"Company?" Lily asked in a hushed, frantic whisper, pushing Eddie aside so she could look out the window. "If it's not them, who could it-" her voice cut off as her heart leapt into her throat, the only audible sound suddenly that of the blood pounding in her ears.
Jason's Jeep sat parked in the driveway as the boys walked towards the house. Jason clutched a crowbar tightly in his hands with Andy right behind him, holding a baseball bat. Coming around from the passenger side of the vehicle was Patrick, carrying another bat, and Lily internally began to panic, forcing herself to take deep breaths as she looked around for any possible escape route.
Lucas had told Lily the day before at the cemetery that Jason, Patrick, and Andy had been looking for Eddie, but nobody could have anticipated them tracking him down so quickly, or where they would have gotten Reefer Rick's address in the first place. All she knew was that, whatever it took, she couldn't let them find Eddie.
"Uh, Mayfield," Eddie whispered as the boys walked toward the house. "I think your boyfriend's got a baseball bat, and I think my name's written all over it."
"He is very much not my boyfriend," Lily muttered, and as soon as the boys were inside the house did the two spring apart, Eddie lunging for the walkie talkie laying on the ground while Lily searched around the room for a possible escape route.
"Hey Dustin," Eddie spoke into the walkie talkie, still perched at the window to watch for if any of the boys came out of the house."Are you there? It's Eddie. You remember me, right?" he seethed, panic lacing his tone. "Hey, if anyone's there, I really think we might be in a bit of trouble here, okay? Wheeler?" Eddie hit the walkie, frustrated, as if the connection were just bad and needed a quick fix. "Anybody?"
"They're not there," Lily said, still searching around the room, but coming up short, and she looked back in the direction of the doorway, considering her options.
Eddie followed her line of sight, instantly shaking his head as if he were reading her thoughts. "No." he said firmly. "Don't even think about it."
"Maybe I could distract them or something." Lily said. "Buy you some time to run."
"Distract them how?" he asked, frustrated. "I don't know if you remember this, Mayfield, but we're in the middle of fucking nowhere. What reason could you give them for being out here by yourself?"
"I don't know, I-I came out here for a swim, something like that." she stammered nervously, racking her brain for some sort of reasonable excuse.
"Not in those clothes in March, you didn't." he pointed out. "If you go out there right now, they're going to figure out that you and I know each other and that you're hiding me. But you do need to run before they find you. This is between me and Carver, I'm not dragging you into this."
"Well, that's too bad, because I'm not leaving you here." Lily insisted. "It's not between you and Jason it's between Jason and Vecna, and you took the blame." she reached for the oar that still lay haphazardly on the floor, where she'd dropped it after making sure their friends weren't intruders the first time they'd dropped off groceries. "I'm not letting them hurt you."
"Let me get this straight," Eddie said as Lily crouched back down next to him, holding the oar tightly as they watched out the window for any sign of the other boys. "You're going to fight your friends, your boyfriend, for me?"
"They're not my friends." she said. "You're my friend. They don't even know me, they just think they do. And yeah, I care about Patrick, but-" she swallowed hard as a lump formed in her throat, tightening her grip on the oar. "Let's just hope it doesn't come to that, then."
Lily leaned back against the wall as they waited, taking turns looking out to check on where the boys were still inspecting the house. It felt like hours while the two sat there, crouched in the corner of the boathouse while the rays of light streaming through the window began to change as the sun set over Lover's Lake. Lily held tight to the oar while Eddie gripped the walkie talkie for dear life, trying to reach their friends every few minutes, but they were only met with radio silence in return.
"Dustin, please," Eddie pleaded long after the sun had already set, though the boys still had yet to emerge from the house. "Are you there?" He rose onto his feet as he spoke, and Lily watched as the expression on his face morphed from terror to curiosity as his eyes landed on the boat. "Never mind." he said quickly, tossing the walkie talkie into the boat.
"What are you thinking?" Lily asked as Eddie crossed over to the wall, pulling the other oar off the hooks.
"You wanna get out of here or what?" he asked. "If we're quiet enough, maybe they won't notice and we'll be able to get away."
"Get away to where?" she asked as he grabbed her hand, pulling her up onto her feet and ushering her towards the small boat.
"Does it matter?" he asked, frantic as she climbed inside, and he climbed in after her. "We'll call them again wherever we end up and they can find us there. Just row."
Lily nodded as Eddie untied the rope securing the boat to the small makeshift dock, and she dipped her oar into the water, beginning to row as soon as he was seated again. The two of them crouched down as far as they could, trying to keep out of sight as they rowed out of the boathouse and into the open water of Lover's Lake, and she could only hope the boys would get back in Jason's Jeep and drive away without catching a glimpse of the water.
Neither of them dared to so much as whisper as they rowed further away from the house, Lily's breathing shallow, as if it might alert the boys of their location. She was so focused on the water that she hadn't dared risk looking behind them to see where Jason and Patrick had left the house, on their way to inspect the boathouse when they noticed the boat moving through the water.
"Hey freak!" Jason's voice rang out, and Lily cursed under her breath as they both turned to look at where the boys were now quickly moving towards the water, Jason undoing his jacket and kicking off his shoes. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Shit," Eddie muttered, setting the oar back in the boat and quickly moving for the engine.
"Does that thing even work?" Lily asked, and Eddie shrugged, pulling the cord in an attempt to start it.
"I guess we'll find out," he chuckled humorlessly as it began to splutter, though it never fully came to life. "Come on," Eddie pleaded, "Come on, you piece of shit."
