"Can you warp us to my dad?" Mary was asking Corina as the three of them walked down the corridors in a row, walking slowly and carefully.

Corina shook her head, "Hell no," She responded without skipping a beat, "If anymore of those things show up I'll need my strength to fight them off — taking down that one was hard enough after warping to you." She said, the tone of her voice showing her words weren't to be negotiated with.

Mary sighed, holding the broken mop stick in her hand, "What do we do then? This place is in full on lockdown mode, how the hell do we get out to find help?" She asked quietly, open to suggestions on how to escape.

Charlie shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head, "I don't know but we should keep the talking to a minimum, we don't know how many more of those things are here..." He whispered and Mary sealed her lips shut, gulping back hard at his words.

As they walked, Mary's heart was beating at an alarmingly fast rate from how scared she was and she subconsciously gripped onto Charlie's hand, intertwining her fingers with his. He turned to her, looking shocked but then he gave a supportive smile that assured her everything would be alright. Corina rolled her eyes and walked ahead, her hand by her side was flexed and ready in case she needed it.

"Do we have any clue as to where we're going?" Mary spoke up, keeping her voice down.

"I'm looking for the entrance — that seems like the smartest place to be in case the lockdown is deactivated." Corina said as she walked ahead — Mary was relieved that for the first time since knowing the redhead, she wasn't reading her big heels that would click obnoxiously loud against the corridors of Hawkins High; because she was sure even the slightest noise could draw the attention of the monsters.

Mary nodded her head, "Makes sense," She commented. She went silent for a moment before the silence itself became deafening, "Hey um, Corina, can I ask you something?"

Corina sighed, rolling her eyes lined with dark eyeliner, "I have the feeling that even if I say no you're going to ask anyway so shoot." She said.

Mary licked here dry lips and then cringed at the salty taste — she had momentarily forgotten that she was covered in the monsters gore. She cleared her throat, "Are you alright with being back here? I mean, after, you know..." She trialed off, not wanting to mention how Corina had been stolen as a child, kept there against her will and experimented on for years of her childhood.

Corina didn't reply for so long that Mary assumed she wouldn't, "I suppose so," She suddenly answered, "I mean, it's not really like I'm familiar with this place... I only knew two places, my room and the place where I'd be taken when they'd do their experiments. The rest of this place is just hallways to me." She told her honestly, for one of the first times, her tone not being harsh or mean.

"You're really brave though, you know that, right?" Charlie said to Corina, touching her forearm a little. Mary's brows moved.

Corina scoffed, "Whatever, dweeb. Let's just hurry up and find a way out of this shithole." That was the Corina Hayes that Mary was familiar with.

Heading down a staircase, there were more bodies than Mary wanted to see in her entire life. There were men and women piled on top of each other, blood all over them and the once white walls. Charlie squeezed her hand tighter and whispered, "It's okay." But even then, Mary had her doubts because she couldn't imagine ever closing her eyes and not seeing all of those dead bodies. But nevertheless, she gave him a smile.

They stepped out into the front entry and quickly bound towards the front doors — which luckily for them, were unlocked and flashing green. Mary let out a sigh of relief as Corina pushed the door open and stepped out. This has to have meant someone disabled the lockdown and Mary had to hope it was her father.

There were security on the ground and Charlie quickly rushed to their bodies and grasped the pistol from one of their belts. He rushed towards Mary, joining her side, "Mare, let's go." He said, grasping her hand but she yanked him back whilst Corina was already at the door.

"I'm not leaving without my dad." Mary refused, shaking her head.

Corina sighed heavily, stepping back inside and putting her hands on her hips, "Hopper, you got lucky — we don't even know if your dads alive and the longer we stick around here, the more likely we're going to be one of those bodies on the ground." She said, looking her in the eyes.

Mary stared back defiantly, "I am not leaving him."

"You don't have to, kiddo." A voice suddenly said and Mary spun around quickly, seeing her father walking towards her with Will flung over his shoulder whilst Joyce and Mike walked beside him.

Mary ran at him, "Oh, thank god!" She exclaimed. Jim looked at his daughter with tears in his eyes, reaching out to touch her cheek that had been scrubbed at with the back of her sleeve to get rid of the monster gore.

Jim choked out his words, "I thought I'd lost you." He admitted, his voice faltering.

Mary smiled at him, reaching up to put her hand over his, "You haven't. I'm right here." She assured him before Mike was hollering that they had to move fast. Jim rubbed her cheek with his thumb, making her scrunch up her nose before he headed outside with Will and rested him up against the wall.

Mary looked around, wondering why Joyce was still lingering around and nervously biting on her fingernails. But then she realised Bob wasn't with them.

She stepped forward, frowning, "Joyce, where's Bob?" She asked with concern, furrowing her brows.

