El and Mike hug tightly.
"I never gave up on you. I called you every night. Every night for-" Mike says on tears.
"353 days. I heard." El says.
"Why didn't you tell me you were there?" Mike asks her.
"Because I wouldn't let her." My dad says and goes over to her, "the hell is this? Where have you been?"
"Where have you been?" El asks and they hug. I run over to El and hug her tightly.
"You've been hiding her. You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike shouts and shoves me.
"Hey! Let's talk." My dad says holding him and they go into another room.
I hug El again and she goes over to Lucas and Dustin.
"We missed you." Lucas says.
"I missed you, too." El says.
"We talked about you pretty much every day." Dustin laughs softly.
"Teeth." El says touching Dustin's mouth.
"What?" He asks confused.
"You have teeth." El says and Dustin and Lucas laugh.
"Oh, you like these pearls?" Dustin asks and purrs. Me and Steve look at each other laughing.
"Eleven? I'm max, I've heard a lot about you." Max says and sticks out her hand for El to shake it. El pushes past her and hugs Joyce.
"Can I see him?" El asks referring to Will. And they go into a different room. They come back and Joyce shows her the 'closegate' message.
"You opened this gate before, right?" Joyce asks El and she nods.
"Yes."
"Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?" Joyce asks.
"Yes."
"The lab isn't what it was like before. It's grown. A lot. And that's considering we can get in there. That place is crawling with those dogs." My dad explains.
"I can't do it." El says.
"You're not hearing me." My dad says.
"I'm hearing you. I can do it." El says.
"Even if El can, there's still another problem. If the mind Flayer dies, his army dies." I point out.
"I thought that was the whole point?" Max says confused.
"But Wills apart of that army. Closing the gate would kill him." I say and Joyce goes over and sees Will and we all follow her.
"He likes it cold..." Joyce mutters.
"What?" My dad asks.
"It's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold. We keep giving it what it wants!" Joyce shouts.
"I'd this is a virus, and Wills the host, then..." Nancy begins.
"Then we need to make the host uninhabitable." Jonathan says.
"So if he likes it cold..."
"We need to burn it out of him." Joyce says.
"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time." Mike says.
"Yeah, somewhere far away this time." Dustin says. Me and my dad look at each other.
"Take Denfield then you'll see a large oak tree. You're gonna swing a right. That road is gonna dead-end and then it's about a five-minute walk from there." My dad explains and we go back in.
I go out to the car with my dad and El when my dad stops me.
"Hey, where are you going?" He asks pushing me away.
"I'm going with you?" I say.
"Absolutely not. You stay here, where it's safe." He says.
"I know how to use a gun." I say.
"That place is swimming with those dogs. You're not coming. End of." My dad says and drives off with El.
Dustin starts to clear the freezer to put the demo dog in.
"All right. It should fit now." Dustin says.
"Is this really necessary?" Steve asks holding the dog wrapped in a blanket.
"Yes, it is, okay? This is a groundbreaking scientific discovery. We can't just bury it like some common mammal, okay? It's not a dog!" Dustin yells.
"I'll bury you like a common mammal now." I mutter and walk off and sit on the couch.
Mike starts pacing around the room.
"Mike, would you just stop already?" Lucas asks irritated.
"You weren't in there, okay, Lucas? That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs." Mike says.
"Demo-dogs!" Dustin yells from the kitchen.
"The chief will take care of her." Lucas says.
"Like she needs protection." Max mutters.
"How will the chief take care of her? You can't just shoot these things with guns!" Mike yells.
"Listen, dude, a couch calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. All right?" Steve asks coming in wiping his hand in a towel.
"Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game. And second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench." Mike says.
"So my point is..." Steve stammers, "yeah, we're on the bench, so there's nothing we can do."
"That's not entirely true. I mean, these demo-dogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away." Dustin says.
"So, if we get their attention we can draw them from the lab and clear a path to the gate?" I ask and Dustin nods.
"Yeah, and then we all die." Steve says.
"That's one point on view." Dustin says.
