Work Text:
He knew where he was, the Hallway between the Cafeteria and the Gym hall, but this.. this wasn't Hawkins High, no, this place was dark, almost as if the air was.. blue? With floating spores and vines. Vines that pulsed, slowly clinging onto the green and orange painted walls, he began walking, he had to. He decided to walk towards the cafeteria, each step echoing louder and louder, as if he was getting closer to... himself? No that would make no sense. He stops, and yet the footsteps don't. His blood runs cold, he knows now that he's not the only other person in the building.
Before he can push open the step through to the cafeteria he can hear his own name, "Chance?" Spinning on his heel he finds Will stood tall, as if he belonged there holding a gun, a pretty large gun, surprisingly
"Will?" He leans closer, but doesn't step. Will comes walking closer, slowly as if he doesn't trust him. Both boys were weary of the other standing in front of them. "Is that really you?" Will asks. Chance says nothing, but just nods, "Oh Jesus, thank god, okay" Will begins, slinging the bag off his shoulder and propping himself on one knee to root through it. He pulls out another shotgun and assembling it, since when did Will know so much about guns, Chance looked at the gun, he recognised it, it was a Winchester, specifically a 1892, where would Will have gotten this?
"You see it, Shoot." Will says, stepping into the cafeteria, gun up, ready to fire at any moment. "Shoot what??" Chance asks, in an angry whisper except Will didn't answer, just kept walking forward with the ambition of a man who has lost so much, but refuses to give up. "You'll know it when you see it" Will finally answers, turning his head to look at Chance, His eye a beautiful hazel that could only ever been seen in the beauty of Wills face. He had some blood on him too, dried. Chance didn't care where it came from as long as it wasn't Wills
Eventually they'd managed to make their way to the front of the school, where Will let Chance know they were going to head out. When Chance asked for specifics, Will remained silent. He found it odd that Will was quiet, usually he'd explain things, but he could tell that this was a high tensity situation. Before Will could push open the door, they heard it. A shriek. It was loud and wet in some way, then they could hear the footsteps, no, thumping. Whatever was approaching them wasn't human, not with the sound it was making with each step.
"Come on!" Will yells, grabbing Chance by the wrist and pulled him out the building. Now they were running down the streets of Hawkins, passing Melvalds and then Dirk's something or other Detective agency (He never bothered learning the names of places), then Hobbees, wait. No. That shouldn't be right.. Hawkins High was about a five minute walk from the main street, there's no way they could have ran here in a matter of.. what? Seconds? He knew this wasnt right, he just couldnt figure it out. Did Will put this together too? Does he know whats going on? Either way he kept running.
When Will turned back to face him, his eye widened, Chance looked back, trying to see what Will saw, and when he did, he regret it, he wished he just kept running. There was a creature behind him. A demogorgon, tall, slender, all the wrong shades of red for a living creature. He was seeing one, for the first time, he understood why they said it looked like a budding flower. When he first imagined it, he thought of a beautiful yellow rose, growing out of its green leaves and blossoming and bathing in sunlight, but this wasnt that, it looked sharp and dark. When its mouth finally opened, it bore all its teeth, all 140 of them, sharp and coated in monster saliva and dried-ish blood.
"HOLY SHIT" Chance yelled, and he upped his speed. At some point, Will ended up holding Chances hand while they were running. He didn't know why he wasn't shooting, he didn't question it though. It felt as though if he were to let go of Wills hand he'd loose him forever, and he didn't want that. If he could keep Will by his side he would, the snarky comments he makes once in a blue moon, and then feels bad afterwards, the expressions on his face whenever something remotely interesting happens, the way his eye looks whenever he sees something he likes, and the way Will looks at him. God, he'd never want to loose that.
