Chapter Text
“We need to leave” Robin was panicking behind him, pacing and moving her hands anxiously, as if she didn’t know what to do with them. “We need to leave now!”
“What about them?” Erica asked, she sounded scared, and Will was reminded of how young she actually was. She was the same age he had been when he was taken, and it was hard to see it, because she often acted older than she was. But really she was just a kid, and she was in danger. She was only supposed to help them, and now the Demogorgon was coming, and they had no way to protect her.
He had no way to protect her. This was supposed to be the safest team. The no-contact team, and now they were going to die. The demo was coming and it was not going to stop until it took Derek. Just like it didn’t stop when it took Holly… When it took him.
Will was standing still. Waiting for the inevitable. He knew it was a matter of time before the demo was close enough to pull him into the Hive Mind. He dreaded it. The feeling of his own mind leaving his body to be inside this tangle of bodies and minds terrified him. Unknown limbs and unknown whereabouts, only the familiar sense of a goal, an implanted objective. He was never able to fight it, it’s like there was a claw inside his mind, waiting to be activated. And when it happened, he was going to be useless… A liability.
“I mean, we could take the kid and the demo would follow us, right?” Robin proposed. But Will wasn’t paying attention to what they were saying. Not really. Their voices sounded muted, like there was water inside his ears. The air was suffocating. And for a moment, he wondered if the cold was a signal of its arrival.
“Help! Someone help me!” Derek screamed. He was still blindfolded, and he hadn’t stopped struggling.
“Shh, it’s okay. You need to clam down” His mother was saying to him, trying to sooth him.
“What are we waiting for? We need to leave!” Robin shouted at everyone. That’s when Will decided to turn around. She was right, they needed to leave. They couldn’t do anything here. They had no weapons and no plan. They needed to do something quick.
“Mom, Robin is right. We don’t have to take all of them. If we take Derek with us the demo would leave the others alone” he spoke, his voice wavered, he could feel his hands shake. But he couldn’t freeze up. He wouldn’t let anything happen to anyone else. He couldn’t let the demo hurt any of them.
And they couldn’t waste more time. He knew the moment the demo was close he would be useless. His mind would enter the Hive Mind and his body would be vulnerable. So, he needed them to act quickly. He needed to help while he still could.
His mom turned to him, she had a hopeless look, lost. And not for the first time, he realized she wasn’t more prepared for this than any of them. But her hesitation was hidden as fast as he saw it. She nodded and looked back at Derek. She took a deep breath and grabbed the fabric that was covering Derek’s head.
“Hey” she said. She didn’t hesitate and she made sure to look into Derek’s eyes. “I know you're scared, and I know you're angry, but I promise you, we are here to help you” Will wanted to tell her that it was no use, that they should just take him and run. “Hey, Derek, Derek. If you keep doing that, you're gonna hurt yourself. Just calm down so we can talk, okay?” her voice was soothing, and he tried to take comfort in it, but it was very hard to do so when he knew the demo could come at any moment.
He felt Robin and Erica walk behind him; they were breathing fast. When he glanced at them, he could see they also weren’t very happy about Joyce’s course of action.
“We should just knock him out again” Erica whispered to him. Robin nodded in agreement.
“If we do that the demo may not follow us” he whispered back. Erica huffed.
“Do you know who I am?” Joyce asked.
“An evil child kidnapper” Derek spitted, angry.
“This is ridiculous! We should just take him” Robin exclaimed before Joyce could speak. His mom gave her a look that obviously meant shut up! But Robin was too scared to notice, or maybe she didn’t care. He didn’t either. “We’re wasting time!”
“Robin” she warned her, but Robin shook her head.
“The demo is coming, we don’t know how long we have” she said, ignoring her. Will nodded without thinking, and his mom gave him a look. But he couldn’t back down. They needed to leave.
“Okay, juts give me a second” Joyce said, then turn towards Derek. His voice went softer again. “Listen, we’re trying to help you, there is a terrible and scary monster outside, and it’s coming for you”
“Yeah, I know. Mr. Whatsit told me, which is why you need to let me go” he said, while pulling at the chain, hard. And Robin huffed again. She started to pace.
“No, no. Mr. Whatsit is not who he says he is, okay? He is lying to you. All these mon…”
“We need to leave now!” Robin shouted. She had grabbed he backpack and was looking for the keys of the van inside of it. “Get in the van!”
Will took one step towards his mom and Derek. She was murmuring things to the kid and was untying him. Too late did he realized she was doing in from the wrong end. He was halfway into telling her to stop, when Derek pushed her. She fell hard on the ground, but he didn’t have time to check on her, because Derek stood up and was running towards him and Erica at full speed.
He tried to remind himself that the kid was the same age as Holly, but why was he almost the same height as him? He tried to brace himself. But he underestimated Derek, he was way stronger than he looked like. The kid pushed them and he lost his footing, he saw Erica fall too; he felt the air leave his lungs as he fell onto the ground. While running towards the door, Derek made sure to push Robin to the ground too. But they couldn’t let him leave. If he escaped, the demo was going to take him, and they would lose their only chance to find Holly and Henry.
