slut [ eddie munson ]

030

As Talia Wheeler's eyes rolled back and her body fell terribly still, Eddie Munson felt his world ignite in flames. Fear flooded his senses as he hastily grabbed hold of Talia's biceps, shaking the girl desperately in a futile attempt to wake her from Vecna's curse. Briefly, his eyes flickered above him—through the opened gate to the Upside Down—to see a mirrored image of Steve and Nancy.

"Fuck," he muttered, the frantic calls of Talia and Nancy's name from the other teens becoming white noise as his gaze remained focused on Talia, "Talia? Talia, you have to wake up...wake up, Talia! Talia!"

"Eddie!" Robin exclaimed, ripping his attention from Talia to her, "music—we need music, right now!" Max, Lucas and Dustin had already rushed to Eddie's room, beginning to ransack it for any spare tapes that either girl might listen to.

Noticing the reluctant look on Eddie's face, Erica Sinclair steadied her nerves and moved closer to the older male. She made sure their eyes were locked before carefully saying, "Go help them, I'll watch her."

Eddie's gaze flickered back to Talia, his fear clear to both Robin and Erica. They didn't have time for him to be afraid, though.

"Eddie," Robin spoke again, practically begging, "you know her the best, okay? Just standing here isn't going to help her—you want to help her, don't you?"

The older male's jaw clenched, a sigh escaping his lips as he nodded his head. He took one last fleeting glance at Talia before following Robin to his room, joining the younger teens in searching through his music. Dread pooled in Eddie's stomach—he knew that neither Talia nor Nancy's favorite song would be present in his collection.

Erica tried to hide her worry as her eyes flickered up to Nancy and then back to Talia, flinching as the girl in front of her jerked briefly before falling still once more. Above her, Steve cried out for the group to hurry.

"This is not good," Erica said quietly, spinning on her heel before darting down the hallway that led to Eddie's room, "Steve says you need to hurry! And Talia isn't getting any better!"

"Yeah? No shit!" Dustin yelled, frantically searching through Eddie's drawers next to Lucas.

"We're trying—we can't find anything!"

"Seriously, what is all this shit!"

"I mean what are you even looking for?"

"Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles? Music!" Robin yelled frantically, "We need music!"

"This is music!" Eddie yelled back, snatching the tape from Robin's hand. His eyes widened as he read the tape, unsure how it had made its way back to his room since last he knew it was miles away, locked in his car, "Holy shit! This is music—Red, give me your Walkman!"

Startled, Max thrusted it into his hands, racing after him when he darted out of the room. Eddie rushed towards Talia, hands shakily shoving the Metallica tape into the Walkman. Before he could cover Talia's ears with the headphones, the cursed girl gasped loudly as she regained consciousness. Eddie just barely managed to catch her when her knees buckled.

Tears immediately began pouring down the Wheeler girl's cheeks, frantic sobs escaping her lips as she began thrashing in Eddie's grip. Her hands flew to her face, frantically rubbing at the soft flesh—desperately trying to rid herself of the blood that she believed had just rained down on her.

"No, no, no!" She cried out, unable to breath as panic overtook her, "Get it off! Get it off me! Please! Get it off!"

The other teens—who had ran out of the bedroom when Max called out that the two Wheeler girls had woken from their trance—watched worriedly as both Eddie and Steve attempted to calm the distraught girls. Eddie quickly grabbed hold of Talia's wrists, pulling her hands from her face, which she had began to rub and scratch raw. Thankfully, she had not done much damage before he could pry her hands away, but that did nothing to calm the panic Eddie felt.