Fate was kind in offering Eddie a dreamless sleep, but he had a rude awakening when the sound of several frantic voices calling his name jostled him from his slumber. He and Chrissy emerged somewhat sheepishly from under the desk as they realized that Isaac, Steve, Nancy, and Dustin were searching for them.
"And what were we doing under the welcome desk?" asked Steve slyly at the sight of Eddie and Chrissy standing up and squinting at the harsh lobby lights.
"Not what you think we were doing, so get that stupid look off of your face," Eddie snapped with an unamused glare thrown Steve's way. "We have our own room if we wanted to do that."
"Yeah, but you could've wanted to do it here, just for the thrill of maybe getting caught."
"Can you not, please?" said Chrissy, blushing light pink at Steve's suggestion. It was rare that she ever showed embarrassment when one of the Party members mentioned hers and Eddie's sex life, but they had never been caught in such a compromising position before either–not that they had done anything under the desk.
"I'm more interested in how they both managed to sleep at all with all the racket that's been going on in the lobby," said Nancy, coming to their rescue.
"Dog-beat tired," said Eddie with a nod of thanks to her. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was going on eleven twenty, but while everyone else was preparing for bed, he was now wide awake and felt like he ought to contribute to the patrol effort. "I'll go on watch for a while since I've been out of it all day. Any update on Max?"
"Susan and Lucas are with her, but no change," said Isaac.
Eddie hadn't expected any change, though he supposed no news was better than bad news. He tried not to look put out by the update–or lack thereof–and blinked away any sleepiness from his eyes. He fancied getting himself a cup of coffee but realized that he was still holding onto several cups from earlier and hastily excused himself to the bathroom before returning with a steaming cup of joe to find the Party still in discussion, now concerning Chrissy's involvement in patrol.
"I've been pulling shifts just fine without being armed, so why is it now suddenly an issue?" she was asking Dustin who seemed to be absolutely against the notion.
"Because your mom's been blowing up all the local news stations on TV with another steaming pile of shit, but she raises a valid point: if you're pregnant, we need to be setting aside a lot more food for you," said Dustin.
Somehow, Eddie had forgotten that in the midst of accusing Eddie and Isaac of all manner of foul deeds, Mrs. Cunningham had also announced to the entire population of Hawkins that Chrissy was carrying Eddie's child. It was a big reach for anyone who knew Eddie and Chrissy to believe that, but he knew Dustin would want to err on the side of caution. What neither of them had anticipated, though, was Chrissy's reaction to being asked if the allegations were true.
"She made that up. Do I look pregnant?" she asked Dustin icily in a tone Eddie had never heard from her before. His girlfriend was a badass in her own right, even if she didn't bring much to the table in terms of physical prowess. She was kind, intelligent, understanding, empathetic, quirky, and so many other positive things but she had a nonexistent temper–until now. Now, she looked capable of murder, though Eddie knew that anger was directed at her mother's lies instead of Dustin's inquiry.
"I look more pregnant than you with this food baby I've been carrying around after those two overstuffed sandwiches," said Eddie, running a hand over the slight bulge in his stomach.
"The question was for Dustin," said Chrissy shortly.
"No, I mean, you could be and no one would know. There's plenty of women who have had a baby and barely even shown before," said Dustin uncomfortably, looking to Eddie for help, but he had dug this grave himself and Eddie wasn't about to help him out and take sides against his girlfriend.
"You said it yourself that I'm tiny, so if I was sporting a baby bump, don't you think you'd be able to see it? And do you really think Eddie and I would be that irresponsible to have a kid during all of this, or at all, considering our living arrangements and how both of us are fresh out of high school and I'm due to start college in the fall? Do either of us look like the parenting type? Have you ever heard either of us say that we ever wanted to have kids?"
"Yes, no, no, and no," answered Dustin impressively.
"Then that should answer your question. The woman who birthed me is lying through her teeth and you should know better than to trust anything that comes out of her mouth."
"I just had to be sure because it's important for you to get the proper nutrition if you're eating for two–not that you are."
Eddie smacked the bill of Dustin's cap down fondly. "Appreciate it, big guy, but there'll be no Munson or Cunningham Juniors running around, so you can go be Uncle Dustin to some other Party member's kids when the time comes. Maybe you can be first in line to volunteer to babysit the Harrington clan."
"Sounds good to me. You need to start paying up for all the years I've watched your ass, Henderson," said Steve. "You're about four years in debt."
"Babysitting debt aside, I think the question was whether or not Chrissy should be on guard duty and since she's obviously not pregnant and we've all learned our lesson about listening to anything her mother says on TV," Nancy shot Dustin a very pointed look, "then I think it's safe to say that no one can give a reason for her not to go out there if she wants to. We've found her and Eddie, they're safe, they're ready to start their shifts, and all's well. Isn't it?" She added the last bit somewhat threateningly to which Steve and Dustin nodded vigorously.
