Chapter 10 – Fight or Flight – Part 1
The party helped Hopper clean out the shed and then proceeded to help disguise the shed so Will would not know where he was. Placing sheets from the beds inside the main house over the windows to taping up sheets of metal found in the pile of junk Hopper had chucked on the lawn.
Hope, Steve, and Nancy were assisting with putting one of the sheets up when Steve spoke to Nancy suddenly, "Did you know Hope's been hooking up with Hargrove?" He asked and Hope rolled her eyes and frowned at Steve, "Why do you care so much?" Hope asked him through gritted teeth, frustration prominently clear in her words, and Nancy laughed, "Come on Steve it was one time relax..." She responded before Steve could respond to Hope. Steve's eyes landed on Nancy and frowned, "Is that what she told you?" He asked and Nancy now looked over at Hope who had continued to frown at Steve and slapped him on the shoulder. "Seriously, why do you care so much?" Hope rounded back on to Steve and he looked at her, perplexed. "You're supposed to by my friend, the guy's been tormenting me since he got to Hawkins, I'd like to think there's some loyalty to our friendship!" Steve advised Hope, her frown softened. "There were other times?" Nancy questioned, ignoring Steve's statement and Hope turned her attention to Nancy. "Look, it's not like that, you weren't even here for me to tell you!" Hope shot back at Nancy, Hope felt like she was being ganged up on by her friends and this was not the time or place for this to happen, so she got defensive as the anger bubbled up in her stomach. "You've been off with Jonathan doing god knows what while your boyfriend sits around waiting for you, how fair is that?" She spat and Nancy looked shocked and then looked apologetically at Steve who was still frowning at Hope. "Hope, are you okay?" Steve asked her as he noticed her hands start shaking, he also noticed the whites of her eyes darken. "I… I need air." Hope stammered, before pushing passed the two and heading for the fresh air outside.
She breathed deeply and exhaled. Her hands slowly stopped shaking but she did not feel like herself. She could not explain how she felt but she wondered, if she felt like this then how did Will feel?
Hope decided to let Nancy and Steve finish up in the shed without her. She went back into the house and approached the sedated Will on the couch.
She sat on the edge of the couch and watched as he breathed peacefully. Hope's arm brushed against Will's slightly and she shuddered when the hair on her skin stood up. She suddenly decided to grip his hand and squeeze it, hoping for some sort of reaction, figuring she would not get any, but to her surprise she felt herself get sucked into something and when her eyes opened, she blinked, trying to adjust to the darkness around her. She walked forwards a little, once her eyes had come to terms with where she was, she noticed the ripples from the water she was walking through, spreading like wildfire. She could hear something in the distance, she could hear some music. Was it some one singing?
"Should I stay, or should I go now, if I go there will be trouble and if I stay it will be double, should I stay or should I go?"
"WILL!" Hope called, recognising his soft voice. He was here but she could not see him.
"Hope…" She heard her name being called, it sounded faraway, yet she somehow knew she was being pulled back to reality. She could feel the tugging on her shoulders, or was it shaking? She could not understand but she closed her eyes and when she opened them again, she was back in the Byers living room. Her hand removed from Will's. "What the hell just happened?" Hopper asked her as he picked will up, cradling him like a baby. Hope looked up at Hopper. "He's in there." She told him. Her voice gruff. Hopper eyed her suspiciously but then walked towards the door.
"Did you just…?" Dustin asked her suddenly, but his voice faded as he pointed to Hope's nose as Hope glanced at him. She bought a hand up to her nose and wiped at it, a crimson colour appearing on the back of her hand. The blood was seeping from her nostril. "We're connected… the shadow somehow, I heard him…" She told Dustin as she forced herself to get up and watched as Hopper carried Will outside to the shed, Joyce, Mike, and Jonathan following after him. "You're bleeding, like…" Dustin started but Hope shook her head. "Don't say it. It's just the mind flayer." Hope informed Dustin who watched Hope get up and go pour herself a glass of water. Steve and Nancy approached Dustin. "She channelled Will." Dustin whispered to the two of them when he noticed their curious facial expressions. The two teenagers looked over to Hope who was rubbing her temples slowly and resting her elbows on the kitchen counter.
A few minutes passed and Jonathan came back into the house. He stomped to his room and grabbed a stereo before he headed back out to the shed. A few minutes after that the lights in the room started to flicker and then Hopper barged in. He looked over at Hope with concern. Hope smiled a thin line at Hopper who grabbed a paper and a pen. He started drawing circles and squiggles. "Morse code?" Dustin asked and Hopper nodded at the kid. "He's in there, this is how he's trying to reach us." Hopper informed the party who hovered around him while he drew the marks. Lucas ran into Will's rooms and appeared with a Morse Code translator. They quickly translate what Hopper had written and read out loud, "HERE!" Hopper handed Nancy the walkie talkie before he took his own one with him. "How did you know?" He asked Hope before he went back out to the shed, "That he was still in there?" He added at her confused facial expression. Hope's eyes darted to her scar and Hopper scanned her quickly before he exited the room. He was a strange man. Hope thought to herself before lifting herself up off the chair she had perched herself on and joined the group around the dining room table.
Dustin and Lucas assisted Nancy with the morse code translation. Once they were done there were two words scribbled on the piece of paper in front of them. "CLOSE GATE!" Nancy read out loud. "Well, that's just great." Dustin moaned just as the phone started to ring. "SHIT!" Dustin cried out, lunging for the phone, and lifting it off the holder before putting it down again. It rang again and before Dustin could pick it up again Nancy tore it off the wall and threw it to the ground. "Do you think he heard it?" Max asked this time, looking wide eyed at the terrified teenagers around the room. "It's just a phone, could be anywhere right?" Steve spoke this time, looking towards Hope who he had noticed was looking out the window now. "It knows." Hope spoke softly. The rooms eyes trailed on her as she continued to stare out the window.
The others from the shed dashed back inside as the growling and screeching was heard from a distance. "GET AWAY FROM THE WINDOWS!" Hopper yelled at the kids but mainly Hope who had been staring blankly out of the one at the door. "HOPE!" He yelled at her and she took a step back, seemingly reluctant. "Do you know how to use this?" Hopper shoved the shot gun in Jonathan's direction. Jonathan shook his head. "I do!" Nancy called to him and Hopper tossed the gun in her direction and she caught it with ease. Nancy readies herself. "HOPE, getaway from the god damn window!" Hopper called out to her, but she seemed to have frozen. "She'll be fine!" Dustin cried out from somewhere in the back, he was standing behind Steve who was wielding his nail bat.
There was silence in the house now as the creatures circled the property outside. "What are they doing?" Nancy asked, in a hushed tone. Hopper kept darting his eyes from the windows to the door towards Hope.
Snap
"What's happening?" Dustin whined but suddenly there was a loud crash, and a demo-dog was thrown through the window. Hope clutched at her scar and her muscles spasmed as the creature crashed onto the floor. She stared at it for a while as the pain seemed to ease up. The creature was dead.
Hopper stepped forward and nudged at the creature with his heavy boot. He looked up as the lock on the door clicked and slid open by itself. His eyes darted to Hope who was staring at the door just as confused as everyone else was. Once the last lock was removed the door swung open on its hinges.
The girl stepped into the room and looked at everyone standing around. She eyed Hope out before being engulfed in a hug by Mike.
"Eleven…" Dustin breathed out slowly.