The Rescue Of Eddie Munson

Chapter 73

Chapter 73

Dustin's eyes lit up as he heard the door open, and seeing Eddie and Red. Making room for the both of them on the couch between he and Will, Lucas and Erica on the other side. The others scattered in various seats around the room. Watching carefully his brows rose as he noticed the stumbling steps the two of them made, Red could barely walk.

Once the couch was in reach I all but fell back into the cushions, Eddie curled up beside me pulling me close until I was laying against his chest. Taking his arms in my hands I hugged him tight turning my attention to Dustin I reached over and patted his knee "hey, thanks for your help out there...m'sorry if I scared you.." I murmured glancing around seeing that all eyes were on the two of us. Dustin looked back and forth between Eddie and I, still confused and worried until Eddie shook his head and mouthed 'later'.

Joyce called out from the kitchen, "you two alright with some of the turkey dinner leftovers? I'm sure you're both starving" we both nodded enthusiastically our stomachs growling reminding us just how long it had been since we'd both eaten. Looking around the room my eyes scanning for any injuries I sighed with relief seeing that other than the gashes on Dmitri, Erica, and the few bruises on Eddie, everyone else appeared relatively unscathed, even Murray seemed to be alright thank goodness for a Kevlar jacket.

Calling over to Murray who sat on one of the mattresses beside Dmitri, the two looked like they'd been catching up. "Hey Murray, looks like that jacket saved you a lot of decontamination or did you brave the hose in the yard?" He shook his head violently "God no..I know how cold that water would be. The jackets completely covered but I escaped with just needing a shower" I shook my head back and forth shivering involuntarily as I attempted to shove the earlier memories away, picking up on my discomfort Eddie began stroking my arms, tracing patterns on my pale skin idly reminding me that I wasn't alone. "lucky...I thought we would never get clean..ew"

The sound of my name being called startled me out of my thoughts and I turned to catch Will waving his hand about to get my attention. "Hey Will..shit sorry...didn't hear you there what's up?" His voice was so soft as he asked "I wanted to talk to you about what happened out there today, I know it must have been insane but..did you see anything..different? Either of you?"

My heart skipped a beat, those words sent a cold chill down my spine as I remembered Will's connection to the mindflayer in the past, my fingers found Eddie's and laced with them squeezing our joined hands tightly "what do you mean..shit..Will did you see something?"

Will's green eyes widened as he wobbled his head slightly "not really saw...so much as felt. It was like that day that the cracks happened..the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end...like the mindflayer was watching..when you guys were at the old cabin..there was a few demogorgons here, the whole thing felt staged..like a test."

Once again I was reminded of Jurassic Park...what if the predators were tired of being kept out..away from their prey, Vecna was getting impatient.

"Then Erica and Dmitri told us that when they got there that they'd hid out and waited for you two..when a demogorgon showed up..it..it didn't attack...it just stood there...waiting... it was like a guard or something until they tried to leave that's when it attacked them. That's how Erica hurt her leg.."

Looking further down the couch I saw Erica sitting next to Lucas, her leg resting on the table bandaged up, her eyes had a faraway look. Brow furrowed in concern, I had to shove my temper and desire to help, into a closet thinking of the fact that Vecna/The Mindflayer had put Dmitri and this child through so much..trauma and danger, I squeezed Eddie's hand tightly struggling to ground myself, grateful when he did the same in return. I wanted nothing more than to go over there and talk to her but I knew it was way too soon, Erica just needed to feel safe and be left alone for right now.