Jonathan left the two girls to go home as night fell. Cate realized Dustin's bike was at the Wheeler's still. So, before heading home, she figured she'd offer him a ride home. Nancy went back up to her room and Cate went to the basement.

    "Boy's?" Cate called out as she opened the door. "It's just me. I'm coming down."

She heard a few breathes of relief and she walked down the stairs to find Dustin sitting on the bottom steps.

    "Hey, Dusty. Hey guy's." Cate greeted them and noticed the looks on all their faces. Eleven was laying on the couch dressed up and she looked sad and beat. "What's wrong?"

    "El used her superpowers again and we think she contacted Will." Dustin explained with a small sigh.

    "Like home, like home... But dark?" Mike questioned himself.   

    "And empty." Lucas sighed.

    "Empty and cold. Wait, did he say cold?" Dustin asked.

    "I don't know. That stupid radio kept going in and out." Lucas said annoyed.

    "It's like riddles in the dark." Dustin sighed.

    "What exactly happened?" Cate asked to be clarified.

    "Like home... Like his house?" Mike asked as he stopped pacing the room.

    "Or maybe like Hawkins." Lucas pointed out.

    "Upside down." Eleven said quietly.

    "What'd she say?" Lucas asked.

    "Upside down?" Cate questioned the little children around her.

    "Upside down!" Mike exclaimed. "When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember?" Mike asked looking at Lucas and Dustin. He sat at their table and flipped their D&D board over to the black blank side. "Upside down. Dark. Empty."

    "Do you understand what he's talking about?" Lucas asked.

    "Uh, no." Dustin stated quickly shaking his head.

    "Wait... No." Cate stated crossing her arms.

    "Guys, think about it. When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?" Mike pointed out.

    "Yeah. And he wasn't there." Lucas stated firmly.

    "Okay, wait. She said he was hiding right? So the upside down..." Cate paced for a minute. "What if he was there. We just couldn't see him." She asked, thinking about what Jonathan told her about the creature coming through the wall.

    "Exactly! What if he was on the other side?" Mike agreed excitedly. He flipped the board over again to it's rightful side. "What if this is Hawkins and..." He flipped it again to the black side of the board. "This is where Will is. The Upside down."

    "Like the Vale of Shadows." Dustin gasped.

    "Like in your D&D game?" Cate questioned her little brother.    

    "Exactly." He stated grabbing his book from his bag and flipping to the Vale of Shadows page. "The Vale of Shadows is a dimension. That is a dark reflection or echo of our world." Dustin read off the page, looking up at them all. "It's a place of Decay and Death. A plane out of phase. A place of monsters. It is right next to you, and you don't even see it."

    "An alternate dimension." Mike stated.

    "But... How... How do we get there?" Lucas asked nervously.

    "You cast shadow walk." Dustin pointed out.

    "In real life, dummy." Lucas scoffed.

    "You guy's can't shadow walk... But, you said El helped you talk to him. Maybe she can." Cate suggested and each of the kids turned to look at her as she still laid on the couch.

    "Do you know how we get there? To the Upside Down?" Mike asked her softly. El shook her head no.

    "Oh, my god!" Lucas sighed in annoyance.

    "All right, look. We should all take a moment and breathe. Try to figure this out after getting some rest, okay? The funeral is tomorrow and you all need to get some sleep. Even if Will is alive, we still need to be there to support their family. Okay?"

Each of the boys agreed easier than she thought. They bid each other goodnight and went their separate ways to get some rest.

    "Dustin, are you ready?" Cate asked, knocking on her brother's doorway. She peered in to see him looking at himself in the mirror.

He was dressed up in a white button up, grey tie, grey vest and a darker denim jacket. While Cate wore a black dress and black heels, with a black cover over.

    "Yeah." He sighed.

    "Come on, Mom's waiting." Cate patted his shoulder as he walked out past her.

They arrived at the cemetery and people piled in to show their condolences for Will. Cate stood behind Dustin and the boys, exchanging looks with both Jonathan and Nancy. She had debated herself on telling the boys what she knew. But she didn't really know that much yet, right? So it would only worry them. So Cate decided against it, to learn more first and to hopefully keep them safe.

