Regrouping in the conference room was now a somber affair once Owens had informed the rest of the party of the findings on the hallway recording and Isaac's inner Vecna reaction to being discovered as a much more dangerous threat. They held their discussion by candlelight since the supplies for the generators had to be loaded and driven to the lab from the hospital and until the arrival of said supplies, they were on limited light resources. Informing everyone that Isaac more or less had less than twelve hours to live was a shatteringly sobering act that stamped out any feel-good sensations that had been left by the earlier Olympic chair races and karate sparring.
The plan remained the same, although the sense of urgency was overwhelming now that they knew they wouldn't get a second stab at this. It was also disheartening to think that the chances of success were not good considering how much more potent Vecna's hold on Isaac was now that Isaac had been exposed to more of the infection from Eddie. It had taken everything Eddie had to outlast the burn, to try and hold onto some semblance of what it meant to be human, to survive, and he only had a portion of the evil inside of him that Isaac now had. There were so many opportunities for something to go wrong and such a high probability that their efforts would be in vain.
Strangely, Eddie was no more panicked now than he had been the first time he was presented with Isaac's imminent death. When he had seen Isaac's nosebleed foretelling Vecna's plan to murder him through his mind, Eddie had feared for his brother, but he had also been stubbornly insistent that Isaac just wouldn't die. Perhaps he had been childishly optimistic that their little band of young adults and teenagers were more than a match for Vecna (which they certainly had not been until Eleven showed up), but he had just found it impossible to consider that he might lose Isaac to this demon.
Now, he was in the same boat all over again and just as displaced from the inevitable as he had been before. Things had a way of working out, even if not in quite the way Eddie intended, so he had to remain hopeful that a solution would present itself. He had lost his brother and found him again. He had been taken hostage by Jason and rescued. He had been infected and cured. There was always something worse that had to happen before something better could come along and though it was a pain in the ass to always be the target of these awful circumstances, Eddie was still alive after all of it. He had endured, even if his mind and his heart hadn't come out on the other side completely unscathed, and he had no reason to suspect that things would not pan out for him this time.
At least, that was what he constantly told himself. If he allowed his mind to go to the dark places it had been before, he would never be able to dig himself out of that hole, so his only option was to fool himself into accepting that everything would work out in his favor, that things weren't as dire as they seemed, even as an irritating voice of reason poked at the back of his brain, reciting bullshit, bullshit at him every few minutes.
Beyond offering Eddie words of comfort and hollow positivity, the party had nothing further to discuss that hadn't been covered in excruciating detail already and so they sat around the conference table, watching the candle wax melt as the lights burned lower in the final hours before midnight. It seemed impossible that Eddie had woken that morning to a vision of Henry Creel, been torched alive, had passionate sex with his girlfriend, taken an hours-long nap, battled over half the party for a stupid camera, confronted Chrissy's parents, and watched a video of Isaac having a reverse exorcism done on him all within the space of one day. There weren't enough hours in a single day to accommodate all of that, yet it was this time yesterday that he was laying down to sleep after being flogged for Jason's personal entertainment and he had been through a lifetime of shittiness since then.
Dustin, Robin, and Murray had all fallen asleep at the table with their heads in their arms or else hanging off the back of their seats. The other adults were quietly conversing amongst themselves while Lucas, Mike, Will, and Eleven were watching the ever-growing red storm clouds outside. On either side of Eddie, Chrissy and Max were watching him as if anticipating that he might have a nervous breakdown but despite outward appearances, he was as calm as he could be. He had subconsciously bitten his fingernails down to bloody stubs and his feet were drumming incessantly on the floor, but otherwise, he was completely in control of his anxiety.
Owens promised updates on Isaac if there were any, but given that Isaac had been pumped with a sedative akin to a horse tranquilizer, he wasn't likely to be waking up anytime soon and in the meantime, Wayne was sitting with him by his own insistence. The doctors had placed Isaac in a sub-level holding cell in full bindings in addition to locking the door from the outside and only when Wayne threatened violence if he was not allowed in with Isaac did Owens and Brenner permit him to while away his time in the cell with his nephew.
Eddie knew he needed to do something else with himself other than resort to nervous ticks, so he set his feet up on the table, rested his elbows upon his elevated legs, and put his face in his hands to create a makeshift pillow in the hope of getting a few minutes of sleep for what he knew was going to be a long night.
