(SS 34 The Cafeteria: suggested listening for reading several in the story, feel free to ignore. Must have Spotify.)
https/open./track/47KuEKp6tUiqibqOuoUOEC?si=rMBty7B8SoO2oegGtv5zkg
…
Jim looked himself over—no red blood. Black Demogorgon blood is everywhere. He sighed. *Good.*
"Nice work everyone," he said.
Hopper grabbed Glen Daniels by the shoulder to get him on his feet. He called on his radio. Glen wobbled, teetering unsteadily.
"Task Force One, come in, over."
"Task Force One…here, over."
"New gate and enemy activity at Hawkins High, over," Jim said.
"Understand enemy activity at…"
A crackle interrupted the call and then a howl of feedback. In the feedback a smattering of gunshots.
Jim called again "Come in Tango Foxtrot One, over."
"Comm Center under assault by enemy forces! Repeat…"
The radio fell into a deathly hush. He clicked the microphone a few times and adjusted the settings. Jim tried again but no more responses came, just static. He shook his head. They better have another Command and Control set up, because *something is already here."
Glen's eyes rolled in his head as he held him up. Jim unstrapped his shattered helmet and slipped it off, noting some blood above his ear. "The thing rang your bell," he said. "Stay with me, Glen."
Then he turned to the group who chattered excitedly around Lucas and laughed.
"Alright, kids! Listen! We move now!"
"Yes sir," Steve replied, "What is the plan coach?"
"We get Jonathon, Daniels, and Callahan to the Aid Station if someone knows where it is?"
Max hollered, "My favorite dining establishment! The cafeteria!"
"Let's go!" Joyce said and turned to her sons. "You're gonna be okay, Jonathon." Joyce and Will braced Jonathon as he coughed and limped for the doors. Nancy hovered by Jonathon as they trodded, her blue eyes silently questioning. He understood her gaze.
"My ribs, are crunching…painful," he gasped. "Getting harder to breathe…but I'll be okay."
"Oh no," Nancy said. "We need the hospital."
Dustin explained "Sorry, Nancy. They're *closed*! Every hospital in the county is full—including the military. They say go to Aid Stations first!
"Triage," she said to herself. *Jonathon needs help!*
Dustin waved them onwards ebulliently as he jogged ahead down the hall. "I can only hope Kali brought the extra weapons," he said. "Something big."
Leading the way: Mike, Steve, and Will walked ahead of Hopper, Powell, and Callahan who helped Daniels. Robin talked to Erica and Nancy, Joyce, and Jonathon clumped together. Eleven observed the vines as she strolled followed by David stepping carefully along, then Lucas and Max watched the rear.
….
They walked the hall and talked.
Will asked Mike, "Do you remember those little fluffy clouds in the desert?"
"Yeah, it was beautiful at sunset."
"I knew you noticed that."
"Will?" Mike asked. "Can you do something for me?"
Will nodded.
"If I die, watch over El for me?"
Will nearly tripped. "What? You're not going to die. I won't let you."
"That's not how it works."
"No way! I'm not letting you die, okay?" Will's eyes glimmered, and Mike thought he was going to cry.
"Just make sure she's okay, you know, like not too sad."
They walked along, and Mike put his arm around Will's shoulders. Will trembled—he could feel it. So he smiled at him.
"You're right, it's not gonna happen," Mike said.
…
Debbie Tate, one of the best-known popular Hawkins High School students, arrived at her school party appropriately late. She and Tina organized a Kegger (which was a party where the goers planned on drinking beer by the kegs). At 30 gallons or so per keg, it was supply enough for the monumental gaggle of older teen students meeting for fun and socializing. Then Debbie left early.
Two defensive linebackers carried a keg at 50 pounds for each arm from the truck bed to the shore. The entire HHS Tigers football team arrived with the hot dogs, lawn chairs, and RC Cola. The fire crackled and brightly illuminated the area with a radiance of the joy of youth. A waning crescent moon and starry sky in moderate evening temperatures enticed canoodling and blanket-sharing activities.
But Andy—always trying for the spotlight—had to show off, lifting another keg over his head at about 100 pounds in weight, and carrying it by himself. He set it down on the pinkie toe of his right foot.
"Ouch!" Andy said.
"Dumb offensive lineman," someone noted. "We were going to carry that for you, dumbass."
"I did it, let's see you do it," Andy said. Then he tracked his cheerleader girlfriend approaching and met her, and they left into the night.
Football players gathered around the bonfire and drank Miller. Then Chance, who also played on the basketball team, has an idea.
"Wade, let's go see what they're doing," he said. Then wandered down the shore of Lake Jordan, beers in hand. "Good thing the Police are so scarce lately…"
"F*ck the police," Wade said. "They drank in high school too."
Wade pushed a smaller nerdy boy out of the way.
"I don't know if he's over here," Chance said after they walked and stumbled halfway around the lake. Crickets chirped happily, and water gently swished on the beach.
"Hey, Chancy, what do you think of that girl who woke up from a coma? Is she brain-damaged? I think she's hot."
"She's dating Lucas Sinclair," Chance said.
"Only for right now."
