***

The mix of teens and kids squabbled, their voices overlapping as they discussed the whereabouts of Mike and Will. It turned out that Nancy and Jonathan were out of town for the last few days, doing something they deemed important but would not reveal to the group. There was just something off about this whole situation.

In the middle of their various conversations, Nancy pushed through the group, stepping forward. "The power's back."

They spun around, stunned into silence. Light poured through the windows, the floors illuminating one by one. Guttural growls and twisted screams echoed from within, still foreboding. Even with the power back on, the building still didn't feel safe.

Jonathan sprinted to the security cubicle outside the main gate, pressing a button to open it. The group stared back at the gate, but nothing happened. Jonathan tried again, pressing it even harder -- still nothing.

He kept trying until Dustin approached him. "Let me try."

"Hang on-" he argued.

"Let me try, Jonathan!" He shoved the older boy out of the way, trying the button himself. Dustin stuck his thumb against the round, yellow disc, his fingers gripping the side of the cubicle as he pressed it several times. The gates and doors must run on a different power system than the rest of the building. "Son of a bitch! You know what..." Dustin smashed his palm over the button, holding it down.

For a moment, nothing happened -- until they heard a faint click and the gate began to open, skidding against the dirt as it provided them entry.

"Hey! I got it!" Dustin believed; his smile wide. "I got it!"

Nancy and Jonathan sped for their car, jumping into the front seats and starting the ignition. Before the others could question them, they raced off, heading through the gate towards certain danger.

They stood there in the dark, watching the headlights fade. Sophie blinked, her lips parting. "You guys are just," she exhaled, glancing at Steve, " you're not afraid to walk headfirst into danger, are you?"

"Yeah, I know." He agreed. "We're a bunch of clueless idiots."

"Do we just wait for them now?" she asked.

Steve returned a look of concern. "Do you wanna go in there?"

A faint scream echoed in the distance, drawing her attention back to the lab. The flickering lights were jarring, and dread gnawed at the pit of her stomach. Her throat tensed, dry from a lack of hydration. "Not really, no."

So, they waited. Steve helped Sophie into the security cubicle, giving her injured leg a rest. It soothed the cramping a little, numbness spreading through her shin.

Dustin and Lucas weren't speaking to each other, their blatant lies causing a light fracture in their friendship. On the other hand, Max stood by the gate, hoping the teens would return safe and sound. The sisters' worlds had been flipped upside down – everything they had ever known was tossed out the window. This was the reality of their situation; monsters were real, and they just had to accept that.

She took a step towards the gate, her eyes widening. "Guys?"

Two pairs of headlights appeared, growing larger as they neared the gate. Sophie knew the first car speeding towards them, sounding its horn. "Look out!" The kids sprinted out of the way, letting them pass.

The second car followed behind, halting in front of the gate. It was a brown jeep, and as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Sophie could read the words, "Hawkins Police" on the side.

The driver, a bearded man dressed in scrubs and a large coat, yelled at the group. "Let's go!" The kids didn't know what to do, at first, returning blank stares.

But Steve leapt into action, yanking the sliding door open. He gestured to the kids, letting them in first. "Come on! Get in!" Sophie stood up, quickly hobbling over to him. With one hand, she took his wrist whilst the other grasped the edge of the door, pulling herself inside. Steve jumped in behind her, pulling the door shut behind him. "Okay, let's go!"

The kids barely had time to settle before the man took off, trailing Nancy and Jonathan's car. Sophie peered through the rearview window, the screeches slowly fading as they made their escape.

"What the hell are you kids doing out here?" the bearded man questioned.

Steve's mouth opened and closed, his gaze darting from the kids to Sophie, who raised her brows in response, urging him to answer. "Well-"

"You know what?" He interrupted, barely allowing him to explain. "I don't need to hear it right now."

Of course, he didn't need to hear about their stupid plan. The man just survived an ordeal far worse than theirs. His firm grip on the steering wheel and pallid face told them everything they needed to know -- something really bad happened.

