Mary and Jim had been grabbed and shoved into a separate van from Will, Joyce, Mike and Bob. According to the man driving, they would have to he quarantined for the amount of time they had been in the tunnels — and because of how the vines had smothered them. And Mary had to admit, she was a little scared not exactly knowing what the quarantine meant for them.

          But Mary found out all too soon what exactly they would have to go through in the quarantine. They were separated and Mary went through something that felt like torture. She was stripped naked in a room and washed down with a hose that burned her skin, making it feel like it was about to melt. And her hair hand been washed out with something that made her head itchy and made the roots of her hair sting like crazy.

         After what felt like forever of being hosed down, a woman entered with a towel. Mary looked up from the ball she was in, "You're all clear, Miss Hopper." She said, hanging her the towel and Mary wrapped it around her body. It was the first bit of comfort she had felt for hours.

          She then handed her a set of scrubs and Mary took them. The woman looked at her, "Get changed and meet us outside." He said whisky Mary stayed silent, waiting for her to leave.

Once she did, Mary pulled on the scrubs that were a little big on her body but tight on her broad hips. She slipped on the styrofoam-like slippers and left the shower room. The moment she stepped outside, she spotted a familiar face in the same scrubs as her, "Dad." She breathed out with relief, rushing towards him with open arms and her father engulfed her in a tight hug, lifting her off the ground and burying his face into her hair that smelled like chemicals.

She pulled back, holding onto his shoulders, "What happened? How's Will?" She asked with concern. The last she had seen of the kid, he was taking a seizure on the ground after coming out of the hole.

"He's doing alright," Jim told her, making her sigh happily, closing her eyes momentarily, "I just came down here to get you, kiddo. How are you feeling?" He asked worriedly, putting his hand on her upper arm.

She looked at him tiredly, fluttering her eyelashes as she rolled them back, "Like a elephant sat on my head." She said, making her father chuckle at how she still managed to use humour after what had happened and he wrapped her up in another hug.

Afterwards, he took her to see Will that looked incredibly sick. His skin was pale and in a deep sweat and his eyelids were redraw like when Mary and Steve would hang out in his garage and smoke marijuana every so often — only when Tommy somehow managed to get his hands on it from the weird kids at school. But whatever was wrong with Will was serious and it made Mary's skin turn cold at the possibilities of what was wrong with him.

Will had explained how he was still having these 'now-memories'. Mary had commented that it sounded a bit like when she would wake up the next morning after a party and remember all of the things she did — her father had given her the biggest glare ever but it had earned a small smile on Will's behalf and that made it worth it.

But whilst Jim and Joyce has gone to speak with the doctors about which actions to take next, Mary had relocated to the cafeteria area. There was barely anyone around, asides from a few people in lab coats that presumably had their breaks. But either way, no one made an attempt in talking to Mary and she was okay with that since she had gone there to be alone.

         And so she sat in silence, listening to the humming of the air vents as she stared down at the plate of macaroni she had dished out for herself only so she had something to look at. She hadn't even taken so much as one spoonful because the mere thought of eating made her feel physically sick and so she just pushed her food around the plate.

She couldn't believe how wrong she had been to push Charlie away when he had tried to talk to her before she went to Billy's because now she knew that he was most likely wanting to speak with her about the dangers that had returned to Hawkins — but instead, she hadn't listened to him and had let him drive off with Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers on some crazy mission to probably save the world. She couldn't help but feel bitter that she wasn't there with them, but in the end, it was her own stubborn fault.

Suddenly, footsteps were coming towards her, fast and heavy. She glanced up, seeing her dad and Joyce, "Kid, Will figured something out — something this thing doesn't want us to see. We're heading down just now but I want you to stay here, Alright?" Mary opened her mouth to argue, ready to tell her father that she wasn't going to let him do it alone but he bet her to it, "Mare, please. If this goes wrong, I don't want you anywhere near it — I won't be able to protect anyone else with you there. Okay?" He told her, expressing his need to protect his daughter and Mary's face softened.