As they run past the 'Welcome to Hawkins!' sign, Chance stops. They were in Hawkins, how are they passing this sign, If they were running out it should say 'Come back soon!' It made absolutely no sense. Will who was still holding his hand, now looked at Chance annoyed, "What are you doing?? We have to go, NOW" Chance looks around him, the tall trees surrounding Hawkins swayed in the breeze of the afternoon, the ground began to shake, cracking in was no earthquake could cause. The rips in the earth opened to reveal an abyss, a bottomless pit of scarlet red that made no sense.
"You're not real" He says, looking at Will. Will's eye widens, "What are you talking about?" He asks, persistently. "None of this makes sense, how are we running into Hawkins if we just came from there, THE GROUND IS SPLITTING, WILL" He doesn't mean to yell, but he's confused, he's angry and he wants answers. Wills face rests, falling into a blank expression. "Will?" He asks, now concerned.
"Will? What's going on?"
"WILL"
He shoots up, looking around, there are people. Lots of them. But, they're not doing anything, and it takes a minute for Chance to realize, but when he does, he stops, his shoulders drop and his breathing slows. It people he knew, people Will knew. Everyone was stood around them, in no pattern, shape or design. Will makes a sudden movement, which startles Chance.
"Jesus, Will what's going on?" However, Will doesn't respond, and instead goes for the closest person, Dustin. He's stood to Wills right, and Will pounces. Leaping like a Cheetah catching its pray after running for so long.
Will is on top of Dustin, pinning him down, Chance's eyebrows furrow. "Will, what the hell are you-" He's cut off by a ugly squelching sound, as it someone bit into a plum, but it was Will, bearing his teeth, oddly sharp, but slightly rotten, into Dustin's skin and muscle. It's only then Chance can hear. He can hear the agonising screams Dustin is letting out, the sound of Wills chewing, the sound of-
"Holy Fuck. Was that his bone?" Chance rushes over to the pair, only to be covered by a fountain of blood, erupting from Dustin's chest.
"Oh my-" Chance rushes to a nearby tree and vomits, heavily at its base, probably killing whatever was growing with the stomach acid he spit out.
"Will, what the ever-loving fuck are you doing, dude?" He tries to pull Will off of Dustin, to no avail. His hand phases right through Wills body. expecting something solid, he leans too much onto what he believed would be Will, but falls right through, onto Dustin. His chest was bored open, several of his ribs out of place, his heart by his stomach and his intestines pouring out. Will takes no notice of Chance, and instead shuffles up to Dustin's head.
He picks up a rock and swings it down onto Dustin's face directly. Cracking and fracturing whatever bones he had left. Chance turned away, he couldn't look. The boy he loved and worshiped oh so dearly was eating his friend, without a hint of emotion on his face. Chance ran, he kept running, that's all he felt he could do, he ran, through Hawkins, through the housing estates. It didn't matter where he ended up. Either way he kept running.
He ran, only to end up back at the 'Welcome to Hawkins!' sign, and he stopped again, only to find Will walking towards Steve, and away from Mike. "Oh Jesus" Chance mutters under his breath. As Will tackles down Steve, who is taller and stronger than him, he can begin to hear Steve screaming. He screams were so loud he couldn't hear Will chewing and gnawing at his flesh. Only the agonising, never ending screams of pain from someone Chance admired a lot.
He could run, but that would only bring him back here, where the boy he fell in love with was eating his friends, and most likely, his family too. Chance looked around at the people, Joyce, Jonathan, Lucas, Max, Hopper, Jane, Jennifer, Robin, Murray (Who he met only once) and.. Oh god. No.
"Bonnie" He whispered, as if saying it louder would take it true. "You're, no, you're in college" His older sister, Bonnie, was stood with her hands at her side, her long black hair gently flowing in the breeze of the cursed road, her chestnut eyes wide open fully.