He hadn't been asleep for very long when Dustin gave the loudest, most obnoxious snort Eddie had ever heard which nearly sent him slipping out of his chair. Annoyed an rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he checked his watch and saw that he had been out for maybe thirty minutes and it was now about twelve fifty-two. Chrissy was now curled up in a ball in her own seat with her head resting on her knees and Max was listening to her Walkman, eyes drooping.
Eddie reached for his half empty water bottle just to wet his mouth and was unscrewing the cap when Owens let himself into the room looking, if it was possible, even more grave than he had been the last time he had checked in. Wondering what news could garner that sort of response from the doctor, Eddie braced himself for the worst and took a swig of water.
"We've encountered a problem. The armored vehicle carrying the supplies we requested left the hospital thirty minutes ago and was en-route to the lab but about five minutes ago we received an SOS distress call from one of the soldiers escorting the supplies. We're not sure how far out they were, but we heard shouting and some animalistic noises and then the line went dead."
Eddie choked on his water and Max thumped him soundly on the back, causing him to spray the person across the table who happened to be Steve. He waited for Owens to admit to everything being an ill-conceived, poorly timed, and feeble joke, but the doctor shook his head, looking quite disgusted with the situation.
"You think I'm joking, but I'm not," said Owens. "Now, we only have about thirty-five soldiers to guard this place, as most of the military I procured for Hawkins are guarding the hospital and the school, so I can spare up to three soldiers to go on a recon mission, but whether or not that will be enough, I don't know. I do know that those soldiers will have had zero experience with whatever creatures took out the original team, so even though this is more than I should be asking any of you, it has to be said: if you would be willing to volunteer to go and retrieve the vehicle with the generator supplies, you need to decide now. We can't start the burn until we have those supplies and there's no telling how long it will take to fix the generators and every second wasted is time that Isaac may not have."
"I'm going," said Eddie to protests all around and he had to repeat much more fiercely, "I–am–going and no one has any room to be telling me I can't! I'm not expecting anyone else to volunteer for this, but it's my brother who needs those supplies, so I'm doing whatever it takes to bring them back here."
"But you just got through your own purge hours ago," said Dustin in concern.
"And I feel fine," Eddie lied. His back was in constant pain, but he was in otherwise pristine condition to be going out into the woods in the wee hours of the morning to potentially face off against demodogs, bats, spiders, and the like. "I'm also not accepting applications from anyone whose names are Max, Dustin, Lucas, Mike, or Will. Also, I don't have that camo protection anymore, so I have no way to shield anyone once we're out there. It's a risk for everyone involved and I can't ask anyone to put their lives on the line for this."
"I'll come with you," said Hopper. "It's not my first rodeo, so I know what we're walking into."
"Me too," said Nancy. "Isaac put his life on the line for us multiple times and we haven't been able to do anything to repay him except sit here and watch him start to lose his mind. And Eddie, you know I love you but I need you to absolutely shut up about whatever you're about to say to try and stop me from coming."
"Okay, Mom."
"Don't use that tone with me. I'm coming because I've fought these things before, I can use firearms, and I'm overage. Bite me."
"I'll go, too, then," Steve volunteered.
"Me too," said Robin,
"Me too," Chrissy chimed in.
"No, time out," said Hopper, creating a "t" shape with his hands. "And you," he looked furiously to Dustin and Lucas who had stood up to offer their assistance as well, "can sit your asses right back down because you're not going. We can't take everyone and given that we're going out at night with UDC's running loose everywhere into what could potentially be a massacre, we can only take a handful of experienced members. The goal is to get the supplies and get out so we're looking at speed and silence here. Eddie, Nancy, get whatever gear you need and meet me in the parking lot in ten minutes. Doc, get me two of those soldiers you said you could spare."
Chrissy, Steve, and Robin were on the verge of putting up an admirable verbal fight but Eddie cut them off before they could gain too much momentum. "Look, I'm grateful to all of you for wanting to help out with this but Hopper and Nancy are the two best shots we have, Hopper has been in this situation before, and Nancy's small and quick on her feet and both of them are better with firearms than the rest of the party combined so I need you to stay here, keep an eye on everyone, and not argue with me. Please."
