EVELYN and Steve herded the children back down the train tracks they'd successfully tempted the demogorgans down. They were discussing if one of the creatures had definitely been Dart and Evelyn prayed it was because she didn't fancy trying to find him again.
"And you're positive that was Dart?" Lucas was saying and in his frustration, Dustin waved his hands in the air as he spoke.
"Yes. He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt."
"He was tiny two days ago." Max pointed out and Dustin sighed.
"Well, he's malted three times already."
"Malted?" Steve looked at Dustin but Evelyn, who was pinching the bridge of her nose, answered for him.
"Shed his skin to make room for more growth." Dustin pointed to her in agreement.
"Like hornworms."
"Well when's he going to malt again?" Max said in a panic.
"Probably soon." Dustin said matter-of-factly. "When he does he'll be fully grown or close to it - so will his friends."
"Yeah and he's going to eat a lot more than just cats." Evelyn sighed as the crazy truth surrounded them but Lucas stopped and grabbed hold of Dustin's jacket.
"Wait. Cat!? Dart ate a cat?"
"No?" Dustin shouted quickly, and then he looked away from Lucas's eyes. "What? No!"
"What're you talking about? He ate Mews." Steve added and Evelyn groaned. Steve turned to look at her, shining his torch over her face and gave her a look that asked what he'd done wrong.
"Mews?" Max whispered. "Who's Mews?"
"It's Dustin's cat." Steve said, as if stating the obvious.
"Steve!" Dustin screamed accusingly but Lucas just pushed his shoulders.
"I knew it! You kept him!"
"No!" Dustin argued, rocking on his heels, "No, no-no, I-" but he swallowed and began to pout. "He missed me. He wanted to come home."
"Bullshit!"
"I didn't know he was a demogorgan!" Evelyn moaned again and spun around on the spot throwing her arms out in annoyance.
"Now you admit it!"
"Guys who cares," Max shouted as the voice of reason, "We have to go."
"I care! You put the party in jeopardy. Twice!" Evelyn groaned.
"Lucas." But Steve just shook his head at Evelyn and motioned to the boys with his torch.
"Just leave them."
"You broke the rule of law!" Lucas howled.
"So did you!" Dustin fired back, and Max rolled her eyes.
"You told a stranger the truth!" Dustin put his torch light directly in Max's face and though Evelyn thought Max may have been mature enough to ignore him, she was wrong. Max scoffed and took a step forward.
"A stranger!?" Evelyn looked at Steve with unimpressed, half-lidded eyes.
"You wanted to tell her too!"
"Yeah but I didn't! Lucas, okay? I didn't!"
"You told Evelyn!" There was a frightfully familiar growl somewhere in the distance and as the kids argued, Steve and Evie looked behind where they stood with furrowed brows.
"We both broke the rule of law, okay?" Evelyn cleared her throat, one arm behind her signalling them to be quiet but they didn't see it, too busy shouting at one and other.
"Guys." Evelyn said, but they continued to speak above her. Certain that the noise was from the demogorgans they thought they were rid of, holding their breath Steve and Evelyn listened harder. Hearing another snarl, they were certain.
"Guys." Steve repeated for her but this time when they ignored them, he shouted so loud they all fell silent. "Guys!" And they looked around, hearing the noise. Steve placed his bat over his shoulder and Evelyn and Steve made their way forward. They heard branches crunch behind them, and knew Dustin, Lucas and Max were following them.
They arrived at an edge of the mountain they were on and those with flashlights cast them down towards the misted hills below. There was a large white building filling the space, with satellites lining the top. Evelyn shivered as she heard more and more of those creatures somewhere below them, their snarls riding up her spine.
"I don't see him." Dustin said.
"It's the lab." Lucas added quickly. "They were going back home." Evelyn looked towards Steve, standing on his right.
"Home?" Steve moved his eyes from hers to the lab ahead and bit his lip. When she heard nothing from him and saw the contortion of his face she understood it was exactly what it sounded like. "Are we going to go in there?" Again, when Steve cringed and offered her no words as an answer and all three children looked to Evelyn too, she nodded. Evelyn looked below and then to the left, where the hill seemed to slope towards the ground and pushed herself through the group. "Better get going, then." Max shook her head.
"Are you all crazy?"
They made their way through the trees and stuck close together careful not to slide down the wet grass beneath them. As the slope started to settle and they were close to flat ground, a voice found them through the trees.
"Hello?" Evelyn recognised it first - Jonathan Byers - and she stopped dead in her tracks. Steve shined his torch in her face and watched as her eyes creased at the edges while she focused. Dustin, Max and Lucas stopped also, watching them.
