Not Just Another Number

Seeing Red

Sarah's POV

The first thing I feel is the freezing cold. It seeps into my bones with a chill. It's a familiar, unwelcome chill that I know too well. The next thing I feel is a tightness in my chest and a pain behind my eyes. I gasp as I pull myself completely through the gate, swallowing down air greedily. Thunder rolls and lightning strikes above me.  Slowly, I peel open my eyes, looking around at my desolate surroundings. I'm in Lover's Lake, but there's no water in sight. The Upside Down.

Screeches fill the air, already aware of my presence. The pain behind my eyes worsens as I look around. Choked gasps follow the screeches. Steve! I quickly stand, turning around. The sight before me sends heat pulsing through my chest.

Steve is on the ground. A bat-like monster is choking him with its tail while two others carve into his sides. 

He can't die. I have to stop this.

The heat in my chest spreads along my body and I run over to him. The heat becomes unbearable, but I don't care. I have to save him. I push that heat into my hand, creating a ball of fire in my palm. I reel my arm back and throw the fire ball as hard as I can, aiming for the bat biting into his side. It hits it dead on, forcing it to fly away from Steve, screeching in pain. I light another fireball, chest heaving with anger. "Hey there," I mumble. With a grunt, I throw the fireball at the other demo bat, sending it flying. 

Footsteps approach us, racing to help Steve. The others followed us through. Robin runs around me, stepping on the bat that's choking Steve. "Robin, hold it down," I urge her. She nods, keeping it in place. "Got it!"

"Kill it! Kill it!"

I aim my hand at the bat, sending a torrent of fire down upon it. It screeches in pain as it burns. Even more screeches fill the air, echoing back. "Sarah, watch out!" I hear Eddie yell. My fire stutters for a second, tearing my eyes away from the bat. Just as I turn, another bat comes down from the sky and scratches at my back. Pain sears through me, burning even hotter than my fire. I cry out, turning to attack the bat. The bat flies off, attacking Nancy instead. Christine runs over to her, trying to pull the bat off of her. "Get it off of me!" More bats come down, attacking all of us. One attacks Christine, latching onto her bat. Robin runs to help her. 

I light another fireball in my hand, throwing it at a demo bat flying low, aiming to attack us. It's larger than the other ones that have attacked us. Despite its size, it dodges the fireball with ease. It turns in the air and flies at me, flaring its wings as it comes down. Before I could throw another fireball, it latches onto my arm, biting down into my flesh and taking me down with it. I hit the ground hard and the demo bat wastes no time before carving into the flesh of my arm. Its teeth cut through my flesh like paper, feeding upon me. The pain causes my entire body to shake. It feels like I can't move. I have to get up. I push heat into my other hand, but I don't light a fire. My hand shakes as I reach over to grab the bat. With as much strength as I can muster, I push all of the heat in my body into the demo bat. 

Suddenly, pain shoots through my chest, as if I've been burned. I let go of the bat at the same time as it releases my arm. As soon as I let go, the pain fades. I gasp, feeling my body run cold. As if all of the heat in my body had been sucked out of me. What the fuck just happened? My body shakes as I force myself onto my hands and knees. My arm bleeds profusely, throbbing with every slight movement. I have to bite down on my lip to stop myself from crying out. 

A pitiful sound on my right forces me to look away from the gory sight that is my arm. Next to me, the demo bat lies on the ground, shaking its head and trying to gain its bearings. How is it still alive?! I thought I burned it. It whines and chitters, flaring its wings. The tight feeling behind my eyes tenses for a moment as I watch it. It looks at me one last time before flying off into the distance, stuttering every so often due to its injuries. What just happened?