Chapter Five : Dig Dug

chapter thirty-five , And so it begins

a/n : Dustin and Gus this chapter are iconic

Also y'all can interact. I won't bite, like dayum 😭

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"It's like...it's like I feel what the shadow monster's feeling."

Sofía was sitting beside Will on the bed, her eyes were traveling across the drawings taped around the walls.

"See what he's seeing."

Mike runs his hands over the drawings.

"Like in the Upside Down?" Sofía inquires.

"Some of him is there." Will answers. "But some of him is here, too."

"Here, like, in this house?" Mike asks.

"In this house and...in me." Will's voice was trembling.

Mike sits on the other side of Will on the bed.

"It's like...it's like he's reaching into Hawkins more and more." Will explains. "And the more he spreads the more connected to him I feel."

Sofía knits her brows together. Just the way Will described how he felt with Shadow Monster near him was so bone chilling. Sofía could feel his fear, but she still couldn't imagine being in his position. Apart of her felt guilty that Will was going through this alone. After everything she and Will had been through together, now was the time when they finally were going through two different things.

"And the more you see these now-memories."

Will slowly nods his head. "At first I just felt it in the back of my head." He states. "I didn't even really know it was there."

"It's like when you have a dream and you can't remember it unless you think really hard. It was like that." Will explains. "But you know it's like...Now, I remember, I remember all the time."

"Maybe...maybe that's good."

Will and Sofía look at Mike with the same expression.

"Good?"

"Just think about it, Will. You're like a spy now." Mike says.

Sofía raises her brows, "Oh...Oh, yeah. Like a super spy." She looks at Will. "You could be spying on the shadow monster."

"And if you know what he's seeing and feeling...maybe that's how we can stop him. Maybe all of this is happening for a reason." Mike explains.

"You really think so?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I really do." Mike nods.

Will looks at Sofía and she gives him a comforting smile. "I think Mike is right. We could use this to our advantage."

Will's eyes then trail over to the sketch of the shadow monster. Mike and Sofía look at it as well.

"What if he figures out we're spying on him?" Will asks. "What if he spies back?"

"He won't." Mike reassures."

"How do you know?"

Mike grabs Will's hand and Sofía raises her brows.

"We won't let him."

☆

Gus let's out a harsh breath as she stalks towards the Henderson house. The door swings open and Gus sees Dustin's mom leaving the house in a hurry.

"Oh, hi, Ms. Henderson!" Gus waves. She lowers her hand when she realizes that the woman had tears in her eyes. "A-Are you okay?"

"Oh, um, Hi Gus." Ms. Henderson sniffles. Gus digs in her jacket pocket and pulls out a napkin. She holds it out to the woman. Ms. Henderson grabs the napkin and silently thanks Gus. She wipes her nose and Gus presses her lips into a small smile.

"Mews ran away." Ms. Henderson blows her nose into the napkin. "And somehow he's around Loch Nora!"

Gus raises her brows, "Oh, well, at least he's around there, right? So, you'll find him in no time."

Ms. Henderson sniffles and vigorously nods her head. "Yeah, you're right."

Gus' eyes soften, "Can I hug you?"

"Yes. You can." Ms. Henderson cries.

Gus wraps her arms around Ms. Henderson's middle and the woman hugs her back.

"Okay, okay! I've gotta go find Mews!" Ms. Henderson hurries to her car. Gus raises a hand and waves at him. "All right, see ya!"

Gus walks over to the house and knocks on the door. The door immediately swings open, Dustin grabs Gus' wrist and yanks the girl in. Gus yelps and stumbles into the house. "Shit!" She turns to Dustin and watches as he closes and locks the door.

"Uh, D?" Gus raises her brows.

Dustin was wearing an umpire mask and gear with a hockey stick in his hand. Gus covers her mouth as she laughs. "What the hell are you wearing?"

"Protective gear." Dustin turns to the girl.

"Gear...for what?" Gus looks around. "What are you protecting yourself from?"

"Come on, follow me." Dustin grabs her wrist and pulls her through the house. Gus looks down at the trail of bologna down the hall. The short-haired brunette laughs softly. "This is so bizarre..."

"Okay, so...I found this thing in my trash can during Halloween night." Dustin explains. "And that thing might belong to the Upside Down."

Gus' eyes widen, "You said wha...?"

"You heard it right, Guster. I have found a creature from the Upside Down." Dustin nods. "And he ate my cat."

