"Whatever you guys are doing up there, hurry up!" Steve's shout echoed through the tiny trailer.
"Steve says you need to hurry!" Erica came running down the hallway.
"No shit!" Dustin screamed.
Lucas spun around, knocking Peter into Eddie's bed as he did a tumble. "Oh, god. Peter!"
"Ow!" the Clarke boy sat up.
"What!" Bradley yelled as he held up a mixtape. "You still have this piece of shit?"
"Hey!" Eddie yanked it from his hand. "I like it!"
"Peter, hurry up!" Steve yelled to his cousins
"We're trying. We can't find anything." Max continued to yell as Peter reached above her, yanking the shelf off.
"Short." he mocked her, holding the box as Max dug through it quickly.
Eddie ran smack into Bradley, knocking him backwards as he smacked into the wall. "Oh, shit! Sorry, Brad."
"This room is not made for so many human beings." he ranted.
"Seriously, what is all this shit!" Robin yanked at multiple cassette tapes.
"What are you even looking for?" Eddie shouted back
"The Beatles, Blondie, Bowie. Music! We need music!" Robins voice broke because she'd been shouting so loud.
"This is music!" Eddie yelled even louder.
"Eddie!" Bradley yelled, his ridiculous tantrum taking him off guard.
"Steve!" Peter went running.
"Where's he going!" Lucas gave a look of disbelief.
"Steve, sing to her!" Peter jumped up on the mattress to look into the upside down.
"What!" he yelled back, just as Nancy collapsed with a gasp. Peter sighed in relief as he saw her eyes from where he stood, Eddie and Bradley ran in, running into each other because of the small hallway and bumping into the wall. Max tugged on Peters shirt to get him off the mattress and away from the gate.
"It's okay." Steve comforted Nancy the best he could. "It's okay. I'm here. I'm right here."
"You shouldn't be out here." Bradley walked outside that night. Nancy needed to sleep before she told them what happened, and they all needed to do the same if they were gonna make it through tomorrow. Bradley had made sure all the doors were locked, not being able to find Eddie.
The Munson boy looked back. "No one will see me in the dark. The street lamps are broken."
Bradley sat down next to him with an exhale. "I don't know why but I kept thinking your trialer had a major remodel for some reason."
"Remodel?" Eddie rose an eyebrow in his direction. "What a strange way to think."
Bradley smiled. "Strange is my middle name."
"That it is." he confirmed, turning his head with his own little grin. "I can't believe we somehow ended up here. Like, D&D monsters are what's gonna reunite us."
Bradley glanced at his shoes. They were new and white a few days ago, now smeared with dirt and a little blood. "I never got to tell you how so-"
"You know I hate apologizes. It's a thing." he cringed in return, like something had crawled down his back. "Makes me sick."
"I know." Bradley inhaled. "But, I am. I won't say it. But, I really am."
"I get it." Eddie shrugged as he threw a leaf, it didn't go very far though. "You weren't gonna make it out of the shadows with me in your corner."
It was quiet a second, Bradley gave a single chuckle. "I guess what's funny is now I feel more like a shadow with them then I ever did before."
Eddie waited for him to go on, the Naswell boy shook his head. "I always wanted you in my corner."
"Yeah, well.." Eddie inhaled, letting out a deep sigh. "-I never saw you like a shadow."
"I know." Bradley turned his head, they were face to face. "I should have never let that go."
Eddie laughed. "You got me there."
"I-" he began, a crashed echoed.
"Peter!" Dustin's yell frightened the pair, Bradley was to his feet and sprinting back into the trailer in no time. He shoved Eddie's door open, immediately met with the smell of marijuana.
Max and Peter were laughing so hard they had started to cry.
"What the hell is going on in here?" Eddie gapped.
"And I said, 'No, it was a polar bear!'" Peter smacked his knee as he laughed even harder, Max fell over in pain as her face began to burn from laughing.
"Idiots." Erica shook her head.
