chapter xxii .
tragedy befalls
* slight warning for
graphic descriptions
DUSTIN WAS THERE. Why the hell was Dustin there? Val's mind was in a million different places, thinking about a million different worries, but she was pretty goddamn positive her eyes were on Dustin—Dustin, who was definitely supposed to be in the Upside Down, and definitely supposed to be with Eddie.
"Wh—what are you doing?" Val called, stumbling over to him. He was yelling something, loud enough that he didn't hear her, so that it startled him when she put a hand on his shoulder. "Dustin! What's going on?"
He didn't get the chance to reply, as the walkie talkie in Val's hand jumped to life, crackling between static and Erica's voice. She sounded panicked, urgent, but Val couldn't understand what she was saying, and Dustin was too distressed to try and decipher. He was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling quickly. His eyes were glossy.
"Dustin!" Val said, putting her hands on his shoulders and looking deep into his eyes. "Dustin, tell me what's going on!"
All Dustin had to say was "I–it's Eddie!" before Val was off, bursting into the trailer, intending to head through the gate to find him. One small issue arose—the rope between the gates had been cut in half. She cursed, her own breathing rising in anxiety, her chest aching.
"Dustin," Val said, as she held up the tattered rope, "can you tell me what's going on?"
"He stayed behind!" Dustin cried. "He's trying to be a hero, Val—"
"That little SHIT!" she exploded, panic taking over. She threw the rope up into the gate—it was considerably higher off the ground than before due to being cut in half, but still manageable. If there was a will, there was a way; and there was definitely a will. "Up, Dustin, go!"
He scrambled up the sheets as quickly as he could and toppled out the other side, Val right at his tail. The moment she was on her feet, they tore out of the trailer. It was only then Val noticed Dustin's limp. A small part of her was curious as to what they'd gone through on their side of the gate, but she knew it was no time to be worrying about stories of the Upside Down.
"Eddie!" Dustin screamed, grunting in pain. "Eddie!?"
"Dustin!" Val suddenly clutched his arm, her grip tight, deadly. He turned to see what had stolen her focus. A cloud of bats was encircling something—someone. Eddie.
Eddie's name tore out of Val's throat, ripping its way past her lips in a horrified scream. She didn't even wait for Dustin before bursting off, darting towards the hive of demo-bats soaring around Eddie. As she got closer, she could make out a few bats diving in, going for the kill. Eddie could only hold so many off. He fell to his knees in the center, screaming something Val was just far enough away to hear.
"Come on!" he bellowed, spreading his arms out with a challenging manner, like these bats were only toying with him. Like he could take another hit. His side was already bloody.
Val came to an abrupt stop just a few yards away, suddenly realizing how helpless she was in the situation. Unarmed, unprepared, unready to watch Eddie die. She screamed his name again.
This time, she got his attention—but she wished she hadn't. He turned. Their eyes locked through the cloud of bats. In his second of distraction, his fleeting moment of weakness, a bat's tail wrapped around his throat. He dropped his weapons and his hands reached up to try to fight against the bat's tail. More bats threw him to the ground, tying him down with their tails, spreading his limbs apart so the others had clear shots directly to his body.