He stood up as fast as he could and then ran after Derek. When he was close enough, he jumped and tackled him. Will fell over Derek, and he immediately grabbed his wrists to stop him from escaping. He kept struggling and Will wasn’t sure how long he could hold him, they needed to tie him again, so they could take him away. He looked up, the open land and the forest were empty, but Will wondered if maybe it was already too late.
“The door! Get the door!” He shouted. For now, they needed to avoid losing Derek. He saw Robin and Erica run towards the door of the barn and close it. Derek kept screaming and trying to get himself free from his hold. But he wasn’t going to let him. In the meantime, he looked back and shouted again. “Mom, the rope! I need the rope!”
Unfortunately, he underestimated Derek again. The kid managed to get one of his hands free and he didn’t waste any time; he took a handful of dirt and threw it at him. “Eat dirt!” he closed his eyes and instinctively his hands went to his face to rub the dirt of his eyes. Derek took the opportunity to push him off of him.
Will managed to slightly open his eyes and saw Derek climbing a ladder, Robin close behind him. He wiped the last of the dirt from his face and saw the ladder on the floor and Derek on the second floor, yelling at them.
“Dude! She's not lying to you, okay? Mr. Whatsit is a very bad guy. He sent the monsters after you” Robin said, a slight tremor in her voice. He couldn’t blame her, if Derek didn’t come down soon, there was no way they would be able to protect him. And even if he did, they already wasted so much time.
“Suck my fat one!” Derek shouted.
“Jesus! What?” and yeah, what? The kid was definitely something else. He couldn’t phantom talking like that to someone, and he was already sixteen.
“You just signed your death warrant, dipshit!” Erica shouted back.
“You're a psycho, and you're going to jail!” Derek said. Will saw him glance at his family, and he could understand the mistrust. Which is why he couldn’t understand why his mother untied him. What was she thinking?
“We're trying to help you” he tried to say, “Derek, please!”
Derek wasn’t listening. He started making noises to ignore their voices. But it didn’t matter anymore. Because just as he was about to try to say something else, he felt goosebumps at the back of his neck, a tremor that went down his back and took his breath away. The voices around him started to get muffled, as if there was a barrier between him and the others, and were replaced by heavy panting. He tried to use his mouth to warn them, but suddenly it felt different. He had more teeth than he could count, and he felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
He wasn’t standing inside the barn anymore, he was running. His whole body was moving unnaturally, and it was sore, his flesh was sensitive and every move felt like a struggle. But he couldn’t stop, or he wouldn’t like it. He had seen, and now he could find the real boy. He wondered how good it would taste in his mouth, his blood running down his mouth.
But he couldn’t eat him, not yet at least. He needed him for something special.
He smelled the barn before he saw it, the boy was inside. And there was also a familiar sent, a sweet sent. Untouchable, he is special. He remembered how mad the big shadow got when they had tried to eat him, it didn’t like it. But he could eat the others. He smelled more of those humans, three. And he could eat them all.
No. But he was so hungry, and so angry. The other had burned him, hurt him. Not them. He got to the door and instantly hit it. It was hard, but after a couple of hits, it fell apart. He saw the kid, just behind all the others. He also saw the other boy, the special one. The one he liked. He huffed and took a step forward, seeing the little human stand in front of him, she had one of those sharp things.
No, not her. Not her. But something wasn’t right, he couldn’t move his arm. His instinct told him to lunge at her. To eat her face and taste the blood inside. How delicious it would be. Not her, please. But he couldn’t attack, it wasn’t allowed. He didn’t have another option other than to back away. The human was trying to hurt him, she was grunting. How easy it would be to kill her. No, no, no… Please
He was outside the barn again. He only had a second to turn his face before he was hit by a hard object and thrown away. Will felt the hit in his whole body. He didn’t realize he screamed, or that he felt, until he tasted dirt in his mouth. It hurt so badly. His side was burning and it felt as if his bones were breaking. He tried to curl on himself, but his body wasn’t listening to him. He was shaking and his limbs felt frozen. He couldn’t breathe right, and he tasted blood in his mouth. He saw Robin for a second before red clouded his sight.
It was similar to when he used the tunnels to search for Hopper, as if he was traveling at fast speed inside some kind of thread. But it also wasn’t anything like it. He felt himself hold onto this thread. There was red all around him, and he was seeing so many things at the same time. Faces, houses, caves, vines, darkness and light. A cacophony of sound travelled with him, things he couldn’t really understand.
He saw a bright sky, and then a red cloud on a beach. He saw a dark cave filled with blood and rain, followed by a quite house being destroyed by the wind. He saw a kind man and a doctor. There was a sense of dread all around, and greed. But also, emotions he couldn’t understand, feelings he had never felt before, things he couldn’t fathom being real.
He felt cold, but he felt like he was dying, even if it was what he needed. He was searching for something, something that he couldn’t find, something just outside his reach. There was energy blocking his path, the pathway he had created, it wasn’t his anymore. He felt a pull on the thread and he travelled more.
He recognized the Upside Down as a faraway memory, something he had seen before, but he couldn’t quite picture it. Even if it was right before him. He felt the need to gasp, but he didn’t have a body. He didn’t need one. He saw another cave. It was cold and slimy. He saw kids. Holly. The name came to him, even if he couldn’t understand the word completely. But she wasn’t the only one. He needed more; he needed all of them… And for his last touch. He needed the one that he wanted. The one boy he hadn’t been able to keep.
