After the day she had at school yesterday and the fight with Lucas, Max just wanted to blow off some steam and channel her anger out on video games.  So, she tried to head to the arcade herself, but her mom protested and didn't want her to go off by herself in a strange town, since they only moved here just a few days ago.  Billy's dad, basically, forced him to give her a lift since he was heading to town as well.  He revs his engine and screeches his tires as he skids to a halt in front of the arcade.  Max gets out as fast as she could, she just wanted to get away from Billy so badly since he constantly reminded her how much he hates her.  

"If you're not out in an hour—" Billy warns, but she cuts him off. 

"Walking home. Yeah, yeah, I know." Max mutters sarcastically and rolls her eyes at him as she gets her board from the back.  

Holding up a warning finger, "Hey! Watch the attitude, shitbird." He glares at her and takes off again, without even waiting for her to shut the door.  

Max flips him off once again as he drives away and storms inside to play Dug Dig, but to her dismay, the machine was out of order. 

"Sorry about that, Road Warrior." Kenny says as he walks over to her, seeing her shock and disappointment. 

"What happened?" Max asks, this can't be happening. 

Kenny sighs in dismay and pats the top of the machine, "Short circuit in the motherboard. A real bummer. But fret not. I got another machine up and running in the back." He says and shows her the way.  Lifting the counter door and walks towards the door.  He hands her his bag of cheese puffs, "Hold these." He unlocks he door and pushes it wide open to show Lucas waiting for her.

Max frowns in confusion, turning to face Kenny for answers, but Kenny holds a warning finger at Lucas.

"You better get me that date now, Sinclair."

"I told you I would." Lucas rolls his eyes at him. 

Kenny grunts a warning and begins to leave the two of them alone, "And keep things PG in here, all right?" He states and shuts the door. 

Stuttering in confusion, Max turns to face Lucas, demanding for answers, "What is this shit, stalker?"

"Sorry. I just needed a safe place." Lucas apologizes. 

"A safe place to what? Be creepy?" She scoffs at him. 

Lucas sighs deeply, preparing himself to tell Max everything.  He was sick of hiding the truth from her, she was in their party so that means she deserves to know.  He just hopes and prays for her safety, "Listen. I'm gonna tell you the truth about everything that happened last year. But if anyone finds out, you could be arrested. Possibly killed."

"Killed?" Max scoffs. 

"I need to know. Do you accept the risk?" Lucas asks.

"Oh, my God! This... this is so stupid." She snorts.

"Do you accept the risk?" Lucas demands, sending her a serious look.

Rolling her eyes at him, she shrugs, "Yeah. Sure. Fine. I accept the risk. Let's hear it."

He gestures to sit so he can tell her everything.  She sits in a chair as he sits on a stool in front of her.

"Last year...Will didn't get lost in the woods. He got lost somewhere else." He begins his tale.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thunder rumbles over the Byers' home as everyone furiously tries to contact Hopper, but no one knew where he was.  Gloria assumed he could be at one of the farms.  From the sound of the fear in Will's voice, it was clear that Hopper was running out of time.  They needed to find him.  

Will furiously draws the area where he saw Hopper in his mind.  He could only show where he was located in the vine drawing.  Where in Hawkins is the problem.  

When Will was done, he hands the drawing to his mom, "Hey, is this where you saw him?" She stutters, "Is this where you saw Hopper?" She asks. 

Will nods, "I think so. Yeah."

"Okay." Joyce says softly.  

"'Where' is a big question." Gloria scoffs as she scans through the drawings that covered the house with Mike and Joyce.  

Mike managed to find a matching picture, "Here!" He calls from the kitchen and points at the fridge. 

Joyce, Will, and Gloria rush towards the kitchen and finds the spot Mike found.  It was a huge area with more than one path.  

"Okay, so... so Hopper is here?"

"Yeah." Will nods.

"Now we just need to find out where here is, right?" Gloria says as she points at the center of the picture.  

