Chapter Text
Max was lying in Lucas’s arms, slowly dying. She wasn’t ready for it, but God wasn’t giving her a choice. Before she completely lost consciousness, the only thing she heard was Lucas begging her to hold on. After that, she lost her hearing too, and her mind went dark.
Suddenly, Max regained consciousness. She had no senses at all, yet she knew something was calling to her—and she knew that whatever was calling her was getting closer with every passing second. Max opened her eyes on a cold surface. Because her senses had only just returned, she felt disoriented and couldn’t immediately remember what had happened. Then the memories came crashing down like an avalanche—Vecna, El, Lucas, her death, and then the call that had pulled her back from it.
Max pushed herself up from the ground, but what she saw froze her blood. She was in a room with rainbow-painted walls, and scattered across the floor were the bodies of children wearing hospital gowns.
She stood up, panicked, staring at the children, then ran out through the door, slamming it shut behind her. Outside were sterilized hospital corridors. Before she could fully process what she had just seen, she heard music playing faintly in the distance.
“Stars shining bright above you…”
Max stopped, listening. She didn’t know how she knew, but she was certain the voice came from whoever had called her here.
“Night breezes seem to whisper, ‘I love you.’”
Max looked toward the room at the end of the corridor where the song was coming from and began to follow the sound.
“Birds singing in the sycamore tree…”
She opened the door and stepped inside, curious about who—or what—had brought her here. But the room was empty except for a white table and a radio sitting on top of it.
“Dream a little dream of me.”
Before the song could finish, the radio shut off on its own.
Max looked around the room, searching for something she might have missed earlier, but she noticed nothing new. She walked over to the table and examined the radio. Written on it in yellow paint over red casing were the words Captain Midnight, along with a picture of an airplane.
Trying to break the nerve-wracking silence, Max muttered aloud, “What a strange radio.”
Suddenly, the radio turned on, jumping rapidly from channel to channel.
“I—am—perfectly—normal.”
Max stared at the radio in shock. “Can you talk?”
The radio didn’t answer right away. After a moment, the channels began switching again.
“Talking—is—not—the—best—choice—of—words—I—prefer—to—say—I—can—communicate.”
Max wondered if she was losing her mind. She was talking—communicating—with a radio. Maybe she really was dead, and this was hell, punishment for Billy’s death.
She stepped away from the radio and started walking toward the door she had entered through, but after only three steps, the radio blasted at full volume.
“What—are—you—doing—are—you—stupid?!”
Startled by the sudden noise, Max froze and turned back toward the radio. Without lowering its volume, it continued:
“If—you—leave—this—safe—area—you’ll—get—caught—by—him—again.”
Max didn’t know who he was, but she had a guess.
“Vecna?” she asked.
The radio lowered its volume.
“Vecna—what?”
For a moment, Max forgot that Vecna was just a name the party had come up with. She quickly tried to explain by describing his appearance.
“The guy with those weird vine-like things all over his body. His real name is Henry Creel. Or 001.”
“Yes—him.”
Max tensed. It probably already knew it was Vecna, but that didn’t make it any less terrifying to know her killer was still out there.
“Where is he right now?”
“Far—away—but—that’s—not—important—he—can’t—reach—us—here.”
Max relaxed slightly, but she was still on edge.
“Okay, but where are we exactly?”
“I told you—this—is—a—safe—area.”
“No, I get that. But I mean… what is the place outside this room?”
“I’m—not—entirely—sure—but—the—outside—is—dangerous.”
Max lowered her head and pinched the bridge of her nose with two fingers. Clearly, the radio didn’t know nearly as much as it sounded like it did. Still, she would find a way back to her friends. She had escaped Vecna once—she could do it again.
Especially now that she had a magical radio that could help her.