The girl and Mike clung to each other like they were the pillars holding each other up in a crumbling world.
"Did she just open the door with her mind?" Steve whispered to no-one in particular, staring at the girl in awe.
"Yes. We've already been over this Steve, keep up." Dustin whispered, not taking his eyes off of his two friends embracing each other.
"But — her mind." Steve blinked.
"Yeah, El has superpowers. Get over it it's not that weird." Dustin said dismissively.
If anyone asked Billy about this in the future, he'd reverently deny it. For now however, he stood there silently staring at El. A girl who had just flung a steroid-laden supernatural creature through a window and opened a door . . . with her mind. A girl, incidentally, who had undeniably proven to Billy that everything he'd seen and heard tonight was very real, highly dangerous, and otherworldly unnatural.
There was barely any time for him to remember to breath before he passed out before Mike tried shoving Hopper. It turns out the Chief had been harbouring El somewhere for months, unbeknownst to anyone else.
Mike stormed into a bedroom and Hopper followed, slamming the door behind him. Billy found the muffled yelling through the wall impossible to ignore. Only after someone had been shoved against the door did the yelling die down.
Eleven reunited with her old friends, and pointedly ignored Max. Girl drama he was familiar with. He never understood it and had no desire to understand what it was all about. But in the midst of chaos, finally there was something he understand. That understanding namely being to stay out of it.
They checked up on Will. So that was a limit to El's power. She couldn't wake him up and she couldn't separate him from the Mind Flayer. There was still blood beneath her nose that she hadn't bothered wiping away as she came back into the living room. El glanced down at the paper on the table.
CLOSE GATE.
She already knew what it meant, like she seemed to know everything that was happening. For a fleeting moment Billy wondered if she could read minds, but dismissed the thought rather harshly. He couldn't cope with more weird shit tonight. He could barely deal with what he already knew now.
Joyce began talking about burning the Mind Flayer out of Will, and he was too far wrapped up in this now to laugh at the absurdity on everyones willingness to go along with the erratic woman's theory. Because right now, he believed it too.
When Hopper looked at El, it wasn't Chief Hopper addressing her. His gruff voice softened and his quick smile reached his eyes. They gazed down at her, protective and proud all at once. It was a familial love. "We gotta make a pitstop first, need more ammo."
She was a quiet thing, for the enormity of her powers. When she spoke, her voice was raspy and hesitant like she used it so rarely she doubted if what she was saying was correct. "Ammo? We don't need ammo. I do not need back-up."
"Everyone needs back-up, kid. There's a lot of those dogs in that place and I'd rather be safe than sorry." Hopper said.
While El didn't seem confident in Hoppers extra ability to defend her, she appeared to only struggle with it for a moment before she acquiesced. "Then we need to leave now."
"What do you need us to do?" Lucas asked, looking ready for action at a moments notice.
"Right now I need everyone to sit down and be patient. We'll be back as soon as we can. Trust me, no one's more done with all of this than I am." Hopper said.
Nancy breathed a laugh devoid of humour as she leaned backwards against the rocking chair. She stared at Hopper with an incredulous expression. Nancy may have been the furthest thing from Billy's mind, but he filed her reaction to the back of his mind to figure out later.
While Nancy may trust the Chief, he'd clearly hit a nerve with her and Billy wanted to know what it was. He didn't trust the Chief of Police and the more he knew the better.
While no one was looking, Max grabbed the radio that Bob had absentmindedly placed next to the wilting plant on-top of the cupboard and slid it into her sweater. She leaned forwards slightly, causing the front of the sweater to droop towards, hiding the bulk of the radio.
Bob walked carefully down the hallway, cradling Will in his arms, snuggly wrapped up in blankets. "I'll go put him in the car." He told Joyce.
Nancy grips Jonathan's arm gently as he stares at Bob holding Will with a troubled expression. The way she said his name was so delicate in comparison to the despair overwhelming him that it managed to get tear his gaze away to look down at her. "Jonathan do you need me?"
He flounders for a moment, before he grows more firm in his decision as Will is carried out the door. "I think we got this."
She smiles at him. "Go. We'll hold the place down here until you come back — all of you."
He nods, before he shoves his hands in his pockets and hurries to catch up to his family. A cold draft sails in as he shut the door behind him, rustling the papers. A few fall from their slopes on the couches or chairs, scattering onto the floor.
Nancy locks the door, moving so smoothly it seems instinctual. Max and Lucas kneel down to gather up the papers and put them back in their place, careful not to break the sprawling map.
Everyone listens to the car engines fade away. One is heading towards a secret destination to free a boy who's entire being is ensnared by a supernatural entity. The other, to prevent said supernatural force from spreading through Hawkins and beyond.
When — or if — they managed to get the Mind Flayer out of Will, then Hopper and El would close the gate.
"Hopper's right, there's nothing we can do now. We just got to . . . kill time." Nancy shrugged, before ambling down the hallway and disappearing into Jonathans' room. Billy didn't know what she was looking for and he didn't care.
The dead demondog stank to high heaven of stagnant pond water and rotting garbage. Dustin was raving on about preserving the freakin' thing while accosting Steve in the Byers kitchen. While Lucas was getting a pan to clean up the shattered glass that littered the floor, Billy pushed Max so quickly across the threshold of the foyer into the empty living room she would've fallen if it wasn't for his grip on her forearm. She yanked her arm back with a scowl.
"I came here to figure out what was going on, so I could tell that townie hicks to get fucked. But this? This is — this isn't even human. So stellar job Max, you found the most insane group of 'husk-sniffing freaks you could find in this place. All of this stopped being fun a long few hours ago. I'm done. So are you."
"You want to leave now? Billy we can't. They've been dealing with this for like, ages. We need to help them." Max said.
"You're right. They're dealing with this, now let's go home." He jerked his head towards the Camaro.
"No way." Max replied.
"You don't have a choice so shut your trap and get in the car."
"I'm not leaving." Max stomped the ground with a foot, like a petulant child cementing their stubborn stance. Billy's patient was always on a short thread, but with the newfound knowledge that there was a Mind Flayer and a portal dimension, his patience was non-existent.
"Newsflash, we just moved here last week. These people will use us as a shield if it comes down to it, so why are you so obsessed with defending this town?" His hands moved towards her like he was going to wring the stubbornness of her.
"Because it's home now." She said and she stared at him like she was daring him to take another step forwards.
"Then I'm leaving, have fun dying here." It was a blatant lie and one he'd told many times before. Truthfully, even if she'd hate him (like he didn't think she already did), he would carry her home kicking and screaming. Rather have her hate him then be dead.
"Go, then. Go home and lock the door and don't talk with anyone like you always do. But I'm not leaving." Max said.
"This isn't a fucking debate. Did you see what happened? There's some superfreak little girl opening shit with her mind who's now going to shut down a super-portal-dimension to another world. Whatever the hell is happening, we're not part of it."
Max doubled down with the cross of her arms. "Well I am. I'm not leaving them and I'm not leaving Diane. She tried saving us on the bus, and they're not leaving her, so I'm not leaving either. I get she's whoever you found first to distract you in Hawkins, but I'm not you. I don't just use people and leave them."
There's a feeling that gnaws at him again upon her words, making his chest seem to constrict like a vice. His words fell somewhere between a warning and a challenge. "Are you calling me a coward?"
"I'm saying you don't care about anyone but yourself. So leave." She spat.
"Well you're wrong there, Maxine. As a matter of fact, I am thinking of someone else. What do you think my dad will say when he finds out you've been spending the night with a group of boys at the Perverts house?" He took a step closer to her, looking down at her. "If you don't think I like him, just wait 'til the old man meets him."