"Right." Joyce whispers as she tries to think. 

"Did he say anything? I mean, before he left?" Mike asks. 

Joyce sighs, "Uh, some... something about vines?" 

"Ok, so we know he's not at the lab, so he's got to be at one of the farms.  But finding the right one will take a long time." Gloria sighs out. 

"We can't wait long." Mike states strongly.

Gloria holds her hands up, trying to calm the boys down as she sits on the armrest of the couch, "I know, sweetie.  But Hawkins has farms in every corner of the Earth.  We have to find the one if we want to save him." 

Suddenly, the sound of a car pulling up is heard from outside.  Joyce quickly gets up and rushes towards the window.

"Hopper." She sighs in relief, but when she peaks outside, she sees it was Bob.  Bob?! "Oh, shit.  It's Bob." She says softly in panic as she turns towards Gloria with wide eyes. 

"What the hell is Bob doing here?" Gloria whispers, frowning in confusion. 

"I don't know." Joyce whispers.

"Get rid of him." Gloria whispers and urges her out.  

Joyce quickly meets Bob outside as he was getting things out of his car and walks up towards the porch with a big smile.  

"Surprise. I would've called, but you said not to clog up the line." Bob greets her.

Struggling to find the right excuse to send him off, she waves off his apology, "You know, I...We're fine, we don't need anything." She stutters. 

"When I was sick as a kid, and I was sick all the time as a kid, nothing made me feel better than focusing on these brain teasers." He says and holds up a stack of board games and a cube wrapped in rubber bands. 

"Those are great. Ah..." Joyce smiles, trying so hard not seem pushy. 

"I could teach him how to play." Bob says excitedly.

Joyce stutters and stops him from going in, "You know, he's sleeping."

Bob nods in understanding as the thunder continues rumble up above, "Okay.  I could wait with you?" He asks with a charming smile.  Wanting to spend more time with Joyce.  

Joyce sighs softly, "Listen, it's just not a good time. But, um, you know what? I'll call you, okay? Thank you." She says gently.

"You sure?" Bob asks.  

Joyce nods, giving Bob a strained smile, "Yeah."

Bob sighs, understanding that she wants to tend to her family, "Well, have him call me. They don't call me Bob the Brain for nothing. He chuckles and turns to leave. 

Joyce nods, laughing softly and turns to head inside, but she gasps as an idea pops in her head.  She turns fast to stop him from leaving.

"Bob!"

Bob turns and smiles at her, "That's my name." Happy that she didn't want him to leave, but when she tells him to come inside and ask no questions because they were playing a game that Will created.  What he sees in her house had him stumped and speechless.  " Huh. Hmm." He mutters as he studies the drawings that was in every corner of the house as everyone watches him to see what he was thinking.  

"You drew all these yourself?" Bob frowns as he turns to ask Will.  

Everyone nods, "Mmm-hmm." Joyce says. 

"Why, exactly?" Bob frowns in confusion at Will.

Joyce waves it off, "I...I told you the rules. No questions, okay?" She states. 

Bob frowns at Joyce and nods anyway, "Yeah." He mutters and scans the drawings. 

Joyce begins to walk towards the kitchen with everyone, "We... we just need you to help us figure out what..." She trails off when she realizes Bob wasn't following her.  

Gloria walks up to him and snaps her fingers in his face, "Bob, focus, Sweetie." Gloria says.

Bob snaps out of his thoughts and turns towards Joyce as she calls out for him. 

"Bob? Bob? Over here." She says as she points the way and shows him.  She kneels down in front of the fridge and draws a circle on the picture and an 'X', "Where... where this is."

"That's the objective. Find the X." Mike adds. 

Bob grins, thinking this was all a weird game, "Yeah? What's at the X? Pirate treasure?" He chuckles, but no one was laughing. 

"Bob, no questions." Joyce states as she straightens.  

Bob nods, "Okay." He sighs and looks around.  He was clueless...and concerned.  He clicks his tongue and places his board games on the dining table.

