001

509 12 2
                                    

MADMAX

OCTOBER 1984



"BREYA, DO YOU copy?" Dustin's voice is heard through the supercomm in Breya's bedroom as she stares in the mirror in her bathroom. Upon hearing Dustin, she runs back into her room to grab her supercomm.

"Yeah, I copy." Breya speaks into the supercomm, sitting at her desk.

"Lucas and I have six bucks total. What's your haul?" Dustin questions. Breya had forgotten to ask if she could get any money from her dad to go to the arcade.

"Shit! I don't know. I forgot to ask."

"Breya-"

"Hold on." She sets her supercomm down before entering her living room, her dad sleeping on the couch. She spots his wallet on the coffee table and quietly grabs it, taking out $5 before putting it back.

She reenters her room, picking her supercomm back up and speaking into it, "I got five bucks. Is that good?"

"Yeah, now go call Mike."

"You go call Mike."

"But-"

"Over and out, Dustin." She puts her antenna down before setting her supercomm back onto her desk, deciding not to call Mike or argue with Dustin.

She puts her jacket on, shoving the money she took in her pockets, and sneaks out her window, running over to Will's house so she could get a ride from Joyce.

Breya got a new skateboard for Christmas, but it's not the best to ride on when it's dark outside, so she normally gets rides from the Byers.

"Hey, you ready?" Joyce asks, walking out of the door with Will as soon as Breya gets to the doorstep.

"Yup."

They get into the car, Will in the front seat and Breya behind him, talking excitedly about the games they're going to play.

Arriving at the arcade, Joyce honks the horn, which gets the rest of the party's attention.

"I'm picking you two up in two hours, that's 9:00 on the dot? Okay?"

"Yup!" Will agrees, jumping out of the car.

"Got it, thank you Ms. Byers." Breya smiles before getting out of the car and following Will to meet the party at the entrance.

Running inside, they go straight to "Dragon's Lair" and let Dustin play as they all watch in amusement.

"To slay the dragon, use the magic sword!" The game narrates, and as soon as it starts, the entire party starts screaming at Dustin what to do.

"Down! Down! Down!" Breya screams.

"I'm going!" Dustin screams in return, moving the handle on the game down, squatting his character from the Dragon's breath.

As everybody keeps yelling at Dustin, he screams at them to shut up. When he's about to use the sword, his character gets burnt to a crisp.

"No! No!" He screams, kicking the machine, "I hate this stupid overpriced bullshit! Son of a bitch! Piece of shit!"

The starting screen of the game comes back on, Breya placing her hand on Dustin's shoulder, "You're just not nimble enough. You'll get there one day. But until then, Princess Daphne is still mine."

"Whatever, I'm still top on Centipede and Dig Dugs." Dustin states, Kieth coming out of nowhere, eating chips.

"Are you sure about that?" His statement makes the whole group turn and look straight up at him.

𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐊𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃, max mayfieldWhere stories live. Discover now