Warnings: no Doc, sedation, implications of abuse and racism (Billy towards Lucas), mentions of violence and death

Word Count: 4771

     There was silence. A deep, patient, unfazing, unknowing silence. Then, tires screeching, the opening and closing of vehicle doors, and Will Byers's blood-curdling screams of agony.

     "Get him out! Go! Go!"

     "God! Hold on, sweetie!"

     The screams soon turned into sobs as Will was being wheeled down the hallways of Hawkins Lab, Joyce running right beside him with Bob and Mike keeping up behind. Will clutched onto his arms and his eyes shut tight as he screamed into the ventilator mask.

     "I'm right here. Just hold on." Joyce tried to calmly reassure her son. Even when he had been brought into a room and transferred onto a bed, she was still calling out to him in her own sobs, Bob holding her back from lunging herself at him. The doctors moved in front of her to check on Will.

     "Vitals?"

     "Heart rate 220. Temperature's 106."

     Amongst all the hands on the boy, one pair belonged to a nurse who leaned close to the boy to speak to him. "Will, where does it hurt?"

     "All over." He loudly groaned as another nurse used a pair of scissors to cut him free of his pajama shirt. By this point, Will had lost color in his skin with dark bags under his eyes.

     "She says he feels like he's burning," Dr Owens told the nurses. "Check for burns."

     The shirt was ripped off of the boy to reveal his sweating, paled skin. His screams rose in volume and pitch and he writhed in the bed as the nurse checked his skin. There were no burn marks anywhere. "I don't see anything. Where does it hurt the most, Will?"

     "Everywhere!" He screeched, slamming his head back onto the pillow below him. "Everywhere!"

     Joyce could do nothing but cry in Bob's arms as a needle was injected into Will's skin to sedate him.

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     Steve and Dustin hadn't spoken a word to each for the past couple of minutes. They let the sound of Queen fill the car as they stared forward at the road. Steve had just received a quick rundown of Dustin's latest situation with his pet, Dart. The Harrington boy was still trying his best to wrap his head around it all, but it seemed to still be too much. "Wait a sec. How big?"

     Dustin used his thumb and index finger to indicate Dart's initial size. "First it was like that," Then he stretched his hands out wide. "Now, he's like this."

     "I swear to god, man, it's just some little lizard, okay?"

     "It's not a lizard."

     "How do you know?"

     "How do I know if it's not a lizard?"

     "How do you know it's not just a lizard?!"

     "Because its face opened up and he ate my cat!"

     Steve had been through enough a year ago for that statement to be anything but unordinary. It was fairly easy for him to believe Dustin, which was why he gave a shrug and a nod as he pulled into the Henderson driveway. The two got out and rounded the car to meet at the trunk. Opening his trunk, Steve's eyes immediately fell on a wooden baseball bat spiked with nails hammered into it. The bat was originally Nancy's, but Jonathan upgraded it in order to defend them against the Demogorgon.

     Steve, who had been going to the Byers to speak with Jonathan, proved himself worthy of the weapon when effectively using it against the monster. He had kept it ever since, either as a token or just a weapon to have, he wasn't sure why. He just knew it was right for him to have it.

     Tossing his keys to Dustin, he reached it and picked up the bat, testing the weight of it in his hand before shutting his truck. He let Dustin lead him into the backyard and to his cellar that had been chained up at the handles. Steve slowly approached with Dustin now behind him as he flashed a light onto the door.

     "I don't hear shit."

     "He's in there."

     Steve glanced at him before turning back to the cellar. He gave it a couple whacks with his bat to check if anything within the cellar would react. Annoyed, but mostly frightened, he sighed and turned back to Dustin, shining the light in his face. "Alright, listen, kid. I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank, you're dead."

     "It's not." Dustin tried to look at Steve through the light in his face.

     "Alright?"

     "It's not a prank. Get it out of my face."

     "You got a key for this thing?"

