Chapter Text
Will woke up with a jolt, his heart pounding in his chest as he slowly sat up from his curled position. He looked around the room, everything looked the same as the night before, he was still safe.
“Fuck” he swore softly, feelings wetness below his nose. He wiped at it with the corner of his sleeve already knowing it would come away red. He sat against the wall, his legs pulled to his chest and his arms resting on his knees, leaning his head down on his crossed arms.
Will sat there for a moment, he needed to go back to the mall, despite the chill it gave him he needed to see what that was. He’d been stuck in this place long enough to know what was normal and that thing in the wall was anything but normal.
He pulled himself off the bed and out of the room, down the hall and into the dingy bathroom, he pulled his hair away from his face, it reached his shoulders now and he needed to cut it desperately, not a lot but just a trim. Will took a second to look in the mirror like he did last night, turning his head to the side to get a better look at himself. He wasn’t ugly from the side, not until you looked at his whole face. He regarded his reflection with disgust before he had enough. He walked out of the bathroom and into what used to be the living room, this was where he stored most of his supplies, cans of food, water jugs, clothes he took from houses around the neighborhood, first aid supplies and of course every possible thing imaginable to kill anything that wasn’t human.
Will swapped the soft grey long sleeve for a faded Danzig short sleeve, on top of the shirt he added a grey plaid flannel then finally his heavy black suede jacket. He swapped his old jeans for new faded grey ones and pulled on his boots. He looked himself over once and decided it would have to do.
He walked into the kitchen, his boots loud on the linoleum. He walked over near the stove and opened the drawer next to it reaching in to grab his last box of bullets for his gun. He shut the drawer harder than needed before sauntering back into the living room, feeling oddly giddy at the thought of having a freshly loaded gun, he liked the comfort it brought him.
Once Wills gun was loaded again he grabbed his bag which contained everything he more or less cared about, a pack or matches, gauze, and a Walkman, the only tape in there being a tape by the Bauhaus.
He grabbed his bandana that lay on the table next to the couch, wrapping it around his face to protect from the particles outside, they were worse outside than indoors. When he finally had everything ready, set off. Quietly walking down the front steps of the house and through the woods to get to the main road. It was eerily silent, not even the wind made a sound. Will tried not to let it get to him as he walked through town. Walking down Mirkwood he couldn't help but feel watched, he walked further into town and the feeling worsened.
Will passed Melvalds and the police station as he made his way back to the star court mall. Fear gripped him tightly like a noose around his neck as he walked down the street that led to the mall.
He walked through the parking lot, his footsteps silent on the pavement. Will didn’t know what he would do, if he saw the same thing.
His Walkman sat heavy in his bag, lightly hitting the pack of matches with every step Will took. He grimaced slightly as he walked to the back of the mall, talking the same way as yesterday. The only sound was that of his footsteps; this concerned Will greatly considering the fact that it was never silent in this place.
Will opened the same door as yesterday and slid through the crack, wading into the storage room with caution. His steps were silent in his boots as he walked out of the storage room, pushing past boxes themed decoration.
He didn’t think it would be possible but the mall smelled worse, like mildew and rotting meat. He grimaced and wrinkled his nose, his stomach turning at the smell. Despite the fact he hadn’t eaten anything today his stomach still threatened to empty itself.
He walked the same way as yesterday, passing the outdated clothing store and passing scoops ahoy ice cream parlor. He furrowed his brow as he tried to remember where he saw everything yesterday.
Will rounded the corner only to freeze dead in his tracks.
On the floor by that thing in the floor that looked like a hole was that girl from the other day, or at least that’s what Will assumed. Her body reeked of death from where he stood, her skin was pale and gray and bruises littered almost every inch of her skin that wasn’t covered in her own blood or ripped off.
Will gulped his nausea down as he took a step closer, bugs had already covered most of the rotting flesh. He froze when he looked at her face, realizing that her eyes were still slightly open. They were unfocused and glazed over, almost doll-like.
Her face was torn apart, the skin of her chin completely torn off, leaving the exposed muscle and bone that had oxidized in the cold stale air of the mall.
Will tore his gaze away, he couldn’t look at her anymore. Instead, he turned his gaze to the gaping hole in the floor, vines circling the edge of the chasm, there was a spiderweb-like film covering the hole entirely, a frightening red glow pulsing from below.