"Damn, I need more beer," Chance noted, swishing his nearly empty cup. Pebbles and coarse sand softly squished under his Reebok sneakers.
They spied a raccoon in the bushes. It stopped munching on a hot dog bun to look at them. Chance cast his empty beer cup, but the furry bandit completely ignored it when it landed two feet away.
"Stupid raccoon."
Then, it abruptly flicked its ear, turned, and scampered into the brush on its short legs.
"Why did it do that?"
"Shh, listen," Wade whispered.
They heard a giggle.
"He was with Tracy Donovan, she's only fifteen," Wade said. "Hey, didn't your Dad date that fifteen-year-old waitress? Did he get lucky?"
"Shut up, Wade. Look. Over there," Chance whispered and pointed to a downed tree half in the water. Bark had come off long ago yet its trunk diameter must have been thirty inches. "My dad was a loser, a pervert too. Let's go around back."
Silently they crept toward the base of the tree. They peered over the tree's roots. The two were lip-locked, lying in soft sand.
They watched in rapt attention as an oddly shaped cloud dimmed the moonlight, and Chance glanced up for a moment to see a mostly clear starry night. He paused to wonder which was Saturn. It was supposed to be out tonight…
Wade elbowed him. Things were getting hot on the beach, yet gloom and deep shadows made it hard to see. The dark lake gathered a sinister quality, a silence, but then the moonlight returned. Insects stopped chirping, and several birds took to their wings. At the edge of the water, Chance could swear on a stack of bibles that drops of water were dripping *upward* like tiny helium balloons let go of at the Fun Fair. He tilted his head, noting something surprisingly even more bizarre.
A shadow fell across the calm lake.
It was shaped like a phantom, long limbs not even remotely human, cast shadows so huge as to be inexplicable and hair stood up on the back of his neck. Chance elbowed Wade and pointed at the shadow cast by moonlight across the entire area. *It made no sense*. Wade just stared at the girl. He couldn't be bothered.
But then Chance looked up to the moon—-but something was blocking it—a vertical column moved in front of it. *But what is it?*
"What the f*ck!" Wade shouted, having just noticed it, and of course, alerting the amorous couple. They looked at the two young men by the tree roots. The girl yelped and scrambled out from under Andy. "Hey!" She complained, then covered her face. She left hurriedly for the bonfire.
"You f*ckers!" Andy said. "Perverts! Dickheads!"
"Shut up Andy!" Chance said, rising to his full height of 6'5" tall and pointing, "Look! What the f*ck is that?!"
…
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…
They all looked moonward at *something* at least 100 feet tall, shaped like a spider with four complex legs and a flame-shaped head, as it crossed in front of the moon.
Andy ran after her, glancing over his shoulder.
Thump, Thump, Thump…crash*
Trees fell by the dozen as giant legs moved through the forest. A flash of red lightning behind it revealed its shape…
"Holy Jesus!" Chance gasped. "Can't be…just can't…"
"I don't get it," Wade said. "What is it? A cloud? No spider is that big."
Another few flashes of red lightning, one of which struck the underside of the immense beast, outlined its profile as clouds gathered around it.
"I don't know what it is, but let's book! Go! Wade, go!"
"Huh? Yeah."
Boom! Crash!*
The two fumbled around tree roots and Wade toppled, getting up as Chance ran past him down the beach. Wade ran after him and caught him quickly—he was a sprinter. Soon he had passed him and was kicking up sand in his wake. Chance hated his speed. He had always been faster since grade school. But the *thing* moved behind him, displacing trees. He glanced back but only saw a shadow on the land as he ran. Chance sensed it drawing closer—chasing them.
Thump, Thump, SPLASH…*
A small building—or at least the footprint of one in dimensions, attached to a skyscraper leg crashed into the water and sent giant waves to the shore. The boys could see it to their side—it was made of people, cows, horses—even soldiers. They were melted together. Some were alive, with hands reaching out and moans escaping from their captured mouths. Not fully dead, yet not alive exactly…
Water washed up on the shore and they jumped to avoid getting wet, almost to the party now.
The boys ran as fast as they could.
They heard screams from the bonfire Kegger party and vehicle engines starting up. Then a head-like shape, bigger than a 747 Jumbo jet, opened an incomprehensibly large maw filled with teeth above the group of kids. Chance gasped, *Maybe it will eat them and not me*
The cars in the parking lot stalled, and the headlights flashed erratically and blinked. People got out of their cars and tried to open the hoods, but most fled screaming like banshees. Girls and boys left shoes and purses, sweaters and hats, and all manner of plastic beer cups full and empty as they scrambled for safety. One girl stood transfixed looking upward.
Chance and Wade coughed and panted as they reached the bonfire, swishing through the deeper soft sand. Ash drifted down from the sky, sticking in noses and eyes.
Chance gazed at a giant head, vertically dropping from nearly straight up, and the size of a lighthouse, grotesque, dark, and indescribably hideous—opened a mouth like that of a great white shark. Wade and Chance froze and felt blood chill in their veins as it howled directly over the fire. It sounded like thunder mixed with a thousand screaming people. Its mouth held innumerable black teeth and odd, eerie lights glowed from inside. As it screeched the bonfire blew apart, a cloud of sand and dust and ash flew everywhere, and the water vibrated and shook. A bolt of red lightning hit the confused girl and she crumpled.
