Will to Survive

We're in Trouble

Steve woke up after a sudden jerk he felt. He looked around the room and noticed that he was tied up against the wall. Robin and Dustin were next to him and awake, Cat, Heather, and Damien were still unconscious. Surprisingly, Jordan and Ryder were tied up against the wall as well, which confused Steve because he didn't remember them being there.

As he looked around more, Steve noticed a lump on the ground. Blinking fast, he noticed that it was Billy Hargrove himself, moaning and groaning on the ground. He was surprised at the whole scene in front of him, not remembering what had happened before. Then it hit him; Evelyn betrayed them. 

Speaking of the devil, Evelyn appeared out of no where and blew a horn, causing for everyone else to wake up. "Rise and shine ladies and gentlemen! It's time for the grand finale of the night!" She announced. "Not only will you become slaves, but soon the world will end the way it was destined to."

"What...?" Steve muttered under his breath, looking exasperated with all the other worldly dimension stuff.

Just then, Quinn appeared out of the darkness, chuckling. "Don't you see, Harrington? We're opening a new gate in the mall," she said as three more people appeared behind her. "This is Ezra, Shawn, and Grayson. They have also been helping us with this operation."

"We have built devices that had helped us with our plan," Ezra started to explain. "Robin and Experiment 009 noticed the devices Quinn and I put inside the fountain. That's how we are opening the gate."

"Devices were also placed inside the pool, a very public place during the summer," Shawn added in. "How do you think that girl was dragged under water by vines? That was all us. Now, she's one of us and is out there with many others to destroy the world."

Robin looked confused at the whole explanation. "I'm new to this, so let me get this straight," she began. "You sick fucks built technology that would open a gate to this Upside Down place? And you are basically killing people by dragging them underwater? What the fuck?"

Grayson smirked at her. "Not only that, but I released infected rats around the town as I was keeping tabs on Evelyn. They are infected by the Upside Down now and are either dying or becoming brainless zombies," he said.

Heather and Damien shot worried looks at each other and then looked back at the others. "So you're the ones making people die from toxic rats?!" Heather yelled, looking angry.

"Just like Eleven at the Snowball..." Dustin said under his breath, remembering that awful day. He looked up at Evelyn with a betrayed look. "I can't believe you were behind this all along. I should've believed my friends and not have trusted you. DAMMIT HORMONES!"

Cat shot him a weirded out look with a raised eyebrow. "So hormones made you trust this evil ass slut?" She asked. "Dammit teenage boys and their boners. They're always the reasons in this kind of situation."

Dustin gave her a look, which just made her chuckle in response. He felt ashamed of what his thoughts made him do, especially what he had said to the party. He wouldn't blame them if they didn't come for him or just let him die. Friends don't lie, and he should've remembered that. But he couldn't blame himself, it was Evelyn's fault for manipulating him into thinking she was a good person. 

Jordan gave the boy a sad look. "It's okay, Dusty, the same thing happened to me with Quinn," he told him before shooting Quinn a glare. "I was nice to her and she decided to make me relive my past trauma."

"Wait what?!" Dustin yelled, looking scared out of his mind.

Ryder nodded at him. "She's insane. She makes you see hallucinations of your past life or something you regret or something that scares you," he told everyone. "It's honestly REALLY RUDE!"

Quinn just shrugged and had a fake innocent look on her face. "Awww, are you all sad? It's not like you're actually there," she said in a sarcastic tone of voice. "Anyway, let's start the procedure and then we open the gate. Start with Becky with the Good Hair and the Inappropriate Experiment."

Steve was then released from his binding and dragged to the middle of the room next to Billy. Ezra and Shawn punched and kicked him a few times before forcing him on his knees. Everyone screamed for him as Cat was dragged out and beaten as well. Quinn then smirked and the two were no longer in the mall.

Looking around, Steve saw himself in a familiar looking alleyway. He remembered this from a few years ago when he humiliated Nancy. Sure enough, Nancy Wheeler herself marched up to him with a hurt and angry look on her face. Steve looked behind him and saw Tommy H, Carol, and Nicole there, making fun of Nancy. Just like she did before, Nancy slapped him across the face.

"What is wrong with you?!" She yelled at him.

Steve was upset by seeing this memory. He regretted everything he said to Nancy and Jonathan in this moment and hated rethinking it. He begged Nancy for forgiveness, but she instead just kept yelling at him and insulting him. 

"Please, Nancy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. I love you!" Steve begged. But instead he earned another slap in the face.

"I hate you," Nancy snarled at him.

In Cat's mind, she was in a familiar looking lab, but not Hawkins Lab. This was the Montauk Lab, the lab she was taken to when she was born, but later transferred to Hawkins. Being in this place gave her bad memories, so she was not happy to see this place. 

She walked down the halls of the lab, looking for something that would come out of no where. Just then, a door creaked open and she saw herself and a familiar looking face. Cat tensed when she saw this girl that was with her. They were being tested on in one of the rooms together, which, when thinking back, didn't make sense to Cat since their powers didn't really match up as well.

The scene then changed to Hawkins Lab instead of Montauk. Cat remembered this very well and if this familiar girl was here, then it meant trouble. She walked slowly down the hallway and jumped back when the dark room door was opened up. She peeped inside and saw herself and the girl, plotting their escape from the lab. Just then, it shifted to later that night and she saw the girl running down the halls to Cat's old room.

Cat followed the hallucination and saw herself sleeping on the bed. The girl was smirking evilly as she leaned down to Cat, who's eyes were slowly opening up. "001? Are we going to escape or what?" She asked tiredly.

"I changed my mind. I'm leaving you here to rot. Face it, you are nothing more than a monster who deserves to be locked up while I deserve to be free," 001 responded. "Have a nice life sweetie!"

That was when she ran out of the room, leaving the hallucination Cat looking shocked and the real Cat crying at the memory.

Both Steve and Cat were screaming as they were being injected through the neck, screams also being heard from their tied up companions, and later the screams of their foes.