╔═════ ∘◦ ☽ ﾐ ◦∘ ══════╗
𝗠𝗢𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧
𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝔀𝓮𝓵𝓿𝓮:
"𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚜, 𝙸'𝚖
𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚙𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚒𝚖."
╚═════ ∘◦ ミ ☾ ◦∘ ══════╝
THE EARLY MORNING light shone through the windows, casting a golden glow into Max's trailer. They had moved there after Steve and a very shaken-up Nancy came back from the Upside Down. From the very few words that Nancy had spoken since she came back, Vecna didn't want to kill Nancy. He just wanted to show her visions and tell her a message. According to that message, Vecna was also Henry Creel (Victor Creel's son), and was One, the original subject at Hawkins Lab who had powers.
Talk about a plot twist.
And, it turns out, Mackenzie had been right about her Vecna theory. It made her feel kind of smart, but also completely horrified because he had targeted Will so many times.
They all gathered around in Max's living room, looking at Nancy. Mackenzie leaned against the wall next to Max, her arms crossed across her chest as she stared at Nancy in concern. Megan sat on the arm of the couch in front of her next to Steve. Mackenzie could feel her little sister's glances every so often, but Mackenzie couldn't be focused on the fact that her little sister was caught up with this shit at this given moment. Right now, she needed to hear what Vecna showed Nancy.
"He showed me things that haven't happened yet," Nancy revealed, her voice hoarse and tears streaming down her face. "The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire, dead soldiers. And this . . . this giant creature with . . . a gaping 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 . . ."
She didn't even need to say the word. Mackenzie averted her gaze to the ground. The thought of Mike being dead was horrifying to her. Sure, he was annoying and sometimes an asshole, but they were still best friends. Mackenzie couldn't live without him (but she would never admit that to him, it would just inflate his ego.)
"Okay, but . . . he's just trying to scare you, Nance," Steve insisted. "Right? I mean . . . I mean, it's not real."
"Not yet," Nancy replied. "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."
"Wait," Megan interrupted. "I — I don't understand. What are Gates, and what is the Upside Down? Can someone please explain to me what's going on?"
Steve stared at her. "Little Tate, we don't have time for that."
"It's a long story, Meg," Mackenzie said, giving a pointed glare to her little sister, making Megan look away. "One that I wouldn't have to tell if you had just stayed with mom. And I really don't want to tell you, but you've seen too much already."
"Four chimes," Max stated, and Mackenzie looked over at her. "Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly."
"I heard them too," Nancy whispered.
"He's been telling us his plan this whole time."
"Four kills," Lucas voiced. "Four Gates. End of the world."
"If that's true . . . he's only one kill away," Dustin announced.
Mackenzie felt her heart sink to her stomach. Chrissy. Fred. Patrick. The only one who had managed to escape was Max, and that meant . . .
"Oh, Jesus Christ," Eddie muttered to himself, putting his face in his hands. "Jesus Christ!"
Steve pointed at Mackenzie. "Try 'em again. Try 'em again."
Mackenzie turned and walked over to the phone on the wall. She typed in the Byers' number, one that she had typed in so many times in her life. Mackenzie held up the phone to her ear and anxiously played with the cord with her other hand. She desperately needed someone to pick up. Even if it wasn't Will, which she did hope he would, any one of them in California would be fine.
Nope, nothing. The same old busy signal that had been there for the past couple of days. Mackenzie sighed and placed the phone back on the wall, going back to the others.
"Anything?" Dustin asked.
"Nothing," Mackenzie answered. "It rang a few times but went back to the busy signal."
"Maybe you punched it in wrong," Steve suggested. "Try again."
Mackenzie gave him an incredulous look. "Do you really think I would type my own boyfriend's number in wrong?"
"Well, I don't know."
"I think she knows how to use a phone," Dustin told him. "And it's Will's house. Steve, come on."
"I'm just saying she could've typed it in wrong," Steve protested.
Mackenzie shook her head and went back to the phone. She typed in the familiar number once more and held up the phone to her ear again. Once again, it did the exact same thing. She let out a frustrated breath and threaded her fingers through her hair, pushing it slightly back as she hung up the phone.
"Same thing," Mackenzie said.
"How is that possible?" Lucas questioned.
"I don't know. It's really fucking weird, because Joyce has this telemarketer job, and she's always on the phone. There's no reason why nobody's answering, unless something's going on in California. The phone's been busy for three days. At most, they should've called us back in a day." Mackenzie dropped her hand from her hair, letting her hair fall back to its original position. "Something's wrong. Really wrong."
"She's right," Nancy agreed. "It can't be just a coincidence. It can't be." She stood up from her chair and walked over to the window. "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." She turned back to face them all. "We have to go back in there. Back to the Upside Down."
Mackenzie's eyes slightly widened. Huh?
"Woah, woah, no, no, no, no, no," Steve let out. "What?"
"Nope," Eddie refused.
Steve stood up. "Let's think this through, okay?"
"What is there to think through?" Nancy argued.
"We barely made it out of there in one piece."
"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."
"Or he'll kill us," Steve responded. "The only reason you survived if because he wanted you to. He's not scared of us."
Robin stood up from the floor. "And for good reason. We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One. Sorry, what — what are we calling him now?"
"One," Dustin said.
"Vecna," Erica stated.
"One," Lucas voiced.
"Henry," Nancy insisted.
"Whatever his name is, I'm still punching him," Mackenzie voiced, shrugging.
Megan blinked. "I have no idea who you're talking about."
They ignored her.
