"Okay, I wanna run through it one more time." Nancy spoke after we parked the RV.
"We meet Erica at the playground. She'll signal Max and Lucas when we're ready."
"Phase two."
"Max beats Vecna. He'll go after her, which'll put him in his trance."
"Phase three?"
"Me, Cassie and Eddie draw the bats away."
"Four."
"We head into Vecna's hopefully newly bat-free lair, and... flambé." Robin shook the bottle of alcohol.
"Nobody moves onto the next phase until we've all copied. Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. Got it?"
"Got it." We all answered in response, piling out of the RV and making our way to Eddie's trailer.
"Here goes nothing." Steve grabbed the sheet, climbing into the Upside Down and pulling out the mattress so we can all land safely. Next went Nancy, then the weapons, then me, then Eddie, Robin, and Dustin.
We walked out of the trailer and I sighed, hating the feeling of being here.
"Hey, guys, listen." Steve turned to Eddie, Dustin and I. "If things here start to go South, I mean at all," He looked at me. "you abort. Okay? Draw the attention of the bats, keep them busy for a minute or two, we'll take care of Vecna. Don't try to be cute or be a hero or something. Okay? You guys are just-"
"Decoys." Dustin answered for him. "Don't worry, you can be the hero, Steve."
"Absolutely, I mean, look at us. We are not heroes."
"Ouch." I shoved Eddie.
"Well, maybe you. But not today, babe." He wrapped his arm around me. Steve started to walk away before Eddie called for him. "Make him pay."
"And be careful." I went in for another hug, making sure to hug him as tightly as I could.
"Remember what I said? Don't be a hero." He whispered to me before pulling out of the hug and walking away with Nancy and Robin.
"Okay, we got this. This is just one of your lame ass games but in real life. Piece of cake." I shrugged as we walked over to his RV and started covering the windows with parts of a gate.
"Jesus." We walked into Eddie's RV and he walked towards his guitar. "It's like she was destined for an alternate dimension. Cass, babe, looks like you'll finally get to see me shred on the guitar." I clapped with a smile on my face. We moved outside and stood on the roof of Eddie's trailer, waiting for our signal.
"She's in." We heard Robin's voice over the walkie. "Move onto phase three."
"Copy that, initiating phase three." I plugged in the amps and turned them all the way up.
"Let's hope they hear this." Eddie looked at me and winked before playing Master of Puppets.
"Holy shit, it's working." My voice shook as I spotted all of the bats flying our way through the binoculars. Dustin placed his hand on my back, trying to comfort me, and took the binoculars to see for himself.
"Eddie, we gotta lock down in T-minus 30 seconds!" Dustin shouted, making Eddie nod.
"T-minus 20!" I shouted.
"T-minus 10!" I started to get nervous as Eddie was still focused on the guitar.
"Five... One!" Eddie's solo was finally over.
"Move, move!" Eddie shouted, letting Dustin get down first and then me before jumping down himself.
"Cmon, hurry!" We rushed inside the gate and Eddie closed the door, being the last one in.
"Dude, most metal ever!" Dustin shouted as they started jumping up and down.
"Now's not the time!" I sighed. "But it was really good." I jumped up and down with them.
"You're okay, right?" Eddie placed his hands on my arms, looking me over.
"I'm fine, you?" He nodded. "Dustin?" I hurried over to him, giving him a once over.
"I'm fine." He pulled me into a hug. "Okay, come on." We grabbed our weapons and placed our backs against another, guarding the walls in case any bats managed to sneak in.
"Hey, dipshits! Give up that easy, huh?" Dustin shouted, making me elbow him.
"That really necessary?" Eddie asked. "They're on the roof... Cassie you got your walkman ready?"
"I'm fine, Max has him covered." I whispered back, not taking my attention off of the roof.
"They can't get in through there, can they?" Dustin asked, staring at a vent in the roof. We all screamed as one broke through it, repeatedly stabbing at it.
"Get out the way!" Eddie shouted before putting a chair under the hole and stabbing his shield over it.
"Nice." We all sighed, relaxing a bit before hearing more noises. "Are there any other vents?"
"Shit." Eddie hopped down from the chair and rushed to a different part of the room only for a ton of bats to come flying at us.
"Shit!" Eddie pushed me behind him and closed the door. "Let's go!" Dustin started climbing up the sheet and into the real world. "Go!" Eddie shouted at me.
"Shit, the walkie." I looked over to where it had been dropped on the ground.
"Cassie, let's go!" Eddie yelled.
