Zero: A Stranger Things Fanfiction

Chapter 011

Jenna stood in motionless silence, clutching the knife Jonathan had given her. Gazing at her hand, she found that her muscles were jumping beneath her skin. Taking an unsteady breath, she looked back up. Nancy was positioned directly across from her, face tense and cold and tougher than Jenna hd expected. In between them, Jonathan held all of her severity, but none of the coldness. His dark eyes were alive with anxiety.

"Remember..." he began with unease.

"Straight into Will's room," Nancy replied. "And-"

"Don't step on the trap." Jenna swallowed. Taking the biggest breath she could, commanding the fierce hurricane in her chest to stop, just for an instant.

"Wait for the yoyo to move," Nancy continued.

"Then..." Jonathan retrieved the lighter from his coat pocket, flicking it backwards and sending a pale tangerine flame into the air. He didn't let it burn for more than a few seconds. "All right. Ready?" His gaze flickered back and forth between the girls before him.

"Yeah," Jenna breathed, eyelids lowering until she focused only on the kitchen blade pressed against her palm.

"Ready." Nancy's voice reached her as though she were underwater, floating downwards, distorted.

"On three," Jonathan said. "One... two... you don't have to do this-"

"Jonathan, stop talking," Nancy hissed in response. Jenna squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, adrenaline coursing through her veins.

"I'm just saying, you don't have to-"

"Three," Jenna commanded, not hesitating as she sliced the knife clean through the skin of her hand. Searing, stinging pain rolled over her. She gasped sharply, instinctively closing her hand and watching in horror as dark, scarlet blood dripped down the sides of her fist. Nancy and Jonathan made similar noises, Nancy's knife hitting the floor with a muffled thud.

It bounced out of Jenna's peripheral vision, her eyes only on the puddle of blood on the floor. Her blood.

Almost as though she woke from a dream, Jenna shook herself and hurried to the counter. Snatching some of the bandages from the counter with her free hand, she brought them up to her mouth.

Holding it steady with her teeth and her free hand, Jenna wrapped the white cloth around her cut. She groaned softly in pain, the sound muffled by the wrapping in her mouth. Coming out of his daze as well, Jonathan strode forward and hastily grabbed some of the wrapping with his uninjured hand.

Without so much as looking at Jenna, the two of them finished the bandaging of her hand. She glanced up expectantly at him, but he shook his head, causing more of his floppy hair to fall into his eyes.

"No. I'm okay for now."

Jenna moved on to Nancy, still standing at the center of the room and cradling her bleeding hand. Jenna strode to the nearby couch and patted the cushion beside her. To her slight surprise, the reluctant-looking Nancy took the seat. She gently took Nancy's palm into her own, winding the cloth around the other girl's hand with as much care as she could muster.

"That okay?" She finished the job with a cautious squeeze of the binding. Nancy nodded, tracing her thumb over the white bandage.

"Yeah. Thanks." Nancy's oceanic eyes tilted upwards towards Jonathan, speaking their own language. Jenna took the hint and rose from the couch, crossing the small room to the window. A rustling of fabric and gentle murmurs signaled Jonathan's willingness to be bandaged.

Jenna took the place of sentinel by the glass, gently leaning her temple against it. Why she was there, she didn't know. The Demogorgon wasn't going to just walk out of the windblown woods at them.