    "Fear not, for I am with you." Pastor Charles began the funeral after everyone had made it. "Be not dismayed, for I am your god. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. It's times like these that our faith is challenged. How, if he is truly benevolent... Could God take someone so young, so innocent? It would be easy to turn away from God. But we must remember that nothing, not even tragedy, can separate us from his love. We are here today to find comfort in the truth of scripture, and to surround Will and his family..."

Dustin nudged the boys and gestured to a girl across the way who was crying.

    "Just wait till we tell Will that Jennifer Hayes was crying at his funeral." Dustin tried to whisper, only speaking a little to loudly.

Before Cate could scold her rude little brother, Mrs. Wheeler who was next to her, behind Mike, shushed them. Making each other of them look back towards the speaking priest. As the funeral came to an end, everyone was grabbing a yellow rose when it was. their turn and tossing them into the grave on the casket holding fake Will's body. Cate and Dustin went next and walked up towards Joyce and Jonathan. Giving their condolences.

Cate shooed Dustin to go off with their mother and his friends while she stayed behind to talk to Jonathan about what their next steps were going to be. After mostly everyone cleared out, Jonathan, Nancy and Cate sat on a bench in the cemetery.

    "This is where we know for sure it's been, right?" Jonathan pointed out on a small map he held in his hands with three red x's drawn on it. Both girls on either side of him.

    "So that's..." Nancy pointed.

    "Steve's house." Cate nodded.

    "That's the woods where they found Will's bike and that's my house." Jonathan pointed out.

    "It's all really close." Cate sighed.    

    "Yeah. Exactly." Jonathan nodded at her. "I mean, it's all within a mile or something. Whatever this thing is, it's... it's not traveling far." He breathed and gave each of them a knowing look.

    "You wanna go out there." Nancy stated understanding.

    "We might not find anything." Jonathan sighed.

    "I found something." Nancy pointed out.

    "But, if we do see it... Then what?" Cate asked curiously.

    "We kill it." Jonathan said as though it were simple.

He hopped up from his seat and headed over towards his father, Lonnie's car. Picking the lock on the glove box.

    "What are you doing?" Nancy questioned him.

    "Just give me a second." Jonathan huffed. The lock clicked and the glovebox fell open.

Cate stood beside the door seeing him pull out a revolver and some bullets. Her eyes widened.

    "Wait, do you even know how to use that?" Cate asked.

    "Are you serious?" Nancy gasped seeing what it was.

    "What? You want to find this thing and take another photo? Yell at it?" He asked her sarcastically before looking at Cate. "I know the basics."

    "Oh, that makes me feel loads better." Cate snorted unamused.    

    "This is a terrible idea." Nancy pointed out.

    "Yeah, well, it's the best we've got." Jonathan scoffed, making Nancy roll her eyes. "What? You can tell someone, but they're not gonna believe you. You know that."

    "Your Mom would." Nancy argued.

    "I already told Cate. She's been through enough." Jonathan sighed.

    "Don't you think she had a right to know? I mean, she saw this thing too." Cate tried to reason with him.

    "Yeah, I'll tell her... When this thing is dead." Jonathan told her gently and Cate sighed.

The plan was to meet up later after the reception, bringing whatever weapon's they could find. Cate was in her room changing, putting on some tight jeans, a tank top, a flannel, and her heavier flannel lined jacket.

    "Cate, hey. We made a plan to go out and try to find the gate to the Upside Down. Mr. Clarke told us that there would have to be one, hypothetically, and that it would cause really strong electromagnetic current. So we are going searching for it with compasses. Because something is causing them not to point true north. I was wondering if you wanted to come help us?" Dustin rambled excitedly after knocking on her door.

    "Dustin. Oh, uh, I can't. I promised Jonathan I'd hang out with him and Nancy." She said quickly.

    "Oh." Dustin frowned. "Okay..."

    "Dustin, please be careful." Cate warned him, before pulling off his hat and ruffling his hair much to his annoyance. "I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you."

    "Yeah, well the same could be said about you." Dustin sighed, fixing his hat back on his head, and then hugging his sister's side. "You be careful too."

