After the Snow Ball

Chapter 20

The others watched her intently, quietly standing around her. Eleven's were firmly closed, her hand outstretched in front of her, quivering slightly. Jonathan watched, deep in thought. He needed to save Nancy. He needed to.

Finally, a thin trickle of blood fell from Eleven's nose. The tree in front of her crackled in front of her as if it was going to break...

And it did.

From the bottom of the trunk, a crack emerged, splitting the tree in half. An orange light glowed from within and as the trunk expanded, strands of demo-gorgon slime grew, forming weak links between the entrance to the upside down.

They all stared in silence at the newly-opened gate. El opened her eyes and looked over to Jonathan and Mike, who nodded at her gratefully.

Steve stepped forward. "Let's do this. For Nancy." He felt a pang of longing inside of him - Steve missed Nancy. He still saw her, at school and around, but he missed her still. Jonathan pushed his hands through the gap, pulling apart the strands of slime until he disappeared into the upside down. 

The rest followed, one by one, stepping into the worst mistake of their lives.

--

Sunday Morning (*In case of confusion, the first camping night was Friday night)

Hopper stepped out of his car, grunting as he emerged into the cold air. The leaves crunched under his feet as he made his way through the woods.

"I swear...if those kids say they're extending the camping trip to another night I'll leave them out here forever." He mumbled angrily to himself.

When he reached the campsite, it was deserted. There was a faint sign of a fire that had been put out, meaning that people had been there. He frowned. The tents and bags had gone.

"Eleven! Mike! The rest of you!" He shouted into the woods, alarmed.

He carried on for a solid 10 minutes, running around the wood, shouting their names...

Until he saw it.

He cursed violently.

"You have got to be kidding me."