Chapter Seventy-Seven: Vigilante Shit

Steve pulled off at a random field so they could get prepped and ready to fight Vecna. They all talked through a plan and everything, assigning roles almost.

Lucas, Erica, Max, and Annie were going to be at the Creel house on their side. They were the distraction and the next step notifiers.

Dustin and Eddie would be at Eddie's trailer in the Upside Down. They were to distract all the demo bats to keep them from keeping the older teens from completing their task.

Nancy, Robin, and Steve would be at the Creel house in the Upside Down. And their task?

Kill Vecna.

These roles led to them all trying to prep and make their weapons. Max and Annie sat near Nancy and watched her saw the end off the shotgun she purchased. Well, they weren't just observing. They were holding onto the shotgun and the box it sat on, keeping it still for Nancy.

"Are you okay by the way? I'm sorry I didn't speak up at all when that asshole was bothering us, you just... you seemed to handle it well enough. I really just focused stabbing him if he moved the wrong way."

Annie snorted at Max's words. "Don't worry, I picked up on the knife in your hand, ready to get stabby. And he was handled, just freaked me out a bit," Annie admitted.

Nancy's eyebrows scrunched together and she took a second to look over at the girls. "I'm sorry none of us jumped in sooner," she said. Annie had always sort of felt like another little sister to Nancy, and Max had fallen into that category, too.

The brunette shrugged and seemingly brushed it off. "It was fine. He gave me the 'all bark no bite' type pretty quick. Still shook me up, but he also didn't cause a hassle when we were leaving."

Max frowned. "I'm still freaked about how they were all just... there," she said. "Like one minute, we're having fun just throwing shit into the cart, the next we feel surrounded by people who'd want us dead if they knew what we were doing."

Annie nodded along. "Jason... I could see him staring down the back of the RV as we drove off. Now I know there's, like, no way he could know it was us... but it freaked me out," Annie said.

Nancy and Max didn't respond, not knowing how to. Neither of them liked the sound of that. Jason watching them. Knowing where they went, despite the fact that he would have no way of knowing it was them. Both of them knew Annie was smart enough not to be seen through the window.

After a while of it being quiet, Max asked Nancy, "Is this legal?"

"Actually," Nancy started, keeping her eyes on the sawing, "I think it's a felony."

"Right," Max said while Annie let out a short laugh.

"But, it guarantees one thing," Nancy continued.

Annie drew her brows together. "What?"

"I won't miss." As if timed, Nancy pulled the saw away and used it to smack the long barrel of the gun. It came right off, and now they had a sawed-off shotgun. Annie wanted to say at one point or another she heard about how dangerous they were.

And that's exactly what they needed. Dangerous.

Annie took in a deep breath and removed her hands from their steadying position, looking up at the others around her. A smile came to her face as she watched Dustin and Eddie wrestling around. He was the brother Dustin didn't have.

Well, at a time, so was Steve. Annie hoped the two of them still got along, because every now and then she got the jealous vibe from Steve. He had Annie, of course, but he felt so proud to have Dustin look up to him. It honestly made him try a bit harder to be better.

Eddie yelled up to the Sinclair siblings, asking about their spear progress. Lucas gave a thumbs up, but it was followed by some conversation between them. Annie watched Erica drop her own spear and take Lucas's. She figured he needed some help.

Then, Annie turned around and looked back at Robin and Steve. The two of them were sitting on some stuff, their setup the biggest out of all of them. They were replacing the vodka of some bottles with gasoline, then carefully wetting a cloth and sticking it in.

A bomb.

They had all sorts of weapons to use against Vecna. Annie almost felt a surge of hope flood her chest.

But she never allowed herself to get that excited or comfortable. Not when everything could go so wrong so quickly. To Annie, it felt like nothing ever went as planned. Not their summer, not their spring break, so why would this go as planned?

"All right," Nancy mumbled, standing up with the shotgun in hand. Max and Annie followed in suit, and watched as Nancy practiced holding and aiming the weapon.

Annie turned to Max and quietly asked, "You think it'd be helpful if I had something with me? Just in case I can use it against Vecna. I mean, I was able to hurt him the first time. Who's the say I couldn't do worse?"

Max mulled over her words, nodding along with them. "I think you've got a good point. You still got that knife? The one with the pretty handle?"

She nodded. "Yeah, after it was scanned I grabbed it and sort of hid it in the RV. I don't really think Steve'll be a fan, but he can get over it."

The girls smiled at each other. Feeling ambitious and a bit life-or-death, Max leaned forward and kissed Annie. Immediately their eyes closed and they stayed wrapped in the moment for a few more seconds.

When Max pulled away, she slowly opened her eyes and took in Annie's flushed cheeks and slowly opening eyes. "Just in case," she whispered, knowing the question was on Annie's mind.

Annie smiled, but it was sadder than the others. "Well, I can promise that it won't be the last, okay?"

The corner of Max's mouth lifted into a cute half-smile. She didn't say anything else and simply enjoyed looking at the field and what was around them.

Annie looked around once again at the others. Eddie and Dustin were running around, playing real-life Dungeons and Dragons. They were such kids, rolling around and jumping up with their trashcan lid shields. Ones they've modified, having pounded nails through the lid.

Her eyes were drawn to something moving in her peripherals, and Annie moved her attention to Lucas and Erica again. Their spears were finished, and now it looked like they were sort of testing them out, and making sure the knives stayed well attached to the sticks.

The sound of a gun cocking drew Annie's attention right back over to Nancy. "Are you gonna shoot something? Cause that might draw some people," Annie asked.

Nancy put the gun to her side and shook her head. "Just getting well acquainted," she answered as she turned to face the girls. "I'm leaving all of it for Vecna... just have to make sure I'm ready."

Annie nodded. A shotgun was one of the bigger weapons she had seen Nancy with. Well, scratch that. Her mind brought her back to two years ago. Halloween of 1984. When they were all huddle in their circle in the Byers's house- old house- waiting for the demo dogs.

Hopper had given Nancy a shotgun then, Annie remembered. Or at least, a gun that looked like a shotgun if it wasn't one. She didn't know that much about guns, which was probably a good thing.

"Where'd you go?" Annie turned her head to see Max looking at her. The redhead's head was titled a bit and she was looking around Annie's face. "Seems like you kinda disappeared."

Annie shrugged. "Reminiscing, I guess? This just... it feels so final that I can't help but think about everything."

Some worries were starting to creep up, but Annie shook them away for now.

"I get that," Max responded, nodding her head. "But it's a good thing. Means this fight is coming to a close finally."

"Finally." Although, deep down, Annie didn't think that was the 'final' feeling she was getting.

A/n: I hope you guys didn't miss me too much over the weekend. This is just another way to make sure I don't fall behind and stress myself out. However, it seems that this is starting to come to a close! Can't tell if I'm excited or not...

**by the time this chapter is being posted, I have finished the book! y'all are in for such a treat