Chapter Fifty-Nine: You're On Your Own, Kid

At first, Steve had wanted to protest to Annie's next (and last) stop. He was too worried they'd be too far out of range for Nance and Robin to reach them if they found anything out.

But he never shared his concerns, because the second she asked to go to the cemetery, he knew who she wanted to see next. Dustin and Lucas were a bit confused, but they figured it out, too.

Max guessed this would also be a stop for Annie today. All this end of life planning, it's something Max would've done if she were in Annie's shoes.

Despite the fact that the brunette still held onto Max's hand, the girl didn't look over or confide in her at all. It was obvious Annie wanted someone there, that she needed someone there, but didn't know how to go about it. Max wouldn't be too surprised if Annie didn't know how to process all of this information at once.

Unbeknownst to the redhead, Annie had so much more going on in her mind. The first was the hallucination she had witnessed in her bedroom. It was even more intense, and if everything tracked, that meant the next one was the one.

She also couldn't get the conversation- well, argument with her mom out of her head. Annie had been mentally begging for Vecna to show up again, so Annie could see maybe her mother wasn't such a terrible person. But, she had no such luck. Those being her last words to her mom though? Annie didn't care to change that.

There was also the thought of how she was going to do this stop. As they had gotten closer, Annie pulled out the two envelopes she needed, deciding to leave her backpack. It would just be in the way.

Steve pulled up and parked right below the hill Annie wanted to visit. "I'll be back in like, three minutes, tops," she said, unbuckling and starting to open the door.

When she was fully out of the car, Max went ahead and slid out, too. "Annie, wait," Max said, taking some jogging steps over to Annie. The girl in question stopped and turned to her. "You don't have to be alone, you know."

Annie gave her a small smile. The best she could manage. "I know. I just... need to do this by myself, okay?" Max went to protest, but Annie cut her off. "I'm fine. I promise."

Max wasn't one to push too hard, so she nodded and turned to go back to the car. Annie turned back to her path and went up to the graves.

The Lopez family and the James family decided to bury the girls next to each other. Neither family had any plots or generational gravesites, something Annie's parents did have, so they put the girls together.

Together in death, always. Annie hoped it was nice.

She sat down in front of them, the sun being behind her a bit so it wasn't completely blinding. The headstones weren't as weathered as the others in the cemetery were. There was some dirt on Holly's, though, so she reached forward to wipe it off.

Once it was gone, she retracted her hand and took a deep breath. "Hi," she whispered. Of course, there was no reply. Annie cleared her throat and held the envelopes up. "I... I made these. I have no idea why, but maybe there's some off chance the afterlife does work like the Egyptians thought and you guys can use these somehow."

Carefully, Annie placed each envelope by each girl's headstone. She did it in a way so that their names faced out. Once those were settled, she took another deep breath and looked to her fidgeting hands.

"I... I wanted to write something. But I didn't know what to write. The drawing came a lot easier. That was a good day, and it's something I'd want to hold onto in the afterlife. If there is one. I don't even know if you can hear any of this," Annie said, letting out a sigh as she did.

There were birds out, chirping around the graves. They were calming, and Annie took another breath to recollect her thoughts.

"I miss you guys a lot. High school should have been our time. I mean, with us and Max, we would've been that group of girls. Gossiping and giggling in the halls... sitting at the same table in the same spots at lunch every single day until we graduated. We should've been that. I love Max, and I love having the Party, but... it's different.

"I tried to join the cheer team to create what we should have been and... well, the one friend I made died, too. I'm almost starting to think I'm the problem..."

That was a new thought. Annie hadn't made that sort of connection yet. But she realized it was true. To Annie, it was her fault.

She sniffed and wiped some stray tears away. "Jeez, I was hoping I wouldn't get so emotional right away," she said. "It's just been really hard. And the fact that people like, use your deaths as... as motivation to win fucking basketball games is so... it's not right."

Annie pulled her sweater sleeves down and fidgeted with the ends as a breeze picked up. "I'm in with the school counselor, too. Its my parents way of helping me. But how do I talk to her? How can I talk about you when everyone thinks you died in a fire. Not in a hospital without control over your own self."

