Chapter 22

The next morning, the group decided to take food to Eddie, since he was running out of what was in Rick’s house. They opened the shed door, startling Eddie. “Jesus Christ!” He yelled, holding up the broken beer bottle he’d previously held to Claudia’s neck.

“Delivery service,” Dustin said, holding up the bags of food. Eddie rummaged through the bags, taking out some honeycomb ferial as Dustin, Max and Claudia sat down. Steve and Robin stayed standing up.

“So we got, uh, some good news and some bad news,” Dustin said, “How do you prefer it?”

“Bad news first, always,” Eddie said.

“Alright, bad news. We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they’re definitely looking for you. Also, they’re, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy.”

“Like, 100% kind of convinced,” Max added.

“Makes sense, to be fair,” Claudia mumbled. As much as she thought Eddie was a great guy, and she knew he didn’t kill Chrissy, it was totally understandable that the police thought he did. I mean, he was missing and she was found in his trailer. It was hard to say that it didn’t look totally suspicious.

“And the good news?”

“Your name hasn’t gone public yet,” Robin said, “But if we found out about you, it’s only a matter of time before others do. And once they gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you.”

“Jason’ll kill you. Like, no joke, kill you,” Claudia said.

“Hunt the freak, right?”

“Exactly,” Claudia and Robin said.

“So, before that happens, we need to find Vecna, kill him and then prove your innocence,” Dustin said.

“That’s all, Dustin? That’s all?” Eddie asked sarcastically.

“Yeah, no, that’s pretty much it.”

“Listen, Eddie,” Robin said, “I know everything Dustin is saying sounds totally delusional, but we’ve actually been through this kind of thing before. I mean, they have a few times, and me and Claudia have once. Ours was more human-flesh-based and theirs was more smoke-related but bottom line is, collectively, I really feel like we got this.”

“Yeah, see, we usually rely on this girl who has super powers. But, uh, those went bye-bye, so…” Steve said.

“So we’re technically in more of the…”

“Brainstorming phase,” Claudia said:

“There’s nothing to worry about,” Dustin said. Steve scoffed and Eddie raised his eyebrows. Dustin didn’t seem so sure of himself.

Sirens suddenly began to wail in the distance, and Eddie hid under the tarp. They all got into Steve’s car, following the loud police cars until they reached their destination.

Stood talking to the chief of police was Nancy Wheeler. She waved at Steve as they all got out of the car. “Another one, do you think?” Claudia asked.

“Undoubtedly,” Dustin answered. A worries look came over her face, “Hey, don’t worry. Like Robin said, we got this.”

“Yeah, sure. We got this.”

——————————

They sat at the tables, discussing what had happened. Fred Benson had died. Claudia didn’t really know Fred, but she knew he was one of the school reporters.

“So you’re saying that this thing that killed Fred and Chrissy, it’s from the Upside Down?” Nancy asked.

“If the shoes fits,” Steve said.

“Our working theory is that he attacks with a spell, or a curse,” Dustin said, “Now, whether or not he’s doing the bidding of the Mind Flayer or just loves killing teens, we don’t know.”

“All we know is that this is something different, something new,” Max said.

“Doesn’t make sense,” Nancy said.

“It’s only a theory.”

“No, Fred and Chrissy don’t make sense. I mean, why them?”

“Me and Claudia were trying to figure that out last night. Nothing.”

“Maybe they were just in the wrong place,” Dustin said, “They were both at the game.”

“And near the trailer park,” Max said.

“We’re at the trailer park,” Steve said, “Uh, should we maybe not be here?”

“There is something about this place. Fred started acting weird the second we got here,” Nancy said.

“Acting weird as in?”

“Scared, on edge, upset.”

“Max said Chrissy was upset, too,” Dustin turned to Max.

“Yeah, but not here,” she told them, “She was crying in the bathroom at school.”

“She does that a lot. Did that a lot,” Claudia said.

“Serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right?” Robin asked, “So maybe Fred and Chrissy saw this Vecman-“

“Vecna,” Dustin corrected.

“I don’t know about you guys, but if I saw some freaky wizard monster, I would mention it to someone,” Steve said.

“Maybe they did,” Max said, “I saw Chrissy leaving Ms Kelley’s office. If you saw a monster, you… you wouldn’t go to the police. They’d never believe you. But you might go to your-“

“Your shrink.”

They headed towards Steve’s car, but Nancy kept walking. “Woah, woah. Nance. Nance! Nance, where you going?” Steve asked.

“Oh, there’s just something I wanna check on first,” she said.

“Something you maybe wanna share with the rest of us?” Dustin asked.

“I don’t wanna waste your time. It’s a real shot in the dark.”

Claudia rolled her eyes. “Just tell us,” she said.

“Yeah, okay. Are you out of your mind? Flying solo with this Vecna creep on the loose? No, it’s too dangerous. You need… you need someone to…” Steve threw the keys at Robin, “I’ll stick with Nance, alright? You guys take the car, check out the shrink.”

“I don’t think you want either of us driving your car,” Robin said.

“Why?”

“We don’t have licenses,” Claudia said.

“Why don’t you have licenses?”

“I’m poor,” Robin said.

“I’m a bitch,” Claudia shrugged.

“I can drive,” Max suggested.

“No, never again. Please,” Steve said, “Anybody but you, no.” Dustin shrugged, “No chance.”

“Alright, okay. This is stupid. Us ladies will stick together. Unless you think we need you to protect us,” Robin said, handing the keys back to Steve.

“Wait Robin!” Claudia called out. She ran over and hugged her, trying her best to make it look and non-intimate as possible. “Be careful, alright?” She whispered in her ear.

“I will. Love you.”

“Love you.”

She let go, allowing Robin and Nancy to walk to the other car. Steve called out to them. “Be careful!”

They got in the car, listening to Steve complain. “Always the babysitter. Always the goddamn babysitter!”

“At least you have company this time,” Claudia said.

“You’re the biggest child.”

“Oh, yeah? You’re one to talk, Steve Hairy Toes.”

“Real mature, Claudia.”