Winter had put plastic wrap around everyone's wounds as they all remained quiet. They were all nervous about the adventure that they were going to face.
Winter was wrapping plastic wrap around Eddie's cast on his arm by the river as the others sat in a group nearby. He was the last one she needed to cover up before they went into the sewers.
Eddie looked from his arm to her face, "You're going to make a good Veterinarian one day. How do you know what to do all the time?" He asked, regarding knowing how to protect everyone by cleaning their cuts to coming up with the idea to protect them from bad bacteria in the sewers.
Winter shrugged as she taped the sides of the wrap down tight, "I don't know. I just do. I wouldn't say I always know exactly what to do all the time."
She pictured Georgie as she gave him CPR. As she wrapped Eddie's arm, she considered that maybe she should have thought more about controlling the bleeding from his arm rather than trying to find a way out from the sewers. She thought about how Bill still didn't know that she tried to save his little brother, and it broke her heart that he believed that there could have been some hope that he was still alive. She didn't know when she would tell him the truth.
"Are you okay?" Eddie asked, knocking Winter from her daydream and guilt.
She looked at Eddie and smiled softly, "Yeah. I just get trapped in my thoughts sometimes."
"When that happens to me, I just think about all the good stuff in my life... Do you remember when we were on stage before we turned into adults? You and I were so nervous and we just stared at each other, scared to look at the audience?" he asked.
"Yeah, I remember that..." she smiled at him; the memory fresh in her mind. "I was happy you returned my gaze. I was too scared to look out at everyone. It was very comforting to me."
Eddie nodded, "Same here. If you feel scared in the sewer, just look over at me and remember that I'm scared too. We don't have to be scared alone. We're best friends after-all."
Winter giggled, "I'm surprised you don't think Richie's your best friend."
"Richie's an asshole to me! I know most of the time he's just trying to be funny, but it's too much sometimes. At least you care about me, and you're always there to talk when there's something up. Plus, we have fun in our dance class together!"
Winter smiled at him as she looked up at his face, "You know, Edz... I hope you know that you're a cool guy. And if we get out alive today, I want you to know that you grow up to be a very handsome man. I hope that we can be friends forever. I sincerely mean it."
Eddie didn't respond. The corners of his mouth kept twitching slowly into a smile at her comment. He stared at her face as she kept her gaze on the job she was doing on his arm. He hoped that one day he could find a woman that was like her. He respected Henry and her relationship, but if he could find a woman that was caring, feminine, not controlling, non-judgemental, made him feel the way Winter did, and was the total opposite of who his mother was, he would be the luckiest man in the world. Winter was his idea of the perfect woman.
"Y-y-you guys d-d-done?" Bill said as he walked over to them.
Eddie looked over at Bill, wishing he didn't interfere in the moment he was having with Winter. He didn't know if they were going to make it out alive, so every minute spent with her, just the two of them, was precious to him.
"Yep! All done!" she smiled at Eddie and then looked at Bill. Her smile slowly disappeared as she remembered what was ahead.
"C-Cool!" Bill said dreadfully and with barely any emotion as he walked back to the group.
"Winter?" Eddie said before she could walk away.
She turned back to him.
Eddie wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. Winter smiled softly and wrapped her arms in a hug around him. She laid her head on his shoulder and took in the genuine hug from her scared friend.
"Thank you for teaching me that I can take the lead. I never thought I could with my mom or my friends always telling me what to do, but when it's just you and me, I feel like a real man. I just really wanted you to know that," he hugged her even tighter.
Winter realized that she did make a big impact in his life. She held back the tears as she hugged him tightly back.
When they separated, Winter looked into his eyes and put her hand to the side of his head and brushed back some of his hair. She said seriously, "You are a man, Edz."
They continued to gaze into each other's eyes, and Winter could see the adult he was going to become one day, and she hoped he would find someone that was nothing like his mom and was someone that he really wanted.
She turned around and walked back to the group who were waiting for them.
When she was out of sight, Eddie blew out some air and grabbed a hold of his knees, "Fuck..." he whispered to himself as he blushed.
When Winter went up to them, Henry who was sitting on the grass got up to his feet and went over to her. He grabbed her hands and looked seriously into her eyes, "We can still run away..." he suggested. His eyes looked so worried and scared. "We don't have to do this... Mike explained everything to me about the journal. We're not even supposed to be a part of this."
Winter felt sadness from the look of worry in his eyes. She put her hands to the back of his head and ruffled his hair and kissed him. She slowly kissed from his bottom lip to his top lip and he kissed back, putting his hands to her waist.
She put her forehead to his, "We are a part of it, Henry. You've been a part of it since you were a baby. I've been a part of it since It took me into the sewers. It made us apart of it. This is the only way out of it."
He continued to look worried as he stared lovingly into her eyes.
"Come on, guys! Let's group quickly!" Ben said as the guys and Bev formed into a small circle on their knees.