He gave them no time to agree or disagree further as he hurried to go and collect his Colt and machete from his room and then raced down to the sub-levels where an orderly was standing guard outside of Isaac's cell. The orderly let Eddie in and Eddie found Wayne sitting quietly in a chair beside Isaac's bed where he had been cuffed, chained, and strapped down to the bedframe, floor, and wall in his sleep. It may have seemed like overkill to some, but Eddie remembered the strength Isaac had shown when he bodily threw Chance and Bryce around like they weighed five pounds and that was before he had inherited the infection expelled from Eddie's body, so Eddie thought that the precautions in place here were justified. It didn't make the sight of it any easier to swallow, however. If they didn't manage to cleanse Isaac's body, it was likely that this was the state and position he would die in, tied down and unconscious.
Wayne looked up at him, startled to see him halfway prepped for battle. Eddie explained the situation to him in about fifteen seconds and then concluded with, "I'm just here to check in on him before I leave."
"I'm going with you," offered Wayne, standing up.
"No offense, but with those ten-a-days you're smoking, I don't like your chances of being able to run more than about three feet before you're hacking up a lung," said Eddie.
"I'm going," said Wayne and this time it was not a suggestion. "You both are my boys and I'll be damned if I don't do whatever I can for you the way a dad should, the way Morgan should have." Wayne never referred to Eddie and Isaac's father as a father since he hadn't done a very good job of parenting his own kids. No one ever called him "the old man" or "dad" under Wayne Munson's roof. It was only ever "Morgan". "Y'know, I called 'im when I thought Isaac had gone missin'. Called 'im and told 'im his boy was gone and he asked for me to send 'im some money for cigarettes. Didn't wanna know no details about nothin', didn't care that his son might be dead."
Eddie bristled with anger. He was ashamed to call Morgan Munson his own flesh and blood. There was a reason why he hadn't gone to see his dad in jail for years now. The last time he had been scheduled for a visit, he had flat-out refused and Wayne wasn't keen to press him on the subject, so Eddie had left Morgan to rot. No letters, no phone calls, no contact, no shits given. If the bastard cared so little for the son who he had known longer, what chance did Eddie have of gaining his dad's favor? Eddie had been a mistake; he knew his parents never intended to have a second child, but he had always hoped that his dad at least liked him, something that could never be said of his mom. But Morgan had never called to check on Eddie even before Eddie stopped going to see him. Morgan didn't care what sort of state his younger son had been left in, so Eddie wasn't inclined to care what state the prison held his dad in either.
But for the prick to hear news that his firstborn was kidnapped and presumed dead and that his younger son had been left in a state of severe mental trauma and to have the gall to ask for cigarette money, it left Eddie with a sour taste in his mouth and the throbbing urge to march himself over to the prison, open the gates, and let the UDC's roam free in his dad's cellblock.
What an absolute waste of human life. Morgan Munson could go to hell and Eddie personally would pay for his one-way ticket if he could.
"I hung up on 'im after that," Wayne continued. "That behavior right there told me that I was the only dad you and your brother were ever gonna get. Before you came along, I was already watchin' Isaac when your folks were too drunk to remember they had a kid. I was his dad years before I was yours. You two're my boys and even though Isaac ain't lived under my roof in years, he's still my kid and my responsibility. He needs me out there more than he does in here, so say whatchoo want, but I'm comin' and I don't need your permission."
Eddie admired his uncle for always trying to do what was best for him and Isaac, even at his own expense. He couldn't afford much, he couldn't offer what most parents could, but he always tried. But he was still a chain-smoking middle aged man who had no idea what he was getting himself into and at best, he would be a liability out there. As good of a shot he was with his twelve gauge, the things he had shot at in the past never fought back like the UDC's did. He wasn't prepared, he wasn't a good fit, and he was going to slow them down at a time where they couldn't afford any distractions.
"It's not safe," Eddie told him firmly. "And I may not be able to protect you out there."
"You ain't ever gotta protect me, boy. That's my job."
"Wayne, I'm not shitting you. This is gonna be more dangerous than anything you've ever done. Some of us may not make it back because we don't know what we're walking into. We don't know if we'll have to carry the supplies on our backs or if there's a bunch of nasties waiting to ambush us. We don't know anything, so we need people who've done this before."
"You got yourself into shit like this before and I had no idea 'cause I was at the plant when I should've been home with you and your brother. You ain't leavin' me in the dark no more. I know more'n you give me credit for."
"I know you're not afraid, but the point is that I don't want you out there."
"Well, sucks for you, but I don't really care whatchoo want right now. This is for your brother. I wasn't there for 'im the last time shit went down, and I ain't lettin' that happen twice. I may not understand exactly what's happenin', but I don't gotta understand it all t'do what's right. Ain't no big brains needed t'shoot the livin' hell outta these things."
