Welcome to Chapter 5 guys! I hope you are enjoying so far and hope you continue to do so. Took a while longer to get this chapter finished but I've been a little busy. Anyways, let's get to Reading so you don't have to wait much longer

Chapter 5:

Barging through the Cabin door, Eddie quickly slammed it shut behind him. Sighing heavily, he leaned back against it and slowly slid to the floor. He sat like this for a few minutes, staring directly ahead of himself, at nothing in particular as he thought over what he had just done. Gently, he wiped at the side of his mouth with his finger, pulling it away, a red liquid slowly dribbled down it. He looked at it for a few moments before licking it, the taste almost caused him to moan out with pleasure. He had been out all night and had managed to drink from four more people, one of them being an actual police officer who was out patrolling alone. What a silly mistake. The blood that he had just tasted however, was so far the best tasting one he had had. It tasted like a creamy caramel, and had belonged to a young woman that was on her early morning walk to work that Eddie had had the joy of running into. He hadn't killed her though, in fact he hadn't killed any of them, he had decided that he would happily terrorise the town, but he wasn't going to kill anyone. At least, not after his first unfortunate victim. No, he would leave the killing or what ever for Vecna, for when the guy, or whatever he was, decided to finally take over the town. He did however, come close to killing that last one. It was why he had rushed back as quickly as he did, to stop himself from going back to finish her off. She tasted so damn good! He had only stopped because of a loud nearby crow. It had startled him and he had panicked. Continuing to sit in the same spot, he realised that his constant hunger, had finally died down. Yeah, it was still there slightly. After all, he hadn't completely drained any of his victims, but he knew it would only take one more feed to finally feel satisfied. One feed a day after that should be easy. Well, if what Vecna had said was the truth. Right now though, he needed a break. Having better eyesight and hearing was a little bit overbearing when in a busy area. He was actually grateful that this cabin was quite far from the busy town life, yeah the wildlife could be just as loud, but that was a little more relaxing. Getting up, he headed towards the bed. Star fishing down onto it, he lay there staring at the ceiling before deciding to close his eyes. Yeah he could sleep if he wanted to, but he didn't actually need to, as he never actually felt tired. He gained nothing from it. If anything, it just passed the time quicker. And right now, he wanted it to get dark again, it was easier to hunt that way. Though if his hunger began to grow again, he would have no choice.

"And honestly, the moment that helicopter came down, it was epic!" Mike spoke as he finally finished telling Dustin, Steve, Nancy and Robin about how El had gotten her powers back.

Him, El, Jonathan and Will had all arrived back in Hawkins in the early morning, and after a quick catch up with Mike's parents and a long awaited decent sleep, they had just told the gang they had left behind in Hawkins everything that they had been through. From El leaving to regain her powers, to burying a dead guy in the desert, and finishing with El trying to save Max from a fridge in a surfer boy pizza restaurant.

"She also witnessed what happened to max" Will added a little more subdued, "From a fridge"

"Huh?" Dustin and the others looked at him confused.

"It was in a pizza shop" El shrugged, "How is max?" she asked bluntly. She knew she wasn't in good shape but that didn't stop her hoping something might have changed in her friends condition that she hadn't picked up on yet.

"She...she's still in the hospital" Dustin unfortunately confirmed, "There's been no change"

"And how's Lucus?" Mike asked more seriously now.

"He's not good either" Steve answered, " He spends all of his time at the hospital. I don't know how he's going to cope if the...Well, if the worst happens"

"Lets not think about that" Nancy cut in, "I'm sure she'll be fine once we..."

She stopped. She didn't want to mention that killing Vecna might snap max out of it. She knew that if she did, El would go out on the war path. Though knowing El, she probably already had an idea that would be the case anyways.

"So what's new with you guys?" Jonathan asked, as the room fell silent. He had his hand clasped in Nancy's, much to Steve's disgust.

