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― season two, episode eight;
SUPER SPY

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3098 words

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*.✧ 𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐘 ✧.*

As soon as Will told us where the Shadow Monster's weak spot was, Owens immediately sent for soldiers to get suited up and go down to the tunnels to find the designated location.

I was waiting with Mike, Mom, Bob and Will, all of us back in his room. I was staring at the ground when I heard Will speak up.

"I'm...I-I'm sorry."

"What?" Mom breathed, and I looked up to see a tear rolling down his cheek. "What do you mean sweetie?"

"He made me do it."

A chill ran down my spine and my mind raced as I tried to figure out what he meant. I glanced over at Mike, and I could see his wheels turning as well.

"Who? Who made you do it?" Mom got up from her seat.

"I told you," Will's voice trembled. "They upset him. They shouldn't have done that."

Mike sucked in a breath and my attention was brought back to him. "The spy!" He exclaimed.

Realization was settling over me, and Will was crying now. "Shit!" I breathed, not caring about my language, even knowing that Mom and Bob were listening.

Mike jumped up from his chair and ran out of the door, and I followed his lead, my heart thumping loudly in my ears.

We entered the hall, running up to the soldiers guarding our door. I tried to push my way past them but I was grabbed roughly and flung back. "It's a trap!" I yelled. "Please, you have to let me through, it's a trap!"

"Go sit down, young lady." One of the men told me calmly. "We have this under control."

"You have to listen to us!" Mike pleaded.

I threw myself at them again, now kicking and screaming, using all my body weight to try to move the men out of my way. I was caught around the waist by strong arms.

"Ashley, stop it!" Bob said in my ear.

"It's a trap! It's a trap! You have to warn them, they're all going to die!" I repeated these words until my voice was hoarse, feeling tears pricking the corners of my eyes. "We're all gonna die!"

Suddenly, the alarm went off, the piercing sound hurting my ears. I whimpered and went limp in Bob's arms, watching the soldiers look at each other in horror as they realized that I had been right all along.

Will had led the shadow monster right to us. And if my theories were correct, and everything associated with the Upside Down is connected, then this was bound to bring some monsters along with it. Shit.

The alarm continued to blare and Bob loosened his grip on me. "What the hell is going on?" He looked confused.

"We're too late." Mike said, running his hand through his hair, stressed.

"What?" Bob continued to look confused, finally dropping his arms from around me. I teetered on my feet for a moment, my whole body worn out from my outburst.

"We're too late!" Mike yelled, running back into the room with Mom and Will. I stayed in the hallway for a moment, turning to the soldiers.

"We have to get out of here, right now!" I begged them.

Still, I got no response from them, but I could see that they had wide eyes even under their visors.

I spun on my heel, pushing past Bob and running into the room, standing next to Mike.
He stepped to the side and snatched up a needle from a table in the corner.

He held up the tool to show Mom. "We need to make Will sleep."

"What!?" Mom exclaimed, stepping in between Mike and I and the bed, where Will was.

"Mom," I joined in, hoping that she might listen to me more than Mike. "Listen to me. Will is a spy. If he knows where we are, so does the Shadow Monster."

Mike nodded, agreeing with me and I saw Will's breathing pick up. He looked at Mom frantically.

"She's lying!" He pleaded with her.

"He killed those soldiers, he'll kill us too!" Mike added, squeezing the syringe needle tighter.

"He's lying! He's lying!" Will was screaming now, and my heart sunk with the realization that the Shadow Monster had gained control.

Mom was holding Will down as he thrashed around in bed, still yelling. I covered my mouth in horror, as my chin began to wobble from listening to my brother's screaming.

Bob had run into the room as soon as Will started to yell, and he was helping Mom hold him down.

Gunfire could be heard from the hallway, making me and Mike jump.

"Those are gunshots!" Bob exclaimed.

Will was just repeating that we were both lying at the top of his lungs until Mom pushed him into the bed and interrupted him. "Okay!" She exclaimed. "Will, listen. Do you know who I am?"

Will didn't respond right away, and I could see that his eyes were blank, expressionless.

Mom repeated her question, and I felt hot tears start to run down my cheeks as Will remained silent.

"You're..." He started, expression cold and eyes emotionless. "You're Mom!"

Mom looked taken aback, and she leaned away from him. She looked over at Bob, nodding quickly at him. "Hold him down." She instructed. She moved away from the bed and Bob stepped forward and put his arms around Will, pinning him to the mattress.

"No!" Will screamed desperately. "Let go! Let me go! Let me go!"

Mom snatched the needle from Mike and took long strides over to the bed. She rolled up Will's sleeve, trying to hold his arm still but his thrashing became more violent, along with his screaming.

Mom was crying now, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

Mike's eyes were wide and he was covering his ears, as if he couldn't bear to listen to his best friend screaming in pain any longer. I felt the same way, more tears falling as I blinked.

I saw one of Will's arms escape from Bob's grasp and Bob struggled to regain control of the squirming boy. Mom was still hesitating, holding the syringe, hovering the needle above Will's exposed skin.