Winter grabbed her medical supplies and put the backpack around her shoulders. She kneeled down between Bill and Eddie.
Henry grabbed the backpack with his turtle and put it gently around his shoulders. He kneeled across from Winter between Bev and Richie.
As Bill began to talk, Henry kept staring into Winter's eyes. His eyes kept telling her that he was really worried about this.
"I th-think the tur-turtle c-c-could protect u-us," he said. Everyone quickly looked at Henry who had the turtle in his bag. They wanted him to carry it just in case the clown would try to change him.
"What if the turtle turns us into adults again?" Stan asked.
Mike answered, "The turtle's job today is to protect us. I don't think It will change us into adults."
"Besides, if this is not something we'll be having to do together again in the future, I don't think the turtle would change us. If It doesn't change us, It's probably a good sign, right?" Eddie said.
Winter continued to stare back into Henry's eyes, trying to give him as much strength as she could from her gaze.
"I hope we don't have to come back here again..." Bev said to them. "We have to do it right this time so we don't have to do it again."
"What if two of us die like the prophecy says?" Stan asked.
They all remained quiet as they stared at each other.
Henry rubbed the back of his neck with anxiety as he listened to their conversation.
"We're already changing the prophecy with adding two other people," Winter said. "It might end up saving the two who are supposed to die."
"Yeah, and Winter knows how to heal people and she brought medical supplies... This might make things work out differently," Richie said as he looked at her with her bag of medical supplies that she stole from her nurse.
Winter looked down and the flash of Georgie took over her thoughts again. She was flattered by their confidence in her, but only her, Henry and Officer Hopper knew that she couldn't heal everybody. There were two children that died under her care and supervision the last time she was in the sewers.
Eddie had pulled out his inhaler from his pocket and nudged her with his arm as he did so, bringing Winter back to reality. She looked over at him taking an inhale of his placebo. She remembered that she had her inhaler in her pocket too in case she felt winded.
"A-Are you o-okay, H-Henry?" Bill asked as Henry continued to look at Winter with panic and remained quiet.
"I just don't want to fucking do this..." he said worried. He turned his head to look at the sewage building and got up to his feet. He sighed, "Let's go."
They were surprised that it was Henry who was the first to get up and instructed them to go in. They all got up to their feet and began to walk to the building. Henry waited for Winter and grabbed her hand as he kept her close behind him in the middle of the group.
They walked up the steps to the building and went inside. The doors were already wide open. They all had their own flashlights and turned them on to see where they were going.
Other than the building looking creepy, there was nothing that tried to spook them. The only sounds they could hear was water draining and all they could see were tunnels to climb down in to go into the sewer.
"Which tunnel did you go down to get to the sewers, Winter?" Ben asked as he whirled the light from his flashlight around.
Winter quickly looked around and then pointed straight ahead, "The clown led me down that one..."
They swung their lights on one of the tunnels that had a ladder to climb down.
Ben, Bev, Richie, Eddie, Stan, Mike, Bill, Henry and Winter approached the tunnel, being very aware of their surroundings for anything that didn't sound right or that didn't look right.
They shined their lights down the tunnel. Ben went first, followed by Bill, Richie, Bev, Stan, Eddie, Mike, Winter, and Henry.
"The clown made me follow It that way..." she pointed her flashlight down the east tunnel.
As they walked, they looked around at their surroundings. It was full of darkness and there was a stream of water in the middle of each tunnel. They tried to keep to the sides so they didn't get their shoes wet with the gray-water.
Winter walked behind a couple of her friends with Henry walking directly behind her, keeping his hands on her shoulders as she kept the flashlight in her hand. Flashbacks of running after Tiff in the sewers flashed in her mind. The clown appearing in so many different tunnels, and the crowd of dead kids chasing her so she stayed in Derry also crossed her mind. She hoped that they didn't run into that group of kids.
They continued to walk for more than twenty minutes in silence as they were extra aware of everything happening around them. They hoped that they could find the clown before It found them.
"Maybe Winter should lead us since she knows the way..." Richie suggested as they all turned another corner, following the direction Winter would flash her flashlight.
"Maybe you should shove that idea back up your ass," Henry said quickly, not liking the idea.
The group let out a laugh at Henry's comment. It was the first time anyone said something that Richie would say back at him, using his own humour against him. It was also nice to forget about the stressful situation they were in for a moment. They had all laughed so loudly that they could hear their laughs echo.
"That was pretty funny!" Ben laughed.
Stan laughed, "And he's not even wearing the jacket. That was all Henry."
"G-Good one, H-H-Henry," Bill smiled.
"Finally, someone gave Richie a taste of his own medicine!" Eddie laughed.
"Nice one, babe!" Winter giggled.
"You know, Henry, I liked you better when you were quiet and read in corners of the school..." Richie said. "You were nicer when you were quiet and just had your nose in a book."