"Who's there!?" When the voice shouted the second time, splitting into Evelyn's mind, Steve finally recognised it. He saw her cheeks swell as she scoffed and he knew she was furious from the weight of the air around them. She was pink with rage and determination and a deep scowl set over her hazel eyes, shadowing them. Steve swore, going to grab at her arm as Evelyn started storming dangerously fast towards the sound. He'd never seen Evelyn mad and it made them all nervous. She was usually too lovely. Unnaturally kind despite the odds. So the phenomenon of her crimson face was considerably nerve wracking.
"Shit!" Steve scrambled after her, followed by the rest of their party. "E-Eve? Shit." The group emerged from the woods and Evelyn must have startled Jonathan, rightly so, because he stumbled backwards as she ran towards him.
"Steve?"
"Jonathan Byers!" Evelyn shouted, smacking him lightly on the arm. Nancy moved her wide eyes quickly towards Evelyn, who was leaning surprisingly close to Jonathan's face, her voice surrounding them.
"Nancy?" Steve was distracted, looking at his ex-girlfriend standing beside Jonathan Byers, but then his attention turned to the girl he'd brought here, who's voice sounded so demanding when it shouted.
"Ow!"
"Where the Hell have you been!" Her voice was frightening because it was so unexpected for Jonathan. Evelyn threw out her arms as he gradually shrank away from her. "You disappear for days, your mother won't answer her phone, Will is sick and you don't tell me!" Evelyn took a step every time Jonathan took one back. They were so close to the barb-wired fence by now that Steve took a step forward and looped his arm around hers, pulling her back. "No." Evelyn said as she pushed Steve's grip from her, her face red but determined and turning back to a very pale Jonathan Byers. There were tears in her eyes made from frustration and heartbreak. His hands were in front of him as if in surrender but it wasn't enough. "I'm left thinking it's something I've done - but it's not! It's some demogorgans climbing out my godamn board game and some batshit crazy experiments happening inside that lab and happening to Will! In Hawkins!" Evelyn prodded a finger to their left and took a deep, shaky breath. Jonathan's face snapped towards it and then back.
"Eve-I-"
"I don't give a shit, Byers! Where the hell have you been!" Nancy took a step between them, Evelyn's face almost touching hers as she spoke for the first time.
"Take a step back." Evelyn watched Nancy for a long minute and those around them were silent while they held their breath as they watched the event play out. They saw Evelyn pause and then step around Nancy, completely ignoring her. She crossed her arms and looked Jonathan dead in his scatty eyes. Eve couldn't multi-task and didn't mean to be rude to Nancy but Nancy tipped her head, offended, and stayed staring at the floor. She then looked at Steve accusingly, as if it were his fault. Steve had his mouth open in shock, shining his torch on the three of them. He felt his lips twitch with the ghost of a smirk and closed his mouth. But then he stepped forward, linked his arm inside Evelyn's and pulled her backwards. This time, she let him.
"I've been with Nancy." Evelyn sighed and took a step back, finally, but she was frowning. It cut into her cheeks, making a home there and Jonathan and Steve started to mirror it. The sight was so unusual and uncomfortable for them that both her friend lent subconsciously towards her. Steve washed his eyes over her face, waiting for her to admit to them all what was wrong so she would just smile again. Evelyn looked at the lab and then back at Jonathan.
"You lied to me." Jonathan dropped his eyes from her loving ones, unable to keep them there. He was hit by her punch of guilt. She was referring to Will, and this was completely true. He swallowed audibly. Evelyn's outburst over, she turned away, standing with Dustin, Max and Lucas. Steve quickly turned to her, his voice hushed. He was holding on to her arm lightly. He wore a half-smirk and his eyebrows were raised.
"Where did that come from?" Evelyn scoffed a laugh and Steve did the same when she shook her head. Their whispers were concealed from those around them and so Steve dropped his smile when he turned back around.
"What're you even doing here?" Nancy then said as Steve let go of Evelyn and ended up in her line of sight.
"What're you doing here?"
"We're looking for Mike and Will." Nancy says and Dustin takes a step forward.
"They're not in there are they?" Lucas says nodding towards the lab.
"We're not sure." She answers, looking at Jonathan.
"Why?" Jonathan finally says, and all of them are drowned out by another growl from behind the gates. There had been no lights on at Hawkins lab but as they stared, the power came back on and Jonathan ran to the security booth to open the gate.
"Does-does that mean Will, Joyce and Hopper and Mike? And Bob? They're all in there too?" This was the first time Evelyn had ever sounded truly frightened. Steve's eyes snapped to her, a natural worry flowing through him but regretfully he couldn't tell her that he knew for certain. He swallowed thickly.
"Maybe." Evelyn searched his eyes, over and over before she looked back to the gate and gulped.
"Okay." She nibbled her lip again and Steve watched as she chewed at the skin. "I hope not."
"Me too." He said.