Prologue: Evacuation
A/N: Here's probably one of the many crossovers of Stranger Things and IT. For a timeline, it's just after Season 3 of ST. The things with the Russians still happened, but no Mindflayer... yet. Also, in this alternate version, Georgie was not killed, and the Losers did not fully defeat It. Additionally, Derry is being evacuated for reasons that will be explained eventually in the story. However, don't expect Georgie or the kids to stay safe for very long in this town.
"Bill hurry up and bring the last of your stuff down," his mother calls from the bottom of the stairs.
"Vroom, Vroom!" is heard throughout the emptying house as Georgie pushes his favourite fire truck through the nearly empty house.
"George Elmer Denbrough, put that back in its box and help me carry these to the car," she says sternly after her youngest nearly knocked her over with his truck.
"Okay Mommy," the sweet little six-year-old says, picking up his vehicle, putting it in the nearest box and grabbing the lightest thing he could carry.
"Bill, come on," his father calls. "Daylight's wasting."
"I-I'm c-coming," Bill sighs in frustration. He packs the rest of his art supplies and his model space shuttle into the last box. He stops to look around at his now empty room. The posters of his favourite movies were rolled up and put away, the books that lined his shelves were packed with the other volumes and his space mobile that once hung from his ceiling was gone. The only things remaining was his desk, which was too big to be moved out and his bed, now void of any covers.
He wanted to go... he really did. He hated Derry like most of his friends did. Nothing felt right, and everyone turned their backs on what was really happening. They had seen it... The Loser's Club had seen IT and what it could do. It nearly killed his little brother and all of them. But apparently, Eddie Kasprak's mother had gone to a higher authority; outside of the small Maine town, claiming how dangerous it was for her to raise her son in this place. Apparently, somebody listened to her rants of insanity because the government had ordered a mandatory evacuation of the town. Whether they might have found what was lurking in the sewers of the town or not was still a mystery to them. The reason given was that high levels of toxins had been found in the water levels and all those within Derry's limits had to leave effectively and immediately to avoid any further contamination.
The families were given several choices as to where to relocate temporarily and fortunately for Bill, all his friends' families had chosen the same place. All except Mike; since he lived on a farm, he technically wasn't in Derry and his grandfather refused to leave their livelihood behind. The friends had said goodbye to him the day before, promising to write to him, plus Mike could tell them if the government really was looking for IT or not
Meanwhile, all of Bill's friends' families had different reasons for choosing the same location. Stanley's father was looking for a town with a synagogue for his family to worship properly. Eddie's mom wanted somewhere clean and with low crime rates, preferably protected by the military. Beverly's new foster family, after her father was arrested for abuse of her, wanted to give her a place far away from all the trauma. Ben, while not happy to be moving again, just wanted to be near Bev. And for Richie, his family just went with the flow of people.
However, the best part was that Henry Bowers' family was moving to another location, allowing The Losers Club to finally be at peace. It was a chance to start anew, maybe ditch the derogatory name of their club.
Despite what they were escaping from, Bill would still miss his home. It's where he'd grown up and was the place he felt the safest, except for the basement. He wondered if there would be a place for him and his friends to ride their bikes around or play baseball, would there be places to go swimming or hike? His mind filled with many of these questions as he watched his dad tie his bike Silver and Georgie's bike with training wheels to the roof of their station wagon. He gathers the rest of his things, shutting the box and heading down the stairs, now devoid of any family pictures or decorations.
Bill walks slowly towards the door, passing the empty house. He's so lost in his own thoughts that he doesn't hear his dad come up behind him.
"Don't worry Billy," his dad, says ruffling his son's hair. "We'll be back in Derry before you know it."
The preteen swallows and forces a smile on his face. "R-Right."
"But for now, it's the open road," he says, jingling his keys. He takes the last of Bill's boxes and puts them into the trailer hitched to the back of their car. The young boy manages to grab his sketch and notebook from the top of the pile before getting into the crowded car next to his brother.
Georgie makes plane noises while flying one of his older brother's hand-me-down toy planes.
"Coming in for a landing..." the six-year-old says, landing on his brother's forearm. Bill playfully swats it away as his dad does one last check, locks up the house and slides into the driving seat.
"All ready?" he asks.
"Does anyone need to go to the bathroom before we go?" his mother asks, looking directly at the youngest in the car.
"Nope," he says proudly.
"Okay then, let's move out," his father says, starting the car.
Bill stares out the window at the neighbourhood that he once knew as home... His family was one of the last in the area to move out, it now looked like a ghost town, so eerily quiet, so still. They pass some men in yellow hazmat suits, walking towards the nearest storm drain.
"What are they doing Billy?" Georgie asks.
"S-Sealing off the s-ewers," he answers, watching and hoping that the men from the government could kill what was down there.
"Good." The youngest boy says firmly, before going back to his toy airplanes.
"H-How long did they s-say the c-cleaning would t-take?" Bill asks his mother.
"A few months, maybe a year, it was unclear in the newsletter," she answers.
