Disclaimer: I don't own Stranger Things or any of the characters in this story.
As a warning, this chapter may be a little too intense and scary for some. Read with caution.
Chapter 13: Cuts Like a Knife
That night, the bike ride to the Hawkins cemetery was tense and quiet. The kids made a sort of caravan with their bikes, riding single-file behind each other. Max led the pack. It was her mission, after all. She was followed by Mike and El. When Mike wasn't paying attention to the road, he was looking from right to left, scanning to make sure they weren't being followed. Lucas was bringing up the rear. He, too, was scanning the road, but also kept an eye on the road behind them when he could…carefully, of course.
Dustin and Will were between Mike and Lucas on their bikes. Out of the party, these two were the most nervous about the whole thing and you could see it on their faces. Will was always the most sensitive of the party members, good at both understanding and feeling emotion. This day would have been enough for him, even without the attempted kidnapping.
And Dustin? Well, of course he didn't think zombies were a myth. That was total bullshit. As they biked, he ran through a list of items they'd need for a zombie apocalypse, just in case Billy and the others DID turn out to be zombies.
But despite their fears, the two boys weren't going to turn their backs on their friends. They would never.
Soon enough, the gates of the cemetery loomed in front of them. Those wrought iron gates were even more imposing at night. The kids stopped their bikes and stared up at them for a moment.
"I'm going to ask one more time," Mike spoke quietly, "Are you sure you want to do this, Max?"
She was fiercely determined, but she couldn't lie and say she wasn't nervous.
"Yes," she answered, "But I'm a little scared, to be honest."
El walked over and wrapped an arm around her. "We're here for you, Max. It's okay to be scared. I'm scared, too."
Lucas stepped around to Max's other side and nudged her gently. "Do you want to go over the plan again?"
She nodded hurriedly. "Yes, please."
"Okay," he said. "You're going to lead us over to Billy's gravesite. We're going to do a quick look around the area to see if the ground has been disturbed at all."
"If it has," Mike continued, "We know that we probably don't have to look any further."
"Yeah, zombie apocalypse time," Dustin breathed, tugging on his hat anxiously.
"Dustin," Mike hissed, putting a finger to his lips. "So…if the ground hasn't been disturbed-"
"Then it's my turn," El said. "I…bring up the casket, and we check."
The kids visibly shuddered at that.
"El, are you absolutely positive about this," Mike asked. "I just don't want you to overdo it and hurt yourself."
El smiled softly at him and tucked an errant piece of curly hair behind his ear. "Yes, I am. I promise."
He returned her smile and nodded. "Okay. We're going to get in and out as quickly as possible. Dustin, Lucas, and Will?"
"We're acting as lookouts," Will said. "We'll surround you guys and use our flashlights to be sure we're not being followed."
"Good," Mike replied. Slowly, he pushed open the heavy cemetery gate, gritting his teeth as it made a high-pitched squeaking noise.
The group froze, listening quietly to make sure the noise hadn't attracted unwanted attention. When they were satisfied that enough time had passed, they all let out a collective breath.
Mike gestured inside the cemetery. "After you, Max."
Max squared her shoulders and stoically walked forward, the others trailing behind her. It was interesting how nighttime changed the look of the cemetery. It wasn't a particularly large cemetery, but the absence of light made it positively eerie. You couldn't see very far in front of you, even with a flashlight. It gave the illusion that the cemetery was much bigger.
After just a couple more minutes of walking, they reached their destination.
William Hargrove
1967-1985
Beloved son and brother
"Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come."
Max stared at the headstone, contempt written on her face. Her mother thought they should put some beautiful quote on it to honor Billy. Max thought he didn't deserve shit. But how coincidental that quote was.
A new dawn was, in fact, here.
"Max?" El's soft voice broke Max out of her thoughts. "I don't see anything weird. Do you?"
A quick visual inspection of the gravesite showed nothing amiss. The grass in front of and behind the headstone was perfectly flat.
"Shit," Dustin muttered. "Shit, shit, shit."
"Okay guys," Mike said. "Time for plan B. El? Are you sure-"
"Mike," she hissed, "I've got this. I need you to trust me, please."
He glanced around at the others, whose faces ranged from surprise to amusement. Now was the time for him to be understanding and trusting. El knew what her limits were.
"Okay, yeah," Mike replied. "No problem. Sorry."
He heard Lucas laugh quietly, and quickly covered with a cough when Mike turned to glare at him.
They formed a wide circle around the gravesite – the boys facing out with their flashlights, and the girls facing in.
Mike could tell the precise moment when it had begun. He could feel the ground tremble beneath his feet. He was afraid to look, but did so in spite of himself.
