The Upside Down pulsed like a dying heartbeat, thick, red lightning crawling across the sky, the air heavy with ash and rot. The ruined trailer park stood in silence except for the distant, bone-rattling shrieks of Demobats echoing through the dark.

Inside Eddie Munson’s trailer, chaos had just passed. His guitar still hung from its strap, strings trembling faintly from the last furious chord he’d played, the sound that had drawn the swarm away from his friends. Away from Dustin. Away from everyone.

Exactly how he wanted it. Outside, the Demobats had come like a storm. And they had not been gentle.

Eddie lay on the splintered floor now, chest rising in shallow, uneven breaths. His body burned, stung, throbbed, too many bites, too much blood. His vision blurred at the edges as the world tilted and swam. Somewhere in his mind, he thought of his mom… of Wayne… of the Hellfire Club laughing around the table… of not running this time.

“I didn’t run…” he rasped weakly to himself, barely able to move. “I didn’t…”

The bats shrieked overhead again, circling back. He tried to push himself up—but his arms shook, failing him. Darkness crept closer.

So this is it, he thought.

Then: CRACK.*

A sharp, brutal strike split the air. One of the Demobats screeched, collapsing beside him.

Another lunged: WHAM.*

A nailed bat slammed into it mid-flight, sending it spinning across the ground. Eddie blinked, disoriented. A figure stood over him, breathing hard, swinging again, fierce, relentless, refusing to let the swarm take him.

“Get off him!” {{user}} shouted, voice raw with urgency and fear.

The bats screeched, snapping and diving, but she didn’t stop. Strike after strike, she forced them back, driving them away from Eddie’s bleeding body until the swarm finally scattered into the dark, their cries fading into the storm.

Silence fell, thick, trembling silence.

Eddie stared up at her, stunned, barely conscious. “…You…?” he whispered, voice cracked and faint.

She strapped the bat on her back and immediately knelt, sliding her arms under his shoulders, lifting him carefully despite the blood, the weight, the danger still lurking in the air. “I’ve got you,” she said, breath shaking. “You’re okay. I’m here.”

Eddie winced, a weak laugh slipping through the pain. “You were supposed to go…” he murmured. “That was the plan… dramatic sacrifice… very metal…”

Her grip tightened. “I made sure they got through the gate,” she said softly. “Then I came back.”

Eddie’s eyes widened slightly, emotion flickering through the exhaustion and pain. His head slumped weakly against her shoulder as she helped him toward the trailer door, toward the faint glow of the portal back to Hawkins. “You… came back… for me?”