***

Their place of refuge was a one-storey house belonging to the Byers. Their home was covered in blue and black scrawls, which Joyce explained to be a set of tunnels spreading underneath Hawkins. Chief Hopper, the man who took the group to safety, figured it out immediately – which unfortunately led to an entrapment lasting several hours underground. He yelled to some higher power on the phone, begging for their help.

The kids finally explained everything from what happened to Will to the discovery of an alternate dimension in Hawkins. As Dustin and Lucas recalled the long story, Sophie cleaned the wound on her leg, the truth giving way to more questions. 

"So, let me get this straight." Small groans escaped her lips as she dabbed cold water against her wound, the slight sting rippling through her leg. She hoped the painkillers Joyce gave her would kick in soon. "Hawkins Lab experimented on this girl, Eleven, and she opened a gate to this alternate dimension that led to Will getting taken there?"

Dustin nodded. "Yep."

"And now he's possessed by something -- like a demon?"

"It's not a demon. It's an interdimensional being."

A long sigh escaped her throat, lightly shaking her head. "Right, yeah."

The unconscious form of Will Byers drove his mother to tears, knowing she could no longer trust her son. That kid had gone through Hell; he was lucky to have survived a week in that place. And now, some otherworldly dick threw him back in there. Only this time, he was trapped within his own mind – a personal Hell crafted just for him. He was only thirteen, barely a teenager. God, it just sickened her to see him like this. What had he done to deserve a fate worse than death?

"Here," Max wandered into the kitchen area, grasping a thick roll of woven cotton, "found some bandages."

She smiled, taking the object from her hands. "Thanks."

 Sophie began to bind her shin and calf in discoloured fabric. They'd given her some painkillers too, providing her some relief from the discomfort. A small safety pin kept it in place, the bandage wrapped tight around her injury. Once she was finished, Sophie unfolded the torn, bloodied denim over her leg, slightly hiding the bandage underneath. 

"Oh, um," she reached for the bloody piece of camo fabric strewn on the table, eyeing Lucas, "here's your bandana."

He backed away, showing his palms and releasing a nervous laugh. "Er, you can keep it."

Sophie's thoughts returned to the story, wondering about the young girl the lab kept locked up for years. "So, what happened to Eleven?"

"We're not sure," Dustin answered. "She was fighting the Demogorgon when she disappeared."

She must have been younger than Will when she vanished – she'd barely had a life outside the walls of the lab. It almost reminded her of Rapunzel, with the evil witch being a white-haired man the kids referred to as, "Papa" or, "Brenner", switching between names.

Hopper hung up the phone, closing his eyes and wincing. They all turned to him, Dustin asking. "They didn't believe you, did they?"

"We'll see." He responded.

"We'll see?" Mike spoke, breaking his silence. "We can't just sit here while those things are loose!"

Steve wandered back into the kitchen, his head bowed. He leaned against a cabinet, his palms gripping the edge of the wood.

"We stay here, and we wait for help." It was a rational idea, but how long would it take until backup arrived? And with Will being used as a spy for the big bad, they wouldn't be safe forever. His original personality was beginning to fade, and it wouldn't be long before they would lose him forever.

He was the partial cause of one death – that's what Hopper told them. Bob Newby gave his life to return power to the building and break the lockdown, allowing them to escape. He was so close to the front entrance when the creatures came for him, killing him the way they could have killed the others.

They had to leave him for dead, otherwise, they'd be next on the menu.

Mike was unsatisfied with his untimely death, knowing he had done so much for them -- for Will. The young boy stood up, wandering over to a blue cube, its blocks tied together with a large rubber band. He examined it in his hands. "Did you know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?"

Lucas lowered his brows. "Really?"

"He petitioned the school to start it and everything. Then he had a fundraiser for equipment." He told his friends. "Mr. Clarke learned everything from him." His lips curved upwards, softly smiling. "Pretty awesome, right?"

"Yeah." The boys spoke almost simultaneously, agreeing with him.

He placed the cube on the table, pressing it against the wood. "We can't let him die in vain."

"Well, what do you want to do, Mike? Right -- the Chief's right on this." This night taught him a valuable lesson -- never run into battle without understanding what you're facing. "We can't stop those Demodogs on our own."

