Escape ~ S.Harrington

71} War and the War Zone

As they pulled into the War Zone, they had to figure out who was going inside and who was staying back in the trailer.
"I'm not going in there," Eddie shook his head, "I'll be murdered."
"I'll stay back with him," Dustin offered.
"I will, too," Lucas agreed.
"I wanna go in," Jenna shrugged.
"You can't. People think you're dead, remember?" Erica crossed her arms.
"And you're in your bra," Alice pointed out, "Nice boobs by the way, you gorgeous slut."

"Here," Eddie threw her a random shirt and hat chilling on the floor, "This can help you blend it."
"Yeah, with my 'I Love Beer' shirt and 'I Heart Ass' hat I'll fit right in. Thanks Eds."
"No prob, Jen."
"What if someone recognizes you?" Steve asked.
"They shouldn't. Don't worry so much. I haven't been anywhere for months. Let me have this. You try being trapped in the Upside Down for almost a year."

So, Erica, Max, Nancy, Robin, Alice, Steve, and Jenna all marched into the War Zone. Everyone looked out of place there except for Jenna. She blended right in.
"So much for avoiding angry hicks," Robin scoffed.
"Hey!" Jenna looked her dead in the eyes, "These are my people now. Don't judge."
"Alright, Ass-Lover," Alice smirked, "whatever you say."

Everyone dispersed and went separate ways gathering up various materials. Jenna went straight to the miscellaneous items, Steve following behind her.
"So, random question," He started, "Were you by any chance prancing around in my head while you were in the Upside Down?"
"You mean the dreams and weird stuff with your radio? Yeah, that was actually me. I can communicate through dreams, remember?"
"Okay, so that's why they felt so real."
"Yep."
"Thank you for that, though. Those dreams were some of the only things that helped me keep going."
"They were for me too."
"Hey, what'd you think of this jacket?"
"It looks decent. Go consult Robin and Alice. Does it look like I have good taste in fashion?"

As Steve approached the girls, Robin looked up to see Vickie, the girl she'd told Alice she had a crush on kissing who looked to be her boyfriend.
"Hey," Alice noticed too, "It's alright. You're too good for her anyways."
Alice gave her a huge hug for comfort, even though that hug was all Robin had wanted for ages: not Vickie.
"Thank you, Alice," Robin pulled back, both just staring at one another.
"Either kiss or break it up," Erica popped out of nowhere and gagged, "This is too awkward to watch."
Robin and Alice quickly pulled away and awkwardly whispered 'Sorry' to each other a million times.

As Jenna walked around, she noticed Jason talking to Nancy at the gun counter. Jenna had never talked much with him, but seeing as Eddie and him didn't get along, she didn't either by default.
"Nancy Wheeler," He started waving a gun at her, "Wouldn't expect to find you here."
"Yeah, well, it's just... scary times. I'm... sorry about Chrissy."
"Want my advice? Shotguns are not good for much of anything past killing small birds." He got closer to her, making her noticeably uncomfortable, "I mean, they got power, sure, but not much range. And that's just gonna force you into close-range combat, then someone can just grab the barrel like this... and redirect it."

"Hey," Jenna walked up to them, "She knows how to use a gun. I taught her myself, I should know."
"Holy shit! How the hell have you risen from the dead!?"
"Maybe I've been alive this whole time and am here just to mess with you," She booped him on the nose, "Now, leave her alone. You don't wanna mess with me. Let go of her gun. Now!"
He begrudgingly dropped the end of the gun and scattered back from seeing Jenna not, you know, as a pile of ashes buried in the ground.

'We need to go,' Erica mouthed from behind a coat rack to Jenna and gestured around at all of the other basketball players. Jenna nodded and rounded up everyone to check out their supplies. After they rapidly checked out, they sprinted as fast as they could back to the car, scared Jason and his friends may follow them.
"What happened?" Lucas asked when the camper door flew open.
"We gotta go," Steve chucked some stuff back at them.
"Your old friends are here," Erica explained.
"Let's go!" Dustin yelled at Steve.
"I'm going, I'm going!" Steve yelled back.
Jenna took her seat back up front and threw her hat off.
"Aww, I liked that hat," Steve told her, "Really suited you."
Jenna flipped him off and giggles as he continued to drive back to Hawkins.

