The library swallowed me in darkness the second I left the window behind.
I'd successfully infiltrated the building.
Now I just had to find Will without introducing myself to every monster inside.
Easy.
I stayed low and moved away from the window.
The shelves helped.
For once, something in this fucking dimension was actually useful.
They gave me cover almost immediately, letting me disappear between rows instead of crossing the open centre of the library.
I kept the mace in one hand as I moved, placing each foot carefully and keeping as much distance from the vines as the narrow aisles allowed.
The deeper I went, the worse the library became.
And there was more of that disgusting membrane I'd seen elsewhere in the Upside Down.
Thick.
Wet.
Almost organic.
I reached the end of a shelf and stopped before stepping into the next aisle.
Look first.
Move second.
I leaned just far enough to see around the corner.
And immediately pulled back.
Demogorgon.
Fuck.
I pressed myself against the shelf.
It was close.
Way too close.
I could hear it moving on the other side.
Slow footsteps.
A wet clicking sound.
Then another step.
My fingers tightened around the mace instinctively.
The Demogorgon hadn't sensed me yet.
Erica, don't you fucking dare make a single sound.
Don't move!
Don't even fucking breathe!
The shelf should hide my heat signature, so unless it came around the corner, it probably couldn't see me.
Smelling me was another problem.
I never thought I'd be grateful for this, but I sincerely hoped I fucking stank.
Between the Demogorgon blood splattered over me and the disgusting Upside Down slime covering my clothes, my natural scent had to be buried underneath all of it.
Starting something now would only announce my presence to everything else in the building.
So I waited.
And prayed.
The footsteps moved past the end of the aisle.
I caught another glimpse of it through a gap between the bookshelves.
Then it disappeared.
I counted to five.
Looked again.
Clear.
I moved.
Obviously, not towards where it had gone.
I wasn't fucking suicidal.
I slipped into the next aisle and continued deeper into the library.
That was when I heard it.
Something ahead.
Not the Demogorgon.
Smaller.
A scratching sound.
Then a low growl.
Another answered.
I stopped.
Oh, fuck me.
I crouched and slowly moved towards the end of the aisle.
There was a large open section of the library ahead.
I stayed behind the shelf and looked through the gaps instead of sticking my entire head out like an idiot.
At first, I couldn't make sense of what I was seeing.
There was too much.
Vines.
Membrane.
Those disgusting fleshy growths covering almost everything.
And—
Giant eggs.
My eyes widened.
Actual fucking eggs.
They were scattered throughout the growth, clustered together between the vines.
Some were closed.
Some were split open.
And some—
Something moved beside one.
Tiny.
Barely bigger than a lizard.
It crawled over the vines on four limbs before disappearing behind one of the eggs.
What the fuck?
Another one emerged farther away.
Bigger this time.
Still small, but unmistakably alive.
Then I noticed another creature.
And another.
Each one larger than the last.
My eyes slowly moved across the nest.
Oh.
Oh, shit.
Different stages.
The smallest ones stayed close to the eggs.
Farther out were creatures that looked more developed, their limbs longer, bodies larger.
Then came the ones I recognised immediately.
Demodogs.
One lay curled amongst the vines.
Another prowled between the eggs, its head shifting from side to side.
A third was feeding on something I couldn't see.
I decided I didn't need to see.
And beyond them—
A Demogorgon.
Another one.
It moved slowly through the nest.
None of the smaller creatures reacted to it.
I stared at the scene in front of me.
Well.
I'd found the fucking nest.
Fantastic.
I lowered myself slightly behind the shelf.
There was no way I was going through that.
Suddenly, the Demogorgon I'd avoided earlier was starting to look like the easy option.
One Demogorgon?
Maybe.
A few Demodogs?
Also maybe.
A Demogorgon, several Demodogs and however many smaller nightmare children were crawling around those eggs?
Absolutely fucking not.
Even with my powers, that was the kind of fight that ended with people scraping what was left of me off the walls.
I needed another route.
My eyes moved over the room.
Doors.
Shelves.
The staircase—
I stopped.
Staircase.
Second floor.
I'd been so focused on what was directly in front of me that I hadn't properly looked above it.
I slowly raised my eyes.
There was an upper level overlooking the nest.
The vines had reached there too.
They covered the railing and crawled across the walls, becoming thicker towards the back.
Much thicker.
And between them—
Something red.
I froze.
My heart gave one violent thud.
No.
I leaned slightly farther around the shelf.
Just enough to get a better angle.
There.
Behind the railing.
Deeper inside the second floor.
A small body.
Human.
My breath caught.
Will.
For a second, that was all my brain could understand.
Will.
I'd found Will.
Then I actually saw him.
And every bit of relief disappeared.
He wasn't standing.
He wasn't moving.
He was hanging.
The growth had wrapped around his body, cocooning him upright against the wall.
His arms hung limply at his sides.
His head had fallen slightly to one side.
His face was pale.
Too pale.
And something thick stretched from the growth beside him.
Straight into his mouth.
My stomach dropped.
No.
No, no, no—
I knew this.
I fucking knew this.
The library.
Will trapped in the vines.
That thing shoved down his throat.
Joyce pulling it out.
Hopper giving him CPR.
Except they weren't here yet.
I was.
My fingers tightened around the shelf.
I wanted to move.
Every part of me wanted to run straight towards him.
Climb those stairs.
Kill anything that got in my way.
Rip that fucking thing out of his mouth.
But the nest was directly below him.
Demodogs.
Demogorgons.
Whatever the fuck those baby monsters were.
All of it between me and Will.
So I stayed where I was.
Because charging into that would be stupid.
Because getting myself killed wouldn't help him.
Because the Avengers would somehow find a way to cross dimensions just to slap me if I made it this far and got myself killed doing something this stupid.
I forced myself to look at Will again.
His chest.
I stared at it.
Come on.
Please.
Nothing.
My heart started hammering harder.
Then—
Movement.
Barely anything.
His chest rose.
A tiny breath.
Then fell.
I closed my eyes for half a second.
Alive.
He was alive.
Thank fucking God.
I opened my eyes again.
Will was alive.
I'd found him.
Now I just needed to figure out how the fuck I was going to get up there without disturbing the nightmare maternity ward underneath him.