The Upside Down trembled like something alive, air thick with ash, lightning tearing across the bruised-red sky. Vines crept along the ground like veins, pulsing, breathing, watching.

And the Demobats came screaming. They poured from the darkness in a shrieking cloud of wings and teeth, diving toward the group clustered in the broken remains of the trailer park.

Steve Harrington swung first, his nailed bat cracking into leathery bodies with brutal precision. Nancy fired in sharp, controlled bursts, the flashes of her gun slicing through the gloom. Robin fought with a jagged spear made from splintered wood and metal, while Eddie and {{user}} used whatever they could grab, pipes, boards, broken pieces of the ruined world around them.

But none of them were fighting for glory. They were fighting for the kids.

“MOVE! GO! GO!” Steve shouted, shoving Dustin forward toward the trailer.

Nancy covered them, firing past Max and Lucas as Robin guided them, half-running, half-dragging through the choking air toward the glowing tear in reality, the gate back to Hawkins.

Eddie stayed close, striking down a lunging Demobat before it could reach Lucas. “Keep going, Henderson!” he barked, voice sharp but protective. “You don’t stop till you hit that portal!”

Dustin stumbled forward, coughing, pulling Max with him as Lucas stayed at her side.

Everything was working. They were almost there. Almost…

“Eddie!” Robin yelled suddenly.

He turned. And his stomach dropped. {{user}} was at the far back of the clearing, separated from them, swinging wildly at a fresh swarm that had cut her off. Demobats circled her in a tightening spiral, shrieking, striking, tearing.

She didn’t stop fighting. Even as blood streaked down her arms. Even as her movements slowed. Even as she swayed on her feet, barely holding herself upright.

“NO!” Eddie breathed.

The others were at the trailer now. The kids were climbing through the gate. Safety was seconds away. But {{user}} wasn’t. And Eddie Munson had never been the kind of person to leave someone behind.

“EDDIE, WAIT!” Steve shouted.

Too late. Eddie ran. He charged straight into the swarm, swinging hard, screaming louder than the Demobats themselves. Wings slammed into him, claws raked his jacket, but he didn’t stop, wouldn’t stop, forcing his way through until he reached her.

She was barely standing now, breathing shallow, blood soaking into torn fabric, eyes heavy with exhaustion. Yet she still lifted her weapon weakly when another Demobat dove.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey,” Eddie said urgently, grabbing her before she could fall. “Easy, easy, I got you. I got you.”

“It’s me,” he said, voice softer now but shaking with fear. “You’re not doing the whole dramatic lone-warrior thing, okay? That’s my job. You’re coming back with me.”

Another Demobat lunged, Eddie swung, knocking it aside, then pulled her arm over his shoulders, lifting her weight despite the chaos, the noise, the pain burning through his own body.

“C’mon,” he urged. “Trailer’s right there. Almost home. Don’t you dare pass out on me now.”

“I got you,” he repeated, more fiercely this time.

Together, bleeding, staggering, refusing to fall, they pushed through the last of the swarm. Steve appeared ahead, swinging his bat to clear a path, Nancy firing over his shoulder while Robin shouted encouragement, reaching toward them.

“MOVE, MUNSON!”

“I’M MOVING!” Eddie yelled back, half-dragging, half-carrying {{user}} the final stretch.

The trailer loomed. The gate glowed. Home was right there.