A/N: This story is depressing me lmao
Disclaimer: I own only Jocelyn Harford, nothing of Stranger Things. All rights go to the Duffer Brothers, and Netflix.
With Or Without You
Chapter 11
Burning Down the House
[Jocelyn]
The dark highway speeds past us as we drive through the night. My knee is bouncing up and down repeatedly. I'm worried. For obvious reasons. I glance sideways at Eddie as he drives, and he catches me looking, shooting me a reassuring smile.
"We're making great time, Joce, don't worry." He presses his foot down a little harder on the gas, as the car speeds up. I exhale slowly, trying to calm my heart.
"I hope it's fast enough." I whisper. "I just hope we can get to them in time. How much farther is your trailer?" I ask.
Eddie looks down at the dashboard before answering. "About eight, nine miles." He takes a deep breath, slowing the car down a bit as he takes his foot off the gas for a moment. "Joce… what if Vecna found the gate...?"
I pale. I hadn't considered that. "Well, let's hope he didn't." I reply quietly. We continue to drive in silence. Finally, we arrive at the trailer.
Eddie pulls the car over in front of the trailer, and my heart is beating quickly and my hands are trembling a little at the thought of what we might find inside. Eddie turns the car off, and grabs the bat and the spear from the back, before hopping out of the car and walking towards the trailer.
"Let's go." He says, "Maybe everything is fine." I let out a mirthless laugh, and Eddie shoots me a look. "Come on." He gives me a small smile, and leads me inside, all the while I'm trying to push back the thoughts of Vecna, or of something going wrong.
We enter the trailer. It's a disaster. Eddie's uncle evidently hasn't been back. The mattress is still on the floor in the middle of the living room. I look up, seeing the gaping, disgusting gate into the Upside Down above us. I grab the bedsheet we used to enter previously, but it's cut in half. I look at Eddie, realizing this must have been when he had tried to buy them more time by fighting the demobats. I sigh. It'll get us into the Upside Down, but it won't let us come back out. Not this way, anyway. I throw the bedsheet up, and it passes through the portal, giving us a way in, but no way out.
Eddie is looking up at the gate, too, and I can tell he's just as nervous as I am. His legs begin shaking a little. He glances at the torn-up bedsheet, and lets out a sigh.
"Well… that's not a good sign…"
A sudden breeze blows through the trailer, and I feel as if that cold wind is running through my whole body. My heart is beating out of my chest, and as I look at the gate, the feeling of unease grows stronger.
I take a breath. "Let's do this. Mind your head." I say. I climb the bedsheet towards the ceiling, flipping upside down as I come out of the gate onto the other side, landing on my feet, but stumbling a little. I look up at Eddie, and give him a thumbs up. "Nothing here." I say. "You're good to follow."
Eddie follows quickly after me. As he lands beside me and straightens, he looks around, his face twisted in disgust. "Shit, this place is so creepy." As we look around us, the feeling of cold wind blows through us. Gooseflesh rises on my skin and I start to shiver.
I take a deep breath, my mind flooded with all the horrors from the last time we were here. All my fears and doubts return, and a tiny groan of worry escapes my lips. "Never gets easier, does it?" I whisper, as we slowly exit the trailer. Eddie throws his arm out in front of me as we do, just in case anything jumps out at us.
"Nope. Every time it creeps me out just as much." He replies. The familiar atmosphere of the Upside Down returns. The cold wind blows through the trees and the darkness creeps over the horizon, the sky a red and navy hue devoid of light. Eddie glances down at me. "Ready?"
"Not at all. Let's go." I reply wryly.
Eddie takes a breath, "Alright. Let's do this." We begin to walk, and as we do, my whole body tenses as we head through the cold darkness of the Upside Down.
We are about three hundred feet from the trailer when I hear them: Demobats. The screeching is unmistakable. My blood runs cold, and I look at Eddie, fear in my face.
"Shit. Eddie, we need to hide. Now!" I can hear them overhead, and maybe they haven't seen us yet, since they aren't swooping in for the kill.
Or maybe they're toying with us.
Eddie grabs my hand, pulling me away towards the trees. "Let's go! Come on!" We rush into the nearby woods, trying to get to cover. Tears are pouring down my cheeks. This was such a stupid idea, holy shit, this was such a stupid idea. We are going to die out here.
Eddie sees my internal freak out, and grabs me by the shoulders. "Joce, it's okay. It's gonna be okay. We just need to keep moving. Those little fuckers will have a hard time getting at us in the woods. Less open space. Okay?" He looks around wildly, before spotting a rather large fallen tree, and drags me to it. "Get down." He instructs me, and I crawl under the log, with him right after me.
