You grab Will’s shoulder, fingers digging in more out of instinct than intention, and whip your head around the smoke-filled base. Lights flicker. The floor vibrates with distant detonations. You can barely see ten feet ahead, but you’re trying, desperately, to find even a half-safe exit.

Just when everything inside you is screaming run, Will stops moving. Joyce rushes to his side.

Then those shapes appear: tall, skeletal silhouettes backlit by emergency red. Their limbs split unnaturally as they crawl out of the ground, heads unfolding, jaws dripping with something that sizzles when it hits the ground. Around you, soldiers drop like dominoes. Their shouts blend with the crack of gunfire and the guttural, animalistic screeches of the Demogorgons.

They’re coming straight for you, your friends, the kids behind you who are too terrified to move any farther.

Will's body goes still. His breath catches. His eyes, already wide, suddenly flare white, so bright it cuts through the haze. And in that instant you know he’s not seeing the base anymore.

He’s seeing you. The two of you, younger, and you don't know it. Kindergarten, when asking him to be your friend was the best thing you'd ever done. Will’s laughter in your basement. The new D&D set. Castle Byers. The rainbow rocket ship.

Then the air changes.

Time doesn’t just slow; it locks. One of the Demogorgons is inches from you, claws splayed, saliva mid-drip. Frozen. Another next to it trembles, limbs suspended like a marionette. Their snarls distort into stretched echoes.

A low hum builds, vibrating your teeth. The lights behind you flicker harder. The ground trembles under your feet.

You see Will over its shoulder.

He’s standing: pale light spilling from his eyes, his fingers slightly curled like he’s pulling invisible strings. Except he’s not reaching outward; he’s reaching inward, somewhere deeper than the Upside Down itself.

The Demogorgons start to convulse, violently jerking in unnatural spasms as if something is shredding them from the inside out. Their claws scrape against the floor uselessly. Their limbs fold and twist. Their bodies buckle.

And then:

Silence.

No growls. No footsteps. The alarms seem muffled, like sound itself took a step back.

And that’s when it hits you: all at once.

Your heartbeat slams into your ribs so hard it almost stuns you. Not fear exactly, not anymore, but something heavier. Raw awe. Disbelief. Relief so sharp it almost hurts. The adrenaline is a punch to the chest, burning through you, making it feel like your whole body is humming. Your breath comes out uneven, but you barely notice. You can’t look away from him.

Will’s legs give out first.

He stumbles forward. The white membranes in his eyes retract. The monsters that were seconds from tearing everyone apart collapse lifelessly.

A thin line of blood slides from Will’s nose.