RESURGENCE
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THE MOOD IN THE BYERS HOUSE WAS SOMBER. Everyone was grieving over the loss of Bob and had no idea what to do next. Hopper was on the phone to government officials, trying to get them to send out some military forces but by the sound of his angry shouts, he wasn't having much luck. Joyce had slinked off to her bedroom to be alone, Andy didn't blame her. Her heart broke for the poor woman. She had just lost the man she loved in the very worst way. The kids lounged around the dining room table and on the couch opposite, Jonathan, who felt like he had let his family down once again, whispered soft apologies to a still unconscious Will. Nancy stood behind him, rubbing his shoulder in support.
Andy reclined against the kitchen counter next to Steve, who had his arm securely around her waist. She rested her head upon his shoulder. She didn't care who saw them, not even if her father looked and had a problem with it. She needed to be close to Steve and luckily for them, Nancy and all the others were too occupied to notice.
The image of Bob dying continuously played over and over again in Andy's head. Not even the presence of Steve was enough to stop that. It was followed by images of the scientist being mauled apart, running for her life separated from everybody and then ones of Eleven. They still had no idea where she was and her heart ached. She couldn't bear to lose her. Andy was sick of crying, yet it was all she wanted to do.
Her silence was worrying to Steve. He knew Andy well and knew her quietness meant something was seriously wrong. "Are you okay?" He asked softly looking down at the quiet girl. She hummed in response, not saying a proper word or looking up at him. Steve decided not to ask further, of course, she wasn't okay. Instead he placed a light kiss on the top of her head. Andy ignored how her and Steve had broken the barriers of what she had defined their friendship - no acquaintanceship- as. She didn't know where it would lead them, but right now there were bigger things to worry about.
Mike rose from his seat at the table and wandered over to a small table in the corridor nearby where a collection of puzzles and brainteasers sat. Bob had brought them around when Will was off sick from school, before he found out everything was far from normal. "Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?" He said wistfully, turning back to the rest of them who shook their heads. "He petitioned the school to start it and everything. Then he had a fund-raiser for equipment. Mr. Clarke learned everything from him. Pretty awesome, right?"
They all chorused in agreement and a smile tugged at Andy's lips at the fond thought. If it wasn't for Bob the boys wouldn't have their favourite club. "We can't let him die in vain." He declared, walking back to the table with one of the puzzles in his hand.
"What do you want to do, Mike? The Chief's right on this. We can't stop those Demodogs on our own." Dustin said voice raised. He sounded as defeated as Andy felt.
"Demodogs?" Max questioned at the term used, raising an eyebrow at Dustin who waved his hands about. "Demogorgon dogs. Demo-dogs. It's like a compound, a play on words." Andy snickered at how she had spent so much time with the boy when he said the phrase to her, she instantly knew what it meant.
"When it was just Dart, maybe, but there's an army now. His army."
A lightbulb went off in Mike's head and his entire face perked up in expression. Andy lifted her head off Steve's shoulder to clearly hear what he was going to say. "Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army too."
A quick silence passed as they all looked to each other confused. Mike sighed, rushing out the room for them all to follow. He fumbled amidst the countless papers of Will's drawings until he got the one of the Shadow Monster. "It got Will that day on the field. The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him."
"So this virus it's connecting him to the tunnels?" Max questioned. For someone who had only recently found out about all the supernatural and interdimensional craziness, she caught on quickly. Unlike Steve who watched and listened to the conversation bewildered. "To the tunnels, monsters, the Upside Down, everything." Mike explained.
"Whoa. Slow down. Slow down." Steve flustered and the younger ones huffed at having to explain it to him more clearly. "Okay, so, the Shadow Monster's inside everything and if the vines feel something like pain, then so does Will."
"And so does Dart." Lucas added. "Like what Mr. Clarke taught us. The hive mind."
"Hive mind?" Steve questioned and Andy jumped at finally knowing the answer to something. "A collective consciousness. It's a super-organism." She explained, remembering her science lessons. They nodded, other than Steve who was still confused and Andy began to doubt if he ever listened in class.
"Like the Mind Flayer."
