The Monsters Within // Eddie Munson

xi. When It's Cold I Like to Die.

The trio had all of the speakers set up, Eddie plugged in his guitar, and when they were given the signal. He started playing.

Metallica blared around them as Eddie played. Katherine and Dustin crouching down by a speaker watching their watches and the sky. The red sky was raging above them, as Eddie performed.

"Eddie! We gotta lock down in T-minus 30 seconds!" Katherine screamed to the guitar player who nodded back at her.

"T-minus 20!"

"T-minus 10!" Dustin yelled. "Five!"

Katherine and Dustin slowly stood up as they saw a huge swarm of bats flying towards them, "One! Go! Go! Go!" Dustin yelled again, the three of them abandoned the makeshift stage running into the trailer.

"Let's go!"

"Come on!" Katherine screamed, reaching back to pull Eddie with her. "Hurry, Eddie shut it!" Dustin screamed as they entered the trailer.

"Dude!" Eddie slammed the door shut and turned around to the others. "Most metal ever!" Dustin exclaimed. Katherine nodded, pulling them both into a group hug. "Oh my- Oh my god." Eddie breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, the bats cut them short by banging against the roof of the trailer. "Shit!" Eddie exclaimed. "They can't get in, can they?" Dustin asked as Katherine threw her shield up to the area the bats broke through. "I think they can now!" Katherine yelled as the bats threw themselves into her shield, trying to get inside to them.

Eddie and Dustin used their swords to attack the bats, pushing them out of the way as Katherine stuck her shield into the broken air vent. They breathed heavily, "Are there other vents?" Katherine asked, wiping sweat from her face.

"Oh, shit!"

"Let's go, it's not going to hold." Eddie exclaimed.

Katherine nudged Dustin up the sheet through the portal quickly following behind. "Come on Eddie!" She yelled as she flipped into his real trailer. "Eddie?" Dustin yelled seeing the man stop with his hands around the sheet.

"Eddie? Come on!" "Eddie, what are you doing?" The pair screamed at Eddie as he used his sword to cut the sheet down and move the mattress. "Eddie! Eddie! No! What are you doing?" Katherine cried out, Dustin screaming beside her. "I'm buying more time." He smiled at his two favorite people, before running out of the trailer. "No!" "Eddie please!" Katherine and Dustin cried loudly.

"Stay here, Henderson I swear." Katherine said as she climbed back through falling hard to the ground. She ran out of the trailer and saw the huge flock of bats following Eddie away from the trailer.

Running down the dirt road, tears fell down Katherine's cheeks when she saw the bats start attacking Eddie. "No." She grabbed Eddie's fallen sword and hit bats away from the guy who laid on the ground. "Eddie! Fuck!" Katherine got pushed over by a large bat and it ripped into her stomach.

She sliced the bat in half and rolled over trying to knock the bats away from Eddie. Suddenly, all the hundreds of bats stopped and fell to the ground.

Katherine looked around confused, before crawling over to Eddie. "Eddie!" She felt Dustin slide to the ground next to her as she pulled Eddie into her lap. "Oh god, Eddie." "Bad, huh?"

Katherine sniffed and shook her head. "No. You're going to be fine." "Just gotta get you to a hospital, okay?" Dustin told him.

"Okay."

"Alright. Okay." Katherine nodded and wiped her tears away, rubbing blood all over her face instead.

"I think-" Katherine cut Eddie off, "Come on."

"I think. I just- I think I need a second, okay?" Eddie said tiredly, "Okay." Dustin responded as Katherine wiped the blood away from Eddie's mouth.

"I didn't run away this time, right?" Eddie asked them, grabbing Katherine's hand. "No. No. You didn't run." Dustin reassured him, as Katherine let out a sob. "You're going to have to look after those little sheep for me, okay?"

"No, you're gonna do that yourself." Katherine told him, grabbing his face. "Eddie, you're going to." "Nah." He replied with a sad smile.

"Say, 'I'm gonna look after them." Eddie looked between the two. "Say it."

Dustin repeated him with a cry. "You take care of her too." He glanced at Katherine, receiving a nod from Dustin.

"Cause I'm actually gonna graduate. I think it's my year, guys. I think it's finally my year." Katherine brushed Eddie's hair as they cried. "I love you guys."

"We- We love you too." Katherine whispered back; Eddie smiled at them one last time before shutting his eyes.

"Eddie. Eddie?" Katherine shook the boy, as Dustin cried out from beside her. "Eddie! Eddie!" The curly haired boy yelled, shaking his friend.

"I'm going to throw up." Katherine pulled her legs out from under Eddie turning around puking into the grass. She wiped her mouth, turning back around pulling Dustin into a hug as he cried over Eddie's body.

"I can't believe it. I can't believe Eddie's gone." Dustin cried into her shoulder.

~~~

Katherine cried, as she held Eddie's body into her chest and pulled him in the direction of the RV. "Fuck you, Munson. God! Why." She came to a halt as her boots kept sliding on the dirt road, not able to gain any traction.

Dustin was calling the others, while Katherine was determined to take Eddie back home and give him a burial in the real world.

Katherine felt the hairs on her neck stand up, a familiar feeling. "El?" Goosebumps ran up her arms. She knew El was here, it was the same feeling she got when El and Max had used her to learn how to "spy" on people.

"Oh my god, El. Please can you help him? You have to help us, please El. I'm begging you, please." Katherine cried out, sobs coming from her throat as she gripped Eddie's shoulders tightly.

"No, no!" Katherine yelled, slamming her hand into the ground next to her as nothing happened. "Let's get you out of this hell." She told her dead friend, as if he could hear her.

Katherine Byers used all her strength and picked the boy's body up. Dragging him up his porch stairs into the living room, where a bawling Dustin had thrown a new sheet and fixed the mattress Eddie had thrown not just 10 minutes ago.

"Dustin." A broken Katherine said, her legs shaking as she tried to stand holding the boy's weight. "Katherine, what-"

"We are burying him. In our Hawkins. I'm not- I'm not leaving him."

Dustin wipes the tears that rolled down his cheeks, "Me either. Let me get some more cushions." He told the girl softly.

Katherine found a ladder from outside and her and Dustin hoisted Eddie to the top, closest to the gate. "I'll hold him, you go ahead." Dustin climbed up the sheets and flipped upside down, landing on his feet.

"Oh fuck." Katherine said to herself, as she got ready to push Eddie's body through the gate. "Please don't break anything, I can't handle anything else right now."

Katherine and Dustin squeezed their eyes shut as Eddie's body fell through the gate landing on the mountain of pillows.

Katherine flipped through not a second later, crumbled to the ground as Dustin fell into her arms. "Why. Why. Why!" Dustin screamed into her chest, as they cried together.

WORDS: 1180

//ummmmm I gtg