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After Steve climbed up the rope and back into Hawkins, Eddie slashed down the sheets to close off the bridge. His mind was racing, he didn’t need Steve to get involved with this, it would only make matters worse.
“Eddie! What are you doing? Eddie!” Steve screamed from above. He held his arms out for him as if Eddie was going to jump into his arms. “Don’t be a hero, Munson!”
Eddie had to ignore Steve, he knew what he was about to do was stupid, but if he didn’t do it he’d never be able to live with himself. He was tired of running, he wanted to take control of his situation again. He was done with this shitty town that just saw him as some type of freak, some murderer. The hatred and disgust forced him into a corner all his life, where he had to learn and be somehow okay with the fact that people would always be afraid of him. Even if his plan somehow worked, even if he distracted the bats and was able to make his way back to Hawkins, they wouldn’t see him any differently. It was the truth, even if he saved their lives it would mean absolutely nothing to them. Eddie was nothing to them. So he might as well go out in blazing glory.
He ran out of the trailer, hopping onto a bike just as the bats were able to figure out what was happening. Munson conjured his ‘Eddie, the banished’ persona, a devilish grin sprouting across his face as he biked with all his might into the woods. The bats were right on his tail, following with the same intensity. It was going to work, Eddie thought, I’ll finally be a hero.
“Eddie!” He heard a familiar voice scream from behind him, he glanced back and saw Harrington rushing towards him.
“Get out of here!” Eddie shouted back. If one of them was going to die tonight, it sure as hell wasn’t going to be Steve. Steve had people who loved him, who needed him, if Eddie died tonight they could act as if nothing happened. “They need you back there!”
“They need you!” Steve screamed back, but over the sounds of swarming bats, it was difficult to make out. Eddie threw his bike against a herd of bats, trying to make space to gather his surroundings.
Eddie flung his sword into a bat, slicing it in half. He decapitated another. Made a kabob of three bats, and kept slinging. He wouldn’t let himself stop moving, he needed to last as long as possible so Robin and Nancy could take care of Vecna’s body. “Come get some, you pieces of shit!” He swung his sword like a baseball bat, taking out a couple more, but it wasn’t enough. Eddie didn’t stand a chance against all of these, not by himself.
But he wasn’t alone. Eddie felt a body crowd against his back, one glance back told him Steve had come to join the fight. He was fighting with a baseball bat stuffed with nails, and wildly kicking at the bats near the ground.
“I said get out of here, Harrington!” Eddie yelled, not stopping to look the man in the eyes.
“Not until you do, Munson!” Steve gripped onto Eddie’s vest and pulled him down, just as a bat struck down into the ground, narrowly missing Eddie’s head. “I’m not leaving without you!”
“You don’t need me! Just let me take this one, just this once!” Eddie pleaded. “I don’t want you to get hurt, please just go! Go!”
“Do you think I want you to get hurt?” Steve flipped his body so that he was facing Eddie, letting his guard down for just a moment but it was long enough that one of the bats latched around his neck. Steve dropped to the ground, but Eddie was quick to latch onto the bat, struggling to pull it off.
“Don’t play stupid, Harrington,” Eddie groaned as he pulled the bat off of Steve’s neck and fell backward. “No one cares about me in this stupid town.” Just as he said that a bat leeched onto the side of his stomach, another one joining the other side, and the third wrapping around his neck. He felt their fangs sink into his muscle, his body spasming at the broken nerves and loss of blood. Tears quickly formed in his eyes, blinding his vision and weakening his coordination as he fumbled for the bat on his neck.
He felt Steve’s firm hands throw off the bats on his sides. The younger man straddled him as he worked on unraveling the bat around the other’s neck. “I care about you!” Steve screamed into Eddie’s face. “You dumb fucker, I care about you! I need you! Dustin needs you!” With a bolt of energy, Steve ripped apart the bat and tossed its guts to the side.
In one quick moment, the swarm of bats froze and collapsed to the ground, giving Steve and Eddie a moment to relax, heavy pants filling the painful silence. Steve sank off of Eddie, clutching his sides that were still so sensitive. He spat blood onto the ground.
“They got him. They did it.” Steve smiled, head hanging low. “C’mon, Eddie. It’s over, man… Man?” Steve finally looked up after waiting for a response and saw Eddie’s body barely moving on the ground next to him. “Fuck, Eds!” Steve’s pain immediately became overshadowed by his worry for Eddie. “What’s wrong? Please, Eddie, speak!” He gripped the sides of Eddie’s face as blood and tears fell down his cheeks.
“Shhh…” Eddie whispered. “It’s over, baby. Let me go.”
“No,” Steve whimpered. “Eddie, stay with me, we gotta get you back.”
“You really don’t.” Munson smiled up at Steve. “You got Nancy and Robin. Got Dustin. Take care of him for me, please? I love that kid.”
“No, Eddie, no. Please, please don’t go. Please, just hold on, just one more moment and we can get you back to Hawkins. We can clear your name and you can graduate and it’ll all be great, Eddie. Please, just hold on. For me.”
Eddie reached up and lightly held onto Steve’s arm. “Didn’t think you cared about me so much, Harrington.”
“Eddie, I-” Steve looked around him, trying to find the words to accurately describe what was bubbling inside him ever since Munson held that broken bottle up to his throat. “I’m just-”
“I liked you too,” Eddie stated, quite calmly given the circumstances. Eddie was so mellow at this moment, his tears becoming a lazy stream as Steve’s cries were jagged and heavy. “I liked you a lot, Steve. Maybe in another life, I could get the chance to like you even more. But not this one, baby.” He patted Steve’s arm and let his hand fall to the ground. “That’s gonna have to be alright.”
Steve furiously wiped at his tears and snot. “It’s not alright! It’s not! Eddie!” Steve pulled Eddie’s body up to his, trying to feel his breathing and add pressure to his wounds. “Don’t you dare leave me. I’ll never forgive you.”
“I’m sorry, Steve. I can’t keep running. Not anymore.” Eddie’s whisper seemed to settle into Steve’s brain, just breaking the boy as he sobbed into Eddie’s stilling body.
“You never ran, you never ran.” Steve kept repeating until eventually, Eddie’s body stilled in his arms, his eyes left staring blankly in the direction of Steve’s shoulder.