"She'll be safe with me," Eddie assured them all, though they took it to mean in terms of protecting her against Vecna, not anything remotely related to guard duty. Linking arms with Chrissy, he led her out to where every guard had to check in and receive their assignments and signed the two of them up for the midnight to five rotation along with checking out an MP5K again for himself since his Colt wasn't going to do him many favors if they were set upon by any swarms of UDC's.
Chrissy was already familiarized with how things worked and went to take her place on a stretch of wall overlooking the south side of the lab which opened to the woods some twenty feet beyond the reaches of the parking lot. Eddie bummed a cigarette off of another soldier on duty and joined her with it lit and ready to be inhaled. His gun hung off his shoulder by its strap and he sucked in ash from his cigarette more for the nostalgia than the effect. Camels just didn't taste the same as they once did.
"I thought you quit smoking?" asked Chrissy at the sight of the slug clenched between his teeth.
"I'm having a well-earned relapse after a shitty week."
"Just the one, or do you plan to go back to half a pack a day?"
"Why?"
"Just wondering. You kicked the habit before we officially started dating, so I grew used to the taste of you without the ash."
"I'm sorry, did you just say the taste of me?"
"Yes, and I prefer to make out with you when you don't taste like ash."
"Can I at least finish this cigarette?"
"You can, but I won't be kissing you until you rinse your mouth out."
"Oh, darn."
Eddie brought his lips to Chrissy's forehead and then returned to his smoke until it withered down to a stub which he flicked out over the wall. Below, he could see the vines retreating from the burning heat of the stub in their journey across the forest floor. The surrounding woods looked more wild and unfriendly in the presence of the Upside Down's influence and though Eddie had always dreamed and yearned for something bigger and better than what this small town had to offer, he found that he was angry that this disease had taken over his woods, his Hawkins.
Vecna had declared war on his turf and Eddie wanted to reclaim his town, even if the town was all too willing and eager to cast him out for crimes he hadn't committed. He took it as a personal insult that Vecna wanted to remake the world starting with Hawkins, for though the town had never offered much to Eddie, it was still home, and he did not take kindly to some psychotic former human trying to destroy it.
But Eddie only had fire to fight Vecna with, and even that would not be enough unless he had help in whichever form he could get it. He was just one person with no great talent to speak of unless you counted being an interfering little shit to Vecna's plans as a talent, and not only could he not fight Vecna alone, but he didn't want to fight the demon again. Once had been enough and they had lost two good men in the process. Even if Isaac had now returned, he was still linked to Vecna and there was a very real chance that they would have to kill him to kill Vecna again and by "they", Eddie would liked to have meant the adults, but more and more he was coming to realize that when someone mentioned adults, he was included in that category.
The more he witnessed the hardships that came with being a grown-up, the more he wished he could go back to being a kid who didn't need to make these hard decisions. He wanted people to recognize him as an adult without handing him any of the responsibilities that came along with it.
"What're you thinking about?" asked Chrissy observantly when Eddie had been quiet for too long.
"Kids," said Eddie truthfully. "I understand how Dustin could've thought that you were pregnant because it's not completely unheard of for fresh graduates to be starting families but even if that were the case, it would take me by surprise. How are people my age having children? I am children–or a teenager, at least, like you said. I mean, I'm twenty-one next month and I don't feel like I've grown at all since my first time doing senior year. I don't feel any more capable of taking care of myself than I did when I was fifteen, I don't know what I'm doing or what I'd like to do if the world ever goes back to normal, and I don't know the first thing about adulting. I feel like I've fallen behind somehow because Isaac was already living on his own at nineteen, made a career out of being a pharmacist, and I'm just the mechanic's assistant. I pay some bills and that's about as far as my adult knowledge takes me. I still feel like a kid, like I'm expecting–as Dustin once put it–an adultier adult to make decisions for me."
"I think that doubt is natural and expected for any teenager after they graduate. School is your life for twelve, thirteen years–or fourteen, in your case. Then you graduate and the world just throws you out into the cold saying 'good luck', but you have no idea what you're supposed to do when you haven't even figured things out yet."
"Exactly. What are we doing, you and me? If we weren't bordering on the verge of approaching doom, what would we be doing? I don't see us living our lives as a mechanic and a librarian's assistant forever, but you'll be going to Irving to study American history so at least you've got options with what you can do after college whereas I've got nothing planned. I'm supposed to have a plan by now but I don't have experience or the means to go to college, so my options are limited. They tell us that we should've had it figured out by now. They ask us what we wanna be when we grow up, but now that I am grown up, I don't know and I feel like I missed a deadline. But I'm out here with a deadly weapon in my hands because I'm a legal adult even though half the time I still feel like I'm twelve."
"There's no rush to have it all figured out like society will throw you out if you haven't chosen a career by a certain age. It took my mom forty-five years to decide that she wanted to be the worst human being on the planet, so there's still time to decide what you want to be," said Chrissy only a small grin, as she was actually being quite serious.
