02x03 - Chapter Three: The Curse of Bloodaxe Bill

[bunniefuu]

[ominous music playing]

[boys screaming]

-[Mike] Come on! Come on! Go!
-[Wraith growling]

[all screaming]

Go!

[wailing]

[Mike] Come on! Come on! Go! Go!

[Lucas] Oh my gosh! Oh my god!
What is going on?

Whoa!

[boys screaming]

[screeching]

-[Will] Where'd it go?
-[Lucas] Whoa!

What was that?

A ghost! A freaking ghost!

That's what I've been saying!

[Will] We need to get out of here
before it comes back!

[Lucas] Don't have to ask me twice!

[hissing]

[synth theme music playing]

[music fades out]

[unsettling music playing]

[sprites buzzing]

What… What are those things?

It's more of those Hate Sprites!

What do we do?

Just back away slowly.

Can they hurt us?

Yes, very much so.

This is crazy!

-[buzzing]
-Whoa. Uh…

-[screeching]
-[screams]

[crunching]

Oh no!

[screaming]

-No!
-Run!

Get off of me, you overgrown housefly!

Get off of me! Get--

Max! No!

[screaming]

El!

Leave her alone!

[reverberating]

[Nikki moaning]

[groaning]

[Nikki] El!

[screeching]

[intense music playing]

[El shouting]

[sprites screeching]

[moaning softly]

What the… What the heck?

Did… Did those things come
from the flowers or something?

They must have.

Do you think they're from the Upside Down?

I do not know.

Whatever they are,
we gotta tell the others.

[boys panting]

Did we lose it?

I think we're good.

Oh my god! Oh my god!

This could be The H.I.C.'s first contact
with the afterlife!

We have to record every interaction,
take meticulous notes, and…

Are you, like, okay?

Yeah. I'm fine.

Mike, you have to walk us
through your encounter. In detail.

What? No.

It's for science! For posterity!

I'm gonna kick your posterity
if you keep asking.

Whoa! Guys, come on. Just cool it!

Here, whatever detail you want,
it's in there.

You got pics?

[Mike] I was just trying
to see in the dark.

Yeah. Doesn't look like much.

Hold on. Hold on.

-What?
-Whoa.

[Lucas] Is that a dead guy?

He's not just dead. Look, he was m*rder*d.

There's one more picture.

That just looks like a blurry light.

But we all know it's not.

Look at the color of that pickaxe.

Is that silver?

This guy was k*lled by Bloodaxe Bill.

No wonder he's haunting the mine.
He has unfinished business.

I'm sorry it comes down to this,
but I know what we have to do here.

What?

Our homework.

A ghost? You dorks cannot be serious.

This is not the time
to live out your Ghostbuster fantasies.

But I saw it. It was as close as you are.

Ghosts are real?

-Yes.
-No.

If they aren't real, then explain that.

What is that, your thumb?

I can't believe
you're wasting time on a campfire story.

Bloodaxe Bill? Haunted mines?
Do you hear yourselves?

The Upside Down
has always been our problem.

It's still our problem.

Those flowers have Upside Down
written all over them.

The Hate Sprites too.

We're not really saying
this is the Upside Down again, are we?

Last month, this town was crawling
with spore-y plant creatures.

Now there are m*rder Flowers
and Hate Sprites on the loose.

Ooh, scary flowers. Heh.

Guess I gotta cancel my order
at the florist.

Florist? [gasps] The flowers.

One plus one equals the Upside Down.

And if there is one thing
The H.I.C. tackles,

it is the freaking Upside Down.

-Max?
-Oh, come on.

-[scoffs]
-Max!

No, you! Come on!
Do you want me to dump you again?

Yeah, right!

Max! The Hate Sprites live
in the flowers, right?

Right.

Flowers.

Like the ones we stashed at school.

Um, did we say Code Red?

This isn't a Code Red.
It's a golden opportunity.

Don't you see?
The H.I.C. has two cases at the same time.

This is what we've been building towards,
what we've dreamed of.

We can't just let this chance pass us by.
Two cases means that--

We split up.

Yeah, we'll take the school
and the Hate Sprites.

Team Two, we'll stay on Bloodaxe Bill.
He's already claimed one victim,

so we all have to figure out a way
to stop him before he takes another. Okay?

-Fine.
-[scoffs] Sure.

Great, let's roll. We're wasting time.

Maybe I'm on Team One this time.

I mean, the girls might need my help
carrying all those flowers.

Rad, okay. We could use another set
of hands on flower-thrashing duty.

Come on, Mike.
You're not getting out of research

-just 'cause you're scared of ghosts.
-What?

This isn't a field trip, Lucas.
He doesn't need a permission slip.

Well, are you coming or what?

[scoffs] Traitor.

m*rder Flowers, k*ller Hate Sprites,
mineshaft ghosts.

Heck, even the pumpkin pies were evil.

Max, one new kid to another,
have you ever considered…?

Yeah, how completely nuts this town is?
So many times.

So, the flower I gave you was…

A m*rder Flower.

[groans] I am so sorry. I owe you
another one, a non-m*rder one.

You do not owe me anything, Mike.

I just wanted to get you something nice.

I… I… I always want
to get you nice things.

Sometimes words are not enough?