    "Always am." Cate grinned.

She walked out of her room and into her mother's, pulling out a small safe she kept in her closet. It was filled with her Uncle's old things and if she was right, she believed there would be something inside for her to use. Cate input the code and it unlocked. She shuffled through old files and finally her hand landed on a holster belt. Pulling it out and examining it, she nodded at herself, taking the revolver with her and the two boxes of bullets stashed inside.

Cate placed everything back where it was, so her Mom wouldn't know and walked towards the door to leave. Her hand reached out for the door handle, pulling the front door open and was about to step outside. Only to nearly be met with a fist.

    "Holy shit!" Cate squeaked and stepped back.

    "Jesus." Steve held his chest and let out a long breath. "Hey."

    "Jesus, Harrington. What are you doing here?" She breathed and closed the door behind her, stepping out with him.

    "I took your advice. I apologized to Nancy." He stated with a small smile.

    "Well, that's great. Did she accept it?" Cate asked politely.

    "I mean, I guess. I tried to see if she wanted to catch a movie, but she sort of blew me off. Said she was really worried about her brother and everything with the funeral that happened today. Which I really don't buy." Steve ranted as Cate walked towards her garage.

    "Well, she's not wrong, Steve. Our brothers have been really beat up over this whole thing." Cate shrugged and lifted the garage door.

    "Right. Right, uh, so I was hoping maybe you wanted to hang out instead. You know, I got nothing to do and..."

    "And Nancy said no. So you're coming to me." Cate raised an unimpressed brow at him, making Steve's eye's widen.

    "No, no it's not like that." Steve said quickly.

    "Uh-huh. Well, I guess you're out of luck with me too because I'm actually pretty busy today." Cate shrugged. She bent over finally finding what she was looking for. A tire iron was heavy, metal and would do some damage if swung hard enough.

    "What are you doing? Cate, what's that?" Steve pointed at her waist, where she had buckled the holster. Her jacket slid up as she had bent over revealing it to him.

    "Nothing." Cate stated quickly and walked towards her car, trying to open the door, but Steve shut it before she could get in.

He pulled her closer, despite her protests and lifted the jacket revealing the gun.

    "Holy shit, Henderson. What exactly are you doing with that?" Steve asked concerned and Cate pushed him off her.

    "I'm going to do some target shooting, okay? With my Uncle. Now, Steve if you don't mind so I'm not late. I'm leaving now." Cate stated firmly and reopened her car door. "I'll hang out with you another day, okay?"

    "Okay... Wait, Cate." Steve protested as she shut the door and started her car. "What Uncle? Catherine Michelle Henderson! What Uncle!" Steve shouted as her car backed down the driveway and away.

Steve knew Cate had one Uncle she was particularly close to. But he died two years ago... He would know. He comforted her during the funeral. And unless she had some other a stranger Uncle, she was lying to him. And Cate never kept anything from him. Steve recalled his conversation with Nancy too and something simply didn't add up. Nancy was also acting strangely. He couldn't really blame Nancy for blowing him off, but Cate would never. Not for such a bogus reason. He was determined to figure out why that was.

Cate drove to the Wheeler's picking up Nancy and then showing up at the Byer's home. The pair walked out back into the woods, following the sounds of gunshots. Soon enough coming into a small clearing, with Jonathan standing in the middle looking a bit disappointed at the cans he had set up for target practice.

    "You're supposed to hit the can's, right?" Cate giggled and walked out towards him.

    "No, actually, you see the spaces in between the cans? I'm aiming for those." Jonathan explained to them sarcastically. "Have either of you ever shot a gun before?"

    "I have." Cate shrugged and pulled out the gun from her holster and showing it to them.

    "Have you met my parents?" Nancy scoffed playfully.

They all let out soft snickers and Jonathan began to reload his revolver.

    "Yeah, I haven't shot one since I was 10. My Dad took me hunting on my birthday. He made me kill a rabbit."

    "A rabbit?" Nancy asked.

    "Yeah. I guess he thought it would make me more of a man or something. I cried for a week." Jonathan explained.

    "Jesus." Cate and Nancy breathed.