Flashes of that night ran through Annie's mind.

The way they tried to kill her. The way the Mind Flayer had taken over their bodies. Annie wanted to know what the last thing they remembered was. Was it getting taken over? Was it the hospital?

She'll never know.

At this point, the tears were non-stop flowing down her cheeks. "I miss you guys so much," she whispered, trying not to start sobbing. She couldn't go back to the car in this kind of state. "I love you guys. I always will."

As she wiped tears from her face, Annie could feel a shift in the air. At first, she thought it was a cloud covering the sun and cooling things off.

But when she removed her hand and opened her eyes, the truth was much more sinister. The whole sky was dark, as if it were suddenly nighttime, and fog filled the cemetery. There was a new chill in the air, as well as an eerie feeling.

What really gave it away, though, is the distant chiming.

She heard footsteps coming toward her, and slowly looked over. "Love? Really? Is that why you left us for dead?"

From the fog, Annie saw two figures appear. She knew who they were almost immediately. "Meghan... Holly..." she breathed, standing up from her place in front of their graves. "I- I don't..."

"You completely ignored us, Annie," Holly chimed in. "We were best friends and you acted as if we didn't exist. It was only a matter of time before someone else found us."

Annie let out a shaky breath. "I-I... I didn't mean to leave you. Had I known-"

"Really? Annie, really? It takes us dying for you to realize how you've changed?" Meghan said, stepping closer than Holly was. "You chose her and yet, you sit here and mourn as if you still cared- as if you ever cared!"

Meghan voice echoed throughout the cemetery. Annie took steps back, matching their steps forward. "I do care! I've always cared!" Annie nearly shouted back, the tears making their grand return to her cheeks.

Annie stopped, feeling the edge of the raised area on her heel. Holly and Meghan got right up in her face, somehow towering over her. "You did," Holly whispered.

"Until she came along and turned you into a freak," Meghan finished.

Shivers dancing down Annie's spine at the word. Something she tried so hard to forget about. She clenched her hands into shaking fists and said, "I'm not a freak. The real Holly and Meghan would say that."

Chiming appeared, sounding distant, but there. A devilish smile appeared on Meghan's face, terrifying Annie. "Are you sure about that?"

She shoved Annie's shoulders, sending her down to the ground below her. When she looked back up, her two friends had been replaced. By Vecna.

"It is time, Annie. Time for you to join me."

Steve looked at his watch, noticing it had been several minutes, and Annie only said one. He shook his head and got out of the car.

"Steve-" Max started.

"No," Steve cut her off, "she's had long enough. I'm not leaving her there alone any longer. She can be pissed at me all she wants." He hurried up the hill, leaving the younger teens looking at each other.

As he made his way up the hill, Steve felt guilt for doing this, but he was too scared. "Annie! Come on, we've gotta go, okay? Let's get outta here," he called out as he got closer. Then, he got right beside her. "Annie?"

Her eyes were rolled back and bright blue, her face twitching every now and then. "Oh, shit. Annie!" Steve yelled. "Annie!"

Max moved from the car, looking to see what was happening up there. When she saw Steve start trying to shake Annie awake, she knew the worst was happening. "Oh my god, Annie!" She went running, Lucas and Dustin following behind quickly.

"Annie! Annie!" Steve yelled, still shaking her.

"What's going on?" Max asked, going into a crouch right beside Steve.

"I-I don't know! I think- she's not responding. Annie!"

They all were yelling, shaking her, trying everything they could to wake her up. Yet she wasn't phased. Steve turned to Dustin. "Get the radio! Go!"

Annie was sprinting through the fog, doing her best to avoid anything jutting out of the ground. Her breaths were coming out fast and panicky. Every few steps, she slightly shifted course and looked back to see if he was following.

Almost every time, he was still there, an imagine just breaking through the fog. So she'd push harder. At this point, her breathing was turning into sobs. This wasn't the end, this wasn't the end, this wasn't the end.

She turned her head and saw a higher wall a few feet in front of her, so Annie changed course to that spot. When she got there, she crouched behind the wall and tried to catch her breath.

