Chapter Text
January 16, 1987.
𝐿𝓊𝒸𝒶𝓈 𝒮𝒾𝓃𝒸𝓁𝒶𝒾𝓇
𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒶 𝓌𝑜𝓂𝒶𝓃 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂𝑒𝒹 𝒸𝓇𝒶𝓏𝒾𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒸𝓇𝒶𝓏𝓎. 𝒲𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈
𝒶 𝓌𝒶𝓁𝓀𝑒𝓇. 𝒢𝓊𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉. 𝑀𝒾𝓀𝑒’𝓈 𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓀𝑒𝓃 𝓊𝓅, 𝓌𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒶𝓇𝑒. 𝑀𝒶𝓍 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝒾𝓇𝓈𝓉 𝒶𝓈𝓁𝑒𝑒𝓅
𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓃𝒸𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓃𝓉. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝓊𝓅𝓅𝓁𝒾𝑒𝓈, 𝐼’𝓂 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓇𝒾𝑒𝒹
𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓁𝓀𝑒𝓇𝓈. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝑒 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝓉’𝓈 𝓈𝑜 𝒹𝒶𝓂𝓃 𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓀.
𝒲𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹𝓃’𝓉 𝒷𝑒 𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝑒𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂.
Lucas was leaned against the window, his coily black hair stuck to the frost. Max had her leg on his lap and her legs curled up to her chest.
He begged himself to stay together, it was hard.
His parents and sister are gone now. Either dead or a bundle of walkers. Lucas had a lot of time to replay it over and over during the car ride.
It’d been around four hours, they had yet to come across any town. Hopper made sure to use mostly backroads when they came upon them.
Walkers weren’t much of a problem, their bones froze up in the cold. They shifted to try to chase the vehicles but were unsuccessful. Lucas was glad they left when they did, otherwise the snow would’ve melted and they’d have had worse times.
Every so often an abandoned pile of cars would appear. As Hopper said, every two hours they’d stop. Bathroom breaks and route changes were made. Lucas would help Nancy get gas from abandoned cars. Meanwhile Joyce was behind them with her machete guarding them from walkers. There were never many, as Lucas had said the walkers were pretty frozen.
Now, Lucas was fiddling with the seam of his Hawkins High School hoodie. It had the name of his old basketball team. He’d never liked basketball much, he’d tried to join to get his friends and him spots on the popularity list. If there was one.
The only thing he got was a black eye.
Lucas shifted his gaze towards the front window, past a snoring Harrington. A small speck appeared on the road ahead. It was in the middle of the road and was between two smooth fields of snow.
“Do you–” Lucas began.
“Yeah. I see it.” Said Joyce, she leaned into her walkie. “Hopper, a walker is on the road. Slow up a bit.”
Joyce slowly pressed the break, it was enough for Steve to shift and wake. He gripped his metal bat, with previous road walkers Joyce let Steve take them out. Quick and easy.
But as they got closer, Joyce’s facial expression changed.
“Hopper,” She said into the walkie. “I don’t think that it– that she’s a walker.”
Lucas felt goosebumps ripple across his skin.
“What the hell is she doing all the way out here?” Asked Steve who opened his door to get out.
Lucas followed, he was curious. They weren’t close to the woman at all, they were ways away. Soon almost everyone, minus Holly and the new girl, of course, was having a staredown with the old woman.
“I don’t trust this.” Said Mike. “Is this like the movies– it could be a trap.”
Nancy groaned. “Mike, we are in the middle of nowhere. The closest thing I see is just road, snow, and road.”
Mike threw his hands up.
“She could be infected,” said Lucas, he had his binoculars over his eyes.
The woman was wrinkly and pale. Her hair was grey and dirty. She was wearing a pink dress with an open grey robe and a pair of boots.
“She’s wide eyed, like she’s shocked. She’s breathing real hard.”
Hopper thought for a second.
Nancy did, too.
“How about–” They said at the same time.
“You first.” Said Hopper, Lucas knew Hopper trusted Nancy. The two went on the runs together, it was easy. Whenever someone else offered they shut it down.
Nancy inhaled slowly. “Here's what I think– Hopper, Lucas, and…” she stopped. “She’s walking towards us.”
Everyone turned towards the old lady. She was walking their way, her face was riddled with some sort of rage.
“Hopper, Lucas, Max and Mike go talk to her. Try to see what kind of help she needs.” Nancy said quickly. She grabbed her bow from behind her back, readying it.
Lucas nodded, then looked from Mike to Max.
They walked towards the lady, stopped when they were a few meters from each other. The woman stopped, too.
Lucas could tell how sick she looked now, it didn’t seem like the walker kind. She would’ve turned already, considering the distance she must’ve gone. Her chest went in and out quickly.
She tried to speak, it was raspy. “He sent them. He sent them.”
Lucas looked at Max, she shrugged.
“Ma’am?” Said Max, the old woman snapped her head towards her. Max jumped, Lucas would be lying if he said he didn’t, too. “Are you hurt?”
“He sent them.”
“I– I know. Mind telling us your name?”
“Ruth. My friends call me Ruthy. He calls me Ruth.”
“Are you hurt?” Repeated Mike.
The woman was quiet. She broke out into a coughing fit. Mike moved towards her, trying to put his arms on her shoulders for balance.
