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"You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas asked as the five walked through the woods. Clove shivered as she pulled Max jumper closer to her considering the girl let her put it on once they started walking
"Yes, he had the exact yellow pattern on his butt" Dustin said annoyed
"He was tiny two days ago" Max pointed out
"He molted three times all ready" Dustin said
"He molded?" Steve asked not understanding Dustin
"Molted, shed his skin to make room for more growth" Dustin said
"Do you know when he's gonna Molt again?" Clove asked the blonde
"It's gotta be soon, when he does he'll be full size and so will his friends" Dustin said as he glanced back at his friend
"Yeah and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats" Steve added in as Lucas quickly stopped them
"Wait a cat? Dart ate a cat?" Lucas asked causing Clove to sigh
"No" Dustin said back
"What?" Lucas asked
"No!" Dustin shouted again
"Dustin what are you taking about? He ate Mews" Clove said while Steve nodded along side with her
"Mews? Who's Mews?" Max now asked
"Dustin's cat" Clove said to her
"Clove!" Dustin shouted at her
"I knew it! You kept him!" Lucas shouted
"No! No, No I, no I-" Dustin began but the look on Lucas face read nothing but disbelief
"He missed me, he wanted to come home" Dustin said to him
"Bullshit!" Lucas shouted
"I didn't know he was a demogorgan okay?" Dustin asked him as Clove sighed knowing this would go on for a while
"Oh so now you admit it?" Lucas asked him again
"Guys who cares? We have to go" Max pipped in
"I care! You put the party in jeopardy, you broke the rule of law" Lucas said to the curly haired boy
"So did you! You told a stranger the truth!" Dustin explained loudly while pointing toward Max
"A stranger?" Max scoffed
"Let it go Dustin" Clove said to him with a glare
"You wanted to tell her too!" Lucas yelled
"Yeah but I didn't! Okay Lucas I didn't tell her!" Dustin said back loudly as he waved his hands as the two boys began to bicker back and forth while Steve looked farther into the woods
"Hey guys! Guys!" Steve shouted causing the two to finally shut up to hear the loud sound
"C'mon" Clove said as she ran after Steve with the boys close behind
"No, no, no guys why are you headed toward the sound? Hello? Hello? Shit" Max said as she hesitated before running after the four
"I don't see anything" Dustin said as they looked over Hawkins at the near by cliff
"It's the lab, they were going back home" Lucas said as he looked through his binoculars
"We've gotta go" Clove said as she ran
"Clove! Four leaf Clover you can't just run off in the night without me, okay? Do you have any idea what just happened" Steve scolded her while running by her side
"Sorry" she said while holding her hands up in defense as the three other teens caught up with them
"Who's there? Who's there?" Jonathan's voice was heard as the five emerged from the woods infront of the lab
"Steve?" Nancy and Jonathan asked as they saw the boy
"Nancy?" Steve asked
"Jonathan" Clove said in confusion while they walked toward each other
"What are you doing here?" Nancy asked him with frowned eyebrows
"Are you hurt?" Jonathan asked Clove as he hugged her while she shook her head
"What are you doing here?" Steve shot back to Nancy
"We're looking for Mike and Will" Nancy said
"Oh my god are they in there?" Clove shouted in distress
"Please dont say they are in there" Dustin added in from behind her
"We're not sure" Nancy stated
"Why?" Dustin asked as a loud screech was heard coming from the lab causing Cloves breath to catch in her throat
As Jonathan and Dustin hit the button over and over to get the gate open Clove passed back and forth
"Clove! Stop!" Nancy said as Clove gave her a crazy look
"I can't! What if they're in there?" Clove asked as she began to chew on her nails
"Hey! Hey! Hey I got it" Dustin grinned as the gate started to open as Jonathan and Nancy jumped in the car
"I'm going" Clove said as she pulled herself into the car
"Clove don't-" Max began but was cut off
"I'm going" Clove repeated before shutting the door behind her as Jonathan speed off
"Mike!" Clove shouted as she swung herself out the car to see Hopper holding Will with Mike near by and a sobbing Joyce. Clove hurried and hugged Mike as she pulled him toward the car
"Are you hurt? Joyce? Are you hurt?" Clove asked as she looked toward the woman who put her head on the girl's shoulder and began to sob while Clove held her close along with Mike as they speed away toward the Byers
"Mom? Dad?" Clove asked as they ran through the front door a few minutes after Clove arrived and called them
"Clover! Thanks god" Stella said as she hugged the girl
"Mrs.Reyes?" Everyone asked at once
"Surprise" she said with a akward clear of her throat as people began to hug her
"Where's Joyce?" Stella asked while Levan gave his daughter a hug
"Back bedroom" Jonathan told her while the redhead walked back there as the younger teens all looked to Clove
"We'll talk another time" she shrugged while off while falling into the car as Levan walked over to cheek on Will who was on the couch
"They don't believe you did they?" Dustin asked Hopper who just got off the phone
"We'll see" Hopper simple said
"We'll see? We can't just sit here while those things are lose!" Mike shouted
"Take it down a notch Mike" Levan said from the living room
"We stay and wait for help" Hopper said as he tried to stay as calm as possible as Stella walked back in the room and gave Hopper a look as he walked to the back
"You must be happy your Moms back" Steve whispered to Clove where they sat side by side
"I am, I guess I just forgot what it was like to have her around again" Clove said quietly