He felt a pull again, a different one. But he couldn’t leave yet, he just found the kids. He saw spires, and more vines. Where are they? But he couldn’t see, he was too far away, and the thread he was using was slipping from his hold. The vines were inside the kids, just like they had been inside him. He felt them, too. They were around him, but he was also them. He could feel them in his hand, a strange sensation. He wasn’t really touching them.
The pull got stronger. He felt pain in the back of his head. His lungs were burning. He travelled back. The colors and the sound around him were unrecognizable. He was dizzy. It was too fast. He felt himself come back. He gasped, as he let his lungs work normally again. He opened his eyes, and for a second everything was blurry.
He felt arms around him. He smelled the scent of his mother while he tried to breathe. His chest hurt as his lungs got used to working again. The voices around him were slowly coming back, but he couldn’t understand much of what they were saying. His own arms shook as he raised them to hug his mother, holding on to her to avoid slipping away again.
He felt tremors go down his body, feeling spasms on his muscles he couldn’t control. The freezing air bit his lungs, and for a moment it felt terrifyingly like the cave. But his mother kept saying comforting words to him, and her fierce hold onto him was enough to make him realize he was back.
And this time, he was sure what he saw was useful. This time, he would make sure to warn them in time.
(…)
There was one constant thought that went through Robin’s mind during the whole ordeal. Holly shit, holly shit! She couldn’t help it. A lot of things happened since they heard the demo had arrived at the designated location. Holly shit, the demo is inside the house. Holly shit, they’re chasing the demo. Holly shit, Derek Turnbow is awake. Holly fucking shit, the demo is coming. Holly shit, holly shit, Mrs. Byers is facing the demo.
“Holly shit, Will!” she shouted, as said boy flew backwards and wailed in pain. She crouched beside him but was afraid to touch him. His eyes were wide open, but his pupils had almost disappeared behind his eyelids. His whole body was vibrating, and it reminded her of that girl she had met a few years back that had epilepsy. Robin had seen her have an episode once, and she couldn’t remember what needed to be done exactly.
This was a completely different situation, of course. He was in the Hive Mind. Not scary at all. And to her knowledge, Will didn’t have epilepsy. But it looked so similar that she wondered if maybe he needed the same kind of treatment. She roughly remembered the girl being on her side, someone was holding her. She took a deep breath and grabbed the kid by the shoulders. He felt the tremors of his body rock her arms. And she heard him make pained noises, he was whimpering and grunting.
And that’s when she noticed he wasn’t really breathing. “C’mon, kid” she whispered. Once Will was on his side, she made sure he couldn’t move much. She glanced at Joyce, she was still clutching the axe, she was looking at something she couldn’t see outside of the barn. Erica was behind her. The demo must have been far away if they weren’t running away.
She looked down again and saw tears stream down Will’s face. She tried to gently caress his shoulder, trying to do what Joyce had done back at the squawk. Give him something to hold onto. “Come back, kid” she whispered.
Suddenly, Will screamed again, his body shook out of her hold. She tried to put him on his side again, but then he was fighting against her now. She looked up again, trying to get help from Joyce. She would know what to do. But just as she saw her, she heard her scream. “Jonathan!”
“They flipped!” Erica exclaimed to her, Fuck.
She looked down at Will. His body was seizing worse, and his mouth was open in a silent scream. No air was coming in or out. He wasn’t breathing at all. “No, no” she said, trying to think of something. She was dating a nurse, surely she had learned something from her. But her mind was spiraling and, at the same time, it was blank. She didn’t know what to do. She felt tears clouding her vision as she held onto Will’s shoulders. “Wake up, kid”
“Will!” she heard Joyce exclaimed from the entrance, and that was all it took for Will to come back. He gasped forcefully and sat up, almost hitting her on the head. Joyce crouched and engulfed Will in a hug.
Robin sighed in relief. Even when Will was breathing harshly and had a haunted look in his eyes, Robin felt relieved. He was alive. She looked at Erica, who hadn’t moved from her spot at the entrance. She was looking up, above them.
“Do you believe us now, dipshit?”
(…)
“Can’t you go any faster?” Nancy shouted, looking anxiously at the telemeter, the number wasn’t as high, which meant the demo was getting away from them. And closer to them.
“I’m trying!” Steve exclaimed. He wasn’t exactly driving safely, and he wasn’t listening to Dustin’s instructions. They already knew where the demo was going and he seemed to know how to get there faster. But it wasn’t as fast as Jonathan would have liked.
Steve made a sharp turn, and Jonathan instinctively raised his arm in front of Nancy, she held on to him. There weren’t any belts on the backseat, and he was worried they could get hurt. He glanced at Nancy; she was angry and disappointed. She was probably finding a way to blame herself for what happened, and as much as he wanted to comfort her, he felt his voice getting lost. There was a lump in his throat that was preventing him from speaking again, barely allowing him to breathe. Because his brother and his mother were in danger.
The demo was going to them, and they were too far away. What if we’re too late again?
“Holly shit!” Dustin exclaimed. He felt the same way, even if he had lost his voice entirely. At the door of the barn, was the demo, backing away from his mother. Who had an axe in her hands and was swinging it at the monster. “Hit it!” Dustin shouted.