Eddie considered her and not for the first time, realized what an incredibly lucky man he was to have found such a woman as her, to be able to claim her as his and proudly tell the world that she was taken. Her flaws were few and far between and nowhere near as troublesome as Eddie's own. She had wisdom beyond her years and such an overflowing amount of empathy and Eddie counted his blessings that he had been very fortunate indeed when he agreed to sell her marijuana all those months ago to end up with this outcome.
"How did you turn out to be such an incredible person, such a damn fine woman after living in a house with the mother of all trolls?" he asked her.
"The same way you did. We didn't want to be anything like our parents, so we did everything we could to make ourselves the complete opposite. But I did turn out like my mom in one way: I don't give up easily when it comes to people trying to take away what's mine and I don't settle for anyone getting the wrong idea about me or the people I love."
"Well, whatever the town thinks of us, they'll have to come around at some point because it can't last forever. In another few months when they see that you haven't popped out a kid, they'll realize your mom was lying."
"They're going to realize that a lot sooner than a few months," said Chrissy determinedly with that fierce, frenzied expression that she got whenever she was about to launch into a passionate tirade about how her mother had wronged her.
Studying her face carefully for a few moments, Eddie asked her forebodingly, "What did you do?"
"I made a few calls and tomorrow morning there'll be a new story making its rounds for the people of Hawkins to eat up," said Chrissy. "I'm going to do damage control after the lies my mom's been feeding them all week. I'm going to set the record straight once and for all on this town's opinions on you, Isaac, and me."
Though her actions were admirable, Eddie had to wonder if now was the appropriate time to be calling for a press conference when Hawkins officially had to start tallying up a body count. Correcting false allegations against Eddie and Isaac was hardly a priority at the moment.
"You don't have to do that," Eddie told her. "You don't have to put yourself out there for my brother and me. If anything, I should be the one addressing the town–"
"The town thinks you and Isaac are the villains here and that I'm a victim. If I willingly go on TV to tell everyone the truth, they'll find it much easier to accept than if you or Isaac got up there to plead your innocence. Do you think they'll believe the accused or the victim? No, I'll be the one doing the interview and I don't want you anywhere near the cameras. I don't want to give them an excuse to tear you down or make you into something you aren't just by getting the wrong angle on you."
"With the people in this town, every angle on me is the wrong angle," muttered Eddie, then, seeing the reprimanding look on Chrissy's face, he half-apologized. "Look, I don't mean to be gloom-and-doom, but one of us needs to be the realist here and it's not gonna be you, so it has to be me. I don't like it, but I'm the one who looks capable of everything I've been accused of and I'm the one who's had a sampling of Vecna and I'm the one he's decided to give a preview to the end of the world to, so it makes sense that I try to accept what might be coming our way."
"When did you get this preview, and why didn't you tell me?" Chrissy bristled.
"What's there to tell? He showed me before, how he planned on killing everyone with the limb snapping and the white eyes. This was just more of the same, just him taunting me again by waving death in my face and telling me I can't stop it, making me a nervous wreck as I just wait for it to happen."
And suddenly, Eddie realized just how powerless he was and how Chrissy refused to see him as such, how she had placed him on this pedestal where he could do no wrong and never fail her, and that her naivety was a very dangerous thing. It was imperative that he make her see the truth for what it was and be prepared for that awful "what-if" where he wasn't able to save her, where Vecna won. She refused to entertain the notion before now, more for his sake than for hers, but he needed her to be open-minded to the possibility of complete and utter failure.
"He's taking everything from me. He knew when to strike, when I had no control over the situation. He already has Isaac and he took Wayne and now Max and…I know you're next. I know he's coming for you next because he can't touch Isaac now. You're all he has left to hurt me with."
"He won't. He's tried already and it's never worked out for him. I know he won't take me because you won't let him."
"You say that like I have any kind of control over what he can do, but I don't. I don't have any powers and I'm not linked to him anymore. I have nothing to protect you with. It's just me, and I want to be enough, but I don't think I can be this time."
"You're more than enough. You've always been more than enough. If Vecna wants to mess with you so badly, it's because there's something about you that poses a threat to him and I'm not just saying that because you're my boyfriend. I'm saying it because I've seen it and I believe it. The people who have gone through the things you've gone through–El, Will, Hopper–they're made up of something different than the rest of us, and whatever that special something is that makes them able to keep coming back despite everything that's been thrown at them, I think you have it too."
"Even if I do, this isn't about me. I'm not the key to taking him down. I'm just the guy he has it out for and that puts everyone I care about in danger. That puts you in danger and I can't lose you, Chris. That's something I just can't do, but I know I'm not enough to protect you. No, listen to me," he said, for Chrissy showed every sign of wanting to interrupt and prove him wrong. "I'm the one person who cares about you more than anyone in this world and Vecna knows that. He knows that taking you from me will break me beyond repair and I'm so fucking scared of losing you. I want to be enough, but I'm not, and I need you to tell me that you understand that. I need to know that you understand that we might not make it through this. And I need you to know that I'm so sorry for all of it."