It looked as though the ground was erupting in front of the headstone. El stood a good distance away from it, both arms extended in front of her and blood dripping from her nose. For as much effort as she seemed to be using, there was hardly any noise being made until finally, the heavy casket appeared and landed on the pile of dirt with a dull thud.
El lowered her hands, letting out a heavy sigh in exhaustion. Mike took that as his cue, leaving his spot and gathering her into his arms. She closed her eyes and burrowed her face into his shoulder, wincing seconds later when she saw some blood had gotten onto his shirt.
"Mike! I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," he replied adamantly. "You did such a great job."
She smiled weakly at him then turned her attention to Max, who was staring fixedly at the casket. The couple walked toward Max slowly, hands entwined together. Max didn't look up until El gently placed her free hand on her shoulder.
"Are you ready," El asked.
Max nodded quickly. She was ready to get this over with. "I might need some help though, with the lid," she replied, her voice catching on the last word.
"We can help with that," Mike volunteered. "Hey guys," he called gently, "Can a couple of you help me lift this?"
Dustin and Lucas walked over cautiously, leaving Will to be the lookout. This was just as well. Poor Will looked like he was ready to keel over from nerves.
"You guys might want to stand back," Mike said to El and Max. "I don't want anything to happen to you."
The girls nodded and moved back about 10 feet. Max happened to make eye contact with Lucas, who smiled softly at her. A blush rose in her cheeks.
"You guys ready on three," Dustin asked as they gripped the lid. "One, two, three, PUSH UP."
The boys groaned under the weight of the lid. Nothing seemed to be happening at first. Max, El, and Will made eye contact, sharing worried glances. But seconds later, lid started to give. With a final heave, the boys pushed up and the lid swung open. They dropped to the ground in exhaustion, breathing heavily and trying to calm their racing hearts. The three onlookers abandoned their posts and sprinted over.
"Jesus christ, guys, are you okay," Will asked.
"Hell yes. 100%. All in a day's work, William," Dustin boasted lightheartedly, in spite of his being out of breath.
El was on the ground next to Mike, tracing the sharp lines of his face. "Are you alright," she asked quietly. "I'm proud of you."
He smiled, albeit weakly. "Yeah, I'm alright. And are you kidding? I'm proud of YOU."
"Oh El, I'm so proud of you," Lucas teased Mike in a high-pitched voice. "Oh El, you're so beautiful. El! I lo-"
Mike cut off Lucas with an elbow to the stomach. He dropped back to his knees in a wheezing fit, causing Mike, El, and Dustin to laugh.
"Serves you right," Mike retorted.
"That was extremely uncool," Lucas said as he struggled to get up. "I was just joking with you."
"Whatever."
"Nice comeback."
"GUYS," Will interrupted, "Would you shut up for a minute and look?"
He pointed over to where the casket lay open. Max was standing next to it, staring inside intently. They could see that she was crying.
Those who were on the ground got to their feet, and they all tentatively approached. In part, they wanted to be respectful of Max's space. But admittedly, they were also afraid to see what was inside.
El was the first to approach Max.
"Hey," she said softly. "You okay?"
Max sniffled. "I don't know. I'm really confused." She gestured inside the casket. "This is definitely Billy."
El slowly peeked inside at the young man who looked like he could be sleeping, and frowned. "Yeah," she agreed. "That IS him. But I swear it was him that I saw at Will's. I recognized him from your pictures."
"And I HEARD," Max added. "I heard him…and saw him across the street."
They were quiet for a moment, processing.
"But I don't know," she continued. "Maybe I just imagined. Maybe it's someone who looks like him. Maybe I miss him more than I thought."
El wrapped her arms around Max in support as she continued to cry. "You know, I never saw him after he died," Max confessed. "My mom and Neil wanted to keep the casket closed. They thought it would be too upsetting. Well they were wrong, as usual."
She knelt down next to the casket, resting her head against the cool metal. "All I wanted was to see him one last time."
"I understand," El sympathized.
"I mean, don't get me wrong. He was rude, he went from girl to girl, and he spent way too much time on his fucking hair," Max said with a snort. "Look at this shit. Immaculate." She slowly reached out to touch his curly, dirty blond hair, then withdrew her hand in surprise. "Weird," she whispered.
"Um, what's weird," Mike spoke up. Up until then, the boys had been completely quiet.
"His hair doesn't really feel like hair. It's like…plastic – feels like a wig."
"How could that be," Will asked.
"Hell if I know. Maybe a year underground will change things," Max said sardonically. She bent down close again to get a better look and frowned. "Hey, didn't he have his left ear pierced?"
The others looked at each other, dumbfounded.
