Nyctophilia 🌪 Reddie

xxvi

The shrill ring of the alarm was what pulled Richie and Eddie from their deep sleeps. They were tangled in the sheets, Eddie laying partway on Richie. He blinked the sleep from his eyes and reached over to shut the alarm off, but none of the buttons seemed to work.

"Turn it off," Richie groaned from beside him.

"It won't turn off," Eddie said, sitting up and slamming his fist on the snooze button. "What the fuck."

Richie sat up and grabbed the whole clock, picking it up and throwing it at the wall. The clock broke, but the blaring sound didn't stop. That's when Richie and Eddie realized it wasn't coming from the clock.

Eddie immediately began to rummage through both his and Richie's bags, grabbing clothes. He had a secured COMs system packed in his bag, and he quickly placed his in his ear before tossing the other to Richie.

"Stan? Bill? Anyone who copies, check in!" Eddie said, tripping as he tried to put on his jeans and T-shirt.

"What's going on?" Richie asked, following Eddie's lead.

"The alarm clock played that alert. It's almost like an amber alert, but this thing is worldwide. As in, something really fucking bad is happening," Eddie said, throwing the door to their room open and rushing into the hallway.

The other ex-Hive members were already there, as well as Lina, Henry and Butch, and the Hawkins group.

Government officials rushed down the hallway and saw the group looking around confused.

"What the hell is going on?" Lina asked, looking around wildly. She yelled the question again in French.

General Todd Carlin walked in between the group of soldiers, standing in front of the teenagers. He looked shaken and terrified. "All of you need to come with me right now," he said, guiding them toward the stairs.

"What's going on?" Butch asked, standing in front of the group protectively.

The General didn't say anything, but sighed deeply. They were brought down the stairs to a closed conference room in the lobby. It wasn't very professional, but it was a space they could talk and figure out what was going on.

Lina was livid, the Hawkins group was confused, and the ex-Hive members were terrified. They had no clue what had happened that triggered a world wide alert.

Mumbling spread throughout the room in a few different languages as everyone filed into the room and sat down. A few people had to stand, but it was primarily the soldiers surrounding them.

General Carlin stood at the front. He waited until the talking came to a close before he addressed the people in the room. "We discovered the location of the Hive base."

He stated it so plainly, and everyone began to converse in confusion and excitement, until the General held up his hand to stop the talking.

"We sent in a team to set up a perimeter. It would appear they were waiting for us," he said, pressing a button on a remote, turning on a screen at the front of the room.

Everyone stared in shock and horror at the screen. There were people screaming and running, the monsters everywhere. Henry covered Georgie's eyes to stop him from looking.

"What happened?" Lina asked, gaping with tears in her eyes.

"They seem to be continuing their attempts to take over. This time, however, it's taking a violent approach. They've sent their creatures all over the world."

"How many?!" Eddie asked, gripping Richie's hand tightly. He knew Richie liked to act strong even when he was afraid, but in that moment, Eddie could feel Richie shaking.