Dustin and I rushed out of his room and slammed the door shut. I peeked my head around the corner of the hallway in search of Ms. Henderson. She was still searching the house for Dustin's cat. I pointed at the bathroom door and Dustin nodded. We entered the bathroom and both let out deep sighs.
"Holy shit," I muttered.
"Dart's a baby Demogorgon!" Dustin whisper-yelled.
"Okay, we need a plan."
"Yes, a plan."
"You get your mom out of the house somehow tomorrow. I'll come over and we can trap Dart."
"Where will we trap him?"
"Don't you have that old storm cellar?"
"Yeah."
"Perfect, we'll lure him there with like meat or nougat or something."
"Okay... Okay... Okay..."
"Everything's gonna be fine. Everything is totally going to be one hundred percent peachy!"
The next morning, I anxiously awaited Dustin's call. I hadn't been able to sleep for most of the night, my brain was too busy coming up with thousands of ways our plan could go wrong to let me sleep. I leaned back on my bed and flipped through one of the reptile books that Dustin and I stole.
"Y/n, do you copy?" Dustin's voice caused me to snap into action as I tossed the book aside and grabbed the walkie.
"I copy, I'm on my way," I hastily responded.
"Show up in armor, I'll see you when you get here. Over and out," Dustin replied. I nodded, armor. I grabbed my old bike helmet that I finally found after almost a year of it being missing, my fake chest plate from when I was a medieval knight for Halloween in fifth grade, and some knee pads that I bought on sale when I got my skateboard. I suited up and rode off to battle.
I knocked on Dustin's door to see him dressed in hockey gear. We both chuckled at each other's appearances and he let me in. I placed pieces of bologna in a trail to the storm cellar, while Dustin cleaned his cat's blood out of the carpet in his bedroom.
"Okay, go wait in the shed, I'll meet you out here the second I open my bedroom door," Dustin instructed after we finished everything. I nodded and headed out to his shed. It was made out of wood planks with just enough space in between that you could peek outside if you got close enough, and it was tiny. I anxiously waited for Dustin to meet me as dozens of horrible thoughts ping-ponged throughout my head.
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" I heard a familiar voice panic. I let out a breath of relief knowing that Dustin hadn't been mauled to death by Dart. He quickly met me in the shed and slammed the door behind him. I wrapped him in a big hug once I knew we were safe.
"It felt like you were gone forever, I thought Dart had gotten you," I muttered.
"I'm okay," He hugged back, "Don't worry. Let's just make sure we get him in that damn cellar." Dustin pulled away and peeked through the slats of the shed, I looked through a different place and watched as Dart ate every piece of meat. He cautiously approached the entrance of the cellar and sniffed the ground for a moment, before snapping his attention towards Dustin and me, and screeching. I went into flight or fight mode and grabbed a shovel that was lying around Dustin's shed. I kicked the door open and chased Dart into the cellar, hitting him with the shovel and knocking him down the steps. I hastily closed the door and leaned against it. Dustin ran out of the shed and handed me the lock. I placed it on the door handles and let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm sorry. You ate my cat," Dustin shouted at the cellar doors, presumably to Dart. I chuckled at his comment, then remembered his cat.
"Dustin..." I stated.
"Yeah?" He questioned.
"You're gonna have to do something really unpleasant."
I wrapped Dustin's cat's body in a blanket and dumped it in the hole that we dug. I turned on my walkie-talkie and began trying to get the attention of one of our friends while Dustin buried the corpse of his cat.
"Hey guys, it's Y/n again, does anyone copy? This is a code red," I shouted into the walkie, "I repeat, a code red! I really need someone to pick up here. Hopper is MIA, and I've got a code red." I looked over at Dustin and let out an exasperated sigh. He shrugged and went back to burying his cat.
"It's Y/n again. Seriously, I have a code red!" I announced.
"Could you please shut up?" The voice of Lucas's little sister, Erica, caught my attention.
"Erica? Erica is Lucas there? Where is he?" I frantically asked.
"Don't know. Don't care."
"Is he with Mike?"
"Like I said I don't know and I don't care."
"I have something super important to tell him. Please tell him I have a-"
"Code red?"
"Yes, exactly!"
"Well, I got a code for you instead. It's called code shut-your-mouth." The walkie-talkie went silent. I sat there, utterly dumbfounded.
"Erica?" I questioned. I looked over at Dustin with a "what the fuck" look. He shrugged and patted the grave with his shovel.
"I'm done," He announced. I sighed and thought about our options. Then, it dawned on me.
"We should go to Mike's," I suggested, "Everyone might be there, it's where we normally hang out." Dustin nodded.
"Off to Mike's we go!"
We arrived at the Wheeler household and knocked on the door impatiently. I sighed and tapped my foot with anxiety, knowing that we'd have to tell the guys about Dart. To my surprise, Mr. Wheeler answered the door.
"Your line has been busy for over two hours, Mr. Wheeler. Do you realize this?" Dustin annoyedly questioned.
"Oh, I do realize," Mr. Wheeler responded.
"Is Mike home?" Dustin asked.
"No."
"Well, where the hell is he?" I angrily inquired.
"Karen, where is our son?" Mr. Wheeler called within his house. He listened for a moment then turned back to us, "Will's."
"No one's picking up there," I sighed.
"Nancy. What about Nancy?" Dustin questioned.
"Karen, where's Nancy?" Another pause, "Ally's." I let out an annoyed and exhausted sigh.
"Our children don't live here anymore. You didn't know that?" Mr. Wheeler sarcastically asked.
"Son of a bitch. You're really no help at all, you know that?" I muttered as Dustin and I walked off his porch.
"Language!" Mr. Wheeler shouted. Strangely, I spotted Steve getting out of his car with a bouquet of roses and muttering to himself. Dustin and I looked at each other, then back at Steve, we had a plan brewing.
"Steve!" I yelled, catching his attention.
"Are those for Mr. or Mrs. Wheeler?" Dustin asked.
"No," Steve replied with confusion.
"Good," I responded, snatching the flowers out of his hands.
"Hey. What the hell?" He questioned as I walked towards his car, "Hey!"
"Nancy's not home," I stated, opening his car door.
"Where is she?"
"It doesn't matter, we have bigger problems than your love life," I sassed.
"Do you still have that bat?" Dustin questioned.
"Yeah, we do," I responded, hopping in the passenger seat of Steve's car as Dustin hopped in the back.
"What bat? And is this where you've been all day?" Steve indignantly asked.
"Steve, just get in the damn car and we'll explain everything!" I shouted, slamming the door. Steve sighed and hopped into the driver's seat. As he drove, we explained the whole Dart situation and why we needed the bat with the nails hammered into it. He agreed to help us but was pissed that I had gotten involved in yet another alternate dimension ordeal.