*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧—chapter seven: the monster
THE FOUR OF THEM HAD BEEN WALKING FOR WHAT SEEMED LIKE FOREVER. They were in the woods. It was nightfall; the sun had long set under the horizon hours ago. By now there were only three of them instead of four, turning their squad into a trio. Nancy was nowhere to be found.
It was concerning. She was just here. Jonathan swears he had his back turned for only a second. How could Nancy have gotten lost already? It hadn't made any sense.
"Nancy!" Jonathan shouts, looking around as he wanders aimlessly, Achilles following him. It was hard to see in the dark and his flashlight wasn't doing any good to help him see. "Nancy! Where are you?"
"Jonathan! Monty! Achilles! I'm right here!" They could hear her calling their names, but it sounded very faint, distant, and distorted. As if it was coming from somewhere else. But where?
"Where are you?"
Monty glances around, shining her flashlight every which way. The Upside Down? she thinks, pointing her flashlight at the ground and then at some trees. Was there a gate here that led to it? "Jonathan!"
"Yeah?" he turns around to face the Barlowe girl, furrowing his brows in confusion.
"Do you have a compass or something?"
"Why would I—"
"I do; I have a compass. It's one of Marissa's. I took it before we left. She has like ten of these things," Achilles says, reaching into his pockets for something. He pulls out a compass and tosses it to her.
"Thanks," she holds it out in front of her following the compass's north. It wasn't true north. She remembers learning that in fifth grade science. That compasses don't point to true north. That they deflect to a stronger magnetic field. They had learned that after a week's long lesson about the moon's phases.
The needle spins one way rapidly, before stopping and settling on its north. Not true north. She follows it in that direction, continuing to listen to Nancy's voice calling their names as she does so.
Off in the distance she can hear Jonathan yelling at Nancy, instructing the Wheeler girl to follow his voice.
A branch snaps below Monty's feet and she looks down, stopping upon seeing something blue pulsating at the base of the tree. This had to be a gate of some sort. It had to be. And it had to be how Nancy got down there.
"Hey! I found something!"
The two boys hurry over to the tree, crouching down to get a better look at it.
"What the hell?" Achilles breathes, staring at it in confusion.
Just then, a hand reaches out from it. Nancy's hand. Jonathan falls backwards in shock. Monty and Achilles reach forward, tearing apart the weird slimy stuff from the base of the tree as they grab Nancy's hand, helping to pull her out.
Nancy collapses on the ground beside them, covered head to toe in slime.
Monty stares at the base of the tree, watching as the small gate closes up, the bark from the tree covering it and returning to normal, as if the gate was never there to begin with.
✧ ✧ ✧
It's been nearly twenty-four hours since the previous day's events. Seven and Eleven were in the woods somewhere. The brunette was curled up beside the blonde, her head propped up on a tree branch. The wig had fallen off over night, now laying beside her in the foliage.
Ven shifts positions, sitting up with her back resting against the branch. She was starting to get restless, and she knew El would wake up soon.
She startles awake a few minutes later, looking around in confusion. But upon seeing Ven, she realizes where she was. The brunette feels around for the wig, before grabbing it and standing up, following a path that led somewhere. Ven follows her.
Eleven heads down to the river. She sits on her knees, putting on the wig as she stares at her reflection. She then removes the wig and stares at her reflection again. Not liking how she looked with her head shaved, her breaths start to quicken and become quicker, as she gets angry. Then, she screams. Loud. The water ripples from the vibration and a flock of birds leave the trees, flying off somewhere in the distance.
Eleven stands up a bit later, not looking at Seven as she starts walking. Seven has no idea where Eleven was going, but she follows her anyway.
It's about an hour later when they leave the woods and end up on a main road. There were a few stores around, and El was set on one store in particular. A grocery store.
The two of them walk in, the automatic doors opening, allowing them to enter. Other shoppers give them weird looks as they walk further into the store.
El wanders around, looking for something specific. Something— Eggos. Ven sees the boxes stacked in one of the freezers as she walks by them. Ven wasn't looking for those, but El was.
Ven enters the main aisles, reading the main items on the aisle headings, before finding what she was looking for. She opens one of the refrigerators in the cold section, taking out a gallon bottle of milk. Then, she heads down another aisle, finding a box of Quaker Oats. Then another, finding some bowls and a box of spoons.
She had what she needed. She just hoped El found what she needed as well.
"Excuse me. Young lady! You know you have to pay for those!"
Ven's head snaps toward the direction of one of the cashiers shouting at El, who is currently making her way out of the store. She hurries through the aisles, following El.
"You have to pay for those!" the man yells again. "Stop right there! Thieves! Thieves!"
When they get out far enough, Eleven makes the glass in the front of the store shatters.
They make it back to the woods a bit later. Seated by a cluster of trees, Eleven rips open the boxes of Eggos.
"Those are frozen," Seven says, placing her things down. "Here, I have an idea."
She finds several things—rocks, sticks and twigs, etc.—to make a small campfire. She picks up some of the cold Eggo waffles and holds them over the fire, and within a few minutes, they've heated up significantly, enough to be eaten and enjoyed. She hands them back to Eleven, who thanks her, and begins eating.