Placing her hands on her hips in a scary but accurate imitation of her mother, Chrissy said, "What do you have to be sorry about when I was the one to drag you into all of this? If I hadn't gone back to your trailer with you, you'd probably be at the hospital safehouse right now, as confused and scared as everyone else who doesn't know what the Upside Down is. I pulled you into this mess, and you stand there apologizing for what might happen to me? Vecna was always going to come for me; that's nothing new, but I'm in the best possible place I could be with the best people looking out for me. I have Eleven, Isaac, Hopper, two very knowledgeable doctors, a bunch of friends who've proven time and again that they're some of the bravest people alive, and I have you. I'm scared, but I've done everything I can to try and prepare for this and you have too, so what's the point in worrying about what we can't control?"
Because that's what I do. That's what someone with constant anxiety does.
"Please, just tell me you understand, Chrissy," Eddie pleaded.
"I understand, but I also know that you're still trying to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders when you shouldn't have to. That's why we're all here to help you, so why don't you let us? Why won't you let me in when I'm trying to reach you? You can be so selfish with your pain, but once you take on a significant other, you don't get to be stingy like that anymore. You can let me have some of it, you know."
"No, I can't. I don't want you to have to have to carry any of this. There's already three other people sharing the weight of this crap and that's three too many. You keep trying to protect me from it, but you're too late because I called dibs. I got the short end of the stick first, so I'm the partner in this relationship who's gonna carry this to the finish line."
"That's not fair," Chrissy pouted.
"Didn't say it was. But it's my decision."
"Well, your decision sucks."
Eddie was spared trying to think up a retort as the ground gave an enormous shudder that sent the world tilting, throwing Chrissy off balance where she fell to the scaffolding floor. He was not so lucky as he tried to grasp at some of the sandbags acting as battlements but found himself only clutching thin air and then falling through it. He hit the ground on his back and tailbone with his gun sandwiched between him and the forest floor and making for a much more painful landing. He lay where he had fallen, praying that he hadn't broken his back as the ground continued to shake beneath him. Flexing his fingers and toes, he was relieved to find that he still had motor capabilities over all of them and had not been paralyzed during the fall, but that was not to say he hadn't injured himself at all, for he could feel a bruise already swelling up at the base of his spine and his back was in agony from the impact as well as his newly bandaged wounds.
"Eddie, are you okay?"
The air stopped thrumming, the ground grew still, and the storm clouds above stopped interweaving. From what seemed like a mile upward, he saw Chrissy's head pop into view as she scanned the ground below for him. Seeing him lay there unresponsive must have sent her into ultimate panic mode because she shrieked his name again and began to scale the sandbags to jump after him, so he raised an arm to tell her to halt.
"Are you okay?" she asked again.
"No," he groaned. "But I'm alive."
"Don't tell me, he fell over the wall," came Isaac's voice a few seconds later and then his head appeared beside Chrissy's, though he looked unamused as he shined a flashlight down on Eddie.
"Why are you laying down there?" he asked nonchalantly.
"Because it seemed like a good fucking idea," said Eddie bitingly, finally rolling onto his stomach and feeling the ripples of pain going down his back. He pushed himself up onto all fours, then his knees, and was properly surprised that he didn't hear anything cracking or breaking as he stood up.
"D'you want a rope, or are you gonna walk around to the gate?"
"We've got movement ten yards out!" exclaimed the one other soldier who had the run of the south side with Eddie and Chrissy.
Eddie swung his MP5K around into firing position and turned his back to the wall, scanning the treeline for whatever source of movement the soldier had picked up on. He saw it, creeping along low to the ground but not troubling to keep itself hidden. It was just one demodog, but it was the closest Eddie had been to any UDC's since Wayne's death and what Hopper had originally deprived and denied him was now openly accessible to him and he wanted to take full advantage of it. He wanted to fight, wanted blood, and knew it was entirely, one hundred percent him and not Vecna spoiling for a fight right now. He knew it was stupid, but he needed this right now as he had never needed anything. He had to do something to right the wrong of how his uncle had been murdered. Killing one demodog would in no way compensate for what had been done to Wayne and how he had died; it wouldn't bring him back or even the odds or even make a dent in the vast armies of the Upside Down, but the endless visions of the apocalypse on his front doorstep, of the bodies of his loved ones, and of the sneering, goading face of Henry Creel made a pounding recklessness overtake any logic that remained in Eddie's mind.
"Eddie, don't do it," called Isaac, seeing his offensive posture as he marked his target. "Eddie, no."
Eddie, yes, said his brain.
"Eddie, do it," tempted another voice.
So he charged.
