5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

After making a plan to meet up again the next day with Jonathan, Jessica took Nancy back to the Wheeler house. Once there, Jessica noticed her brother's bike propped up against the side of the house, near the garage.

At least he was safe. It was nearly dark now, and she was glad he'd made it back safely.

"Mind if I come in for a minute? Talk to my brother?"

Nancy shrugged. "Sure. They're probably in the basement."

Lucas's bike was there too – and Mike's, obviously. And the guys were in the basement. They were seated around the table they usually played Dungeons and Dragons around. They had the game book out in front of them, and Dustin was reading from it.

El was there also, laid out on the couch. She seemed even more withdrawn than normal. Jessica went to sit beside her as the guys acknowledged her presence.

"So, did it work?" she asked. "Did you get to . . . communicate with Will."

"The radio kept going in and out," Lucas said.

"But he did say he was somewhere like home. Like maybe his house," Mike said.

"Or maybe like Hawkins."

"Upside Down," El said.

"What?" Jessica asked.

"Upside Down," Mike said. "When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the game board over, remember? Upside Down. Dark. Empty."

Jessica remembered that El had placed Will's wizard piece on the board and that she'd also placed the weird demogorgan piece on the board with him. Did that mean the demogorgan had Will, that Will was with whatever it was, that he was still alive and that whatever had been taken out of the quarry really wasn't Will's body? Had Mike really heard him the night before?

"El took us to Will's house to find him," Mike explained. "We couldn't find him, but what if it was because he's on the other side?"

"The other side being . . . an alternate dimension?" Jessica guessed.

"Like the Vale of Shadows," Dustin said.

"And that is . . ."

"A dimension that is a dark reflection or an echo of our world. It is a place of decay and death," Dustin read from the game book. "A place of monsters. It is right next to you and you don't even see it."

"An alternate dimension," Jessica reiterated.

"But how do we get there?" Lucas asked.

"You cast Shadow Walk."

"In real life, dummy."

"We can't Shadow Walk, but . . ." Dustin looked at El. "Maybe she can."

Everyone looked at El, who was still in the pink dress from earlier.

"Do you know how we get there?" Mike asked. "To the Upside Down?"

All El did was shake her head. Jessica thought she appeared lost in thought, and maybe also a little tired. Going new places and being around people may have worn her out.

Jessica patted the young girl's leg gently. "Are you okay?"

"Okay," she said.

After about a minute of silence Jessica stood up.

"I'm going to go now. Be careful riding home, Dustin. And, uh . . . Will's funeral is tomorrow at noon. We still have to go even if . . . ya know."

The guys nodded and then Jessica made her way up the stairs. She didn't see Nancy anywhere, but Mrs. Wheeler was in the kitchen, and Mr. Wheeler was in front of the TV in the living room.

Only Mrs. Wheeler responded when Jessica told them goodbye.

The first thing Jessica saw when she pulled onto her street was that the car Steve drove was in her driveway. She wondered why he was there and why he had decided to stay when he'd found out she hadn't been home.

Then again, she hadn't been at school that day aside from the time it had taken to develop that picture in the dark room, and she hadn't been home for him to call, so . . . maybe he just needed to talk.

Inside, Steve and her mom were seated in the living room. The TV was on and neither was talking, but it wasn't an awkward silence. Steve had been over too many times for them to be uncomfortable around each other. Steve still seemed relieved to see her, however, and stood up when she walked in.

Steve seemed as well put together as he normally did, but there was an anxiousness in his eyes that she saw only because she knew him so well. She wasn't sure Nancy would have been able to tell something was wrong.

"Hey," she said, letting her surprise over him being there show in her voice.

"Hey."

"What's up?"

Steve glanced at her mom and then back at her. "Can we talk?"

"Sure. Come on."

Steve had been in Jessica's room many times, and as long as the door stayed open her mother didn't care.

"So . . ."

"You weren't in school," he said.

"Yeah. 'Cause of Will."

"I figured. You okay?"

She nodded. "I'm – I'm good."

She wanted to tell Steve about what she'd been doing all day, but she knew she couldn't. One: it would put him in very literal danger if he knew of anything of what she'd been doing. Two: he would never believe her without seeing everything himself.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Did I miss something today?"