Henry looked at Richie who was just in front of him. He gave Richie a sly smile and nudged him in a friendly way.
Richie smiled at him. The Henry in the jacket that burnt him was gone, and he was accepting the guy that he knew since he was a kid but barely talked to.
Winter smiled softly that everyone was treating Henry as if he was a part of the group. She liked that his introverted personality was coming out of his shell with her friends, even if he did try to kill them not that long ago.
As they continued to walk and Winter continued to shine her flashlight down the tunnels she thought would lead to where Pennywise stays most of Its time, they all remained quiet. All they could hear was the sounds of water dripping from the sewer drains from the streets and their own footsteps.
"Do we still know where we are?" Ben asked, looking at Winter.
"Honestly, if I knew exactly where we were, I would have run out of the sewer days before I did come out. I think this all looks familiar..." Winter said as she continued to walk with Henry close behind her.
"BILL!" came a child's voice from the tunnel in front of them.
They all stopped and gulped as they shined their flashlights down the tunnel that the voice came from.
"G-Georgie?" Bill said, surprised and afraid. "G-Georgie's dow-down that tunnel!"
Bill went running towards the sound of his brother's voice.
"BILL!" everyone yelled.
'No! No! No! Billy, no!' Winter thought to herself as she went running after Bill.
"WINTER!" Henry yelled as he ran behind her and the rest of the group followed behind them.
Winter stopped as she turned the tunnel and saw Bill standing in the middle of the tunnel, shining his light down the tunnel where Georgie stood with one arm.
Henry went up behind Winter and held onto her shoulders tightly, keeping her body close to his, as the rest of the group followed up behind them.
They all stared wide-eyed as they saw Georgie standing there.
"G-G-Georgie!" Bill said as he stared at his little brother in shock.
"Bill, why did you trick me? The clown ate my arm and killed me!" Georgie said to him.
"G-G-Georgie, I tr-tried l-l-looking for you!" Bill said with tears streaming down his eyes. "I didn't kn-know a-a-about the cl-clown!"
Henry, knowing that Georgie was dead, tapped Bill on the shoulder as he continued to look down at the tunnel at his little brother.
"Bill, that's not Georgie..." Henry said quietly into his ear. "It's trying to trick you, man. Fight It!"
"It's not really Georgie, Bill!" Richie said to him.
Eddie spoke up as he stared at Georgie, "Fight It, Bill! It's the clown fucking with you!"
Bill listened to them without taking his eyes off of his little brother, "Y-you're not G-Georgie..."
It was a few seconds that passed by. Georgie continued to stand there.
Then he was gone. He disappeared into thin air.
Bill blinked back some tears as everyone around him gave him a supporting hand on his shoulder. Bev had gone up to him to give him a hug.
"I-It's okay... I-I'm f-f-fine, g-g-guys..." he said as he whipped away tears and hugged her back. "W-We g-g-got to f-find the cl-clown."
"SHH!" Ben hushed everyone.
Everyone became very quiet and listened for what he could have heard.
The sounds of pressure and vibrations were coming fast from behind them. They all turned around and Henry grabbed onto Winter's hand as the sound was coming towards them fast.
"What the fuck is that sound, guys?" Eddie asked as he took an inhale of his puffer.
It was becoming louder.
"Don't let go of my hand!" Henry said to Winter.
The wave of water was rushing down the tunnel and was coming at them like a tidal. The water crashing louder as it hit the sewer walls and rolled into a bigger wave.
"RUN!" Richie yelled to everyone as the dark wave was becoming bigger and bigger and the sound was amplified as it came closer.
The group ran as fast as they could down the tunnel where the ghost of Georgie Denbrough was just standing.
Henry held on tightly onto Winter's hand as he continued to run with her close by his side. They all stayed together as they continued to run with the crashing waves behind them. They knew there was no way they could escape the speed of a typhoon coming up straight behind them. How was it possible that there was a typhoon in the sewers was something they didn't have time to think about it. They just continued to run as fast as they could.
They turned down different tunnels in their group, hoping the water would die down as the rush of the large wave could tapper down different tunnels.
When Henry turned around as he ran to see the status of the monster wave, it was not dying down. In fact, it looked like it was gaining more momentum and becoming bigger. He knew it was going to grab them and eat them into the storm of it.
"HOLD MY HAND TIGHT!" he yelled to Winter as the sound of the water was so loud that it was hurting their ears.
Winter held onto his hand tight as the wave crashed into all nine of them and pushed them down the tunnel of the sewer.
The huge wave was making them twirl and spin as the impact took control of their bodies.
Ben, Mike, Eddie and Bev were choking from the impact of the wave as it got into their throats and went down their wind-pipes.
The wave had over-taken all of them that they couldn't think as the wave held onto them, trying to drown them as the monster wave crashed to the walls.
Henry and Winter tried to hold each other's hands, until the pressure ripped them apart. They kept trying to find each other with their arms extended, trying to reach in the darkness of the water, hoping to grab a hold onto each other's arms.
