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In the virulent glow of the Upside Down, Eddie lay in front of him on the ground, his torso in shreds.
“Eddie!” Dustin cried, limping urgently towards him. His left leg screamed in pain and his voice broke as he called out a second time. “Eddie!”
Between countless corpses of mutant bats, Dustin saw the thick pool of red creeping across the ashen concrete. He threw his spear aside and sobbed, falling to the ground at Eddie’s feet.
“Oh God,” he blubbered, dragging himself closer, “Oh God Eddie.”
Eddie’s face was covered in blood. His eyes bulged, staring unfocused at something far away. Between laborious gasps he choked up more blood, gagging on its dull taste. “Bad, huh?” he muttered unsteadily. He didn’t bring his gaze to Dustin.
“No no no no no. You’re gonna be fine we just gotta get you to a hospital,” Dustin reassured, voice cracking. Tears threatened to slide down his face as he cradled the older boy’s mangled body in his arms.
Eddie met his gaze. “Okay”, he mustered, trying his hardest to keep breathing.
“Alright aright aright come on,” Dustin blithered, forcing his aching muscles to hoist up Eddie’s body.
“I think– I think I just need a second”, Eddie sobbed, “Okay?”
Dustin wept. “Okay.” He held Eddie protectively against his body, as if somehow he’d be safe now in his arms. But Eddie’s breathing had grown more unsteady by now.
Stifling his gasps, Eddie forced himself to meet Dustin’s eyes and they shared a powerful gaze. Eddie smiled. Dried blood cracked on his skin. Tears fell between the creases of his crow’s feet. “I didn’t run away this time, right?” He grimaced through the pain. Blood stained his teeth and the inside of his mouth. His bright eyes shone in the blue light of the Upside Down.
Dustin shook his head and cried. “No, no no no no. You didn't run.”
Eddie grit his teeth. “You're gonna have to look after those little sheep for me, okay?”
“No, you're gonna do that yourself,” Dustin retaliated.
“Nah, man,” Eddie denied weakly. Through a grimace, he smiled and urged Dustin again. “Say, ‘I’m gonna look after them.’”
Dustin shook his head. His eyes stung and his chest burned with anguish.
“Say it.” The strained demand of his upperclassman was a bullet. Dustin sobbed, squeezing his eyes tight to blink away the tears.
“I’m… I’m gonna look after them,” Dustin resigned, almost in a whisper.
“Good. ‘Cause I’m actually gonna graduate.” Eddie chuckled weakly. “I think it’s my year Henderson.” This earned Eddie a sad smile from the younger boy. “I think it’s finally my year”, Eddie mustered again, struggling. He gasped several times, breathing shallow and strangled through the wet blood dripping from the corners of his mouth down his chin. “I love you man.”
It hurt too much. Dustin couldn’t take this. He broke Eddie’s gaze. This was too much. They were too young. Eddie was too young. He had so much life left ahead of him. It wasn't fair. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to try to be a hero.
Dustin trembled. “I love you too.” A single tear dribbled down the side of Eddie’s face into Dustin’s lap. “Eddie”, he repeated uselessly.
Eddie’s breaths slowed and his eyes drifted away from Dustin. He felt his vision blurring as his warm brown eyes grew glassy and froze dull and unfocused on something far away. Eddie closed his eyes.
“Eddie. Come on,” Dustin begged, shaking his friend’s limp body softly. Eddie lay motionless. Dustin shook him again. And again. And again. Harder now. “Eddie!” he screamed. Desperately, despairingly. His broken voice echoed throughout the cavernous realm. There was nothing left that he could do now. He clutched Eddie’s body close as he wept.
~ ~ ~
When Dustin finished weeping, his entire body ached. His temples throbbed. His eyes stung. He had ceased being able to form tears ages ago. Dry sobs had pervaded the overwhelming void that both filled him and surrounded him in the desolate realm of the Upside Down. Now that he had stopped crying he wasn’t sure what to do. He couldn’t leave Eddie here. He refused to. Eddie was far too good to be left in this Hell. Far too good to be abandoned, forgotten. Dustin wouldn’t allow it. He wiped his face with his sleeve and stood up. He was going to get Eddie out of here, no matter what, he decided.