Chance and Wade cowered behind a bush and trembled…
A basketball player Chance known as Smitty (was that his real name?), ran from behind a tree and toward the parking lot. The terrifying head turned and tracked Smitty, steamy fog trailing from its cavernous mouth, and protruded from it. A tongue, perhaps.
"Smitty! No! Run!" Wade shouted.
Instantly the head turned back to Chance and Wade.
"Wade, shut up!"
It faced them but it had no eyes…
…
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…
From its open maw came a tentacle that speared Wade through the chest—killing him instantly—and lifted him to its mouth. The sound of Wade's chest being split was wet and cracking—sickening. Blood sprayed from between his teeth and poured on the sand, making a trail.
Chance shrieked and trembled as it began chewing on Wade's body. His stomach twisted with nausea. His nerve broke.
Chance ran. He ran faster than he had ever run before. Into the forest, over logs, through bushes, and between trees. His letterman's jacket was shredded on twigs and bark. He tripped, fell, rolled, and kept on running. Wade could have outrun him—if he was alive. *God dammit, Wade's dead!*
Adrenaline coursed through him—and every second he could feel that thing behind him. The thump-thump-thump-thump of its gigantic legs keeping pace, trees falling, and then it roared so loud it blew branches and leaves from the trees around him…and forced him to change direction.
The sound made his hair stand on end and hurt his ears terribly. Branches flew past him. The world seemed unreal, moving too fast, yet his mind was ten steps ahead.
He was deaf now, his ears ringing, and his pulse thumping in his head.
Dadup-Dadup-Dadup*…went his heart. *Thwack* went a tree next to him, speared by a grotesque tentacle. *Close! The tree fell to the side!*
Out of his mind with panic he ran faster, dodging logs, shins killing him from impacts of branches, cuts on his hands and face, and slashes to his forearms. He ignored the pain, and it numbed as endorphins kicked in.
Dupdupdupduodipdup—went his heart. A crash to his left and he turned right. A crash to his right and movement—he veered hard left. He dared not look back. Finally, after his legs began to go numb, the thumping quieted, and he slowed slightly as he heard no more roaring and crashing. His legs felt like rubber. He gambled a glance over his shoulder and saw nothing there. He tripped. *Damn!"
The ground came up at him and slapped him hard—he tried to roll—but a log hit him in the lower back and his right knee twisted unnaturally.
He froze laying flat on his back and looking skyward, the air knocked out of his lungs. He grunted, tired, sweating, and shaking all over. Dazed from hitting his head, pain seared his back. It was gone. Just semi-darkness surrounded him, and a sinister fog clung to the trees above him. Around him hung a lethal silence.
Thank God!* He had outrun it. *A game of Chance* his father would always say. Then he'd say *You gambled, Chance, and won, but one day you could lose…*
…
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…
A flash of red lightning and a shadow…*
As he tried to catch his breath a giant maw appeared over him and dropped on top of him. *He screamed.*
…
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………
The new skinny kid named David straggled, so El fell back to him as they strode down the long halls. The diamond-patterned floor tiles and cork boards announcing the importance of "School Spirit" reminded them how bad the situation had become—the idea of school *anything* was laughable.
"I'm Jane," she said to him as she approached. Her overly big brown and blue plaid shirt fit loosely over blue jogging pants. She smiled.
David's eyes lit up.
"What's your name?"
"David…Wallace," he muttered. "I saw you do stuff. Like that dude Uri."
"Who is Uri?"
"A spoon-bender psychic on TV."
El nodded. "I want to get to know you, David."
"Me?" He asked. His hand went to his chest and he pointed, just to be sure.
"Yes. You," El smiled.
"You don't have to be nice to me. No one else is."
David sang a little tune, "Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, think I'll eat some worms!"
El nodded saying, "I understand." They stopped walking to talk. She had a white blouse on under her overshirt.
He stood looking in her face and not blinking while his eyes grew glassy and wet. His breath hitched.
"Do you really understand?" He asked.
"Completely."
His wet eyes caused him to sniffle.
"You seem nice…" He touched the back of his head and winced. "Have you been bullied a lot?"
"Yes," El chuckled. "One time I smacked a bully with a roller skate. I didn't have my powers then. I got arrested."
"Wow…" David said.
"I broke a bully's arm, too. I have a bad side."
"Cripes!" David said. "Did that change them?"
"Maybe," El said. "But bullies are eternal."
David looked down, "I'm always afraid…of everything and everyone."
"You know what helps me?" El asked.
He shook his bandaged head.
"Belonging."
"Belonging?" he asked. "What's that?"
"Be part of our team. When bitter people are cruel, we help you to feel better. That's what friends do."
David thought for a moment, "Okay, you know, words don't come easy to me."
"I get it. Me too. Let's catch up to the others, David," El said, "It was nice talking to you."
"Thank you, uh, Jane."
Then they both sprinted to catch up.
