ʰᵉˡˡᶠⁱʳᵉ ᶜˡᵘᵇ

𝟏𝟖

Dustin finished tying the sheets together, while Steve dragged the mattress under the gate. It seemed safer that way. Dustin moved to the gate entrance. I didn't understand how this would work or not, but we needed to try.

"Not quite sure how these physics work, Dustin said. "But, uh...here goes nothing." He throws it in, somehow being successful. Dustin really was genius. "There we go, Dustin smiled. "And if my theory is correct...-Huh. Abracadabra."

"Holy shit."

"All right, pull on it! See if it holds!"

Robin pulled first. "This is the craziest shit I've ever seen in my life, Erica commented. "And I've seen some crazy shit." Robin successfully climbed out, I sighed of relief, giving me hope for the others. 

However, Nancy didn't move. I just heard Steve yell,"Hey! Hey! Stay with me. Nancy! Hey! Nancy, wake up. Wake up! Nancy!" We look up. Max says, "Vecna." I didn't know if i could much, i wasn't there with Steve and Nancy right now. 

We were in Nancy's room trying to help her. Did she even have favorite music songs? Erica runs in.  "Steve says you need to hurry! She exclaims. We still were struggling. "Yeah? No shit! Dustin responds. "We're trying. We can't find anything, Max replies. "What is all this shit? Robin asks. 

"What are you even looking for?"

"Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles? Music! We need music!"

"This is music!"

Everyone being in panic mode, I tried to keep myself calm, but i seemed impossible with everyone else freaking out. Until Steve told us Nancy was okay, which is good.  Kind of odd He let her go, but didn't question it. 

"He showed me things that haven't happened yet.  The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins.  Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this...  giant creature  with... a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn't alone. There were so many monsters.  An army.  And they were coming into Hawkins.  Into our neighborhoods. Our homes.  And then...  he showed me my mom. And Holly.  Mike And they..."

Her breathing is shaky, but Nancy continues," they were all..." "Okay, but... he's just tryingto scare you, Nance, Steve assured her. "Right? I mean...I mean, it's not real." "Not yet, She continues. "But there... there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked 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 pipes in."Vecna's clock, It always chimes four times, Four exactly." "I saw it, I blurt nervously. "The clocks. Max is right. Just four times. I never entered his mind but.. they were there. You didn't even have to see them, you just could hear."

Nancy looks up, still shaken and nervous. "I heard them too, Nancy adds." "He's been telling us his plan this whole time, Max says. "Four kills, Lucas blurted. "Four gates. End of the world." I sighed. "He told me his plan ages ago, but.. I never thought he would ever do it when El put him in the upside down."

Everyone looks at each other momentarily, Dustin boldly asks,"(Y/N), What did Vecna tell you?" I frown. "Still kind of fuzzy."

"If that's true... he's only one kill away."

"Oh Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ."

"Try 'em again. Try 'em again, Steve insists, while Max goes to dial once more. We were trying to get ahold of Mike. He didn't respond. Three days gone. No coincidence, It couldn't be. "It can't be just coincidence. It can't be. Whatever's happening in Lenora is connected to all of this.  I'm sure of it, Nancy insisted. "But Vecna can't hurt them. Not if he's dead."

She turns around, adding, "We have to go back in there. Back to the Upside Down." Of course, Nobody wanted to go back there. They went through hell just in the upside down together. "Let's think this through, Steve pipes in. "What is there to think through? Nancy asks. 

"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, Steve argues. "The only reason you survivedis because he wanted you to, He's not scared of us."

"And for good reason, Robin pipes it."We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One. Sorry, what are we calling him now?"

"One."

"Vecna."

"Henry."

"Right, She adds. "We've learned something newabout Vecna/Henry/One. He's a number like Eleven and (Y/N), only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of them with really bad skin. But my... my point is, he's super powerful. Could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. It's not a fair fight."

"Then why fight fair? Dustin asks. You're right. He's like Eleven and (Y/n) But that gives us an upper hand. We know Eleven and (Y/N)'s strengths. And weaknesses."

"Weaknesses?"

"When They remote-travel, they go into this sort of trance-like state. I bet the same is true of Vecna, Dustin explains. "That would explainwhat 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 defenseless."

"Defenseless? What about the army of bats?"

"True. We'll have to find a way past them, Distract them somehow."

"And, uh, how do we do that, exactly?"

"No idea, but once they're gone, he doesn't stand a chance.  It'll be like slaying sleeping Draculain his coffin." 

Robin responds, "That all sounds good in theory,  but there is no patternto Vecna's killings.  Not one that I can decipher.  We don't knowwhen he's going to attack next. Don't even know who he's going to attack." 

"Yeah, we do, Max said. "I can still feel him. -I'm still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush, I draw his focus back to me." "Max! Lucas says worriedly." You can't. He'll kill you." "I survived before, She replied."I can survive again."

I understood where Lucas was coming from, But Max is strong. She can do this. But I was slightly worried, too.