cursed (2022)

chapter thirty-two: war zone

Nancy says the plan requires us to gear up, so now Eddie's looking for something in a newspaper. When he finds it, he slams it on the table. I'm not standing too close to them, but watching from afar. I'm more than a little paranoid now.

"Check this out. The War Zone. I've been there once, it's huge." Eddie says. "They got everything you need for, uh...well, killing things, basically."

"Do you think fake Rambo has enough guns there? Is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this legal?" Robin questions.

I don't listen to the rest of the conversation, but start thinking. I feel like I've wasted so much time. Maybe if I knew some freak ass wizard was going to kill me a couple of months after Billy died, I would've gone out more and made the most of this life despite the circumstances. I wish I could say goodbye to my mom one last time, but she's at work. I also wish I could see El one last time. Maybe if she stayed, things wouldn't have gotten so bad. My thought process is interrupted by Eddie.

"Hey, red, uh, you got a ski mask or a bandanna, something like that?"

I start to think. I do! I still have my Michael Myers mask from the last Halloween I dressed up for sitting somewhere in my room.

"Stay here," I tell everyone as I quickly run out the front door. I run across the street to my place and rush into my room. In my closet, I have a bunch of boxes that I still haven't unpacked. One was marked as "Max's Treasures", just like it was when we first moved to Hawkins. I quickly open up the box to see my mask sitting there and smile to myself before running back to Eddie's trailer.

"Micheal Myers," Dustin smiles as I toss the mask to Eddie.

"You have good taste, Red," Eddie says as he examines the mask.

"Yeah," I nod, still trying to catch my breath.

"You're definitely going to look like a crazy murderer now," Erica jokes.

"It's doable," I shrug.

"Alright, let's go," Nancy says.

I grab my bag and everyone starts to leave the trailer. We have to be sneaky, so Eddie makes us run from trailer to trailer before directing us to a big camper van. We quickly run behind it, their owners sitting in chairs on the other side. We stay put as he goes to open one of the windows and throws his bag inside before jumping in, and the rest of us follow.

I walk over to a window, watching to see if the owners of the van know we're here yet. After Eddie hot wires the ignition, they start banging on the window. Steve quickly moves to the driver's seat and everyone falls into a panic.

"Everybody hang on to something!" he demands as I quickly rush to the back, sitting on the couch.

"Drive, Steve! Drive!" Dustin yells and Steve quickly hits the gas.

"Shit, they look pissed," Dustin says.

"I mean, it's not every day you lose your house and car in one fell swoop." Robin retorts.

"Hold on! Hold on!" Steve yells as he makes a turn, running over two trash cans in the process. He turns again and the owners give up on chasing us.

"And Steve says I'm a bad driver," I roll my eyes. Robin and Dustin exchange looks before laughing. I smile at them and put my headphones over my ears and start to listen to Running Up That Hill.

I really hope we win this so we don't have to deal with monsters and alternate dimensions ever again. Sometimes I wonder what it'd be like if I had just stayed in San Diego. I wouldn't be cursed by a monster, but I also wouldn't have met all the amazing people I know now. I guess I wouldn't have it any other way- minus the monsters, and the alternate dimensions, and the curses, of course. A while into the ride, Lucas comes and sits next to me.