"Go, I'm right behind you."
"Cassie!"
"Go!" He finally started climbing the sheet and I grabbed the walkie right as he made his way to Dustin.
"Come on!" They both shouted from the other side. I looked at the door with the bats and made my decision.
"Cassie what the fuck are you doing?" Eddie had a panicked look in his eyes. I sliced the sheet and it fell.
"Cass, stop!" I heard Dustin scream as I moved the mattress from under the hole.
"Cassie, this isn't funny!"
"Take care of each other, please! Eddie, watch out for him, will you?"
"No, no, don't do this!"
"I'll be safe." I lied, grabbing a spear and shield. "I love you, Dustin." I shouted before racing out of the RV and hopping on a bike, attracting the bats. I heard four chimes in the distance, causing me to use one hand to place the headphones over my ears, but I lost my balance and fell off of the bike. "Shit." I pressed play on the walkman and grabbed the bike, getting back on it but not before getting a bite taken out of my leg. I kicked the bat off and started pedaling once more, ignoring the pain.
I pedaled as fast as I could, seeing the bats not far behind me.
Don't be a hero.
You don't have to pretend to be this perfect person who isn't afraid, Dustin knows you're a human being, too.
Look at us, we are not heroes.
We'll be married one day with a house and kids.
I stopped the bike and threw it on the ground.
"You don't scare me anymore!" I shouted, looking at all the bats. "Do you hear me? You don't scare me! I'm not afraid!" They started surrounding me and I waved the spear around, killing as many as I could. I heard the four chimes again, signaling that my headphones had fallen off while fighting, but I couldn't take my eyes off of the bats. I felt myself being lifted into the air, my eyes rolling to the back of my head.
Vecna had me. But I saw Max and El.
"Eleven! What's happening?" I shouted, seeing Max unconscious on the wall.
"Cass!" Eleven yelled, even though Vecna had her pinned to the wall. Eleven yelled almost as if it was helping her fight him off. And just as fast as I was lifted into the air, I dropped back into the Upside Down.
"Cassie!" I heard Dustin yell, kneeling over me.
"Dustin? Dustin, what're you doing?" The panic rises in me as I sat up in pain and wrapped my arms around him. "Why'd you follow me?" I pulled away and looked at him to see tears covering his face.
"You and Eddie-"
"Eddie?" He pointed a few feet away where Eddie's body lay on the ground. "Eddie!" I shot up and limped over to him.
"Hi, doll face."
"What'd you do." I cried, placing my hand on his face.
"I tried to be a hero." He choked on his blood.
"He's gonna be fine, right, Cass? We can get him to a hospital?" Dustin looked at me, hopeful.
"Yea." But I knew it was a lie. "He's gonna be fine. You'll be fine, Eddie."
"I didn't run away this time." I sobbed when he said this, knowing I was doing the same thing only seconds before this.
"Eddie you shouldn't have- I was fine, I was gonna be fine."
"Hey, what kind of husband would I be to let my wife fight alone, huh?" He smiled through the pain. "Henderson, give us a minute, would you?" I could tell it pained him to talk.
"Just hurry up, we gotta get out of here and get you to a hospital." It hurt to lie to Dustin, but what type of sister would I be to look him in the face and tell him his best friend, the person he looked up to the most, was dying right in front of his eyes.
"Here." He grunted in pain as he took his black stone ring off of his ring finger.
"No, Eddie." I let out a pained laugh.
"I know it's not as nice as it could be." He placed it on my left ring finger. "But look around babe, there's no kay jewelers around here. I'll buy you the nicest ring money can afford once we get outta here."
"This is my fault." I sobbed.
"Hey, no." He placed a bloody hand on my face, rubbing his thumb back and forth on my cheek.
"It is. If I would've just stayed, you wouldn't have- it was supposed to be me, Eddie."
"It was my choice. I don't need you going on thinking you got me killed. It was never supposed to be you." His choice of words made me choke on my sobs. "Is it too soon to say I love-"
"No. Save it for the wedding day." He smiled at me. "Remember? Our plan?"
"How could I forget? It's not everyday you get engaged to a Henderson." He motioned to the ring. "But I do."
"Eddie-"
"Help me, would you?" He tried to sit up.
"No, you should lie down." He sighed and slipped his arms out of his jacket.
"This is yours. It was always yours." He handed me the jean jacket I begged for the day that we met, only making me cry more. "Sorry, there might be a little blood on it." We laughed and his eyes started to unfocus.