Every chance they could to get their faces up out of the water, they would inhale as much as they could since they knew the water would over-power them again.
"WINTER!" Henry screamed as his head lifted quickly out of the water. He couldn't see anyone as he continued to travel with the typhoon. "WINTER?!" They were all trapped in the middle of it.
The water swallowed him back up.
Winter looked up from the water and coughed, looking for Henry and looking for her friends. They were all trapped underneath as well.
"HENRY?" she yelled and choked out water. "GUYS!"
She had realized that it wasn't sewer water. It was ocean water. It had to be a trick from the clown.
Henry slammed into a doored up tunnel. The impact of the water slamming him with incredible force.
He grabbed onto the door as the pressure from the wave was pushing him harder into it. He tried to push or open the door but it wasn't nudging.
Henry looked around for the others, keeping his lookout for Winter.
Winter had slammed into the door from underneath the wave. She grabbed onto the wooden door and made her way up towards the air. She came up and breathed in deep as it felt like a long time since she was able to breathe.
"WINTER!" Henry grabbed onto her tight and hugged her. "ARE YOU OKAY?" He shouted, still trying to speak up over the sound of the water. He put both hands on the sides of her head and looked at her, relieved to see her and hoping she wasn't hurt.
She nodded as she continued to cough.
"WHERE'S YOUR INHALER?" He asked her as she continued to cough. Henry grabbed onto her waist and felt around her pockets. He grabbed onto the apparatus and pulled it from her pocket. "INHALE!" he directed as he put the inhaler close to her lips.
She took it and inhaled a couple of puffs. She was able to breathe easier but was still winded from the force of the water. Henry took the puffer and put it in his pocket.
"YOU'RE ALL RIGHT NOW?" he asked her concerned as he held onto her waist.
Winter nodded, "YEAH!" she said.
Bill, Bev, Eddie and Richie surfaced after they hit the door as well. All of them chocking up water that they had inhaled.
"ARE YOU GUYS OKAY?" Henry asked them as they all came too.
"WHERE'S MIKE, BEN AND STAN?" Winter yelled, looking around as the water continued to crash into the door.
There was impact on the door and Ben, Stan and Mike popped their heads from the water.
"IS EVERYONE OKAY?!" Bev shouted, still trying to breathe.
Eddie took a puff from his inhaler and looked around, "GUYS, IS THE WATER RISING?!"
It was rising.
"HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?! THERE'S TUNNELS EVERYWHERE FOR IT TO GO DOWN!" Richie shouted.
"I-IT'S TRYING TO TR-RICK US!" Bill shouted.
"WE NEED TO OPEN THE DOOR!" Henry shouted as the water continued to rise. If they didn't do something soon, it would drown them.
"IS IT LOCKED?!" Stan yelled over the impact of the crashing waves.
"IT'S STUCK!" Henry answered.
Henry looked up as the water was rising them to the ceiling. He jumped up and grabbed a bar that was on the ceiling and stomped on the door as hard as he could, trying to break it open, hoping it would be loose enough to be able to open.
Bill, Eddie, Richie Stan and Mike followed what Henry was doing and jumped up towards the bar on the ceiling too. They began to kick and stomp on the door.
"TRY TO MOVE OUT OF THE WAY, GUYS!" Winter grabbed onto Ben and Bev to try and stay to the side as the five guys continued to kick as hard as they could. She didn't want the three of them to accidentally get kicked in the face.
"KICK HARDER!" Henry instructed Bill, Eddie, Mike and Richie. They held on tighter to the bar above their heads as the water was starting to rise towards their heads.
Winter grabbed onto Bev and Ben's hand as they were feeling like it was harder for them to stay away from the door as it was being kicked open.
The five guys had pulled themselves up as the water was nearly to the ceiling. Henry took a second to look over towards Winter who was trying hard to stay above the water's surface by clutching onto the wall. The other two were doing the same. He knew they had to knock it open fast or else they were going to die.
Henry yelled, "KICK ON THREE! ONE... TWO..."
They all grabbed onto the bar harder and prepared to go with all their strength.
"THREE!"
They stomped the door as hard as they could and it swung open.
All nine of them got caught in the impact of the water drowning into the next tunnel. They were in Pennywise's freezer as Winter would call it, and this is where the tunnels cut off and diverted into the other tunnels in Derry.
They all separated, crashing into different areas in the room that Winter had spent most of her three days in.
The water level went down as the wave was traveling threw the different tunnels.
Winter chocked out water as she sat on the floor soaking wet, looking around for everyone else. She had seen them all on different ends of the room, chocking out water as well.
Henry ran up to her and got down on his knees in front of her, "You're okay?!" he asked concerned as she was coughing.
He still had her puffer in his pocket and he put it to her mouth. She inhaled as he pushed down on the apparatus twice.