That time both Max and Steve exclaimed in confusion and Andy cringed at how she wished she didn't know what it meant. She had definitely been spending too much time with boys because she knew exactly what a Mind Flayer was and its role in Dungeons and Dragons. After watching them play for so long, she began to pick up words and phrases.
Dustin ran off to Will's bedroom to get his copy of D&D then gathered everyone together, forcing them to stand around the dining room table. He slammed the book down, flicking to a middle page which showed an illustration strikingly and terrifyingly similar to the figure Will had drawn. Andy stood between Steve and Mike, watching Dustin intently. "The Mind Flayer," He began but was quickly interrupted. "What the hell is that?" Hopper questioned disgruntled.
"It's a monster from an unknown dimension. It's so ancient that it doesn't even know its true home. It enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using it's highly developed psionic powers." Dustin spoke excitedly about the figure, almost beaming with pride that he had figured it out. However, Hopper wasn't impressed. "Oh my God, none of this is real. This is a kids' game." He groaned.
Dustin scoffed in offence. There was nothing worse than something you loved being belittled. "No, it's a manual and it's not for kids." He spat. "And unless you know something that we don't this is the best metaphor-"
"Analogy." Lucas butted in correcting Dustin, who stared back at him deadpanned then annoyed. "Analogy? That's what you're worried?" He exclaimed, Lucas just shrugged. "Fine. An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is."
Opposite Andy, Nancy inched over the table to get a better look at the book. Andy hadn't seen Nancy in almost a week. In fact, their last conversation was at the Halloween party and suddenly Andy felt thankful to hear her smart understanding voice. "Okay, so this Mind Flamer thing-"
"Mind Flayer." Dustin corrected with a roll of his eyes. The boy had spent the last half an hour explaining, correcting and reexplaining everything to the group and yet they still couldn't grasp it. Nancy waved her hand dismissively. "What does it want?"
"To conquer us basically. It believes it's the master race." Dustin answered and Steve nodded along as if he understood. "Like the Germans?" He said confidently but only gained frowns from everyone, particularly Andy who peered up at him in disbelief. "Uh, the Nazis?" Dustin corrected again and Steve nodded, embarrassed and flustered. "Yeah, yeah, the Nazis."
"Uh, if the Nazis were from another dimension, totally."
Over her shoulder, Andy saw her dad rubbing his face in annoyance. If she was to ever date Steve, she had no idea how she'd break the news to him. She could see it now - "really? that idiot."
"It views other races, like us, as inferior to itself." Dustin explained, gazing round the group. "It wants to spread, take over other dimensions."
"We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it."
With every word the boys said, panic grew. This was a threat bigger than last year and harder to defeat. All they knew is that if they killed the brain, they killed the army, but it wasn't something they could do with guns or fire, it was something they had no idea what to do with. Mike and Hopper bickered back and forth. Hopper wanted to wait for the military back-up to arrive, even though they had no when they would or even if they would. Mike wanted to do the opposite, he wanted to fight it head-on now.
"It's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town."
They were sitting pray. For all they knew the pack of Demodogs could have been underneath them right then. Andy shuddered at the thought and she felt Steve place a delicate hand on her shoulder. If those Demodogs did reach the town, it would be destroyed. Andy's life in Hawkins had finally felt normal and she didn't want that to be taken away from her. She was going to fight. With her dad beside her or not. After all, disobeying him was her main hobby.
"They're right." Everyone looked to where Joyce's feeble voice came. She stood in the doorway appearing paler than usual and with bloodshot eyes, where she had obviously been crying. Despite that, she looked vengeful. "We have to kill it. I want to kill it."
Jim rushed to Joyce. "Me too, okay? Me too. But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here."
Being fixated on the frail Joyce, no one noticed Mike creeping towards Will unconscious on the sofa. A knitted blanket covered his body, he looked like a shell of himself, but he had a power that could save them all. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it. He'll know its weakness."
"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore. That he's a spy for the Mind Flayer now?" Max piped in. What she said was true. If Will and therefore the Mind Flayer knew where they were, he would send the Demodogs to them, just like he had done at the lab. It was too risky. They weren't strong enough to fight them off.
"Yeah, but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is."
