Stay or Go

Chapter 70

We have dropped Erica, Lucas and Max off at the Creel house before parking the RV in a secluded part of Hawkins to come up with a plan to kill Vecna. "Okay." Nancy says taking charge "I wanna run through it one more time. Phase one." We have all gathered around in the tiny space, it's lucky none of us our claustrophobic. "We meet Erica at the playground." Answers Robin sitting next to me "She'll signal Max and Lucas when we are ready." Nancy nods, placing her hands on her hips "Phase two?" Steve loops his arm around my waist and answers "Max baits Vecna. He'll go after her, which'll put him in his trance." The obvious one and the part of the plan that none of us like despite it being the only part of the plan that we cannot compromise on. 

"Phase three?" Nancy asks, eyes moving swiftly from the two of us to my brother who speaks "Me and Eddie draw the bats away." Eddie fusses up Dustin's hair and for a moment I am glad that those two have each other and I know Eddie would protect him with his like. "Phase four, we head into Vecna's newly bat-free lair and flambè," I add before Nancy can ask, holding up a Molotov cocktail that Robin and Steve made earlier. "Nobody moves on to the next phase until we've all copied. Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. Got it?" Nancy orders and looks at me as she says it. We all nod our heads showing we understand 

I can't explain it but something about Nancy Wheeler giving us directions does not feel right to me. I have more experience with tasks like this thanks to the Academy and I can form plans that are quick and efficient. Although this one doesn't sound too bad so I stay quiet. We all move into position, racing over to Eddie's trailer, careful not to let anyone catch us. We slip inside easily and Steve goes up to the rope "Be careful." Dustin warns and Steve shoots him a look before going "thanks buddy." And grabbing the bedsheet rope "here goes nothing." And he climbs back into the Upside Down. 

Next is Nancy, then Robin, then Dustin and then Eddie. As quickly as we entered the trailer we exist it, into a place of darkness and red lightning and I wondered if that is the only weather in this place. "Hey, guys, listen." Steve says, stopping and turning back to Dustin and Eddie "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." And I add as an after thought "Don't try and be cute or be a hero or something. Okay? You guys are just..."

Dustin cuts me off "Decoys. Don't worry, Steve, Lori. You can be the heroes" Then he suddenly rushes to me and wraps his arms around my torso. "Please be careful." Dustin says to me as I hug him back "You too. I'm serious, don't pull any stupid shit." He nods and finally steps back from me. The rest of us head in the direction of the Creel house, leaving Eddie and Dustin back at the trailer. 

-

As we trample through the woods we are careful not to step on any of the vines around us. "Uh...I don't mean to freak anyone out." Robin calls "But I swear we've seen this tree before." I glance around us, we've been walking around for a while now, flashlights in hand "That's impossible." I muse because honestly how could we be going around in circles? And Robin retorts "That would suck, right? If Vecna destroyed the world because.... because we got lost in the woods?" I see Nancy rolls her eyes as she continues walking "We're not lost Robin." She informs the other girl who nervously laughs. 

I hold out an arm to steady her as she almost trips over a vine "Robin, hey. Watch out for the vines! Hive mind." I remind her and she clutches my arm to steady herself. "Thank you." She breaths out and I join Nancy at the front of the our group letting Steve and Robin have their own little talk. 

"I feel like you don't like me much," Nancy says breaking the silence between us, I look down at the floor careful to avoid the vines. "What?" I ask, unsure of what else to say. Nancy waves her flashlight around in front of us and explains "Ever since this Vecna stuff has started, every time you look at me you look like you wanna kill me." I sigh heavily, stepping over a vine before shrugging "I don't like the way you look at Steve when you're supposed to be with Jonathan." I admit. Nancy looks over at me but I don't meet her gaze, "I'm not even sure me and Jonathan are together anymore." She tells me and I try to keep my face neutral. "Why?" I ask and I hear her move closer to me "Honestly, during the summer, after they moved away, he stopped calling, and ignored my calls. It feels like he doesn't want me anymore."

I do feel bad for her but at the same time "But you haven't officially broken up." I point out "Plus Steve and I are together, of course, I'm not going to be happy with another girl flirting with him, especially if that girl is supposed to be dating my best friend." Nancy nods, finally understanding why I haven't exactly jumped for joy when she's around. "Plus," I add as an afterthought "If I did actually want to kill you, you'd already be dead." And then I move ahead of her.     

Eventually, we get to the Creel how and somehow it is even creepier then it is in our dimension. "Erica." Steve says when we spot a light coming from a little tree house opposite Vecna's lair. We race towards it, to give her the signal that we are ready. She tells us that Max is getting ready to distract Vecna and Robin muses "So far so smooth." I lean against the treehouse and fold my arms "Yeah, we're not even at the hard part yet." Steve says, Nancy steps forward and stares up at the house "Take the bait, you son of a bitch." She says under her breath and now all we can do is wait.