• 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚂𝚘𝚗𝚐 - 𝙰𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚑 •

At the Wheelers residence, Mike cleans El up in the basement bathroom with a wet rag. Dustin and Beatrice sit on the couch as they hear a walkie-talkie go off. It sounds as if Lucas might be in trouble, so Dustin rushes to the bathroom to get the other kids, unintentionally ruining a moment.

"Do you remember how he said he was looking for the gate?" Dustin reminds as they all walk away from the bathroom.

"Yeah."

"What if he found it?" Bea asks, handing Mike the walkie-talkie.

They couldn't make out Lucas' words as he was shouting indistinctly on the radio. "What's he saying?"

"I don't know, he's way out of range."

"Guys." Bea spoke quietly, "Guys!" Their heads snap up at her, surprised at her sudden outburst. "Um, I've got a banshee feeling again."

Dustin and Mike look at each other as Lucas shouts, "The bad men are coming." This causes the boys to run up the stairs, leaving the girls in the basement.

"Ban-shee?" El asks the girl. She racked her brain at the time she first heard the word, but she couldn't remember what it meant.

Quickly, Beatrice explained, "Um, we're, like, 99% sure, but we think I'm a banshee. Long story short: I predict death." She shrugs as El nods.

Mike and Dustin sprint downstairs and grab the girls. They run out the back doors and get onto their bikes. Eleven going on Mike's, of course.

The strange thing is that when they get to their front lawn, Eleven wasn't the only one the bad men were looking at. Beatrice makes eye contact with the man with grey hair as his eyes widen slightly.

The kids quickly peddle away and all the men rush back into their vans to follow them. I wonder if they have candy. Get it? Van with candy in it. Sorry. I'll stop now. I thought it was funny.

"Dustin, do you copy" You could hear Lucas' voice through the walkie-talkie attached to Dustin's bike.

Panting, Dustin answers, "Yeah, Lucas, they're on us."

"Where are you?"

"Cornwallis." He named the sign they just passed.

"Meet me at Elm and Cherry!"

He pressed his headphones. "Copy. Elm and Cherry!" Dustin let's his other friends know where to meet Lucas.

As they make a turn, they see two of the vans following behind them. Mike shows his friends a short cut, going through a playground. When they meet Lucas, they come to a stop, their wheels skidding.

"Where are they?"

"I don't know."

"I think we lost them." All three boys spoke out of breath.

"No. No, we didn't lose them." Bea disagrees, gesturing her head behind the group.

They all start to peddle away again with Mike constantly yelling 'go' over and over again. As they ride down the street, another van comes up in front of them. It seems as if it wasn't going to stop. It might run them over!

Eleven uses her powers to lift the van and flip it over them. All the kids stare in awe at the van over their heads. They keep on biking away, and they don't stop — not even to glance back, until they're in the junkyard.

When there, they jump off their bikes quickly, freaking out because of what just happened. El sits in the grass as she takes a breather. Lucas apologizes to both Eleven and Mike, and they apologize back. Mike and Lucas shake on it. Everyone becomes friends again!

The kids sit down around a 'map' that Lucas made in the dirt. He is showing them what he had saw when he was spying at the lab.

"The fence starts here, and goes all the way around. And this is the lab right here." He gestures, placing an object in the middle. "The gate's gotta be in there somewhere. It's gotta be."

"Well, who owns Hawkins Lab?" Dustin asked.

Lucas responds, "The sign says 'Department of Energy'."

"Department of Energy?" He repeats.

"What do you think that means?" Bea wondered.

"It means government. Military." Mike spoke knowingly.

Dustin questions, "Why does it say 'Energy'?"

"Just trust me, alright? It's military, my dad told me before."

"Mike's right." Lucas nods. "There's soldiers out front."

"Do they make, like, lightbulbs or something?"

While the boys continued talking, Bea put her hands on her stomach. Eleven notices — since the girls are sitting right next to each other — and pokes the strawberry blonde's shoulder with her finger. When Bea was about to respond to El's question, 'if she was okay', she was interrupted by the sound of a helicopter in the sky.

The kids all hid their bikes under a bus before rushing in it to hide themselves. Once they were in, they slammed the bus door shut and hid under the seats.

"Mental." Dustin comments as the helicopter flies right over them.

They sit there in silence. Barely hearing their own breathing in fear of someone finding them. All of a sudden, Mike's walkie-talkie starts to go off.

"You guys hear that?" Dustin asks as Mike snatches his backpack to take the device out.

"Mike, we need you to answer." What sounded like Nancy Wheeler's voice came from the walkie-talkie.

"Is that your sister?" Lucas asked. No, there's another Nancy Wheeler who has no relation to the Mike on this bus. Yes, it is, Dingus!

"This is an emergency, Mike...Do you copy?...Mike, do you copy?"