"The cops called my parents. They're coming home early."

"Why did they –"

"They need to talk to me and since I'm not eighteen yet a parent has to be present."

Jessica knew what that meant. The party Steve had held was going to get him in trouble – not because there had been drinking, and not because a girl had gone missing from his backyard, but because it was going to inconvenience his dad.

That was what had caused the anxiety she'd seen in his eyes. Steve wasn't afraid of his dad, not really, but he still wasn't Steve's favorite person. As far as Jessica knew, Mr. Harrington had never hit Steve, though Steve may have been pushed a few times or grabbed too roughly.

Mr. Harrington had other ways to make Steve feel bad about himself: Desiring and expecting nothing less than perfection while also telling Steve he would never be enough. It really picked up when Steve let his dad know he didn't want to go to college only to follow in his footsteps. Steve did not want to work for his dad at the real estate company.

They sat on the bed then, side-by-side, and Jessica grabbed his hand. Steve was a very affectionate person, and he responded to physical touch best when it came to comfort.

"Well, you know our couch is always there if it gets too bad."

Steve nodded and squeezed her hand gratefully.

"So, when will they be home?"

"Tomorrow. They'll take me to the station, so I'm not going to school."

"Me either. I . . . Will's funeral and all."

"Right." Steve withdrew his hand from hers. "Did you want me there?"

"Are you kidding? After what happened between you and Jonathan, I don't think so."

"Well, I wouldn't be there for him. I'd be there for you."

She smiled, and her heart felt warmer inside her chest. The truth was that if she believed Will was actually dead, she would have very much wanted Steve with her at the funeral no matter what Jonathan thought, but since she now thought Will was just in another dimension – no matter how crazy and unrealistic that was – she just wanted the funeral over with.

"Thank you," she said. "I love you, and you're my best friend, but I'll be okay. I'll be there for Dustin, and then he'll probably want to go to Mike's or something. I'll call you after and see how everything went for you."

"Okay."

She laid her head against his shoulder then, and they just continued talking for a few minutes.

Steve left about an hour later seeming much more at ease. Jessica hoped he stayed that way, and that his dad didn't come down too hard on him.

The next morning Jessica got up at ten, ate a half a bowl of cereal, and then got dressed in a knee-length black cotton dress. Her shoes of choice were black flats. She didn't wear makeup, but she did tame her hair into waves rather than unruly curls.

After she was done fixing herself up, she went to Dustin's room to see if he needed help. He was good aside from the bowtie. She was tempted to tell him he was on his own on that one, but, being the good sister that she was, she tried anyway. It turned out okay – not perfect, but okay.

Their mother was already downstairs waiting for them. Her eyes were misty, but she was holding it together pretty well.

The drive to the cemetery was quiet. Jessica didn't know what to say. What if she gave away the fact that she wasn't grieving the way she should've been?

When they pulled into the cemetery and parked in the designated area, they saw that about thirty people in all were there. Mike, Lucas, and their respective families were already there; Jonathan was standing with his mom and some guy Jessica assumed was his dad. Nancy was in the back of the crowd, which was where Jessica headed. Dustin went to the front, where Mike and Lucas were, and that was the last Jessica saw of him until the funeral was over.

The service itself was simple but heart-wrenching. The minister talked about people probably questioning how a loving God could take someone as young as Will. He hadn't had the chance to live yet. It was a good question, and it made many people cry, which made Jessica want to cry. She could be completely fine, but if she saw tears in someone else's eyes, or if she saw someone in pain, the dam would open up and she would cry right along with that person.

It was not a good thing when one was at a funeral, where almost everyone cried.

Once the service was over, Nancy and Jessica met up with Jonathan a little ways away – everyone else was giving out condolences and asking if Joyce needed anything, so they had plenty of time.

Jonathan had somehow gotten his hands on a small map of the town and had marked the places he knew for sure the creature had been: Steve's house, Jonathan's house, the woods where they found Will's bike.

"It's all so close," Nancy said.

"Yeah. Exactly," Jonathan agreed. "Whatever this thing is, it's all within a mile or so. It's not travelling far."

