Chapter Text
NOVEMBER 6, 1983 - THE UPSIDE DOWN
The Upside Down breathed like a dying thing.
Robbie Halstead stood at the edge of a collapsed street that mirrored Hawkins, blackened vines creeping over asphalt that had never cracked topside. Spores drifted through the air like falling ash, clinging to his red hair and the sleeves of his jacket. He barely noticed. His focus was elsewhere—deep, far deeper than the streets above.
You’re hesitating, a voice murmured inside his head.
Robbie closed his eyes.
“I’m being careful,” he replied silently. “Careless moves cost power.”
A pulse answered him—not words, but sensation. Hunger. Need. The vessel stirred.
It waited.
Four years.
Four years since the lab ran red.
Four years since Eleven screamed and tore a hole in the world.
Four years since Robbie followed Henry into the dark.
The truth kept hidden from everyone and everything. But he wouldn’t give up on it. They had made a plan four years ago and he would stick to it. He was going to succeed even if it cost him everything. But for that they needed power, energy.
Human energy.
“We need more,” the vessel said. “You promised.”
“I know.” Robbie opened his eyes. In the distance, something moved—long limbs, wet footsteps. A demogorgon emerged from the fog, lowering its head in deference.
Robbie felt the hive respond to him. Not fully his. Not fully Henry’s. Something in between.
“Bring me one,” it commanded. “Small. Weak. Easy to break.”
Robbie hesitated again, just for a second.
“Children are fragile,” it continued. “Their minds open faster.”
The demogorgon screeched, awaiting direction.
Robbie exhaled.
“…One,” he agreed. “Only one.”
The creature vanished into the mist, drawn toward a thinning place between worlds—toward a lonely road outside Hawkins.
HAWKINS - THE WHEELER'S HOUSE
“Do you hear that? Listen…”
“… Something is coming… Something hungry for blood.” Mike Wheeler says to the group. The group consists of four boys, all 12 years old playing Dungeons and Dragons. They sit in the Wheeler’s their basement around a card table. A grid map is spread out on the table before them, along with a nearly empty pizza box, canned Cokes, and the DnD monster manual.
Mike, who is the Dungeon Master and the leader of their group is leading the campaign. He continues telling the story.
“.. A shadow grows on the wall behind you… swallowing you in darkness… it is almost here.”
The other boys lean forward. Lucas Sinclair plays as a knight, he has a small build and dark skin, but his loud mouth makes more than up for his smaller statue. Dustin Henderson is playing as a dwarf. He is the most fearful of the group in their campaign. He can be a bit dorky, has a disease that affects his bones as well as his teeth, meaning that at the age of twelve he still doesn’t have all of his teeth. Lastly there is Will Byers, playing as a wizard. He is soft spoken, gentle, delicate and a bit insecure maybe.
“What is it?” Will asks.
Dustin slightly freaks out. “What if it’s the Demogorgon? We’re in deep shit if it’s the Demogorgon.”
Lucas interrupts him; “It’s not the demogorgon..”
Mike waits for them all to settle down. Then.. “An army of Troglodytes charge into the chamber!” He says to the group. He slams a six winged miniature onto the map. “Their tails drum the floor. Boom! Boom! Boom!.”
“Troglodytes?!” Dustin exclaims loudly.
“Told ya.” Lucas says with a smirk. Dustin huffs. Mike looks over his shoulder. His eyes grow wide.
“Wait… Do you hear that? Boom! Boom! BOOM!,” He says louder and louder. “That sound… It didn’t come from the Troglodytes. No. It came from something else…”
Mike slams a large two-headed monster miniature on the map. “The demogorgon.” He exclaims.
The three other boys all stare with wide eyes.
“We’re in deep shit.” Dustin says.
“Will, your action.” Mike tells him.
Will swallows. God he wishes it wasn’t his turn right now.
“I… I don’t know -“ He stammers.
“Fireball him!” Lucas exclaims.
“I’d have to roll a thirteen or higher.” Will states.
“That’s too risky. Cast a protection spell,” Dustin starts but Lucas quickly interrupts. “Don’t be a wimp! Fireball him!”
“Protection spel!” Dustin yells out.
“The demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering. It stomps toward you. BOOM!” Mike says, exclaiming the last part loudly.
They continue with Dustin and Lucas trying to get Will to either fireball the Demogorgon or to cast a protection spell. Will is torn in the middle. He rolls the die. But does so too hard. The die scatter to there other side of the basement. It lands by the basement steps.
“What is it?” Lucas asks.