Joyce clears her throat and frowns when Bob gently grips her arm. 

"Let me talk to you for a second." Bob mutters and then turns towards Gloria and the boys, "Excuse us, Gloria. Hang on, guys." He leads her towards her room and sees more of the drawings.  He frowns and shakes it off to face Joyce, "Joyce, you can talk to me. You know that, right?" 

Stammering, Joyce frowns at him, "Yeah. What's the problem, exactly?" She asks, as if everything was normal. 

Bob frowns at her and scoffs at their surroundings, "What's the problem? Joyce," He stops and sighs, "Will doesn't look well. You don't look well. What's going on?" He asks, concerned for her and Will. 

"Nothing. Nothing." Joyce shakes her head. 

"Is this an episode? Is this one of Will's episodes?"

Joyce scoffs, "No. No! No." She says, waving it all off, but she could tell Bob wasn't going to give up until she tells him something concrete.

Bob stutters, trying to understand everything, "I'm sorry. I just...I don't...see how any of this is good for Will, or for you. And even if I wanted to play along, I mean, how could I figure anything out if I don't understand the context of the game?" His voice, suddenly, trails off as he looks over Joyce's shoulder at a few drawings, recognizing the shape they made.  Thunder rumbles softly outside as he traces the mark with his eyes. "Or..."

Joyce frowns as she looks over to see what he was looking at, "What? What is it?"

Bob moves and points at the drawings, "I know that shape. It's Lovers' Lake. It's Lovers' Lake. I get it." Bob exclaims as he rushes out the room and follows the pictures' trail. "Okay, I get. That's Lake Jordan. And if that's Lake Jordan, then you can probably find...Yeah, that's, uh, Sattler's quarry. And if you just follow it naturally...it moves to...the Eno River. And there it is. That's the Eno, do you see it?" He asks excitedly, pointing out the shapes the pictures made.  

But, Joyce couldn't see it. Gloria rubs her mouth nervously.  

"So, you're saying, the drawings remind you of areas?" Gloria asks, trying to understand what he was saying.

Bob waves it off and continues to move around the rooms, explaining everything, "Okay, so the lines aren't roads. But they act like roads. And they act like roads 'cause when you follow 'em, you'll see...they don't go over water. And that's the giveaway. That's the giveaway. Ha! Don't you get it? It's not a puzzle, it's a map. It's a map of Hawkins!" He exclaims.

Joyce's eyes widen and Gloria's hand drops to her side in shock.  Mike looks over to Will as Will's eyes widen in fear. 

Bob laughs and looks over to Will, "Right, Will?" But Will couldn't answer.  Everyone felt frozen in complete shock with this information. The creature was spreading all over Hawkins.  Underground.  But where was Hopper?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hopper was busy, still stuck underground in the Upside Down replica tunnel.  With no way out and apparently, no way of communicating anyone from the outside.  As he continues his walk through the tunnels, the vines squealing loudly at his harsh steps.  

He grabs his handcom and tries again to reach anyone out for help, but all he could hear was static.  

"Does anybody copy? Look, if anybody copies, this is Jim Hopper, Hawkins' Chief..." No matter what, all he could hear was the annoying static.  

Panting heavily, he continues to find some way to get out, but he stops when realizes where he ended up.  Surrounding him were skeletons.  Dead animals.  He frowns when he sees a mauled raccoon and presses his foot on it.  The leg of the raccoon jerks, Hopper gasps in shock when he sees the bone leg jerk up.  The vines were digging their way through the poor animal's body.  Consuming it!

He needed to get out of here now before he becomes the next item on the menu.  He shines his light around and sees vines all over the wall.  If going through these tunnels were going to get him out, then he needed to dig himself out.  He gets his lighter and clicks it on, shining the fire over the vines, hearing it screech everytime he brought the fire close.  When he burned it, it screeches louder.  He looks back and sees items on the floor and had an idea.  Since the vines are keeping him from getting out, then he's gonna have to burn his way out.  He grabs a bone, takes off his jacket and wraps it around the bone.  Setting it on fire, he turns it into a large torch.  