Eddie didn't often butt heads with his uncle. They rarely clashed at all because they were similar in how they preferred to avoid confrontation and Eddie respected that Wayne knew when it was appropriate to argue and when it was appropriate to shut the hell up, but Wayne was not respecting those guidelines right now. Eddie was considering tying his uncle to the bed with Isaac just for his own peace of mind because Wayne and the Upside Down did not mix well and Eddie didn't want his uncle anywhere near the thick of it. If Wayne wouldn't stay, Eddie would go to the higher ups to make him.
Wayne was parting Isaac's hair and brushing his bangs away from his forehead with the tenderness only a parent could display as Eddie tried to think of a solid counterargument.
"Ain't nobody in this place got the power to make me stay behind, boy, so say your goodbyes to your brother and meet me topside."
"What if I told you that Vecna will target you specifically if you come with me?" asked Eddie desperately. It wasn't far-fetched to think that Vecna could somehow know Eddie would be coming for the generator supplies and send his minions to kill someone with specific ties to Eddie in a devastating way.
"He's welcome to try."
"No, that's the whole point! He's not welcome to try. I don't want him to try, but he will. Goddammit, why won't you just listen to me and trust me on this?"
"You asked me to trust you for a lot've things lately, now I'm askin' you to return the favor."
"But–"
Wayne's hands were heavy and warm on Eddie's shoulders. His uncle was about an inch and a half taller than him but it wasn't often that he had ever made Eddie feel like the kid in any situation. The past few years since Eddie had hit his final growth spurt and started to earn his own keep, Wayne had treated him more or less as an equal, but now, he was fixing Eddie with that look that gave Eddie the feeling that he was being examined from the inside out.
"Lookit you, headin' straight into danger every chance you get and makin' decisions for everybody like you ain't got nobody to help you out. You ain't the boy you was a few years ago. You grew up on me, but you're still my boy, and you ain't nearly as grown up as you think you are to be telling nobody older'n you that they gotta stay put. I ain't goin' with you 'cause I can, but 'cause it's my job. You don't live under my roof no more, but you're still my responsibility."
Finally relenting since they had wasted too much time already, Eddie told his uncle in no uncertain terms, "Then you have to listen to everything Hopper says. Him and the soldiers coming with us and me. We may have to run or fight or do some pretty messed up shit, so you gotta comply with every order, even if you don't like it."
"Can do," Wayne promised.
Eddie bent over Isaac's inert form and grasped his wrist with a pressure he hoped could penetrate through the subconsciousness. "I'm coming back," Eddie told him.
It had only been about a day since Eddie had been outside but as he and Wayne walked out into the parking lot, he realized with a sinking feeling that his Hawkins now looked indistinguishable from the Hawkins he had seen and experienced in the Upside Down. Black particles drifted around in no set pattern. The thundering booms from the red storm clouds were louder and closer than they had been at any point before now. If Eddie squinted, he could make out vines wrapping around the trees about a hundred feet or so beyond the constructed perimeter fencing.
When Isaac had brought Eddie to the lab, Eddie had hardly paid any attention to what had been done to fortify the lab from attack but now saw that they were in better shape than he originally thought. There was a nine foot high chain link gate to allow authorized entry and exit and though this was the only weak spot in the perimeter, it had the heaviest guard with four soldiers patrolling the wall to the immediate left and right. The rest of the perimeter was closed off with thick sheet metal walls that had been drilled into the ground and reinforced with angled beams. Sacks of sand had been piled up to offer protection for those atop the walls which had scaffolding walkways running the whole way around.
"You took your time," said Hopper once Eddie and Wayne had joined him and Nancy.
"I was putting up as much of a fight as I could to get Wayne to stay, but he insists on coming," said Eddie, hoping that something Hopper had to say could dissuade his uncle, but Hopper only gave an impartial shrug and asked if Wayne had any trouble following orders, which Wayne denied.
"This is our backup team. Private Decker and Corporal Gonzales." Hopper pointed out the two soldiers who had been chosen to accompany them and neither looked thrilled about that fact. They had already been brought up to speed on the best way to kill each type of the UDC's that the party were aware of but were giving Nancy disapproving looks when she wasn't looking as if they didn't think arming a young woman was the right call to make. Eddie was about to tell them to go and shove their discrimination up their asses when Hopper handed him a Heckler and Koch MP5K.