The plan took work, fortunately, they were all willing to put the effort in. They had to get through to Will without him knowing where he was. Therefore, they decided to give the garden shed at the Byers' house a bad makeover. Hopper threw all of its contents out into the yard and then they all began covering the walls and windows with anything they could find. Black tarp, cardboard, newspaper. The small space was quickly looking unrecognisable. Andy stapled a piece of cardboard to the wall, doing her best to get it as high as possible but not getting much height. She looked over her shoulder to see Jonathan doing the same but more effectively, so she slid over.
"Hey, Casanova." She smirked. Jonathan scoffed, rolling his eyes at Andy. "Don't start." He chuckled lightly but turned to face her nonetheless. He had missed Andy. They hadn't communicated in days, which was strange for the two of them. Normally, Andy would always be calling for a lift somewhere and when Jonathan hadn't heard from her, he worried.
"I'm not starting anything." Andy defended, but a smug smile still etched upon her face. "I'm just surprised you didn't tell me about you and Miss Nancy."
Jonathan pressed another stable into the wall before pulling away. He brushed his fringe out of his sweaty face and turned to face Andy. "Like you didn't tell me about you and Steve?"
Andy gasped, slapping Jonathan's shoulder to get him to be quiet. She nervously glanced round to see if anyone else in the shed had heard, but as they carried on with what they were doing it seemed they hadn't. She turned back to Jonathan. "How do you know about that?" She hissed under her breath.
"As much as I hate to admit it, you're kind of my best friend and therefore I can tell when you like someone." Jonathan snickered. Andy felt a swell of affection and she nudged his shoulder with a mischievous smile. "I'm your best friend?" She questioned, in a teasing manner. Jonathan wasn't keen on opening up to people and the relationship he and Andy shared wasn't always the most affectionate.
"I take it back." He sniggered, but Andy shook her head smiling at him. "No, don't, because you're kind of my best friend too."
They both laughed, relishing in their rare tenderness. The whole year they had both done their best to hide their secret crushes from one another, but unknowingly failed. It had been obvious to Andy that Jonathan was in love with Nancy and now it seemed the same could be said for her feelings towards Steve.
"Although I have to admit, I am a little confused." He said, raising a questioning eyebrow towards Andy. "On how it has come to be that you like him and how he so clearly likes you back, since to the best of my knowledge you've spent the last year hating Steve and not once spending time with him."
Andy cringed at the facade she had managed to create and it's level of deception. Her and Steve's story had always been a secret one. A guilty one. However, now was the time to finally tell the truth and she was already beginning to feel the relief of confiding in someone. Andy snickered. "It's complicated. Do you want the long or short version?"
Jonathan too sniggered in return. "Well, as we have to fight some interdimensional monster soon, I'll have to have the short version."
So as they continued to work on the garden shed Andy told Jonathan the story. About how she and Steve had somehow teamed up to investigate what Jonathan and Nancy had been up to, but somewhere along the way fell for each other hard. How it was almost perfect until Andy decided to go back to New York and by the time she realised Hawkins was her home, Steve had already gone off with Nancy. However, the events of the last week had quite possibly brought them back together.
Once she finished, Jonathan nodded slowly a little dumbfounded and trying to take all the information in. How all of this had happened right under his nose without him ever knowing was mindblowing. "You really managed to keep all that a secret for a year?" He laughed. "That's crazy, you're such a gossip!"
Andy's jaw dropped in shock at the offensive, yet funny, statement. "I am not!" She exclaimed back, but Jonathan was still smirking nonetheless. "I happen to be very good at keeping secrets, you just don't know that because they're secrets."
After they had finished with the shed, it was no longer recognisable. All distinguishable features had disappeared and every inch was covered with some sort of black or brown material. Their plan might just work after all. Inside the shed for Will's interrogation was only Hopper, Joyce, Jonathan and Mike. Too many people would likely be more too much for the disorientated boy to handle and they desperately needed for this to work.
