"I swear, if I'm dying tonight because of you, I'm gonna haunt your ass so hard, Harrington!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm gonna go full Poltergeist and shit!"
"Then bring it, Graveswood."
"Challenge accepted."
***
In which after years of suppressing their...
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Chapter One-Hundred-And-Fifty: Patching Up And Marching Out
(The Massacre At Hawkins Lab, Pt. 2)
***
The screech of bats reverberated in Rowan's ears as she hunkered down under the Upside Down twin of Skull Rock. Every part of Rowan's body ached with the exhaustion from using her powers strenuously, but not as bad as when she first used them again three years ago, or even two years ago, her wrist throbbed with the dull pain of the bite, and her neck pulsed dimly from where she'd been strangled by those tails. And along with that, Rowan could feel the bite of the Upside Down's air in her lungs, as cancerous as cigarette smoke.
Rowan tried to ignore it as much as possible as she stayed crouched under Skull Rock along with Steve, Eddie, Robin, Nancy, Valerie and Leo. After running for minutes in the woods, they'd miraculously stumbled across it and managed to squeeze under it—and just in a time, as a swarm of bats flew overhead. Looking for them, probably.
Rowan watched them go, her heart pounding against her rib cage, as, finally, they flew past without noticing them. But it had been cutting it close.
Robin noticed it, too, because she said, "Oh... okay. That was close."
"Yeah. Too close," Eddie agreed, staring at where the bats had been as they all began to creep out from underneath Skull Rock. Rowan eyed the skies, too, sixth sense stretched out to double check the bats had definitely passed. They had.
Robin nodded, before she turned and helped Valerie out. Even though she hadn't lost too much blood and Rowan's cauterisation ensured she wouldn't, it was still a bite to the neck. Rowan was just glad the bat hadn't managed to tear Valerie's throat out.
As Rowan crept out from under the rock, she saw Steve stumble and clutch the rock, mumbling, "Oh, sh... shit."
Rowan's heart jumped a beat and she raced to his side, asking, "Steve? Are you okay?"
She looked down, and her heart missed another beat at seeing the blood steadily leaking out of the bites.
"Oh fuck. Steve," she whispered, hands hovering over the bites.
"I'm fine, Rowan. I'm fine," Steve assured, voice half-slurred from blood loss.
"No, you're fucking not. You're losing blood, and fast," Rowan retorted. Taking him by the arm, she lead him back inside as she ordered, "Sit down, Harrington."
Steve sat down, wincing as the movement tugged at the bites. Rowan's own bite flared in sympathy pain even as she made herself stand in front of Steve, hands raised over the bites, sparks flickering to life, as concern burned in her at seeing the hazy look in Steve's eyes.
Footsteps sounded and Rowan looked to see Nancy, Robin, Valerie and Leo there. Robin shone the torch onto Steve, and she rambled, "Okay. So, uh, the good news here is that I'm pretty sure wooziness is not a common symptom of rabies. But, um, if you, or Valerie, or Rowan, start having hallucinations or muscle spasms, or if any of you start feeling really aggressive, like you want to punch me or something, then you guys should totally let me know."