"I know you've got experience with firearms, so tell me how comfortable you'd feel with a submachine gun."
"As comfortable as I have to be."
"Good answer. Magazine goes in here," Hopper pointed out a cavity at the front of the weapon, "pull back the operating rod and you're live. Hold the trigger down for rapid-fire. You've got thirty rounds per magazine. The spray has a bit of a kick to it, so just like any other gun, don't lock your arms. There's no safety, either."
"Got it."
Eddie was trying not to sound too excited to be holding his first automatic. There was just something that set the adrenaline pumping with having such a deadly weapon in hand, even if he was better off hoping that he would never have to use it. It didn't pack the single-handed punch that a shotgun or rifle did, but it was a whole different breed of devastating and would serve him much better than his faithful Colt in providing more ammunition per magazine and more bang for his buck than a single pistol shot.
"Don't look so happy, kid, that's not a toy," said Decker.
"I'm sorry, how old are you?" asked Nancy.
"Twenty-three, miss."
"Well, I'm twenty-one in a few weeks so we'll have less of this 'kid', if you don't mind," said Eddie testily. "And I've fought these things as well as the ultimate baddie they answer to armed with a pistol and some kerosine and I've been handling firearms since I was eight, so maybe don't assume I don't know how to handle myself, yeah?"
Hopper gave Eddie an appraising nod and then told everyone to pile into the car they would be using to get to the supply vehicle. He and Gonzales were armed with an HBAR Carbine while Decker favored the M4A1. Wayne had his Mossberg and Nancy had the Remington she had purchased from The War Zone. The firepower this recon team was packing gave Eddie a surge of hope that at least they had stronger weapons and a ratio of more experienced shooters this time around. Then, that nagging voice in the back of his head reminded him that if the UDC's had taken out a truckful of armed soldiers without a problem, six more people were hardly going to make a difference.
A problem for later when they actually saw what they were up against.
Since they were working with limited space to seat six in a car meant for four, Wayne popped the trunk and made himself as securely comfortable as he could to keep an eye on their rear end while the soldiers slid into the back seat.
Eddie went around to the front passenger seat of the car and was about to climb in when he saw that the gate guard had attracted two new recruits to man the walls in the form of Chrissy and Max.
"And what do you two think you're doing up there?" he asked them as he saw Chrissy standing there with her rifle and Max holding the revolver Eddie had given her a few days prior.
"Waiting for you to come back," answered Chrissy simply. "We have permission from the guards with the understanding that we'll run right back inside if ordered to. Otherwise, we'll be here."
"Don't do anything stupid out there," warned Max.
"I'll make sure he behaves," Nancy assured them as she climbed into the back seat of the car, squeezed between Decker and Gonzales.
"This is the last goodbye you're putting me through," Chrissy told Eddie sternly. "After this, I'm going with you and if you don't like it, you can kiss my ass."
"Such language, Miss Cunningham," Eddie scolded.
Blowing him a kiss and mouthing, Be safe, Chrissy told the soldier standing by the gate to open it and with a reassuring wave to her and Max, Eddie buckled himself in. With Nancy standing by on the radio to alert Owens as to where they found the delayed supply vehicle, Hopper drove them out the first gate and then down to the security entrance where the guard in the booth pressed the button that allowed them to pass.
Realistically, the drive from the hospital to the lab or vice versa would take about twenty minutes in broad daylight with light traffic if one was going the speed limit. If it were Eddie behind the wheel, he could probably make that drive in twelve minutes. An armored vehicle weighed down with soldiers and supplies traversing a winding road in the dead of night with an intergalactic storm raging above and various UDC's on the loose would have had to take thirty to forty-five minutes, so Eddie anticipated that they would come across the site of a crash or some other tragedy a little before the halfway point if the soldiers had sent the distress signal more than thirty minutes into the trip.
Hopper had the car crawling along to keep the engine hum as low and inconspicuous as possible once they turned onto Winthrop. He kept the headlights off, guided only by the red glow of the never-ending storm above. The lack of any sound from nocturnal animals had Eddie on high alert, as Winthrop was notorious for being so loud at night with crickets, owls, and the odd fox that it was almost impossible to hold a conversation for the entire stretch of road without shouting to be heard. Either all wildlife had moved on to flee from the Upside Down's reach, or the woods had fallen silent in warning that there were predators nearby.
