Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Terry looked at the letters again. Since Joyce could see that she touched that, maybe she can communicate with her this way...
Joyce was still in the living room, desperate for her son to answer. "Will?" she asked. "Will, please, talk to me, baby..." She suddenly saw the light flash over 'I', making her gasp and try to decipher it. "I..." Two lights came afterwards over 'A' and 'M'. "Am..." Three lights lit above 'N', 'O', and 'T'. "Not..." Finally, three lights over 'W', 'I', and 'L' two times. "Will...?" She looked confused, now stringing those together in a sentence. "I am not Will?" She then yelled, "Then who are you?! What the hell are you doing in my house?!"
After a minute, she saw a light flicker on the 'T', so she read aloud, "T..." Another light over the 'E'. "E..." The light above the 'R' flickered two times. "R...R..." Finally, the second-to-last light flickered above the 'Y'. Her eyes were as large as plates when she realized what that spelled out to be. "Terry?!" She put her hands on her temples. Now this was getting more and more mind-boggling. Now her friend was communicating with her this way?!
The lights continued to flicker over letters and Joyce read them out loud once again. "I'm..." Seven lights. "Looking..." Three lights. "For..." Three more lights. "Him." She gasped and covered her mouth, almost about to cry. Wherever Terry was...she was looking for him, for Will.
She let out a couple of tears and said, "Thank you, Terry! Thank you so much!" She wiped them away and sniffed. "D-do you know where he might be?"
After half a minute, six lights flickered. "Around..." Four lights. "Here..." Nine lights. "Somewhere." She sighed. That was vague, like how Will said he was "here" though he wasn't, at least, not to her. "Where's 'here', Terry?"
That was a good question, and unfortunately, she didn't know the answer to that. How could she describe this place to her?
The brunette then remembered something...when she saw Will behind that wallpaper, he told her that where he was is dark and cold. Her face lit up when she remembered that. Now she might know what Terry is talking about. "W-wait, Terry!"
"D-don't answer that. Just..." She heard her sob, making her heart drop. "When you find him...can you please bring him back to me?"
Well, that was a quick answer, so she instantly put her hand on the 'Y'.
The light above the 'Y' flickered. "Y..." Then the light over the 'E'. "E..." And finally, the light over the 'S'. "S. Yes!" She smiled, now crying tears of joy. "Thank you, Terry. Thank you..."
The woman smiled, glad she could make her happy, and murmured, "You're welcome." How could she not? Bringing him and even Barb back to Hawkins was her goal, of course she would bring him back to her.
Suddenly, the growling she heard earlier was heard again, making her lost her smile instantly and pointed her gun and flashlight at the direction. She saw that shadow she's seen earlier. It was standing though and it looked...inhuman. Its hands...it clawed hands...scraped through the window. She gasped, backing away from it. She now recognized that figure.
It was the thing trying to get out of Joyce's wallpaper.
She muttered a curse as it then crashed through the window and got inside. She screamed and ran as fast as she could from it, mentally praying for her life.
Joyce saw the lights flickering like crazy, making her feel very worried for her friend. She muttered under her breath, "Please find him alive...please be alive too..." If her son and her friend become dead...
Oh God, she didn't even want to THINK of what might happen.
The hazel-eyed woman got out of the house and continued running into the woods. After a while, she stopped and looked back with her flashlight and gun. She didn't hear that growling again, making her release of a sigh of relief. Twice had she outran it.
Now, time to find Will and Barb. Cautious of luring that creature to her again, Terry whisper-shouted, "Will?! Barbara?!" She roamed through the woods, hoping to find any sign of either of them.
On the railroad, the kids roamed through it with their compasses, hoping to find the gate. They all changed out of their funeral clothes. Jane's hair was back to its normal curls and waves. She wore her usual coat, a white shirt with a Star Wars picture on it, blue jeans, and black and white sneakers. Mike still had his disguise on, but now had on a beige coat that also belonged to Jane. The two boys were walking at the front, the tomboy and the freckled boy following them from behind.