    "What? I'm a fan of thumper." Jonathan defended himself.

    "No, I think we both meant because of your Dad." Cate chuckled, loading bullets into her gun.

    "Oh. Yeah." Jonathan sighed. "I guess he and my mother loved each other at some point, but I wasn't around for that part."

    "I feel that." Cate sighed and looked at the gun in her hands. "I think at some point my Dad loved my Mom, but the waitress at the diner was better, I guess. You know, Mom birthed two kids, her body changed and that was that. It was shortly after Dustin was born. I was five, I don't really remember him being around all that much anyway. So, I think he just didn't want the responsibility of kids, cause he's never come back. So." Cate shrugged and aimed the gun at the cans.

She held the trigger down and shot one of the cans off the stump. Both Nancy and Jonathan looked at her impressed.

    "Where and when did you learn to shoot?" Jonathan asked amazed.

    "Uhm, I was 12. My mother's brother. My Uncle, who sort of took over the fatherly role in our lives showed me. He never took me hunting or anything but we did a lot of target practice." Cate chuckled slightly recalling the memory. "He died two years ago. Motorcycle accident."

    "I'm so sorry." Nancy rubbed her arm and Cate smiled at her friends.

    "It's fine. So what about you Nance?" Cate asked wanting to change the subject.

She gestured to the gun's in their hands and Jonathan offered her his first. Cate watched the way he looked at Nancy. She was definitely getting the vibe that he liked her.

    "I don't think my parents ever loved each other." She shrugged.

    "They must have married for some reason." Jonathan pointed out.

    "My Mom was young. My Dad was older. But he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family. So they bought a nice house at the end of the Cul-de-sac, and started their nuclear family." Nancy explained bitterly.

    "Screw that." Cate stated.

    "Yeah, screw that." Nancy agreed taking aim.

She pulled the trigger and knocked off another can from the stump. They all looked at each other even more impressed since she'd never done it before and they all began to laugh. After calming down and another hour of practice. They ventured off towards the road the kids referred to as Mirkwood. They got out of Jonathan's car and walked through the woods aways. Cate and Nancy trailing just behind Jonathan.

Cate's thoughts where running a mile a minute, hoping to get some answers. Sure, she was upset that he had taken those photos of all of them, and a lot of her and Nancy. But she couldn't help but wonder why. When she asked him about it at the darkroom he didn't explain, only apologized. Which she was thankful for, but she still wanted some answers. She was never fantastic friend's with him before, but they'd had a few conversations. Specially regarding their brothers. Getting over her nerves she step forward a little bit faster, meeting his side.

    "Hey, so you never told me what I was saying." Cate pointed out. Nancy jogged up a little closer still lingering behind.

    "What?" Jonathan turned and asked her confused, only a small smile on his lips.

    "Yesterday. In the darkroom. You said we were saying something and that's why you took the picture. So what was I saying?" Cate asked gently.

    "Oh... I-I don't know." Jonathan shrugged. "My guess... I saw this girl, you know, who lives this double life. Trying to be seen as someone she's not. But in that moment, the real you wasn't hiding. You were so carefree, and didn't care about what anyone else thought of you."

    "That is, absolutely preposterous." Cate scoffed, shaking her head and walking forward. She thought over his words, and tried to deny that he was right.

    "W-What?" Jonathan scoffed back, following after her.

    "I'm not living a double life." Cate stated firmly, stopping to look at him. "I have a wide range of friends. I'm not, like, trying to squeeze myself into someplace that I don't belong. Is this because I'm friends with Steve and you don't like him?" Cate questioned him.

    "You know what? Forget it. I just thought it was a good picture." Jonathan huffed and walked past her.

    "No, seriously." Cate huffed following after him.

    "Actually, Steve's a really good guy." Nancy defended her boyfriend.

    "Okay." Jonathan said annoyed.

    "Yesterday, with the camera. He's not like that at all. He's just protective over those he cares about." Nancy agreed with a frown.

    "Yeah, that's one word for it." Jonathan huffed.

    "Oh, and I guess what you did was okay?" Nancy scoffed.

    "No. I-I never said that."

    "He had every right to be pissed." Nancy scoffed as they walked further into the woods.

