After leaving Jonathan, Nancy headed home to change.  She lied to her mom, saying she was going to spend some time at a friend's house.  After she changed out of her funeral clothes, she heads for the garage to search through old sport equipment.  She manages to find a baseball bat.  She needed something to fight the monster who took her friend.  She wasn't gonna let it take her that easily.  She was going to get Barbara and save her.  

She swings the bat around, practicing to fight the monster.  After a few swings, she turns and delivers a powerful one and hears a surprised shout. 

"Whoa, whoa, hey, whoa, whoa." Steve ducks and backs away with hands up in surrender and a scared look. 

She exhales in relief, "What are you doing here?" She asks.

"What are you doing?" He continues to give her a fearful look as he eyes the bat in her hands.

She shrugs and puts the bat down, "Nothing."

"I hope that's not meant for me." He says, still a little afraid that she was still mad at him. 

"What? No. Oh, no, I was just...thinking about joining softball." She lies. 

"Oh. Well, uh...listen, I'm really sorry. I mean, even before you threatened me with the baseball bat." He apologizes.

"Okay." Nancy says as she continues to listen.  To be honest, she was still mad at him, but she'll give him a chance to apologize. 

"I panicked and..." He stops and sighs. "I mean, I was a total dick."

She scoffs, "Yeah, you were." She agrees but sighs, "Did you get in trouble with your parents?" She asks. 

"Totally, but...you know, who cares? Screw 'em." He waves it off, " Any news about Barbara? Parents heard from her? Or..." He asks.  To be honest, he was concerned, he knew how much Barbara meant to her.  He always sees them together.  They were close as sister. 

"No." She frowns, shaking her head. 

"Hey, listen. Why don't we, uh, why don't we catch a movie tonight, you know? Just kinda pretend everything's normal for a few hours. All The Right Moves is still playing. You know, with your lover boy from Risky Business?" He asks with a grin. 

Nancy couldn't help but chuckle, "Yeah, I know."

Steve slowly walks closer to her and takes the bat out of her hand, "You know, Carol thinks I actually kinda look like him. What do you think? Huh?" He holds up the bat and sings into it like it was a microphone, " ♪ Just take those old records Off the shelf ♪ ♪ I'll sit and listen to them by myself ♪"

She couldn't stop the laugh from her lips, but her smile drops when she thinks about the plans she made with Jonathan. 

"I just, I... I don't think I can. I've been really busy with this whole funeral thing and...[inhales] with my brother. It's been really hard on him." She lies. 

Steve nods in understanding, "Yeah, sure. Sure, yeah, yeah." He sighs and gives her the bat back, "So...I should go. Sorry. I'll call you later. Is that okay?" He asks. 

Nancy nods, "Yeah. Yeah, of course." 

He grins and walks away, but starts singing again, "♪ Just take those old records Off the shelf ♪ ♪ I'll sit and listen to them... ♪"

Nancy shakes her head with a smile.  She sighs and continues to practice her swinging. 

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

After Lonnie got out of the shower and dressed, he meets a very angry Joyce when he opens the bathroom door.  She was holding up the flyer.  He sighs as he realizes that he was caught, but didn't let her see that.  

"You were here for the money!" She shouts at him as they stood in the middle of the living room.

"No!" Lonnie protests. 

"The money! Admit it! You aren't here 'cause of Will. You never cared about him. You never did!" She shouts at the top her lungs at him. 

"Jesus, Joyce, it was his funeral today. Do we have to do this right now?" Lonnie rolls his eyes at her, trying calm her and lead her back to where she was before. 

But, Joyce was too angry as she finally sees the true face of her ex-husband, "I can't believe I fell for this." She scoffs. 

"I'm here to help, Joyce." Lonnie says softly. 

She laughs at that, "To help?"

"We could use that money for good." He states. 

She was so angry, she could barely get a straight sentence out, "Oh, like maybe to pay off your debts?" She stammars. 

"To pay for Jonathan to go to school!" He shouts. 

She scoffs at him and sends him a death glare, "Oh, don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Lie to me!" She yells.

"I'm not lying to you!" He matches her tone. 

"Yeah, well, where does he wanna go? Huh?" She tests him. 

