The Winnebago pulled to a stop, the tires squealing in protest as Steve kept a foot planted firmly on the brake. As Lily followed the others out of the vehicle, she hopped off the final step onto the grassy earth below, taking in the sight before them.

They were in the middle of nowhere, the RV parked in a field, with nothing surrounding them as far as the eye except for a few surrounding trees. It was quiet, save for the sounds of birds chirping above as they flew by; they were finally alone, safe from any prying eyes of the people of Hawkins.

"Where are we?" Erica asked, looking around at their surroundings.

Steve shrugged. "Not a clue," he said. "Far enough out of town that the only things we should have to worry about running into would be raccoons and the occasional hawk."

"Good enough for me," Nancy said, shouldering the shotgun she'd purchased from the War Zone as she took a seat in the grass. "Alright, now it's time for the plan. Shall we?"

A collective agreement was murmured from the group as a few of them began to sit down around Nancy's spot, save for Steve, Sarah, Lily, and Eddie, who leaned back against the walls of the Winnebago, watching them. Robin brandished a notebook and a pen from her bag, already beginning to take notes of their plan to take down Vecna once and for all.

"So we'll need to split up," Robin said. "One group with Max to keep an eye on her, one group to distract the bats, and one group to go after Vecna. There's twelve of us, so if we all split up into groups of four, that should be good."

"Robin, Steve, Debbie, and I will go after Vecna." Nancy explained. "The gun I bought needs a few adjustments, but once they're done, I won't miss. Coupled with the molotov cocktails they're making, we should hopefully stand a chance at getting in and out in one piece."

"Alright," Robin said, quickly jotting it down. "Now how are we going to distract the bats?"

"I might have an idea for that." Eddie spoke up, and Lily crossed her arms over her chest as she looked over at him. "We just need to make a lot of noise to get their attention away from the house, right?"

"Yeah, that should be enough." Nancy agreed. "Just get them away from the house, and keep them busy for a bit."

Eddie smirked. "In that case, things are going to get pretty metal." he looked over at where Nick sat next to Robin and Dustin. "Is Corroded Coffin's roadie ready to get back to work and help me set up my equipment?"

"Sounds like a plan," Nick agreed.

"I'll join you guys." Dustin offered.

"I'll keep an eye on Max." Lily said. "Someone has to be sure she gets to Kate Bush in time if the plan goes sideways, right?"

"Noted," Robin said, continuing to scribble notes down on the paper.

"No," Max spoke up, causing Lily's heart to plummet down into her stomach as she looked over at her older sister, Robin's pen freezing mid-sentence.

"Max-" Lily began, but Max simply shook her head.

"I'll be fine," she insisted, trying to keep her expression stoic, though a frown remained etched onto her features. "It's just... if things go wrong, I don't want you to see that." she said, her voice quiet as Lily shut her eyes for a moment.

"I don't want to leave you." Lily said, shaking her head.

"Lucas, Sarah, and Erica will be with me." Max assured her. "I won't be alone. Go with Eddie, Nick, and Dustin. They'll need your help with the bats, and we'll just have to trust that things will work out."

Lily looked around at the group for a moment before she nodded, blinking back a tear that threatened to fall. "Okay," she finally conceded.

"We'll protect her," Sarah assured her, and she nodded as Eddie reached down to grab her hand, squeezing it softly.

"Alright then, next up we'll need to get started on the weapons..." Nancy began to explain, but Eddie leaned closer to her, causing her to look over at him.

"You okay?" he whispered, and she nodded, squeezing his hand back softly.

"Yeah," she whispered back. "I'm okay."

"We'll do the spears," Lily could hear Lucas offer.

"And we've got the shields." Nick said.

"Perfect," Nancy said. "In that case, let's get started."

"You go on ahead," Lily offered to Eddie, who'd started walking to join Nick and Dustin, and she glanced over in Sarah's direction, where the girl still leaned against the RV next to them. "I'll be there in a minute."

