float | it

xxvi. gone

"What the hell are you doing Rich?"

He grabbed his backpack and looked at everyone.

"Saving Sarah. Now are you guys coming with me or not?"

Silent.

Everyone looked at each other.

Eddie put his hand out.

"I'm in."

Slowly everyone had their hand in the circle.

Richie nodded and they were off.

They would finally kill the clown for good.

Richie jumped off his bike and began walking down the pipes.

The water sloshed at their heels and filled their socks.

Stan shivered.

Eddie threw up a little in his mouth.

Richie kept going.

Beverly screamed.

They all turned and saw a dead man's hand grabbing her ankle.

"GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!"

Bill grabbed the hand and pulled it off of Beverly.

He began to kick the body as it squirmed, but got caught in its claw.

The monster grabbed his neck and pulled him into the water.

Everyone yelled in protest as they seized him, but soon there was nothing.

Bill had been taken.

Beverly began to sob. The boys stood there, breathlessly and in awe.

SPLASH!!

They turned back around and saw Bill's hands fighting to get to the surface.

They slowly moved closer and saw the monster hands covering his face and pulling him back down.

"The gun!"

Bill sputtered.

Richie remembered that Bill had placed his Dad's revolver in his backpack earlier that day. Richie grabbed it and closed his eyes as he shot aimlessly.

The shots missed both the monster and Bill by a mile.

Soon, the thrashing had died down and once again there was nothing.

Stan sat down in the water, not caring anymore since he was already soaked.

He was tired from trying to help Bill.

Everyone was.

"Nice shot Tozier."

Beverly said tearfully and angrily.

"Hey, I'm sorry I've never shit a gun. Next time you can do it alright? Get off my ass."

There was another awkward silence as they sat there, plotting what to do.

There was two screams coming from down the pipe.

Richie shot up.

It was a girls and boys.

Sarah and Bill.

He sprinted down the pipes, the rest following.

"Guys!"
Ben yelled as he pointed to a balloon floating towards them.

Richie grabbed the balloons string and threw it behind them as he continued along fearlessly.

"GUYS!"
This time it was Mike.

They turned around and saw the shadows of a hoard of people coming towards them.

They listened closer as they got nearer.

It was kids.

The kids came into view, their eyeballs dangling from their sockets and chunks of their skull missing.

"GO!! FUCKING GO!"
Richie screeched as they began to sprint once again.