Inside the house, Andy leaned against the wall watching Steve aimlessly swing his bat repeatedly. They all had resorted to doing anything just to keep them occupied. Andy felt sick to her stomach and could physically feel the dark bags under her tired eyes. It seemed being left waiting in the house was almost as painful as being in the shed outside. Even though it had only been as little as twenty minutes since the interrogation had begun, it felt like hours. Every second that ticked by felt like a crushing weight. Out of the corner of her eye, Andy saw Nancy over on the couch. Her leg was bouncing up and down and she nervously bit at her nails. It was time for Andy to be a good friend.
She slinked over towards Nancy and took a seat next to her, sinking into the fabric of the couch. "Hey." She said gently and reassuringly placed her hand on top of Nancy's, moving it onto the girls lap away from her mouth.
"It's going to be okay." She said comfortingly, even though she wasn't sure she believed it. But she needed to be there for Nancy and was willing to put on a strong front.
"I know, I know," Nancy repeated. "It's just so horrible waiting and not knowing." She gave Andy a meek smile before her eyes fluttered over towards Steve then back to Andy. There was something she wanted to say. "I need to apologise to you."
Andy's face crinkled in confusion. She hadn't seen the glance Nancy had thrown Steve but regardless she couldn't think of any reason why she deserved an apology. "Why?" She asked, looking at Nancy intently.
This time when Nancy looked at Steve, Andy's gaze followed. "Because I know you love him." She looked back to Andy. "And I know he loves you too."
Andy's stomach dropped. Even though she and Steve hadn't hidden their feelings that evening, it still felt like she had been caught out. "W-What?" She stuttered, shock taking over her. "How do you know?"
"Because I see the way he looks at you. I've always seen it and I did nothing about it."
So Nancy had known. For a while as well. It then became apparent to Andy maybe she wasn't as good at hiding her feelings as she thought she was. She had expected Nancy to be anger or upset, but in that moment she looked neither, but instead carried on speaking.
"And the reason I need to apologise is because the times I didn't catch him looking at you was because I was looking elsewhere." Her eyes went towards the door and what or who that meant. Jonathan. It all became clear. "I was being so selfish. I just wanted to date the cool guy, even just for a bit. Maybe I was doing what I thought was right, but really I was stopping every single one of us being with who we really wanted to be with. I'm so sorry, Andy."
Andy shook her head at the visibly guilty girl. "No, Nancy." She cooed. "You have no reason to apologise. If anyone needs to say sorry, it's me. I had feelings for your boyfriend, that's not okay."
A small smile sketched onto Nancy's face at Andy's sincere apology and kindness. "You did nothing wrong, Andy. We can't help who we fall for. I just wish you felt like you could have told me."
"Me too." Andy replied shyly. "I didn't want to upset you though, but I suppose maybe we both should have been more honest with each other."
Nancy nodded, a surge of encouragement rippling through her and eagerly grabbed Andy's hands that despite the conversation were still shaking in fear from their current situation. "From now we on we don't let any boy come between us, ever. We're girls and we need to stick together. Deal?"
An easy smile spread across Andy's face. "Deal."
Their sincere moments was loudly interrupted by Hopper barging through the door. The flimsy frame crashed against the wall, but he ignored it as he practically dived for the bookcase, frantically searching through the books until he found the one he wanted. Andy was used to her father's erratic behaviour but even this seemed to have more urgency than usual.
"Andy, get a pen and paper." He ordered looking over his shoulder at her. Andy nodded, following his orders. She darted towards the kitchen, rummaging through drawers until she finally landed on a pen and used envelope. It was the best she could find. She rushed back to the table, throwing the items down in front of her dad who now sat with a crowd around him.
"I think he's talking, just not with words."
He snatched the pen, scribbling down a serious of lines and dots onto the back of the envelope. Instantly Andy recognised it as morse code. She had been forced to learn it so that herself, her Dad and Eleven could secretly communicate when they were out of the house. The reminder made her heart sink. She missed the little girl so much.
"What is that?" Steve asked, squinting down at the paper that confused him. Everyone simultaneously replied "morse code", leaving him again feeling relatively stupid.
"H-E-R-E." Hopper spelled out. "Here." They all gasped, but for the first time, it was hopeful. "Will's still in there. He's talking to us."
