whole body ached with every step she took. Walking all day had worn down her legs, and she had further injured her arm swinging her bat at the demodogs. She stayed at the back of the group, trying to avoid the conversation with Steve that would surely come, instead she resulted to constantly turning around with fear at every sound she heard. A scowl rested on the teenager's face as she and the others made their way through the woods.

"You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas asked Dustin.

"Yes. He had the exact same yellow pattern on his butt," "but he was tiny two days ago!" Max insisted. "Well, he's molted three times already" Dustin spoke.

"Malted?" Steve repeated in confusion, "molted. He's shed to make more room to grow" Armani spoke up for the first time since they had left the junkyard.

"Exactly." Dustin nodded, "so, when will he molt again?" Max asked, "it's gotta be soon. When he does, he'll be fully grown. Or close to it" Dustin explained, "And so will his friends."

"Yeah and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats," Steve said, the group stopped as Lucas came up and shoved Dustin lightly.

"Wait? A cat! Dart ate a cat?"

"N-no..no he didn't," Dustin said, looking back and forth at Steve and Lucas.

"What are you talking about? He ate mews" Steve added, "right, Mani?"

"Mews? Who's mews?" Max asked, Armani looked up from the ground, "It's Dustin's cat."

"Steve! Armani!" Dustin yelled as he stretched their names out in a whiny tone, "I knew it! You kept him!" Lucas yelled back. Armani rolled her eyes, pushing last them to keep going, but turned around once she realized they wouldn't be going anywhere.

"Guys! Who cares? We have to go" Max said, "yeah, come on" Armani urged the boys to keep walking, but they wouldn't listen.

"You told a stranger the truth!" Dustin yelled, Max scoffed, she began yelling at Dustin too, Armani and Steve rolled their eyes at the three younger kids.

As they continued to yell at one another, Armani heard noises coming past the woods, she turned towards the woods and walked forward, and the feeling from the junkyard came back. "Steve," She ushered him over and they stood listening to the noises, low growls in the distance.

"Hey, guys" Steve spoke, but couldn't be heard over the yelling.

"GUYS!" Armani yelled, catching the three's attention as she nodded towards the direction of the noise.

Steve and Armani locked eyes, they started towards the growling, Lucas and Dustin followed as Max spoke loudly. "No no no no. Hey, guys, why are you headed towards the sound?"

As they stepped into a clearing, the whole of Hawkins was under fog. All five of them scanned the area. "I don't see him," Dustin said, Lucas raised his binoculars, pointing towards a building without lights on. "It's the lab." He concluded, "they were headed back home." A particularly loud screech went off like a siren, spooking all five of them. Armani and Steve's hands seemed to find each other as they held on to one another tightly.

"Come on," Armani said, her voice croaked as she felt a lump in her throat. Something told her she knew who was in there, and she didn't want to waste any time. She and Steve began walking towards the lab, the three other kids followed, glances sent to the two teens and their intertwined hands.

—

""

Steve said, although his tone was harsh, his hand was still holding onto Armani's. They had spent a while in silence, the only sounds were the five sets of footsteps and occasional animal noises that put everyone on edge.

"So could you! I'm not the one who went out there first" she defended, "yeah, well that was stupid of you." He said.

"Oh, sure. I'm so sorry I helped save all of our asses" she retorted, causing Steve to sigh.

"I wasn't going to sit there and watch you die" she muttered, looking down at her feet as they dragged along the dirt. Steve stayed silent, looking back at the three younger teens from time to time.

When they finally reached the edge of the woods, Armani noticed headlights on. Steve and she raised their flashlights, not responding when they heard a "Hello? Who's there?" On the other side.

As Armani, Steve, and the other three kids came out into the clearing, they recognized the two figures standing at the entrance of the lab.

Armani lowered her light, which was held in the same hand as her bat, in confusion.

"Steve?" Nancy scrunched her nose as she called out to him.

"Nancy?" Steve stopped in his tracks.

"Jonathan?" Armani squinted, becoming increasingly worried by his presence and the fact that he wasn't with the rest of his family.

"Armani? What the hell are you doing here? What is that" He looked at the bat she carried in her hand and his eyes went wide.

"What are you doing here?" Steve repeated, turning off the light in his hand.

"We're looking for Mike and Will" Nancy stated, Armani felt her stomach drop.

"They're not in there, are they?" Dustin asked.

"We're not sure," Nancy said, sensing that something was wrong.

"Why?" Jonathan asked, although his question was answered with a growl that emitted from Hawkins Lab.

"Shit" Armani ran towards the gate, quickly followed by Steve, she had no evidence, except that her father was not at her home, the Byers, or at work. Yet, something inside her sparked, she knew her dad was in the lab, and she knew she had to do whatever it took to get him out.

"I need to get inside!" She urged, Steve looking inside and spotting Jim Hopper's car in the parking lot, "is that your dad's?" He pointed to a green car next to the police vehicle. "No, that's Joyce's car.." she whispered, before turning to look at Jonathan.

"They're in there" she nodded, Jonathan became panicked as he came towards the other two.

"We need to get inside" he murmured, "there's no way. The power.." she looked up at the gate, putting a foot in one of the holds. Steve quickly wrapped an arm around her and pulled her back, "we have to wait for the power," he insisted.

The rest of the group was trying to figure out who was in the Lab. Nancy pushed past everyone, "the powers back on!" She exclaimed, looking back at everyone. Armani and Jonathan ran towards the control booth.

"Come on, come on" Armani muttered as Jonathan pressed the button.

"Let me try, Jonathan!" Dustin pushed past the two as he tried to open the gate to no avail.

Armani looked around the small booth, her head spinning when her eyes landed on a walkie-talkie. She grabbed it and left the booth, switching it on to a different wave she heard her father's voice.

