𝙒𝙃𝘼𝙏 𝘼 𝙁𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆

28

𝑻𝑼𝑬𝑺𝑫𝑨𝒀
˚ · • . ° .

"Which one is it?" I ask Eddie, who is sitting in the back seat of my car, basically breathing down my neck.

"There," he points, "across from mine."

I nod before turning into the driveway of the trailer, putting the car in park.

The drive here was definitely not easy. Eddie was constantly sitting up, making me remind him over and over that he is wanted for murder, and it's not such a bright idea to be seen.

Not to mention the fact that we were late because Eddie insisted on not wearing damp clothes, referring to the clothes I had washed for him earlier. We spent about fifteen minutes waiting for the clothes to dry.

I open my door, stepping out and walking back towards Eddie's door behind me. I look around a couple of times before opening it, making sure we won't be seen.

He quickly jumps out and we run to the front door, harshly knocking.

The door flies open, revealing a baffled Robin.

I slide past her and into the house before she can greet me, and so does Eddie, who is right on my heels.

I take a look around, noticing everyone that fills the room. Some of them look like they just barley survived a war battle.

Steve has a bandaged wrapped around his torso, which is seeping little blood. He's barefoot with no shirt on. Weird.

Nancy has torn clothing, and her makeup is smeared in every which way. The pieces of clothing that she is wearing, have drops of muck and dirt covering it.

Robin has dirt all over her face, and looks completely exhausted. There's a light glaze of sweat covering her face, to which pieces of her hair are sticking to.

What the hell happened?

"Isabelle," Nancy says, standing up, "finally, there you are."

"What happened?" I ask as Nancy embraces me.

"The portal in Lovers Lake," Dustin speaks up, "They went in it, into the Upside Down."

"So the Upside Down is real?" I ask, taking in everyone's condition once more when Nancy releases her grip on me.

Everyone nods at me, and I find a place to sit, to which Eddie follows me.

Dustin begins rambling on about the whole experience in the Upside Down, or at least what Steve told him about, since he never actually went with them.

He talks about how Nancy went under a trance, and Venca showed her things. Showed her about how he was Henry. He was Victor Creels son, the lunatic that Robin and Nancy visited in the Physc Ward.

"There was something else." Nancy interrupts, her face looking like she just realized something, "He showed me gates, four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. It looked like the one outside of Eddie's trailer."

Nobody dared to speak once she said this, everyone waiting for her to explain more.

"This was our Hawkins. Our home." she adds on, her voice breaking a little. I feel sympathy for my sister.

The room goes silent, and Eddie and I share a worried look.

"Four chimes." Max suddenly says.

Everyone turns their heads to the redhead.

"Vecnas clock, it always chimes four times." she says, looking up from the ground.

"I heard it too." Nancy says in conformation.

"Four kills." Lucas pitches in.

"Four gates." I say, now realizing what they mean.

Eddie gives me a confused look, as if he still doesn't understand what we mean. I ignore him and just pat him on the shoulder.

"If that's true," Dustin speaks, "He's only one kill away."

"Jesus Christ." Eddie says under his breath to where only I can hear.

Steve tells Max to try and reach the group in California through the phone. It sounds like we desperately need the girl with superpowers.

Max walks over to the phone, dialing the number into the keypad quickly. She puts it up to her ear, waiting for someone to pick up. She puts it back on the holder in defeat, telling us that the line is busy, once again.

We all agree that something is wrong over there, and that we need to kill Vecna, and soon.

Dustin explains the plan about how they know how Vecna attacks, and where he attacks from, comparing him to the girl with superpowers. He mentions that they just need weapons, and bait, for Vecna.

"We don't even know who he's going to attack next." Robin interrupts.

"Yeah, we do." I say, before explaining how I can still feel connected to him, "I can feel him, lingering on me."

Everyone narrows their eyes at me, as they didn't expect that response from me.

"No, no way." Eddie says, shaking his head.

"Do you have a better idea?" I argue with him.

Eddie opens his mouth, about to respond to me, but a small voice from across the room answers instead.

"I could be the bait." Max offers.

The room goes silent, everyone stunned from the quiet girls words.

"Max," Lucas begins to say, but she keeps on talking.

"I can still feel him, you know, like connected with me. He never left." she explains.

"I've defeated him before, I can do it again. Plus, it's my mind, I can control where I go." the redhead says in defense.

"I've got this." she adds on.

˚ · • . ° .

"It's called the War Zone." Eddie says, slapping a newspaper on the table.

I see an animation of a guy holding a gun from my distance behind Eddie's shoulder. Theres an American flag flowing behind him. He looks like somebody you wouldn't want to mess with.

"I've been there once." he says, looking around at everyone, "It's huge."

"They got everything you need for, uh, killing things, basically." he explains, looking back at me for solace.

I nod at him in response.

"Is that a grenade?" Robin pipes in, pointing at the picture, "I mean, how is any of this legal?"

"Well, lucky for us it is, so..." Eddie interrupts, "This place is just far enough outside of Hawkins. If we stay on main roads, we should avoid cops and you know, angry hicks."

"If we're trying to avoid angry hicks, maybe we shouldn't go to some store called, The War Zone." I say, earning me a slight glare from Eddie over his shoulder.

"Normally, I'd agree, but we need the weapons so," Nancy says, "I think it's worth the risk."

"Me too." Lucas speaks.

"But is it worth the time?" Dustin asks, "It'll take all day to bike there and back."

"Who said anything about bikes?" Eddie asks, with a smirk.

"You got some sort of car we don't know about?" Steve asks as Eddie stands up, meeting his level.

Eddie stares at the boy with a smirk.

"It's not exactly a car, Steve." Eddie says, looking right into the his eyes, "It's not exactly mine. But uh, it'll do."

He gives me a smirk and I can't help but wonder what he means by that. There's honestly no telling.

"Hey, Red!" Eddie turns, looking at the quiet girl in the corner, "You got a ski mask or something like that?"

Max gives him a questioning look before thinking about it, and her eyebrows raise, as if she does in fact have something like that.

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