Invisible String || S. H.

33: operation distracting vecna

Mollie (pov)

I could hear Steve shouting that Nancy was out of the trance. Once the two of them were back she gave me the biggest hug she's ever given me in the years that I've known her. I wasn't complaining.

"Nance, are you okay? What happened," I questioned.

It took her awhile to gather all her thoughts and when she was ready she told us what happened.

"He showed me things that haven't happened yet. The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this giant creature with a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn't alone. There were so many monsters. An army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighborhoods. Our homes. And then he showed me my mom. And Holly. Mike. And they... they were all-"

"Okay, but he's trying to scare you, Nance. Right? I mean. It's not real," Steve interrupted.

"Not yet. But there was something else. He showed me gates, four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddie's trailer, but they didn't stop growing. And this wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home."

"Four chimes. Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times," Max said.

"I heard them too."

"He's been telling us his plan the whole time."

"Four kills. Four gates. End of the world," Lucas said.

"If that's true... he's only one kill away," Dustin added.

This freaked out Eddie even more. I had to comfort him the best way I could for him to not draw attention if anyone was outside.

"Try them again, Max. maybe they'll answer this time," Steve said.

All of us have been trying to call Jonathan, Will and Mike all night but still no answer. It was unusual for them to not pick it up. I hope everything's okay where they're at.

"Anything," Dustin asked.

"No. Rand a few times, then went to a busy signal," Max said.

"Maybe you punched it wrong. Try again," Steve said.

"I'm sure she knows the number, Steve. What if something happened to them and they had to up and leave the house?"

Max tried calling one more time. "Same shit."

"How's that possible," Lucas asked.

"Joyce has this telemarketer job. She's always on the phone. Mike won't stop whining about it," Dustin said.

"Yeah, but this phone's been busy for, what, three days now? That's not Joyce. No way. Something's wrong."

"She's right. It can't be just coincidence. It can't be. Whatever's happening in Lenora is connected to all of this. I'm sure of it. But Vecna can't hurt them. Not if he's dead. We have to go back in there. Back to the Upside Down," Nancy said.

Not gonna lie after what they went through trying to get out of there, I thought it was a bad idea.

"Nance, did I hear you right? You want to go back in there? You barely made it out only hours ago," I said to her.

"Yeah, because we weren't prepared. But this time, we will be. We'll get weapons and protection. We'll go through the gate, we'll find his lair, and we'll kill him."

"Or he'll kill us. The only reason you survived is because he wanted you to. He's not scared of us," Steve said.

"And for good reason. We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One. Sorry, what are we calling him now," Robin said.