     After Dustin had retrieved a key for the chains, Steve hauled the doors open, Dustin shining his light down the stairway leading further into the cellar. "Let me see that." Steve took the flashlight from him and moved it around in search of Dart.

     "He must be further down there," Dustin slowly spoke out of nerves. "I'll stay up here in case he tries to escape."

     Steve turned his head to look up at the boy in disbelief before sighing and turning forward again. Flashlight in one hand and spiked bat in the other, Steve slowly descended the stairs, Dustin cautiously watching from his spot a few steps away from the doors. When Steve had gone down far enough that he couldn't see him, Dustin relied only on the sounds occurring. He heard the light click on, but nothing else. "Steve?" He called out, but received no answer, causing his nerves to worsen. "Steve, what's going on down there?"

     Suddenly, a light shone on him, the boy flinching in fear. Down below was Steve, staring up at him in urgency. "Get down here."

     Swallowing his heart back into his chest, Dustin made his way down the steps. At the bottom, Steve stood there with his bat in hand. Hanging off the bat was another one of Dart's slimy molds, but this time, it was much, much bigger.

     "Oh, shit."

     Steve then shone the flashlight to the wall across the room to show his other revelation.

     "Oh, shit!"

     The two walked over to it and crouched down in front of the massive hole in the wall, no doubt created by Dart. "No way," Dustin whispered, his eyes following Steve's light that revealed just a hint of how deep the hole was. "No way."

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     "That thing, it... it did something to him." Joyce explained to the many doctors surrounding the table they all sat at. She sat at the head of the table with Dr Owens sitting the closest to her. Out of all the doctors, he had been the only one looking at her with any shred of sympathy. Every other lab coat-adorned personnel looked at her in complete disinterest.

     "Okay," Dr Owens nodded. "And these now-memories, as you call them, how long has he been experiencing them?"

     "I told you, since Thursday. Since I found him in the field."

     "And why wasn't he brought in?" Another doctor asked, Joyce turning to him with her eyes wide and mouth agape.

     "I have been bringing him in, and what have you done? Nothing. Nothing!"

     Dr Owens raised his brows. "These are new symptoms, Joyce."

     "No. No, he has been telling you over and over that something's wrong, and you said it was all in his head. You said, 'Be patient'. Those were your words!"

     "I understand that you're upset, okay? I get it. I would be, too, if I were in your shoes. But we are all in the same boat here, and I just need you to try-"

     "What, stay calm? Trust you? No, I want him transferred to a real hospital."

     "Well, you know that's not possible."

     A different doctor spoke up, "He really will get the best treatment here, Mrs Byers."

     Then another added, "The very best."

     Joyce could've laughed at the utter nonsense she was hearing from these people, and her face expressed just as much. She shook her head at them and scoffed. "A-An- And what are you treating him for, exactly?"

     None of them answered, prompting her to stand. "Can anyone tell me what's wrong with him? Can a single person in this room tell me what's wrong with my boy?!"

     Everyone avoided her gaze, whether that be staring down at the table or exchanging looks with one another. None of them could answer her because none of them had a single idea. And this only angered Joyce even further, her hands slamming down on the table.

     "What is wrong with my boy?!"

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     Within the Sinclair household, Erica laid on her bed holding one of her Barbie dolls in one hand and her older brother's He-Man action figure in the other. She squeezed their plastic faces against each other while making kissing noises. "Oh, He-Man, thank you for saving my life. What strong muscles you have."

     Lucas barged into her room, not looking very happy at the sight of his sister playing with his toy. "I knew it." He marched up to her and snatched it from her grasp.

     "Hey! They're in love!"

     "No, actually, they're not. They don't even exist on the same planet."

     She raised a brow. "Aren't you too old to be playing with toys?"

     Lucas rolled his eyes before shaking his head. "That... That's not the point. The point is to stay out of my room." He seemed to have been repeating something he had told her many times before. With a sigh, he exited her room.

     "Then tell your little nerdy friend to shut his mouth!" She called after him. A few seconds later, Lucas walked backwards until he was in her doorway again.

