the chain

keep us together

He disappears. You scream after him, but it's no use. The last thing he did was give you a smile and a nod of assurance, and then, he ran outside of the trailer. You can hear the door slam behind him. Dustin curses loudly, pushing the mattress aside beside shoving a chair underneath the gate. He takes a step back and you frown at him, "Wait! H-Hold on!"

"What?" Dustin cries helplessly.

"Stand back," you tell him, placing a foot on the chair and pressing your hands to the ceiling. You cling onto the edge of the gate, using all your strength to hoist yourself up.

You let out a cry as you scrape along the thick vines, gravity immediately taking hold and sending you to the floor of Eddie's trailer. The sound of bats swirling in the air and wailing becomes further and further away the quicker Eddie cycles away. The bike on his light disappears as he's knocked onto his side.

You can't breathe but you stand, shoving the mattress underneath the gate. Dustin wastes no time in flinging himself through the gate, bouncing off the chair with all his little strength. With a hand against your chest, you rush towards the door. You fling it open, Dustin hot on your heels, seeing Eddie facing up to the swarm. He has his shield and spear in his hands. You barely see him as the bats circle him quickly.

"Eddie!" You scream out to him, almost shivering from the cold. Eddie turns to you, giving you a pretty smile. You can't smile back, all you can do is run to him. You watch, eyes wide and horrified as he turns back around. Twirling the spear in his hands, he grits his teeth at the oncoming creatures, swinging at them when they aim for his neck. A bat clasps its tail to latch onto his wrist, tugging harshly as he tries to reclaim the weapon. Eddie then unclasp it, watching the spear fall before catching it with his free hand and stabbing the creature with it.

You get little time to celebrate before your vision is shrouded in dark wings, and more and more bats begin to join the crowd. You're still running as fast as you can, Dustin far behind you now as he limps slightly.

A scream tears through Eddie's throat and then suddenly, amongst the darkness and wings and shouting, it all stops. Eddie stands amongst the falling creatures, who twitch and writhe on the floor. The field is quiet now. There isn't any movement at all. One moment they had begun to swarm and the next, every single one of them was dead.

It's then that you make it to him, stopping before him and looking around. Eddie's breath is uneven and you glance at him, his face is pale and his hands are shaking. The blood seeps through his shirt. As suddenly as the bats had fallen, the adrenaline leaves his body and Eddie feels himself crumbling in on his unsteady knees.

You lunge forward, arms extended to catch him but it doesn't work - you both just fall to the ground with one another. Your arms are wrapped around him as you hover above him, almost cradling him. "Eddie!" You exclaim, searching his tired eyes, "C'mon, look at me."

His eyes gaze up at you and he smiles slowly. There's blood smeared across his cheeks, coming from his mouth. You're not sure if he knows his teeth are red with his own blood as he grins anyway.

"Hi, pretty girl," he mumbles up at you gently.

"H-Hi, pretty boy," you bite your bottom lip as you place a hand on his cheek. He's cold and sweaty. "How do you feel?" It worries you, you try not to break down with sobs. You can't. You can't cry. Not while Eddie is in front of you, pale and in so much pain. You refuse to. You watch as he shuts his eyes for a moment and you hold your breath. You place a hand on his cold cheek, brushing away loose strands of his wild hair. "Hey! Hey, keep those eyes open for me, please."

"I know, I'm just... just tired, baby," Eddie gazes up at you again, blinking slowly.

"It's gonna be okay," you brush away the uncertainty on his face, "you've lost a bit of blood, it's... it's normal... it's gonna be okay. It worked," you tell him, "Nancy's plan worked."