I lunged towards the bed, brushing up beside Mom. I grabbed Will's freed arm with my right hand, pinning it to the side of him. Then, I swiftly wiped my eyes so that I could see, before grabbing the needle from Mom and swiftly sticking it into Will.

I started to cry again, my body racking with sobs as Will continued to scream, this time right in my face.

"I hate you! I hate you!" He was yelling at me, making direct eye contact. I knew that it wasn't really him speaking, but the words still ripped through my chest. "Let me go! Let go! Let go! Let me go!"

Mom wrapped her arms around me, crying into my shoulder as I pulled the needle out of him. Slowly, he started to go limp under Bob and I's grasp. Then, his eyelids fluttered shut and his screaming stopped.

I dropped to my knees beside the bed, burying my face in my arms as I sobbed. Mom had rested her hand on my back as we both tried to regain our composure.

Suddenly, the door was flung open and Hopper burst into the room, followed by Owens. He looked at Mom and I, then at Mike, then at the needle in my hand, then at Will passed out on the bed, trying to put the pieces together in his mind.

He didn't have any time to ask questions though, not before some loud banging noises were heard from down the hallway.

"We gotta go!" Hopper commanded us.

I got to my feet, moving out of Hopper's way as he went over to the bed and carefully picked Will up. I wiped my eyes, chewing on my lip to stop from crying anymore. I went over and stood by Mike while everybody gathered things to evacuate the building.

Hopper led the way down the hallway, with the limp Will thrown over his shoulder. Mike and I were directly behind him, then Bob, then Mom, and Owens was last.

As we made our way down the hall, I saw that there were dead doctors everywhere and the scientists that were still alive were screaming in terror. I even watched one lady get pounced on by some kind of four-legged smaller demogorgon.

Hopper halted abruptly at this, turning to go back the way we came, stepping away from the creature. But there was a soldier behind us, firing his gun at something in that direction.

So instead, Hopper flung the door open to a room that was right next to us. We all hurried inside, with Owens shutting and locking us in there.

I didn't even notice that I was gripping onto Mike's arm until we all went quiet. I quickly let go as Hopper layed Will down on a table in the back.

"Oh my god," Bob breathed. We all turned to look at what he was talking about.

The room that we were in appeared to be a surveillance room, with a wall full of small screens showing the hallways. I stared at the screens in horror as every single one of them showed a demogorgon and the massacre that followed.

"We are going to die." I whispered, hugging myself tightly. Maybe if I spoke it into existence, it would be less scary when it actually happened. Maybe my subconscious would be prepared for it.

Just then the lights flickered and then went out completely.

You have got to be kidding me.

*.✧ 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄 ✧.*

"You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas asked Dustin, as we walked. We had left the junkyard, noticing that the demogorgons had gone off towards Hawkins Lab.

Of course they had, I'm not surprised. Nothing good ever happened there.

We were hiking in that direction, to investigate what had called them away. I had slung my bow over my shoulder, wearing it like a crossbody bag, the string in the middle of my chest.

"Yes," Dustin snapped. "He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt."

"He was tiny two days ago." Max piped up.

"Well, he's molted three times already." Dustin replied, still showing Max no kindness.

"Malted?" Steve asked.

"Molted." Dustin corrected him. "Shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms."

"What the hell is a hornworm?" Steve was confused.

"Like a snake, Steve. He shed his skin like a snake." I scoffed. "Try to use less nerdy examples Dustin."

"Whatever." Dustin rolled his eyes at me.

"Well, when's he gonna molt again?" Max continued the conversation.

"It's gotta be soon," said Dustin. "And 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 just cats." Steve added.

"Why do you keep bringing up that poor cat!?" I asked. "Let the damn thing rest in peace."

"I'm just saying, alright? Jesus Christ." Steve sighed exasperatedly.

"Wait, a cat?" Lucas exclaimed. "Dart ate a cat?"

"No, what?" Dustin stuttered. "No."

We all stopped walking as Lucas confronted Dustin.

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, he ate Mews." I added.

"Who's Mews?" Max asked.

"It's Dustin's cat." Steve and I chorused.

"I seriously hate every single one of you right now!" Dustin snapped.

Lucas scoffed angrily. "I knew it! I knew that you kept him!"

"No!" Dustin tried to defend himself, but he was caught in a lie. "I...he missed me. He wanted to come home."

"Bullshit!" Lucas gasped.

"I didn't know he was a Demogorgon, okay?" Dustin yelled back.

"So you admit it now?" Lucas crossed his arms.

"Guys!" Max tried to interrupt. "Who freaking cares? We have to go!"

"I care!" Lucas continued to yell. "You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!"

"So did you!" Dustin roared.

"What?" Lucas furrowed his brow.

"You told a stranger the truth!" Dustin explained, shining his flashlight in Max's face to emphasize his point.

Max scoffed, offended. "A stranger?"

"You wanted to tell her too!" Lucas said.

"Yeah, but I didn't, Lucas, okay?" Dustin snapped.

As the kids continued to fight, with Max joining in now, Steve and I just stood and watched them.