He lips twisted into a wry smile. Max blinked several times, fast as a hummingbird flitting away. Then she paled and shook her head several times. "No— he's not— he won't care . . . he won't find out." She finished weakly.
"We've been here for a week and you're already running 'round with him." He dragged a hand down his face. "This isn't our fight, and you sure as hell don't owe anything to Sinclair. We're leaving and you're not spending another damn moment with that kid."
The feeling inside him grows at the expected disappointment that unfurls within her at his words. And with years of practice that he's perfected so well it's become instinctually, as natural as breathing, he turns it into frustration, throws it outwards into the world. He's left with the familiarity of the hollowness that's been carved out of him over the years.
"Leave her alone." Steve interjected, walking in on the tail-end of their conversation.
Billy whirled around with a sneer, jabbing his finger at Steve. "Stay the fuck out of this, Harrington."
"Don't think so man." Steve replied.
"You have no idea what's going on so shut the fuck up." Billy took a step towards Steve.
Steve glared at him. "I know you don't have a problem attacking kids, or dragging your sister around like you're trying to break an arm or something."
"Still don't see how that's any of your damn business." Billy replied.
"You seem a little slow so let me help you out. That Mind Flayer has an entire army that is going to overrun Hawkins tonight if that gate isn't closed. Then we're all going to die. You're using the last few hours we might have on terrorising kids half your size." Steve didn't hide his disdain.
"So you're the authority around here for what we can and can't do, that it? Who the fuck put you in charge?" For a moment Steve thought Billy was going to bump into him, but with a grace that was surprising for his broad shoulders he angled around Steve and headed towards the round table.
"I've dealt with all this before." Steve said, trailing after him.
"That supposed to be working in your favor?" Billy asked with a derisive smile. He sat down and threw his boots up on the table, crossing his legs leisurely.
Steve's face began reddening. "Is this some sort of game for you? Dude we're all about to die by some intergalactic space monster, and you think this is the funniest shit that's happened. Why're you still here?"
"None of your god damn business." Billy said.
Steve usually carefree attitude had been transformed into something much darker. "You come out of nowhere, now you're suddenly involved in all of this and still acting like this is a joke. Sort of starting to wonder if this is a sick game you're playing and Diane's only in that place because of you. Did you make a deal with that guard who took her? Thought whatever happens would be funny?"
Before Steve could finish his sentence Billy lashed out, grabbing the front of Steve's shirt, and lowered his voice. "I don't hurt girls."
Billy might have been looking up at Steve in that moment, but with his unapologetic and commanding presence, he may as well be looking down at him.
Steve responded instinctually, trying to push Billy off of him and place space between them.
"Only when you lead them on." Max scrambled to diffuse the brewing fight between the two boys with a roll of her eyes and a nonchalant shrug.
Billy released Steve, and smiled at Max, throwing his middle finger up at her. Steve brushed his shirt like he was trying to remove any lingering presence Billy had.
"We don't have time for this." Mike cried out, hands gripping his head. Tufts of dark hair sprung up between his fingers that were whitening with how tightly he was holding his head. Lucas looked concerned he was going to rip it out.
"We have lots of time since we're staying put." Steve said.
"No way. We can't just stay here and do nothing." Mike said.
"Hopper put me in charge and told us to wait it out, so that's what we're going to do." Steve said.
"When'd he put you in charge?" Dustin asked, lines of skepticism growing across his forehead.
"If he was going to put anyone in charge here it'd be Nancy — no offence." Lucas told Steve.
Steve looked miffed at the accusation. "Of course the Chief would trust me to be in charge— but the point is . . . is that we're all staying safe, right here, inside, until they come back."
"You've seen how many of those things are out there. We have to help them. Even El can't go against an entire army." Mike said pleading with them to listen to what he was saying.
"Definitely not when she's concentrating on the portal." Dustin said.
"Then who's rescuing Diane from that weird guard guy?" Lucas asked.
"Hopper and El will." Steve said. Even through his assurance, there was a small waver of uncertainty.
Diane had been rambling on all night about everyone's safety. Had even gotten injured herself and now captured. Well . . . now something had to be done, if only to make a point to her later on that he was right. It was a point of pride for him that he had been right. No one really cared about anyone, and every action was simply a transaction. At least, that was the excuse he chose to believe when he laughed with derision at Steve's words.
"The Cop and Super freak are going to save her?" Billy didn't hide his skepticism.
"Her name's El." Mike snapped.
"Both of their priority is closing that portal. What'll she be doing in the meantime, embroidery?" Billy said.
"Where you even getting these from? First knitting, then embroidery, what's next—"
"Styling hair with Farrah Fawcett hairspray." Billy finished smoothly, pointedly looking at Steve.
Steves hand flew to his hair, before he gave a strong shake of his head. "I—I don't use that. You're tripping and— how do you know what it smells like?"
Billy blinked. Shit. The lie slid out of his lips smoothly not a moment later, "Because I've been with women before. Hey listen, if you ever need some tips and tricks on how to pick 'em up, well I'm a big fan charity work."
"I am fine with ladies around here, okay?" Steve defended.
"You did real well keeping your last one." Billy replied.
"For the record, it was a mutual break-up. She didn't break up with me." Steve said.
Billy snorted.
"If it works like a hive-mind then maybe . . . we can draw them away from the lab." Dustin said.
"Not happening." Steve said.
He was duly ignored.
"How'd we do that?" Max asked.
"The tunnels, they all connect in one place like a hub. We need to light it on fire." Mike pointed out.
"They'd all come to stop us." Lucas said.
Steve scrunched his face at the far-fetched proposition. "Uh yeah, no. So much no to that entire plan."
"Is one tank of gas good? Got a spare one in the trunk. Few gallons still in there." Billy said.
Steve looked at Billy sharply. "Why do you have an entire tank of gas?"
Billy looked at Steve, trying to figure out if the last of his two braincells were cooperating together. "For lighting shit on fire, obviously"
Steve rolled his eyes in exasperation. "That's not obvious."
"It's obvious for those of us who have more than two braincells." Billy responded.
"This is crazy. We're not talking about something that won't be happening. Because we're going to stay right here." Steve said.
Nancy came back into the living room and went straight to the round table, picking up the book, turning around and sitting on the edge of the table with her back to the boys. She began reading through the page on the Mind Flayer again. Billy couldn't tell whether it was to see if she could find a spare detail in a children's book, or whether she wanted to keep her mind preoccupied for lack of anything better to do.
"Lighting it on fire will just piss it off and bring all the demodogs towards us." Steve said, making the final point in his argument, hoping it would now be over and they would all simmer down and wait for the group to come back and the world to have been saved.
"That's kind of the point." Dustin said.
"We just need to be gone before then." Lucas said.
"Great input, Harrington." Billy drawled.
"All you've been saying is how the plan's are shit, so what'd y' got?" Steve snapped at him, rising to the bait before he could think.
Billy cast his feet off the table with a smile. He had no plans, but whatever he thought up off the fly would still be better than anything Harrington said. According to himself, anyway. "We get the dogs towards us and then blow up the whole thing."
Max tried interjecting, bringing up that Hopper had already told them there weren't enough explosives to be gathered to detonate a blast that large. Her reminder was made in vain as neither of them heard her, too intent on trying to one-up the other.
"Your plan won't work." Steve said with a roll of his eyes.
"Yeah and why's that?" Billy asked.
