just a few deep scratches." You answered which wasn't entirely a lie, although without looking at it properly, you didn't actually know how bad it was, but you could feel blood running down your arm under your jacket, so you knew it wasn't great.

"Y/N. Really, how bad?"

"I'll live. We got bigger things to worry about." You responded, turning away from Steve to find Eddie climbing up onto one of the rocks to get a better look at the surroundings before glancing down at the rest of you.

"So, uh, this place is like Hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit?"

"Pretty much." Nancy answered before Eddie started to climb down the rock. "Wait, watch out for the vines. It's all a hive mind."