"It's probably somewhere in the middle," Jessica suggested. The marks Jonathan had made would have formed a triangle if he'd connected them. "Is there anything in the middle?"

"Woods . . ."

"You wanna go out there?"

"We might not find anything."

"I found something," Nancy reminded them. "And if we do . . . see it, then what?"

Jonathan sighed. "We kill it."

"Uh . . . how?" Jessica asked. "We don't even know what this thing is."

"My dad has a gun in the car, in the glove compartment. He carries it all the time. Ammo and everything," Jonathan said.

"Are you serious?" Nancy asked, voice raised.

"What? What, you want to take another photo of this thing, if we see it again? Yell at it?"

"This is a terrible idea."

"Yeah, well, it's the best we've got. I mean, you can tell someone, but they're not gonna believe you. You know that."

"Your mom would."

"She's been through enough."

"She deserves to know."

"Yeah, and I'll tell her when this thing is dead."

"She'll feel better once she knows she's not alone," Jessica said. "That someone believes her."

"She'll feel better once I have proof that this thing exists."

"Uh, the picture . . ."

"Pictures can be doctored. Anyway, I've gotta get back to my mom, but we should meet later on."

There was a small church on the same land where the funeral had been held. Inside the church, in the fellowship hall, a small group of friends and family were getting together for food and drinks.

Joyce Byers was off by herself at a table in the corner when Jessica, Jonathan, and Nancy walked in. Jonathan went to be with her, and Jessica took off in search of her brother. She found him, along with Mike and Lucas, at a table with Mr. Clarke, their science teacher. The only reason Jessica knew him was because she'd had him for science as well when she'd been in middle school.

The three boys were asking about alternate dimensions. Luckily, Mr. Clarke loved science and all that went along with it and didn't mind talking about it. He even thought that theoretically there were parallel universes.

"They're like our world," Mr. Clarke said. "There are infinite variations of it. Which means that there's a world out there where none of this tragic stuff ever happened."

"Yeah, that's not what we're talking about," Lucas said.

"We were thinking more of an evil dimension," Dustin said. "Like the Vale of Shadows."

Luckily, Mr. Clarke was also into Dungeons and Dragons. He already knew what the Vale of Shadows was.

"If a place like that did exist, how would we travel there?"

"Theoretically."

"Well . . . picture an acrobat," Mr. Clarke said. He grabbed a pen from his shirt pocket, clicked it, grabbed a clean paper plate, and drew a line across it. "It's standing on a tight rope."

Mr. Clarke drew another line across the plate right underneath the first one. He used a stick figure to represent the acrobat.

"The tight rope is our dimension, and our dimension has rules. You can move forwards or backwards."

Jessica watched as Mr. Clarke drew an arrow on either side of the stick figure acrobat, and then as he marked the top line with what looked like a big period with antenna.

"But what if right next to the acrobat was a flea. Now, the flea can also travel back and forth. Just like the acrobat, right? But here's where things get really interesting."

Mr. Clarke drew arrows between the two lines.

"The flea can also travel on the side of the rope. He can even go underneath the rope."

"Upside down," the boys said in unison.

"Exactly."

"But . . . we're not the flea," Mike said. "We're the acrobat."

"In this metaphor, yes, we're the acrobat."

"So we can't go upside down?"

"No."

"Well, is there any way for the acrobat to get to the Upside Down?" Dustin asked.

"Well, you'd have to create a massive amount of energy. More than humans are currently capable of creating, mind you, to open up some kind of tear in time and space, and then . . ." Mr. Clarke folded his paper plate so it would be flat, and then forced his pen through it. "You create a doorway."

"Like a gate?"

"Sure, like a gate. But again, this is all theoretical."

"But . . . but what if this gate already existed?" Mike asked.

"Well, if it did, I – I think we'd know. It would disrupt gravity, the magnetic field, our environment. Heck, it might even swallow us up whole. Science is neat, but I'm afraid it's not very forgiving."