"Well— I— because we can't assume that the dogs will come through that exact tunnel after we've already destroyed it. We start the fire, they won't run straight through it. They might be part of the hive mind — or whatever it's called — but they're not stupid. Once we start it, all of them will know exactly where we are." Steve's eyes wandered across the map. Near the National Laboratory one of the tunnels split into three smaller tunnels. Two of them curled into a dead end beneath the forest floor. The third went miles further, branching off somewhere close to Main Street. "But there's three tunnels . . . if we can cause a distraction somehow . . ."
"So we get rid of three and then what? Apparently there's a whole fucking network underneath the town. Can't we combine some propane and fireworks and create a few caches around town? Might not be summer yet, but that thing'll be bleeding red, white, and blue." Billy said.
"If we survive that long then I'm sure the Mind Flayer will love your Forth of July plans. Since you obviously weren't listening before, we don't have that many explosives to light three tunnels on fire. " Steve said.
Billy placed a hand on his cheek like he was deep in thought. "Hey Harrington, how many times has someone shot a firework your way and called it an accident when it doesn't hit you?"
Steve narrowed his eyes. "You're hilarious. You know what, maybe we'll get a whole cache of fireworks and stick them in the tunnels and you light them up. Then you can tell me how it feels when they explode or when one of the demodogs eats you because your plan sucks."
"What a little firecracker you're turning out to be." Billy smiled.
Steve spun around, sparks of frustration flying off of him. "My job is to keep you shitheads safe. So I am going to go alone and I'm going to I don't know —- drop fire in one of the holes made by the Mind Flayer and I'm going to at least pull some of those dogs away from the Lab. Now everyone's safe."
Steve said it with such derision that the kids glanced at each other, unsure if he was being sarcastic or serious.
Nancy cocked her head as she mulled it over. "That might just work. If we—"
"Great plan tough guy. You should run along and put on your lycra for your heroes mission." Billy drowned out Nancy.
"At least I'm doing more than you are." Steve responded hotly.
"Both of you shut up so I can think." Nancy yelled. Steve jumped, startled. Billy raised a brow.
Mike looked like he was ready to thank the heavens that his sister was putting them back on the right track.
Nancy tapped the papers with her foot. "This is where the Lab is. There's three tunnels, but we only need to focus on two. It splits here, easy fork in the road."
"You want to get them into the dead-ends?" Lucas asked.
"Steve was right, and so was Billy — sort of." Nancy said. Steve's smug smiled dropped the second she included Billy, to which Billy responded with a triumphant smile. "If we can cause a fire at the end of the dead-end tunnels, they'll rush there to stop whatever's harming the Mind Flayer right?"
"They'll have to run through the major tunnel from the Lab to the dead-ends." Mike said.
Nancy looked at him, the corner of her lip twitching and a wicked look flashed through her eyes. "All we need now is to find enough stuff to light it up. The dogs run to find out who's attacking them, and then the trap in the centre hits them, right when they'll all together."
"We can't just split up and take all these tunnels, it's too dangerous." Steve said.
"No one needs to go into the dead-ends if someone launches a few fireworks down each tunnel by the fork. Two-in-one distraction." Billy said.
"The Chief dug up the one by the main tunnel. We don't know if there's another hole by the fork." Dustin said.
"We can dig a hole." Lucas said.
"That's going to take too long." Mike shook his head.
"Maybe we don't have to dig a hole at all. Didn't you say they hate water?" Nancy tapped the paper that had one of the dead-ends. Above it was what looked like a water reserve. "It might be a dead-end, but wouldn't they dig upwards? There might already be an opening."
Mike and Dustin shared a quick look which encapsulated a silent debate on how true Nancy's statement was. Their silent chat ended a second later with an agreement.
"I think we should do it." Mike said.
Lucas looked around and then let out a frustrated breath when he remembered none of the Byers were still here. "I think Will still has some leftover fireworks. I don't know where they are now. They were in the shed earlier . . . I think."
"You think or you know Sinclair?" Billy drawled, making sure to give him a look of utter disdain.
Lucas' eyes widened before answering. "I know."
That became their plan. The kids scrambled outside to dig through the pile of discarded objects from the shed. They'd shoot off a few fireworks down two tunnels and hoped that worked. Even better was the part where they'd blow up another part of the tunnel. Timed perfectly to make sure everyone was out. Timed wrong and they could meet their own end. If they weren't careful enough, maybe they'd run into a few investigating demondogs and die that way.
There was a triumphant yell outside. It seemed they had found the fireworks.
"Isn't this great, we now have a foolproof plan to act as a side-plot distraction team." Billy exhaled forcefully, stirring stray strands of hair clustered around his forehead.
"We have the best chance of saving Diane, Eleven and Hopper if we draw the dogs — 'gorgans — whatever the hell away from the lab." Steve said.
"Such noble words from someone who couldn't even remember to take one girl home from a party." Billy smiled.
"Dude not cool." Dustin shook his head at Steve in disapproval as he returned carrying a cardboard box.
"I had other things on my mind. I'm not the problem here. Diane would've never gone with you if she wasn't drunk and you knew that." Steve defended.
"Own up to your mistakes like a man." Billy spat.
Nancy looked more vexed by the minute over their endless baiting.
"When you own up to your whole life being a mistake, I'll own up to whatever the hell I want to own up to." Steve met Billy with equal derision.
"Someone needs to look after the kids." Nancy snapped her fingers to get their attention. Her murderous expression made it clear she was far past done with their bickering.
Billy looked straight at Steve. "Nancy and I will go and you can do what you do best. Be useless."
Steve's response was instantaneous at the thought of Billy alone with Nancy. "What — no — no way. It's too dangerous. I'll go instead."
He seemed to recoil at his own sacrifice. The thought of spending more time with Billy was about the worst thing he could imagine. Besides being eaten by demodogs or demogorgans.
"Well aren't you a saint, Steve." Billy said.
"Why should I be the one to stay at home?" Nancy was spearing glacial daggers at him.
"I — wh— that's not what I meant. I just think you should be—" Steve rambled while Lucas winced, "I mean we can't just leave them here."
"Then we all go." Nancy yanked the shotgun off the table with excessive force and then whirled around to glare at Steve, daring him to rebuke her. Mike looked like he was about to drop to his knees in praise of his older sister moving things along.
"Fine. But no one's dying on my watch." Steve sighed heavily, realising he was outnumbered.
"We need two groups. One to go to the fork and the other to standby at the big tunnel, ready to blow it up." Mike said.
"I'll go to the tunnel." Lucas said, to which almost everyone chimed in they'd join too.
"I'll take the fork." Nancy said.
"No way you're not going alone." Steve said.
"She won't be alone." Mike said. Nancy smiled at him affectionately.
Lucas distributed one walkie-talkie to Steve and the other to Mike.
"Keep the channels open at all times. When you guys have lit the fireworks, we wait until they run by and blow up the trap." Lucas said.
"We need to move fast, Hopper's probably driving to the Lab now." Dustin said. He suggested they only take half-an-hour to set up their traps and then Nancy and Mike would blow up theirs. The walkie-talkies probably wouldn't work underground, so everyone had to be out of the tunnels again at the same time.
Dustin had briefly disappeared into the house on a mission. He came back with an arm full of goggles. Why did the Byers have so many goggles was not a question Billy ever thought he would have. It wasn't a question now either as he decided he didn't care to know.
They poured out of the house.
Billy threw up the keys and swiped them mid-air. "You're all sitting in the back and— watch it! I don't need any of you dragging dirt into my car."
Max looked over her shoulder to glare at Billy before she yanked the door open and pushed the passenger seat forwards.
Steve looked like he was about to argue, before thinking better of it. He turned to the kids. "Everyone get in, let's go."
"Shotgun!" Dustin called.
"Yeah, no, don't think so." Steve replied.