Steve didn’t need to be told twice. He clutched the steering wheel and hit the Demogorgon with the car on the side. The monster was thrown off the floor and onto the top of the car. Jonathan turned around and saw it rolled on the floor behind them. It was shrieking in pain. Dustin laughed, pure enjoyment in his voice “Yeah, we got him! We got him!” Jonathan smiled at that. They weren’t too late.
Steve turned the car around, the demo had gotten up, and it was looking at them. It was hesitating. It looked awful too. Its flesh was covered in dried blood, its own blood. It was dark and no longer shiny. It was breathing hard. It glanced at the barn, but at the end, it decided to turn around and run. As it got away, Jonathan saw the light of the tracker, it was beeping.
The demo created a gate on the surface of the grain silo and entered the Upside Down. The breach on the wall was big, made without a thought. Bigger than it needed to be. Maybe its more hurt than we thought.
“It flipped! It's headed back towards us!” Dustin exclaimed. Jonathan could see the number of the telemeter increase, reaching the number 70db. But Steve wasn’t moving, he wasn’t igniting the car.
“Come on. What are you doing, man? We gotta turn around” he said, anxiously, finding his voice once the danger towards his family was gone. They were okay, but the demo was still on the run. And if they were lucky, they could still find out where Holly was.
“Wait… Gates are like Peanut Butter Boppers, right?” Steve murmured, and for a second, Jonathan was worried that he was starting to lose his mind, because what the fuck did he just say?
“What?” he and Nancy asked at the same time.
“The outside is, like, crunchy and tough. But bite down on it, it gives way to a gooey, creamy core” Steve explained, but he wasn’t making any sense. The lights were flickering and the number was getting closer to 90db. They needed to move now.
“Dude, what the hell are you talking about?” he shouted. They were losing time. He was a second away from jumping to the front and driving the car himself.
“I drive fast enough, the beamer can punch a hole into the gate, and then we can track the Demo on its home turf in the Upside Down. Follow it back home”
“We're losing the signal!” Dustin exclaimed, and Jonathan really didn’t want to be talking right now. Because of all the ides Steve could have thought of, this was the worst.
“We won't be able to follow anything if we crash!” he said, as a matter of fact. There was a reason the military did the burns to pass to the other side. It wasn’t as easy as just driving through.
“We won't crash if it's like a Bopper!” Steve explained, defensive.
“It's almost gone!” Dustin yelled. The telemeter showed 30 db. If they didn’t move now, they would lose the signal, and all this would have been for nothing. But Steve still didn’t drive, he looked back at Nancy. And Jonathan saw in her eyes that it didn’t matter what he said, she was already set. Fuck me.
“Do it” she commanded. And as if it was the only thing he needed. Steve ignited the car and drove. This is a bad idea. He tried telling Steve to stop. They were going to crash. They were going to get stuck in the middle. Dustin was yelling to, on the same train of thought as him. But Steve didn’t slow down, and Nancy was looking at the gate with a determined look.
The gate was in front of them, it was closing fast. But they didn’t crash. The car drove through it, just like Steve had thought. And suddenly, they were exactly at the same place, but it was dark and cold. The barn looked in ruins, the sky was black and red. They were in the Upside Down. They yelled euphorically.
“We did it!”
“Woo!” He exhaled deeply, feeling the tension on his shoulder leave him limp on the backseat.
“Signal?” Nancy asked, being the first one to come down from the high. Jonathan looked at the telemeter, the number was increasing.
“Strong!”
“Oh my God!” he exclaimed.
“We got you, son of a bitch!” Dustin shouted, excited. Jonathan smiled. Maybe, this wasn’t such a bad idea.
(…)
It was after his failure of a mission that his superiors had decided he needed some guidance. On paper, it was stated that he hadn’t been able to accomplish his mission, that all the resources and supplies had gone to waste. That the lives of so many soldiers had been lost because he hadn’t been competent enough. But it hadn’t been as bad as the report made it out to be.
There were things that couldn’t be put on paper, unofficial events that could only be talked about. And because of those events, he was allowed to continue to be part of the mission. Because even if it appeared to be a failure, he had been successful in some respects. It was true that the girl had escaped, Eleven had evaded them just in time to vanish without a trace. But what she had left behind was a gold mine for the government.
The capture of Dr. Owens had been covered as a suicide, a fake body submerged in a lake, as a petty reference to his antecessor and acquaintance. To the world, Owens was a dead man. But, in reality, Sullivan had found him alive. He had been able to keep him captive for quite some time, almost two years. And it had been a great resource for the ongoing mission.
He wasn’t very talkative. But he was helpful. Especially when it came to the investigation of one Dr. Brenner. Because Owens wasn’t the only thing Sullivan had found in that lab in the middle of the desert. All the documents, the tapes and the investigation had been the real reason the government still trusted him.
But not to the extent he wished for. It wasn’t long after the mission that he had been brought into a meeting with the infamous Dr. Kay. She was very well known by the militia. She was ruthless and had no problems with doing what needed to be done. He had been a witness to her insanity when she took ne look at Brenner’s research.
