Complete Chaos

046

The five of them, with Melody in Julia's arms, got out of the store. Julia put Melody on her car seat.

Dustin, Max and Robin were squished in the back of Steve's car. They arrived at Rick's place at night time.

Dustin was the first one to get out of Steve's car. He wasted no time after being stuck in the back for 25 minutes.

He rushed to the front door, where he rang the doorbell repeatedly. "Eddie! It's Dustin! Look, we just wanna talk, okay? No cops, I swear. We just wanna help," he said loudly.

He hit the door even harder. "Eddie!"

"Shh," Steve yelled from his car as he unbuckled Melody, who was sleeping. He wore the jacket Julia gave him for Christmas.

Max and Robin looked through the windows. Dustin yelled again, "Rick! Reefer Rick!"

Julia scanned the house from outside. It was quiet; the lights were off. "No one is home," she said.

"Or he could just be really high," Steve said.

"Hey, guys," Max said from the corner of the house. A few feet away, there was a small shed. Steve looked at Julia.

He handed Melody to her, "Stay behind me," he told her.

The shed was unlocked. Slowly the group went in, "Is anyone home," Robin asked.

"What a dump," Steve said, looking around. The floor made noise with every step.

Steve grabbed an oar from the floor. "What are you doing?" Dustin asked Steve, who was stabbing a tarp with an oar.

"He might be in here." He hit another part of the tarp.

Julia walked towards Max.

"So, take the tarp off," Dustin said. "If you're so brave, you take the tarp off," he told Dustin, who stayed in the same place.

Julia held Melody tightly in her arms; the place gave her the creeps. "Hey, look over here," Max informed the group. On a table nearby, there were several empty wrappers. "Someone was here."

Near the table on the floor there was a rusty pipe. She bent down to grab it, just in case. She wasn't going to fight Eddie, but if something happened, she was going to defend her daughter.

"Maybe he heard us. Got spooked and ran," Robin said, standing between Max and Julia.

"Don't worry, Steve will get him with his oar," Dustin said, still standing next to Steve.

Steve looked at Dustin as he said, "I know you think you're being funny, Henderson, but considering everyone in this room has nearly died a hundred times, and my daughter is here. I personally don't find it funny in the slight-"

In a quick motion, a body appeared from underneath the blue tarp making everyone jump and take a step back.

The person got up and pushed Steve against the wall, "Wait! Wait! Wait," Steve said with panic in his voice.

Eddie had a broken glass bottle close to Steve's neck.

Julia gasped and held Melody closer to her chest, covering her small face with her palm.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Eddie! Eddie! Stop," Dustin yelled, recognizing his older friend.

"Eddie! Eddie! It's me. It's Dustin. This is Steve. He's not gonna hurt you, right, Steve?" Dustin gestured toward his other friend.

"Right. Yeah," Steve mumbled, making eye contact with Eddie.

"Steve, why don't you drop the oar?" Steve glanced toward Julia, her eyebrows were furrowed, and her sight was focused on the two older teens.