march 26, 1986
the group hid quietly under skull rock. bats swarmed the sky before moving away.
"oh...okay," robin began to get up. "that was close."
"yeah," eddie exhaled. "too close."
beatrice pulled herself to her feet.
steve began to feel weak, falling into a rock. "oh, sh...shit."
"steve?" nancy questioned, turning towards him. "jesus!"
"i'm fine. i'm fine."
he was rapidly losing blood. nancy runs to help keep him from losing more.
"no, no, no. you're not. you're losing blood. come on, sit. alright?"
he sat against the cold stone, holding his sides where the bats bit him.
"alright," he gave in.
the wound looked pretty bad. steve groaned as he uncovered it. nancy acted quickly, ripping her clothes to make a makeshift tourniquet.
"so, the good news is i'm pretty sure wooziness is not a symptom of rabies. but if you start having hallucinations or muscle spasms or you start feeling aggressive like you wanna punch me, let me know," robin rambles, expressing her fear of rabies.
"robin," steve interrupts.
"yeah?"
"i kinda wanna punch you."
robin laughs, nervously. "sense of humour's still intact. that's a good sign."
"yeah."
he lifts his arms to let nancy get a better angle. she takes the piece of cloth and begins to fasten it around his wound.
bea cringed at the sight of the wound, turning away. "jeez, tell me when it's over."
she heard the wounds being squished by the cloth and steve groaning and grunting in pain.
"too tight?" nancy asked, about to tie it.
"no, that's good," steve replied, lowering his arms.
"okay," she answered, finished dressing his wound.
"thanks."
"yeah," nancy exhaled out.
eddie climbed up the rock, peering at the swarm. "so, um, this place is like hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit?"
"pretty much," nancy replies, lifting steve. eddie goes to come down, but nancy halts him. "wait, watch out for the vines. it's all a hive mind."
"it's all a what?"
"all the creepy crawlies around here, dude. they're, like, one or something. you step on a vine, you're stepping on a bat, you're stepping on vecna," steve explained, remembering his previous experience with creatures from this world.
"shit," eddie says, careful to avoid the vines when walking down.
"but everything from our world is still here, right? except people, obviously?" robin asks.
"as far as i understand it, yeah," nancy answers.
"so, theoretically, we could go to the police station and steal guns and grenades and whatever we need to blow up those bat things that are guarding the gate."
"yeah, i highly doubt the hawkins pd has grenades, robin," bea replies, sitting on a rock. "but guns, yeah, sure."
"well, we don't have to go all the way downtown for guns," nancy suggests. "i have guns in my bedroom."
"you, nancy wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom?" eddie questioned.
"full of surprises, isn't she?" robin exclaims.
"a russian makarov and a revolver," nancy tells.
"yeah, you almost shot me with that one," steve reminisced.
"you almost deserved it," nancy says, smiling up to him. they look at each other for a second.
"i'm gonna fucking puke," bea says as eddie threw his jean jacket vest at steve, interrupting the moment. nancy and steve look at eddie.
"for your modesty, dude."
the ground began to shake and rumble. bea fell to the floor. steve caught nancy before she fell over, using the rock behind them to support themselves. eddie breaks robin's fall and they all look steve and nancy as the bats screech. they stood very still.
"so guns seem like a pretty good idea to me," eddie decides.
"yeah, me too," robin agrees.
everyone collects themselves and gets up.
"so what are we waiting for?" steve says, turning on his flashlight. everyone follows him toward the wheelers's household.
after a bit of a walk, the group finally saw the wheelers' home. steve led in first. the house was covered in vines.
"might be time to get a maid, wheeler," robin says, trying to lighten the mood.
"come on. i don't want to stay here longer than we have to," nancy said, leading them up the stairs. steve was the last one to follow as the others went to nancy's room.
she pulled out the shoebox that was supposed to contain her gun from her closet. she unwrapped the tissue paper, but was met with a pair of dusty shoes.
"those aren't guns," eddie panics.
"these heels are a bit pointy, but i was hoping for something a little more into to a deadly projectile," robin rambled.
"we are screwed, aren't we?" beatrice sighs.
"i don't understand." nancy looks confusingly at the box.
"maybe you left them somewhere else," eddie suggests.