"We've got something big blocking the road up ahead," Hopper announced presently and Eddie saw that the armored Humvee had come to a stop between the graveyard of crash vehicles that he and Isaac had previously moved. All four vehicle doors were open and even from here with his limited visibility, Eddie could see a leg with no body attached laying in a pool of blood.
"Pull over here," said Gonzales. "Search for survivors while we check that the equipment is intact, then we get outta here. And nobody wander off the road."
Eddie let him and Decker go on ahead while he waited for Nancy, then the two of them broke right while Hopper and Wayne went left to search the cars and surrounding area for any soldiers that might still be breathing. Shining their flashlights every which way, Eddie and Nancy combed through the maze of cars but the only bodies they found were those Isaac had piled up alongside the road the last time Eddie had come through this way and judging by the smell, the decomposing process had already begun. Eddie pulled his shirt up over his nose to try and not breathe in the scent of decaying bodies but he still gagged a time or two.
Nancy bent down to shine her light underneath the cars while Eddie opened the passenger door to one of the more intact vehicles just in case any survivor had thought to use it as a shelter until help arrived. Sitting upright in the passenger seat was a face Eddie had last seen unconscious by Lover's Lake after being thrown into a tree. It was Chance. His intestines had very nearly been ripped out and a congregation of flies were buzzing excitedly over the rotting exposed flesh.
As Eddie leaned closer to try and gauge what had ripped through him, he saw Chance's eyes snap open and took a hasty step back, raising his MP5K. A hazy white film had settled over Chance's pupils and Eddie wasn't entirely sure if the guy could see him or not or just sensed that someone was there.
Chance lifted a bloody hand. "Please…" he moaned. "Eddie, please…"
Emotions went off rapid fire in Eddie's chest at the sound of his name falling from the lips of one of his tormentors. Chance was in no fit state of mind to consider that Eddie owed him nothing and that he should be ashamed to be asking this favor after what he was willing to do to back up Jason. How Chance even knew that Eddie was there was beyond him, but he had enough clarity to recognize Eddie and remember his name, not that they had ever been on first-name terms with each other.
Eddie lifted his gun to Chance's forehead, knowing he should shoot to end the man's suffering, but feeling that this would-be accomplice to murder did not deserve mercy. What he did deserve was to endure every excruciating final moment of his life before he died. And in any case, Eddie couldn't be shooting off random bullets right now when silence was key. He had just made up his mind to walk away when Chance's head slumped forward onto his chest and a quick check of his pulse confirmed that he was already dead.
"Oh, my God," exclaimed Nancy at his side. "Is that–is that Chance Armstrong?"
"It was."
"But what's he doing out here?"
Eddie hesitated. Dare he tell her? She only knew as much as Eleven had divulged and Isaac and Chrissy were still the only ones who Eddie had revealed his secret to but he Nancy had volunteered to come out here and she had earned Eddie's trust on the matter by her devotion to his brother, so he told her.
"Jason and his friends ambushed me here and tried to kill me. Isaac caught up to them before they could throw me in the lake and Chance got knocked out. We left them where they fell, but Chance must have made it back here some hours ago, judging by how many flies are eating away at him."
He was spared having to go into further detail or express sorrow that he did not feel when Wayne gave a low but sharp whistle to hail Eddie and Nancy over to him. Wayne had found a survivor under the truck Eddie had stolen who had a terrible gash along his chest and what appeared to be a series of bite marks along his neck. The soldier was moaning incoherently and Wayne shushed him, glancing around nervously in case something heard them.
Hopper came over to take the soldier's arms while Wayne grabbed his legs and the two staggered back to the Humvee where Decker and Gonzales were shifting the supplies in the back aside to make room. They laid the wounded soldier down, trying to be as careful as possible, but the second he was safely inside, he let out a long, wounded cry and Eddie thought Hopper was going to cap him right then and there.
The woods to their left came alive with the sound of creatures snarling and Eddie saw shapeless masses emerging from the trees. He grabbed Nancy's arm, pulled her off the road, and shoved her down with the instructions to roll underneath one of the crashed cars while he crawled under another and positioned his gun so he could fire at anything that crouched down to try and make a swipe at him.
Across the road, he saw Hopper and Wayne take cover inside another two cars about twenty feet apart from each other while Gonzales and Decker climbed into the back of the Humvee and under it respectively. Two of those felines that Eddie had redubbed Displacer Beasts came onto the road, followed by at least five demodogs. All seven creatures were covered in blood, which told Eddie that they had just finished off a meal somewhere beyond the trees and had come back in search of more.
