Birds Of A Feather // Eddie Munson

026

Tw: Death, gore, CPR, mentions of trying to resuscitate someone.

They ignored Steve.
They ignored Nancy.
They ignored Robin.
I was not so lucky.

The bats flew straight toward me, tearing away at my skin which floored me instantly. The others ran over, trying to tear off as many bats as they could, stomping on their heads to kill them. I was writhing in pain, screaming so loud that every sound that came out of me felt like my throat was being cut open by razor blades. My skin was on fire. The world started to go black but I fought against it. The blood loss making me weaker and making it harder to focus my eyes.

My body was lashing around uncontrollably, desperate to free myself. I was being dragged away by some of the bats along the floor, all the while having skin torn off, chewed up and spat out. The last thing I heard was Eddie screaming before I blacked out. I really tried to live, I promise. I'm so sorry. Tell Dustin I'm sorry.

Eddie's Point Of View.
These fucking idiots. Are they trying to get themselves killed? I swam through the disgusting water, mind lingering on the fact that I should've stayed in the boat but the awful gnawing feeling in my stomach I had made me jump. I climbed into the gate and looked around, scanning the area for the others. I saw them fighting the bats, someone was on the floor but I couldn't see who it was.

I hung back as I tried to decipher who was on the floor. It definitely wasn't Steve, I could see him dramatically biting a chunk out of a bat. He looked back and saw me, we locked eyes and I knew. I knew who that was. The person on the floor was Elaine. I could see her skin being ripped from her body by whatever those creatures were. She started to scream and lash around and my only thought was to run to her.

Then she stopped screaming.
She stopped moving.

The world seemed to go quiet, all I could hear was ringing in my ears and the thumping of my heart in my ribcage. I let out the loudest yell I had ever done. I wanted to fall to the floor, I wanted to cry. I didn't, I could still save her, she couldn't be dead.

If only I had stopped her from getting out of the boat.
If only I had jumped in straight after her.
I could have protected her.
I could have saved her.
I promised her nothing would happen to her.

I saw red. I was angry. Angrier than I had ever been. I picked up an oar that was on the floor and snapped it in half on my knee, throwing one half to Steve and hitting the remaining bats that surrounded her, the girls continued to stand on the bats that were wounded and on the floor, effectively killing them.

I swung and swung and swung. Then there were no more bats, only Elaine's body lying there on the dull, grey floor. I dropped to my knees and sobbed. I didn't care about the others seeing me cry, I had just lost one of the most important people in my life. I grabbed her hand and put my head on her stomach, feeling something in her pocket.

I remember her Walkman that she had shoved in there half an hour earlier. I remember the Heaven and Hell tape she had searched my bag for and that just made me cry louder and harder.

"Eddie, man. She's gone."

I look up, narrowing my red eyes that stung like hundreds of angry wasps had attacked them. I wiped away at the blood, tears and sweat of my face. "Don't you dare. We can still save her! I know we can!" I looked around at the others for them to back me up but Robin and Nancy just looked away, tears flooding their eyes and spilling out to the floor.

"Eddie. We have to go. There'll be more bats soon and if we don't move then we'll die too." Nancy spoke, voice breaking slightly. Robins silence was deafeningly loud. And then, she spoke "Dustin. What are we going to tell Dustin? How are we going to tell him?"

And I know it's selfish but all I could think of was myself in that moment. What was I going to do. The only person keeping me going had just died in my arms when I had the chance to save her. The others were talking but their voices were muffled and everything felt surreal. Feelings rushed through me, too fast to name what they were. Too fast to feel them. I felt nothing but numbness and Elaine's limp body in my arms.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and look up to be greeted by Robins bloodshot eyes and red nose. "We're going to save her. Move. We need to start CPR because she's already gone for too long without oxygen. Steve and Nancy have gone to her house to try to figure things out with Vecna and work out a plan." I blink at the girl in front of me and scramble away from Elaine to let her start CPR.

As I sat back and watched Robin try to bring Elaine back to us I felt helpless all over again, the same way I did with Chrissy. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to get rid of the mental image of her death but it seemed to be burnt into the back of my eyelids. I open my eyes again and look back to Robin who was pushing on Elaine's chest and breathing into her mouth.

A short break.
More pushing and forced oxygen into her lungs.
And again.
And again.
And again.
I watched as Elaine's body thumped under the pressure of Robin pushing down onto her heart. I watched her stomach rise and fall from the air Robin was pushing into her lungs.

Another short break.
A breath.

Elaine was breathing.

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Pls i have never written a death scene before and trying to convey everyone's emotions was so difficult oh my GOD.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and that i didn't disappoint, I listened to 5SOS while writing this idek dont ask me why😭