“I don’t know!” Will exclaims, looking for the die. Dustin asks wether it’s a thirteen. Will still hasn’t found them.
The boys scramble to look at the die when the basement door swings open. The boys look up to find Karen, Mikes mother at the top of the stairs.
“Mom, we’re in the middle of a campaign..” He starts.
“You mean the end.” His mother tells him pointedly. She taps at her watch the emphasize the point. Mike chases his mom up out of the basement. Tries to get her to give them twenty more minutes, but Karen argues back. Telling Mike it’s a school night, that he can finish it next weekend. Mike tries to argue back that it will ruin the flow but his mother doesn’t budge. His father is of no help either.
Lucas, Dustin and Will stuff their belongings into their backpacks. Will asks them all if a seven counts, considering that’s what the die said. They all agree that it doesn’t count if Mike hasn’t seen it. They zip up their backpacks and race up the stairs. Dustin takes the remaining pizza slice upstairs, tries to give it to Nancy, Mike’s sixteen year old sister. She is on her bed in pajamas, a phone in hand, fingers twisting its cord. Her slender legs kicked in the air. She’s on the phone with her best friend Barb.
Dustin waves, getting her attention. Holds up the pizza box. “Hey Nancy, there’s a slice left if you want. Pepperoni and sausage…”
Nancy tells Barb to hold on over the phone, walks over and shuts the door in Dustin’s face.
As the three boys leave on their bikes they talk about Mike’s sister and the boy she’s seeing, Steve Harrington. The three boys all bike away. As they do the light of the garage flickers.
The boys bike home, their handlebar lights wink in the night. It’s dark out there. Lucas peels off from the group, going in the direction of his home. Will and Dustin bike on in silence for a beat, until Dustin asks Will to race him to his place, the winner will get a comic. At the confirmation that it’s any comic Will would want he races off, fast. Dustin pedals in pursuit, but he’s already behind.
Will whizzes past a house at the far end of the neighborhood. He waves at Dustin, now fifty yards back.
“I’ll take your “X-Men” one-three-four!” he yells back. Dustin stops, out of breath.
Will is now left biking along an empty forest road. All alone. He lives much further out than the rest of his friends. It is even darker out there and quiet; unnervingly so. He bikes past a large metal fence. A warning sign on it reads HAWKINS NATIONAL LABORATORY. RESTRICTED AREA. NO TRESPASSING.
His bike’s headlight starts flickering. Will looks down at it. After a beat, the light returned to normal. Around the same time nearby a gate has been opened to the upside down, a creature coming out of it. The first step in the plan of regaining strength. All Robbie had to do was open the gate. Vecna would do the rest.
As Will’s light returns to normal he looks back up and.. a tall figure stands in the middle of the road. Will yanks the handlebars of his bike, loses control. He veered off the road and crashes. Will flies off the bike. He skids, rolls, eats dirt. As he lies there on the ground, gasping, he hears a strange guttural sound coming from behind him. He pushes to his feet and turns to the sound. Foliage shudders. the sound grows louder, something is coming towards him. He abandons his bike and runs.
He bursts out of the woods, reaching his house up ahead. It is small one story, lower class, slightly falling apart. He slams the door shut behind him and bolts the lock. Their dog Chester races to greet him. Will frantically yells out for his mother or his brother Jonathan. Except no one is home, he’s all by himself. He scrambles back to the living room window. He cups his hands to the glass and peers out into the yard.
There it is again, the figure. It’s just standing there amongst the laundry that’s out on the clothing line. He can’t make out it’s features fully, but the proportions seem off. Another gust of wind and the clothes flutter again. When Will looks again the creature is gone. He pales, his hear in his throat. He rips the phone receiver off the kitchen wall. Tries to dial 911 but it doesn’t ring. Just hums with static. He hears something but it is that same guttural sound he heard in the woods. It was somehow speaking to him through the receiver though he couldn’t make out anything.
Behind him their dog growls at the front door. Will lowers the phone, looks back at the door. A shadow fills the crack at the base of the door. Somehow, impossibly, the chain bolt begins to slide open. As if drawn by an invisible hand. Will drops the phone and runs out the house to the backyard. He sprints into an old wooden shed, slams the door shut behind him.
His eyes dart around. Searching for something. The shed is cluttered, a single light bulb on the ceiling the only source of light. It buzzes and flickers. At last he spots it. An old rifle. Dusty. Hanging on a wall mount. He yanks it down, retrieves a few ammo shells with shaking hands. Tries to load them as quickly as he could. A figure rises behind him inside of the shed, he turns around, tries to shuffle backwards, begging; “… p-please…”. A high-pitched shrieking sound fills the shed. The bulb glows brighter and brighter. It fills the shed with an overwhelming withe light. The shrieking sounds stops abruptly, the bulb dims. The shed is empty.. Will has vanished.