Seven then rips open the box of oats and grabs a pack, opening it and dumping its contents into one of the bowls. Then she opens the gallon milk and pours some of it in. She recaps the milk and then gets a plastic spoon out of the box, stirring it. Then, she takes the spoon out and holds the bowl over the fire for about two minutes, letting it heat up. Once it's done heating up, she puts out the fire and starts eating.
After a few minutes of silence, save for their chewing, Eleven looks around, hearing something. The voices were familiar. Seven hears it too.
It sounded oddly like Dustin, Mike, and Marissa.
✧ ✧ ✧
The three of them ditch their bikes and start running, heading back the way they came. Troy Walsh and James Dante were chasing them through the woods.
After what seemed like forever, they've exited the woods and are now down by the quarry.
Dustin groans in pain, clutching his leg. "Cramp!"
"Just keep going!" Mike shouts over his shoulder as they continue running. "Keep going!"
So, they keep running.
But it's no use. Troy and James have already caught up to them.
Mike picks up a rock. Dustin picks up a stick. Marissa gets into a fighting stance, putting her fists up.
"Stay back!" Mike shouts. "Don't come any closer." He tries throwing the rock at James, but missed.
"Nice throw, numbnuts," James scoffs.
Dustin yells, charging at Troy. He tries hitting him with the stick, but Troy grabs him and takes out the knife, putting it close to Dustin's throat. "Get off! Get off me!"
"Troy, let go of him!" Marissa shouts.
"Let him go!" Mike demands. "Let him go!"
"Stay back, or I cut him!" Troy threatens.
"What do you want?" Mike asks him.
"I wanna know how you did it."
"How I did what?"
"I know you did something to me. Some nerdy science shit to make me do that."
"You mean piss your pants?" Mike asks.
"Our friend has superpowers, and she squeezed your tiny bladder with her mind," Dustin explains.
"Shut up!" Troy demands, pushing the knife closer to Dustin's throat. "I think I should save Toothless here a trip to the dentist. Help him lose the rest of his baby teeth."
"Let him go," Mike says again. "Let him go!"
"I'll let him go, sure," Troy chuckles. "But first... it's your turn." He points the knife at Mike.
"My turn for what?"
"Wet yourself."
Mike furrows his brows in confusion. "What?"
"Jump..." Mike glances over at the quarry below, "or Toothless here gets an early trip to the dentist."
"Stop!" Dustin shouts, struggling in Troy's grasp. "No!"
"I'll cut him right now!" Troy threatens as Dustin whimpers.
There's a beat of silence.
Troy pushes the knife even further.
"All right, just hold on!" Mike says finally. "Hold on!"
"Mike, don't do it," Dustin pleas, shaking his head. "I don't need my baby teeth, Mike!"
But Mike's already headed off toward the cliff.
"Mike, no! Stop!" Marissa begs, shaking her head. "Don't jump!"
"Mike, seriously, don't!"
Mike walks up to the edge, looking down into the water.
"Mike, don't do it! Seriously, don't do it, man! Seriously, don't!"
"Troy, I don't think this is a good idea, man," James whispers to Troy.
Mike still looking down at the water.
"Dentist's office opens in five... Four! Three! Two!"
"Mike!"
"One!"
Mike jumps.
Troy loosens his grip on Dustin. Dustin stares with his mouth agape. James and Marissa stare, wide-eyed. But they run over to the edge, looking down. Mike was levitating.
"Holy shit," Dustin breathes.
Eventually, Mike gets brought back up with an invisible force. He gets dropped on the ground with a thud.
There's footsteps and they all turn their heads to see Eleven and Seven walking towards them.
Eleven makes James fall on the ground and then she jerks her head, making the bones in Troy's arm break. Troy screams in pain.
Seven walks up them and puts a hand out. Troy starts to levitate, several feet in the air.
"H-Hey, put me down!"
And Seven does, but not nicely. Troy falls back down on the ground with a thud and she grabs him by the collar of his shirt. "You don't hurt my friends, got it?" she asks him.
Troy nods quickly, a frightened look in his eyes. She lets go of him.
"Go." Eleven orders.
Both boys get up from the ground and break into a sprint, running away.
"Eat shit, Troy!" Marissa yells.
"Yeah, that's right! You better run!" Dustin calls after them. "They're our friends and they're crazy! You come back here and they'll kill you! You hear me? They'll kill you, you sons of bitches! They'll kill you, you hear me?"
Eleven collapses on the ground not even a moment later.
"El, are you okay?" Mike asks, shaking the girl awake. "El?"
Eleven used too much energy, Seven thinks, wiping the blood from her nose.
"Mike... I'm sorry." El says, sobbing. "We're both sorry..."
"Sorry? What are you sorry for?"
"The gate... We opened it. We're monsters..."
"No. No, El, you're not monsters. You saved me. Do you understand? You saved me." He pulls her up and gives her a hug.
Dustin, Marissa, and Seven give them a hug too.
author's note
two chapters left
and then we're done
with st1!!
who's excited? 😁
06.06.22