Inside the Byers' shed, all of us are there. Stapling cloth to the walls, taping paper to the ceiling, wrapping cardboard around pillars, anything that covers everything.
Once we were done, Johnathan went into the house to get Will while the rest of us piled into the house. We couldn't be seen because the Mind Flayer didn't know that we are now together. That we have joined forces....We walk into the house and immediately spread out. Dustin tends to stand next to the window or pacing into the dining room. Nancy leaned against a wall in the kitchen while Steve used his spiked bat and did practice swings. Lucas was in Will's room reading about the Mind Flayer while Max and I sat in the hallways on the floor. We were sitting against opposite walls, facing each other. "If he finds out where we are...will he send those...dogs after us?" She asks me. "He won't find out." I say.
"Yeah but...If he does...." She says back. I look her in the eye. "Judgement day." I say. Max furrows her eyebrows, a scared expression on her face. "Are we prepared for that?" She asks. "We have to be..." I say. She hugs her knees, looking to the ground. "Hey." I say, causing her to look up at me. "We will be okay. I won't let him get you." I say, opening my arms for her. She just looks at me for a moment before crawling into my arms. I hug her and she leans her head on me.
Suddenly, the lights start flickering and screams are heard from inside the shed. Steve, Dustin and Nancy go towards the window, peeking outside. "What's going on?" I ask. "Not sure..." Steve replies. The lights stop flickering after a few seconds, the shed now an eerie silence.
"What just happened...." Dustin questions.
Nothing happens for a long while as we all stay where we are. Max cuddles into my side, trying to forget about the situation we're in. The others are all hyper aware of everything around them. After a while, the door opens and Hopper walks inside. "What happened?" Dustin asks, following the Chief. We all get up. I help Max to her feet before we go to where everyone else is gathered. The man grabs a piece of paper and a pen before sitting down at the table. "I think he's talking. Just not with words....." he says, drawing lines and dots on the paper. I recognise it immediately and begin to smile. "What is that?" Steve asks. "Morse Code." We all say. "H-E-R-E" I read out. Hopper looks up at us, breathing heavily. "Will's still in there. He's talking to us."
I stand, grabbing a few things and putting them together. I dump it onto the table in front of everyone. "What is this?" Hopper asks. "Our way to Will." I say. "This..." I say, pointing to a device. "Is connected to this." I continue, pointing to another device. "When you click this button" I say, picking up the radio like device and pressing the button. The other machine beeps loudly. "It lets us know." I say. "You can also hold the button..." I say, holding the button and causing a long, loud, beep to sound. "To display a line." I say. Mike smiles immediately. "That's genius, Y/N." He says. "You guys go back inside. Get him talking. Hopper, you stand to the side with the radio. Every tap, click once. Every line, hold it a beat longer." I say. I turn to the others. "We will receive it from here and write what we get down. Some of us can use the message and decode it, figuring out what Will is trying to say." I finish.
"That's fucking genius." Johnathan repeats Mike's words. "We haven't got much time. Let's hurry." I say, handing Hopper the radio. The shed group leaves as the rest of us run around the house gathering materials. Nancy places lots of paper onto the table, Steve brings over pens and Dustin tries to find a morse code list in Will's room. Lucas picks up a pen, poised to write while Max holds the receiver. The machine starts beeping in Max's hand as she repeats it out loud. "Dash, Dot, Dash, Dot." She says. Lucas writes it down and I use my morse code knowledge to figure it out while Dustin is still looking around. "Uhhh. C." I say, wracking my brain. Lucas writes the letter down as we wait in silence for the next one. "You have to teach me morse code." Max says. More beeping is sent to our device, dashes and dots, dashes and dots. "It's...L" I say, figuring it out. Lucas scrawls the letter again and we continue.
"O" I say. At this point, Dustin gave up on finding anything and returned, clearly surprised. "Damn, Y/N." He says. "Shhh" I say, my brain processing the most recent letter. "S" I say to Lucas. The next letter comes in and I let the beeps flow into my mind. Once by one, cancelling letters that don't match the order until landing on one. "E" I say.
"G" I say, closing my eyes to concentrate. The light was getting distracting. "A" I say, after hearing the next set of beeps. I feel Max's hand touch mine wrist on the table. "T" I say, opening my eyes and looking at her. She nods at me, determination in her eyes.
