Spoiler warning for Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, just in case. You can skip the last scene of this if you don't know what happens in the movie and want to watch it spoiler free.
The trio passed through the gateway into the normal version of Hawkins. Chrissy walked ahead of Eddie and Steve and was the first one to spot the two figures waiting for them. Chief Powell and Deputy Callahan raised their pistols.
"Don't shoot!" she said with her hands raised.
"Sorry miss," Callahan said as the two men lowered their guns.
"Your friends told us where you'd be," Chief Powell said. "They also told us to be ready for anything to emerge from this thing. Did you get him?"
Eddie slipped off his backpack, unzipped it, and turned it upside down. "Does this answer your question?"
"Holy shit!" Callahan said with a jump as Vecna's head dropped onto the floor. "What the hell was that?"
"The one who killed Freddy and Patrick," Chrissy said. "He also let a monster out into Hawkins today."
Powell nodded. "The one we saw Nancy Wheeler standing over like it was some kind of hunting trophy. I hope that was the only one."
"We think so," Steve said weakly. "We ran into another one on the other side, but it looked pretty hurt when these two killed Vecna."
"Chief Powell, you gotta help us," Eddie said. "Steve has lost a lot of blood."
"We'll get you to the hospital right away," Powell said. "And if anyone asks what happened tonight, say it was a bear attack. I'm sure the government will be snooping around soon enough, but maybe we can keep them from coming down on us too hard."
Chrissy thought about the cover story as she sat in the back of the police car. Would people buy that they were all attacked by the same bear? That Eddie and Steve were hanging out with Jason and the other basketball players? There had already been rumors of "demonic" activity ever since the mall fire. People would snoop.
But they wouldn't be able to snoop at Benny's Burgers. Later in the week, the building was demolished. The gateway had been taken with it. Nancy drove by Freddy's house the following day and noticed that a lot of remodeling was apparently being done.
Tuesday, April 1 1986
Eddie had never been more thankful to see his fellow Hellfire Club members show up to the auditorium one by one. He spent a lot of time the previous week thinking he would likely not see them again. He couldn't help but grin when he saw Gareth.
"Dude, it was only spring break," Gareth said. "You're acting like you haven't seen me in years."
"Trust me, that spring break felt like years."
Eddie turned and winced. He had almost forgotten about the stitches. Sometimes twisting the wrong way would be a painful reminder. He would probably be getting them taken out around the same time that Chrissy would be able to stop having her left arm in a sling. She had bugged him about keeping the wound clean at first. "There's no telling what kind of bacteria is in the Upside Down," she said repeatedly. He could get used to a girl showing that kind of concern for him.
Steve had to get a blood transfusion when they arrived at the hospital. Eddie and Chrissy planned on going to the video store that Friday to see how he was doing.
Eddie had never been more grateful to be at school, but he was also nervous as he put up his DM screen and put together the maps he had drawn over the weekend. He no longer drew them in class, since he was too close to graduating to blow it now. At lunch, the other players were grumbling about being short a player again. Lucas wanted to spend more time with Max now that they had reunited. He also informed Eddie that their parents insisted that Erica's after school time would be spent on her homework. Eddie assured them that he would find a new player, but he hadn't told them who it was yet.
"The suspense is killing me," Jeff said as he put down his backpack. "Spill it. Who's the new player?"
Dustin gave Eddie a thumbs up. Mike gave a supportive smile.
"Chrissy Cunningham."
Jeff and Gareth laughed in unison. "No, really?" Jeff said.
"I'm serious," Eddie said, doing his best to hide his annoyance and failing.
"Okay Eddie," Gareth began with a grin. "That was a nice attempt at an April Fool's joke, but you've got to come up with something more convincing than the head cheerleader deciding to play D and D with us."
"I'm not kidding," Eddie growled. "She is really going to be here." He pointed in the direction of his Corroded Coffin bandmates. "And you are going to be on your best behavior and be welcoming. She played a game with some of us over spring break, and she picked up on the rules pretty quickly."
"Fine," Jeff said with a nod.
Gareth rolled his eyes. "If you say so."
"Besides, if Chrissy plays with us, maybe some of her cheerleading friends would consider showing up sometime too."
"Now you're dreaming," Gareth said.
Chrissy walked through the hallway with her head down. It was something she thought she'd be done with after Vecna's defeat, but the stares had really gotten to her over the last two days. Nonstop looks of sympathy, not because her arm was in a sling, but because of her dead ex, who people didn't know had abducted her and Eddie and threatened to kill them. As far as the other students knew, he had still been a loving boyfriend who had met a bad end when encountering a bear with his had an easier time playing along and thanking people for their kind thoughts than she expected. The truth was that her feelings about Jason were mixed. She would miss the person he was before, but she wouldn't forget the terror he had caused on his final day either.
She opened the door to the auditorium, and mentally kicked herself for being so nervous. She had told Eddie that she would like the challenge of hanging out with a new group, but if she hadn't already known Eddie and Dustin, she would have chickened out. Eddie had told her before spring break that he expected her to be "mean and scary". What if the other guys thought she was just there to make fun of them?
Chrissy walked past the rows of seats and looked in Eddie's direction to make her smile as easy as possible. She gave as enthusiastic a "hi guys" as she could manage.
"Welcome to The Hellfire Club, Chrissy," Eddie said.
She slid off the backpack that was hanging from her right shoulder and took the seat next to Dustin. "Thanks for letting me play everyone."
