Chapter 34

Eddie dropped the book on the table with a loud thud. “Check this out. The War Zone. I’ve been there once” he says. “It’s huge. They got everything you need for, uh… Well, killing things, basically”

“You think fake Rambo has enough guns there? Is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this legal?” Robin asks.

“Well, lucky for us it is, so…” Eddie says.

“I hate America” Sofia sighs, looking up, tired.

“This… This place is just far enough outside of Hawkins. As long as we steer clear of main roads, we ought a be able to avoid cops and, uh, angry hicks” Eddie explains.

“If we’re trying to avoid angry hicks, maybe we shouldn’t go to some store called the War Zone” Erica points out.

“Normally, I’d agree, but we need the weapons. So I think it’s worth the risk” Nancy says.

“Me too” Lucas adds.

“But is it worth the time? It’ll take all day to bike there and back” Dustin asks.

“Who said anything about bikes?” Eddie asks.

“You got some car we don’t know about?” Steve asks back.

“It’s not exactly a car, Steve. And it’s not exactly mine, but, uh… it’ll do” Eddie says.

“I don’t like where this is going” Sofia whispers to Robin.

“Hey, Red, uh, you got a ski mask or a bandanna, something like that?” Eddie asks Max.

“Are you crazy?” Sofia whisper-shouts to Eddie, as he opens a window into the van.

“Don’t worry, darling” Eddie says, jumping inside. Sofia sighs and jumps inside too. She’s followed by Steve, and the two of them help the others in as Eddie tries to turn the van on. 

After helping them in, Sofia and Robin walk over to where Steve and Eddie are talking, too tired to care about ethics anymore.

“Eddie, I’m not sure I love the idea of you driving” Robin says, holding Sofia’s hand.

“Oh, I’m just starting this sucker. Harrington’s got her. Don’t ya, big boy?” Eddie says, making Sofia chuckle.

Eddie starts the van, and the owners start yelling and banging on the door. “Shit” he curses, letting Steve take the wheel.

“Steve, drive!” Dustin screams.

“Everybody, hang on to something!” Steve yells. Sofia holds Robin’s hand tighter and uses the other hand to hold onto the seat. 

Steve quickly drives out of the trailer park and to the road.

Everyone was tense and scared. They were mostly silent too. Everyone now and then the group would share a few words. They were all stuck in their heads, thinking of all the possibilities.

And while everybody was doing that, Sofia and Robin were playing Slaps, trying not to laugh their heads off.  They found that the best way to cope was by not thinking about it and laughing.

“It’s silly, but I… I’ve actually… I always had this dream that I’d have this really… really big family” Sofia hears Steve tell Nancy. Sofia immediately stops playing and gestures to Steve so Robin listens to. 

“I’m talking, like, uh, a full brood of Harringtons. Like, five, six kids” Steve says. 

Sofia chuckles, trying to hide her laughter, but hearing her chuckle makes Robin laugh out loud. 

Nancy’s cheeks turn red. “I’m sorry, is there anything funny?” Steve asks, looking back at the two girls and right back to the road.

“Oh, no” Sofia says, trying to catch her breath.

“Sofia just… slapped me really hard” Robin lies on the spot, between laughs.

Nancy gives them a confused look, which makes them laugh even more.

“Six?” Nancy asks, turning back to Steve.

“Yeah. Six little nuggets. Three girls, three boys” Steve says. “And… and every summer, I figured all of us Harringtons, we would pack into something like this and… just see the country. You know, the Rockies, Grand Canyon, maybe Yellowstone. End up in some beach side town in California. Spend a week parked in the sand. Learn how to surf or something”

“That sounds nice” Nancy says, softly.

“Yeah?” Steve asks.

“Yeah. Well, uh, except for the six-kid part. That sounds like a total nightmare” Nancy says.

“If only I had some practice” Steve says, quickly looking back to the kids. 

“True” Sofia says, as if she was watching a movie and reacting to it.

“All right. Fair. That’s fair” Nancy says.

After hearing what Steve said, Sofia can’t help but wonder if she’ll ever be able to have a family with Robin. A home. A place where they could be themselves. A place far away from here. “When all this is over, I think we’ll need lots of therapy” Robin says, making Sofia chuckle.

After about half an hour, they were almost arriving at the War Zone.

“So, who’s going in?” Sofia asks, filling the silence.

“I’m most certainly not” Eddie says.

“Well, I think 5 is enough” Robin says.

“Yeah, maybe me, Steve, Robin, Sofy and someone else” Nancy says. By now, Max had given Sofia a checkered blouse to cover up her bloody shirt, so she looked normal. She also washed her face and put her hair on a ponytail.

“It can’t be Lucas or Dustin, since the whole town is after them too” Steve adds.

“I’ll go” Max says, to which everyone just excepts.

“Do you think it’s a good idea to let Robin in a place with guns and knives?” Nancy asks Sofia.

“She’s not that clumsy-” Sofia says but is interrupted by Robin screaming because she hit her elbow really hard on the table. Sofia flashes Nancy a smile.