"there's a six-year-old in the house. i know where i keep my guns. and also, i threw these away years ago." nancy looks at the vanity, seeing her old chemistry notecards.
"i get that grades are important, but perhaps study can wait till we get out of here?" robin complains as nancy quickly looks through them.
"these are from sophomore chemistry," she says, coming to a revelation. she points to the walls around the room. "and this...this wallpaper, this is old wallpaper." she gestures to the mirror next. "and this mirror, this went to a yard sale. and you..." she picks up a plush toy. "you aren't supposed to be here. no, i gave you to cousin joanna two years ago." she grabs her journal from her nightstand, quickly flipping to the last written page.
bea rubs her face. "wait, what?"
"what is it?" eddie demanded, confused at the whole experience.
"nancy? you're freaking me out?" robin shrieks.
"i think the reason that my guns aren't here is because they don't exist yet."
"they don't...exist?" eddie questioned.
"this diary should be full of entries. it's not. the last entry is november sixth, nineteen-eighty-three. the day will went missing. the day the gate opened."
bea finishes. "we're in the past."
steve interrupts the group's revelation by yelling out dustin's name. robin raced down the stairs with nancy, bea, and eddie following suit.
"dustin!" the man shouted. "can you hear me? dustin! du—hello? hel...hello?"
"maybe he really does have rabies," robin whispers.
bea shoves her, playfully. "shush!"
"steve, what are you doing?" nancy yells interrupting his screaming.
"hello?" he shouted one last time, turning his flashlight to the four. "he's here. henderson. that little shit. he's here. he's like...he's in the walls or something. just listen. dustin. dustin! dustin! dustin! dustin! can you hear me?"
dustin's voice began to ring in.
"dustin!" nancy yells, walking around.
"dustin?" called eddie, swiping at some curtains.
"dustin!" bea screamed, cupping her hands around her mouth.
"alright, either this kid can't hear us or he's being a total douchebag," steve sighed.
"will found a way," nancy stated.
"what?"
"will. he found a way to speak to joyce through the lights," nancy remembers, running to a light switch.
"lights?" steve asked as she fiddled with the light. the switch. try the switch."
"okay," she said, flipping in rapidly. "it's not working!"
"guys," steve points his flashlight at the dining room lights that were glowing. "you seeing this?"
everyone started slowly moving towards the light source. particles flowed around the lamp chandelier. nancy lifted her hand into a bunch of the particles, twirling them around.
everyone's hands joined nancy's and the chandelier illuminated brighter.
"it...tickles," steve admits.
"it kinda feels good," robin smiled.
nancy slowly dropped her hand. "does anyone know morse code?"
"nope," robin, steve, and bea answered.
"wait, does sos count?" asked eddie, causing all their heads to turn to him. "is that good?"
the group waited patiently as dustin stole holly's lite-brite to communicate with them.
"you guys seeing this?" he yelled.
the light from the lite-brite began to materialize in particles in front of them. nancy used her hand to trigger all the lights to glow.
dustin's laughter echoed the upside down. "we're not moving it, but we're gonna unplug it. stand by."
the particles stopped glowing. "okay, try it now."
"okay, um...uh," nancy exhaled, writing 'hi.'
"that worked!" they heard from the normal world.
"yes!" they all celebrated.
"hi!" eddie replied, smiling.
"okay, um..." nancy began to write 'stuck'.
"stuck?"
"yep, we are," bea sighed.
"uh, you can't get back through watergate?"
"what the hell's watergate?" steve furrowed his eyebrows.
"'cause it's in the water and it's a gate," robin replied.
"oh."
"that's cute," eddie comments.
bea rubs her eyes. "that makes sense."
nancy responded, writing 'guarded' .
"okay, watergate's guarded."
"yes!" they celebrated as he got it right.
"we think we have a theory that can help with that. we think watergate isn't the only gate. that there's a gate at every murder site."
"does anybody understand what he's talking about?" nancy asked, earning headshakes from everyone.
"nope."
"no."
"no idea."
nancy drew a question mark.
"how many times do i have to be right on the money before you trust me?"
"jesus christ. this kid's gotta get his ego in check," steve comments.
"it's his tone, right?" eddie adds.
"i know," steve agrees.
"i know...so...so how far is your trailer?"
"seven miles," eddie replied.