"No, that's not a point of view, man. That's a fact." Steve says.
"I got it!" Mike asks and points to one of wills drawings.
"This is where the chief dug his hole. This is our way into the tunnel. So..." Mike says and runs somewhere else.
"Here. Right here. This is like a hub. So you got all the tunnels feeding in here. Maybe if we set this on fire..." Mike says.
"That's a no." Steve says sternly.
"The mind Flayer would call away his army and they'd all come to stop us." I say.
"We circle back to the exit and by the time they realise we're gone-" Mike begins.
"El would be at the gate." I say.
"Hey! Hey ! Hey! This is not happening!" Steve yells.
"Steve-" I begin.
"I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. We're staying here. On the bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand?" Steve yells.
"This isn't a stupid sports game!" Mike shouts.
"I said does everybody understand that?!" Steve yells again. A familiar engine starts to rev up the street.
Max and Lucas run to the window.
"It's my brother. He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me. He'll kill us." Max says.
"Billy Hargrove is your brother?!" I ask and she nods.
We look out the window as Steve goes out to talk to him.
"Am I dreaming, or is that you, Harrington?" Billy asks smoking a cigarette.
"Yeah, it's me. Don't cream your pants." Steve says and walks towards him. I stand by the door to hear better.
"What are you doing here, amigo?" Billy asks him.
"I could ask you the same thing. Amigo." Steve says.
"Looking for my stepsister. A little birdie told me she was here." Billy says.
"Huh, that's weird. I don't know her." Steve says.
"Small? Redhead? Bit of a bitch." Billy asks.
"Doesn't ring a bell. Sorry, buddy." Steve says.
"You know, I don't know, this whole situation, Harrington, it's giving me the heebie-jeebies." Billy says.
"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Steve asks.
"My 13-year-old sister goes missing all day. And then I find her with you in a strangers house. And you lie to me about it." Billy says.
"Man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what? I don't know what you don't understand about what I just said. She's not here." Steve says.
"Then who is that?" Billy asks pointing at the window.
"Shit! Do you think he saw us?" Dustin asks.
"Oh, shit. Listen-" Steve says when Billy pushes him to the ground and kicks him.
"Steve!" I shout and open the door standing in Billy's way.
"Okay, look gorgeous. Do you want to do this the easy way, and move or the hard way?" He asks and I stay silent. He bashes my head against the wall and I fall to the ground. My vision goes blurry and I can only hear faint shouting and a high pitched ringing. I close my eyes.
I wake up and touch my head. I look at my hand and see that it's bleeding.
"Don't touch it." Dustin says pulling my hand away.
I look in front of me and see Steve covered in blood.
I get up and hold the ice pack on his head.
"Shit, what happened?" I ask.
"Billy." Max says. I look at her and see that she's driving the car.
"Oh my god." I say.
"Shhh, she's driven before." Dustin assures me. I look and Steve and see him starting to wake up.
"Hey buddy, shhhh." Dustin says.
"What...?" He mutters.
"It's okay. You put up a good fight. He kicked your ass, just you put up a fight. You're okay." Dustin says. He starts groaning and I hold his hand tightly.
"Okay, you're gonna keep straight for half a mile, then make a left on Mount Sinai." Lucas says giving Max directions.
"What's going on?" Steve groans and look at who's driving and starts to freak out.
"Oh my god!" He yells.
"Steve, relax. She's driven before." Dustin says.
"Yeah; in a parking lot." Mike says.
"That counts." Lucas says.
"Oh my god." Steve says again.
"They were gonna leave you and Lizzy behind. I promised that you'd be cool, okay?" Dustin says and the car starts to speed up. Steve grabs my hand and holds it tightly.
"What's going on?! Stop the car! Slow down!" He yells.
"I told you he'd freak out!" Mike shouts at Dustin.
"Stop the car!" I shout.
"Everybody shut up! I'm trying to focus!" Max shouts.
"Oh, wait, that's Mount Sinai! Make a left!" Lucas yells.
She swerves the car making us all toss around. Steve holds on to me tightly and we all scream. She stops the car by the hole and i start panting.
