Be Quick or Be Dead - Iron Maiden

The two of them stomped along, grateful for the full moon and following the line of the fence to help stay oriented. When Eddie heard Beck's breath shaking from the night chill he shrugged off his leather jacket and wrapped her in it, keeping the battle jacket for himself. It was huge on her but that was unbelievably cute and Beck loved the way he smiled at her as she folded back the cuffs.

"You wouldn't think it would be this chilly in March," she said, following behind him as he crested a hill.

"Yeah well that's Indiana for—"

In the next second all Beck knew was that he had stopped talking, put a hand over her mouth, and tackled her to the ground. The hand was a good precaution because she definitely screamed, despite him hissing for her to be quiet.

Her hip was certainly going to bruise from how hard he had pulled her down but everything made sense as she heard a dog bark and a flashlight beam swept over where they had been standing.

Eddie dropped his hand and their eyes met, pure terror passing between them as they heard two men talking to one another behind them.

"They were saying to bring him in, but if I find him, I promise you he'll get justice."

Beck's blood went ice cold as they listened to this man threaten Eddie's life only ten feet from them, and she clutched hard at his shirt and pointed as more points of light appeared where they had come from. It was apparently very lucky they had not been caught yet.

"Motherfucking son of a bitch," Beck groaned as she realized what their only option was. Eddie was already pulling on her arm and she let herself be led back to the break in the fence they had passed about ten feet back.

After they crawled through the busted part of the fence they were able to drop down behind a concrete ledge.

"Please please please tell me we don't have to go through the abandoned building," she begged as quietly as she could but Eddie gave her a look that made it clear that she was not going to like the answer.

"The fence connects on both sides of the building. Can you run?"

"Not like you can! You know that!"

"Just to there," Eddie said, pointing at an abandoned van that sat halfway down the long drive. "Just get behind it and we should be out of easy sight."

Before she could ask more questions, he was off. It was unfair for him to be so fast without even trying, she thought as she followed behind him, panting by the time she made it to the van.

"Can't we just wait here?" she gasped, catching Eddie's wrist before he could take off again.

"If they come inside that fence…" he trailed off and Beck couldn't argue.

"I will protect you. I'm not going anywhere. Not anymore."

Beck nodded, steeling herself, and then the two of them bolted for the door that was barely hanging on to the frame. Both managed to squeeze through but they were brought to an immediate halt since it was impossible to see. Eddie flicked open his lighter and the flickering light made Beck want to head back out and take her chance with the search party.

"Hold on," he said and she followed him to a wrecked conference room. Eddie picked up the hollow metal leg from a table and stuffed papers from the floor into it before lighting them. He handed it to Beck looking quite pleased with himself and she had to admit it was pretty clever.

"It's like I'm in the haunted Oylmpics now," she quipped and led the way down a long hall. "Do you know your way through here?"

"Nope," he said and he couldn't help but smile at the look she shot him. "It's like a cornfield right? Go in one direction until you come out the other side?"

"M'kay farm boy."

"As you wish," he replied and melted a little at the look she gave him in return, gazing up at him from beneath her long white lashes.

Something clattered down the hall and Beck grabbed his arm. Her eyes were huge, searching the shadows, and he had to admit that this had not been a fantastic idea.

"Why did she go missing?"

"What?"

"That girl. Why did she go missing here?"

"I don't remember anyone saying."

They passed what looked like an empty exam room and he pulled Beck to a stop as he ducked into the room.

"Eddie!" she hissed but he was back seconds later brandishing an IV stand. The fact he was arming himself was both reassuring and infinitely scarier to her.

They continued toward the back of the building in as much of an undisrupted line as they could, occasionally grabbing more paper for the makeshift torch and startling at shadows.

Eddie had finally convinced himself that the building was truly empty when something brushed his hair. Letting out a panicked yell, he grabbed the thing and felt a scaly body. He whipped it over his head and threw it onto the floor between him and Beck.

It was the most unnatural and monstrous thing he had ever seen, beating any movie monsters with the sheer fact that this was real. It had bat wings but a reptile body and a lashing tail. The thing righted itself and shrieked at him, showing long fangs in an eyeless head. It prepared to lunge and then Eddie was looking at Beck's Doc Martens.

She stomped on the thing's head as hard as she could, repulsed by how visceral this was but not enough to let this thing do whatever it was going to do next.

"I want out!" she yelled at him when she was done. "Now!"