While the two boys were talking about something, Mike wiped his nose. Lucas saw that and continued talking to Dustin. "Do you think he's acting weird?" he asked him.
He became perplexed at the question. "You're asking if the weirdo is acting weird?" he replied.
He rolled his eyes at him. "I mean, weirder than usual?"
He shrugged. "I dunno, who cares?" Lucas rolled his eyes at him again. Now he was starting to feel skeptical about Mike again.
Mike looked more and more worried about the rest of the kids. He didn't want them to be near the gate...
He already had unpleasant experiences with it.
It all started this one day...
He was in his room, sitting on his bed next to his father and the doctor. "How far, Dad?" he asked him.
"Farther than we have ever gone before," the man answered as he showed him a picture of a Russian politician.
"The bath?"
"Yes," both men answered.
"Is that alright?" Dr. Brenner asked.
He didn't like the bath, he always felt trapped whenever he was in it. However, both of them wanted him to be in there, so he had to do it, for them. He nodded. "Yes."
...
In the room where the bath was, Mike was being escorted by two workers up to the top of the bath. He only wore a beige unitard with one rectangle horizontally on his chest and three rectangles vertically aligned across the lower part of his torso. As he went upstairs and approached another team of scientists near the top of the bath, he looked around nervously, wishing that his dad or the doctor was with him instead of downstairs.
He faced one scientist who put on his headgear. Another scientist pulled the wheel on top of the bath and opened it up, revealing warm water flowing through. He saw the contraption used to carry him down appear, so he walked onto it and grabbed each of the poles. A scientist pushed a button to make him go down and Mike slowly felt the water submerging his body. Before being completely submerged, a different scientist placed a transparent mask on his head so that he could breathe while being underwater. Finally, he was in the bath.
Once the contraption stopped, he let go of the poles and stepped off of it. As it got back up, he saw his father and Dr. Brenner looking at him in the tank. Both waved at him, making him wave back and smile a little. At least he was little less nervous.
But then the outer layer of the tank closed, now that nervousness turning into anxiety.
His breathing became a little heavy at that flashback. He had to stop them somehow.
He grabbed Jane's arm and said, "Jane, turn back."
She glanced at him, being a bit confused. "What? Why?" she asked, concerned.
"I'm...tired."
The tomboy sighed. "I'm sure we're almost there, somehow. Just hold on until then, okay?" Defeated, he nodded. He looked back, feeling the anxiety he felt then. If that wasn't going stop them...
He looked back at the trail they were following...his nose bleeding once again.
In the woods, Jonathan and Kali were walking around to find the monster. To break the silence between them, Kali stated, "You haven't given me an answer."
He gave her a puzzled look. "What?" he asked.
"You said I was saying something in that photo you took two days ago and that's why you took it."
"Oh, uh..." He paused, then shrugged. "I dunno. My guess is that...I saw this girl trying to be someone she's not." Her plain expression shifted, showing offense. "And at that moment, it shined through and you could just, you know, be yourself."
She couldn't believe that was his answer, huffing. "Wow, such bullshit."
He stopped, even more confused. "What?"
She stopped and turned to him. "I'm not trying to be like someone else."
He sighed and continued walking. "Forget it, then. I thought it was a good picture."
She scoffed and walked with him. "A good picture? You took that without my consent. I didn't ask you to take a picture of me taking off my shirt!"
He raised his voice. "I said I'm sorry, alright?!"
"Then take back that statement that it was a good picture!" He didn't reply, now irritating her even more. "What? You thought about you did was okay?"
"No! I never said that!"
"Then why did you say that?!"
"I don't know! I do think it's a good picture!"
She scoffed again and stopped, crossing her arms. "Oh, so that you can use it for other things?"
He stopped and gave her an objecting glare. "No! I'm not like that! I don't even think you're attractive!" Kali felt her blood run cold as he continued walking to find the monster. She had never had anybody say that about her. Now she thought of him more worse than before.
