The kids, Steve, and Laurie walk along the way from the junkyard, heading towards town to hopefully find the others and talk about what happened. "You're positive that it was Dart?" Lucas asks as the group continues their journey, "Yes. He has the same yellow pattern on his butt." Dustin explains, keeping his pace a bit faster than the rest of the group.

"He was tiny two days ago." Max says, confused as to how he can be so sure, "Well, he's molted three times already." Dustin's voice sounds more and more annoyed by the second so Laurie reaches out and grabs his hand to give him some comfort.

"Malted?" Steve asks, "Molted. Shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms." Dustin drops his sister's hand as they continue their journey. Not being able to see much with the flashlights, "When is he gonna molt again?" She asks, looking down at the curly-haired boy. "It's gotta be soon. When he does he'll be fully grown, or close to it. And so will his friends."

"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than cats," Steve says he catches the look Laurie throws at him and apologizes. "Wait a cat?" Lucas asks, grabbing Dustin by his shoulder and causing the group to stop. "Dart ate a cat?"

"No, what? No."

"What are you talking about? He ate Mews." Steve counters, looking at Dustin as if he's crazy while wrapping an arm around Laurie's shoulders. She leans into his side as her heartaches thinking of her murdered cat, "Mews? Who's Mews?" Max asks, confused as to why it's such a big deal.

"She was my best friend and cat that I had since I was little. She knew everything. Dart ate her!" Laurie says, annoyed and sad about the whole situation. "Laurie!" Dustin screams at her, "I knew it! You kept him and he made Laurie sad!" Lucas argues, not letting Dustin have a chance to do any more damage to his sister.

"No! No." The group looks at Dustin like he's crazy because he should know that he can't lie anymore, he's been caught. "No, I..., No I...He missed me. He wanted to come home."

"Bullshit."

"I didn't know he was a Demogorgan, okay?"

"Oh, so now you admit it?"

"Guys, who cares? We have to go." Max interrupts Lucas and Dustin's argument. Mostly because she sees how much Laurie hates hearing about her dead cat and they aren't making the situation any better.

"I care! You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!" Lucas argues, making Laurie sigh and hide her face. He pulls her in closer and she looks up at him with her chin propped on his side. "So did you!" Dustin yells back and everyone rolls their eyes.

"What?" Lucas asks. Flashing his light in her face quickly, Max jumps back and blinks rapidly as Dustin screams again "You told a stranger the truth!" she scoffs at him, "A stranger?", "You wanted to tell her, too!" Lucas screams.

Steve and Laurie watch as the middle schoolers argue until a screeching catches their attention. Looking at each other worriedly, he grabs her hand tightly as he moves his flashlight in front of him. They walk forward a bit, towards the sound of the screeching and she moves her flashlight to help brighten up the spot a bit. "Guys?" Steve calls out but none of them hear him. "Guys!" They yell together which catches the kids' attention.

The screeching continues and so they head towards the sound as Max tries to stop them. They come to an empty field but the screeching is heard the loudest there, "I can't see him." Dustin says and so Lucas looks through his binoculars. "It's the lab, they're going back home."

The group decides to head towards the lab, hoping they can help fend off the things as much as possible. As they get closer to the edge of the woods, a voice starts calling out to them "Hello? Who's there? Who's there?"

The group walks out of the woods with their flashlights held steady as two people come into view. "Steve?" Nancy and Jonathan ask in surprise, "Nancy?" asks Steve, "Where have you two been?" Laurie asks with raised brows, looking at the two teens while waiting for them to explain themselves. "What are you doing here?" Nancy asks, looking at Steve like he's crazy, completely ignoring Laurie. "What are you doing here?" He asks as the groups walk towards each other and then meet in the middle.

"We're looking for Mike and Will."

"They're not in there, are they?" Dustin asks, moving his hand to grab his sister's at the thought of his friends being trapped in the lab. "We're not sure," Nancy says, looking at the group scared as to why they all look so off. "Why?" Jonathan asks, no one answers as screeching is heard coming from the lab.

They all look towards the lab as the screeching continues and the lights go out. A tight squeeze is felt on Laurie's hand as Dustin lets his fear be known to her only. A comforting hand touches her back as she turns to look at Steve.