……
"Lucas!" Max yelled, her red hair flowing as they walked along. She wore a backpack with a skateboard inside. The Atari T-shirt with red, white, and blue colors matched her jeans. Lucas glanced into her pretty blue eyes.
Max's muscles tensed and her face scrunched up. She said, "We need to talk."
Lucas glanced back again, saying "Why?"
"Seriously, Lucas? Like I enjoy getting the crap scared out of me?"
"We're at war."
"No." She said, stopped abruptly, and spun him by his hand. *Lucas* she thought, *professor of the fine art of not listening.*
Lucas stopped to take in her appearance. Her arms were shaking and rigid by her side, her face reddening, and a particular frown on her face he had grown over the years to dread. He swallowed.
Max's eyes were glassy when she said "Don't do stupid sh*t, Lucas."
"I'm not gonna die," Lucas said. "I can outrun anything."
"Hey, maybe you'll be even faster in your next life!" She balled her hands into fists.
He shrugged.
"Just stay alive…" She stopped talking and her eyes looked down and closed. Quietly, almost too soft to hear, she said, "So I can pay you back."
"For…?"
Max remembered the world fading black. Lucas had cradled her, his tears dripping, crying. With blind eyes, she said *I don't want to die*. No lights, no tunnels, no nothing. And soon a creeping absence of any thoughts at all. Max whispered, "You held me. You showed me what it looks…what it feels like."
In
"It's okay…"
"Shhh," she said. In a flash, Max slammed into him and knocked him back into some lockers in an embrace. She kissed him briefly. His eyes grew large with her abrupt fervent embrace. She put her head on his shoulder, gripping him tightly.
"Kids?! Catch up!" Shouted Officer Calvin Powell, "Stay together!"
They ignored him, and Max pulled away. "Why can't you be more careful?"
"I'll be fine."
"You're not a poster child for caution."
Lucas flashed his winning smile. He swallowed and said, "I won't die, I promise." He smiled again.
"Oh, well *that makes sense then*" she shook her head. "Since you *promised*…"
"I'm fast. And we have El. I can dodge and weave, sprint, jump high…I'm a badass."
"Fine. B-ball hero," she said. She took her skateboard from her custom backpack and set it down on the smooth tile. Then she opened her locker and pulled out a bag.
"Try to keep up," she said.
She kicked with one leg and zoomed away, and he followed in easy, long strides. He forgot what good shape she was in. Being with Maxine was never easy, but it was exciting.
…
It stood like a tower, or perhaps a set of towers looming over the town many stories tall. Its flame-shaped head was vertical, and its long legs thunderously crunching the buildings below. It searched for its enemy.
…
The couple entered last through the varnished oak doors with vertical window slots to see the group around Jonathon. The orange and green striped walls had sprays and splatters of rusty orange marring the bright colors. Students moaned with grievous flesh wounds laying on cots and sitting in chairs. The air smelled of metal and week-old pizza with a hint of bleach.
On the wall by the kitchen was taped a hand-scrawled sign that read, "Practice safe eating, always use a condiment."
Gray steel lunch tables folded and pushed up to a wall, the ugly green and orange plastic chairs remained scattered among students on army cots. IV poles made a metal forest in the middle, and medical people in white clothing and green scrubs tended to the ill and wounded. Stacked to the side, forgotten dull yellow lunch trays waited to be used again.
Jonathon grimaced as he coughed up blood and spat it in one of those same lunch trays. Nancy paled, asking the busy nurse "What's going on with Jonathon, is he okay?"
The nurse said, "We're getting an X-ray. Stay calm." A doctor listened to his chest and felt his neck and shoulders, "We'll rule out a 'pneumo' and patch him up—standard pain control."
"His ribs will heal," she said. "I'll be back."
The X-ray machine rolled over with a technician who put a square plate behind Jonathon and took a picture of him sitting up.
"Can I see it when you are done?" He asked.
"No."
A short Asian female Doctor shined a light in Officer Daniels's eyes and turned to a taller nurse, saying "He has a grade two concussion. Almost a three."
"Sweet mother of pearl," he muttered, "it only hit me once. Where's the dugout, coach? I'm shopping for strawberries."
The Doctor stared.
Lucas and Max approached Jonathon holding hands. They took in the sight of a mass of injured and bleeding school kids.
Will grabbed the back of his neck.
…
Mike adjusted his sword he had in his locker and strolled up to El, and with his big brown eyes, smiled, and said, "You have my sword, Madam." He gave her a slight bow.
"Yes, I do. Sir Mike. My, my, how big it…"
—CRASH*
Everyone jumped. Some lunch trays had fallen over.
"Sorry!" Said David.
El threw her arms around Mike's neck, and they put their foreheads together.
"Do we have the time…?"
Then she squeezed him, saying "Hold me tight, Mike."
Mike clasped her small body, full of such incredible power, yet so light. He rubbed her back. His body soaked up the feeling, a kind of safety mixed with euphoria. He whispered, "You know…it makes you crazy."
El stifled a sob and held on, whispering, "What word?"
"L—ust," he whispered. "No, I mean…love."
