Eddie's Girl

Chapter Thirteen.

Eddie

"Where is she?" Quinn asked Nancy.

We were at Victor Creels house, back in Hawkins.

"I'm so sorry Quinn....." Nancy whispered, holding back tears.

"Where is she?" Quinn asked again as I watched her bottom lip tremble.

She was trying her hardest to keep herself together.

She looked battle weary, like she'd seen too much for a moment.

Nancy looked up at the ceiling, wordlessly implying where Max was and Quinn immediately rushed to the staircase and ran up the stairs.

I watched her stumble halfway up, a hand clinging onto the banister and I nudged Dustin.

"Help me get up there." I said, hurriedly.

We all followed her, me as best as I could and aided by Steve and Dustin and I could hear her sudden cries from the hallway.

I braved a glance into the attic doorway, and I could see Lucas.

Cradling Max in his arms.

Quinn fell to her knees and tenderly touched Maxs lifeless hand. She held it in her own and her face was suddenly wet with an onslaught of tears.

"I'm so sorry..... I tried, I really tried. I asked him to take me...." She sobbed, as Lucas began to cry again.

"I know...." He said, sounding heartbroken.

"I wanted him to take me." She said, sounding broken.

"She spoke to me.... Right before..." Lucas said, through tears.

"She said she wasn't ready..... she was scared...."

I saw Quinn sway on her knees slightly and I could see it was becoming too much.

She hunched over, and cried out loudly, through gritted teeth.

"Eddie, she needs you man." Steve said, sadly as I'd already started to approach her.

I limped over to her, clutching my stomach and I reached for her, Dustin helping me down onto my knees.

"We all did what we could....She knew that, sweetheart." I said, sympathetically as I rubbed her back softly.

Her body jerked away from me, as she sucked in air sharply through her gritted teeth.

Was she in some kind of physical pain?

"Eleven was there.... With us! She told me that they'd both be right behind me. What happened??" Quinn asked, almost angry.

"We all did what we could. This was the risk none of us wanted to take, Max knew we had to." Nancy said, from behind me.

"He should have taken me." Quinn said, distraught.

"That's where that's a potential problem." Nancy said suddenly, as we all fell silent.

I winced slightly, thinking to myself that this whatever Nancy was going to say next, wasn't going to go down well with Quinn.

"You destroyed Vecna, didn't you?" Quinn asked.

"We thought we did. Two Molotov cocktails, every single round from my shotgun..... he fell out of the attic window. We checked outside and his body.... His body, well.... His body, wasn't there." Nancy said, closing her eyes as she waited for a reaction.

"He's still alive." Steve confirmed, as Quinn's shoulders dropped.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." I whispered, in her ear.