July 4th, 1985

The Russian Facility

I've never givin' much thought to how I would die. Sure I hoped like most people that I would go in my sleep. Or once I was contempt with the life I lived. Far from the brutal end, I was currently faced with. Robin and I were thrown into a cold, cement room by two brute Russian guards. Steve had been thrown into a separate room by two different guards, the doors slamming behind them before the sounds of Steve's cries hit our ears.

"What are they doing to him?!" I yelled out, if you listened close enough you could hear the sounds of punches and kicks landing. Though my question was only met with silence as the two guards blocked our way out.

"Who do you work for?" A man's question could be heard through the walls as Steve coughed and groaned in pain. "Scoops Ahoy! I swear!" He yelled quickly, though the men didn't accept his answer, the sound of Steve being hit again reached our ears.

"He hasn't done anything!" I yelled, standing from my place on the ground only to quickly be pushed back down. "Nell, stop..." Robin whispered from her place, having stayed stiff as a board since we were captured.

"Who do you work for?" The voice questioned again as Steve released a pained cry. "I already told you! Scoops Ahoy, at Starcourt Mall, please!" He begged, coughing up more of what I could only assume to be blood.

The room was still, I felt hopeless as I let the tears fall down my face, praying that the guards had accepted that Steve wasn't some sort of spy or enemy. But that prayer fell short as the sound of Steve getting kicked reached our ears again.

"Please, please, stop this! We didn't see anything! He doesn't know anything! Just leave him alone!" My pleas fell on deaf ears, the guards continued to stare down at the two of us with blank expressions. "Nell, nothing that we say matters." Robin tried to calm me as my breathing grew erratic, while the room beside us fell silent once again.

The cold metal of the handcuffs that shackled my wrists together seemed to be growing heavier with every punch that landed on Steve. "Please... he hasn't done anything..." I begged quietly, heading bowing down as I cried.

"Who do you work for?" The man questioned after a bout of silence fell over the room. "For the millionth time, I work at Scoops Ahoy!" Steve screamed out before a single punch landed on him. "What the hell?! Look at my outfit! You think I just wear this?! Think I'm a spy in a sailor's uniform?" Steve continued to yell at the man, only to earn another harsh blow.

Steve's groans of pain could be heard before the man's next question. "How did you get in?"

"My... My delivery didn't come, and my friends and I... we thought it was left at the loading dock, so we went in the room and then it turned into an elevator, and then... and then we dropped, then next thing I know, I open my eyes, and we're in this... wonderful facility." Steve groaned out the white lie, even if the whole truth never involved us being spies for the American Government.

"But I swear to God, nobody knows about us, nobody saw us. You could just let us go, all right? And I'm not going to tell anybody about this, okay? Shit happens, life goes on. And... uh- ice--ice cream. Ice cream, okay? You guys know what ice cream is. Everybody loves ice cream. I don't know if you have Russian ice cream or if that's considered gelato. I don't know what's what, but whatever you guys want, seriously." The guard allowed Steve to ramble on, whether or not that would help our case, who knows.

"USS Butterscotch, I mean, you gotta try it. It is out of the world, I'm telling ya!" Steve added enthusiastically, earning a hearty laugh from the soldiers, Steve joining in with his own nervous laughter.

"Мне нравится этот парень!" The guard shouted jovially. "USS... Butterscotch." The guard rasped out between chuckles. The laughter only lasted for a second longer before the room fell into sudden silence.

"Who do you work for?" The man questioned harshly, I released a pained gasp at his words. "Oh, come on... No, no! No, seriously--" Steve's plea was cut short as another punch landed, the room falling silent.

"Steve?" I yelled, worried once I noticed that the guard had stopped questioning him and the fact that Steve's groans of pain had stopped. "Steve!" I yelled again, standing from my place only to be shoved down again.

Rolling onto my back, I listened as the door behind the guards opened, revealing a man with bloodied fists.

"Который из?" He questioned the guards, the pair exchanging a look before nodding in my direction.

Without a second thought, the guard pushed past the two men, his large boots made his stomping feet sound more deafening as he approached me.

"What? What does that mean?" Robin suddenly questioned as the guard stopped in front of me, pulling me up by my arms before dragging me out of the room. Though it felt useless to put up a fight against a man that was more than twice my size, I couldn't help but thrash in his grasp. Kicking and screaming for Robin's help.

"What the hell?! Get your hands off me!" Robin yelled out as she was pulled out of the room as well, along with a passed-out Steve being dragged close behind us, his tennis shoes squeaking against the floor.

The guards dragged us down the cold, narrow hall before coming to a stop before two locked doors, a soldier standing beside them was quick to use his keycard to unlock the doors.