Steve, Dustin, Nancy and Robin all looked at each awkwardly. They had all made the decision not to mention the Eddie situation until El and the others had settled back in. Luckily, thanks to El witnessing the destruction of Hawkins first hand, they hadn't asked to many questions about that. However, they had noticed the increased police presence, mainly because the vehicle they had arrived in was searched and they knew that that, wouldn't have anything to do with the destruction.

"Yeah what's been happening around town?" Will asked concerned, "I mean other than the obvious..."

"Er...Well..." Dustin began.

"It's complicated..." Robin added.

"We kind of...have a situation" Steve shrugged.

"Something we haven't ever dealt with before..." Nancy finished.

Jonathan, Will, Mike and Eleven all stared at the group intrigued.

"Well?" Mike finally urged them, "What is it?"

"Oh my goodness!" Mrs Wheeler interrupted them as she quickly entered the house carrying a newspaper and looking rather worried. She looked up and saw everyone watching her, "Oh thank heavens all of you are ok!" she sighed with relief as she rushed towards Mike and Nancy and hugged them both tightly.

"Why wouldn't we be mom?" Mike asked confused.

"Oh that's right!" Mrs Wheeler gasped as she pulled away, "You guys have no idea what has been happening here since yesterday. Do you?"

"No..." Mike confirmed looking confused.

Nancy, Steve, Robin and Dustin all looked at each other slightly alarmed. What had happened now to get the woman so worked up? It obviously had something to do with this whole Eddie thing, or she wouldn't have mentioned the events of yesterday.

To answer Mike's question, Mrs Wheeler placed the newspaper down in front of them. They all gathered around to see what the fuss was about, and there, on the front page were the words, 'Blood thirsty thug? Or real life vampire?' Mike began to read out bits and pieces so that the others could hear.

"One man in critical condition and another wounded in what he described as a frenzied attack...He walked in on the attacker drinking the Store clerks blood... hit him with a sign...the attacker then bit into his neck and began to drink his blood...escaped after grabbing food from the counter..." Mike finished and before he could say anything else, his mom interrupted him.

"That's not all, since those two attacks, there has been four more! One was even a police officer! No one is safe" she fretted as she continued to explain the situation to them.

Dustin suddenly felt very sick. Glancing around he could see Robin giving him a pitying look. He quickly looked away only to be met with Steve placing his hand on his shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"I need to go and tell your father!" Mrs Wheeler announced loudly as she finished explaining and grabbed the paper before marching out of the room. She finished with, "I don't think you kids should leave your houses anytime soon! Not until this maniac is caught!"

Once she had gone, Dustin, Nancy, Steve and Robin all felt four pairs of eyes staring them down. This was confirmed when they turned to face the group again.

"So erm...where do you want us to begin?" Steve asked with an awkward smile.

It took them awhile but eventually Dustin and his group finally managed to explain everything that had happened in Hawkins to Mike and his group. They had retreated to the basement so that they wouldn't be overheard by the houses other occupants. Of course, Mike and the others already knew some of the story thanks to El and her powers.

"Wait" Will spoke after they had finished, "So your telling us that some guy that you believed had died, is now back? And not only that, he's now drinking people dry of their blood?"

"And not just any guy, Eddie?" Mike wanted to clarify.

"That's the truth" Dustin confirmed.

"And your sure it's him?" Jonathan asked. He didn't know who this Eddie guy was, but he had come to the conclusion that if he was willing to hurt people, he couldn't have been that good of a person to begin with.

"Fairly. All the evidence adds up" Nancy shrugged.

"We were waiting for the girl in the hospital to wake up, the one that he first attacked that is, to confirm it, but we found the clothes he was wearing in the upside down back near his trailer. Then one of the men that he attacked yesterday, described his attacker as wearing a bandanna. That was the only item of clothing missing" Steve finished.

"That's where El comes in" Dustin added sheepishly, "We wanted to see if she would be able to find him for us..."

"We were going to wait to ask until tomorrow" Robin added quickly, "You know, to give you time to settle in"

"But to be honest, if we wait any longer...he will attack more people..." Dustin finished quietly.