The program. I’m going to restart it. She had said one day to him. And a few hours later, a dozen of women were brought to her. Women that nobody was looking for. Healthy women. But that wasn’t enough, there was one thing she was missing. The girl, I need her.
So, they went back to the initial mission: looking for Eleven. But as he foresaw, it wasn’t as easy as saying it. There was no trace of the girl, not even a single clue to her whereabouts. Or, more accurately, too many clues and no clear path to follow. The town, the Wheeler family, the Byers family, the Henderson family, the Sinclair family, the Mayfield family, Dr. Owens. All of those clues lead to nothing clear. Except for the one thing that they couldn’t explain. The portal to the other dimension.
Dr. Kay seemed adamant that it was the place Eleven was hiding in. but it had been almost two years and they still hadn’t found any trace. And Dr. Kay wasn’t a patient woman. It wasn’t long before she had commanded a side mission for another general. Find the other girl. Bring me number 8.
It wasn’t hard to track her down. She wasn’t as good at hiding as she would like to think. Especially when she was so eager to find the people that had hurt her. It was pathetically easy to trick her and to capture her.
She hadn’t seen the girl in months. The only one allowed to visit her was Dr. Kay. The only reason he knew that she was alive was because of her constant visits to her. But whatever she was doing to her was unimportant to him. There was only one girl he cared about, and he already had a lead to find her.
Unfortunately, Dr. Kay, didn’t agree with him.
“In less than Twenty-four hours we've got four missing kids. There's 73 children in Hawkins between the age of nine and ten. If the pattern holds, our next target will be from this group” she stated as she walked through the hallways of their base. Their main base, located in the dimension Dr. Owens liked to call the Upside Down, was big and reinforced.
“And you believe Eleven has taken these kids? For what purpose?” he questioned, not fully convinced. The crime scene at the Wheeler’s home was the opposite of what he would expect of the girl. The tapes shown her killing without a mess, barely any blood on any of the corpses she left behind.
But the Wheeler residency was painted in blood. And not all of it was human blood. But Dr. Kay wasn’t the type of woman to listen to other’s opinions.
“Killing them, protecting them. The reason doesn't matter” she said. He was walking behind her, maintaining respect and professionalism.
“These children? Where are they now?” he asked.
“Arriving at the MAC-Z at any moment, which is where I want you” she replied, and he couldn’t help to answer her. Because she might be in charge, but she was still a scientist. What they needed to do was look for his men, that was a real clue of the girl’s whereabouts. She had killed them, and she had taken his best man.
Not only that, but she had also taken a tank. If they could find the tank, they could find her.
“I should be looking for Lt. Akers. I find Akers, I find---”
“You'll find a dead man. Report to the MAC-Z, Colonel. That's an order” She left after that. Not interested in arguments. He wasn’t either. He nodded and left to obey. He didn’t agree with Dr. Kay, but he didn’t have an option. If he wanted to find the girl and still be part of the mission, he needed to do as told. And he was planning to use it to his advantage.
(…)
The car was mostly silent, the only sound that she could hear was their breathing. Everyone was on edge. The last time she had been here, she had almost died, along with Steve and Robin. She had seen Vecna with her own eyes. And she had failed to kill him. And because of that, Max had basically died and Eddie had been killed by the bats.
Now, she was back, and she wasn’t alone. Dustin, Steve and Jonathan were with her. But that did not reassure her. She didn’t want to lose another person she cared about, and if she did, it would be her fault. She had made the decision to come; she had told Steve to cross the gate. She was so determined to get her sister back, that she had thought she needed to take any chance that she could have. She just hoped it was the right choice.
She looked around. Jane and Hopper hadn’t lied when they said the Upside Down was empty. The last time she came, the place was filled with bats and shrieks of creatures could be heard everywhere. She had felt the constant sensation of someone watching them. But now, the place looked empty and somber, as if it was abandoned.
“Looks like our boy's taking us on a shortcut through Roane Cemetery” Steve said, just as they entered de cemetery.
“That's almost at the county line” she observed, a little confused. It was at the edge of the town. The four gates that had ruptured the town didn’t go that far, so why would he leave?
“Doesn't this thing get tired?” Jonathan asked, annoyed. She knows he wasn’t happy about her decision. He didn’t want to come here, and he was also probably scared. It was his first time here. But there wasn’t time to be sorry, she would talk to him later.
“Unfortunately, it looks like the opposite. I think he's speeding up” Dustin informed, he was focused on the telemeter, moving the buttons and turning the wheel slightly. But the numbers were still decreasing.
“Wait, what?” Steve asked.
“I'm losing the signal”
“You've gotta be shitting me, man!” Steve exclaimed. She held her breath. They couldn’t lose the demo, if they did, this would have been for nothing.
“Can you go faster?” she asked.
“Let's see” Steve stepped on the accelerator and the car went faster. She had a hard time seeing what was in front of them, the lights were a little helpful, but the place was so dark that sometimes the light wasn’t enough. “Henderson, you've gotta talk to me. What do you got, man?” But Dustin didn’t answer. “Henderson, what--”
“Wait, I'm picking up interference” he exclaimed.
“How is that important right now?”
“It means I can't hear the signal”
“Well then, listen harder”
“What do you mean? You wanna put these on?”
“I'm driving!”