It was such an adrenaline rush, to be willingly running toward danger and though half of him was letting out a high-pitched screech of terror, the stronger half was releasing a war cry that drew the demodog's attention. He came within a couple yards of the demodog, planted himself firm, and lifted the end sights on his weapon to his eye, waiting for the lunge. In a few leaps, the demodog made a dive for him with its four sets of lips opening wide and Eddie emptied over half of his clip into the thing's mouth and down its throat in the best proven method of killing its kind. His bullets downed the demodog mid-leap and it crumpled to the ground lifeless, but Eddie was far from done with it.
Taking the machete the doctors had removed from Max's stomach, Eddie hacked away at the demodog's head until it had parted company with the rest of the body. He stabbed it repeatedly in its back in his search for satisfaction, hoping that the bloodlust would be enough to sate him during this frustrating wave of anger, but it wasn't nearly enough. He needed more, he wanted more.
"Edison Munson, you get your ass back over here now!" hollered Isaac.
He knew he ought to, but the temptation to go looking for more UDC's beckoned stronger than Isaac. Surely, the sound of Eddie's gunshots would bring more creatures to the clearing, but in a grossly unfair turn of events, it seemed that the demodog had been a decoy, not a scout, and that an ambush had been set for whoever was a big enough idiot to take the bait.
Eddie was definitely a big enough idiot. Why was he even out here in the first place? He was doing every single thing he had specifically been warned not to do, so what could have driven him to that?
He heard them before he saw them, but hearing them was enough and he ran back toward the wall, but already, he was thinking of how shit out of luck he would be when he got there because he had no way to scale the wall before the UDC's were on him. It was too far to run for the gate, as he only had enough of a head start to make it another couple dozen feet or so before the multiple-legged creatures were on him. He would have to wheel around and spray his gun from side to side in the hope of taking out as many UDC's as possible before he had to reload.
Isaac was climbing over the sandbags, stepping out into space, jumping down to earth, and lifting an HBAR Carbine. Following him to the ground was Eleven, sights set on whatever was snapping at Eddie's heels and Chrissy who had acquired a semi-automatic from somewhere despite the orders to not allow her anywhere near firearms.
Sprinting for the open space between Isaac and Eleven, Eddie stuck his left leg out and slid toward home plate, just passing the two of them as Isaac and Chrissy opened fire and Eleven threw out her hand. More gunfire erupted from above and Eddie could see spitting flashes of light as the soldiers topside mowed down the front line of UDC's.
He heard creatures being ripped in half, having their necks broken, swallowing bullets, and maneuvered his weapon around to add to the gunfire for a few moments before he heard the click meaning his gun was empty and he loaded another clip in before watching Chrissy do the same. He knew for a fact that he hadn't taught her how to handle a semi-automatic, so he probably had Hopper to thank on that front, but he kept her in his peripheral vision as he emptied another clip on the UDC's just in case she suddenly tried to turn her weapon on herself. It seemed that Vecna had sent about as many creatures to entrap Eddie as he had sent to ambush the supply Humvee, for the sound of raining bullets carried on for quite some time until Eleven shouted that she had finished off the last of them.
Isaac threw his Carbine down and turned to Eddie but far from checking him over for injuries in a fuss over whether or not he was okay like a concerned elder brother should, Isaac took Eddie by the jacket and slammed him against the wall, incensed to the point of foaming at the mouth. But he was still quiet as he confronted Eddie, still resorting to an eerie calm rather than blowing his top and it was that calmness that had always been unsettling for Eddie.
"If you're going to continue to make dumbass decisions that jeopardize everyone at this compound, tell me now and I'll have your weapons confiscated and send you inside with the rest of the children. That was pretty fucking stupid, what you just did, and for what? You made me break protocol and put other people in danger by arming myself to save your ass. You put Chrissy in danger by making her steal a weapon to protect you when Vecna easily could have chosen to have her turn that weapon on herself at any moment. You made Eleven use her powers at a time when she needs to be preserving them. You made people go over the wall and put themselves in the line of fire for you. And for what, Edison? Do you not see what an absolutely stupid fucking thing that was to do? So you tell me why you did it. Why the hell would you do something like that?"
"I don't know," said Eddie more as a reaction than a response. Whatever reason he had had moments ago, he couldn't remember it now. It was fucking stupid, so what could have compelled him to put so many lives at risk just to kill a demodog?
"Oh, don't you dare use that excuse with me. You know exactly why you did this."
"But I don't–"
"Bull-fucking-shit."
"I don't know," Eddie insisted. "I swear, I don't know why."
"Yes, you do."
"No."
Eddie turned his face away and closed his eyes, determined to not have to sit through another heart-wrenching vision from Vecna. He did not have the mental capacity to deal with it right now. He just needed it to stop, but it wouldn't, not until he or Vecna were dead. The bastard would keep tormenting him until it drove him insane or it killed him, whichever came first.
"Eddie–"
"Don't touch me!" He kept his eyes glued shut, shoving at the hands he felt trying to grab him again.
"Hey, you–"
"No, fuck off! Fuck off and leave me alone, why can't you? I don't wanna see it! I've seen enough, I know already, just stop and leave me the fuck alone!"
