"You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas asked.
We didn't know what else to do other than head back to Steve's car along the train tracks, and we could figure out the rest from there.
Since we left the junkyard, my hand had separated from Steve's and my heart rate had slowed down, but I still stayed at his side. Both of us were still jumpy but didn't want to worry the kids, so we just stood close to each other. At one point, I had had to tie my shoe and he stopped so that he wouldn't be leaving me. Although the action was small, it heated up my cheeks.
"Yes," Dustin told his friend. He was on my other side with Lucas and Max right behind us "He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt."
"How did you even catch that?" I said, already not being able to remember everything that had happened. It had gone by in a flash.
"He was tiny two days ago," Max said.
"Well, he's molted three times already," Dustin said, thinking back to Dart shedding his skin.
"Malted?" Steve asked, confused.
"Molted," Dustin corrected impatiently. "Shed his skin to make room for growth, like hornworms."
"When's he gonna molt again?" Max asked. Lucas and Dustin had brought flashlights with them, meaning we had some light and could see if anything was coming. There were only three, though, so the boys all carried one.
"It's gotta be soon," I answered her. It had been almost a day since we locked Dart in the cellar, and he shed in there, so I assumed it would be in the next few hours.
"When he does, he'll be fully grown," Dustin said. "Or close to it. And so will his friends."
"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats," Steve muttered. I sighed, still sad about Mews, and Steve noticed. "...Sorry."
"Wait!" Lucas stepped in front of Dustin, stopping us all. "A cat?"
Dustin stepped back, his eyes wide.
"Dart ate a cat?"
"No, what?" Dustin said guiltily. "No!"
"Dustin, what are you talking about?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.
"Yeah, he ate your sister's cat, man," Steve agreed. "Mews, remember?"
"Mews?" Max turned to look at Steve and I. "Who's Mews?"
"It's (Y/n) and Dustin's cat," Steve said. I nodded, looking at the way Lucas was staring daggers into Dustin.
"Steve!" Dustin yelled, eyes even wider.
"I knew it!" Lucas yelled, pushing his chest. "You kept him!"
"No!" Dustin denied, but his wavering voice sold him out. "...N-no. No, I... No! I... He missed me, okay? He wanted to come home."
"Bullshit!" Lucas said.
"I didn't know he was a Demogorgon, okay?"
"Oh, so now you admit it?"
"Guys," Max said exasperatedly. "Who cares? We have to go."
"I care!" Lucas said. "You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!"
"So did you!" Dustin yelled, even louder than Lucas had been.
"What?" Lucas hissed. I rolled my eyes at the boys and sighed, exchanging a bored glance with Max.
"You told a stranger the truth!" Dustin said, shining his flashlight in Max's face.
"A stranger?" Max scoffed.
"Can you guys shut up now?" I said, frowning.
"You wanted to tell her, too!" Lucas ignored me, instead going back to yelling at Dustin.
"Yeah, but I didn't, Lucas! I didn't tell her! We both broke the rule of law, okay? So we're even. We're even."
"No, no!" Lucas said. "We're not even. Don't even try that!"
I was so distracted by the boys fighting that I almost missed it when Steve started walking slowly away from the group.
"Steve?" I said.
"Your stupid pet could have ate us for dinner!"
"Steve," I said again, walking after him. "Where are you going?"
"That was not my fault!"
"Guys?" Steve called to the kids. I looked between him and the others, trying to figure out what he was getting at.
"He wasn't gonna eat us," Dustin said.
"Oh, so he was crawling to come say 'hello!?'"
"Guys!" Steve yelled. Max, Dustin and Lucas all jumped, but I just stared at him. Their fighting died down, and suddenly, a screeching could be heard over the noises of the night. The same screeching the Demogorgon's were making earlier.
Steve looked back at me before turning the way the noises had come from and beginning to walk. I followed, knowing that the kids would follow.
"No, no, no," I heard Max say as we went off of the tracks and deeper into the forest. "Hey, guys, why are you heading toward the sound?"
I stopped, letting the boys pass me to join Steve, and held my hand out for Max.
"C'mon," I said to her when she didn't take it. She bit her lip, looking at my hand, before rushing forward and taking it. I squeezed it gently and then pulled her after the boys, jogging to catch up with them.