When she was able to breathe normally again, Henry grabbed her and hugged her tightly. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him back. He kissed her cheek repeatedly and continued to hug her
"Are you okay?" she asked him.
"I'm fine!" he said.
He opened up his backpack to make sure the turtle was fine and he was. Henry was just happy that Winter was okay.
He got up onto his feet, grabbed Winter's hands and pulled her up.
"GUYS, STAN'S NOT BREATHING!" Bev yelled from another end of the room. "WINTER, YOU KNOW CPR, RIGHT?!"
Everyone ran over towards Stan who was laying on the ground, laying on his stomach.
Everyone circled him and felt anxiety in their stomachs.
Winter got to her knees, "GUYS! BACK UP!" she instructed as she gently moved his body so he was laying on his back. She put her ear to his chest, listening for breathing or a heart beat. She couldn't hear anything.
Georgie passed her mind, but she put the thoughts away and concentrated on Stan. She opened Stan's mouth to make sure there was no water in his mouth and to be sure his airway was clear.
Everyone watched and hoped he was going to be okay. They held back their breathe as they watched their friend laying on the ground.
She compressed his chest as hard as she could thirty times. She tilted back his head, plugged his nose and gave him mouth-to-mouth, giving him two rescue breaths.
"Come on, Stan!" she said to him as she began pressing down on his chest thirty times again.
The group were becoming anxious as he still wasn't breathing. They all looked at each other as time seemed to be going very slowly as they watched their friend try to save their other friends life.
She plugged his nose again and gave him two more rescue breaths.
Stan began to chock and chocked up the water that was trapped in his lungs. He popped up to a sitting position and continued to cough and was breathing hard.
"STAN!" everyone exclaimed happily and went closer to the two of them. "ARE YOU OKAY?"
She watched all her friends' hands rub Stan on his shoulders as well as hers.
Winter felt relieved seeing her friend breathe. She continued to stare at him wide-eyed, happy that the CPR worked, "You're all good, Stan?"
Stan hugged her tightly. Hugging her with every amount of energy he had in him for saving his life.
She thought about that day when they were rehearsing for the concert, "We need you, Stan. Like Mr. Hopper said, you're our feet. We can't walk without feet," she said as she hugged him.
Stan let her go and looked at her, "And you're the boss, because you just know what to do."
Bill looked at Winter, "Y-You're a he-hero, Wi-Winter!"
Winter stared at Bill and her eyes began to fill with tears as flashbacks of Georgie passed her mind. She thought about the little boy dying in her arms while she was trying to find a way out. She thought that if she only tried to get the bleeding to stop, maybe she could have saved him. She didn't feel like a hero as she looked Bill in his eyes.
Winter's eyes began to fill up with tears and it wasn't long until they were running down her cheeks.
"I don't think I am..." Winter cried.
Everyone saw that she was holding in something traumatic that was triggered to make her emotionally breakdown. Stan, Eddie, Bill and Richie were in particularly the most emotional and concerned while watching their first girl pal and bandmate break down, as they had never seen her breakdown before. They had seen her cry a little earlier that day when they showed her the photo of Henry, Belch and Vic in the 1958 yearbook, but this cry was from a pain that she was holding in.
"Are you okay, Winter?" Richie asked, watching her shocked.
"Please don't cry..." Eddie said sadly as he went up to her and put his hand to her shoulder, "I don't like seeing you cry."
Henry went up to her and got onto his knees. Since it was only him and his uncle that knew that she tried to save Georgie but couldn't, he figured that's why she broke down after Bill called her a hero.
"Hey, hey! Winter?" Henry said softly as he grabbed onto her hands. She turned to face him as the tears continued to rush down her face.
"I thought I knew what to do, but I didn't. I can't unsee his face!" she cried, her crying becoming more intense as she let her pain out.
The seven friends watched as Henry and her talked. They didn't know what she was talking about, but they didn't know what happened during those three days that she was stuck in the sewers. They didn't want to ask, but they realized that she really needed to talk about it and maybe they should have been there for her more while she was in the hospital.
Henry said very seriously to her as he lifted her chin slightly to look him in the eyes, "It wasn't your job to know what to do. You did what you thought was right in the moment that it happened. You can't beat yourself up for the rest of your life for it, because you're just going to always be living in a dark place if you do. You can't save everyone, Winter, even though I know you have a passion in your heart that makes you want to so badly. And I love that part about you so much; That passion to save everybody and anything that is hurt or in pain, that kindness in your heart that feels empathy for everyone."
Winter's tears started to decrease as she listened to Henry talk to her.
The rest of the group listened silently.
