SATELLITE [STEVE HARRINGTON]

knock 'em dead, sinclair

MAX AND NANCY WORKED ON SAWING OFF THE BARREL OF THE SHOTGUN, DUSTIN AND EDDIE HAMMERED NAILS INTO THEIR TRASH CAN LID SHIELDS, ROBIN AND STEVE MAKE MOLOTOV COCKTAILS, AND THE SINCLAIRS WORKED ON MAKESHIFT WEAPONS.

Erica and Lucas tied hunting knives to the end of long tree branches to make spears, while Ginny knocked some nails through the wooden bat Steve had picked out, just for old times sake. She imagined it wouldn't do much against Vecna, but it was a nice backup in case something happened to his axe.

Ginny smiled to herself, watching Eddie and Dustin wrestle each other after Dustin made some stupid pun. She continued to hit nails into the end of the bat, grunting with the effort it took.

Lucas was really struggling with his spear-making, but Erica was surprisingly good at it. It sucked because Erica was that kid— the one that was good at literally everything. She was making a face at his spear when Eddie called for them.

"Hey, Sinclairs!" he said, causing them to look up. "How are those, uh... those spears coming on?"

Lucas sent him a thumbs up, smiling.

Erica made a face. "Flip that damn thumb around."

Ginny snorted, and Lucas glared at them both. "What?"

Erica tossed her finishe spear onto the ground and took his from him, wiggling the knife at the end. "It's too loose, Lucas," she said. "This isn't a basketball game where they blow the whistle when your shoes fall off."

"Okay, okay, for the record, my shoes never fell off," Lucas said.

Erica sent him a grin. "For the record, it's kinda hard for your shoes to fall of when you're riding the bench."

"Yet for some reason, you show up to every game."

"Mmm, except the one that mattered," she chimed. "Plus, Mom and Dad forced me."

"Bull! Mom and Dad can't force you to do shit!" Lucas said.

Ginny nodded along. "Seriously. Remember when they wouldn't take her to Tina's that time, so she hid in the back of Dad's truck on his way to work and she just jumped out a block away?"

"Or the time Mom wanted you to go to Uncle Jack's when Ginny couldn't babysit you that one time, but you said Uncle Jack smelled like cheese and chained yourself to our mailbox so they wouldn't take you?" Lucas added.

Ginny pursed her lips. "And somehow, you're still the favorite."

Erica smiled peacefully. "Well, even though Mom and Dad love me more than you two combined... you're still my family. Just the facts."

Lucas made a face, shaking his head. It was weird for them to get all sentimental with each other— that's just not how the Sinclairs worked. They were in-the-moment kind of people, they didn't like to get sappy and sad with each other and avoided it until necessary.

But Ginny thought that in the face of nearly certain death, when she was going to return to the Upside Down in an attempt to flambé the evil wizard that had possessed her— this was one of those necessarily sappy moments.

But she couldn't just come out right and say it— Erica would bully her and Lucas would call her a crybaby.

So she just sighed and said, "If one of you dies, just know I'm totally never forgiving you..." She hammered one last nail into the bat and twisted it around in her hands, checking for any bare spots. "Mom's already going to beat my ass for letting you shits out of my sight."

Lucas snorted. "If we die, she'll send you right after us."

Erica giggled, and pitched her voice higher in an impression of their mother. "She'll be all like, Virginia Sinclair, I told you not to let them outta your sight— now look what you did!"