Jessica hated science, and this was exactly why. She now had more questions than she'd had before hearing all Mr. Clarke had said. She still respected him, though, no matter what subject he was teaching. He wasn't one of those condescending teachers that looked down on his or her students. He actually enjoyed teaching and cared about the kids. He loved when people took an interest in what he was teaching.

And he liked talking to his students; he tried to answer questions to the best of his ability and didn't try to talk down to the kids.

All in all, he was a pretty great teacher.

Once the funeral was over, everyone went back to their respective houses. Once Jessica reached hers she called the theater, spoke to her boss, and easily got the night off. She'd never asked for time off before, which was probably why Bill had said yes.

Both Jessica and Dustin changed clothes, and then Dustin left on his bike to go to the Wheeler's. She would soon follow after in her car. That was quickly becoming a routine for them.

She tried calling Steve because she'd promised she would, and she really did want to know what had happened with him and his parents. She didn't get an answer, though, and decided she would try again at the Wheeler's.

Once at the Wheeler's, Jessica found the boys talking to El down in the basement. She suddenly felt a tad bit guilty for keeping the girl locked up down there. It was almost as if El had traded one prison for another. Then again, people were after her. She couldn't really go cruising around town. The basement was the safest place.

She was surprised they had gotten away with this for so long, to be honest.

Mike was explaining the gateway to El, who must have decided she liked the pink dress and the wig because she was still wearing them.

"What we want to know is, do you know where the gate is?" Lucas asked. When El shook her head, Lucas exclaimed, "Then how do you know about the Upside Down?"

El looked down at her hands on her lap and didn't answer. She and Mike were on the couch, while Lucas was on the chair opposite them. Dustin was off in the corner holding something in his hand and spinning around as if he didn't know which way to go.

"Dustin, what're you doing?" she asked him.

"I need to see your compasses."

"What?" Mike asked.

"All of your compasses. Right now."

It turned out that the boys had about eight compasses altogether. They spread them out over the gameboard on the table.

"Dustin?" Jessica questioned. "What're you doing?"

"The compasses . . . They're all facing North, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, that's not true north," Dustin said.

"What d'you mean?" Mike asked.

"I mean exactly what I just said. That's not true north."

Everyone just stared at him.

"Are you guys seriously this dense? The sun rises in the east and it sets in the west, right?" He'd pointed in the directions as he'd said them. Now he pointed another way. "Which means that's true north, right?"

"So, what you're saying is the compasses are broken."

Dustin looked as if he feared for Mike's intelligence.

"Do you even understand how a compass works? Do you see a battery pack on this? No, you don't, because it doesn't need one. The needle's naturally drawn to the Earth's magnetic North Pole."

"So, what's wrong with them?"

"Well, that's what I couldn't figure out, but then I remembered you can change the direction of the compass with a magnet. If there's the presence of a more powerful magnetic field, the needle deflects to that power. And then I remembered what Mr. Clarke said. The gate would have so much power –"

"It would disrupt the electromagnetic field," Mike interrupted.

Lucas followed their logic. "Meaning if we follow the compasses north . . ."

"They should lead us to the gate."

El had been silent throughout the conversation, which wasn't anything new, really, but she also seemed frightened. Jessica couldn't really blame her; they were basically talking about a rip in the universe, a hole that could lead to another, less pleasant, world, and El's world was already not a good one.

The boys made plans to follow the compasses to find where the supposed gateway was, and to enter it when they found it. El was going to go with them, of course, which made Jessica feel a little bit better because she couldn't go herself.

She had a demogorgan to find. She had been hesitant when hearing about Jonathan's plan, and she still thought it was crazy, but she had a brother to protect. A brother and his friends, who were brave enough to go after Will to try and bring him back.

This thing had already taken Will. There was no way she was letting it near her brother.

The guys seemed a little disappointed when they found out Jessica wasn't going with them, but they understood once she explained why. She told them the truth. She had to. She didn't want them thinking she was ditching them now, now that they were going to actually have a chance at finding Will.

"I haven't seen this thing other than in a picture, but Nancy did. It's going between this world and the Upside Down. If you do find this gateway, don't go in. Not alone. Mark it down, and we'll all go in together to get him."

The fact that there was an actual, physical monster that could take them away from their world – or kill them – didn't deter them in any way, which Jessica could understand, because of Will, but it did make her wonder if they were taking the monster seriously.