NOVEMBER 7th 1983, HAWKINS
Chief of Police Jim Hopper wakes in his trailer, the TV is still on, a local newswoman is reporting the news. “… reports of surges and outages across the count.. We reached out to Public Service and Gas and..”
Hopper blinks, grimaces. Hungover. Steps out of the trailer and lights up a cigarette. His trailer is perched don the shore of a lake. It’s a bit lonely out there, but he doesn’t mind. The view is beautiful. He goes back in and gets ready for the day. Popping two capsules of Tuinal. He heads out the door.
At the same time the Byers household awakens. Jonathan, Will’s sixteen year old brother is cooking breakfast. His mother, Joyce, mid 30’s, is looking for her keys. She wears a wrinkled “Melvald’s General Store” uniform. Jonathan tells her to check the couch where she finds her keys.
She snatches them up, gives Jonathan a quick peck on the cheek and races for the door. Only to pause at the last second, realizing something. She turns back to Jonathan. “..Will? Where’s Will?”.
“Sleeping, I guess.” Jonathan replies, still scrambling some eggs.
“You gotta make sure he’s up Jonathan, how many times..” Joyce rambles, making her way down the hallway. “Will… Will come on, get up.” She says loudly. Throws the door open to Will’s room. It’s empty.
She strides back over to Jonathan, worried now. They banter about wether Will got home, neither having been home themselves to know it. Joyce calls Karen, to check if Will stayed over. He hadn’t. She looks scared. And so does Jonathan.
UPSIDE DOWN, NOVEMBER 7th
Robbie felt it instantly.
A sudden, violent tug across the psychic web—raw fear flooding the hive.
“What did you do?” Robbie snapped.
It took what I asked for, Vecna replied. The child is alive. Afraid. Perfect.
Robbie’s jaw clenched.
“This wasn’t the plan, a missing kid is going to cause trouble.”
Power is power.
Robbie moved fast, stepping between worlds like slipping through water. He followed the pull, appearing atop a ruined house as the demogorgon dragged the boy deeper into the shadows.
Will cried out.
Something twisted in Robbie’s chest.
“Don’t kill him,” Robbie ordered sharply through the hive. “He needs to last.”
The demogorgon obeyed.
For now. Right now, he himself had to go back to the real world for the first time in four years. He already had a plan made up, just moved into town. He might be eighteen but he could pass for sixteen. He would make sure their secret stayed safe, that no one went snooping.
HAWKINS MIDDLE SCHOOL, MORNING NOVEMBER 7th
Mike, Lucas and Dustin ride their bikes past the high school, making their way toward Hawkins Middle School, a quaint one-story brick building. They slot their bikes in the racks, looking around for Will.
“I don’t see him.. Weird.” Mike says, looking around the school grounds.
“I’m telling you, his mom’s right. He just went to class early again.” Lucas says.
“Yeah, he’s alway paranoid Gursky’s gonna I’ve him a pop quiz.” Dustin jokes. Mike nods in reply, feeling better.
That is until they get bothered by the schools bully’s Troy and James, 14. It’s a regular occurrence. After some words between the groups they are eventually left alone. Going into school.
HAWKINS HIGH
Nancy enters the high school, wading through the bustling hallway. Barbara, her best friend, a bit dorky, catches up to her. They talk about Nancy’s ‘crush’. They go back and forth about Steve “The Hair” Harrington. That is until Nancy finds a note from him in her locker, telling her to meet him in the bathroom. She goes and they make out for a bit. Steve is 17, wealthy, athletic, has charm to spare.
When the bell rings Nancy crashes back to reality. She pulls away from Steve, trying to get to class but Steve tries to get her to stay just a bit longer. Eventually they agree to a ‘study’ date that night.
At the same time Robbie stands outside of the high school building. He had never went to an actual school, was taught in the lab throughout his entire childhood. In some sense this was exciting. But he couldn’t forget that he came here with a purpose. A purpose that might meant tampering with evidence, getting between people and stopping people from finding out the truth, that Hawkins was far from the quiet dainty town people made it out to be.
