Against all odds || Stranger Things 4 | Hellcheer

Chapter 33

Content warning: death

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Chrissy steps over the gate, hoping the relief of being back will shake away that cold and tingly sensation that never really left the back of her neck. She flinches at the sound of a clock chiming. A wave of panic freezes her mind but Robin kills it in the egg asking, "Did you guys hear that?"

"Yeah..." says Steve who's the last to cross over. "Creepy."

Chrissy searches for Eddie's eyes, finds them wide and shiny. In a heartbeat, he pulls her into a tight hug. She lets his warmth engulf her. Surely this will be enough

to cast away the coldness that lingers inside her. Behind them, Dustin is asking what happened and Robin goes into a thorough, although slightly dramatic recount.

"Okay, but what pulled you in in the first place," asks Lucas.

"A vine," replies Steve. "It grabbed my leg."

Chrissy turns around to face the rest of the group. Eddie keeps his arm around her, she leans to feel his warmth on her back.

"Mine too," she says. "But it let go as soon as we went through."

"By the way, I'm sorry I crushed you," says Steve.

"It's okay. I did too, I guess we're even."

Steve cocks his head and gives a nod before adding, "Although your mom is right, you could lose a few-"

"Max," shouts Lucas. "Max, can you hear me?"

Everybody turns as one toward the redhead girl whose face has frozen into a painful grimace. Chrissy's throat was already tight from Steve's comment, now her lungs don't seem to be able to function at all.

"Guys! Help!" Lucas freaks out, adjusting the headphone on Max's ears.

"Just play the music," yells Dustin.

"It is playing!"

"Turn up the volume then!"

Steve barges past the bickering boys to grab Max by the shoulders and call her name. Chrissy wants to join them, but Eddie's arms are tensed around her and he won't let her go. Max's feet lift off the floor. Dustin turns to Chrissy and she can hear the accusation in his panicked voice

"It's not working! Why isn't it working?"

"I-I don't know."

"Music didn't save Patrick either, did it?" Nancy points out.

"Then what do we do," asks Lucas.

He and Steve are trying to hold Max to the ground. He looks terrified. Chrissy knows why. She has seen the way he looks at Max.

"What do we do?!"

She opens her mouth but nothing comes out. He turns back to Max and joins Steve and Dustin calling her name. Eddie's arms are so tight around Chrissy she struggles to breathe. Unless it's the sight. This can't be happening!

Max's legs break one after the other. Then her arms. With all the screaming around her, Chrissy shouldn't be able to hear the sound of it, the dry snap. But she does. Every single one of them. Even the wet noise of Max's eyes getting sucked inside her skull. Chrissy's legs give up and she collapses in Eddie's arms while Max falls like a ragged doll on the floor.

Chrissy must have blacked out because the next time she opens her eyes, a heavy silence fills the room. Lucas is rocking Max in his arms, Nancy has disappeared - to go call an ambulance probably - and Steve is staring in the far, Robin's hand on his shoulder. Then there's Dustin, rising up from the floor and pointing an angry finger at her.