KellHound270's Work
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Chapter III
Secret Laboratory
"Sir, the rover is ready," the engineer announced.
"Good," Dr. Brenner replied. "Send it through."
The wheeled machine slipped through the organic portal and disappeared. The wire that kept it grounded to the lab relayed important information about the dimension.
It was flooded with radiation, like the world had experienced a nuclear war. The plants were strange and twisted. with black fungus-like tendrils choking them. The air was decorated with spores, and the ground was practically bare.
"This is so weird," one of the scientists said.
"There's city hall," Brenner noted, seeing the familiar building on the screen.
"But where's the coroner's office?" another scientist asked.
"I think this is an alternate reality, where the Cold War escalated into World War III," Brenner hypothesized. "The coroner's office wasn't built until the 80's, so whatever happened here must have been a long time ago."
"Makes sense," the pilot said. "There were quite a few close calls where war was almost inevitable."
"Wait, what's that?"
Brenner was pointing to a building in the distance, inside the trees. It was unlike anything that was built in modern times.
"It looks ancient," the pilot noted. "I thought that Oregon was one of the last states to be settled."
"There were visitors from before the Europeans," Brenner explained. "This may also be a reality where they built a permanent structure."
The pilot drove the rover toward the mysterious building, but the feed suddenly went blank.
"What happened?" Brenner asked.
"The controls aren't responding," the pilot answered. "I think something destroyed the rover."
The Forest
Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Eleven, and Minya walked through the forest in the waning sunlight. The boys had attended school for the day, and decided to look in the woods with the added help of their new friends.
"Eleven, we need to get Will back," Dustin said. "Is there any way we can get to him?"
Eleven nodded and pointed deeper into the woods. The boys could barely make out the outline of a building.
"That wasn't there yesterday, was it?" Mike asked.
"We were in this exact area last night," Lucas reminded. "How can a building be built here in less than twenty-four hours?"
"It may have something to do with the Vale," Dustin proposed. "It's an alternate dimension, after all."
They drew closer to the building to see that it was clearly not made in any recent century. The stones were all worn away by age, and it was merely a one story building, not a typical building for modern Hawkins.
"It kinda reminds me of a crypt," Dustin said, "a vault where they store the dead. But they're usually built underneath a religious building, like a church. Why is this one in the open?"
"There are no graves around," Mike noted. "I don't think this is meant to be a crypt."
His idea was supported by the presence of iron bars that acted as windows. The door to the inside was a rotted wooden door that was at least four inches thick.
"Looks more like they were trying to keep something in," Lucas stated.
"What would they want to keep in this place?" Dustin wondered.
They slowly opened the door. They found that, not only was it six inches thick, but that there were no signs of light fixtures anywhere. No torches, no lanterns, not even any glowing fungi. It was pitch black.
Upon turning on their phone lights, they saw pictographs on the walls. Some looked like humans, others dogs, still others Titans. But there were two creatures that were unfamiliar to them.
One was a humanoid-type creature. It was devoid of all clothing, and instead had a flower-like head.
The other was an enormous creature that overshadowed even the Titans. It's head had a sharp crest that stuck out the back, and it had several limbs like a squid's.
"Demogorgon," Eleven said, pointing to the flower-mouth humanoid.
"What about the big one?" Dustin asked, pointing at the huge creature.
Eleven had a gloomy look on her face as she said one word.
"Badness."