POLICE STATION, NOVEMBER 7th
Once Hopper finally makes it to station he’s already late. Makes a beeline for the coffee machine. Officer Callahan and Powell look up from a game of five-card draw. Their boots kicked up on their desks. They joke around about how Hopper looks, that is until Florence, the receptionist comes over, takes his cigarette from him and told him off all the calls he missed already. Flo followed him to his office, telling him that on a more important note, Joyce Byers can’t find her son. When Hopper tells her he’ll give her a call Florence interrupts him. “Chief, Joyce is very upset and…” she starts as Hopper buts in. “What have we talked about? Norming is a time for coffee and contemplation.” Hopper tells her as he walks further to his office. Florence tries to tell him something else but he opens the door. He crashes to a stop, almost spilling his coffee when he notices Joyce is already inside of his office. She looks back at him. Not happy.
He sits behind his desk. Type-hammers slam ink onto a police report. The top of it reads “Missing.”
Hopper looks up from the typewriter. His desk is cluttered with papers and mugs and candy wrappers.
Joyce paces. Dragging on a cigarette. She’s on edge. So far out she might just fall right off. “I’ve been waiting for an hour…” She tells Hopper.
“And I again apologize..” He starts but she interrupts again.
“An HOUR.” She exclaims agitated.
“I understand, but a boy his age. He’s most likely playing hookey”. Hopper starts again.
“No, not my Will, no. He wouldn’t do that Hop. He’s not like that.”
“You never know. My mother thought I was on debate team, when really I was screwing Chrissy Carpenter in the back of my dad’s boat” Hopper stated.
“Will’s not like you, He’s not like me. He’s not like most.” Joyce snaps. She takes another drag of her cigarette. Fights tears back.
“He’s got a couple of friends. But everyone else, they… They make fun of him. Call him names. Laugh at him, his clothes.”
It goes on like that for a while. Eventually Hopper asks about Joyce’s her ex Lonnie. Wether she’s seen him recently, if Will might have gone there. He asks for Lonnie’s information. Tells Joyce when a kid goes missing, ninety-nine times out of a hundred the kid’s with a parent of relative. When she asks him what happens with the one other time. He tells her that they are living in Hawkins. Tells her nothing ever happens here. Joyce relaxes a little bit, but only a little. Tells Hopper she’ll call Lonnie, because he’s more likely to talk to her than to a cop. Once Joyce leaves Hopper takes everything in. Feels burdened with a responsibility he doesn’t want. He eventually finds his composure and resumes typing.
HAWKINS LAB
Robbie watches on after he snuck away from the high school as black, unmarked sedans accelerate up to the entrance of Hawkins National Laboratory. They slam to a stop, some people get out. He thinks he recognizes some. He has to find a way in to figure out what the lab has been up to these past four years.
Inside Dr. Martin Brenner leads a group of NSA Agents through the corridors of the lab. He wears a casual suit. He clearly hasn’t slept in some times. Around them is chaos, scientist whipping to and fro. They arrive at a plastic quarantine door. Brenner zips ops the plastic door. They dress into hazmat suits. They go into a freight elevator, down into the bowels of the lab. As the elevator comes to a stop they enter a room. The atmosphere is dense, clouded in a white fog. Sport like particles float around in the air. There are cracks in the cement. It’s almost as if the place is dying. In the lab itself are fleshy mold like growth or vines clinging to walls and ceilings. The atmosphere even denser. The further wall back has even more of these vines around it. They seem alive, wet, throbbing. In the center there appears to be an opening. A gate.
BENNY'S BURGERS AND ICE CREAM
A young girl with a shaved head who couldn’t be older than 12 stood outside in the woods, wearing only a hospital gown. She looks more like a bit wild. There’s mud spattered everywhere on the gown and her bare feet. She stares at a run-down restaurant. A sign reads “BENNY’S BURGERS AND ICE CREAM”. Benny Hammond, who’s in his late forty’s owns the place. He goes outside, carrying a trash bag. A greasy apron is wrapped around his waist, his arms covered in a sleeve of tattoos. The young girl watches him closely but from a distance.
She sneaks in through the side screen door, creeping forward into the kitchen without being noticed by Benny or his patrons. She stops and watches very intently from the kitchen as Benny hands a burger and fries to one of the customers. Benny talking sports with another customer. The girl steps up to a pan of French fries. She reaches in and picks on up, looking at it strangely. She tries it anyway and loves it. When she tries to grab more Benny notices her. She runs but Benny catches up to her. Grabs her by the wrist as she almost makes it out the side door and whirls her around.
“Think you can steal from me boy?” He asks her.
The girl writhes in his arms, trying to tear free but Benny only hold her tighter. However his expression softens as he realizes this is no boy at all. But the girl also looks odd. The girl stops struggling. She locks eyes with Benny, breathing hard.