She nodded in understanding, "Okay, got it. Just be careful, okay? You too, Joyce." She said and they both nodded with smiles. She quickly embraced her father, wrapping her arms around his neck before pulling back and watching him go, seeing plenty of people follow after him and she held her breath, feeling extremely worried for her father.

Some amount of time had passed. Mary wasn't sure how much, only that it had been quite a while since she had last seen or heard from her father and that the sky had turned dark outside. And that was beginning to scare her. So, instead of sitting down and playing with her food she was up and walking on top of tables, stepping to each one whilst mumbling to herself about how her father would be back soon even though she had doubts he would.

But then suddenly, all of the lights went out. Mary paused, looking over her shoulder. And then she heard the noises — gunshots going off from underneath her and she quickly sprung into action, jumping off the table and running out of the cafeteria and down the hallway as alarms began to breach, red lights going off above her.

She didn't know where she was going, not really. Hawkins Lab was huge and she didn't know her way around, she just hoped that she would bump into her dad or someone else she knew amongst the chaos of people running. But after a while she heard a high-pitched scream like someone being murdered just around the next corner from her and she froze. Along with the screaming, came an animalistic sound that made her skin crawl. But somehow, she found herself slowly stepping towards the noise.

Her face was tight, hands held out by her sides and feet stepping carefully. Finally, she turned the corner and out of instinct, her hands came up to cover a scream that would have surely escaped her lips had she not done it. Her eyes were as wide as they had ever been as she stared at the scene in front of her, slowly beginning to step backwards.

Mary didn't know what the creature in front of her was besides the fact that it looked like a demogorgon but smaller and in dog form. But as if the creatures appearance wasn't terrifying enough, it was crunching down onto the insides of a now dead scientists stomach. It was yanking out intestines, sprawling them all over the floor and it made Mary's stomach clench.

She continued to step back slowly, not intending to be like the person that had been eaten alive. She had to get out of there somehow — otherwise she would surely be dead. But just as she turned, ready to move around the corner someone ran into her at a quick speed and they both went tumbling to the ground. However, the person didn't spare her a glance and quickly got back up, running in the direction of the creature having not seeing it because their eyes were on their feet.

Mary reached out, "No, wait!" She screamed after the man in the white lab coat but it had already been too late because the monster had turned, showing its vicious looking face as it let out a hideous screech before pouncing. The person was instantly in its grasp, clawing their fingernails at the ground as they tried to pull themselves away whilst they cried for Mary's help.

The teenager stumbled back, grasping at the wall as her face paled and her mouth opened and closed but for the longest moment, nothing would come out, "Help! Help! Please!" The man screamed at the top of his lungs, blood spurting out from his body parts.

Mary's eyes burned with hot tears as she shook her head at the persons pleas, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..." She croaked out, turning around numbly and walking down the other corridor, at first almost like someone that was sleep walking and then she picked up the pace, her adrenaline suddenly kicking in and making her run.

She didn't stop for anything, not for the sounds of people screaming or the screeches of the monsters — nothing. In fact, she didn't stop until she came across an unlocked door and slipped inside. She closed the door quietly and moved to the back of the closet and once her back hit the wall, she gripped onto her head as she slid down the wall, silent sobs emitting from her lips, her face red from crying and her head aching from trying to hold the tears back.

Her body involuntarily rocked back and forth as she held her hands over her ears, whispering to herself as her lips quivered. Her heart was beating faster than normal and her skin was cold to the touch. And because of all of this, her chest was incredibly tight.

After a while, the screams died down but even then, Mary didn't remove her hands from her ears nor stop rocking back and forth — she didn't stop for a long while after it all ceased. She slowly put her hands down, looking up in the darkness with her cheeks wet and blotchy and her nose redraw. All she could see was a foot in front of her from the red lights shining through the crack under the door. She was slowly but surely beginning to breathe again, managing to pull herself together as the realisation of the situation dawned on her.