Lily watched as Eddie nodded, turning to join the others, and she looked back over at Sarah again, who now watched her expectantly with a raised eyebrow. "How do you do it?" she asked, glancing over briefly at where Lucas and Erica had begun dragging the supplies for the spears over to a spot in the grass. "You had a scholarship to NYU, and you gave that up to stick around and work at Family Video. After last summer, you could've gotten out and never returned. You were all set to do the one thing I've wanted since the Fourth of July, and then you just... stayed. Why?"

Sarah nodded in Lucas and Erica's direction with a slight shrug. "Because of them." she said simply. "You said it yourself, Hawkins is dangerous, but I couldn't leave them here alone knowing that danger could still be out there."

Lily followed where Sarah's gaze had briefly moved to where Steve, Robin, and Debbie had begun separating the supplies for the molotov cocktails, her eyes trained on the younger of the Buckley sisters, and the image of the two curled up asleep on the floor of her bedroom that morning flashed in Lily's mind. "I take it they aren't the only ones?"

Sarah's cheeks flushed red as she looked back at Lily, mouth open to respond before she closed it again, looking back in Robin's direction. "Was it that obvious?"

"It's none of my business, truly." Lily assured Sarah. "But have you tried talking to her about it?"

"I don't even know what I'd say." Sarah said, shaking her head. "Sometimes I think I'm catching some sort of signal from her, but then there's a part of me that thinks she's just babbling again and she doesn't really mean it. Steve tells me that I should go for it, but what if I'm wrong? What if she's the wrong girl?"

Lily shook her head, giving her friend a reassuring smile. "I don't think she's the wrong girl."

Sarah smiled for a moment. "Well, what about you?" she asked, looking over at where Eddie, Dustin, and Nick were now working on building the shields, hammering nails into garbage can lids. "Do you still plan on getting out of Hawkins after all this?"

"I always thought it was something I had to do alone." Lily admitted. "But I was wrong. If we survive this, I'm getting out and taking Max with me, as far as we can get. Eddie's always wanted out of Hawkins, too, and with the way this town's been seeing him this past week, I don't know if we have much of a choice. I didn't grow up here, but I'd be lying if I said it hasn't felt like home."

"Sometimes it's not the place, but it's the people." Sarah said understandingly, and Lily nodded.

"Exactly," she agreed.

"Hey, Lily!" Dustin yelled, and Lily looked back over at where they were building the shields. "Are you going to help, or just stand around and chit chat? We're losing daylight!"

"Alright, I'm coming," she said with a slight chuckle, looking back over at Sarah. "I should get over there before I become a practice dummy to see if the shields hold."

"Yeah, I should get over to helping Lucas and Erica, too." Sarah agreed. "But thank you, Lily. For everything."

Lily nodded as the girls parted ways, and she crossed the field to where Eddie now held up a finished shield, testing the weight as he held it up above him, pushing it up into the air. "How's she feeling?" Dustin asked.

"Light, but durable." Eddie said as Lily crouched down next to Nick, in front of the supplies for her own shield to fend off any Demobats that came their way. "Deadly, but reliable." he continued as Dustin began to laugh. "Hear me now," he continued, dramatically holding a hand out in Dustin's direction. "There will be no more retreating! From Eddie the Banished," he said, lowering the shield down to his side as Dustin picked up his own, rising to his feet.

"Hey, you're really ready for bat-tle." Dustin joked, laughing, but Eddie simply stared blankly back at him. "You get it? Bat-tle." he sighed. "B-A-T. No?" he groaned, setting down his shield and taking his eyes off Eddie, who now set his own shield down with a mischievous smirk. "I thought I had a good one."

Dustin looked up to see Eddie lunge forward as he tackled the boy across the field, much to Dustin's surprise. "What are you doing?" the boy asked as Eddie playfully shoved him forward. "You son of a bitch," he groaned as he tackled Eddie in return. "No wedgies, no wedgies!"