HAWKINS MIDDLE SCHOOL.
As the bell rings Mike, Lucas and Dustin make it out of the classroom. Their teacher, Mr. Clarke calls after all his pupils with the homework. He stops as he realizes he’s talking to basically no one as all the other pupils apart from the three boys had already left. Mike asks him wether it has come. The tree boys excitedly gathering at Mr. Clarkes desk. The teacher hesitates. Gives the boy a sad look. “Sorry boys, I hate to be the bearer of bad news. but… It came.”
The door the the AV club bursts open. The three boys race inside, Mr. Clark follows them close behind. “The healthkit ham shack. Ain’t she a beauty?”.
A brand new ham radio sits on a desk amidst a pile of older equipment. The boys all examine it with wide expectant eyes. They all mess around with it for a while. That is until a sharp knock sounds, interrupting the fun. Mr. Clarke turns towards the door. The principal is stood there.
“Sorry to interrupt… But may I borrow Michael, Lucas and Dustin?”
Chief Hopper and Officer Callahan now step into view. From the end of the hallway through a window Robbie watches as the Chief is stood with the principal. It must be about the boy that disappeared into the Upside Down. He was screwed.
In the principals office the boys are all sat together on a couch. Hopper and Callahan sit opposite. The boys are all talking at the same time, rambling. That is until Hopper interrupts them. “Whoa, whoa. One at a time,”
He points at Mike.
“You, you said he takes… what?”
“Mirkwood.” Mike tells him.
Hopper looks at Callahan. “Mirkwood? You ever hear of Mirkwood” Callahan replies, telling him it sounds made-up. The boys start rambling and bickering again, wether it’s from Lord of the Rings of The Hobbit. Hopper is slowly losing his patience.
“Hey! What did I just say? One at a damn time.” He points back at Mike.
“You.”
“Mirkwood. It’s a real road. It’s just the name that’s made-up.” Mike tells him.
“What’s its real name.” Hopper asks.
Mike shrugs, “I don’t know. It’s where Cornwallis and Kerley meet.”
Hop jots the information down onto his pad. Unbeknownst to anyone, Robbie was stood outside the office, eavesdropping. “Yeah, I think I know where it is.” Hopper says. The boys try to tell the chief they can help him look. But Hopper interrupts them yet again, telling them that after school they are going to go straight home. All of them. Which meant no biking around looking for Will, no investigating, and no nonsense. He asks the boys each if he has made himself clear. The boys all share looks of worry. They are shaken by the tone of the Chief of Police. They nod in return.
BENNY’S BURGERS
Benny slides a plate of burger and fries in front of the young girl. She is now seated at the table in the dining room. The regulars are gone, it’s just her and Benny. Her gown had been replaced by a BENNY’S BURGERS AND ICE CREAM T-shirt. It’s too big on the young girl, drooping down to her knee like it’s a dress. She snatches the burger of the plate. She immediately begins to devour it. Benny tries his best to talk to her, get information out of her. Like where her parents are, when was the last time she ate. She doesn’t reply to any of it. When he asks her if she went to the hospital but got scared and ran off he got the first ‘reply’. She looked up at him. Was that hit close to the mark. She seems like she might say something, but then returns to eating. Benny is done now, yanks the plate away. The girl is confused by this. He tells her she can have it back if she answers his questions first. He gets no response in return. He tries to get her name out of her. He introduces himself. He still gets no response. She withdraws her hand when he notices a small tattoo on her wrist. it reads in simple black lettering: 011. “Eleven?” She yanks her hand away as he says it. “What does that mean?” He continues asking her. Much to his surprise he does get a reply to that. “No.” But after that he doesn’t get much more apart from her pointing at herself whenever Benny asks her what eleven means.
When she continues eating Benny secretly calls social services. He tells them he found a girl, confused, scared. Thinking she’s been abused or kidnapped. They are going to send someone out to him.
At the same time Eleven notices a high pitched noise. She looks up, it comes from an old rusty metal fan. It squeaks with each turn. It’s annoying. She narrows her eyes up at it. The fan and the blades stop. Like they somehow froze. She looks away, content and continues eating. From far away across Hawkins, although the use of Elevens abilities was little, Robbie can sense them. He’s surprised he can feel them. Is she out of the lab? But how? He connects back to the Vessel in the Upside Down.
“We might have another problem.” Robbie sends. His eyes are closed, eyeballs moving left and right under his closed lids as he does so.
“I can sense her here, in Hawkins. Eleven.” He continues when he gets no reply.
It takes ages before a reply comes.