"I don't appreciate how you're oppressing us just because we're younger, Steven." Dustin grumbled. Steve looked like he was grasping at the straws of his sanity as he herded the kids into the back of the car.
Nancy and Mike wrestled over who would sit shotgun in Steve's car before Nancy shoved Mike out of the way and quickly opened the door and sat down before Mike got a chance. Mike muttering insults under is breath the entire way to the backseat. Lucas took a step towards Billy's car, but the dark warning cast his way had him steering towards Steve's car instead. Today was not the day he'd be confined in Billy's car without an escape plan.
Dustin and Max pushed their way into the narrow backseat of the Camaro while Billy tapped his fingers impatiently across the steering wheel. Max reached out and pulled the door shut.
Music blasted from the stereo. It almost drowned out Max's protest. "Turn it down I can't hear a word Dustin's saying."
"My car my rules." He said.
The car headlights cast a long line across the field, illuminating the hole. Billy checked his watch impatiently. Nancy and Mike were probably done setting up the fireworks and they hadn't even gone down into the main tunnel yet.
Dustin distributed the goggles. When he tried to hand Billy one he snorted and crossed his arms.
"You need to wear this, trust me." Dustin said.
"No." Billy said. He only grabbed a bandana and wrapped it around his neck, ready to pull up to protect is nose and mouth. He felt like he was about to star in a spaghetti western, only one with a lot more cows and a lot less dignity. Putting on those goggles would be the final nail in the coffin for him.
Lucas threw the rope down the hole. The opening in the wide enough to draw attention and if they didn't want the rest of Hawkins finding out, they better bury it when they were done here. They better not even dare trying to ask him to help out.
Billy peered down the hole. The tunnel was massive.
Dustin made a sweeping motion with his arm as he beckoned to Billy. "After you."
Billy looked more skeptical by the second. "Hold on why'd you want me to go down the rabbit-hole first so badly?"
"I don't trust you." Dustin said.
"What the fuck have I done to you?" Billy asked, wrinkling his nose in offence.
"You tried to run us over." Dustin said, flabbergasted that Billy seemed to have found it so inconsequential an event in his own life, he had forgotten it had even happened.
The corners of Billy's lips began rising as he recalled the drive earlier, with an almost wistfulness to the memory. "Did you die?"
"No." Dustin replied, his jaw dropping at Billy's nonchalance.
"Then I don't see why you're complaining." Billy said.
"We can't complain if we're dead." Dustin said.
"Sounds like the problem would've taken care of itself, wouldn't it?" Billy replied cheerfully.
Dustin scowled at him.
With a roll of his eyes, Steve crouch close to the ground and lowered himself into the tunnel. Billy grabbed the gas and held it over the hole. Once he was sure he had Steve's attention, he dropped it. Steve caught it with a grunt.
Lucas followed before Max nearly dove in before Billy could so much as comment. Billy smiled sharply at Dustin who grumbled a few words that sounded a lot like asshole and moron.
Billy went into the tunnel last, smoothly swinging down and jumping off, hitting the ground with a soft thud. Ashen flakes swirled around them. They gather up in the wind that occasionally races down the tunnels, spinning them into a flurry before dispersing back into its lazy and sporadic pattern. It's several degrees colder beneath the ground and the damp environment has him crossing his arms tightly to preserve some warmth.
Massive ridges lined the wall, hastily carved out by something dark and . . . Billy recoiled. Those weren't roots. That was limbs, or tendrils or something wholly else. They were gnarled like roots but black and slick-looking at tar. It was a meshed network that had burrowed through the earth and transformed it into passageways right below the town of Hawkins.
He looked beneath his boot in disgust to realise they were stepping on it too. The Mind Flayer wasn't just terrifyingly huge in its expansive network, but strong. He rocked back and forth on his heel, trying to grind into the root with no effect. If he hadn't been paying attention, he'd have thought of them as nothing but firm tree roots. He pulled up the bandana so it rested on the bridge of his nose.
Lucas and Max begin walking ahead before Steve catches up. "I'm going first, dipshits. Any of you shits die in here and I'll be the one getting the blame. I'm going first." Steve said, walking in front of the group.
"How about we keep our fuckin' voices down. Don't they have super-hearing or some shit?" Billy said.
Dustin blinked before looking at the group with a shrug. "He's got a point."
They quietly walk down the tunnel, flashlights swinging wildly. Billy long strides have him walking ahead of the group, closer to Steve but never far away from Max.
Their arms continue to wave all over the place as the continuously nearly lose and regain their balance across the deep ridges of soil and Flayer roots.
Steve stumbles into Billy who immediately shoves him away, nearly sending him flying into a side of the tunnel.
"Stevie fuckin' Wonder can see better than you." Billy muttered.
With a deep scowl Steve speeds up, careful not to be on a literal collision course with Billy again. The deeper in they go, the more the fear grows that they'll get lost here. No one would know they were down here. No one would find their bones.
He reaches into his pocket for a cigarette, slipping it beneath the bandana. He pauses to find his lighter. The way the tunnel is bathed in a warm orange glow as he tries to light up the cigarette has the entire group whirling around.
"Don't light up. It hates fire it'll know we're here." Lucas said.
"Put it out now." Max said.
"Thought fire was what we wanted." Billy grumbled.
"All of us need to keep our masks on. The air in the Upside-Down is dangerous. It can make you really sick, even kill you." Dustin said.
"I'm keeping the damn bandana on." Billy said.
"It's so loose it's not going to do anything. You didn't double layer it." Dustin pointed out.
"You said this would make us all safe in the tunnels. Now you're saying they're useless. Make up your mind." Billy snapped.
"The material is semipermeable and the Upside-Down spores are technically small enough to travel through the bandana. That's why you need to double layer it. You know, to decrease the chances that you die." Dustin said.
"Do I look like I give a shit about semipermission material? It works. Put it on, no breathing in weird snowflakes. Easy."
"It's permeable." Dustin muttered to himself.
He took one deep inhale, before angrily grinding the cigarette against the bottom of his boot. When he's sure the ember is completely gone he holds up the broken cigarette, watching as it dangles in front of him. He tosses it onto the ground with a sigh. "If everyone's done bitching, can we keep moving?"
They make their way into the centre. Several pathways intersect here. They take out smaller gas canisters and high flammable pesticide spray from their backpacks. Steve unscrews the cap of Billy's tank.
"Let's go." Lucas says, reaching into his backpack.
They need to make a trail from here all the way back to the entrance. The remaining gas would be dumped there. Once safely above ground, they'd throw a lighter into the holes and watch as a vast expanse becomes covered in flames. That was the plan, at least.
The sharp stench of fumes have them trying to hold their breath as they shake out gas out the gas.
Billy made a face of discomfort as they slowly made their way back to the rope, making sure not to break the line of gas. The closer they got to the entrance, the stupider the plan became. If they ran out of gas, or if there was a break then the whole trap plan would fall through.
"What now?" Steve dared to ask, seeing Billy's sour expression. It was daring to ask because he was afraid, but because he knew the futility of engaging with Billy.
"You hang around kids man, that's a little fuckin' weird." Billy said.
Steve was aghast. "I am protecting them."
"Still weird."
"Your sister-"
"Half-sister." He corrected sharply.
"Jesus, your half-sister is part of those kids I'm protecting." Steve said.
Billy's head rolled onto his shoulder to look at Steve. "Yeah and you're doing a pretty shit job; you're not getting a tip tonight."
"You're such a dick, d'y'know that?" Steve said bitterly.
"Can you both shut up!" Lucas burst out. Steve glanced at Lucas with a raised brow while Billy whipped around with narrowed eyes, causing Lucas to add, ". . . please."
