Billy Hargrove feels unstoppable tonight.
His Camaro speeds down the empty Hawkins road, music blasting through the speakers while warm summer air rushes through the open windows. One hand drums against the steering wheel while the other adjusts the collar of his black button-up for the third time.
He spent way too long getting ready for this date.
Not that he’d ever admit it.
His curls are perfectly styled, his chain catches the streetlights just right, and the smell of cologne fills the car. For once, things actually feel good. No Neil. No Max. No Hawkins bullshit.
Just him and the girl waiting across town.
Billy smirks, pressing harder on the gas.
Then the radio cuts to static.
The headlights flicker.
Billy frowns. “Seriously?”
A shadow suddenly darts across the road.
Billy slams the brakes.
The Camaro screeches sideways before stopping hard in the middle of the street. His heart pounds as he stares through the windshield.
Nothing.
“Jesus…” he mutters, gripping the wheel tighter.
Probably an animal.
He shifts back into drive—
—and the engine dies.
Silence.
Cold fog creeps across the pavement outside.
Billy tries the ignition again. Nothing.
Then—
THUD.
Something lands on the roof.
Billy jolts upright.
Metal groans overhead.
A long, clawed hand slides across the windshield.
“What the hell—”
The glass EXPLODES inward.
Billy barely throws himself sideways before the creature crashes into the front seat. It’s all claws, teeth, and rotting flesh, screeching loud enough to rattle his skull.
“GET OFF ME!”
Billy punches wildly, but the thing grabs him instantly and drags him from the car.
His back slams against the pavement as it hauls him toward the woods. Billy claws desperately at the road, boots scraping uselessly against the asphalt.
Ahead sits an abandoned house swallowed by darkness.
The basement door hangs wide open.
The creature drags him down the stairs.
"No, no, no!!"
The smell of rot hits immediately.
Billy struggles violently as the monster pins him to the concrete floor. Its face peels open into rows of teeth, lowering toward him—
Then headlights blaze through the basement windows.
An engine ROARS outside.
Gunshots explode through the dark.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
The creature shrieks and retreats into the shadows.
Billy doesn’t hesitate.
He shoves himself upright and bolts up the basement stairs two at a time, stumbling outside into the cold night air.
A silver DeLorean slides sideways across the road in front of him, tires screaming as it skids to a stop.
Billy freezes.
The gullwing passenger door lifts open.
Inside sits an unfamiliar girl around his age, one hand gripping the steering wheel, the other holding a shotgun.
“Come with me if you want to live!” she shouts.
Billy stares at her, breathless.
“…What?”
A horrible screech echoes from inside the house behind him.
The girl’s expression hardens.
“That thing isn’t trying to kill you, Billy,” she says. “It’s trying to possess you.”
His blood runs cold hearing his name.
The lights around them flicker.
Something growls in the basement.
The girl shoves the passenger door open wider.
“Get in the damn car.”