"What happened that night was going to happen no matter what you did. It was too late, and that is not your fault at all. Sometimes it's going to be too late, and you'll have to know when to walk away and accept that there is nothing else you could have done because you already did all that you could. That darkness of wishing you did more will eat you alive, and the clown knows that. It's like how the clown knows that me trying to keep you safe all the time will eat me alive. Don't let It have that fear, because It will eat you alive if you surrender yourself to that darkness. Don't give it to him. You just saved your friends life, and that's something that you should be really proud of yourself for. Look at them..." he pointed to her seven friends observing, "They are so proud of you. You saved Stan's life, and he will never in his life forget it!"
"I won't ever forget it, Winter," Stan weakly smiled at her.
"You're the bravest chick I've ever met in my life, Winter!" Richie said to her reassuringly.
"You're an inspiration!" Bev smiled.
"You're more amazing than Wonder Woman! You're WWW... Winter the Wonder Woman!" Eddie said to her.
Winter let out a snort to the ridiculous name as she began to collect her emotions together.
Bill continued to stare at the two of them. He wondered who they were talking about and wondered if Winter was being truthful when she said she didn't see Georgie when she was stuck in the sewers. He also considered that it could have been someone else in the sewers, but it was a thought that was in the back of his mind as he watched.
Henry smiled reassuringly at her as he wiped her tears from underneath her eyes, "See?" He put his forehead to hers and looked deeply into her eyes. He whispered, "Don't let the darkness take away that light of yours. You're perfect."
"I love you so much," she said to Henry as she put her hand on top of his hand as he laid it on her cheek.
Henry smiled softly and kissed her on the lips, "I know." He smiled more as she began to smile.
"Oh, shit! I think something's coming, guys!" Mike said as he looked towards the entrance to one of the tunnels that was lit up and the light was becoming brighter as it approached.
They all looked towards the tunnel, fear making them stay still as they watched the bright light coming.
"That's the clown! Don't look at the light!" Winter said as the bright light came into the room and filled up the entire place. The sound that came with it sounded like a vacuum.
The seven went down towards the ground and covered their eyes as the light overpowered the room.
Henry shielded Winter, putting his arms around her and closed their eyes.
The force from the light and the force from the turtle in Henry's backpack made a force together and it overpowered Henry and Winter. They felt a ripple go through them, and as they held each other, they weren't in the sewers anymore. The force from the white light and the force from the turtle made them travel together to the past when they were kids.
Henry and Winter were little kids, about three years old. They were playing on the playground together as their moms sat on a bench and chatted as the two children ran around the playground.
Henry stopped running around and stared at the sandbox. The red balloon that the clown had left for him as a baby was floating there, staying in one spot as it twirled but didn't get taken away by the wind. He stared at it, wanting to take it so bad as he felt drawn to it.
Winter went up to him and looked at the sandbox, seeing the red balloon too. Their parents couldn't see it.
"Balloon!" Winter smiled.
Henry continued to stare at it, feeling Its power and knew it was for him to take. "The balloon is always following me. I always want to grab it, but I get scared when I'm about to!" Henry said to her.
They both went up closer to it.
Winter felt the force from It, making her feel uneasy as Henry continued to walk closer to it. She stepped towards him before he could take it, "DON'T!" she shouted as him and pulled him back by grabbing his hand.
They time-traveled to the last time Winter and Henry saw each other before her and her parents moved to Canada. She was there to say bye to her friend before she left.
They were in Henry's house, and he was staring at the corner of the wall where the balloon was floating in the family room.
It really did follow him wherever he went.
Winter went up to him to say bye to her friend.
He didn't acknowledge that she was there. He stared transfixed at the balloon.
"Sometimes I catch him staring at walls, and sometimes he'll do it for hours!" Henry's mom said to Winter's mom as she watched her son ignoring Winter as she tried to say goodbye to him. His mom felt it was concerning.
Winter felt the uneasiness from the stare Henry was giving the balloon. It had hypnotized him, but he had still never taken it.
"Henry?" Winter shook his shoulder as he stared at the balloon psychotically.
He didn't break his concentration. He just continued to stare at it like it was talking to him, trying to get inside of him.
Winter didn't like how Henry was looking at the balloon. Each time she saw him looking at it, he became more hypnotized by it.
She grabbed a fork that was laying on top of a dessert plate on the coffee table. She went over to it and quickly shoved the fork in it, puncturing the rubber and popped the balloon. The string of the balloon fell to the floor and disappeared.
Henry looked at her, acknowledging that she had popped it, and he was finally out of his trance. He stared at her wide-eyed and ran to her to give her a hug. He felt like she had released him from a ball and chain that he didn't want to surrender to.
The bright light in the sewer disappeared as well as the sound.
Henry and Winter continued to sit on the ground as the rest of the others got up to their feet, feeling disoriented. The two lovers stared at each other wide-eyed. It was the first time they had ever seen each other together as children, as all the memories together as children were something they couldn't remember.
It was Winter. It was because of her that he never took that token of evil the clown had left for him to take to embody the same psychotic behaviours that Ace had embodied from the clown. Henry felt himself falling more in love with her in that moment. He didn't think that it was possible as he loved her so much already.