Will felt like all the air in his lungs had been sucked out, he didn’t know what any of this meant. Why was there a girl not even three feet from him? What the hell was this giant red hole in the ground? And why was it so fucking silent.
It wasn’t until the tell tale sign of a door bursting open on the other side of the mall that Will snapped out of whatever state of shock he was in. Will knew the demodogs had a horribly good sense of smell and probably realized there was a dead girl in the mall.
He tensed and immediately backed up from the scene. Heavy footsteps immediately took off in the direction Will was in. He didn’t have time to think, he turned around and booked it, rushing past the same ice cream parlor and clothing store, his feet carrying him quickly through the mall with little noise to be detected. He could hear the rush of footsteps getting closer, he grit his teeth as he spotted the door to the storage room, almost tripping over himself and he slid inside to room, knocking over multiple boxes as he rushed to lock the door.
His labored breathing was barely able to cover up the sound of his own rushing heartbeat as he turned around and began shoving boxes out of his way to get to the back of the storage room where the other door to the outside was. He could hear the scratching and pounding at the door. Sweat dripped from his temple to his chin as he shoveled through the boxes, he doesn’t remember it being this crowded when he came through the first time.
He eventually found the door and immediately shoved it open, falling over himself onto the pavement, his bag hitting the ground to break his fall. The air was punched out of him as he stared up at the dark sky he relished in the slightly less suffocating air that the mall had. However he couldn’t stay still for too long he knew he had to move; and soon.
He stood up, wincing at the pain in his side that began to bloom. He lifted his shirt up slightly, grimacing at the ugly sight of road rash.
Shit
Will didn't have any more first aid supplies at his own house, which meant he had to break into other people's houses to find any. He began walking out of the back lot of the mall, thinking of what houses he knew would have a good amount of first aid he could take for himself, he thought about those big houses on loch Nora he always took from, some prissy jocks lived there if he remembered correctly.
He walked down the Main Street of town, trying not to focus on the burning in his side or the way the fabric of his shirt would catch on the rash if he walked the wrong way. Will thought about going into any of the stores but he wanted something closer to his own home.
As much as it brought up memories Will would never want to live out again he decided to head to the Wheelers house, which used to be somewhere he never could find himself going a week without visiting. Somewhere he used to think of as a second home. He swallowed thickly as he thought of who used to live there, he could barely remember their faces, barely their names either. But he would never forget the kindness in their hearts that they held for Will when he was little.
—————
The sight of cop cars near reefer Rick’s shack made Mike's stomach drop, he was in the car with Steve, Robin, Dustin and Max, all riding back to give Eddie food and to figure out where the next gate is.
Nancy and Jonathan had left early in the morning for god knows why, leaving the rest to pile in Steve’s car, a bad groceries sitting on Dustin’s lap.
“Oh shit” Dustin whispered, sitting up straighter in his seat.
“Steve what the hell happened? I thought no one knew Eddie was here” Dustin says, his voice thin and an octave higher than normal.
“No one knew he was here Henderson” Steve clipped back, his grip bordering white on the steering wheel.
“Well clearly someone did! Look at the damn police cars” Dustin hissed, leaning forward in his seat to lean over Steve’s shoulder.
Steve shoved him back with his elbow, making Dustin fall with a small glare on his face. Steve ended up parking a good distance from reefer Rick’s place, he locked the door before anyone could get out and turned around in the driver's seat to look at everyone.
“We are silent when we get out, do you hear me? And we are going to walk into those woods and you are all going to follow me while Robin brings up the end.” Steve said with no room for argument, ignoring robins protests as he unlocked the car and got out.
Max, Dustin, and Mike all filed out of the car and began following Steve, leaving Robin to walk behind Mike. It felt like they were just walking around aimlessly until Dustin’s walkie went off.
“-enderson?….Henderson!”
It was Eddie, thank god.
Dustin scrambled to get out the walkie, fumbling with it,
“Eddie! Oh holy shit you're okay! Where are you? Are you hurt? Did the cops get-”
Dustin was cut off by Steve grabbing the walkie talkie, having run back to Dustin from the front of the group after hearing Eddie through the walkie. With a small protest from Dustin Steve spoke firmly into the walkie.