With a shove of the torch, he holds it up and watches the vines retreat from the fire, screeching loudly in fear and pain.  

With the vines out of his way, he stabs the torch into the ground and begins to dig and claw his way through the dirt and slime.  There has to be a way out of here.  There had to be.  Hopper wasn't going to stop till he was free.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After finally containing Dart in the basement, Dustin began to clean up his and Dart's mess.  First, he had to give Mews a proper burial.  After digging a hold, Dustin grunts as he begins to cover Mews' body with dirt.  He needed to get in touch with his friends and warn them about Dart.  With his headset, Dustin tries to contact everyone, but for some reason he can't get a hold of anyone. 

"Guys, this is Dustin again. Does anyone copy? This is a code red. I repeat, a code red!" He says. 

But no one would answer.  While he was gathering cleaning supplies, he tries again, but still no one would answer. 

"I really need someone to pick up here. Hopper's MIA, and I've got a code red. Code red!" He says, aggravated he couldn't get in touch with anyone. 

In his room, furiously scrubbing the carpet, Dustin tries again, "All right, it's Dustin again. Seriously, I have a code red..."

"Could you please shut up?"

Dustin was surprised to hear a familiar annoyed voice replying, "Erica? Erica, is Lucas there? Where is he?" 

"Don't know. Don't care."

Stuttering, he needed answers now, "Is he with Mike?"

"Like I said, I don't know and I don't care."

"Please tell him it's super important. Please tell him that I have a code--" He begs, but she cuts him off. 

"Code red?" She asks, mocking him.

"Yep, code red. Exactly." Dustin says, happy that she was paying attention. 

"Mmm-hmm. I got a code for you instead. It's called code shut-your-mouth."

Suddenly, all he could hear was a click and static, "Erica?" He stutters.  He couldn't believe she just cut him off like that when there's a dire situation going on here!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile at Terry's, Becky places sandwiches on the kitchen table and glasses.  Milk for Eleven and Fiona and beer for her and Jace.  

Exhaling softly as she tries to calm her nerves with a cigarette, Becky tries to process everything Jace has told her. 

"So, Terry was right.  About everything.  And they did this to my sister, to keep her quiet, didn't they?" She scoffs,  "That...bastard!" She snarls and sniffles.  "What did they do to my sister?  Why Terry?" She scoffs. 

Jace sighs, "I wish I knew.  Honest to God, I wish I knew." He looks over at Fiona and takes her hand into his, "Both of them have been in isolation for years.  Only person who could possibly give you the answers you need would be Dr. Brenner.  But..." Jace stops and sighs, "He was killed last year in a horrific accident at the lab.  Another experiment he was working on and hoping to control was loose.  And it killed him." 

Becky shudders as continues to inhale her cigarette, "Karma caught up with him." She scoffs out a cloud and looks over to Eleven as she continues to watch Terry.  "Sweetie, I'm so sorry this isn't the welcoming you were possibly expecting." She says as she reaches out and touches Eleven's hand with gentleness. 

Eleven looks at her mother in sadness as Terry continues to mumble from the living room as she watches TV.  

"She won't get better...won't she?" She asks, but she knew the answer.  She just...hoped she could be wrong. 

Becky shakes her head, "They don't think so, no." She sniffles, "But she's not in any pain. She's just stuck, they think. Like in a dream. A long dream." She sighs softly.

"A good dream?" Fiona asks.  

"I hope so." Becky gives her a small smile. 

Eleven sighs, she wanted to talk to her mother so badly.  Tell her about her life, share so much with her.  She wanted what she has seen on TV and movies.  Mother's love and care. 

"Is it the same dream?" Eleven asks. 

"We don't know. Sometimes she says different words. But usually those."

Eleven softly lets out a cry.  She hated this.  Why did this happened to her mother?  What happened to her?