We ducked around trees, following the sounds of the Demogorgans and, after a few minutes, reached a clearing at the top of the forest.
"I don't see him," Dustin said, staring down into a sea of fog. We were at the highest point in Hawkins that looked over the West end of the forest. There was a steep hill in front of us that led to the lower level.
Lucas raised his binoculars from his neck and looked through them, gazing out at the night.
"It's the lab," Lucas said, lowering the binoculars and pointing to a cluster of light in the distance. "They were going back home."
The wind blew against us and I shuddered at the cold, clenching my fist that wasn't occupied by Max's hand.
"We should follow them," I said. Max whipped her head toward me, as did the boys. "They're going to the lab for more than just their home.... And I don't know about you guys, but I kinda want to know why."
"No, we can't," Max said. I could tell everyone else was in. "That's insane!"
"Yeah," I said, turning to her and crouching to her level. "Yes, it is. But so is everything that Lucas told you. And we survived that, didn't we?"
"Barely," Dustin muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear. Steve rolled his eyes and whacked the back of his head with his palm. "Ouch, sorry... Son of a bitch."
"Listen," I squeezed both of Max's hands in mine. "It's scary, and probably a little stupid, but you're with me and Steve. If anything happens, he has a bat."
Max giggled a little, making me smile. She nodded slowly with a sigh. "Okay."
"I promise, we'll keep you safe."
I stood back up and hugged her gently before turning back to the boys.
"All right. Let's go."
We walked down the hill, all holding onto each other for support, and then bee-lined it to the lab when we got to the bottom. Steve and I stayed at the back, he with his bat at the ready, with the kids leading a bit in front of us. They talked quietly, still arguing about everything from earlier.
"You know," I broke the silence between Steve and I. "What you did back there was really stupid."
Steve chuckled. "Well, I am known for making bad decisions."
I hit his arm lightly, knowing that he was talking about Nancy again. "You gotta let go of that. You did nothing wrong."
"Yeah, well, I did," Steve said, staring straight forward.
I sighed and adjusted my backpack straps. "Stop that. Honestly, I'm kinda disappointed in you, Steve."
"What do you mean?" Steve finally looked at me, his expression confused.
"I just never thought King Steve would let his ego get hurt this much," I teased to which Steve shook his head.
"I really hate that name," Steve said and I fake gasped. Tommy H. and Carol had been the ones to start his infamous nickname, and he was known for it.
"You're kidding," I said with a cheeky smile. "So, I'm guessing Steve 'The Hair' Harrington is out, too, then?"
"Nah, no," Steve smiled at me and ran a hand through his hair. "That one can stay."
"Oh, so you like being recognized for your Farrah Faucett spray?"
I laughed when Steve's lips tightened and he glared jokingly at me. "You're meaner than I thought, (Y/n). Wittier, but definitely meaner."
"Just comes with being a Henderson, I guess," I grinned.
"You know, I never realized you guys were siblings," Steve told me.
"What, me and Dustin?" Steve nodded. "Well, you know, I guess you've never really seen us together."
"I just feel like I should've noticed."
"We don't exactly look alike," I laughed. Steve raised an eyebrow. "Different dads and stuff. Both of them left before we were born, and neither of us picked up on Mom, so..."
"I'm sorry," Steve said. He used the hand that wasn't occupied by his bat to nudge mine, and I took this as an okay to gently link my arm through his.
"Don't be," I said. "Dustin and I were both really young, so we just remember Mom, anyway. I don't miss something I never had. Besides, Mom and Dusty are enough."
"He's lucky to have you," Steve told me softly. "Dustin, I mean."
I was glad it was dark, because my entire face heated up, right to my ears.
"I'm lucky to have him."
I looked up at him to see that he was already looking at me, and I almost got lost in his eyes. Almost. However, our moment was interrupted by a shout.
"(Y/n)! Steve!" Lucas' yell made us jump apart, our arms untangling, and we rushed forward to the kids. I hadn't noticed how much we had lagged behind.
"What?" I said worriedly.
"What's wrong?" Steve asked, both hands now clutching his bat.
"Look."
Lucas pointed in front of him, and I looked. A little ways away, a metal fence was standing.
