Chapter 14
A phone slammed down onto its receiver, and Kate jolted awake. Steve, who was sitting next to her, jumped slightly too, but smiled a bit when he realized it was just her. Kate blinked sleepily and looked over at Max who was walking away from the phone with her arms crossed.
"Same shit," Max stomped away from the phone and leaned on the doorway. Kate looked around herself, puzzled at her new surroundings. She was sure this wasn't the couch she fell asleep on, though this was more comfortable.
Meanwhile, Lucas threw his hands in the air. "How is that possible?"
"Joyce has this telemarketer job. Always on the phone. Mike won't stop whining about it," The other Henderson stated. The couch was no longer the only thing that was confusing Kate.
"Yeah, but this phone's been busy for, what, three days now?" Max asked. "That's not Joyce. No way. Something's wrong,"
Nancy had wandered towards the window. "She's right. It can't be just coincidence. It can't be. Whatever's happening in Lenora is connected to all of this. I'm sure of it,"
Kate finally had the energy to shove her hands into the couch and push herself up. "And what's happening in Lenora?"
Eddie looked slightly alarmed when she spoke. "Hey," He whispered, moving out of his chair and onto his knees in front of her, careful of possible head injury. "How do you feel?"
Kate grimaced as she sat up fully. "Shitty. But that's irrelevant. What's going on?"
"Are you sure?" Dustin asked her, frowning. "You don't look good,"
"I don't feel great either, can you tell?" She snapped. Softening at Dustin's slightly hurt expression, she continued. "Look, I'm ok for now. But we have bigger problems. What's going on?"
The group looked to one another. Nancy was the first to speak up. "You probably don't remember anything, even us bringing you over here to Max's. When we were leaving the Upside Down, the tv in Eddie's trailer-"
Dustin chimed in, "The Upside Down trailer."
"Yes, the Upside Down trailer. It showed these visions. Of gates. They were like the gate at Eddie's, but bigger. They covered the whole town. And then it flickered off,"
Kate shook her head and looked down. A drop of something wet and sticky fell into her lap.
Nancy kept going, "And we realized something. There were four gates. And Vecna's clock chimes four times. We think that Vecna makes four kills. And we know there's one gate created for each. So…"
"I get it. I agree we definitely need to let everyone else know," Kate said grimly, not wanting to hear the obvious stated. She tilted her head back up and Eddie quickly got up.
He scrambled to the kitchen. "Here, let me get you a napkin,"
Kate wrinkled her eyebrows with a confused frown. "What do you mean?"
Lucas gestured to her face, "Your nose,"
Kate raised a hand to her nose and when she pulled it away, her fingers were sticky with blood. She looked at Max with wide eyes, not noticing as Eddie wiped her nose with a napkin.
Robin was the first one to realize that the two were exchanging looks. "What?"
"Oh shit," Dustin, however, was the first one to realize why. And strangely, Steve caught on quite quickly.
"It's just a nosebleed though. It could mean anything, considering you just had the shit beaten out of you,"
Kate half stumbled, half hobbled into the bathroom, mumbling. "I gotta go," The hallway was blur. She ran a hand through her hair pushing it out of her hair. She heard Eddie, Dustin, Robin calling after her, asking her to come back, that she shouldn't be up, but she barely heard them.
Kate clutched the edge of the counter in the tiny camper bathroom, leaning heavily on her right leg. She looked up in the mirror and grimaced at the pale reflection and pair of tear-brimmed, bloodshot eyes staring back. Her already curly hair was frazzled, sticking out at all angles like she had been electrocuted. Kate flipped on the faucet, throwing water on her face. And then she froze, a familiar feeling enveloping her. Her heart raced faster than the wings of a hummingbird. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, trying to breathe
1, 2, 3, 4.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5-
Visions flew through her head like lightning and she was back in the Russian base. She didn't make it to 7 when she looked down at the ground that was pooling with blood, and her best friend laying in it.
"Robin!" She screamed, shaking her limp form. Dead. She collapsed to the ground. Those bats, alongside the Demodogs, feasting on them like it was Upside Down Thanksgiving. It's not real, she told herself. But when she opened her eyes, the visions didn't leave. It was Steve's face. A split second later, it was Eddie's. Her vision was so blurred with tears, she couldn't see the faces swap again. But the faces weren't the only things to change. The Russian soldier that was previously beating her and Robin had a new face. A twisted, vine encrusted figure stood over her.
Dong.
Dong.
Dong.
Dong.
I'm so sorry for the long wait guys. I don't want to keep promising things because I really don't have a lot of time, but I promise that I will be spending time working tomorrow and this coming week. Also, I'm sorry this chapter is so short, but I wanted the cliffhanger of Kate getting possessed at the end of a chapter.