"Seriously we're going to beg the Demodogs to eat us if it means not having to listen to your bitching anymore." Dustin huffed through the rag.
"If it gets you to shut up I'll feed you to them myself." Billy replied with a sharp smile.
Dustin glowered at him.
"How much time do we have left?" Steve asked.
Billy looked at his watch, squinting in the darkness and through the flakes. "Ten minutes."
"Ten? We just got here." Dustin yelped.
"Yeah and we used ten minutes on driving here and another ten with you morons wondering around like the world isn't about to end. " Billy said.
"Why did we only give ourselves thirty minutes? Who set that time?" Max asked.
"I did. I thought that seemed like the amount of time it'd take Hopper and El to get to the gate and close it." Dustin said.
"That Lab is a huge fuckin' maze. They'll be longer than thirty minutes." Billy said.
"El can throw those things through walls. It won't take much longer than half-an-hour." Dustin said.
They walked in front of Steve, who's concentrating on shaking a trail of gas. Billy mutters that he needs to pick up the damn speed, and Steve tells him to shut up. The kids are already ahead, occasionally glancing backwards to make sure the group isn't split up too much.
Ahead there is a pool of light and they've found the exit again. They stand around rope, waiting for Steve who's now only a few feet away.
Then the ground begins trembling with a quick rumbling rhythm akin to an army running assuredly to greet their enemies. Except it wasn't coming from the direction of the Laboratory. It was coming from where Nancy and Mike were.
"They know— they fucking know we're here." Lucas yelled.
Everything was rushed and voices began trying to yell over each other. Without time to think they all moved around Max, forcing her to jump up first. Lucas followed easily. Steve shoved Dustin up, knowing he'd be slower to climb the rope.
Max and Lucas were on their bellies, hanging over the edge thrusting their arm out for him to grab onto while screaming at him to hurry. Once he was close enough they wrapped their hands around any part of him they could. It happened to be his shoulder and wrist. Once they'd pulled him close enough up over the edge, Billy jumped up.
Three great pulls and he was already gripping the wet earth and grass, digging his fingers in to pull himself out.
Under the torrent of yelling Steve leapt up the rope, hastily pulling himself up. A dark river of demondogs rumbled beneath his feet. Steve peaks down below his feet for one quick second before he hoists himself up. If they had wanted to attack him, they would have. He was close enough to be within their range. But they raced onwards as if he wasn't there at all.
Hands help pull Steve onto the grass and he groans as the adrenaline of survival floods his veins. He looks up at the sky and has a smile of utter disbelief that he survived. He chuckles in relief.
Mike and Nancy broke through the tree line at the end of the field. They headed towards the group at a jogging pace.
Billy looked at Max. "I told you none of this mattered."
Once the siblings were close enough to be within hearing distance, Mike shouted, "Did it work?"
"No they came from the opposite side didn't you feel it? They're running towards the lab not away from it." Lucas shouted back.
They slowed down to walk. Both were panting harshly and Nancy wiped away the sweat on her forehead with her jacket sleeve.
"We tried." Nancy said, plucking a stray leaf out of Mikes hair. Both of them looked more disheveled than when they'd left. Judging by the dirt that stained their clothing, the entry into the tunnel had been narrow.
Mike looked less than happy at the outcome. "We didn't even slow them down. Now there's more than ever."
"So I guess we're just going to sit back and let whatever happens at the Lab happen." Max kicked the tip of her shoe into the grass, stuffing her hands into her pockets.
Suddenly he can feel the ghost of hands roughly clutching his shirt an hour ago, sees steel grey eyes through the open slit in the white paned window, sees Max looking away in disappointment, swallowing roughly like his betrayal was a bitter pill to swallow. She'd expected him to follow through on his sudden momentum to help them all. She should know by now that hope was simply the precursor to disappointment. Still . . . there's something happening to his adamant reasoning on going home. It's beginning to draw itself thin, like a rubber band being pulled to its limits.
"Now they're going back to the Lab and Diane is still in there." Dustin glanced at the trees.
"With that crazy dude." Lucas said.
"We already tried a crazy plan and it failed. Going into the lab without weapons or, oh I don't know — superpowers would be crazier." Steve said.
"El's probably closing the gate now. Then they can take out that guard." Nancy said, a dark look crossing her face. Did Nancy want to attack the guard herself?
"Plans change. Before, we were luring away the dogs. Now, we need a new plan." Dustin said.
"What do you want, for us to charge the lab and get her out?" Steve said.
"Kind of." Dustin said.
"Even if one of us went, there's still no way for us to know what's around the corner. I only have so many bullets. Once they hear the trigger, there'll be a pack of them." Nancy said. It sounded more like she was envisioning ways of attack, rather than trying to talk them all out of it like Steve was.
"What if you didn't need any bullets? We just need a map of the lab." Lucas said.
"What good will that do?" Mike asked.
"If we can talk with that science guy who helped Hopper get out, and we have the map then we can get Diane out while El focuses on closing the gate. The guard can't take all of us on at once." Lucas said.
"Guys we've already been over this. We shouldn't even have left the house." Steve said.
"Too many of us will draw too much attention." Max said.
"Not if the demodogs don't know we're there. Which they won't, if we're quiet." Dustin said.
"But then someone needs to go in first. Alone. That's the big risk." Lucas said.
For a moment Nancy seemed to volunteer herself seeing as she'd been in the lab before. "None of you are going into the National Laboratory. I can't promise I can protect you and neither can Steve."
"Billy don't you know the lab?" Dustin asked.
"The only reason Billy came along was so he could burn down Hawkins. He probably has several arson charges waiting for him in California. You seriously think he's going to go into that place?" Steve said.
There were a few things Billy resolutely stood for. The first one being to never make promises you can't keep. That exact principle is why he never made promises to anyone. That exact principle, incidentally, was one Steve had broken when he'd promised Diane he'd take her home from the party. He wasn't surprised when Steve left Tina's Halloween party without Diane. In fact, it was downright predictable. He hadn't bothered figuring out why he disliked Steve so strongly and it didn't matter.
Here he stood challenging Billy. Trying to make it seem like Billy and him were the same. Both of them listening to the Chief of Police — the same one who'd yelled at a kid behind a closed door. Both of them too chickenshit to go back to the Lab.
The band snaps. "You know what? I'll go get out your little townie friend. Beats sitting on a fuckin' field for the rest of the night."
Lucas' brows shot up at this and Max drops her jaw. All of them look surprised, none more so than Steve who seemed to be waiting for the other shoe to drop. It was evident all of them would find him to be the absolute last person to do anything that could be considered even a hint of selflessness. As it should be, he thought. Billy didn't want to give them the wrong idea about who he was. He didn't want them thinking they were going to be friends after this.
"Saint Steve won't you babysit the kids? Drop Max off at home while you're at it?" Billy asked.
"Man, no. Everyone almost died last time. You don't seriously think you can just burst in there and save her." Steve said, looking warily at Billy as he tried to figure out Billy's intentions.
He lightly clasped Steve's shoulder before giving it a squeeze that might have been considered friendly if it wasn't for the constant animosity existing between the two. It might even have been friendly if it wasn't for the way Billy's angled himself closer to Steve like he was letting him in on a little secret with a provocative wink. "Every girl need a hero, right?"
Steve's look of utter, bewildered indignation was enough to send Billy off confidently towards his car. It was the boost he needed to get one foot in front of the other. Into the car and straight into Hell.
Billy picks up the spiked baseball bat, giving it a twirl in his hand.
"Hey that's mine." Steve yelled at Billy's retreating back.
"Not anymore." Billy sang.