"Alright give me a minute." He spoke, Armani frantically pressed the button, her hands shaking as she spoke into the walkie-talkie.

"Dad!" She urged, holding her breath as she listened back for more, the others except Dustin circled around her. After a moment of static Bob's voice came through.

"Armani? What are you doing?" He asked, Armani let out a deep breath, her eyes filled with tears at the sound of her father.

"Dad! Hey! I-I'm outside the lab. We're, We're all outside the lab." Her voice faltered, soft sobs escaping her mouth as Steve put hands on her shoulders.

"Sweetie. Stay away from here, you-you need to get back. There's...there's monsters in here."

"I know. I know, Dad. That's why I need you to get out of there. Please. Everyone. They all need to get out. I love you, dad, get out of there, ple–." She noticed the Walkie Talkie making weird noises, the batteries were running out. "No. No, no. No. Come on" she hit it frantically, only hearing bits and pieces of what her father was saying.

"I will don't worry, Mani. I-I just need to open the doors so we can get out, Dr. Owens is helping me. He's on this line too. I need to help get everyone out, but I will be there soon." "Dad? Dad?" She spoke into the thing "I love you Armani" was all she heard before the walkie-talkie cut off completely. "Dad! Dad! Please, come on! Dad!" She yelled, tears streaming down her face as she desperately hit the walkie-talkie, Steve tried to take it from her, "Armani, come on, st–" "No!" She continued hitting the thing, her hands ached and she felt bruises form, but she didn't stop until Steve yanked the walkie-talkie from her.

"No! Steve, stop!" She desperately said, Steve only shook his head, "Armani. Come on, you heard what he said. We need to help open the gate, but he doesn't want you to go near that place."

"Steve you don't understand, my dad is in there! He's in there with those- things! I can't leave him alone, he's all I have left."

She crumbled, Steve wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her in a hug for support. The others had slowly gone away, knowing that Armani needed space, and they resulted to trying to find a way to open the gate.

Dustin had kept pressing the button, and finally, for a reason besides his repeated action, the gate slowly opened up.

"Hey! I got it!" he grinned, Armani looked up and tried to run in, but was stopped by Steve.

"Let me go!" She repeated over again, steve wrapped an arm around her stomach to stop her from going further. "Steve! Stop! I need to get inside!" "Mani. No." He turned her around, "it's too dangerous." He held her close.

"Are you going?" Nancy turned to her, and Armani nodded before turning back to Steve. "Keep them away from there." she motioned to the younger teenagers, Steve barely had time to think, and his stomach felt it would flip inside out, he knew this would be his only chance. His eyes met hers and before either of them had time to move, he grabbed Armani's face gently, planting a soft kiss on her smooth lips.

Her face grew red, the knots in her stomach deepened along with her already racing heartbeat, and she opened her mouth to say something before Jonathan pulled her towards the car. "Come on, Armani!" He opened the back door for her and she climbed in. The worry settled in as they sped inside to the lab, she and Nancy locked eyes in the mirror who seemed confused.

"Fuck." Jonathan looked around, the shortest way to the lab was blocked off and he would have to go around. "The car won't fit through there." Nancy shook her head as she searched for another way. "No. but I can" Armani opened the door before Jonathan turned back in protest. "Woah, Woah Woah. No way. You don't know what's in there." "Yeah, I do. My dad. You guys go around, I'm going to see if I can get in there." She stepped out, running towards the lab as Jonathan's car turned to find another entrance.

"Hey!" Hopper yelled as Armani approached them, "what are you doing kid," "where's my dad?" She asked, her stomach dropping when the policeman only looked at her solemnly, "he's in there. Don't worry he'll get out soo-hey!" He stopped to try and keep her from going inside, but Armani shoved in protest. "My dad's in there! Let me go!" The cop finally gave in and Armani ran inside, only Joyce stood there, her eyes wide as her skin paled.

"Is he.." Armani stepped closer, and Joyce only nodded. "He'll be okay." The mother muttered in assurance.

The door opened, and out ran a breathless Bob. He closed the door quickly, bending over to catch his breath, everyone inevitably knew he was being chased.

"Dad!" "Bob!" Armani and Joyce yelled, Bob turning with a smile.

Armani swallowed hard as she began to run towards her dad with a smile on her face.

That was when the screech was heard.

Armani had no time to process what was happening, she only saw a dark, ominous figure run and jump on her father, his scream sent chills down her spine as her own screams were sent through the lab. "DAD!" She screamed, the monster's claw penetrated her dad's side. "BOB! NO!" Joyce's screams of terror burned Armani's ear as the mother pulled her back. "NO!" Armani tried to run back, but the sound of gunfire stunned her and her screams turned incoherent. Hopper shot the monster, the bullets ceased to harm the monsters reptile like skin, and soon the wooden door broke open. Demo-dogs ran through it, the numbers increasing as Hopper realized he couldn't kill them all.

"Lets go!" He yelled, pulling Armani, who was in Joyce's arms, and Joyce towards the door. Both their screams mixed together as the tears fogged their eye sight. Bob still managed to scream, his arm outstretched as he sent Armani into a frenzy. "DAD! NO! PLEASE!" "Let's go!" Hopper yelled as he pushed the door open, quickly closing it behind them.

Through the screams and her muffled ears, Armani could hear Mike scream. "WHAT HAPPENED?" The teenager asked as the demo-dogs slammed into the glass door.

"He's gone! He's gone!" Hopper yelled over the two's screams. The honk of a car and it's tires stopping caught Mike's attention, Jonathan yelling. "Come on! Get in!" He said, Hopper took an unconscious Will on his shoulder as Mike tried to lead both Joyce and Armani into the car.

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