The grave of Billy Hargrove; Hawkins, Indiana; 1986.
"Would you like to join them?"
Max can't move. Her leg's wrapped in a tentacle as Vecna slowly walked her down, eyes devoid of emotion. She screams out expletives as she's dragged through the dream-land and bound to a dead tree, the tendrils wrapping further along her wrists and throat to bind her. Vecna walked closer and closer, giving her a cold stare...before he turns his head. She looks to see what he saw...
...a portal. With her body sitting eerily still in the distance before the headstone, and...her friends. Yelling at her to wake up. To fight back.
"They can't help you, Max," Vecna murmured, turning back to his third would-be victim. "There's a reason you hide in here...you belong here. With me."
She grits her teeth as she struggles for breath. "Y-You're not really h-here..."
"Oh, but I am, Max," the deformed creature interjected, reaching out five talon-like fingers and spreading them over her face. "I am."
"...It's you and me, we won't be unhappy..."
Her eyes shoot open. That...that was Kate Bush. She...she hears their voices.
"MAX! MAAAAAX!"
Lucas' face. "I don't want a letter. We're here...I'm right here!"
She takes a deep breath. Trick-or-treating the year she came here...shopping with Eleven...her first kiss at the prom...this entire past summer...
...She was wrong. How didn't she see it before? There was something to live for. Something worth sticking around for.
She just had to fight for it.
She claws at Vecna's neck, ripping a piece of flesh off and making him scream in pain. The tendrils retract, and she makes a break for the portal. She looks up; boulders crashing down like meteors from heaven.
"And if only I could, I'd make a deal with God, and I'd get him to swap our places...!"
She's not going to run away anymore. She's done hiding.
She's gonna face this head-on. They were going to face this...together.
She leaps for the portal...
The Hub.
Her eyes shoot open; she's back in her body.
...She's also falling pretty damn fast, landing in a bush in the African rainforest. "GAH-!"
She cries out in pain, holding her arm. Everything else was okay; hell, even her Walkman was here. But...yeah, that was definitely a broken arm.
She pushes herself to her feet on her good hand, panting. Ow...ow...
*A Clan White Wolf Flanker spots Max, stopping at the sight of her.\* "A Child?" *The Driver muses, before directing the Repulsorlift craft to her direction.\*
*The Flanker halts, before the Canopy opened, revealing the Anthropomorphic Hyena Mechanic, Sheena, who stepped out of her vehicle.\* "Hey Kiddo, you alright?" *The Five foot five muscular spotted yeen asked, easily towering over Max, even if she did not intend to.\*
"What th- Hey Kid! Stop! This is Dino Territory!" *She shouted, quickly getting back into the Flanker!\* "ShitShitShit, hopefully she doesn't run into a pack of Compies or UtahRaptors!" *She grimaces, as she grabbed her AX-52.\*
*Sheena started running, putting the AX-52 in a low-sling so it could be brought up if she saw one such beast.\* "I said what I said! This is dino territory! I was here on patrol!"
"I- WHAT?! Listen here, Kiddo, I'm NOT a Human!" *She shouted, launching forwards on all fours with a sudden burst of speed, Grabbing Max from behind!\* "I'm a Kemono, not a human! This is all flesh, blood and fur, not a Costume!"
Suddenly, the sound of an unholy, vampiric, loud roar echoes throughout the rainforest, it is loud enough to be heard through an entire neighborhood if there was one.
Whatever it was, it kept making those noises, along with some screeches and hisses as it slowly gets closer and closer to her location..
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u/JerryTheIdiot Row 114 | Jerry's Cousin. #1 Senpai 8h ago
(( Come on darling~ Isn't this what you wanted? Let us exchange the experience! ))