you are not alone → stranger things

xxxv. cannibal

unknown time
Will's POV

I ran my tongue over my bloody lips, hating the taste, loving the taste. The desiccated corpses lay in front of me, and I had just eaten them. Like a cannibal.

No, not me, I told myself firmly, trying to push away my fear. It. The thessalhydra.

How long had I been here? Too long. It was taking me over. Its thoughts were mine, terrible thoughts of the taste of human flesh. I couldn't fight it away. I had tried to.

I couldn't even control my own limbs now. It was like I was watching a movie, but this was too horrible for any screenwriter to dream up.

I guess it never slept, because I always had a few precious moments to myself where it would abandon the hold it had on me. I always collapsed whenever that happened. It was weakening me, and I was always tired. But the dreams I had were almost worse than this, if that was possible. Nightmares of bloody handprints and glitches and the arcade sign spinning slowly, slowly. Was I going crazy?

I could feel the blood staining my hands and face. It was unpleasantly wet.

I - no, it - sensed something and whipped around. I could hear it, too. Crunching leaves, low voices. Someone was here.

Make that several someones. There were at least three... four?

I wanted to call out, to warn the people to run from me, but couldn't. I was left screaming in my head, hoping that somehow even the slightest whisper would escape my possessed lips. But not even the tiniest sound rose in my throat.

It approached the Upside Down version of the lab with a catlike grace that normal me would never have pulled off. It hid in the shadows, watching, waiting.

First I saw Eleven come out of the big double doors. She looked determined, biting her lip slightly. I wanted to tell her that I'd remembered all those nights. I wanted to thank her for trying to save me, but nothing could have saved me anyway.

Then there was Mike, racing to walk beside Eleven. He took her hand, looking afraid. El said something to him, and he leaned closer to her.

Then that new girl that Lucas liked. I couldn't really remember her name, but she was pretty. Her red hair shone even in the dull light of this horrible place, and her icy blue eyes looked around in wonder. She somehow wasn't scared.

Then Hopper. He was saying something to the person behind him, but I couldn't see them behind his large frame. Oh well. They would all be dead in another hour. The thessalhydra was always hungry.

No.

I wouldn't let that happen. I had to fight with all I had, even if it killed me. El had told me about how I was connected to the thessalhydra because of the piece of this place inside of me. That was why I had been throwing up those horrible slug things. She had told me that she and the demogorgon had been connected, which was how she had managed to kill it. And if she could do it, so could I.

The thessalhydra moved away, and I was shocked. Would it leave them?

No, of course not. I could hear its thoughts. Such a large amount of prey walking right into its home meant a special trap.

Fighting it would be harder than I thought.

It's happening. ITS HAPPENING