El smiled ar his kidding. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, as her body grew warm and tingles of joy and gratification filled her heart. Everything she wanted in one word. *Mike can say it now.* She felt strength. Calm. Power.
"Mike, let's never lose this. Not like footprints in the sand, but those handprints in the concrete," El whispered.
"El, Mike!" Will said hastily. "It's coming!"
…
The earth groaned. The ground seemed to wobble. Parts of the building *cracked.*
"What's that?" Someone said. "Earthquake?"
"Something bad," Will said.
The sound of cinderblocks cracking echoed through the cafeteria. Medical people kept wrapping wounds and pushing fluids, not stopping. But IV poles rolled around like beginner skaters on a rink.
"What do you mean, like the Flayer?" Mike asked.
Hopper twisted his head and unkinked his neck with a *snap, then waved the other officers forward toward a section of wall far from the stage.
"Get ready!" Jim shouted.
"And a whole bunch of monsters," Will said. "We don't have much time."
Joyce, Hop, Calvin, and Phil stood in line abreast facing a cracked section of wall. They reloaded their shotguns and steeled themselves.
Tchuuk—Tchuuk*
Glen sat nearby, holding a pistol, and leaning to the right. The gun has no clip in it. Its action was back and the breach was open: empty. He didn't notice. Jim glanced at him, knowing he disarmed him.
Some unearthly groaning outside put nerves on edge. The very air gave the impression of danger as tiny particles of ash drifted. Unknown creatures gathered nearby in the shadows of the Upside Down, and the wall—at the joint lines—began leaking fluid. Odd, greenish stuff.
Dustin remembered Nancy's warning that a creature with a huge mouth would be coming for them. Was peril beyond human understanding closing in on them? Fear constricted his chest, weakened his knees, and made him shake. So he took a deep long breath stood up straight, and flexed his fingers. *We can do this. We can do this.*
Dustin hopped up on the one remaining cafeteria table covered in medical supplies, shouting. "Okay, Party! Implement Plan White Towers of Gondor! Got it!?"
"We got it, Dustin," said Steve. "Gondor. Orcs!"
"Everyone stand back," Jim ordered to the staff of the Aid Station. They flinched and then nodded and acquiesced to the Chief of Police.
Nancy stepped up next to Joyce, who of course stood by Hopper. They smiled at each other. Will touched El's shoulder and pointed. She looked back. She saw a girl with purple hair and dark eyeshadow. Kali stood at the back by the kitchen next to a large wooden box.
"Kali!"
El smiled and threaded her way through the crowd to reach her: past a Doctor, his hands dripping blood, on a phone asking for school buses to transport his patients, around the food trays, past Robin and Erica carrying heavy bear traps…all the normal scenes in Hawkins, Indiana.
"Sis, we have problems. The gates are widening and new ones are appearing all over the place," Kali explained. "Jane…" Kali said, "You're too important, if I am dying let me go."
El jumped back. An expression on her face seemed to show her mind conflicted, blinking, trying to understand two opposing thoughts. She shook her head.
"I mean…" Kali said. "You and Mike can escape somewhere…"
"There is no escape," El said, finally. "And I won't abandon you. We do this together—all the way."
Whump*
The wall moved inward a few inches, and something behind the wall made a wet sound. Dustin's blood chilled to ice water, and a sense of dread came over him like a green and black tornado cloud.
A long wooden box lid flew aside and clattered on the floor. *Clack-k-k-k…" Dustin jumped. Will and Jonathon removed spear guns from the large box, and the spears, which had cables welded on the ends. Jonathon groaned as he picked up the power hammer as well. Then he saw the flamethrower.
Steve practiced swinging his bat, *Whifff*…*Whifff* He shuffled on his feet. He squinted.
Kali closed the breach on her 10 gauge shotgun. *Thwump!* She grimly set her feet and held the gun ready.
Mike and Lucas opened the bear traps while Erica set the trigger plates, which made almost no noise, just a little *click*
"How did I get this job?" She asked.
Lucas, always ready for little sister complaints said, "You usually have a metric ton of attitude. Now you get to back it up."
"I don't like it, Lucas. I'm gonna tell Tina…"
"Don't you dare!"
Johnathon blasted an anchor into the floor with the power hammer.
Bammm!*
It fastened cables welded to the spears directly to the concrete floor.
"Good!" Dustin said. "All we need now are catapults."
…
CRUNCH*
The wall section crumbled and dust billowed into the room. A pool of slimy liquid oozed out onto the tile from…
…a membrane of glowing red muck—a huge gate—and giant *things* could be seen just on the other side, howling unnaturally. There was a grumble. Something was hungry.
El gawked. The police aimed. They waited. Vines began to crawl in around the hole and spread inward.
"Positions!" Shouted Dustin, brandishing his sword and shield.
"Chief," asked Jonathon, "Did you order a flamethrower? Because there's one in a box back there."
"I can't use it in here," Hopper said. "But my Russian friends came through for me. I'll use it only if we can clear out those people…"
El and Mike heard a familiar voice.
"Okay my brave superpowered friend," said Argyle. He carried a first aid pack as he walked up to Eleven and Mike, "…and Mike my brochacho, I'm here to help."