Becky grips her hand in comfort, "She always believed that you were out there. She always believed that you'd come home one day."

Eleven turns to look at her when she said those words, "Home?"

Becky smiles sadly, "Yeah, home." She sighs and gets up, "Come on.  Let me show you something." 

Together, Becky led Eleven towards the bedroom Terry created for her.  The door creaks open and she was welcomed with the sight of a beautiful nursery.  A large crib with a mobile of toys.  Children's toys and books everywhere.  It felt so warm and loving.  As if Eleven could feel the love her mother had for her even before she was born.  She walks up to the crib and smiles at the hanging toys. 

"Pretty."

"I can get you a real bed, and you can stay here with me if you want. How's that sound?" Becky smiles.

"Sister stay here?" Fiona frowns.  "You want to...separate us?" She asks and feels Jace wrap an arm around her for support. 

Becky stutters, "I understand you believe you are sisters, from being together for so long, but she's my family.  She's my blood.  My sister's blood.  But...I'm leaving it up to her if she wants to stay.  Okay?"

Fiona didn't like that, she didn't want to be separated from her sister...like before.  But she was right...this was Eleven's...Jane's family.  She didn't have any saying here.  Just Eleven.  

Sighing deeply, "Okay." Fiona says softly.  "Sister? Stay here?" She asks Eleven.  

Eleven needed to think.  Could she just leave everything behind and come home?  Leave her sister?  Hopper?  Mike?  Her heart cracks at the thought of leaving him, but she strongly believes he would be better without her.  She turns and gives her sister a look that said she needed time to decide, but her eyes drift towards a flickering hall light.  Eleven frowns and walks into the hallways and stares at it.  She senses something about the light.  It wasn't electrical, it was something more.  

"Oh, yeah, that. That happens sometimes. Old house, bad wiring..." Becky waves it off, but Eleven watches another light flicker.  She begins to follow it.  "Or if you ask my crazy aunt Shirley, it's...haunted." Her voice trails off as Eleven continues to follow the lights that flickered.  As if it was leading her towards somewhere.  She stops when she gets to the kitchen and sees a small lap flickering on the counter.  

"Sweetie, really, it's just the wiring." Becky says. 

"No." Fiona says as she could feel the energy from the lights.  "It's not electric.  It's energy." She says as she holds up a hand, feeling it flow through her fingers.  "Sister?  Are you doing this?" She asks. 

Eleven turns and looks at her mother, watching a lamp flicker next to her, "No." She says and looks at her sister, but turns to walk towards her mother.   Terry's mumbling grows at every step she took.  "It's Mama." She sighs and reaches to wipe blood off her nose.  She was using her powers to contact Eleven.  

"Sunflower. Rainbow. Three to the right. Four to the left." Terry continues to mumble. 

Becky frowns, stuttering in confusion, "I don't understand."

"Holy shit." Jace's eyes widen and he waves it off, "Sorry about my language," He apologizes.  "But...I believe that Eleven...Jane...inherited her powers...from Terry.  All those experiments Dr. Brenner did on her...why he took Jane...it was because of her powers." 

"Four-fifty..." Terry mumbles. 

"She knows I'm here." Eleven says.  

Becky gasps as they all snap their heads towards the TV as the channels begin to change on their own till there was nothing but white noise. 

"She wants to talk." Eleven says as she gets up and looks at the screen.  

"Rainbow." Terry continues to mumble. 

Fiona walks towards Terry, waving her hand over her head and shudders, "She carries such strong waves...deep inside, but...so broken.  I can sense her waves trying repair.  I never sensed that before." She looks over Terry and sees her finger twitching. Fiona kneels next to Terry and looks up at her, "You want to speak?" She asks.  

Terry just continues to mutter, but she would look over to Fiona a few times. 

"What are you talking about?" Becky couldn't understand what she meant.  

