Jailbird || Stranger Things

sixty ➵ determination

Something Teresa noticed in her recent years of consuming fiction and non-fiction novels in an effort to understand herself and the world around her, was that a lot of stories seemed to start with the dark of the night. To her, stuck in a maze of service tunnels under Starcourt Mall, seeing as she had no idea what time it was, it felt like it was a never-ending night. One of her nightmares.

    As she sat in the back of a stolen buggy, driven by Dustin Henderson of all people, it was starting to seem like a nightmare in her waking life.

    To the others in her and her father's cabin, from Nancy and Mike Wheeler to Max Mayfield, the dark of the night brought danger, and something they weren't quite aware of just yet.

    "He said he was building something," El spoke, sitting on the couch with tear stained cheeks as she looked around at her friends while the merriment of the fourth of July raged on in the background in the form of fireworks. "That it was all for me."

    "Building something—," Max spoke, trying it out for herself. "Is he talking about the flayed?" she asked.

    "He must be," Nancy agreed.

    "So, he's building an army, just like we thought," Lucas deducted.

    "Yeah, but he's not building this army to spread."

    "He's building it to stop Eleven," Will agreed, glancing at Mike as he arrived at his conclusion.

    "Last year, El closed the gate on him. I have a feeling that really pissed him off," he nodded at his best friend.

    "Like, royally."

    "And the Mind Flayer now knows that she's the only thing that can stop him," he continued. "But if she's out of the way—"

    "Game over," Lucas finished his sentence.

    "He also said he was gonna kill all of you," El gently spoke up, not wanting to scare anyone, but dammit, she was starting to let it get to her.

    She could really use Teresa right now.

    "Yeah, well, that's nice," Max spoke what was on everyone's minds...

    Amidst meeting everyone else's glances, Nancy's ears perked up, picking up a faint screech in-between the distant pops of the fireworks. Standing up straight, she felt her brain moving to figure out the noise, while her feet made her approach the window just opposite her. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration, though she couldn't see much in the night. Nevertheless, the noise continued to get louder. Closer.

    "Do you guys hear that?" she asked as the others sat up, following her with their eyes.

    "It's just the fireworks," Jonathan gently shook is head, unsure what Nancy meant.

    With a shudder, she continued. "Billy," she turned around to El. "When he told you this, it was here, in this room?" she watched El nod, the steady thudding continuing.

    Behind the girl, Will's hand slowly reached up to the back of his neck. "He knows we're here."

    While Will could feel their impending doom, once the party stepped outside, they could see it coming over a hill.

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"Jesus, slow down!"

    "If you slow down I'm gonna punch Steve in the face," Teresa replied, squished between her two friends in the cage attached to the buggy. She kept her eyes on the tunnel behind them, constantly listening out for more of the little vehicles.