Mike and El turned to see a Hawaiian shirt-wearing pizza delivery boy. "What the…"
"Hey!" Max grabbed Argyle by the shoulder and pulled him back. "Move back! Seriously you are brilliant, Argyle—want to live much?"
Dustin shook his head, *Chaos.*
…
It* pushed through the membrane that separated the dimensions, entering past the broken wall, and stepping into a bear trap with a bone-crunching *snap*! It squealed in pain like a rabid Tasmanian devil.
"Demogorgon," Dustin said.
"Hold your fire!" Hopper shouted to his deputies. "It's caught! Boys? Now!"
Jonathon on the left and Will on the right side of the space-time orifice fired spearguns—piercing the chest flesh of the horror with loud wet squelches. The cables anchored to the floor and the barbed javelins pulled taut. As it struggled to break free it stepped into the other bear trap. It hissed, captured, and enraged.
"Gotcha you mother," said Hopper. "Aim for the neck and head! Open fire!"
Will tossed a jar of liquid with scoring marks on the glass and a burning rag on top into the beast's faceless face, and it ignited. Flames engulfed it and poured down its body. The heat pushed the police and boys back and made them shield their eyes.
The *thing* writhed like a wild hyena that could feel no pain—beginning to tear itself apart in its fury—black blood spurting in the faces of Johnathon and Nancy. Nancy stepped back trying to clear her eyes, yelping. Ravenous Demodogs suddenly appeared and ran through the gate, going everywhere like black blurry shadows. The battle was upon them.
Max fired up her hedge trimmer with customized, sharp blades. She tore a chasm into the face of a demodog, tearing chunks out of its jaws as it squealed and backed away. She took it all in. *I woke up this morning hoping for this kind of ridiculous madness.*
"Shoot them!" Shouted Jim. Eleven tossed a threatening demodog into a wall and climbed up on the lunch table with Dustin to get a better view.
Shotguns blew holes in the demodogs. Will threw more bottles and set them on fire. But dozens of demobats came through now. Lucas gulped, wielding Max's axe into the head of a demodog and splitting it in two like a melon.
Dustin glanced at El:
She stood—with arms high and wide and legs spread—her hands trembling with fingers splayed. He swore he could see faint purple flame-like tendrils on her fingertips.
The demobats froze in the air like airplanes suspended in a museum. Demodogs also froze—hissing and suspended by their necks. El held them in place as a drop of blood appeared in her left nostril.
Jonathon's pistols blasted them, Mike's sharp sword cleaved them, Steve's nail-riddled bat smashed them, Dustin's spear gutted them, Robin's short sword perforated them, Erica's wicked vocabulary demoralized them and her shocking prod cooked them, Kali's shotgun tore giant holes in them, and Lucas's sharp axe mangled them.
Frozen demodogs dropped flat.
Something moved behind her, a nebulous blur, like a shadow in the corner of her eye.
El choked as a gigantic demobat wrapped its whip-like gray tail around her neck and dragged her backward off the table. Dustin dove to grab her and landed badly on his ribs. The *thing* had concrete dust all over its slimy eel-like skin, perhaps having crawled through another hole. The monstrous bat lifted her up and up as she grasped its strangling tail to pull it loose.
"Help!" She managed to squeak out of her voice box. She squeezed her eyes shut, her body shaking as stars filled her eyes. Panic overtook her brain—unable to concentrate on anything other than breathing—barely a hiss of air getting in and out.
Mike dropped his shield and ran after her. El's chest moved but no sound came from her mouth.
El writhed ineffectually at the tightening rope-like tail. It beat its wing tips on the floor and bit a hole in the roof. Wooden boards and shingles fell as it enlarged the hole.
Then Mike blocked his eyes from a spray of water. He jumped for her feet again.
The blast of water hit the bat and knocked it across the space. The scrawny kid held a firehose. Jonathon helped stabilize it as the beast slapped into the far wall sending a wet sound echoing around the building. Its wet wings were heavier with water, and it struggled, dropping. Jonathon helped David aim the water stream at the creature's mouth.
She broke free and Mike caught her before she hit the floor—knocking him down, but saving El from impact. She *pushed* hard. The bat mashed against the wall. She twisted its head—and it slumped to the floor. Finally, it ceased moving.
Angry red marks circumscribed El's neck. Jim watched Jane, terrified she was seriously hurt.
Callahan, Joyce, and Powell fought back a wave of demodogs as they charged through the gate. More and more died in front of them.
"Mike," El croaked, "I'm all right. I got scared—wasn't thinking…"
Her shirt was soaked, she looked like a wet cat. She held her temples.
Mike and Will glanced up at the hole in the roof.
Dustin surveyed the area, rubbing his temples. *This is insane.* Then he froze. Out of nowhere, Dustin shouted at the top of his lungs so loudly his voice cracked.
"Nancy!"
So panic-stricken was his voice—so beyond urgency—that all heads swung to find her. Gunshots cracked from the far side of the room.
Nancy barely stood, waving slightly like a reed in a breeze. Her legs shone large and growing splotches of glistening red on her white pants.
Dustin shook his head. "Help her!"