Glancing over at Eddie’s trailer in the Upside Down, Dustin caught a glance of a sheet of metal that he could use as a sled to pull Eddie’s body, assuming he could find something to pull it with. He didn’t want to leave Eddie out in the open while he scrounged for scraps out of fear that some other creature would come along and feast on his remains, but he also didn't have the strength to drag him somewhere more protected. Looking around, he couldn’t see anything alive and dangerous nearby so he begrudgingly concluded that it would be okay to leave Eddie there for a second. Still, he wanted to leave him alone for as short a time as possible.
Dustin picked up his spear and set off across the couple of yards that separated him and Eddie from the trailer. Nearing the sheet of metal, he found a thick cord that they had used earlier to tie some wooden beams in place for protection inside the trailer. He wrapped the cord around his arm and pulled the metal sheet down off the trailer. It was heavier than he anticipated, and nearly crushed him coming down. It landed on the ground with a loud clang and Dustin frantically looked around to see if the noise had attracted any monsters. Luckily, he didn't see or hear any signs of movement. Eddie had really taken out everything within a mile radius of the trailer it seemed. Dustin thanked him almost prayerfully under his breath, then swore at himself as he realized he was already talking to Eddie like he was dead. Because he was dead.
Dustin took a deep breath. He couldn't start crying again. Physically, he was unable to. Plus, he needed to save his energy for carrying Eddie out of here. And for fighting off anything that got in his way.
Dustin dragged the metal sheet back over to Eddie as fast as he could, which was rather slow considering the awkward heft of the metal. And his limp. And the aching in his body. And the insurmountable grief that consumed him.
When Dustin returned to Eddie’s body he hurriedly yet delicately moved Eddie onto the metal sheet. He was careful as to not touch his wounds, almost for fear of hurting him, which he quickly realized was no longer an issue. Still, it felt wrong to knowingly inflict more damage upon the body that once housed his friend.
Once Eddie had been laid on the makeshift sled, Dustin fastened the cord to the end closest to Eddie’s head and gave it a tug. The sled was reluctant to budge. Dustin tried again, tugging harder this time. The bottom of the sled scraped roughly against the rocky terrain but Dustin was relieved to see it move a couple inches. Glancing back once more at Eddie’s body lying on the sled to make sure he wasn't going to fall off, Dustin took another deep breath and set forward, dragging the fallen bard who just had to be a hero across a battlefield of slain monsters.
Getting Eddie across the stretch to the trailer should have been the easy part. The hard part was supposed to be getting him into the trailer, and the even harder part was supposed to be getting him back through the gate. But after moving hardly 10 feet from where they had started, Dustin saw more bats on the horizon.
“Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. Vecna you son of a bitch could you stop with the goddamn bats for just one second.”
Eddie was heavy, and with his limp Dustin didn't have a steady enough gait to move efficiently forward. Although he had a spear, it still took both of his hands to pull the weight of the sled. Dustin kept pulling, keeping an eye on how close the bats were getting, knowing full well that if they got close he wouldn't be able to protect both himself and Eddie’s body. But he didn’t want to think about that unless he had to, so he pressed forward.
Finally they reached the trailer, and the bats were still far enough away that Dustin hoped they would be safe for now. He pulled the sled up against the door in hopes that he could lift Eddie into the trailer, but at the same time, the weight of his friend's body was enough to make him feel like crying again.
“I’m sorry Eddie. I’m so so sorry. You never should have been a part of this shit. This was never supposed to happen,” Dustin whispered, holding Eddie in his lap. “I’m so so sorry.” Holding his friend again, Dustin began to cry. It hurt to cry so much. His eyes weren’t able to keep up with making tears. Snot and drool dribbled down his face.
He sat there for a while, holding Eddie again in his arms. Crying. He wished he wasn't alone right now. He wished Steve was there to help carry Eddie out. Or Mike. Or Lucas. Nancy even. Somebody–anybody–to make him feel like he wasn't alone in this hell void trying to bring back the corpse of someone he had looked up to. He clutched Eddie’s body tight and pressed his forehead against Eddie’s head. He sobbed until everything was quiet again.
And then felt it. The smallest movement. Dustin sniffed and held his breath. In the eerie stillness of the Upside Down he heard the faintest sound of air moving. Like a mouse drawing breath.
