CHAPTER TEN
At first I was reminded of when the Turtle had ripped open the world's wallpaper to get at Richie. I looked at the tear and half-expected to see myself several days ago, still new to this, but warming up to it.
But, I realized a second later, it wasn't a tear at all. It was the same sweeping blackness that had radiated from Henry's unconscious body, leaving only the sewers unaffected.
"How…?" I asked aloud, bewildered. It did not spread, but stood stationary, slowly rotating, looking much like the theories I'd seen on what a black hole just might look like.
I felt a gust of wind pass by my face as some force swung close by it. Whatever it was wasn't important; suddenly, I heard Richie's air whistle out of his lungs, as though he'd been punched in the stomach. I saw him fall back, landing the darkness.
Out of the darkness, something suddenly shone like a pair of impeding headlights, and it showed Eddie, who continued to hold his head, still forced on the ground, oblivious to the danger he was in. He was in the middle of the room, but would not be safe for long. The rest of us had backed off to the right edge of the room, spread out against the back wall.
"We n-n-nuh-need to get out!" Bill said suddenly.
"Where?" Stan asked, his voice terrified. There were no tunnels on this side of the wall.
"Anywhere," Bill said, casting his eyes around in the brilliant light of the evil It had sent to us. "There!" he said, now pointing to a random tunnel on the opposite side of the room we had come in.
This tunnel was a bit more elegant then the others, with a much higher arch and a ridge around the frame. The others recognized it as one they hadn't gone down on their last journey.
"Eddie come on," Beverly said urgently. I don't think she understood fully just how much agony he was in. He was lying fully on the ground now, on his side.
Mike ran out to grab Eddie, but there was another sudden whooshing sound, and the dark cloud bulged out to pull Mike into its depths. He'd gotten too close. It was a miracle that Eddie hadn't been pulled in already.
'That's two…' I thought. Nothing else came. No ideas. No plans. Nothing that could have helped; nothing that made its stealthy appearance when I needed it the most. Instead, the song that had been running continuously in my head since we came down here, "Float on," turned up, distracting me.
'We need to get him,' I heard Ben think. 'We're not going to get out without him.'
"Dammit, Bill, what do we do?" I asked frantically.
"Make a chain," he said. He, like the rest of us, was struggling against the suction coming from the cloud, like leaning against a high wind. He ducked as another sudden wind passed over his head, where it would have thrown him off balance, thrown him in. "H-Human chain. Beverly, get at the end, hold on to the ridge on that tunnel. Don't let go for anything."
Beverly, who was on the side of the way we had come in, slowly made her way against the raging wind to the other side of the chamber we were in, edging around the side where the wind tunnel was. Stan attempted to dodge a gust, but got hit, and flew towards the tunnel. Beverly stuck out an arm and caught him, and nearly fell off-balance herself. I steadied the pair of them, and walked with them the last few feet.
Beverly put the slingshot into her hip pocket, and I slung my bow over my chest. Beverly got a good hold onto the edge.
So the chain went like this: Beverly, Stan, me, Ben, Bill. We stayed against the wall, and prepared to go out into the wind, a battle of strength.
Stan's hands were sweaty and slippery. I slid my hand up to grab his wrist instead, letting him grab mine. Ben, however, had a firm grip, and I wasn't worried much about him letting go.
Eddie still kneeled in the center of the room, living his own personal hell of swarming memories. The gusts and suction picked up, and he stood on his feet. Not of his own accord, but of the wind slowly claiming him.
Bill unthinkingly jumped out, letting the wind claim him, holding on to Ben, jumping as a bungee jumper would, resting his life fully on the assumption that the rope would hold; resting his life on his knowledge that we wouldn't let go.
As he did so, each of us was pulled off of our feet, suspended by the suction and by Beverly holding on. I glanced back, saw her straining, but knew that she could hold on longer, quite a bit longer, if she needed to.
Eddie started to fall forwards, but Bill caught him by the hand. Eddie's other arm fell into the cloud, but he pulled it out, and curled up, so that no other limbs would be pulled in.
Stan's grip started to slowly let go. I tightened my grip on his arm,and for a few terrifying seconds, that was all that was holding the chain intact.
"Grab onto my hand!" I shouted furiously at Stan. "Don't let go!"
He grasped my hand again, and then Beverly began to pull us back. Stan grasped a hold of the chamber door, and helped Beverly pull us in.
As I was pulled through, the suction ceased. It just stopped, as though there were some sort of force field in the arch, holding the suction entirely in the room.
The three of us pulled in Ben, Bill, and Eddie.
"We're out," I said, relieved.
"Not Mike and Richie," Beverly said morbidly. "They're still in there."
"Say, Eddie, how are you doing?" Ben asked.
"Not so hot," Eddie said. He was shaking, but I could sense that the cascade of memories had slowed, or maybe stopped.
"Good to have you b-back," Bill said.
We stood in the chamber for a long time, with the water flowing around our ankles, and the brilliant light glimmering from the other room, reflecting blindingly off of the water.
"So where do we go?" Beverly asked Bill. Her voice had an edge of panic to it that I didn't like. "What do we do now?"
"We can either go after the others, or we can find It," Ben said, logically laying out the options.
"We don't know where the others are," I said. "They could be anywhere."
"They're in the Deadlights now," Stan said, glancing to the adjoining room, where the cloud still writhed and turned and shone out the light. "That's what that light is."
All of us snapped our gazes over as we saw the truth in Stan's words. The light had seemed a bit off to me before, but I hadn't pondered it long enough to figure out exactly what.
"Then we go find It," Bill said. "If I can get back into It's D-Deadlights, then I might b-be able to find them. Eddie, is there another way to It's lair that d-doesn't go through this tunnel?"
"I think so," Eddie said. He thought to himself for a minute. "I'm pretty sure there is."
"Lead the way," Bill said.
Eddie glanced around once, and started walking again.