The family says nothing more as a man dressed in a military uniform comes to help direct them out of the town. The preteen watches the shops that are now closed, the movie theatre advertising A Nightmare on Elm Street and Red Dawn, and the town square where the Paul Bunion statue stood, its creepy, frozen smile as if it was glad that the Derry citizens were leaving. There's a line of cars leading out of town through the main street and Bill can see Richie's family just behind them, the four-eyed kid shouting at any scientists who happened to be leaning down near in sewer grate, asking them if it was a full moon tonight, and asking the soldiers if he can borrow their guns.
As the car finally leaves town, Bill can see Mike on his bike by the side of the road, next to the Welcome to Derry sign. He's watching the parade of citizens leaving with sadness and jealousy. He wishes he was going too, to where his friends were and away from the town his grandfather had called "cursed." He spots his friend and waves, Bill returning the gesture solemnly. He promises that he will write to his friend as soon as they were settled.
Then it was the open road. Wide open fields, forests shadowing the road from the sun and the beautiful Maine coast for as far as the eye could see. The late summer sun beats down on the pavement, baking it to scalding temperatures and tufts of wheat rustle in the breeze. Everyone in the car is very quiet as the journey dragged on, Georgie fell asleep in the back and Bill sketches lazily in his book. Suddenly, a thought pops into his head.
"I-Is M-Mia going to meet-t us there?" Bill asks as the car drifts over a nearby hill.
"Grandpa Bill and Grandma Marian are dropping her off once we get settled," his father answers.
Mia Rogers was Bill and Georgie's cousin from his mom's side. She was a couple of years older than Bill, almost eighteen, pretty in her own way, but she was not as lucky as the boys in terms of having a stable family life. Her situation mirrored Beverly's almost to a-t.
Caroline White was adopted into the family after a large-scale tragedy left her an orphan, in which she lost her mother. She was now the boys' mother's adoptive sister and grew up normally afterwards. Their Aunt Carrie worked at a research facility until she met Joel Rogers at a bar one night. He was charming and sweet; Caroline fell hook line and sinker for his act. They got pregnant after less than six months of dating. Bill's mother thought that her adopted sister was a fool to rush into everything so quickly, but since it was her first real relationship, Aunt Carrie clung to the first person who gave her attention. It wasn't long before Carrie realized her mistake. Joel Rogers, their uncle, was a raving lunatic, a violent man with serious drug and alcohol problems and he tended to use his fists rather than his words. He'd hidden his habits well from his doting girlfriend, but once he found out he was going to be a father, the abuse came back. Mia was born out of wedlock nine months later. Their Aunt Carrie then tried to marry this abusive man, but even then, their life was truly awful. Carrie had her own set of emotional problems, but she was an amazing mother. She'd vowed never to make her mother's mistakes. Unfortunately, Joel Rogers just seemed to repeat his. He couldn't hold down a job and was physically, emotionally, and verbally abusive. Since Carrie had grown up in a similar type of household for so long, it felt almost normal to her. However, she saw the way her child suffered from the fighting and the abuse and tried to change Joel. She tried to make it work, she gave up when her daughter was rushed to the hospital with broken ribs. She packed the house and her teenage daughter while her soon-to-be ex-husband spent a few months in the slammer for injuring Mia. She filed for divorce and tried to start anew in Arkansas and then Maine. However, it didn't last very long. Their Uncle Joel was released on a technicality since Caroline and Mia Rogers did not stay in town long enough to testify against him and get a conviction. Once he was free, he came looking for them
Knowing that Joel would try to hunt them down, Aunt Carrie sent Mia to live with her adopted grandparents until the mother could find a safe place for the two of them to live. But now, Joel had been seen in the town where Bill's grandparents lived so Mia was to relocate with the Denbrough family as soon as possible. Everyone hoped the distance would be enough.
Bill was reluctant to have Mia living with them, after all, she was a teenage girl and none of the ones in their school were very nice. All they did was slut-shame each other and giggle about boys and makeup. He barely knew her as a person, so he was nervous, to say the least.
Finally, after several rest stops and one bad experience with a moose on the road, the Denbrough family was nearing their destination. Another small town as far as Bill could tell, with a large what looked like a military facility upon the hills. It wasn't Derry, but it was the closest they were going to get. In the fading light, Bill can hardly read the sign as they drive past it.
Welcome to Hawkins, Indiana
You'll Never Want to Leave
Disclaimer 1: Any and all characters, locations and situations mentioned in every chapter and the entire story belong to their prospective owners. Any characters that I create are my own.
Disclaimer 2: I do not own the Stranger Things television show, or any of the related characters, locations or scenes/situations. The television franchise is created by Matt and Ross Duffer and owned by Matt and Ross Duffer and Netflix. This story is intended for entertainment purposes only. I am not making any profit from this story.
Disclaimer 3: I do not own the IT book or movie franchise or any of the related characters, locations or scenes/situations. The book was created by Stephen King and owned by Viking publishing. The movie was created and produced by New Line Cinema, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Vertigo Entertainment, Lin Pictures and KatzSmith Productions. This story is intended for entertainment purposes only. I am not making any profit from this story.