The One Who Waits for You (Eddie Munson)

Chapter Eighteen

Jamie

Everyone piled in the door, finding a place to sit or stand, taking up the couch in the living room. Dustin retrieved Rosie from the bedroom, sitting with her on the floor in front of me. There was an air of seriousness throughout the trailer and all of us were solemn, dreading the second half of the fight they thought they'd won.

"Alright Dustin what have you got?" Eddie asked, walking into the living room with a few bottles of water for everyone, and taking the seat beside me.
Dustin stood, Rosie cradled in his hands.

"Heres what we're thinking so far."
He looked around nervously, watching as Eddie's face turned uneasy.
"The gates are sealed, after we wounded Vecna, so we have to start from here. The part we haven't figured out yet is how to get to him in the upside down. Either El will have to open a new gate-"

"Which could kill her." Mike chimed in from the other end of the couch.

"Yes," Dustin continued. "Which is very dangerous. Or Vecna has to make a kill. Unfortunately right now the only person we know he's targetted has been Jamie, and we don't know to what extent he plans to continue that connection. You haven't had any other episodes have you Jamie?" He asked, glancing over at me.

"No, not yet." I said softly, picking at my hands.

"Okay. So we still don't know what his plans for her are. We're still in the dark here. However, we have a plan for once we get to Vecna, once we can go back in the upside down."

"In terms of getting back, its either El gets very sick, possibly dies, or more people die in Hawkins and I'm yet again a wanted man?" Eddie chimed in, running his hands through his hair.

"Its a work in progress, I know it sounds bad right now, but it may be our only options if there isn't another gate we haven't found." Steve said, leaning against the wall near the couch.

Eddie shook his head, looking over at me with worry written across his face.

"Once we're in," Dustin started again. "We are going to perfect our plan from before, only this time El has stated she would lure Vecna in, from Will's mind, after all he predominantly wants her, and Will says he can still feel him there, lurking around his thoughts."

El shifted uneasily on the couch near Mike. "Yes, he will want to find me. I am ready to reach him again, and we'll have Mike and Jonathan with us, to pull us out."  Mike nodded, smiling softly as he took her hand.

"Ah, Will the Wise. Its a pleasure to finally meet you." Eddie said, nodding in his direction at the kitchen table. Will offered a disheartened smile.

"I wish it were for a different reason." He said, itching the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"Will, you never explained this to me." Said Johnathan from the corner of the room where he stood by Nancy. "I don't think I like the idea of you being in the position Max was in, you could get hurt and we already nearly lost you to the upside down once. Whats mom going to do if she loses you?" He asked, taking a step forwards.

"I'm the only confirmed line to him that we have, and we know better than last time. Max would have never been hurt if Jason didn't prevent him from putting her headset back on."  Will said, exasperated.

I winced at the mention of Max, glancing at Lucas who was sitting on the floor, his head drooped down. Eddie rubbed my back and pulling me into his arms.

"Eddie and Jamie and I we are going to draw away the bats, just like we did last time, it worked, and now we know to cover the vents too, so we can knock out that mistake." Dustin said, looking over at Eddie and I, Eddie twisting his rings around his still purple fingers.
"The amp should still be in the upside down, on top of the trailer, if it wasn't destroyed when the gate split happened."