teenage tragedy (Max Mayfield)

4. eleven

Cammie sat against skull rock, Max standing beside her with her hand resting on Cammie's head, fingers playing with her hair. The others were surrounded around Eddie, who was drinking from a silver flask.

"When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh... My walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran," Eddie chuckled.

"Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, no, I... I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked," Eddie said, throwing his watch to Nancy.

"9:27," Nancy said.

"Same time our flashlights went kablooey," Robin said.

"Which means what, exactly?" Steve asked.

"That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick," Nancy said.

"And Cammie had her seizure right after the flashlights went out. Vecna can powerbank her, and he did it from the graveyard when he got Max, too," Lucas said.

"Wait, what? You had a seizure? And you're a... What?" Eddie stared at Cammie.

"Remember Eleven with superpowers? She can basically use my energy to channel her powers if she's not strong enough to do it alone. I have seizures whenever she uses too much energy, or whenever I do. We had an incident with Max in the graveyard two days ago, she ended up facing off with Vecna and I had a seizure and was in the Upside Down with her. We got out, obviously. Last night, when Vecna attacked Patrick, I had a seizure. And, considering the theory I'm connected, it makes sense he can powerbank my energy to do his evil deeds," Cammie said.

"Well, shit, man. You got a one way ticket to Mordor," Eddie said. Cammie snorted.

"I know, right?" Cammie muttered.

"Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks," Robin said.

"And where he attacks from," Lucas said.

"So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart," Max said.

"If he has a heart," Robin muttered.

"A stake? Is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?" Steve said.

"It was a metaphor," Max scoffed.

"A bullet should work on him, right?" Eddie said.

"I say we chop his head off," Lucas said.

"I say we do all of the above, but we can't do any of that 'til we find a way into the Upside Down," Nancy said.

Eddie looked through the gaps in the group, seeing Dustin was pacing up and down.

"Hey, uh, Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?" Eddie asked.

"Cursed? No, no. He's fine. Mental? Absolutely," Steve said.

"Boom!" Dustin yelled, turning and marching towards them. "Bada... bada... boom. I was right. Skull Rock was north," Dustin said.

"Seriously? You're serious?" Steve said.

"Mm-hmm," Dustin hummed.

"This is Skull Rock. Okay?" Steve said.

"Mm-hmm," Dustin said.

"You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now," Steve said.

"Yes. And no," Dustin said.

"Oh my God," Steve scowled.

"This worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'. It was correct when we got in the car on Curly. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was," Dustin said.