Trapped- Stranger Things

075: Cursed

Blakeley watched as Dr Brenner put the same tattoo Eleven and Harper had on the young boys arm. Only instead of putting '011' or '079'  He put '001'.
"All done. Not so bad, was it? See, there's nothing to be afraid of. Is there, Blakeley?" Dr Brenner says, before turning to look at Blakeley, which is when she sees his eyes were pure blue. He speaks again, but his voice came out distorted. "Why don't you take a seat?"
Blakeley runs out into the corridor to see blood and dead body's everywhere. She continues to run through the corridors.

~~~~~

"Blakeley, just stay with me. Stay with me, okay?" Steve begs, placing his hands on the side of her face. "Whatever you guys are doing up there, hurry up!"
"Steve, says you need to hurry." Erica tells the group, running into the room where the others where looking for music.
"Yeah! No shit!" Harper snaps.
"We're trying we can't find anything." Skylar says.
"What is all this shit?" Max asks.
"What are you even looking for?" Eddie asks.
"Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles? Music! We need music!" Robin shouts.
"This is music!" Eddie shouts.

~~~~~

Blakeley found she was in Hawkins Lab. She runs to the door one to find it baracade shut by wooden beams. She tried getting them off.
"Blakeley." The blonde hears Vecna.
She turns around to see Vecna walking up behind her. "What are you doing? It's not time for you to leave." Blakeley continues to try and get the wooden beams off as he gets closer. "Now that you've seen where I've been... I would like very much to show you where I am going."
Blakeley gets all the wooden beams off before running through the door, only to find her in the room with the chair and doctor Brenner again.
"Shit." She whispers.
"Take a seat, Blakeley." Vecna says, through Dr Brenner.
The lights go out and when they come back on she finds herself tied to the chair by some of the Upside Down monster.
"No, no." She whispers, trying to get free.
She looks up to see Vecna stood there. He walks over to her, leaning closer towards her.
"I... want you to tell Eleven. I want you to tell her everything you see." Vecna tells her.
Vecna raises his hand above her face causing her to see flashes of images.
"No!" Blakeley screams.
"Tell her-" Vecna says.
"No!" Blakeley screams.
"Everything." Vecna finishes.
"Go away!" Blakeley yells.
"I'll be back for you, Blakeley Hayes." Vecna says.

~~~~~

Blakeley gasps as she falls, Steve catches her resting her on the ground gently, keeping her close.
"Hey. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Steve says. "It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. I'm right here. I'm right here."
Blakeley looks at him, getting her breath back. Once she had, she sits up and hugs him tightly.

After Steve and Blakeley got through the gate, they were all sat around in Eddie's trailer. Skylar had gone home to see her parents.
"He showed me things that haven't happened yet. The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this... giant creature with... a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn't alone. There were so many monsters. An army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighbourhoods. Our homes. And then... he showed me my mom... Jonah... and..." Blakeley explains wanting to say Harper at the end,but didn't want to scare her. "They were all..."
"Okay, but... he's just trying to scare you, Blake." Steve tells her. "Right, I mean. It's not real."
"Not yet." Blakeley says. "But there... there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates... they looked like the one outside of Eddie's trailer, but they didn't stop growing. And this wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home."
"Four chimes." Max says, causing everyone to look at her. "Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly."
"I heard them to." Blakeley says, causing everyone to know look at her.
"He's  been telling us his plan this whole time." Max says.
"Four kills. Four gates. End of the world." Lucas says.
"If that's true... he's only one kill away." Dustin says.
"And I saw the clock." Blakeley admits, causing everyone to look at her again.
"Wait, when was this?" Harper asks.
"While I was on my way to meet you guys at Skull Rock." Blakeley admits, looking down.
"Why wouldn't you tell us this?" Robin asks.
"We already have enough on our plates. I'd prefer to deal with this on my own." Blakeley tells them.
"Blakeley, you're gonna die if you deal with this on your own!" Steve shouts, before sighing, and placing a hand on her head. "Try them again. Try them again."
Max goes over to the phone trying to call the group in Cali, but there was no answer.
"Anything?" Dustin asks.
"No.  Rang a few times, then went to busy signal." Max says, walking over.
"Maybe you punched it in wrong. Try again." Steve tells her.
"I didn't punch it in wrong." Max replies.
"Well, I don't know." Steve says.
"I think she knows how to use a phone." Dustin says.
"I'm just saying, she could've typed it in wrong." Steve says.
Harper goes up to the phone and tries it.
"Same shit." Harper says, putting the phone back and walking back to the group.
