Stand by me brother

I really liked the movie and the book, so this first chapter is a little mix of both. Since its mostly Chris's POV he calls 'Eyeball' Richie.

Chris

"What the fuck do you know about this!?"

Chris and Gordie's head snaped up to the embankment, as a loud crack of thunder lit up the sky of none other than Ace Merrill and Chris's older brother Eyeball Chambers. Ace has a dangerous glint in his eyes, Eyeball just had a look of confusion that quickly turned to outrage.

"Sumbitch! That's my little brother!" he yelled angrily, following Ace down the embankment.

Chris was staring at Eyeball with his mouth open. Shit. In hindsight he should have known something like this would happen. Of course, the secret of the body would have gotten out and of course Ace would want to be the one to find it, and anything Ace wants to do his brother Richie followed along like a lapdog.

"You wasn't planning on taking the body from us was ya boys?" Ace said smoothly. Chris stared at him before turning to his brother desperately.

"You get away, Rich," Chris said in a trembling voice. "We found him. We got dibs."

"aw you better start running Eyeball, they got dibs." Ace said in a humorous tone. Richie let out a bark of laughter.

"You came in a car, that's not fair, he's ours!" Chris said frantically to the amusement of his brother.

"'that's not fair, he's ours!" Richie repeated in a mocking tone "well not anymore!"

"there's four of us Eyeball, you just make your move..." Teddy said standing beside Chris, who's eyes darted over to him wearily. aw man, don't goad him Teddy you idiot Chris thought desperately.

Sure enough his brother stared at Teddy, blowing out smoke through his nose and Chris just knew he was itching to punch Teddys lights out.

"Oh, don't worry, we will" no sooner had Ace finished that sentence when the rest of the Cobra gang made their sudden appearance, arriving in herds at the top of the embankment, looking bewildered, their shirts drenched with the down pour of rain.

Chris felt like he swallowed an ice cube. His body shivered and it had nothing to do with his short sleeves in the pouring hail stones. They were in so much trouble now.

'VERN!' Billy Tessio cried, 'You little sonofawhore! You was under the porch!"

Vern flinched, his face turning the pallid colour of cottage cheese as he shook his head, desperately denying this. Charlie Hogan followed him down the muddy hill, his hands forming the shape of a fist.

"You little keyhole-peeping cunt licking bungwipe! I ought to beat the living shit out of you!" he shouted and Vern high tailed it outta there.

Chris looked pointily at his own brother Richie, silently pleading for him to do something, to back off, to tell Ace and his cronies that "they were here first, let's just split, go shoot some pool or chat up some girls down at the view, let's not bother with this shit..." but Richie stared back at his brother, his bad eye twitching slightly and Chris couldn't begin to tell what he was thinking.

"Now listen, you guys," Ace said. He spoke calmy, his voice soft against the thundering rainstorm.

"There's more of us than there are of you. We're bigger. We'll give you one chance to just blow away. I don't give a fuck where. Just make like a tree and leave."

They Cobra gang giggled at his great wit. Chris swallowed hard, glancing back to his brother again.

Come on Richie, Chris thought desperately. He knew this was bad, that they were in deep shit. Surely with his and Vern's older brother being here they wouldn't allow things to get too out of hand, would they? Richie would punch Chris up a little but he never hurt him badly...Ace was a different story, there was no telling how far he would take this.

Chris knew of Aces reputation in town and tended to, like most kids, stay out of his way. Hell, he tried to stay under the radar of the entire Cobra gang, but it was difficult when his own brother was a member. Richie would rarely invite them over to the chambers house on the account of the unpredictable mood swings of his father, but now and again, a rundown old 1949 Chevy Sedan would be parked outside, honking the horn for Richie to come outside and if Chris was out on the porch, they would taunt him relentlessly. Ace would always sit in the driver seat, a tooth pick in his mouth and staring directly ahead. He would look calm, but Chris knew he was a mean son of a bitch.

His only real run in with Ace so far had been yesterday morning and it had just been for calling him an asshole, still Ace had almost burned a cigarette into his face.

"If you go, we'll take him. If you stay, well beat the piss outta you and still take him." Ace said.

Chris saw Richie snigger and suddenly he hated his brother. Hated him.

He had always known him and Richie did not have a good relationship. They fought like cats and dogs most of the time. He knew he would never have the relationship Gordie and his brother had. But after all these years it still made him angry. Why did his best friend Gordie lose a brother who cared for him so deeply, while his own brother was alive and well and couldn't give a shit about him. Where was the fairness in that?

"okay Chambers you little faggot, this is your last chance, what do you say kid?"

