You Lie All The Time [S.Harrington]

chapter seventeen

They screamed as they were strangled and bitten into. They tried everything they could to shake off the bats, but they seemed to be stuck.

All of a sudden, one of the bats on Steve's stomach was hit off. It whimpered and flew away.

When Susie and Steve looked up, they were relieved to see Nancy, holding a boat paddle. Behind her, was Eddie and Robin. Eddie held the second paddle.

"Hey there." Nancy spoke, breathing heavily. She hit the bats off Steve while Eddie hit the ones attacking Susie. Robin stepped on the bat that was strangling Steve so that Nancy could try and hit it off or knock it dead.

Once Susie was able to stand up, she and Eddie noticed more bats coming their way. "Shit!" Eddie shouted. "Wheeler, you alright?" He asked as he whacked away a bat.

"No! But I'm alive!" Susie responded, keeping close to him.

"That's good! Alive is good!" He responded breathily, continuing to hit the bats that quickly came their way. "Nancy, behind you! Watch out!" Eddie warned. A bat latched onto Nancy's back.

"Shit!" Susie ran over to Nancy and Robin. Robin had stopped standing on the bat that strangled Steve to help Nancy, so Susie bent down beside Steve, helping him get the bat's tail off of his neck.

Finally, they pried it off successfully. Steve grabbed onto the tail and threw it down to the ground. The group began to beat any bat that came their way until it died.

Nancy killed the one on her back with her paddle, while Eddie did the same to another. Steve repeatedly hit the bat to the ground, until he stepped on it and ripped it in half. Blood dripped from Steve's mouth. He appeared very pale. No more bats came.

"Steve!" Susie quickly limped towards him.

"Jesus Christ." Eddie mumbled. "Jesus H. Christ!" He now shouted and dropped his oar.

"Steve, are you okay?" Susie worried, setting her hand on his shoulder. Steve looked down at his stomach, where he was repeatedly bit. "Well, they took about a pound of flesh." He sighed.

"Yeah, same here." Susie forced a laugh, showing him her bitten legs.

"Shit." Steve nodded slowly. "But other than that, yeah, never better." He added.

"Steve, I would hug you, but we're all disgusting right now." Susie breathed heavily. Steve nodded in understanding. They stood in front of each other for a moment in silence.

"Oh, what the hell." Susie sighed, pulling Steve into a hug. Steve placed a hand on the back of her head, holding her close to him. He ignored the pain that came from his stomach, because hugging Susie felt so much better.

"Uh, do you guys think that these bats have, like, rabies?" Robin spoke up worriedly.

"What?" Steve questioned as he and Susie pulled away from the hug. Susie slowly made her way towards Eddie, whispering a 'thank you' to him for having helped her before. He sent her a nod.

"It's just that rabies are, like, my number one greatest fear." Robin explained. "And I think we should probably get you and Susie to a doctor, like, really soon because once the symptoms set in, it's too late. You're already, like, dead." She rambled.

Everyone stared at her in disbelief.

"Alright, cool. Cool. That's great, Robin. Where's the nearest hospital?" Susie commented sarcastically. Robin stared at her blankly.

"Oh...Right, right. We're in another dimension! Silly me! How could I have forgotten!" Susie shouted.

Suddenly, they heard and saw more bats coming towards them. However, instead of the bats attacking them, they gathered around a red glow on the ground.