"I thought you were an alright guy, you know?"
He stopped and turned to her once again, his expression of disbelief. "Really?"
She nodded. "Yeah, really. I was thinking, 'Jonathan Byers, another teenager with a single mum and a younger sibling like me. Jee, I guess he wasn't the pretentious creep that I think he is.'"
Now he scoffed at her and began walking to her. "That so? I was thinking that you were an alright girl."
She raised an eyebrow. "That so?"
He stopped a few inches in front of her and said, "Yeah, and you know what I thought? 'Kali Ives, just like me, parents divorced, living with a mom and a younger sibling. Perhaps she's not acting like a suburban girl who thinks she's rebellious by doing what other suburban girls do, the only difference being that she's not white, so she thinks she's so special.'" Her eyes widened at that statement. "'And she won't go through that phase when it passes at adulthood, marrying some boring one-time jock, who now works sales, and living out a perfectly boring little life until they can't stand each other and file a divorce because they weren't the way they were when they were younger.'" He paused to shake his head. "'No, she's not like that. She couldn't be.'" He finally exhaled and walked past her.
The teen girl could still feel her blood running cold, looking down at the ground. What he said...god, what he said...how could she make of that? She didn't know how...what the hell...?
She let out a sigh and followed him, still trying to process about what he said about her.
Becky was calling Hideaway's number, now being absolutely worried about her sister. Carl was beside her for support. The line picked up and one of the waitresses there greeted, "Hello, thank you for calling Hideaway, the pub where you won't get caught in a hurry. How may I help you?"
"H-hey, uh..." the woman said over the phone. "Is Terry Ives there? She's my sister and I wanted to check up on her."
"Terry? Oh, actually...she didn't come in today."
Her eyes widened at that statement. "What? What do you mean she didn't come today?"
"Exactly what I said. She didn't come here today, not this morning, not this afternoon. Things are busy around here and it's hard for us to serve customers with one waitress short, you know?" Her sigh was heavy, Carl squeezing her shoulder for support. "Are you alright, m'am?"
"Y-yeah. Thanks for answerin'." She then hung up the phone and shook her head. "Sh-she never came to her work."
His eyes widened. "Why?"
She shrugged, scoffing. "I dunno. I..." She shook her head again. "I don't even know the number to her night work..." Now her worry heightened. Where the hell was she...?
Later in the day, the kids went a junkyard, still following their compasses. All of them were beginning to feel tired, stopping at the middle of the junkyard. Dustin looked worried. "Oh no," he said.
Lucas began to worry too. "'Oh no'?" he asked.
He turned to his friends. "We're headed back home."
His two friends' eyes widened. "What?!" Jane exclaimed.
"Why?!" Lucas added. "Are you sure?!"
He nodded as he pointed at the sun setting. "Setting sun, right there. We looped back around."
"And you just realized that now?!"
He looked at him in objection. "Why is this on me?!"
"'Cause YOU'RE the compass genius!"
"Then what does yours say?"
Lucas and Jane looked at their compasses and answered a bit off-sync, "North." All of them sighed in irritation.
"Makes no damn sense," Dustin stated.
"Maybe the gate moved or something?" Jane asked.
He shook his head. "Nah, I don't think it's the gate. I think it's something else screw with our compasses."
When he said that, Lucas thought of what - or actually...who, was screwing with the compasses. "Maybe it's something here?" the tomboy asked.
The curly-haired boy shook his head. "No, it's gotta be like a super magnet."
"It's not a magnet," Lucas stated as he got his friends' attention and he pointed at Mike. "It's him!" He looked at them nervously and worriedly, breathing heavily. "He's been acting weirder than usual! If he can slam a door with his mind, he definitely screw with our compasses!"
Jane looked at him in disbelief. "Why would he do that?!"
"Because he's trying to sabotage our mission! He's a traitor!" Mike felt hurt by that statement, almost looking like he was about to cry. The boy approached him and asked, "You did it, didn't you? You don't want us to reach the gate! You don't us to find Will!" The freckled boy stayed silent, feeling intimidated by him.