Fiona's eyes begins to glow with static electricity as she reaches and takes Terry's hand.  Loud electrical currents flow through Fiona's body to Terry's.  Terry grunts and stiffens, squeezing her eyes shut as if she was in pain.

"No! What are you doing?!" Becky rushes at her, but Jace holds her back.

"Wait!  Just wait." He says as he tries to calm her.  

Eleven watches carefully with Becky and Jace as Fiona continues to connect Terry's waves together.  

With a soft sigh, Terry opens her eyes slowly, blinking out of her fog.  She looks around her, seeing her home.  Becky, the deputy, the girl she met last year...and...she gasps softly as tears form in her eyes. 

"Jane?" She sobs.  

Eleven's breathing picks up, "Mama?" Her voice cracks.  

"Terry?" Becky cries and covers her mouth in shock.  

Terry looks over to her and smiles as tears fall from her eyes, "Becca." She sobs. 

Becky cries and gets out of Jace's arms to hug her sister tightly, "Oh, my god." She sobs.  "Oh, god."

Terry cries and holds on to her sister tightly with one arm as her other arm was occupied with Fiona's hand.

When Becky moves away, Terry looks up at Eleven, "Oh, Jane.  Jane." She cries.  

Eleven rushes to her and holds on to her tight, "Mama!" She cries and hugs her tight.  

"Oh, my baby girl." She kisses her head and hugs her tight.  "I never stopped looking for you.  I love you so much.  Know that, baby.  I love you so so much.  Always." Terry sobs.  

Eleven cries against her chest and holds on to her, "I'm here now, Mama." 

Becky was sobbing so hard and covering her face with such happiness and sadness.  A mixture of emotions was rushing through her like a roller coaster.  

Terry sniffles and shudders as she gently pushes Jane out of her arms, "Jane, listen to me.  Your sister can't hold on much longer.  I want you to go into the void.  Into my mind.  You need to know and see what they did to me.  To us.  You must see what I know.  Ok, baby?  Don't ever be afraid of what you see in there.  You must know..." She grunts as the fog was pushing to come back.  

Fiona grunts as she struggles to keep the connection as one.

"What's happening?" Becky sobs. 

"Fiona is trying to keep your sister here with you.  She's can't hold on much longer." Jace says as he holds on to Fiona, watching her face scrunch in pain and her nose begins to bleed.  

Panting softly, Terry looks over to her sister, "Becca, thank you so much for everything you've done for me.  I know it was hard to believe, but now you know.  And know that I love you so much, my big sister." She sobs. 

Becky cries, "I love you too."

Terry pants and looks at Eleven, holding her hand tightly, "Jane, whatever you decide to do.  Just know that I'm always with you and I'll always love you.  No matter where you go, no matter what you do.  You're my daughter.  Always." She sobs softly.  

"Yes, mama." Eleven nods. 

"Re--remember..." Terry struggles to speak as the connection was getting weak, "Remember...you and your sis--ster...are not the only ones..." She grunts.  "There's ano--!" She sighs as the fog returns.  "Sunflower.  Rainbow." She begins to mumble again.

Fiona grunts and falls into Jace's arms as she lets go of Terry.  Panting heavily, she whimpers weakly and feels Jace take a cloth and presses it against her nose.  

"It's ok.  I'm here." He whispers as he holds her tight. 

Terry continues to mumble as Becky sobs and holds her.  Eleven sobs and moves to hug her sister, thanking her for letting her talk to her mother. 

"We need to get you charged up." Jace states and moves to search for batteries, but to his surprise, Fiona pulls him back with more strength than he was expecting.

"No.  I'm ok." Fiona says, and sighs as she wipes away the blood.  "I'm ok."

Jace frowns at this.  How can she be after last year when she used so much of her powers, it almost killed her. Yet, she's fine right now. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the Byers' resident, Bob puts his intelligence into action as he places a map on the kitchen table and begins to measure distance between areas.  Discovering part of the clue has gotten him so excited to figure out the rest of the puzzle Joyce and Will wants him to find.  It was fun having others in the game.  Mike and Gloria were really into this game, he thought.  