“Eddie, are you there? where are you?” He asked, swallowing thickly as he glanced over at Robin. For a terrifying moment, there wasn’t a response, just silence from the device in Steve’s hand. That was until a small crackle from the speaker come from the walkie,
“yeah I’m here alright. But uh hey man do you remember skull rock?” Eddie asked shakily, his voice cracking through the bad reception of the walkie.
“Of course I do.” There was a bite to Steve tone that confused most of the group surrounding Steve.
“Right, yeah, ‘course you do” Eddie fumbled “I’m at it right now, ran from the shack after I heard cops” he briefly explains, rustling came from the background as he spoke but Steve paid it no mind.
“Got it. We’ll be there.” He had already begun to put the antenna of the walkie down as he answered before setting off in the direction of skull rock.
Dustin sputtered and immediately went off to follow Steve. Mike was able to hear their bickering all the way from where he walked with Max and Robin. Mike couldn’t help the feeling of unease that bubbled up in his chest. What didn’t help was what Dustin had told Mike what had happened to Max at Billy’s grave early this morning.
Steve, Dustin, Lucas, and Max had all taken a trip to the graveyard where Billy was buried. No one but Steve knew why and Mike was aware that if he asked Steve he wouldn’t get an answer. From what Mike was told by Steve briefly before they got into the car was that when Max was at the grave, something happened; Steve won’t go into detail and neither will Dustin or Lucas.
Mike hadn’t seen Lucas at all except for that morning, he’d been tasked with finding out what happened to Jason Carver, seeing as they were on the same team.
After that felt like half an hour they finally came upon skull rock. Mike watched from beside Robin as Eddie came around from behind the rock, Dustin immediately going up to tackle Eddie in a hug. Steve hovered near the edge, dropping the bag of groceries for Eddie by his feet before standing off to the side and watching as Dustin began to scold Eddie for not telling them where he was sooner but Steve cut him off before Dustin got any farther.
“We have more important things to do than bitch and complain at Eddie, Henderson.” Steve said, his tone sharp. He leaned against part of skull rock, his yellow sweater clashing against the cool tone of the boulder.
“There’s something wrong, the attacks are getting more frequent and closer together.” Steve sighed, glancing at Max briefly.
“You think they’re connected” Mike said, speaking up for the first time in a while. His face twisted in a grimace as he realized what that probably meant.
Steve nodded. “What else could explain it?” He replied
“Okay but even if they are connected, what the hell is killing these people, who by the way, have no connection to each other at all. We killed the mindflayer and Billy last year.” Dustin scoffed from his spot next to Eddie
“No. No, Steve’s right” Eddie said, firmly shutting down whatever Dustin was getting at. “They all died the same way” he grimaced slightly at the memory.
“Fred Benson was killed the same way last night just up the road…that’s why there are all those police cars. I had walked up the road to check out a noise I heard even though I knew it was a bad idea but I kept walking and eventually I saw his car, the door was open and Fred was on the ground in front of it, killed the same way Chrissy was” As Eddie spoke his words wavered slightly, but he cleared his throat and didn’t acknowledge it.
No one spoke for a moment, shocked by what Eddie said.
“We need to figure out why this is happening. It has to be connected to the upside down.” Max said firmly, folding her arms over her chest. Her jaw twitched like she had more to say but left it at that. The group knew well enough what they had to do.
“I really thought we were done with this last year” Robin complains quietly next to Mike. All Mike could do was nod, because he’d been wishing the same thing for the last three and a half years.
————
As Will walked out of town and down the familiar road that ended in a culdesac, where he would find the wheeler house. What was odd about it though, was that it lacked the thick silence it used to hold. He sighed in frustration, he needed three things and then he’d be gone from that house.
As Will got closer to the house he got more cautious, even going as far as to bring out his gun, it gave him a small sense of safety, the safety was off and his hand gripped the handle lightly, his finger ready to pull the trigger if needed.
Will quietly walked up into the driveway of the Wheeler house, setting his back down and both his jackets, it would be easier to move around without the weight. He took his gun and steeled himself for what he might find inside.
