Henry and Stan watched in sheer horror as a stupified Belch was lifted up by the Dead Lights, and pulled into the torn end of the pipe. The boys couldn't look away when the other boy was bent, as if he was doing stretch exercises, and was pulled through the pipe without any resistance. For a moment, the sound of material rubbing against steel was all that was there when Belch was being dragged through the pipe by an unseen force, then silence, and finally a new sound. It sounded like something big was being eaten, then the bright white light faded.
"Belch?" Henry called.
No response. Henry swallowed the lump in his throat.
"God. He's not in there anymore." the punk said, in a steady voice.
He called out to his fallen friend again, and the Lights appeared again. Whatever killed Belch was now returning for a second course. Henry's mind was screaming at him to move, but his body felt heavy, like lead.
"Move, already!" his mind screamed. "Move or you will be eaten!"
While Henry sat there, stunned, he had failed to acknowledge that Stan was up on his feet. Stan started to run, but he looked back to see Henry was not moving. He doubled back to grab Henry's arm and pulled at it.
"Get up! Now!" Stan screamed, urgently. "It'll kill you, too!"
Henry finally found the courage to move, and he got up, following Stan out of the room. The two boys dashed down the sewers, hoping to put as much distance between them and the Lights as possible.
"What was that thing?!" demanded Henry.
"Run!" Stan shouted back.
A flash of the white light caused them to duck, as if they didn't want to be seen by it. Stan called out for help, and when he turned down another hall, the Jewish boy caught sight of his friends. Bev was in the front of the group, with her trusty slingshot and a silver piece waiting to be fired. She lowered her weapon when she saw Stan and Henry running down the hall.
"Stan!" Eddie exclaimed.
"And Bowers?" Richie added, surprised.
"What's Bowers doing here?" asked Ben.
"It's coming!" Stan yelled, as he and Henry continued to run. "It's coming!"
He nearly collided with the other six, exhaustion catching up with him.
"B-Bowers, what are y-y-you doing down here?!" demanded Bill.
"Bill, I think we've got more important things to worry about." Mike announced, pointing forward.
He was pointing at a light that was coming from the tunnel Stan and Henry had emerged from. Something was coming alright.
"Hands, quick!" Bill shouted.
Henry stood confused as to what he meant, and watched as the other seven kids joined hands in a circle, moving to the center. Then Bev looked up at Henry.
"What are you waiting for?!" she screamed at him.
Henry saw Mike's hand reaching for him, and he took it, taking Bev's extended hand also. He didn't have a plan right now, so he was going to try it their way. The light came closer, and the eight of them quickly clambered to the ground. Something flew over them, the light getting so bright that it became blinding, causing them to shield their eyes. Whatever was emulating the light was passing over them, and eventually it disappeared. Once the creature had vanished, the eight kids sat up, looking around.
"Is that it?" asked Richie. "Did we do it?"
Eddie looked up to see that smoke was starting to fill the room.
"Look!" he alerted his friends.
The others saw that the smoke was coming from everywhere. The Losers and Henry got up to their feet, confused as to what was going on.
"Quick! Take hands!" Bill ordered, taking charge. "Before we get lost in this stuff!"
Once all of them joined hands with each other in a circle again, Bill began checking to see if everyone was there.
"Is everybody here?" he asked.
"I'm here." Bev, who was next to him, replied. "Stanny?"
Stan, who had her other hand, answered her.
"Yeah. Richie, Henry?" he called.
Henry had Stan's other hand, while Richie had his, and both sounded off, then Mike, who had Richie's other hand, and next to him was Eddie, then Ben. Relieved that all eight of them were still there, he reminded his friends that they were not to break the circle.
"It's not as strong as It thought it was, or It could've have killed us just then." Bill continued, looking at each of them. "We have to resist!"
Then a voice rang out to him. It was a childish voice calling his name. A strange look appeared on Bill's face.
"Georgie?" the older sibling whispered.
Bill didn't know if anyone else could see it or not, but he could clearly see his deceased little brother, Georgie, standing a few feet away in his little yellow raincoat and hat.
"What's happening?" asked Henry.
"One of It's games." Eddie replied, shaking. "Another illusion."
"No, Bill!" Bev called out to her friend, pleadingly. "That's not George! Don't break the circle!"
"Bevvy!" a male voice called out to her.
Bev looked to the side to see her father, Mr. Marsh, standing where Georgie was.
"Bevvy, what do you think you're doing down here with these boys?" the older man demanded. "Now get home!"
"Daddy?" Bev spoke, her grip subconsciously slipping on Stan's hand. "D-Daddy, I'm-"
"Wake up, hot stuff!" Richie's voice piped up.
Bev looked over at the tall red-head.
"That ain't daddy, there ain't nothing there." the bespectacled boy reminded her.
As if on cue, Richie heard a low growling sound from behind him, and felt two large hands grab his shoulders. A chill passed up and down his spine, but he stayed strong.
"I said,...I said 'there ain't nothing there'." he repeated to himself.
The hands slipped away from his shoulders, as Richie breathed a sigh of relief. Henry looked to the side when he heard a faint whispering and saw that Stan was repeating a mantra to himself over and over. Then after a moment, the kids heard something.
"Stan." a hoarse voice called out. "Stanley boy."
