Will POV:
Pain.
That was the first thing I noticed.
Everything hurt.
My head.
My chest.
My throat.
Even breathing hurts.
I slowly opened my eyes.
Or tried to.
They barely cooperated.
I blinked once.
Twice.
Three times.
Something wooden slowly came into focus above me.
I stared at it.
Wood?
Where was I?
I turned my head slightly.
More wood.
Blankets.
A sleeping bag.
Drawings.
My drawings.
I knew this place.
Castle Byers.
I was in Castle Byers.
How—
I squeezed my eyes shut.
And remembered.
Running.
Hiding.
That thing finding me again.
The monster.
I remembered it chasing me through the woods.
I remembered climbing the tree.
Trying to get away.
Then falling.
The monster coming closer.
And thinking—
This is it.
I was going to die.
A monster was going to eat me, and nobody would ever know what happened to me.
I remembered hitting the ground.
My head hitting something hard.
And then everything went black.
After that—
Nothing.
No.
Not nothing.
There were pieces.
Little flashes that didn't make any sense.
Fire.
Monsters.
Screaming.
Someone shouting my name.
And—
Erica.
My eyes snapped open.
Erica.
I tried to sit up.
Pain tore through my entire body.
"Ah—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"
Hands caught my shoulders before I'd even managed to get halfway up.
"Don't."
I froze.
Erica was leaning over me.
For a second, neither of us said anything.
Her eyes were wide.
Then something changed in her face.
Relief.
"You're awake."
I stared at her.
Erica?
Here?
"Erica...?"
"Yeah."
I kept staring.
She looked horrible.
There was dried blood underneath her nose.
More blood covered her clothes.
Her hair was a mess. Dirt and that disgusting portal slime were smeared practically everywhere.
One shoulder was bandaged.
She looked exhausted.
But she was here.
Actually here.
I tried to sit up again.
She immediately pushed me back down.
"Nope."
"But—"
"Will, you were unconscious approximately thirty seconds ago. You're not getting up."
I stopped fighting her.
Mostly because I didn't think I could have won anyway.
My arms felt like they weighed a hundred pounds.
I swallowed.
Instant mistake.
Pain burned through my throat.
I winced.
Erica noticed.
"Don't try to talk too much."
"What..." My voice barely came out. "What happened?"
Her expression changed.
For once, Erica Sinclair didn't immediately have an answer.
I looked around Castle Byers again.
Then back at her.
And suddenly it hit me.
If Erica was here—
"Did it..."
My chest tightened.
"The monster got you too..."
Her eyebrows pulled together.
"Mom. Jonathan. Mike. The Party..." My breathing started coming faster. "What if it gets them too? Everyone in Hawkins—"
"Hey. Will, calm down."
She put a hand on my shoulder.
"The Demogorgon didn't get me, okay? It's just you and me here."
I stared at her.
"We're safe for now."
For now.
That didn't exactly make me feel better.
But something else she'd said finally registered.
The monster hadn't gotten her.
Then how was she here?
I stared at her again.
Maybe she wasn't.
The thought came suddenly.
Maybe I was still unconscious.
Maybe I'd hit my head harder than I thought.
Maybe my brain had just given me someone familiar because I didn't want to be alone anymore.
But then her fingers shifted against my shoulder.
I felt them.
Warm.
Real.
My eyes moved over her again.
The dried blood beneath her nose.
The blood on her clothes.
The bandage around her shoulder.
The bow.
The mace lying nearby.
She'd been fighting.
She was hurt.
She was exhausted.
She was real.
Erica was really here.
And then I understood.
She hadn't been taken.
She'd come here herself.
She'd chosen to walk into this nightmare.
"You came here."
She went still.
I stared at her.
"You voluntarily came to this hell."
It wasn't really a question.
Erica sighed.
"Yeah."
My chest tightened.
"For me?"
She looked at me like I'd just asked the stupidest question in the world.
"Obviously."
I didn't know what to say.
She'd come here.
For me.
She'd actually entered this place willingly just to find me.
I didn't understand why anyone would do that.
Not because nobody cared about me.
I knew Mom did.
Jonathan did.
My friends did.
But this place—
This place was Hell.
Worse than any nightmare I could ever imagine coming to life.
Monsters were crawling everywhere. We could be killed at any moment.
I'd spent the last two days desperately trying to survive. Helplessly hiding. Giving up hope that I'd ever get out.
And Erica had walked into it because of me.
On purpose.
Why?
Why would she risk her life for me?
I couldn't understand it.
I didn't even know if we were going to make it out.
For all I knew, we were both doomed to die here.
And she'd chosen to follow me into Hell anyway.
Just so I wouldn't have to face it alone.
I didn't know what I was supposed to do with that. What I was even supposed to say.
So I just stared at her.
Speechless.
Erica shifted beside me.
"Don't make it weird."
I almost laughed.
It hurt too much.
So instead, I managed the smallest smile.
Then something flickered through my head.
Fire.
Screaming.
An unsettling, foreign feeling of anger and curiosity.
Her voice.
Will, please.
My smile disappeared.
More came back.
Not enough to understand.
Just pieces.
Something being pulled out of my throat.
I shuddered.
Pressure against my chest.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Erica's voice.
Desperate. Terrified.
Please don't die!
And—
Something warm against my mouth.
My eyebrows pulled together.
Whatever had happened, Erica hadn't saved me from the monster in the woods.
Something else had happened after I blacked out.
Something worse.
"Erica..."
"Yeah?"
"What happened after I hit my head?"
Her face changed.
Just slightly.
And somehow, I got the feeling the answer was going to be a lot more complicated than I wanted it to be.