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Before Eleven found a new home in Stranger Things, she was forced to live off the land in some particularly harsh conditions.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the Stranger Things: Winter Special 2021 one-shot, on sale now from Dark Horse Comics.
Over three seasons on Netflix, Stranger Things has mixed a nostalgic tale informed by ’80s sci-fiction and adventure with several dark storylines that draw on the horror of the era. The Upside Down’s creatures, such as the Demogorgon and Mind Flayer, are as scary as anything from a Stephen King novel, and this hasn’t been lost on the show’s Hawkins teens, who have experienced more than their fair share of death. And as the Stranger Things: Winter Special one-shot reveals, Eleven became a killer herself when faced with the horrors of the natural world.
This blast from the past (by Chris Roberson, Abel, Nate Piekos and DJ Chavis) occurs after Eleven and Max officially join the squad, with the group experiencing their first Christmas together. However, Dustin disrupts proceedings and, despite the consternation of everyone else, he gets them to go out into the snow for a creature hunt.
Chief Hopper doesn’t want the kids leaving the Byers’ home and going on a wild goose chase, but he grants them permission. As they plow through the snow, Mike, as nervous as ever with his growing crush on Eleven, inquires about how Eleven spent last Christmas all alone in the woods. It’s when they thought she was dead after Season 1 ended and the battle with the Demogorgon at their school.
However, she was alive in the forest, surviving on Eggos and other provisions he left for her. But Eleven does make a startling revelation and starts to admit that she resorted to killing and eating wild rabbit to survive, just as she was interrupted by Dustin who’s found their target.
Contrasted against the warm home of the Byers, this underscores how traumatic Eleven’s experiences were, even after she met the other Hawkins’ kids. While she was in the woods, she was still subject to the mercy of the elements and the dangers of the natural world, even if she did have her powers to protect her.
When the gang realizes that the ‘monster’ Dustin has them hunting is actually a trapped rabbit, Eleven rushes over, wraps it in her jacket and nurses it back to health at Will’s home. While this yuletide chapter does end on a warm note, it reminds us that these kids, as human as they are, really have been through scarring experiences.
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