"Stop trying to hit me, I'm not him, dammit."
Eddie opened his eyes to see–normality. Just Isaac watching him, now with concern. Just his brother, not his brother's alternate personality, not the apocalypse, not Vecna. Just under ten seconds of not being able to tell if he was imagining hearing Vecna's voice or if he actually had. It was starting to become interchangeable in his head.
"Jesus, Eddie, how many visions can you have in one day?" asked Isaac as he guessed what had just happened and pieced together what had made Eddie run after the demodog.
The answer was too many. Too many to deal with.
/ /
"Henry knew you would be on the wall, he caused the earthquake, he influenced your mind, and he set the ambush for you," Brenner explained a few hours later after he, Owens, and Hopper had been awoken to discuss what went on during Eddie's turn at patrol duty. Misfortune just seemed to follow Eddie around like a shadow but the doctors were not at all surprised when Isaac relayed the information to them as they sat around a table in the cafeteria. "He knows you too well, and it's put us in a dangerous position. With you having these visions so frequently, we can't afford another close call like what happened this morning, so I'm afraid we're going to have to ban you from patrol. Not from wielding a weapon, but we can't have you in a position of such power. Do you understand?"
"Yeah," said Eddie brokenly.
"Does he understand?" Owens asked Isaac.
"He does, he's just sulking."
"What if I could prove that I've got a grip on things, though?" asked Eddie on sudden inspiration. "What if I showed that I can tell the difference between visits from Vecna and reality?"
"You can't, though," said Eleven. "No one can."
I can. It was at least partially true, as Eddie sometimes knew while he was hallucinating that what he saw before him was real, but he could not prevent the influence these visions had on him. He'd almost shot his brother because of the power they had over him, even if he knew that what he was seeing wasn't happening in that exact moment. He had not been under any sort of visual influence when he charged the demodog, but he had not been completely of his own mind either. He had heard Vecna while Isaac berated him but couldn't be sure that it was his brother or the demon in front of him, which was why he had looked away. It didn't matter if he was infected or not; Vecna had absolute control over how often Eddie had to see these visions and they were starting to interweave with what he knew to be present and true until the line was blurred and he was no longer sure what was real.
But there were other ways he could help pull his weight that didn't involve strolling along the scaffolding at two in the morning with a gun strapped to his back and in all honesty, he wasn't fit for that line of work anyway with all the shit he had going on off the walls. He couldn't afford to risk putting his brother and Chrissy in that situation again where they would have to take up arms to defend him. He very well could have cost them their lives today because he was so susceptible to Vecna's whims and he was disgusted with himself for it. All that talk with Chrissy about doing his best to protect her and he had sailed right into danger without a moment's hesitation because Vecna fed him the idea that he was suddenly a depraved, bloodthirsty mongrel.
"You can go outside armed, but you are not allowed near the gate or on the walls and that is the very best I can do to accommodate you," said Owens. "Is that enough?"
After that little stunt, he was surprised the doctors were allowing him to keep a weapon on his person at all, so Eddie had no room to be complaining. He nodded again and the doctors left him to brood as they gave Hopper instructions to pass onto all soldiers that Eddie was not to be allowed on wall patrol. Feeling like a publicly scolded child, Eddie sat there with his untouched cup of coffee with nothing but shame on his mind as well as the beginnings of two very lame apologies to Isaac and Chrissy.
"There you are," exclaimed the loud and jarring voice of Dustin as he arrived before them looking perky and wide awake despite only getting at most four and a half hours of sleep. "I thought you'd wanna know that there's a convoy of news vehicles pulling up in the parking lot, so you three might wanna duck in cover since I'm pretty sure they're looking for you."
"Just me," said Chrissy, rising up out of her seat. "Don't let anyone from the Party come out, Dustin, and I mean no one. I don't want to give these reporters any other story but the one I specifically gift wrapped for them. And Eddie, stay in here, please."
"You realize how virtually impossible that is for me?" said Eddie, regarding the numerous news vans like they all had personally insulted him.
"They're just a bunch of cameras and notebooks and microphones, not faces, not monsters, and not worth it. They won't hurt me. I'll be fine."
"And you are in no fit state of mind or body to be seen on camera right now, so park it," said Isaac, as Eddie had started to stand up with the intention of escorting Chrissy to the door.
That overbearing protectiveness that Eddie had harbored for her since he had watched her levitate in his trailer would never go away, he was sure, but he had to trust her enough to know when she was confident enough to take care of herself. She had confronted her parents without his intervention and facing these reporters would be no worse, so he was inclined to let her do this without him, however much it left a bitter feeling in his stomach.
"If they get handsy or pushy with you or if I see anything that makes me think you're not completely comfortable with what's going on, I'm coming out to get you," Eddie told her.
She didn't even dignify his comment with a response as she marched herself across the room and out the doors to greet the several news anchors, reporters, and camerapeople who all but mobbed her the second she set foot outside.