She looked at him instantly, something must’ve broken in her mind. She reached for Mike’s throat. Mike yelped as the two flew down onto the road, Lucas reached to pull her off. She was strong. She gripped Mike’s neck hard, and her face was close to his– the warm breath was like smoke in the cold air.
Mike gurgled some unknown words. Lucas was dealing with Ruth’s right arm, Max was on the other side.
“Let go!” Screamed Max.
Lucas heard footsteps from behind him, Nancy had her bow ready. “Move, I need a clear shot!”
Lucas and Max moved away from Ruth, waiting for the shot. It never came, Ruth shot up and sprinted away towards the fields.
“How can an old woman run like that?” Asked Max.
“Mike!” Nancy screamed, Lucas rushed to his side with Nancy.
Max ran after the woman. Lucas felt the blood rush to his head.
“Max!” He screamed, “What are you doing?”
He shot up and chased after them both.
They ended up in the center of the field, the snow was getting slippery.
“Ma’am, come back. Please, we can help!” Max held a hand out for the woman, who had stopped in her tracks.
“Max! She’s not safe–”
“Sh!” Hushed Max. Stubborn Max.
The two were further out than Lucas.
“Max I don’t think this part of the field is–”
Ruth charged, again. Lucas let out a short breath before rushing towards Max.
Ruth got to her first, she threw her body into Max and both of them fell into the ground. Yes, into the ground.
Snow shot up like fallen flour while baking, the ice that was underneath was sharp and pointed. It sank like a ship, going vertical facing the clouds.
Lucas felt his heart skip a beat, he slid onto his stomach. If there was one thing he knew, it wasn’t to put all the weight in one spot.
It didn’t seem too deep, there must not have been a current either. Max was staying in one spot with her head barely over the water and her arms hanging onto the thin breaking ice around her, the woman wasn’t moving at all. In fact, Lucas couldn’t see her anymore, but Max was freaking out. He needed to help her.
“Hah!” Her back was tense.
“Hold on Max!” Lucas yelled.
It seemed the others caught up. Lucas didn’t have time to look, he reached Max and tugged on her. The ice was cracking underneath him. He dragged her out the best he could. Until, he felt a tug. It was Ruth again, God was he hating that woman. She pulled on Max’s leg, attempting to pull her back into the frozen water.
Lucas tugged and tugged, but somehow this mutant woman was too strong. He locked eyes with her, her’s were blown out. Suddenly, Lucas heard a tug and snap. It was Nancy, her arrow impaled the woman's neck.
She ripped the arrow from the body and let it fall into the pond. Quickly she helped Lucas pull out Max. They hurried off the ice before it began cracking again.
“I didn't– I didn't know it was ice.” Lucas stammered. He muttered apologies to Max.
Max was cold, her lips bluish and purple. “Luke– L-Lucas, I was the o-one that chased her. Don’t ap– apologize.”
“No one knew that it was a pond. Hurry, let’s get you inside.” Said Hopper.
They entered the RV, it was warmer. But not warm enough.
“She was insane.” Said Nancy shaking her head. “What was wrong with her?”
Lucas shook his head, no one would know. Perks of being in an apocalypse. Lucas looked to find Mike, he was sitting at his booth again. He was grabbing and massaging his throat, red marks shone in the depleting light.
“Sun is setting.” Said Joyce at the door of the RV. “We were supposed to be at the gas station before it got dark.”
The gas station down the road was their checkpoint. They’d planned to sleep down the road from it and break in in the morning.
“Max is cold. Really cold.”
Her eyes flickered shut every so often, Lucas caressed her face every time. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to let her sleep.
“We don’t have anything warmer, Nancy– you should get her out of those clothes. Robin, could you get the blankets?”
Robin came from the bedroom in the RV, she nodded and headed for a duffle bag. Lucas sat himself down as Nancy helped Max to the bedroom to change her, Max seemed confused. Muttering unheard words to herself.
“Joyce, lead us there. I’ll follow, let’s get there before we can’t see anything.”
The drive wasn’t as long as Lucas exaggerated in his head, they’d parked down the street like they’d said. Joyce and Steve moved from the car to the RV. They’d killed three walkers, that was about it. Though, it didn’t make Lucas feel safer. They’d pulled covers over the windows to block anything from seeing inside. Hopper locked the door and sat in his driver's seat.
“Get some rest everyone. I’ll keep watch.” And obviously, Joyce began arguing with him about taking turns.
Most of the group was on the floor.
Holly took one of the couches Lucas had been sitting on, Jane had sat on the other couch. Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Steve, Robin, and lastly Will were crammed together on the floor. They had blankets everywhere, it was the most uncomfortable Lucas had been since his tap dancing shoes.
Nancy and Max were sleeping in the bed together. Lucas could nearly hear the shivers from Max, he worried for her.
Joyce sat at the booth, she had her head on the table.
“Goodnight, Mike. Dustin. Will.” Said Lucas.
They were in it all together. Previously, Mike and Will had met in Kindergarten. A year later Lucas and Dustin met the two. They’d been inseparable since, Lucas was glad that they were with him. Even when their world was ending.
“Night.” Said Dustin.
“Goodnight, Lucas.” Will muttered.
Mike hummed before shifting over.