COMPLETE UNTIL SEASON FIVE
In 1980s Indiana, Judy Hopper and her group of young friends witness supernatural forces and secret government exploits. As they search for answers, they unravel a series of extraordinary mysteries. In the midst, love and...
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"What, are you tired?" Jonathan asked suddenly, bringing Judy out of her vivid flashback. She looked up to see Jonathan looking at Nancy, annoyed. Nancy, who was looking around with her eyebrows together, looked concerned.
"Shut up," she said, sounding annoyed like she did when they had their argument. "I heard something."
A long whimper rang through the wind in trees and Judy turned her head to follow the sound. She let her ears guide her feet, looking for where the sound came from. Jonathan and Nancy were close behind her. None of them had their "weapons" ready for attack. They were too scared.
Looking where she stepped, the whimpering slowly grew louder, until a deer laying on the ground came into her eye line.
"Oh, no," Nancy said, leaning down to graze her fingertips over the bloody patch on the deer's neck. "It's been hit by a car. We can't just leave it."
Judy looked down at the gun at her side. "I've only hit paper targets before," she said defeated and scared. Her heart was pounding in her chest, like it used to when she would aim for a deer that was yards away. She knew she had the shot, but she'd missed on purpose. It didn't matter that her grandfather would grunt and yell the entire ride home, she knew that deer had another day to live and that was all that mattered.
But this deer was in pain and it was suffering. That didn't help the shake in Judy's hands as she raised the gun and lined it up with the deer's head. She tried to steady her breathing like her father taught her, but something kept the hair on her neck sticking straight up.
The sudden yank on the deer's body, pulling it back out of her sight brought up Judy's heart rate instantly. The three teens gasped in unison seeing the now empty spot on the ground and the dirt trail left behind.
"Where'd it go?" Nancy asked as they each crept around in the direction where the deer was dragged away.
"I don't know. Do you see any more blood?" Judy asked, looking through her flashlight beam at the end of a blood trail.
"No," Nancy and Jonathan said in unison.
They continued looking for anything at all. Not bothering to stay close to one another anymore. A subtle dripping sound came to Judy's ears. She turned around slowly, finding something glistening in the light coming from her flashlight. Stepping closer, liquid continued to drip and ooze from the base of a tree. And more blood laid on the leaves underneath. Judy called out, "Jonathan? Nancy?" No reply.
With the eerie silence that once again fell upon Judy, something compelled her to look further inside. The hole in the tree seemed to grumble as she put the gun in the back of her waistband. With her flashlight in hand, she began to crawl.
Flaps of goo covered whatever separated around Judy's pushing body. As Judy made it to the other side of the tree trunk, she was met with a gloomy and cold forest of trees. It was nothing like where she had been. The cold wasn't like the fall weather she'd known her whole life, it was a haunting cold that seemed to touch the inside of her soul. Small flakes of debris floated in the air. Fear consumed Judy, but she moved further into this otherworldly wood.
Every step she took, her flashlight would flicker. Even with a hit to the batteries it continued on. A snarl came from Judy's right, sending her pointing her flashlight hastily. Judy's eyes had never deceived her, but what she saw now couldn't possibly be real. It couldn't be true.
The thing in the photo, the thing in Joyce's wall, the thing that took Barb. It was all real and right in front of her, eating and devouring that poor deer. Its white slimy skin shone in the flickering light. Judy stepped backwards without a single breath to be had, without a single tear to fall from her eyes. She was moving but her mind was frozen.
The snap of a branch underneath her foot broke the chill in her bones and alarmed the ghastly creature. Judy ran as fast as she could through the unknown forest, gasping for air, before screaming out in desperate echoes.
Jonathan!
Nancy!
Everything was so dark and unfamiliar, and the adrenaline kept the blood in her ears. She could hear her own fast bearing heart, along with the crushed leaves under her feet. Every sound echoed in her mind, spinning her around, searching for a way out.
Judy!
She finally heard above her in the air. Looking around frantically at the nothingness she was currently standing in, Judy cried out. "Nancy! I'm right here! Where are you?!"
"Just follow my voice, Judy! I'm right here," Nancy called out from wherever she was. Judy tried her best, but she couldn't even see straight. She was too scared. And maybe it was even too late.
She was, yet again, right in front of the creature, who was now standing as a huge tall slender man like beast. Screeching out, it boomed towards Judy who only ran away again.
Hiding behind a tree was the only option she had as the thing vibrated behind her. Judy took shallow breaths and squeezed her eyes closed. Focusing on not making a sound. She could hear it move behind her, and she could hear Nancy once again.
Looking beside her, to a distant tree. It looked the same as when she'd crawled through with pulsing red light on its surface. "Judy! Follow my voice!"
Judy took a leap of faith running towards the other tree, army crawling as fast as she could through the thick flesh like layers in the tunnel. With her last burst of energy, Judy stuck her hand through the other end of the tunnel and latched on tightly to the hand that connected with her. She fell into the chest of somebody and turned around quickly to find the hole in the tree closing - fixing itself like nothing was out of place.
With heaving gasps and soft whimpers, Judy couldn't help the tears that flowed. Nancy knelt down next to Judy and Jonathan who was steadily rocking the skating girl back and forth. Nancy placed her hand onto Judy's, holding tightly, letting Judy know she was out and alive.
When Judy came out of her frozen state, she was in the backseat of a car. Jonathan's car. Nancy sat in front of her, talking softly to Jonathan. Nancy saw that Judy was awake and turned around to see her face fully.
"Hey," she spoke softly. "We thought you passed out."
"Where are we going?" Judy asked the one coherent thought she could muster. She was hyper aware of what she had gone through but no lines were coming together. It was all very blurry.
"Back to my house. We're almost there."
"No, I want to go home," Judy mumbled like she was drunk. "Take me home."
"We should all stay together," Jonathan said, looking through the rearview mirror at Judy.
"Take me home," Judy said firmly, sitting up and looking dead at Jonathan. He seemed to cower down in his seat. Nancy only looked like she pitied Judy. Which she probably did.
"Okay," Nancy said reluctantly. Judy only sat back in the seat and watched the trees pass through the window. She felt the familiar turners of the streets leading to Lovers Lake and prepared herself to see her father. She needed something familiar. Hopper may not have been the most stable person, but he did have a safe full of guns in his room. That comforted Judy the most. She'd be protected if that thing came around. At least she hoped so.