He put his hand to her soft face and studied her sweet, beautiful face. He rubbed her cheek softly with his thumb as he stared into her eyes and held back tears as he felt himself falling more in love with her.
"You really are my angel..." he spoke softly, feeling himself getting chocked up as she really did save his life from the clown. He brought his face up to hers and kissed her lips from her top lip to her bottom lip repeatedly. He put his forehead to hers and whispered, "Please don't ever leave me again, Winter..." He said with a tear in his eye as he thought about the flashback of their last day together before she moved to another country. "Please always stay with me."
Winter lovingly smiled at him and whispered, "We protect each other."
Henry smiled softly at her and kissed her one last time. "I love you so much..." he whispered.
She put her hand threw his hair, "I know," she smiled.
As they gazed lovingly into each others eyes, Richie yelled over to them, "I don't think this is the time to be love-birds!" He sounded scared.
Henry and Winter looked towards the seven of them and noticed that they were backing away. The two of them quickly got up to their feet and prepared for whatever it was that they saw.
"You all came down to my home and you're going to try to kill me?" the dark evil voice of the clown said from the corner of the room that was so dark that they couldn't see It.
All nine of them continued to back away slowly. Henry and Winter remained in the back of the group as they all continued to stare.
The clown laughed in the darkness. "I've been here for millions of years... You can't possibly kill what you don't understand!"
The clown jumped out from the darkness, jumping up ten feet in the air and landing in front of the seven.
Henry was standing behind Winter and wrapped his arm around her quickly, pulling her into him, her back against his stomach and chest. The only thing Henry thought about was keeping her safe. She was too weak to fight, and he didn't want to leave her alone. He backed the two of them towards a corner of the wall where the clown wouldn't know that they were there, since according to the prophecy, they weren't supposed to be there.
Henry and Winter stayed behind the wall and listened to what was going on with the other seven. They knew that if things got out of control, they would have to help them out.
The clown was walking up to Bill, "You told your friends to come down here and kill me, B-B-Billy boy?!"
As the clown was trying to corner up on Bill, the rest of the group went over to the pile of lost belongings and tried to find something that they could use to defend themselves.
"We're not scared of you anymore, fuck face!" Richie yelled at the clown as he grabbed a crow-bar. "Come at me, you ugly piece of shit!"
The clown looked up at Richie and frowned at him, not liking what Richie was saying to It.
"You really think you can take me down? All you are is a bunch of goonies!" The clown drooled as he looked at Richie, like he was an animal about to attack the prey.
Richie stared back, nervous of what was going to happen.
The clown ran towards him with all Its might.
Stan had a long chain in his hands and smacked the clown's legs with it, making the clown stop and turn towards Stan. It looked angry at him.
The clown went up to Stan and changed into an image he had always been afraid of: The woman in the portrait that hung on the wall in his dad's office. It looked exactly like her, with the long black hair and pale disoriented face. The only difference was she was wearing the clown's clothes and the clowns hundreds of teeth showed.
Richie went up to It and whacked the clown at the back of the head.
The clown was disoriented for a moment, and that was enough time for the rest of the seven to begin beating It up with the weapons they had chosen from the pile of junk.
The clown was becoming so distraught and wanted to overpower the seven kids. It turned to Eddie and threw up vomit all over the germaphobe.
The vomit didn't slow down Eddie. It did make him mad and he charged at Pennywise with the weapon in his hand.
"YOU MOTHER FUCKER!" Eddie yelled at the clown as they all continued to beat It up.
The clown grabbed a hold of Bill and pulled him away from the group.
The six watched as the clown held onto Bill, and in that moment as the evil being had their friend, that they didn't know what to do. They wanted to keep fighting It, but now It held their group leader hostage.
"G-Go! Sa-Save yourselves!" Bill directed the group.
Winter and Henry watched from their corner.
"Henry, we got to do something..." Winter whispered to him, fearing for her friend's life as Bill, the clown and the others continued to talk.
Henry put his hand threw his hair nervously, "Fuck!" he quietly exclaimed. He didn't know what to do.
Winter took off her backpack and looked threw it to find anything that she could that she might have taken from the nurse. Anything at all that could have helped.
It dawned on her as she opened the bag. She had exactly what she needed in the front pouch.
"You can just leave us here! I will feed on him and you all can live your miserable lives as adults and you'll never hear from me ever again!" The clown tried to bargain with them, sounding scared of the group in front of It.
Winter took a needle and a small glass vile filled with what she believed could help. As the clown spoke to the group of her friends, she had explained to Henry the plan she had thought up quickly.
"Give me the needle. I'll do it," Henry whispered to him.
"No, Henry. I know where to inject it," she whispered back, pulling the syringe of the needle up so it collected all the liquid from the bottle.
"There's no way I'm letting you do this, Winter. Let me," Henry said seriously.
She looked into his eyes with a look that said "Trust me"!