"All right. All right. I'm 3.6 inches, what do you got?" Bob calls out as everyone was measuring with a long roll measuring tape.  

"I'm not sure. Mrs. Byers?" Mike calls out.  

"Hold on." She pulls the tape and marks the spot with it, "Twenty-one feet, four inches." Joyce calls out. 

"What about Tippecanoe to Danford Creek?" Bob asks after he marks the area on the map. 

"Danford? Where's Danford?" Joyce scoffs and sighs.  

"Dining room." Gloria calls out and points the area as she watches Joyce making a run towards her with the tape. "Sixteen feet, ten inches." Gloria calls out. 

"What about Danford to Jordan?" 

Joyce scoffs, she has had it!  They need to find Hopper now, "Oh, come on. This has gotta be enough." She stutters as they all move to hover around Bob as he continues to calculate where the X is. 

"It's not. It's... it's really not." Bob shakes his head. 

Gloria holds her hands up to stop everyone's panic, "Okay. Can't you figure it out?  Come on, Bob, you're the most brilliant man Joyce and I know other than Jace.  Where do you think the X is?"

Bob stutters as he tries to think, "Well, it's hard. The ratio isn't exactly one-to-one. I mean, if you're twisting my arm, and you are twisting my arm," He stops and scoffs out a laugh, "I would say that the X is...maybe a half mile southeast of Danford?" He suggests, drawing a big circle on the area. 

Sighing in relief, Joyce kisses his cheek and grabs the map, "Thank you. Thank you." She praises and rushes with Gloria and the boys to get to the car. 

Bob stutters in confusion as he watches everyone rushing out the door, "What? Are we...we really going?"

Gloria stops and turns, "Yes! Come on! We got to hurry!" She urges him.

Bob frowns as he gets into the car, "Wh-why?" 

Joyce starts up the car and backs up roughly, causing Bob to shout in surprise and grunt as she spins her tires down the dirt path towards the roads. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After his continuous failures of contacting his friends, Dustin has tried phoning them, but no one was picking up at the Byers', Mike's phone has been busy for hours, and Lucas' mom said that he was suppose to be with him.  After trying to cover up that lie, even though he's pretty sure Lucas was busted, he tried to make her see that he was probably at Mike's.  So he takes his bike and rides off to find Mike first.  Hopefully, he can get Mike on his good side before telling him he's been hiding Dart and that Dart was a Demogorgon.  

Walking up to the door, he could hear Mrs. Wheeler gossiping, possibly, on the phone.  That solves the mystery of his busy phone.  

"I don't know, Cath. Maybe if it was Margaret Thatcher, that'd be another story."

Dustin presses on the doorbell, hearing it ring and, soon, he can hear Mrs. Wheeler again. 

"Just a second, Cath. TED, CAN YOU GET THAT PLEASE? Sorry." She calls out and continues her gossiping chats.  

Mr. Wheeler sighs heavily, "I got it." Dustin hears the creak of the La-Z-y boy and footsteps approaching.  The door opens and there stood Mr. Wheeler with a face saying he had better things to do than answer the door.  Like pass out in front of the TV again. 

"Your line has been busy for over two hours, Mr. Wheeler. Do you realize this?" Dustin scoffs. 

"Oh, I do realize." Mr. Wheeler says sarcastically, knowing his wife was running up the phone bill once again for him. 

"Is Mike home?" Dustin asks. 

"No."

Dustin frowns, "No? Well, where the hell is he?"

Mr. Wheeler looks over his shoulder, "Karen, where's our son?"

"Will's!"

"Will's."

Dustin sighs, "No one's picking up there. Nancy. What about Nancy?" He asks with hope, maybe she can help since she's good with a gun. 

"Karen, where's Nancy?" Mr. Wheeler calls over his shoulder. 

Dustin hears an annoyed sigh, "Ally's!"