Jonathan ran to his room, grabbing his stereo and walkman, then heading back outside. They needed to get through to the Will that was buried deep down in his body and to do that they needed to remind him of some of the fondest memories from his life. From the shed, Hopper relayed the sequences to the group inside via the radios. Andy listened for the signs, repeating them out loud and noting them down on paper. She had hastily dismissed Steve when he questioned her on how she knew morse code. Now was not the time to deal with that.
She translated the sequence from memory, checking every letter with the morse code book Hopper had desperately found earlier. After what felt like forever, she had finished. Holding the paper in her hands everyone looked down. "Close gate." She read out, looking over the many faces surrounding her.
Before anyone could respond, all filled with dread on how they could do that impossible task they thought had already been done, the telephone rang on the wall.
"Shit, shit." Dustin panicked, leaping over his chair to reach the phone. He pulled it off the wall, stopping the incredible shrill tone and then slamming it back onto the wall. Just as they went to sigh in relief, the hideous thing sounded again. This time Nancy grabbed it, ripping the entire thing away and throwing it to the floor so that it broke into many different pieces.
Andy stood between Steve and Lucas, shoulders heaving in panic and her deep breathing being the only thing she could hear.
"Do you think he heard that?" Max asked with a shaky voice. Andy wanted to comfort her but the answer she had wouldn't be one of reassurance. For she was almost certain he had heard the call. "It's just a phone. It could be anywhere. Right?" Steve said, but his voice too lacked conviction. Seconds later a screeching roar whipped through the wind towards them, sending a chill over Andy. They were coming. The demodogs were on their way.
Jonathan and Joyce burst through the door, carrying an unconscious Will in their arms. Behind them, Mike followed and seconds later Hopper. In his hands, he held two rifles and ushered at the kids to move. "Hey, get away from the windows!" He yelled and they scampered away.
"Andy, catch." He ordered and tossed one of the guns towards his daughter. Andy caught it by the barrel and with perfect execution and confidence cocked it. Many of the others looked towards her in surprise, particularly Steve whose jaw swung loose. "When the hell did you learn to do that!?" He exclaimed.
She ignored his comment, too focused on protecting the people around her. She was one of the only people with a gun after all. Everyone grabbed a weapon, Steve with his honorary bat and Lucas the wrist rocket he was using to protect Max with. The older of the group stood in a line defensively in front of the children and facing the windows, poised to attack. Andy moved her head slightly to the left towards Steve, who did the same. Despite it all, his lips tugged at a smile and he went to mouth something he had wanted to say for a very long time but a screech from the opposite direction cut him off before Andy could see.
They all spun in the direction the sound came from, now faced towards a different set of windows by the door. Andy swallowed hard, shifting on her feet, eyes darting back and forth between windows. Her gun was at eye level and she stared down the barrel. Outside the roars and screeches continued, flashes of movement darted past until it all just stopped. Everyone froze, not knowing what that meant.
Then out of nowhere a lump of grey shattered through the window. Collectively they all screamed, Andy included and likely the loudest other than Steve. She stared down her rifle, ready to shoot but the demodog's limp body rolled across the floor a few times before landing in a heap of Will's drawings. No one moved for a matter of seconds, until Hopper gradually edged towards it. Andy resisted the urge to grab his collar and pull him back.
"Is it dead?" Max asked. Hopper used his foot to kick the head of the creature to check. To all their relief it stayed unmoving. It was dead. Somehow.
From behind her, the door creaked and once again they jumped round to face the inscrutable noise. Fearing it was somehow a demodog, or much worse, Andy raised her rifle. She breathed in shallow, rasping breaths, fear spreading through her like fire, but as the chain lock slid slowly opened as if by magic, she calmed. This was no demodog.
The first thing Andy noticed as the door swung open was a dirty white converse stepping into the room, one she fleetingly mistook for her own. This was then followed by a series of features she loved and had missed so very much.
Eleven was back.
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oh my god, i cannot get over how long this chapter is! 4400, words! hopefully that's a good thing, right?? it took me sooo long to write, some bits I hated and some i loved. my favourite bits are definitely andy talking with jonathan then nancy and of course the little sweet moments with Steve. what about you guys? im so excited for the andy/eleven reunion, it is going to be so cute
lola xo