The tomboy walked to her coily-haired friend. "Lucas, seriously! Leave him alone!"
"Admit it."
Mike shook his head and said, "No."
"ADMIT IT!" He jolted back from that. Lucas roughly grabbed his wrist and saw a streak of fresh blood on the cuff of his jacket. He scoffed and let go of him forcefully. "Knew it, fresh blood."
"Lucas, come on!"
He turned to his female friend and stated, "I saw him wipe his nose when we walked the railroad tracks! He was using his powers!"
"N-no! That has to be old blood!" She then looked at Mike for confirmation. "Right, Mike?"
He sighed heavily, looking like he was going to cry. In a shaky voice, he answered, "I-it's...not...safe. It's dangerous." Jane's eyes widened in shock and realization as she now looked at Lucas.
"See?! What did I tell you?! He was playing us from the beginning!"
She was stunned that Mike did that...but...maybe it was for good intentions? "Th-that's not true! He helped us find Will!"
Lucas huffed in utter disbelief. "No, he didn't! Where the hell is he then?!" He looked around for a bit, then back to her. "I don't see him!"
She looked at him angrily. "You know what I mean-"
"No! I actually don't, Jane!" He pointed at the freckled boy angrily. "Think about it! He could have told us where the Upside Down was immediately, but he didn't! Instead, he made us run around like a bunch of headless chickens!" The curly-haired girl clenched her fists, never feeling so...angry with him before.
Dustin, the only one who seemed to have a level head, approached the two and tried to separate them. "Alright, cut it out-" he said before Lucas pushed him away.
"No! He used us, all of us! He helped just enough to get what he needed: food and shelter! He's like a stray dog!" Mike felt more hurt by his words, his eyes watering.
"Screw you, Lucas!" Jane yelled at him.
"No, screw YOU, Jane!" he yelled back at her. "You're blind! You're blind because you like that he's a guy that isn't disgusted by the fact that you look like a boy!" She gasped, her blood feeling like ice and a lump beginning to form in her throat. The fact that he even said that...she could feel the tears coming.
Dustin looked at Lucas disapprovingly, shaking his head. "Dude, that was low," he said to him in a serious voice. Mike saw the sullen look on Jane's voice, his heart dropping. Seeing that look and knowing the fact that Lucas made her sad...it sparked a fire of rage inside him. His sad expression was gone and his angered one in its place, the boy clenching his fists.
Lucas realized what he just said and seeing that he made her about to cry. He sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. "Jane, I'm sorry-" he began before Jane smacked his hand off her shoulder. He sighed. "I didn't mean to say it like that, it's just-"
"Just what?!" she shouted in a shaky voice. "What, are YOU disgusted by the way I look?!"
He shook his head. "N-no, but-"
"Then why did you say that?!" She shoved him, the boy taking it and looking at her with a serious face.
"I don't see any other boy besides me, Dustin, and Will that isn't appalled by your boyish look, alright?! That's what I was trying to say, Jane! And that's why you're keeping him around, even after you left him at the quarry!" She looked furious again, clenching her fists tighter. "Wake up, Jane! Wake the hell up!" He pointed at a now angered Mike. "He knows where Will is and now, he's going to let him die in the Upside Down."
"Shut up!" she yelled at him, shoving him again.
"For all we know, it's his fault!" He then shoved her back.
"Shut! Up!" She then shoved him once more like she was going to fight him.
Now Mike couldn't stand this anymore. He felt the need to protect Jane, so he began storming to Lucas. Dustin looked at him worriedly, saying in that tone, "Mike?"
He staggered a bit, but regained his balance. "We're out here looking for some stupid monster, but have you ever thought that he could be the monster, Jane?! Huh?!" He then shoved her back again, angering her more. Suddenly, Mike shoved him to the ground, not only surprising him, but also Jane.
