No, Munson, it's not safe. Nothing about this whole thing is safe.

( There's no bite to his words. Just years-old exhaustion that's so settled into his bones he doesn't even remember what it's like to live without it. )

But if we play our cards right, we'll be the idiots the thing comes after, not someone else.

( They just need to ditch school for the afternoon, head to the army surplus store downtown, and pray for a miracle. It'll be a lot harder to set a trap at his place than it was the Byers', he thinks. There's too much space to have full control of the situation.

And another thing — )

Uh. Have you ever fired a gun before?