"Eddie?" Lily's voice cracked out, silently pleading with him to move, to open his eyes, to do something, anything. "No," her voice faltered, "p-please no." She leaned down to press a small kiss on the top of his head, resting her forehead against his. "I'm sorry," she whimpered, "I'm so sorry."

She held onto him as Nick began to sob, Dustin's screams piercing through the air. However, as she cradled him, her arms still held tight around his chest to hold him to her, she couldn't miss the unmistakable feeling of his chest still rising and falling with short, shallow breaths. Her hand moved to just under his nose, where the breaths were faint, but they were still there.

"He's breathing," Lily said, sitting back up quickly as Dustin and Nick's gazes instantly moved to her. "Oh my god, he's still breathing. Nick help me, grab his feet, we need to get him out of here now."

Nick shot to her feet, grabbing her older brother's legs as the two girls carried him back towards the trailer. Despite still breathing, he was losing blood fast, and they knew they didn't have time to wait for the others to get back from the Creel house.

"How do we get him up?" Nick asked as they laid him down on the mattress, still laying haphazardly on the side of the room from where Eddie had thrown it in his attempt to keep them from following him back to the Upside Down. "He cut the rope."

Lily looked out the window, surveying the trailer park around them as her eyes landed on the Mayfield mobile home, though she couldn't say this version had belonged to them, but to one of the previous owners. However, something propped up against the side caught her attention, and she bolted back outside, crossing the field to reach the place she called her home back in the real world.

Lily's hands grabbed for the ladder, hurriedly grasping it and attempting to drag it back towards the trailer. Across the field, she could hear Dustin shouting at her to hurry up, and she willed her body to move faster, every second bringing them closer and closer to the possibility of saving Eddie.

Dustin held the door open for her, and she dragged the ladder in, propping it up against the gate back to the real world. It was just tall enough to provide access back, without the shifting gravity swallowing it. Nick sat next to Eddie on the mattress as Lily set up the ladder, her ear pressed against his chest to hear his heartbeat.

"He's still breathing." Nick said. "We need to get him out of here now. What's the plan?"

"I'll go back in." Lily said, her eyes moving from the gate back down to Eddie, her stomach lurching at the sight of the blood that stained his face, and pooled in the torn remnants of his Hellfire shirt. "I'll pile up the mattresses, and you send him through. I can catch him."

"Is that going to work?" Dustin asked. "What if we kill him?"

"We don't have a choice." Lily said. "If we don't get him through that gate, he's dying anyway. We have to try."

Lily put her hands on the ladder, climbing up and grabbing the edges of the gate as she neared the top, taking a deep breath and waiting for the gravity to switch. She tried her best to hold on as her legs toppled down from above her, but her sweaty palms were slick, nearly sending her head first onto the trailer floor. She let out a panicked yell as she reached out for the ladder, grasping the top rung and yelping as her arm nearly popped out of its socket.

She let go of the ladder, crouching down as she landed on the floor of the trailer. She ignored the burning feeling in her shoulder, instantly moving the mattress from where she'd flung it aside in her attempt to go after Eddie, and then moved into Nick's bedroom, retrieving her mattress to pile it on top of Eddie's, in an attempt to cushion his fall as much as possible. She climbed back up onto the pile of mattresses, and looked up to the gate, where Nick now stood with Eddie held over her shoulder.

"I've got him," Lily said, encouragingly, and Nick nodded, pushing Eddie up until the gravity of the real world took over, sending him toppling into Lily's outstretched arms.

Lily did her best to catch him, though his weight sent both of them toppling down onto the mattresses, with her cushioning his fall as he lay sprawled against her. She managed to get out from underneath him, muttering apologies to his unconscious form, pulling him off the mattresses and laying him down on Wayne's fold out mattress to allow Nick and Dustin back out of the Upside Down, and she instantly ran back for the Mayfield house.

Lily stormed into the mobile home, moving everything she could off the counter in search of her mother's car keys, barely registering where Susan snored softly on the couch, blissfully unaware of the events her daughters were caught in the middle of that evening. She heard the slight jingle of the metal scraping across the tabletop as she moved their mail, grabbing them and racing back out the door to where the vehicle sat on the gravel driveway.

The engine roared to life, and Lily backed away from the mobile home, closing the distance between her own house and the Munsons' trailer. She brought the car to a stop, throwing the door open and jumping out to where Nick and Dustin had begun to carry Eddie, the younger boy's limp becoming more and more evident with each difficult step.

"Dustin, you get in the car," Lily said, grabbing Eddie's legs from him. "We can take him."

"Dustin, you take shotgun," Nick told the boy, struggling to keep her voice even. "I'll sit back with him. Lily, you drive like hell."

