march 27, 1986
"so are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?" erica said, gesturing to beatrice. "you guys are just going to gloss over the fact that ms. francis is literally one of them? nancy literally said she saw her running in the vision that creep showed her. not to mention, she literally entered vecna's mindscape thing."
max crossed her arms. "he also mentioned bea. he says something about her not being able to help me like how she couldn't stop him. bea, would you like to explain?"
all eyes were on beatrice as she sat silently on the ground.
"well, when i was about nine, my parents died and i was taken by hawkins laboratory. there i met a boy called peter or one. i never learned his real name or how he got there. he was my best friend. when i was about eighteen and he was around maybe twenty, we were both transferred to the orderly ward. we took care of the children."
beatrice lifted up her hair to show the scar from soteria.
"shit," lucas said under his breath.
"they suppressed our abilities with a device called soteria. during this time, peter and i became more than friends. relationships like that were prohibited in the laboratory. we had to keep quiet or risk punishment from brenner. one day, i was in my room because i had a migraine. then i was back in my old home with my parents the night i was taken. i was forced to relive it...then i woke up and i took a shard of shattered glass from the damage and took out soteria. all the children were dead. soldiers, dead. orderly and scientists, dead."
beatrice pauses remembering the bodies that covered the floor. nine. the blood covered walls.
"the vision he showed us," nancy whispered. "eleven fought him."
"i walked into the rainbow room and i saw him and eleven. his white clothes stained with blood. i couldn't even tell if it was his or if it was someone else's. i seemed to distract him and eleven was able to pin him against a wall."
"you ran out," nancy remembered the vision of younger bea fleeing.
"i knew i couldn't do anything. i had been in love with him for twenty years. i couldn't watch him die, but i couldn't stop eleven. it just wasn't right for him to be free. to kill again. she killed him. or at least i thought she did. i left before i saw him die. with all of the security measures down and my abilities slowly coming back, i was able to escape the lab. i found my aunt and i lived with her up until she died from cancer. we agreed, i stop using my abilities so i wouldn't be tracked. i still don't use my abilities often."
bea holds up a coin from her pocket. she tosses it up and it turns into a button.
"i can, um, change matter. when i was younger, i turned a stuffed animal into a living, talking, white rabbit. like from alice's adventures in wonderland. i can also see into the future. before we started climbing out of the gate, i saw a vision that steve was going to be possessed if he had gone in a certain place and i had him change places with nancy and i, but it seems vecna can interfere with my visions. he was after nancy all along."
"well, that was a lot," erica complained.
lucas pushed her arm. "erica!"
"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."
eddie turns the corner wearing a michael myers mask. max had ran home and back quickly to deliver him the disguise.
he turns to the crouching people behind him, gesturing that the coast was clear. they ran across the trailer park following eddie to an rv. he opens a window in the back and jumps in, everyone following behind him.
"that was suffocating," he exhaled.
"go! come on!" steve tries to rush the others behind him as they rolled in.
eddie locks the rv doors and sits in the driver's seat to begin hot-wiring the car. steve grabs the back of the seat overseeing eddie's progress.
"where'd you learn how to do that?"
"well, when the other dads were teaching their kids how to fish or play ball, my old man was teaching me how to hot-wire. now, i swore to myself i wouldn't wind up like he did, but now i'm wanted for murder, and soon, grand theft auto. so, uh, yeah, i'm really living up to that munson name."
robin walks up behind steve. "uh, eddie, i'm not sure i love the idea of you driving."
"oh, i'm just starting the sucker. harrington's got her," eddie smiles, looking up at steve. he plants a joking kiss on steve's cheek. "don't ya, big boy."
the engine starts and the residents outside of the rv begin to realize what was happening. they banged on the door and windows.
"hey! open this door!"
eddie and steve quickly switch spots.
"everybody, hang on to something!" steve yells.
lucas runs into the main cabin from the sleeping area, following bea. "oh my god! oh my god! let's go! let's go!"
"drive, steve! drive!" dustin yells back. steve begins to drive away as the owners run after it furiously.
eddie sits behind beatrice. "you know," she yells at eddie. "if it makes you feel better, my dad was shot in the head!" she tries to make a joke.
"that did a little bit, actually!" he yells back.
"shit, they look pissed!" dustin shrieks.
"i mean, it's not every day you lose your house and car in one fell swoop," robin replies.
"hold on! hold on!" steve shouted, making a sharp turn. they finally made it onto the main road.
lucas sits next to max, passing a napping beatrice in a chair.
"hey."
max pulls down her headphones and pauses the song.
"so, i've been thinking, two of the three of vecna's victims were seeing ms. kelley, right?"
"yeah," max replied, furrowing her eyebrows.
"okay, so i figure there's a good chance vecna curse another one of her students. we go back to her office. we read all of her files. look for mentions of headaches, nosebleeds, nightmares."
"lucas-" max tries to interrupt.
lucas continued on. "we identify his most likely next victim. we stake out his house-"
"lucas, stop. we don't have time for any of that, okay? and even if we did, even if your plan did work, we'd be putting a total stranger at risk. a stranger who has no idea what they're up against. i do. he uses my memories against me. but...only my darkest memories. same with chrissy and fred, right?"
"right."
"it's like he only sees the darkness in us. so, i'll just run in the opposite direction. run to the light and maybe he won't be able to find me there. beatrice is like the opposite of him in that way. she has only ever seen the light in us even through all the loss."
"now, how exactly do you plan on doing this?"
max shakes her head. "i'm not sure. but it's my mind. not his, right? so i should be able to control where i am. i just need to...push him away. find a happy memory and hide there. hide in the light."
"you got a memory in mind?"
beatrice rubs her eyes. she looks to max and sees her smiling. her smile was brighter than it had been in awhile. he made her genuinely happy. bea could see it in his eyes, he would go to the ends of the earth for her. he looked at her like she was the center of the universe. beatrice fell back asleep, happy to see max smile.
max nods. "yeah. there was a time when i was the happiest."
"was i there?"
"that's presumptuous of you," max joked, smiling even brighter, if that was even possible. "but, yeah. you might've been there."
lucas changes his demeanor again. "okay, but the second you start to lift, i'm calling in kate bush." he points to the walkman. "alright?"
max chuckles. "okay, deal."
"deal," he smiled, holding out his hand. they shake on it. max slides her headphones back over her ears as he observes her.