It goes quiet for a moment, and I feel myself start to relax. Then, I feel something wrap around my ankle, and I'm screaming as I'm being dragged out from under the fallen tree.
"Joce!" Eddie yells, and immediately starts running after me, as several of the bats swoop down at him. He swings the spear and, luckily, it skewers a bat and sends it crashing to the forest floor. He looks back at me, and watches in horror as the bats begin to grapple with my legs. He grabs the spear in his other hand, before throwing it and, by some miracle, piercing one of the bats. Not enough to kill it, but enough to distract them as he runs towards me.
I'm screaming, struggling to get free. I can't let these little fuckers bite me. Hell. No. I kick out wildly, and am pulled down again as one of them wraps its tail around my throat, starting to squeeze. My vision instantly starts to cloud, and I cough and choke out, struggling to pull the bat's tail off of my neck.
"F-fuck." I choke out, feeling my strength starting to leave my body. Through my failing vision, I suddenly see Eddie stop. Then, an unholy voice comes out of his mouth. It's in a language I don't understand. He's screaming at the demobats. His eyes are feral. It's… terrifying.
I feel the grip of the demobat start to loosen around my throat, and I gasp for air.
Eddie's eyes are bright, almost burning, and he takes a step forward, his voice filled with rage as he yells at the little monsters. He doesn't seem to realize what he's doing.
"Let. Her. Go." He snarls out, in English this time. He takes another step towards them as if silently daring them to attack.
The bats freeze for a moment, before they slowly back away from me, flying into the trees, and staring down at us. I stare up at Eddie, my eyes wide. His eyes are still animalistic and manic, as he comes to kneel beside me, gently sitting me up.
"Joce, are you okay?" His voice is back to normal.
I'm staring at Eddie, in terror. "Eddie, you eyes..." Above us, the demobats are circling and sitting on tree branches, but not attacking. They're chittering, watching us, their eyes on Eddie mostly.
One of the bats slowly flies down to us, and I scramble back. Eddie plants himself between me and the bat. It lands on the ground, hissing at Eddie, but not attacking. It looks like it's... waiting for instructions? I stare between it and Eddie, and suddenly, it clicks.
Holy. Shit.
"Eddie… they're listening to you." I whisper.
"They're what?!" Eddie whirls to look at me, but quickly returns his attention to the bat in front of us. "How…?" He looks like his brain is short circuiting.
I slowly come to stand beside him. "Remember my theory..? How everything in the Upside Down is connected, and that might include you and Vecna? Well, what if that also includes you and the Demobats?" I'm staring in awe at the bat, which is now sitting, almost patiently, watching us. It would be kind of cute if it and its friends hadn't just tried to murder us.
Eddie stares for several seconds. He's at a loss for words. After a long moment, he takes a deep breath and speaks in a quiet, almost whispering voice.
"Are we… in danger?" His still slightly burning eyes dart between the bat, me, and the surrounding trees, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
"Right now, weirdly enough, I don't think so." I say softly. I glance at the bat again, before turning to Eddie. "Eddie...maybe tell them to do something? To test it out?"
Eddie nods slowly, looking uncertain. "Okay… okay… I'll give it a shot." He takes a deep breath and looks at the bat, his eyes still glowing slightly as he speaks in a low, careful voice. "Go… uh, go back. Leave us."
It takes a second or two, but the bat slowly stands back up as its wings extend. It begins to fly away with the other bats. A few of them stay back, but after several moments, they too drift away, and leave us. Eddie and I exchange looks of utter amazement, and mild horror.
"I told Steve you weren't evil! This is the coolest and most horrifying thing ever!" I squeal, bouncing on the balls of my feet.
Eddie blushes slightly with embarrassment. "Uh, yeah, this is super fucking creepy. But, I guess that kind of proves your theory. So… that's something, right?" He smiles, but it looks strained. I gently squeeze his hand, nodding.
"Let's keep going." I say, and we continue to sprint through the Upside Down.
We hurry through the darkness. Above us, I can still hear the Demobats fluttering, but keeping their distance. My hand clutches the baseball bat, Eddie holding the spear, as we race as fast as we can. It feels like hours before we can finally see the centre of town in the distance.
I slow down, breathing heavily as we approach. My eyes grow tired and my legs are sore, a sweat covering my forehead and a hint of dirt covering my face and clothes. It feels like I've run a marathon, but the pain is worth it. Beside me, I hear Eddie let out a low whistle.
"Jesus Christ, Joce. I think we're out of the woods. Literally."