The door was already ajar when he walked up to the front of the house, Will snuck in, careful not to alert anything in the house that he was here. He made his way upstairs, his footsteps barely audible as he walked down the hallways, trying to avoid the vines on the ground. He turned the corner, about to enter the bathroom that used to be a guest room when something stopped him, the old bedroom of Mrs and Mr Wheeler was open. It’s never open.
Will has never gone into the bedrooms.
He tried to calm his beating heart as he began to rationalize the open door, trying not to let his paranoia get to him.
It was probably a demogorgan, or something.
He tried to tell himself, attempting to calm the heartbeat in his ears and ease the pit in his stomach. He shook himself out of his frozen state and walked down the hall to the bathroom, he froze when he heard a sharp whisper coming from the bathroom, raising his gun as he stalked down the hall, his index finger coming down to rest on the trigger of the gun, ready to pull at a moment’s notice.
A quick flash of movement caught Wills eye from the bedroom to his left; he pivoted quickly, firing the gun, he wasn’t aiming to kill, he was aiming to scare.
He didn’t wait to see what was in the bedroom before barging in, running into a body, pushing them against the wall, gun held under their chin.
Will knew he looked crazy, his face all scarred up, his only working eye wide with an emotion he himself couldn’t place. His breathing was ragged as he looked at who it was. It wasn’t a demogorgon like Will had expected. It was a boy, a few years older than him, a little taller, with big brown eyes and a shaggy brown mullet. Will didn’t have time to examine every inch of who he had at gun point
“Who are you” he snarled, getting close in the boy's face, pressing the gun a little further into the soft underside of his chin. Will was so focused on the boy in front of him he didn’t hear the footsteps of a few more people. The door slammed open and Will's head snapped over, six people stood in the doorway, all in various states of shock at the scene.
“Who the fuck are you guys” Will grounds out, his eyes flickering between the guy he had at gunpoint and the group.
One of them stepped forward, they all looked familiar but Will couldn’t figure out why. The boy who stepped forward looked so eerily familiar, it bothered Will slightly, his curly black hair, his high cheekbones and lanky stature, he wore a red and blue knit sweater with black jeans, a flashlight held limp in his hand. Approaching Will like a frightened animal.
“Will?”
———————-
After an hour of sitting around at skull rock, Nancy finally showed up, earlier Steve had let her know where the group was and that Eddie was fine. He didn't, however, tell her their suspicion about the deaths in town. Mike sat on the ground next to Max as Steve briefed Nancy on what they knew, probably coming up with a plan but Mike couldn’t find it in himself to care.
Over the last few months things got weird between everyone. Nancy rarely saw Jonathan despite them dating, Lucas and Max had been on a break ever since Billy passed, and it had been weird with Steve and Eddie. This caused an uncomfortable rift in the group, no one wanted to talk it out or admit it was there. Mike understood to a certain level but at the same time wished it wasn’t so awkward.
Despite the awkwardness in the group, him and Max had gotten closer. Despite their constant bickering and harsh looks when the other wasn’t looking there was something that they understood about each other, maybe they didn’t even notice it themselves.
“We are not going back down there” Nancy snapped harshly at Steve which had dragged Mike quickly out of his own thoughts.
“Then what else are we gonna do, nance?” Steve said, his voice raising slightly in volume. “What if someone else does because we didn’t figure out why it was happening in the first place!” He tugged a hand through his hair as he paced through the leaves of the forest floor.
Nancy swallowed thickly, the cogs in her mind working visibly, after a moment she spoke.
“If we do end up going upside down, what would we even look for?” She asks, seeming a little more open to the idea than she had been a few moments before.
“The Hawkins lab? The other portals.. wasn’t that Benson kid looking into the creek house murders? We could look there” Mike said to Nancy, standing and dusting the dirt from his black jeans.
She frowned slightly, then nodded slowly
“Okay… but you kids aren’t going” she said to Mike, as well as Dustin and Max.
Dustin gawked at her, “what! No we have to go” he scoffed
She leveled him with a flat look “why?”
Before Dustin could answer Steve cut in, stepping forward slightly.