"Shut up," he said to him coldly. "Stop hurting Jane." Her eyes widened when he said that while Lucas looked at him furiously, standing up and storming up to him.
"Me, hurting Jane?" he asked in disbelief. "Me, HURTING JANE?! Take a look at a mirror, you asshole! You made her cry at the quarry!"
"Because I thought Will was dead and that he was lying, Lucas!" she retorted for Mike, her voice almost a sob. "Now stop!"
"You no-good, back-stabbing piece of shit!" He then tackled him to the ground and beginning to fight him.
Jane was completely aghast by this happening as well as Dustin. She ran to Lucas, who was on top of Mike, and tried pulling him off. "Lucas, stop!" she exclaimed before he pushed her off of him.
"Dude, cut it out!" Dustin shouted at them as he ran and helped Jane up.
Mike tried to push him off of himself as he took a couple punches. He didn't know how to defend himself other than pushing. Those punches hurt so much...
"LUCAS! STOP HURTING HIM!" the tomboy yelled, now beginning to cry.
"DUDE! STOP!" the curly-haired boy also yelled.
The dark-haired boy decided to give him a taste of his own medicine and punched him, stunning him for a bit. He finally pushed him off and stood up, backing away from him quickly. Lucas felt the hit on his cheek and stood up, storming towards him again. "You're gonna get it."
Now both of his friends ran to him to stop him from fighting him more. "LUCAS!" they both shouted.
Mike began straining himself, then screamed from the top of his lungs. He used his power to push Lucas far from him. He got blown away, hitting a piece of metal hard and being knocked unconscious.
Jane and Dustin became horrified at the sight, the girl muttering, "Oh my God..."
"Jesus Christ!" Dustin shouted he and Jane ran towards their unconscious friend. Mike's breath became shaky, his nose bleeding and the boy himself shaking at what he's done.
The two kids approached their friend, Jane saying, "Lucas? Lucas, are you alright?!"
"Lucas, come on, wake up!" Dustin shouted, he and his friend nudging his body to wake him up.
Jane began to cry more. "Come on, Lucas! Wake up!"
"Lucas!"
She couldn't believe this, one second, she was arguing with him, another, he was fighting Mike. Now, he was unconscious...maybe dead. She turned to the freckled boy and yelled, "Why the hell did you do that to him?!" He saw the sad and distressed look on her face, just like back at the quarry, now starting to cry. "I knew you were trying to defend yourself, but you didn't have to try and kill him! What's wrong with you?!" He began to sob, now remembering more the flashback from earlier and hearing her voice now distorted. "What is wrong with you?!"
In the bath, Mike closed his eyes and tried his best to find the Russian man in the picture, hearing overlapping chatter.
...
A moment passed and he finally opened his eyes in another place. It was pitch-black darkness and the ground felt wet under his feet.
He heard a masculine voice speak in Russian, him looking at the direction and seeing him dressed in government winter attire. He cautiously walked to him, his voice becoming louder. He finally stopped in front of him, looking up at him and listening to what he was saying. He then walked around him, wondering if the man could see him. He went back in front of him again.
He heard a sudden growl from a different direction, making him look there. The Russian man dissolved into the darkness as the boy heard the growling and snarling. He breathed heavily and stepped back. What was that? Why was he hearing that? It sounded so scary...
The snarling became louder and he began running the opposite direction away from it, hoping to get away from it. He could still hear the loud growling. It was like...he couldn't escape it.
...
He opened his eyes and began yelling, "HELP!" He looked terrified, banging the interior of the bath. His nose was bleeding from both nostrils and he began to cry. "HELP ME!"
He sniffled, feeling bad for what he has done. He almost killed Lucas, he made Jane mad at him, he...
He shouldn't be with them anymore.
He felt like he shouldn't waste their time since they were mad at him.
Jane was focused back on her knocked-out friend and continued telling him to wake up. He began to stir, making them both feel so relieved. "Lucas..." Jane murmured. "Are you okay?"