Max gave him a look, her brow arching. "Demodogs?"

"Demogorgon dogs." Dustin specified, naming the new type of Upside Down monsters. "Demodogs -- it's like a compound. It's, like, a play on words-"

Her eyes went wide, interrupting him. "Okay!" She didn't need a lecture, especially not when they're facing off against monsters.

"I mean, when it was just Dart," he opened his hands, gazing up at Mike, "maybe?"

"But there's an army now," Lucas said.

"Precisely."

Mike lowered his head, deep in thought. "His army."

The boy's words caught Steve's attention. "What do you mean?"

"His army." Mike reiterated. He glanced at each of his friends, growing more enthused. "Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too."

Sophie narrowed her eyes, returning a befuddled stare. "Whose army?"

Mike didn't answer her question. Instead, he led the five down the hallway, past the others, and entered the possessed boy's bedroom. Like the rest of the house, Will's room was adorned with scrawled drawings. Other than the expansive map, Sophie acknowledged his other sketches as well and couldn't help but admire the young boy's talent.

A horrifying drawing sat on Will's desk -- the one Mike wanted to show them. It appeared to be a large, spider-like creature made of shadow looming over their town. Flashes of red, garish lightning cracked behind it, illuminating the monster. 

He handed it to Dustin. "The shadow monster."

"It got Will that day on the field." Sophie could remember his seizure and how frightened he was afterwards. The monster trapped him within his own mind and took hold of his body from another dimension. This thing was powerful -- more powerful than anything they've faced before. "The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him."

"And so this virus," her eyes darted across the walls, glancing at Will's map, "it's connecting him to the tunnels?"

"To the tunnels, to the monsters, to the Upside Down -- everything." He specified.

"Whoa, slow down. Slow down." Steve took the drawing from Dustin's hand, taking a look. Beside him, Sophie took a peek as well, trying her best to imagine something so horrifying in reality. 

For Steve, he didn't realise there were worse things out there. He should have, of course. The other realm was so vast -- he should have realised that the Demogorgon wasn't the only one who lived there.

"Okay, so the shadow monster's inside of everything," Mike started, "and if the vines feel something like pain, then so does Will."

"And so does Dart," mentioned Lucas.

"Yeah, it's like what Mr. Clarke taught us." He explained, his head bobbing. "The hive mind."

Compared to the others, Steve couldn't understand anything these kids were saying. He wasn't stupid, but clearly, he wasn't smart enough to match their intellect -- and that made him feel a little worthless around them. "Hive mind?"

"A collective consciousness. It's a super-organism." Dustin expanded upon.

"So, the Demodogs are, like," Sophie began to put the pieces together, "worker bees?" Bees are a communal species; they're meant to stay together. Alone, they are vulnerable, like the one that stung her when she was little -- the one she mourned for.

"Exactly." Mike pointed at the shadow monster, stating. "And this is the thing that controls everything. It's the brain."

"The Queen Bee." She'd never seen a real hive herself, but everyone knew that to mess with the Queen Bee, they would be messing with the entire hive. Her workers felt her pain, her suffering -- they couldn't live without her. It's how the Upside Down worked.

Dustin's eyes bulged out of his skull, his mouth agape. "Like the Mind Flayer."

His expression matched Mike's, who shared a similar sentiment. In front of them, Lucas clicked his fingers, the sound reverberating against the walls.

On the other hand, Steve, Max, and Sophie conveyed various looks of bewilderment. "The what?"

***

Sorry this took a little while. I've just started my second year of university, but this part is almost finished, so hopefully I'll get it done by the end of the year. I'm gonna try to get the next chapter done by Stranger Things day, but we can only hope (especially since i've got things due this week but i can try!!)

I was planning for this to come out before I went on this trip to America, but obviously that didn't work out. But that's why this chapter's shorter. I'm hoping to finish the first part by Christmas and then work on part two in February. My Stranger Things hyperfixation tends to wane every so often, but I'm hoping it'll properly return by then.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you liked this chapter, even though it's more filler than anything. Votes and comments are always appreciated, my loves. Thank you for 8k reads x

- Alice.