In the shooting and disarray, she had vanished from sight.*
Her crimson blood pooled at her feet, where her shotgun lay with a steaming barrel, and two demodogs twitched in the throes of death. She fell to the floor, fainting.
"Nance?" Said Steve—his eyes unbelieving—and a deep terror arose in his mind. He ran to her, slipping on gore
Jonathon sprinted, ignoring the pain in his ribs. He slipped and fell, but his eyes never left Nancy's pale face as she looked to him for help.
Meanwhile—Jim asked Joyce to retrieve the flamethrower. "No choice," he said. "Almost out of ammunition."
El got up, while Robin grabbed towels and arrived first at her side. She pressed them hard to Nancy's blood-soaked jeans, gasping at the volume of red blood pouring onto the floor.
Jonathon and Steve came to her side. Nancy's face blanched. She panted in rapid gasps, "Oh…" she said, "I'm…sorry. Can't catch my breath."
"Move!" A Doctor busted into the growing group, cinching tourniquets around her thighs so fast his hands were a blur. Robin moved aside and tried to reassure Nancy, saying, "You're going to be okay."
But Dustin—his face covered in tears—stood firm on his table and directed. Dustin shouted while pointing. "We need nurses over there!" He waved his hand stared over at Nancy's supine form, and shouted again, "Code Hellfire!"
Jim ordered Callahan and Powell to stay beside him in front of the gate, while Joyce retrieved the flamethrower. She could barely concentrate while looking at Nancy.
Another Demogorgon appeared behind the gate. And more could be seen lurking behind the red goo.
"Oh f*ck," said Callahan. "More!"
Jim put on the flamethrower with Joyce's help. "Open fire as soon as it steps through!" Jim ordered. "Pay attention! Everyone stand back, this thing gets hot!"
Robin held Nancy's ice-cold hand. Ash settled on her face, and Steve wiped it off.
"Don't touch her!" Jonathon yelled. Steve back up, lifting his hands.
"Whoah, okay!" Steve said.
"I need help," the Doctor interrupted. "What's her blood type?"
"O negative like me," said Steve. "We tested ourselves in biology class."
"Would you be willing to donate to her? We're out of all blood, and you are compatible."
"Tell me what to do."
Nurses set up IVs. Jonathon watched, slumping. Tears leaked from his eyes. "Sorry Steve," he said.
"It's okay," he replied.
Jonathon held her hand to reassure her as his body trembled. Her face looked pale as a bedsheet or a porcelain doll, and she breathed fast and deep. She moaned.
The Doctor checked her pulse. "Barely a pulse. Never done this before, I am taking a huge risk but it has to be done," he said mostly to himself. Then he ordered the last remaining nurse to start fluids.
Soon, Jonathon sat by helplessly as Steve lay next to Nancy with multiple large-bore IVs connecting their arms.
"Steve," she whispered, "thank you."
Jim squinted and waited with his flamethrower ignited and ready. "Dustin—we're gonna need help here…"
Dustin shut his eyes against the horror—as a flashback of Eddie's demise hit him. But new visions came to his eyes…Nancy in her Elf costume, dancing with her at the Snowball, her kindness. *Focus, fool!*
"There must be three liters on the floor already. Nurse, push saline. And you two start more IVs on Steve and Nancy."
"Why aren't they attacking?" Asked Calvin Powell. He glanced back over his shoulder and sniffled. "Poor kid. God how I want to kill the…"
"—Bastard!" Shouted Phil Callahan. Daniels stepped for the gate. "Stay here Glen! That's an order!" But Glen walked like a drunk man, not listening, his body loose and bendy. His dazed eyes wandered over the bodies of uncanny beasts. Shapeless shadows moved behind the red gash of space-time called a gate.
Daniels swayed close to the gate—close enough to touch it. The stench of decay filled his nostrils as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a hand grenade. His face registered a kind of curiosity to see it, but his dazed expression meant he didn't comprehend.
"What the hell? Is that live?!" Jim shouted.
"Where did you get…?" Calvin asked.
"Everyone back away. Now!" Jim ordered, "Hit the floor!"
Daniels pulled the pin out, the handle flew off and the grenade sizzled. He looked over his shoulder saying, "I can do this much…" as he thrust the grenade and his arm through the gooey membrane. Jim laid flat, as did Calvin and Joyce.
"Grenade!" Shouted Dustin.
El recalled when Hopper showed her his traps around the cabin…
…
The long spool of the fishing line insisted on unraveling in her hand. They walked what he called a "perimeter" between certain trees and placed rocks against the trunks on the side facing the cabin. Eleven shivered, she didn't care for the cold anymore, much preferring the wood stove in the cabin.
"We tie the rat trap trigger to one end and stake the other," he said. She watched his breath turn into fog.
"What about those round bombs you throw?" She asked. "I saw them on TV."
He stopped and turned to her, crouching down to her level—a sure sign of something important about to be said—and stared into her eyes.
"Grenades," he said, "are very dangerous. If you see a pin pulled out and the handle flies away, get down. *In Vietnam, we got flat on the ground instantly. Put your hands over your ears and open your mouth.*"
"Dangerous," El repeated.
