All hell had broken loose as the Soldiers opened fire on the small army of assembled Demodogs at the ruins of the lab, several tossed grenades into the compound and exploded tearing several of the beasts apart, several roared back in anger.
The dogs bounded forward as bullets whizzed by, several dogs were taken down by the resulting fire, although the majority continued to bound forward, snarling as they did so.
Like water upon rock the dogs collided with the soldiers who did not falter despite the fact that now they were in serious close contact with the enemy, the dogs showed no mercy as several soldiers were overwhelmed by the dogs unrelenting attack, the dogs tore out the innards of one unlucky soldier which just served to draw more dogs to their position, it was a slaughter fest.
Mercer watched from a distance through a set of binoculars, worried about the state of the attack, several soldiers had died and they hadn't even managed to enter the lab yet. Several high pinged shots rang out as the two scouts atop the water tower were now spotting and sniping their targets from afar.
The residents of Hawkins became increasingly worried upon hearing the first shots ring out in the dead of night, until all they could hear was the sound of gunfire and the snarls from the dogs, needless to say everyone was on edge.
Mike and El sat quietly as they too heard the gunfire, knowing the battle that was taking place, El had begun to feel guilty now knowing that men, most likely good men were now dying to try and seal the gate, Mike kept the M4 carbine close to him, he was determined to protect her, they considered it too dangerous for Nathaniel to remain in the house for the time being and so they managed to get Grandpa hopper to look after him. They knew he would protect the boy to his last breath.
Things were not boding well for the troops as only just less than half of them remained, the rest had become food for the ever hungry dogs that were attacking them.
"General Mercer! We are being overrun, request immediate air support!" the captain shouted into his earpiece as he used his sidearm to fend off another dog, his M4 having jammed.
"Kilo 26, Air Support En route" General Mercer said "Sky Dragon-1, proceed to kill box one alpha, we have friendlies mixed with hostiles, you have green light to engage"
"Roger that Eagle-1, we are en-route"
Soon the air was filled with the sound rotor blades, drawing ever closer, it echoed through the night, the Soldier's on the ground had a sudden burst of morale and pushed back hard against the dogs, one dog was trying to gorge one man's face off but another tacked the dog before stabbing it numerous times with his knife. He pulled the man back to his feet handing him back his rifle before unsung his own rifle to resume fire.
The "Sky Dragon" flew overheard to the cheers of everyone on the ground.
The Sky Dragon was modified Apache Attack Helicopter, 0.25 times larger than the standard Apaches of the USAF among its primary weapons it carried a flamethrower on either side, but it didn't not use these yet.
It swung round after its first flyby and opened fire with its 30mm chaingun, the dogs now turned their attention to the Helicopter, but were effectively unable to do anything as they were torn apart by the Apaches deadly onslaught.
Combined with the efforts of the Soldiers on the ground they were now starting to make short work of the dogs, the Apache did several more strafe runs, firing several hell-fire missiles taking out several clustered groups of dogs, soon enough the last remaining dogs fled into the lab and out of range of the even the Apache's firepower.
"Eagle-1 this is Sky-Dragon-1, hostiles destroyed sir, its been a pleasure"
"Roger that Sky-Dragon, return to base, refuel and rearm, over"
"Copy that Eagle-1"
The Apache was about to swing away to do just that until the Pilot caught sight of a larger silhouette making its way out of the rubble of the lab. The Demogorgan screeched at the Apache, challenging it. the two pilots looked on nervously at the new threat.
"Uh Eagle-1, we have confirmed contact with Species X-11, request green light to engage?"
"Green Light confirmed"
Both Apache and Demogorgan starred the other down, daring the other to make the first move, the Apache did so and let loose with a torrent of flames as it unleashed the flamethrowers, although this wasn't regular fire, this was napalm.
The Demogorgan was engulfed in the barrage of fire the sky-dragon had unleashed upon it, it screeched to the high-heavens as it's hide had started to melt, unable to extinguish the fire. There was no such thing as overkill as the Apache let loose with its chain-gun and fire the last batch of it's hell-fire missiles, soon enough the fuel for the flamethrowers was empty, the Apache hovered as silence filled the air, the only sound was that of the chopper's rotor blades. They waited for the smoke to clear to confirm target elimination.
The Demogorgan suddenly emerged from the smoke as it lept from the floor to the hovering aircraft. The Pilots, taken by surprise, had no time to swerve out of the way as the Demogorgan now clung to the front of the aircraft.
It ripped off the cockpit's window, the Pilot barely had time to scream as the creature ripped off the man's head spraying the controls with blood and gore.
The Apache began to spin out of control, the engine protesting as it spun faster and faster until it finally smashed into the ground, the rotor blades snapping off and flying in every direction as it did so.
The Demogorgan climbed on top of the wreckage and let out a triumphant roar, the troops on the ground started to open fire once more, however their ammunition was dangerously low.
Unfortunately, nothing could prevent the slaughter of the last remaining men as they desperately fought on with pistols and knife's neither of which were doing the monster any harm as it ripped them apart one by one as they could only watch, it felt like they were effectively shooting nerf darts at the monster.
Soon the air was silent once more as the final man lay dead under the demogorgan's feet.
General Mercer was left a shaking wreck as he was left alone, unable to prevent a single man's death through no fault of his own, 110 men were now dead, an Apache lay in ruins as testament to their failure.
General Mercer did the only thing he now could do.
He fled.
