Featuring Eddie Munson and Dustin Henderson.
Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley and Nancy Wheeler.
1,227 words. The most I've written for one prompt so far, I believe. And technically I only refer to Robin and Nancy as "the girls" but that counts so...
Eddie shoves Dustin inside the inverted and twisted version of his trailer, slamming its front door shut behind him. He sighs, and looks at Dustin who is panting. “Dude.” Dustin mumbles, managing to catch his breath. Eddie walks up to him, and grabs his arms to steady himself. “Most metal EVER!” Dustin announces, as they both bounce with an energy so nervous it was like lightning shooting through the small hallway. The banging on the wire fences that surround the house makes a rattling that sends a shiver down Eddie’s spine. Just gotta keep ‘em distracted long enough to let Harrington and the girls to flambé that motherfu¢ker. Then I can get Henderson out and be done with this place. There is a squeal, and Eddie hears the banging pause, before the bats start to hit the roof with wet thuds. Are they dive bombing? He wonders, as Dustin lifts his makeshift spear.
Eddie bites his lip. If the kid doesn't make it out of this, I don't know what I'll do with myself. Or be able to look Steve Harrington in the eye again. He scoffs to himself, as he pulls Dustin closer to him. That's a new development. Being worried what Steve fu¢king Harrington thinks about him. If you had told him a couple of years back that there would be a time when he would care about Steve's opinion of him, he’d probably laugh in your face. Yet here I am, wanting to make a good impression on him. He hears more rattling and screeching, and it feels as if the whole of this tiny trailer was being squished like a trash compactor. Dustin is trembling, eyeing a vent above the front door, and Eddie grits his teeth. There wasn’t really a way to guard against a bat getting in through the vents, as nothing reached high enough to cover and/or block up them all.
This is it. He thinks, pushing Dustin behind him. The final hurrah of Eddie “The Freak” Munson. Doomed to die with a fourteen year old in a fu¢king twisted version of the middle of nowhere; Hawkins, Indiana. He shifts his spear to a javelin position, aiming up at the vent. If this is my end, I should at the very least make it an end worth remembering. He hears a clunk come from the vent, and he inches forward, Dustin starts to follow, but Eddie waves for him to go back. Not letting you die for my stupidity. Dustin stops, but stands where he was, making no effort to back up. Stubborn brat. He thinks, before looking up at the vent with his spear raised. He hears another clatter from his room, and a chill runs down his spine. Fu¢k! I forgot about that one! He curses to himself, making Dustin frown. “Eddie? What's wrong?!” Dustin asks, his voice trembling almost as much as his body.
I got to get them away from him. But without him knowing that I am doing something stupid. “Just head towards the portal, I'll be there in a second, okay?” Eddie says, keeping his voice even much to his own surprise. Dustin looks at the portal, then to the vent, with a furrowed brow and pursed lips. D@mn you and your skepticism, Dustin! He thinks, before nodding towards the portal again. “Go!” He urges again, and Dustin listens this time. But right as he breaks into a run, the vent pops open, and four bats fly out of it. Eddie stabs a few, as they make loud squelching noises and scream an ear piercing screech that makes the two boys cry out in pain. More fly in, and Eddie flings some against the walls, and stabs others. We're stuck to this tiny area, we can't guarantee that we'll both make it into the portal before the bats do. But maybe one of us can. “Dustin! I have an idea! But you gotta trust me!” It's not a great plan, but it's the only one I got. He thinks, and Dustin sighs.
“Well? Spit it out, man!” Dustin yells, and Eddie swallows. “Go through the portal, I'll follow, and maybe they'll try to get through on that side, thus distracting them from the others!” That wasn't really Eddie's plan, but it has to sound like a well formed plan for Dustin to believe him. And as much as he hated lying to the kid, he needed him safe. Harrington needed him safe, and Eddie decided he was the man that would die to make sure of it. Dustin gives him a nod, before starting the climb up the clothing rope. Eddie clears his throat, staring down the beasts in front of him like he was humanity's only hope. In a way, Eddie supposes, he was, since this plan would help save Hawkins, and by extension the whole world. He glances up to see Dustin land on the mattress above. Below? This is too confusing. He grabs the rope, taking a second to think if this idea was really worth it. He looks up at Dustin, who frowns.
“Eddie! Come on! Get out of there!” Dustin screams through the portal, and Eddie lets go of the rope. I need to buy more time. They probably haven't made it to the house yet. “Eddie?!” Dustin cries, sounding almost to tears. He grits his teeth, his resolve set. If I'm dying, I'm sure as hell not dying in this trailer. He swings the spear, cutting clean through the fabric and dropping the rope at his feet. “Eddie, what are you doing?!” He cries, tears glistening off his cheeks in the yellow glow of his trailer's incandescent light bulbs. He looks up at him with a sigh. “I’m buying them more time.” He says, simply, before running towards the door, where the bats swarm him, he hears Dustin scream his name, but he doesn't look back. He throws open the door while bats scratch and bite at him and he runs over to the bike by his steps, and swallows.
Sorry, Harrington. I know you said not to be heroes, but I can't run this time. I wouldn't be able to look you in the eye if Henderson died. He looks up to you in a way he could never possibly look up to me. Please don't blame yourself for this. If I die here, it was my own stupidly big heart that got me there. You did all you could, and I hope one day you and Henderson will forgive me for this. “Come on, then!” He yells, after biking for a while. He lifts his spear, with a threatening shake. I really should have said more to Steve before we parted. My last words to him are seriously gonna be “make him pay.” He watches as the bats become a tornado of black, and a few get eager, but he stabs them all before they get the chance. That is, until one catches him by the throat, and more grasps his arms and legs, pulling him to the ground, and making him drop his spear. And Eddie has no choice but to watch as they all dive bomb him at once, tearing through his flesh and he screams. Loudly. The final stand of Eddie “The Freak” Munson. He thinks morbidly, before everything goes black.