“Keep an eye on her. Makes sure she doesn’t do anything.”
WOODS - MIRKWOOD SHORTCUT
The police are out looking in the woods for Will. Hopper trudging down the road looking for any signs. Behind him Callahan and Powell are calling out for Will. As Hopper takes another painkiller his eyes narrow. He notices something off the side of the road. He heads out into the woods, calls out to Callahan and Powell; “Hey, I got something here.” He kneels down by Will’s bicycle. Brushes some leaves away that are laying over it. The two officers race over to where their chief is. Ask him whether it’s the kids bike. Hopper nods. Looks at the area around them. He notes some scraped bark on a tree.
“Looks like he crashed here.” Hopper said.
“Maybe he got hurt in the fall?” Callahan states.
“Not so hurt he couldn’t make it home from what I can see. And a bike to these kids.. that’s like a Cadillac. Doesn’t make sense he’d leave it out here. He’d walk it home…” “Unless he was in a hurry..”
They take the bike with them, going over to the Byers house.
BYERS’ HOUSE
At the Byers’ their place Joyce tries to get in contact with Lonnie but fails. Only getting Lonnie’s new girlfriend on the phone who isn’t all that nice. When she calls back she gets the voicemail. She is angry when she gets off the phone. Snaps at Jonathan when he calls out for her. When she gets no further reply she looks up. Realizes he isn’t watching at her, but out the window. “The cops.” Jonathan says. She’s out the door before Hopper and the officers can get out of their car. As Hop get’s out of the car he pull’s Will’s bike out of the back. Joyce and Jonathan fight panic.
The cops are searching the entire house now. Joyce and Jonathan trail behind. They are both on edge. Joyce keeps asking questions to Hopper about where they found it, if they saw any other evidence of Will there. Whether there was any blood on the scene. Jonathan asks him why he’s here if they found Will’s bike out in the woods.
Hopper turns to them. “He got a key to the house?” He asked either.
“Yeah…” Jonathan tells him.
“So maybe he came back here.” Hopper continues.
Joyce get’s frustrated by that.
“So… what? You think I haven’t checked my own house?” She tells him.
“Never said you didn’t”.
He inspects the back door. The adjacent wall is dented, the paint chipped. He opens the door, it’s handle aligning perfectly with the damaged wall. Someone had thrown it open, hard. “This always here?” He asks them.
“Probably, I got two boys, look at this place.” Joyce tells Hopper.
“But you’re not sure?” Hopper asks her to confirm.
And Joyce hesitates, because she isn’t sure. And then they suddenly hear something. Whimpering, coming from the back.
Hopper and Joyce step out on the porch together. They find the dog pacing in front of the shed. Joyce thinks it isn’t weird, but Hopper doesn’t trust it.
Robbie, who has been following the Chief of Police closely ever since school let out is nearby in the woods. He knows that the shed is the place of disappearing. But he isn’t sure how to divert the Chief away from there.
But that is of no use as Hopper enters the shed right away. He flips on the light switch as he enters. The bulb hanging from the ceiling hums to life. He walks up to the rifle wall mount. The rifle is missing from it’s spot. He looks closely at the mount, noting that there are fingerprints in the dust. Someone was there recently. Then suddenly the light bulb begins to flicker, Hopper turning towards it. He looks up at the light, it fluctuates, growing bright and then dimming. It repeats that pattern until the light cuts out all of a sudden. A faint guttural sound is heard from somewhere. Hopper grabs his flashlight, turns it on and scans the floor. There is nothing there. Then a figure approaches as a shadow…
… Officer Callahan steps into the light. “You deaf, I’ve been calling you.” Hopper looks back at the light bulb. It flickers back to life. Returning to its regular 48 watts. It was strange. He shakes it off however.
Robbie on the outside also heard the sound, turning towards the woods where he had heard it. It was odd. They had closed the gate last night. The Demogorgon should be back in the upside down. Not in Hawkins…
Hopper strides over to the Byers house. He’s moving fast, faster than he normally would. Callahan struggles to keep up with him. “You sure you’re alright Chief?” He calls after him.
“I want you to call Florence, have her get a search party together, as many volunteers as she can muster. Flashlights too.”
“You think we got a problem here Chief?” Callahan asks. Hopper doesn’t answer. Not sure yet. But something seems off. He looks around at the edge of the wood. Robbie sees the chief looking in his direction and just hopes no one spots him there. Knows it would look bad if this stranger suddenly turns up in town the day after a kid disappeared.