"What module are you running today, Eddie?" Mike said.
"Something I started writing during spring break."
"Oh," Jeff said. "So, you're not going to make her go through Tomb of Horrors like the rest of us had to when we joined?"
Eddie had a brief look of irritation that he replaced with a smile. "No, I'm doing something different."
Jeff turned to Chrissy. "See, Eddie likes to go all Kobayashi Maru on new players. He sees Tomb of Horrors as a test of character."
"I'm sorry, what?" Chrissy asked.
Dustin spoke up. "It's from Wrath of Khan. We'll rent it for movie night. That and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. You'll need to see that one to understand half the references people make around here."
Gareth sighed. "So, I guess we can all help her roll up a character to get ready faster."
"Oh, I'm ready," Chrissy said with a smile. "Some of the other cheerleaders looked at me funny at lunch, but I borrowed Eddie's Players Handbook and made an elf fighter named Crystal. I decided to let Christina Dragonslayer ride off into the sunset, Eddie."
"The character sheet may be retired," Mike said. "But there's a good chance that nickname is going to stick, Chrissy." He grinned, and Chrissy realized that someone filled him in on the events of spring break.
Eddie became animated as he started to narrate the game, like when they were playing in his trailer. She closed her eyes for a moment to imagine being surrounded by dungeon wall. Eddie then described a room with a treasure chest at the end.
"Do we go in?" Dustin asked.
"No telling what kind of loot is inside," Gareth said. "I say we go for it. Could be really good."
"It could also be a trap," Chrissy said.
"What you're going to find out about this game is 'no risk, no reward'".
"Fine," Chrissy said. "Just trying to be cautious." She looked in Eddie's direction and smirked. "Eddie has a reputation as a tricky dungeon master. I'll follow you guys though."
"Okay," Eddie said. "You head into the room. Now, you're going to have to let me know exactly where you will be walking."
"Oh shit, there are traps," Dustin groaned. He got to move first, and looked in Eddie's direction each time he placed his miniature on a new square.
Gareth was next. Eddie stopped him when he got to a square near the center of the room.
"Make a dexterity saving throw," Eddie said.
Gareth rolled his twenty-sided die onto the table.
Eddie explained what happened next. "Good, you manage a maneuver as you fall down the pit trap that causes you to only take half damage. No spikes, because I decided to be nice. I may be tricky Chrissy, but I'm not cruel."
"I'll get you out after we grab what's in the treasure chest," Jeff said. He brought his miniature closer to the chest.
Dustin was the first one there. "I look for a needle trap before opening the chest."
"You don't see one," Eddie said as he looked down at his notes that were behind his cardboard screen.
"I open the chest and take what's inside."
"You find a sword with an ornate hilt. As you lift it up, you notice it is tied by a barely visible string that pulls on a switch."
"Oh shit," Dustin repeated.
"A green fog starts to spray from the walls."
"Poison gas," Mike said. "I run."
Everyone agreed.
"I roll to climb out of the trap," Gareth said.
Eddie shook his head when the die stopped. "Not enough. You find it difficult to get a grip on the wall."
"Any help, guys?" Gareth asked.
"Sorry," Jeff said. "We're all back to level 1. Everything is super deadly at level 1. I run out of the room."
Chrissy looked at Gareth, and then over to Eddie. "I walk over to the edge and tell him to take my hand."
"That will be a strength check, Chrissy."
Chrissy tossed the die that she borrowed from Eddie. She chose green to match one of the school colors. It stopped at 18.
"Gareth, if you roll at least a 10, I'll say you make it."
11.
"With the assist from Crystal the elf, you manage to climb out of the pit, just as the gas is inches from you."
"Wow, thank you Chrissy," Gareth said.
"No problem. We're supposed to be a team, right?"
"Eddie is insisting that he'll graduate this year. Any chance of you failing some classes to be here next year?"
Chrissy giggled. "I'm not planning on that. But considering my high school cheerleading days are pretty much at an end, I'll try to make it to every session I can before graduation. If that's okay with you guys?"
"For sure," Gareth said. He looked around the table. "Since she gets that exploring a dungeon is a team effort, unlike some people!"
A curly haired player that Chrissy didn't know the name of yet chimed in. "Any chance you could put in a good word about the club with the other cheerleaders?"
"I'll do my best," Chrissy told him. "There may be one or two with an open mind."
Chrissy, Eddie, and Dustin sat together and watched Wrath of Khan in the Henderson living room. Chrissy had felt her eyes starting to water after Scotty informed Kirk that Spock was "dead already." She was hoping no one spotted her wiping away a tear when Spock told Admiral Kirk that he would always be his friend.
Once the credits rolled, Eddie looked in her direction. "You good?"
"Yeah, I just wasn't expecting it to be sad. Isn't Spock the most popular character?"
"We can rent Search for Spock next time," Dustin said. "Between Star Trek and Dungeons and Dragons, we'll make you a nerd yet."
Chrissy giggled. The truth was, she was also still thinking about the previous week's events. She was grateful that none of them had died that night. In the attic, she had been terrified that she was going to lose Eddie. She reached over and squeezed his hand tight. It was somewhat challenging, because she had to do so with her right hand and Eddie was sitting to her left. She couldn't maintain that hold for long, but it had been worth it to get a hand squeeze back.
Note: I'm planning two more chapters, which might become three. I thought I had this story pretty much finished, but I had ideas for a few more scenes.
