The New Girl || Steve Harrington

Chapter 25 - Six Little Nuggets

Steve's POV
Suddenly, Quinn came to. She fell backwards and I grabbed her just in time so she wouldn't fall.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. It's ok, it's ok." I said. Quinn was shaking and looked really scared as I carefully laid her on the ground and stroked her hair.

"It's ok. I'm right here, I'm right here." I muttered as Quinn looked up at me, frozen in fear.

*

We took Quinn to her trailer and sat her down on the couch. I wrapped a blanket around her and sat down next to her on the couch, wrapping my arm around her shoulder.

"He showed me things that haven't happened yet. The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Fire, dead soldiers, and this giant creature with a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn't alone. There were tons of monsters. An army, and they were coming into Hawkins, our neighborhoods, our homes. And then, he showed me my mom and Max and... Steve. And they were all—" Quinn started to cry, scared to finish the sentence. I shook my head.

"He's just trying to scare you, Quinn. Right? I mean, it's not real."

"Not yet," Quinn whispered. "But, there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, it looked like the one inside Eddie's trailer but they wouldn't stop growing. And this wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins, it was our Hawkins. Our home,"

"Four chimes. Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly," Max added. Quinn nodded.

"I heard them too,"

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

"Four kills," Lucas muttered, looking between us. "Four gates. End of the world,"

"If that's true, he's only one kill away." Dustin said. Eddie put his head in his hands.

"Try them again. Try them again," I said, asking someone to call the Byer's again. Max called but when no one answered, she put the phone back.

"Anything?" Dustin asked. Max shook her head.

"No. Ran through a few times and then went to busy signal,"

"Maybe you punched it in wrong," I suggested. Max scoffed.

"I didn't punch it in wrong,"

"Well, I don't know," I muttered. Dustin rolled his eyes.

"Dude, I think she knows how to use a phone."

"I'm just saying, she could have typed it in wrong."

Max hung up the phone again after calling again.

"Same crap," she muttered as she turned to us. Lucas frowned.

"How is that possible?" He asked. Dustin shrugged.

"I told you, Joyce has this telemarketer job. She's always on the phone. Stop whining about it,"

"Ok, yeah, this line's been busy for, what? Three days now. That's not Joyce. Something's wrong ," Max added. Nancy nodded.

"She's right. It can't just be coincidence. It just can't be. Whatever is happening in Lenora is connected to all of this. I'm sure of it," Nancy explained. Quinn nodded.

"But Vecna can't hurt them. Not if he's dead. We have to go back to the Upside Down,"

I shook my head and Eddie did too, neither of us wanting to go back in there.

"No. Let's think this through, ok?"

"What is there to think through?!" Quinn questioned. I frowned.

"We barely made it out of there in one piece!"