“We are all going, no discussion about that, it’s final. We can’t split up anymore than we already have. Here’s what we’re going to do; once the cop cars leave, we go looking near the scene since a gate should be open nearby, we take that gate to the upside down and we find whatever we can, whether that’s the Hawkins lab or the Creel house to figure out why everyone has died so specifically, okay? And once we find out why we are going to leave the upside down, grab Jane and figure out at a team how to close and finish the upside down” Steve rants, his hands placed firmly on his hips as he speaks.
Dustin starts up a slow clap but his hands are shoved apart by Eddie, Dustin scowls and shoves his hands in his pockets. Nancy looked at Steve in shock.
“You actually had a plan” she says surprised
Steve smirks slightly “you know, I’m not just a pretty face”.
Nancy rolls her eyes and Dustin groans at the comment while Robin makes a fake gagging noise in the background, causing giggle to erupt from the younger teens of the group.
“So now what? We wait around till the cops leave?” Eddie asks Steve, his face slightly downturned in confusion.
Steve nodded once, not looking in Eddie's direction. This caused a small uproar in complaints before it was quickly shot down by Nancy.
“They were wrapping it up when I left, give thirty more minutes, Jesus. She said exasperated moving from where she stood next to Steve to go and stand near Mike.
The group, almost collectively realized it wouldn’t be that long, as they slowly dispersed into idle chatter Nancy turned to look at Mike.
“You alright?” She asked under her breath, leaning against the same rock Mike was he could smell her powdery perfume that lingered on her clothes from the morning. She wore a white blouse with a light blue sweater vest that matched well with her blue skirt; however, that light blue sweater had been ditched for a dark blue jean jacket that Mike assumed was Jonathan’s.
Mike pulled himself from his train of thought and nodded.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“The whole upside down thing, I know your not fond of it” she sighed
Oh this was about will, wasn’t it.
“It’s been three, almost four years since it happened. I got over it.” He knew he was lying, he hasn’t gotten over will, sometimes he thinks he never will. But Nancy doesn’t need to know that
She regarded him skeptically. “Really?”
Mike nodded, not meeting her gaze as he spoke.
“Yeah. Had to get over it eventually”
Nancy looked like she was going to say something else but sighed softly and said nothing. They stayed standing next to each other for a while, it wasn’t until they heard cars passing far off in the distance that Mike finally moved from his spot.
“Sounds like they’re gone now, we should find the gate quickly” Max grimaced ever so slightly as she stood up, dusting off her blue jeans before showing her hands in the pockets of her zip-up.
The older kids glanced at one another before nodding collectively.
“Max is right, we can lose any more daylight than we already have.” Steve said
Dustin stood up, digging his compass out of his pocket. He took off south without a word, Steve gawking at Dustin in slight shock before taking off after him.
“Henderson!” He called after him but it didn’t look like Dustin was slowing down.
Mike walked next to Max and Robin as they followed behind Nancy and Eddie through the woods, up ahead Mike could hear Dustin and Steve bickering but he ignored it, focusing on trying not to trip in the dark shadows in the woods.
Mike had been so focused on watching his steps he accidentally bumped into Eddie who had abruptly stopped.
“Shit, sorry” Mike mumbled, embarrassed that he had run into the older boy.
Eddie didn’t respond, seemingly too focused on Dustin and Steve who were hovering over the compass.
“It has to be near Steve! The compass never acts like this” Dustin said, frustration creeping into his voice.
“Then where is it Henderson? Because I don’t see a damn-” Steve was cut off by Eddie who stepped forward and grabbed Steve by the shoulders turning him around to face the lake. In the middle of the lake it looked like a red light coming from the center, a light they were all too familiar with to know that they had found a gate.
“Hate to burst your bubble, Stevie. But I think we already found it” Eddie says, clearly teasing Steve before pulling away.
Robin glanced over at Mike, as if to confirm what she just saw, Mike simply shrugged, he had no interest in whatever was going on with the two of them, it was too complicated for Mike to give a single shit.
Steve scowled and turned so he was facing the group.
“Thanks smartass. Now care to tell us how we’re going to get there?”
The only response Steve got was a shit eating grin from Eddie.
++++
There was a boat.
Of course they had a boat. Mike thought sourly internally sighing at the thought of getting on.However he barely paid attention as he was pulled onto the small boat by Nancy, sitting next to her on the small bench inside the boat, max sitting behind him, her knees resting against his lower back.