The group starts discussing where Will and Mike could be as the lights at the lab turn back on, "The power's back." Nancy says while looking at the lab. Jonathan leads the way as they run down the hill and to the lab. He pushes the open button for the gate but it doesn't work. Dustin pushes him out of the way to push the button himself but it still won't open. "Do you think something short-circuited when the power went out?" Laurie asks, walking into the already crowded security booth. She doesn't get an answer as he keeps pushing the button until finally it opens.

"I got it." He says with a laugh as she pushes him out of the booth by his hat-covered head. Nancy and Jonathan head inside with his car as the rest wait outside. Dustin is pacing while Lucas is shaking anxiously while they wait. Max is trying to spot Jonathan's car as Steve flips his flashlight in his hand while Laurie sits with her back against the booth and her head back. It's been a very long night.

"Guys?" Max says as cars are heard getting closer. They look up to see Jonathan speeding towards them with another car behind. Steve and Laurie quickly pull Max out of the road as Dustin and Lucas jump out of the way. The redhead holds onto Laurie as Jonathan speeds by. Hopper stops his Chevy Blazer in front of the kids, "Let's go." he says and Steve quickly opens the door. Laurie helps the kids into the back before she climbs in, sitting in the middle as Steve gets in and Hopper drives off, keeping close to Jonathan.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The Byers house is full as everyone tries to figure out what to do next. The walls are covered in papers that look to be one drawing. Hopper is on the phone with someone as Jonathan talks to a passed-out Will with Nancy behind him, a comforting hand on his shoulder. Steve watches the two before an arm wraps around his. He looks over and smiles softly when he sees Laurie, "Hey." She whispers, "Hey." He whispers back as she moves her hand down to hold his. Her thumb runs along his knuckles comfortingly as they walk towards the kitchen.

"They didn't believe you, did they?" Dustin asks when Hopper hangs up the phone. "We'll see." Laurie rolls her eyes at the chief's comment, putting her head in her hands as Mike speaks up, "We'll see? We can't just sit here while those things are loose!"

"We stay here, and we wait for help," Hopper stresses before walking off but all Laurie can seem to hear is that he wants to just wait for the things to kill half of Hawkins. The kids sit around the dining table as Steve and Laurie lean against the counter across from each other. Time goes by slowly as they wait for the house phone to ring, they have no other option at this point.

Exhaustion starts to settle in as her body is able to stay still for longer than a moment. Her legs ache in pain from the amount of walking she did as ringing starts in her ears from the difference in volume she's been around all day, it's so quiet. Her eyes start to droop as Mike gets out of his chair.

"Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?" He asks with something in his hand, it's enough to wake her up. She looks over to see Steve looking at her worriedly along with her brother. Giving them reassuring smiles she turns her head back to the Wheeler boy.

"We can't let him die in vain." He says, putting a blue cube on the table. "What do you want to do, Mike? We can't stop those Demo-dogs on our own." Dustin says and she's confused. Demo-dogs? Is that what they're calling them? He starts to ramble about why he named them Demo-dogs before Max interrupts him, "Okay." He looks down before he looks back up at Mike. "I mean, when it was just Dart, maybe..." He plays with his hands as Lucas speaks up, "But there's an army now."

"Precisely." Dustin agrees and it takes a moment before Mike speaks up, "His army." This causes Steve and Laurie to look at the kid, "What do you mean?" Steve asks, "Mike, are you saying that we've been possibly feeding into this thing the whole time?" Laurie asks, trying to keep her voice calm as it all starts to click in her head.

"That is exactly what I'm saying, Laur." He says before walking into the living room to grab a drawing, everyone following right behind. Dustin looks at the photo in Mike's hands confused, "The shadow monster.

"It got Will that day on the field." Dustin's jaw drops, "The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him."

"And so this virus, it's connecting him to the tunnels?" Max asks as the gears start turning in her head about the whole situation. "To the tunnels, monsters, the Upside Down, everything." Laurie looks at Mike as he explains shocked, "So you're telling me that Will has been getting these feelings and spacing out because of some shadow monster in the Upside Down?!"

"Woah. Slow down. Slow down." Steve says, not understanding anything that is going on. "Okay, so, the shadow monster is inside everything. And if the vines feel something like pain, then so does Will." Mike explains to Steve, "And so does Dart." Lucas comments, which brings a small smile to Lauire's face at the thought of the creature being in pain. "Yeah, like what Mr. Clarke taught us. The hive mind." Mike finishes explaining.