He ran into his humvee, jumped into the drivers seat and fled, fled from the devastation that was now in his rear-view mirror.
The Entity in it's non-corporeal form stood next to the Demogorgan, it chuckled as it looked down to the dead bodies that lay around him, it crouched down it's knees to examine the beautiful slaughter that It unleashed upon the humans.
It stood back up and turned his head to face the monster.
"It's time, bring him to me" The Entity said.
The Demogorgan looked at the entity before it stalked off and disappearing into the darkness of the night.
Mercer drove like a maniac down Mirkwood, his mission was a failure and now he needed to go to the only place that could be the salvation for Hawkins and possibly even the world.
El had eventually drifted to sleep upon Mike's shoulder, however Mike sat wide awake, the gunfire in the distance had died down a while back now, he sat nervously as time just ticked on by.
The Lights began to flicker, El's eyes snapped open and she jumped to her feet and stood beside Mike who had the M4 rifle pressed against his shoulder as he turned this way and that looking for the monster that they both knew was coming.
The wall stretched and contorted as the Demogorgan climbed its way through the gate that been formed in the wall, it screeched at seeing them.
Mike immediately opened fire on the creature that had been the cause of some the worst nightmare's In the gangs life, the reason why El had been cruelly taken from him and now it threatened them once more, Mike yelled as he fired round after round into the demogorgan's body.
El threw up her arms as she prepared to eviscerate the monster like she did all those years ago but she couldn't as two demodogs bounded into the room from behind the Demogorgan and leapt at her, she used her power to snap the neck of the first as the second collided with her.
Mike turned upon seeing the dogs leap past him
"EL!" he shouted
His momentarily lapse was all the Demogorgan needed as It loomed over him, the lights were flickering uncontrollably, El threw the dog off of her, it whimpered as it hit the wall with a satisfying thwack. Leaving a moderately sized dent in the wall.
The Lights stopped flickering. There was a metallic clatter.
El turned.
And the Demogorgan and Mike were no-where to be seen, only his M4 lay on the floor.
And El screamed "MIKE! MIKE! MIKE!" she sobbed as she frantically searched the house for him, even though she knew it was no use, he had been taken by the demogorgan, or worse.
She fell to her knees as her sobs became uncontrollable, she let out a heart-piercing sob as windows within two blocks suddenly shattered in El's sorrow. Thunder rumbled as El's powers spiked impossibly high, the streets lights started to explode in a shower of sparks, El's grief and rage became like an explosive barrage.
She stood up, enraged and slowly walked out of the house, her tear stained face becoming engulfed in rage.
Mike awoke to find himself in the Void, it had been awhile since he stepped into the inky blackness. The last thing he remembered was the Demogorgan looming over him before everything went black.
Dear God was this it? Was he dead?
"EL!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the void as he called to the woman that he loved "El! EL!" he sobbed, his tears falling to the black floor and into nothingness.
"Mike" Mike stiffened as he heard that voice, slowly he turned to see it stood there.
The Entity stood close to him, looking like his fourteen year old self as it usually did
"Send me back! Send me back now!" He shouted getting right up into The Entity's face, The Entity simply smiled at Mike's all encompassing rage. The entity shook its head
"Such loyalty you have, Mike. Its actually quite fascinating"
"I need to go back, El she needs me, The demogorgan is back"
The Entity simply smiled "I know because I'm the one who sent it"
Mike looked confused and than his face contorted in rage "What do you mean you sent It" he snarled
"You see Mike, I needed you, all those year's ago when you died, you were the link that I needed, the link to the void" it explained "The void is bridge between the upside-down and Earth, I have been trapped here since the dawn of time"
Mike stayed silent, he was not liking where this was going.
"The Nazi's nearly set me free before they stopped me, their machine was really quite remarkable" The Entity said, sounding sickingly fascinated, especially when it was coming from the vocal cords of his thirteen year old self.
"Eleven nearly set me free when she opened the gate all those years ago, Will Byers become my vessel for a time before she sealed the gate again and I was chased away back into the void, I was weakened"
Mike felt a horrible realization come to him.
"But to my delight Eleven shared some of her power to you, linking you to the void as well as her, I knew I could never trick her, so I waited and to my immense delight you died"
"Who are you? Really?" Mike demanded although he had a feeling he already knew
"Now that's a trick question aint it now Mike" Mike stayed silent
"Some call me The Darkness, The Shadow, The Void"
Mike stepped back as his eyes went wide, it couldn't be…
"But you and your friends can call me The Mind Flayer"
Red Lightning lit up the void at the Mind flayers words. Mike felt his heart shatter.
"I don't get it, why do you need me for?" Mike asked
The Darkness turned to look at him "Don't you understand yet Mike? your link to the void and your resurrection was enough to disrupt the natural order, enough for me to open another gate"
Mike's world crumbled to nothingness right there and then, all of this was his fault, El and Nathaniel was in danger because of him
"Your Resurrection is what freed me" The Darkness said with glee.
And so The Darkness vanished in a puff of grey smoke.
Mike's eyes shot open, taking a gulp of breath, he found himself in the lower areas of the lab, trapped in the resin like substance of the gate.
Mike didn't attempt to stop the tears from flowing as he wept in despair.
(A/N) oooooh another cliffy lol I think there will be three more chapters at the very most before I conclude the story, I have chosen between three endings that I had, so this story will be concluded by the weekend, thanks you to everyone who had made it this far, as always review! And until next time guys, peace!