The Devil's Gift/The Bloody Handed

3: Damn Demobats

The morning came quicker than I had expected it to. I woke up to Eddie's mouth hanging wide open and snoring. Loud enough to wake a bear. I rub my face with my hands. It was at least six in the morning. I look at the sun which is rising past the tree line. Dustin and them should be back to get us anytime now. I hope they didn't do something dumb and run into trouble.

There was so much I still had to learn and wrap my head around with this whole Upside Down stuff and I know Eddie probably does too. We've just been too busy running from a psychotic and vengeful teenager to even care at the moment. What he said about Mom still reverberated through my brain. I knew he probably was seeing red but at the same time he knew what he was saying and doing.

Without waking Eddie, I stand up and go into the woods to pee. Realistically, I would hate to get an infection or a UTI out here. I find some brush far away from the site and finally pop a squat.

After reliving myself, I walk back to camp and stare at the ground intently. My eyes were too keen on not moving a muscle. I was spaced out, tired, and sore. I lift up my shirt and see dark bruising along my ribs. I poke at it and hiss. What did I expect? Rainbows?

Suddenly I notice a cool shaped rock by a stream. I bend down, my knees cracking in response. The stream was flowing over a variety of stones. Some orange, others gray, some black, others white. Some had patterns, some had cool shapes, others had both. It always amazed me how a planet can produce something like this. I put my fingers in the water and let the stream encase them.

Scooping my hand in, I bring up water to my mouth. My throat was stone dry and my voice was hoarse. I sip some out of my hands. As I go in for more, I pick up a stone with it. I put it in between my fingers and tilt it, examining it. It was black with white specks on it. It was almost in the shape of a skull with some weird indentations on the side. I pocket it and continue to make way back to camp. Eddie should be up by now it had to be at least 7 now.

"Wake up!" I clasp my hands over my mouth to echo my words. Eddie startles awake, his head looking in every direction possible. His hair stood on top of his head and the bags under his huge brown eyes did not look happy.

"You're going to be the death of me, Gregerson." He mumbles into his hands.

"How does it feel, hm?" I walk over to the big rock and grab where we left the walkie. It hasn't gone off all night but I wonder if I try now maybe they would hear me.

"Dustin, this is Gregerson are you there? Over." I put my ear to the speaker and await a voice to break the static. Eddie suddenly wakes up and looks at me with sheer hope in his eyes.

"Cl-" a voice was trying to break through the station but wasn't able to. I lift up the walkie more and step on top of the rock. "Clarissa?"

"Dustin! Finally! Where the hell have you been? We've been trying to reach you!"

"Busy. Where are you guys? I don't see you at the cabin."

"We had to leave, Jason found us and quite literally left a mark. We are at Lover's Rock."

"Alright, be there soon."

I smile as I toss the walkie on the ground. I sigh in relief. "Eddie we are saved." I throw my hands up and he cheers.

"So vacay time is over then, what a shame." He says sarcastically. He stands up and cracks his fingers, stretching. "Let's wait by the shore."

***

About an hour later, we hear Dustin scream for us. Eddie and I both jump up and down waving our arms.

"Oh my god, what happened to you?!" Steve exclaims looking at me.

"Yeah, what happened?" Max points at my ripped shirt that revealed my purplish ribs.

"Yeah, what the hell happened? We saw blood in the gravel and got worried." Robin follows. a girl with short, brown, curly hair follows suit.

"Who's this?" I ask.

"Hey, Clarissa is it? I'm Nancy. Long story short I came here with my friend.. he just.. Vecna happened. But I'm here to help now."

"I'm really sorry." I frown. "Your friend didn't deserve that." Poor girl. She looked so sweet too.

I sigh. "Eddie and I were trying to catch fish for food. We heard Jason and his goons pull up, so we quickly came up with a plan-"

"That she altered." Eddie added with a dissatisfying look.

"Shut it. Anyways, Eddie was to untie the boat and get it out of the brush. I was supposed to distract them so we could escape-"

"Supposed. Key word." I give him a glare and he rolls his eyes.

"Anyways I threw a rock into the woods to divert their attention, but it wasn't a long enough one. I tried to get the keys to his truck so they were abandoned and we would stop being goose chased. But they got to me and did some damage instead. Eddie fired off a gun into the air and they scrammed."

"Sounds like you guys had quite a couple days." Robin says. "We brought this for you two considering the fact you probably barely ate anything or nothing at all." Robin tosses me and Eddie sandwich baggies with what I assumed was peanut butter and jelly in them. Just like home.

"So what's the plan now?" I ask stuffing my face.

"We need to figure out how Vecna is reaching people. We found out he is somehow connecting to those who have unresolved trauma as a means to communicate with this universe." I bite my lip trying to think of a way Vecna is accessing victims.

"Hey, uh.. Henderson's not uh.. cursed, is he?" Eddie asks nervously. We all look over at Dustin who is pacing back and forth like a manic.

"Nah, nah he's fine.. mental? Absolutely." Steve nods. All of a sudden-

"BOOM!" We all look at Dustin who turns around and starts pointing a finger. "Bada.. bada.. boom. I, was right." Steve rolls his eyes in the most obvious way. "Skull Rock, was north." He points up.

"Seriously?" Steve says.

"Mhm." Dustin nods.

"You're serious?! This is Skull Rock."

"Mhm!"

"You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now!" He points at the ground.

"Yes... and no."

"Oh my god." Steve shakes his head and puts his hands on it. Dustin flashes all of us his compass.

"What's this got to do with anything?" Steve asks almost in a rude manner.

"Steve, I think we need to hear Dustin out." I say.

"I'm with Clarissa on this." Max says.

"Yeah," Eddie says with food crammed in his face.

"My compass. It's going crazy. And you know what that means when a compass goes crazy?" All of us shake our heads. "Well when that happens it means that there is a strong electromagnetic field nearby. It makes total sense why Vecna would have a portal here! We need to follow this until the needle becomes steady."

"You sure this is going to work?" Robin asks.

"No harm in trying." I say. Eddie was just glad to be here in the moment. We all gather in one spot and Dustin leads us north. He really was a smart boy for being so young. The brains of the operation.

We continue to follow Dustin's path for about a mile until we eventually reach a body of water.

"We need to go out onto the water. It's in the water!" Robin points. We all agree at the same time.

"There's a boat right here we can all take." Steve suggests climbing down the hill.

"Just so you guys know, I am not getting wet." Eddie persists. I roll my eyes. "Same with you Sparky you're staying with me."