She left the boys to it. They had to pack a few things – mostly snacks and water.

She found Nancy outside in the garage, a baseball bat in hand, Steve there leaning against the car. There was a distance between them, physical and metaphorical. They both looked her way when she went into the garage.

"Hey," she said. "I tried calling you, but I didn't get an answer."

"I was probably at the station," he admitted.

"Did you get in trouble with your parents?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, of course, but it's whatever. Have you heard anything about Barbara? Have her parents?"

Nancy shook her head, and Jessica watched as Steve's expression softened.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I panicked and I was a real dick."

"Yeah, you were," Nancy agreed.

Things were silent for a few seconds and, when it seemed that Nancy wasn't going to give an inch, Steve pushed away from the car. He was going to leave.

Jessica motioned to Nancy that she would be back and followed Steve out of the garage. The BMW was parked at the side of the road in front of the house.

"Hey, are you really okay?" she asked once they reached his car.

He shrugged. "Dad's angry, but yeah. Just another notch on the list of things I've screwed up."

Jessica hated that he felt that way, but he had been making mistakes left and right lately. Still, making mistakes was only human, and it didn't make him a bad person.

"You know, most parents would be angry if they found out their kid had a party at their house while they were gone, especially when said kid didn't have permission."

She said this gently, in a non-confrontational way. She knew Steve's dad wasn't angry about the party; he was angry that the Harrington name was now caught up in a scandal. Steve's parents hadn't known Barb, and probably didn't care that she was missing and probably dead. They did care about the fact that she had last been seen at their house.

"Are you grounded?"

"Not really. Got a stern talking to. They'll be gone again by tonight."

She touched his arm, smiled sympathetically, and said, "I, uh . . . I have things to do tonight with Dustin because of the funeral and all, but . . . tomorrow night I can meet you at your house. We can hang out. Just you and me."

"Sure. The other night at the diner was fun. I've missed that. The just you and me thing."

She grinned. "Not my fault. You're the one that likes to hang out with jerks."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Never gonna let me live that down, are you?"

"Not as long as you're still hanging out with them."

To be fair to Steve, he hadn't chosen Tommy and Carol; they had chosen him, had clung to him because of his parents' money and his last name. He'd just never gotten away from them – they were considered the cool kids, partiers, and it had helped Steve build an image he'd wanted. He was now realizing that image didn't really matter to him.

After Steve left, Jessica spent the next thirty minutes teaching Nancy how to swing the bat correctly. She didn't know who had taught Nancy to hold the bat, but she'd been gripping it halfway down its length so that when she swung there was no power behind it at all.

About an hour after that, Nancy and Jessica met Jonathan out in a field near the woods where Will's bike had been found.

Jonathan had made a pseudo shooting range – he was trying to shoot some cans off of some logs. Trying being the operative word. If they were going to rely on Jonathan to protect them, they might want to think about getting him a different weapon, because he wasn't hitting anything.

"Isn't the point to hit the cans?" Nancy asked.

Her weapon of choice was a baseball bat, the one from the garage, while Jessica's weapon was a crowbar, which was still in the trunk of her car. It wasn't like they were going after the creature right at that moment.

"No, see the spaces between the cans? I'm aiming for those. You ever shot a gun before?"

Nancy scoffed, dropping a brown bag she'd brought with her – flashlights and things like that were in there.

"Have you met my parents?"

Jessica had never shot a gun either. She'd never wanted to, but even if she had . . . her mother hated guns.

"I haven't shot one since I was ten," Jonathan said. "My dad took me hunting on my birthday. He made me kill a rabbit."

"A rabbit?"

"Yeah. I guess he thought it would make me into more of a man or something. I cried for a week."

Jessica could see that. Jonathan was quiet and gentle, she didn't want to picture him killing anything that didn't deserve it.

"I'm a fan of Thumper." He shrugged. "He and my mom loved each other at some point, but . . . I wasn't around for that part."

Jessica didn't know Jonathan's dad. She'd moved to Hawkins after Joyce had split up with him, after he had already moved to Indianapolis. From what Jonathan had just said, she was glad she didn't know his dad.

