WARNING homophobic slurs are used in this chapter (as sparingly as possible but still present); if you're sensitive to this sort of content please reconsider reading this, your mental health is more important than a wattpad fanfic
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It wasn't hard to find them.
They had only sprinted a few feet into the Barrens before they heard the trickling of one of the Kenduskeag's many nameless streams that branched off from the main river. And beyond that, shouting.
Across from the stream was Henry and his goons, the older boy sitting on top of Mike's chest with a rock in his hand and a feral glint in his eye. Chris felt a spike of fear before she felt angry. But before she could react, Beverly bent down, picking up a rock and hurling it from where they stood, knocking Henry right on his back. As he leaned back up, dazed, blood trickled down from his forehead.
"Nice throw." Stan said, breathless from the sprint.
"Thanks." she said, looking a little stunned herself.
As Mike crawled to the other side of the stream - Stan and Eddie bending down to pull him up, herding him behind them - the others armed themselves with any rock they could find. Chris had found a particularly heavy one, rolling it around in her palm, ready to throw at any second. Meanwhile, on the opposing side, Victor and Belch helped Henry back on his feet. He still held an offended look on his face that almost made Chris want to laugh.
"You losers are trying too hard." he called at them. "She'll do you. You just gotta ask nicely, like I did."
Like animals, a scream ripped itself from Chris and Ben's throats as they both sent their rocks flying. Ben's bounced off the top of Henry's head - knocking him into Victor - while Chris' hit him square in the chest. Chris felt a satisfied, wild smile slice across her face.
"What the fuck?" Henry shouted. "Come on, get 'em!"
Victor and Belch joined him in gathering rocks in their arms. Beverly, however, didn't wait - throwing another that barely missed Henry and instead knocked Victor's arm backward.
"ROCK WAR!" Richie shouted before being knocked to the ground by a rock to the face.
By that time, the brawl had fully broken out.
Rocks went swinging with a frightening ferocity, and Chris found herself enjoying it a little, the thrum of her heart hammering tirelessly against her chest as she threw stone after stone. A lot of them missed - not just hers, but the other's as well, save for Beverly. Her aim was truer than all of theirs combined, as none of her hits missed once.
Chris' voice felt scratchy from yelling, caught up in the moment. She was only hit a few times - twice on the shoulder and once on the leg, she could already feel that one bleeding a little and the others would definitely bruise - but that didn't matter to her. She had wanted to do something like this to Bowers and his crew for years.