"Hive mind?" Steve asks as Dustin looks up at him, "A collective consciousness. It's a super-organism." He explains then Mike speaks up again, "And this is the thing that controls everything. It's the brain."

"Like the Mind Flayer," Dustin says and Lucas snaps his fingers, and it clicks to the boys. Steve and Max were confused while Laurie rolled her eyes. "What?" Steve and Max ask, "Please, Dustin, it's a game. How can it even be close to possible?" Lucas looks at her as if she's crazy, "Have you not paid attention this past year?!" She glares at the bandana-wearing boy but understands that her argument is stupid at this point. This thing could very well be the Mind Flayer.

Dust slams down his D&D book on the table, it's open to the page about the Mind Flayer. The octopus-faced monster looks kind of silly if you don't think about everything that has been going on so far. "The hell is that?" Hopper asks as everyone circles around the table to look at the page open in the book.

"It's a monster from an unknown dimension. It's so ancient that it doesn't even know its true home. Okay, it enslaves races in other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly developed psionic powers." Dustin explains to everyone. Hopper still doesn't believe Dustin, "Oh, my god, none of this is real. This is a kids game."

"No, it's a manual. And it's not for kids. And unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor–"

"Analogy." Lucas interrupts Dustin's accusal of Hopper. "TinTin, I wouldn't threaten or accuse the dude with the gun, okay?" Laurie whispers to her brother, "Analogy? That's what you're worried about?" Dustin quips back, ignoring his sister. "Yes, okay Laurie. I understand, thanks for being the best sister ever," she whispers to herself, not noticing Steve holding back a laugh.

"Fine. An Analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is."

"Okay, so this mind flamer thing–" Nancy starts but is cut off by Dustin. "Flayer. Mind flayer." She sighs, "What does it want?"

"To conquer us, basically. It believes it's the master race."

"Like the Germans?" Steve stammers, "Uh, the Nazis?" Dustin asks as Nancy looks at Steve weirdly. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Nazis."

"Uh...If the Nazis were from another dimension, totally. Uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself." Laurie can't help but notice how frustrated Hopper is getting at all of this. He should know better, he was here last year when this all happened to Will and Barb.

"It wants to spread, take over other dimensions," Mike says, agreeing with Dustin. "We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it," Lucas emphasizes. "That's great. That's great. That's really great. Jesus!" Steve's voice gets more and more anxious as he talks before walking away from the table.

"Okay, I think that's a bit much guys." Says Laurie, "I don't think you're understanding sis, this thing can literally take over anyone's brain." Dustin explains. "Okay, so if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything," Nancy picks up the book. "Then, if we kill it..."

"We kill everything it controls," Mike explains, finishing his sister's thought. "We win." Dustin chimes in, "Theoretically." Lucas says, bringing the boys back to reality as Steve walks back to the group after calming down.

Hopper walks over and grabs the book from Nancy, "Great, so how do you kill this thing? Shoot it with fireballs or something?" He starts flipping through the book as Dustin chuckles. "No. No, no fire–No fireballs. Uh, you summon an undead army, uh because..." He notices the look that the chief is giving him and starts to get nervous.

"...because zombies, you know, they don't have brains, and the mind flayer, it...it...it likes brains." He stammers and Laurie puts a comforting hand on his hat-covered head, "It's just a game. It's a game."

"What the hell are we doing here?" Hopper asks as he closes the book and slams it down on the table. "Waiting on the military backup you ordered, Chief." Laurie says as she pulls her brother to her side. "How are they gonna stop this? You can't just shoot this with guns." Mike protests.

"You don't know that! We don't know anything!" Hopper argues back, "We know it's already killed everyone in that lab." Mike says, "And we know the monsters are going to molt again." Lucas pipes in. "We know it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach town." Dustin finishes.

"So basically the only thing we don't know is how to kill it. Am I right?" Laurie asks, and the soft voice of Joyce breaks through. "They're right. We have to kill it. I want to kill it." She says as Hopper walks over to her.

"Me too."

"I–"

"Me, too, Joyce, Okay? But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here."

"No, but he does." Mike says, "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it. He'll know its weakness." As Mike is coming to the realization, everyone follows him to the living room. "I thought we couldn't trust him anymore. He's a spy for the mind flayer." Max says, "Yeah, but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is."

