Chapter 27: The Castle Byers Rescue
The bat connected with the Demogorgon's skull—solid impact that should have caved bone.
The creature barely flinched.
Fuck.
It swiped. I rolled left. Claws missed my head by inches, tore through the air with whistling sound.
Fight Master calculations running: 300-pound mass, 40% faster than human maximum, bone density exceeds expectations, face vulnerable only when fully open.
The monster's face split wider—petals of flesh peeling back, throat glowing with bioluminescence, rows of teeth rotating like organic chainsaw.
It lunged again.
I didn't try blocking. Dove sideways, used momentum to spring back to feet, swung low at its knee.
Bat connected. The creature stumbled but didn't fall.
Buying time. That's all this is. Jonathan needs sixty seconds to reach Castle Byers.
The Demogorgon circled me, clicking sounds vibrating through its chest. Hunting behavior. Analyzing prey.
I kept moving, never still, bat ready. Blood from my shoulder wound dripping steadily—each drop a beacon.
"Come on," I whispered. "Focus on me. Forget the kid."
It charged.
I was ready. Sidestepped at last possible moment, swung full force at its extended face.
Nails sank into flesh. Black blood sprayed.
The Demogorgon shrieked—sound that shook the air, made the vines pulse in response.
Then it fled.
Disappeared into darkness between buildings, moving with terrifying speed.
I stood there, breathing hard, bat dripping ichor.
It ran. Why did it—
Realization hit: It's injured. Not critically, but enough to retreat and reassess. It'll be back.
No time to waste. I ran after Jonathan.
Castle Byers materialized from the ash-fog like a ghost—small wooden fort, planks nailed together with childish enthusiasm, blanket door flapping in non-existent wind.
But wrong. Wrapped in vines. Walls reinforced with scavenged metal and debris. Signs of desperate fortification.
Jonathan knelt at the entrance, tearing through barricades with bare hands.
"Will! Will, answer me!"
Singing came from inside. Soft, trembling: "Should I stay or should I go now..."
"He's here," Jonathan sobbed. "He's alive."
I reached the fort, helped pull away debris. The blanket door fell aside.
Will Byers huddled in the corner—eleven years old, looked eight. Clothes torn and filthy. Face gaunt. Lips cracked from dehydration. Eyes hollow with terror.
But breathing. Conscious. Alive.
"Jonathan?" Will's voice barely audible. "Is that really you?"
"Yeah, buddy. It's me." Jonathan crawled inside, pulled Will into desperate embrace. "I've got you. You're safe now."
"Mom? Is Mom here?"
"She's on the other side. Waiting for you. We're getting you home."
Will looked at me—didn't recognize me, just saw stranger in the darkness.
"Who—"
"Steve Harrington. I'm here to help." I checked my watch. One-forty AM. Twenty minutes for extraction. "Jonathan, we need to move. The Demogorgon will be back."
"Can he walk?"
I assessed Will—dehydrated, weak, probably hypothermic. "Carry him. We're going to the weak point."
Jonathan scooped Will up. The kid weighed almost nothing.
We emerged from Castle Byers into the nightmare landscape. My NVGs scanned for threats—no movement yet, but the clicking echoed distant.
It's circling. Waiting for another opening.
"Two hundred meters northeast," I said. "That's where the barrier is thin. Team Will should be in position."
We moved fast as Jonathan could manage. Every step through ankle-deep ash, over twisted vines, around collapsed trees.
Will whimpered. "It hurts. Everything hurts."
"I know, buddy. Almost home."
My radio crackled—stolen from the guard. "Team Gate, this is Team Will. We're in position. El's ready to open the portal."
"Copy. Thirty seconds out."
We reached the coordinates—clearing where Castle Byers existed in normal Hawkins. Here: rotted clearing, ash-covered ground, vines forming rough circle.
And the air shimmered.
Reality thinned. I could see through it—glimpses of normal world. Joyce standing there, Robin and Eddie flanking her, El with hand extended and blood streaming from nose.
The portal tore open.
Thirty-second window. Maybe less.
"Go!" I shoved Jonathan forward. "Get him through!"
Jonathan stumbled through the barrier—resistance like pushing through membrane—and emerged on the other side into Joyce's arms.
Joyce caught Will, collapsed to knees, sobbing. "Baby. My baby."
El screamed with effort. The portal destabilizing.
"Jonathan! Move!" I pushed him fully through as the opening contracted.
Twenty seconds.
Will safe. Jonathan through. Two objectives complete.
The portal began collapsing. El's nose bleeding worse, eyes rolled back.
"Steve!" Robin shouted from the other side. "Get out!"
Can't. Barb still here. Nancy and Hopper need backup.
"Close it!" I yelled back. "Save your strength! We'll extract at the gate!"
"Steve, no—"
The portal collapsed. El slumped unconscious into Joyce's arms.
Silence. I stood alone in the Upside Down, half-mile from Barb's location, Demogorgon somewhere in the darkness.
My radio crackled again. Nancy's voice, tight with stress: "Steve, we found her. Barb's alive but it's bad. Really bad."
"I'm coming. Hold position."
I ran northeast. Toward Lover's Lake. Toward the second rescue.
Two down, one to go. Don't fuck this up now.
Nancy - Lover's Lake, Upside Down, 1:50 AM
The pool area looked like organic nightmare—entire structure wrapped in vines that pulsed with bioluminescence, water replaced by thick black sludge.
And against the far wall, cocooned in webbing: Barb Holland.
Nancy's breath caught. "No. No no no—"
She ran, rifle forgotten, hands tearing at the cocoon.
Barb hung suspended, barely conscious. Face pale. Breathing shallow. Left hand—
"Oh God." Nancy stared at the stumps where two fingers should be. "Barb, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry—"
"Nancy?" Barb's eyes fluttered open. Voice cracked, barely human. "You came."
"Of course I came. I'm getting you out."
Hopper helped tear away webbing. The stuff clung like glue, required both of them pulling to break free.
Barb collapsed into Nancy's arms. "The monster. It... it comes back. Feeds. Leaves. Comes back."
"How long?"
"Don't know. Days? Weeks? Lost track." Barb coughed—wet, rattling sound. "Cold. So cold."
"You're hypothermic." Hopper checked for wounds beyond the obvious. "Multiple lacerations, infections setting in, severe dehydration. She needs hospital now."
"We need Steve," Nancy said. "He can—"
Footsteps. Running.
Steve burst into the pool area, breathing hard, covered in black blood from the Demogorgon. His shoulder still bleeding, NVGs askew on his head.
"Will's safe. Jonathan through. Portal closed." He assessed Barb in three seconds. "Shit. How long has she been like this?"
"Since she was taken," Nancy said. "Three days."
"Move." Steve knelt beside Barb, pulled off his gloves. "Barb, I'm going to help. It's going to hurt me more than you, but you'll feel better. Trust me?"
Barb nodded weakly.
Steve placed both hands on her shoulders and something changed.
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