He sat up and rubbed the back of his head, flinching at the pain. "Lucas," Dustin said as he held up three fingers. "Okay, how many fingers am I holding up?" He sighed as a reply and stood up, making his friends stand up with him.
"Can I see your head, Lucas?" Jane asked as she placed a hand behind his head. He flinched again and slapped it away. Her look was of shock.
"It hurts..." he muttered as he began to leave.
The tomboy furrowed her brows and called out, "Lucas, wait!"
Dustin grabbed her arm to stop her from getting to him. "Let him go, Jane," he said to her. "Just let him go." She sighed and wiped the tears off of her face. She hated that. She hated that she was angry with Lucas and that he fought Mike. But she knew Mike wasn't in the right either, he almost killed him there.
She sniffed and looked where Mike was supposed to be, but...he was gone. Her eyes widened, her asking, "Wh-where's Mike?" Dustin looked where she was looking and looked just as shocked. They began looking for him around the junkyard. "Mike?!"
"Michael?!" Dustin called out.
"Mike?! Where are you?!"
"Mike?!"
They both continued to look around the junkyard for him, but neither had any luck. That made them both reach to one conclusion:
He was gone, he left them.
Now nighttime, Kali and Jonathan continued roaming the woods, Kali having a flashlight to guide their way through the woods. Both haven't spoken to each other since their argument in the afternoon, being absolutely quiet.
Suddenly, Kali heard a faint whimper, making her stop and look around to find out where it came from. Jonathan stopped and turned to her, asking, "What, you tired or something?"
"No, shut up," she answered him, making him huff.
"What?"
"I think I heard something." He sighed and stayed quiet for her. Soon, they both heard the whimpering, now being concerned about what could be making that noise.
...
They walked the direction it came from and shined their lights at where it came from. Both looked aghast when they saw a wounded deer. They both approached it, the girl looking and feeling somber as she ran a couple of her fingers through its fur. "It got hit by a car..." she muttered as she shook her head. "We can't just leave it be..." She turned to the auburn-haired guy for some help. He pointed at the gun she had. She could put it out of its misery...
She pointed it at the deer's head and unlocked the safety. The more she heard it whimper, the more she didn't want to do it. She took a deep breath. She thought that when it dies, it wouldn't feel hurt anymore, just to get herself to shoot it.
"I can shoot it, if you don't wanna..." Jonathan offered.
She shook her head. "I'll be fine." He nodded as they both looked at its head. Half a minute passed by and she still hadn't pulled the trigger. Screw it, she had to shoot now-
The deer was suddenly pulled away into the bushes, shocking them both and making them jolt back. Kali even dropped the gun for a bit. Both of them started panting from the shock they had. "What the hell was that...?" Kali muttered, knowing she and Jonathan couldn't answer that. Best guess?
The monster.
...
They followed the blood trail it left off, Kali pointing her gun cautiously. In fact, both of them were cautious, ready to fight whatever took the deer at any moment. "Where could it go...?" the dark-haired girl muttered to herself, looking around.
"I don't know..." Jonathan replied quietly. They both stopped when the blood trail stopped. He looked at his right. "You see any more blood?"
Kali looked to her left. "No." They both looked at each other and decided to split up, hoping to find any more blood.
Terry was getting a lot more tired. Hours upon hours on calling Will and Barbara and nothing. Absolutely nothing. He wasn't even in Castle Byers, nor was she at her home. They had to be around here somewhere, they had to!
She began to yawn, but tried to shake it off. She won't sleep until she finds any trace of him.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps from afar, turning to the direction the sounds came from. The footsteps continued in a constant pace, as if someone was running. Her eyes widened at one possibility...
"Will...Barbara..." she murmured under her breath, running to follow that noise.
Kali walked around to find more blood, but then...a tree caught her eye. She saw that it had a hole at the bottom of the trunk, so she walked towards it and crouched down in front of it. Looking into it, it was wet and...slimy, very disgusting. She put her hand through it to see if it was there and it really was.
