dark red- max mayfield

epilogue. two days of grief

JOSH NEWBY is a coward. As he holds Max Mayfield's nearly lifeless body to his overheated chest, his own blood dripping onto her paled face, he thinks of himself as nothing but an utter bitch.

Josh hates himself. He already knows that. The months of longing to see himself disappear in the mirror's reflection already let him know of his hatred. His mom is dead. Selfish. His dad is dead. His fault.

But now, now he's truly taken the cake. He killed Max Mayfield, and no one could do that. All he had to do was be stronger. All he had to do was lock the goddamn attic door.

He'd even hesitated in front of the door, his shaky fingers thinking stupidly, debating feverishly. Did he need to lock the door? No— no one was coming in. Why would anyone be coming in?

Someone comes in, and then Josh ruins Max's life forever. Maybe Max won't ever wake up. Maybe her eyes will lose their color forever, and goddammit, Josh really loves the color of her eyes. They're beautiful to him.

He can see the flashing of red and blue through the attic window, and as he presses his fingers up to Max's neck, he feels a slow heartbeat. It's a murmur; he cannot even call it a heartbeat.

Lucas and Erica Sinclair race up the stairs, their eyes wide in terror. Lucas has a black eye and some parts of his face are bruised and bloody. He was probably beaten up by his former teammates. Erica looks relatively unscathed— at least on the outside. From the panic on her face, there's no way she's feeling normal.

"They're here," pants Lucas frantically, his eyes landing on Max. "Is she-"

"She's... she's alive." Josh breathes out, his hands shaking as he tries to stand up. His whole body shakes, actually, and Lucas steps forward instinctively. "She was just dead a minute ago, I swear, I don't-"

"What the hell?" before Erica realizes that she shouldn't be speaking, she does. Josh knows what she's referring to; Jason's dead bodies (there's more than one, technically) in the corner. "Holy shit."

Josh and Lucas carry Max's body down as the EMTs meet them on the ground floor. They ask Josh and Lucas to come with them. Josh accepts, Lucas and Erica decline. They need to find the others at the gate in Eddie's trailer. Josh knows that he should probably go with them, but he can't. He can't leave her side, in case those pretty eyes of hers do open, and she's begging for him to be by her side. He wouldn't hesitate to be.

He enters the ambulance, declining the help the EMTs try to offer them. Their words are blurred together anyway, and he doesn't care about himself. He can hardly feel anything other than Max's hand in his.

☆★☆★→ ←☆★☆★

Jayson Martin clutches Dustin Henderson close to him as they hear thundering footsteps running their way. It's Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley, Nancy Wheeler, and Cassie and Colby Martin, all looking fearful.

"We lost him." pants out Colby. Nancy wraps her arms around his abdomen and drops her gun.

"What the hell do you mean you lost him?" roars a sobbing Dustin, his voice hoarse. Jayson puts his arm around Dustin's shoulders.

"Where's Eddie?" Steve's brows raise worriedly, and he already knows the answer to his question. He doesn't know why he asked it in the first place.

"We need your help bringing..." Jayson cuts himself off, looking down at Dustin timidly, "we needed your help with the body."

There's a shrieking noise— a loud one. They all turn; there are bats coming. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of them. The teens killed their master, and now they want revenge.