“You do the driving. I do the navigating”
The two of them started arguing with each other, but Nancy wasn’t listening to them. The Upside Down lit itself up with lighting, and it allowed her to see something in the distance. It looked like some kind of wall. It was red and so big.
“What is that?” Jonathan asked, astonished.
“I-I don't know” she replied, unsure. But whatever it was, it didn’t matter right now. Because Steve wasn’t looking at the path in front of him and he wasn’t slowing down either. “Steve, slow down” They were getting closer to the wall. Too close. And Steve wasn’t listening.
“Steve! Steve, watch out!” she yelled, along with Jonathan. And Steve finally listened, but it was too late. She heard the car trying to stop, but they were going too fast. The tires screeched. She held her breath, preparing herself for the impact. She felt Jonathan put his arm in front of her. And one second before the crash, she remembered one important thing. There were no belts on the backseats.
(…)
Her heart was working overtime; it was beating so hard she wouldn’t be surprised if she could see it jumping out of her chest. She had been an idiot. Why did I do that? What was I thinking? She berated herself as she looked at Will pick up a brush and a can of paint. He was shaking, his skin pale and clammy. But he had refused to rest. I need to paint it, mom. You all need to see it, too.
And she just couldn’t bare it. Seeing him paint this godawful thing on the wall reminded her too much of that time. He was younger and so much smaller then. Sweating and shaking. Possessed. She wasn’t alone back then either, but the people around her weren’t the same people that had been with her in the past… She really could think of it. She refused to.
So, she focused on the other problem. His oldest son. Jonathan. Why did her sons always find trouble? It wasn’t long ago that he had seen him. Sitting at the back of the car with Nancy. It was only a second, and then he was gone. He had followed the Demogorgon into the Upside Down. And that was the other thing. That place, it had already taken so much from her family, and now one of her sons was there, again.
She could admit to herself that it was terrifying. But she was also pissed. Jonathan was smarter than this. He knew the risk. So, why go? What was his plan? They had no weapons or supplies. They didn’t even know where the demo would lead them. But there was nothing she could do about it, and it was becoming an annoying pattern.
“Jonathan, it's Mom. Answer me, please. Over” She said to the walkie on the van. She was hoping that maybe the antenna could be close enough for it to reach the signal. But she wasn’t getting an answer in return. “Jonathan, please answer” she said. But again, she got only static. “Jonathan, Nancy, Dustin, it's Joyce. Please answer me”
“Hey” she looked up at Robin. The girl looked way too calm after everything that had happened. But Joyce wasn’t petty. She owed Robin for taking care of his boy. She had seen her trying to wake him up for the trance. “Any luck?”
“No”
“Well, on the plus side, I guess that means they made it through” she said, and Joyce could see her trying to be comforting. Her voice was soft, if a little shacky. “Do you wanna see where they're headed?” she asked.
Joyce looked at the barn and, for a second, she was tempted to deny it. She really didn’t want to see it. Whatever his little boy had seen, she was sure it was awful. And she didn’t want to witness another thing that he had to endure. Another horrific thing he had been forced to see. But she was the mom, she was the adult. She couldn’t hide behind two kids and a teenager. She needed to be strong for her family.
(…)
It took him a while to get his breathing under control. It was a weird sensation, as if learning how to use his lungs again. He still felt a little dizzy, his chest hurt with every breath he took, and his hands shook as he took hold on an old brush. Robin had helped him find some paint, red and black.
His mom had wanted him to rest for a bit, but the fresher the image, the better. He didn’t want to forget the details. She wasn’t happy about it, but she was also worried about Jonathan. Apparently, he had flipped to the Upside Down, along with Nancy, Steve and Dustin. So, once she had made sure he wasn’t going to pass out, she went out to try to get in contact with them
He was worried too, but he didn’t want to think about them right now. He needed to focus on what he saw. He couldn’t forget, not right now. What he saw was important, he could feel it. It wasn’t just the place he was keeping the kids in; it was something else. And there was more, but he knew something had stopped him from seeing any further.
He dipped the brush on the red paint and looked at the naked wooden wall. He could almost picture what he needed to paint. The first stroke was deliberated, done with purpose. His mind already knew what he needed to draw, his hand just needed to follow the invisible lines. Each trace made the picture in his mind more vivid, as if painting it helped him remember more clearly.
If he had trouble knowing how the next stroke should be, he would close his eyes to have a better image of the cave. He remembered the spikes, the vines and the pure ugliness of it. There was so much he could do with only one color of paint, but he had years of practice. He knew how to use the reflection of the light on the paint to make it look as if there was more than one shade. He knew which direction his brush needed to take to enhance the shine, so that it would look like it was wet. He knew how much paint the brush needed to fix his mistakes.
He still wasn’t an expert, but if there was something he was proud of, it was his ability to paint and draw. He knew exactly how to do it. It was his expertise, and he was forever glad it was a useful skill. It had helped them before, and it was going to help them now. When he did the last stroke, he exhaled deeply and took a few steps back. He felt lighter, he wasn’t shaking anymore. He was still sore, but it didn’t bother him anymore.
He was in such a trance that he didn’t notice when Derek came down from the second floor of the barn, or when his mother and Robin came back. Not until his mother spoke.
“What is it?” she asked, intrigued.