"What?" He frowns at her question. 

"Where does Jonathan want to go to college?" She says, eyeing him.  She could see he didn't know, but he tries to hide it even though she caught him red-handed. 

"We get that money, anywhere he damn well pleases!" He shouts. 

"NYU, Lonnie! He's wanted to go to NYU since he was six years old!" She screams.

"So then he goes to NYU!" He shouts in her face. 

She shakes in such anger and grits her teeth, how could she fall for such horrible man like him, "Get out. Get out!" She shoves him away, but he stands in his place. 

"You need me here, Joyce." Lonnie states. 

She laughs out a scoff, "Oh, brother, I have not needed you for a long time!"

"Oh, no? Look what happened." He points out in anger. 

She was beginning to see red after he said that, "Oh, don't you dare. At least I was here!" She scoffs and yells at him. 

"Oh, come on, Joyce. Just look around at this place. All your Christmas lights. What the hell am I supposed to think? You're such a great mom? You're a mess!" He states furiously. 

"Maybe I am a mess. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm out of my mind! But, God help me, I will keep these lights up until the day I die if I think there's a chance that Will's still out there! Now, get out! Get out of my house!" She shouts and shoves him out of her house, throwing his stuff at him and slams the door in his face.  

She exclaims in triumph, proud of herself and goes back to getting the lights back up where she had them before.  

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

Meanwhile, Jonathan was in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by the woods.  He was close to the area where they found Will's bike.  While he waited for Nancy to meet him, he decides to practice using the gun.  It's been years since he has used one and he was a little rusty as he tries to shoot the beer cans, but misses every one of them. 

He sighs in disappointment and jumps when he hears someone. 

"You're supposed to hit the cans, right?" She points out sarcastically. 

"No, actually, you see the spaces in between the cans? I'm aiming for those." He mutters. 

"Ah." She laughs. 

He holds the gun up, "You ever shot a gun before?" He asks.

She scoffs, "Have you met my parents?"

Jonathan chuckles and reloads the gun, "Yeah, I haven't shot one since I was ten.  My dad took me hunting on my birthday. He made me kill a rabbit." He sighs at the bitter memories. 

"A rabbit?" She frowns. 

"Yeah. I guess he thought it would make me into more of a man or something. I cried for a week." He says. 

"Jesus." She softly exclaims. 

"What? I'm a fan of Thumper." He shrugs. 

Nancy chuckles and rolls her eyes at him, "I meant your dad."

He sighs, "Yeah. I guess he and my mother loved each other at some point, but..." He cocks the gun and hands it to her.  "...I wasn't around for that part." He adds.

Nancy takes the gun and flinches a little as Jonathan shows her how to hold the gun, "Um, yeah. Just, uh, point and shoot." He mutters awkwardly and moves away once she was pointing at the cans. 

"I don't think my parents ever loved each other." She sighs out as she uses one eye to aim.

"They must've married for some reason." Jonathan shrugs.

Nancy scoffs, "My mom was young. My dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family. So they bought a nice house at the end of the cul-de-sac...and started their nuclear family." She says bitterly.

"Screw that." Jonathan shakes his head.

She looks over to him and sighs, then goes back to aiming, "Yeah. Screw that." She says and shoots. 

Bull's eye!  She got a can.  She jumps in surprise that she managed to hit the can.  Both of them chuckle in surprise. Nancy turns out to be a better shooter than Jonathan to his surprise.  

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

After the discovering that the compasses were the source of finding the gate to Upside Down, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Eleven gathered their supplies and followed the compasses.  Dustin and Lucas took the lead as Eleven and Mike were behind.  Everyone was tired of the long journey.  

Lucas sighs as he walks with Dustin, "How much further?"

Dustin shrugs as he continues to look at the compass, "I don't know. These only tell direction, not distance. You really need to learn more about compasses. I'm just saying." He says. 

"How do we know when we get to the gate?" Lucas asks. 

"Uh, I think a portal to another dimension is gonna be pretty obvious." Dustin scoffs. 

Lucas blows out an exhausted breath and looks over his shoulder at Mike and Eleven, catching her wiping her nose as they walk.  She looked more exhausted than them.  He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something weird going on with her.  

