The Devil of Hawkins || Stranger Things

Chapter 10: The Egg

It was still barely daylight as Eddie cautiously made his way to the closest gate. It wasn't too far from Steve's place, roughly halfway to Rick's house. He saw the closed road around his destination, quickly hiding himself behind a tree when he saw the military examining the gate. Men in hazmat and raid suits covered the area.

"Shit," he whispered as he scanned the area for an opening. They seemed to be mainly focused on the gate on the road itself, and only a few could be seen wandering into the woods. He inched his way deeper into the woods, remaining out of sight and as silent as possible. Finally, he found a small stretch of gate that wasn't being watched. He bounced on his heels to motivate himself before darting with all his speed at the opening.

"What was that?" he heard them call behind him, as he dove through the membrane of the gate.

"Shit, shit, shit," Eddie exclaimed. He rolled on the ground at the gravity swap, got to his feet, and continued to run. He was glad he'd changed back into Hopper's old clothes before leaving, as it already had tears for his wings in the back of the shirt. Keeping up his speed, he unfurled his wings and launched himself into the air, not looking back.

---

"Sir, you may want to come see this," one of the men in raid suits called into his radio, looking at the fresh, fleshy tear in the gate. Strips of the pale membrane fluttered in the crossroads of gravity.

---

"Congratulations!" Jonathan, Joyce, Mike, Karen, and Will said in unison, holding their respective drinks in the air around the Wheeler's dining table.

Nancy smiled shyly at the praise.

"Yes, congratulations. You get to be treated like a gopher again," her father said flatly, looking at his newspaper.

"Ted." Karen looked at him with warning. She smiled at Nancy. "Personally, I'm proud of her for sticking to her guns and not letting those pigs knock her down."

"Who said I wasn't proud?" Ted defended.

"Thanks, mom," she said happily. "It'll be different this time. I know it."

"Did they say anything else when they called to let you know?" Jonathan asked.

Nancy laughed awkwardly. "Honestly, the only reason they hired me is because they're short-staffed since everyone left after the earthquake, but I'll take it!" She smiled at Jonathan. "And if everything goes as planned, I'll only be there until fall when I go off to college."

Jonathan looked away from Nancy. She noticed but pretended not to.

"I hear they might be opening the schools back up soon," Ted interjected, folding the paper to the next page. "It'll be nice to have some peace and quiet again."

Mike groaned.

"That reminds me, I should get the boys transferred over so they can finish their year here," Joyce added.

"What?" Will argued weakly.

"I can't have you failing a year just because we're helping out here," she clarified.

Karen smiled at Joyce. "I think it's so sweet that you and the boys are staying to help clean up the town."

"It used to be our home, too. I hate to see it in this state."

"I still think we should have joined the rest and left after the earthquake," Ted sighed.

Karen pursed her lips and gave him a side glance.