Locals

She didn't know how long she'd been walking for, making her way through the overgrown, dim parody of Hawkins. It was quiet; there were no people, no sign of movement. Just that weird fungus, the odd scent in the air, and aimelss wandering.

Nancy shivered again. She moved to brush her hair out of her eyes only to stop, her top feeling somehow a little stiff. She looked down at it, afraid something might have caught on her, but no, nothing. It looked normal. Cautiously she prodded at it with her other hand.

Weird. The fabric felt different, her loose-fitting top now stiffer. As she slowed she felt her pants react similarly. Maybe that was a side effect of being in this world?

If all the air did was make her clothes feel weird though, she'd be happy with that.

And then Nancy heard movement. Forgetting the odd, brittle feeling for a moment Nancy ran to a nearby house, crouching against the wall and holding her breath, trying to hide. She could definitely hear footsteps, light, fast footsteps. Definitely not human.

Thsi might not be the Upside Down exactly, but it was certainly close enough. She hadn't heard any mention of the green flashes in the sky, the odd way fabric reacted to the air, so this might just be some other similar plane, but that didn't mean it was safe.

A dog-like creature bounded into view. Nancy stiffened, a chill running through her.

She'd seen dog slike that before, demodogs, less developed versions of the monster that had plagued them when all this began. She froze, shaking against the wall as the fleshy, pale thing moved forwards.

Definitely close to the Upside Down, even if not the exact same.

It slowed for a moment. Turning, its petal-like head looked from side to side; Nancy bit her lip as it faced her. Then the petal unfurled in a hissing roar.

It began moving. Yelping, Nancy stumbled back to her feet and ran, looking back over her shoulder, terrified, to see the thing still coming after her.

What she wouldn't give for a gun, or truck, or anything to fight back with... Instead she ran, panting, as the demodog pursued.

And then she felt a weight on her back. It lunged, knocking her to the floor, the breath of its roar warm against the back of her neck. Nancy whimpered.

It lunged down and took a bite. Nancy opened her mouth to screen, then faltered. Wait. That hadn't hurt, she hadn't felt teeth. She'd felt contact, she could hear the sound of it eating, but there hadn't been any pain. Slowly, scared, she inched forwards, pulling herself out from under the eating demodog.

It was definitely eating, just...

Her eyes widened as she felt the cool air on the skin of her back. Panicked, she lifted a hand.

Ok, so the demodogs in this dimensions weren't interested in eating meat. Just her clothes. Ok then. She wasn't sure if that was better or worse.

Panicked, Nancy looked back. The demodog looked up to see her trying to flee, and lunged again; Nancy screamed, pushing away, batting at its head with a fist and only succeeding in letting it bite down on her sleeve and pull.

Well, better her top than the rest of her. Nancy scrambled away from it, leaving it to devour her stolen top, as she sprinted off further away into this strange dimension, now wearing only a pale bra on her top half. Awkwardly she crossed her arms.

At least her blush helped keep her warm. Now if she could just find a way out of here before anything else got eaten...