"I swear to god, I have never before wanted to go back to Derry, but I would do unspeakable things to get back into that shithole town right about now," Richie said for what felt like the thousandth time since the sun came up.

"I'd do unspeakable things to get you to shut the fuck up," Eddie countered.

Roland took a deep and long breath, trying to conceal how vexed her was. It had been days since El had spoken to Sara and had turned up nothing. He should have known better than to put his faith in the girl, but she had proven her worth in other ways. The fact that the kids knew about the ritual was concerning enough. Not for him, but for them. Whatever they were up against wasn't anything compared to the tower, but for a bunch of kids, it couldn't be easy. They weren't gunslingers like he was, but if they survived fighting something that the ritual needed to be used against they could have been well over their heads.

"Roland, can we talk for a second?" Eddie the elder asked, using the kids' squabble as a cover.

"Aye," Roland replied, hanging back with his companion until the kids were far enough ahead that they wouldn't hear their conversation. He had a feeling he already knew what it was about. If he was right then he shared Eddie's concerns. They'd hardly been able to supply food for themselves and now they had to worry about feeding 7 other kids. Their stores were getting low and Roland didn't know how long they'd have food to keep them from starving to death.

As Roland had thought Eddie said, "We need to go hunting or foraging or something. We have enough food for maybe two more days and that's it."

"Where, exactly, do you suggest we find this food?" Roland asked, gesturing at the wasteland around them.

"I don't know, Roland," Eddie replied. "We have to do something though. Those kids have put a royal fork in the gears of this whole operation and I'd rather not starve to death if we can manage it. I already put myself on quarter rations to save a bit."

"I know, Eddie," Roland said. "I have too. I know about the problem."

"Well, what are we planning on doing about not starving to death?" Eddie asked. "I don't know about you, Roland, but I can't do any walking if I'm dead."

"I understand your concerns, Eddie," Roland said. "Frankly, this wasn't my first choice either, but we couldn't just leave them there. They would have died."

"Yeah, but we wouldn't have," Eddie mumbled.

With a shake of his head, Roland said, "You don't mean that."

Sulking, Eddie replied, "No, I don't. But I wish I did."

"We just have to keep doing what-"

Roland stopped talking when he realized that something was off all a sudden. Eddie seemed to feel a change in the air just seconds after Roland had. There was silence, brought on so suddenly that its impact felt like a bullet.

Looking for what had made the kids fall silent, Roland and Eddie both scanned the wasteland. Roland saw it first. A single red balloon floating close to the ground, dragging a string behind it. It was odd, certainly, but the reaction of horror and silence wouldn't be what he had expected.

"Umm...is everyone okay?" Eddie asked, giving Roland a sideways glance before looking back at the balloon, which was getting closer and closer to them.

"It's It!" Stan screamed, destroying the silence and scrambling to get towards the back of the group, suddenly hysterical.

The squabbling began again, some kids also concerned about the balloon being 'It' while others were demanding that their companions calm down. The only ones who were silent were Roland, Eddie Dean, Jake, and Susannah. They shared a few glances between each other, never speaking a word, but still asking each other the same question: What on earth was so terrifying about a red balloon?

Getting a headache from the shouting, Eddie drew his gun, pointed it at the balloon and fired.

The balloon burst, but none of them were expecting the air from the balloon to burst out of its confines so violently. They all held up their hands to cover their faces, protecting their eyes from the burst of wind that came from the balloon. Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie, Ben and Stan formed a huddle, protecting themselves and each other from the flying sand. Bev and Max did the same as Blue burrowed between them, whining as she did so. El was the only one of the Lucky Seven who didn't hide her face and Roland was the only one of the gunslingers to face the storm head-on. They looked at each other briefly, blinking dust out of their eyes before El put her hands up, telekinetically forcing the sand to veer away from her rather than at her. Roland turned his head down, using the brim of his hat to block the worst of it. The wind lasted longer than it had any right to, blowing strong and hard until their group was either breathless or near to it.

Then, as suddenly as the wind began, it stopped.

They only dared to try and breathe, coughing cust from their lungs almost a minute after the wind stopped, just to be sure it was safe.

"What the hell was that?" Jake exclaimed once his windpipe and nostrils were mostly clear of sand.

"I dunno," Max said, stepping away from Bev and pushing her mess of hair behind one of her ears, trying to ignore the close proximity in which the girls had found themselves.

"You don't think Pennywise is out here, do you?" Richie asked before holding down one of his nostrils and shooting a sandy snot rocket onto the ground, provoking the disgusted complaints from Max and Bev, a confused look from El, and an 'I'm-a-mother-shaking-my-head-at-my-children' look from Susannah.

"It was only a red balloon, Richie, you dumbass," Stan shouted, slipping back into his hysterics again. "Nothing good ever happens when we see a fucking red balloon! It's like Pennywise's calling card! It doesn't matter where we go, he'll find us! We're cursed forever because we were idiots and thought we were strong enough to beat that damn clown!"

"Settle down, Stan," Eddie said, reaching out to touch Stan's shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. Stan, however, was having none of that and he slapped Eddie's hand away.

"Stop acting like I'm being crazy!" Stan shouted. "I'm the only one acting normal! You guys should be terrified and you're acting like this isn't a big deal and like that clown can't kill us! He can kill us! He's not afraid of us! He killed Betty Ripsom and Georgie and he's going to kill us too!"

"Guys," Ben said, hoping to get their attention, bending down to pick something up that had rolled against his shoes.

"You're having a mental breakdown, Stan," Bev said. "You need to calm down."

"GUYS!" Ben repeated, this time louder as he unrolled the piece of paper that had landed at his feet.

This finally got them all to shut up and look at what Ben was trying to show them. He swallowed a lump in his throat as he read the page before passing it around their group so they could see what he'd found.

"What's it mean?" Jake asked as he studied the not.

"It's messing with us," Max declared.

"Maybe," El said, taking the note from Jake and looking it over again. "It could be a way home, though."

"That's just great," Stan huffed. "Carnival music and now this stupid message. Do you remember the last time Pennywise left us a message?"

Before anyone from the Loser's Club could answer, El raised her hand to silence him. "What do you mean 'carnival music'?"

"The fucking carnival music that's playing!" Stan shouted. "Like you'd hear at a circus or a freak show or something. Everyone knows what carnival music is!"

Everyone went quiet and exchanged concerned looks. Finally, Ben said what everyone else was too nervous to say.

"Stan...there's no music playing."

Considering how long it's been since I was actively writing this, I think I'm doing pretty well about being consistent. Let's see how long it lasts. If I'm lucky I'll finish this story before I run out of steam. I mean...I probably will. This story's almost done. Like...maybe 10 chapters, and these chapters aren't super long so the end is near! Be afraid. Be very afraid. Also, either this next chapter will touch base with the kids in Derry or some more of The Lucky Seven. Which should I do? Any votes? Any at all? k, leaveareviewiloveyoubye