the trek toward the lab— which max and tj both tried to convince the boys not to go— is a long one. tj and steve walk side by side, leading everyone else. tj isn't sure what exactly is at the lab that's so significant, but she's sure it's not going to be a party when they get there.

the gang finally reaches the edge of the woods, right by hawkins labratory, and both steve and tj are surprised to see steve's girlfriend, nancy, and her friend jonathan standing just meters away, both of them looking like they've seen a ghost. the kids come into view behind the two teens and nancy and jonathan's jaws both drop.

"steve?" they both exclaim in unison.

"nancy?" says steve.

"jonathan," dustin says.

"what are you doing here?" nancy exclaims in disbelief. she looks angry and tj feels super awkward all of a sudden, which is a feeling she is definitely not used to.

"what are you doing here?" he retorts.

"we're looking for mike and will."

"they're not in there, are they?" dustin asks.

"we're not sure."

"why?" asks jonathan, his voice nervous.

behind them, in the direction of the lab, shrieks, like from before, echo out around them. they all turn toward the huge building just in time to see the lights start to flicker on and off.

"oh my god," nancy gasps.

the group is quick to fall into several arguments at once, all of them trying to figure out where the two missing boys could be, all of them hoping they're not trapped inside the powered-down labratory.

"we haven't seen will—"

"i haven't seen him since..."

a light catches tj's attention and she turns toward the lab again. "uh, guys?"

nancy pushes her way out of the group and stands next to tj. nancy is tall, but tj is still taller. she almost feels self-conscious standing next to her. "the power's back," nancy says.

all of them run toward the car nancy and jonathan had come in. jonathan is the first one into the security booth. he pushes the button to open the security gate, but nothing happens.

dustin pushes his way inside. "let me try."

"no."

"let me try, jonathan!" dustin pushes the taller kid out of the way and pushes the button; still, nothing happens. "son of a bitch!" dustin keeps hitting the button and, a few moments later, the gate finally does open.

"great," tj nods.

"hey! i got it!" the gang crowds around the gate, none of them knowing what to expect next.

"let's go," jonathan says and he and nancy climb into the car. he speeds off onto the lab property, leaving steve and tj's party to stay by the security booth.

it's not more than a few minutes later when they hear tires screeching and jonathan's car comes flying back out, followed by a police car.

jim hopper, the police chief, waves to them. "let's go," is all he says and all of them clamber into the truck. they squeeze into each other to all fit inside and hopper peels out of the place, following jonathan's car.

the next several minutes go by in a blur, but, somehow— maybe by the grace of god— they all end up, alive, back at the byers' residence.

will, the kid everyone was looking for, is placed on the couch. he's out cold, like he's comatose. tj stands next to steve, watching as jonathan tries to wake him and nancy stands just behind him for support. the rest of the kids sit in the kitchen at the table. the woman— will's mom— disappeared as soon as jonathan took over watching will.

tj looks up at steve, who then turns to look at her. steve looks as exhausted as she feels. steve slowly rests his arm across her shoulders and she leans into him. nothing weird, she tells herself. just friends.

jim hopper is busy yelling at someone on the phone, his voice loud and deafening. it sounds like they'd got there just in time to rescue everyone, as everyone else at the lab had been killed by the same creatures that had attacked everyone at the junkyard. "sam owens. dr. sam owens... i don't know how many people are there! i don't know how many people are left alive!" there's another brief pause. "i am the police! chief jim hopper!"

"was it this bad last time?" tj whispers to steve.

steve shakes his head. "i don't know," he replies softly. "last time i wasn't babysitting half the middle school."

tj remembers back to the bus and how she'd been so frozen with fear she couldn't push max out of the way to protect her. she feels grateful steve had been there.

a ring echoes as hopper slams the phone back down into the cradle.

tj hears everyone in the kitchen start to converse.

"they didn't believe you did they?"

"we'll see."

"we'll see? we can't just sit here while those things are loose!"

"stay here, and we wait for help." hopper walks away.

"you okay?" steve asks.

tj shrugs. "i'm going crazy, obviously. i don't know when i lost my mind, but i know i had it when i left california."

steve forces a smile, but it fades quickly. he's just too tired to truly appreciate tj's jokes. steve pulls on her shoulders and leads her into the kitchen with him. they lean against the counter, side by side. tj feels annoyed by how much steve brings her comfort. she's never gone mushy for anyone. maybe it's because no one has really known her like steve. and that's saying a lot, considering they only became friends a few days ago.

mike leaves the room momentarily, but returns with some weird cube thing in his hand. he mentions bob, who must have died back at the lab.

"we can't let him die in vain."

"well, what do you want to do, mike? alright, the chief's right in this. we can't stop those demo-dogs on our own."

"demo-dogs?" says max. everyone turns to look at her.

"demogorgon. dogs. demo-dogs. it's like a compound. it's like a play on words—"

"okay."

they fall silent for a second before dustin speaks again. "i mean, when it was just dart, maybe..."

"but there's an army now," lucas interjects.

"precisely."

"his army," mike comments.

steve looks up at mike. "what do you mean?"

"his army! maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too."

"who is him?" tj asks, looking around at all the kids.

mike runs out of the room. the others follow him right into will's room. mike shows them a picture.

"the shadow monster."

"it got will that day on the field. the doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him."

"and so this virus, it's connecting him to the tunnels?"

"to the tunnels, to the monsters, the upside down, everything."

steve notices the bewildered look on tj's face. "whoa. slow down, slow down."

"okay, so," mike starts, "the shadow monster's inside everything. and if the vines feel something like pain, then so does will."

"and so does dart."

"yeah, like what mr. clarke taught us. the hive mind."

"the hive mind?" tj asks.

"a collective consciousness. it's a super organism."

mike points to the creepy figure will had drawn. "and this is the thing that controls everything. it's the brain."

"like the mind flayer."

at once, max, steve, and tj exclaim, "the what?"