Nyctophilia 🌪 Reddie

ix

Richie and Eddie were smart. They were Hive trained, and whether it be an evil organization or not, it trained them to be prepared and to always be ready for instances such as their current predicament.

They couldn't just go to sleep; it was only a matter of time before the officials figured out they found the bug. Then they'd be captured and quarantined- or worse.

"What do we do?" Richie asked, looking around the room in panic.

Eddie ran to the closet and pulled out a backpack. They had backpacks in every room for the purpose of carrying extra clothes to training, but none of the teenagers ever used them. Until now.

"Grab clothes and whatever you can carry. We need to leave tonight," Eddie said, tossing Richie the other bag and filling his own with clothes.

"How are we going to get out?" Richie asked, knowing Eddie must have some kind of plan.

Eddie pointed straight up. "Vents. They have to reach some kind of outlet."

"What about the others?"

"If they don't know what's going on, they're safe."

Richie stared at Eddie, his jaw dropped in shock. "We're leaving them behind?!"

Eddie shrugged, pulling up one of the floorboards in their room. It was odd to them that an underground bunker had wooden floors in the rooms, but Eddie wasn't complaining. Inside it he had hidden close to one thousand dollars in cash that he had gotten from Bill after he drained the money from his parents.

"We can't bring them with us. Bill's sick, and it's harder to bring a big group. They don't know about the bugs or anything like that, Rich. They'll be okay. Don't worry," he said lifting up a piece of paper. "I'll leave them a warning."

Eddie jumped up on the bed, balancing on the headboard, and opened the vent. Richie didn't agree with him, but he knew Eddie wouldn't leave behind the others unless he was positive they'd be okay.

"Fine," Richie finally said, helping to lift Eddie up and push him into the vent. Once he did it, Eddie turned around and pulled Richie up, the fact that they were both skinny helping a lot.

"Thank god these vents are bigger than average," Richie said, though he hated how claustrophobic the vent made him feel. "How do we get out?"

Eddie grunted and turned around to pull his backpack out of Richie's face. "We're underground, so we need to go up."

Eddie began to crawl through the vent, so Richie took a deep breath and followed.

•••

"How're you feeling?" Stan asked, placing his hand on Bill's head, smiling when he felt the skin. It was much cooler than the day before.

"B-better," Bill said. "My head d-doesn't hurt as b-bad."

"Lucky bitch," Stan said with a smirk, laying down next to his boyfriend.

Stan had recounted all of the workouts they had to do earlier that day, and how much his head hurt from dehydration. Bill felt bad, but there wasn't much he could do since he was still sick. He was happy that he didn't have to go to the workouts, though.

They talked about the asshole that Stan would have to deal with the next morning, when the door suddenly slammed open. The room was immediately engulfed in masked officials, all holding guns.

"Hands in the air!" one yelled in a deep voice.

Stan and Bill instantly complied, lifting their hands about their heads and looking at the officials with panicked, confused expressions.

"Come with us, now," an official said.

Bill and Stan scrambled to their feet, both wearing only sweats, and remained enclosed in a circle of officials. They followed them to the conference room they had been in he day before, and saw all of their other friends except for Richie and Eddie.

Bill and Stan sat down at the table, seeing that all of their friends were in their pajamas as well, clearly not ready for any kind of random meeting.

Someone walked to the front of the room and pulled off their mask. It was the same man that had instructed their workouts.

"I am General Todd Carlin. I run this place. If you all cooperate, this night should go smoothly and no one will get hurt," he said, glaring at the group.

"Where's Richie and Eddie?" Bev spoke out, glaring at the General. "What the fuck did you do with them?!"

"Shut your mouth," the General snarled, slamming his hands on the table. "That's what we're here to discuss."

The teenagers all exchanged confused eye contact. They knew both Richie and Eddie were pains and pissed people off, but what could they have done so wrong to need a full meeting dedicated to their idiocy?

The General started speaking again, pulling the teens away from their inner thoughts. "We have done nothing but help hide you from the world who wants you dead, and all we ask is that you give us information about the very organization that landed you in this situation and don't argue. Yet, all you seem to do is argue and disobey."

He pulled out a sheet of paper that the teenagers recognized as the one Richie had scribbled on the night before.

"This seems to me like you're all hiding something. Not only that, but we went to ask your friends about it, and they weren't there. So, what's this paper and where the hell are Richard Tozier and Edward Kaspbrack?" he asked, his eyes narrow, not much different than a snake.

Bev glanced over at Stan and received a small nod. She was smart and good at coming up with believable stories. Hopefully it would pay off while they stood in the face of pissed off government officials.

"We don't know where they are, but the paper isn't that surprising. Richie has nightmares a lot and panics a lot, and when they're really bad he writes down what he can remember without really thinking. He must've carried it around with him and dropped it or something," Bev said, shrugging and looking clueless.

The General didn't seem convinced, but he couldn't really fight with them. Especially since they all were acting so clueless.

"You have no clue where they are?" the General asked, dropping the paper on the table and crossing his arms.

"No, we don't," Stan said. "They're probably in the cafeteria or in the weight room. Richie's really energetic and he hates staying in the same place for a long time, so it wouldn't surprise me if they were walking around somewhere."

The General wasn't pleased, but he couldn't fight with them if they seemed so confused. He didn't know they were all great liars. Eddie was the only one who couldn't lie, so thankfully he wasn't there.

"Fine. You're all dismissed," the General said, looking annoyed.

They all went back to their rooms, but not before Bev stopped them in the hallway, holding a small slip of paper. "We're being watched," she said in a small voice.

Stan took the paper and opened it up, recognizing Eddie's neat print.

Check the lamps. They're listening. Be careful

— E & R