“Eddie?” Dustin’s voice was barely a whisper. He spoke as if he feared making sound would make the small wheezing noise stop. He leaned in close to Eddie’s face. He held his breath. Sure enough, the softest hint of oxygen was making its way in and out of Eddie’s lungs. Dustin’s heart skipped out of his chest.
“Oh Eddie holy shit. Holy fucking shit Eddie you’re alive. Oh my God holy fucking shit,” Dustin rambled anxiously. “Okay, okay, its gonna be okay, you're gonna be okay Eddie I’m gonna get you outta here I promise.”
Fueled by a new sense of urgency and an overwhelming relief that made him feel like crying yet again, he mustered the energy to lift Eddie up the steps into the trailer. As he lifted him, Eddie let out a faint groaning sound. Dustin felt wet heat spread across his hands.
“Oh fuck. Right you're still bleeding. Shit okay, fuck where are all the goddamn sheets?”
Dustin scrambled into the trailer and grabbed the sheet “rope” they had tied together to get through the gate in the first place. Not sparing the time to rip them apart, he frantically but delicately wrapped the sheets around Eddie’s torso in hopes of staunching some of the bleeding.
“Okay, that should help with the blood loss, but now I need to figure out a way to get you back through this hole in the ceiling. Preferably without killing you.”
Before he had time to think, the ground began to rumble. In the distance, a clock chimed.
“That can’t be good,” Dustin muttered gravely.
The gate in the ceiling split open. From the doorway to the trailer Dustin watched it tear through the walls of the trailer and spread in a straight line through the ground.From the doorway he could see that the gate had cracked far enough open that it was accessible through the ground outside the trailer, which was bad news for Hawkins, but provided a convenient ground level alternaternative to trying to help Eddie back through the gate in the ceiling.
Almost without thinking, Dustin laid Eddie back on the sled as quickly as he could and rushed them over to the edge of the gate on the ground outside.
“Alright Eddie I hope you’re ready for this,” Dustin said. “Here goes nothing.”
Like a seesaw, he pushed the sled over the ledge of the gate. The gravity from the other side pulled the sled vertical, and Dustin pushed the rest of the sled (and Eddie) over the edge, hoping that Hawkins gravity would flip it right side up once the rest of it crossed the gate. Sure enough, it flipped right side up and Eddie landed on the other side with a light thud. Dustin winced, praying the slight impact hadn’t hurt too bad. Or killed him, for that matter.
Not daring to look back now, Dustin stepped a little to the side and fell through, attempting to roll from one edge to the other. He was only mildly successful with the roll, but it didn't really matter once he opened his eyes and saw that he had made it back to Hawkins.
Looking over at Eddie, Dustin saw that the landing had caused some of the bleeding to get worse. He wasn't sure for how long Eddie had been bleeding out now but he knew for sure that there was no way he’d be able to last much longer like this. He needed a blood transfusion ASAP.
Back in Hawkins, the trailer park was somewhat more populated and after dragging Eddie away from the edge of the gate, Dustin ran towards the nearest trailer.
“Hellllp! Help!” He screamed, pounding on the door violently. “I need someone to call an ambulance right the fuck now!”
The ground was still shaking, and the gate still growing. Trees as tall as skyscrapers trembled in the sky, threatening to fall. Still, a couple people opened their doors to see what the fuck was going on.
“Help! Somebody help!”
In the commotion, an older man came running out. “What’s going on?’ He demanded.
“I don't know but my friend needs to get to a hospital right now!” Dustin shouted, pointing at Eddie lying on the metal sled a few yards away.
The older man’s eyes widened in horror. “Eddie?”
“I promise you he’s not dangerous he just needs–”
“I know he’s not dangerous, boy! Eddie is my nephew for Christ’s sake!” The man shouted, rushing over to Eddie.
“Mr. Munson? Oh fuck thank God we need to get him to a hospital right now. I’ll tell you what happened but please he’s lost a lot of blood and we don't have a lot of time–”
“Shut up and help me get him to the car,” Mr. Munson instructed. Dustin nodded, rushing over to help carry Eddie to the car.
“We’re gonna get you help now, Eddie. I promise. You're gonna be okay. Please just hang on. You're gonna be okay,” Dustin promised, making sure to stay by Eddie’s side the whole way there.