"nancy?" robin spoke. "uh, i know your house here is, like, weirdly, creepily frozen in time and shit, but haven't you always had bikes?"
eddie led the way to his trailer. "right here."
everyone quickly dismounted their bicycles.
"that's gotta be a guinness world record. most miles traveled inter-dimensionally," robin exclaimed, running to the trailer.
"just inhaled a bunch of that crap," steve coughed. "it's stuck in my throat."
"careful, steve. you might catch a cold," bea joked, climbing up the steps of the trailer.
"ha. ha."
steve shines his flashlight at the roof of the trailer. "goddamn."
the tear was an eerie red and vines grew all around it.
"this is where chrissy died," eddie stated, lowly. "like, right where she died."
robin takes a long look. "i think there's something in there."
something began to protrude from the reddish film covering the gate.
"what the fuck is that?" bea asked as everyone focused on whatever was moving.
the thing retracted before breaking through the film, clearing it all out. robin shrieked as parts of the gate fell. they stood still, waiting for whatever was out there to reveal itself. slowly, they started to walk to the gate, looking inside.
"no way," steve whispered.
dustin began to laugh, seeing his friends once again.
"hey!" bea shouted, waving her hand at the four kids.
"hi there!" dustin replied with a bright smile.
"hi," the others replied, relieved to see their smiling little faces again.
"holy shit, this is trippy," robin said in awe.
the four children on the other side laugh in celebration.
"bada-bada-boom!" dustin screeches.
bea waited, sitting on the floor, as dustin tied bed sheets together. lucas and max worked together to bring eddie's mattress into the living room area. they placed it directly under the floor.
everyone was too busy watching the children work to get them out. they didn't even notice when beatrice's nose started bleeding.
she was in the same trailer in the upside down. everyone, except steve and nancy, had made it into the overworld.
steve was last to help make sure everyone got out safely. he was about to help nancy when his eyes closed. his eyes twitched underneath the closed eyelids.
everyone shouted as steve stood dormant on the mattress.
"steve!"
beatrice knew what that meant. steve was next. she pulled herself back to the present. she couldn't let this happen to any of them. she wiped her nose, standing up. dustin threw over the bedsheet rope. she was going to take the place of steve, altering what she she predicted.
"okay, i'll go last," bea instructed. "everyone else goes up before me."
first, robin went through. then eddie and steve. it was nancy's turn. bea was relieved. she altered the outcome of their future. steve was halfway up the rope.
'no one was hurt,' she thought happily as nancy walked to the mattress. however, he was already a step ahead of her.
nancy froze in place, her eyes were a ghastly white. he planned to get to nancy. he infiltrated bea's vision, showing her a false one.
"nancy!" steve yelled, jumping back down. "nancy, wake up!"
[REDACTED], 1979
in her room, beatrice laid down on her bed. her head couldn't stop aching. luckily, brenner was in a better mood and the nurse in the infirmary was able to give clearance for her to remain in her room for the rest of the day if she wanted. the nurse believed she may have ingested something bad or was just under a lot of stress. for a couple of hours, she just lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling.
she closed her eyes for a couple of seconds before opening them again. she was with her parents in her old home. the radio played, filling the living room with music. an old song that beatrice could never quite remember the name of. the fireplace filled the living room with a welcoming warmth.
she lay on her stomach, reading a book about different kinds of rocks and crystals. her parents sat on the couch behind her. her father read the newspaper as her mother looked at the hole in bea's purple dress.
bea looked up at her parents. it was impossible. they were dead. they had died years ago.
"dear, can you pass me a needle?" bea's mother asked, pointing at the sewing kit.
"of course, mother." beatrice smiled, opening the sewing kit that sat next to her. she carefully picked up a needle and gave it to her mother before returning to her spot on her stomach.
suddenly, a bunch of men came bursting into the francis household. her parents grabbed her and led her to a hidden lining closet and told her to stay there and lock it. she nodded before they said their goodbyes.
"we love you so much, sweetie," her mother sobbed, kissing her head. her father did the same thing before they shut the door.
"no, don't leave me!"
she could only hear muffled sounds from beyond the door. however, the screaming sounded clear. the screaming. the crying. the begging for her life to be spared. it all stopped with two loud thuds. she could only hear the ringing in her ears.
