No Surrender | Eddie Munson

Chapter Fifty-Five: The Plan

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE: THE PLAN

SEPARATE WAYS (WORLDS APART) — JOURNEY

Someday, love will find you
Break those chains that bind you
One night will remind you
How we touched and went our separate ways

TW// Gun, strangling

——————

We drop Max, Lucas and Erica off at the Creel house first. I watch them walk up the steps and try to push away the terrible sinking feeling. This may not go the way we need it to. This might be it.

The Winnebago is parked and we gather by the table. Everyone has new gear now — heavy jackets and boots, bullet belts, weapons. I keep my dress and Eddie's jacket, opting for sleeveless camouflage over it to offer a little more warmth. A machete is sheathed in the thick belt around my waist and my hands are warmed by leather gloves, clumsily cut off around the fingers.

"Okay," Nancy announces with a determined scowl, "I wanna run through it one more time. Phase One."

"We meet Erica at the playground. She'll signal Max and Lucas when we're ready," Robin replies. She fidgets anxiously, a red beret at a jaunty angle on her head.

"Phase Two."

That's where uncertainty quickly takes over. Steve tenses. "Max baits Vecna. He'll go after her, which'll put him in his trance."

"Phase Three?"

Dustin gestures to where we stand. "Me and Eddie draw the bats away." At the mention of his name, he grins and roughly pats the boy's head.

"Phase Four."

"We head into Vecna's hopefully newly bat-free lair, and—" Robin raises one of our homemade Molotov cocktails "—flambé."

Even hearing it all back isn't enough, though. Not for any of us. Nancy exhales shakily, "Nobody moves on to the next phase until we've all copied. Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. Got it?"

With an echo of confirmation, we follow her out. A path through the dark woods leads us into the trailer park. The lights in Eddie's living room click on.

Steve goes first and sticks the landing, hands falling to his sides as he looks up to us with a smug smile. Robin huffs, "What does he want us to do, applaud?"

Soon a mattress is brought and the rest of us start to come through. I hesitate. Now it's just Eddie and I. The others wait for us above but I can't move. My gaze travels around the room, memorising every detail until I have no choice but to focus on him. The breath catches in my throat. Before I can utter a word, his arms are around me. I melt into his touch and all the fears clear from my head. "It's gonna be okay." He hears no reply. Cupping my face, he fixes me with a pleading stare. "Say it, Bethy. Say it's gonna be okay. Won't believe it until you do."

He's wrong. Even if I do say it, I won't believe it.

But I force a smile and whisper, "It's gonna be okay, Eddie. It's all gonna be okay."

My attempt to lean in is stopped. He hurriedly shakes his head, biting his lip with a teasing glint in his eyes. "Uh-uh. It's your turn to promise now. That way you can understand how much it totally sucked to have to wait."

"It was only, like, half an hour," I groan. "And it was worth it, wasn't it?"

"Without a doubt. So imagine what it'll be like, yeah? Promise me that when we get out of here, you're gonna kiss me properly."