A Threnody of Tears | Steve Harrington ✓

Chapter Fourteen

Panic quickly set in once more at Nancy's unresponsive form as Maggie and Steve quickly hurried back through the gate. Steve going straight to Nancy's side in case she started floating, while Maggie headed to Eddie's bedroom with the others, rifling through the cassettes that Eddie had initially dumped while looking for a song for Maggie.

"Steve says you need to hurry!" Erica yelled as she ran down the hallway, bursting into the room. 

"Yeah, no shit." Dustin shouted back.

Max nodded. "We're trying. We can't find anything."

"What is all this shit?" Robin asked, looking up to Eddie. 

"What are you even looking for?" He questioned. 

"Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles? Music! We need music!" Robin exclaimed, flipping through the various tapes in her hand. 

"This is music!" Eddie shouted back hysterically. 

Maggie continued to rifle desperately, not wanting to lose her friend, until Erica burst into the room, letting everyone know that Nancy was awake and that she wanted to move to Max's trailer before discussing anything in fear of Vecna overhearing them. 

Once everyone was seated and settled, Nancy gathered herself, before explaining what she had seen. "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..." She explained shakily, Maggie frowning at her state, knowing that she had been just the same before Nancy being taken by Vecna had shot adrenaline through her body. 

 From beside Maggie, Steve shook his head at Nancy's explanation. "Okay, but... he's just trying to scare you, Nance. Right? I mean... I mean, it's not real."

"Not yet." She returned. "But there... 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."

"If Vecna just explained everything to Nancy then why also go after Maggie?" Lucas questioned, looking over to the brunette who sat in silence.

At the sound of her name, Maggie looked up to meet Lucas' gaze. "I was probably just a backup. But there's got to be a pattern to these killings."

"Four chimes," Max muttered in realisation, catching Maggie's gaze. "Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times.  Four exactly."

Nancy nodded. "I heard them too."

 "He's been telling us his plan this whole time," Max said. 

 "Four kills. Four gates." Lucas realised. "End of the world."

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

"Oh Jesus Christ." Eddie said, his head in his hands. 

 "Try 'em again." Steve started, gesturing to the phone. "Try 'em again."

Max complied, walking over the phone only to get a busy signal once more.  

 "Anything?" 

Max sighed, hanging up the phone. "No. Rang a few times, then went to busy signal." 

"Maybe you punched it wrong. Try again." Steve suggested. 

"I didn't punch it in wrong." Max retorted.