slut [ eddie munson ]

027

Talia's hand had remained tightly gripped in Eddie's as they ran through the forest, the group of teens not stopping until they reached the familiar sight of Skull Rock. The five of them huddled underneath the large boulders, hearts racing as the sickening screeches of the bat-like creatures echoed through the air.

The teens remained tense as the cries of the bats slowly grew quieter as more and more distance was put between them, the bats continuing on after losing sight of the teens. Talia felt her heart pound in her chest as her ears strained, searching for the sound of any bats that might have been left behind. Dried tears stained her cheeks and she had her hands clenched into fists to hide how terribly they shook. Eddie had thrown an arm around her shoulder and held her protectively to his chest, breathing heavily.

"Oh...okay," Robin's voice came out breathy, the tall girl shakily pulling herself up and inching slightly out from under the cover of Skull Rock, "That was close." Slowly, the rest of the teens followed her lead.

"Too close," Eddie slightly croaked, still in disbelief about the whole thing. Talia reluctantly detached herself from Eddie and approached the Buckley girl, worry clear in her eyes as she stared up at the sky with apprehension.

"What are we going to do?" She just barely managed to hide her wince as pain shot through her, her throat flaring up in protest.

"I don't know," Robin murmured sadly, both girls attention being stolen by Steve as he stumbled slightly, the sound of him falling into the rock alerting the group.

"Oh, sh—shit."

"Steve?" Nancy questioned, eyebrows furrowing with worry as she took in the sickly sheen on the Harrington boy's face, "Jesus." She rushed over to him, wanting to asses his injuries better before they continued on.

"I'm fine," Steve panted weakly, still leant against the rock.

"No," Nancy said strongly, "no, no—you're not. You're losing blood. Come on, sit. Sit." She gently forced him down, the group finally getting a better look at the wounds on his torso.

Talia took a step forward, worry filling her as her eyes raked over the gouges. Robin followed her lead, the two girls moving even closer and crouching down besides Nancy and Steve.

"Okay," Robin started, trying her best to ignore the worry she felt and instead offer reassurance to her best friend, "so the good news is I'm pretty sure wooziness is not a common symptom of rabies, but if you start having hallucinations or...or muscle spasms or you start feeling really agressive—like, like you wanna punch me or something—then you just totally let me know, okay?"

"Robin," Steve grunted, face screwed up in pain.

"Yeah?"

"I kinda wanna punch you."

Robin laughed, "Sense of humor's still intact. That's a good sign."

"Yeah," Steve muttered, slightly nodding. Talia nervously bit down on her lip, eyes focused on Steve's torso. Those bats had a nasty bite, but luckily they hadn't been able to get too deep. With the limited amount of knowledge she had on the human anatomy, Talia figured that Steve would have already bled out if anything major had been hit in the attack. He'd be left with some gnarly scars, and probably be in quite a bit of pain until they healed more, but he'd live.

Robin and Talia exchanged a look before they both silently retreated, moving closer to Eddie as Nancy, who had torn a strip of fabric off the bottom of her sweater, went to wrap it around Steve. Robin moved to the side and paced slightly while Talia silently approached the Munson boy, who had his back turned to the group.