"Right," Robin continued. "We've learned something new about Vecna-slash-Henry-slash-One. 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 inquired. "You're right. He's like Eleven, but that gives us an upper hand. We know Eleven's strengths and weaknesses."
"Weaknesses?" Erica repeated.
"When El remote-travels, she goes into this sort of trance-like state. I bet the same is true of Vecna."
"That would explain what he was doing in that attic," Lucas replied.
"Exactly," Dustin said. "When he attacks his next victim, I'll bet you he's back in that attic, physical body defenseless."
"Defenseless?" Steve echoed, gesturing to the multiple cuts all over his body. "Yeah, what about the army of bats?"
"True. We'll have to find a way past them. Distract them somehow."
"And, uh, how do we do that, exactly?" Eddie asked.
"No idea," Dustin admitted. "But once they're gone, he doesn't stand a chance. It'll be like slaying sleeping Dracula in his coffin."
"That all sounds good in theory, but there is no pattern to Vecna's killings," Robin reminded him. "At least, not one that I can decipher. We don't know when he's going to attack next. We don't even know who he's going to attack."
"Yeah, we do," Max responded. "I can still feel him. I'm still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush, I draw his focus back to me."
Mackenzie shook her head. "Max, we can't ask you to do that. He'll kill you."
"I survived before. I can survive again. I just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. And then you can chop his head off. Stab him in the heart. Blow him up with some explosive Dustin cooks up. Give him a punch for Kenzie. I honestly — I really don't care how you put this asshole in his grave, just . . . whatever it is, whatever you do, try not to miss."
"I don't think I've ever been this lost in my entire life, not even in math class, but from what I'm hearing, it sounds like you need weapons," Megan announced. "Like, hardcore weapons."
Eddie suddenly stood up and started to look around Max's living room. He grabbed one of the phone books there and brought it over to the kitchen table. The rest of the group shared a glance before following him, gathering around the table. He flipped through it for a moment until he finally landed on the right page.
"Check this out," Eddie said. He pointed to a picture of a soldier with a gun in front of an American flag with the words The War Zone underneath. "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 has enough guns here?" Robin asked. She pointed to the picture. "Is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this legal?"
"Well, luck for us it is, so. 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 voiced.
"Normally, I'd agree, but we need the weapons, so I think it's worth the risk," Nancy replied.
"Me too," Lucas agreed.
"Yeah, but is it worth the time?" Dustin cut in. "It'll take all day to bike there and back."
Eddie looked at him. "Who said anything about bikes?"
Mackenzie raised an eyebrow. "What, you have a secret car or something?"
"It's not exactly a car, Cheerleader." Eddie smirked when Mackenzie rolled her eyes at the nickname. "And it's not exactly mine, but, uh . . . it'll do." He turned to Max. "Hey, Red, uh, you got a ski mask or a bandana, something like that?"
Max supplied Eddie with the same Michael Myers mask that she had worn at Halloween two years ago. It gave Mackenzie such a flashback to that night, dressed up as Janine Melnitz to go along with the boys' Ghostbusters costumes. Mackenzie had a lot of fun that night — well, despite Will having another episode when he was being targeted by the Mind Flayer, more so Vecna now.
They all snuck out the back of Max's trailer. Eddie peered around the side as they all crouched down behind it. He waved them on, and they all broke into a jog to follow Eddie through the trailer park without being caught by anyone. He eventually led them to a large camper that had people sitting outside of it under an awning. Eddie walked over to the back window and slid it open, throwing his bag inside before going in through the window.
Steve went in next before looking out at the others. "Go! Come on."
Mackenzie put her hands on the windowsill and pushed herself up into the camper. She landed on a soft couch and stood up, looking behind to see Megan crawling in after her. Mackenzie, curious, left her little sister to get situated in a seat as she walked up to Eddie. He had a pair of pliers in his mouth and had removed the wires of the car so he could access them better. She watched as he cut the wires.
"Where'd you learn how to do this?" Steve questioned.
"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," Eddie answered.
"Oh," Mackenzie commented. "Cool."
"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, I'm really living up to that Munson name."
"Um, Eddie, I'm not sure I love the idea of you driving," Robin admitted.
"Oh, I'm just starting this sucker," Eddie responded. "Harrington's got her. Don't ya, big boy?"
Finally, with one final rub of the cut wires together, the camper started. The owners started yelling and banging on the windows. Mackenzie's eyes widened and she retreated back to the sitting part of the camper. She took Megan's arm, who was still standing, and dragged her down into a seat next to her.
Steve hopped into the drivers seat. "Everybody, hang onto something!"
"Oh my God, oh my God!" Lucas shouted. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"
"Drive, Steve, drive!" Dustin screamed.
"Go, go, go!" Robin yelled.
Steve slammed his foot onto the gas pedal. The camper sped off, breaking up the nice set up place that the owners had under the awning. Mackenzie let out a deep breath as she looked back, watching as the owners got farther and farther away.
"Shit, they look pissed," Dustin stated as he looked out the back window.
"I mean, it's not every day you lose your house and car in one fell swoop," Robin replied.
"Hold on, hold on!" Steve ordered.
Steve turned the wheel, knocking into two trash cans as the camper went around a bend. Mackenzie put her arm around Megan's shoulder in effort to try and hold them in place as Steve continued to speed away from the trailer park. Her chest heaved up and down from adrenaline as they got further and further away.
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coming out now as a mike wheeler apologist
I know he's annoying but he's still my boy <3 love you mike even though you're dumb