     "What are you talking about?"

     "'Code red, Lucas. Code red. Code red'."

     His face dropped at the realization that Dustin might have been trying to get ahold of him for some dire reason.

     "Bunch of nerds." Erica reached behind her to grab another toy to take He-Man's place. Shuddering, Lucas rushed to his room. He stopped in his own doorway to see his walkie laying on his bed.

     "No, no, no, no, no, no." He mumbled and hurriedly ran to his bed, picking up the walkie. His heart sank when he saw it was turned off, meaning this whole time, Dustin could have been trying to communicate with him without Lucas being able to hear. Turning the dials, he sat on his bed and held the walkie up to his mouth. "Dustin! This is Lucas. Do you copy? Dustin?"

     "Well, well, well, look who it is."

     "Sorry, man. My stupid sister turned it off."

     "Well, when you were having sister problems, Dart grew again, he escaped, and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon."

     Lucas furrowed his brows and widened his eyes. "Wait. What?"

     "I'll explain later. Just meet me and Steve at the old junkyard."

     "Steve?" He rapidly blinked, mind racing at how the unlikely duo came to be.

     "And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket."

     "Steve Harrington?"

     "Alright, let's go." Steve's voice could be heard in the background before Dustin replied to his friend.

     "Just be there, stat. Over and out."

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     Dr Owens walked into the room Hopper was being kept in. Said man was sitting on the edge of a bench, in a hospital gown. Neatly folded beside him were a pair of blue scrubs, a blanket and a pair of white shoes. Between his feet was a bucket that he was currently vomiting into.

     Since Hopper had been in the Upside Down for an extensive amount of time, he was exposed to a very toxic atmosphere. In order to rid him of all the toxins, he was stripped of his clothes, hosed down, and then placed in quarantine with close eyes on him.

     The same would have to be done with Joyce and Bob, as well. Though, they wouldn't have to go into quarantine since they hadn't been in the area as long as Hopper had.

     "Alright, cowboy, good news," Owens announced, walking further into the room to stand at his side. "We're giving you the green light. How you feeling?"

     Through his exhaustion and irritation, Hopper managed to turn to Owens and give him a big, obviously fake grin. "Never better."

     "Alright, well, got a present for ya."

     Another doctor appeared at his side holding a folded hazmat suit in his hands. Hopper took one look at the suit before turning away to rub at his nose. "The hell is that?"

     "Uh, something you should see."

     Once he was changed, Hopper was led down several hallways and through several rooms until he entered a contained and observed area. He immediately recognized it once he saw the white particles swimming through the air. Owens and another doctor were standing on a metal platform of an elevator-like space. "Watch your step." Owens warned. Hopper let out a sigh before stepping onto the platform, careful of the shaft for the elevator.

     The three held onto the bars on the side as the elevator lowered deeply underground. Hopper wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to be looking at until the light above them turned on in an orange hue. Hopper couldn't believe what he was seeing.

     The gate that he had seen a year ago, the one he and Joyce had gone through to get Will, had grown tremendously. The thick substance that broke the connection between two worlds was transparent enough that red-orange light of the Upside Down could be seen through it. Hopper realized this was why the elevator shaft was at least dozens of feet underground. The gate had an entire year to grow without any disturbance forceful enough to stop it.

     "All living organisms develop defense mechanisms against attack," Owens informed. "They adapt. They find some way to survive."

     The elevator had reached the ground and the three stepped off. People in hazmat suits and stands that held lights littered the decayed area. "Oh, my god."

     Before Hopper were tunnels. Tunnels and tunnels and tunnels. They couldn't have been made by humans, they were far too big, far too perfect in their structure. It was the work of an unearthly creature.

     "It's pretty impressive, isn't it?" Dr Owens joined his side. "It's been spreading, growing beneath us like some cancer."

     "Why aren't you burning it?" Hopper watched as hazmat-suited people walked through the tunnels for examination.

     "There's a complication."