"Eddie, you can't do this to me. You can't tell me you love me and then die on me, you know?" I cried with his head in my lap.
"Til death do us part, babe." He place his hand on my cheek once again. "You're gonna look after those knuckleheads for me, right?"
"No, don't do that. You're gonna be here."
"No." His voice cracked. "Henderson." He tried his best to shout for Dustin and he rushed over, kneeling beside me. "You need to help Cassie look after the sheep, okay?"
"No, Eddie-" Dustin sobbed.
"Say it."
"I'll... I'll help look after them."
"Good." Eddie chuckled. "Cause I'm actually gonna graduate." I turned my head, trying not to let them see me cry. "I think it's my year, I think it's finally my year. I love you, man."
"I love you, too." He cried.
"Cassie," Eddie wiped away my tears. "you hear those wedding bells? I love you."
"I love you." He smiled, staring into my eyes. "Eddie?" His hand slowly dropped from my face. "Eddie!"
"Eddie!" Dustin shouted, shaking him. "Eddie!" I pulled Dustin into me as we sobbed into each others arms. "Cassie."
"I know, Dustin. I know." I consoled him, trying to pull myself together. The ground started to shake. "Dustin, we gotta go."
"No." He sobbed, grabbing onto Eddie.
"Dustin, Dustin, look at me!" I held his hands in my face. "I know, okay? I'm gonna miss him too, but we have to go." I held back the tears as he nodded. I gently slid Eddie's head out of my lap and kissed his forehead, taking one last look at him before grabbing Dustin and heading back to the RV.
TWO DAYS LATER
We stood outside of Nancy's house as she packed up her car. Me, Nancy, Robin, Steve and Dustin.
"Someone order a pizza?" Mrs. Wheeler asked as a pizza truck pulled up, honking its horn.
"Pizza?" Out stepped Mike, Will, Eleven, Jonathan, and some other guy.
"Holy shit!" We all ran and hugged each other.
"Woah, what's your name, pretty lady?" The guy whose name I learned was Argyle asked.
"I'm engaged, asshole." I rolled my eyes, showing him the ring before walking over to Dustin, Will and El.
"Where's Lucas?" Will asked.
"He's at the hospital."
"Is he hurt?" Eleven asked.
"No, he's... oh god. You don't know." I pulled Eleven and Will into a hug, telling them about Max. We decided to all pay her a visit, walking into the hospital room where Lucas and Erica sat around Max.
"Oh my god, we've been calling you guys like crazy." Lucas hugged Mike.
"I know, we came as soon as we heard."
"Do they know when she'll wake?"
"No. They said she might not. Her heart stopped for over a minute. She died." I rubbed Lucas' back. "I mean, clinically, then she came back. The doctors don't know how. They say it's a miracle." We all turned and looked at Eleven, knowing she must've had something to do with it.
"I'm here, Max."
⭒ ⭒ ⭒
Steve, Dustin, Robin and I walked into the school to drop off boxes of donations where they were housing people after the earthquake.
"Hi, so these are blankets and sheets, some clothes, some kids toys."
"Wow, it's already so organized." The lady at the table smiled. "We appreciate that. Do you want a tax receipt for it?"
"Um, no, I don't think we need one for it. Thank you, though. But, is there anything else that we can do to help?" They had me handing out the food that Robin and her friend prepped when I looked over to see someone taking down Eddie's defaced missing poster and placing up a new, fresh one.
"Sorry, are you... Eddie's uncle?" The man looked over at me with an annoyed look.
"Look, I don't need to-" He stopped mid sentence, looking at my outfit. "Is that his jacket?"
"Yea." I nodded. "I was... well, I was his girlfriend."
"Oh? And where've you been since he's gone missing?" He stepped closer.
"I was with him, the whole time." My voice got caught in my throat.
"So you know where he is, then?"
"I-" I had to catch my breathe before I pulled out Eddie's necklace that Dustin gave to me a day prior. "I'm so sorry." He took the necklace in his hand and let out a sob before sitting down. "Really, I'm sorry. Your nephew was amazing. And if everyone knew him the way I knew him, I mean really knew him... they would've loved him. He didn't run. He risked everything, his own life, to protect the people he cared about. This whole town, that didn't care about him. And if you ask me, that makes him a true hero." Our conversation was interrupted by everyone rushing outside. Me and Eddie's uncle looked at each other confused before making our way outside to see the same flecks of white that show in the Upside Down.
"Okay, I know you've been through this many more times than me so..." I walked up to Dustin, taking his hand in mine. "what does this mean?"
"I don't know."