Dustin looked up at Steve. "Are you just going to take that? You really won't stand up for yourself and take him on?"
Steve glanced down at Dustin, who was giving him an expectant look. "What? No. He's out of his damn mind."
"You could take him on." Dustin reasoned.
Steve raised his brows a fraction. "You're supposed to be holding me back, not trying to instigate the fight."
Max catches up to Billy slams the trunk with the baseball bat inside. This whole time she's been cradling the radio inside her sweater. Now she hands it over to him. "I took it from Bob. I think we can talk to that guy inside the lab, the one who got everyone out."
He played with the buttons of the radio, and then smacked the side. With a tired beep it surged to life again. The radio was either faulty, or running out of battery. As long as he could still shake the last vestiges of its life-force, it would be fine.
Max took a step like she was about to skirt the car and climb into the passengers seat.
He barked a laugh. "No fucking way you're coming."
She looks upset then and shoves her hands in her pockets.
"What's with the long face? Here I thought you wanted me to go to the Lab."
"Not alone. Billy it's dangerous and . . . I don't want you to die, okay?" She said.
Her words nearly cause him to smile. He makes a dismissive sound and rolls his eyes as if he's insulted she'd even think his failure at taking on a supernatural army was even a possibility. "It'll be easy. Now go back to Saint Steve. He has one task to take all of you back home. If he fucks up before I get back, tell me so I can teach him a lesson."
Her concern is replaced by a scowl. "You're not allowed to beat him up. You're not allowed to beat them up, or you'll have to go through me first."
No. First I'll need to go through an army of supernatural dogs. If he says that out loud he knows Max will just go back to being scared for him. She really shouldn't.
"Yeah, yeah. Oh— last thing before I leave. Max, I have a duty to protect our family . . . and Lucas sure as hell isn't it. Right now I think he's a damn idiot. If this keeps going? I'll think he's selfish." His words aren't tinged with anger. They are a resigned breath. Lucas Sinclair isn't the type of person who is welcome under their roof, and they both know why. Billy knows why best of all.
Right now Sinclair is a nuisance. He's not a threat. Yet.
She looked at him, then the Camaro, before her eyes glide further away to where Hawkins National Laboratory lay. She swallows uneasily before answering. "Sure."
He doesn't quite believe her, but it's a start. "If you're bullshittin' me and try going anyway else tonight, I'll make sure Neil puts bars on your window. Then you can go from being a shitbird to a jailbird."
She jerks forwards slightly like the impulsive to hug him goodbye overtook her, before reigning herself in at the last moment. "Whatever, Billy."
He watches as she flounces off. For a moment so short no one could catch it even if they were looking at him, he smiled with exasperation just reserved for siblings. Whatever happened to him next?
Well . . . one way or another, Max would be fine.
Nancy tapped the side of the gun in a pensive manner as Billy lighting a cigarette whilst opening up the door.
She hummed. "I should probably go with him."
"What happened to just waiting around like you said earlier?" Steve asked her.
"Do you know how many files there are in that place that could bring them all down? Right now, everyone who'd be guarding them are dead. This might be my only opportunity. These people think they came come into our town and destroy everything and no one can stop them. They haven't shown us an ounce of mercy, so why the hell should we?" Nancy said.
Steve put his hands on his hips and looked up at the sky for a moment, seemingly trying to find some sense in the universe for the way the world had turned into something much darker in such a short timespan. Even Nancy seemed to have flipped, and he was beginning to doubt everything he knew. The shift had been a slow creep until it hit him all at once. Now it was unmissable. Had she always been this way?
"That's not true. I know the Lab let you go. I know there's that science dude who helped Hopper and the others escape that place — the same guy who got Will out there because he wants to separate the Mind Flayer from him, instead of letting the other scientists kill him. I know there's a lot going on but you need to just . . . slow down." Steve said.
Her mouth twisted in anger, and her hand clutched the gun a little tighter. "Last time I relaxed someone died. You should remember, you were there."
He inhaled sharply. Only now in the cold November night did he realise how he'd only been skating across the surface of her pain and had missed out on how deep it went, sinking into her very being.
"Hopper told us to stay." Steve said. It was a weak answer founded only in a last ditch resort to keep her here. But the fierce look was something he knew no words could broker. Not now when they were all in danger.
"We've already broken that rule. What if one of us is all it takes to tip the scales? Every one of us not fighting is another person at risk in these town." Nancy said.
"There's no one left. Everyone's dead, you heard Joyce." Steve said.
"Take the kids back to the house. You're in charge of them now." Nancy said, though it didn't quite sound like a request. It definitely wasn't a request when she strode towards the Camaro, gun swinging by her side.
"Nance where are you— Nancy!" Steve yelled at her retreating back, knowing it was futile.
Dustin looked at Steve with pity.
"Shut up." Steve said.
"Wasn't going to say anything." Dustin raised his hands in surrender, before he grew pensive. Dustin glanced at Steve. "'Still think you could take him on."
"Not going to happen . . . not because I'd lose, it's just a waste of time." Steve said.
"Sure, if you're not up for the task . . ." Dustin said with an innocent shrug.
Billy shuts the door and stares at the dark forest. Silence always unnerved him. There was always a pin drop silence before something bad happened. He'd grown up hating silence. And he hated it now too, sitting alone in the Camaro.
His hand hovers over the ignition. Lab. Supernatural. Death. His heart beat against his ribcage and he was finding it more difficult to take a deep breath. He nearly jumped as the passenger door swung open and was ready to give the recipient a fierce glare. But surprise tempered his features as Nancy slid into the seat and tossed the shotgun onto the back seat. She twisted around, looking at him expectantly.
"I thought you didn't care." Billy said.
"Thought you didn't either." She shot back at him.
He sees that familiar glint in her eye. Somewhere, some time ago, she'd lost. He didn't know what she'd lost, but whoever had been the one to take something close to her, wasn't going forget who Nancy Wheeler was. Lips pressed together in a hard line, she stared at the road ahead with an unwavering determination, and he was sure her targets wouldn't be getting much pity from her any time soon.
So he shrugged, and turned on the ignition. Patience may be a virtue, but impatience thrived in the wicked. With a dramatic flare the Camaro roared to life, and peeled away from the field so fast grass and soil were churned up into the air.
After the long silence that could have been minutes or hours, he broke the silence so suddenly that she jolted upwards, body protesting in pain at the sudden movement. In the lull, she was only just beginning to realise how deep her injured ran and how severe they were.
She'd tried, for a moment, to keep him talking. But the warning look he'd sent her, and the way his fingers went to his mouth to shush her had her own lips pressing tightly against each other to stop herself.
Something had prompted him to talk again. He spoke amicably, like she wasn't a hostage and he didn't have a gun waving around animatedly in his hand as he spoke. "Everyone knew the thing was dangerous. She screamed all the time. Always banging on doors, stomping around.
She was throwing another tantrum, they were tasked with putting her in Meditation Room 'til she calmed down. They were too nice on her, let their guard down. So she threw him against a wall like a rag doll. Couldn't do anything but watch as blood filled his lungs. If it hadn't been that, it would've been all the fractures she'd given him. Boothe lucked out, one snap and he was dead. I always said we needed more men to contain her.
Broke out, left a nice mocking little concave reminder in the wall of what she was capable of. While you terrorised your parents, we dealt with the terrors here every day. Brenner taught her well. He seems to have the same gift. What little gifts do you have I wonder . . . "
"I don't know who Eleven or Brenner are."
Information had been volleyed all week and yet huge chunks of information that could piece this together were glaringly missing.