Something snapped inside Chris. He didn't know what but his shoulders deflated and he was fed up. The Cobra gang had come in cars and it wasn't fair! Their clothes were soaked with the rain, but each of their hairstyles was well groomed and oiled, everything about their appearances was effortless, right down to their mud free chuck taylor all stars. Chris, Gordie Vern and Teddy were caked in mud and exhausted. Their bones were aching, their feet blistering. They had earned the right to claim the dead body.

He wanted Ace to know how Gordie and Vern had almost gotten run down by a freight train on the trestle which spans the Castle River. About Milo Pressman and his fearless if not underwhelming dog Chopper. About the leeches, too. He just wanted to tell Ace fair is fair. But instead he had to open his mouth.

"why don't you go home and fuck your mother some more!"

Richie/ Eyeball

All of the others-on both sides of the bog-stared at Chris, dumbfounded. Ace's mouth formed a perfect O of surprise that in other circumstances it would have been comical. But nobody laughed now.

Richie stood numbly, unable to believe what his kid brother had just said. Telling a guy to go fuck was as bad as you could get without resorting to his mother.

He shook his head, letting out a sigh. His forgotten cigarette had burned up and singed his hand but he was barely aware. He could not believe his brothers stupidity. Nobody stood up to Ace like that, Nobody. Ace had once kicked his ribs in for calling him a 'Homo' and he had only been joking then.

He glanced nervously over at Ace, anticipating his next move and saw, with horror, Ace in one fluid motion flick up his switchblade.

"... your dead." Ace whispered.

Fuck. Ace was his best friend and not somebody to fuck with. He knew when Ace threatened someone, he meant it. He looked at his brother, feeling exasperated. How could Chris be so fucking stupid, did he want to die?

Ace had started slowly advancing on to Chris, his switchblade a steely grey in the rain and hailstones. Eyeball felt the other Cobra gang shift uneasily. No one dared say anything and yet still Ace stepped closer.

Chris hadn't moved, as though paralyzed to the spot, shaking his head and repeating a mantra of "you're not taking him" and Richie grit his teeth, a horrible nauseous feeling raising his in stomach. If Chris wasn't going to run, he had to do something. Panic set in and he took one step forward.

He may hate the little shit, but like it or not, Chris was his kid-brother... he didn't want him dead.

"Ace, come on man..." Richie said, reaching his hand out lamely. Chris barley registered his brothers feeble attempt to reason. His eyes were on Aces switchblade as he loomed closer and Richie suddenly knew Ace was not bluffing. His kid brother was going to die right here in this bog and he was too much of a fucking coward to stop Ace.

He felt himself take another step forward, reaching out to Ace's back. His heart was racing and a cold sweat run down his neck. Charlie shot him a warning look and Billy had cursed softly under his breath.

"your gonna have to kill me Ace" his brother said, voice wavering, but he stood his ground.

"no problem"

Ace had actually gone for him, had all eight inches of steel against his little brother's throat before a resounding gunshot echoed thought the air, making them all jump. The Lachance kid has a pistol in his hand and pointed directly at Ace.

A deafening silence fell over the group. Everyone too shocked to speak until Richie screwed his eyes up in recognition and gasped, his bad one twitching madly.

"Hey, Chris, that's Daddy's," he said, hardly believing his eyes. As if his brother wasn't in enough trouble already... "You're gonna get the tar whaled out of you -"

"That's nothing to what you'll get,' Chris said, fixing Richie with an unwavering stare. His face was horribly pale, and his voice broke but he stood his ground.

Richie shook his head incredulity. He wasn't kidding, if their father had checked the cabinet and found it lacking his pistol there was only two people in the household that was most likely responsible for its disappearance... Richie and Chris. And the memory of the hiding he got after taking the gun to go shoot at beer bottles with Billy Tessio when he was twelve was enough to make sure he didn't do it again...or at least get caught.

"your not taking him, nobodies taking him." the Gordie kid said, standing in solidary next to Chris.

"Now listen," Ace reasoned. "You better put that down before you take your foot off with it. You ain't got the sack to shoot a woodchuck." He began to walk forward again, smiling his gentle smile as he came. "You're just a sawed-off pint-sized pissy-assed little runt and I'm gonna make you eat that fuckin' gun."

"No Ace, I'll shoot you, I swear to god!"

Richie and the gang watched Ace with horrified fascination... much the same way as Teddy and Vern and Chris were looking at Gordie.

Ace had tried to reason with the Lachance kid, even bringing his dead brother into the equation which seemed to only make Gordie's decision resolute.

"What you gonna do, shoot us all?" Ace asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"No Ace, just you." Gordie replied, keeping a steady hand on the gun. Richie had to admit this dweeby kid was just as ballsy and thick-headed as his brother Chris.

"Now you guys get into your cars and bomb on back to Castle Rock. After that I don't care. But you ain't getting him." Chris had shouted, his voice cracking. "You dig me?"