“I-I don’t know, but I could feel it’s important to him” he said, his voice cracked and talking made him realize how thirsty he felt. But his eyes were locked on the painting, as if he couldn’t look away.
“To Mr... Whatsit?” Derek asked, hesitant.
“His real name is Henry” he clarified in a defensive tone.
“AKA Vecna” Robin said, followed by Erica “AKA One”
“That's too many names” he complained, reminding everyone he was still a petulant child.
“Why won't you just zip it and listen, dipshit?” Erica commanded, always ready to put someone in their place.
Will rubbed his forehead, putting some pression on his temple. His head was sore. Not exactly a headache, it was a bit different. It felt like the muscles of his legs when he ran too much, as if he had used his brain too much and now it was sore because of the exertion. It was just at the back of his eyes, right in the middle of his head. He sighed; he wondered if Henry felt this every time he took control of the Hive Mind.
He also felt a little hollow, as if the Hive Mind had left an empty spot inside his head the moment he tapped out. He remembered feeling like that when they had burned the particles of the Mind Flayer out of him, as if they had left and taken something from him, something that he couldn’t quite get back. He was pulled out of his thoughts when they heard the sound of something hitting the ground.
“Holly shit, what is that?” He turned around and saw Lucas looking at his painting with awe. Mike was right behind him. His hair was disheveled and his eyes were wide open. There was sweat running down his forehead and his neck, and he was panting. They had probably biked all the way from the Turnbow house. They locked eyes and he saw Mike do that thing with his face when he looked at someone he cared about. His face went soft and his eyebrows curved.
…a brush of the knee, a bump of the elbow, a shared look… A shared look. Robins voice flew in his mind. For a second, he forgot how to breathe. Mike was looking at him like, like… he didn’t even know, but it made him shivered and feel his knees weak. He was probably still dizzy, or something. He gulped.
“Are you guys okay?” Mike asked, but he was still looking at him. Only him. And Will didn’t think he could speak right now, so he nodded. Mike smiled a little and took a step towards him. Will felt the urge to do the same, as if he was under some kind of spell.
But then he heard Lucas. “What happened?” Will cleared his throat and looked back at the painting, feeling shame grow inside of him like an ugly parasite. He felt his face getting hot and his hands started to shake. What’s wrong with him? Mike was his friend, and more than that, he was dating his sister. It didn’t matter what Robin had said about signals, Mike wasn’t single. He was just his friend. And yes, he was clingy and he was used to lock eyes with him. But that’s just because of how long they’ve known each other.
They were best friends. We’re friends, Will. We’re friends. He had said back in California, when Will started to expect the same type of attention from him that he was giving Jane. He had to take a moment to remind Will what they were, where they stood. Because Will had gotten too deep into his head, into thinking that it was normal. But it wasn’t.
Mike wasn’t the only that didn’t reach out to him as often as he had expected. Dustin and Lucas did the same, and that didn’t bother him as much, and he knew why. They were his friends, only friends. But that line was blurry when it came to Mike, at least from his side. Mike didn’t have that problem; he knew how to separate his relationships.
But Will’s crush on Mike was always problematic, because he was never good at pretending or at differentiating what was normal and what wasn’t. He expected things from Mike that he couldn’t give him, and when he was in California, he had forgotten it. And Mike had to remind him.
And it was happening again. The line was getting blurry, he was starting to expect, and it was because he had gotten hopeful. Seeing Robin being so carefree with her love, how happy she was with Vickie… He wanted that too. He wanted it so much his chest hurt. It made his lungs seize. It made his eyes sting. Because now he knew it could happen, there was a possibility he could find a boy and have that.
But there was only one boy he wanted, and he couldn’t have him.
(…)
“C’mon! Hurry up!” Mike yelled as he mounted his bike and started to ride it towards the road. He heard Lucas behind him, he was cursing and telling him to slow down. But he didn’t listen. He couldn’t. The plan hadn’t worked; the demo didn’t go to his monster lair where it had taken Holly. Something had gone wrong and the demo was running towards the barn. Towards him.
“Mike, wait!” Lucas shouted, Mike took a second to glance back and noticed he was trying to catch up to him, he hadn’t even had time to climb onto the bike. He didn’t want to wait, he didn’t want to waste any second. Don’t split up, stay together. That was the number one rule Hopper had made for everyone back at the beginning of the quarantine, to always stick together.
He is in danger, though. He needs him. “Slow down, Mike!” But he couldn’t, he just couldn’t. he had been late last night and his father had died. He had been late last night and Holly was taken. He had been late last night and his mom had been injured. He couldn’t be late right now. Not when he was in danger.
It was fortunately that Lucas was in better shape than Mike ever will. He caught up to him in a few minutes, panting and sweating. Mike was also sweating and panting. But he felt numb. “Jesus, man” Lucas murmured, out of breath. Mike couldn’t reply. He had a lump in his throat, and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. Will was in danger.
He wasn’t supposed to be in danger. He was supposed to be safe at the barn, waiting for the others to track the demo. He was supposed to be bored and safe. And now he was the one in danger. Why is it always him?
A flash of a memory he couldn’t get rid of appeared before him. It was him, Will. But he wasn’t alive, he was a corpse being dragged out of the lake. Tiny and rotting. He remembered seeing him all those years ago, how seeing created a void inside of him that, still to this day, he hadn’t been able to fill. A darkness that had taken over him at the Quarry, when he decided to jump.
