*Third Person POV*
Hopper stepped over the root inside the tunnels. He tried to reach someone over his walkie-talkie. "Does anybody copy?" He asked. "Look, if anybody copies, this is Jim Hopper, Hawkins' Chief..." He stopped in place and stepped on something.
Something made him point the flashlight to the ground.
He looked around and saw bones that were decomposing. Something moved underneath his feet, and he took a step back with a gasp. Hopper moved forward and held up a lighter to the wall. The wall was squelching with its vines and it screeched in response to the fire.
These vines were alive.
Hopper took off his coat, and attached it to one of the bones to make a torch. He lit the lighter at the end of it, and placed it onto the wall. The vines screeched and made a hole.
Hopper pushed through to make an opening.
~~~
"Guys, this is Dustin again." Dustin turned the radio back on. He stopped shoveling for a moment. "Does anyone copy? This is a code red. I repeat, a code red!"
He was in the kitchen, looking for some items underneath the kitchen cabinet. "I really need someone to pick up here." He picked up his gloves and put them on. "Hopper's MIA, and I've got a code red. Code red!"
Later on, he tried to scrub the floors clean from earlier and called out to the party. "All right, it's Dustin again." He radioed. "Seriously, I have a code red."
"Could you please shut up?" A small, female voice responded, annoyed.
"Erica?" Dustin perked up. "Erica, is Lucas there? Where is he?"
"Don't know. Don't care."
"Is he-Is he with Mike and my sister?"
"Like I said, I don't know, and I don't care." Erica replied.
"Please tell him it's super important. Please tell him that I have a code-"
"Code red?" She asked.
"Yep, code red." He grinned to himself. "Exactly."
"Mhm..." She muttered. "I got a code for you instead. It's called code shut-your-mouth."
Dustin heard her signal off, but still wanted to make sure she wasn't there. "E-Erica?" he stuttered, with his jaw dropped.
~~~
*(Y/n)'s POV*
Bob laid out the map of Hawkins onto the kitchen table and spread it out flatly. He pulled out a pen from his jacket pocket, and started working.
"All right. I'm 3.6 inches, what do you got?" Bob called out.
I had to stop myself from snickering from my sense of humor.
"I'm not sure!" Mike said, he held up the measuring tape up to Lovers' Lake. "(Y/n)?"
"Hold on!" I said, following Mrs. Byers around the hallway. She wanted me to hold up the measuring tape up to Tippecanoe.
"Twenty-one feet. Four inches!" Mrs. Byers announced.
"What about Tippecanoe to Danford Creek?" Bob asked.
Mrs. Byers looked at me and I shrugged. She sighed and stammered, "D-Danford? Where's Danford?"
"Dining room!" Will turned and pointed to the wall behind him.
I let go of the measuring tape and handed it to Mrs. Byers who rushed out to the dining room. I followed after her. "Sixteen feet, ten inches." Mrs. Byers said.
"What about Danford to Jordan?" Bob asked.
"Oh, come on." I said. "This has gotta be enough, right?"
"It's not, (Y/n)." Bob said, marking down the measures on the map. "It's...It's really not."
We all crowded around the table. I saw Mike coming over and he wrapped his arm around my waist. "Okay, well, can't you figure it out?" I asked.
"Well, it's hard. The ratio isn't exactly one-to-one." Bob sighed in frustration. Mrs. Byers stood behind him. She also grew impatient, hoping Hopper was hanging in there. "I mean, if you're all twisting my arm, and you are twisting my arm, I would say that the X is...maybe a half mile southeast of Danford?" He drew the line.
Mrs. Byers sighed in relief and kissed his cheek. We all smiled. "Thank you!" Mrs. Byers said. "Thank you."
I followed Mrs. Byers out to her car, and the boys followed behind us. "What? Are we...we really going?"
~~~
*third person pov*
Dustin biked down the road to Mike's house, hoping (Y/n) is with him too. He ran up to the front door and rang the doorbell several times.
"Your line has been busy for over two hours, Mr. Wheeler." Dustin said to him as he opened the door. "Do you realize this?"
"Oh, I do realize." Mr. Wheeler said, leaning on the side of the doorway.
"Is Mike home with my sister?" Dustin asked.
"No." Mr. Wheeler said, ready to go back to his La-Z-Boy chair.
"No?" He asked, appalled. "Well, where the hell are they?"
"Karen, where's our son and (Y/n)?!" Mr. Wheeler turned around.
"Will's!" Mrs. Wheeler echoed from the kitchen.
Mr. Wheeler faced Dustin and sighed. "Will's."
Dustin also sighed to this, "No one's picking up there. Nancy. What about Nancy?"
"Karen, where's Nancy?" Mr. Wheeler asked.
"Ally's!" Mrs. Wheeler shouted.
"Ally's." He repeated, and then said, "Our children don't live here anymore. You didn't know that? Also, shouldn't your sister be with you?"
Dustin glared up at Mr. Wheeler. Every time he'd spoke, he didn't sound like he cared, which was wasting Dustin's time. "Seriously?" Dustin asked.
"Am I done here?"
Dustin rolled his eyes. "Son of a bitch. You're really no help at all, you know that?"
