Reap What You Sow

And Not the Untamed World we Hide

The Them had been more active lately.

For the past week or so, there'd been one everyday. And now, as they were all trailing behind Eddie with as little enthusiasm as possible, Eddie was mentioning that he thought he could feel another one nearby that they'd have to deal with. Which meant once they found and dealt with the one they were currently pursuing, they'd immediately have to go find the other one. Richie was not looking forward to this.

Richie dragged his feet and groaned, glaring up at the sun overhead. It wasn't even that hot out, but having to constantly hike through the woods was definitely making him much warmer than he'd like. "Are we almost there?"

"Yes," Eddie snapped. "Now shut up."

Richie huffed, glancing at Bev. "Do you think that counts as abuse?"

"For you? No." she answered, and Richie almost couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

Richie was about to continue to whine, mostly just so he could watch Eddie get all pissed off, but there was rustling in the brush nearby. "Is that our monster?" Stan asked, glancing at Eddie for confirmation--but by the way Shiny was pacing across Stan's shoulders, feathers puffed up as he glared in that direction, it seemed pretty obvious.

Eddie didn't even have a chance to answer when something came shooting out at them--at Richie, specifically.

Richie didn't get a chance to get a good look before it crashed into him; the moment it did, he shoved it off him. Much to his surprise, it was easy to shove it off of him. He wasted no time in scrambling to his feet, taking a few steps back to put some space between him and it.

Any alarm Richie had dropped as he stared at it. "This is what we're worried about?"

It was little. Standing on hind legs, maybe three and a half or four feet tall. It was furry, and the only sort of threatening thing about it was its claws. Its snout was long, resembling a goat, or maybe a rat. It definitely had goat eyes, though, that were staring at Richie with a rage in them comparable to an angry chihuahua. Angry gibberish and squawking pouring incessantly from its mouth.

"So small..." Bev said, looking almost amazed.

"And royally pissed off." Richie added. "So it's basically mini Eddie."

Now both the Eddies were glaring at him.

The mini one, however, did not have as much patience for Richie's bullshit as the actual Eddie. The little monster came rushing at him again--and if nothing else, that little bastard was fast. It jumped high too, right against Richie's chest, knocking him off his center of gravity and sending him stumbling to the ground with this angry little demon trying to claw his eyes out. It was easy enough to hold back, but it was relentless. It clawed and growled and struggled endless, shouting garbled nonsense. "Uh, a little help!" Richie yelled somewhat frantically.

When help didn't arrive, he looked over to see the Losers laughing.

"Unbelievable!" he shouted. He had to do everything himself. He sent a few volts into it, and much to Richie's shock, it only slowed it down a little bit. This little thing was running on pure rage filled willpower, it was almost impressive.

"Okay, haha!" Richie shouted again. "Can someone get this off of me now!?"

Bev was finally pulling herself together, wiping away tears. "Okay, hold on--"

Another Them came crashing into the Them attacking Richie, sending it flying. The newcomer didn't let mini Eddie get any freedom, though. Before the tiny, angry thing had even hit the ground, this giant dog-like monster had it in its mouth, absolutely ripping it apart.