"Do you think she's acting weird?" Lucas asks. 

Dustin frowns at him, "You're asking if the weirdo is acting weird?" He asks sarcastically. 

"I mean, weirder than normal?" Lucas points out. 

Dustin shrugs, "I don't know. Who cares?"

But Lucas couldn't let it go.  Something was going on.  His gut was practically screaming at him that something was wrong. 

Eleven breathes heavily as she continues to walk.  Her fear was skyrocketing with every step she took.  She didn't want them to find the gate.  For their safety.  But how can she say anything without telling them what happened that night.  The same day, before her and Five escaped, she remembers when it all started.  

"How far, Papa?" Eleven's voice echoes in her head as she thinks about that day when Papa was asking her to search further with her mind.  

"Farther than we've ever gone before." Papa smiles at her as he shows her a picture of a man.

"The bath?" She asks as if she already knew what he was asking for. 

"Yes. Yes, the bath. Is that okay?"  His voice echoes around her. 

"Okay."  Her voice echoes and fades into the past as she remembers them preparing her for the bath.  She follows the men up the metal stairs, dressed in her tan suit and walks towards the other men who prepares the headgear that records her powers.  Another twists opens the 'bath', when was a large water tank.  An Incubation chamber.  

She walks towards the tank as they lower a metal lift with two bar handles for her to hold to.  As she was slowly lowered into the tank, one man places a scuba helmet over her, with a long oxygen tube attached to it to help her breathe underwater.  As she makes it to the bottom of the tank, she gets off the lift and sees the blurry image of Papa.  He holds a hand up and smiles.  She presses her hand over the glass, giving him a small smile in return.  Then she was welcomed by the darkness as a door slides over the tank. 

Eleven flinches at horrible memory and quickly turns to Mike, "Mike." She grips his arm. 

"Yeah?" He asks, looking at her as they continue to walk. 

"Turn back." She begs. 

He frowns at her in confusion, "What? Why?" 

She tries to think of a reason, and the best reason she could come up with was..., "I'm tired."

Mike sighs, understanding, but this was very important, "Look, I'm sure we're almost there. Just hold on a little longer, okay?" 

Eleven stops and looks behind her, she wishes so badly they would understand, but she couldn't risk it.  When she turns to look at them again, her nose begins to bleed again.  She was using her powers.  To protect them.  That is what she strongly believed she was doing.  Protecting her friends. 

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

After target practice, Nancy and Jonathan begins their journey towards the areas where the creature has been spending time at.  As they walked, Nancy couldn't stop wondering about the afternoon in the dark room with Jonathan.  

"You never said what I was saying." She says. 

Jonathan looks over to her with a frown, "What?" He asks. 

"Yesterday. You said I was saying something and that's why you took my picture." She reminds him with a small smile. 

While they walked, Nancy carried the gun since she was a better shot and Jonathan carried the bat over his shoulder.  

"Oh, uh...I don't know. My guess...I saw this girl, you know, trying to be someone else. But for that moment...it was like you were alone, or you thought you were. And, you know, you could just be yourself." He shrugs. 

Nancy chuckles softly, then scoffs, "That is such bullshit."

Jonathan frowns as his steps slow, "What?" He stammers in surprise.

Nancy turns around to face him, stopping them from walking, "I am not trying to be someone else. Just because I'm dating Steve and you don't like him--"

Jonathan scoffs and moves to walk away, "You know what? Forget it. I just thought it was a good picture." He mutters. 

Nancy follows him, trying to stick up for Steve, "He's actually a good guy."

Jonathan stammers, "Okay." He rolls his eyes.

"Yesterday, with the camera...He's not like that at all. He was just being protective." Nancy says. 

"Yeah, that's one word for it." He says sarcastically. 

"Oh, and I guess what you did was okay?" She scoffs at him. 

"No, I...I never said that."

"He had every right to be pissed--" Nancy says, but stops when Jonathan turns to face her. 

"Okay, all right. Does that mean I have to like him?"

"No." She frowns at him. 

With a glare, he moves to stand a little closer, "Listen, don't take it so personally, okay? I don't like most people. He's in the vast majority." He says and walks away.

She looks at him in disbelief, "You know, I was actually starting to think that you were okay."

