November 6th, 1984

The Byers Household

Watching the two cars pull out of the drive way, the party now including Max, Steve, and I stood on the balcony, sending the two groups off.

In one car was Jonathan, Nancy, mom, and Will. Their destination being a cabin that Hopper had found somewhere off in the woods. In hopes that they would be able to rid the monster that hid inside Will.

And in the other vehicle was Hopper and El, their destination would land them under Hawkins Lab, where the gate leading to the Upside Down was hidden.

And if everything landed at just the right time, not only would Will be safe from the Mind Flayer, but so would the rest of Hawkins.

As their tail lights soon disappeared into the distance, we all slowly began to make our ways inside the wrecked household.

What do we do now exactly? Just wait? We had no destination or task to complete like the others. So, what now?

Closing the door behind me, I looked over at the broken window and how the glass had shattered and spread across the living rooms floor.

Walking towards the Demo-dog that laid lifeless on the ground, Dustin lightly moved it with his foot before jumping back quickly, anticipating that the creature wasn't really dead.

"Should we like clean this up?" Max asked as she walked around the room, glass crunching beneath her shoes as she did so. "Good idea." I mumbled, nodding as I looked around at the now trashed living room.

'Will this house ever not look like complete chaos?' I thought to myself as I walked into the kitchen to get a broom and dustpan.

"Steve and I can take care of this." Dustin stated loudly as he pointed down at the dead Demo-dog. "Excuse me?" Steve questioned, placing one hand on his hip and running the other through his hair. "We need to move it." Dustin stated simply with a shrug of his shoulders as if it wasn't a big deal.

"I'm not touching that thing." Steve stated with a grimace on his face as he too pushed the creature over with his foot. "Don't be such a pu-" "Dustin, don't even finish that sentence." I stated, looking between the two boys.

"Sorry. Steve, would you please get a sheet from outside? I'll clean out the freezer." Dustin asked with false kindness before turning his back on us to walk into the kitchen. "Freezer?" Steve and I asked, both equally confused.

"No questions!" Dustin yelled from the kitchen, the sound of the freezer door being pulled open and food hitting the floor was all that could be heard.

"What?" Steve asked looking between Max, Lucas, and I with his eyebrows furrowed in obvious confusion. Shrugging my shoulders and ignoring the sound of Dustin wasting all of our food, I began sweeping up some of the glass. "Just go get a sheet." I spoke up, noticing that Steve still stood there staring at the dead creature, causing him to roll his eyes before exiting the room.

"I can do that." Max said, walking towards me before lightly taking the broom out of my hand. "Thanks, Max." I said with a smile as Lucas followed close behind her. "And I'll help you." He said with a grin as he grabbed the dustpan from off the floor, staring up at Max.

"I guess that helps to?" I said, trying to hide my grin as Max rolled her eyes at the boy's cheeky grin. But, she obviously didn't mind his company too much as she didn't argue against it and simply started sweeping towards him.

"Give me a hand, will you?" Steve muttered as he walked past me and towards the body of the Demo-dog. "I think that's all you." I stated with a smirk as I followed him to the corner of the room as he lazily threw the sheets over the creature.

"What does this kid even want with this thing? It's disgusting." He groaned out as he tried to roll the thing over on its side. "Well, it is kind of a scientific discovery." I said with a shrug, kneeling down next to it once he rolled it over, carefully tugging the sheet over it.

"Can't we leave something undiscovered for once?" Steve said with slight hope in his voice as he finished wrapping the sheet around the demo-dog. "Can you pick it up by yourself? Or do you need help?" I asked him, standing up from my spot and wiping my hands on my jeans with a smirk on my face.

"Of course I can." He stated dumbly, raising one of his eyebrows up at me before reaching down to pull the creature into his arms. Only to quickly drop it back down on the ground. "You got it? Or should I help you?" I joked as he awkwardly wiped his hands on his pants and pulled up the sleeves of his Members Only jacket.

"I just wasn't expecting it to be so floppy, okay." He stated before reaching back down. "Can you not watch me?" He said quietly before looking up. "It throws me off."

Playfully rolling my eyes, I nodded and walked out of the living room and into the kitchen to find Dustin next to a pile of frozen food. "I really hope you can pay for that." I muttered as he pulled out the middle tray of the freezer. "It's in the name science. Of course, I will.." He stated confidently before muttering the last part.

"All right! It should fit now." Dustin said with a grin, as we both turned towards an out of breath Steve who cradled the demo-dog like a baby. "Is this really necessary?" He asked, slightly annoyed with the situation.

"Yes, it is, okay? This is a ground-breaking scientific discovery. We can't just bury it like some common mammal, okay? It's not a dog." Dustin stated, growing impatient and annoyed with Steve's questioning.

