The Rescue Of Eddie Munson

Chapter 92

Notes:Please leave comments and kudos, they really inspire me and give me the fuel to continue writing.

Happy holidays to all of my wonderful readers.I'm sorry there's been such a delay on this chapter, my new job's training is complex and has been taking a lot of brain power that and practicing guitar. Please keep reading I still have so much planned. I've even thought of a prequel for this story.

Chapter 92

Lucas was still fairly flabbergasted at the way Red had approached him, between his limited experience with women; from Max and El to Erica he wasn't used to one with this much understanding and patience. Especially when he may have been the cause of the problem, though he was reluctant to admit that even to himself. He started out stammering, his voice low as he directed most of his conversation to the floor, slowly regaining some confidence as he spoke. "..I...shit.. I'm sorry Red.. you... I... what can I do to help? You said we're going to light that asshole on fire? Sounds good to me, gonna use the gas from the gas station right?"

Smirking softly at his murmured, if not vague apology I nodded. I knew for a hardheaded kid like Lucas this was probably the best I was going to get. "Glad to have you back on board, actually have a part to the plan with just you in mind. Was thinking, there should still be fireworks at the fairgrounds right? Why not use em to help take out Vecna, the demodogs and his other assholes? Cause the gasoline firewall is great and all, but we're going to also need everything we can get for an all out assault against Vecna and his Cthulhu-like pet."

Lucas's eyes glowed with excitement at my suggestion of fireworks, just like I knew they would. The rest of his expression remained guarded as he asked a question I'd expected would come at some point. "What about the people..we don't even know if they're flayed or not...We just don't have enough information to do an attack like this.."

Nancy surprised me by speaking up and choosing to side with the aggressive approach, especially considering how many people she had to worry about back in town. Tears shone in her eyes but she still managed to keep her voice even. "The problem with that plan is. If the people in town are actually flayed there's nothing we can do..they turn into those flesh things from the chemicals they eat. But... if they're not... we'll just have to avoid them as best we can."

Multiple people jumped in to speak at once at her remarks, not that I could blame them.

"Are you fucking crazy!?"

"Those are our families out there! Our neighbors!"

"It's nice and all to say 'avoid them' but getting those tankers and filling them is going to mean going all over town, and splitting up! How in the hell are we going to do both?!"

"How do we even know that we can save them?"

"You're just saying that because you don't have any family in town to worry about!"

Eddie's jaw clenched, his fingers detangling from Red's and holding tightly on themselves as the comments had continued to intensify, the group was getting more and more frustrated. Their own fears and pain overriding logic and compassion as they lashed out, acting as if he didn't have friends back in town.

Turning his attention downwards he couldn't help the wry smile that crept across his lips at Red, who having clearly picked up on his frustration was tilting her head to the side and nuzzling her cheek against his own before wrapping her hand over his fist, stroking along his fingers offering silent support.

He couldn't help but feel guilty about not having spoken to her or anyone else about Gareth, Jeff and Whitney during all of this. Sure it hadn't gone unnoticed that the guys were nowhere to be found when his Uncle was being tormented, and they clearly hadn't reached out to Dustin or any of his other friends when he was in hiding. As much as all of that pissed him off, it didn't mean that they deserved to be turned into zombies, or worse.

Sighing heavily I shook my head as the conversation continued to escalate. My fingertips tracing the shapes of Eddie's rings and along his knuckles as I felt him tense up behind me. Even he'd chimed in, having been among the ones to quite vocally express his concerns for both sides of the argument; protection and destruction of the people.

I couldn't blame him, It was a nice sentiment, sparing the townspeople. But if a zombie tries to kill you, you have to do what you can to survive and it's not a big choice between possibly curable zombie and your own life.

My mind raced trying to come up with an alternative, something, ANYTHING that wasn't suicidal and didn't involve killing off what was left of a town full of people.

Digging through decades of strategy and weaponry knowledge my mind struck on a book I'd read about using paintball guns for non lethal defense.

Clearing my throat I shouted out my suggestion over the din earning a few raised eyebrows in response, "Alright! I've got a plan! It's a little crazy... ok a lot crazy.. but not entirely impossible."

Jim was a mixture of visible relief and concern from where he'd stood, hands held out to both sides of irate teens in the middle of the room; Having had to intervene as things became more heated. "What you got Red? Anything's better than this" he said gesturing to the red faced squabbling group who'd only stopped arguing to narrow their eyes at him. Seeing my hesitation Uncle Wayne nodded as well, his smile warm as he offered silent support.

Returning his smile I spoke, grateful when the others finally stopped their discussion to listen. "Alright, so we've got an indeterminate number of people who are essentially zombies and we don't want to kill any of them if we can help it. Now in the bottom of the weapons cabinet I saw a few paintball guns and a huge crate of paintballs. Guessing those either looked possibly useful... or you just grabbed em for fun?"

Jim and the other members of his group shrugged, his brows high he was entirely confused, he had no idea where Red was going with this. His group had kind of indiscriminately grabbed everything they could when they'd raided War Zone.

Chuckling at such an uncharacteristic shrug on someone like Jim Hopper I nodded as I continued, "so we have paintballs, aside from those fuckers hurting like a bitch no matter where you get hit with em. They can be really useful as a non lethal defense method; and what's even better is you can fill them with more than just paint. Now what in the hell to fill em up with-"

As if on cue Dustin and Dmitri walked through the door banging it open, both of them looking equally worn out, clearly Dmitri had helped with some of the heavy lifting. The smile across Dustin's tired face was hopeful, Dmitri's expression curious seeing the situation they'd walked into.

Robin called out to them "Hey you two, any luck with that tower of yours?"

In leu of an answer Dustin walked over to grab one of the walkie talkies and began turning the dials adjusting the channel. After a few minutes of static he called out his voice cracking slightly as he did, "Suzie Poo..do you copy? Come in, over" adding a whispered "please.." at the end.

There was silence, too much silence both from the walkie and the others in the room as everyone waited for a response and Dustin began to question his sanity. Then another crackle of static cut through the painful silence. "Dusty?! This is Suzie, I copy! Where have you been!? What the heck is going on there? I saw the news! Nothing makes sense..are you ok??" Tears of relief fell down his cheeks, he nearly dropped the walkie his hands were shaking so bad.

Mike, El, Will and Lucas watched along concerned, they knew Dustin was happy to talk to Suzie finally especially after everything had happened. El was closest and managed to give Steve a shove in his shoulder.

His brow rose as he nodded and stood up, he hated to see his young friend suffering Steve walked over and placed his hand on Dustin's shoulder where he stood his own eyes soft. "Hey Henderson...your girl asked you a question.."

End notes:Sorry this chapter is shorter I went from writers block to too much and had to divide what I had into 2 chapters. Might even get chapter 93 out tonight as well.