Chapter Text
Mike was in his basement with his friends, playing out the rest of his campaign. He put on his best dramatic, scary voice. “Do you hear that? Listen… Something is coming. Something hungry for blood.”
He sat behind his monster manual, as he continued with his narration. “A shadow grows on the wall behind you… swallowing you in darkness… it is almost here.” He looks around at his friends, a mischievous glint in his eyes. They’re all excited to be here.
Will asked in a soft voice, “what is it?”
“What if it’s the Demogorgon? We’re in deep shit if it’s the Demogorgon—” Dustin started, spiraling into a panic.
Lucas cut him off. “It’s not the Demogorgon.”
Mike waited for them to stop arguing before he went on with it. “An army of Troglodytes charge into the chamber!” He slammed the miniatures down onto the grid map. “Their tails drum the floor! Boom! Boom! Boom!”
“Troglodytes?!” Dustin exclaimed in surprise.
“Toldja.” Lucas replied smugly.
“Pfff.” Dustin waved him off, dismissively.
His eyes grew wide. “Wait… do you hear that? Boom! Boom! BOOM! That sound, it didn’t come from the Troglodytes. No. It came from something else.” He slammed a different figure on the table. “The Demogorgon!”
His friends stared. It was always funny to see their faces drop when he pulled a twist like this. “We’re in deep shit.” Dustin muttered, holding his head in his hands.
Mike looked at Will. “Will, your action!”
Will swallowed audibly. “I— I don’t know—”
“Fireball him!” Lucas exclaimed.
Will shook his head. “I’d have to roll thirteen or higher.” He was trying to think about this logically.
Dustin agreed with him. “Too risky. Cast a protection spell.”
“Don’t be a wimp! Fireball him!” Lucas shouted again.
“Protection spell—” Dustin started again.
Mike slammed his hands on the table. “The Demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering! It stomps towards you! BOOM!”
“Fireball him, Will!” Lucas yelled.
“Another step! BOOM!”
“Cast protection!”
“It roars in anger—”
“Fireball!” “Protection!” They overlapped again, their argument getting louder by the second. Mike was getting a little tired of it, and he’s sure Will was too.
“And—”
“Protection!” Will yelled out. Mike and Dustin nodded, while Lucas shook his head.
“Right as the Demogorgon is about to strike, Will the Wise casts a protection spell, shielding him from the enemy!”
“Well, great. Now how do we finish this out? Will has to keep up his concentration for the spell.” Lucas grumbled.
Mike was about to say something when the door opened. He saw his mother standing at the top of the steps.
“Mom, we’re in the middle of a campaign.” Mike tried to explain to her, gesturing to the set up.
“You mean the end.” She pointed at her watch. “Fifteen after.”
He ran up the stairs after her, hoping that he could ask for an extension on the campaign. He knew it was pointless, but he still wanted to try. “Just twenty more minutes!”
She sighed. “It’s a school night, Micheal, and I just put Holly to bed. You can finish next weekend.”
“But that’ll ruin the flow!”
“Michael.” She replied, sternly.
“I’m serious, Mom! It took two weeks to plan! How was I supposed to know it’d take ten hours—” Mike started, before his mom cut him off. Uh-oh.
“You’ve been playing ten hours?” Mike gulped. He knew that this was going to bite him in the ass later.
He glanced over at his dad, who was currently attempting to fix the TV by smacking it. The screen was all static. “Dad, don’t you think—”
His father clearly wasn’t even paying attention. “I think you should listen to your mother. Daggum piece of junk!” He yelled as he smacked the television once again. Mike sighed as his shoulders dropped. There was no point in arguing. He’d just have to skulk back down there and tell his friends that they’d finish next week.
He headed over to the basement door, shaking his head at the top of the stairs. His friends frowned and packed up everything. Mike went to wait in his garage to see them out.
Lucas and Will were already in there, about to leave, when Dustin came down the steps. Dustin started talking and eating at the same time. “Something’s wrong with your sister.”
Mike scrunched up his nose at the sight. God, sometimes Dustin could do shit that was really gross. “What are you talking about?”
Dustin shrugged. “She’s got a stick up her butt.”
“It’s because she’s seeing that barf bag, Steve Harrington.” Lucas butted in, and Dustin nodded.
“Yeah, she’s turning into a real jerk.”
Mike rolled his eyes. “She’s always been a real jerk.”
Dustin started climbing onto his bike. “Nu-uh. She used to be cool. Remember when she dressed up as an elf for our Eldertree campaign?”
Mike threw his hands up in the air. “Yeah! Four years ago!” Nancy hadn’t done anything fun in forever. He hated to admit it, but maybe Dustin was right. She used to be a whole lot different, he regrettably realized. He’d never say that out loud, of course.
Dustin shrugged. “Just sayin’.” And then he and Lucas were out of his garage.
