Should I go back home?
What will Billy do if I try to run away?
My dad...did he give up looking for me?
What is happening?
There was a grip on her arm suddenly, and through the silence, an indistinct mutter. She choked back a sob, and again, there came a murmur.
"Lily..."
"Jesus! Shit!"
She lifted herself, and Eddie's dark, brown eyes seemed a little less lifeless than before. He spluttered out a bloody cough, then smiled.
"No... just me..."
Again, she was crying. Shoving the ring onto her thumb, she threw her arms around him. "You're alive. Holy shit, Eddie, you're okay!"
"So are you." A weak hand reached up to touch her face, and his thumb brushed her chin. "They all thought you were dead." As he slowly tried to sit up, Lillian helped him. "But I thought maybe there was a chance you ended up here..."
"What the hell was that all about? Band practice get out of hand or something?" she glanced back towards the path of the winged monsters that were slain.
Wiping the blood from his mouth into a smear, he smiled. "You saw that, huh? That's a, uh... long story."
"I expect the full story when we get somewhere safe."
Once he was able to stand and regroup, Eddie managed to hotwire another car - an old, black Challenger, to get it started, as the Camaro was officially in flames. It was a miracle they got it working in this hell realm.
The mysterious tentacles that were all over the place had disappeared now, which was peculiar, but Lillian didn't bother to ask herself why. And while the bats were no longer an issue, Billy was still out there.
So, she got them to the hospital. It was the only place she could think that wasn't painfully obvious for them to be found. She didn't want to return to the gate, lest her crazy ex was there, waiting for her.
The building, much like everything else in Limbo, was heavily dilapidated and abandoned. Killing the car and helping Eddie out of the passenger side, she let him lean on her as they went into the reception area.
"I'm sure there's some medical supplies we can use, right?" Eddie said to her. He cleared a few things up for her - told her about this Vecna guy that used to run this place, but might have been taken down, and hers truly had been a part of that quest.
He laid back on the reception desk, and she carefully started removing his jacket and shirt, both of which were doused in blood. Those things tore him apart, clearly, and it was a miracle he survived it.
"I've been bitten by one of those things a couple of times," Lillian muttered, "and I thought that was bad enough. I can't imagine what you went through..."
"Oh, it wasn't that bad." He took some tissues and wiped the blood from his face, then winced as she started putting hydrogen peroxide on the bites. There were so many of them, all on his arms, his torso, and his neck. "Like getting a tattoo."
She brushed her thumb over the puppetmaster tattoo on his arm with a faint smile, then her eyes caught the ring she had put on her finger. She went to take it off and give it back to him.
He gave her a look of surprise, then put his hand out, pushing hers away. "I always wanted to give it to you, anyway."
"Huh?"
Slowly, Eddie sat up, doing so slowly to not strain himself. "Lily... I never got a chance to tell you, and you actually hear it..." he trailed off, letting his legs dangle from the side of the desk. "And I know it's been a while since you've been gone, but I'm just going to release the hounds..."
"What is it?"
He took her right hand, pulling the ring from her palm and sliding it back onto her hand, except it was her ring finger. It was a loose fit, but the gesture blindsided her with awe.
"I love you." Once again, time stopped. "I recently discovered not to take these moments for granted, because who knows if I'll ever get the chance to do it right next time?"
"Eddie..." Through cloudy, green eyes, she couldn't hold back her smile. "I love you, too."
It was as though the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle had been put back into place after having been missing, and as they kissed, it was like being home again. Her heart fluttered just as it did on that first night that they kissed in her kitchen. She missed him so much, and had thought for sure at a point that she would never see him again.
He likely thought the same thing.
She felt his hands in her hair, trembling against the side of her skull as he caressed her. She didn't know if he was shaking because of his near-death experience, or if he was shaking because they had finally been reunited.
Once he was well enough to do a bit of climbing, the two of them headed up the stairs of the hospital until they reached a vantage point to the giant crack in the sky.
It wasn't the easiest feat. The ground had broken up beneath them from the quaking episode, which did massive damage to the foundation. They had to platform their way across the twelfth floor just to get there.
Just before the flooring began to crumble beneath her foot, Eddie grabbed her hand and quickly yanked her away before it could swallow her whole.
"Holy shit," she gasped, leaning her back against the wall. Eddie stood with her, staring down at the gaping mouth in the ground.