"Holy shit," I said. From there, Steve and I took the lead and then turned left when we reached the fence. We followed it, hoping to run into something.
After a few more minutes, as we were about to come into another clearing, we heard yelling.
"Hello?" A male's voice yelled. I gripped Steve's arm and we began walking a little slower. "Who's there?"
"Hold on," I said, dropping my hand. "Is that-?"
When we stepped out into the clearing, I saw that we were standing at the entrance gate, and two people stared back at us.
"Steve?" Both Jonathan and Nancy said, staring at the five of us as we left the woods and walked toward them.
"Nancy?" Steve responded.
"Jonathan?" I said. I jogged toward them and wrapped my arms around my friends, relieved to see them safe after their trip.
"What are you doing here?" Nancy asked, but I could tell by the tone of her voice it was mainly directed to Steve.
"I could ask you guys the same thing," I said, stepping back as Steve and the kids joined me.
"We're looking for Mike and Will," Nancy said. Her eyes were focused on Steve, and his on hers. My heart sank slightly, but I shook it off. I did not like Steve Harrington.
"They're not in there, are they?" Dustin asked, gesturing to the lab.
"We're not sure," Nancy answered.
"Why?" Jonathan asked cautiously. We didn't need to answer, because right after he said it, the screeching of the Demogorgons sounded from the lab. We all stared at it, watching as the lights inside flashed on and off.
I swallowed. "That's why."
"What do we do?"
The second the question was asked, everyone started talking over each other, none of us really listening to the others.
"The power's back," Nancy said suddenly. I hadn't noticed her leave our circle, but she was staring at the lab where, sure enough, all of the lights were back to normal.
Jonathan immediately took off running toward the booth that controlled the opening and closing of the gate with the rest of us behind him. His car was pulled up to the gate, engine off, and he began desperately pushing at a button inside.
We all spun to the gate, expecting it to open, but it didn't budge. He kept pressing, but nothing happened.
"Let me try," Dustin said, running to the booth.
"Hang on-"
"Let me try, Jonathan!" Dustin whined, shoving the older boy out of the way to press the button. He jabbed it multiple times as hard as he could, but still, nothing happened. "Son of a bitch! You know what..."
Suddenly, the gate started to move, and it slowly retracted.
"Hey, I got it!" Dustin said with a happy chuckle. "I got it."
Nancy and Jonathan reacted almost instantly and got into Jon's car.
"We'll go get them," Nancy told me through the window. I nodded.
"Be safe."
Jonathan hit the gas and took off, the kids jumping out of the way of his speeding car. We watched as they went up the drive and we looked between us, adrenaline coursing through all of our veins. Soon, the honking of a horn could be heard, and right after that, headlights could be seen coming straight for us.
"Shit!" I said, jumping back.
"Look out!" Steve yelled, grabbing Max and Lucas and pulling them away from the road. I yanked on Dustin's arm and we tripped back into the booth. We watched as Jonathan's car sped past, people in the back seat who I couldn't make out.
Right after Jonathan, another car pulled up. It read 'Hawkins Police Dept.' on the side, and Hopper was driving it. The tires screeched to a stop in front of us, and the man looked out at us with wild eyes.
"Let's go!" Hopper said. Steve ran forward to open the door and dove in.
"Come on, let's go!" Steve yelled. I ushered the kids into the car while Steve helped them into the back, and I was barely on Steve's lap when he shut the door behind me. "Okay, let's go!"
I blushed profusely when I found myself half on Steve and half in the middle between the seats, so I adjusted myself and then slid into the back with the kids.
"Everyone okay?" I asked, making sure that no one was hurt. They all nodded so I let myself breathe, looking out the front.
~~~
The Byers' house was covered in Crayon drawings.
From the second we walked in, all I could see were drawings everywhere, and they all seemed to connect to one another like vines. Hopper told us they were actually tunnels that went underground, explaining how Dart had gotten out of the cellar.
Will had been laid on the couch, asleep, with Jonathan hunched over him, talking quietly. Nancy stood behind him rubbing his shoulder sympathetically. I stood beside her, my arm linked through hers and my head on her shoulder. While Jonathan talked to his brother, she told me about everything that had happened on their trip.
