Chapter Text
"I didn't run away this time, right?" Eddie asks through the blood coating his tongue.
Dustin pulls him in closer, desperately trying to get him up, pleading with him.
"I think it's my year Henderson, I think it's finally my year," Eddie's vision was getting blurry as Dustin sobbed above him. He didn't want to die. Not like this, but he didn't really have much of a choice.
"I love you man." Was all he could say, all he needed to say.
Dustin's "I love you too," was the last thing he heard before his eyes fluttered closed and everything went dark and silent.
"No, no, no, no, no, no! Eddie! Eddie!" Dustin sobbed and rocked the limp form in his arms. He sat there, on the ground of the Upside Down for a long time, clutching Eddie, the Demobats whining pathetically a few feet away.
"No." He finally said, anger burning though him bright and hot. He wasn't going to leave Eddie there. He didn't deserve that.
So, Dustin wrapped Eddie's wounds and best he could and hoisted him up onto his back, piggyback style, using Eddie's leather jacket to keep his limp torso from falling and made the long, painful trek, back to the gate. He made sure to kick a few demobats on the way, even though pain tore through his leg every time.
He lowered Eddie's body down in the trailer, realizing he wasn't sure how to get them both through the gate above them and back to Hawkins. Gently as he could, Dustin lowered Eddie onto the floor, hand on his chest to steady him. He felt something.
"Oh my God." He hadn't checked his pulse!
Scrambling, Dustin placed his hand over Eddies heart, leaning in close and holding his breath.
Thump, thump, thump.
Eddie was alive. Eddie was alive! Relief and joy tore through him, laughter bubbling up.
"Okay, okay, okay." He had to get them to Hawkins and to a hospital. But how? He could find one of the other gates, maybe? No, that would take too long. A pulley system wouldn't work with the weird gravity in the gate.
"What in the hell?"
Dustin spun around and looked up. Eddie's uncle! Wayne Munson was there! On the other side of the gate!
"Yes! Uh hey Mr. Munson, Eddie's really hurt, and I need help to get him back on the other side." Wayne nodded, taking the weirdness in stride, or ignoring it.
"Okay, alright, okay. What should I do, kid?"
"Um, we should switch positions and you need to lift Eddie through the gate. Once he's far enough the gate will pull him though. I'll be there to catch him and make sure he doesn't fall on his head."
"How do I get through?"
"There's a blanket we tied. It should still be long enough to climb. Hang on to one end and throw it to me."
Mr. Munson did as he was told, and the blanket was just long enough to climb. Dustin went through first, wincing when he landed on his ankle, despite the mattress Wayne had put back under the gate.
"Your turn, sir."
Wayne nodded and climbed, much faster than Dustin had. Landing better, too. From there, he dragged a chair over, lifted Eddie and raised him to the gate, feet first.
The gate caught Eddie and spat him out the other side, where Dustin caught his falling body. They both landed on the mattress, dirty, wounded and safe.
"I'm coming back through, kid."
Dustin pulled Eddie aside and propped him up against the couch. Wayne dropped down behind him, groaning at the impact on the mattress. They both set to work unpeeling Eddies jacket and shirt form his body to look at the wounds. Dustin had to cut his pants from him to see the damage to his bloody thighs while Wayne got the first aid kit, (far more stocked than others), hot water, peroxide, and a washcloth.
Large pieces of flesh were missing from Eddie's arms, legs and torso. A more than a few bites looked like they'd need stitches, and the blood in his mouth seemed to be from Eddie biting his tongue too hard when the bats knocked him down. Both Wayne and Dustin set to work wiping away the blood and trying to stop the bleeding with gauze and cotton.
As he methodically stitched up his nephew, Wayne thanked every second of his brief, terrible experience as a medic in Vietnam before he was wounded himself and discharged.
After a long hour, Eddie was stitched, bandaged and resting on the couch, breathing slowly, but breathing.
Dustin sat on the floor next to the couch, stared at Eddie's unconscious form, and, for the second time that night, sobbed.