Chapter Text
In the month of October of 1988, merely a couple of weeks before Halloween, Mr. Johnson decided it would be fun to take his 8th-grade class to a spooky field trip to the next town over, a mysterious park with many rumors surrounding it. No one seemed that excited about it, except one boy, watching the trees pass from the window of the bus.
“Bill- Bill, come on, you gotta break the tie,” Richie said from beside him, breaking his train of thought.
“So-sorry, I wasn’t pay-paying attention, what was it?” Bill asked, turning to look between Richie, and Eddie sitting in the row behind them.
“Captain America could so beat Thor, right?” Richie said, before Eddie interrupted him with a splutter.
“No-no-no way! Thor is literally like a god-”
“Captain America is a superhuman!”
“So? He’s not immortal! I don’t think Thor can even die!”
“Sor-sorry, Rich, Eddie’s right,” Bill cut in, glancing back towards the window.
“Bi-ill,” Richie whined, grabbing his arm. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“Your si-side is wrong,” Bill snickered, barely looking at him. “And-and besides, we’re a-almost there, I can see it!”
Richie leaned closer to Bill to see out the window, Eddie moving to his own.
“That’s fucking creepy, and look at the clouds, what if it rains? Oh my god if it rains and I get sick, my mom will fucking flip,” Eddie rambled.
“Do you really think there’s… werewolves in there?” Richie asked, uncharacteristically quiet.
“I do-don’t know… It would be ki-kinda cool, though, would-wouldn’t it?” Bill said, grinning excitedly as he tried to peer through the trees coming closer.
“No,” Richie and Eddie said in unison.
Soon, they were trekking through the forest, the three of them ending up towards the back.
“I wish Stan were here, at least, he’s the only other sense of reason in this damn group,” Eddie complained as he batted Richie’s hand away from him.
“Tell him to have been born a few months earlier and then he could’ve been in our class,” Richie said, unrelenting in his quest to pinch Eddie’s cheek.
“Gu-guys, hush, I’m trying to hear,” Bill said, straining to hear the guide over the quiet chatter of the rest of the class.
“This forest has always had its rumors, of ghosts and even of werewolves roaming. And in 1976, a couple hiking through the forest claimed to have seen a large white wolf, the first reported sighting of the beast. There were several sightings after-”
“Richie, I swear to god, I am going to bite you if you keep touching me,” Eddie all but growled.
“Oh, I hope you’ve had your rabies shot then,” Richie retorted, trying to pinch his cheek again, seemingly trying to distract everyone from what the guide was saying.
“Fuck you!” Eddie yelled just quiet enough that the teacher wouldn’t hear, shoving Richie away from him in annoyance.
Unfortunately, that happened to be right into Bill, making both of them stumble, with Bill unable to save his balance as he was caught off guard.
“Oh my god, I am so sorry, Bill, I didn’t mean to-” Eddie said, covering his mouth with his hands before going to help him up, but Bill wasn’t paying attention.
His gaze had fallen to a set of paw prints, larger than any he’d ever seen. They looked bigger than his own hand. He followed them through the brush, slowly pulling himself up, and walking towards them as if in a trance.
“Oh hell no, oh hell fucking no, Bill,” Richie said, trying to pull him back, a tone of fear in his voice. “What if-what if that’s the werewolf?”
“Werewolves aren’t real, Richie, but Bill, he definitely has a point, we can’t just go wandering off, like, what if that’s a bear- or a real wolf or-” Eddie suddenly cut off as he looked towards the group. “They’re leaving us, come on, we gotta go-”
“I- I just wanna see where it goes,” Bill said, pulling his arm away and darting forward before either could grab him again.
“Bill!” They both called, not daring to step foot off the path.
“This is stupid!”
“You’re gonna get yourself killed!”
Bill ignored their shouts after him, following the tracks- until they stopped. There were claw marks in the dirt in front of them, then… something that looked like a human footprint, although it was faded. Maybe it was just in Bill’s imagination.
“Bill, seriously, they’re like really down the trail now, we really need to catch up or they’re gonna leave us and then we’ll be alone out here!” Eddie shouted.
Bill sighed softly, turning back around and heading back to the path. Then he noticed Richie. His eyes were wide, he hardly seemed like he was breathing, and he grabbed onto Eddie’s arm tightly as he stared at something just to the right of Bill.
“Ow, Richie, what the fu-” Eddie’s breath caught as he followed Richie’s gaze, eyes widening in horror, feet immediately moving. But his shoving is doing nothing to move Richie, who is standing frozen on the path, his knuckles as white as his face.
Bill looked over, following their gazes, to see it. A wolf, white as snow, with piercing amber eyes staring hungrily at the two boys on the path. It wasn’t a normal wolf. A wolf wasn’t that big , not that Bill knew of, at least. It would stand well over a grown man on its back paws. It was stalking towards them, a low growl coming from deep in its throat as it bared sharp teeth at them.