~

The gang camped out in a random field prepping for war. Eddie and Dustin were hammering nails into trash can lids, Nancy and Max were sawing off the end of Nancy's shotgun, the Sinclairs were making spears, Alice, Steve, and Robin were making Molotov cocktails, and Jenna was just resting. Seeing Dustin and Eddie bond was making her so happy. She'd always hoped they'd be able to play D&D together and have as good of a friendship as her and Eddie had.
"Never change, Dustin Henderson," She overheard Eddie tell her brother.
"I wasn't planning on it," He responded.
I love them so much.

She then closed her eyes and took a jab at Shadow Walking. She'd practiced a bit in the Upside Down, but it still drained her ridiculously fast. Now, if it did, at least she had Gatorade to fuel her back up. She focused as hard as she possibly could, eventually breaking through to the black void that Eleven utilized so frequently. Jenna had only been here maybe 5 times prior. She walked around for a bit, actually finding Eleven in the void. She was unconscious with Brenner trying to crawl to her.
What the fuck is going on here? Did I do this right?

She walked up to them, trying to grasp hold of Eleven, but she just poofed away in a cloud of nothingness.
Shit, shit, shit!

Jenna felt like she was being ripped away from the void as she opened her eyes again. She touched below her nose to find both nostrils bleeding quite steadily. As she stood up, her legs got weak.
"Steve!" She yelled over to him, "Can you get me a Gatorade?"
"Shit, yeah, what happened?" He asked her.
"I tried Shadow Walking and it didn't go quite to plan."
"Here," He handed her a Gatorade.
"Thanks. I made it further than I've even been, though."
"That's good. Don't kill yourself doing that, though. I don't want to lose you again."
"I won't, trust me. Go back to your Molotov crafting."

"Jenna!" Alice ran over to her, "I haven't gotten to talk to you at all. Mr. Hair over there has been clogging your time up."
"Yeah. Yeah. I've missed you," Jenna gave her a big hug.
"I've missed you, too, Jelly Belly. You know, no one's beaten your top scores yet in the arcade."
"You keep track of that?"
"Well, seeing as I thought you were dead, I wanted you to live on somehow."
"Thanks, Alice. That means a lot. So, is anything going on between you and Robin or am I catching false feelings floating between you two?"
"Ugh! I don't know. Yes. No. Maybe? It's so confusing."
"I've never seen you this worked up about a girl before."

"She's... different, I guess. I'm sending her all of the hints but she can't pick any of them up for shit."
"Well, if my Spidey-senses are right, and they normally are, she definitely likes you back."
"No, I doubt it."
"Fine. You owe me $20 if it turns out I'm right."
"Deal. I-"
"Alice!" Robin waved to her, "We need your help finishing this!"
"Coming! Talk with ya later, Jelly Belly."
"Bye, A-Lee-Se. Go get your girl."

Everyone got properly geared up in clothes they'd gotten from the War Zone, except Jenna who was still rocking her 'I Love Beer' shirt along with Max, Lucas, and Erica who weren't going into the Upside Down. Jenna was very hesitant on letting Dustin go, but she trusted Eddie. Enough to keep him safe, plus he'd be the closest to the gate if he needed to escape fast.

Jenna blasted Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) just because it felt fitting for that moment. She reached for Steve's hand closest to her as he drove the gang to their first location for set up. Everyone was terrified. Max was scared of dying. Lucas was scared of Max dying in front of him. Erica was just scared of the entire ordeal. Everyone going into the Upside Down was scared of losing Jenna again and of not killing Vecna in time. As for Jenna, well she was scared of letting everyone down. She didn't want anyone to die that night because she'd blame herself. She'd blame herself because she'd be the only one with enough power to stop Henry. She'd be the one infiltrating his mind, holding all of the power. If anything happened, she'd never forgive herself whether it was her fault or not.
Steve dropped Max, Lucas, and Erica off at the Creel house with all of their supplies, then drove to Eddie's trailer for the rest of them to go, once more, into the Upside Down.
Like Max said, just don't miss. We've got this.