I held in my freak out when she told me about how they had kissed, knowing that it wasn't the time, what with Steve right behind us. I glanced up at him when Nancy was done with her story to see him looking over sadly. He met my gaze before turning around and walked to the kitchen, and I rubbed Nancy's back as I followed him.
Hopper was talking on the phone, rather yelling, and getting frustrated as he explained the situation to the government. He had told us everything in the car - how Will was being possessed, in a way; how these soldiers had been killed by the Demogorgons in some tunnels; how Joyce's boyfriend, Bob, had been killed by them, as well; how they had had no choice but to make Will unconscious.
Sitting at the kitchen table were Max, Lucas, Dustin and Mike who I stood behind when I came in. Steve was staring out a window, arms crossed and jaw clenched, so I left him alone.
"They didn't believe you, did they?" Dustin said as Hopper hung up the phone.
"We'll see," Hopper responded.
"'We'll see?'" Mike spat. "We can't just sit here while those things are loose!"
"We stay here, and we wait for help," Hopper said firmly, ending the discussion. He gave us all one last look before walking away, and Mike groaned. I placed my hand on the back of his neck and rubbed my thumb over his skin soothingly.
"It'll be alright," I told him, knowing he wouldn't believe me, but still figuring it was nice to hear. We all sat in silence, not quite knowing what else to do besides wait for the phone to ring.
After a few minutes, Mike stood up from his chair, and I watched him walk into the living room. He picked up a blue square from the coffee table that looked like a rubiks cube and stared at it.
"Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?" Mike said, not facing us.
"Really?" Lucas said. I hadn't known Bob that well, but the few times I'd met him, he seemed like a great guy.
"He petitioned the school to start it and everything," Mike said, turning around with a small smile. "And then he had a fund-raiser for equipment. Mr. Clarke learned everything from him. Pretty awesome, right?"
"Yeah," Dustin and Lucas agreed.
Mike walked back to the kitchen and placed the blue square onto the table.
"We can't let him die in vain," Mike said.
"Well, what do you want to do, Mike?" Dustin said. "The chief's right on this. We can't stop these Demodogs on our own."
I shifted my gaze to my brother. "Um, 'Demodogs?'"
"Demogorgan," Dustin said, raising his eyebrows. "Dogs. Demogorgon dogs. Demodogs. It's like a compound. It's like a play on words-"
"Okay," I said with a small nod.
"I mean," Dustin continued. "When it was just Dart, maybe..."
"But there's an army now," Lucas finished.
Dustin nodded. "Precisely."
"His army," Mike repeated. We all looked at him.
"What do you mean?" Steve said, speaking for the first time since we'd arrived at the house.
"His army," Mike said again, more enthusiastic. "Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too."
"Wait, slow down," I said, looking between everyone. "Who's 'him'?"
Mike ran into the next room and came back with a drawing in his hands. He shoved it into Dustin's hands so we all crowded around him to see it properly. It was a creature of some sort with multiple legs that looked almost like a pterodactyl.
"The shadow monster," Dustin said, examining the crayon.
"It got Will that day on the field," Mike said, recalling the other day when we'd found him outside after looking for Dart. "The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him."
"And so this virus," Max said. "It's connecting him to the tunnels?"
Mike nodded enthusiastically, glad that someone was getting it. "To the tunnels, monsters, the Upside Down, everything."
"Whoa, slow down, slow down," Steve interrupted, taking the picture to look at.
"Okay, so," Mike began. "The shadow monster's inside everything. And if the vines feel something like pain, then so does Will."
"And so does Dart," Lucas said.
"And the rest of the... Demodogs," I said, earning a smile from my brother.
"Yeah," Mike said. "Like what Mr. Clarke taught us. The hive mind."
"Hive mind?" Steve and I asked at the same time.
"A collective consciousness," Dustin explained. "It's a super-organism."
"And this is the thing that controls everything," Mike said, jabbing his finger at the creature in the drawing. "It's the brain."
"Like the mind flayer," Dustin said. Lucas snapped his fingers and pointed at Dustin, nodding.
"The what?" Max said.
"What?" Steve said at the same time, shaking his head and looking at Max with a confused expression.
"It's from DnD," I said, remembering the games I'd played with the boys. "Someone go get a game index from Will's room."
