There's a silent agreement between the two as Johnathan moves to follow Billy and Steve all but herds the other two after him, bringing up the rear as he keeps his eyes and ears open. He listens to the flapping of wings, for the growl of a demo, or even the roar of an engine. Luckily for now it's the collective din that is just the sounds of the Upside Down.
"How is he alive?" Dustin whispers to Steve. "How is he alive but...but-"
"Dustin stop." Steve sighs. "We'll figure it out just...just breath for right now."
He rubs the teens' shoulder as they walk to the church, catching Nancy's glance as he shakes his head and nods around them. They need to keep focused. They all know this place is not safe.
With one more short nod, Billy steps off the porch, skirting around Harrington and the others - Nancy Wheeler, his mind supplies and the boy... a friend of Max's. Henderson? Something Henderson, he thinks. Pressing a finger against his lips, Billy nods again but doesn't get close.
He leads the way towards the church, the path familiar even though he doesn't follow any of the main roads, ducking between various buildings, movements somewhat erratic. He keeps looking back of his shoulder, checking that the others are still there, that they haven't left him, all the while muttering to himself under his breath.
Billy hears the Henderson boy and Steve. He wondered the same thing. When he'd woken up here, a hole in his chest and no recollection of how he'd gotten there, he'd wondered how he was alive as well. He'd stopped wondering after a while because the how was irrelevant if he died here after all. Survival had been everything.
When they reach the church, Billy nods towards the door. "Inside."
Unlike most of the buildings here, the church is relatively untouched. There's still vines running all over like the rest of them and there's no freshness to the air in the building at all, but the windows are all in tact and the doors all lock.
Jonathan tried to ignore the muttering, though he does have to wonder the same thing. Why is it that this place is almost...selective about the people that it comes into contact with. Why are some people killed or left alone or tormented or possessed or lost? What's the motive?
He tries not to linger on the idea, just following close behind and nodding when Billy looks back at him as if to confirm that they were still there. He listens to what little he can make out of Billy's chattering to himself, hoping to learn what he can about what the guy has been doing since his apparent death.
The doors of the church creak open, and he holds it only long enough to let the rest of the group in, then pulls it shut and locks it tight without a second thought.
"We can't stay here for very long," he points out needlessly. "The monsters out there aren't stupid, and they all share information like a hivemind." In essence, if anyone accidentally alerted one thing somehow, there was no guarantee they wouldn't immediately be swarmed. Like Eddie had been. Like Steve had been.
Steve moves to stand even with Johnathan after making sure Dustin sits and checks with Nancy.
"You're right there, but we also can't move around too much if we're gonna meet up with Hop and El. We gotta keep radio silent as much as possible just in case. So..." He shrugs and looks around. He has a lot of questions but Billy definitely doesn't seem like he can answer them and the last thing he needs is Johnathan, over protective brother type that he is, getting the wrong idea and getting even more pissed off at Steve. So he sets any questions he has aside for now.
"For now just don't touch any vines and we should be mostly okay. We walked all the way from Lover's Lake to teh Wheeler house when we were here last without getting caught so we should be fine here for now."
Billy's eyes flicker between Jonathan and Steve, taking them both in, tapping his fingertips against each other in front of him in a nervous fidget. He nods in agreement when Steve mentions staying away from the vines because that's a great way of drawing the creatures to them and then he mentions walking across town without being caught and, for the first time since they found him, Billy looks lucid. "You were here before?"
They'd been here. People had been here and no one had found him. He'd still been trapped here, in the dark and the cold. No one had known he was here.
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"How is he alive?" Dustin whispers to Steve. "How is he alive but...but-"
"Dustin stop." Steve sighs. "We'll figure it out just...just breath for right now."
He rubs the teens' shoulder as they walk to the church, catching Nancy's glance as he shakes his head and nods around them. They need to keep focused. They all know this place is not safe.
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He leads the way towards the church, the path familiar even though he doesn't follow any of the main roads, ducking between various buildings, movements somewhat erratic. He keeps looking back of his shoulder, checking that the others are still there, that they haven't left him, all the while muttering to himself under his breath.
Billy hears the Henderson boy and Steve. He wondered the same thing. When he'd woken up here, a hole in his chest and no recollection of how he'd gotten there, he'd wondered how he was alive as well. He'd stopped wondering after a while because the how was irrelevant if he died here after all. Survival had been everything.
When they reach the church, Billy nods towards the door. "Inside."
Unlike most of the buildings here, the church is relatively untouched. There's still vines running all over like the rest of them and there's no freshness to the air in the building at all, but the windows are all in tact and the doors all lock.
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He tries not to linger on the idea, just following close behind and nodding when Billy looks back at him as if to confirm that they were still there. He listens to what little he can make out of Billy's chattering to himself, hoping to learn what he can about what the guy has been doing since his apparent death.
The doors of the church creak open, and he holds it only long enough to let the rest of the group in, then pulls it shut and locks it tight without a second thought.
"We can't stay here for very long," he points out needlessly. "The monsters out there aren't stupid, and they all share information like a hivemind." In essence, if anyone accidentally alerted one thing somehow, there was no guarantee they wouldn't immediately be swarmed. Like Eddie had been. Like Steve had been.
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"You're right there, but we also can't move around too much if we're gonna meet up with Hop and El. We gotta keep radio silent as much as possible just in case. So..." He shrugs and looks around. He has a lot of questions but Billy definitely doesn't seem like he can answer them and the last thing he needs is Johnathan, over protective brother type that he is, getting the wrong idea and getting even more pissed off at Steve. So he sets any questions he has aside for now.
"For now just don't touch any vines and we should be mostly okay. We walked all the way from Lover's Lake to teh Wheeler house when we were here last without getting caught so we should be fine here for now."
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They'd been here. People had been here and no one had found him. He'd still been trapped here, in the dark and the cold. No one had known he was here.