"Eddie, I don't think it's going to work," Lily said. "We have to keep moving."
"Come on, gotta help me out here, man," Eddie tried to reason with the engine, ignoring Lily's words as he kept trying to pull the cord. "Come on, you piece of shit!"
Lily watched in horror as Jason dove into the lake with Patrick not far behind. Already, they were gaining on them in the boat, but Eddie continued in his attempts to get the engine to work.
"Goddamn it!" he shouted, bringing his fist down against the piece of equipment, but it was to no avail as he sighed, giving up. "No? Okay," he said, picking the oar back up as they began to frantically paddle away from where the boys were still closing the distance between them. "Shit, shit, shit," he muttered as they continued to row the boat, but the boys continued to get closer, and Lily knew they weren't going to get much further before they caught up to them.
Lily spared another glance back towards the boys as Patrick looked up, their eyes locking as he stopped swimming, recognition taking over his features as he took in the redhead on the boat watching him with a terrified expression. Jason had yet to notice Lily onboard, but turned back to Patrick as he noticed his friend lagging behind.
"Lily?" Patrick's voice rang out, causing her to stop in her tracks as Jason's eyes finally landed on her.
"Patrick," she breathed, and Eddie stood up in the boat, holding the oar defensively.
"Mayfield, stay behind me." Eddie whispered before he turned back to Jason and Patrick, waving the oar around. "Hey, stay back, man!" Eddie exclaimed. "Stay back!"
"Hey, come on!" Jason called back to Patrick, who was now looking around them with a horrified expression, though Lily couldn't quite make out what it was he was looking at. "We almost have him!" Lily watched as Patrick didn't seem to hear Jason, still searching around the open water. "Hey, Patrick!" Jason called.
"Patrick?" Lily asked, eyebrows furrowing together at the boy's lost expression, Jason's voice still calling his name as suddenly, the boy disappeared under the water, as if pulled down by something below.
It was quiet for a moment except for Jason calling out his friend's name as he swam towards where Patrick had gone under. Eddie now held the oar still as Lily rose to her feet, trying to see under the waves in the pitch black water of the lake, but she couldn't make anything out except for the ripples along the surface. All of a sudden, Patrick rose up out of the water and into the air, and Lily's heart leapt in her throat at the realization that it was the same exact thing she'd seen happen to her sister the night before, when she was cursed by Vecna.
"Patrick!" Lily screamed as he hung in the air, and Eddie slowly took a step back, tipping the boat off balance as it overturned, sending them both into the water below.
Lily's back hit the water first as she went under, her foot caught in the tarp where it had lay bunched up against the edge of the boat. The tarp ballooned out as she began to sink through the water, covering her body as she attempted to swim upwards, tangling herself further into the material and trapping her arms inside. Her lungs burned from the lack of air as she tried to get out from under the tarp, but something gripped her arm, pulling her out of the material and back up to the surface.
Her head broke the surface of the water with a desperate gasp as she began to take in air, and she opened her eyes to see Eddie's face in front of hers, his hands on either side of her head as his eyes looked her over frantically.
"Are you okay?" his voice rang in her ears as she coughed for air, and she nodded as she looked around, dazed, her eyes landing on where Jason was now swimming towards a mangled figure floating face-down in the water. "Come on, we need to go, now."
Eddie swam over to the boat, pushing up against the edge until it turned back over. He pushed her up until she was able to pull herself up into the boat and then climbed in after her, grabbing the tarp where it now floated next to them along with their oars, passing one to her as they began to row again, growing further and further away from Jason, who was now swimming back towards the shore with one arm holding onto Patrick's body.
Adrenaline raced through her body as they frantically rowed across Lover's Lake and when they finally hit the shore, Lily stumbled out of the boat while Eddie stashed the oars and covered it with the tarp. As soon as the boat was hidden from view, he grabbed her hand in his, pulling her along after him as they ran stumbling through the woods, desperate to gain as much distance between themselves and the water as possible.
"Over here," Eddie said as the shadowy silhouette of Skull Rock came into view in front of them, and Lily collapsed to her knees as they came to a stop, her lungs still burning as she gasped for air, the adrenaline rush wearing off as panic and exhaustion began to set in. "Hey," Eddie's voice rang out again as he kneeled next to her, both of them attempting to catch their breaths. "Lily, are you okay?"
"P-Patrick," she stammered as Eddie sat under the rock formation, pulling her along with him until they were both hidden from view of any midnight hikers that might be lurking about, and she leaned into him as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. "H-he's..." she trailed off, shutting her eyes tightly.
"I know," Eddie assured her as she stared blankly ahead of them, too stunned to cry. Eddie rubbed her back soothingly as they sat there, shivering from their soaking wet clothes and huddling closer together for warmth. He looked down at the watch adorning his wrist, though the time couldn't possibly still be that early in the night, stuck on the time she assumed was when they'd taken the dive into the lake. "Shit," he muttered.
"The walkie," her voice came out weakly, looking dazedly around them for the device, but Eddie simply shook his head in response.
"It's back in the lake," he said with a sigh. "But we'll worry about getting in contact with them tomorrow, okay? You try to get some sleep, I'll keep an eye out for if anyone comes by."
Lily tried to protest, her mind still racing with the sight of Patrick hanging in the air over the lake, but her eyelids grew heavier as Eddie pulled her closer, her head leaning against his shoulder as she drifted off into an uneasy sleep.