HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1986.

THE LAST PLACE THERESA HAD BEEN expecting to spend her spring break was at the 'War Zone.'

However, her interest was piqued as she walked inside and saw something that caught her eye: weapons.

She observed the other people in the store, the exact kind of people they had been hoping to avoid. Nonetheless, that was not going to stop them.

Tess turned her head to Steve. "Try to find a shirt, yeah? And some shoes."

Steve looked down at his bare feet, giving a nod. "Yeah. On it."

"I'm gonna go look at guns."

He quickly brought his head up, but Theresa was already walking away. Nancy followed up right behind her, wanting to see the guns for herself as well.

"These are real pretty," Nancy muttered, eyeing a few rifles. "Can I see this one?" she asked the man behind the counter, who removed it from the case and handed it over to her.

Theresa folded her arms, studying the weapons. "I want that .22 carbine."

The man raised his eyebrows, but finally gave a nod and retrieved the rifle for her. While Tess examined it, she and Nancy both heard a familiar voice to their right. They exchanged a look, but it was too late; he had already seen them.

"Nancy, Theresa," Jason leaned against the counter, eyeing them with suspicion. "What are you two doing here?"

Theresa swore in her head, looking around the store. She saw them now– letterman jacket-wearing teenage boys all throughout the store. They had to get out of there.

"I'm gonna go pay for this," Tess said to Nancy, her eyes only leaving Jason for a brief moment to give Nancy a signaling look.

She spotted Erica with a shopping cart, hurrying over to her.

"Erica–"

"We need to go," Erica finished with a curt nod of understanding, wheeling the cart around.

Tess turned on her heel and instantly collided with someone, taking a step back with wide eyes.

"Tess?"

Rudy stood there, a hunting knife in his hand and a smile forming on his face. Theresa's grip tightened on the rifle, glancing around to see if any of her group were still there.

"Rudy," Tess gave a curt nod, attempting to walk past him but being stopped by him blocking her way.

"Where you off to in such a hurry?" he questioned, knitting his eyebrows.

Theresa's jaw tightened, holding his gaze. "Same place as everyone else. Gonna go home, lock my doors, and stay safe."

Rudy nodded slowly, slightly laughing. "You know, it's funny you say that, because I went by your place yesterday and you weren't there."

She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. "Why were you at my house?"

He never looked away from her as he stood there, barely an inch between them. Rudy twirled the knife in his hand, turning the tip of the blade into his finger. Tess felt her heartbeat quicken, but she showed no signs of intimidation. She knew she needed to get the hell out of there.

"I was looking for your brother. Well– me and Jason were. We wanted to ask some questions."

Theresa raised an eyebrow, only growing agitated and angry now. She scoffed, glancing to the side.

"About what? About Eddie? Hellfire Club? You think he has anything to do with that, Rudy?"

"I do," Rudy nodded, continuing to give her an eery smile. "And I have probable cause to believe that because your brother– he bolted on us. Seems kind of suspicious to me, don't you think?"

Tess paused, scowling. "No, I don't think that. And what you're not going to do is stand here and accuse my brother of something that has nothing to do with him. Now get out of my way."

She bumped Rudy to the side with aggression, walking past him when he said, "So then what about you?"

Knowing she should have just kept walking, Theresa stopped and reluctantly turned back around. The glare on her face was a dangerous one.

"What about me?"

Reaching in his jacket pocket, Rudy pulled out a piece of paper, unfolding it and taking a few steps toward Tess.

"Care to explain this?"

She recognized the paper, realizing that it was the fake transcript Robin and Nancy had made for her. Theresa's heart skipped a beat, staring at Rudy in disbelief.

"Where the hell did you get that?" her voice was rising, wavering unsteadily.

Rudy smirked. "After I went to your place, I paid the Wheeler's a visit. Didn't find much, but this– this was interesting."

Tess balled a fist at her side, the grip on the rifle in her other hand tightening even more.

"So, what– did you break into the Wheeler's house?" she inquired, furrowing her brow. "What are you gonna do with that, anyway? It proves nothing."

Rudy shrugged. "Yeah, but I'm sure the University of Notre Dame would find it just as interesting as I did. What reason would you have to have a fake transcript, Tess? Is there something you're hiding?"

He had advanced on her, standing over her while Theresa fought the urge not to bring her fist to his face.

"You know, Tess, I was really starting to think we might've had a second chance. We could've just started over–"

"Go to hell."

Rudy laughed her off, peering down at her like she were some foreign creature. "It doesn't have to be this way. Maybe... you do something for me, and I won't send this fake transcript to Notre Dame."

"Hey!"

The two of them looked over, Steve appearing suddenly and coming to Theresa's side.

"The hell are you doing?" he spat, looking Rudy up and down. Steve had spotted the knife in his hand from a distance, and him cornering Tess.

Rudy took a step back, his smirk returning. "Just having a conversation, man."

Steve glared at him a moment longer, placing a hand on Tess's shoulder. "Come on. We need to go."

Theresa shot Rudy one last look, then went to the register to pay for her things and get out of there.

"Think they're gonna follow us?" Steve asked as they hurried out of the store and back to the van.

"They'll definitely try," she muttered in response, opening the RV door and hopping inside.

Eddie's eyes widened, startled by her appearance. "Shit!"

"What's going on?" Lucas questioned.

"Your old friends are here," Theresa curtly explained while Steve got to the front and started the vehicle, pulling off as fast as he could.

Tess climbed into the passenger seat, placing her gun next to her.