He turns to look at her, "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I was thinking, 'Jonathan Byers, maybe he's not the pretentious creep everyone says he is'." She says. 

He walks over to her, nearly getting in her face, "Well, I was just starting to think you were okay."

"Oh." She scoffs, she had to hear this.

"I was thinking, 'Nancy Wheeler, she's not just another suburban girl who thinks she's rebelling by doing exactly what every other suburban girl does...until that phase passes and they marry some boring one-time jock who now works sales, and they live out a perfectly boring little life at the end of a cul-de-sac. Exactly like their parents, who they thought were so depressing, but now, hey, they get it'."

She looks at him in disbelief as he said all that to her and storms away.  All she could do was scoff at his words as she stood frozen where she stood.  She finally turns and follows him.  He should be lucky she doesn't shoot him. 

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

After Joyce threw Lonnie out, she continues to put the lights up, but stupid Lonnie managed to tangle them up.  She jumps when pounding is made at the door.  She rolls her eyes, thinking it was Lonnie crawling back to her. 

"Go away, Lonnie." She calls out and continues to unravel the lights.

But the pounding doesn't stop.  Frustrated, she throws the lights out of her hand and grips on to her hammer. 

"Seriously!  I am gonna murd--" She storms up to the door and snatches it open, but she was surprised to see it was Hopper and Jace and Gloria.  All three of them place a finger over their lips, trying to get her to be quiet.  Hopper held up a piece of paper with big words saying 'Don't SAY ANYTHING!'  She frowns at them all, "What? What?" She whispers. 

Jace holds Fi close to him as they all walk into the house.  Hopper walks in with Gloria and they all looked up at the lights around them.  Hopper sighs in dread, realizing they will have to go through every bulb to see if they bugged Joyce's house. 

"Oh, Jesus." He whispers. 

"What is going on?" Joyce whispers. 

"Long story.  We need to go through all these lights." Jace whispers as he starts going through the lights with Jim and soon, Gloria and Fi joins in to help.  

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

As it was getting close to twilight, Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and Eleven all made it to the junkyard that was close to their neighborhood.  Dustin slows his steps when he realizes where they were going.  Right back where they started.

"Oh, no." Dustin says in dread. 

"'Oh, no'? What's, 'Oh, no'?" Lucas asks. 

"We're headed back home." Dustin says as he turns to face them all. 

"What?" Lucas exclaims and looks around in disbelief. 

"Are you sure?" Mike asks. 

"Yeah, I'm sure.  Setting sun, right there. We looped right back around." Dustin says as he points at the sky. 

"And you're just realizing this now?" Lucas scoffs at him. 

"Why is this all on me?" Dustin exclaims. 

"Because you're the compass genius!"

"What do yours say?" Dustin asks them both. 

They check their compasses, "North." They both confirm.

Lucas sighs, he was tired and pissed off at the same time.  He just wanted to find Will and go home.  Why was this being so hard for them all?

"Makes no damn sense." He mutters. 

"Maybe the gate moved." Mike suggests.

Dustin shakes his head, "No, I don't think it's the gate. I think it's something else screwing with the compasses." He states.

"Maybe it's something here." Mike shrugs as he looks around them.

"No, it has to be like a super magnet." Dustin says. 

Lucas, suddenly, had a thought.  He knew he should have trusted his gut.  He turns to glare at Eleven, "It's not a magnet. She's been acting weirder than normal. If she can slam doors with her mind, she can definitely screw up a compass." He accuses. 

"Why would she do that?" Mike asks, thinking how stupid that was. 

"Because she's trying to sabotage our mission. Because she's a traitor!" He states and moves to storm up to Eleven.

"Lucas, what are you doing?" Mike follows him, wanting to protect Eleven if he tries to hurt her. 

"You did it, didn't you? You don't want us to reach the gate. You don't want us to find Will." He exclaims.

"Lucas, come on, seriously, just leave her alone!" Mike says strongly. 

"Admit it." Lucas sneers in her face. 

"No." Eleven whispers as she tries to hold back her tears, knowing she was caught. 

"Admit it!" Lucas yells, causing her to flinch in fear.  He grabs her arm, looking at the blood stains on the sleeve of her jacket, he shoves her arm away in anger, "Fresh blood. I knew it."