Just when Gus' eyes couldn't get any wider, she was wrong. She stops in her tracks and pulls her arm from Dustin's grip. "IT KILLED MEWS?!"

Dustin shushes the girl and she slams her mouth shut. Gus then inhales a breath. "But your mom just went to find Mews at Loch Nora."

"Yeah, I know. I lied to her." Dustin says.

"Dustin...what the fuck?"

"I know." Dustin whines. "Dart is dangerous now—"

"You named the thing that ate your cat?!" Gus whispers harshly.

"I named it before he killed Mews, all right?" Dustin sighs. "But, he's in my room right now. And I have a plan. A plan, I might need your help with."

Gus runs her tongue across her upper teeth. "Yeah, okay. I'll help, of course I will."

Dustin's shoulders slump and he wraps his arms around Gus's middle. Gus clicks her tongue and touches the top of Dustin's head. "Okay, let's do this."

Dustin and Gus get to the closed room door. Gus rubs her hands together. "So, when you say you need my help. Does that mean...you need my powers?"

Dustin shrugs a shoulder, "Only if Dart tries to kill us."

Gus grits her teeth. She looks down at her hands and starts to grow nervous. Gus does train with Eleven every now and then. But she hasn't used them in a life or death situation before. And now she might actually have to use them.

"Shit..." Gus exhales. "...okay, open the door, dude."

"All right, Dart. Breakfast time." Dustin pulls open the door.

Gus' heart starts to beat even faster as Dustin runs down the hall. The short-haired girl's eyes widen. "W-Wait up!" She runs after him.

They get to the backyard, Dustin reaches the shed, and Gus practically dives in. Dustin slams the door shut. Gus stands up and peers through the wooden planks of the shed. "So...how long do you think it'll take for him to—holy shit!"

Gus sees Dart slowly emerge from the house, eating the bologna. The girl snaps her head over to Dustin. "You took this fucker in?!"

"Hey, he wasn't this big before. He was so small and precious before..." Dustin makes a small circle with his fingers.

Gus' heart starts to beat even harder than before. "He's as big as a fucking dog."

Dart starts to walk down the stairs up the backyard and eats the bologna. He gets to the cellar doors and Gus knits her brows together.

"Did you want me to kick him in there?" Gus whispers.

Dustin's eyes widen, "What the hell?—No! That would hurt him!"

"Says the one holding the hockey stick!" Gus seethes. Suddenly Dart looks over at Dustin and Gus. They both stumble back. Gus slaps a hand over her mouth. Gus and Dustin look at each other. The short-haired girl steps back over to the shed and looks between the cracks. Then she sees Dart closer to the shed. Gus' eyes widen and she steps back again.

Gus looks back at Dustin and he motions to the shed door. They both argue with their eyes. Gus shakes her head and Dustin jerks his head forward toward the shed and Gus scoffs.

"Son of a bitch..." Gus seethes. She kicks the shed door open and Dart jumps out of surprise. Gus holds her hand out to Dart, but nothing happens. The girl's mouth opens, "Oh, shit..." she shakes her hand. Gus then holds her hand out to the creature again. Nothing. "Oh, shit!"

Dart runs toward Gus and her eyes widen.

"Gus, run!"

Gus raises her leg and kicks Dart into the cellar. She sprints over to the cellars and slams the doors shut. "Dustin!"

The kid runs over to Gus and helps keep the doors shut. Dart's screeches ring through the doors and Gus' ears ring.

"I'm sorry." Dustin lets out. "You ate my cat."

Dustin looks at Gus, "You kicked him!"

"I'm sorry, my powers weren't...powering...?" Gus bunches her shoulders. "I panicked."

Dustin frowns, "So, when do your powers do the powering?"

Gus places her forehead against the cellar. "I don't know...when people are in danger? I thought I had this in control, but I don't."

Dustin presses his lips together. "Gus, I love and you're awesome. But in this moment...you're kind of useless."

Gus bites the inside of her cheek. "Yeah, yeah, I know..."

☆

"Is this where you saw Hopper?"

Will slowly nods his head, "I think so. Yeah."

Joyce grabs the drawing. Mike and Sofía look around the walls, for an empty space for the sketch. The three speed around the house. Sofía's eyes land on the empty space and she raises her brows. "Hey, over here!"

