Eddie (self-insert x character)

Chapter 9

*extra long since I took 2 days to get this out*

The plan was a mess.
And the worst part of it all?
Every single person in the group including Dustin knew it.
But there was nothing else we could do.
All of the best solutions depended on everything falling into place at the perfect moment, a phenomenon we all knew would never meet the light of day in our fucked up town where dreams come to die.
I mean shit Hawkins' tagline may as well be
Hawkins: if you ended up here you've made a mistake.

"So your plan is to gallivant across town in the hopes that no one sees Eddie, the most wanted if not the ONLY wanted man in Hawkins? And we just pray that El somehow shows up after being MIA for weeks to levitate the angry mobs away or some other bullshit?" Steve shook his head and groaned, pressing his fingers into his temples.
Shaking her head, Max flicked Dustin's hat off in irritation.
"This has to be a joke. I mean you're kidding right?
"Yeah man I mean I'm all for you masterminding what's going on here but that sounds like an example of what not to do if you're harboring a fugitive: bringing said fugitive into a town crawling with cops and angry townspeople ready to upturn buildings to find him," Lucas said.
Dustin turned to Eddie.
"Well screw you guys, let's see what Eddie thinks."
The hopeful look on Dustin's face was short lived.
"Yeah no fucking way, Henderson. Feels like you're trying to get me killed with that plan I can't even lie."
Dustin's eyes grew wide.
"WHAT? No no no Eddie I would never-"
"Dustin," Robin interjected, "He's messing with you."
Dustin's brow furrowed but his shoulders visibly relaxed.
"Right. I knew that."
Steve rolled his eyes and spoke up.
"What's stopping Eddie from just traveling to the West Coast? I mean why bother trying to sneak him through the center of Hawkins when he can just disappear to California or something?"
The rest of the group looked at him with raised brows. It looked like a lightbulb had been lit up inside all of their brains.
Did they seriously not think of just leaving Hawkins?
"Look I'm sorry to be the asshole here but y'all really should have thought of that sooner. I'm not blaming anyone," I held up a hand as the Hawkins crew looked at me with annoyance.
"Truly. You guys have done so much for Eddie and from what I'm hearing you've also done a lot for the potential next victims of this Vecna thing. But since we didn't beat the cops to the border, we'll have to sneak Eddie out no matter what direction we're headed."

From the back of the group Nancy spoke with sudden clarity.
"Oh shit. Guys they have a point, we can't take Eddie across state lines safely anymore."
Dustin threw his hands up in the air and scoffed.
"Will someone please explain it in a non-cryptic way for Christ's sake?!"
Nancy looked at me and shrugged,
"You wanna take this one?"
I took a deep breath and nodded.
"The accusations against Eddie have racked up to 3 victims now from what you guys have said if not more that haven't been discovered yet. By law that would classify the perp as a serial killer. The last kid's death was on the edge of the town...which meets with the border of the next state over."
"Shit," Eddie, Robin, and Dustin whispered in unison.
"Okay pause," Steve interjected.
"Why does any of this matter? I mean no disrespect but this seems like useless information besides the serial killer thing."
I looked at Nancy and she took over.
"The point is that when kidnapped or missing victims of a serial killer show up dead or murdered across state lines, the case becomes federal."
"Meaning what exactly?" Robin asked slowly.
"Meaning I'm fucked no matter what," Eddie muttered.
I cringed at how dejected his voice sounded. The appearance of this group was what I hoped would be Eddie's saving grace. At the very least I'd hoped they'd be able to offer him some kind of hope or a positive shift in the town's perspective on Eddie.
Even though that would be extremely unlikely.
So far all they'd done is manage to crush Eddie's spirit even more.

"Federal as in FBI? As in more cops with more eyes on everyone leaving and entering Hawkins?"
Lucas sounded like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Pretty much," Nancy said grimly.
"This is so fucked," Eddie groaned, flopping down on the couch dramatically. While his theatrics would usually put a smile on everyone's face, we all felt the overwhelming despair of being helpless to these circumstances.