     Just above them, Will laid asleep in his bed, the heart monitor steadily beeping beside him. On the other side of him was Mike. The boy was reclined back in a chair, a blanket wrapped around his sleeping figure. Off to the side were Joyce and Bob. The two had been hosed down and changed into scrubs some time ago. They were now wrapped up in their own blankets and sipping coffee as Joyce finished explaining to Bob about what happened a year ago.

     "They made me sign, like, a thousand documents. I mean... we... we- we all had to. We had to. I mean, I lost track at a certain point. They're gonna make you do the same. I'm sure."

     Bob snapped his eyes away from Will, who he had been worriedly staring at, and to Joyce with a gentle look. "Yeah. Well, hey, whatever." He gave a very small hint of a smile. Joyce stared at him, waiting for him to give a bigger reaction than that. "What kind of documents?"

     "Uh, confidentiality, and there were these official forms saying, like, nothing ever happened, which is why..."

     "Will got lost in the woods." Bob looked back over at the boy, his heart reaching for him even more at the horrible circumstances he and his family were continuously put into.

     "Yeah..."

     "Man," He shook his head and turned back to Joyce. "I always thought stuff like this happened in movies and comic books. Certainly not in Hawkins and certainly not to someone like you."

     "Or you."

     He smiled a bit wider this time. "Yeah... Bob Newby, superhero." The two shared a chuckle before Joyce noticed that Bob's fingers were shaking a bit as they held his coffee mug.

     "You cold?"

     "Uh, just jitters, I guess. Hey, don't you start worrying about me."

     "Okay."

     "Okay? I'm fine. I'm fine," He reassured, happy when she gave him a smile. "It's not like you didn't warn me. 'This is not a normal family'. Isn't that what you said?"

     Joyce nodded, recalling the conversation they had Halloween night once they were alone. "Yeah."

     Bob chuckled. "You weren't kidding... It kinda makes my idea of moving to Maine sound a little less crazy, right?"

     "Oh, it... it's not crazy at all."

     There was a moment of silence with the two of them warmly smiling at each other before a soft voice sounded.

     "Mom?"

     Gasping, they turned their heads to see Will awake. "Hey." Joyce smiled as they set their mugs down. Bob quickly made his way out of the room and called out for a doctor as Joyce stood at her son's side. "Sweetie, how you feeling? You okay?"

     Bob entered the room just as Mike woke up from the commotion. "Okay, they're on their way." He stood next to Joyce and gave Will a smile. "Hey."

     Will, whose eyes seemed to have darkened since he woke up, stared at Bob with a dead look. "Who is that?"

     "What?" Joyce tried a smile.

     "It's me, big guy. It's Bob." He reached a hand out, but Will immediately took his away, eyes widened just the slightest bit in alarm.

     "Are you a... doctor?"

     "No. No, it's just me. Just... Just Bob."

     Will's dead eyes stayed on his mother, who worriedly glanced at Bob, then Mike, then back to her son.

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     At the Hargrove-Mayfield home, rock music blasted from the living room where a dirty blonde-haired young man does barbell sets, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. At the sound of the doorbell, a sudden anger and irritation began swelling in his veins, so instead of counting in his head, he counted out loud. If Max didn't get the door soon, Billy Hargrove would make sure she knew to get it next time.

     Within her bedroom, Max was patching up her skateboard with duct tape, ignoring the sound of the doorbell. Though, it was a bit hard to hear it with her step-brother's music sounding throughout the entire house. Still, she decided to ignore the second time it rang.

     And the third.

     And the fourth.

     "Max, are you getting that or what?!"

     "Okay!" She barked right back at him. With a huff, she threw down her skateboard and stood from her bed. When the doorbell rang a fifth time, Billy's patience sounded as if it were hanging by a thread.

     "Swear to god, Max!"