She knew one thing and that was that she had to find her father — she had to know that he wasn't one of the dead. And so, she began to get off the floor, her bones feeling incredibly stiff. She fumbled for a weapon in the darkness, eventually coming across a wooden mop which she broke in half with her knee, now having a pointy end.

She twisted the door handle and stepped out, holding onto the wooden stick for dear life. The hallways were even eerier than before now with the dull sirens, flickering red lights and smears of blood over the walls and floors.

Swallowing hard, she began adventuring down the hallways, trying to be as calm and quiet as she could be. She passed many bodies, barely even looking at them unless they were male and in scrubs. Mary surely thought she was alone now, maybe the only person left until she heard some sort of whooshing noise from behind her.

There was a long silence as she froze, her fingers curling tighter around the wood. And then finally, a voice spoke, "Mary..." It said softly and the girl quickly turned around with wide and frantic eyes, the stick going loose in her hands.

It slipped from her fingertips and the clatter of it hitting the floor was louder than anyone could have expected. And for the longest of moments, Mary, Charlie and Corina just stared at one another, waiting for something to happen — and then it did.

Either the same monster or another one came skidding around the corner, running at an alarmingly fast rate. Charlie grasped Corina's wrist and pushed her behind him, now standing as a barrier between the monster and Mary and Corina.

It was ready to pounce as it neared, but without any warning, a shadow hand passed straight through it and it let out a deafening noise. Mary looked away from the monster and to Corina who was standing beside her, her hand extended and curled into a fist with a look of determination in her eyes. Blood was dripping down her nose and her teeth were gritted together. She made a quick gesture, pulling her fist to her side and suddenly, the monster exploded into pieces.

All three of them turned away, but that didn't stop the blood and gore from hitting the side of their bodies. Mary flinched at the impact, now covered in the remains of the monster.

They fell silent again, all looking between one another as they breathed heavily, not saying a word. And then Mary ran at them both and using the strength in both her elbows, she hooked them around their necks and pulled them into her, closing her eyes as she hugged them both at the same time.

Charlie hugged her back instantly, one arm around Mary's shoulder and the other around Corina's waist. However, Corina stayed completely still with her arm at her side and eyes open, "What's your damage, Hopper?" She said, using that same old bitter tone but it didn't come out nearly as strong as usual and instead, pretty weak.

Mary smiled, laughing a little, "Just shut up and let me hug you." She said and after a moment, Corina smiled and hugged her and Charlie back.

Mary looked between the two of them, "H—How are you here right now?" She asked in disbelief.

Corina put her hands on her hips, "Well, this dweeb showed up at my door after his adventure with Wheeler and her Boy-Toy insisting that you could be in danger and that he had to find you — and what'dya know, the dweeb was right and we had to save your ass." She explained in a harsh tone but it only made Mary smile.

She looked at them both, "I'm glad you's did," She told them gratefully. She glanced at Charlie, frowning as she tilted her head, "A—And I'm sorry, for not giving you a chance to —"

Charlie stepped closer, clasping his hands around Mary's, "Hey, Hey, Hey," Charlie quickly said whilst Corina watched their enclosed hands with an unreadable expression, "You couldn't have known any of this was going to happen and you had every right to not wanna talk to me, alright?" He said and she nodded her head.

Charlie looked around, suddenly wearing a quizzical look, "Where's your dad?" He asked.

Mary looked off into the distanced the red lights from above flashing across her face, "I don't know."

( authors note )

Hey, lovelies, I'm back! So, season 3 finally did what I hoped it would and brought back my inspiration for this book so I wrote this chapter immediately after watching episode three ( I'm now on episode six so I haven't finished it yet ). But either way, this book is back on!

Q: how did ya'll enjoy this chapter, was it a good comeback? Leave a comment!