"I swear to god, he did. His right ear is pierced." Max's voice began to rise. Once again, she reached out to Billy's body. Only this time, she touched his forehead. A shriek left her mouth.
"Max, what is it," Lucas asked.
"This is rubber," she cried. "His skin feels like rubber."
"Are you sure it's not supposed to feel like that," Dustin asked.
Max rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm sure. His face isn't supposed to feel like a god damn tire." Suddenly, a speculative look crossed her face. "Do one of you guys have a knife?"
El's eyes widened. "What do you need a knife for?"
"I'm going to do an autopsy of my own."
A collective groan went up from the group. "Jesus fuck, Max," Mike said, "Don't you think that's going a bit too far?"
"You know what, Wheeler? No, I don't. Something seriously fucked up is going on, and I intend to find out exactly what it is. So once again, do one of you guys have a knife," she finished, practically shouting.
There was silence for a moment before Lucas cleared his throat. "Yeah," he said hurriedly, his voice a little higher than normal. He dug through his backpack for a minute before finding it. "It's a switchblade. You just-"
"I KNOW how to use a switchblade, Lucas, thanks," Max cut him off, grabbing the knife from his hand.
Stalking over to the open casket, she unbuttoned the top few buttons of Billy's shirt and flipped open the blade of the knife. The other kids looked on in horror as she pierced his chest with it. Keeping the blade in, Max pushed it to one side of the cut so she could peer in.
Dustin sat on the ground and put his head between his legs. "I think I'm gonna be sick," he mumbled.
Lucas chuckled. "At least it's not piss this time."
A scream interrupted them, and they turned to see Max holding something else in her hand.
"Cotton," she wailed. "Fucking cotton in his chest."
"Why would they stuff his corpse with cotton," Will asked in disbelief.
"Because it's not a real corpse," Mike said, the realization dawning on him. "It's a fake. There's no way a dead body would get stuffed with cotton."
There was silence for a moment before each teen began speaking at the same time.
"That is massively fucked up."
"Who would do such a thing?"
"No way am I touching that knife again."
"Oh my god."
"What do we do?"
"I have so many questions."
"GUYS," Max yelled, "Shut the fuck up for a second. You know what this means?"
"You guys wasted thousands of dollars on a funeral," Dustin muttered ruefully.
"Not what I was going to say, Dustin," Max said with an eye roll. "No…this means Billy's alive. The Billy that's been doing the kidnappings – that's really him. But it also means he's been alive this whole time. Where's he been? How did he get like that? And who made a fake corpse of him?"
"All really good questions, Max," El spoke up. "But I think we should go back to my house. It's not safe out here right now."
Will nodded. "El's right. We really should be getting back. We need to clean up first, though."
"Yeah, how do you make a gravesite NOT look like it's just been dug up," Lucas asked.
"I can do it," El volunteered. "I dug it up, so I'll put it back the way it was."
She saw Mike begin to open his mouth, presumably to ask if she was sure. This seemed to be a recurring theme for him. El was grateful Mike was concerned about her, but she could also handle herself.
"It's fine, I promise," she said with a pointed glance. "Maybe you guys can close the lid, though?"
Mike nodded eagerly. "We can do that."
The boys walked back over to the casket and were prepared to shut the lid when they heard a car loudly approaching the cemetery. The headlights bounced across their faces.
"Holy shit," Dustin cried. "HIDE!"
Mike grabbed El's hand and they ducked behind one of the larger memorials. Max hid behind a gravestone that was right next to them. Lucas, Will, and Dustin hid behind the still-open casket.
Their hearts were beating wildly as they heard the engine stop and a car door slam. El's grip on Mike's hand tightened at the sound. She looked over at Max, and began crying quietly at the sight of Max's forlorn face. It had been quite a day for all of them, but probably more for Max than anyone else. After all, she'd lost and found her stepbrother multiple times during the day.
A sudden snap of a nearby branch made El look to the right, and she found herself shielding her eyes at the beam of a flashlight in her face.
"WHAT THE HELL?"
Hello, everyone! How did you like the chapter? Please leave me a review. I felt it better to be safe than sorry to put the warning at the beginning. I know I was a bit squeamish during season one when Hopper discovered the fake corpse in the morgue – I thought others might be as well. As for the title of the chapter? I'm sorry, but I couldn't help it. It's a bit of tongue-in-cheek morbidity for you. Thanks again to the music of Bryan Adams for inspiring me and helping me write.
I hope you all are doing well and continuing to stay safe. This has been a weird and sad few months, and that doesn't seem to be changing as new things transpire. I continue to hope for the best, and that we can all begin to heal and return to society even better than ever. Blessings and peace to you all.