"Lucas, come on!" Mike tries to get him to calm, but Lucas was too pissed to listen to anyone. 

"I saw her wiping her nose on the tracks! She was using her powers!"  Lucas states. 

"Bull! That's old blood. Right, El?" Mike looks at Eleven for answers, but she was too quiet.  All she could do was cry in guilt, "Right, El?" He practically begs her to tell him the opposite, that it wasn't true.  But it was.  She was stalling them.  

"It's... not...it's not safe." She cries softly.  

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

After hours of being in Joyce's house, they finally get to the last bulb, still no bug.  Hopper was panting and sighs in relief, but still was cautious.  Maybe they didn't bug her place. But doesn't meant they were safe. 

Gloria sighs and sits with a grunt, "Thank god." She rubs her head. 

"Okay. Should be okay, I mean...I can't guarantee it, but it should be okay." He takes off his hat and rubs his sweaty brow.  

Joyce stood in complete confusion as she looks at everyone for answers, "What the hell is going on, Hopper?  Jace?  Gloria?" She stammers and frowns at the girl who came with them.  "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"They bugged my place." Hopper says suddenly. 

Joyce frowns at him, "What?"

"They bugged my place. They put a microphone in the light." Hopper continues. 

Joyce sighs and looks at Jace for help and Gloria.

"It's because we're on to them and they know it.  Well, I don't know about you two, but they're going to know soon.  We're not safe." Hopper states. 

"I don't know...who?" Joyce stutters, confused with everything. 

"Joyce, Hawkins Lab is the reason why Will went missing." Gloria says. 

Joyce gasps as she falls in her chair, "What?" She whispers. 

"They know how Will went missing, but those bastards were trying cover it up." Gloria states. 

"I thought they might be watching you, too. I don't know, the CIA, the NSA, Department of Energy... I don't know." Hopper adds. 

"You gotta explain this to me, 'cause I am not--" Joyce could barely get a straight word out.

"I went to the morgue last night, Joyce." Hopper adds. 

Joyce turns quickly to face him, "What?"

"It wasn't him."

Joyce's eyes fill with tears, "What?"

"Will's body, it was a fake." He says. 

She covers her mouth as she cries softly.

Gloria moves and grabs her hands in comfort, "You were right. This whole time, you were right." She states. 

Joyce sobs happily, so happy to hear those words.  

"But to find him is going to be a bitch." Gloria sighs.  "Joyce, what we're about to tell you, you must keep an open mind, ok, dear?  The Lab have been doing such horrible things and no one has ever realized it." 

Joyce sniffles and wipes her tears. Jace rubs her back in comfort, "Joyce, this is Fi." He says as he introduces her to Five.  "She escaped from the lab the same night when Will went missing." 

Joyce looks at Five  in shock, "They took you?" She sniffles. 

Fi look down, averting her eyes and Gloria gives her hand a soft squeeze, "God knows how long they had her.  And they did horrible things to her." 

"I went to the lab to look for Will.  He wasn't there.  But I saw...something.  Something that was worth kidnapping, drugging, and even killing people for." Hopper sighs out.  Still, in complete shock. 

Stammering as she holds a hand up, "Ok, Hopper, you need to tell me everything you know.  Everything.  What did you see at the lab?" Joyce demanded. 

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

Lucas continues to give Eleven a death glare as he doesn't stop stating at Mike about how they shouldn't trust Eleven anymore.  

"What did I tell you? She's been playing us from the beginning!" Lucas yells. 

"That's not true. She helped us find Will!" Mike says. 

"Find Will? Find Will? Where is he, then? Huh? I don't see him." Lucas scoffs as he looks around them.

"Yeah, you know what I mean." Mike grits his teeth.

"No, I actually don't. Just think about it, Mike. She could've just told us where the Upside Down was right away, but she didn't. She just made us run around like headless chickens." Lucas shouts. 

"All right, calm down!" Dustin tries to get them both dim it down, but Lucas shouts in anger again, glaring at Mike.

"No! She used us, all of us! She helped just enough so she could get what she wants. Food and a bed. She's like a stray dog."