~ ~ ~
Eddie woke up to the sound of a monitor beeping steadily in one ear and the dull throbbing of his entire body. His eyes were closed but he could feel the pressure of someone resting on the left side of his bed. He shifted warily. Immediately the pressure from the figure on his left side was gone. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times. The room was so bright it was hard to see. Slowly his vision adjusted to the light and he made out the image of the person at his bedside.
“Henderson?” He choked. It hurt to speak. He coughed once, twice. It hurt more to cough, especially in his abdomen.
To his left, Dustin sat disheveled and tired-looking, as if he had been sitting there for days. He looked like he was about to cry. Oh, no, nevermind. He was definitely crying.
“Eddie, thank God you’re alive,” Dustin wailed, leaning into him to hug him. Eddie winced as Dustin crushed a few of his still fresh wounds.
“Uh, yeah. I guess I am. I’d say the pain in my stomach’s a pretty sure sign of that.”
“I didn’t think you… I thought you…” Dustin’s voice trailed off in his ear. Eddie could feel hot tears against his cheek although he couldn't be sure if they were Dustin’s or his own.
“I know.” Eddie paused, remembering. “I know…” he repeated, not knowing what else to say.
When Dustin finally let go of him, Eddie looked down at his hands. They were clean–sort of. There were trace amounts of blood stuck underneath his fingernails and his hands and arms looked badly cut up from what looked like claw marks. Or teeth marks.
“Hey, what happened, exactly?” Eddie asked. “After I… you know.”
“Oh, uh,” Dustin started. But before he could continue, the door opened and in walked an older man with a white beard.
“Eddie, thank goodness,” the man uttered as if letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He swiftly made his way over to the boy and embraced him, kissing him on the forehead. “I didn’t know if you were missing or if you had been killed–”
“I’m okay now,” Eddie reassured. “I’m okay.”
“Yes, thanks to this boy here. Tell him what you did, son,” Mr. Munson urged.
“Oh, I’m sure any of the Hellfire Club members would have done the same,” Dustin replied.
Mr. Munson rolled his eyes. “Don’t be shy, boy. You damn near saved his life. You did save his life!”
“Henderson?” Eddie gazed at him inquisitively.
“Well, after you… passed out, I thought you had… Well, let's say I didn’t want to leave you there, in the Upside Down. I didn't know you were still alive until after I got you back through the gate–which split way open by the way–but once we were back on this side I found your Uncle and we managed to get you here before…”
“Before it was too late,” Eddie supplemented.
“Yeah.”
“Wait, you brought me back through the gate even though you thought I was dead?”
“Well, yeah. You mean too much to Hellfire to just leave you there. Besides, nobody deserves to be left there. Dead or otherwise. It wouldn't be right. Plus, Eddie, it's you. You deserved better.” Dustin looked down. “We wanted… I wanted… to have a proper funeral for you. But…” He looked back at Eddie.. “I’m really glad we didn't have to.”
“In other words,” Mr. Munson added, “If Dustin here hadn’t gone back for you, you would’ve bled out all alone in that godforsaken place. He saved your life Eddie. He brought you back from the land of the dead, so to speak.”
“More like from Hell,” Dustin corrected.
Eddie chuckled, which hurt, but he didn’t really mind. “You saved my life, Henderson. You brought me back from Hell.”
“I guess I did,” Dustin smiled sheepishly. They shared a look.
“You know that kind of makes you a hero, right?”
“I don't know if I’d say that,” Dustin deflected modestly.
“Dustin Henderson. My personal hero,” Eddie motioned in the air like it was the newspaper headline.
“Come on,” Dustin scoffed. “If anything, you're the hero. You were the one who was willing to sacrifice yourself to save Hawkins. You know, the town that hated you, that was out to kill you. That’s like, some totally selfless hero bullshit.”
“Alright, alright. How about this: we’re both heroes.” Eddie proposed.
Dustin grinned. “Alright. Deal.”
“Hey,” Eddie said. “You know I meant it when I said it before.”
Dustin raised his brow. “Meant what?”
“I love you Henderson.” Eddie smiled.
Dustin teared up again before going in for another hug. Right in his ear, Eddie heard Dustin say it back.
“I love you too Eddie.”