Wrapped Around Your Finger - Eddie Munson

Chapter Eighteen: The Upside Down

Fuck my shoulder was sore. There was a burning sensation around my throat and I was covered I bruised. I still couldn't remember anything. I stumbled around this place I had woken up in. Everything was red and decrepit, the trees were black and twisted. There were writhing vines snaking along the ground that constantly tripped me.

I stumbled on, not really sure where I was going. It seemed like I had been walking for days. After some time I found myself face to face with a large house. I made my way inside, carefully stepping around the rotting floorboards. I collapsed heavily onto the parlor couch and drifted to sleep.

My head was swimming when I woke up and I was starving. I mean absolutely starving. I groaned as I rolled off the couch, but the sound came out sounding more like a hiss. I exited the house on unsteady feet, moving only on instinct as I allowed my legs to carry me where I needed to go. I didn't pay any mind to my surroundings, my senses overwhelmed with the metallic scent of blood.

A few feet in front of me was the decomposing corpse of a demobat. My senses went into overdrive, my legs pushing me faster and faster. I half stumbled half dove onto the bloodied corpse, catching it like it were still live prey. My teeth sank into the bitter flesh, gnawing and tearing wildly at it. Thick blood dripped down my chin and splattered around me.

Still not satisfied, I continued my wandering. I stumbled into an old trailer park, continuing to rummage around for more food. I followed trails of blood and discarded bat limbs until a scent caught my attention. It wasn't bat's blood and it certainly wasn't my own. This blood was human.

I followed the scent, crashing through the door of a half barricades trailer. The place was a mess. Torn furniture, scattered papers, and vines made the floor nearly impossible to walk on. The scent was all around me now, like it came from the trailer itself, but I couldn't find anything. No blood, no body, nothing.

I looked around the trailer, ripping open doors and cabinets. The smell was strongest in the bed room, which I tore apart. Still nothing, but that smell. That smell was intoxicating. I could barely think straight with it suffocating the air around me.

I was getting exhausted. How long had I been awake for? I couldn't remember. I didn't have the energy to make it back to the living room, let alone move the mattress in here. I kicked some scattered clothes into an already sizable pile and collapsed.

I dreamt that night. I dreamt of a brighter, more colorful world. A world like this one, but free of vines, free of bats. I was surrounding by other people, we were laughing and talking to each other. I felt... happy? I couldn't recognize any of them, I didn't remember any of their names, but I remembered how I felt about them.

The young curly haired one, he felt like family. The two boys at his sides, they brought a sense of comfort. There were three other boys sitting across from them, it was unnerving just how familiar they were. Then there was the long haired one at the head of the table.

I recognized him the most. The light caught his dark curls, his rings clicked when he placed his hands in the table. He laughed the loudest, got up and jumped around the room. He flailed wildly as he acted out what he was saying. He felt like safety, like belonging, like home. That's when I heard some say a name, the only name I could remember. Eddie.

I shot up from my makeshift bed. My whole body was shaking as my senses were overwhelmed by the same scent. The same scent... It was blood. It was someone, no not someone. It was Eddie. The only problem is, who is Eddie? The only thing I remember about him is from that dream.

I made my way back outside, gnawing on some discarded bat legs. I was feeling better now, more awake. I was more aware of my surroundings too. I could hear the slightest rustling of leaves, I could see the details on buildings miles in the distance. I could smell everything that is and had been around me and the taste. I thought I liked the taste of bat before, now I loved it.

I was walking with my boot kicked something buried under some vines. It was a trash can kid with nails in it? Laying next to it was a stick with a knife tied to the end. I picked them both up, better than trying to kill bats with my hands.

I was back at the large house I spent the first "night" in. I wasn't sure why I was, but I felt like something was calling me there. The door creaked as I walked in. The house seemed stiller, like when a prey knows there's a predator around.

I climbed the steps slowly, afraid to fall through. I pulled in a hanging cord and revealed a ladder to the attic. I climbed up, still unsure as to why. That's when I saw it, or him? He was a gross, fleshy amalgamation of muscle and skin. He had tendrils shooting out of him, suspending him in air. His nose and ear were missing, leaving only the most basic features left.

His eyes snapped open as I stepped into the room. He smiled a sick, twisted grin. His tendrils retracted as he lowered himself to the ground. His long, spindly hands hanging low by his sides as he stalked up to me. I tightened my grip on my weapons.

"Ah, I see my pet project is finally awake." He spoke, "I was wondering when you'd arrive."

"What are you?" My voice was hoarse and cracked.

"I am Henry, but some know me as 001. I am the leading in the new world, the real world. And you, you will be my puppet. You will act out my commands, lead my armies, fight my battles."

"And what if I refuse?"

"You have no choice. I control you, I rose you from the dead. Your mind is mine to do what I wish with." He raised a hand and my body jerked forward, forcing me to a bow.

"Impressive trick." I snarled.

"Quite. Now, you will need to begin your training. You will learn combat and leadership so you can command my armies. You will go to the gardens with your weapons and soar against my bats." With that, my legs moved themselves until I found myself in the garden.