"The man who started it all and the man who'll finish it. You'd know him so much better if you hadn't managed to write yourself off as Unresponsive during your tests." There was the hint of something in his voice. It was the condescending trickle of scorn that could only seep into words after harbouring hatred for someone over many years. His job had trained him well on keeping tight lipped about certain superior authorities. But he couldn't stop the bitterness leaking into his words. Started it all and the man who'll finish it.
"What'll he finish?" She asked.
"Everything you see." He said. There was some toxic clash of frustration over the man and a respect that burned deep. As much as Edgar seemed to hate Brenner, the other man had done something that Edgar could never truly hate. The thought that it could have something to do with the identical tattoos was rose to the surface of her mind before disappearing, over before she'd fully processed it.
"I know everyone's going on and on about how weak you are, but I suspect you've been devising some sort of plan all these years. It won't work. No one's been able to escape their fate once they hit Eighteen. What does it matter if something happens to you now, in a few hours, a few months?"
"Eighteen?" She questioned weakly.
"Oh, that Ol' Doc told you nothing about it, did he? Probably said you were real valuable. Those scientists throw you a smile 'til you turn around and they stab you in the back with a scalpel. At least you can't fault me for being honest." He ran a hand across his scalp, looking down at the ground like he was at the funeral of her trustingness. When he looked up his lips curved into a soft smile that might have been disarming if not for the sharpness in his eyes ready to cut into her. "Sometimes, we lie to protect people. But I don't think you need protection. One after one, you get cut down. 'Least one of you knows you're an abomination and is doing right by ridding the world of your kind."
Eighteen. That's how long she had to go. There had been an invisible counter over her head. She'd been walking around thinking there had been a future for her. That she'd cross over the invisible threshold of Hawkins into a new life. It had all been one great big illusion. A few months to go, and then she'd disappear, gone from existence. She wouldn't even have known until it happened.
"If nothing I did mattered anyway, why wiretap my house?" She asked.
He looked at her quizzically, before he batted his hand dismissively. "We didn't pay that much attention to you . . . hell, we didn't pay attention to you at all because you were busy pretending you had no powers." Edgar said, lips pulling down with the deep displeasure at the mere thought that one of the experiments had pulled the wool over his eyes.
He raised his arm, and his sleeve was pulled down for a moment. There it was again, the same tattoo Rob had. Two black wavering lines arcing through petals. Edgar caught the familiarity in her gaze.
Were Rob and Edgar friends? Did he know? "He's gone. So's Judith."
For a second she thinks he's horrified over the death of Rob as Edgar's face pales and he swallows hastily. But then his eyes snap up to the ceiling, and begin wandering like he's gazing through the concrete and trailing someones movement. His lips are rigid, "They failed."
In a split second he'd gone from gloating at her to shocked. She exhaled forcefully, tracking every minuscule reaction.
His eyes were blazing. "You were with that boy earlier. Judith told me. What did you two do?" He surged forwards, a sharp jerky motion. "What the fuck did you two do?"
"N— nothing. He knew — he knew I wasn't who I said I was in the beginning." The Stranger in the bar, who was in the building now . . . a shiver ran up her spine as she realised, without knowing quite who The Stranger was, that him knowing she was Three was far more dangerous than pulling a gun on her earlier.
Edgar's eyes flew to his scalp. "Fuck."
The tendons in his neck jumped. Something had gone wrong. Something in the meeting that Diane and Billy had witnessed had gone wrong. Yet it seemed to have gone off without a hitch, with them only getting to see the tail-end of the meeting. There had been no anger on their faces, no regret. Somehow, they had done something severe enough to wind up dead in the same night. Something involving that envelope was important enough to kill over. But she should know that well enough, she almost got the both of them shot by being going over there in the first place. She thought she'd been smart. A cool and collected woman ready to solve a mystery.
She was out of her depth.
Now Edgar looked like her simple statement had spun him out of control. Then he seemed to decide to push the revelation of Judith and Bob from his mind, prioritising prioritising the one situation he had control over.
"You're destined to kill. That's always been your purpose." Edgar said.
"I won't kill anyone." She stressed. The mere thought of having that capability made her recoil. Sitting here she realised it would take an extra edge, a commitment she didn't have.
He laughed as he opens the door. "You already have."
She doesn't understand what he means and she has no time to think about it as he paws around for some rope, nestled in one of his deep pants pockets. He unwinds it, stretching out the rope until it hung limp in his hands, three feet long. The way he comes towards her made her pull backwards; her head hit the pipe. It took a moment for her to register just how scalding hot it was.
"We've waited long enough, Eleven has to be here by now." Edgar knelt down in front of her and she had nowhere to flee. Something in the rigid way he conducted himself had her frozen. He was wound tight like a viper and she looked down at the ground. He gingerly wrapped the rope around the pipe, and then her wrists.
Everything she'd pieced together was wrong. Hawkins National Laboratory weren't responsible for wiretapping her chimney, but someone had. Rob, Judith and The Stranger weren't doing any more traitorous activities than the Lab itself was. And the biggest thing she'd been wrong about: no one was going to help her. All the pieces she had put together wrong.
The rope was wound around her arms and snaking in-between her wrists. It looped around the pole, closing the distance between the two. He pulled once, binding her wrists together before he slid it beneath one of the loops and pulled upwards.
She could get out of this. She had seen this before. The page seemed imprinted then on the door. The tiny grey arrows directing on how to tie the knot together — and how to unwind it. All she had to do was follow the steps clearly marked in front of her . . . in reverse. Then she could get out of the binds. Then she was free.
He finished the knot. Pulled it extra tight for good measure.
"You see, I can't hurt Eleven. At least not directly. Like One and Two she's been made untouchable. But you? You're expendable. It lines up well, don't you think? Some karmic repatriation served up on a silver platter. I can't hurt Eleven directly . . . but I can get rid of one of her friends. Not like anyone'll know it's me in all this chaos." He unsheathes a knife from his belt, and in a flash the white artificial light above them catches on its side.
He wouldn't give her mercy. Anything she tried to say wouldn't matter. When he looked into her eyes, he wasn't seeing humanity reflected back in the dark pools of her irises. He was seeing the endless pit of monstrosity. There was a corruption in his sight and nothing she said would clear that. There wouldn't be time to get out of the knot.
"She won't come. She doesn't know me." Her voice rose in hysteria, though she knew anything she said was as effective as talking to a brick wall. She wished it was true, more than just a tattoo on her wrist feeling like a fresh sunburn.
"She will. She's attracted to death and it's attracted to her. She's a mortality hazard. How am I supposed to trust your word anyway? You say you don't have any powers — a lie. You say you and Eleven aren't friends . . . now why am I supposed to believe that?" Edgar asked, before he scowled at the way she seemed to stare right through him all of a sudden with a vacant expression, and her chest rose and fell in a shallow manner.
He snapped at her. It took him reaching out to grab her shoulder that her eyes snapped back to him, sharp and focused again.
"I can feel them." She blurted out. It caught his attention, nothing more than the tilt of his head to distract him from resolutely ending her life right then and there. Her shoulders shift as she tries to work out the bindings; fingers tries to probe where the ends of the rope are with the limit leverage she has on the tightly wound knot.
She can distract him for a while. She was supposed to be an experiment like any other, yet she'd been hidden away from them. Edgar hated them, but there was something that fascinated him too. Delaying her fate hinged on keeping him distracted.
Diane's fingers fumbled against the rope before she tried pulling out of it, burning her palm in the process. She knew where the ends should be. But now she couldn't remember which way the rope needed to go first. Did she need to try and push it upwards, out of the first loop? Or pulled it down to loosen it? Her head swung forwards in defeat. She didn't know. She couldn't get out. She couldn't get out of the knot.
