freaks ✾ eddie munson

17

We started to wait around in Eddie's trailer for the others.

"Woah, woah! What's going on?" I said as the ground started to shake. We weren't in the upside down anymore, so I was extremely confused about the sudden movement.

We ran out of Eddie's room to see the gate starting to expand.

"Oh my god!"

"Let's go! Come on!" Eddie grabbed Dustin and I, dragging us out of his trailer.

We ran as far away from his trailer as we could to avoid the gate.

"That means Max..." Dustin said as we started to slow down.

"No... no way." I said, in denial.

"He won."

Before I could respond, we heard a loud explosion in the distance.

I stared at the other two boys in fear. The gate wouldn't stop growing.

"Max..." I muttered as I stared at the gates in the distance.

Eddie came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me and I felt tears begin to fall.

No, she can't have died. She can't have.

I turned around and wrapped my arms around Eddie's neck, holding him as if he would disappear if I let go.

My vision began to go blurry as I stood with Eddie.

That's not how it was supposed to go. Max was supposed to live. We were supposed to kill Vecna. We had a plan.

"Dustin, do you still have the walkie?" I asked him and he nodded, pulling it out of his bag.

"Try getting ahold of Steve." I told him.

"Steve? Steve, what's going on?" He asked.

We waited in silence as we listened for a response.

"We.. we just killed Vecna. I think." He said, clearly out of breath.

"And what about Max?" I asked.

. . .

"I'm sorry, Sage. The fourth gate opened."

So it was true. Max is really dead.

"But, we're trying to find our way back through the gate right now. Where are you?"

"We're nearby Eddie's trailer."

"Stay there. We're on our way."

✾ ✾ ✾

Eventually, Steve, Nancy, and Robin found us.

"I uh, I don't know how good these news are, but when we got through the gate, an ambulance was driving away."

"So, they took Max?" Dustin asked.

"Well, that's what we're assuming. Neither of the Sinclair's or Max were in the house." Robin replied.

"What do we do with Eddie?" I asked, remembering he's still a very wanted man. Walking around with him would 100% result in him getting arrested.

"We need to find somewhere to hide him." Nancy said.

"But where?"

"I don't know.. but we clearly can't leave him alone, again." She paused as she thought. "We can sneak him into my basement. Just like Mike did with El. We're going to have to stick together right now."

✾ ✾ ✾

Eddie and I sat on the couch in Nancy's basement, my legs draped over his body, as we watched the news on TV. Everyone else was outside, putting together donations.