Mike had a strange feeling suddenly. That something bad was going to happen to Will if he let him go home by himself. He didn’t understand it, but the thought sent a chill down his spine.
“Thanks, Mike. That was a fun campaign. Can’t wait to finish it next week.” Will smiled at him and got on his bike. The horrible, nagging feeling only grew stronger. Mike bit down on his lip hard, almost enough to draw blood.
He was about to leave. Mike held his hand out. “Just, just wait a second, Will.” Will tilted his head in confusion. “I’m gonna ask my Mom if I can, uh, go with you to your place. Y’know, it’s late, and I, uh,” Mike stammered awkwardly, trying his best to wrap his head around what he was talking about. It was nonsense, complete and utter nonsense, but he felt it down deep. He knew that something was off, he just couldn’t put his finger on it. It was pure paranoia, he was certain, but he wanted to make sure that everything was okay.
Will chuckled. “Okay? I’ll probably be fine, but if it makes you feel better, you can join me on my ride.”
Mike nodded. “Cool. I’ll be right back.” He began, pointing at the door. He then put his hands back out, palms facing Will. “Don’t go anywhere.”
Will nodded, still very confused. “Alright? Cool.”
Mike ran back inside to where his Mom was still in the kitchen, cleaning up all the trash from the basement. “Mom!” He called out to her.
She was startled. “Michael! I told you to go to bed!” She scolded.
“I know, I know, I’ll go to bed soon. But, before that, can I just go with Will to his place? Make sure he gets home safe?”
His mother frowned, clearly thinking about it. He was about to resort to begging, which would have been super embarrassing, but she sighed. “Fine. Just make sure you come right back home, Michael. Promise me that.”
Mike nodded. “I promise. Thanks, Mom!” He ran back to the garage, and saw that Will was still there. He held back a sigh of relief and got on his bike. “Okay, let’s go.”
Mike saw the lightbulb in the garage flicker. He thought nothing of it. That just happened from time to time. They rode out of the garage, their bikes side by side. Normally Mike would make small-talk if he was riding to the Byers’ house with Will, but he was distracted. He kept hearing noises from the woods, kept seeing strange shadows out of the corner of his eyes. You’re just being paranoid, Mike. Nothing’s there. Stop being weird.
Will glanced at him. “Are you okay, Mike? You’re never this quiet.” He sounded concerned.
He shook his head. “I’m alright.” He struggled to think of anything that could break the silence. He didn’t like it. “So, uh, you really did like the campaign?” He asked. D&D was a good topic to go on. It was easy to talk about.
“Yeah. It was really cool. I can’t wait to see what you come up with next.”
Mike smiled at the compliment, ignoring how his cheeks felt warm. He wrote it off as the chilly November air against his skin making him feel cold, and not how much he liked it when Will said stuff like that to him. He knew that he couldn’t feel that way about his best friend. So why couldn’t the thoughts just go away? It would make everything so much easier if he could just shut them down. Right?
He’d grow out of it soon enough. He’ll start feeling that way about girls. He’ll get a girlfriend, and then he can direct all of these feelings towards her. He can be a normal guy. That’s what he wants, isn’t it? To just be normal and boring and live a standard life? It doesn’t sound that appealing to him, but he can probably convince himself that it does.
They made it to Will’s house with minimal issue. Nothing overtly catastrophic happened. Maybe he was just imagining it?Had he started to go crazy?
Mike knocked on the door. Nobody answered. Were they all asleep? He knocked again, louder, and the door swung open. Jonathan was there, looking exceptionally tired. “Mike?” He sounded tired, and rubbed his eyes. “What are you doing here?”
Mike gestured at Will. “Just making sure Will got home okay.” Will joined his brother in the doorway. Mike nodded. “I’m gonna go now, bye Will!” He waved, before Jonathan put a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t even hear him walk towards him.
“Are you sure you want to bike back? I’m sure your mom would understand if we called her and asked if you could stay the night. It’s really dark out.”
Mike shook his head. “I promised her that I’d come right back. Plus, I’ve got a light on my bike.” He pointed at it. He looked back at Will. “I’ll see you tomorrow, alright?”
Will nodded, but still looked slightly concerned. “Yeah. See you tomorrow, Mike.” Will went inside, but his brother lingered.
“Just stay safe, Mike.” Jonathan patted his shoulder.
Mike gave him a slight smile. “It’s Hawkins, what’s the worst that could happen? I’ll see you later, Jonathan.”
Jonathan nodded hesitantly, and walked inside, shutting the door behind him. Mike made his way back to his bike.
Mike rode back home, more nervous than ever. He had turned on his bike light before he left the Byers’ house, having stuck by Will and his light for the ride over, which made his own pointless. If they’d had both on, it would’ve been way too bright.
