Take Me Home Again (Eddie Munson X OC)

Chapter 15 - Entering the War Zone

Steve's voice calling out for Nancy to hang on just a little longer rang throughout the trailer. She didn't respond, eyes rolled back into her head. Vecna had gotten her, the moment the rest of the group realized what was happening, Eddie led them back to his room. They searched through his extensive collection of tapes, trying to find anything that Nancy would recognize, yet alone like. Steve knew it was pointless, she couldn't hear him, and even if she could, it wouldn't do anything. But he kept talking to her, feeling absolutely useless as the girl stood, shaking slightly, in front of him. 

"Whatever you guys are doing, hurry up!" He screamed up at Erica, who was standing on the other side of the gate. She took off for the back room where everyone else was in a frenzy. "Steve says you need to hurry!" Erica yelled as she breached the doorway to Eddie's room. "Yea? No shit!" Dustin yelled back, hands not stopping their anxious moment. "We're trying! We can't find anything!!" Max called out at the young girl. "Seriously? What is all this shit?" Robin yelled out, frustration evident in her tone, alongside the fear that made it tremble ever so slightly. "What are you even looking for?" Eddie looked up from the handful of tapes he had been searching. "Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles? Music! We need music!!!" No one's voice kept level as they yelled back and forth. "This is music!" Eddie argued back, picking up a Metallica tape. 

No one stopped their hectic search of the plastic tapes until Steve's voice rang back out, alerting everyone that Nancy was back alive. Everyone dropped what they were doing immediately, rushing and pushing to get back to the gate. Everyone peered into the gate's opening, both Eddie and Phoenix fearing the worst, only to find Nancy breathing heavily in Steve's arms. Her eyes were frantically searching the room around her, limbs in their correct directions. A sudden pressure released over the group, all finally breathing out the breath they were holding. Steve picked Nancy up, carrying her up the rope with help from Robin and Eddie on the other side, pulling her through as best they could manage.

When both made it safely to the right side of the world, they all moved over to Max's trailer. Steve's arms wrapped around Nancy's shoulders until the door shut behind them. The morning sun had begun to show through the trees as the group sat with baited breath around the previously empty home. No one dared interrupt Nancy as she detailed exactly what Vecna, now known as One, had shown her.  "He showed me things that haven't happened yet. The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire." Everyone's eyes were trained on the frightened girl as she hoarsely continued. "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... they were all..." She hesitated, everyone understanding what she meant without having to say it. 

Steve grimaced, eyes closed, with his head hung low. "Okay, but... he's just trying to scare you, Nance. Right? I mean... I mean, it's not real." Steve tried to offer comfort, though it was clear to everyone that it wasn't working. "Not yet," Nancy whispered back. "But there... there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside Eddie's trailer, but... they didn't stop growing. And this wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home." Silence, for just a moment, before Max spoke up from her place against the wall. "Four chimes. Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly." "I heard them too." Nancy recalled glumly. "He's been telling us his plan this whole time." "Four kills," Lucas murmured. "Four gates. End of the world." 

"If that's true... he's only one kill away." Dustin pointed out, the realization settling in that he was so very close to ending what they knew as life itself. "Oh, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ." Eddie mumbled, hiding his face in his hands. Phoenix, sat on the floor in front of Eddie, moved their hand up to his knee, leaning their head back to look at him softly. "Try 'em again. Try 'em again." Steve motioned to the phone hanging on Max's wall. Max walked over and picked up the phone, dialing and waiting. "Anything?" "No. Rang a few times and went to busy signal." Max, Dustin, and Steve were all having their own little conversation about the phone and Joyce's job and the other four people who were in California, especially the one that could help them out majorly right now.