    "Nance..." Cate traveled after her.

    "Okay, all right." Jonathan said fed up. "Does that mean I have to like him?"

    "No." Cate and Nancy shook their heads as he stopped in front of them.

    "Listen, don't take it so personally, okay? I don't like most people. He's in the vast majority." Jonathan pointed out to Nancy and walked away again.

Nancy looked at her friend and glared at Jonathan as he walked away from them.

    "You know, I was actually starting to think you were, okay." Nancy scoffed after him.

    "Yeah?" Jonathan turned around.

    "Nancy, it's fine." Cate whispered harshly. "Drop it. He's entitled to his own opinion."

    "Yeah." Nancy nodded, ignoring her. "Yeah, I was thinking, "Jonathan Byers, maybe he's not the pretentious creep everyone says he is."

    "Well, I was just starting to think you were okay." Jonathan walked towards her. "I was thinking, "Nancy Wheeler, she's not just another suburban girl who thinks she's rebelling by doing exactly what every other suburban girl does. Until that phase passes and they marry some boring-one time jock, who now works sales, and they live out a perfect little life at the end of a cul-de-sac. Exactly like their parents, who they thought were so depressing, but now, hey, they get it."

Jonathan stalked off ahead of the girls again as they both stood there a little shocked at his outburst. They both looked at the ground and shuffled their feet before following once again.

    "He's right." Cate breathed quietly to break the silence. Nancy looked at her confused. "He's right. I do push myself to fit in. I've never been one to make many friends. Except obviously my brother, Steve and You. I was so afraid of being left behind when he gained all his popularity that I've squeezed myself in wherever I could. That includes tolerating hanging out with Tommy and Carol. Even though I seriously despise them. It's stupid, I know. I feel like I've lost myself sometimes. Like I'm really smart, and nerdy, and they're not... So I pretend." She shrugged and sighed.

    "It's not stupid. You are smart, but that doesn't change when they're around. You don't take their shit. You know, you are probably one of the only people that help Steve make level headed decisions? And none of us, Steve included, would never ever leave you behind." Nancy stood her softly. "I mean, anyone can see how much you guys care about each other. He's your best friend and your his. He's just a little slow at realizing he doesn't fit in there."

    "You're telling me." Cate chuckled.

They walked among each other in a comfortable silence, the sun going down and the only sounds being the forest around them. Cate stopped suddenly grabbing Nancy's arm, stopping her as well. Nancy looked at her friend confused, but then she heard it too. A soft whimper, maybe even a whine? Jonathan noticed both girl's stop and he turned around to look at them annoyed.

    "What are you, tired?" He scoffed.

    "Shut up." Nancy said quickly.

    "What?" Jonathan asked.

    "I heard something." Cate whispered and stood very still, letting her ears listen to the forest around her. The sound occurred again and they all heard it. "Come on."

Cate held the flashlight in her hands outward, moving and following after the sound. Nancy and Jonathan following after her. The fallen leaves and twigs crunching beneath their feet. Cate turned and walked closer to a body laying on the ground.

    "Oh, god." Cate groaned quietly.

It was a deer whimpering, covered in blood. The three teenagers kneeled down next to the injured animal, inspecting it.

    "It's been hit by a car." Nancy stated assuming. "We can't just leave it." She said sadly.

    "I agree. She's suffering..." Cate bit her bottom lip and looked back at Jonathan.

He nodded in agreement and Nancy pulled out Jonathan's gun, aiming it at the animal's head. Her hand shook and she closed her eyes, still unable to pull the trigger. Jonathan touched her arm gently and she opened her eyes to look over at him.

    "I'll do it." He said softly.

    "I thought you said..." Nancy replied.

    "I'm not nine anymore." Jonathan assured her.

They each stood up to their feet and backed away slightly. Jonathan cocked the gun and aimed. Nancy leaned into Cate's shoulder. And as much as Cate wanted to look away she couldn't. It seemed Nancy was having the same problem, peeking over her shoulder. Jonathan struggled to pull the trigger. The three gasped, jumping backwards suddenly, as the deer was dragged into the bushes it was laying in front of.