He could hear Steve and Dustin bickering in the background, getting snapped at by Max since they were too loud but he was too focused on the red glow of the water that they were getting increasingly closer to.
“Do you think we’ll find the answer? To all of this?” he sighs softly, gazing at his sister with tired eyes. Her curls frizzy as they framed her face.
She turns slightly to look back at Mike, her expression matching his.
“I hope so” she shrugs watching the water of the lake ripple.
The boat comes to a stop, just near the glow of the water.
“So…who wants to go first?” Robin asks nervously, her face twisted in displeasure.Mike looks up from his lap watching as Steve stands up,
“Me, I’m the best option. I wasn’t captain of the swim team in high school for nothing” he says and begins to take off his shirt, throwing it at Eddie before taking off his shoes.
Dustin grimaced at Steve shirtless, “holy shit you need to shave, you look like a hairy gorilla” shakes his head slightly.
Steve ignores Dustin’s comment as he moves to stand at the edge of the boat. He watches as Nancy frowns slightly but grabs a flashlight from her bag, wrapping it in the plastic bag that laid on the floor of the dirty boat. She handed it to Robin who handed it to Eddie before finally the flashlight made its way to Steve. As Eddie hands the flashlight to Steve he says,
“Hey…good luck” but there’s an underlying tone that he wanted to say something more.
“Thanks” Steve says, not waiting for a go ahead before diving off the boat, causing it to rock from side to side as Steve swims under water.
As he does so Eddie takes out a cigarette putting it between his lips and about to light it before it’s tossed into the water by Robin who mutters a small “gross” as she does so.
They wait.
15 seconds.
And wait.
30 seconds.
And wait.
40 seconds.
Mike refuses to let his fear crawl up into his throat too quickly as they all wait for Steve. He can feel max’s knees pressing firmly into him, grounding him in an odd way as he shares a look with Nancy and dustin, worry etched into their features.
“Where we at wheeler?” Robin asks, her voice shaky as she looks up at Nancy.
“Closing in on a minute”
Robin nods
“Okay” she sighs softly
No one says anything after that, a thick blanket of silence settling over them. That is until the water surface is broken by Steve, who finally has come up from the water.
“I found it” he gasps, swimming near the the boat and grabbing onto the edge
“Really? You found it?” Robin ask leaning over the boat
Steve nods.
“It’s pretty wild, the gate is huge, way bigger than we’ve seen before”
Steve gets cut off by his grip slipping from the edge of the boat causing everyone to surge forward, rocking Mike from where he sat next to Nancy and rousing a whispered curse from Max.
Once Steve regains his grip they all relax, that is until he’s practically dragged underwater by something beneath him.
Dustin, Nancy, and Robin scramble over to the edge, practically leaning out of the boat and shouting at the water for Steve, Eddie leans behind them with Mike and Max, looking over their shoulders.
“Steve! No, no, no, What the hell was that man!” Eddie yells, panic creeping its way into his voice as he still searches the water for any sign of Steve over the shoulders of Robin and Nancy.
“Nanc what the hell happened!” Dustin says looking over at her, his expression frightened and mournful already at the thought of something happening to Steve. Nancy sits back on her heels running a hand down her face before stealing her expression and standing up, getting ready to jump in after Steve.
“Wait, wait, you're not going in there are you?” Eddie says, catching her wrist before she can jump.
“Just.. wait here” she scowls between gritted teeth. Ignoring the calls of her name as she jumps in after. Mike rushed to the edge leaning over and calling after her, but to no avail.
Mike moved to the edge, turning around and sitting on it.
“No, no, no. What are you doing” Eddie says, looking at Mike like he’s grown a second head. “she said wait”.
Mike glares slightly at the older teen, “I heard her,” he says.
“Good then sit your ass down” Eddie says firmly.
Mike ignores him, plugging his nose with his fingers and leaning back to dive backwards into the water.
It’s cold, way colder than how Mike remembers it being when he swam in the lake earlier in the week. His eyes burn as he opens them under water, his lungs burn too, already screaming for oxygen. But Mike can faintly see the red glow of the gate just a few feet in front of him as he swims closer.
As Mike gets closer it’s like a current is pulling him closer in the water, urging him forward as he’s pushed through the gate onto the other side of the upside down.
