WILDFIRE ↝ E. MUNSON

[16]

"Company?" Lily asked in a hushed, frantic whisper, pushing Eddie aside so she could look out the window. "If it's not them, who could it-" her voice cut off as her heart leapt into her throat, the only audible sound suddenly that of the blood pounding in her ears.

Jason's Jeep sat parked in the driveway as the boys walked towards the house. Jason clutched a crowbar tightly in his hands with Andy right behind him, holding a baseball bat. Coming around from the passenger side of the vehicle was Patrick, carrying another bat, and Lily internally began to panic, forcing herself to take deep breaths as she looked around for any possible escape route.

Lucas had told Lily the day before at the cemetery that Jason, Patrick, and Andy had been looking for Eddie, but nobody could have anticipated them tracking him down so quickly, or where they would have gotten Reefer Rick's address in the first place. All she knew was that, whatever it took, she couldn't let them find Eddie.

"Uh, Mayfield," Eddie whispered as the boys walked toward the house. "I think your boyfriend's got a baseball bat, and I think my name's written all over it."

"He is very much not my boyfriend," Lily muttered, and as soon as the boys were inside the house did the two spring apart, Eddie lunging for the walkie talkie laying on the ground while Lily searched around the room for a possible escape route.

"Hey Dustin," Eddie spoke into the walkie talkie, still perched at the window to watch for if any of the boys came out of the house."Are you there? It's Eddie. You remember me, right?" he seethed, panic lacing his tone. "Hey, if anyone's there, I really think we might be in a bit of trouble here, okay? Wheeler?" Eddie hit the walkie, frustrated, as if the connection were just bad and needed a quick fix. "Anybody?"

"They're not there," Lily said, still searching around the room, but coming up short, and she looked back in the direction of the doorway, considering her options.

Eddie followed her line of sight, instantly shaking his head as if he were reading her thoughts. "No." he said firmly. "Don't even think about it."

"Maybe I could distract them or something." Lily said. "Buy you some time to run."

"Distract them how?" he asked, frustrated. "I don't know if you remember this, Mayfield, but we're in the middle of fucking nowhere. What reason could you give them for being out here by yourself?"

"I don't know, I-I came out here for a swim, something like that." she stammered nervously, racking her brain for some sort of reasonable excuse.

"Not in those clothes in March, you didn't." he pointed out. "If you go out there right now, they're going to figure out that you and I know each other and that you're hiding me. But you do need to run before they find you. This is between me and Carver, I'm not dragging you into this."

"Well, that's too bad, because I'm not leaving you here." Lily insisted. "It's not between you and Jason it's between Jason and Vecna, and you took the blame." she reached for the oar that still lay haphazardly on the floor, where she'd dropped it after making sure their friends weren't intruders the first time they'd dropped off groceries. "I'm not letting them hurt you."

"Let me get this straight," Eddie said as Lily crouched back down next to him, holding the oar tightly as they watched out the window for any sign of the other boys. "You're going to fight your friends, your boyfriend, for me?"

"They're not my friends." she said. "You're my friend. They don't even know me, they just think they do. And yeah, I care about Patrick, but-" she swallowed hard as a lump formed in her throat, tightening her grip on the oar. "Let's just hope it doesn't come to that, then."