Jonathan reloaded the gun, and Nancy asked if she could try. He handed her the gun and Nancy fiddled with it, getting the feel for it.

"I don't think my parents ever loved each other," she admitted.

"Must've married for some reason."

"My mom was young." Nancy brought the gun up. "My dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money. He came from a good family. So, they bought a nice house at the end of the cul-de-sac and started their nuclear family."

"Screw that," Jonathan said.

"Yeah. Screw that," Nancy agreed.

She stuck her tongue out in concentration, aimed at one of the cans, and pulled the trigger. She hit the target on the first try.

"Whoa," Jessica said. "I think we've found our gun slinger."

Nancy and Jonathan seemed to agree, and they all started back to their cars, Nancy grabbing her bag and putting it back on her shoulders before heading off.

On the way, Jessica thought about what Nancy had said about her parents and wondered if Nancy knew that she was headed in the same direction. She wasn't saying Nancy didn't care about Steve, but the pattern was the same. He was older than Nancy, his parents had money, and he would have a cushy job if he did what his dad wanted and went into the real estate business. And they probably would have a house at the end of a cul-de-sac if they ever got married and had kids.

"You never said what I was saying," Nancy said. "Yesterday, you said I was saying something, and that's why you took my picture."

"Oh, uh, I don't know. I guess . . . I saw this girl, you know, tryin' to be someone else. But at that moment, you were alone, or you thought you were, and, ya know, you could just be yourself."

Nancy didn't seem to like that answer at all. She even turned to face Jonathan, to confront him.

"I am not trying to be someone else. Just because I'm dating Steve and you don't like him –"

"You know what? Forget it. I just thought it was a good picture."

"He's actually a good guy."

"Okay."

"Yesterday, with the camera . . . he's not like that at all. He was just being protective."

"That's one word for it."

"Oh, and I guess what you did was okay?"

"No. I – I never said that."

"He had every right to be angry."

"Okay. All right. Does that mean I have to like him?"

"No."

"Listen, don't take it personally, okay? I don't like most people. He's in the vast majority."

Jonathan began walking away. Jessica was glad. Not for the first time, she'd begun to feel that she didn't exist when she was with Nancy and Jonathan, but . . . Nancy began talking again.

"You know, I was actually starting to think that you were okay. I was thinking, 'Jonathan Byers, maybe he's not the pretentious creep that everyone thinks he is'."

"Yeah, well, I was starting to think you were okay. I was thinking, 'Nancy Wheeler, she's not just another suburban girl who thinks she's rebelling by doing exactly what every other suburban girl does. Until that phase passes and they marry some boring one-time jock, who now works sales, and they live out a perfectly boring little life at the end of a cul-de-sac. Exactly like their parents, who they thought were so depressing, but now? They get it'."

It was almost dark now, and the three teens were near the cars. Jessica heard what sounded like a whimper, and she stopped in her tracks. Nancy seemed to have heard it too. Jonathan only stopped because they did.

"What is that?"

They followed the sound for a few minutes until they came across a wounded deer. The poor thing had either been hit by a car or attacked by something. There was blood on its neck and belly, and it was just lying there barely moving at all.

"We can't just leave it," Nancy said.

She brought the gun up but, even knowing the deer was suffering, she couldn't bring herself to shoot it. Jonathan took the gun from her and took a deep breath. Jessica began to turn away because she didn't want to see any of what was going to happen, but . . .

Jonathan didn't have to shoot. Something pulled the deer away. She didn't see what it had been, but whatever it was had to be strong to pull the deer. It had to have been fast too, for it to have moved without being seen . . . Unless whatever it was had powers like El.

Nancy pulled a flashlight from her bag, and passed it to Jonathan, pulled another one out, passed it to Jessica. The last one she saved for herself.

"Where'd it go?" Nancy asked.

"I dunno."

There was no sign of the deer, but there was a clear blood trail. Jessica began to have serious doubts about trying to find this thing, whatever it was. If it could do this . . . what chance did they have, and she didn't even have her weapon.

They followed the blood trail to the end and then they just looked around. No deer, no anything. The trail just stopped. Maybe the thing had hopped dimensions or something.

