Nyctophilia 🌪 Reddie

xxi

Richie hands Mike one of his two guns, and Eddie does the same, attempting to hand his extra to Steve, only for Robin to take it instead. Eddie doesn't mind; Robin seems to know what she's doing as she clicks a bullet into place.

Lina jerks the wheel to the side and the monster slides past their car. She was panicking and screaming orders in French, only to be ignored by the group, who couldn't understand. Robin seemed to get most of the orders, as she was yelling at the group.

"She's saying we have to get it away from the people!" Robin yelled, climbing out of the car.

The monster had turned around, screaming at them and opening its face, revealing rows and rows of teeth. Robin, Mike, Eddie, and Richie all pointed their guns, shooting at the beast. It wailed as the shots hit it, but it didn't stop running at them.

Eddie could see the seven inch claws raising, and he quickly dove at Richie so it wouldn't cut him. The monster missed, but advanced again.

"These bullets aren't doing shit!" Mike yelled, firing the rest of his before throwing it to the side and backing up.

They heard a car door open and saw Lina getting out, holding her set of knives. She had a black pouch in her hand and threw it at Eddie, nodding to him. Eddie opened it and saw the knives, knowing what Lina was planning.

"Tozier! There's a box in the back of the car!" Lina yelled, launching a knife at the monster. "Bring it here!"

Richie nodded and disappeared while Eddie and Lina attempted to hit the monster again. Its focus stayed fixed on them, thankfully ignoring the panicked people who were trying to escape the scene.

It jumped at Eddie, who avoided it and slammed his knife into its side. It shrieked and shot its clawed hand out, catching Eddie's leg.

The cut began to gush blood, and Eddie shrieked, falling to the ground. He didn't see the monster and attempted to grab another knife only to feel a clawed hand grab his neck.

The monster towered above him, and even though it had no eyes, Eddie could tell it was pissed. It hissed and growled, pulling Eddie to his feet by its neck. It opened its mouth, and Eddie could see all of its sharp teeth, followed by a black hole.

"So this is it," Eddie thought, feeling his knife slip out of his grasp as the monster tightened its hold on his throat. "I really hope Richie isn't watching."

"Kaspbrack! Duck!" someone shrieked, and Eddie tried his best to put his head down as he heard a clanking metal sound.

The monster threw him to the ground and began to snarl and shriek, before a loud popping could be heard. Eddie turned and tried to crawl away seeing the monster wail and growl at him.

He felt arms reach under his armpits and drag him away while the monster collapsed, looking like it was choking. Smoke poured from its mouth, and Eddie at first thought it was the monster doing it. That was, until he saw Lina throw a small bomb at it.

"Smoke bombs," Eddie said aloud, as he was leaned up against the car.

"Yeah, Lina's prepared. We can only hope it chases that thing off," Richie said, lifting Eddie up and opening the back of the car to set him inside. He looked at Will and Steve, who were sitting in the back, looking terrified. "Can either of you bandage a leg?"

"I can," Will said, as Steve helped drag Eddie into the car.

Richie smiled at shut the car, allowing Will to go through their first aid kit. He took out the disinfectant liquid and poured it all over Eddie's leg, who hissed and bit on the arm sleeve of his sweatshirt to keep from screaming.

"I have to stitch it, and it's going to hurt, okay?" Will said, looking up at Eddie who nodded, tears making their way to his eyes.

Will shoved the first stitch in, and Eddie closed his eyes, wincing from each painful touch. Will tried to finish as quickly and as painlessly as he could, finally pulling the last stitch through. He wrapped Eddie's leg in a bandage, just as Lina, Robin, Mike, and Richie dove into the car.

"Slam on the fucking gas!" Richie yelled, and Lina swiftly obeyed.

Eddie and Will looked out the back windows and saw the monster limping, but still running after them. It ignored every single person running down the street, instead focused on the runaways in the car.

"Blood," Mike said, climbing into the back and gaping as the monster got closer, smashing into cars that got in its way.

"What?" Richie asked, scrambling next to the other three, wrapping his arm around Eddie's waist with one hand and keeping his balance by placing the other on the wall of the car.

"It tracks with blood. That thing is obviously after us and it can smell Eddie's blood," Will explained, grabbing the rags that Eddie had sat on while his leg was getting cleaned. "We need to throw it off. It can smell these."

Richie nodded, taking the bloody rags and slid over to the window, rolling it down. He held them out, making sure the monster caught the scent. It seemed to work, as the creature started running toward the side of the car, focused on the smell of blood. Richie saw a bridge ahead of them, and yelled for Lina to speed up.

"Throw the rags, Richie! That thing's going to fucking kill you!" Eddie screamed, seeing how Richie was waiting to launch the blood covered cloth.

"I have a plan, Eds! Don't fret, my dear!" he yelled in a British accent.

How he managed to pull off an accent and be almost mauled by a monster was way past Eddie, but he continued to yell at Richie to throw them.

The monster leaped, almost taking the rags and Richie's arm at the same time. They were nearing the bridge, and as soon as they hit the center, Richie launched the rags off the side. Everyone peered our their windows, watching as the creature leapt off the edge, following the scent of Eddie's blood.

Richie climbed back into the car, rolling up his window, breathing heavily. "Please tell me we're almost back to the base," he said, closing his eyes.

"Nearly," Lina said, too impressed by the amount of bravery that Eddie and Richie had shown to throw a snarky attitude at them.

"That thing isn't from the gate. They designed it," Will said as soon as it had quieted down.

"How can you tell?" Eddie asked, sitting with his injured leg straight out.

"I'd know if the gate was opened. It'd plague my mind," Will started, leaning back against the side of the car. "That thing also isn't like the other monsters we've encountered or seen. It doesn't hide from the light, and they attack anything that they pick up the scent or that tries to run away from it. None of us were bleeding before it attacked; it just used Eddie's blood to keep following us."

"That thing was only focused on us," Richie stated, understanding what Will was getting at.

"Yeah. And did you see that silver stripe on its back? We've never seen that before, but I guarantee its an add on the Hive came up with. Maybe to control it or something?" Mike added.

"We don't know anything, yet," Lina called. "We need to tell Leroy what happened and make sure to lock down the base. I assume the Hive used city cameras to find us, but that thing was able to find us not twenty minutes after we left the base. That's rapid, even for a secret organization."

Everyone nodded and spoke their agreements, waiting for their car to approach their base.