𝐒𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐓, e.m.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫

CHAPTER FOUR | HUNT THE FREAK
"These monsters from this other world, we thought they were gone. But they've come back before. That's why we needed to find you and Bowie."

"If they're back again, we need to know."

..........

"Someone's here." Eddie quickly got out of his spot in the boat, causing Briar to wake up. For the past hour, she had been sleeping on his shoulder, trying to catch up on her sleep after staying awake with him last night. Eddie grabbed the broken beer bottle from the work table as he looked out the window, seeing no one. "Shit." Suddenly the door opened, spooking the both of them.

"You assholes!"

"Delivery service!" Eddie and Briar sighed in relief as the four walked in the bags of food. Steve followed behind Max, Robin, and Dustin, with Briar's axe in his hands.

"I'm not going to ask how you got into my car, but thank you." The Sinclair girl got out of the boat as Steve closed the door behind him. She quickly began going through the food bags, finding a bag of Doritos, making her smile. She hasn't had food in two days.

"We got, uh, some good news and some bad news. How do you two prefer it?"

"Bad news first, always." Briar nodded in agreement as Dustin continued on.

"All right, bad news. We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with out Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you. Bo, they are looking for you, or someone that looks like you fitting the description because one of Eddie's neighbors saw you go in alone and come out with Eddie." Briar cursed under her breath as Eddie looked at her, giving her an apologetic look. "And they're, uh, pretty convinced you guys killed Chrissy."

"Like, one hundred percent kind of convinced."

"And the good news?"

"Your name hasn't gone public yet, and Bowie, they don't know it was you who went into Eddie's house." Briar nodded her head as she anxiously munched on the Doritos.

"But if we found out about you, Eddie, it's a matter of time before the others do. And Bo, they're are only a couple girls in Hawkins that fit the same description as you, so sooner or later, they'll start looking for you." The two teens looked at each other, Eddie not touching his popcorn as Briar stuffed the chips in her mouth.

"And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you two."

"Hunt the freak, right?" Briar placed her bag of chips down, scotting over towards Eddie, placing her hand on his shoulder, his head snapping towards her.

"We'll get out of this. I promise." Eddie nodded his head, not entirely believing the girl but trusting his gut.

"So before that happens, we find Vecna, kill him, and prove your guys' innocence." Briar scoffed, shaking her head as she placed her hands over her face, groaning as she whispered to herself.

"Oh my god, I'm going to jail."

"Listen, Eddie. I know everything Dustin is saying is sounding totally delusional, but we've actually been through this before. But the bottom line is, collectively, I really feel we got this." As Robin finished, Steve began to speak, Briar sighing as he spoke, knowing anything that came out of Steve's mouth usually sounded like he was explaining something to a five year old.

"We usually rely on this girl who has super powers."

"There it is." Steve glared at the Sinclair girl, before turning back to Eddie and continuing.

"But, uh, those went bye-bye, so-"

"So we're technically in more of the-" While Robin tried to think of a word to use, Max found a word for her.

"Brainstorming phase." Steve and Robin nodded their heads in agreement, Steve pointing at the girl, repeating what she said.

"There's nothing to worry about." After Dustin finished speaking, Steve scoffed, laughing, catching everyone's attention as the other five questioned him. Suddenly, the sound of sirens were heard by the six, Briar and Eddie jumping up from their spots in the boat. "Shit."

"Tarp. The tarp. The tarp." Eddie pulled the girl into the boat with him, Robin throwing the tarp over them as the four looked out the window to see police cars passing by. When the sirens got quieter, Max pulled the tarp off the two, revealing Eddie and Briar laying side by side. Briar and Eddie's hands were intertwined, Briar wrapping her other hand around Eddie's arm, hiding her face in his arm.

"They're gone." Briar removed her face from its hiding spot in Eddie's arm before she sat up, her hand still in Eddie's. "We should go see what happened." Steve, Dustin, and Robin, agreed with the young Mayfield girl, the four leaving Eddie and Briar alone.

"Do you want to come with me? I'm gonna go in the house to heat up a can of soup." Briar nodded her head as the two of them got out of the boat, the two teens quickly making their way into house through the back door.

..........

"Do you want any?" Briar shook her head as Eddie walked over to the couch with his pot of soup, sitting right next to the brunette girl. "Do you think we'll kill this thing? Vecna." Briar turned to him, shrugging her shoulders with a sigh.

"I don't really know. The girl with the powers is in California and she doesn't even have powers anymore. She was the one that saved us last year, so I can't tell you if we'll kill him without her. This seems bigger than whatever we fought last year. So, I'm not sure." Eddie sighed, sipping a spoonful of his tomato soup before speaking.

"I hope we make it. I wanna live to long enough to tell you a few things." Briar furrowed her brows in confusion. "That's a surprise, Sinclair. So you'll just have to live and find out for yourself."