The Overcomer, Stranger Things

The attack on Kamchatka

9 months later...

Gwen woke up in a warm bed, her stuffed bunny, Thumper, tucked under her right arm. The girl smiled slightly as she felt a soft hand stroking her cheek. Her eyes slowly fluttered open to be staring straight into the face of her mother. Joyce looked older than the last time she had seen her. The wrinkles on her face were more prominent and the bags under her eyes were heavier like she'd been crying a lot. Her hair had grown out quite a bit and the mid-length brown locks were curled to frame her face.

Gwen's blue orbs slowly traveled up to see meet with her mother's brown ones. She was slightly taken aback by how much pain was protruding from the older woman's eyes. She just looked so... broken. Gwen frowned before reaching up to wipe off a stray tear that had fallen off her mother's face, the brunette leaning into her touch before kissing her hand.

"Gwen," Joyce smiled tearfully as she cupped her daughter's face and pressed her forehead against the younger girl's. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Gwen responded before asking, "Where am I?"

"Home," Joyce answered as she pulled back just enough to look at the girl's face, drinking in every inch of her. "You're home now, baby."

"Home," Gwen repeated, not quite believing it. "I'm really home?"

"Yes," Joyce nodded as she grinned at the girl, nudging her nose against hers, "you're really home. And I'm never letting you go again."

Gwen smiled as she hugged her mom but her grin soon fell when she came to a realization. She pulled back, a panicked expression on her face that made her mom pale slightly. "What is it, honey?"

Before Gwen could respond, a loud cracking noise could be heard, the kind that comes from a machine gun. The girl looked at her mom one more time before stumbling out of the bed and running toward the sound. Gwen stopped in her tracks at the sight that greeted her in the living room. Johnathan, her big brother, her protector, was sprawled across the floor in a pool of his own blood. His camera was sitting next to his head, shattered, and the pieces were scattered across the floor.

Gwen cupped her hands over her mouth as she fell to the floor, delicately touching the top of his head. "Johnathan," she whispered, "Johnathan please wake up."

"Gwen," he rasped out as he opened his eyes, blood trickling out of his mouth and down his chin. He struggled to get the words out so Gwen had to lean down before he whispered, "this is your fault."

"No," Gwen shook her head, tears streaming down her face before she heard another shot go off. She ran into the bedroom, where Will was sitting in his rolling chair. The chair was spinning around over and over again, causing the girl to furrow her eyebrows. She looked down, seeing several drawings across the table in front of them. She picked one of them up, her eyes widening in horror when she saw that they were drenched in blood. All of them were. She turned to look at Will. His eyes were rolled into the back of his head and there was blood pouring out of the gaping hole in his chest.

"No!" Gwen cried as she tried to find something to stop the blood. "No, no, no. Please no!"

"Gwen, stop," Will suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm. She turned to look at him. "It's over. You couldn't save us."

"I'm so sorry," she whimpered as she tightened her grip on his hand before she heard a loud thump come from the kitchen. She sprinted into the kitchen, wondering how this could possibly get any worse. And it did, it most definitely did.

Hopper and El were both sitting at the dining room table, a plate of Eggos and syrup in front of each of them. Except, instead of eating them, their bodies were slumped over the table, their heads buried in the waffles. Normally, Gwen would laugh at something like that. But when she went over and pulled Hopper's head up, she let out a gasp when she saw that there was a bullet hole in his forehead.