Praying that the soldier wouldn't let out another shriek, Eddie saw Gonzales with one hand over the soldier's mouth while he lay flat with his assault rifle propped up on the soldier's stomach, pointed at the creatures. Props to Gonazales for protecting his fellow soldier while also preparing to light the UDC's up if they ventured closer, but Decker did not possess the same type of courage, for Eddie could see the man visibly shaking under the Humvee.
Eddie had once heard one of Wayne's friends, Virgil, recounting his time served in the Vietnam War and how he and his platoon had been taking shelter in a bog to avoid enemy soldiers. Virgil had watched one of his fellow soldiers struggling to keep quiet as they crouched in the muck water, seen him shaking uncontrollably with his rifle unconsciously pointed at friendlies. The man had lost his head completely and accidentally opened fire on his own men before being gunned down by the enemy. Fear was a powerful factor, even a deciding one, and an armed man who let fear rule him was a man who never should have been armed in the first place.
Decker was that same sort of man, by the looks of him, and he was going to blow their cover if he didn't get a grip on himself. Eddie tried to signal him to stay calm, but as the demodogs came right up to the Humvee bumper and sniffed at the ground just inches from where Decker lay, the soldier panicked. He opened fire on the demodogs, scrambling out of his hiding place and running for the driver's side. He never got there.
One of the beast's tentacles wrapped around his leg and yanked him backwards. His finger was still on the trigger when he fell and bullets peppered the cars above Eddie and Nancy who both threw their arms over their heads long enough to miss the first bite the beasts took out of Decker. Eddie could hear the soldier screaming as the beasts ripped him open, but could only see flailing arms through the mass of legs from both the beasts and the remaining four demodogs. Guts went flying, blood splattered everywhere, and the sounds that were coming from Decker's body being turned inside out made Eddie's stomach roil. Under the car next to him, Nancy had her hands over her ears and her eyes pressed shut.
Since the beasts had greater claim over Decker's body, the demodogs circled the larger creatures like hyenas waiting for a pride of lions to finish up their kill so they could come looking for scraps. One of the demodogs evidently didn't have the patience to wait and instead picked up on a scent on the road and began following it excitedly at the prospect of its own meal that it would not have to share with the others. It came right up alongside the car Hopper had taken refuge in with the door still ajar.
Eddie slapped his hands over his mouth to keep from giving an outcry of alarm.
This was exactly what he had feared would happen. This was the reason he had tried to explain to Wayne that coming along was a bad idea, because people were going to die and Eddie was not prepared to watch one of his friends or his uncle be devoured or else killed in some other horrifying fashion. Thanks to one man's cowardice, Hopper was about to die because he had no escape route and he couldn't shoot without bringing all of the UDC's down on him.
The demodog was pawing at the car door, forcing it slowly open…
Eddie saw Wayne stepping halfway out of another car in full sight of the demodog with a grenade in hand that he had acquired from who-knew-where. His uncle pulled out the pin, tucked his arm back, and chucked the grenade as far as he could into the trees. The following explosion that took place was enough for the four demodogs and the two beasts to leave Decker's body and chase off in pursuit of the noise.
Hopper threw himself out of the car and ran for the rear passenger Humvee door which was closest. Army crawling through the grassy ditch until his lower legs came free of the car, Eddie rushed to help Nancy and then both of them sprinted for the Humvee where Wayne was about to climb into the back hatch. Eddie saw his uncle turning back to watch them, then reach for his shotgun and pump a round into the chamber, taking aim.
Nancy was just slightly ahead of Eddie and so he was able to throw his arms around her hips and bring her down hard onto the asphalt to clear the way for Wayne's shot which blasted a hole through the demodog's chest behind them. The buckshot had pulled the demodog up short, but it was still alive and still intent on reaching Eddie and Nancy. When they had fallen, both of them had split their knees open on the ground (and in Eddie's case, also his chin), but Nancy was the first to recover, flipping onto her back, laying her rifle across her body, pointing it at the demodog, and firing a round down its throat.
Eddie praised her quick reflexes and hauled her to her feet with the instructions to run for the front passenger door.
"You good?" Wayne asked him urgently, seeing the blood running down Eddie's chin.
"I'm good, let's go!"
Eddie took a step toward the driver's side door when a cold, soul-sucking wind swept through the tree canopy overhead and drove the breath from his body. It wasn't his intention to stop, but his feet didn't seem to want to move as he stood there, feeling invisible walls closing in on him. He heard the rattling sound of a hollow set of lungs inhaling, consuming.
