-8-

The History of the Hill People.

By TimeTraveller-1900.

-8-

Will Byers, more than anyone else out of their group, had spent a long time in the Upside Down; all of their other visits had just been brief moments that had lasted only a few hours, but in his case, it had been a lot longer. And Will had never been in a hurry to repeat it. He still suffered from nightmares of his time spent there, but while Will truly did not want to really experience the Upside Down again, now or ever, even he did not want to spend the rest of his life in this bleak desert.

Fortunately, the trip through the Upside Down as El teleported them and served as a guide was practically instantaneous.

"Wow!" Will gasped as he righted himself as they stepped out with some slight difficulty of the gap El had just opened with her mind, and he grinned when he saw the gas station; to think they had passed it hours ago, and it had taken them about an hour to get to their current side before his brother messed up was something to put into perspective. Will checked his watch. He had made sure to check the time before they left, but now he was convinced.

"We're here! We're back at the gas station!" Mike was just as elated, and he was jumping up and down at the thought of getting out of this desert like Will was.

"Of course we are, I told you we'd get here," El said, sounding more than a little bit hurt at Mike's apparent doubt about her abilities. Quickly he realised his mistake.

"Sorry, El. It's just…going through it myself, it just feels real," Mike said with a smile at the girl, but Will wondered if that would work; while he might be gay and he had feelings for Mike, he had noticed that Mike had a habit of saying the wrong things. So Will decided to comment/observation of his own.

"When you said the Upside Down was different, you weren't joking," he said to El, who nodded seriously.

"Yeah, I don't understand why," she replied.

They had always assumed that the Upside Down was consistent with what they had seen in Hawkins; a dark, toxic, overgrown wasteland that was so dark evil monsters could prowl shadows. The weather was pretty consistent, too. But here…

To Will, the desert was darker, with the sky lancing the ground with terrific lightning bolts. Demogorgons were prowling around, of course, along with twisted cacti which oozed ichor and had massive thorns, with trailing vines studded with thorns as well. They had always known the Upside Down had a toxic effect on plants and animals, but in the Upside Down, it was like everything was warped.

But in the air, there were pterodactyl-sized flying monsters. The only good news was they were only in this desert version of the Upside Down for a brief spell, and they were not there long enough to attract any attention.

"Maybe it's different everywhere? Just like everywhere else is different from everywhere else?" Mike interjected hesitantly as he looked curiously between his friend and girlfriend.

"Perhaps, but we'll know for sure when we travel to the other places we need to get too."

Mike's eyes crinkled. "You really want to get back to the Lab, don't you?"

"I've got too, Mike," Eleven speared him with a look. "I've never teleported before. I don't know what it would do to me if I moved us all to Hawkins at the same time. Plus, I need to get those tapes. I have to get them back. If I lose my powers and memories again, I will need them to re-jog my memories, and get my powers back. I never want to lose them ever again."

"I always thought you hated your powers, El," Will commented.

Eleven chuckled a little, snorting through her nose. "I do, or rather, I did, in a way," she admitted with a sigh. "My powers are why Brenner, and to a degree, Owens had such a strong interest in me. And we know what they did to my mother. But at the same time, my powers have helped people. And…," a grateful smile crossed her face, "I've come to terms with the fact One manipulated me, used me. And I know that Brenner was who pushed me to open the Gate in the first place."

"That's what we've been trying to tell you, El," Mike said patiently. "We knew the moment you told us that you were forced to open the Gate," he added, remembering the wild goose chase El had led them on before Lucas lashed out, and she later saved him and Dustin from those bastard bullies. Later on, when they were at the old Byers place, El and they had been forced to tell the others what happened; after seeing the very real guilt and remorse wafting away from her, the others had quickly taken her in, especially Hopper, Nancy, and Joyce.

Joyce saw her as a daughter, as did Hopper even if he was a bit more selfish about it at first, and Nancy just saw her as a little sister just as she did with Holly.

"I know, but that time in the NINA lab helped me see more, changed my perspective, and if there's one thing I learnt while being in Lenora, it was how to appreciate everything I didn't have," she said sadly.

"That and the fact you wanted to use them to throw Angela around," Will said with a smirk.

Eleven chortled. "Yeah, that too. Right," she said, changing the subject, "we need to find some rope, or something like it. When we were here last time, the place was like a garbage dump…and it looks like it still is," she added, "so we might find something. But the good news is, we've proven the teleportation is safe, and I can take us at once. But I don't want to lose anyone."

Will had a feeling she was referring more to Argyle and Jonathan than anyone else, and he couldn't blame her after what happened.

"You're still planning on teleporting us tomorrow morning?"

"Yes."

"He's still here," Will suddenly said. He'd just been looking casually around when he had spotted something he hadn't expected.

"What?" Mike said.

"Who's still here?" Eleven asked at the same time.

"Old man Fred, the gas attendant. He's still here."

Mike and Eleven turned in the direction, spotting the battered old pale blue truck next to the old ramshackle station shed.

"Why's he still here?" Eleven asked.

Mike didn't seem curious about the reason for the old man being here. "So what, guys? Look, the old guy probably had more to pack up."

"You don't get it, Mike. He was practically finished. The place was a mess, and he didn't care about anything else," Eleven said.

"He should have left hours ago," Will finished.

But as the teens got closer, they saw the reason why the truck hadn't budged an inch; the cab section was completely burnt, and the stench of burnt seat reached them. Some of it was still burning.

"Hold on," Eleven spotted something, "Will, did you see a pig in the cage earlier?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It's gone."

"So?"

"The cage door's been torn, wrenched open."

The three teenagers stared at each other in concern. They knew Fred wouldn't have done that, so that meant somebody else did.

"Come on, let's find some rope or chain, and then let's get out of here," Mike said, "it looks like we're gonna have to get out here after all before morning."

It didn't take them long to find it; the place was still a mess, and eventually, they had to go inside the shed. They found the rope and Will picked it up, and coiled it around his shoulders for ease. Eleven, worried about Fred, moved further into the shed, noticing the smashed glass window pane, the old bag on the sandy floor filled with money, and other assorted junk.

But then she noticed something worrying.

"Mike! Will!" She called.

They came running in, and she pointed at the bloody handprint on the wall. "My god," Mike uttered, while Eleven rolled her eyes.

"That looks fresh to me."

Suddenly there was a gunshot close, right behind them before the door was slammed shut tight. Eleven reacted quickly - usually she kept her powers hidden unless needed, and truthfully she doubted Fred would talk - and she ripped open the door, and she yanked the shooter and ripped him screaming in shock and terror into the room. The gun was dropped to the ground, while he was thrown from one wall to the next in a more gentler way to what she had done to the flayed in the Hawkins hospital when they'd gone to help Nancy and Jonathan, but then she telekinetically shook him roughly before she stopped.

Will and Mike did not react, they didn't even protest.

They both knew her well enough to know she wasn't trying to hurt him or anyone; she just wanted to disarm him and shake him up.

The figure was panting, staring at Eleven with fear.

It was old Fred.