Carefully, slowly, Annie peaked around the corner. There he was, menacingly walking toward her, emerging from the fog like a jump-scare.

"You cannot hide from me, Annie. I will find you."

She got up the ground quickly and continued to run. But she was tired, and everything was starting to hurt. At a clearing, she slowed to a stop and looked around.

"Max! Steve! Max, where did you go!? Where are you!?" she screamed into the dark. Her voice echoed around. "Please, Max! Steve, come on!" The tears never got the chance to blur her vision, simply going in streams down her face.

Suddenly, in front of her, the world turned bright red. Annie stopped her screams and her breathing seemed to calm down immensely. It could be a safe place. A way out. With this logic, she walked into the red.

She wandered around, looking at the world she was in. The cemetery slowly went away and she entered a completely new landscape. Jagged rocks pointed from the ground. Blood laid in pools all around her.

Annie looked straight forward and saw a house. It looked as if had exploded, but then froze in time. It was in shambles, and it wasn't something she recognized. So, she kept walking. Her shoes made squelching noises when she stepped in deep pools. Annie didn't her best to ignore it.

Dustin came sprinting back to the group surrounding Annie, her backpack in his hands. When he got there, he kneeled down and dumped out the entirety of the bag.

"Dustin, what the hell is this?" Max asked, looking at all the things littering the ground.

Out of breath, he did his best to answer with what Robin and Nancy had told him. "Robin said if- it's too much to explain right now, what's her favorite song?" he asked, panic the only thing evident in his words.

"What- what does that have to do with anything?" Lucas asked. Steve was still trying to shake Annie awake.

"Just- what's her favorite song!"

They immediately started looking through. Max couldn't think of it off the top of her head, too freaked about the whole situation.

Annie entered the house, going up a few broken down stone stairs. The ticking of the grandfather clock was loudest here, and it rattled around in her brain like a sick game.

Looking around, Annie noticed how many black vines were wrapped around things, and how things were simply floating around her. A front door with a stained glass rose. The grandfather clock.

"What are you doing in here, Annie?" Vecna's deep voice rang out.

Being too busy looking around, Annie didn't see what she stepped on when she heard a crunch. She looked down and saw a few baby spiders crawl out from her lifted shoe. When she moved it completely, hundreds more were crawling around.

Annie gasped and stumbled back as Vecna said, "Come back to me..."

She nearly ran into one of the giant pillars. She turned and looked at it, muffling a scream with her hand when she saw what it was.

Chrissy's mangled body, being held up against the pillar. As if she were a trophy to some twisted game Vecna was playing.

A pillar over, Annie saw Fred's body, in the same broken state, against another pillar.

She refused to be a third.

"What do you think of them?" Annie gasped and turned around. Vecna was a dozen feet away from her, but closing. "Would you like to join them?"

Annie shook her head, her breathing getting heavy again, and turned to run away. Instead, one of the vines from early snapped out and gripped her ankle. Annie fell, bracing her fall, and looked back at it.

"No!" She tried pulling against it, but it instead pulled her back. "NO!"

With the help of more vines, Annie was brought up to a third pillar. The vines captured her legs and arms, wrapping around her and finally, one was added to her her neck.

She couldn't breathe, struggling to take any air in. All she could do was look over to Vecna, who had his head tilted as he moved the vines with his mind.

He came towards her, getting mere centimeters away from her face.

Steve, Dustin, Lucas, and Max shuffled through the dozen cassette tapes on the ground. "What is it? What is it?" Lucas and Dustin would ask every now and then, but Max couldn't think.

It wasn't until she saw it that she realized what it was. It was so obvious. "Here- here! Put it, put it in!" Max cried getting the tape out of the case and handing it to Steve, who had the Walkman in his hands. They loaded it up, Steve hit play, and he placed the headphones over Annie's ears in one fluid motion.

The sudden music snapped Annie into a new kind of focus. Bonnie Tyler's voice echoed around her, Holding Out For A Hero in full swing.

Something else moved off to the side, over Vecna's shoulder, and Annie moved her eyes to try and see what it was. There was now what looked like a portal, and through it she saw a group of people sitting in a cemetery. Her people.

