LONELY TOGETHER - max mayfield (EDITING)

28. "souls sucked out."

"Okay, but- he's just tried to scare you. It's not real." Steve tried to reassure Nancy, but Jax slapped his arm.

"I think she knows that, idiot."

"But there.. there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddie's trailer, but they didn't stop growing. This wasn't the upside down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home." Nancy couldn't help but let the tears fall. Steve rubbed his face in guilt, probably wishing he could do more.

"Four chimes." Max spoke up. "Vecna's clock."

"It always chimes four times." Jax nodded.

"I heard them too." Nancy kept her voice in a whisper, almost scared that Vecna would hear her if she spoke any louder.

"He's been telling us his plan this whole time." Max matched her tone with her arms crossed. Jax looked over at her with a frown.

"Four kills. Four gates. End of the world." Lucas added sadly, looking down.

"If that's true, he's only one kill away." Said Dustin with his hands on his hips.

"Oh Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ." Eddie cursed with his head in his hands.

"Try him again. Try him again!" Steve motioned over to the phone, and Max walked over to punch in the phone number. Jax's head rose in confusion. Something felt off. Even more off than usual.

"Anything?"

"No. Rang a few times then went to busy signal."

"Maybe you punched it in wrong, try again." Steve pressed.

"I didn't punch it in wrong." Max defended.

"Seriously, Steve. She's not stupid." Jax puffed his chest.

"Well, I dunno."

"I think she knows how to use a phone." Dustin sided with the couple.

"I'm just saying she could've typed it in wrong." Steve had his hands up in defense, as Max rolled her eyes and dialed again.

"Same shit." She hung up, and Jax gave Steve a 'told you' look.

"How is that possible?" Lucas questioned.

"I told you, Joyce has this telemarketer job. Always on the phone." Dustin spoke with his hands. "Mike won't stop whining about it."

"Okay, yeah but this phone's been busy for what, three days now? It's not Joyce. No way. Somethings wrong." Max shook her head, connecting her hand with Jax's.

"She's right. It can't just be a coincidence. It can't be." Nancy shook her head in denial. "Whatever's happening in Lenora is connected to all of this, I'm sure of it. But Vecna can't hurt them. Not if he's dead. We have to go back in there. Back to the upside down.

"Woah, no, no, no, no, what?" Steve immediately denied.

"Nope." Eddie agreed.

"I'll go." Jax shrugged.

"Absolutely not!" Max scolded.

"Lets think this through." Steve stood up.

"What is there to think through?"

"We barely made it out of there."

"Yeah, because we weren't prepared. But this time we will be. We'll get weapons and protection. We'll go through the gate, we'll find his lair, and we'll kill him." Nancy spoke confidentially, despite the fact they've never battled something this powerful before.