"Jonathan?!" she called out, looking around to see if he was around. He wasn't, making her sigh and look at it again. Maybe the monster made it. She'll have to check.
Putting on the safety, she put her purse on the ground and crawled into the hole. She could feel the cold sharply hitting her and the nastiness of the slime and goo get on her clothes and hair. She had to endure those if she was ever to find that thing and kill it.
The woman continued running towards the sounds of the running steps, hoping to find them. She suddenly stopped when she heard some gnawing not too far from her. She pointed her light and her gun at the noise. From a short distance, she could see the creature feeding on a deer. Her eyes widened. Where the hell did that animal come from...?
...
Kali finally got out of the hole and into the dark and cold place Terry was in. Her eyes widened at the sight of this place. It was like the woods, but cold...dark...disgusting. What the hell was this place?
As she looked around, she saw that her flashlight was flickering on and off. That began to annoy her, making her smack it a little. What the hell was wrong with it? It didn't act like this when she was in the woods-
Suddenly, she heard loud growling, making her freeze up and look aghast. It was the creature, feeding on the deer she and Jonathan saw. Goosebumps rose from her skin, her breathing shaky and heavy from just the sight of it. So that was it.
That was the thing that took Barb.
She shakily pointed her gun at it and was about to release the safety, but stopped. It made a noise whenever it was unlocked and she doubted this thing was not attracted by any sort of noise. So instead, she slowly began to back away.
...
Terry could see a flickering light shining on the creature. She looked puzzled. She didn't see a light when she was chasing down Will or Barbara. Maybe someone else was here? Who, though?
...
Kali took deep breathes, trying to keep calm, though in a situation like this, it was hard. She then accidentally snapped a twig, startling her. The monster turned to her and roared, now making her absolutely terrified. "Shit!" she exclaimed quietly as she unlocked the safety and shot at it. It seemed to have deflected the bullet, much to her utter disbelief. She shot again, two times, and those bullets did nothing to it, even the shot that caved in. She couldn't believe it. Her gun was useless here...
She dropped the flashlight and began running for her life, the monster chasing after her.
Jonathan heard faint gunfire from a distance, making him feel very worried about Kali now. "Kali?!" he called out as he ran towards the direction the gunfire came from.
Terry never looked so shocked in her life. She heard gunfire and saw the bullets bounce off the monster like it was nothing. Now she knew shooting it wouldn't kill it. Still, she wondered who that was. She doubted Will or Barbara carried a gun...
Well, actually...maybe it was possible. Maybe it was chasing them and somehow, they got their hands on a gun...that made some sense.
Wanting to know, she started chasing after the mysterious person with the gun.
Jonathan kept calling out Kali's name before seeing her purse. He continued calling out to her and moving away from the hole, not noticing it as it slowly began to close itself...
Done! What do you guys think? Any typos or mistakes?
It was enjoying for me to write Terry interacting with Joyce while being in the Upside Down. I thought about this and thought, "Why not?" Hope you guys liked that! Also, how am I handling Kali and Jonathan so far?
The scene in the junkyard was a bit hard for me to write because...well, I hate it when things go south for the kids. This is no exception. I figured that Mike would still fight Lucas in this AU, but in a different way, while Jane would still be more emotional during all of that. I think it fits for their characters. What do you guys think?
Before I go, I must say that I'm unable to update this tomorrow because of something with family and school, so yeah...
I don't know what will happen with the net neutrality issue here in the United States. Maybe it will affect my updates or even my access to here, maybe it won't. If things DO go fine, then my updates will be back to normal. If not... *sigh* If that does happen though, don't try and steal my fanfic. Don't even try to continue it. Sorry if that sounds cruel, but I'm serious. It's my fanfic and without my permission, you'd be doing me a disfavor.
Now, with all of that aside, continue to support this fanfic and hopefully, if it's possible, I'll see you guys in the next chapter. :)
*EDIT of 12/18/22: Yet again, poorly aged ramble...*