Wordlessly he grabbed her hand and started running, still holding the IV stand. They had turned a corner when something behind them shrieked and then slammed into Beck's shoulder. She tripped and went sprawling, the creature latched onto Eddie's coat by its fangs. She grabbed it by its horrible body and when it didn't let go she yanked until it's neck snapped and it finally detached.

Another horrible monster had begun crawling up her leg so Eddie swept it off of her with the IV stand. It turned in midair to fly back at him and he stabbed it through, hot blood spattering both of them as he impaled it. While his back was turned, Beck saw another one coming for him and jumped up to hip check him out of the way, swinging the still burning table leg at the monster bat and connecting with a sizzle. It slammed through an office window and glass shattered.

"Duck!" Eddie yelled before swinging for the fences and sending another creature so hard into the wall she heard its bones crack.

"Jesus…" he heard Beck say and in the flickering light he could see three more bats flapping toward them.

"Go go go go go!" he shouted, pushing her in front of him and trying to keep up with her while tracking the creatures.

"Here!" she almost sobbed, pointing to an exit sign off to their left. They slammed through it together, Beck slipping and landing in the leaf litter outside as Eddie slammed the door closed behind them and wedged the IV stand to keep the door shut.

Their ragged breathing was the loudest sound in the night and Eddie collapsed to the ground beside Beck. He pulled her close to him and tried to breathe.

"Are you okay?" he asked, trying to feel across her head and face for any injuries. The coat had two huge holes punched into it but its size seemed to have protected her.

"No!" she whisper screamed. "What THE FUCK was that?!"

"Vecna shit?" he said with a shrug, focusing on orienting himself because they needed to get out of the woods immediately. "I think I know where we are. Shouldn't be too far from the trailer now. And I don't see any lights."

Beck pushed herself to her feet and helped him up. Eddie gave her as disarming a grin as he could manage, trying to rally for the both of them.

"Not dead yet!" he chirped and was caught off guard as Beck grabbed the lapels of his battle vest and pulled him into a burning kiss. He grabbed her just as tightly and poured all the adrenaline that was ready to drive him mad into kissing her, nipping at her lips, and searching her mouth with his tongue.

"It's horrible and stupid," she breathed between kisses, "but you were so hot back there."

"Thank god," he said, moving his mouth to her neck. "I thought it was just me."

Eddie heard a breathy laugh and pulled back. "What?"

"I just thought if this was a slasher this is when we would bite it," she said with a smirk and he laughed as well.

They pulled apart reluctantly and Beck caught his hand in hers, squeezing it as hard as she could as Eddie began to lead the way back to his trailer.


When they finally arrived and bolted through the front door of the Munson trailer, the first thing they heard was, "What took you both so long?"

Beck rounded on Dustin and he had the good sense to trip a few steps away from her at the look she gave him.

"Monster bats, Henderson. Fucking monster bats happened," Eddie growled. "Oh and a search party."

"Whose blood is that?" Erica asked, which was clearly a more pertinent question than their timeliness.

"Bat blood," Beck said, remembering that there were still brains embedded in her boot tread.

"Are you both okay?" Robin exclaimed from the floor.

"I mean we're not dead," Eddie said. "Did more damage to the bat monsters than they did to us."

Beck surveyed and tried to puzzle out why Eddie's mattress was lying in the middle of the room with the freshmen and Erica standing around Robin who was just sitting there. And then there were the bedsheets hanging out of the ceiling and when she looked up…

"Cool, right?" Dustin asked, not done geeking out over his discovery.

"Honestly? Very," Beck admitted before waving up at Steve and Nancy.

"What the hell happened while we were gone?" she asked and Robin began to explain.

Eddie watched Steve turn back to Nancy and saw his face twist as he began shouting. "Nancy?! Nancy, wake up!"

Eddie felt himself go lightheaded and completely lock up at the echo of his own words as he stared up at Steve shaking Nancy. He was staring up at the exact same place in the ceiling and it was all happening again. But someone was yelling his name and he shook himself out of the flashback to hear what Max was saying.

"Eddie! Music!"

They all bolted for his room, spreading out to search. Eddie knew where everything had been squirreled away so as the others searched his shelves he began to drop armfuls of cassettes onto his bed from all corners of the room. Beck also hit the floor which was baffling until Eddie remembered that she had piled her own cassettes under the bed when she lived here.

"What is this?!" Robin exclaimed as she started digging through the pile. "Don't you have anything here Beck?!"

"I moved my stuff out over the summer! I'm trying!" Beck yelled, her voice muffled.