"But we'll get you," Ace said. He was starting to smile again. "Don't you know that?"

"thats fine, you do your getting another day then!"

"We're not going to forget it, if that's what you're thinking. This is big time, baby." Ace threatened.

Ace looked back over his shoulder at Chris and Gordie once more. Richie stopped in his tracks, hesitating. He did not want to leave his kid brother alone with Ace. But Ace just smiled, neatly folding his switchblade back into his jeans pocket.

"Be seeing you." He cooned and turned motioning Richie to go. Richie didn't miss the dark look Ace gave him. They went back into the screen of trees between the bog and the road joining the rest of the cobra gang with Aces threat of "this is big time baby" looming in the air.

Chris

Chris stood and listened. Above the crazy calypso sound of the hail hitting the tree trunks he heard two cars rev their engines and start up. He didn't breathe a sigh of relief until their motors where just a distant purr away.

Gordie had a slight tremble in his hand as he slowly lowered the 45-pistol, relaxing his grip and taking a deep breath.

Chris took his eyes of where his brother has stood and glanced uneasily at Gordie, reaching out to take the gun of his hand. His own arms still trembling.

He unloaded the gun and put the remaining chamber in his pocket, trying to still his racing heart. They were in deep shit now...he was in deep shit.

A sudden crunch of leaves made him look up in alarm, thinking the worst that the gang had thought better of it and come back to terrorize them, but it was only Teddy and Vern, stumbling through the brambles and joining them by the foot of the dead body of Ray Browers.

Chris stared pointily ahead, not meeting Teddy or Verns eyes. They had both abandoned him when Ace had pulled out his knife. He guessed he couldn't blame them...but still...it's not like Chris didn't understand the repercussion of Aces threat, and furthermore he had the added bonus of his older brother Eyeball being in the gang.

Sure, Vern had it too with his brother Billy, a tuff muscley older brother that was sure to slap him good, but Billy was no Eyeball...Billy at the most might kick Vern in the balls, tell him he's a pussy and make him go cry to his mother. His brother Richie was more dangerous, he knew pain, and in turn, knew how to cause to. If Richie wanted Chris to suffer, he could invent new ways, get really creative with it. Chris shuddered at the thought.

In the end they decided not to take the body. Too much had happened, and it didn't feel right to earn dibs on a boy like some kind of trophy won over a cheap trivial rivalry in gangs. He felt rejoice in the knowledge that Ace and his gang of lackeys wouldn't claim the body either, no matter what it cost him later...he owed the dead kid that much. Being a hero didn't seem to matter anymore, not with all they had been though in those two days.

The walked the entire journey back with the sky a steely grey above them, and decided not to stop at night (Chris didn't think he would be able to sleep anyway) and carried through until they made it home early the next morning. Chris subconsciously walked slower, the impending doom of what was a-weighting him at home on his mind.

He tried not to think about that just yet. No doubt Richie would be waiting by the gate of their run-down house, a cigarette between his lips as he cracked his knuckles in anticipation. Maybe he would even have told their father where his gun had disappeared to for good measure, guaranteeing him another beating, worse than the last.

But no. If there was one thing redeeming about his older brother Richie, it was that he and Chris had an understanding when it came to the wrath of their father. They both hated each other's guts most of the time, but over the years the abuse of their father had forced them to form somewhat of an alliance. Richie would never squeal on him about anything, and Chris would always cover for him if he was out boozing, joy-riding or just out with a girl till all hours of the night. That was their one bonding tie, a silent agreement, a pact they had made; no words necessary.

He might have liked the satisfaction of Chris getting what was coming to him after this escapade, but would never give that bastard the satisfaction of dolling it out. If Richie had a problem with Chris it was handled his own way.

His brother was in no way shape or form as bad as their father, no matter what the town said about him. He drank, but wasn't a drunk...yet. He stole and cut class and got into all kinds of trouble in Castle Rock. But most of the time he had an easy-going, devil may care attitude and would torment Chris relentlessly only for his own sick amusement. But Chris knew Richie could have a wild temper if provoked. He would lash out without thinking when feeling angry, hurt or embarrassed, and Chris was pretty sure he brought out all those emotions on to his brother at the back Harlow road.

Richie had beaten him up before. Not bad, not like their father had but still, he's had his fair share of bloody noses from his brother. And they had all been for mostly minor discretions... stealing his Winston's, talking back to him when he was in one of his moods or hungover, using the last of his brother's hair oil when he had a "hot date" that night.

Where was 'pointing a gun at your best friend and telling him to go fuck his mother, while taking dibs on the dead body he was gonna claim' rank in the scale of Richie's disposition? Not good, Chris thought. And that stayed in his mind, the entire dreaded walk back to Castle Rock where is brother was surely waiting.