Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
They wasted no time getting the boy back on his feet.
Chris thought he might've been another hallucination at first, until Stan and Eddie ran to him after his second attempt at righting himself failed. He was more than a little out of it, and he seemed pretty spooked, but seeing the growing blood stain plastered across his stomach they knew they might not have the time to grill him for any questions. Herding him onto the back of Bill's bike, they pedaled out of the Barrens.
She wasn't sure if it was due to her already frayed nerves being on edge, but she could swear she heard a distant screaming somewhere deep in the Barrens. Maybe you should take a break from all the horror movies, she thought to herself.
Instead she distracted herself with the presence of the new kid. He looked pretty familiar, though Chris never bothered to get to know anyone around Derry Middle unless someone decided to get familiar. Either way, they couldn't just leave him there. Not when he could've ended up another Betty or Dean or Georgie.
"I think it's great that we're helping the new kid, but we also need to think of our own safety." Eddie whispered between them as Silver took Bill and the new kid far ahead of them.
"I mean he's bleeding all over and you guys know that there's an AIDS epidemic happening right now as we speak, right? One of my aunt's friends in Haven got it by touching a dirty rail on a bus and a drop of AIDS blood got into his system through a hangnail - through hangnail!"
"So is the new kid gonna turn into a Deadite too?" Chris said dryly.
She didn't pay attention to what else he was going on about as they sped through downtown, swerving past civilians on sidewalks and winding through alleys. As they neared Main Street, she realized that Eddie was still talking.
"A-And - And you can amputate legs and arms, but how do you amputate a wai - how do you amputate a waist?"
Nobody answered in the hope that he would eventually burn himself out, but the boy showed no sign of shutting up. Finally, they stopped by a dingy alley. Trash littered the ground, and the paint on the brick building was chipped and falling off in chunks. They all slowed, Chris hopping off her bike and helping Richie set the new kid down on a crate.
"You guys do know that alleys are known for dirty needles that have AIDS, right? You guys do know that?"
"Eddie, can you just -" Chris motioned to zip his mouth shut, eyes sharply glancing at the roughed up boy behind her for effect.
"Stan, Richie, wait here." Bill tilted his head toward Chris and Eddie. "Come on."
"Hang in there, new kid!" Chris shouted behind her as the trio sprinted to the front of the store. Keene's, one of Derry's few - if not only - pharmacy.
Trying not to cause a scene, the three filed inside. They smelled of sweat and woods, with just a hint of the sourness from the sewers. The back of her brain told her to shrink away when the lady at the front counter gave them all a pointed stare, but instead she followed Eddie's lead. He was a regular there, to no one's surprise.