Joyce and Mike quickly approach Sofía and look at the wall. Joyce places the picture against the wall. "Okay, so-so Hopper is here?"

"Yeah. Now we just need to find out where here is, right?" Sofía asks.

"Right."

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

"Uh, some...something about vines?" Joyce answers, still confused.

A car is heard approaching the house. Relief crosses Joyce's face. "Hopper..." she quickly makes her way over to the front door with Sofía and Mike close behind her. Joyce looks out the window and sees her boyfriend approach the house. She looks at the two kids, "Wait here."

Joyce makes her way outside. It wasn't long before Joyce was back inside the house with Bob. All five were now looking at the sketches across the walls.

"Huh." Bob speaks, then another hum comes from his lips. He turns to Will, "You drew all these yourself?"

Will nods his head.

"Why, exactly?" Bob asks.

"I-I told you the rules." Joyce reminds him. "No questions, okay?"

Joyce starts to walk down the hall. "We...we just need you to help us figure out what..." she turns back and sees Bob still staring at the wall. "Bob? Bob!"

Bob blinks and turns to Joyce. She waves him over to follow her. Bob hands Mike the board games and follows Joyce. Joyce marks the spot with a red crayon. "Where this is. That's the objective. Find the x."

"Yeah? What's at the x? Pirate treasure?" Bob laughs.

"Bob. No questions." Joyce's voice was serious, which causes Bob's smile to drop.

Bob looks at Joyce then the three kids. "Let me talk to you for a second." He ushers Joyce away from the kids. "Hang on, you three."

Bob and Joyce were whispering to each other in another part of the house. But all of the sudden, Bob speaks louder.

"I know that shape." Bob looks at the sketches on the window. "That's Lover's Lake."

"It's Lover's Lake. I get it." Bob leaves the room with Joyce behind him.

"Get what?" Sofía knits her brows together.

"That's Lake Jordan." Bob points. "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..." Bob moves his hands along the sketches. "...the Eno river."

"And there it is. That's Eno, do you see it?"

Joyce tilts her head.

"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..." Bob gets to the kitchen, where the kids were. "...they don't go over water."

"And that's the giveaway. That's the giveaway. Ha!" Bob claps his hands. "Don't you get it? It's not a puzzle, it's a map. It's a map of Hawkins."

Sofía's eyes were wide, "Whoa..."

☆

Gus coughs violently as she holds Mews' body in her rubber gloves hands. "Dude, I'm gonna be sick!" She cries.

"Come on, hurry!" Dustin urges.

Gus' eyes fill with tears. She didn't know if it was from the horrible smell coming from the corpse or if it was because she knew Mews personally. Gus makes it to the hole in the ground. She falls to her knees and sets Mews in the ground. Gus pulls her gloves off and wipes her mouth with her arm. "Poor Mews..." she whispers.

Dustin hands Gus a shovel. The girl looks at Dustin and notices his eyes filling with tears. Gus grabs the shovel. "Hey, D?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"Did you...wanna say anything. To Mews?" Gus' voice was soft.

Dustin sniffles, "Mews...I'm sorry." He manages to let out with a shaky voice. "I care about Dart. I do. But...I'm really sorry that he hurt you. It's all my fault."

Gus wanted to say that it wasn't Dustin's fault and he shouldn't think like that. But, she didn't want to interrupt what he was saying. It wasn't right.

"And I promise. I'm not going to let your life be in vain." Dustin wipes his nose. "I love you, Mews."

Gus bites the inside of her cheek. Dustin looks at her and gives a soft nod. Gus looks at Mews' corpse and her eyes sadden. "Goodbye, Mews. You were a good cat."

Gus and Dustin start to place dirt over Mews' body. The short-haired girl looks over at Dustin. "Hey, you...you didn't know that Dart would do something like this."

Dustin stops burying Mews for a moment. But then he resumes, "I didn't know, but...everyone told me that he was dangerous." He says. "Will and Sofía...they both knew he was from the Upside Down and I didn't listen."

Gus slightly opens her mouth. "I'm sorry, Dustin."

Dustin chews on the inside of his cheek. "I had to lie to my mom about this..." he wipes at his eyes. "Wh-what am I gonna do?"

"We will figure all of that out later." Gus touches his shoulder and turns him to her. She crouches in front of him. "But for now..." she points at the head seat he was wearing. "...how is it going, contacting them?"