"Whoa!" Dustin says.
"Incredible." Mike says.
"I told you. Zoomer." Max says and we all get out.
"Are you in?" Dustin asks me and I nod as he gives me my stuff.
I put on the goggles, mask and get out my gun and load it.
"Oh, no. Guys." Steve groans.
"We are not going down there right now. I made myself clear!" Steve starts yelling different things as we all ignore him and get ready.
"Steve! You're upset. I get it. But the bottom line is, a party member requires assistance, and it is our duty to provide that assistance. Now, I know you promised Nancy that you'd keep us safe. So keep us safe." Dustin says and gives him his stuff. He takes it and goes down the hole, followed by me and the others.
"Holy shit." I say looking around.
"I'm pretty sure it's this way!" Mike shouts and starts walking when Steve stops him.
"I don't think so." He says shining the flashlight on him.
"What?" Mike asks.
"Any of you little shits die down here, I'm getting the blame. Got it? I'm leading the way! Let's go!" He yells and I roll my eyes.
We walk and try and find the middle part Mike was talking about.
"God." Lucas says looking around.
"What is this place?" Max asks.
"Guys, come on. Keep moving." Steve says and we all follow him. We hear Dustin screaming so we run back and see him screaming on the floor. He starts coughing and screaming.
"What happened?!" I shout as he gets up and looks at me.
"I'm okay." He says.
"Dickhead." I say and walk off.
"Very funny, man." Steve says sarcastically.
"Jesus, what an idiot." Max says.
After walking for a few seconds we find the hub.
"All right, Wheeler. I think we found your hub." Steve says and we drench the place in gasoline. I spray some on the ceiling and on the walls.
I light a match when we're done and light it on fire. We run back to the place and as we're running I feel someone grab my hand. I look to my side to see who it is and I see Steve. We keep running and we get to the rope and me and Steve help everyone get up when it's just us two. We hear the monsters running and shrieking.
"Shit! Go!" Steve shouts.
"I'm not leaving you!" I scream and hold onto him. I hear the kids calling our names. We see about a hundred of the demo-dogs running towards us and me and Steve hold onto each other when they just run past us. Steve grabs me to stop me from tripping up.
"Eleven." I hear Mike say. Me and Steve get up to the top and I hold onto him tightly and he holds onto me.
The car light starts to brighten and then it turns off. I start to feel more relaxed.
"Is it over?" I ask.
"It's over." Mike says.
3 months later
Barbara had the funeral she deserves. It was devastating but me and Nancy got through it. Me and Steve are still very good friends. Eleven got a real life, although she had to wait a year to be like a normal teenager. My visions stopped. I wonder if it had anything to do with the gate being closed.
at the snowball
I help El get ready for the snowball when my dad starts tearing up. Me and El look at each other grinning
"Okay, look in the mirror." I say after I've done getting her ready.
She smiles.
"Pretty." She says.
"Very." I add and hug her.
"Wait, are you still picking up that other kid?" My dad asks.
"Maxine? Yeah. In fact, I'm going now otherwise I'll be late." I say and kiss El and my dad on the cheek and grab my keys and leave.
I pull up outside her house and beep my horn. I see Billy come out and stare at me for a few seconds when Max comes out shoving past him. Max gets in the car and I smile at her.
"Don't." She says.
"Don't what?" I ask grinning. She rolls her eyes.
"You look very pretty, Max. Having fun with Lucas?" I ask her and she groans.
"Maybe." She says.
As I pull up to the school I see Steve's car and Dustin getting out. I look up and see his hair and feel my eyes widen.
"Jesus, is a bird nesting in there?" I ask making Max laugh. She gets out and waves goodbye. I drive off and park my car. I get out and go over to Steve's.
"Hey, you look very... okay." He says.
"Thanks. You look very okay too." I laugh and he smiles at me.
"Wait here." I say and run to my car. I get out the bag of food I have and get in his car and show him.
"Car picnic?" I ask him and he smiles at me.
Everything was better.