Erica ran back yelling, "Steve said you need to hurry!" and Beck felt her heartbeat slamming in her ears.

Dustin and Max shouted something over her head and she finally dug far enough back through Eddie's clothes that she found the cassette she thought had gotten lost back there.

"I mean what are you even looking for?" Eddie asked, frantic to help and utterly lost.

"Madonna? Blondie? Bowie? Beatles? Music! We need music!"

That was too far. He was actively being hunted, he was starving and exhausted, and he had just fought off monster bats. No one was going to insult his first love right now.

Beck wormed out from under the bed in time to see Eddie snatch Piece of Mind from Robin's hand and lean in to scream, "This IS MUSIC!""

She shoved the cassette into Robin's hand and shouted, "Heart!"

Robin jumped up, carefully avoiding Eddie and booked it to the living room with everyone hot on her heels. But when they looked up again, Nancy was awake again, laying in Steve's arms and breathing like she had been drowning. The group focused on getting the two of them back over immediately and Eddie took this opportunity to slip back into his room where he began to pace wildly. A moment later Beck joined him, shutting the door behind her.

"Eddie?" she asked, catching his elbow and when he turned around she saw he was crying.

"Why her? Why not Chrissy?" he hissed, struggling to keep his voice down. "Why did he let her go?"

Beck knew exactly what he meant. If Chrissy had been released instead of having every bone in her body broken and her eyes sucked out, Eddie wouldn't even be part of this. The group in the living room would be fighting this evil without them and they would be camping or at a movie or curled up in her bed.

"Come here," she said, pulling him to her and holding him as she felt him shake with suppressed sobs. When the living room was quiet and he seemed to have recovered, Beck led him back out, noticing how he used his hair to hide his tear stained face.

"Nancy saw… something," Steve supplied. "A message or a warning we think."

"Steve," Beck sighed, "Neither of us have eaten in maybe two days. And we shouldn't force Nancy to immediately recount to us whatever horrifying things she just saw. We all need a breath."

Then she went to the kitchen where she dug out a box of instant ramen and a pot which she filled with water that she then set to boil.

"We need to know what he's going to do next!" Steve objected and Beck narrowed her eyes.

"When I say that people don't want to immediately recount horrible things that have happened to them, maybe you decide to just trust me and eat some goddamn ramen."

"But if Vecna comes–" Dustin started, but Nancy interrupted him.

"Beck's right. I… I can't do this right now. And I think we have time."

So she and Eddie made them ramen and then several boxes of mac n cheese and then a few bags of microwave popcorn while everyone else drug the other mattress into the room. Eddie was subdued at first and never further than an arm's length away from her, but Dustin bickering with Steve and Lucas was too tempting and soon he was as animated as always.

"What are those stains?" Robin asked with disgust as Lucas and Dustin sat on Eddie's mattress as Steve handed out food.

"Those are -" Eddie started but Beck cleared her throat loudly and he stopped. "I don't know what those stains are."

Nancy let out a loud laugh that she tried to cover with coughing and the relieved look Steve gave her made Beck like the jock more than she had at first. They all grouped up on the mattresses and couch to eat with Robin pointedly avoiding Eddie's mattress.

When Beck finished eating and surveyed the room, she realized Eddie, Max, Nancy, and Robin were all dead asleep. Dustin and Lucas were looking over another map and Steve met her eyes as she started gathering bowls, forks, and cups.

"Here." Steve joined her, picking through the others to help her. They started a pile and Beck watched as he started filling the sink up to wash them.

"Very domestic of you, Harrington," she teased lightly, leaning back on the counter.

"Maybe that's why I'm always the babysitter," he huffed and she suppressed a smile.

A comfortable silence settled between them and then Steve said, "I'm sorry we forgot about Eddie."

Beck wasn't sure if she had heard him correctly but he continued.

"And we should have done more to find you. I didn't realize you two were so… close. I mean, he loves you. I haven't seen anyone our age like that before."

"Thank you," she murmured, his words meaning more to her than she expected. "He's the best person in my world."

Steve let the water out of the sink and when they looked back over at the living room Dustin and Lucas had fallen to sleep as well.

"I think everyone else has the right idea. Night, Harrington," Beck said before kicking off her bloody shoes and curling up with Eddie on the couch.

Still asleep, Eddie shuffled over for her and pulled her tightly to him, curling up around her as much as he could and burying his face in the crook of her neck. In fewer than five breaths, Beck was asleep.