OUTCASTS • Eddie Munson

"You're in Danger"

Daylight shone through the opening of the boathouse, birds calling to each other from opposite sides of Lover's Lake as Eddie and Ellie slept peacefully, both having separated from each other during the night. Ellie was still leaning against the wall, whereas Eddie had made a pillow out of a crumpled rope and his jacket on the floor.

Their peaceful sleep was soon interrupted by the sound of static.

"Ellie!" Dustin's voice shouted from the Walkie.

Ellie shot up as fast as she could at the sound of urgency that was in Dustin's voice, her eyes still blurry from sleep as she forced herself to stand up.

"Ellie! Are you there?!" Dustin called again.

She grabbed the walkie, squinting her eyes to see which button to press, to allow herself to speak to him.

"Yeah, yeah I'm here." She replied.

"Oh thank god! We've got a code red, I repeat, a code red. We need all hands on deck."

Ellie glanced at Eddie who was still laying on the floor, his eyebrows were furrowed in confusion as he wondered why he had been woken up so suddenly.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Max was targeted, and we believe you may be in danger too."

"Wait, what do you mean Max was targeted?" She asked, concern filling her words.

"Vecna, he sent her into a trance." He told her.

"Is she okay?! Where are you?" She demanded, her hand reaching into her jacket pocket to make sure she had her keys.

"She's okay for now." He told her, "I'm really sorry for not contacting you sooner, we've been trying to put a plan together... But we think you might be in danger too. Has anything happened since we've been gone?" He asked, he spoke quickly, trying to gather as much information as he can.

"We can talk about that soon. Where can I meet you?" She asked, her eyes still on Eddie as he listened in on the conversation, his expression changing as she mentioned that she was leaving.

"We're at Mike's house, you can meet us there."

"Mike?" She asked.

"My friend from Hellfire." He responded, "don't worry, he's not here."

"Okay, where does he live?" She asked.

"I know the address." Eddie told her, getting up, knowing full well he couldn't stop her from going and there was no way he could go with her.

"Is that- Are you still with Eddie?" Dustin asked.

"Yeah, why?" Ellie responded.

"No reason." Dustin told her, a very big hint of a smile in the way he spoke.

"Okay? I guess I'll meet you there soon." She told him.

"Over and out." Dustin responded.

"Well... I guess I've got to tell them I already knew I was in danger." She sighed, "they're going to be annoyed I didn't tell them sooner."

"Hey, don't think like that." Eddie told her, "You had your reasons, and the way you were panicking yesterday when you found out what happened to Chrissy is enough to put anyone off reliving their experience."

"I suppose." She shrugged, making her way over to her back pack.

Eddie grabbed a pen and paper from the desk over the other side of the room and scrawled Mike's address on it. He folded it and handed it to Ellie who looked it over before folding it up again and shoving it into her pocket.