slut [ eddie munson ]

028

After retrieving her father's hunting rifle, Talia
and Steve had hurriedly made their way to Nancy's house. The two were on edge the entire time, eyes flickering to the sky every few seconds in fear of another attack from the bat-like creatures.

"Nancy!" Talia called out, pulling the front door of her cousin's house closed behind them.

"Bedroom!" Nancy's voice echoed back. Talia rushed up the stairs, paying no attention to Steve as he paused behind her.

Pushing Nancy's bedroom door open, Talia was confused to see the three teens stood in the middle of the room with disbelief washed over their faces.

"Where are the guns?" Talia questioned, brow furrowed as she looked around for them.

Robin sighed, "They don't exist yet."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"The last entry in this is when Will went missing," Nancy explained, holding her diary up for Talia to see, "After that, there's nothing. The wallpaper is old and there's things here that I gave away years ago—and the guns are not where they should be. This isn't Hawkins in 1986..."

"It's 1983." Eddie muttered. Talia glanced at him with wide eyes.

"Fucking hell."

"Dustin! Dustin!" Talia's head whipped to the door as Steve's muffled yells echoed through the house. She made a noise of confusion before swiftly exiting Nancy's bedroom, the other three teens on her heels as they darted down the stairs.

"Dustin! Can you hear me? Dustin!" Steve yelled, the group stopping in their tracks as they came across the male, who was shouting at the ceiling. "Du—Hello? Hel...hello!"

"Maybe he really does have rabies," Robin muttered, the four teens standing in a line as they continued watching Steve. Talia's lip curled in disgust.

"Wouldn't that mean we do too? Or would they have had to bite us?" Talia spoke, voicing her thoughts aloud but not aiming the question at anyone in particular.

"That's... a good question," Eddie said, a thoughtful expression falling over his face as he contemplated it.

"Hello! Hello!"

"Steve, what are you doing?" Nancy asked, drawing the Harrington boy's attention to them. They flinched as his flashlight focused on them, squinting at the bright light.

"He's here. Henderson," Steve panted, out of breath from yelling, "That little shit, he's here. He's like...he's in the walls or something. Just listen."

Talia stared at him as the room fell painfully silent, all of them straining to hear what Steve had. They didn't.

"Dustin. Dustin, Dustin! Dustin! Dustin, can you hear me!" Steve began shouting again, wondering away from the group and continuing to yell at the ceiling like he had been before. Robin, Nancy, Talia and Eddie stayed still by the stairs.

"Holy shit," Talia gasped, hearing Dustin's voice distorted voice begin to echo through the room.

"That brings us to the question you first raised. How and why is there a gate at Lovers Lake? Let's analyze—what do Eleven and Vecna have in common?"

Robin, Nancy and Eddie began copying Steve, desperately calling out for the Henderson boy with false hope that he'd somehow hear them even though he hadn't heard Steve. Talia frowned, sticking close to Eddie as he unsurely called for the boy.

"All right, either this kid can't hear us or he's being a total douchebag," Steve said, finally giving up his attempts to catch the younger boy's attention.