They managed to get Eddie into the backseat, his head resting in Nick's lap, and Lily took her spot back in the driver's seat, hardly waiting for Dustin to shut his door before she slammed on the gas. The engine roared angrily as they sped through the gravel paths of Forest Hills, but she continued to drive, moving onto the main road with her foot planted firmly on the pedal.

They were almost into town when the ground began to feel unsteady, and suddenly it lurched, sending the car spinning. Lily, Dustin, and Nick began to scream as the ground moved from under them, the car coming to a stop dangerously close to a tree, the earthquake rumbling and shaking below them.

"What the hell is going on?" Dustin screamed, and Lily took a deep breath, stepping on the gas again.

She knew she couldn't waste a single second, and she didn't intend to, even with the sinking feeling that something had gone very, very wrong with their friends. While, in the Upside Down they had been no stranger to earthquakes, it was no coincidence that one had managed to find its way up into the real world.

"Something's wrong." Lily said, driving slower than before to account for the moving ground, but still urging the car to push forward as they grew closer and closer to the hospital. In the rearview mirror, her eyes landed on Eddie, still laying limp against Nick. "How's he doing?"

"Hanging in there," Nick said simply as the ground stopped shaking, and Lily slammed on the brakes as they reached the ambulance entry door to the emergency room, throwing the car door open as people in scrubs began to pour out of the building towards the vehicle.

"Please help him," Lily pleaded as a gurney was brought out and the back door to the car was opened. "Please."

She watched helplessly as Eddie was lifted from Nick's arms and onto the gurney, before they rushed him inside, the doors closing behind them and shielding him from her view. Behind her, the sounds of sirens could be heard, along with cars honking as those injured in the earthquake were beginning to arrive.

"Please come with me," she could hear a nurse say, though through the ringing in her ears it sounded as if the woman was underwater, and the three of them followed her inside, Dustin limping behind them. The nurse led them over to a place where they could sit down, and returned with a clipboard and a pen. As she watched the three of them, recognition settled over her face as her eyes met Lily's. "You're Lily Mayfield, aren't you?" she asked, in a calm, reassuring voice.

Lily nodded. "That's me."

"I've seen you all over the news." she said. "Would you mind coming with me for a moment?"

Lily's eyes narrowed in confusion, but she nodded, giving Dustin and Nick one final glance before she followed the nurse out of the waiting room. "Can I ask what this is about?" Lily asked.

The nurse stayed silent, but led her into a room, empty except for a table and a couple of chairs. The door shut behind her, and she took a seat, slumping exhausted into the chair. Although, she wasn't alone for long, as the door opened once more, and Chief Powell came into view, shutting the door behind him.

"Lily Mayfield," he said. "What a relief it is to see you safe."

"Is Eddie okay?" she asked, but he didn't answer, instead crossing the room to the other side of the table.

"Miss Mayfield, I'd like to ask you a few questions." Chief Powell said, taking a seat across from her.

"And I'd like to see Eddie." Lily said with a stony expression, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in her chair.

"Mr. Munson's in surgery right now." he explained. "Once he wakes up, we'll need to speak with him for a bit before he can have visitors. Surely you understand the protocol we must follow with people like him."

"People like him?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowing together.

"Miss Mayfield, did Eddie Munson ever make you do anything you didn't want to do?" Chief Powell moved onto the next question. "Did he ever make you partake in any sort of ritual sacrifice while you were kept with him, or use any sort of drugs?"

"Ritual sacrifice?" she asked incredulously. "I think you've been talking to Jason Carver a little too seriously."

"Did he force you to join Hellfire?" Powell asked, and Lily followed his line of sight to the torn club shirt currently adorning her body, stained with dirt and grime from the Upside Down and crimson streaks of Eddie's blood. "According to Mr. Carver, you and Eddie didn't know each other too well. Wasn't really your kind of crowd."

"Clearly it was Jason who didn't know me too well." Lily said, clenching her hands into fists where they still lay crossed over her chest. "Did it ever cross your mind, Chief, that Jason didn't know what the hell he was talking about?"

"Then you tell me, Miss Mayfield." Chief Powell said. "How is it you got involved with a cult like Hellfire?"

"First of all, Hellfire isn't a cult." Lily explained. "It's a Dungeons and Dragons club. I'm sure you're familiar with the game, it's really popular with the kids these days, not so much with parents. I met Eddie Munson when I moved to Hawkins a year and a half ago. I don't know if you've ever been the new kid in the middle of the semester, Chief Powell, but let's just say it's a little more difficult to make friends that way. Eddie's a good person, a lot more than I can say for most of the students at that school. I knew how to play D and D, and he asked if I wanted to stop by a meeting, the rest was history. If you check last year's yearbook, you can even find me in the club photo."

"So why is it Jason didn't know you were friends with Eddie?" Powell asked.