"Is this Eddie, worth saving?" El asked them seriously.

"I believe so!" Dustin almost shouted alarmed, "He's not the kind of person that will just go around attacking people for fun! Especially when you could see how upset and scared he was with what happened to Chrissy! No...someone or something, is forcing him to do this!"

"And if he tries to attack one of us?" Jonathan asked.

"He won't!" Dustin argued.

"I've got a plan for that" Nancy smirked at him.

"You do?" Steve and Robin both looked at her quizzically.

"Yep"

"And if that doesn't work?" Jonathan tried to remain level headed.

"We'll see" Steve shrugged meeting Jonathan's eyes. Jonathan could tell that this was Steve's way of saying he had a plan for that to but he wasn't willing to say it yet in case he upset someone.

"Ok" Jonathan backed down.

"What do you think?" El turned to Mike now.

Mike looked at Dustin who seemed to be pleading with him using facial expressions alone.

"Of course we need to try and help him" Mike sighed, "He was the one that helped us out at the beginning of high school after all. He was one of our first friends there. We owe him"

"Ok" El turned back to everyone accepting his opinion quickly, "I will help you"

"Thank you!" Dustin heaved a sigh of relief and slumped back on his chair.

"So when are you going to try? When it starts getting dark again?" Will asked.

"I'll do it now" El stood up.

Just then a shout distracted them all. After a moment Mrs Wheeler came to the top of the stairs of the basement.

"Did you not hear me?" She asked, "Lucas is on the phone. Hurry up"

They all looked at each other alarmed. There could only be three reasons he would be ringing. One was Max had woken up. Two, was the girl Sarah had woken up. Or three, which was the worst case scenario, Max had taken a turn for the worst and wasn't going to make it.

As it turned out, it was the second scenario. Sarah had woken up. Lucas had explained that she had woken up earlier that morning and that it wouldn't be long before the police would go to question her about her attacker. Hearing this, they all knew he was right and so as soon as they had gathered themselves together, each one of them headed for the hospital. They didn't know what she would tell the police, but if she had recognised Eddie or anything that could incriminate him further, they thought they might be able to persuade her otherwise. Though their first hurdle was getting into the hospital and into her room.

"I'll wait outside" Jonathan offered once there, "Saves us all crowding in"

"Good idea" Steve praised, "I think a few of us should wait outside. The ones that go in first should go and find Lucas first. Then we can probably see Max and hopefully then get to Sarah before the police go. When the first of us come back, then the rest of us should be able to go and see Max"

"Well, who gets to go first?" Mike asked.

"Why can't we all just sneak in?" Robin asked, "I'm sure we can manage it. We've snuck past the police before after all"

"I'm going to see Max now" El stated, "I've waited long enough"

"And I'm going to see Sarah!" Dustin added on.

"Ok, calm down" Steve rolled his eyes.

"Right, me, Steve, Dustin and El will all go first" Nancy took charge, "Sound fair?"

"Does to me" Dustin accepted quickly before beginning to head towards the hospital entrance on his crutches.

El nodded and quickly began to follow him.

"Looks like it's settled" Steve grinned at the retreating duo then back at Nancy, "Let's go!"

"I'm sure your only allowed two visitors at a time" Will spoke quietly, however the others had already left and were out of earshot.

"Knowing them, that won't stop them. Plus we'll have the same issue when we go in" Robin shrugged with a small smile.

Inside the hospital Steve and Nancy snuck past the reception area as El and Dustin checked themselves in for a visit with Max. Once they had gotten the receptionist's blessing, they all headed up to the Floor Lucas had given them. Luckily for them it was the same floor Sarah was on. They stopped outside of Max's room and knocked on the door before entering. The room was quiet accept for the various machines that were hooked up to Max. Lucas sat close beside her holding onto her hand. When he saw the group enter, he stood up to greet them.

"Hey guys" he spoke sounding sombre but wore a smile anyways.