Eddie did not realize he was hovering halfway out of his seat, waiting on tenterhooks as he watched the back of Chrissy and Isaac had to pull him back down into his chair, directing him to the TV where Chrissy's interview was already being broadcast live on at least four channels.
"This town likes to believe the first story that's fed to them without bothering to look into the facts," said Chrissy as if she had rehearsed her words beforehand (which Eddie reminded himself she probably had since she had a knack for memorization). "If they did, they'd know that Trisha Cunningham is a compulsive liar who was taken to court because of her treatment of me while I was living in her house. They'd know that Eddie Munson works an honest job as a mechanic at Tucker's Auto Shop. And they'd know better than to trust the words of a disgruntled ex-boyfriend who thought that it was more important at a time like this to be hunting down an innocent man instead of seeking shelter.
I will say this once and once only; I am not a victim of abuse by anyone in this town except for Trisha Cunningham who has violated the terms of the restraining order held against her three times this past week alone. She was given orders to stay away from me and have absolutely no contact with me, but she has harassed me, spread lies about me, and attempted to gaslight me. I removed myself from under her care through court because of the abuse I suffered at her hands and Eddie Munson and his brother Isaac were two of the people who helped me emancipate myself from her. I am alive thanks to the Munson Brothers who made it possible for me to reach this lab in one piece. I would be dead if I had allowed Trisha Cunningham to continue to dictate my life. And for that, she's done her best to humiliate me by going on TV and telling the town that I'm a pregnant whore and that my boyfriend is a deranged, abusive rapist.
You'll find no evidence of any of that no matter where you look, only hearsay. You will find evidence of the abuse I suffered in the Cunningham residence, which should tell you exactly who has been lying this whole time. If you're one of those people who refused to believe the lies, thank you. If you believed those things Trisha Cunningham said about the sort of person Eddie Munson is, shame on you.
The only people who took advantage of me were the ones who once called themselves my parents. Eddie Munson has been nothing but kind and supportive of me through the court case involving Trisha Cunningham and has been working tirelessly to help protect this town. He is innocent of everything he has been accused of and I stand by him. I stand by him and his brother for risking their lives for people who never once cared about them. And before you ask, no, you can't talk to either of them. Until I have proof that no one will come after them and that their names have been cleared of any assault, kidnapping, or rape charges, you aren't getting anywhere near them."
"I love how completely badass your girlfriend is in not taking any shit from anyone, bro," said Isaac proudly as he watched the TV. "Forget historian, she should be running for mayor or go into public speaking because she's got the aptitude for it."
Yes, she did. She had no fear of facing public scrutiny whereas that was one of Eddie's top fears along with pissing himself in public and the dark. Eddie would have gone to pieces, fumbled over his words, cussed himself and a few reporters out, and then walked away in defeat but Chrissy was in her element, advocating for standing up to one's abusers and making it known that this wasn't something to be swept under the rug. She was out there telling a town of hundreds that she was not pregnant, had not been raped, but had been broken down by the woman who was supposed to love her and care for her more than anyone. She was out there praising Eddie and placing him back up on that pedestal and what had he done for her today? He'd almost gotten himself and her killed.
A plus boyfriend material right there.
"I wish I could talk to people like that," said Eleven wistfully. "I wish I could tell them that I'm not a monster and that my powers are helping to protect them, but my dad said I can never tell that many people about what I am."
"Most people can't talk like that in front of an audience, so don't feel bad," Dustin observed. "People with the gift like Chrissy don't come around too often."
No, they don't, Eddie silently agreed as he listened to Chrissy take some questions that more or less caused her to repeat what had already been said. A few minutes of this and it was looking like she was about to close everything down and head back inside when the people at the back of the crowd began to turn around, their attention drawn by something else.
"Oh, goddammit," said Isaac under his breath, squinting at the TV.
"What?" asked Eddie, but a further three seconds and a glance out the doors and he saw quite clearly, what.
He was going to have to have some strong words with whichever wall guards were allowing just anyone to drive up to the gate because Mrs. Cunningham was stomping up through the crowd in the parking lot to get to Chrissy and the reporters were parting to let her through with several cameras pointed her way to capture the action.
"Uncuff me," said Isaac, lifting his wrists to Eddie who dug into his back pocket for the key to the cuffs and unlocked them. Rubbing at the chafing along the wrist of his injured hand, Isaac headed for the doors, saying firmly over his shoulder, "You stay here."
Eddie was already tailing him and growled, "In hell. That's my girlfriend–"
"And she just put herself out there to clear your name. You can't be involved when it's this public. You stay here and let me handle it."
"Handle it how, by killing the cow?"
"Something like that."
"I'm not going to–"
"Yes, you are. Stay here, dammit. Eleven, Dustin, watch him."
Eddie was willing to say to hell with all of it and go storming out after Isaac, but found his way blocked by an invisible barrier and looked back to see Eleven with a tiny drop of blood under her right nostril, preventing him from walking out.
