WILDFIRE ↝ E. MUNSON

[32]

"Eddie!" Nick and Dustin's voices chorused in Lily's ears as they continued to yell after him, their voices sounding as if they were underwater as the blood began to pound in her ears. "Eddie, come back here! Eddie!"

Lily quickly scanned the room, searching for anything she could use to boost herself back through the gate when her eyes landed on a chair sitting next to the kitchen table. "Move the mattress," she said, reaching down to pick up the chair.

"What?" Nick asked, her eyebrows furrowing together in confusion.

"Move the mattress!" Lily shouted, and Dustin quickly leaned down, turning the mattress over so it now rested against the couch on the side of the wall, clearing the space below the gate.

"Lily, what are you doing?" Dustin asked as she placed the chair on the floor, the younger boy watching her uneasily.

"I'm going after him!" Lily said adamantly, her gaze moving from the chair to the gate as she tried to gauge the distance between the two. "I can't leave him alone in there. We promised we wouldn't get separated again, and I'm not going to start now. If I jump, I think I can make it."

Lily took a few steps back, her eyes still glued on the gate spreading over the ceiling of Eddie's trailer. It was a steep jump to get to the gravity on the other side of the gate, and she knew it was a slim chance, but in order to help Eddie she knew it was a risk she needed to take. She took a deep breath, breaking into a running start before jumping onto the chair to use as leverage to boost herself into the air, desperately grasping for purchase on the edges of the gate.

Her hands managed to find a hold on the side of the gate, and she tried to raise herself upwards as much as she could, feeling the familiar tug of the shifting gravity as her body moved from the atmosphere of the real world below to that of the Upside Down. She held on tightly to the gate as her legs toppled out from above her, her muscles straining as she fought the instinct to let go without a mattress below her to break her fall. As soon as she managed to steady herself, she let go, dropping to the floor in a crouch and instantly reaching for where she'd abandoned her spear and shield only a few minutes before in their desperate escape out of the Upside Down.

Never did she ever think she'd be trying so hard to get back inside the demonic hellscape after the night they'd had trying so desperately to escape.

Lily could hear Dustin and Nick now calling after her as she raced for the trailer door, throwing it open as a loud burst of thunder boomed in the sky, a bright flash of red lightning illuminating the outside to where the swarm of bats could be heard in the distance, though the outside of the trailer now sat empty, devoid of any of the winged creatures. She followed the sounds of their screeches, desperate for a glimpse of shaggy dark hair and to see that Eddie was still alright.

"Eddie?" Lily called out as she searched around desperately, running down the gravel road that led away from either of their trailers and following the sounds of the bats. "Eddie, where are you?"

Lily rounded the corner at the edge of the road, coming to a halt as her knees began to buckle at the sight before her. In the distance, she could see the swarm of bats moving in a circle, spiraling down to where Eddie stood at the center, brandishing his spear and shield. One by one, they attempted to dive down at him, but he moved quickly, deflecting their attacks with his shield and sending them back into the spiral, rejoining the ranks with the rest of the demonic creatures.

A scream escaped from Lily as a tentacle shot out from one of the bats, wrapping around Eddie's throat and forcing him to his knees as it began to cut off his air supply. As he dropped his weapons onto the dusty earth below, another small swarm charged at him, knocking his legs out from under him as one by one, their tentacles wrapped around each of his limbs, pinning him to the ground below as he fought to get free, though it was to no avail as the bats kept a tight hold on him.