The boys continued to wrestle for a moment before Eddie pulled Dustin up, looking down at the boy with a heartwarming smile. "Never change, Dustin Henderson." Eddie said. "Promise me?"

Dustin smiled in return. "I wasn't planning on it."

"Boys," Nick mused with a shake of her head as she finished her own shield, holding it up for Lily to see. "What do we think? Deadly enough?"

"Definitely deadly enough." Lily agreed as she picked up the hammer Eddie had discarded on the ground, making quick work of her own shield as she began to pound the first nail through the metal.

Lily continued to hammer the nails into the shield, using those that remained in the box from the War Zone before holding up her own weapon to inspect it. She'd lost count of how many nails protruded from the garbage can lid, but she could only hope that, given the number of bats they'd seen in their trip to the Upside Down, if she ever needed to use it, it would be enough.

"What do you say, ladies?" Eddie asked, running up to them as he and Dustin frolicked through the field with their own shields. "Should we give these a test drive, see if they work alright?"

Eddie held out a hand, helping each of them to their feet as Lily took off running, closing the distance between her and Dustin as their shields clanged against one another, as if one of Eddie's D&D campaigns had finally come to life. Their adventuring party was finally back together training for combat, though for a moment, she chose to forget that, one misstep that evening, and the consequences would be much more severe.

"Hey!" Dustin yelled, a surprised laugh escaping as he tried to fend Lily off, but she giggled in response as they continued to spar. "Eddie, help me!"

"Every man for themselves, Henderson!" Eddie shouted back as he and Nick joined the fray, the metallic sounds of shields clashing ringing through the field as the garbage can lids collided against one another.

"Oh, come on!" Dustin shouted, and Lily changed trajectory, instead advancing on Eddie, who looked back at her with a challenging grin.

"You sure you want to do this, sweetheart?" he asked, and she smiled, pushing her shield towards him again as he raised his to deflect her hit.

"What, are you scared, Munson?" she asked with a sly grin, causing his eyes to widen as he now advanced towards her, pushing the shields further together as they continued to spar.

"Let's not say things we can't take back now, Mayfield." Eddie teased, though as he went to pull back his shield, one of the nails became embedded in the metal of the opposing foe's lid, keeping the two shields stuck together. "Goddamn it." he said, eyebrows furrowing together in confusion.

"Well that's a problem," Lily mused as Eddie tried to pull his shield back once more, the two weapons still locked in a stalemate, and he giggled, still holding onto the shield as he stepped closer to her.

"It sure is," he said, unable to hide his grin as his eyes flickered down to her lips.

Dustin groaned from behind them. "Oh, great, they're gonna make out again."

"They what?" Debbie's voice rang out from where she now stood with Steve and Robin, watching the sparring as the finished molotov cocktails sat in the grass next to them. "Again?"

"What?" Max asked, looking up from where she and Nancy were studying the sawed-off end to the shotgun.

"Yeah, it was gross." Dustin said.

"Okay hang on," Lily said, holding up a hand to shush the Henderson boy. "We did not make out."

"Well, maybe a little bit." Eddie admitted, Debbie's eyes widening in return.

"Shut up," Lily said, feeling her cheeks begin to heat up.

Eddie simply stuck his tongue out at her in return. "Make me."

"Oh, real mature." she sighed, fighting off a smile as she attempted to hide her face in her free hand that wasn't still holding onto the shield.

"Oh, real mature." he mimicked, reaching up to keep her hand down and away from her face.

"Hold on, when did this happen the first time?" Nick asked.

"Out behind the RV at War Zone," Dustin explained. "It was gross. Just please don't do it in front of me next time?"

"Well nobody asked you to watch the first time, Henderson." Eddie pointed out as Lily sighed, hiding her face in the giggling boy's shoulder. "Oh come on, Mayfield, don't get all shy on me now."

Lily finally removed her face from Eddie's shoulder, looking around at the group that was now staring at the two of them. "Well, now that that's over," she said, "Sinclairs, you need any help with those spears?"