"How is that possible?" Lucas asks.
"Joyce has a telemarketer job. Always on the phone." Nancy says. "Mike won't stop whining about it."
"Yeah, but this phones been busy for, what, three days now?" Harper asks. "That's not Joyce. Now way. Somethings wrong."
"She's right. It can't be a coincidence. It can't be." Blakeley says. "Whatever is happening in Lenora is connected to all of this. I'm sure of it. But Vecna can't hurt them. Not if he's dead. We have to go back in there. Back to the Upside Down."
"Whoa, no, no, no. What?" Steve asks.
"Nope." Eddie says.
"Let's think this through." Steve says, standing up.
"What is there to think through?" Blakeley asks, walking up to him.
"We barely made it out of there." Steve says.
"Yeah, because we weren't prepared." Blakeley argues. "But this time, we will be. We'll get weapons and protection. We'll go through the gate, we'll find his lair, and we'll kill him."
"Or he'll kill us." Steve says. "The only reason you survived is because he wanted you to. He's not scared of us."
"And for good reason." Robin says. "We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One. Sorry, what are we calling him now?"
"One." Dustin says.
"Vecna." Erica says.
"Henry." Blakeley says.
"Okay. We've learned something new about Vecna/Henry/One. He's a number like Eleven and Harper. Only a sick, evil, mad, child-murdering version of them with really bad skin." Robin says. "But my point is, he's super powerful. He could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. It's not a fair fight."
"Then why fight fair?" Dustin asks.
"I agree with Robin." Nancy says.
"What, Nance?" Blakeley asks.
"We're never gonna win this. The whole group is separated." Nancy reminds them.
"Okay, you're right. He's like Eleven and Harps. But that gives us an upper hand. We know Eleven and Harps strengths. And weaknesses." Dustin says.
"Thanks for assuming I have weaknesses." Harper says crossing her arms, over her chest.
"What weaknesses?" Erica asks.
"When El remote- travels, she goes into this sort of trance- like state. I bet it's the same with Vecna." Dustin says.
"That would explain what he was doing in that attic." Lucas says.
"Exactly, when he attacks his next victim, I'll bet you he's back in that attic, physically body defenceless." Dustin says.
"Defenceless? What about the army of bats?" Steve asks, gesturing to the mark around his neck.
"True, we'll have to find a way past them." Dustin says. "Distract, them."
"And, uh, how do we do that, exactly?" Eddie asks.
"No idea." Dustin says. "But once they're gone. He doesn't stand a chance. It will be like slaying sleeping Dracula in his coffin."
"That all sounds good in theory, but there is no pattern to Vecna's killings." Robin says. "Not one that I can decipher. We don't know when he's going to attack next. We don't even know who he's gonna attack next."
"Yeah, we do." Max says. "I can still feel him, and I'm sure Blakeley can to."
"Yeah, I can." Blakeley agrees.
"We're still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush, I draw him back to me." Max says.
"Max, you can't. He'll kill you." Harper says.
"I survived before. I can survive again." Max says.
"No." Blakeley says. "Before he let me go, he told me he would be back for me."
"I'm being the one to do this. Me." Max says.
"No Max you're not." Blakeley tells her.
"Okay, can we just think this through?" Harper asks.
"I've already died once. What's a second time?" Blakeley asks.
"Geez, I don't know. Maybe that you would die permentally this time." Steve says.
"I just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic." Blakeley says. "Then you can chop his head off, and free both me and Max from this curse. I don't care what you do. Just whatever you do... don't miss."
"B, can I talk to you?" Steve asks.
"Yeah sure, I guess." Blakeley says, before following Steve into the kitchen. "So?"
Blakeley sits down at the table as Steve stays standing opposite her.
"So?" Steve questions annoyed. "When did this start?"
Blakeley sighs, knowing it was time to tell the truth.
"I started having nightmares after the mall. I started having headaches and nosebleeds a couple months ago, and I saw that stupid clock yesterday." Blakeley explains.
"Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell me? I nearly lost you! We nearly lost you!" Steve shouts.
"I couldn't tell you. I wanted to. But I knew if I did you would freak out and go all over protective mode. And I couldn't handle it anymore. Everyone consistently trying to get me to step back when I know I can do it." Blakeley explains, causing Steve to sigh and place his hand on his forehead.
"I love you, Blakeley! And I already lost you what feels like a thousand times. I'm not letting that happen again." Steve tells her, causing Blakeley to slightly open her mouth and shake her head slightly.
"And I'm not letting Max go ahead and get herself killed. I'm going to distract Vecna. I don't care what anyone says." Blakeley says.
"B..." Steve starts.
"Look, Steve. We aren't together anymore. You don't have a say in what I do anymore." Blakeley says before standing up. "Come on. We've got an asshole to kill."