As soon as El had vanished from the mind space, Max found herself shooting back into her body.
The stress of it all caused her to be out of breath. When she finally took notice to her surroundings, she realized she was laying against Lucas. His arms were wrapped around her, gently rubbing her back.
She also realized that Lucas was whispering soft reassurances to her while also letting out a few dumb apologies all about not being able to help her due to some fight.
"S-stop." Max managed to say.
The fact that she was speaking seemed to surprise Lucas seeing as he jumped at her voice.
"Max! You're okay! You had us so worried!" Lucas said as he squeezed her into a tighter hug.
Wait did he say us? Now that Max looked around she noticed Erica sitting all but a foot away from them.
She motioned for Erica to join them. The girl didn't need any more prompting as she threw her arms around them.
"I-we weren't sure you were going to make it." Erica faintly said.
"Ye-yeah. Max you were floating and the Walkman was broken and I thought- I thought you were going to die." Lucas said. One of his arms was wrapped around Erica while the other one was wrapped around her. His hand was resting on her face.
"E-el."
Max found herself drooping in exhaustion from the strain her body went through while fighting Vecna. She tried not to think about the fact that he had started twisting her limbs already before El stepped in.
"Eleven? What about her?" Lucas asked leaning back slightly so both Erica and him could be meeting her eyes properly.
"S-she wa-s th-ere. She s-s-aid... that they are c-coming and would-d be h-ere soon-n." Max stuttered out.
She watched as Lucas and Erica looked at each other before looking back at her. It was clear that they both had many questions about what had happened but luckily they seemed to take note of her exhaustion.
"Rest for a bit Max. We'll watch over you. We're going to wait out front for the others to arrive. Just rest." Lucas told her.
She must have passed out after that because the next thing she knew she was waking up in the back seat of the trailer. She shot up only to be met with the faces of Lucas, Erica, and Dustin staring at her.
Dustin was quick to leap up from his spot and hobble over to her. She was met with a large hug from him before he backed up.
Before anyone had the chance to speak she found herself asking if everyone made it. Nausea crawled up her as the people surrounding her looked down.
"Eddie- he didn't make it. He died a hero." Dustin whispered.
Max felt tears rise up in her eyes. Besides not knowing him that well he had grown on her these last few days. She looked up at Dustin who had tears running down his face and then over at Lucas and Erica who were both trying to hide the tears that were running down their faces.
"And everyone else? What about him?" Max said, feeling the rage inside her grow.
The two boys looked at each other before Lucas opened his mouth to speak but before he could answer her questions he was interrupted.
Steve, Nancy, and Robin came inside from the door in the front of the trailer.
"Hey, she's awake!" Steve said with a little to much enthusiasm for someone who looked as beat up as he did.
In fact they all looked beat up. They all had scratches and bruises of various sizes littering their bodies. Dustin's leg was clearly injured and Lucas face was swelling and the rest of them all had their unique injuries too.
Max- with the help of Lucas, managed to sit up in a straighter position. The older three sat down on the floor right in front of the couch- close enough that were practically all touching but far enough apart that everyone could see everyone.
After a moment of silence Dustin interrupted it to answer her question, "Well you can clearly see that they're fine. We're parked out in the woods right now, pretty close to where the cabin is actually."
"And Vecna?" Max asked.
She could tell what they were going to say before they had the chance to tell her, due to the look in their eyes heavying and their slouched shoulders .
It was Nancy that finally answered her, "He's still alive. We heavily injured him but he managed to escape before we could finish him off."
The heaviness of the news caused a stiff silence that no one seemed to know how to break. Luckily it seemed that even in a foul mood Robin still found the need to fill the empty space.
"So- Lucas said you mentioned something about Eleven?" It wasn't quite a question but the way she said it made it sound like she was unsure if it was the truth.
"Yeah, can you explain. Before we parked out here we stopped at a store and used the phone. First we called my house and I somehow managed to convince our parents that everyone was worked up over the murders and wanted a break. I told them that we took you guys to a camp ground out of town and forgot to mention it to them in our hysterical state. It took a bit but they finally agreed that we could stay for a few days if needed. We also tried calling the Byers place again but it was still held up." Nancy informed her.
"Yeah, so can you explain because we can't contact them for some reason and know your saying Eleven somehow knew what was happening and helped out besides the fact last we knew her powers were gone." Steve said.
Max rubbed her hand against her face before sighing, "I don't really know what's going on with them either. All I know is that El appeared and flung Vecna across the room before he could reach me. She said something about piggybacking from a pizza dough freezer."
"A pizza dough freezer." Erica said in an unbelieving tone.
"That's what she told me. She was a little too busy fighting Vecna for both of our lives to explain."
"Yeah, but a pizza dough freezer. Really?" Erica said again.
"Actually it might make sense." Dustin said.
"Okay, I'm with Erica on this one. How does piggybacking from a pizza dough freezer make sense." Robin said in a skeptical voice.
"Wait, Dustin's right. If Eleven did somehow hear about the murders and somehow got her powers back it would work. She would've been using the freezer as a sensory deprivation tank in order to gain better focus. Saying as they were in California they might of realized they wouldn't make it in time to help and stopped at the closest place with a tub and lots of salt." Nancy said.
"That surprisingly makes sense." Lucas said. "So did Eleven tell you anything else?"
They all looked back over at her curiously.
"No. I mean not really. There wasn't a lot of time. All she said is that they would be here soon and that they would explain then." Max replied.
She let them think that information over before speaking, "Maybe- I mean if you guys want to. Maybe, we could stay out here together, at least until they return?"
They were all quick to agree. Luckily it seemed that the older three had already planned to be out for a few days and had bought enough food from the store for all of them.
"So we all plan on sitting and staying in here all day for multiple days without killing each other. Unless you bought some entertainment with that food?" Erica said.
Max watched in disappointment as Steve shook his head no. As everyone started to weakly voice their complaints an idea struck Max.
"Hey, I got an idea. You said we're near the cabin right?" Max said.
"Right." Nancy replied.
"That's perfect! Just think! All of El's and Hoppers games are still there. I know that the cabins practically torn apart right now but maybe we can clean it up some. Besides this is a trailer home there's bound to be some simple tools and games around here somewhere." Max said.
Her idea brought smiles to the others faces.
"That's perfect. We can fix up the cabin and play some games if we need a break. That way when they arrive they have a place to stay. Even if we can't finish fixing it, we can at least make it livable again." Nancy exclaimed.
"Great we'll start tomorrow. For now everyone get cozy. It's way too late to be up." Steve didn't have to tell them twice.
They all sprawled out practically on top of each other before falling asleep for the night.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Thank You so much for reading! Thank you to everyone who liked and/or commented on this, it means a lot! Till next chapter!