"Screw you, Lucas!" Mike yells.

Lucas turns and gets into Mike's face, "No! Screw you, Mike. You're blind...blind because you like that a girl's not grossed out by you. But wake up, man! Wake the hell up! She knows where Will is, and now she's just letting him die in the Upside Down." He says. 

"Shut up!"

"For all we know, it's her fault." Lucas says as he glares at Eleven.

"Shut up."

"We're looking for some stupid monster...but did you ever stop to think that maybe she's the monster?" Lucas states. 

Eleven looks at him in horror.  Was that what she is? A monster?  She sobs softly in realization.  Maybe she was.  Maybe she was the monster. 

Mike shoves Lucas, "I said shut up!"

Suddenly, Mike and Lucas shove each other to the ground.  Fighting each other in anger.  Lucas was so pissed at Mike for following a girl, someone he barely knows than his own best friends.  Lucas begins to overpower Mike. 

"Stop!" Eleven shouts. 

Dustin tries to break up the fight, "Knock it off, you idiots."

"Stop it!" Eleven continues to shout. 

"Mike, get off!" Dustin shouts as he tries to pull Mike off of Lucas, then Lucas took that as an advantage to overpower Mike again. 

"Stop it!" Eleven shouts again, but no one was listening to them.  She screams as her energy comes forth against her will, with her emotions.  

Suddenly, Lucas flies off of Mike and his body slides across the ground till it slams against a concrete panel.  Mike and Dustin gasp in shock as they watch their friend slam.  He wasn't moving!

"Jesus!" Dustin shouts as him and Mike rush to help him.  "Lucas! Lucas!" He shouts with Mike as they try to wake him up, but he was out cold.  

Fearing for the worse, Mike shakes him, hoping and praying that he wasn't dead, "Lucas, are you all right?  Lucas. Lucas, come on! Lucas, wake up! Lucas." 

" Come on, Lucas!" Dustin was nearly in tears when Lucas wouldn't wake up.

Eleven stood frozen in terror, she didn't mean to hurt him.  She just wanted them to stop fighting because of her.  

Mike turns to look in anger, "Why would you do that?"

"Come on." Dustin continues to help Lucas wake up.

"What's wrong with you?" Mike continues to yell at Eleven as she stands there, feeling her whole body shut down. "What is wrong with you?"  Mike's voice distorts in her ears as she, suddenly, thinks about that the day when she saw the monster. 

In the bath, Eleven stood in the dark tank and focuses on calling her energy.  She closes her eyes and lets it come forth.  When she opens her eyes, she finds herself in the dark world.  She expands her mind as she focuses on the person Papa told her to look for.  She finds the man, standing in his Russian uniform, giving out orders or a speech in Russian.  She wasn't sure what he was saying but she stands close and sends the message towards the lab.  

Dr. Brenner and his men stood in awe as they could hear the Russian speak through the speakers.

Suddenly, growling was made in the distance.  Eleven jumps and loses her concertation at the horrible growls.  The man disappears like a cloud of smoke. 

Growling was made over the P.A. along with distorted snarling.  

"What is that?" A man asks. 

Dr. Brenner shakes his head as he frowns, "I have no idea.

Eleven stood in the darkness as the snarling was getting closer towards her.  Breathing heavily, she turns and runs.  Running away from whatever that was.  She snaps her eyes open as she's back in the tank, full of terror.  She pounds on the glass.  Crying and screaming as blood runs down her nose. 

"Help! Help!"

Snapping out of her memories, she sobs as she realizes how right Lucas was.  She is a monster.  She hurt him and she'll hurt Mike if she stays with him any longer.  

Dustin and Mike continue to help Lucas wake up, but it was no use.  

"Come on, wake up. Come on!"

"Lucas...Lucas, come on!" 

Finally, Lucas wakes up.  Dustin couldn't stop the relieved chuckle coming from his lips.  Mike and Dustin both help Lucas sit up.  

Mike exhales in relief, "Lucas. Lucas, you okay?"

Lucas was in shock with what happened to him.  He slowly lifts his hand to touch the sore spot on the back of his head.  He wasn't bleeding, thank god, but he felt a knot.  He completely ignores Dustin and Mike's concerned voices. 