"You said it."
With careful steps, they finally managed to reach the gate, which has stretchedfor almost as far as their eyes could see.
They held each other's hands as they climbed up a heap of debris to pass through the gate that glowed like crimson fire. As they reached the other side, it felt like gravity had done a complete turnaround for a split second. Lillian's stomach turned as they both landed in a lavender field on the other side.
But they weren't inside the hospital, or even anywhere near it, apparently. They looked around, and slowly, she released Eddie's hand.
"Where are we?" he asked, taking his bandana off and tucking it into his back pocket. They stood by the edge of an interstate, and close by, Lillian spotted a sign that she moved towards to get a better look.
Roanoke 60
"Toto, I don't think we're in Indiana anymore."
"Shit. We're in Virginia? How the hell...?" Eddie demanded.
Lillian sprinted towards the nearby hill, just a few paces away. Hoping to get a better vantage point, she climbed up to the highest altitude of the hill. What she saw... she needed him to confirm it was real.
"Uh... Eddie?"
"Yeah?" he called from the bottom of the slope. She gestured for him to come up to her, the hand movement rather urgent. Once he did, an uneasy feeling came over both of them as they digested what they were looking at.
Out in the distance, smoke rose from a giant chasm in the ground. A great, fiery crevice stretched for what looked like forever, through the mountain range, and past the city beyond.
Finally, Eddie was the one to break the silence. "Talk about your Highway to Hell..."
While they were still trying to wrap their heads around the fact that they had just jumped several states over through the Upside Down (apparently that was what Eddie and his company had called it), they headed towards civilization. It was a hike that they were not looking forward to, but something stumped them along the way. The ground began to look different somehow. The grass and weeds growing from it all along the interstate were dead, having rapidly wilted. Small particles of what looked like ash floated in the air. Eddie seemed to have more insight on it than she did, so she allowed him to elaborate.
"No fucking way," he had said. The interstate road took a sharp turn, and as they walked around the bend, they found dozens of abandoned vehicles. Corpses strewn the street - Virginians that suffered a catastrophe that Lillian still couldn't quite grasp.
"There's got to be more than one," he continued. "I don't suppose you have any loose change on you do you?
Lillian was clueless, but to her surprise, Eddie was already approaching the vehicles, digging into center consoles and glove boxes to find what he could that would help them. Lillian had to admit, whoever these vehicles belongs to, they probably didn't need them anymore and weren't coming back for them.
She couldn't exactly say she was proud of what they were doing. As Lillian walked among the dead bodies, she was unable to speak. They were covered in bite marks, some were clawed and devoured by something much bigger than those bats. Maybe there were more of that lily-faced monster that Billy burned?
Feeling like she had just walked into a massacre, Lillian tried not to touch anything. She looked into some car windows, even came across an RV that she knew was bound to have something of use to them.
Uncomfortable with the guilt washing over her, she stepped inside, calling out first to see if anyone was still there camping out. Once she was certain that it was indeed abandoned, she started grabbing things. From a bench, she grabbed a backpack, and she kept in mind she was going to have to keep her load light. There was no telling how far they were going to travel. No doubt they needed to try and get back home, but right now, they just needed to get to the nearest city.
Lillian had gathered some non-perishable food, clothes, as well as a few hygiene products that they were going to need. Maybe if they were lucky, they would collect enough money to stay at a hotel. Then, on her way out through the door, she checked the visor on a whim. Tucked behind it was two $20 bills. Now, that was a nice start.
As she rejoined with Eddie, she found out that he definitely showed her up, collecting over a couple hundred dollars. He also had a backpack draped over his shoulder, collecting dry foods as she had.
"You're becoming a bad influence on me," Lillian said, and though her words were meant to be humorous, her tone sort of betrayed them.
"Lily, you have no idea the crap I've had to do these past few days. Between grand theft auto and being wanted for murder, this is trivial at best." Then, he held up something. "Also, this might make you smile."
He also snatched up a leather wallet with a Slayer patch sewn onto it.
"Typical Eddie. Never change." Lillian said with a smile, but immediately, the expression went away. "Wait. Did you say wanted for murder?"
Before Eddie could explain himself, the sound of sirens screamed in the distance. He grabbed her hand, and they zipped off the road before the emergency vehicles came into sight. They didn't want to stick around to see the cleanup, although they were genuinely curious as to what had happened here.