“She’s very brave though. She was the one who activated the fire alarm in freshman year” Sofia says with a smirk.

“That was Robin?” Steve shouts. “My hair got ruined that day” he adds.

“Oops” Robin smiles ironically.

As they entered the store, they were faced with lots of angry hicks. “So much for avoiding angry hicks” Robin says, as if she were reading Sofia’s mind.

“Let’s be… fast” Nancy says.

“Definitely” Sofia says, and she walks away with Max. 

Max picks up knives as Sofia puts other stuff in the shopping cart. She looks to her side and sees Robin say hi to Vickie. Sofia rolls her eyes, trying to ignore the jealousy she felt, even though she knew it was irrational. 

“Hey” Max says, touching Sofia’s shoulder, scaring her.

“Jeez” Sofia says, and as Max laughs Sofia hears the music from Max’s headphones. “I’m gonna get PTSD from that song” Sofia jokes.

Max laughs. “Do you think this knife is good enough?” she asks.

“Maybe, if it were pink” Sofia says.

Max laughs. “So, I’m guessing that’s a no”.

“I don’t know, go ask Steve” Sofia says with a wide smile on her face.

Max gives her a thumbs up and walks over to Steve. As she walks away, Sofia sees Nancy talking to… Jason?

What the hell was he doing there? And why the fuck was he following her brother? He had no right to follow her brother like he’s a witch from four centuries ago.

Sofia observes the two of them to see if she should butt in. After 10 seconds or so, her blood is boiled enough for her to get the courage to go. She’s so done with everything that the possibility of just killing him did cross her mind.

“Like I said, scary times” Sofia hears Nancy say.

“Hi, Nance” Sofia says, ignoring Jason.

“Sofia Henderson” Jason says, so Sofia turns to him.

“Jason” Sofia says, a fake polite smile on her lips. She didn’t have the energy to even pretend. 

“I thought you’d be at the funeral, but you weren’t” Jason says, with a passive-aggressive tone.

“I was busy” Sofia says, quickly, like she had no regrets. But she had, she wanted to be there. The air was tense. She could hear Nancy’s breaths.

“Were you with your brother, by instance?” Jason asks, making Sofia raise an eyebrow.

“I was, why? Wanna send him a kiss?” Sofia asks, sarcastically, already in attack, caughting him off guard.

Jason looks at her and then at Nancy. “Are your brothers here, by any chance?”

“Mike?” Nancy asks.

“Mike” Jason repeats, nodding.

“No” Nancy responds.

“I only ask because… they’re in Hellfire, right?” Jason asks.

“Wanna join the club?” Sofia asks, sounding confident. She was confused as to why she sounded confident. She wasn’t confident. Not at all. She was sweating like hell.

“Would you let go?” Nancy asks, as Jason grabs the gun more firmly.

“You heard her” Sofia says, and he finally backs away.

Moments later, they rush back into the van.

“What happened?” Dustin asks, as they all come in quickly.

“Your old friends are here” Sofia says, sounding as annoyed as ever.

“Shit!” Lucas curses.

“Let’s go!” Dustin shouts and Steve starts driving.

Sofia woke up in the van, alone. The door was open, and she could hear Steve and Robin talking.

Still confused, Sofia rubbed her eyes and looked out the window. They were in a huge green field, and it was a bit cloudy.

She realized Robin’s button up was on top of her as a blanket.

Suddenly, she remembers about their current situation and the plan. She wishes she could go to sleep and wake up when it is all over, but she couldn’t leave the others. She hates it here.

She slowly gets up, fixing her hair and shirt.

“Look who’s up!” Steve says, sarcastically, as Sofia gets out the door.

Sofia ignores him and walks up to Robin, putting her button up over her shoulders. “Thank you for the blanket”.

“You’re welcome love” Robin says, voice raspy like usual, but her eyebags screamed tiredness.

“What can I do?” Sofia asks, followed by a yawn.

“Well, all tasks are being done, so nothing. You can just sit around” Steve suggests, pointing at the grass.

“Okay” Sofia says. She paces around, trying to find a place to sit where it wouldn’t stain her pants. Eventually she gives up and sighs.

“Okay, what’s the problem?” Steve asks, acting like he’s a dad tired of his children.

“I really need to pee” Sofia complains.

“So, use the bathroom” Steve says.

“No” Sofia says.

“Why not?” Steve asks, with an annoyed expression.

“Because… it’s a stranger’s bathroom” Sofia says.

“It’s not like you’re gonna lick the floor, it’s just peeing” Steve says, picking up the tone he uses when he argues with Dustin.

“Well, of course you would say that, you just have to stand!” Sofia says, matching his tone.

Steve furrows his eyebrows. “It’s true, men just stand” Robin adds. “Women have to squash, and most times you don’t wanna touch the toilet, so you just squash in the air. Then your legs start to hurt and-“

“Okay, I get it!” Steve says. “Then go do it in the woods”

“No” Sofia says.

