CHAPTER FIVE
FOLLOW THE SCARY NOISES
"You're positive that was dart?" Lucas questions, finally breaking the deathly silence that had lapsed since the group had started to trek through the woods. For a long time, they had all bee silent with the realization that they had would themselves into far more trouble than they had initially thought. Abby walks at the front of the group as they walk along the old train tracks back to where they had started from earlier that day. Abby is still rattled from the events of the junkyard, the moments from the scene that had played out before constantly play in her head as they wander through the forest.
It's much scarier at night, the shadows seem to reach out for them, the darkness can hide almost anything in its pockets, snapping jaws and sharp claws are no exception to this. Their flashlight beams bounce off of the tree trunks and penetrate the shadows, but still they do nothing to calm Abby's racing heart. Each sudden noise that echoes through the forest is enough to make Abby jump. At least, though, she's comforted by the notion that she's not all alone in the woods, though she does periodically glance back every now and again just to make sure that her companions are still with her.
"Yes," Dustin answers firmly. "He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt."
"He was tiny two days ago," Max argues.
"Yes, well, unfortunately for us, Max, inter-dimensional slugs don't exactly grow as the same rate as a dog," Alex voices from beside Steve.
Dustin nods. "He's molted three times already."
"Malted?" Steve asks.
"Molted," Dustin corrects. "Shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms."
"When's he gonna molt again?" Max wonders.
"It's gotta be soon," Dustin replies. "When he does, he'll be fully grown or close to it. And so will his friends."
"And when that happens, we'll all be in deep shit," Alex adds with a small shudder.
Abby gulps and looks over her shoulder at the teenagers behind her. "Right, and what exactly does 'we're in deep shit' entail?"
There's a flicker of emotion that flashes across Alex's face, and Abby can instantly recognize it as the pure look of terror that had crossed her face in the bus. Alex blinks and the expression is gone, though there's some sort of far away look in her eyes as if she's cat in a memory, but the girl is quick to compose herself. "Uh, we're talking really big, really scary, and immune to bullets."
"Yeah," Steve agrees. "And he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats."
"Wait," says Lucas. He stops in his tracks and grabs Dustin's shoulder, effectively stopping the boy in his own tracks. "A cat? Dart ate a cat?"
Dustin takes a step back, paling slightly. "No, what? No."
"What are you talking about?" Steve rebukes. "He ate Mews."
"Mews?" Max asks, she turns her head to look up at Steve. "Who's Mews?"
"It's Dustin's cat," Steve answers.
Abby clears her throat awkwardly. "Uh, Steve, I don't think you were supposed to bring that up."
"I knew it!" Lucas exclaims, shoving Dustin's shoulder. "You kept him!"
"No!" Dustin denies with a shake of his head. "No. No, I—no, I ... no." Dustin lets out a sigh. He knows that the game is up, he's lost, and now it's his turn to come clean. "He missed me. He wanted to come home."
"Bullshit!" Lucas exclaims.
Abby lets out a loud sigh and steps away as the kids' voices begin to overlap, muddling with her already swimming thoughts. Accusations and flashlight beams are thrown in faces, even Alex, who has not left Steve's side until that moment has joined the foray. Just barely over the clamor and din of the kids' argument, Abby can hear a distant screeching that only sends chills crawling down her spine. She takes a hesitant step toward the trees and glances back at Steve.
"Did you hear that?" Abby asks.
Steve gulps. "Yeah. Shit." He turns back towards the teenagers and calls, "Guys!" His call falls on deaf ears as the kids continue to argue. "Guys!"
The four teens fall silent as they snap their heads in Steve's direction. Now, over the silence and stillness of the forest, they can all hear the screeching of the Demogorgons. Steve barely hesitates as readies his bat and runs off into the trees. Alex is quick to follow behind him, and soon Dustin and Lucas fall into line behind her. Abby with her heart thumping starts toward the forest before she realizes that Max has strayed behind.
"No, no, no, hey guys, why are you heading towards the sound?" She calls.
"Max, come on," Abby calls over her shoulder. "Unless you'd rather be standing all alone in the middle of the woods."
"Shit," Max mutters as she follows after Abby.
They follow after the cries of the Demogorgons as if they were a siren song. Steve and Alex, who know almost every twist and turn in the forest from years of playing whenever their parents turned their heads are in the lead and Abby brings up the back. They emerge into a clearing that overlooks miles of plains. The rolling hills before them are submerged in a sea of fog, and just barely, through the darkness of the night, Abby can see the twinkling lights of Hawkins Lab, blinking on and off. It's a beacon, a lighthouse amidst the raging sea, and it's guiding the Demogorgons straight to it.
"I don't see them," Dustin says.
Lucas raises his binoculars to his eyes and scans the area. "It's the lab," he reports. "They were going back home."
"Okay, but why?" Alex wonders.
"What do you mean?" Steve responds.
"Well, they were perfectly happy trying to feast on us, so why run away right when they have us in their clutches?" Alex explains.
Abby nods in agreement. Every growing creature needs to feed, and it's clear that the Demogorgons were no exception. They were hungry, they had sensed their food and they had tracked it, and they would've done everything to make sure that they sank their teeth into their flesh. The monsters were mere seconds away from getting their long-awaited meal. They wouldn't have abandoned their long awaited meal unless ...
"There's a bigger meal in the lab," Abby realizes.
"We have to go check it out," Lucas says decisively with a firm nod.
"Yeah, he's right," Alex nods.
