The Rescue Of Eddie Munson

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Reaching out my hand with a smile, "Hi, Jim..isn't it? or would you prefer Hop? The names Tinuviel but please call me Red, and this is Eddie, don't know if you've met before the whole Russia thing. It's nice to meet you, don't know if Eleven or the others told you about us.."

Eddie flinched seeing Jim Hopper, former sheriff, worried that his past and how everyone saw him was going to start once again. Bracing himself for the worst he was glad for Red's hand in his as he twined his fingers closely with hers. So focused on how she'd squeezed his hand in support he'd almost missed Jim's reply.

Jim reached out to shake my hand and then offered it to Eddie with a smile

"You can call me Hop if you want, I did hear about both of you and while the story is insane I've seen and heard worse the last few years." Turning his attention to Eddie guilt in his eyes over the shitty work of the police force he'd left in charge, "I know what you did for Hawkins and these kids and what you've gone through..I'm..I'm sorry." Once more looking at you he continued, "I saw you protecting my daughter earlier as well, thank you both. We need all the help we can get to stop this bastard, I hope you're both up for it."

Squeezing Eddie's hand my face lit up at the welcome, I knew how much that meant to him and could feel his smile even without looking.

Leading him along the two of them followed Jim into what remained of the living room of the cabin and took the remaining spot on the couch, gesturing towards the seat I all but shoved Eddie down to sit there, there was only room for one and I knew he was still sore so I settled on the floor between his knees. Looking around at the group my brows rose into my hairline as I saw what appeared to be pizza being passed around to the group. Looking over at Argyle with confusion,

"Umm I know you're pretty damn good at what you do but how the fuck did you manage to get pizza during what basically amounts to an apocalypse?"

His usual cool as a cucumber vibes still intact he smiled at me before handing over a plate with two slices to the both of us.

"You're not the only one who can work some magic Witchy lady Red. Managed to make an oven out of some old cinderblocks out back and Nancy and Steve-o there got us some supplies from a grocery store."

My confusion continued to increase, how the hell was a grocery store of any size still ok in this little town after the cracks opened up? Nancy sat on the coffee table across from us with a smile as she offered her hand in greeting.

"We haven't officially met, I'm Nancy..but you knew that, yea we didn't really go grocery shopping so much as snuck in to what was left of the building and took what we needed.. the town isn't doing really well right now. Luckily it looks like the horrible things from the Upside Down are staying in the Upside Down for the time being. The vines and decay..are not, they're spreading pretty steadily but it's not as bad as it could be."

Shivering at the thought of those vines overtaking the town and the influence that Vecna could exert as a result, I took her hand shaking it with a smile "nice to officially meet you, thank you for braving the town for some food, don't think we could make it much longer on stale pop tarts"

Moving to take a slice of the pizza, smiling at the pineapple sprinkled on top, I took a bite moaning at the taste as the flavors melded in my mouth. Eddie looked at the toppings, confusion as he saw pineapple on pizza but seeing Red's reaction to the taste he tentatively took a bite.

"Well sonofabitch this is damn good pizza"

Nodding in agreement I finished off my slice in seconds, leaning back with a blissful sigh, my stomach relatively full for the first time in over a day. Remembering the borrowed joints from earlier I reached back into my pants pocket and held out all but the half of the one the two of us had smoked earlier towards Argyle.

"We borrowed this earlier, needed some good pain relief. Hope you don't mind"

Shaking his head he smiled taking the bag from me

"No problemo my dudes, that purple palm tree delight is outta this world"

Both Eddie and I nodded with a smile, Eddie having finished his pizza as well,

"That was some good shit thank you for sharing I feel a lot better now."

Squeezing his knee I smiled, relief and good food allowing me to actually relax and just enjoy being safe and loved for the moment, until I heard a gunshot echoing in the distance.

"Goddamnit.."

The group looked at me, brows raised in confusion..clearly my hearing was a fair bit better than the others. Sighing heavily as I knew that the sound meant that this peace was short lived.

"Guess my hearing is going to be helpful for once, have always been able to hear pretty much anything especially when I don't want to.. I heard a gunshot in the distance, id say it's a few miles away based off the pitch.. we've gotta decide if we're going to stay here or find another home base because it looks like we might have company soon."

Looking around at the group who seemed about as undecided as I felt, it seemed like it would be difficult to manage either way until I remembered the helicopter outside. Looking around I noticed that I didn't see either of the Russians from before, so that crossed off the helicopter as a mode of transportation.

Jim stood up from his spot on the broken recliner moving to sit next to Nancy on the coffee table, he sighed agreeing with me,

"You're right uh Red was it? And as much as I love this old place it's too close to town and those cracks. There's a few hunting cabins a few miles outside of town away from anything, they've been empty these last few years with all the shit happening in this town."

Sighing he looked around assessing the group

"The way I figure it we should split up into three groups, those that aren't currently on the run can go back to town and stock up on supplies, preferably in two groups one for food and the other for guns and other weapons. The rest of us can head to one of those cabins and get it ready, we've gotta get a solid base of operations if we're going to be able to get ready to fight back."

Nodding I smiled, it was easy to see that Jim Hopper was glad to be in his element, in his town ready to protect his family once more.

After some bickering from the teenagers at being excluded from the groups heading into town the parties were decided.

The groups were as follows:

Weapons: Jim, Jonathan and Steve and Nancy

Groceries: Joyce, Will, Robin and Argyle

Base setup: Eddie and Red, Eleven, Mike and Dustin