“Why not?” Steve asks louder, clearly annoyed.

“Because there… could be bears?” Sofia says. Steve raises an eyebrow at her. “Okay, I’ll go, but if I get killed by a bear it’s your fault”.

Sofia walks away into the woods and Robin starts laughing.

“What?” Steve asks.

“Nothing… I’m just imagining what this would look like in a sitcom” Robin laughs.

Sofia comes back and helps Steve and Robin finish the molotovs. After that, she helps everyone pick their clothes.

For herself, she chose a leather jacket, combat boots, a white shirt and troop pants.

Everyone took turns to change. After Dustin and Eddie was Sofia’s turn.

She grabbed her clothes and walked to the back of the van. She put on the pants and the boots. When she took her shirt off, she realized how much her back hurt. She saw all the dried blood on her shirt and tried her best not to panic.

She called for Robin so she could help her clean the dry blood on her back. “Hey, is that a new bra?” Robin asks her, as she approaches with paper and water in her hands.

“Yeah” Sofia smiles.

“How’s your back?” Robin asks.

“I think it speaks for itself” Sofia says.

Robin applies the wet paper on Sofia’s back, running chills down her spine. “Does it hurt?” Robin asks, stopping right away.

“N-no, it’s just cold” Sofia says.

Her back is all cut and bruised, and it worries Robin. A lot. But she didn’t need to worry Sofia any more.

After cleaning everything up, Robin turns Sofia around. She looks into Robin’s blue eyes and sees sorrow. “I know you’re not okay” Sofia says.

“Who is, really?” Robin says, with a soft smile.

“What’s bothering you?” Sofia asks, stern.

There’s a pause. “Earlier in the day when you were explaining what you saw… you didn’t tell us everything, right?” Robin asks.

“Robin, I-”

“Because you can tell me. I know it’s bothering you and it’s making me scared, to be honest” Robin explains.

“I wanna tell you, but I don’t think I have the courage to say it out loud” Sofia whispers, thinking back to what she saw.

“Please, try. For me” Robin says, desperate.

“I-”

“We don’t have all day!” Steve yells.

“Tell me later” Robin says, walking away. Her look was tender, but her insistence hurt Sofia.

“Okay” Sofia whispers, her mind all foggy.

Everyone quickly got dressed and they got back in the van by the time the sun was setting.

It was a beautiful orange sunset. The kind of sunset that makes you want to stare at it until it’s night.

Steve started driving and Sofia got more comfortable in her seat. It was only now that she realized the hundreds of crying material she had.

She lost her virginity, her friend died, Max got possessed, she got attacked by interdimensional bats, she also got possessed, she saw her girlfriend die and now Max could die, again, all in the same week.

This is not was she was expecting for her senior year. She thought she’d have an amazing time, the classes would feel easier, she’d spend more time with Robin, she’d apply for college… Instead, she’s feeling like crap in a stranger’s van.

She felt lost, to say the least. If this happened in a book, the character would shave her head, go crazy and write a really successful novel about it and go famous and tell everyone that it does get better. Life would be so much easier if she was a girl in a book.

But right now, she’s thinking of not going to college so she can be with her brother who, knowing him well, is probably bottling up his emotions and won’t let them break free ever. She could get a job in Hawkins and be with Dustin until she and Robin had enough money to get out of the town. Maybe they could even take Dustin with them – if, by then, he isn’t living with Suzzie already.

Soon, they arrived at the Creel house. Sofia hugged Max before she got out of the van and closed the door. She felt like she’d be more useful if she stayed with them at the Creel House, but as Steve said, “The more of us fighting Vecna, the greater are the chances to beat him”.

Once they got to the trailer park, the sky was a dark blue. It was really dark outside. Seeing the dark only reminded her of being possessed by Vecna.

“Okay. I wanna run through it one more time” Nancy says. “Phase one”

“We meet Erica at the playground. She’ll signal Max and Lucas when we’re ready” Max completes.

“Phase two” Nancy says.

“Max baits Vecna. He’ll go after her, which’ll put him in his trance” Steve completes.

“Phase three?”

“Me and Eddie draw the bats away” Dustin says.

“Four”

“We head into Vecna’s newly bat-free lair, and… flambé” Sofia says, smiling at the thought of killing Vecna.

“Nobody moves on to the next phase until we’ve all copied. Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. Got it?” Nancy asks.

“Got it” they all say.

Before Sofia got out of the van, Robin grabbed her arm. Sofia got closer to Robin, with a curious expression. But not too close.

“Please don’t die on me” Robin blurts out. “I don’t know what you saw when Vecna possessed you, and if you don’t wanna say it’s fine, I can’t force you to say anything. I’m just scared that you saw yourself dying and you don’t wanna tell us because you don’t want to make anyone even sadder… but please, don’t die on me”.

“I won’t. At least I’m not counting on it” Sofia says, her eyes dull but truthful.

“We got this, right?” Robin asks, really scared and nervous, but sounding confident.

“Love the energy” Sofia says back.