"No, no no no no no no no no no no no no no" he repeated to himself. He tried to shake her awake, grabbing both of her shoulders and rocking her back and forward to no avail. Its only after a minute he realises the silence. He whips his head around, looking for Will, the sweet, sweet boy who said sorry every time he bumped into a table, who teared up at every 'Missing Pet' poster they walked past. This wasn't Will. It couldn't be, not anymore anyways. The Will he knew wouldn't hurt anyone. Will was walking towards them, as if Chance's interference with Bonnie caught Wills attention. He tried to grab her and run away, alas he couldn't.
All he could do was stand there. And so he did. He stood, arms by his side, defeated a pure look of despair of his face. He watched as his beloved sister was shredded apart by his beloved boyfriend. He turned away. He wasn't going to watch as his siter was eaten. But of course, her screams were heard loud and clear. The agonising pain she was feeling as Wills teeth pierced his skin. The torture she was enduring, he couldn't bear to watch.
Hour after hour after hour had passed. He was now sat at the base of a tree, knees pulled up to his chest, his head tucked behind his arms, eyes squeezed shut. He guessed the screams of the people Will was eating. There was one, high pitched, he knew the voice, Wills beloved sister, Jane. He loved her so, so dearly. He stood up for her always, he listened to her when she needed to talk, he helped her decorate for room, and whenever he could, he painted things for her.
He kept his head facing the ground, wandering in circles, around the gathering of people who were dropping in numbers. He circled around them all, counting and recognising all the faces. Jason, Chrissy, Patrick, Ross, Vanessa. He caught sight of Robin, once again and he just stared, knowing that eventually, she'd be nothing but a clump of mangled flesh on the reddening grass.
The only person who had tried pleading was Jonathan, Chance was hidden behind the trunk of a tree, out of the way, right on the border of the crowd of people, refusing to watch anymore. He could first hear the bite, the eerily juicy bite, like a sweet nectarine being enjoyed in the sunlight of summer. Then, when Chance expected screams, he instead heard "WILL-" His head shot up, looking around the tree, he finds Will is on top of his brother, head buried into his chest, chewing on- whatever, Chance didn't want to know. "WILL WHAT ARE YOU DOING???" Will doesn't respond once, just keeps eating, as if he'd been starved once and refuses to ever let it happen again. "WILL PLEASE" Chance winced. There was noting he could do, he could run, it would be pointless, he couldn't run anymore.
Every scream he heard, was pitched higher than the last, Jonathan's attempt at pleading for his little brother to stop. Could he see the others, the people stood, unknowingly waiting for their turn? Could he see the lifeless bodies that lie in the blood stained grass in the odd pattern Will had decided to attack in? He didn't want to know.
His legs were weak, he didn't want to try and stand, he could only cry and be forced to listen to the screaming. "PLEASE-" Jonathan cut himself off with a howl. The tears poured out of his eyes. Why? Why him and why Will. They had done no wrong, right? Chance thought of praying, to god, to anyone. Anyone that could get him out of where he was. He clasped his hands together.
"Please, if you can hear me, please father, the weight of my love cannot equal to this? Can it, father? If you can hear me, please get me out of here, me and Will-" He prayed all through Jonathan's cries and wailing. When his eyes re-opened, tears continued to streak his face. He collapses, hands on the floor in font of him, the only thing keeping himself up now, was the strength he had left in his arms, but they gave out too at some point. He let himself lie on the grass, knowing he'd stain his jeans.
"This isn't Will" He'd mutter to himself every once in a while. He tried to shut the screams out, drown the noises with humming. He'd hum songs that him and Will would yell from the car, he could remember the day he and Will decided to skip classes for the day and sneak into the next town over, they were blasting 'Born to Run' by Bruce Springsteen and smiling widely. He wished he could go back to that now.
At some time he must've passed out, because when he came to, he could see the grass that was once green, covered in red blood, some patches fresher than others. Will was next to him, watching his sleep. When he noticed this, he jumped.
"JESUSCHRIST" He sprung up, standing, facing Will. Will, tilted his head sideways as if he didn't understand why Chance was startled.
"I'm tired, can we go home now?"
"Oh dear fucking god." Chance muttered to himself.