Chapter 33

When they finally made it to Eddie’s trailer, Dustin’s theory was proven correct. A gate, about the same size as ‘Watergate’, as Dustin called it, lay on Eddie’s ceiling.

“This is where Chrissy died,” Eddie said, “Like, right where she died.”

“I think there’s something in there,” Robin said.

Something began to poke through the gate. Claudia attempted to get close, but Robin and Nancy both pushed her back. “Why can’t I get close but you guys can?” Claudia asked.

“You’re the smallest,” Steve said.

“I’m, like, half an inch shorter than Nancy. I’m way more buff than you, Steve.”

“Is that why you hide behind your girlfriend every time something mildly scary happens, like, all the time?”

“Shut up.”

“Both of you need to shut up, because something is about to come bursting out of that gate, and-” Eddie began, before something came, as he said, bursting through the gate. It was… an oar.

They all walked over to the gate, looking inside to the the rest of their friends on the other side. It was so surreal, it almost looked like CGI. Very high quality CGI, but CGI nonetheless.

——————————

They devised a plan to get them out. They’d climb out up tried up sheets, then land on a mattress. Max and Lucas put the mattress down, and they all looked at it, slightly grossed out.

“Those stains are…” Eddie began, “I don’t know what those stains are.”

“I can think of a few things,” Claudia said.

“And I’m begging you not to list them,” Robin said.

Dustin threw the sheets through the gate. “All right, pull on it! See if it holds!”

Robin motioned for Claudia to do it. “I’m not going through until you do,” Claudia said. Robin rolled her eyes. It wasn’t worth arguing. She pulled in the sheet, and it stayed in place.

“This is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen in my life,” Erica said, “And I’ve seen some crazy shit.”

“Guess I’m the guinea pig,” Robin said, climbing up the sheets and landing on the mattress. “Oh, thank God,” she said, “That was fun.”

Eddie was next, then Claudia. When Claudia was out, Robin was quick to help her up and pull her into her arms. She wrapped her arms around her shoulders and placed her head on her forehead, watching and waiting for Nancy to come out.

When it was Nancy’s turn, however, something else, something unexpected, something bad happened. “Nancy. Hey. Hey! Stay with me. Nancy! Hey! Hey!” Steve yelled. They looked into the gate, seeing the thing they’d feared the most.

“Vecna,” Max and Claudia said. Claudia felt Robin’s grip on her tighten. She couldn’t elk whether it was out of nervousness or protectiveness, but it was calming either way.

——————————

“Steve says you need to hurry up!” Erica said, running into Eddie’s bedroom, where they were looking for something to save Nancy.

“Yeah? No shit!”

“We’re trying, we can’t find anything!”

“Seriously, what is all this shit?!”

“What are you even looking for?”

“Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles? Music! We need music!”

“This is music!”

They continued to search, but Nancy somehow came back without the help of music. They headed over to Max’s trailer, figuring it was better hanging out there than at a crime scene.

Nancy told them everything. An army of monsters spreading across Hawkins, destroying everything. Claudia was listening the whole time, but there was a particular thing that caught her eye. “He showed me gates,” Nancy said, “Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they look 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 said, “Vecna’s clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly.”

“I heard them, too,” Nancy said.

“He’s been telling us his plan this whole time,” Max said.

“Four kills,” Lucas said, “But… why both of you if he already had Fred Patrick and Chrissy?”

“Maybe he cursed an extra as, like, a precaution or something. In case Max broke out, like she did, he had Claudia,” Dustin said.

“Or maybe he wants to use Claudia for something else,” Eddie suggested, “Something bigger. Maybe he didn’t wanna kill her at all.”

Claudia felt Robin tense up next to her and grabbed her hand, stroking her knuckles. “What gets bigger than this?” Claudia asked.

“I don’t wanna know,” Robin said, “Especially not if it involves you being used as some kind of puppet.”

Claudia attempted to change the subject. “If this four kills four gates thing is true, he’s only kill away from ending the world,” she said.

Eddie put his head in his hands. “Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ!”

Max tried to call their friends in California, but was met with a busy signal. “Anything?” Dustin asked.

“No,” Max said, “Rang a few times, then went to busy signal.”

“Maybe you punched it in wrong,” Steve said, “Try again.”

“I didn’t punch it in wrong.”

“We’ve been trying forever, Steve, we’re not gonna get a hold of them,” Claudia said.

“Joyce has this telemarketer job,” Dustin said, “She’s always on the phone. Mike won’t stop whining about it.”

“Okay, yeah, but this phone’s been busy for, what, three days now? That’s not Joyce. No way. Something’s wrong,” Max said.

“She’s right,” Nancy said, “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 to the Upside Down.”

Everyone protested. “Let’s think this through,” Steve said.

“What is there to think through?”

“We barely made it out of there!”

“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.”

“Nancy,” Robin said, “The only reason you survived is because he wanted you to. My girlfriend almost died to this guy, and you expect us to go in guns blazing and fight him? No way.”

“I’m down,” Claudia shrugged.

“What?”

“I said I’m down. If we don’t go in there and at least try to kill him, he’ll probably get his finally kill and end the world. I’d die anyway. We all would. If we fight, at least we’ll have a slight chance. It’s either definitely die, or possibly die. Make your choice.”

“There has to be another way-“

“There’s always another way! But if we sit here and think about this for too long, Max is gonna float up into the air again and all of these fucking monsters are gonna come out. Let’s just go with the first idea. It’s Nancy’s idea, they always work.”

“I can’t believe you’re actually considering this.”

“I’m not considering it, I’m doing it. Whether you wanna come or not, that’s your choice, but you’re not stopping me.”

“It’s not a fair fight!”

“So then why fight fair?” Dustin chimed in.

“Thank you,” Claudia said, “Wait, what?”

“He’s like Eleven. But that gives us an upper hand. We know Eleven’s strengths. And weaknesses.”

“Weaknesses?” Erica asked.

“When El remote-travels, she goes into this sort of trance-like state. I bet the same is true with Vecna.”

“That would explain what he was doing in that attic,” Lucas said.

“Exactly. When he attacks his next victim, I’ll bet you he’s back in that attic, physical body defenceless.”

“Defenceless? Yeah? What about the army of bats?” Steve asked.

“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. 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, I mean at least not one that I can decipher. We don’t know when he’s going to attack next, all we know is that it’s gonna be Max, but what are we meant to do with that?”

“I ditch Kate Bush, I draw his focus back to me,” Max said.

“Max,” Lucas said, “You can’t. 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. 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.”

They wouldn’t miss. Unfortunately for Max, and for another, unsuspecting victim, Vecna wouldn’t miss, either.