Dustin nodded and raced down the hall, coming back with a giant book and Hopper behind him. He put the book on the table just as Nancy and Jonathan came in and I helped him flip to the right page.
"The mind flayer," I said, my finger landing on the description in the manual.
"What the hell is that?" Hopper said, his arms crossed over his chest. He sounded bored and tired.
"It's a monster from an unknown dimension," Dustin said as I nodded along. "It's so ancient that it doesn't even know it's true home."
Everyone still looked confused, so I looked down to the book.
"Okay, um," I looked for anything I could use. "It says here that it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its 'highly-developed psionic powers.'"
"Oh, my God," Hopper said, rolling his eyes. "None of this is real. This is a kids' game."
"No, it's a manual," Dustin snapped. "And it's not for kids. And unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor-"
"Analogy," Lucas corrected.
"Analogy?" Dustin stared at him, eyes hard. "That's what you're worried about?"
Lucas shrugged and Dustin groaned as I rested my hands on the table to lean on.
"Fine. An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is."
"Okay," Nancy said from beside me, putting her hands up. "So this mind flamer thing-"
"Flayer," Dustin said. "Mind flayer."
Nancy sighed. "What does it want?"
"To conquer us, basically. It believes it's the master race."
"Like the..." Steve stammered. "Like the Germans?"
I looked at him, my eyebrows raised. "Steve, do you mean the Nazis?"
He squinted at me for a second before relaxing his gaze and nodding. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Nazis."
"Uh," Dustin grimaced. "If the Nazis were from another dimension, totally."
Hopper put his face in his hands and rubbed his beard.
"It, uh... It views other races, like us, as inferior to itself."
"It wants to spread," Mike said, looking across the table to Dustin. "Take over other dimensions."
"We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it," Lucas interjected.
"That's great," Steve said, turning from the table and walking away. "That's great. That's really great. Jesus!"
"Okay, so," Nancy said, leaning into my side and picking up the manual. "If this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything, then if we kill it..."
"We kill everything it controls," I said.
"We win," Dustin said.
"Theoretically," Lucas chimed in.
"Alright, great," Hopper said, walking over and taking the book from Nancy to look at. "So how do you kill this thing? Shoot it with fireballs or something?"
"No, no," Dustin chuckled. "No fire - no fireballs. Uh, you summon an undead army, uh, because... Because zombies, you know, they don't have brains and the mind flayer, it... It likes brains."
We all stared at Dustin and he looked around at us, his smile dropping.
"But it's just a game. It's... A game."
"What the hell are we doing here," Hopper said, slamming the book onto the table and beginning to pace.
"I thought we were waiting for your 'military backup,'" I spat.
"We are!" Hopper yelled.
"Well even if they come, how are they gonna stop this?" Mike said. "You can't just shoot this with guns."
"You don't know that!" Hopper said. "We don't know anything!"
"We know it's already killed everybody in that lab!" Mike retorted.
"And we know the Demo-things are gonna molt again," I said.
"And that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town," Dustin pointed out.
"They're right." A croaky voice came from the hall, and we all spun around to see Joyce standing there. She didn't look good, but I didn't blame her. What happened to Bob was awful. "We have to kill it."
Hopper's eyes went soft as he walked toward her.
"I want to kill it."
"Me, too," Hopper told her.
"I-"
"Me, too, Joyce, okay? But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here."
"No," I said, my eyes finding Will still asleep on the couch. "But he does."
I walked toward the couch, blood pumping through me hard.
"You said the mind flayer is controlling Will, right?" I glanced at everyone. "Then if anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's him."
"(Y/n)'s right," Mike backed me up. "He's connected to it. He'll know it's weaknesses."
"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore," Max said. "That he's a spy for the mind flayer now."
"Yeah," Mike said slowly.
Then, it was like a light went off in my mind.
"Yes, but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is."
~~~
Hey, Lovelies !
Thank you for all of the birthday wishes last week, it made me feel really special <3
I also got some questions about my upload schedule. Just in case it hasn't been made obvious, I update this book every Saturday, usually in the morning! Feel free to message me or post on my community board if you have any questions!
I hope you enjoyed today's longer chapter!!
Until next time :)