They huddled around to try and hear clearly. "Okay, this is really weird."

Lucas grabs for the walkie-talkie from his hands, about to respond. Mike said to not answer. He looks at Mike like he's crazy and reminds, "She said it was an emergency."

"What if it's a trick?"

"It's your sister!" Lucas tries to reason.

"What if the bad people kidnapped her? What if they're forcing her to say this?"

"Seriously, Mike?" Bea groaned in annoyance at her friend's antics.

"I need you to answer."

Dustin's eyes widen, "It's like Lando Calrissian."

"Oh, my God." Bea mutters under her breath.

"Don't answer." He agrees with Mike.

"We need to know that you're there, Mike." Nancy stressed. The walkie was quickly grabbed from her and a new voice was heard. "Listen, kid, this is the chief. If you're there, pick up. We know you're in trouble and we know about the girl." At what Hopper last said, the group stared at Eleven.

Lucas spoke slowly, "Why is she with the chief?"

"How the hell does he know about..." Bea trails off, still looking at the girl next to her.

"We can protect you, we can help you, but you gotta pick up. Are you there? Do you copy? Over."

Mike looks at his friends wondering if he should respond. Dustin talks about some Lando crap, while Bea and Lucas convince him that they need adult help. Or, at least two adults. They're 11-year-olds. They can't do all this shit by themselves.

"Yeah, I copy. It's Mike. I'm here. We're here." He responds to the communication device.

Mike talks to the people through the walkie-talkie, while Dustin and Lucas speak for a little. Everyone was now seated on the bus seats. Bea turns at Eleven, remembering their previous conversation.

"No." This caused El to turn to the girl in confusion.

The pair paid no mind to Dustin standing from his seat. "Hm?"

"To answer your question: no, I'm not okay. I've got one of my feelings. And I'm hearing a buzzing noise. Almost static. It's not loud, so that means no one is going to die right now. But, we are in danger."

El looks down at her lap, fiddling with her fingers.

Bea notices this and assures, "It's not because of you. You know that, right? You are not a monster. You are a hero. A superhero, if you will."

"Superhero?" El asks, but before Bea could explain—

"Will you stop pacing?" Mike asked in annoyance to Dustin who has been non-stop pacing since Mike ended the chat with the chief.

"It's been way too long." Dustin mentions, still pacing, "You know what? Maybe you're right. Maybe this is all a trap and the bad men are coming to get us right now!" He raised his voice.

"It's not a trap. Why would the chief set us up? Nancy — maybe. But the chief?" Lucas asks, not seeing Mike's look of disbelief at Lucas' lack of trust for his friend's sister.

Dustin points at Lucas, "Lando Calrissian."

"I don't even know who that is." Bea grumbled, shaking her head.

The boy stops pacing and faces her with a light gasp, "How are we friends when you've never seen Star Wars?"

Lucas interrupts, "Would you shut up about Lando?"

"I don't feel good about this. I don't feel good about this!" Dustin shouts.

"When do you feel good about anything?" Lucas shouts right back. Now might not be a good time for Bea to say that she doesn't feel good either.

The kids hear cars approaching them and get up to look out the window. Big mistake. Turns out the chief isn't the only person who knows they're there. Wanna take a guess who? That's right. It's the bad men.

The party swiftly runs to the back of the bus to hide. They were now on high alert and tried their best to not make a sound. Lucas asks, "You think they saw us?"

"Shut up." Mike snaps in a whisper. Him and Eleven hid behind the last seat, while the others tried to cover themselves.

As they hide, they hear car doors close. Not long after, they hear people grunting in pain. Soon, the bus door creaked opened. They expected to see a bad guy with a gun. What they did not expect was to see Jim Hopper with his sheriff's pistol.

"Alright, let's go." He commanded, out of breath, "Let's go!"

The kids quickly grab their things and rush out of the bus. They all pile into the chief's car. The boys sit in the back, while the girls are small enough to share the passenger's seat.

When they reached the Byers house, it's already dark out. They were greeted by Nancy, Jonathan, and Joyce. After Nancy hugged her brother, she gave Beatrice a big hug. She could only imagine what it was like to have a sibling go missing. Both Jonathan and Bea know this. Well, Jonathan more on that specific subject because Bea is positive that her sister is dead.

Nancy then looks at Eleven and asks, "Is that my dress?"

Everyone ignores her and walks inside so they can explain the whole Flea and the Acrobat concept that Mr. Clarke told the kids about. The boys explain more about it because when Bea thinks about her sister she automatically goes silent. Plus, she didn't really pay attention to her teacher.

Apparently, Hopper has seen the gate. He went to the lab. Joyce asks if Eleven can find Will. She said that she will be able to. But when Nancy asked about Barb, Beatrice almost barked out a laugh.