They each greeted him, El, as she headed straight for Max's side and took hold of her friends hand.

"How is she?" She asked directly.

"No changes" Lucas answered as he sat back down in his chair, "They don't even know what's wrong with her"

"I...I couldn't save her" El admitted as she began to well up at the sight of her friends state, "I could only bring her back to life"

"That was you?" Lucas asked surprised and had to resist the urge to wrap her in a tight hug. He didn't think he would let go, "That was more than enough. It means we have hope that she will wake up!"

El closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the machines. Realising what she was doing, the others remained quiet. When she opened her eyes again, she was inside of Max's mind.

"Max!" She began to shout hopefully. She waited for her friend to respond. Hearing nothing and seeing no one she tried again. Once again there was no reply. Frantically, she began to run around in search of her missing friend, shouting the whole time.

Watching El closely from where they stood in the room, Dustin and the others began to see her expression change to one of pure panic.

"What do you thinks going on?" Lucas asked as he stood up full of worry.

"No! No no no no no!" El began to shout as she let Max's hand go and backed up until her back was against the back wall before sliding down it. Tears were streaming down her face and she tried to comprehend what could possibly be wrong with her friend.

"El what's wrong?" Dustin asked as he approached her.

"Are you ok?" Steve asked as he helped her back to her feet.

"What did you see?" Lucas asked anxiously, "Please? I need to know..."

"Guys give her some room" Nancy ordered as she went over and helped to guide El to a chair so that she could sit down, "She'll tell you when she's ready"

They each waited patiently until El had calmed down enough to speak. Finally, she spoke three little words that sent them all into a spin.

"She's not there"

Everyone looked at each other with horror and then at Max. What could she possibly mean?

"What are you saying?" Lucas asked now, clearly freaking out.

"She's...she's not there. Her mind, it's empty. I can't find her" El explained.

"Ok" Steve began trying to sound calmer then he was feeling as he crouched down next to her, "Do you know why?"

El shook her head in response.

"Is it possible that Vecna somehow took her?" Nancy suggested questionably. It was the only idea she could come up with.

"You think that's possible?" Lucas accepted the explanation quickly not caring if she was right or not. He needed something that could keep him sane right now. He stared at El hopefully to see what she would say.

"I...I don't know" El shrugged deflated, "Maybe..."

"Right we need to go and find that bastard, and we need to kill him!" Lucas declared as he made to march out of the room on the war path.

"Whoa there!" Steve stopped him, "Don't you think that if it was that easy, we would have done it by now? Hell we tried! Look where it got us! We need a better plan and we need to be better equipped to try again. Besides, we haven't got anyway of getting to the upside down"

"Well cant El open one? She can kill Vecna easy!" Lucas tried one last ditch attempt to convince them.

"No" El shook her head again as she disagreed, "I don't know how. I don't know if I can. I don't know if I'm strong enough..."

"See" Steve finished his point, "We need more time and a plan, a good plan. Besides, we have another big issue to deal with at the moment"

"And that's Eddie" Nancy finished.

After finishing up in Max's room, Lucas was now showing the others to Sarah's room. Only as they arrived, they saw that her whole room was in chaos. Doctors and nurses were rushing around, machines were going crazy and out in the corridor was a man and woman crying as they tried to comfort each other.

"What's going on?" Nancy asked the couple full of panic. She could clearly tell that these two people were obviously Sarah's parents.

The group looked through the window and were shocked to see the doctors trying to revive Sarah. But the thing that struck them the most, was the fact that the girls eyes were still open, completely white, and bleeding.

"Who are you?" Sarah's mother managed to choke out through sobs.

"We're...we're friends of Sarah's. We went to the same school" Nancy half lied, "What's going on? We heard she had recovered"

"We thought she had" Sarah's dad explained. He was trying to hold back his tears to be strong for his wife in this moment, "But not long ago, they removed her feeding tube. She began to speak... all she managed to say was...was...Eddie...then...then" he began to well up as he tried to explain to them what had happened, "Then she began to wither in pain, she was screaming. Next thing, her eyes...her eyes became white and began to bleed. Then she... then she flat lined"

His wife began to sob louder at them words.

