Whispers of a Ghost

Chapter 22-

Steve parked the Winnebago at The War Zone before him, Nancy, Robin, Erica and Max all piled out the vehicle. Dustin and Lucas opted to stay behind with Eddie while you went to follow the others out, but Steve stopped you.

"Whoa, no, no. You're face has been all over the news. If anyone recognises you..."

"Shit." You sighed, pausing in the doorway. "I need you guys to get more 40 calibre rounds for my Smith & Wesson and if we're really doing this, I'd like to see Vecna walk away from a round of buckshot to the head. So, grab me a shotgun too."

Steve just stared at you with his mouth agape. "A shotgun? You want me to buy you a shotgun?"

"I'll do it. I'm getting one too. Pump-action or break-action?" Nancy asked, stepping forward.

"Definitely pump-action."

She smiled, "good choice."

"And a machete. If Vecna can survive a shotgun at point blank, then I'd like him survive with his head cut off. So, grab me the biggest machete you can find." You added.

"I love you so much right now." Steve commented, unable to stop himself from smiling as he stared at you.

You chuckled softly, shaking your head, "go."

With that, the group of them all walked off towards the front of the store and you closed the RV door and stood there for a few seconds. Was Nancy Wheeler being nice to you? Wow, it really must be the end of the world.

"You know how to shoot a shotgun?" Eddie asked.

You turned towards him, Lucas and Dustin sitting by the table and looking at you, curious to know the answer.

"Well, while your dad was teaching you how to hotwire, my old man was teaching me how to shoot."

"I'm glad he's gone." Eddie said softly, looking back at you. "Your father. I'm glad he's gone."

"You and me both." You replied, walking across the RV and sitting down beside him, jostling your injured arm causing you to wince.

"Are you still hurt?" Lucas asked, looking at you worriedly.

"No, no, I'm fine."

Eddie shifted beside you, looking down at your arm where your leather jacket sleeve had been torn and ripped by the bats.

"Take your jacket off, let me see." He said seriously, his tone leaving no room for arguments.

"It's fine. It's mostly stopped bleeding, I think." You said, leaning forward and pulling your good arm out the jacket first.

"Mostly?" Dustin questioned with wide eyes.

You ignored the kid and carefully started to slip your bad arm out the sleeve, but the material was sticking to the wounds causing you to wince even more before finally pulling it all the way off.

A sharp gasp escaped Eddie's lips and without even looking, you knew it must be bad if he had made that kind of noise and by the look on Dustin and Lucas' face, they thought it was bad too.

"Jesus Christ. Why didn't you say it was this bad?" Eddie questioned in shock.

You glanced over at him, his eyes glued to your upper arm and you looked down to find various gashes and tears in the skin from your elbow right up to your collarbone. Bright crimson blood smothered your skin, a lot of it was now dry, but the deep cuts were still leaking and fresh trails of blood dripped down your arm now that your jacket wasn't on to stop it.

Yeah, okay, this was worse than you thought.

Now that you weren't running on adrenaline anymore and were actually sitting down, you could feel how much it was starting to hurt.