"Ally's. Our children don't live here anymore. You didn't know that?" Mr. Wheeler asks sarcastically.

Dustin frowns, not really knowing if he was kidding or not, "Seriously?"

Mr. Wheeler rolls his eyes, "Am I done here?"

Sighing in aggrivation, "Son of a bitch. You're really no help at all, you know that?" Dustin grits out and turns to leave. 

"Hey! Language." Mr. Wheeler scorns at him as he shouts out, then shuts the door. 

Dustin begins to stomp over to his bike, but turns and sees Steve pulling up with a bouquet of flowers, muttering to himself as he gets out and begins to walk towards the door to the Wheelers. 

"Listen...I've been thinking...I love you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry? What the hell am I sorry for?" Steve mutters and scoffs. 

"Steve. Are those for Mr. or Mrs. Wheeler?" Dustin frowns as he walks towards him, eyeing the flowers. 

Steve frowns and scoffs, "No."

"Good." Dustin snatches the flowers out of his hands and walks towards Steve's car. 

"Hey. What the hell? Hey!" Steve shouts and follows him, glaring at him for taking his flowers. 

"Nancy isn't home." Dustin says as he opens Steve's car door. 

"Where is she?"

"Doesn't matter. We have bigger problems than your love life." Dustin states as he tosses the flowers in the backseat and turns towards Steve, "Do you still have that bat?"

"Bat? What bat?" Steve frowns.  

"The one with the nails?"

"Why?"

"I'll explain it on the way." Dustin says as he gets into the passengers' side.

Stuttering in confusion, he rushes around to get into the driver's seat, "Now?"

"Now!" Dustin shouts and once Steve was on the road, he basically breaks it down to what was happening.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hopper digs...and digs...and claws...and digs through the slimy dirt, but it was no use.  He was losing energy.  He was hungry.  Tired.  Hot.  And his breathing was getting worse.  The air was so bad and his lungs weren't so great.  He begins to regret not working out with Jace when he was offered so many times.  

Panting heavily, he grunts as he pulls himself out of the hole he made and slides down on the ground.  Maybe he just needs a break.  Groaning softly, Hopper coughs as he tries to rest against the wall.  Digging into his pockets, he pulls his last cigarette, unaware of a vine making its way towards him.  He was just about to light up his cigarette, then he felt it.  The soft, wet slithering that was making its way over his foot and up his leg, wrapping itself around him. 

"Son of a bitch!" He shouts and gets to his feet, watching the vines rapidly wrapping around his body.  He gets his swiss army knife and begins cutting the vines off of him, but the more he cut, the faster they wrapped around him.  

The strength of the vines were too strong for him, Hopper grunts as he falls back against the ground, the knife flying out of his hands.  Yelling as he struggles to get free, but it was no use.  

"Wait. Wait. No, no! No! No!" He yells and grunts.  

He looks over and sees the knife, he struggles to reach for it, but yells in frustration.  The vines were too strong and too heavy for him to even move an inch.  He was trapped.  All he could do was scream deep in the Earth...where no one could hear him.   

~HI! I know I have been MIA for so long, but final week was kicking my ass.  I managed to pass with flying colors at least.  Trying so hard right now to update my books.  To be honest, I'm working on a new one right now, but I'm not publishing it until it's completely done. I know, crazy isn't it?  I got so many books I haven't finished, and yet working on another?  Pfft!  I'm just having a hard time trying to find the inspiration to get back on track with those other books.  Hope everyone is doing great and hope you're enjoying my books.  Trying really hard to update Hemlock Chronicles and Stranger Things.  I'm putting my Dusk book on hold and Rise of Seth McCall.  I just can't figure out what kind of plot to give Seth and his family.  Dusk; I guess I'm not in the Twilight mood right now.  Once I find inspiration, I'll get back on track.  Right now, I got two weeks until my next semester starts.  I'm gonna get busy with Hemlock Chronicles and Stranger Things and my brand new book.  Busy, busy, busy.  Lots of love Song~