She could suddenly hear their echoing yells as they tried to wake her up. Annie almost felt hope warm her chest.

At least, until Vecna tightened his hold. "They can't help you, Annie. Why else would you hide from them? You belong here... with me..."

She worked through the pain, sucking in enough air to get words out. "You're... not... really... here..." she managed out.

"Oh, but I am. I am." With that, he raised his hand above her face and Annie could feel something within her pulling.

They kept shaking Annie, trying to see if the music was doing anything to help them. It all went sideways when Annie started lifting up, her legs and arms going slack, and her body going nearly fifteen feet into the air.

"Oh my god, Annie!" Max screamed, standing up. The other three boys stood, too, and they all tried yelling for her.

Annie heard their yells. They echoed all over her mind, mixing in with the music that enveloped her.

That's when it hit her. It was in her head. Everything, from the yells and the music, to Vecna and his hold on her. It was in her head. In her control, only if she tried.

Annie squeezed her eyes shut, using all her power to focus in on the music. On movie nights where she'd scream these words while she watched Footloose. The movie nights with her and Steve. How caring he was to her when she came out. How protective he's been from the start, from keeping her away from fights with the parents, to keeping her safe in the junkyard, to the way he ran to her in Starcourt.

She thought about her movie nights with Max and the Party.

All the fun they had teasing Dustin over his duet with Suzie.

How Will had been her best friend for years, and figured out she was falling for Max.

And Dustin, with his sweet smile and dumb jokes that never failed to make her laugh.

Lucas, and how close they had gotten with the sports they play, and how they both just want to fit in.

Even Mike, because despite how cold he could be, he always did little things to show he cared, like make sure his mom got Annie's favorite chips even though she was the only one who ate them.

To Max. Her girlfriend. Her rock. Their dates to the arcade. The days where they laid in bed and dreamed about their future. New Year's Eve, outside her home. How supportive she's been with cheer. How she's always been there, and always will be.

They were her family. Every single one of them.

With tears in her eyes, she snapped her eyelids back and found the strength to pull her hand free from a vine and brought it straight up to Vecna's neck, where she ripped something off.

Clearly, it worked how she wanted. In his pain, his concentration was gone and Annie was freed from his grasp. She fell to the ground but didn't stay long.

Her sights were set on the portal out. The song hit a climax and she felt a burst of energy surge through her and she ran out of the house. She started picking up speed in the barren land.

A rumble caused her to look up, and a giant rock fell and landed just beside her. The impact threw Annie forward and she landed hard on her chest. But nothing was stopping her. She just got back up and continued running.

More and more fell from the sky, some of it making her stumble, but she kept on. The only thoughts in her head were home. Her eyes stayed trained on the opening in front of her.

Steve. Max. Lucas. Dustin. They all stood there, screaming her name, begging for her to live. And she planned on it.

The tears had never stopped, and she was sure they wouldn't, not for days. But she ran. Her lungs ached with her hard breaths. Her whole body yelled at her that it was in pain, but she kept running.

Her end goal was right there. She had to make it.

With one final push and a yell, Annie closed her eyes and prayed.

They opened again as she gasped. She only barely processed the blue sky before she was falling to the ground.

It was a hard landing, but arms were immediately wrapped around her. She recognized them as Steve's.

Finally, the sobs came crashing.

Steve held Annie close, his own tears falling into her hair. "Oh my god... holy shit... oh god, Annie..." he breathed.

Annie opened her eyes and saw Max. She grabbed onto the redhead and pulled her into a hug, one Max didn't think twice about accepting. The girl was also crying, so hard she couldn't get words out.

Dustin and Lucas were right next to them, each having hands somewhere on Annie- her arm, her shoulder- as if convincing themselves she was really here. She had really made it.

"I'm right here. I'm right here," Max whispered, finally composed enough to get words out. Annie only squeezed tighter.

She was alive.

A/n: holy fuck this is a long one- over 3,000 words- and man is it intense. I really want someone out there to make an epic version of Holding Out For A Hero specifically to this scene just so I can listen to it over and over with this running in my mind.

I've read some books where they really only brush past the escaping part of this, so I really hope I did it justice.

See you tomorrow!