"What did Rudy say to you?" Steve asked once they were on the road again, Theresa chewing her lip.

"He found the fake transcript Robin and Nance made for me. I don't know how, but... he was threatening to get me kicked out of school."

Steve's face paled. "Are you serious? Jesus, he's crazy."

Tess raised a shoulder. "Yeah, but... college is kind of the least of my worries right now."

She had already thought about the fact that now that she had a child on the way, Theresa had no idea how she was going to keep going to school. Taking care of a baby while in law school quite frankly seemed impossible.

She sniffled a bit, trying to fill the silence. "Let's try to find a field or something, where no one can see us."

Steve frowned, but finally nodded.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"MOLOTOV COCKTAILS. INTERESTING."

Theresa took a seat in front of Robin and Steve, her rifle and a box of buckshot in her hands. She opened the box and began to load the gun, the other two watching her.

"I meant to ask earlier, but– what exactly do you plan on using that for?" Robin asked.

Tess glanced up. "Better safe than sorry."

Steve eyed her warily, looking down for a moment.

"So you're going with Lucas, Max and Erica. Right?"

Theresa nodded. "Yeah. I think it'd be best if me and Max were in the same place so... you know."

She cocked the gun, standing up once more. Tess seemed to have gone strangely quiet in the past while, Steve noticing that she avoided eye contact with him.

Whatever was about to happen, Theresa knew what her fate was.

Tess slung the strap of the gun over her shoulder, checking the time on her watch. "We need to get going soon. We'll be losing daylight."

She opened the door to the RV and went inside, Steve and Robin exchanging a look. Robin frowned, turning the glass bottle in her hands.

"Do you really think she's gonna d–"

"I don't want to talk about it," Steve cut off, shaking his head. "Not right now."

Robin gave a nod of understanding, looking down. "It's up to us. We've got to be the ones to kill him."

Steve nodded in agreement, stringing a gasoline-soaked cloth through the glass bottle.

"We will."

The door to the RV opened, Theresa looking up to see Eddie entering. He pulled the door shut behind him, looking down at her with an unreadable expression.

"Sinclair. How you doing?"

Tess was sitting at the table, a piece of paper in front of her. She had been writing something.

"I've been better," she answered truthfully, slightly laughing. Eddie slowly walked over, taking a seat across from her at once.

He looked at her for a long time, until Theresa caught him staring.

"What?"

Eddie shook his head, glancing down. "Nothing. I just... do you remember that time that group of jock dudes were pushing me around behind the school?"

Tess pursed her lips. "Which time?"

He raised his eyebrows. Fair point. "The time that you caught them. They were about to cover my ass in three day old lunch and you–" Eddie faltered with a laugh. "You let Mr. Fredericks' classroom snake loose on them."

Theresa grinned, nodding. "Yeah, I remember that. It's funny, 'cause you'd think I would be terrified of snakes. But I've never heard so many high pitched screams."

Eddie laughed once again with her, Tess's smile slowly fading.

"I'm sorry this shit happened to you, Eddie."

He met her eyes, Theresa swallowing a lump in her throat. "Y-You deserved better than this. Even though you annoy the shit out of me, and you're a giant nerd... you were always a good friend to me."

Eddie's eyes softened, a smile growing on his face. He replied, "See, I knew you couldn't hate me."

"Don't ruin it."

He continued to grin, looking down at the sheet of paper in front of Tess.

"What are you writing?"

Theresa looked down, seeming to have forgotten the piece of paper was there. She pulled it away, shaking her head.

"It's– nothing."

Eddie obviously did not buy that, but he let it go. The RV door opened again just then, the others all filing inside.

Tess folded the sheet of paper neatly, placing it in her back pocket as she stood up. It was time for them to get going.

As Steve started up the van and everyone got to their seats, silence and solitude filled the air. No one wanted to speak, trying to prepare themselves for what was about to come. Theresa could still see vivid pictures of what Vecna had shown her, and it absolutely terrified her.

What scared her more than anything was knowing that if she died, she would not be able to protect the people she loved.

Steve came to a rolling stop, Tess looking out of the window to see the old Creel house looking right back at her. It was so uninviting, so ominous. And it might have been the last place she ever saw.

"Hey," Steve said softly, drawing her attention. Theresa turned her head, their eyes locking.

He reached out for her hand, their fingers intertwining. Steve pushed her hair behind her ear with his free hand, caressing the side of her face.

Theresa leaned in, placing a hand on his cheek as she kissed him delicately. Pulling away after a moment, their foreheads rested against one another. She could feel tears welling, knowing that she needed to go before she started sobbing again.

"I love you," Steve whispered, still stroking her cheek. He wiped a tear from her face that involuntarily fell, saying, "Hey, you're too pretty to cry."

She laughed softly, finally letting herself go. Gathering her things, Theresa got out of the RV with Lucas, Erica, and Max.

Looking over at the three, Tess gave a reassuring nod. Her heart was pounding as she faced the big old house, readjusting the rifle on her shoulder.

With one arm around Lucas and another around Erica, she started for the steps of the Creel house.

Notes.
short chapter, and i am here to announce that the next one is going to be the last 😆 can't wait

i'm gonna be sick to my stomach just thinking about what's going to happen... gonna form a prayer circle

everyone take deep breaths though, we're gonna be a-ok! 😁 it's gonna be a very long chapter so you have that to look forward to! i may just post it tonight, who knows... 🤫

gonna have to relive the pain of watching max get vecna'd so i can write the last chapter... i hate it here

i wonder how dinah's doing