Henry sighed and nodded to her, "Just be careful."
"You too."
Slowly and quietly, Winter poked out from the corner and walked down the middle of the room. She slowly walked up behind Pennywise and Bill as they were both sitting on the floor. Bill was held tightly in Pennywise's arms so he wouldn't be able to escape Its grip.
"Don't you all want to live long happy lives?" the clown asked the group as they remained so shocked that they couldn't speak.
She hid the needle behind her back as she continued to approach quietly.
"J-Just go, gu-guys! L-Let It ha-have me!" Bill pleaded with the group.
Henry quietly walked against the wall, keeping his eyes from Winter to the clown.
"Listen to him, you fools!" the clown said.
The other six saw Winter approaching from out of the darkness. They were trying not to look at her as she put her finger to her lips, letting them know to stay quiet. They tried their hardest to keep their eyes on the clown so It wouldn't realize that she was sneaking up behind It, preparing to do whatever it was she was going to do.
The clown began to laugh evilly at Bill before It showed Its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, preparing to take a bite out of his flesh.
Winter, with all her strength, pushed the needle into the side of the clown's neck. She pushed the the syringe fully into the clown, releasing a whole vile of Fentanyl into the clown's body.
The clown remained very still as a rock as the opioid went into Its body. She inserted an amount that would be able to kill over five large animals.
As the clown remained in shock, Henry ran over to Bill and grabbed him out of Pennywise's arms. The clown's arms fell to Its side as the drug entered It's bloodstream (if It even had a bloodstream).
There was a feeling from the force in the clown that felt like It had turned to weakness and fear. Everyone in the room could feel the shift of energy coming from It.
Winter pulled out the needle when it was empty and threw it towards the pile of stuff in the middle of the room.
Pennywise got up to Its feet, still feeling the shock from what she did overpower It. It turned around to face her.
Winter started to slowly back away as Pennywise began to walk up to her, "You're not suppose to be here!" It said to her. It knew the prophecy.
As Pennywise continued to walk up to Winter as she backed away, Henry grabbed the long chain that Stan was holding and wrapped it around the clown's neck, pulling It down towards him so It couldn't hurt Winter.
"Don't even try to touch her, you fucker! I have more than enough reasons to smash your head against the wall and break your skull!" Henry squeezed the chain to choke the clown. It looked like Pennywise was trying to transform into something scary to overpower Henry, but It couldn't transform. The drug had hindered Its ability to change or to overpower them. "Try to change into something we're all scared of now, fucker! Bet you can't with a whole vile of Fentanyl in your body!"
Pennywise became weaker and started to have troubles standing up.
The group of seven continued to watch in shock at what was happening in front of them. They could see the clown deteriorating.
Henry continued to hold It towards him with the chain, "While I'm here, I wanted to give you your knife back!" He took Ace's knife from his back pocket, switched out the blade and stabbed it threw Its eye.
The clown screamed in shock. If the drug was working, It wouldn't have felt the knife going threw Its eye, but It would feel weaker and sedated until It died from the overdose.
"I'm inside of you, Henry! I made you who you are today!" Pennywise said weakly to him.
Henry crossed the chains behind Its neck, tightening the grip as It chocked, "You didn't make me who I am today!" Henry looked over at Winter and pointed to her to show the clown, "She made me who I am today." He looked back towards the clown, "You're nothing to me!"
Henry let go of the chain.
Pennywise fell to the ground and struggled to get back up.
Henry looked over to the seven against the wall and pointed at the clown, "It's all yours! Finish what you're here to do!"
They all quickly looked at each other reassuringly and then went over to the clown and began to beat It up with their weapons as It couldn't transform into their fears, grow bigger, or fight them off.
Henry and Winter watched as the Lucky Seven continued the prophecy in front of them. They all yelled at It as they beat It up.
The clown grabbed onto a well leading further down into the sewers. It gained enough strength to fall into it. It fell down the tunnel to what they believe was to Its death as It made noises of death at the bottom of the tunnel.
All nine of them went over to the tunnel and looked down, listening to It making noises.
"I-It might no-not be de-dead!" Bill said, scared that It could come back.
"He's got to be dead! Just the tiniest bit of Fentanyl could kill a huge animal!" Richie said to him.
Henry turned quickly towards Winter as she stared at the tunnel that the clown disappeared into. He put both his hands to the sides of her head and looked at her seriously, "Are you okay?"
Winter tore her eyes away from the tunnel and looked at Henry. She nodded to his question, still shook up by everything they went through.
Henry kissed her forehead and they hugged.
Henry turned towards the seven of them, "Guys!"
They all looked at Henry.
Henry put up his hand for them to all give him a high-five, "Good job!"
They all smiled at him, happy to see Henry merge into their group and save their lives. They all gave him a high-five. Then they all turned towards each other and high-fived each other. When they turned to Winter, they all individually hugged her.