THE WHEELERS HOUSE
The Wheeler family is seated at the dining table. A nice home-cooked meal by Karen is in front of them. But Mike isn’t eating. He wants to be out there looking for Will.
“We’ve been over this Michael. The chief said…” Karen started.
“I don’t care what the chief said.” Mike starts.
“Michael!” Karen interrupts him, her tone telling him to not go any further. He does anyway.
“He’s not even real police, mom. We have to do something… Will could be in danger!” He exclaimed.
“All the more reason for you to stay put.” his mother tells him. He tries to but in again but Karen tells him it’s the end of this discussion. He looks away, upset. The family resumes eating in silence. Or rather, some of them do. Nancy just moves her food around with a fork. Then, in a casual tone asks her mother if it’s okay if Barb and here are going to study at Barbara’s house for a chemistry test. Karen tells her it’s not happening. Karen tells her that as long as Will isn’t found yet no one leaves the home at night. Nancy is slightly pissed as she asks her mother if they are under house arrest. Karen tells her not to be so dramatic.
“This is such bullshit!” Nancy exclaims. Their father finally speaks for the first time since the discussion started. “Language.” He said, not looking up from his dinner. “Barb lives two minutes away from here, just because Mike’s friend got lost on his way home…” Nancy starts. “This is Will’s fault?!” Mike buds in loudly. “Nancy, take that back.” Karen tells her wit a pointed look. “No!”
“You’re just pissed because you want to hang out with Steve…” Mike starts.
That causes even more chaos at the table. “Steve, who is Steve?” Comes from both her parents. It ends with Nancy running up to her room. Karen wants to go up to her eldest but Holly, their youngest child has started to cry due to the argument. Karen picks her up and rocks her in her arms. Shushing the little girl. Ted decides to tell Mike that this is what happens when, but before he can finish fully Mike has interrupted again. Also standing up from the table and hurrying off. Karen shoots daggers at her husband. This was a drama.
THE WOODS
Flashlights lit up the wood around Hawkins. A bunch of search and rescue volunteers are out scouring the woods for Will. They are all wearing bright vests. Hopper is walking around with Mr. Clarke by his side. They briefly talk about Will and other things before Hopper walks further ahead, leaving the volunteers around him behind. In the Wheeler house Mike is trying to connect to Lucas and Dustin through is walkie-talkie. Lucas finally answers, his voice crackles as he does. They talk back and forth over how they’re worried about Will. They talk about their last DnD campaign the night before, how Will didn’t play it safe to help the party. It was silent for a bit before Lucas spoke over the walkie-talkie again. “Meet me in ten. Over and out.”
Mike throws some flashlights into his backpack. He feels his bike out of the garage, as he starts down the driveway when he notices Steve Harrington. He’s trying to climb up to Nancy’s room. He locks eyes with Mike for just a second. But it was still awkward. Steve holds a hand up as to say Hi. Mike just stares at him and continues biking without saying another word.
BENNY’S BURGERS AND ICE CREAM
Meanwhile a lot of people were out in the woods looking for Will Byers, Benny was sat waiting for Social Services to show up. Eleven is sat eating ice cream. She seemed to like it. When Benny asks her as much she looks at him and smiles. For the first time since he saw the kids she seems like an actual kid. When he tells her as much she seems confused. But as they are smiling at each other there’s a knock on the door. Eleven tenses up. She seems nervous. Benny tells her to stay put, that he’ll send away whoever it is. A nice friendly looking woman is at the door asking for him. He tells her the shop is closed, about the shut the door when she introduces herself as social services. He had almost forgotten about it. He looked embarrassed.
“Apologies madam, I wasn’t expecting you anymore. Didn’t think y’all would make it out here so quickly.” Benny told her, shaking her hand.
“Not too bad this time of night actually.” She told him with a smile.
“Listen, I still haven’t told her about you. I didn’t want her running off again, she seems a tad skittish.”
“Children I work with usually are.” The woman tells him with a smile. “Where is she now?”
She follows Benny into the store, he apologies again for trying to turn her away. When she says his name he turns around. She has a gun in her hand, a silencer attached to it. She shoots him in the side of the head and he crashes heavily to the floor. He dies almost instantly.
Eleven watches in horror from the kitchen. She drops the ice ream and runs. There are agents coming into the kitchen, followed by Dr. Brenner. Eleven sprints out the back door, where two more agents are. She seems trapped. As the agents raise sticks to attack her with only loud noises are followed. From inside where Brenner still is they hear screams and chaos. They exchange looks, blow through the double doors to the back and find both agents unconscious on the ground. Heads bleeding, some broken bones. Eleven is gone. She disappeared into the darkness of the woods.