"They were locked in the bathroom a while, so we went to check on them..." Lucas trialed off. "You can do the rest of the math."
"You better pay for this, you little thief." Eddie shut his stash box quickly as Peter held the already rolled joint, that had half way been finished between him and Max. "For me?"
"The murdered and the murderous?" he suggested as Max smiled up at Eddie. "What do you say, Eddie the Banished?"
"He stole my line." Dustin mumbled.
"What do you say Eddie the Banished!" Max shouted.
"Eddie the Banished!" Peter got to his feet. "He's a polar bear!"
"Eddie the polar bear!" Max threw her hands up, Peter did the same. Because of his height, his hand smacked into the light and busted it. They all screamed as the room fell dark.
It was quiet before the youngest Clarkes whispered crawled up their spin. "Eddie the banished polar bear."
"He showed me things that haven't happened yet. The most awful things. I saw...a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this...this giant creature with a gapping mouth. And this creature wasn't alone. There were so many monsters. An army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighborhoods. Our homes. And then...he showed me my mom. And Holly. Mike. And they... they were all..." Nancy's words were slow and easy the next morning, spoken with care as they all came down their night before.
"Okay, but...he's just trying to scare you, Nance." Steve looked over. "It's not real."
"Not yet." Nancy winced. Peter was already slummed next to her, patting her curls slightly. "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. And this wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home."
"Four chimes." Max recovered from the night before better then Peter had. "Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly."
"I heard them too." Nancy looked her way.
Peter was quiet, but they were all waiting for him to talk. He sat up with an inhale. "The plans been crystal clear this whole time. Non of us realized it."
"Four kills." Lucas' went on, he was avoiding looking at the pair. "Four gates. End of the world."
"Jesus christ." Bradley mumbled, standing up to pace.
"If that's true, He's only one kill away." Dustin shook his head.
"Jesus Christ." Eddie mimicked Bradley.
"It's gonna be me." Peter didn't make eye contact. "Vecna told me he'd been watching me for a while. He wanted me, he's targeted me the longest."
"He could have said that to everyone." Dustin wanted to make him feel better.
"But he didn't." he pointed out, because neither Max or Nancy said anything similar to it. "He wants me."
"Well, he's not getting you." Bradley stopped his pacing. "Fuck that guy!"
"Try 'em again. Try 'em again." Steve panicked as Max ran to the phone. Peter stood up now and paced slightly, Nancy reached back to grabs his sleeve, a small form of comfort like he gave her.
"Anything?" Dustin asked after a moment as the phone hung up.
"No." Max huffed as she turned back. "Rang a few times then went to busy signal."
"Maybe you punched it wrong. Try again." Steve nodded at her.
"Dude, I think she knows how to use a phone." Dustin almost whispered his way.
Bradley frowned his eyebrows as Peter slowly turned his head to the end of the hallway.
"I'm just saying, she could've typed it in wrong." Steve argued as Max went back to the phone, just to shut him up.
"Peter?" Bradley worried for him, thinking Vecna had him. But, when the boys eyes shifted his way, he was provided a small sense of relief. "You okay?"
"Something just felt.." he trailed off, looking down the hallway. No one was there, he felt like someone was, but no one was there. "Never mind."
"Same shit." Max huffed, slamming the phone harder.
"How is that possible?" Lucas rubbed his forehead.
"Wes should be there, with Will. Mike, Jonathan, Argyle." Peter looked at Bradley. "When I left, they were okay. They were being protecting. Something isn't right about this."
"Peters right, I know it." Nancy sided with him as she stood up from the couch. "It can't be just a coincidence. It can't be. 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 in the Upside Down."
Peter had to laugh. "You have fun, Nance."
"A full field day." Bradley pursed his lips.
"Whoa, whoa, no, no, no." Steve ranted.
"Nope." Eddie shook his head. "Nope."
"Let's think this through." Steve stood to his feet.
"Thought it through. We are not going." Peter confirmed with a point of his finger.