Beep. A single beep. A single dot. Everyone looks at me as I immediately blurt out the letter. "E" I say. Lucas writes it down and the beeping stops. That's it? The others run to Lucas' side to read the word or words written. "Your heart is beating really fast." Max mutters from beside me. I look down and realise her hand is still on my wrist. On my pulse. "Calm down." She whispers before dragging me to Lucas' side. "Close Gate." We read out.
Suddenly, the phone in the kitchen springs to life, ringing loudly and echoing across the room. Dustin runs to the phone, silencing it as fast as he can. "Shit!" He says before it stops. We all stand in silence, looking at one another before the phone springs to life...again. "For Fu- Argh!" I say...or shout before using all my strength to rip the phone off the wall and throw it onto the floor. It stays silent this time. "Do you think he heard?" Max asks, looking at us. "It's a phone. It could be anywhere...right?" Steve asks us.
Suddenly, lights start flashing slightly and I run to the window. "Shit....he knows where we are." I say. The lights stop flashing and silence follows, no one even moving from their spot.
That's when we hear a shriek from the distance. The shriek that we all clearly recognise as the Demo-Dogs. Max, Lucas, Dustin and Mike lean against the couch, looking out the windows. I hear the door open and I run there to see Hopper grabbing a gun. "Hey! Tell them to get away from the windows!" He screams at me. I nod, my fear of the Chief fueling me as I run to the others. "Get the fuck away from the windows!" I shout. They all look at me before scrambling backwards, away from the windows.
We all stand at the wall while Hopper turns to Johnathan. "Do you know how to use this?" He asks him. "What?" Jonathan replies. "Can you use this!" Hopper shouts. "I can." Nancy says, stepping forward. Hopper tosses one of the guns as they take position, aiming at the door. Steve wields his nailed bat and I brandish my pocket knife. We hear screeching, seemingly far away, but closer than before. Lucas draws back his slingshot, aiming too. We form some sort of defence. Hopper, Steve, Nancy, Lucas and I at the front while the others hide behind us. Mike was at the side, awkwardly wielding a goblet? Or a trophy? Something like that. "Where are they?" I hear Max ask from behind me.
We hear a loud thud from the side and we all turn to face the window. "What are they doing?" Nancy asks as the bushes rustle outside. More snarling is heard, from the front this time and we all turn back. We all take aim as the growling gets closer to the front window....before it suddenly stops. "Shhh. Where did it go?" I whisper. We are met with silence......
The window suddenly shatters with a loud crash. A Demo-Dog flying through the window, breaking it into millions of pieces and thudding to the floor. We all scream in response, well, not Hopper, but the rest of us do! We all stare in silence at the unmoving creature on the floor. "Holy shit." Dustin says, stepping forward. "Is it dead?" Max asks, furrowing her eyebrows. Hopper uses the heel of his foot to kick it, making its slimy head turn and flop to the ground. It still didn't move.
The door behind us creaks suddenly, and we all turn towards the door now, watching as the lock unlocks by itself. We aim at the door, poised and ready to fight whoever or whatever entered the house. We watch as the chain lock slides out of place by some force, dropping to hang on the frame, now unlocked. The door creaks open and I watch as it reveals a figure.
A figure that seemed so familiar, yet so different. They walk inside, step by step as we all begin to lower our weapons. Dark clothing, slicked back hair...was that eyeliner? Wait....hair?
I watch her walk inside the house, looking at each of us in turn. Blood trickled down her nose....the signature drop of blood. Mike steps forward slowly, overwhelmed by the reveal of someone who we thought was dead. All those days of believing she was still here. Believing she was still alive. He was right. I feel a smile tugging on my face as I watch the raven haired boy tear up at the sight of the missing girl. She smiles, clearly happy to see him and everyone again.
God....I missed Eleven.
Word Count: 1694
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(1) California to Hawkins (Max Mayfield/(Fem)You)
FanfictionAfter meeting Eleven, the party was closer than ever. Even though she's gone, the party is still thick as thieves. Mike, refusing to believe Eleven was gone, Will following along as his usual self, and Lucas and Dustin refusing to believe someone el...