He tried to keep his cool in front of the two, but now that he was alone, everything seemed to pick up. The rustles grew louder. The shadows drew closer. He could’ve sworn he heard some kind of animal roar.
The light started flickering. Why was it flickering? He started biking faster. Faster. Faster. He went so fast he ended up hitting the asphalt face-first after he crashed into a rock. “Shit!” He yelled as he went down. He sat up straight, putting a hand to his face. Yup. His nose was bleeding. Probably broken. His knees were definitely scraped, he thought, and the glance down to his torn pants confirmed that. Shit! He just got these pants less than a month ago. He could worry about that later, right now he had to get home.
He tried to stand up, pushing through the intense pain. He was so bruised, he could just imagine what his mom’d say to him when he got home. He’s up. He speed-walked to his bike, only to realize that it’s useless. There was a gash in the tire, and it was getting flatter by the second. The light had stopped working. Screw it. He left the bike by the edge of the road. He would’ve done more, but he heard the roar again. So he ran.
He just ran on the side of the road. The roar sounded louder. Closer. Like it was hunting. It was hunting him. He stopped breathing for a second when he realized that. What animal specifically went after people? He didn’t want to think about it. Just keep running. You’ll be safe at home.
He should’ve listened to Jonathan. He should’ve just let him call his mom. She would’ve understood. And even if she didn’t, even if he had come home from school on Monday to the lecture of a lifetime, it would’ve been better than this. Better than getting hunted like prey.
He couldn’t run anymore. But he knew he had to. Even if he was bleeding, even though his legs felt like they were burning up, he had to make it home.
The next roar was so close. He knew it was right behind him. He didn’t want to look. That was something that always led to people being killed in horror movies, and he was determined to not die.
His legs cramped. Holy shit. He was going to die. He tried to rub them down so he could start running again, but it was no use. Whatever it was grabbed him by the shirt.
Screw it. If he was going to die anyway, he at least wanted to know what it was that was going to kill him. He turned around and opened his mouth to scream.
It was horrifying. Indescribable. It clasped a clawed hand over his mouth. Any sound he made would be muffled. He kicked and punched the monster, but it had no reaction.
It carried him off the road and through… something in the woods. Mike didn’t know what it was. All he knew was that it wasn’t good.
Fuck. He kept fighting back even as Hawkins as he knew it vanished.
He knew that he was going to die wherever this creature was taking him. To whatever its lair was. His friends, his family, nobody would know what happened to him. He’d just stay missing forever.
He really should’ve just stayed with the Byers. At least Will made it home safe, he thought, closing his eyes. Even though he was definitely going to die, he was glad that his friend was okay. Maybe this was what he was feeling all night. If it was, then he was glad that he made sure his friend made it home.
Will had been through enough already, with his dad and all. He hadn’t had much experience with Lonnie, but from what he did, he hated him. While he wasn’t thrilled that he was about to stop living, he was glad that it wasn’t Will. He’d be happy to take any pain, any unhappiness, from Will. It was just what friends do.
Wherever this new place was, it was ice cold. Before he could open his eyes, just to see where he’d die, he was dropped to the ground. Hard. His shoulder hurt like hell. He winced and heard footsteps approaching. He opened his eyes, so he could see who, or what, had just walked up to him.
He wrinkled his nose. This… guy, if he could even be called that, certainly looked more human than the thing that dragged him in here. But he was just so ugly. He was covered in vines and, were those tentacles spouting from his back? Was it just all tentacles? “Hmm. It is not who I was searching for, of the two. But he’ll have to do.”
So Mike was right! This ugly guy had been after Will. He got up and ran. He would’ve loved doing something to piss him off, but right now, he just wanted to get away. He’d never felt this much fear before. He was so scared. He didn’t know what he was doing, but this place was definitely Hawkins. It was just blue and cold. He could still find his way home.
Even though he didn’t know how it would happen, he hoped that someone would come find him. He really didn’t want to die in weirdo-Hawkins. He’d been expecting it to happen instantly, but since it didn’t, he had to hope that there was still a chance for him to make it out alive.
He made it to his street, glancing behind him every few seconds to check that the weirdo wasn’t behind him. The guy hadn’t moved. He didn’t want to think about that. He just ran to his house. He’d go to the basement and wait for someone to find him.
Someone had to come searching for him. They just had to. There was no way they’d just leave him.
He wiped his nose with his sleeve. He’d make sure to get out of here in one piece. He’d make sure that he’ll live to see his friends again. That he’ll live to see Will again. He had to. Even though he was bleeding and bruised, he was going to tough it out. He was determined to live. He wasn’t going to be killed by that guy. He slipped through the back door and made a little tent in the basement with some blankets.
He had to stay put. That was the first rule of rescue, right? Stay in one spot. So he would, for as long as it would take. He had to trust that the people in normal Hawkins would find him.