He hummed. "There it is. All of you lie until you're pushed to the truth. Never is the easy way with y'all."
"I can feel where they are." It was true. For a moment in the paralysing fear of her oncoming execution it had felt like a vacuum, everything had been sucked up all at once into a cold void. Then it exploded outwards and there they all were, like stars scattering across the universe. If Edgar demanded she told him what it was like, she wouldn't be able to answer. It was nothing more than a feeling, an extra muscle she didn't know she had and was only just learning to use. An extra, intangible sense.
Then the feeling oppressed her. Something far stronger, more terrifying and oppressing than she'd ever felt. For now it thankfully seemed to somehow hover just on the edge of her understanding, and yet, even the caress of its being that was no stronger than the suggestion of its presence was nearly suffocating her. Unnatural.
"You have a little supernatural sonar radar?" He gives her a cheerful shrug and the colour drained from her face.
But he didn't kneel down to stab her.
Instead he tapped lightly against the pipe. The hollow sound vibrated through the pipes, into the walls. One, two three. Tap. One, two, three. Tap.
It wasn't long before nearly every demondog stopped all of their activities in the building. For a moment they halted, like they were trying to hone in on where the clanking was emitting from. They seemed to find its source well enough, and they all began moving towards the basement.
Then he knelt in front of her again, knife in hand. She recoiled.
"I thought you said they didn't like heat." She said as he pried her fingers apart from the fist she'd made.
"They do hate heat, but they love blood more." He sliced the knife across her palm in one quick motion.
The pain was instantaneous and she clenched her jaw, exhaling forcefully through her nose. Edgar watched the first few drops splatter onto the ground before he stood up and backed away.
No.
Edgar tapped the pipe again, calling the dogs for their desert.
No.
She wasn't going to die here in some underground lair because Edgar thought she was nothing more than collateral. If no one was going to come for her, then she was going to save herself. She refused to die here.
The rope began chafing her wrists as she struggled against the binds with a newfound determination. If she couldn't get out of them easily, then she was going to fight her way out. She wasn't going to die here. Something moved behind Edgar. Diane had to blink to make sure she was seeing correctly.
Behind Edgar stood Billy. She couldn't tamper down the way her eyes flew open in surprise, causing Edgar to spin around. In a blurring motion Billy's fist swung forwards, colliding with Edgars jaw. His head flew back as he stumbled sideways, crashing into a white cylinder filled with water.
Edgar pushes off the cylinder, wiping the blood away from his chin. "Who the fuck are you?"
Billy responds by trying to give him an uppercut but Edgar blocks his fist. Edgar is fast, and he slices into the side of Billy's throat with a flat hand, sending him reeling backwards. The black radio in Billy's other hand clatters across the floor. The back of the device slides under a boiler.
Then Edgar throws his weight into Billy, and they go toppling down into the hallway. They're wrapped together and there's an angry yell and she can't tell who it came from as there's a flurry of fists and swinging legs and they roll past her line of sight. She strains against the rope, chafing her wrists.
There's the sound of thuds and grunts and then air violently being expelled from lungs after a punch to the sternum. Then there's silence. Edgar's killed him.
She wrestles harder against the rope. It doesn't feel like it's given an inch. "Billy? Billy?" Her voice raises as the fear grips her.
Billy leans against the door for a moment, clutching his side and breathing raggedly. He must've knocked Edgar unconscious, or at the very least rendered him immobile.
She looked haggard and small tied up. But Billy has never looked more alive. His eyes are bright with the energy of jangled nerves, and there's a faint blush on his cheeks from the excursion of the fight. Blood was gushing from a split in his brow. He stumbles forwards, disoriented by Edgar's relentless hits. As he sees her on the ground struggling fiercely against the binds, he surges forwards into a crouch.
"What are you doing down here?" She asked.
"Getting you out, what does it look like?" His voice is hoarse and cracks from the hit to his vocal cords.
The demondogs were drawing closer. By the sudden burst of speed, Diane knew they could smell the blood. "Hurry they're almost here."
"Stay still." His fingers are deft as he quickly undoes the complex series of knots with a level of expertise stemming from practice. The rope loosens, sliding down to hands and he hauls her up.
Edgar limps into the room looking worse. Then dogs were close enough now that their echoes bounding through the stairwell and down the hall. Edgar sneers as he blocks their exit.
"Quick — down there." She tells Billy.
It's a narrow passageway between a mess of pipes and boilers. They'll have to turn to their sides just to get through. Diane scooped up the radio. Neither notice one of the batteries is missing. Billy takes one look at Edgar, hears the demondogs and swears. He sends her first. Edgar picks up his gun with a groan.
They manage to shuffle forwards, but they can hear Edgar's determined footsteps behind them. Diane moves nimbly, best equipt to dodge pipes. Billy isn't so lucky, but stays silent as he brushes against scorching metal.
One of the loose valves lets out a burst of hot steam which sends Edgar reeling back, narrowly avoiding his face burning off. The demondogs howl. They're here. Billy and Diane round the corner to see a heavy looking metal door. It's deep red, and industrial sized nails have been drilled into the sides. It looks like it weighs a tonne. Edgar's hobbling at a fast pace towards them now, spurned by the fear of the demondogs that have take a step back and forth as it deliberates its own safety.
But Edgar was right.
They hate heat, but they love blood more. And right now, it's dripping off Diane.
With a snarl the demondogs hunch down and begin following them.
Billy struggles to pull the door open with a groan. Once there's a sliver of space, Diane wraps her fingers around the door and helps him.
When there's enough space they both slide in. It's pitch black and Diane turns around and begins pulling it shut without a second thought. Edgar yells at them. Billy wraps his hand over hers and helps pull it shut, letting out growl between clenched teeth as he tries to suppress the pain that shoots through him.
The door locks with a click, plunging them into darkness. There's three gunshots in quick succession. She pressed her ear against the door, but there's only silence. Billy fumbles around and lets out a string of angry curses as his shin hits something.
A moment later theres the hum of electricity and lights flicker on. They're in a small room with two rows of empty cabinets. Most of the drawers are slightly askew. Whatever files had been stored in here were gone in this long abandoned room. They were stuck in here.
A/N: It's been too long since I uploaded a chapter. Committing to Tuesday and Friday updates is my dream.
Crzychigurl343: Finally Billy (with Nancy in tow) is going to save Diane. It took him a little prompting, but Steve helped him on his way.
CosmicWonder20: I couldn't kill Bob I love him too much. He's a bit on the back burner at the moment but there are so many characters in these past few chapters that I'm saving him for later. I feel bad about putting Diane through the ringer but it's going to get better from here on out . . . for a while.
Scarlett Raye: thank you :)
LieuDrake: Thank you so much for your very kind review :)
MulishaMaiden: Billy is fully immersed and doesn't want to be there at all, the poor guy. He does love Max and one day he'll be able to be a little more vulnerable and a little less afraid to show that. In the far future.
Edgar is terrible but I did want to give him some motivation. Too bad for Edgar that Billy foiled his vengeance plan.
Athena-Spencer: Nancy is fairly metal. I'm trying to explore the gap between S2 Nancy and S3 Terminator Nancy who shot to kill her former classmate and colleagues without blinking. This won't be a Nancy bashing story however. Like there's been other collateral deaths through-out the seasons that the main characters haven't cared much about, Nancy sees Diane as collateral.
Billy is nothing if not impulsive, so it's fitting it'd be a snap decision to go to the Lab.
Aevora Myonsarys: Chapter delivery for you
YuYuChan777, Love,Fiction.2020, Guest, nataliamontes13 thanks for your reviews!