When Mike opens his eyes again, sitting up from where the gate spit him out, the first thing his brain realizes is the screaming.
He stands immediately turning around in circles to find where it’s coming from, and there in the air are what looks like swarms of bats, some on the ground surrounding what Mike thinks is Steve, clawing at his neck and hips. There are bats around Nancy, pulling at her clothes and hair.
Mike stands there stupidly, watching his sister and friend be mercilessly attacked by demonic bats, unaware that the rest of the group had come into the upside down until Robin is rushing past Mike, grabbing the discarded oar on the ground and swatting at the bats near Steve.
It shocks Mike out of his frozen state of fear, shoving down his embarrassment for later as he runs over to Nancy tearing off the bat from her clothes and slamming it to the ground, its body writhing in place as Mike holds it by the tail before stepping on its head.
“You okay?” he asks Nancy, grabbing by her shoulder with a tense and shaky grip.
She nods, her jaw set in a firm, tight line. “Cmon, we need to go before more bats come” she’s already pushing him, urging him forward towards the trees. They both take off running, the rest of the group running, Steve leaning on Robin for support as they finally make it to the trees. Mike pants, leaning against the same tree Max is as he takes in the state of his friends.
Nancy? Not hurt, she’s okay.
Max? There’s a scrape on her cheek that’s bleeding and her hair is a mess but that’s all.
Dustin? His hat is missing but he’s okay too.
Robin? She’s got a cut on her cheek like Max and is covered in dirt and Steve’s blood.
Eddie? He’s okay too, way more than the rest of them.
But Steve… his neck has a ring around the middle of it, rubbed raw and bleeding, already starting to bruise. His lip is busted and there’s blood coming from his mouth, dripping at the corners to his chin. The worst part is his stomach, huge gashes have been bitten into the skin from the bats, revealing the visible fat of his skin that had been ripped open deep enough to pass through the dermis, exposing the subcutaneous layer, which looked like a soft, yellowish, clumpy tissue. Mike felt sick to his stomach as he took a closer look. The tissue resembled "tiny yellow bubbles" and Mike knew that it was a sign that the wound was a full-thickness injury, and that Steve desperately required medical attention that they couldn’t get him.
Mike hadn’t noticed his stagnant breathing until Max was talking to him.
“Wheeler? You alright?” She eyes him skeptically.
He swallows thickly and nods, watching as Nancy patches Steve up with the material from her thin jacket.
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine” he clears his throat slightly, not looking at her gaze. Her gaze made him feel naked, like she was looking at him under a microscope, analyzing every word to find out what he truly felt and thought. Mike hated that.
He didn’t want anyone knowing him. Or knowing what he thought, what he felt. He liked being on the outskirts, he liked it when no one asked why he acted the way he did. It made him feel better about himself, like he’d accomplished something. And maybe it was sad and pathetic that he liked it but he couldn’t bring himself to care.
He was pulled out of his melancholic train of thought when Nancy began speaking, taking her lead in the group like she always had.
“We need to find a place to regroup for a few hours before we go looking for Jason. We can head back to my place, it should have everything we need like clothes, supplies, and weapons. It’s not that far, we’ll be able to make it on foot in two or so hours.” She looks around the group, seeing their nodding heads. Mike noticed that no one seemed to add on to her idea or reject it in any way. He also noticed how Steve was now wearing Eddie's Jean vest. When did that happen? He wondered.
“Yes? Alright then let’s go” Nancy said waving her hand to signal people to start walking as she led the way. Mike falling in step with Max and Dustin.
“I hate it here” Max quietly murmurs, Mike seemed to be the only one who heard her, though he can’t help but agree.
“Me too” he says back, just as softly.
“I hope we find out why everyone is dying and going missing” he admits, she takes a moment to respond, as if in deep thought about if they would succeed or not.
“I think we’ll find more than that”
++++
“Are we there yet!”
“No!”
This had been going on for at least half an hour between Dustin and Nancy, and it was starting to give Mike a migraine. He didn’t have his Walkman with him like how Max did, and he didn’t think Dustin had an ‘off’ button when it came to his mouth.