"Hey!" Mr. Wheeler called out to him as Dustin walked away. "Language."
Dustin looked over to a car rolling up to the Wheeler's house, and he saw Steve walking towards the front door with flowers in his hand. "Listen..." Steve was talking to himself. "I've been thinking...I love you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry? What the hell am I sorry for?"
Dustin had another idea.
"Steve!" Dustin said, and Steve turned to him in confusion. "Are those for Mr. or Mrs. Wheeler?"
Steve looked up at the flowers. "No?"
"Good." Dustin snatched them away from him.
"Hey. What the hell? Hey!" Steve followed after him to his car.
"Nancy isn't home." Dustin said.
"Where is she?" Steve asked.
"Doesn't matter. We have bigger problems than your love life." Dustin opened the passenger side door. "Do you still have that bat?"
"Bat? What bat?"
"The one with the nails." Dustin said, waving the flowers around.
"Why?" Steve looked confused.
"I'll explain it on the way." Dustin sat in the passenger seat.
"Now?"
"Now!"
~~~
"And that was the last we ever saw of her." Lucas finished with the story. "After that, she was just gone. (Y/n), to this day, is still heartbroken after losing her sister." His legs were bouncing on the stool he sat on and he frowned. "I can't believe it's been that long. Feels like yesterday."
"Yeah, I mean...I bet." Max said. "Wow."
"It's crazy." Lucas nodded and sighed. "I know."
"It's crazy, but..." Max gave a nodded approval. "I really liked it."
"Liked it?" Lucas asked.
"Yeah. Well, I mean, I-I had a few issues."
"Issues?"
"I felt it was a little derivative in parts." She explained.
"What are you talking about?" Lucas asked.
"I just wish it had a little more originality." Max shrugged. "That's all."
"You don't believe me?"
"Lucas, come on, seriously?" She smirked. "How gullible do you think I am?"
"Why would I make this up?" He asked in frustration.
"I don't know. To impress me or something? Or you're just, like, insane."
"I tell you all of this." Lucas stood up. "I mean, top-secret stuff." Max scoffed. "Risking my life. And this is how you react?"
She chuckled in her seat. "Risking your life?"
"Oh, so this is funny to you?"
"Yeah, I mean..." Her eyes squinted a bit. "Kinda funny."
Lucas stared at her blankly.
"Stupid." Max stood up and tilted her head with a grin. "But funny."
"Where are you going?" He asked her as she grabbed her skateboard and walked away.
She turned back to him. "Story time's over, isn't it?"
Max walked out of the office, and Keith lifted the counter top to let her leave. Lucas sprinted out of there to catch up with her. "What's wrong with you?" Lucas asked. "I gave you what you wanted..."
"I wanted to be a part of the group, not a part of some joke." Max said.
"It's not a joke."
"You did a good job, okay? You can go tell (Y/n) and the others I believed your lies if it gets you experience points or whatever."
Max started to walk away again until Lucas grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "We have a lot of rules in our party, but the most important is, "Friends don't lie". Never ever. No matter what."
Max looked at him with the same blank face he gave her, "Is that right?"
"Then how do you explain this?" Max asked, and removed the Out of Order sign from Dig Dug.
"I had to do that." Lucas sighed, removing it from his shirt. "To protect you."
"To protect me from who, exactly?" She asked, raising her voice. "The big bad government baddies from Hawkins Lab?" Lucas widened his eyes and looked around.
"Lower your voice..." He said quietly.
"Or maybe it was to protect me from the Demogorgon from another dimension?" She offered before she could play again. He placed his hand on the console. "Why can't (Y/n) show me her little magic trick?"
"Max, I'm serious, shut up!" Lucas hissed, then lowered his voice again. "And besides, (Y/n) can't...she's not around right now."
Max rolled her eyes. "And you're telling me (Y/n) is the missing experiment number 006, who's just like Eleven? The two girls who-"
Lucas put his hand up to her mouth to quiet her. "Stop. Talking." He pressed, and looked behind her shoulder. "You're going to get us killed. Do you understand?"
Max had a fearful look on her eyes and then pushed his arm away from her. "You're serious?" She asked suddenly.
"I really wish I wasn't." Lucas nodded.
"Prove it."
"I can't."
"So what? I'm supposed to just trust you?" Max asked.
"Yes..." Lucas said, and then they heard her brother approaching by his car. Tires screeched and they could hear the engines revving over. She grabbed her skateboard and walked up to the door.
"Shit." She mumbled and saw Billy waiting for her. "I gotta go. Um..." She held Lucas' hand. "Don't follow me out. Okay?"
"Do you believe me?" Lucas asked, standing by the doorway.
Billy saw Lucas standing there, and Max got inside the car. "The hell I tell you?" Billy asked, leaning his head back.
"I'm not late." Max said.
"You know what I'm talking about." Billy said.
Her eyes widened when she knew. "Oh, Lucas?" She asked.
"So, he has a name now, huh?" Billy scoffed.
"It's a small town, okay?" Max asked. "We weren't hanging out."
Billy frowned. "Hmm, well you know what happens when you lie."
Max's jaw dropped. "I'm not lying."
Billy turned back to her and drove away in silence.