The One That Got Away

Chapter Four

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"I spend a few hours in a shed with Eddie Munson and miss out on all of this?" Monica exclaimed after a catch up with the rest of the group.

After a conversation with Eddies uncle Wayne, Nancy hadn't been able to get the name Victor Creel out of her mind. Her and Robin separated from Steve and the teens and headed to the library to look through the archives in the basement. It was here they discovered that Victor had murdered his family, the victims being found the same as Fred and Chrissy. He blamed these murderer on a demon. Vecna.

Max recalled seeing Chrissy leaving the councillors office. Steve, Max and Dustin snuck into the school to read her file, also finding Fred's file.

Upon reading the files, she discovered they had both been suffering from the same PTSD symptoms. Max felt a chill run down her spine. It was the exact same thing she was currently going through. After tracing back the dates, she realised she was Vecnas next victim.

"What can we do to stop him? There's no way you're dying tomorrow!" Monica shook her head.
"We don't know," Dustin shrugged. "We don't have enough information but we'll figure something out."

"And Jason," Monica sighed. "He's after Eddie. Should we not tell him? Warn him maybe."

"I led them to Hopper's old cabin." Lucas replied, he'd rejoined the group after ditching Jason and the team, who were on the hunt for Eddie ever since finding out it was Chrissy who had been found in Eddies trailer.
"He's safe at the lake. For now." Steve told her and he believed himself. It wasn't often people were hanging around at Reefer Ricks place.

It was a long night. The group stuck together in the Wheeler's basement, but nobody really slept. Max's mind was a tornado of thoughts on how she was going to die. She didn't know how it was going to happen, but she knew she didn't have long left. She had so much to say, with so little time. She took herself off to a corner of the basement, finding a pen and a wad of paper and began to write her feelings down in the form of a letter. She wrote all night, addressing each letter to the people most important to her.

The next morning, Steve, Monica, Dustin and Lucas were reading through the scraps of information on Victor Creel that Nancy and Robin had found at the library.

"You guys understand any of this?" Steve asked, walking back and forth re-reading the same article over and over.
"No." Monica and Lucas said in unison.
"Pretty straight forward." Dustin nodded. The three of them looking over at him with a confused look plastered across their faces.
"What's confusing to you?" He asked, explaining to them how Victor Creel is the only known survivor of Vecna's curse, meaning he must know how to stop him.

Steve, Dustin and Lucas bickered amongst themselves about Victor as Monica continued to look through the papers. She heard a high pitched static sound coming from somewhere in the room. The other three were too deep into their conversation to realise.

"Henderson?" She heard. "Anybody there?"
"Eddie?" She picked up the walkie-talkie.
"Mackenzie! Finally," he let out a sigh of relief. "I'm going to need another delivery. You were quite stingy with the amount of food you brought yesterday."
"Complain again and I'll leave you there to starve," she joked. "I'll get Steve to make a trip to the store. We'll be there soon." She promised, not actually knowing how soon they'd make it. Without sounding insensitive, they had bigger problems than what cereal Eddie was going to eat today.

"Alright Mon?" Steve asked.
"Eddie," she waved the walkie-talkie. "He needs more food."

Nancy and Robin appeared at the bottom of the stairs with a plan to visit Victor Creel at the asylum, leaving Steve on baby-sitting duties again. Which was an exaggeration on Steve's side, they weren't babies anymore.

Max appeared in front of the four of them not long after Nancy and Robin left, with a bunch of brown envelopes in her hand. She handed one to Dustin, one to Steve and one to Lucas.
"It's a fail-safe. You know, in case things don't work out."
"Woah Max!" Lucas swiftly turned to look at her. "Things are going to work out."
"No," Max started. "I don't need you to reassure me and tell me it's all going to work out."

Her eyes shifted around the room before landing on the walkie-talkie on the table. "Will this still reach Pennhurst from East Hawkins?" She asked.
"Wait, why are we talking about East Hawkins?" Steve added after Dustin assured her it would still work.

Next thing, the four of them were following Max up the stairs and out the front door.
"Seriously, I'm not joking. I'm not driving you anywhere!" Steve said.

After a couple minutes of arguing about Max not wanting to spend what could possibly be her last day in Mike Wheelers basement, the five of them were buckling themselves up in the car.

"Hey, I don't want to ruin what you said could possibly be your last day, but can we take a quick detour?" Monica asked. She even felt guilty asking, Max obviously had somewhere she needed to go. "Just to the store, I'll be in and out. Drop me at the lake then do what you have to do."

Max nodded and Monica gave her a small smile. Steve pulled up at the store and she quickly ran around picking up anything she could fit in her basket. Within a few minutes they were back at the boathouse.
"We'll be back later." Steve told her.

"Stay safe Max, we're not losing you yet." Monica smiled before rushing out the car and into the shed where Eddie was.
"Sorry I took so long but there's a lot you need to know."

The pair of them sat together on what looked like an old blanket Eddie had found, he must've been using it at night. She told him about Jason and the team on the hunt for him and updated him on the latest news about Vecna and Victor.
"The sooner they can kill Vecna and prove your innocence, the better."
Eddie sighed, holding his head in his hands. "I have no idea how this is going to play out."

Monica sat crossed legs playing with the hem of her skirt. It suddenly dawned on her this was the longest she'd gone without going home, having contact with her parents or even got changed. She was dying for a shower. She shook the thoughts from her mind, thinking how ridiculous she sounded. She was thinking of a hot shower while Eddie, who was sat just across from her had way bigger problems than having a warm shower.

"So," Eddie started. "You and Harrington?"
"Me and Steve? What about us?"

"Just curious," he shrugged. "I didn't know you were like, a thing."
"Oh," Monica let out a laugh. "We're just friends. Nothing going on there."

"Well he always seems to be lingering. So no boyfriend?"
"Why the sudden interest in my love life Munson?" She asked.
"Come on Monica. I'm bored out of my mind here, I want to know more about you."

"Well then no. No boyfriend." She answered with a smile, amused at Eddie asking these questions. Maybe it was because he'd been stuck here on his own for too long and he really was that bored, but nobody else had ever sat down and asked her about herself before. Even if it was just asking if she was dating Steve Harrington.

Eddie and Monica sat snacking on some of the food she had brought, passing questions between themselves. It was mostly boring stuff such as favourite colour, favourite film but it helped them get to know each other better.

"I don't want to be the bearer of bad news," Eddie started. "But I have a feeling Steve isn't coming back for you tonight."

Monica looked outside to see darkness staring back at her. "Maybe you're right."

"Well then, I hope you're prepared to spend the night in this old shed."
She looked around, noticing the cobwebs and dust Eddie had been sleeping amongst for the last few night.
"Here." Eddie stood up, signalling for her to take the blanket. She smiled, but the smile soon faded as she attempted to get herself comfy enough for the worst nights sleep of her life.
"Aren't you going to get cold?" Monica asked, genuinely worried for Eddie, but he just laughed.
"Nah, don't worry about me, just get some rest."

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