"Remember they burn for a few seconds so you can throw them. You might be able to take a step away if the pin is pulled right in front of you…like if it's dropped accidentally…but even then…"
Hopper's eyes drifted away as sometimes happened when he talked about *the war* and he stopped talking. El knew that look. Trauma. Death.
"Let's keep setting up noise bangers, okay?" He said, rising to his full height. "It's okay to fear grenades, Jane. You run away—put as much distance between you and *it* as you can in one or two steps, and throw yourself to the ground. Kiss the ground. Got it?"
"Kiss the ground," she repeated.
He nabbed the end of the fishing line and she held onto the pencil as it unspooled. Transformers started soon—but this was more important. She wanted to be safe.
"Memorize these trees," he said, "so you know where not to step."
"Thank you, Jim Hopper," El said.
"Why?"
"You are trying to keep me safe."
…
No time to think, El reacted—she turned away and started downward, *Kiss the ground* she thought, but a white flash illuminated the other side of the dimensional barrier. *Too slow* The explosion happened in the other realm. The gate wobbled and vibrated with a muffled blast. Daniels screamed and fell, his arm missing below the elbow. He rocked back and forth crying, "Help!"
Bright red blood spurted from his shattered nub of an arm.
A howling shriek behind the barrier proved his attack had worked, and the figures beyond the gate vanished. Callahan pressed gauze on his wound and applied a tight tourniquet to stop the bleeding. Jim and Joyce stood up and checked everyone around them. El got up and went to Jim.
Daniels laughed, and said, "Fill up your mug with ale, and watch the world fail…"
"He's in shock," Jim said.
"I'll close the gate," El told Jim. Her eyes laser-focused on the glowing gap.
El strode to the gate, put her hands forward, and concentrated. She *pushed* and the gate slowly shrank in size over the next three minutes. But it seemed a lifetime. Kali tried to help close it. No creatures moved behind the gate.
"The gates are harder to close, aren't they?" Asked Kali.
El nodded. Some blood leaked from her nose. "Much harder."
Then, suddenly it vanished. She held her head as Mike rubbed her back—which felt good.
"He closed it—Vecna—not me. They are leaving."
"We need to regroup," Dustin said. "Regroup!"
"Why?" Kali asked.
"If they were keeping us busy here, stalling us for some reason?"
"That was a strong attack."
El rubbed her forehead. "They could have done much worse to us."
Steve drank some Mountain Dew to rehydrate and shook his head. His distinctive brown hair flowed freely. He belched. Robin giggled.
Will wandered off.
"Don't drink caffeine after giving blood, kids!" Steve exclaimed. "I feel like a world-class sprinter being chased by a bear. Wooooooo!" He wiggled his eyebrows and grinned.
"Dingus Majoris," she said.
"Is that Latin?" He asked.
"Oh my God," Will said. The group grew quiet as if a creeping terror seeped into the room and infected everyone.
He craned his neck to see through the hole in the roof as Mike and El joined him. El had that special stare of a hunter sighting a prey animal—intense but calm.
"Is that?" Mike asked.
"It's some kind of…" El said.
"Proxy…a monster like at Starcourt,"
Said Will, "Only a hundred times bigger. It's a physical form of the Mind Flayer!"
A nameless fear shook Will to the core as its flame-shaped head, itself bigger than the Hawkins water tower, opened a mouth bigger than the cafeteria. He gasped, knowing the evil inside it all too well.
Dustin peeked through the hole. He saw the spider-like movement of massive legs, the nearest of which knocked an army truck off the road and into a ditch. Soldiers climbed out and gunfire erupted. Dustin's mouth dropped open as he said, "Guys—I just crapped my pants."
"Let's get out of here," Will said. "It's almost here!" El stayed frozen, perhaps thinking.
The two medics showed days of new beard growth and dark circles under their eyes as they buckled Nancy to the stretcher. They saw it, and their eyes bulged.
"It's almost here! El, we need to distract it while they take Nancy to the hospital," Will said.
El unfroze and shouted, "You go!"
"Go, go, go!!" Shouted Will and Mike. Max, Lucas, just…everyone ran.
"Run! Take cover!" Shouted Dustin.
The roof crumbled inward as everyone sprinted to the doors to avoid being crushed. El turned back to *push* the debris away as it fell closer to them. Dust slowly cleared but darkness had filled the cafeteria.
"Jesus!" Joyce said while looking up.
The transport team left their equipment and rushed away with Nancy at a run. The unspeakably large black monster took another bite of the cafeteria roof, spat it off to the side, and roared. It sounded like a blasting thrum of a thousand Aztec sacrifices screaming mixed with the roar of a tsunami wave, only far worse.
Outside three anti-aircraft guns fired upon it. Soldier's voices and shouts echoed along with machine gun fire. Glowing red tracer rounds flew upward.
Several beams crashed on the floor.
"We can't win against that!" Dustin said.
"Tactics without strategy is noise before defeat," said Will.
Jim nodded, "We need to fall back and prepare a plan for *that* thing. Everyone get to the vehicles—we're leaving!"
Jim looked around, "Where is Jane?"
…… to be continued.