The Deal [Eddie Munson] 1

040

"Tomorrow?" Are you insane? Samantha, you almost just died." Eddie argues, and I sigh, looking around the room at everyone. They just don't understand how important it is, but I have to convince them.

"What he showed me. It was terrible, it... it scared me. 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 to Hawkins." I say back, and they all look at me concerned, listening to everything that I say.

"Vecna showed you this?" Steve asks, and I nod before continuing, "And that's not all. He showed me my mom dying, Max dying, Robin dying... Eddie dying. And he promised that after all of that is done, that he's going to kill me."

"None of that is going to happen, okay? He's just trying to scare you. Right? I mean, it's not real." Steve says, and I look at him for a moment before I look away. "There were gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. 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."

"Four chimes. Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly." Max interrupts, and I begin to think about how I heard the four chimes. "You're right." I say, looking at her.

"He's been telling us his plan this whole time." She continues, looking around at all of us, and Lucas begins to talk, fear laced in his voice. "Four kills. Four gates. End of the world."

"If that's true. He's only one kill away." Dustin adds in, and we all sigh. I cover my face in frustration, and I can feel Eddie doing the same. "Oh Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ!" He let's out. I close my eyes, taking a deep breath and trying to figure out what the hell we're going to do.

"Try 'em again. Try 'em again." Steve says to Max, and she picks up the phone again, trying to reach Mike, Will, Jonathan, or El, but she slams it down when it doesn't work. She sighs, picking it up again and continuing to try.

"And you should know that he showed me something else. This folder. It's a copy of my mom signing me away to fucking Hawkins." I say, referring to the folder that I threw down on the table before we started talking.

"What?" Max questions, not caring about the phone call anymore. I glance at her for a second before swallowing and continuing to explain to them what Vecna showed me. "Vecna showed me myself in the lab. I was about 5 or 6 maybe. With him- fuck this wont make sense because you don't know. Do you remember Victor Creel? His family?"

"Yes." They all answer "Well his little boy, Henry. He didn't die. He got taken to Hawkins lab because of his special abilities. He was the one who killed all of them. The story is a little fuzzy, but El pushed him through a gate, and it turned him to Vecna that some of us have seen, but he was at Hawkins lab for at least 20 years." I explain, and they all sit there for a moment, processing everything that I said.

"What the fuck?" Steve says, being the first one to say something. The rest of them wait for me to continue. "Anyways, I was at the lab, and before you ask, no, I don't have powers. That's how I got to leave, I didn't show any powers. My mom brought me there and they paid her. Vecna took my memories, and he sort of gave them back. I don't know, it was a lot."

"Jesus." Eddie whispers, grabbing my hand and squeezing it. "When I just talked to my mom, she confirmed all of it was true. She got paid 100,000 dollars, and doesn't have a cent of it left. It's fucking with my head, but we don't have time to even process this, we have to figure out something. How to kill him."

"We can't just brush to the side that you were tested on at Hawkins Lab." Robin argues, and I know she means well, but that is honestly the least of our worries right now. There's a hell of a lot that could happen. Things way worse.