"My step-brother, Billy Hargrove, was killed in the fire at Starcourt Mall last summer." she said. "I was desperate to get out of Hawkins the second I graduated, knew I needed to do whatever it took to get a scholarship to the farthest institution, but I'm not naive. I know the reputation Dungeons and Dragons might have on a college resume, so I swapped it for the cheer squad and cut ties with anybody holding me back in Hawkins. Do I regret it? Absolutely. But there's nothing I can do to change what I did."

"So was Eddie's anger towards you leaving Hellfire what caused him to take you with him when he went on the run?" Powell asked, causing a new surge of anger to spike through Lily. "Did he take you as payback?"

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"We're just trying to get all the facts here, Miss Mayfield." Chief Powell tried to explain. "Why were you on the boat with Eddie the night Patrick McKinney was murdered?"

"No, you aren't." Lily said adamantly. "It doesn't matter what I say, you'll still keep trying to twist this to make him guilty without looking at the facts, just like Officer Daniels did the morning Chrissy Cunningham's body was found. Eddie Munson did not 'take me,'" she said, using air quotes to punctuate her words before crossing her arms again. "I was never a hostage. I was helping keep him safe."

"So you were aiding and abetting a mu-"

"An innocent man, yes." she cut him off. "The fact is, Eddie Munson is a hero, and he did nothing wrong other than be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The night Patrick McKinney died, I got tangled in a tarp and trapped underwater. Eddie was just as scared as anybody else that night, but instead he chose to save my life. I would've drowned if it weren't for him. The devil might be in Hawkins, Chief Powell, but you didn't bother to look anywhere other than the local freak."

"Then Miss Mayfield," he sighed, "Why was Chrissy Cunningham in Eddie Munson's trailer?"

"The fact is, somebody attacked Eddie and Chrissy, and he escaped." Lily stated. "He ran for his life, and the next day learned that he'd taken the blame and everyone in town was after him for a crime he didn't commit. Tell me, Chief, what would you have done?"

The silence she was met with by Chief Powell was punctuated by the screech of the legs of her chair across the floor as she rose back up to her feet. He made no move to stop her, so she continued for the door.

"I think we're done here." she said, gritting her teeth.

Lily pushed open the door of the room, leaving Chief Powell alone as she found herself back in the hallways of the hospital. Except now, it was completely swarming with people injured in the earthquake, the waiting rooms full of people waiting to be seen, and spilling out into the hallways. She followed the path back towards the waiting room she'd left Nick and Dustin in, fingers crossed behind her back in a silent prayer that, while she was gone, no bad news had come in about Eddie.

As she stepped back into the now-full waiting room, her eyes scanned around desperately until they landed on Dustin and Nick, though they were no longer alone. Steve sat with an arm around Nick, her head laying on his shoulder, and Nancy and Robin both sat to his left. Debbie sat on Dustin's other side, her gaze rising up and meeting Lily's as her expression morphed into something she couldn't quite decipher.

"Lily!" Debbie exclaimed, racing towards her friend and throwing her arms tightly around her. Lily reciprocated the gesture, her chin resting on Debbie's shoulder. "I'm so glad you're alright."

"You guys are okay," Lily breathed shakily, a tear slipping from the corner of her eye. "When the earthquake hit, we thought he might've taken you guys."

"We're okay," Debbie said, pulling back to inspect Lily's face, and Nancy and Robin had followed suit after Debbie, now flanking either side of them.

"Is there any news on Eddie?" Lily asked, her voice growing small as she began to wring her hands together, fearing the news may not be the answer she desperately needed.

"He's still in surgery," Nancy said. "But so far, he's still stable, which is a good sign."

As she watched the three girls, Lily couldn't shake the way they were looking at her, as if she were an eggshell about to crack at any moment. Her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as she looked back at the girls, and even the way Dustin, Steve, and Nick watched her from their seats.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" she asked in a small voice, stepping back and instinctively hugging her arms to her chest. "You said he's stable, and that that's a good thing, why-?" her voice caught in her throat as her eyes moved to the other side of where the girls had previously been sitting, where three chairs were occupied by Lucas, Sarah, and Erica, and as Lucas looked up and Lily made contact with the broken look in his eyes, the missing presence in the room became all too heavy. "No," Lily tried to say, but her voice faltered, feeling as if a pair of hands were resting against her throat, squeezing it shut. She tried to back away from her friends, feeling as if the four walls of the waiting room were closing in on her, but her knees buckled, and the next thing she knew, she was falling.

She sat on the tiled floor of the waiting room, an anguished yell escaping her body. Lily was vaguely aware of someone next to her, holding onto her, but her eyes stayed glued shut, the image of her sister staring back at her. Her Max, who she had a lot of catching up to do with, to figure out all the issues they'd let come between them over the past year. Her baby sister, who she'd sworn to protect since the day she was born. The plan they'd forged together, to make sure she'd be safe once and for all from this town.

But maybe it just hadn't been enough this time.