Ahead of him, standing on the median of the road, was the smiling, pristine image of Henry Creel but it only lasted a moment before the image flickered and mutated into that of the skeletal vine-like image of Vecna, a dark specter welcoming Eddie into this new world he had created.
"I told you there would be consequences and still, you didn't listen. You continued to resist and you allowed them to take most of me out of you. But not all of me. There is just enough of me remaining to see you, to know what you're doing. I am still in you, even if I can't control you like I can control your brother. You didn't escape me."
Vecna disappeared and Henry Creel returned, though now half of his face was horribly distorted as if it had been burned away, leaving only muscle and bone structure behind. His facial features pulled back in a leer that exposed the sinewy strands inside of his cheek on one side. "I am always with you, Eddie. I am with you as you fight, as you flee, as you plot and scheme and try to maintain the hope that you can survive this and send me back to my purgatory. I am with you as you try to save your new little sister and when you make love to the woman you stole from me. And I will be with you as you watch your friends die one by one. You will be able to feel it as their souls leave this world. You are mine and I will make you watch the world burn."
A flash of red lightning, a tilt in the equilibrium of the earth, and Henry was gone.
Wayne rapped Eddie upside the head, hollering at him to move. He gave Eddie a hard shove between his shoulder blades and forced him into the driver's seat, slamming the door shut before spinning on his heel and firing another slug into the beast that had emerged from the woods in full attack mode. Four more shots and his Mossberg was dry but the beast was dead, acidic remains smoking and blistering away on the road.
"Mother of God…" said Gonzales in terrified awe, and leaning slightly out of the Humvee window, Eddie saw a mass exodus of UDC's coming forth from the woods: spiders, demodogs, beasts, a few other creatures he couldn't properly make out and didn't care to.
"Eddie, go!" screamed Nancy.
Wayne loaded six more rounds into his shotgun. He gazed upon Eddie with that look Eddie had seen on his face once before following senior graduation. It was a look of pride and affection, a look reserved specifically for a father to his child.
"No," said Eddie faintly, fumbling for the door handle with hands that wouldn't work.
His uncle marched toward the back of the Humvee where the UDC's were swarming onto the road.
"Eddie, you have to drive!" shouted Nancy again. "He's giving us a chance to get away. We won't make it if those things catch up to us and Isaac needs these supplies. Please, you have to drive!"
"I have to…I gotta go back…"
He found the door latch but Hopper grabbed him by the scruff of his neck to hold him back and hissed, "Drive, Nancy!"
Eddie was being pulled out of the driver's seat as if he weighed nothing and Nancy took his place, starting up the Humvee and pressing the gas pedal to the floor. Through the still open back hatch, Eddie could see Wayne firing at the UDC's, all of which had their attention on him, leaving the Humvee clear to take off without being pursued. Scrambling over Hopper, Eddie tried to bypass the mess of haphazardly stacked supplies to jump out the back but Hopper caught him by his pant leg and reeled him back in.
"He's still alive, let go of me," Eddie heard himself say in a voice bordering on insanity.
"You can't. You've gotta leave him," Hopper insisted and just then, Wayne dropped his empty shotgun, switching to his revolver as the UDC's fell upon him in droves and still, nothing followed the Humvee.
Eddie couldn't see his uncle anymore, nor could he hear him, if he had ever made a sound. There was only a sea of damned creatures and no sign of Wayne Munson.
There was no portal, no fluke to make Eddie think that there could possibly be a way for his uncle to come back. He had seen the body go down, seen the mass of unforgiving claws and fangs descending.
His body had stopped fighting back against Hopper. Now, all he was aware of was the dampness on his face and Hopper's arm secured across his chest, his voice in Eddie's ear saying repeatedly, "I gotcha, kid. I gotcha."
And true to Vecna's word, Eddie could sense the exact moment that his uncle stopped breathing. He could sense Wayne's soul in full flight, leaving behind his body as an empty shell. Vecna had promised Eddie that he would have to watch death repeatedly knock at his door and take someone one by one without having the ability to prevent any of it and it had started with his uncle. Through the infinitesimal portion of evil that remained inside of Eddie, Vecna had known that Wayne would be coming with him and had sent his legions to claim the first victim as payment for Eddie burning himself three quarters of the way to hell just to be rid of Vecna.
And he still wasn't. He never would be.
