When El shot up from her sleep and screamed, all of the windows to the truck burst out. Cool air filled the truck as it skidded to a halt, everyone confused by the sudden outburst.
Stan leapt out of the driver's seat and sprinted to the back, throwing the trunk door open. There, El sat, a stream of blood coming out of one of her nostrils as Eddie had her in a tight hug, trying to calm her down.
"Get us somewhere hidden. Now," Eddie said, not waiting for Stan to ask him what was going on.
The teens in the front of the truck were cut by glass and dazed, having woken up when the glass blew out. No one said anything as Stan leapt into the front, clearly too terrified to ask what was happening.
Bill handed everyone bandages and passed around disinfectant wipes for everyone who was cut as they drove silently to a vacant lot in front of what looked like a shut down Walmart.
They all climbed out of the truck and followed Stan, who picked the lock to a side door and ran inside the empty store. The store wasn't clean, dust and empty racks were everywhere, but no one complained.
Once everyone had sat down and had their cuts bandaged by Eddie or Bill, everyone turned their attention to El, who was wiping the blood off her face with tears filling her exhausted eyes.
"I'd like to start by asking: what the actual fuck just happened?" Bev asked bluntly, looking at El. She didn't look angry, but more concerned for the only other girl in the group.
"I... I think my powers came back," El said quietly, not lifting her face from where she was staring at the ground.
"Well no fucking shit!" Stan exclaimed, wincing as he pulled a shard of glass out of his arm, a trail of blood leaking from the wound.
El turned red, and Eddie glared at Stan. "It's not her fault. Clearly something activated them," Eddie said, throwing a box of bandages at Stan a lot harder than necessary.
"Wh-what activated th-them?" Bill asked calmly, hoping his tone would both calm Stan down and coax an answer out of El.
"I haven't been able to use them for a month, but I think that had a lot to do with my friends being safe. I've only ever had to use them when they were in danger," El muttered, watching the confused and concerned expressions that crossed everyone's faces.
"Please fucking tell me they're safe," Eddie said, feeling his anxiety pick up.
He took a puff of his inhaler to try to calm down as El looked at him with watery eyes and shook her head.
"No, they're not safe," she whispered.
"How do you know for sure?" Bev asked, knowing that Richie was part of El's friends at the moment, meaning he was in danger as well.
"I could locate people with my powers. Sense them, you know? And I used it a lot on Mike when he thought I was dead a couple of years ago but it was always voluntary. This... this wasn't me. It was pure... power."
"Meaning?" Eddie asked, trying to push out more information from El.
"Meaning I didn't choose to see them, but I did. They were in the lab... but it wasn't just them. The Hive had control of the lab the whole time, and they found them."
Eddie's heart dropped at the same time his jaw did. He gaped at El, who looked at him sadly and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Y-you said you c-could locate people, r-right?" Bill asked after a period of silence.
"Yes," El responded, eyes narrowed slightly.
"Can you l-locate Mike or R-Richie or s-someone and see what ha-happened? Or where th-they are n-now?"
El shuddered but nodded. "I need something to cover my eyes, and it may take a while because I haven't used my powers for a while."
Bev handed El a black scarf and she tied it around her eyes and head, while Bill found a static frequency on one of their radios. El claimed the sound helped her focus.
They all sat in silence while El sat still, her nose beginning to slowly drip blood.
"I found Mike," El whispered after ten minutes, drawing the attention of the group. "He-he's in a room. It's empty."
"No bed?" Eddie asked, trying to narrow down if it was once of the holding cells in the Hive.
"N-no. It's... all white. He's handcuffed to a wall. His mouth is bleeding. There's... there's lots of blood stains on the floor."
"Can you find a way in your dream world to leave the room and pinpoint where you are?" Stan asked impatiently, eager to know if his friend was alive.
"I... I can't... but I think I can find Richie."
They sat in silence for a longer period, blood still making its way out of El's nose and down to her lips. Eddie continuously handed her napkins to clean it off, but was ignored. El's focus was on the images in her head.
"Richie?" El murmured in a questioning tone.
Eddie perked up. "Is he alive?" he whispered nervously, hoping El nodded.
"He's... he's alive. Hurt, but okay. He's in... in a bedroom? There's a bed... grey bedsheets and a desk with... with a white alarm clock."
"That's my room," Eddie said out loud. "They're in our Hive base."
El suddenly began to breathe heavily, shaking.
"El?" Eddie asked, touching her arm. "El?!"
El shook her head and pushed Eddie's hand away, pulling her knees to her chest. "Calla... knives... needles..." she whimpered over and over. She continued to whine the words, ignoring Eddie's attempts to pull her out of her head.
Then, with a cry, El ripped the scarf off and came back to reality, breathing heavily.
"Are you okay?!" Bev asked, diving next to El, wiping the blood off of her nose.
"Yes... I'm okay," she gasped, accepting the bottle of water Bev handed her and drank deeply.
"What the fuck is calla?" Stan asked, confused.
Eddie recognized the word, thinking, before standing up in shock. "That's the name of that weird ass plant the Scorpions used to torture Richie!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the empty store.
"Fuck," Stan whispered.
Everyone looked at him questioningly.
"My dad said that they raided the Scorpions when they went in to pull us all out. That means they have all of their serums and torture devices. We all know that shit is no joke."
"And now they're using it on our people," Eddie said, almost growling in anger.
"What can we do? How the fuck are we supposed to storm the same facility that wants us dead?" Stan asked, outraged.
They all sat in a tense silence, until Eddie finally broke it. "We need someone who hates the Hive as much as we do."
"Who are we gonna find that hates them and knows as much as we do?" Bev asked, angry with Eddie's absurd statement.
Stan, however, looked at Eddie with pure hatred. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."
"You heard Sharon. They both escaped, and they hate the Hive. If they know what they're planning, they might help us."
"Wait, wh-who are y-you talking a-about?" Bill asked, trying to catch up with what Eddie and Stan continued to argue about.
Eddie turned to him with a expression that could only be described as determination.
"If we're going to save them, we need help from people who hate the Hive and would be willing to infiltrate it."
"Yes, b-but who's th-that willing?"
Eddie had a mischievous sparkle in his eyes when he turned to look at Bill.
"The Scorpions."
YOU ARE READING
Breathe ⭐️ Reddie
Fanfiction"You seem pretty soft for being a member of an illegal organization." "Looks can be deceiving." "Maybe, but you're an open book."