Saving Dustin had been an excuse. At the time, all he could think about was that maybe he had been wrong. That Will had really drowned, and that they could be together if he jumped.
He clutched the handles of his bike. He needed to focus. He tried to go faster. He wasn’t the most athletic out of them, but Hopper’s training had helped him build some stamina. It’s all in your control over breathing, kid. He needed to stay calm and to avoid hyperventilating. It had been hard to learn; he had struggled the most out of everyone. But he didn’t give up, and right now, he was glad he didn’t.
They drove their bikes for a few minutes, in complete silence, before they saw a military bus. Specifically, the one they used to take the kids to school and back. It was parked in front of a house, along with two trucks, and there were some soldiers around it. But that wasn’t the weird part.
“What the hell?” Lucas mumbled. They slowed down a bit to watch what was happening. Normally, the bus would go around the kids to take them to school around 5 a.m. But right now, it was the middle of the night, maybe 2 a.m., and there was a soldier escorting a kid into the bus. “They’re taking the kids now?” Lucas asked. Mike shrugged. It was probably important, but he didn’t care.
They needed to get to Will. He couldn’t be late again. He started to drive again, Lucas followed him. “Why are they taking them all of the sudden? Do you think they know about Derek?” Lucas asked, and Mike shrugged again. He didn’t care. They needed to get to Will.
It felt like they were biking for hours. His legs were cramping and he was panting, his breaths ragged. But then he saw it, the barn. He felt newfound energy fill his body and he put more effort, going just a bit faster than before.
As they got closer to the barn, Mike could feel his heart beating harder and harder inside his chest. The door of the barn was destroyed, so he could see the outline of five people looking at a wall. He could recognize Will anywhere; he was in the middle of everyone. He was okay. He was alive. He felt his body deflate, the tension leaving him, shivering with relief.
As they got closer, he started to see the wall they were looking at was red. A painting. Not only that, as he dropped his bike at the entrance, for a second, it looked like the painting was coming out of Will, or as if he was the thing holding it together. “Holly shit, what is that?” But the illusion of it was broken the moment he turned around.
Mike gasped as he saw Will. He was pale, dried tears over his face. He was slightly shaking and he was clutching a brush in his hand. And when he looked at his eyes, he felt his breath taken away. He was okay. He had a glint in his eyes that made Mike melt instantly. He felt the knots inside his chest dissolve and the remnants of the tension disappear. He felt like he needed to say something, and for once he was glad for the words that came out of his mouth.
“Are you guys okay?” Will nodded and Mike smiled. If Will was okay, then he could deal with whatever happened next. He was still looking at his eyes, and maybe he should be worried about how many people were around, but he just couldn’t care less. There was this sensation inside of him that pushed him to get closer to Will. He needed to be by his side.
From now on, I’ll stay with you. No matter what.
“What happened?” Just as the word left Lucas’ mouth, Will turned around
“Did you draw that?” Mike asked, even if he already knew the answer. Will nodded. Mike and Lucas got closer, looking at the painting. Mike stopped when he reached Will’s side, he felt his hand brush Will’s and a sparkle of warm grew over his skin. He glanced at him and felt the need to never take his eyes from him. He was blushing and Mike couldn’t think there could be someone this cute.
“I saw it… It’s where he is keeping the kids” he said. His voice was
“Wait, the kids? As in, more than one? More than Holly?” Robin asked. Will flinched and walked up to the wall. He crouched and dipped the brush in his hand into a bucket. He painted the shape of four kids into the wall.
“Holly and three more… They were attached to this… spire” he said, while painting. “They were part of the structure… And it was doing something to them… it was filling them”
“Filling them?” Joyce asked, but Will ignored her. His eyes were marked on the painting, as if he was in a trance.
“And they were… I guess, they were powering it” he explained, pointing at the middle of the structure. “It was stealing from them…”
“Stealing what?” Mike asked. Will flinched again and turned around. The blush he had had earlier was gone, and he looked pale. Sick.
“I’m not sure… But whatever it is, he needs more kids”
“How many?” Joyce asked, and Will shook his head.
“I mean, there are twelve spots there” Lucas said, pointing at the spires.
“But why twelve?” Erica asked. Will shook his head again. He was tired, Mike could see it, and he was getting overwhelmed. Mike knew from experience that he hated explaining his visions and his drawings/paintings. That’s why I draw them; it’s better that way… Half the time I can’t really understand what I see. He had told him one day, back when he had been possessed. Sometimes I can’t find the words.
“Whatever the reason, what we need to do right now is regroup” he said, getting surprised at himself by the volume of his voice. “We need a plan… If the pattern holds, Vecna is going to try to get the rest of the kids tomorrow night, so we need to find them before then”
“Yeah, and that’s another thing” Lucas said. “On our way here, Mike and I saw the military take kids from their homes, I’m thinking they already caught up on the disappearances”
“Take them where?” Joyce asked.
“I’m guessing the base” Lucas shrugged.
“Fucking hell” Robin sighed. “As if we needed another thing to worry about”
“Let’s not do this here” Mike said. “Let’s go back to radio station for now”