Stan's eyes opened slowly, and he looked to see who was speaking to him. It seemed that It's tactics worked, as instead of Bev holding Stan's hand, it was the clown that the Losers were hunting down. Stan gasped in horror as the clown picked him up, and Stan finally began screaming fearfully for his life.
"Stanny, resist!" one of the other six Losers shouted.
Henry watched in terror, as the clown pinned Stan to the wall. Who was this freak, and why was he attacking Stan?
"Let go!" the clown encouraged it's victim. "Be afraid!"
"B-Bev, the stones!" Bill shouted to his friend.
Bev began digging through her pockets for the silver stones she was given earlier, and the clown turned to them.
"You all taste so much better when you're afraid!" It snarled at them.
Bev placed a silver stone inside her slingshot, but before she could ready it to fire, the stone slipped out of her fingers. It clattered to the floor, causing Bev to kneel down, scrambling to find it.
"Hurry, Bev, kill it!" Bill told her.
"'Kill'?! Me?!" the creature laughed. "Oh, you are priceless, brat! I am eternal, child! I am the eater of worlds, and of children!"
It then looked back at Stan, who was shaking in the clown's grasp.
"And you are next!" It concluded it's speech.
The clown then looked back at the kids, its teeth now more demonic-looking than before. Before It could attack Stan, Eddie bravely moved forward, his inhaler clutched in his hand.
"This is battery acid, you slime!" he declared, holding it up.
The clown looked back at the younger boy, who pressed down on the inhaler, spritzing the clown's face with the placebo chemicals inside. The clown hissed and howled as the vapor struck it's face, and the facepaint began to come off, showing the clown's true face. It looked like a true demon underneath the paint. Bev managed to pick up the stone, but the sight of the monster's face surprised her, making her drop the silver stone again. Henry saw the clown charging at her, and took out the switchblade in his pocket. He flipped it open, and held the blade in his hand.
"Hey, freak!" the older boy shouted. "Heads up!"
He flung the knife at the clown, and it pierced into It's forehead, causing it to howl in pain even more. That gave Bev the time she needed to find the missing silver piece, and ready her slingshot.
"Please, God..." the pigtailed girl prayed, quietly.
She took aim, pulling back the slingshot, and fired at the clown's forehead. A piece of the forehead broke off, exposing a ray of light similar to the lights the kids had experienced earlier. The others behind Bev began shouting at her to kill It, but before Bev could fire another silver stone, the clown leapt into the air over them. Then the clown began heading down the drain, with the other kids watching. Bill, not letting his brother's murderer get away that easily, grabbed It's hand.
"Help me!" he shouted.
The others joined in to try and help their fearless leader in pulling It back out, then the glove began tearing. The more it began to tear, the more the hand seemed to become less humanlike. The glove became completely torn off, revealing the hand to have turned into a three-fingered claw. The kids watched as the hand was pulled down the drain, and its gurgling growls faded away into silence. Several of the kids thought it was dead, but Bill wanted to go and make sure that the clown would never come back. He was outvoted, and the eight of them stood back up. Henry knelt back down to pick up his discarded switchblade and closed it before putting the weapon back in his pocket.
"When that thing said it was a eater of children, then does that mean it was behind all those murders?" he asked.
"Y-Yeah." Bill replied, with a nod.
Henry shut his eyes tightly for a moment, this had been quite a day. Then he looked over at Eddie. He saw that after what the fragile-looking boy had done, he could no longer be called a sissy. These Losers had surprised him, big time. Henry then looked over at Stan, and patted him on the shoulder.
"You alright?" he asked.
"I'll let you know when my heart stops pounding like a drum." Stan replied, putting his hand against his own chest.
"Thanks for the save, and sorry...for everything."
The eight kids evacuated from the sewers, and began heading for home. While they walked, Bill and the other Losers were explained to as to why Henry Bowers was there, and learned that Henry and his friends were there to get back at them for the rock-throwing fest. Though initially angry at first at Henry's attempt on their lives, they remembered that it was because of Stan's act of compassion that in turn helped Henry buy Bev the time she needed to retrieve the stone in time to save the Losers. When they were about to leave the area, Bill stopped, looking back at the sewers.
"Swear to me." he spoke.
The Losers stopped, and looked at him.
"Swear to me, that if It isn't dead, we'll all come back." Bill continued, looking back at his friends.
He extended an arm, and Bev was the first to place a hand on his.
"I swear." she agreed.
Ben hesitated for a brief moment, then put his hand on top of Bev's. Mike did the same, agreeing to come back also. Stan watched as Richie and Eddie put their hands in also, and mulled it over in his head. He didn't exactly want to ever see that clown again, but his friends risked their lives to stand up to It, and protect the next potential children It would have gone to kill. They went in to avenge the fallen's deaths. Then to his surprise, Henry placed a hand onto the stack.
"I swear." he spoke, calmly.
"You're not a part of this, Bowers." Ben reminded him.
"If it hadn't been for the Jew, I'd be dead. I owe it to him, and I owe it to you guys. I'm in, whether you want me or not."
Stan gulped, and placed his hand on top of Henry's.
"I swear." he agreed, finally.
I know, Henry's supposed to be a psychopath or like one, and he's not supposed to be this OOC, but I wanted to give it a try. Flamers will be ignored and reviews are appreciated. Positive ones only. Meant to be a one-shot, but I'll continue if you guys would like. If someone's already done this, I'm sorry, I will take it down.
Update (9/19/18): Chapter two is in progress.