"We barley made it out of there in one piece." Steve's tone was the same.
"Yeah, because we weren't prepared." Nancy spoke fast, but her tone was a lot sweeter. "But this time, we will be. We'll get weapons and protection."
"Weapons? Just, through Hawkins?" Bradley gave a look, him and Eddie tilted their heads on sync.
"We'll go through the gate, we'll find his lair, and we'll kill him." Nancy explained the rest as Steve clearly disapproved half way through.
"Or he'll kill us." Steve rose his brows just slightly. "The only reason you survived is because he wanted you to. He's not scared of us. Like Peter said, he wants him. Really bad, might I add. I'm not just gonna walk in there and force feed Vecna with my cousin, Nancy."
"Im with Steve." Bradley agreed.
"Me too." Lucas nodded his head.
"And for good reason." Robin got to her feet. "We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One. Sorry, what are we calling him now?"
"One."
"Vecna."
"One."
"Henry."
"He also stole my name."
"Damn, he's obsessed with you."
"We're learned something new about Vecna/Henry/One/Peter." Robin shook her head quickly. "He's a number like Eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin. But my-my point is, he's super powerful. He could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. It's not a fair fight."
"So then why fight fair?" Dustin suggested."If he's like Eleven, that gives us the upper hand.We know Elevens strengths. And weaknesses."
"Weaknesses?" Erica looked in disbelief.
"Yeah, she has a moment when she goes into her spying thing." Peter bounced his knee as he nodded his head. "It's like she's in a trance, doesn't realize what's totally going on around her."
"I bet it's the same with Vecna." Dustin agreed with him.
"That would explain what he was doing in that attic." Lucas smiled.
"Exactly." Dustin went on, bouncing between the twos words. "When he attacks his next victim, i'll bet you he's back in that attic, physical body defenseless."
"Defenseless? Yeah, what about the army of bats?" Steve cleared his throat
"True. We'll have to find a way past them. Distract them somehow." Dustin seemed to list it on.
"Oh, no big deal or anything." Bradley mocked his tone.
"And, uh, how do we do that, exactly?" Eddie went to stand.
"No idea." Dustin shook his head as Eddie reversed and sat back down. Bradley patted his shoulder. "But once they're gone, he doesn't stand a chance. It'll be like staking sleeping Dracula in his coffin."
"That all sounds good in theory, but there is no pattern to Vecna's killings." Robin inhaled deeply from the other side of Bradley. "At least not one that I can decipher."
"They both have red hair." Erica rose an eyebrow.
"My hairs not red." Peter defended himself.
"I have eyes, I can see it is." she snapped back in return.
"It's not red, it's strawberry blond, sometimes auburn. It's not red." he shot back at her.
"Those are all shades of red." Erica spoke with a shake of her head.
"They're not." he rolled his eyes.
"We don't know when he's going to attack next." Robin went on, possibly saving Peter from Erica's attitude if he matched her energy. "We don't even know who he's going to attack."
"Yeah, we do." Max spoke
up, making them look over. "I can still feel him. I'm still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush, it draws his attention back to me."
"What? No." Peter gapped at her, coming off the couch. "Let me do it."
"No, that's literally why i'm doing it." Max gave him a dumb look. "I can survived again. "I just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. Then you can chop his head off. Stab him in the heart. Blow him up with some explosive Dustin cooks up. I honestly really don't care how you put this asshole in his grave. Just...whatever it is...whatever you do...try not to miss."
Peter thought about it. "We both go."
"What?" Bradley rose both his eyebrows.
"If we both go, we could be stronger together. Like, we could pull each other out of there last minute." Peter started to bounce his leg. "Vecna only needs one gate, but do you honestly think he'll miss the chance to take both of us?"
"Both of you? No." Lucas shook his head.
"Well, i'm going." Max crossed her arms.
"And i'm not letting you go alone." Peter turned his head to state at her, sharing his head. "Never have before, not gonna start now."