"Uh, I'm sorry," Steve interrupts, "but did you not hear that part where the Demogorgons are going to the lab? There's no way in hell that we're going there."
"Steve's right," Abby says with a resigned sigh. Lucas opened his mouth to protest but Abby held up a hand. "Look, I get it, okay. As much as I do want to go to the lab, we have to keep you guys alive too—and not to mention, I'm being paid to keep one of you alive—and that means staying away from the monsters that nearly just killed us."
Dustin steps forward. "Well, nobody said we'd have to go inside. That's probably where they are going to end up."
"Yeah," Max agrees. "We'll just look around. That's it."
✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*
Brambles cling to Abby's jeans and branches scratch her face despite her attempts to brush them away, but she barely feels them when they come into contact with her. The lab draws ever closer, and with it, the impending sense of dread and danger. The bushes rustle as the group pushes past the overgrown plants and limbs of the trees to run down the hill. Steve and Abby had been outnumbered, and they knew that regardless of what they said, the kids would find a way to the lab. It's better to make sure that they're at least there for when everything goes wrong.
"Hello?!" A voice calls as they approach the edge of the tree line. "Who's there? Who's there?!"
As soon as the group of six emerge from the woods, a little worse for wear, and panting, the bright beams of their flashlights land on two figures. Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers. With mouths agape the they voiced in unison, "Steve?!"
"Nancy?" Steve asks.
"Jonathan!" Dustin exclaims.
"What are you doing here?" Nancy demands as the two groups start forward and meet each other. Her eyes flit over the rag-tag group of teenagers, all in varying conditions. There are brambles caught in Alex's hair, Dustin's chest heaves as he adjusts his hat, Lucas's camouflage bandana has been knocked askew and the war paint beneath his eyes is smudged, there's a small scratch on Max's face from one of the tree branches, and Steve's hair seems messier than usual.
"What are you doing here?" Steve counters.
"We're looking for Mike and Will," Nancy answers.
Dustin glances toward the lab. "They're not in there, are they?"
"We're not sure," Nancy replies.
"Why?" Jonathan asks.
Abby takes a breath and nods toward the lab. "Because if they are ... well, they're in deep shit."
As if to back up Abby's statement, the shrill sounds of the Demogorgons' cries tear through the night air. Abby can feel her heart thud violently in her chest as they whip their heads in the direction of the lab and her heart sinks. Lucas was right. They are back home. The monsters are in the lab, there's a bigger feast that awaits them there, and there's nothing more that they can do to stop them. They had tired and despite everything, despite their best efforts, everything had gone wrong. They had failed.
"What was that?" Jonathan questions.
"That would be the Demogorgons," Steve answers, throwing a hand in the direction of the lab.
"You're kidding," says Nancy. "They're back?"
Dustin nods. "Yeah, and there's a whole bunch of them."
"Wait, wait, wait, how do you know all this?" Jonathan asks.
Lucas lets out a loud, sarcastic laugh. "Funny you should ask. We were just almost their meal. Oh! And that's all because someone kept a Demogorgon in their house!"
"For the last time, I didn't know that he was a Demogorgon!" Dustin exclaims.
"The power's back on!" Nancy interrupts as she pushes through the group to take a few strides forward. Immediately, the argument ceased and the group dashed over to the entrance of the gate. Jonathan dives for the button to open the gate, but despite his incessant pushing, the gate does not budge.
Dustin enters the small building and pushes past Jonathan. "Let me try."
"Hang on—"
"Let me try, Jonathan!" Dustin exclaims as he shoves Jonathan out of the way. He presses the button with such a force as if he expects his sheer willpower to open the gate. "Son of a bitch!" He exclaims. "You know what—" He pounds the button with an even greater ferocity. Abby stares at the gates, wishing that she had taken that engineering class when she had the chance.
Finally, the gates open with a loud squeak and Dustin lets out a triumphant laugh. "Hey! I got it!"
"Wait here!" Jonathan shouts as he and Nancy scramble into the car and peel off in the direction of the lab in search of any survivors of the massacre that had happened that night.
Abby wrings her hands together as she leans against the control booth. Steve stands beside her, playing with the flashlight in his hands as the kids mill around aimlessly. She knows that they feel just as helpless as she does. In a way, she wonders if this was their fault, if things had ended differently, then maybe they wouldn't be outside Hawkins Lab, they wouldn't be clinging onto the small hope that there are survivors somewhere inside the building. She shakes her head. No. If things had ended differently, they would have been ripped to shreds in the junkyard, and even then she doesn't know if they would've been enough to satisfy the Demogorgon's hunger.
"Guys," Max calls. The group members converge into the middle of the road to see what Max is starting at. Abby's eyes widen as two cars come barreling down the street, horns honking, tires squealing, and headlights blinding.
"Look out!" Dustin yells.
The first car speeds right past them, but the second vehicle pulls to a screeching halt right beside them. Chief Jim Hopper rolls down the window. He sits in the driver's seat, wearing blue hospital scrubs. There's a panicked look in his eyes, they're clearly being chased by something and it's only a matter of time before the monsters come looking for them.
"Let's go!" The chief yells.
The six pile into the car. Abby barely has time to secure her seat belt before Hopper has peeled off from the lab again. She finds herself squished in between Alex and the window. She watches through the back window as Hawkins Lab grows smaller and smaller into the distance before she leans the side of her head agains the window. She feels Alex's head rest on her shoulder and smiles softly at the girl before she lets herself relax.
For now, they're safe.
author's note: i absolutely HATED writing this chapter because it was so dialogue based, but uh, i hope y'all enjoyed regardless.