"Lucas... Lucas, how many fingers am I holding up? Lucas, how many fingers?"

"Let me see your head."

Lucas shoves them away in anger, "Get off of me!"

Mike and Dustin back away as Lucas gets up on his feet, "Just... Lucas.  Lucas, let me see." Mike continues to try and help him, but Lucas shoves him away again. 

"Get off of me!" 

Lucas averts his eyes away from them, but sends Eleven one final glare and storms off. 

"Lucas, come on." Mike calls out for him, but Dustin holds him back. 

"Let him go. Man, let him go." Dustin sighs. 

Mike grumbles at how horrible this day is going and turns towards Eleven....but...she was gone!

"Where is El?" He begins to breathe heavily in panic. "El?!" He shouts for her. "El!"

"Eleven!" Dustin calls out. "

"El!"

"Eleven!

"El!"

"Eleven!"

No matter how much they called out to her, she was gone.  Far away from them so she couldn't hurt them again. She didn't mean to betray them.  She cares about them so much, especially Mike. 

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

(I don't like animal deaths, I've said it before in my previous books, so I'm gonna keep this part as short as I can)

As night fell, Nancy and Jonathan continues their search for the monster, but no such luck yet.  Nancy was close to giving up...until she heard something.  Soft whimpering.  Jonathan and Nancy follow the noise and found a deer, suffering from an injury from being hit by a car.  Nancy knew they couldn't let it suffer anymore and Jonathan offers to end it's life.  But before he could press the trigger...

Both gasp and jump away as the body of the deer was snatched and dragged off.  Something was here!

"What was that?" Nancy gasps. 

Both of them slowly follow the trail of blood, panting softly.  Jonathan held the gun up as he shines his light around in caution.  Nancy grips on the bat tightly, following the trail.  But...soon, the trail stops.  

"Where'd it go?" She frowns as she looks around with him. 

"I don't know. Do you see any more blood?" He asks. 

Nancy looks around, she couldn't, "No."

They continue to look and look, but they still couldn't find any evidence where the creature went.  But, soon, Nancy hears the sound of liquid dripping.  She shines her light towards the noise and sees a large hole in a tree.  She frowns as she sees slimy liquid dripping around the entrance and inside.  She looks inside and sees a path.  Maybe that thing went in there.  

"Jonathan?" She calls, but when she turns around, Jonathan was gone.  She could see his light in the distance, but she couldn't wait for him.  If Barb was in there, she might not have much time.  Swallowing her pride and disgust with how horrible and smelly the hole was, she takes off her bag and begins to crawl inside.  It was a tight fit, but thanks for the slime, she managed to get through.  She holds on to her flashlight and brushes the dirt and slime off as best as she could. She frowns as she looks around.  She was still in the woods, but...it was different.  The trees were rotten, covered in some sort of vines and slime like inside the hole.  The ground below were was littered in black leaves and dead grass.  The air was terrible.  Ash slowly floated and feel in the air.  Where was she?

She shines her light as best as she could to see the area, but it kept flickering.  She smacks it a few times, then gasps as she hears ferocious snarling behind her.  She turns quickly and sees the creature!  Her eyes widen in terror as she hears it gnaw and chew on the flesh of the deer they saw earlier.  Her whole body trembles as she slowly backs away from the monster.  

She continues to back away, but suddenly, her foot snaps a large twig.  She gasps as her eyes widen more when the monster turns fast.  It's face! It opens up in four way, sharp teeth littered all over inside it's mouth.  It roars as it spots her. 

Nancy screams and runs.  Her scream echoing around the woods, causing Jonathan to jump in terror.  He gasps and shines his light around.

"Nancy!" He shouts and rushes towards the spot where he left her.  He finds her bag and bat, but Nancy was gone. "Nancy? Nancy? Nancy, where are you? Nancy! Nancy!" He calls for her, but he never found her.  He rushes away from the tree with the large hole, unaware of it slowly closing behind him.  

*What do you guys think so far about this book? I'm having a hard time trying to find pics to fit with the scenes, but gifs are still tough to post.  I keep getting that stupid message that there was an error posting it.  Please leave votes and comments.  I care about your thoughts.  Lots of love ~Song~*