"All right, all right. Jeez." Steve muttered as he walked towards the freezer, "But you're explaining this to Mrs. Byers, all right?" Steve stated as he walked past Dustin.

Trying to quickly throw the creature into the freezer, Steve only seemed to slam the things head against the door before it started falling back out. "Help me out?" He groaned as the thing barely fit into the small freezer.

"What am I supposed to do?" Dustin asked, coming up beside him. "Just get the door, man." Steve stated as he shoved the demo-dog back into the freezer as Dustin quickly slammed the door behind him.

"Alright.." Steve muttered to himself as he rubbed the top of Dustin cap-covered head. "That looked fun." I stated with a grin as Steve made us way next to me. "I got demo-dog goo on my jacket, not fun." Steve stated as he rubbed his arm against mine with a smirk on his face.

"Gross! Don't do that." I stated with a grin, looking up at him to finding him smiling back down at me. "You both are gross." Dustin stated still standing in front of the freezer, glaring at us.

"Mike, would you stop that already?" Lucas' voice could be heard from the living room, catching all of our attention. "I can't. You weren't in there, okay, Lucas. That lab was swarming with hundreds of those dogs."

"Demo-dogs!" Dustin complained as the three of us made our way into the living room. "Hey, the Chief will take care of El." I said with a small smile while Mike shook his head at Dustin. "Like she needs protection." Max muttered, which she wasn't entirely wrong.

"Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line you execute it. All right?" Steve stated next to me, grabbing all of our attention.

"Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game. And second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench." Mike stated, terribly hiding how annoyed Steve's comment made him.

"Right, so my point is.." Steve continued, dragging out is words as he looked down at me for help. "What?" I asked just as confused as the party. "Right, yeah, so we're on the bench. So, there's nothing we can do." He finished, shaking his head with a frown on his lips.

"That's not entirely true." Dustin spoke up, "I mean, these Demo-dogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away." Dustin continued.

"So, if we get their attention.." Lucas continued for him, piecing together his idea. "Maybe we can draw them away from the lab." Mike nodded in agreement, "Clear a path to the gate." He stated understanding the idea as well.

"Yeah, and then we all die." Steve cut the group off with a wave of his hands. "Well, that's one view point." I agreed with a shrug of my shoulders. "No, Nellie. That's not a point of view, it's a fact." He said, shaking his head at my statement, to which I returned another shrug.

"I got it!" Mike announced before running past Steve, Dustin, and I. Following Mike into the kitchen, he kneeled down next to the fridge to point into the middle of one of Wills drawn vines.

"This is where the Chief dug his hole. This is our way into the tunnel. So.." Mike continued, quickly walking back out of the kitchen and towards the hallway. "Here, right here. This is like a hub." He stated, pointing towards where all the vines connect. "So you get all the tunnels feeding here."

"Maybe if we set this on fire-" Mike continued, "Oh, yeah? That's a no." Steve quickly cut him off, waving his hand in the air. "The mind flayer would call away his army." Dustin stated anyways, agreeing with Mike.

"They'd all come to stop us." Lucas continued, getting into the plan as well. "And then we circle back to the exit." Mike stated like it was something simple. "Guys." I tried to help out Steve, not letting the kids get to deep into their extremely dangerous plan.

"By the time they realize we're gone-" "El would be at the gate." Mike and Max both stated at the same times. "Hey. Hey! Hey! This is not happening." Steve exclaimed, clapping his hands to get the groups attention.

"But-" Dustin tried but Steve only shook his head. "No, no, no, no." He stated. "Nell?" Mike asked, hope gleaming in his eyes. "Guys, I'm sorry. This plan is just too dangerous." I said sadly, looking between the four of them.

"No buts. We promised to keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. We're staying here. On the bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand that?" Steve continued, beginning to sound stern.

"This isn't a stupid sports game." Mike stated angrily. "I said, does everybody understand that?" Steve stopped him, the same amount of anger rising in his voice. "I need a yes." He finished looking around at the group.

"Steve, maybe we can-" I began to try and defend the kids plan, in hopes that there would be a safe way, only to be cut off by the sound of an engine revving in the front yard.

Steve, Max, Lucas, and I all seemed to recognize the source of the engine at the same time as Max quickly made her way towards the window, followed by the rest of the party.

"It's my brother. He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me. He'll kill us." Max stated with genuine fear rising in her voice as she stared out the window and then back at Steve and I. "Get down." Steve stated, his voice dropping an octave as he fixed his jacket.

"What are you doing?" I quickly stopped him as he started walking towards the front door. "Getting rid of him." He stated obviously. "No, stay here with them. This is my house, I can handle him." I stated, pushing him back towards the party.