conversation to be had. (Steddie)

a walk in the woods.

He shrugs off his jacket, unceremoniously swinging it against a tree to try and beat the slime and god knows what else off of it.

Eddie thinks this is probably the worst set of circumstances he could've possibly been left in, but he's thankful to be alive. Not very healthy and maybe a little fucking traumatised - but alive, regardless. He slides his jacket back on, adjusting where it sits on his shoulders.

He sucks in a breath, looking out into the wood ahead of him. He casts a small, uncomfortable glance back at the gate he'd been forced to drag himself out of, before tearing his gaze back to the wood, hasty. He'd already seen a gross, muck-covered portal where Chrissy had died. He didn't need to see the one that grew where Fred had, too. Poor kid.

He treks on into the wood, hoping to god he'll find a person, or a road, or something. Maybe one of his friends if he wanted to be so lucky. (Or so presumptuous that someone like Steve Harrington or Nancy Wheeler would actually call themselves his friend.)

A voice in the wood catches his attention. It makes him flinch like said voice was going to be attached to a fist ready for his face, but catches his attention regardless. It brings a brief comfort to hear it might be a girl's. He follows it.

He winces with every step that shoots pain into his sides, but continues on. Those fucking bats are little assholes. Biting him to shit, but not actually killing him? When Eddie gets his hands on that Vecna creep, he'll tear him a new one, that's for damn sure.

When the quiet voice finally sounds near, he looks up to find some...girl. Just a girl. Nothing really odd but the shaven head. She sits crosslegged on the ground amongst the fallen leaves, talking quietly to herself, alone.

"And he can make people see, like Kali, maybe if I find her again—" she mutters, oblivious to Eddie's entrance on her space. He hesitates for a minute, because who is this girl? It isn't really Eddie's kind of dig to come up to some random teenage girl for medical assistance. Especially not this one, considering her shaved head and proclivity for talking to herself in the middle of the woods.

She could be ill, or disabled, and Eddie's not really in a position to put any mental strain on a person like that. He takes a step back, and he's forced to meet her eye when a twig snaps beneath the weight of his foot.

The girl turns suddenly, looking at him with wide eyes. She seems to calm a little at the look of his face, standing slowly.

"Sorry," he tries to say, and the blood that spits from his mouth probably does nothing to assure her he's not some creep murderer lurking in the woods. "Oh, fuck, I'm sorry. That's not— That's mine, I promise."

"Do you...need help?" She asks, looking at him worriedly. "What happened to you?"

"Stabbed," he blurts, because what the fuck else could he tell her? "Uh— Yup. I was stabbed. In the gut."

"We have a medical kit in my cabin?" She offers, taking a step toward him, and he stumbles backward a little. "I won't hurt you. My dad can help you. He was a cop."

"Woah! Woah— Uh, I'm not all that good with cops," he coughs with a laugh, and blood spurts out his mouth again. "Not helpful— I'm just— Cops don't like me very much, right now, so—"

"Oh," she says, but takes another step toward him, "that's ok. I'll go get it if you stay here."

"If it's...not an issue," Eddie struggles out, "I'm sorry— You're a kid and this is really fucked up—"

"No, that's ok," she assures him, "I'll go get it. Do you need to sit down?"

"Yeah, probably," he replies, making no move to sit. She frowns a little at him.