My One-Shot Books.

You are Still You

Eyes snapping open, you gasp for breath and scramble into a sitting position as you wildly glance all around you.

It's dark, some sort of particles drift all around you, and the sky lights up with flashes of red lightning.

You're in the Upside Down.

It takes a moment for your brain to reboot so you remember exactly why you're in this nightmarish place and then you remember the plan to sneak up on Vecna. You'd been part of the decoy team- distracting the demobats so Steve, Nancy and Robin had a fairly clear way to enter Creel House.

You remember Eddie putting on the most metal concert ever- his fingers flying over his guitar as he played Master of Puppets to draw the demobats to you. But the demobats proved to be too much for you, Eddie and Dustin, and you and Eddie made sure Dustin was in the clear before sharing a look of resignation.

In order to give the other team as much time as possible, either one or both of you weren't going to walk away from this.

And from the looks all around you, you realize you're the one who apparently didn't walk away.

Suddenly remembering the demobats taking chunk after chunk out of you, you start patting down your arms and legs and abdomen. But there are no wounds present.

Startled, you quickly stand and check yourself again. You know you'd been attacked, hell you were overwhelmed by the demobats while Eddie screamed your name, but there's not a single wound to show for it.

Kill. Feed.

The raspy words in your head send a shiver down your spine.

Lead my army and unleash hell on earth.

You reach up to rub at your temple, eyes closing as a pain pulses behind your eyes. "Get it together," you mumble to yourself.

When the only sounds you can hear are your heavy breathing and the chattering of the creatures of this hellish dimension, you open your eyes and gather your bearings. You realize you're not far from the trailer park Eddie lived in and pick up one of the abandoned bicycles to make the trek back.

The gate between the two dimensions that resides in Forest Hills Trailer Park is a lot bigger than it was the last time you'd seen it. Before it was just a hole in Eddie's trailer's ceiling and now it's practically swallowed the whole trailer park. It pulses red and angry, and there are hundreds of demobats standing guard. You hesitate upon approaching, but then the strangest thing happens.

As you near the gate, the demobats chatter as they stare at you before backing off and making room for you to pass.

"Huh."

The gate looks a lot more threatening and hostile, but something tells you that it's still a gate. So, steeling yourself, you find a point where the gate seems the most accessible and push yourself through. The nearly translucent membrane is harder to push through, but after struggling for a bit your hand is the first part of you to break through.

You do not understand the physics of crossing dimensions, so while you enter the gate standing up and exit it falling on your side, you readily pick yourself up and dust yourself off.

The trailer park is abandoned seeing as numerous trailers have fallen victim to the enormous pulsing gate. As you start walking towards the main entrance/exit of the park, you realize the area has been cordoned off with police tape and wooden barriers.

Feed. Kill.

Your head throbs and you stumble at the pain. But then it vanishes as quickly as it had come on and you let your feet carry you further and further into Hawkins.