Triple Trouble - Stranger Things

The Mind Flayer

[Dani POV]

      We walked down the same train tracks we had earlier, we were looking to see where the weird dog things had gone. I was still a little freaked out about the whole thing that happened back in the bus, I can tell Max definitely was with the way she clang to me ever since we started walking. Eli also seemed pretty freaked out, she was being quiet. That definitely wasn't normal.

"Are you sure that was Dart?" Lucas asked

"Yes. He had the exact same yellow pattern on his butt." Dustin said.

"He was tiny two days ago." I said.

"Well, he molted three times already."

"Malted?" Steve questioned.

"Molted. Shed his skin to make room for growth. Like horn worms." I said.

"Well, when the hell is he gonna molt again?" Eli asked.

"It's gotta be soon, when he does he'll be fully grown, or at least close to it." Dustin said.

"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats." Steve said.

"What?!" Eli questioned.

"Wait a cat!" Lucas said stopping and turning to Dustin. "Dart ate a cat?!"

"No. What? No." Dustin said, clearly lying.

"What are you talking about? He ate Mews." Steve said.

"Who the hell is Mews?" Eli asked.

"Dustin's cat."

"Steve!" Dustin exclaimed, I felt Max hold tighter to my arm, she was getting uncomfortable.

"I knew it! You kept him!" Lucas shouted in Dustin's face.

"No! No! No I...I...He missed me, he wanted to come home."

"Bullshit!"

"I didn't know he was a baby Demogorgon, okay?!"

"Oh so now you admit it!"

"Guys, maybe we should calm down." I said.

"Yeah, who the fuck cares?" Eli said.

"I care! You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!" Lucas yelled getting in Dustin's face again.

"So did you!" Dustin said.

"What?!"

"You told a bunch of strangers the truth!" He said shinning his flashlight in our faces. Eli scoffed.

"Strangers?!" She walked up to the two ready to beat them, I reached forward and grabbed her arm to hold her back as she started to join in the argument. While trying my best to hold my sister back Max on the other hand began to shake, at this point I wasn't sure what to do, I didn't want Max to have a panic attack and I didn't want Eli to hurt anyone at the same time.

"Guys!" Steve shouted catching all of our attention. Saved by the bell. We all froze and heard faint roaring coming from the distance, Steve looked at all of us then walked off into the woods with me, Max, Lucas, and Dustin following.

"No, no, no, why are you guys going towards the noise!?" Eli called "Guys?! Hello?!" After a few moments Eli came jogging up next to us, I could tell she was actually scared, she didn't show it all that much but I knew she was, not really something I've seen come from her in a while. As we walked through the woods Max' grip on my arm got tighter, I grabbed one of her hands and caressed her fingers with my thumb.

"Is she okay?" Lucas asked coming up next to me.

"Yeah, she will be, shouting and arguing just makes her nervous." I whispered back, Lucas nodded. We walked all the way to the edge of a cliff and stopped, looking down into the town, Lucas used his binoculars to see where the sound was coming from. As he searched Max began to ball my cardigan into her hands.