Max was holding back a smile, a sad one, but still a smile.
Eddie dropped a magazine before them. "Check this out. The War Zone. I've been there once. It's huge. They got everything you need for, uh...well, killing things, basically."
"Do you think fake Rambo had enough guns there?" Robin looked down at all the photos. "Is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this legal?"
"Ooh, grenades." Peter gave a subtle clap. "Like my pumpkin."
"Pumpkin on fire." Dustin smiled, because when Hopper brought up that story last year at Star Court, Dustin decided he liked Peter Clarke enough.
"Well, lucky for us it is, so..." Eddie trialed off. "This-this place is just far enough outside of Hawkins. As long as we steer clear of the main roads, we oughta be able to avoid cops and, uh, angry hicks."
"If we're trying to avoid angry hicks, maybe we shouldn't go to some store called the War Zone." Erica rolled her eyes.
"My dad owns that place, he might be there." Peter cleared his throat.
"My point." Erica pointed to him.
"You were gonna stay in the car anyways." Bradley held Peters head.
"Normally, i'd agree, but we need the weapons." Nancy inhaled deeply. "So, I think it's worth the risk."
"It'll take all day to bike there, then back?" Dustin squinted with a shake of his head.
"Who said anything about bikes?" Eddie smirked.
Bradley looked over. "You finally got a car?"
"Who said anything about a car?" he titled his head in his direction with a cheeky smile. "It's not exactly mine but, uh, it'll do."
"It'll do!" Peter announced in the same tone he used when he came to encouraging his teammates on the field.
"Hey, Red." Eddie looked back at Max. "You got a ski mask or a bandanna, something like that?"
With Eddie in his Michael Myers mask, the group managed to run from Max's trailer toward one of Eddie's neighbors. He opened up a window in the back, pulling himself through first. "That was suffocating."
"Aye!" Bradley whispered shouted, holding his hand up as Eddie helped pull him in. "Never thought we'd do this again."
"You've done this before?" Peter asked, climbing in and managing to roll rather gracefully before he reached down to pull Lucas.
"Long time ago, it doesn't count." Bradley shook his head.
"Hold on to something, little Clarke." Eddie mocked before hurrying toward the front, Bradley followed him. Steve and Robin went before the engine blew, music began to echo.
"That'll keep Vecna away." Peter fell between Lucas and Max at the sudden jolt of the RV.
"Everyone hold onto something!" Steve shouted.
"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Lucas panicked, Eddie laughed loudly as he held onto Bradley.
"Drive, Steve! Drive!" Dustin shouted as he flopped next to the huddled trio.
Peter looked out the window. "I think they're really mad!"
"No shit, Peter!" Dustin yelled back.
"It's not every day you lose your house and car in one fell swoop." Robin held onto the side of the RV with Nancy.
"Hold on! Hold on!" Steve took a sharp turn at the end of the trailer park.
"You sure you don't want me to go with you?" after the war zone and all the weapons packed into the RV, they ended up at a field Peter told them about. Bradley was meant to be going with Eddie and Dustin, only resulting in him worrying for Peter, who was going with Max.
The Clarke boy looked up from how he sat on the hill. He looked cute, his baby face impossible not to smile at. Peter smiled back. "I think you should go with Eddie. Probably the best option, really."
"How am I suppose to protect you from so far away?" Bradley gave him a questionable look. "Just by keeping the bats away?"
"I've got you up here." Peter pointed to his head. "I'll be okay."
"I know you will." Bradley stared at him. "I'm just scared."
"Scared of Vecna?" he gave a curious look.
"I have a really weird feeling, sitting right here." Bradley held his chest with a shake of his head. "I can't explain it."
Peter frowned. "Like something bad is gonna happen?"
"I don't know." he admitted. "Bet you wish your girl was here right about now."
Peter gave a sad smile, pointing to his head. "She's up here, too."
•
kylie speaks
i know what you guys are
gonna ask me and no, to
answer you, i am not ready.