Lost ❄️ Reddie

20

Eddie woke up to cool air and blurred figures. As everything came into focus, he realized he was in a room with three other people, thankfully none of them being Brenner. One was El, one was Kali, and the other was a girl that Eddie had never met before. She had purple streaks in her brown hair and was leaning against the wall, refusing to speak to anyone.

"Hey, are you okay?" El asked as Eddie sat up.

He grabbed his head, groaning. Everything hurt and his head was throbbing. "I feel like I got hit by a fucking bus."

Kali snickered, smiling softly at Eddie. "Glad you're okay. Had us worried for a bit."

Eddie gave her a puzzled look. "What does that mean?"

El and Kali shared a concerned look, and even the other girl in the room seemed worried.

"You were taken away separately when we were dumped in this room. We're not really sure where they took you, but when you came back, you were asleep. It's been nearly six hours and we were worried you had been in a coma or something," El said, touching Eddie's forehead, checking for any signs of sickness. "Are you feeling alright?"

Eddie scoffed and pushed her hand away. "You're acting like my mother," he said with a laugh.

El raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I said you're acting like my mother. She always dragged me to doctor appointments and all that shit. Seriously, it sucked."

Kali and the other girl in the room looked at each other, not knowing why El was looking at Eddie with so much shock.

"Are you okay, El?" Kali asked.

El ignored her and stayed focus on Eddie. "What did Richie think about your mom?" she asked, trying to confirm her suspicions.

"He didn't like her all that much and she barely tolerated him. He always told me I should just live with him because that way she wouldn't be able to make me go to the doctors or take my pills. They were all placebos anyway," Eddie said with a shrug.

"Why'd she make you take placebos?" Kali asked before El could cut in again.

"I'm not sure. She made me think I had all these sicknesses. Richie told me she was playing tricks with my mind to make me listen to her, and the pills were just a part of that."

Eddie looked over at El, who was gaping at him.

"Why're you looking at me like that?" Eddie asked, seeing El's expression.

"Your memories, Eddie. You remember," El said in a voice that showed she could barely believe it.

Eddie's jaw dropped, then his face lit up. "I remember," he repeated, realizing he remembered everything from his childhood, his friends, his mom, Derry. Hell, he was even happy to remember Henry Bowers and his asshole gang.

"What do you mean by that?" Kali asked, looking at Eddie's ecstatic expression and El's approving one.

"Brenner took my memories when he had me captured, but now I remember!" Eddie exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.

Kali seemed happy for him, but the other girl in the room looked skeptical. Her eyes kept darting between the three, and she was anxiously picking at her finger nails.

"Are you sure the memories are yours?" the girl asked in a soft voice. "If the doctor took them, it's entirely possible he gave you different ones back."

"What do you know?" Kali snarled at the girl. "You haven't spoken the entire time we've been here and the first thing you say is in attempt to bring down hopes."

"I'm not trying to be pessimistic, I'm being realistic," the girl argued, glaring at Kali.

The whole time Eddie had been awake, the girl had been faced away from them, her knees pulled to her chest. Now that she was arguing, she turned around and Eddie noticed there were metallic casts on both of her arms, covering from her wrist to her forearms.

"If you don't have anything positive or helpful to say, keep your mouth shut," Kali snapped, murder in her eyes.

"I'm not being negative, Eight. I've been here longer than you and I know how the doctor works."

"El and I grew up in his Indiana lab. We've had more contact with him than you."

The girl shrugged. "He's gotten worse since the initial experimental procedures. It's not just live experiments anymore. He's testing with drones, mind tests, that type of thing. It's a lot different than when you two were growing up," she said in a small voice, unwilling to try to fight with Kali.

"Drones?" El asked, unsure about what those were.

"Like mini helicopters," Eddie said. "What's he been doing with drones?"

"I'm not sure, but I think it's some kind of projection thing. You know, like a projector movie?" the girl said, cocking her head to the side.

Eddie frowned. The last time he saw a projection was when a clown leapt out of the TV screen in Bill's basement. He definitely didn't want to deal with anything like that again, especially if Brenner was controlling it.

"Why would he need drones?" Kali asked, her previous anger moving back to concern.

"Richie told me that the military uses them as cameras. He might be using them for cameras," Eddie said, trying to think about everything he may have learned about drones.

"Well, he's been after his experiments. He may be using them to track us down," El added, receiving nods from the others in the room.

Kali hummed in agreement, running her thumb across the number on her arm. "How many do you think there are?"

"Thirteen," the girl said. "There's only thirteen of us."

"How do you know?" Eddie asked.

"I escaped his lab when I was eleven, and I saw his list. There's thirteen gifted people, and he's got four of us, maybe others in different rooms or something."

Eddie looked at the number on his arm. "I'm the last one," he said, mainly to himself, but the others heard him anyway.

"What number are you?" Kali asked the girl, as she'd already seen the numbers of El and Eddie.

"Twelve." She held out her arm, before realizing that she had the metal casts on and tugged her hands away.

"What're the bands for?" Eddie asked, pointing at the girl's casts.

"My powers are destructive. The doctor makes me wear them when I'm not being tested on so I can't escape." Her answer was short and simple, showing she didn't want to delve any any further.

"Wait, El, you can get us out of here, can't you?" Kali asked, nodding at El's hands.

El shrugged and lifted her hand, focusing on the door. As she tried, a loud beeping sounded and she shrieked, falling to the ground and gripping her leg. There was a silver ring around it.

Eddie bent down and poked the ring. "It's stopping your powers, huh?"

El nodded. "You and Kali don't need them. Your powers are internal, but mine and Twelve's aren't."

The girl bent down next to El, looking empathetic. "Try to relax and the pain fades quicker."

El nodded and tried to settle down. Soon the stinging pains faded and El sat up, looking around at the group.

"We've got to find a way out of here," Kali said.

Everyone nodded in agreement, knowing they had to work together or they'd be stuck doing whatever Brenner wanted. No one wanted to give in to his wants, but they didn't know how to escape.

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Dudes I'm so sick rip me

My brain is throbbing but it be okay cuz it means no school and yay we can write all day and watch Survivor