[ Location: The Byers' Residence ][ Time: 10:00 PM ]
While we were turning a middle school gym into a salt bath, Nancy and Jonathan were turning the Byers' house into a slaughterhouse.
They had retrieve the gear—guns, bear traps, gasoline—and set the stage. But as always, the universe threw a wrench in the works. That wrench had great hair and was named Steve Harrington.
Steve stood on the porch, looking confused and holding a baseball bat. He had come to apologize. He picked the worst possible moment in human history to do it.
"Nancy?" Steve shouted, pounding on the door. "Hello?"
Inside, Nancy and Jonathan froze. The lights were flickering. It was coming.
"Steve, go away!" Nancy screamed, racking the slide of her pistol.
"What is going on?" Steve forced his way in just as the lights surged and popped.
SCREEECH.
The ceiling bulged. The drywall tore open like wet paper. The Demogorgon dropped into the hallway, unfolding to its full, terrifying height.
"What is that?!" Steve screamed, backing up.
"Run!" Jonathan yelled.
But they didn't run. They fought.
Nancy fired. Bang! Bang! The bullets hit the monster, black blood spurting, but it barely slowed down. It lunged.
Steve, fueled by adrenaline and sheer panic, swung the bat. He didn't run away. He swung.
CRACK.
The nail-studded bat connected with the monster's face. It roared, stumbling back into the bear trap Jonathan had set.
SNAP.
The metal jaws clamped onto its leg. It shrieked.
"Now!" Nancy yelled.
Jonathan threw the lighter. The gasoline-soaked hallway erupted into flames.
The monster screeched, engulfed in fire. It thrashed, then vanished—phasing back into the Upside Down to escape the heat.
The three teenagers stood panting in the smoke-filled hallway.
"Okay," Steve wheezed, staring at the empty trap. "What... the hell... was that?"
[ Location: Hawkins National Laboratory ][ Time: 10:15 PM ]
Hopper and Joyce didn't have weapons. They had desperation.
They broke into the perimeter fence, sprinting for the main entrance. But Brenner was waiting. Security lights flooded the yard. Men in suits swarmed them.
"Don't move!"
Within seconds, they were on their knees, zip-tied.
Dr. Brenner walked out of the shadows, looking calm. Clinical.
"Chief Hopper," Brenner said smoothly. "You've been a nuisance."
They dragged them inside. They separated them.
Hopper sat in an interrogation room. A man with a taser stood guard. Hopper looked at the camera in the corner. He knew Brenner was watching.
"I know what you want," Hopper said to the mirror. "You want the girl."
The door opened. Brenner walked in.
"Where is she?" Brenner asked softly.
Hopper leaned back. He was tired. He was haunted. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw his daughter, Sara, dying in a hospital bed. He couldn't save Sara. But he could save Will.
"I'll give her up," Hopper said, his voice gravelly. "But I want the boy. And I want you to let us go in there to get him."
Brenner considered it. A trade. The Asset for the Boy.
"Where is she?" Brenner asked.
"The Middle School," Hopper said. "She's at the Middle School."
Brenner nodded to his men. "Prepare the team."
Hopper closed his eyes. He had just sold out Eleven to save Will. It was a deal with the devil, but it was the only card he had left.
[ Location: The Upside Down - Castle Byers ][ Time: 10:30 PM ]
Will lay curled in the corner of his ruined fort. The air was toxic ash. The cold was biting into his bones.
The wood shattered.
The Demogorgon—burned, angry, and hunting—tore the roof off the fort.
Will screamed, but no sound came out. He was too weak.
The monster reached down. Its long fingers wrapped around him. It didn't eat him. Not yet. It dragged him away, toward the library. toward the nest.
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