"Jesus!" Eddie exclaimed the next morning, scrambling away from the door.
"Delivery service," Dustin smiled.
"Freaky fast," Kim held out the grocery bags they had picked up on their way over from Steve's.
Eddie exhaled, his heart still pounding with fear and adrenaline. He took one of the bags from Kim and immediately tore into a box of cereal and started shoving it into his mouth.
"Okay, so we got, uh, some good news and some bad news," Dustin started to explain. "How do you prefer it?"
"Bad news first, always," Eddie said, mouth still full of Honey Comb cereal.
Steve looked on in disgust as Eddie clung to the box like it might run away and chugged a bottle of orange juice. He couldn't figure out why Kim would even want to be friends with someone like Eddie Munson. He was gross, and weird, and, like, a super senior who lived like a man child. Steve glanced at Kim – who was standing as far away from him as possible – to see if she was just as grossed out but she seemed indifferent. Steve did a double take when he realized Kim was wearing one of his old shirts under her signature leather jacket. Maybe it had been by accident (they had so many of each other's thing at their houses that both of them had kinda lost track of what originally belonged to who) but Steve was certain that at one point that Smiths tee shirt had belonged to him. It gave him a little hope that things really would work out between him and Kimmy.
"Alright, bad news," Dustin nodded. "We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you. Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."
"Like, 100% kind of convinced," Max added.
Kim rolled her eyes. "Did no one teach you kids how to deliver bad news softly?"
Edddie looked at her. "And the good news?"
Robin answered before Kimmy could. "Your name hasn't gone public yet. But if we found out about you, it's a matter of time before others do too and once that get's out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."
"Hunt the freak, right?" Eddie scoffed.
"Exactly," Robin nodded somblerly.
"Seriously, has no one heard of the term glass half full?" Kim muttered. "There is, like, zero optimism in this group."
Dustin quickly thought of a way to put a positive spin on things or at the very least give Eddie some hope to cling to. "So, before that happens, we need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence."
"That's all, Dustin?" Eddie said, clearly still very on edge. "That's all?"
He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that's pretty much it."
"Listen, Eddie," Robin started. "I know everything Dustin's saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this kinda thing before. I mean, they have a few times, and I have once. Mine was more human-flesh-based and theirs was more smoke-related, but the bottom line is, collectively, I really feel we got this."
"Yeah," Kim nodded. "You remember the monsters I told you about last night? Demogorgans and Demodogs?"
Eddie chuckled. "I mean, yeah it's kinda hard to forget."
"Well, I've fought one of those things with nothing but a baseball bat."
"Yeah, yeah," Steve chimed in. "I did that too. I fought them with her."
Kim glared at him before turning back to Eddie. "The point is, we have a pretty good idea of how to handle this interdimensional shit. It's gonna be okay."
"Yeah, uh, only we usually rely on this girl who has super powers. But, uh, those went bye-bye, so–" Steve started to explain.
"So we're technically in more of the–" Robin tried to come up with the right word.
"The brainstorming phase," Max finished.
"Th-there's nothing to worry about," Dustin tried to reassure Eddie.
Eddie couldn't believe his only hope of survival right now was these five idiots. He was doomed.
The sound of approaching sirens put everyone on high alert. They rushed to hide Eddie under the tarp again and get a peek out the window of the boat house.
Luckily the squadron of police cars and an ambulance drove right past Reefer Rick's driveway, continuing down the street.
"Come on," Kim said, gesturing for the group to follow her. "I want to know what that's about."
"No! We can't just–" one look from Kim and Steve shut his mouth.
"We'll be back as soon as we can, Eddie!" Dustin called as the group ran to Steve's car. Kim slid into the back with Dustin and Max, letting Robin take her usual seat next to Steve. They sped down the road, coming to a stop behind the parked sheriff's vehicle.
Nancy looked up from her conversation with Sheriff Powell as a familiar car approached. Her heart lifted as a group of her friends got out. She couldn't help but smile in relief and wave back as Kim mock saluted her.
•••••
The group drove to the trailer park, yellow crime scene tape fluttered in the wind making the whole place feel more abandoned than it usually did. It might have felt a little creepy, but at least there was no chance of someone overhearing them as they sat at the rotting picnic table, discussing what they knew so far.
"You're saying that this thing that killed Fred and Chrissy, it's from the Upside Down?" Nancy asked incredulously.
"If the shoe fits," Steve shrugged.
"Our working theory is that he attacks with a spell or a curse," Dustin explained. "Now, whether or not he's doing the bidding of the Mind Flayer or just loves killing teens, we don't know."
"All we know is that this is something different. Something new," Max added.