"Do you know an Eddie? Is he also in your school?" The man asked them hopefully, "He might have done this to our daughter"

"N...no" they all lied feeling completely bad for this guy.

"Why are they stopping?" the woman suddenly spoke as she stared through the window, "She's not conscious yet!"

Everyone looked and sure enough, the doctors and nurses were beginning to turn things off with solemn faces. A single nurse began to head for the door.

"Oh no..." Steve's heart sank as he quietly muttered the words. Dustin heard him though and he instantly knew what had happened.

Sure enough, their worse fears were confirmed when the nurse finally reached them.

"I'm so sorry" she spoke sadly, "Sarah didn't make it"

"Hey guys, how did it go?" Will asked casually when he noticed Dustin, Steve, Nancy and Eleven heading back towards the car. Seeing the look on their faces, he grew concerned, "What happened?"

"Er...she, Sarah, didn't make it..." Steve stuttered as he tried to process his words.

"What do you mean? I thought Lucas said she was stable?" Mike now asked.

"I...I don't know how to explain it" Steve shrugged.

Dustin remained quiet as he walked to Steve's car and got into the back. He left the door open as he listened to Nancy and Steve try to explain what they had witnessed. Dustin couldn't bear it, the sounds of Sarah's mother wailing and screaming were haunting him and he knew it would for some time to come.

"So do you think she died because of Eddies attack?" Mike now asked after everyone had fallen silent. He knew it wasn't really a good time to bring it up, but someone had to ask it. They needed to start making a plan so they could put an end to this as soon as possible.

"No!" Dustin suddenly shouted from where he sat, "Eddie may have attacked her, but she was still alive. She woke up. Lucas said she was stable! What ever killed her wasn't Eddie...it has to be something else..."

"How can you be sure?" Mike asked.

"Because..." Dustin began before Lucas ran towards them shouting. He looked like he was in a panic.

"Guys! Guys! I...I just overheard the nurses talking!" He finally reached them and began to catch his breath.

"Take it easy" Steve offered him a supporting hand as he helped the boy stand up straight, "What's got you so worked up?"

"The nurse's" Lucas panted, "They said that...all the victims that were attacked...have just been reported as... deceased..."

"What?!" Everyone exclaimed.

"How?" Robin asked.

"I don't know...But they did mention the same thing happened to their eyes...that happened to Sarah's" Lucas finished quietly still haunted by the image of Max's eyes when Vecna had attacked her, Sarah's were exactly the same.

"Wait..." Nancy got to thinking, "Does that mean the guy that was alright besides a bite to the neck, is also dead?"

"I don't know" Lucas shrugged, "I just heard them say they all died. I didn't even know they were all in this hospital..."

"Well, all but the guy we talked to yesterday" Steve added.

"And we won't even know if he is alive or not..." Robin spoke, "Not until tomorrow's paper, or the news, or gossip around town..."

"There is one thing I'm sure of" Dustin now spoke as he slowly walked towards them on his crutches after getting back out of the car, "Eddie can't be responsible for their deaths. It has to have been..."

"Vecna" Everyone chorused together as they came to the same conclusion.

"We need to find Eddie, and quick" Nancy concluded, "Hopefully he can shed some light on what the hell is going on here"

It was beginning to get dark again when they had all gotten back to Mike and Nancy's. Stood in basement, everyone had made sure that the room was quiet enough for Eleven to concentrate as she tried to locate Eddie. They had found her a cloth to cover her eyes and also turned on the old basement TV for white noise. Dustin handed her the old picture of the Hellfire club that had been in the newspaper.

"He's that one" he pointed Eddie out for her, "Please, try your best..."

Eleven nodded before covering her eyes. Everyone held their breath as they waited, well everyone except Robin who had one last question.