Nancy was the first to notice where the deer may have been dragged off to. There was a hole in a nearby tree, but it didn't belong in the tree. It was big enough for the deer to have gone through, and it was damp, liquid drip-dropping everywhere.

"Jonathan?" Nancy called out, but he'd already begun looking in another direction.

Nancy shook her bag off her shoulders and leaned forward, as if she were planning to go in. If this was what Jessica thought it was – a way into the Upside Down – they couldn't just go in. Neither one of them had a weapon. Nancy hadn't gotten the gun back from Jonathan once he'd taken it to shoot the deer.

"What're you doing?" Jessica asked, grabbing her shoulder. "You can't go in there, not by yourself."

"So come with me," Nancy said.

"We really should wait for Jonathan. He has the gun."

Nancy shook her head and dropped to her knees. She began crawling forward. Jessica also dropped to her knees to follow Nancy even though she thought this was probably the stupidest thing she'd ever done. Why had she ever thought this was a good idea? Going after some creature that had kidnapped two people and maybe killed one of them? Yeah, really smart idea.

The two girls ended up crawling through what appeared to be really slimy spiderwebs, only the material was thicker, denser. It reminded Jessica of the cocoons she'd seen in movies about people being abducted by aliens only to wake up in a spaceship laboratory.

"I think I'm gonna throw up," she said.

They eventually came out of the tunnel and stood up. The tunnel had taken longer to get out of than it should have if they'd only had to crawl the circumference of the tree trunk, and now they were in some other place – a dead, dark place. Some kind of ashy substance was floating in the air, and they probably should not have been breathing it in.

"Nancy, let's go back. This is not right. We should not be here."

"Barb –"

"Is probably dead! Now let's go."

Jessica even turned to go back. If Nancy wanted to stay and get killed, that was her prerogative. But as she turned she noticed that the opening they had come through was closing, and it was now too small for them to get through.

"Nancy . . . if we get stuck here, I'm letting that thing eat you."

"What?"

"Look."

Jessica pointed at the even smaller opening and felt a small amount of satisfaction as fear crossed Nancy's face. Maybe the girl was finally seeing the seriousness of the situation. They could die there, wherever they were.

They seemed to still be in the forest, just not the one they had been in a few minutes before. They were in the Upside Down. Jessica was sure of it, and maybe they were stuck there. Like Will was stuck . . . Maybe they could find Will while they were there.

"I think we're still in Hawkins," she said. "Just on a different level of existence. We're still in the woods, just . . . not ours."

"We should look for another way out."

"Yeah. Well . . . we know the Byers' house is a hot spot, that the thing was able to get through the wall. Maybe we can too, if we can find the house."

The flashlights weren't working, however, and Jessica thought it had something to do with the atmosphere, like maybe batteries didn't work in the Upside Down or something.

It wasn't five minutes later that they heard a wet chewing sound. They had found the creature, and it was feasting on the deer it had drug there. Jessica didn't know if it was evil, but it was definitely a predator. The fact that only two people had gone missing and that it was willing to eat an animal could mean that it hunted only when it was hungry. Considering there seemed to be nothing left alive in this dimension, it was no wonder that it had to travel somewhere else to eat.

Nancy and Jessica stood still, just staring for about a minute, and then they began backing away. Nancy stepped on a twig and it snapped, causing the creature to jerk its head toward them. It didn't growl or roar. It shrieked, which was scarier in Jessica's opinion. She recognized it from the night she'd found the boys in the woods. The thing had been so close to them that night.

"Run!" she yelled.

They both took off, and Nancy began calling for Jonathan. At first Jessica didn't understand why, because Jonathan wasn't there in that dimension, and all Nancy was doing was giving the creature a sound to track them by, but then she remembered that Joyce had been able to hear Will sometimes because he'd been able to communicate somehow. Jonathan might be able to hear them if there was an opening somewhere

The problem remained, however, of the thing being able to follow the sounds of their voices. But they could hear it too, and this time it was growling.

This thing was probably only defending its territory, but Jessica didn't care. She didn't want to die.

They needed to get out of there.