Lily wasn't sure when she finally managed to drift off into a restless sleep on her pile of lifejackets and a canoe, but it was only after her eyes shot open that she registered the sound of car doors shutting from up the hill at the house. She looked over to see Eddie already on his feet as he jumped out of his boat, the broken beer bottle clenched tightly in his fist as he rushed over to peer out of the window.

"Shit," Eddie muttered as Lily quickly climbed out of her boat, reaching to pick up the oar Steve had dropped after being threatened by Eddie the night before.

"Who is it?" Lily whispered, stepping hesitantly towards the door, oar held tightly in her hands. If it wasn't a friendly face, she only hoped she could buy Eddie enough time to escape.

"I can't see," Eddie whispered, shaking his head. "Shit."

The door burst open with a loud crash, Lily and Eddie both brandishing their weapons and preparing for the worst as sunlight streamed in through the boathouse, accompanied by a group of more than welcome faces. Dustin was at the head of the group, followed by Nick, Debbie, Steve, Robin, and Max, the former carrying two bags of groceries for the stowaways.

"Delivery service," Dustin greeted with a proud smile, and Lily sighed in disbelief, tossing the oar back onto her canoe.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" Lily asked, bringing a hand up to her face. "Does nobody know how to knock anymore?"

"Well fine, we'll just take our goodies and leave." Dustin said, but Lily reached forward, snatching one of the grocery bags out of his hands.

Inside the bag, she found two boxes of cereal, along with a few bottles of Yoohoo. As Eddie stepped closer to the group, she handed him one of the boxes and a bottle, which he accepted before taking a seat back in his boat. She grabbed the other box, setting the bag with the leftover bottles on the ground as she took a seat on one of the foot stools.

"How'd you sleep?" Debbie asked, taking a seat next to her, and Lily laughed humorlessly.

"How do you think?" she asked sarcastically, opening up her own bottle of Yoohoo and taking a sip of the sweet beverage before opening the box of Honeycomb cereal, Eddie's already torn open as he began to shovel fistfuls into his mouth.

"So we got, uh, some good news and some bad news." Dustin began, taking a seat on the stool next to the boat. "How do you prefer it?"

"Bad news first," Eddie said around a mouthful of cereal, attempting to wash it down with a drink of his beverage. "Always."

"All right," Dustin said, "Bad news: We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you." At his words, Eddie's face fell, his eyes lowering to the ground. "Also they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."

"Like, a hundred percent kind of convinced." Max added, causing Lily to shake her head at their words.

"And the good news?" Eddie asked finally.

"Your name hasn't gone public yet." Robin explained. "But if we found out about you, it's only a matter of time before others do too, and once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."

Eddie's body tensed as the color drained from his face. "Hunt the freak, right?" he spat, his eyes moving back up to Robin.

"Exactly," she said.

"Shit," Eddie murmured.

"So, before that happens, we need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence." Dustin assured him, trying to lighten the mood.

"That's all, Dustin?" Eddie asked incredulously. "That's all?"

"Yeah, no, that's pretty much it." Dustin said.

"Listen, Eddie." Robin spoke up. "I know everything Dustin's saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this kind of thing before. I mean they have, a few times, and I have once."

"You have?" Debbie asked, looking up at her younger sister, but Robin simply nodded.

"Yeah," Robin said, "Why do you think Lily doesn't talk to us anymore?"

At Robin's words, Lily could feel everyone's gazes turn in her direction, and she instantly looked down at the floor, holding tightly onto the box of cereal as a knot began to form in the pit of her stomach, the feeling of Eddie's eyes burning into the top of her head. She missed the confused expression written on the young man's face, nor the looks of pity given by the others, even Nick, if only for a moment.

"And you didn't think to tell your big sister about this?" Debbie asked, eyes moving back up to Robin.

"Well, mine was more human-flesh-based, and theirs was more smoke-related," Robin explained, "but, bottom line is, collectively, I really feel like we've got this."

"Yeah, see, we usually rely on this girl who has superpowers." Steve explained, Debbie's eyes bouncing back and forth between each person speaking, taking in the new information.

"Eleven," Nick added. "Hopper's daughter."

"But, uh, those went bye bye, so, uh..." Steve trailed off.

"So we're technically in more of the, uh..." Robin added.

"Brainstorming phase," Max finished for them.

"Aha," Steve said, snapping his fingers in Max's direction. "Brainstorming."

"There-" Dustin's voice faltered for a moment as he attempted to reassure Eddie. "There's nothing to worry about."

Steve scoffed, his smile wide as the group attempted to reassure Eddie, though the Munson boy wasn't buying it. However, the faint sound of sirens sounded in the distance, growing louder and pulling everyone's gazes over towards the front door, in the direction they were coming from.

"Shit," Steve whispered.

"Tarp," Robin quickly spoke up as the others got up from their seats, though Lily still sat on the foot stool. "Tarp, tarp."

Eddie dove beneath the tarp, hiding inside the boat, and Nick and Dustin instantly jumped over to the nearest window, Debbie, Max, Steve, and Robin joining behind them.

"Are they here?" Debbie asked, attempting to look around Nick to see out the window.

"No, they're just going by." Nick said. "There's a lot of them though, an ambulance too. Something's wrong."

"Come on," Steve said, pulling his car keys from his pocket. "Let's go see what it is."

"Here, take this," Dustin said to Lily and Eddie, setting a walkie talkie on the table closest to the door. "In case of emergencies, if you need to get a hold of us."

"We'll update you guys later as soon as we can." Robin said as soon as the coast was clear, the emergency vehicles long gone and Eddie now reappearing from under the tarp. "For now, stay safe."

Lily stayed in her seat as the door shut behind the others, her eyes still firmly trained on the ground, though she could feel Eddie's gaze on her again as he climbed back out of the small boat, the sound of the moving tarp cutting through the silence that had fallen between the two of them. The box of cereal in her hands was feeling less and less appetizing the longer she stared at it, Robin's words sinking further into the pit of her stomach, and she set it down next to her, wiping the leftover sugar off on the leg of her jeans.

"So you've dealt with this kind of thing before, huh?" Eddie asked, breaking the silence.

Lily nodded. "Once," she said, her eyes moving back up to meet his, allowing him to see her red-rimmed gaze as she crossed her arms over her chest, propping them up on her knees. "You think the mall fire was just a mall fire?"

Lily watched as the confusion on his face melted away into concern, along with a look of understanding. Suddenly, it had occurred to Eddie that what she'd been running from the past seven months wasn't only in her past, wasn't just from him, but something that now threatened their present and future.

"One of these... these things, killed Billy, didn't it?" he asked in a small voice, taking a seat next to her on the step stool Max had been occupying previously, and she nodded.

"They called it the Mind Flayer." she said. "Billy was its host, and everyone who died in the 'fire' was part of it." she used air quotes over the word as she spoke. "When he realized what had happened, he sacrificed himself to save El, and it killed him. Max and I had just enough time to get to him before he-" her voice faltered as a whimper escaped her throat, her eyes shutting tightly as she willed her breathing back to normal. "Before he died."

"That's why you pulled away from everybody." he concluded. "Because of these monsters."

"After that, I knew I couldn't stay in this town any longer than I had to." she explained. "I saw my best shot to get out of Hawkins, and I knew I couldn't risk not taking it." her eyes found their way back to his. "What would you have done?"