I don't hear his joke. My eyes are in front of me. "Holy shit…"
Everything is… red. There are vines and tentacles and just… flesh everywhere. It's revolting. My stomach heaves, and I have to stop myself from vomiting. I've been trying to ignore my fear up until now, but I feel it so incredibly fully now that it physically hurts. I hear Eddie take a sharp breath in as his eyes settle on the disaster that is Upside Down Hawkins.
"Holy hell. What is this…?" He whispers.
"This…" I say slowly, "is Hell." And then I hear it: gunshots and screaming.
It's the others.
Fuck. "Eddie, come on!" I yell to him, and I start running towards the noise.
We race up the deserted, apocalyptic streets, getting closer to the voices. As we skid around a corner, I grab Eddie and pull him down behind a desiccated car. We duck down, and I can see down the street. It's the others, and…
Vecna.
He's suspended by his tendrils. Seeing him in the…flesh, so to speak, is even more terrifying than I imagined. Eleven is screaming and her arms are outstretched, and I can see things picking themselves up on their own, throwing themselves at Vecna. The others are fighting what looks like two Demogorgens, and my skin crawls at the sight. I turn to Eddie.
"Eddie… what do we do?"
"Joce…"
His eyes dart from the scene below us, the air thick with danger and horror as I try to take a calm and steady breath. His hands begin to shake and he grips the spear tighter than before. He looks from Vecna to our friends, and then back at me. "We… we save them, Joce. We save everyone." His voice, although scared, is steady, and as he speaks, the fear in my stomach gives way to adrenaline.
I look from him to the scene before us, and then look back at him, drawing him into a quick kiss. "I love you." I say, before grabbing the baseball bat. "Let's do this."
"I love you, t0o." Eddie replies, and gives me a nod. "Here goes nothing."
We both leap out from behind the car, running straight at the first thing we see, which is the Demogorgon attacking Steve, Nancy, and Robin. I take a swing at it with my bat, and Eddie stabs it in the leg. It roars, whirling to face us. I duck, screaming at Nancy to shoot. She does, and the Demogorgon's head explodes as it drops to the ground.
Eddie raises the spear in the air with a triumphant yell. "Hell yeah!" I grin at him.
"What the... what are you two doing here?!" Steve yells, seeing us.
"Saving your lives, apparently!" I shout back. "Come on, the others need us!" We take off in the direction of the other Demogorgon that Hopper, Mike, and Will are trying to deal with. I pick up a rock and chuck it at the Demogorgon, and it turns to look at me, snarling.
"Hey, dipshit!" Eddie yells, throwing the spear at the other Demogorgon. It pierces it in the shoulder, and it roars in pain.
"Dude, nice!' I yell, grabbing another rock and throwing it at the Demogorgon. Robin does the same, as does Nancy. It's getting confused, growling and roaring and trying to decide who to attack.
Hopper takes this opportunity to aim at its torso, shooting it dead. It squeals like a stuck pig as it dies.
We whoop and cheer, and I turn to look at Eddie as I grin. I notice his expression has gone from joyful to strained.
Suddenly, Eddie's eyes go wide, and he drops to his knees, convulsing. I scream, running towards him, but Steve grabs me and stops me.
"EDDIE!" I scream, trying to get to him. I look wildly around, and see Vecna. His eyes are trained on Eddie, rather than Eleven now.
"He will join me..." Vecna hisses, and I realize what Vecna's trying to do.
"No!" I scream again. "EDDIE!"
Eddie's eyes roll back as he collapses fully, writhing on the ground as his muscles begin to twitch. He's groaning as the veins in his neck and arms begin to purple. He struggles to speak as he tries to take a breath, but the words don't come. He begins to still, his body beginning to go limp.
"Eddie!" I scream again. I wrench myself free from Steve, and race to Eddie, falling to my knees beside him. "Oh my god, Eddie, oh my God. Say something. Please!" I start shaking him. above us, Vecna laughs.
"He's mine now." Vecna says, his voice cold and sharp. I look up at Vecna, tears of anger streaming down my face, as I turn back to Eddie. "It is time, Eddie. Unleash your powers. End them all. Start with her." Vecna commands, his cruel voice tinged with mirth.
Below me, Eddie twitches slightly, and I feel a cold shiver run through me. I begin to back away, fear gripping my heart. "Eddie…?"
"Do it now, Eddie." Vecna roars.
I don't even have time to react. Eddie sits up at lightning speed, one of his hands suddenly gripping my hair, yanking my head back. I feel tears of pain prickle my eyes, and I stare up at him.
Gone is the man I grew up with. Gone is my best friend. Gone is the man I love. There is only darkness in his eyes now. Only hatred. Only death. And then I realize the cold, awful truth:
Eddie is going to kill me.