"So...what's happens if it turns out we're wrong and he really is still dead?"

"We'll...cross that bridge when we get to it" Steve shrugged as his mind now went into overdrive over that possibility.

"Shh" El hushed them a little annoyed.

"Sorry..."

After a few moments, El was able to finally lock in on Eddies location. She was stood in what seemed like a forest. Looking around, her eyes locked in on a small abandoned cabin. Looking around further, she couldn't really see anything else that would give away the location. She needed something. She could at least tell the others that this Eddie guy, was in fact alive. But she had no idea where he was. Deciding that her best bet was to enter the cabin, she slowly began to walk towards it. Only, as soon as she reached the door, it opened. Shocked at the suddenness and scared that she had possibly just been caught somehow, she ducked to the side of the door frame. That's when she saw Eddie, he had his hood up and his face was covered, but she knew instantly it was him. Thankfully, he couldn't see her as he walked straight past her and headed into the trees. She had a decision to make, follow him, or look for evidence of his location. Quickly, she decided to follow him. It was a better idea of getting her bearings then looking for clues in an old cabin that might not have any. She almost had to run to keep up with him. He certainly knew where he was and where he was going, there was no doubt there. Eventually the trees began to thin out and once at the edge, Eddie stopped, like he was waiting for something. There was a road in front of him that stretched in either direction, but it gave no indication as to where they were. El took the opportunity to look around, maybe some marking would help. Then finally, she saw a road sign at the side of the road.

"Hawkins, Two miles" She read out loud.

She looked around for anything else that would help her describe the location of the sign. Luckily, there was a patch of white wild flowers planted underneath the sign.

"That should help" she thought before being startled by the sudden approach of a car.

Eddie moved forward as the car drew closer and stood directly in the middle of the road. Watching, El was confused. Until, she saw what happened next. Seeing someone in the middle of the road, the car pulled over to the side. Shutting off its engine, a woman stepped out angrily.

"What the hell are you doing?" she shouted at Eddie.

"Sorry..."El could hear Eddies muffled voice as he moved closer to the woman, "I just need some help"

"What kind of help is worth being run over?" the woman asked sceptically.

"I'm hungry" Eddie answered her bluntly.

"Seriously?" the woman became even more annoyed, but El could see that she was beginning to get uneasy the closer Eddie got to her, "Go home and get food, or buy some!" the woman slowly began to back up to her car again, "I don't have anything..."

"Oh? But you do" El could hear the amusement in Eddie's voice as he ran and slammed the car door before blocking it so that the now scared woman, couldn't get in.

"I'll give you money!" the woman now began to plead as tears began to fall from her eyes with fear, "My purse is in the car...just let me get it!"

"I don't want money"

"What do you want?" The woman asked quietly, "I'll give you anything, just let me go, please..."

El was tortured with the fact that she couldn't do anything to help. Her breathing was becoming more heavy the longer this went on. Her own heart was pounding with frustration. Then she watched in horror as Eddie grabbed the woman by the throat before dragging her screaming into the woods. Once out of sight of the road, El watched with even greater horror as he sank his teeth into the woman's throat.

"No!" El screamed hoping he would hear, "Stop! Stop! Stop it!"

She continued to shout but it was to no avail. Suddenly, she felt herself being shaken, and she quickly pulled off her blind fold to come face to face with everyone's concerned looks fixed on her.

"Are you ok?" Mike asked her, worry was etched onto his face and also in his voice.

"We need to go quickly" El stated as she wiped at her bloody nose and stood up. She tried to make for the door before Mike grabbed her and stopped her.

"Go where?" What did you see?" he asked.

"Do you know where he is? Dustin asked hopefully.

"A Cabin. In the forest. It's two miles from Hawkins, there's white flowers planted underneath" El answered.

Everyone looked at each other as they thought over the information. Finally Steve clicked his fingers.

"I know where she means!"

Thank you for reading and Chapter 6 should be on soon. As always, feel free to review and let me know what you think. Until next time, bye!