"He should be coming just now." Joyce said with complete faith. Mary looked over at Charlie, exchanging a look with him. Mary could remember when Charlie had gone missing and she had been adamant that she would find him — and she seen that same look in Joyce's eyes; she truly believed Bob would be joining them and Mary prayed he would because she wouldn't have known what to do if Charlie had been dead.

Mary walked towards the boy that had the guards gun tucked into the side of his jeans. She looked up at him, "You look like shit right now." She said, trying to laugh a little. She wasn't entirely lying — it was impossible to look good with dried up goop covering you head to toe.

Charlie scoffed, "And somehow you still manage to look absolutely perfect." He told her. Corina whom had been watching their exchange turned her head away, looking down at her red fingernails.

Suddenly, someone came bursting through the doors from the hallway and closed them. Mary jumped a little, but when she turned she seen that it was Bob leaning over and taking a moment to catch his breath after running. There was a ferocious banging on the other end of the door that Mary guessed to be one of the creatures and she realised that Bob had made it through the skin of his teeth.

The man looked up, catching Joyce's eyes and the pair exchanged smiles. Just as Bob was about to walk to Joyce, one of the monsters smacked into his side knocking him to the ground and at the same time, Mary and Joyce let out horrified screams as the monster tore into Bob's skin.

        Joyce couldn't seem to look away as her hands came up to her mouth, screaming bloody murder whilst Mary turned, throwing herself onto Charlie and gripping onto him as screaming sobs left her lips at the sight before her.

Her father was suddenly bursting in, grabbing at Charlie's leather jacket and yanking him backwards as the boy watched in shock. He was yelling at them both, telling them to get out but it seemed to go straight over their heads until something clicked in Charlie and he grabbed at Mary, pulling her backwards as her feet gave way at the gory sight happening only a few feet in front of her; the scientist death had been one thing but this was another thing entirely. This was someone Mary knew. Someone Mary liked. And he was being torn apart right in front of her.

Mary was through the doors when she heard the gunshots come from the rifle her father was firing. Mike was grabbing onto them in panic, "What is it?! What's happening?!" He exclaimed but Mary was in shock, just standing there and it knowing what to do as her father tried to pull Joyce away from Bob who was being eaten alive as more of the monsters climbed onto him.

"We've got to go! Mary, we've got to go!" Charlie yelled, trying to get through to her but she was unresponsive. Jim came through the doors, shutting them behind him as Joyce screamed in his grip, "Mary!" Charlie exclaimed, gripping onto her shoulders.

The monsters began banging on the glass doors, smearing blood and saliva all over them. From behind them, there was a screeching of tires and suddenly Jonathan was yelling out the drivers window of his car at them, "Get in!" He cried and Hopper quickly scooped up Will and put him in the car, shoving Joyce in after him who was in a daze.

Corina pushed Charlie, grabbing onto Mary and giving her a shake, "Listen Hopper, now isn't the time for you to freak out on us! We've got to go! Do you hear me? We've got to go!" She exclaimed and Mary nodded her head slowly as her father got into the drivers seat of his truck. Corina smiled, "Good girl. Let's go!" She said, pushing Mary and turning her around, making her clamber into the passenger seat of the truck.

Everyone else piled into the two cars and Hopper looked at his daughter that appeared to be traumatised, "You good, kiddo?" He asked, hoping for a response. Mary nodded, looking at him and saying nothing as they sped away, their tires screeching into the night.

But as they reached the gates, they slowed down and Mary perked up, slowly coming to as she noticed a bunch of people, "Get in!" Her father yelled at Steve, Dustin, Lucas and Max who didn't argue and quickly got in the backseats.

Once inside, Steve suddenly noticed Mary in the passenger seat, "Mary?!" He yelled and she turned, leaning between the seats to scoop him up in a hug — or rather him scooping her up into a hug. Steve gripped onto her face, seeing her bloodshot teary eyes and gore-filled face, "Are you okay?!" He exclaimed with worry, checking her for any signs of injuries.

Mary sighed into him, nodding her head, "I'm fine. Are you okay? Why are you with the kids?" She asked, looking between the other people in the truck as they drove over busy roads, speaking loudly to one another.

"Long story — what the hell were you doing in there?" He responded.

"Long story." Mary said. It seemed the pair didn't realise that Steve was still holding her face in his hands as he spoke and that Mary was gripping onto his wrists. Jim glanced in the rear view mirror at the pair. Usually he didn't like Mary being within three foot of a boy but he often made the exception for Steve Harrington and since he seemed to be the only person Mary was really responding to — he let it slide once more.

"You kids doing alright?" Jim asked, looking back at the children. They all nodded frantically.

Mary offered Steve a lingering smile before sitting back in her seat, staring straight ahead as they drove through the deserted and dark roads of Hawkins. Bob's death replayed in her mind over and over again and it made her turn to the widow on her left, resting her head against it as she stared out, tears trickling down her cheeks.