Partners in Crime-Eddie Munson x OC

Chapter 18

The four of us swam toward the glowing red gate at the bottom of the lake. I followed Nancy and Robin through, Eddie shortly behind me. The other side was eerily familiar. Like Dustin said, Hawkins but different. It was all so gray and...creepy.

But then I heard Steve's screams of agony and all thoughts vanished.

Nancy and Eddie rushed toward him, the oars from the boat in their hands. As we got closer, I saw his attackers. They were like large bats, but more lizard-like and with tails. So, scary as hell. To top it off, there was some slimy-looking vine wrapped around his neck.

Nancy swung an oar at one of the bats, knocking it away with an awful shriek. "Hey there," She gritted out. I was right, she definitely had badass energy.

Eddie and Nancy got to work swatting the bats down, as Robin and I kicked them off Steve and held them in place for the others to beat. This was by far the freakiest part of the entire journey.

"Shit!" Eddie exclaimed and we looked up to see more of the creatures flying down from the sky.

Eddie smacked one of them down, but another landed on Nancy as she was still trying to defend Steve. Robin went to her rescue and I took over beating the grounded bat with the flashlight. Eddie swung at another bat, and his oar snapped in half. Robin freed Nancy and they got back to fighting the swarm as Steve stood up. He grabbed one by the tail and started beating it against the ground, eventually holding it with his foot as he pulled it in two. Maybe he had some badass energy too.

"Steve!" Nancy paced over to him.

"Jesus H. Christ!" Eddie shouted hysterically and I put a hand on his arm to try and calm him.

"Are you okay?" Nancy looked Steve over for injuries. They weren't hard to spot, he was covered.

"Well, they took about a pound of flesh, but other than that, yeah, never better." He looked up at her with a soft smile.

Robin crouched on the ground, examining one of the dead bats. "Uh, do you guys think these bats have, like, rabies?"

"What?" That's probably one of the last things we expected to hear.

"It's just that rabies are, like, my number one greatest fear, and I think we should get you to a doctor soon because once the symptoms set in, it's like already too late. You're already pretty much dead."

We all looked at her silently. Before anyone could respond, the sounds of the creatures started up again in the distance. Another group of the bats flew down and landed in front of us. We shifted in closer together.

"There's not that many of them," Steve panted. "We can take 'em. Right?"

In the sky, a couple dozen more of the bats were closing in.

"You were saying?" Robin didn't take her eyes off the incoming enemy.

Nancy turned and her eyes lit up. "The woods. Come on."

We took off for the woods, Robin grumbling about more running. The bats were closing in as we sprinted through the forest, literally running for our lives. I agreed with Robin about disliking the running, but there was no way in hell we were stopping yet. Thankfully, Skull Rock, or at least this version of it, was up ahead. We crouched under it as the bats flew overhead, not noticing our hiding spot.

We waited a little after they passed before we climbed out.

"That was close," Robin sighed.

"Too close," Eddie breathed.

Steve stood and almost instantly swayed on his feet, stumbling against the rock. The adrenaline must have been wearing off and he was finally feeling the brunt of his injuries.