tag, you're it again. r.tozier. act ll.

fifteen | final goodbyes!

TAG, YOU'RE IT AGAIN!

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KAITLYN SNIFFED AND looked towards the opening of the cave, her eyes widening as Richie, Bill and Ben came running in, all of them carrying Arianna. Kaitlyn's hazel eyes looked down to the blood oozing out of Arianna's chest, staining Richie and Ben's shirts. She screamed, putting her hands to her mouth, and everybody looked away from Eddie to look at them.

Arianna whined in pain as they started setting her down next to Eddie, feeling a tremendous pain in her stomach as her injuries rubbed together. She bit her bottom lip as she cried, and Richie looked down at her in panic.

"No, no, no, no, shit!" Richie panicked, quickly crouching in front of her. He hovered his hands over her injuries and let out a cry of frustration, and his eyes wandered to Eddie, who was still in a very, very bad state.

"It's getting really bad; we gotta get them out of here, guys!" Richie exclaimed, tears in his eyes as he glanced from Arianna to Eddie.

"How are we supposed to do that, Richie?" Beverly asked him with a gentle voice, still trembling as she remembered the sight of Eddie being held in the air as he was impaled through the back, and the thoughts of Richie, Ben and Bill carrying a bleeding, weak Arianna.

"I almost killed it; the leper." Eddie weakly spoke, watching as Richie caressed Arianna's face. "My hands were on it's throat, and it was choking. I made 'em small." He whispered, not being able to breath, and everybody sadly looked at him. "He seemed so weak. He seemed, he seemed so weak..."

Everybody other than Eddie and Arianna jumped as they heard a loud scream and a bang sound outside of the cave.

Arianna looked towards the outside of the cave, reaching her arm weakly towards it. "We - I need to save her-"

"She's fine, she's okay." Ben assured her, giving her a soft smile. "She's strong."

Arianna quickly nodded, her breathing quickening as the sharp, uncomfortable pain was still aching at her sides.

"The shagapawa," Mike suddenly spoke, "All living things may be abided by the shape they inhabit."

All the adults curiously looked at him, as Richie tightly held Arianna and Eddie's hands.

"Guys!"

Everybody looked to see Sydney run inside, breathing heavily from when she was fighting It. They all looked to see red tears stained on her pale cheeks, and a small glare was still stuck on her face.

"The tunnel!" She spoke. "Pennywise has to make himself small again, through the entrance of the cavern, right?" Everybody looked at each other, nodding. "So, if we can get back there, we can force him down to size; we make him small, small enough so we can kill him."

"I can smell, think of your fear!" Pennywise giggled from outside the cave.

Everybody frantically looked at each other. "Are we going through the tunnel?" Kaitlyn asked for confirmation, and they all nodded, before they all ran to the tunnel, starting to make their way to where they needed to go.

Meanwhile, Richie stayed behind with Eddie and Arianna.

"We're going to get both of you guys out of here, okay? Don't worry about it, okay?" Richie kept rambling to them, but was mainly trying to keep himself from worrying. He didn't know what he'd do if he lost them.

"R - Rich," Arianna inhaled a sharp breath as she hissed at the flaming pain, "Richie-"

"Yes, gorgeous?" Richie quickly asked.