Dustin wipes at his nose, "They're not picking up."

"Try again, D. I'll finish up over here." Gus motions her head to the grave. Dustin goes to look back at Gus, but the teenager moves her head so Dustin couldn't view the cat. "I swear, I've got this." She gives him a reassuring smile.

Dustin then inhales a small breath and nods his head. He walks away from the grave and tries to contact the Party again. Gus' smile becomes small and she turns back to the cat. She lets out a defeated breath, she stands up, and goes back to burying Mews.

After burying Mews, Gus went to clean the blood out of the carpet. While Gus was scrubbing the carpet of blood, her mind trails over to Hopper and Eleven. Gus called Hopper, but he didn't answer. That made Gus want to drop everything she was doing and check on Eleven. But Gus had to be by Dustin's side through all this. She couldn't leave him alone to handle burying Mews, cleaning up the blood, and keeping Mews in the cellar. Gus had to hope that Eleven was okay on her own for a moment.

Hurried footsteps are heard heading towards her. "No one's answering! No one's answering!"

Gus turns to Dustin, "Huh?—Are they okay?"

"I-I don't know!" Dustin stammers. "Erica answered the walkie, not Lucas. He's not home! Mike isn't answering—"

"Okay, let's go then." Gus stands up and pulls the apron off her body.

"Wh-what?"

"Let's go to each of those squirt's houses and look for them." Gus huffs. "We don't have time for this...we can't keep calling them. We have to go to them."

Dustin nods his head, "Okay, okay! Uh, do you have your car?"

Gus raises her brows, "Yes! Yes! Let's go!"

They both run out of the house and get into Gus' car. She starts to car and places her hands on the steering wheel. Gus looks at her hands that were covered in yellow rubber gloves. "Dammit..." she pulls the gloves off and tosses them in the backseat.

...

"I'm 3.6 inches, what do you got?"

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

"Hold on." Joyce replies, she travels through the house with the other side of the measuring tape. "Twenty-one feet, four inches."

"What about Tippecanoe to Danford Creek?"

Sofía and Will look around the area.

"Dining room!" Will calls out.

Joyce makes her way into the dining room. "Sixteen feet, ten inches!"

"What about Danford to Jordan?" Bob asks.

"Oh, come on. This has gotta be enough." Joyce walks over to Bob.

"It's not. It's...it's really not." Bob says.

"Okay. Can't you figure it out?"

"Well, it's hard. The ratio into exactly one-to-one." Bob states.

"I mean, if you're twisting my arm, and you are twisting my arm, I would say that the X is...maybe a half mile southeast of Danford?"

Joyce's eyes light up. "Thank you, thank you!" She kisses Bob's cheek. She grabs the map and runs out of the house.

Sofía raises her brows and smiles. "You're so cool, Bob!" She then rushes after Joyce with Will and Mike.

Bob smiles, but then his smile drops. "What? Are we...we really going?" He follows after them.

☆

Gus slams her foot on the brake, causing her and Dustin to jerk forward. Dustin's back then hits the seat and he grunts. "Jesus!"

"What? We're in a hurry!" Gus puts the car in park and quickly gets out of the car with Dustin. They both run over to the Wheeler's house. Dustin rings the doorbell over and over and over again. It took a moment for someone to come to the door. When the door finally opens, Gus' expression falls.

"Oh, great. Hi, Mr. Wheeler." Gus folds her arms.

"Gus." Ted looks unamused, as usual.

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

"Oh, I do realize." Ted nods.

"Is Mike home?" Gus asks.

"No."

Gus cranes her neck forward, "No?"

"Well, where the hell is he?" Dustin asks.

"Yeah—where the hell is he, Ted?" Gus' voice was also aggressive like Dustin's.

"Karen, where's our son?" Ted asks.

"Will's!"

Ted looks at them, "Will's."

Gus tilts her head to the sky and sighs.

"No one's picking up there." Dustin whispers.

Gus' eyes widen, "Nancy. What about Nancy?"

"Karen, where's Nancy?"

"Ally's!"

Ted looks back at them, "Ally's."

Dustin and Gus look at each other with the same look of impatience and disbelief across their faces.

"Our children don't live here anymore. You didn't know that?" Ted asks.

Dustin scoffs, "Seriously?"

"Am I done here?" Ted keeps his eyes on Dustin.

"You are such an ass, Ted." Gus seethes.

