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HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1986.
"VECNA HAD ME. HE WAS ABOUT TO kill me, and then he just... let me go."
Theresa's hands had not stopped trembling since they got to Max's house, having vivid recollections of what Vecna had shown her every time she closed her eyes. Steve would not leave her side, sitting on the edge of Max's couch beside her with bated breath.
The others in the room listened as Tess told them everything that she had seen, everything that Vecna forced her to watch.
"Why'd he just– let you go?" Eddie questioned from the corner of the living room. "That doesn't make any sense."
Theresa sniffled, staring at her hands in her lap. "Because he wanted me to tell you all what's about to happen."
The others exchanged simultaneous frowns, waiting for her to explain further. Tess inhaled shakily, shifting on the couch as she finally looked up at the rest of them.
"Vecna showed me things that haven't happened yet. He showed me this– this darkness. A-And it was spreading over Hawkins. There was fire, dead soldiers, and some kind of... monster." She paused, grimacing at the image that was burned into her memory. "There were a lot of monsters," her voice wavered. "A-An army of them, coming into Hawkins."
Steve reached over and placed his hand over Theresa's, which was shaking uncontrollably. He never doubted her, but just this once Steve wanted to have hope in the possibility that Vecna was only trying to scare them.
"Maybe... maybe he's just trying to scare us," Steve suggested. "I mean– it's not real."
"Not yet," Tess replied, glancing back down. "There... was something else. Vecna– he showed me these gates. Four of them, all in Hawkins. They looked like– like the one outside of Eddie's house, but... they didn't stop growing. It wasn't the Upside Down, either. It was here."
They all sat there in silence, unknowing what to do or say.
"Four chimes," Max spoke, Theresa looking over at her. "Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly."
Tess gave a small nod. "Yeah, I heard them too."
With another pause, she sat up a little straighter and continued, "He's been telling us his plan this whole time and we haven't even realized it. There's four gates. That means four kills."
Lucas cut in, "Wait. Chrissy, Fred, Patrick– that's three right there. So does that mean..."
He looked between Max and Tess, while everyone else realized the same thing. Vecna was coming for one of them.