Eddie’s screams faded to the background as Bill took off running, directly towards it, removing his flannel and holding it in front of him. The wolf tried to start towards them, but Bill intercepted it, wrapping the flannel in its mouth like reigns on a horse, rearing the beast back. Unfortunately, the fabric was no match for the razor-sharp teeth, ripping through it easily, sending Bill tumbling off of it as it tore away. The wolf turned sharply to him, and Bill held his arm up to protect himself as it lunged.
It felt like getting burned, only sharper, and wetter, tearing through his skin, but everything feels numb as adrenaline pumps through his veins. It wasn’t on him anymore- no, he was in a different spot, winded as he rolled over. He thinks it threw him, but everything is going so slow and so fast he can barely tell. Blood is rushing in his ears, Eddie’s shrieks for help barely cutting through. He rolls onto his feet quickly, spotting a broken branch. He grabs it, flipping it when he realizes that one side has a sharp point where it broke.
As the wolf charges him again, Bill puts both hands on the branch and swings upwards with all his might, feeling a splatter of blood as the edge cuts through the wolf’s face. Bill manages to keep his balance, and the branch in his hands, holding it up like a bat.
The wolf whimpers, it’s head bowed a moment, and Bill can see crimson staining it’s fur, dripping down onto the ground. It looks up at Bill, and he can see its right eye clouding over, the cut running from the side of its mouth to above its eye. Bill looked at the branch a half-moment, disbelieving that he did that with sharpened wood.
The whimper turned into a growl as Bill met its eyes again, strangely human anger in its good eye. Bill tightened his grip on the branch, planting his feet in the dirt, ready to strike again.
The wolf suddenly looked up, hearing the group running back, the shouts of the adults. It looked back at Bill, growling once more before darting away, disappearing into the trees.
Bill lowered the branch, panting and trying to swallow as the adrenaline began disappearing. He stepped towards the path, and found himself on the ground, on his hands and knees, breathing heavily as the pain started setting in. His arm was bleeding badly, gory rips in his flesh, he was lightheaded.
He could vaguely hear Eddie and Richie screaming and shouting in his ears, their hands on him, he swayed, everything was blurring, he couldn't tell what was going on.
“Bill- Bill, stay with us!”
Richie's voice was the last thing he heard before everything went black.
In the quiet darkness, a wolf appeared. Not the one that had attacked him, it was brown, like chocolate, with reddish tints. Bill could swear it was like his own hair.
It was much smaller than the white wolf, scrawnier, as if not fully grown. Its yellow eyes stared into Bill's own.
For some strange reason, Bill felt as if he almost knew it. There was a sort of familiarity in its eyes, a connection he couldn't explain.
But the eyes changed. The soft expression turned feral in an instant, hungry and vicious. It lunged towards Bill, teeth snapping.
Blinding white.
Bill blinked, scrunching his face, trying to shield his eyes, only to find himself hooked to something.
“Bill! Don't move, you’ll rip the IV out,” Richie’s voice said softly, and Bill turned his head to see the bespectacled boy standing beside him.
He realized he was in a hospital room, the room small and slightly tacky.
“Thank fuck you're okay, Jesus Christ, Bill, we were losing our shit, we thought- we thought you fucking died , and then I would've had to bring you back to fucking kill you again because you are so fucking stupid-”
“Eddie, shut up, he literally just woke up,” Richie scolded. But he turned back to Bill, “He’s right, though, that was stupid of you to try and follow the tracks.”
“See? Even Richie agrees with me!” Eddie shouted.
“ But , that was also incredible. You saved our fucking lives, Bill,” Richie said, a glimmer of something Bill couldn't quite place at the moment in his eyes.
“Yeah…” Bill looked down, at the bandages wrapped around his left forearm. “H-how was it? I-I mean, I saw-saw it but…”
“It nearly went to the bone, but it wasn't infected, which you're lucky cause if that thing had had rabies then you would like be dead right now-” Richie cut Eddie's tirade off.
“They said it was healing fast, too. I think they said there were like fifteen stitches in there,” he said.
“Yeah,” Eddie nodded.
“An-And how long's it been?”
Richie looked at the clock, “About three hours, they already called your parents and everything.”
“They're keeping you overnight, but they won't let us stay,” Eddie said, puffing a little. Bill could guess that they'd both argued again having to leave.
“I’ll be fine, g-guys,” Bill assured them, looking between them.
Before either of them could say anything, Mr. Johnson was coming in, seeing Bill was up. “Okay, good, you're awake. I’ll call the nurse in; you two, out. We’ll head out soon, and Bill, your parents should be here by 4.”
Richie looked down at Bill, gently brushing the hair out of his face. “Um, we’ll see you tomorrow, hopefully,” he said softly, pulling his hand back to himself.
Eddie nodded, gently leaning down to give Bill the softest half hug, careful not to move anything hooked to him. “Definitely by this weekend.”
“See you guys later,” Bill said, offering them a little smile.
They offered a little wave each as they were ushered out of the room, and Bill was left alone in the hospital room.
He bit his lip, looking down at his bandaged arm. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the thoughts of that weird dream, or the weirdly sharp scent of chemicals.