"Hey—"

"Son of a bitch. You're really no help a all, you know that?"

"Language!" Ted tries to reprimand the two.

Dustin walks away in defeat but Gus keeps her stone cold glare on Ted. He looks at the girl with a pointed expression.

Gus points at Ted and arches her brow in an intimidating manner. "I'm watching you."

"Yeah..." Ted rolls his eyes and closes the door. Gus lets out a breath, she turns on her heel to follow Dustin. But she quickly freezes. She sees Steve and Dustin talking. Gus looks between the two with her brows pulled together.

"You know, Nancy isn't here, right?" Dustin asks.

Steve raises his brows, he looks at the bouquet of pink flowers and slightly opens his mouth. "Oh, no! These aren't for Nance. Uh, they're actually for--"

"Harrington!"

Steve's heart jumps into his throat from the voice he's grown fond of. He shifts his eyes to the brunette walking over to him. She was wearing a brown and gray sweater with a black turtleneck under it. Her acid-washed cuffed jeans were paired with her checkered vans.

Steve looks back at into Gus' brown eyes. Before Steve realized his feelings, he only saw his best friend's hazel brown eyes. But now it's like he understood everything about her. The way she would squint her starry brown hued irises. The way she would smirk when she just knew she was better than someone (which was all the time).

"Harrington!" Gus claps her hands.

Steve flinches and refocuses. "Huh?--Yeah!"

"You spaced out on us." Gus shakes her head. "We're kind of in a hurry, y'know?" the brunette shifts her eyes to the bouquet of flowers in Steve hand. "Huh, me and Nancy must have a lot in common."

"Wh-what? What do you mean?"

"I mean, we both like oriental lilies." Gus points at the flowers.

Steve blinks, "These aren't for...Nancy--"

"You don't have to lie." Gus chuckles. She looks at Dustin and scoffs. She points at Steve and rolls her eyes. "This guy."

Dustin tilts his head to the sky. "Jesus! Just tell her the truth!"

A crease forms between Gus' brows and she looks at Steve with a confused smile. "What's the truth?"

"Uh, August--Gus...August--"

"Call me whatever--what's the truth?" Gus slightly shakes her head.

Steve inhales a breath and holds it. Why the hell was he so nervous? He has talked to girls before. He's asked them out before. But flowers was a thing he didn't do. Everyone knew that. Gus was so different for Steve. She made him rethink everything he knew about girls.

Steve holds the bouquet out to the brunette and she slightly pulls her face back. Gus looks at the flowers, then back at Steve.

"I...bought these for you." Steve admits. "Fallon said you were going to help Dustin with something, but I couldn't find Dustin at his house, so I went to everybody's houses that the two of you knew and..." he inhales a deep breath. "...these are for you. Not Nancy."

Gus blinks. "Oh." she grabs the bouqet of flowers. "No one's ever done this for me before." she softly chuckles.

Steve softly smiles and Dustin rolls his eyes.

"Thank y—"

"Come on! Come on!—We don't have time for this shit!"

The two teens look at Dustin.

"Oh, right." Gus lightly hits her head.

Dustin looks at Steve, "Do you still have that bat?"

"What?" The teens chorus.

"We don't need his help." Gus says.

"You don't?" Steve inquires.

"No."

"Yes."

Gus snaps her eyes over to the boy, "Dustin!"

"Gus, come on! You still can't control your powers too well. We just need him until we get everything under control. You can put your differences aside, right?"

Steve then blinks, "We have differences?"

Gus looks at Steve with a deadpanned expression. "Of course we do. Just because you got me my favorite flowers--very kind of you by the way, doesn't mean I'm still not weary of you." she points the bouqet of flowers at the boy and he slightly takes a step back. "And I am still weary of you, sir."

"Now, let's go!" Gus walks over to Steve's car. She stops when she sees Dustin getting in the passenger seat.

"Dude?"

Dustin looks at the teen, "Hmm—yes?"

"Backseat."

Dustin sags his shoulders and crawls to the backseat. Gus looks at Steve and he was staring at her in awe. She knits her brows together, "Harrington, we've got to go!"

Steve blinks and slightly jumps. "Oh, r-right. I'm coming!" He jogs over to the car. Steve rounds the car and gets into the driver seat. He starts the car and immediately drives down the street.

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author's note.

Guysssss I am so excited for the Staugust scenes coming up. You have no idea!

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