"search the house," brenner shouted at the men. "tear it down if you have to. find me the girl."
the men spread out around the house. they emptied every drawer and every cabinet, and checked every closet and room. beatrice began to tense up as she heard them destroy the house. she grabbed the nearest thing to her, which was a broom. she couldn't see in the dark room.
"hey! i found a hinge in this wall," a deep voice yelled.
she was caught. they had found her. the men pried the door open, reaching for the girl. she repeatedly hit them with the broom, trying to get them to back off. one of them successfully grabs her arm and pulls her out. another man grabs onto her other arm. they brought her to brenner, who stood in front of the bodies of her parents.
"mother! father!" she screamed, seeing them. the soldiers just watched. some felt guilt and remorse for the girl, but some believed in the greater cause and that this was justified. even if they wanted to stop it, they couldn't. this was their mission.
they ripped a child from her loving parents.
they allowed her to tire herself out, crying on the floor. it would make taking her easier for them anyway. she eventually passed out to exhaustion. brenner picked her up and had her transported to the lab.
the experience was so traumatic for her that she blocked the memory out, almost immediately. she wouldn't remember how they died, but she knew they did and it wasn't peaceful like brenner tried to convince her. she didn't want to find this memory. it was gone for a reason. tucked away, never to be found again. but it was.
'wake up,' she thought as she hummed the old song in comfort. 'wake up. wake up!'
her eyes opened wide. she sat up in her bed. she paused, observing her surroundings. the lights flickered and the alarms were going off, signaling a threat or danger. she threw her sheets off and ran out of her room.
'where was peter?' she thought. she ran into the orderly hallway. debris and glass covered the floor.
she opened peter's door. nobody was in there. she backed out of his room. the next place that came to mind was the rainbow room. before she went to that level, she knew what she had to do.
she took a shard of glass that would be big enough to make an incision. her hand shook as the shard inched to her neck. she took a deep breath in and began hiss in pain as it made contact with her skin.
she was able to finally remove it. she threw the device on the floor and stomped on it. she felt a sense of freedom as the device was destroyed.
she ran to the stairs, frantically. she went down to the children's floor. she threw open the door. she gasped as she saw the bodies of the guards that littered the floor. her breath was heavy, she struggled to breathe.
she saw poor nine in the hallway. that scene was enough to make her vomit on the floor. she wiped her mouth, tears filling her eyes. she ran to the rainbow room, trying not to look at the massacre of brenner's guards and test subjects around her. she pushed the doors opened. her eyes widened.
eleven was fighting peter. their hands were outstretched towards each other. blood streaked down eleven's face from her eyes and her nose. blood ran down peter's nose as his eyes grew red.
his eyes widened as beatrice entered the room. 'no! this is not how this was supposed to go!' he thought.
while she was tranced, he was to take down the lab, recruit eleven then get bea for their escape, making up some bullshit reason that brenner had killed the guards and children. from there, they were to change the world. however, his plan had failed.
he looked into her eyes. she knew he had done it. she could see it in his eyes all the carnage. she could barely recognize his eyes. there was only a speck of her peter in his eyes, the rest being pure hatred.
eleven channeled all her strength and threw him back through the glass behind him. she pinned him against the wall behind the glass. peter strained, trying to escape the powerful grasp pinning him to the wall.
beatrice hated to admit it, but she loved him. he was the only person that cared for her. but she never wanted to change the world the way he wanted to.
she knew letting eleven kill him was the only way. he was too far gone. no matter how much they loved each other, she couldn't save him from letting his hatred take over. his mind was made up about the world. he sought to end humanity for what he claimed was their sins. his rage blinded him from seeing any other way. he allowed it to consume his life.
"bea," he gasped, trying to reach an arm out to her. he was no match to eleven's powers. his arm remained pinned to the wall.
eleven walked towards him and he shouted in pain as his body began to dematerialize.
"i'm sorry," she whispered, heading out of the rainbow room. she couldn't bear to watch the love of her life die in front of her. knowing his fate was enough for her. she walked out of the room, tears welling in her eyes as she ripped herself away from the scene.
eleven screamed, extending both her arms out. his scream echoed until finally he was gone. all that was left in his place was a crack in the walls. it illuminated a haunting red hue. eleven studied it as it moved around, strangely.