Mike could hear Dustin’s groans of complaint from where he walked next to him, they had been walking through the woods and the town for an hour and a half already. That didn’t bother Mike though, but what Mike found odd what’s how quiet it was. There was no underlying buzz of the upside down, no distant growls of the demodogs or those bats from earlier. Something was wrong.
They walked down Main Street of the town, passing by all the shops that lined the roads, some of them looking exactly like how they did three and a half years ago. Mike thought it was odd, seeing the signs for movies that had been out for a while, clothes in the windows that had long since been out of fashion.
They passed by the police station and melvalds before finally diverging from Main Street and down the familiar road that led to the wheeler's house.
There wasn’t any noticeable difference in the house, the same cars sat in the driveway, the blinds were still closed, nothing immediately stood out to Mike as odd.
The group stopped before walking into the house, Nancy blocking the door as she spoke, but Mike wasn’t listening, he ignored her as she spoke, and he looked past her and at the door. Mike had an uncomfortable heaviness settle in his stomach, like a fight or flight instinct.
“-we’re going to be quick okay? Run in, grab the stuff and see if we can find my guns” Nancy said, turning around and opening the door. It creaked open, a stale smell following it when it opened. Mike grimaced faintly but followed Nancy close behind through the door.
Everyone immediately dispersed throughout the house except for Mike. He was still in the entryway by the door, he looked over at the walls, seeing all the photos of him and Will that had since been taken down. Mike had smiled in every photo; but he didn’t do much of that anymore.
The wallpaper was peeling and there were spiderwebs everywhere, the blankets that normally laid on the couch were gone and there was an empty first aid kit that sat open on the coffee table. Mike frowned slightly but decided not to look much into it. He instead decided to move and go upstairs, since everyone had quieted down he assumed that they had found most of what they needed and were trying to find clothes. He walked up the old stairs and down the hall, passing Nancy’s room with the door closed and his parents room with the door open, he could hear Eddie mumbling to himself as he walked past to his own bedroom.
As he opened the door slowly the painful whiplash of nostalgia hit Mike harder than he thought it would, stepping into his old bedroom felt like a punch to the gut. Reliving that night where everything went wrong. He needed to shake himself out of his emotions before he got lost in them. And he needed to change his clothes.
He dug through his closet, looking through boxes of hand-me-downs from Jonathan and a few of his dad’s friends that would soon become staples in his wardrobe years later. He eventually decided on a red and blue knit sweater with black jeans that were a size too big for him. Mike heard footsteps outside the door as he was grabbing his flashlight off the bed, it sounded like Steve, probably going to yell at Eddie for taking so long.
Mike walked out the bedroom with new clothes to meet a terrified looking Nancy standing outside. She turned to him, her face pale and stricken with fear.
“Someone is here” she pointed at the bedroom Eddie was in and Mike's stomach dropped. Those footsteps he heard earlier weren’t Steve, he heard Dustin whisper sharply to Steve in the bathroom before he heard a crash in the bedroom followed by a gunshot and the sound of a body against a wall. Mike didn’t wait, he shoved past Nancy and threw open the door, flashlight in hand to illuminate what had just happened. But his words got stuck in his throat.
There, in front of Mike and holding Eddie against the wall with the barrel of a gun, was a teenager. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a thin frame like Mike, however he had muscle that was visible in the frame of his clothes. His hair was a dark, dirty brown that had been cut in a mullet, curling at the ends. It wasn’t until Mike looked at his face that he realized what was happening, the shape of his jaw, the curve of his nose, the fullness of his lips. But the eyes, one was that same warm brown Mike had missed, the other was a garish mix of scar tissue that covered the surrounding area of the eye.
But Mike knew.
Mike knew.
He would know him by sound, the way he walked of the way his breathing sounded when he slept, he would know him if he lived in New York, far away from Mike, he would know him if he hadn’t seen him in years, he would know him blind, he would know him by touch alone. But now? Now he wanted to run, to back out of that house and scream because he had to be seeing things. This couldn’t be Will. Not his Will.
He stepped forward, not wanting to spook whoever this was. His hands trembled as he gripped the flashlight tighter, his throat dry and wavering all at the same time. He was so caught up in his own mess of realization he didn’t notice everyone standing behind him as his choked words left his lips.
“Will?”