So the plan finally comes together. All the kids and teens help tape stuff around the shed so that way he has no idea where he is. Make it unrecognizable. They ruffled through trash and found things around the Byers house to get enough materials to cover the entire inside of the shed. They can't leave anything uncovered.

Mike, Jonathan, Joyce, and Hopper are all going to be in the shed while everyone else will be in the house waiting.

Dustin watches from the window and then walks away after a moment. Nancy and Laurie are leaning against opposite walls watching Lucas and Max while Steve is in the living room, swinging his bat.

"If he finds out where we are. Will he send those dogs after us?" Max asks, scared. "He won't find out," Lucas assures her. "Yeah, but if he does..." Lucas thinks for a second before responding, "Judgement day."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Nancy looks across to Laurie who's keeping her eyes on the floor, not knowing what to do. "I'm sorry for how I acted the last time we saw each other," Nancy admits, keeping her eyes on the girl who has been her best friend since she could remember. Laurie shrugs in response, "You had a right to be upset."

"No, I didn't. I know this isn't the best time to talk about this but I am so sorry for being such a bitch."

"You weren't a bitch." Laurie assures her as the Wheeler girl laughs, "There you go, defending the people you care about. Even against themselves." The eldest Henderson smiles to herself and then looks at Nancy. "I am so sorry, Laur. I know it'll take a while to forgive me, but can you not hate me?"

She laughs at Nancy's question, she knows her too well. "If we survive this thing, I'll forgive you because I could never hate you, Nancy Wheeler."

"And I, you, Laurie Henderson."

Their sweet moment gets interrupted by the lights flashing. Everyone goes to the window looking out to the shed and watches anxiously. The lights eventually stop flashing and it brings relief to everyone, whatever happens, is taken care of.

A few moments later, Hopper, Joyce, Jonathan, and Mike come back to the house. Hopper grabs a piece of paper and a pen. "What's going on?" Laurie asks as everyone gathers around Hopper and the table. "I think he's talking just not with words." He sighs, "What is that?" Steve asks as Hopper writes down dots and lines.

"Morse code." Everyone answers back. The code reads, 'HERE'. "Will's still in there. He's talking to us." A new plan is formed. Mike will have a walkie-talkie and the Morse code Will is using. Everyone at the house will help decode the message.

Jonathan goes to his room and grabs his boombox and a tape as they head back to the shed. Dustin and Lucas are handling the Morse code and decoding, while Laurie and Nancy write the actual message.

"Close Gate," Laurie says when they get all the letters. Then, the phone rings. "Shit. Shit." Dustin says, running to the phone. He picks it up and then hangs up but the person calls right back. Laurie yanks it off the wall and to the floor, now no one can call. "Do you think he heard that?" Max questions.

"It's just a phone. It could be anywhere. Right?" Steve asks, and everyone hopes for that to be true. But Laurie just has a bad feeling about it being true.

Only a moment later do they hear the monsters screeching. She grabs Steve's hand by instinct as her stomach tightens. "That's not good," Dustin says. "Okay, everyone needs some kind of weapon. Steve you have your bat, I have my daggers, Nance do you have your gun?" Laurie asks as Joyce, Jonathan, and Mike come in with Will passed out on his brother's shoulder.

Nancy shakes her head no, making Laurie sigh as the kids look out the window. Hopper comes back in with two guns in his hands. He tells the kids to back and then looks at Jonathan after he puts Will down. "Do you know how to use this?" Jonathan looks at him confused but Nancy takes it.

Hopper, Steve, Laurie, and Nancy stand in front of everyone with their weapons at the ready. They can still hear the monster screeching as they get closer. Lucas gets his slingshot ready while Mike grabs a candle holder.

Loud thudding comes from a window next to them and everyone moves to face that window. "What are they doing?" Nancy asks, keeping her eyes trained on the window with the gun at the ready.

They hear the monster snarling move back to the door and quickly turn towards it. Noises keep coming but nothing has gotten into the house yet.

Everything goes silent then one of the monsters is flung into the living room through the window causing everyone to scream. The only thing is, the monster is dead.

What killed it?

Hopper walks over to inspect it to make sure that it is really dead. Dustin and Max make comments but no one answers. They turn to the door as it creaks then the lock is turned. Everyone with a weapon gets it back at the ready as the chain lock moves to be undone.

The door slowly opens and everyone puts down their weapons when they see who walks through the door.

It's El!