     Max glared at Billy when she entered the living room, swerving out of the way of the barbell he was still lifting. She sped her way to the front door and flung it open, her eyes widening at the sight of Lucas. One of the last times she'd seen the boy, Billy had threatened her not to go near him, that she needed to avoid "people like him". She had a pretty good feeling what he meant by that. And while she didn't agree with him, that didn't mean that she wasn't scared for Lucas. Billy was dangerous and only a few feet away from him.

     Making sure Billy didn't see her, Max quickly stepped outside and closed the door behind her. "What are you doing here?"

     "I have proof."

     "What?"

     "Proof that what I told you was real. But we have to hurry."

     Max shook her head at him. Just the day before, he had lured her into the back room of the arcade. Despite her protests, she still sat down with him and listened to him explain all of the events that happened a year ago. With Will, with El, the Demogorgon. He even revealed Doc's secret. She had shut him down, believing that it was a tall tale. But now, she was starting to think that his insistence was genuine.

     "What kind of proof?"

     From inside the house, Billy set the barbell back in place on the bench and sat up, taking his cigarette out of his mouth. Max had been outside too long for his liking, his twisted mind assuming the worst of her intentions. He slowly walked to the door and before he could open it, Max hurriedly walked in. She shut the door and turned around to face Billy, her eyes avoiding him immediately. Billy placed his hand against the wall, his arm blocking her way past him.

     "Who were you talking to?"

     There was a very long, very suspicious pause of Max trying to come up with a lie, which answered Billy already.

     "Mormons."

     He blew out a cloud of smoke with a very small smile of amusement. "Mormons?"

     "Talkative ones."

     She moved past him and quickly went to her room. Outside of her window was Lucas on his bike, somewhat patiently waiting for her. Seeing her open her window, he motioned her urgently. "Come on, hop on."

     Max climbed out and landed on the platform just below her, using that to push off and land on the ground. She climbed onto the back, sitting on the seat he left completely open for her. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she leaned around to get a better look at him.

     "This better be good, stalker."

     And with that, Lucas took off towards the front of her house, narrowingly missing the prying eyes of Billy Hargrove.

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     Even through the blinding light shining in his eyes, Will's stare still bore into Dr Owens. The man turned off his small flashlight and placed it into the pocket of his coat. Will was now surrounded by his mother, Mike, Bob, Hopper and a few other doctors.

     "Do you know your name?" Owens asked.

     "Will."

     "Your full name."

     He swallowed. "William Byers."

     Owens shifted in his seat. "Do you know... Do you know who I am?"

     Will's eyes close for a very brief moment as he tries to remember. "A doctor."

     He slowly nodded, the question not entirely answered at all. "Have we met before?"

     "I don't remember."

     Dr Owens hummed. "You don't remember me? Okay. How about, uh... How about this guy here?" He pointed across the room to Mike. Will's eyes slowly moved over to the boy who gave him a tiny wave and a smile just as small. "Know who that is?"

     The amount of time Will took to stare at Mike, to think, was already alarming, but they all still decided to wait it out.

     "It's alright. Take your time."

     "That... my friend." Another pause. "Mike."

     A proud and relieved smile snuck onto the Wheeler boy's face as Hopper spoke up with the same expression on his face. "What about me, kid? You remember me?"

     Will turned to him and shook his head, wiping that smile right off the Chief's face.

     "They tell me you helped save me last night. You remember that?"

     Another head shake.

     "Do you remember anything about last night?" Dr Owens got the boy's attention. "About what happened?"

     Will swallowed once again. "I remember they hurt me." He scowled at the memory, his mother not even being able to look at him at the thought of what he went through.

     "You mean the doctors?" Owens continued.

     "No. The soldiers."

     "The soldiers hurt you?"

     His eyes darkened. "They shouldn't have done that. "It upset him. Just like the girl did."

     Dr Owens frowned in confusion. "What girl?"

     "Mike brought her. She upset him, so I tried to get rid of her."

     At this, Mike immediately straightened, turning his attention to Joyce. Her mouth opened and closed out of shock. The reasoning behind his sister's sudden disappearance was becoming clearer and clearer. Will claiming to his trying to get rid of her sent him into an internal panic, but he remembered that Doc had left a note. Meaning she was still out there somewhere.

