"Hey, you remember what I said last year, right? We're Zombie Boy and Ghost Boy. I'm not ever gonna leave you."
"Promise?"
"One hundred percent."
***
In which Alistair fights the monster that possessed his friend alongside his friends, while trying...
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Chapter Eighty-Four: Your Time Is Up. Alistair
(The Piggyback, Pt. 4)
***
The muffled shrieks and chitters of the Demobats rang in Alistair's ears, the monster bats still trying to find a way in as they banged and rattled the trailer. But it held up, their fortifications proving formidable against the Demobats' onslaught even as every bang and shake had Alistair's heart leap to his throat, his lungs constricting more than they already were from the toxic air of the Upside Down.
Beside him were Eddie and Dustin, as alert as him to the Demobats' attack, spears held and shields ready. They stood under the gate, just in front of the rope—where in the worst case, they'd get through and run.
But even as the noise of the Demobats trying to tear into the trailer to get at them made Alistair's heart spike in fear, something else unnerved him. He hadn't felt Vecna once while in the Upside Down, with no music to protect him. He knew that was because Vecna was going after Max, that her distraction had worked and he was off Vecna's radar, and yet...
Alistair had a bad feeling on not being in Vecna's sights. That something might go wrong.
No, nothing's going to go wrong. Max is okay, Lucas will call in Kate Bush if she floats, Hugin's with them and Cami, Leo and Erica, she's gonna be okay, we're gonna be okay.
Alistair tried to hold onto that thought, as the already-muffled noise of the Demobats trying to break in sounded quieter, like they were... leaving.
Alistair gulped, not trusting the quietening noise—after all, encroaching quiet after a monster onslaught couldn't be a good thing.
Dustin, however, didn't think so as he taunted, "Hey, dipshits! Give up that easy, huh?"
"Shh!" Eddie and Alistair hushed in unison, as Eddie hissed to Dustin, "Is that really necessary?"
"Yeah, do you have a death wish?" Alistair whispered, before noise made his head whip up to the ceiling, and his blood went cold as he heard more noise on the roof—a roof that they didn't fortify due to needing the space for the amps and to actually be on it, something that could be their undoing.
"They're on the roof," Eddie observed as he and Dustin looked up at the roof, at the dents and bangs of the Demobats moving across, making fear coil tight around Alistair as they followed the path of the bats, Dustin cursing, "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit."
The path of the bats lead them to one of the vents that all the trailers had, that was meant to help with the air conditioning in summer—a vent that had its flaps move experimentally, viciously. Like the bats might come through any second.
"They can't get in through there, can they?" Dustin questioned as they stared up at the vent.
Alistair was about to comment that Dustin shouldn't jinx it—but a Demobat bursting through the vent like a Chestbuster silenced him as Alistair stared at the monster bat, three-sectioned mouth gnashing as it screeched, the claws of its wings scratching through as it looked at them despite not possessing any eyes, still screeching as more gathered behind it.