THE WOODS
The party is making their way to Mirkwood. Mike leading them. He slows to a stop as they get closer, Lucas and Dustin pulling up beside him. As they look into the woods lines of police tape are wrapped around a row of trees. The reality of what really happened finally hits them. This isn’t make believe or a DnD campaign, this was cold brutal reality. It starts to thunder and rain. “You guys feel that?” Dustin asks them. “Maybe we should go back guys,” he tells his friends.
But Mike isn’t listening. He removes a walkie from his backpack, handing it to Dustin. “No splitting up or anything stupid like that, but stay on channel six. Just in case.” He tells him. And with that the heads into the woods. Ducking underneath the yellow and black police tape. Lucas follows him, leaving Dustin to hurry after them. They have no idea of what or who is lurking in the woods near the lab. But one redheaded teenager who just showed up in Hawkins does have a clue. And he suddenly has to handle three things at once; Find Eleven, make sure no one finds out the truth about Will’s disappearance and figure out what the hell is happening in Hawkins lab. Though he assumes the first and the last might be connected to each other.
BYERS HOUSE
Jonathan and Joyce are sat around the coffee table, working on making the missing person posters. Bold red letters at the top of the paper read: HAVE YOU SEEN ME? They are picking out a photo to put on the poster. There are so many of them to pick from, all taken by Jonathan. Joyce praises her eldest as she looks through them. “Wow Jonathan, these are all great…”
Jonathan doesn’t say anything. Embarrassed by the compliment his mother has given him.
She flips through more pages of the photo book they are going through. She feels guilty for being away from home so much, tells him just that. When she looks up at her eldest she sees tears in his eyes.
“What is it baby?” She asks him.
He shrugs, telling her it’s nothing but she doesn’t believe him. Asks him again as she takes his hand.
“It’s just… Last night… I just… I should have been here.” He mumbles.
Joyce squeezes his hand tightly. “Hey, this wasn’t your fault baby. You hear me? You hear me?” She tells him as Jonathan averts his gaze.
“He’s gonna come home soon. I know it. I know it because… I feel him. I feel him in my heart. He’s close. He’s close. You believe me, Jonathan. Right?
Jonathan finally looks at his mom. And nods. Joyce smiles faintly at him. She then returns to looking at all the pictures. She finds one of Will that she likes. He’s smiling big. As mother and son look at each other smiling softly they get interrupted by the kitchen phone blaring loudly. Joyce grabs the phone. Her voice tense, strained.
“Yes.. Hel-hello?” She says.
But there is no answer on the other side. She can only hear the sound of low breathing on the other end.
“Lonnie? Hopper?” Still nothing.
Jonathan stands up, getting worried. The sound of the breathing on the other side of the phone grows louder. It somewhat sounds like the breathing of a child. Joyce pales, tears rush to her eyes.
“Will? Will is that you?!” She yells into the phone. Jonathan races over to his mother.
“Where are you baby, talk to me please! Will!” But the breathing is gone, replaces by a low guttural sound. Inhuman. Shifting in pitch. “Who is this and what have you done with my baby? What have you done?” Joyce yells into the receiver. It’s followed by silence on both ends.
Then a high pitched shriek erupts from the receiver. Joyce gasps in pain and drops the phone. An electric shock comes from he phone, smoke coming out of it. It looks blackened. Jonathan grabs the phone up but the other side of the line is dead.
THE WOODS
BOOM!
Another loud crash of thunder ripples through the sky. The party are deep in the woods by now. Soaked to the bone. Their flashlights are illuminating the rain. They call out for Will. They get no response, their yells met by silence.
They march for a little longer, deeper into the woods.
“Guys, I really think we should head back.” Dustin says eventually.
“Seriously Dustin, if you want to be a baby, just go home already.” Lucas tells him in response.
“I’m just being realistic, Lucas.” He says.
They keep bickering for a bit. Back and forth about everything until Mike tells them both to shut up.
They all turn to Mike. He’s not mad, but he’s listening.
“You guys hear that?” He asks lowly, almost whispering. They listen closely. Hear rustling foliage in the woods nearby.
They all tense up. Mike swings his flashlight around the dark woods. Suddenly a shadowed figure darts behind them. As they turn around they are startled.
Their flashlight illuminate the figure.
It’s a kid, head shaved almost bald. Her or his eyes seem wild. Whoever it is is wearing a T-shirt from Benny’s. Mike looks at the girl while the girl looks at Mike. Their gazes hold for a long while. Then another bolt of thunder rumbles through the sky.