     Dr Owens sat up straighter. "This girl... was it the one who went missing last year?"

     Will widened his eyes suddenly. "No. The one who was supposed to protect."

     "Protect? Protect who?"

     "Him."

     Owens retrieved a photo taken of Will's drawing of the shadow monster and showed it to him. "You say, 'Upset him'. Is that him?"

     Will nodded.

     "And the girl was supposed to protect him?"

     "She was supposed to protect us all. We're helping her and she's supposed to help us."

     Heart racing, Mike stared at Will with wide eyes. Doc had mentioned that Will now saw her as some kind of threat, which worried him even more of what he had attempted to do to her. The situation was spiraling in terms of this unknown girl to the doctors. Since they had little to no evidence on who this girl could be, Dr Owens decided to focus on what they had at the moment. "Okay. Okay, I wanna try something. It's gonna seem a little odd at first, but I think it's really gonna help us understand what's going on. Is that okay?"

     Will tried to ignore the boiling anger he felt at the man touching his shoulder, but he still nodded in answer. "Okay."

     Within a few minutes, two of the doctors had exited and one returned, wheeling in a cart that has a sort of glass container, the top of it opened. Inside of it was one of the vine creatures, but this one was smaller, like it had been cut from its source.

     "Now, Will, I want you to just let us know if you feel anything. Okay?" Owens asked, receiving a nod in answer. When the other doctor had been given the okay, he turned on the blowtorch. Just the sight of the flame had Will shifting in the bed. The torch was lowered into the container, closer to the creature. "Do you feel anything?"

     "A-A little sting."

     "It stings? Where?"

     The creature screeched the closer the flame got. At the same time, Will jolted forward, clutching the front of his gown in pain. "My chest." He choked out. Just beside them, the heart monitor started to kick up. Joyce sweetly whispered to him as she rubbed his leg, Dr Owens giving the boy a gentle pat on the shoulder.

     The other doctor looked at the boy before lowering the torch further, eliciting a groan from Will.

     "How about now?"

     "It... It burns." The creature screeched louder as Will cried out. "It burns!"

     "Where?"

     "Everywhere!"

     Despite his cries, the doctor moved the torch lower and lower, the creature in the glass desperately trying to move away. Dr Owens was showing no signs of stopping his assistant. Seeing this, Joyce began to panic. "That's enough. That's enough!"

     The flame was significantly close now and Will let out a scream.

     "Stop!" Hopper shouted, quickly rushing to Will's side. "You heard her! That's enough! That's it! We're done!"

     The doctor quickly moved the torch away and turned it off. For a second, the only sound in the room was the slowing beep of the heart monitor and the decrescendo of Will's heavy breathing. Once his heart rate was back to normal, Dr Owens had taken Hopper and Joyce into the hallway to discuss his conclusion.

     "Our best guess right now is it's some kind of virus which is causing this neurological disorder. Now, when... when a typical virus attaches itself to its host..."

     Dart attaching himself with Will a year ago.

     "...it duplicates, right? It spreads, essentially hijacking the host. A virus is alive. It has an intelligence."

     The shadow monster in Will's episodes.

     "That's not... That's not unusual," Dr Owens takes a second to pause and think over his words. "What is so unusual here, this virus... the infected hosts seem to be communicating."

     Will's seizure-like convulsion as soon as the vines were burned below.

     "It has some sort of a hive intelligence, and it's connecting all the hosts.

     The monster, Dart, the vine, Will.

     "The good news is a virus can be cured. We... We're gonna continue to run tests. We're gonna see what we find."

     Joyce, who had been sick to her stomach in terror at all of this information, tried her best not to break into sobs as she found the courage to speak up. "What happens when he can't remember anything? W-When there's nothing else there?"

     Dr Owens stared down at the floor in shame, once again not having an answer for her. She took in a shuddering breath as she stepped forward.

     "What happens when my boy is gone?"