mercy ; peter ballard

16. s i g n o f t h e t i m e s

"so this peter or henry or one was your friend that passed? the one that did an unspeakable thing?" max asked, recalling their conversation before shit went down.

beatrice looks down at her hands. "i thought he died years ago. i didn't know he was alive or whatever the hell he is. i think i felt more peace when i thought he did die. i didn't know he was fucking vecna. i didn't even know you guys knew eleven," she looked up. "how is she? i always worried for her."

"she's alright," max sighed. "she's in california with the byers. safe."

"good. she was always a fighter. she used to get bullied by some of the other children in the lab," she stood up. "i'm sorry for not telling you guys. this...this power is a curse. because of me, the people i love are dead. the people i love are dying."

she looks up at the group. her gaze rests on max. "i don't want anyone else to die."

bea couldn't lose max this time so the plan had to work. bea couldn't lose any of them. they had become a tight knit group. she saw all of them like young siblings.

"how do we know you aren't tricking us?" erica asked, crossing her arms.

"if i wanted to, hawkins would've been long gone. i want to help. i've made that clear from the start. so let's kill that asshole," beatrice spoke, confidently.

"i have an idea!" eddie shouts.

he slams the yellow pages book onto bea's kitchen table. everyone crowds around him as he points to an ad.

"check this out. the war zone. i've been there once. it's huge. they got everything you need for, um...well, uh, killing things, basically."

"you think fake rambo has enough guns there?" robin comments, pointing at the picture. "is that a grenade? i mean, how is any of this legal?"

"well, lucky for us it is, so..."

beatrice speaks up. "are we really worried about things being legal right now? i mean, we are literally harboring a fugitive. not to mention, half the laws that we have probably been broken in the past three days."

"anyway! this place is just far enough outside if hawkins. as long as we steer clear of main roads, we oughta be able to avoid cops and, uh, angry hicks," eddie interrupts.

"if we're trying to avoid angry hicks, maybe we shouldn't go to some store called the war zone," erica says, matter-of-factly.

nancy debates the pros and cons in her head. "normally, i'd agree, but we need the weapons so i think it's worth the risk."

lucas chimes in. "me too."

"but is it worth the time? it'll take all day to bike there and back?" dustin points out a flaw.

"who said anything about bikes?" eddie replied, looking at dustin.

steve looks down at eddie. "what, you got some sort of car we don't know about?"

eddie stands up straight, making eye contact with steve. "it's not exactly a car, steve. it's not exactly mine, but, uh, it'll do."

he turns to look at bea. "hey, uh, you got a ski mask or a bandanna, something like that?"

max speaks up, "i might."