Nancy sighed and shook her head. Why couldn't she have one normal year of high school? She had been this close to having a senior year with no interdimensional mysteries. "It doesn't make sense."
"It's only a theory," Dustin reminded her.
"No, Fred and Chrissy don't make sense," she clarified. "I mean, why them?"
"Maybe they were just in the wrong place," Kim suggested. "They were both at the basketball game."
"And near the trailer park," Max said.
"We're at the trailer park," Steve pointed out.
"Wow, thank you so much for that helpful piece of information, Steve," Kim said without even looking in his direction.
Nancy's eyes darted between the couple, realizing she'd barely seen them interact this whole time. "Is everything okay w–"
"Don't ask," Robin cut her off.
"All I'm wondering is should we maybe not be here?" Steve asked, looking around nervously.
"There is something about this place," Nancy agreed. "Fred started acting weird the second we got here."
"Acting weird as in...?" Robin asked.
"Scared, on edge, upset," Nancy listed.
Dustin nodded, trying to make sense of it all. "Max said Chrissy was upset too."
"Yeah, but not here," Max reminded him. "She was crying in the bathroom at school."
"Serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right? So, maybe Fred and Chrissy saw this Vecman–" Kim started to say.
"Vecna," Dustin corrected.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Dusty Bun–"
Steve sighed and cut her off. "I dunno about you guys, but if I saw some freaky wizard monster, I would mention it to someone."
"Maybe they did," Max said, thinking back to her small interaction with Chrissy. "I saw Chrissy leaving Ms. Kelley's office. If you saw a monster you wouldn't go to the police; they'd never believe you. But you might go to your–"
"Your shrink," Robin finished.
Max nodded in agreement. The group shared a look (something they did a lot) before simultaneously getting up and walking back to Steve's car, readying to try and see if they could get something out of Ms. Kelley. Apparently shared trauma didn't just create couples it also created telepathy for the group.
Instead of piling into the car with everyone else, Nancy kept walking, hoping nobody would notice.
"Whoa, whoa, Nance," Steve called after her. "Nance! Where're you going?"
"Oh, uh," she tried to come up with something to say. "There's just something I wanna check on first."
"Something you maybe wanna share with the rest of us?" Dustin suggested.
"I don't wanna waste your time," Nancy tried to justify. "It's a real shot in the dark."
Kim crossed her arms and studied her best friend. She knew Nancy Wheeler well enough to know that even if it was a shot in the dark, she was probably onto something.
"Are you out of your mind? Flying solo with this Vecna creep on the loose?" Steve asked. "No, it's too dangerous. Y-you need me... you need someone to..."
Nancy raised an eyebrow questioningly and Steve trailed off.
"Yeah, okay," Steve nodded, making up his mind as he tossed his car keys to Robin. "Here. I'll stick with Nance, alright? You guys take the car, check out the shrink."
"I don't think you want me driving your car," Robin protested.
"Why?" Steve questioned.
"I don't have a license."
"Well, why don't you have a license?"
"I'm poor," Robin shrugged like that answered all of Steve's questions.
"I can drive," Max said, trying not to sound too excited.
"No," Steve said quickly. "No, never again. Please. Anybody but you. No."
"I guess I'll have to drive then," Kim shrugged, about to grab the keys from Robin's hands.
"No!" everyone shouted. If they were going to die today it would be because of Vecna, not Kim's god awful driving.
"What? Why not?" Kim groaned.
"Uh, maybe because you've failed your drivers test like three different times?" Dustin pointed out.
"Yeah, and not just by a little bit," Nancy tried not to laugh at her best friend. "You literally crashed the driver's ed car one time."
"That wasn't my fault!" Kim protested. "It was, like, a really old car. I think something was wrong with it. Like the power turning thingy."
"Power steering," Steve corrected. "And no way in hell are you driving a car with children in it. That's not happening."
Kim let out a huff of air as Dustin smiled hopefully, the only one left to drive the car.
"No chance," Steve shook his head at the younger boy.
"Come on," Dustin groaned.
"Alright, okay. This is stupid," Robin sighed and grabbed Kim's hand, pulling her over by Nancy. She snatched the walky out of Dustin's backpack and threw Steve's keys back at him. "Us ladies will stick together."
"Unless you think we need you to protect us?" Kim raised an eyebrow at Steve. "That's what I thought." She wrapped an arm around both Nancy and Robin before she started to walk away, leading them with her.
"Be careful!" Steve called after them.
"You just gonna stand there and gawk?" Dustin asked.
"Shut up," Steve muttered. "Shut up and get in the car. Wipe your feet. On the outside not the inside! Always the babysitter. Always the goddamn babysitter!"