"Your brother said stay," she said somewhat apologetically, and Dustin went to take hold of Eddie's arm just in case, not that that was enough to deter Eddie if he felt desperate enough, but he wasn't quite there yet. He trusted that Isaac had the situation under control, though that probably wasn't the best place to put his trust after his brother's recent string of unpredictability.
He watched Mrs. Cunningham screech at Chrissy, calling her every foul name in the book, and then launch herself at her daughter, grabbing her ponytail and wrenching it sideways. Chrissy never even put up her arms to defend herself. She allowed her mother to approach her and attack to prove just how completely unhinged the woman was, to prove that her mother had lied about everything and that Chrissy, Eddie, and Isaac were victims to those lies. It took a special kind of bravery to allow your abuser to lay hands on you again just to prove a point and Chrissy possessed that courage in such a stunning display that Eddie was both fiercely proud of and terrified for her.
He had to remind himself that this was not just for him, that she was making this sacrifice for herself as well, to help turn the town against Mrs. Cunningham so that Chrissy could finally rid herself of this spiteful woman, but it was exceedingly difficult for Eddie to watch his girlfriend be manhandled and attacked on camera for those fifteen seconds it took Isaac to walk out the doors and reach them.
Isaac strode up to the battling duo and stuck his arms between the two to pry Chrissy free and yanked Mrs. Cunningham away with enough force that the woman fell hard on her rear end on the pavement looking shell-shocked that Isaac had finally followed through on his promise to lay hands on her.
Eddie didn't need to be near the TV to hear Isaac tell the woman loudly but as calmly as ever, "You leave her alone, you hateful bitch. That's the third time I've had to warn you to stay away from her and there will not be a fourth. I will put you right back down on your ass if you touch her again. Say just one word to her. One fucking word." When Mrs. Cunningham could only gape and stutter uselessly and pick herself up since no one offered to help her, Isaac pointed to the gate. "Get out. Get out and don't you dare come back because you'll be turned away at gunpoint if you try. You want to test me on this, be my guest, but I promise you that you'll leave your share of blood on the floor if you try to touch this woman again."
Eddie's insides burned with the injustice of not being there to tell Mrs. Cunningham these things himself. He wanted to be the one to firmly put his foot down and make the ultimate call to tell the bitch to back off. He wanted her to remember the look on his face as he banished her from ever having contact with Chrissy again. That was his right as Chrissy's boyfriend.
The reporters swarmed forward, thrusting their microphones at Isaac as they bombarded him with questions while Mrs. Cunningham stood almost forgotten off to the side. Isaac half-stuffed Chrissy behind him to shield her from the questions while keeping a protective arm wrapped around her.
"Sir, what's your connection to Chrissy Cunningham?"
"You say this is your third time telling Trisha Cunningham to stay away from her daughter, what happened the first two times?"
"Where is Eddie Munson?"
"No comment."
"Sir, why did you intervene?"
"Why didn't any of you?" Isaac snarled. "Thought it would make for good television? People are dying out there but this story is more important? The news needs to be encouraging people to stay safe and vigilant, not highlighting a young woman's connections with her boyfriend and her mother. You want a story? Go interview the survivors of the trailer park and ask them what happened in March. Ask them what Jason Carver did to Eddie Munson in an act of vigilantism that almost cost several kids their lives because Jason couldn't accept that his girlfriend broke up with him. That's the same boy who fed you the story that Eddie Munson is a dangerous man and that's who you're choosing to believe during a crisis like this. Good, honest people aren't looking to have their stories told when dozens of their neighbors and friends are dead or missing. Anyone who comes to you looking for publicity has something to sell and has an ulterior motive."
"And what about you?"
"I'm not selling anything. The advice I gave you doesn't concern me. I'm telling you to do your job and I'm staying out of it. So get back in your news trucks, go to your safehouses, and stay there because this location isn't safe. There are more important things to be worrying about than whether or not Eddie Munson and his brother are dangerous–which they aren't."
Eddie thought the reporters were being a bit dense if not one of them could pick out Isaac as the same person from the high school photo they had shown of him a few days prior. Once they did figure it out, though, there was likely to be a stampede to interrogate him and Eddie didn't trust that the thirty-odd guards out there in the parking lot would be able to hold back the mob if they decided to batter down the doors to get inside the lab and find him.
Isaac was telling the reporters off further, being impressively authoritative, but as Eddie looked back at the lobby TV to watch the scene unfold from a different perspective, he saw that with Isaac's arm still around her, Chrissy's face had gone oddly lax. Her gaze was distant, unfocused, and wide-eyed in terror, her hand balled into a trembling fist at her side.
On screen, Eddie could see Isaac stop mid-sentence and turn his head slowly toward Chrissy as he sensed what was about to happen. The hairs on the back of Eddie's neck stood up and he heard Eleven give a sharp intake of breath as she also felt the evil presence closing in on Chrissy.