"And my friend Barb. Can you find her too?" The party snapped their heads in Bea's direction.

Eleven turned at Bea and asked quietly, "Your Barb?"

The girl nodded, "Yes, my Barb. The one who's dead."

"What?" The older people asked in unison.

"Barb. She's dead. Found out the night she went with you to Steve's." Jonathan and Nancy shifted in their seats uncomfortably. "I practically screamed my head off. We think I'm a Banshee. Who knows? Anyways back to Will—"

"What do you mean? What's a Banshee?" Joyce asked, unaware of the term.

Bea sighed, "Well, I predicted my sister's death. It was the night of, so it's not that useful, but all I know is that she's dead."

"But you don't have any proof?" Nancy said, more as a question.

The young girl rolled her eyes. "Well with all the craziness going on, I think I'm going to listen to my gut feelings. It's one of the last things Barb told me to always listen to. And I'm going to, especially if they're supernatural."

They quickly move to sit at the kitchen table. Eleven has a walkie-talkie in front of her with static playing. Just like when they were at the school. At this point, Bea is used to the sound since she hears it all the time.

The lights flicker on and off before El opens her eyes, "I'm sorry." She whispers in defeat that she couldn't reach them.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"I can't find them."

El went to the bathroom to freshen up. She used a lot of energy. She needs to cool down. She washed her face to feel refreshed, but then she notices a bathtub behind her.

As the boys explain that she used a lot of energy everyone, Bea just sits in her seat, looking down at her lap, fiddling with her fingers. She wishes that Will was here. That Barb was here. She just wants her sister back. And her drawing buddy back. She just wants everything to go back to normal.

When Will went missing, she stopped drawing completely. It was their thing. But all of a sudden she draws again and she doesn't even know what it is. Make it make sense!

"The bath." Eleven's voice cut Bea out of her thoughts. The girl was back in the kitchen.

Joyce didn't understand. "What?"

"I can find them. In the bath."

Dustin then calls Mr. Clarke. He is a science teacher after all. He asks about sensory deprivation tanks. Apparently they are gonna need a lot of salt. Fifteen hundred pounds of it to be exact. They grab the kiddie pool from the back shed and pack it into Hopper's trunk.

When they drive to the middle school, the kids and Nancy set up the Byers old kiddie pool in the middle of the gym. Joyce helped Eleven prepare, while Jonathan and Jim grabbed all the salt they could carry. After many failed attempts, Lucas, Dustin and Bea finally have the pool standing, which they start to fill with water as soon as Nancy connects the hose to the faucet.

With Lucas constantly telling Nancy to make the water colder or warmer, they finally got the perfect temperature. Hopper and Jonathan then fill the pool with salt bags used for snow days.

Dustin used an egg to test if it can float. When it sinks, they dump a lot more salt in. During the second test, the egg floats. It's ready.

Eleven takes off her socks and Mike's watch. The latter sets the radio to static. She grabs Joyce's hand and walks into the pool with goggles that are duct taped to block out any light.

Everyone sits around the pool, watching as El uses her powers to contact the Upside Down. With a walkie-talkie on a tray near the pool, all the people around her can hear what's happening.

"Barbara?" Eleven wonders aloud.

This is it. This is when Beatrice finds out that her sister actually is dead. She's not ready. But she has to know. She needs to know. Bea grabs Nancy's hand and squeezes it tightly, both inhaling sharply.

"What's going on?" Nancy asks, squeezing Bea's hand.

"I don't know." Mike responded. The power had just went off in the school.

"Is Barb okay? Is she okay?" Nancy asks Eleven.

"Gone.

Gone.

GONE!" Eleven yells.

There it is. The truth. Yes, Bea knew her sister was dead. But hearing Eleven say it just confirms it. It makes this all so much more real. Barbara is really gone. Bea hides her face in Nancy's chest as they both comfort each other. Nancy just lost her best friend, while Beatrice lost her sister, again.

Joyce calms the girl whose mind is in another dimension. Once her breathing is even, she continues to search. "Castle Byers." Eleven mumbles once Joyce calmed her down, "Will?"

"T-tell him I'm coming. Mom is coming." Joyce says to Eleven as she repeats it to Will.

"Hurry," Will responds, shivering.

El tells him to hold on a little longer. That his mom is coming for him. Then she quickly sits up out of the water, breathing heavily. Joyce hugs her tightly as Mike brings over a towel. The kids then walk over to the bleachers and sit down while the adults leave the school. They're going to the lab to get Will.

Eleven lays her head on Mike's shoulder, while Bea hugs her, hiding her face in her new friend's shoulder.

"It's okay. They're gonna get Will and it's all going to be okay."

She doesn't know who she's trying to convince.

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(🕰) T TIME!

what??? barb is gone??? that's crazyyyy!

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