"Must feel nice though right? To feel complete again" Steve said as Clove nodded
"I thought I felt complete the second she showed up but the more I think about it the more I know somethings still missing" Clove said sadly while Steve gave her back a rub
"Did you know Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?" Mikes voice finally spoke as it caught Cloves attention
"Really?" Lucas asked
"He petitioned the school to start it and everything, then he had a fund raiser for equipment. Mr.Clarke learned everything from him pretty awesome right?" Mike asked
"Yeah" they all answered sadly
"We can't let him die in vain" Clove spoke with sad eyes as Max reached over and gave her hand a squeeze
"Well what do you guys wanna do? We can't stop those Demodogs on our own" Dustin said annoyed as he looked to Clove and Mike
"Demodogs?" Max asked in confusion
"Demogorgan, dogs, demodogs.. it's like a compound. Like a word-" Dustin began
"Okay" Max said with wide eyes
"I mean when it was just Dart maybe" Dustin said
"But there's a army now" Lucas pointed out
"His army" Mike said
"What was that?" Clove asked
"His army! Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army too" Mike said suddenly
"I like the way you're thinking Wheeler, how do we do that?" Stella smirked as she put her hand on the boys shoulder
"The shadow monster?" Dustin asked while Mike gave the drawling to him
"It got Will that day on the field, the doctor said it was like a virus. It effected him" Mike said
"The virus is connecting him to the tunnels?" Stella asked him
"To the tunnels, the the monster, to the upside down... everything" Mike stated
"Wow slow down slow down" Steve said
"Just gotta explain it in english now" Levan nodded
"Okay so the shadow monsters inside him, and if the vines feel something like pain then so does Will" Mike said to them
"And so does Dart?" Lucas asked
"Yeah it's like what Mr.Clarke taught us, the hid mind" Mike said
"Hid mind?" Steve asked in confusion
"It's a super organism" Clove told Steve
"This is the thing that controls everything, the brain" Mike added in
"Like the mindflayer" Dustin said as Steve, Max, Stella, and Levan all looked at him
"What?" they asked in confusion
"The mind flayer" Dustin repeated as they walked into the living room
"What the hell is that?" Hopper questioned
"It's a monster from an unknown demention, it's so ancient that it doesn't even know it's true home. Okay it inslaves races dementions by taking over their brains and using its highly developed powers" Dustin said
"Oh my god non of this is real, this is a kids game" Hopper said
"Um excuse you? I played D&D until I got married" Levan added in causing Clove to give him a grin over her shoulder
"It's a manual, and it's not for kids and unless you know something that we don't this is the best metaphor-" Dustin began
"Analogy" Lucas corrected him
"Analogy? That what you're worried about? Fine! An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is!" Dustin shouted
"Okay so this mind flamer thing-" Nancy began
"Mind flayer" Dustin corrected
"Dustin!" Clove shouted at him
"What does it want?" Nancy asked with a sigh
"To concer is basically, it believes it's the master" Dustin went on
"Oh like the Germans" Steve nodded as Clove slapped her forehead
"The Nazis?" Dustin asked him with a blink
"Yeah, yeah the Nazis" Steve went on as Stella patted his back
"Ugh if the Nazis where from another demention then totally. It used other races like us as inferior" Dustin told them all
"It wants to spread and take over all the other demention" Mike added in
"We are talking about the distraction of our world as we know it" Lucas said them them
"That's great thats really great" Steve said as he rubbed his forehead
"Okay so if this thing is like a brain that controlling everything then if we kill it..." Nancy trailed off
"We kill everything it controls" Mike states
"What about Will?" Clove asked
"Not sure" Mike stated with a sigh
"We'd win" Dustin said
"Theoretically" Lucas said
"Alright great so how do you kill this thing? Shoot it with a fire ball or something?" Hopper asked
"No, no no fireballs. You summon an undead army because the zombies they don't have brains and the mind flayer likes brains" Dustin said as he feel over his words
"Is he being serious?" Max asked Clove who just sighed and looked at her lap
"It's just a game" Dustin sighed
"What the hell are we doing here?" Hopper asked annoyed
"I thought we were waiting for your military back up" Levan rolled his eyes
"We are!" Hopper shouted
"Don't yell at him! Even if they are come how are they gonna stop this?"
Stella shouted back at him
"You can't just shoot this thing with guns!" Mike yelled at the chief
"You don't know that! We don't know anything!" Hopper yelled looking down at Mike
"You know it's already killed everybody in that lab!" Clove shouted at the man
"And we know the monsters are gonna molt again" Lucas added in
"And we know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town" Dustin quickly said after
"They're right, we have to kill it" Joyce said as she walked out of her room with messy hair and tears in her eyes
"I want to kill it" Joyce stated
"Me too, me too Joyce but how do we do that?" Hopper asked while approaching her
"We don't know what we're dealing with here" Hopper added in
"No but he does, if anyone knows how to destroy this thing its Will. It's connected to him, he'll know it's weakness" Mike stated as they looked down at the sleeping boy
"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore? That he's a spy for the mind flayer now" Max said as she stood behind Clove
"He can't spy if he doesn't know where he is" Clove stated causing everyone to turn and look at her
••••••
get your tissues ready for the next chapter, flipping EMOTIONAL!