Throwing the three of us onto the hard ground, my first instinct was to check on Steve. Crawling towards his limp, still-form, I nudged him with my shoulder in a poor attempt to wake him up, or in the hopes of drawing any reaction from him.

"Steve? Hey..." I whispered softly, though he didn't budge. His face remained tilted away from me, hiding just how much damage had been inflicted on him. "Steve? Steve, please..." I cried out, continuing to push him in the hopes of getting a reaction, only to earn nothing.

The sound of the doors being unlocked again sounded from behind me, my worry for Steve instantly turning to anger at the men who had done this.

"What did you do to him? What did you do?!" I yelled, approaching the man as quickly as I could, glaring up at who I assumed to be the man in charge of all of this.

A stinging pain erupted against my left cheek, I hadn't even had time to process that the man had raised his hand before he hit me with the back of it. "Don't touch her!" Robin yelled out as I fell to the ground, she tried to stand in front of me only for another guard to push her to the side.

"Посадите их на стулья." The man's voice rang in my ears as I tried to pull myself off of the ground. Three guards approached us before they were stopped by their leader, "Поставьте ее на стол." He commanded, pointing a stern finger in my face before two strong hands latched onto both of my arms.

"Stop! Stop!" My pleads fell on deaf ears as I was dragged away from Robin and Steve. While they were placed and tied into two chairs, the guard had thrown me onto the medical table that lingered eerily in the dark corner.

Continuing to struggle against the guard that held me down harshly against the table, I kneed him as hard as I could muster in his groin earning a groan of pain before he doubled over.

Moving to push him away from me, a cold hand was quick to stop me in my tracks as they pushed me back onto the table. "You're going to regret that, сука." He informed me coldly, latching a hand onto the top of my head before slamming the base of my skull into the table.

~~~

Releasing a sharp gasp, I launched up in my place on the bed, searching my room for a sign of what had suddenly woken me from my sleep, my right hand cradling the back of my head as I tried to control my erratic breathing.

A gentle hand landing on my shoulder caused me to jump and release a loud scream, flinching away from the body that laid next to mine. "Hey... hey, it's all right. Just go back to sleep." Steve mumbled, burying his face into one of my pillows as his hand moved to rub circles on my back. "It was just a nightmare."

My breathing calmed but I still stared down at the boy with wide, worried eyes. "N-No... I don't- You don't understand, it felt so real." I sighed, running a hand through my tangled hair before hiding my face in my hands as I began to chuckle to myself at the thought of anything I dreamed of being true. "Just a nightmare, Nellie..." He mumbled, his hand slowly pulling away from my back as I began to slowly nod in agreement with his words.

"It was the strangest dream--" I stopped myself, I had allowed myself to fall back onto the pillows that lingered behind me. Only rather than the soft cushion softening the blow, my back slammed onto the hard ground, and rather than the feeling of my sheets under my hands as I went to push myself up, I found dirt and gravel.

The air was cold, that type of cold in Hawkins after a thunderstorm had just rolled over the town. And rather than the morning sun shining through my curtains, I was greeted by the dark night's sky, not a single star insight as the dim lights of a factory shined down onto the dirt road.

'Brimborn Steel Works' I read the words that peeled off of the abandoned, decaying building. The old steel mill off of Cherry Oak Drive had been abandoned for as long as I could remember. Left to rot into the Earth.

The sound of an idling engine stole my attention away from the building. Not too far from me sat a blue 79' Chevrolet Camaro, its windshield was smashed in and the passenger side of the car was wrapped around the light pole that cast an eerie haze over it.

The closer I stepped to the car, the more I recognize who it belonged to as I peered inside, it was Billy's car... But where was he?

Almost as if my inner monologue had been answered, a scream of pain cut through the air, pulling my attention off of the car and back onto the steel mill. Only now rather than focus on the sign, my gaze landed on the stairs that led down to the entrance. The lights remained off as another scream ripped through the air, this time closer.

Slowly and hesitantly approaching the entrance, I shakily called out to who I believed was screaming. "Billy..." It barely came out as a whisper, I hardly had time to register my own words as two hands latched onto the railing on either side of the entrance.

Billy's screams rang in my ears, with a pitch so loud I placed my hands over my ears and closed my eyes tightly to block out the nightmare.

A sharp wind blew my hair to the side, causing me to quickly snap open my eyes open as the world around me changed again. This time once I peeled my eyelids apart I found myself on what seemed to be a beach, only it was corrupted, tainted. The air around me was thick and heavy, full of noticeable floating debris and toxic particle. Peering up at the sky with wide eyes, I found what I feared most. The dark-blue clouds and red lightning, just like Will's drawing.

A piece of the Upside Down was still in Hawkins... And it was growing.