Strange as IT Seems

Chapter 57: Team Regroup

The Party and Club race down the hill, through the trees and eventually the quiet streets of Hawkins, fleeing from the sinister voice... the clown... the IT... To Ben, Bill and Beverly, it was their worst nightmare. They thought they'd escaped Derry and all its horrors but now that was no longer the case. It had followed them... IT had followed them, likely seeking revenge for what they'd done over the summer! How IT knew where they went and why IT was going after them was just one of the many questions that raced through their minds as they fled as far as they could.

Eventually, they all ran until they couldn't any longer. They're out of breath and all their muscles are sore. Adrenaline is still pumping through their veins, but their muscles are protesting not to go any further. They had no idea where they were at the moment, but it didn't matter because they all needed to rest.

Mike grabs the nearby chain-link fence and leans against it, trying to stop the blood rushing through his brain, making him feel lightheaded. El goes to her knees and tries to gather her thoughts, sweat beading on her forehead. She wipes it away with her forearm and tries to avoid panicking because she just revealed her powers to the kids from Derry. She wipes her nose, revealing a smear of blood on her arm and confirming her worst fear. She prays that no one brings it up.

Ben is panting and trying to catch his breath, he leans forward slightly to regulate his breathing and let the adrenaline settle. Bill wheezes and looks down at his hands, realizing that he's shaking in fear... IT had truly come back, and it wanted to kill them. Max plunks herself down on the gravel and leans against the fence, trying to stop herself from passing out. Lucas leans forward with his hands on his knees to avoid getting a cramp in his chest while Will and Dustin just try to get over the shock of everything.

No one knows where they were or how far they ran from Weathertop, ditching their bikes and everything else in frenzied panic... deep down they knew it was stupid to run since the voice only came from the radio, but no one knew what IT was capable of doing in that moment besides threaten them. The trio from Derry thought that IT could crawl through the radio like it had the projector screen in Bill's garage. This thing was more than any of them could handle at the current moment.

After a long pause...

"Now do you believe us?" Ben asks.

The group groans in annoyance and glare at him, but they're all too tired to say anything else.

"Did... Did anyone bring their water?" Beverly wheezes. "I can't breathe." She sits down next because her legs are cramping very badly. She can barely swallow due to how dry her mouth is and the humidity in the air did not help. She leans to the side to spit out what feels like sticky bile. Max looks on in disgust but just tries to focus on relaxing herself.

"I think I did," Will says. He pulls his backpack off his back. It seemed that he was the only one to grab something before fleeing in terror. He digs through it and finds a bottle that is only about half full. He hands it over.

After feeling the weight of how much water there is inside Bev says aloud. "I'll take small sips."

"Until we go back for our stuff," Will agrees.

"Do... Do you think it followed us?" Mike asks. He knew it was a dumb question, but he knew nothing of this creature besides its shapeshifting. It was possible.

"I don't think so," Ben replies, before taking the bottle of water that Beverly was offering. He takes a sip. "I think its line of communication was cut."

"Cerebro!" Dustin shouts out, trying not to cry. Gone was the shock, now came the anger. The stages of grief over his best invention had begun. Seething Anger mixed with sadness that his pride and joy have been ruined. How would he talk to Suzie now? Would she assume that when she called and he didn't answer he no longer wanted to be her boyfriend? All these thoughts race through his head as he processes the event on Weathertop.