    "Holy shit." Cate breathed.

    "What was that?" Nancy whispered.

The three began to follow the blood trail through the crunchy fallen leaves. Until the trail suddenly just disappeared.

    "Where did it go?" Cate asked worriedly.

    "I don't know." Jonathan breathed, looking all around him. Flashlight out and gun still in his hands.

Cate spun around looking up, to make sure it didn't somehow manage to climb a tree or something, while Nancy scoured the ground for anymore blood.

    "Do you see anything? Any more blood?" Jonathan asked them.

    "No." Both girls replied quietly.

Cate examined the forest of trees looking for any sign of the creature or the deer. Her flashlight went over something that shined for a moment and she squinted her eyes to look better. Cate walked closer towards the substance that appeared to be all over the bottom of a large tree trunk. It was dripping with a sticky substance and there was a large hole at the base of the trunk. She bent down and looked at the hole, noticing the wet dripping substance was blood.

    "What is that?" Nancy breathed behind her, making Cate jump.

    "Holy... Nancy." Cate breathed, clutching her chest. "Don't do that... I don't know, but it doesn't come out the other side..." She whispered and looked around the trunk of the tree. There was no exit hole.

    "Jonathan..." Nancy called out and both girl turned to find him not behind them.

    "Jonathan?" Cate yelled a little louder, still not receiving any response.

Both girls looked at each other, slightly terrified and yet curious about the hole that seemed to lead straight into the tree, with no exit on the back. There was strange grunting and gurgling noises coming from the hole.

    "I'm going." Cate breathed taking her coat off knowing it wouldn't help her fit into the small area.

    "Me too." Nancy agreed placing her bat on the ground.

    "Maybe one of us should wait out here." Cate suggested, stopping the girl.

    "Cate, if the thing that took that deer is the same thing that took Barbara. I need to find it. I need to find her." Nancy said desperately.
Cate eye'd her friend for a moment before letting out a sigh and nodding.

    "Better in numbers, I guess, right?"

Nancy nodded at her. Cate got down on her hands and knees scrunching her nose slightly at the sliminess on the ground inside the tree. She took a deep breath gaining back some courage and going for it, crawling inside. The hole wasn't very long, she came out the other side to the forest that looked slightly different. It was like their was dust in the air, or some kind of particles floating around. And it was dark. Much darker than the forest she just came from. She frowned and wondered why it looked different. The only possibility in her mind that maybe she found what the kids were looking for.

Her flashlight flickered in and out as she spun around checking out the area. Her trance and thoughts broken as she heard a small grunt from Nancy, attempting to crawl through. Cate moved to give her room and helped her up to her feet. They looked at each other for a moment before moving on. Not wanting to speak in case the creature was close. Cate's feet moved her forward following the trail of blood and her flashlight flickered again, before turning off completely. She huffed quietly and smacked the light in her hand.

A loud snarl made both girls jump in fear. Turning towards the noise. They both gasped quietly, seeing a sickly gray figure before them, enjoying the deer. It was tall, with long grey arms, legs and feet. Both of them had their mouths hanging open in shock. Cate grasped Nancy's wrist slowly and pulled, beginning to walk backwards away. God, how she hoped Nancy had been wrong and that the picture truly was distorted like Jonathan had originally thought. If Nancy wasn't with her just now, she would have truly thought she was hallucinating.

As they both backed away, both of them stepped on a twig that mushed under their feet. The squish was loud, earning the attention of the creature. It turned around, and had no face, even as it's four flaps opened up like a disgusting flower, to reveal massive amounts of teeth.

    "AHHH!" Both girls screamed and turned on their feet to run away.

Jonathan, who was on the other real side of the woods heard the loud screams that ripped through the air as echos.

    "Cate?! Nancy?!" Jonathan called out to them.

He ran as fast as he could back towards where he had last seen them. Only to find Cate's jacket, holster and tire iron. And Nancy's bat and bag.

    "Cate? Nancy? Nancy, Cate where are you?" Jonathan called out for them, examining the area with his flashlight. Not seeing any sign of the girls. "Nancy! Cate!" Jonathan screamed harder, walking away from the closing portal to the Upside Down.

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