𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑺𝑷𝒀 - Dustin Henderson

025. The Piggyback

    THE REST OF THE GROUP STOPPED NEAR THE TRAILER PARK BUT NOT TOO CLOSE THAT THEY WOULD BE SPOTTED. Nancy went over the plan one more time. "Okay. I wanna run through it one more time. Phase one," Nancy states.

"We meet Erica at the playground. She'll signal Max and Lucas when we're ready," Steve answered first.

Nancy nodded, "phase two."

"Max baits Vecna. He'll go after her, which'll put him in his trance," Cindy then answers.

"Phase three?"

"Me and Eddie draw the bats away," Eddie rubs his head.

"Four."

"We head into Vecna's newly bat-free lair, and... flambé." Robin answers finally, shaking the cocktail and Cindy sets her hand on fire.

"Flambé," Cindy smirked. She slowly lets the fire disintegrate and high fives Robin.

"Nobody moves on to the next phase until we've all copied. Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what." Nancy explains, in a demanding tone, "got it?"

"Got it."

They got off the RV and quickly made a run for it to Eddie's trailer. They entered, staring at the gaping red hole in the roof. Cindy got chills looking at it.

Steve went first through the gate, "be careful," Cindy tells him.

"Thanks," he smiles before grabbing onto the rope, beginning to pull himself up. "Here goes nothing," he continues up and soon stops briefly in the middle and does a flip, landing on his feet. He seemed pretty shocked that he did that flawlessly.

"What does he want us to do, applaud?" Robin teased.

He places down a mattress and Nancy goes through first, then Robin, Eddie and Dustin followed after and Cindy was the last to fall through.

They walked out of the trailer, Cindy took a deep breath, not quite sure she fully prepared for this. Eddie and Dustin stopped outside the trailer, while Nancy, Robin, Steve and Cindy began walking away until Steve stopped and turned back around to the boys.

"Hey, guys, listen. If things here start to go south, I mean, at all, you abort. Okay? Draw the attention of the bats. Keep 'em busy for a minute or two. We'll take care of Vecna. Don't try to be cute or be a hero or something. Okay? You guys are just..."

"Decoys," Dustin finished for him. "Don't worry. You can be the hero, Steve."

"Absolutely. I mean, look at us. We are not heroes," Eddie half smiled, looking down at Dustin.

"Yes, you are," Cindy smiled, walking up to Dustin and embracing him in a tight hug. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, afraid to let go not wanting this to be the last time.

Dustin knew what he had to do in case he never saw her again. He let go and moved his hands up to her cheeks, bringing her in for a kiss.

Her eyes widened, but she quickly relaxed and kissed him back, a hand on one of his cheeks and the other on the back of his neck. Tears rolled down her cheek, she didn't want to leave him. "Come on, Cindy, we have to go," Steve said softly.

She nodded, pulling away slowly, "I love you. So much, I'm sorry I don't say it more, but I really do."

He smiled softly, "I love you too." She chuckled, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, before beginning to walk away and following the older kids away.

She wiped away the tears blurring her vision, so she could focus on the task at hand and not let her emotions corrupt her. Steve wrapped an arm around her, making sure she was relaxed and okay.