Suddenly, a new wave of pain in my lungs washed over me and I clutched at my chest, struggling to stay on my feet.

I hissed as the burning sensation spread from just my lungs to my whole upper diaphragm, and my chest became tight and I couldn't breathe that well.

I was gasping for air and Steve grabbed my arm to support me. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" He gripped me tighter. "Are you okay? What's happening?"

The kids stopped bickering and were crowding around me now. "I...can't...breathe!" I sputtered through my tightening chest. I pulled away from Steve, walking away from the group and over to fresh air.

I gasped for a few more moments, then my throat and chest cleared and I could breathe like normal again. I took deep inhales to try and calm myself down, anxiety buzzing through my veins.

"You're really starting to scare me here, Holland." Steve commented as I returned to the others.

"I'm fine." I told him. "We should get going."

I was lying though. I was not fine.

Sure, I could breathe again, so that was nice, but my whole upper body was still tingling and feeling like it was on fire, even more than before. And on top of that, my ears had started to ring and I felt lightheaded now.

Chalking it up to almost suffocating to death a second ago, I pushed past everybody and began to led the way as we restarted our walk to the lab.

After we walked a bit longer, loud screeching could be heard. We picked up our pace, ignoring Max who scolded us for running towards the noise, saying that it was 'a classic horror movie rookie mistake.'

We came out of the woods and into a clearing on the top of a hill. We realized that the noise was coming from the lab and we watched in horror as all the lights shut off on all six floors.

Lucas breathed, "They went back home."

We ran down the hill, entering a smaller woods next to the lab. We trekked through it, all of us speed walking, desperate to get to the lab.

"Hello?"

I froze when the voice called out. "Jonathan?"

*.✧ 𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐘 ✧.*

Sam hurried over to the shelving unit in the corner of the room, grabbing a cardboard box. He dropped it on the table with the security camera screens and dug through it until he found what he was looking for; a map.

He spread it out on the table and we all huddled around him as he explained our situation. "This is us," he pointed. "And this is the nearest exit."

The nearest exit in question was at least a half mile away, down many hallways, twists and turns.

"Even if we somehow make it there, there's no way out." He continued. "The locks are fail secure."

"Fail secure?" Mom questioned, prompted Owens to explain in normal people terms.

"If there's a power outage, the building goes on lockdown." He elaborated.

"Can it be unlocked remotely?" Bob piped up.

"With a computer, sure, but somebody's gotta reset the breakers." Owens shook his head like it was hopeless.

"Where are the breakers?" Hopper asked.

"Breakers are in the basement." Owens replied. "Three floors down." He pointed to the map.

Hopper snatched the paper from under Owens' grasp and began to march towards the door.

"Jim, where are you going?" Bob demanded.

"To reset the breakers." Hopper snapped.

"Okay, then what?"

"Then we get the hell out of here."

"No," Bob scoffed. "Then the power comes back on. If you wanna unlock the doors, you have to completely reboot the computer system, and then override the security codes with a manual input."

Hopper gritted his teeth. "Fine. How do I do that?"

"You can't." Bob answered. "Not unless you know BASIC."

"I don't know what that means." Hopper seethed.

"It's a computer programming language." Mike butt in.

"Teach it to me." Hopper demanded.

Bob scoffed. "Shall I teach you French while I'm at it, Jim? How about a little German?"

Hopper fell silent at this, and Bob looked to Owens. "What about you, Doc? You speak BASIC?"

"No." Owens sighed.

"Okay," Bob pulled back his shoulders. "I got this."

My heart sank.

"What?" Mom and I spoke at the same time.

"No, Bob, don't." Mom stepped up to him.

"It's okay." He comforted her with a hug. They pulled apart and he held her arms between her hands. "It's going to be okay. Remember, Bob Newby, superhero."

This made Mom giggle and then Bob let her go. He nodded to me, "See you later, kiddo."

"Bye," I squeaked through the lump rising in my throat.

With this, Bob and Hopper both left the room, with Hopper saying that he was gonna help Bob get started.

I think that he was just mad that he couldn't save the day for once. It was almost sweet.

A few moments of anticipatory silence, Hopper came back into the room, without Bob this time. He quickly shut the door behind him, and we all crowded around the surveillance screens, watching the black screens, waiting for them to turn on.

After a few, anticipatory moments, the lights came back on. I gasped in surprise. He did it! He really did it!

When the lights came back on, so did the surveillance screens. We saw that Bob was in the basement, flipping switches. Owens grabbed a mic that was attached to a computer and held it up to his lips. "Okay, Bob, can you hear us?"

"Loud and clear, Doc." Bob's voice crackled over the announcement speaker. I heard Mom sigh with relief as Bob went on, "Can you hear me?"

"We hear you." Owens confirmed.

"Alright, give me a second." Bob said.

We watched him sit down at a desk behind a computer, starting to type furiously.

"Open sesame." Bob's voice came over the speaker once more before a loud buzzing noise could be heard from a few hallways down.

"It's open," Owens informed us.

Holy shit! We might actually make it out of here alive!

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