Yeah? I mean, yeah.

I mean, I guess
what I'm trying to say, to ask, is

you're so cool,
and so great, and so… brave.

Mike, you wanted to ask something?

I… No. It's… It's just…

We'll talk about it later.

[upbeat music playing]

[toilet flushing]

None of this actually explains
who that skeleton was,

or why Bloodaxe Bill axed him,

because that definitely didn't happen
in any expl*si*n.

[groans] I'm not finding anything either.

[groans dramatically]
Maybe there's a missing page somewhere.

Or… Or maybe we need
to decode a secret message.

That feels like a stretch.

"Where's the silver pickaxe?"

It's still stuck in the skeleton.

No, look. Somebody wrote
all over the margins of this book.

"The curse…" Something.

"…never be lifted until…" Something.

"…the truth"?

"Curse."

Didn't Charlie mention something
about a curse?

Okay. While you all know that
I do not condone defacing library books,

it's clear whoever wrote this
has information we need.

We should find and question…

"AMD."

Is that enough?

Enough for a start.

That's a lead. Let's go.

Do you think Mrs. Wheeler would let us
use her phone book?

[Will] Probably.

[bikes approaching]



-[wind gusting]
-[Will shivering]

Looks like a place McGruff the Crime Dog
would warn us about.

Oh, come on. This is The H.I.C.
We laugh in the face of danger.

Onwards, champions.

But maybe, you know,
be careful with what you touch.

[foreboding music playing]

Uh…

Good evening, sir.
Do you have a moment to discuss--

I gave at the office.

[door clunks]

Is this your handwriting?

Who wants to know?

Just a couple kids interested
in the truth.

Tsk. Jeez.

[lock rattling]

Get in here. Quick.

So what do we do if the shed's, like,
swarming with those things?

Close the door and run?
Set the place on fire?

You should've seen
how fast we ran out of that mine.

I think we broke the sound barrier.

Adrenaline.

Adrenaline?

Yeah, when you get scared,
your brain produces adrenaline.

It lets people do impossible things.
Big energy boost.

Speaking of boosts,
we should have brought our knickknacks.

No matter what happens, I can protect us.

[dark music playing]

So, Mr. AMD…

Arthur.

Oh. Uh…

Nice to meet you, Arthur.

My name's Dustin. This is Will and Lucas.
We go to Hawkins Middle School.

And we're doing a local history report
about Samuel Hawkins and Bloodaxe Bill.

Local history?

Bah! More like local garbage.

This town has never cared about the truth.

Not as long as the money kept flowing.

These are your notes, then?

I'm the only one who cares
to correct all the lies they print.

History is written by the victors, right?
My family ain't the victors.

[Dustin] That's what we're here for.
We want someone to tell us the real truth.

[laughing]

[coughing]

What's the use?

Everyone believes Bloodaxe Bill
was nothing but a silver-mad monster

whose greed got good men k*lled.

Try us.

Fine. You want the truth?

Bloodaxe Bill wasn't no villain.

That's why he was m*rder*d.

m*rder*d?

[tense music playing]

[light clicks on]

Um, I'm not seeing any Hate Sprites.

I… I guess we're okay, then.

So, how are we gonna do this?

[machine whirring]

I'm thinking like this.

[Will] m*rder*d? But that skeleton,

it had Bloodaxe Bill's silver pickaxe
in its chest.

We thought it must've been
one of his victims,

someone who tried to stop him

before he made his men dig too deep
and blew up the whole mine.

[Arthur] Bah!

Lies, I tell ya.

[clearing throat]

If there's a skeleton in that mine,
then it's Bloodaxe himself.

Don't you see?
He didn't cause no expl*si*n.

His only crime was caring for his miners
and trusting the wrong man,

his friend, his m*rder*r,

Samuel Hawkins himself!

[wind whistling]

-[squealing]
-Ah!

[shimmering]

Just the wind.

[chuckling nervously] Yeah, just the wind.

Wind do that too?

Guys, are these things still alive?

[rattling]

[exclaiming fearfully]

Guys!

Come on! Let's shred those things
and get out of here!

[high-pitched screeching]

Did that come from the flowers?

[deep growling]

It was Hawkins and his greed

that forced his miners
to keep digging where they shouldn't.

And when Bloodaxe stood up to him,

it was Hawkins' greed
that stole that silver axe

and drove it into my granddad's chest!

Wait a second.
Bloodaxe Bill was your grandfather?

He was. And he was a good man.

Not that anyone
in this blasted town believes it.

After the expl*si*n,
Hawkins covered his tracks.

He made himself the hero
and my granddad the devil.

He earned himself two legacies.

The first, the town named in his honor.

But the second,

that's the curse of Bloodaxe Bill.

Because the spirit of Bloodaxe Bill
will never rest.

And he now haunts the town
that k*lled him.

[screeching]

[Mike] It's him!

The ghost!

[yelling]

[screaming]

Nikki!

[Arthur] And if one of Hawkins' own
crosses his path,

then they will feel the full wrath
of Bloodaxe Bill…

Mike!

…and his undying curse.

[screaming]

El!

[straining]

[creaking]

[Mike screaming]

No, no, no!

[growling]

I… I can't stop it.

[synth theme music playing]