In the fourth season of Stranger Things, Max Mayfield is hunted by the powerful leader of the Upside Down, known as Vecna. Being targeted by Vecna created one of the most iconic Stranger Things scenes of all time when Max follows Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” to escape his hold, but it later came at the price of Max’s life. Vecna killed Max in the Season 4 finale when she offered herself up as bait.

However, Eleven uses her powers to resurrect Max after being officially dead for one minute. Max was left with several broken limbs and was blind. As of Season 5, she still resides in a comatose state at the hospital in Hawkins, where the entire town is under quarantine and essentially governed by the military. Though there have been no signs that Max will awaken in the real world, Holly Wheeler’s new friendship with Henry Creel (Vecna’s true identity) has uncovered the truth about Max’s fate and whether she can be brought back for good.

Where Did Max Go When She Was Resurrected?

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After being lured in by Henry’s alter ego, Mr. Whatsit, and attacked by Demogorgon, Holly is taken to the Creel house in one of Henry’s memories. Still believing “Mr. Whatsit” is her friend, Holly is instructed by Henry to stay out of the woods at all costs while he’s gone “rescuing” other children from the monsters. However, Holly finds a letter in the mail signed by Henry to meet her at the caves that are in the woods.

On her new adventure, Holly comes across Max, who has seen better days, judging by her rough appearance. Max befriends Holly and takes her back to her cave, explaining what happened to her. Following her resurrection, Max wakes up in a series of Henry’s memories. The first one was in Hawkins Laboratory after the massacre that killed all the test subjects except for Eleven. The next one was at Hawkins High School in 1969, a time when Joyce Byers, Steve Harrington’s father, and Henry Creel were students. Notably, Henry was in a play that Joyce was handing flyers out for.

Max couldn’t escape Henry’s memories of his childhood, Hawkins Laboratory, or his interactions with her. That is, until she heard Kate Bush’s hit song that helped her escape Vecna in the first place. She finally had an opening to leave Henry’s mind once and for all, seeing a portal to the real world where Lucas was playing Bush’s song on his boombox in the hospital. However, the tape broke at the last minute, closing the portal.

She was chased by Vecna into the current memory, where he plans to hold all his adolescent victims to destroy the real world and merge it with the Upside Down. The only safe place for her to stay was the cave she chose as her sanctuary, as Henry refused to step into it. The cave appears to hold a traumatic memory for Henry for a number of possible reasons. Just one could be that he used it as a hiding spot as a child to escape something or someone, likely a bully or a creature from the Upside Down.

How Holly Gives Max Another Chance at Life

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Before Holly’s arrival, Max had given in to accepting that she was doomed to live in Henry’s memory forever, hiding from him to avoid a terrible fate that involved Vecna using her to help destroy the world. But Holly has given Max hope that they can both escape if they work together. Max promises Holly that she has a plan, but it can only work if Henry doesn’t know that they’ve crossed each other’s paths.

Max doesn’t disclose the details of her plan to Holly, leaving that as one of the larger mysteries to resolve in the final episodes of the series. But seeing how Max has been through nearly every step of Henry’s mind, taking many doors and footpaths through his memories, it wouldn’t be surprising if she knew the exact road leading her back to the real world.

But as of the end of Season 5, Episode 4, Max has another challenge heading her way: Vecna has taken not just Holly, but several other children whom he previously targeted because of their weaknesses. Max may have to embrace her inner Steve to round up all these kids and take them under her wing to stay alive. But the number of victims Vecna has secured could actually work to Max’s benefit: with Holly’s partnership with Max, unbeknownst to Henry, all the kids could work together to overpower Henry, or at least, escape under his nose.

While having a small army of angry children definitely helps, as Stranger Things has shown in the past four seasons, the likely key to defeating Vecna in his own mind might just be the cave. Vecna’s entire operation runs off tormenting people with traumatic memories. It would be deliciously poetic if part of his downfall was caused by Max luring him into his own terrible memory. Hopefully, it means she won’t die again while doing it.

Stranger Things Season 5, Vol. 1 is now streaming on Netflix. Vol. 2 premieres December 25, and the series finale premieres December 31.