November 4th, 1983

Hawkins, Indiana

Walking down the same train tracks we had taken just a few hours ago to get to the junkyard felt so wrong.

None of us expected to find what we did, but it was still a bummer to leave knowing that we didn't change a thing or help anyone.

"You're sure one of those things was Dart?" Lucas asked Dustin from his place behind him. "Yes. He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt." Dustin confirmed, keeping his eyes glued to the train tracks.

"But he was tiny two days ago?" Max asked confused, how could something go from the size of a slug to the size of a large dog in just a few days?

"Well, he's molted three times already." Dustin answered her, though the statement instantly confused Steve. "Malted?" He asked with his brows furrowed. "He doesn't mean the drink, Steve."

"Molted, as in shed his skin to make room for growth. Like hornworms." Dustin explained, but by the look on Steve's face, it didn't help much.

"So, when is he going to molt again?" Max asked.

"Well, it's gotta be soon, at this rate." I guessed, shining my flashlight away from the tracks in front of us and into the trees next to us.

"And by that time he'll be fully grown, or close to it." Dustin confirmed causing a slight chuckle to skip from Steve. "Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats." He mumbled.

"Wait! A cat?" Lucas exclaimed, grabbing Dustin by his coat, turning the boy to face him. "Dart ate a cat?" "No, what? No." Dustin tried as Max, Steve, and I watched as Lucas stared down at the boy in front of him.

"What are you talking about? He ate Mews." Steve stated, causing me to jab him in the side with my elbow. "Ouch! What?" He exclaimed, grabbing his side.

"Mews? Who's Mews?" Max asked anyways, "Dustin's cat." He answered her plainly. "Steve!" Dustin groaned, throwing his hands in the air.

"I knew it! I knew you kept him!" Lucas continued to yell at Dustin while the boy tried to awkwardly come up with an excuse. "Nice one, Steve." I mumbled looking around at the woods around us.

"No! Okay, no. I just... I- okay, he missed me. He wanted to come home." Dustin finally answered, earning an eye roll from Lucas. "Oh, so now you admit it?" "Well, I didn't realize he was a baby Demogorgon!"

"Guys, who cares? We have to go." Max tried to stop the two from fighting but Lucas cut her off instantly. "I care! You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!" "Well, so did you!" Dustin cut Lucas off.

"How?" Lucas rolled his eyes while Dustin shined his flashlight in Max's face. "You told a stranger the truth!" "A stranger?" Max asked annoyed, stepping up to Dustin.

"You wanted to tell her too!" "Yeah, but I didn't, Lucas, okay?" Rolling my eyes at the three kids, I shined my light back down at the path we had been following when a screech in the distance caught my attention.

"Did you hear that?" I whispered to Steve, who kept his eyes trained on the kids. "Hear what?" He asked turning to face me when another screech broke through the air.

Walking away from the group, I shined my light between the trees but found nothing. "Hey, guys?" Steve called to the group. "Your stupid pet, could've ate us for dinner!" "He wasn't going to eat us!" Lucas and Dustin continued to argue.

"Guys!" I yelled, grabbing their attention. "I think they went this way." I stated, looking back between the trees.

Walking up beside me, Steve slowly made his way into the forest, followed by Dustin and Lucas. "Guys? Why are you heading towards the sound?" Max asked, freaked out by the growing noise in the distance. "It's kind of what we do." I joked with the girl, lightly nudging her to follow us in.

~~~

Walking out of the woods, we made it to a clearing that overlooked the town. "I don't see anything." Dustin stated, looking over the scenery, though another sound rang through the air.

Grabbing a pair of binoculars from his bag, Lucas scanned the area before landing on a dark building in the distance. "It's the lab." He stated, dropping the binoculars back into the bag. "Guess they're going home." I mumbled.

Taking a step closer to the edge of the clearing, Steve quickly grabbed my wrist. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"We have to go help them. Somethings wrong." I stated, lightly pulling my wrist from him. "How do you know?" He whispered, looking back at the kids who where busy looking around at the town below.

"When was the last time Hawkins Labs shut down?" I asked, causing him to shrug. "Never. I've never even seen that building lose power, much less close down."

"So, you want to go down there?" He asked, looking slightly worried. "Yeah." I nodded.

"And what do you plan on doing exactly?" He asked as I awkwardly looked back down at the Lab. "Turn the lights back on?" I shrugged, turning back to walk down the clearing.

~~~

"Do we even know where we are going?" Max asked from the back of the group, while I lead the pack through the trees. "I mean, it should just be straight shot to the front gates." I stated, stepping over a tree root.

"Do you even know how to restart the power for a place like this?" Steve asked, catching up with me, dodging a low hanging branch on his way.

"Why? Don't you? Pretty sure we covered it in Physics." I tried to joke, but honestly he was right. What I am doing? "Right, I think I skipped that lesson." He responded with a smirk causing me to look away from the path and up at him.

It didn't last long, us staring at each other like fools before a voice in the distance called out to us. "Hello?" The voice yelled, causing me to quicken my pace, breaking my gaze with Steve.

"That voice sounds familiar." I stated, pushing through a few branches. "Hello? Who's out there?" They called again before the five of us finally made it through the trees.

Locking eyes with both Jonathan and Nancy. "Eleanor?" They both asked confused before looking behind me. "Steve?" They continued causing me to roll my eyes.

"Welcome home." I stated, while Jonathan awkwardly placed his hands in his jacket pockets and Nancy made her way towards us. "What are you doing here?" Steve asked, looking between the two.

"Looking for Mike and Will." Nancy responded, grabbing my attention away from my older brother. "They're missing?" I asked causing the two to nod.

"Well, they aren't in there are they?" Dustin asked worried. "We don't know. Why?" Nancy asked, and as if the monsters had heard the question fall from her lips, multiple screeches echoed through the air.

Pulling our attention away from the dark building, Jonathan quickly turned to me. "Why didn't you stay with Will?" He questioned, sounding almost annoyed.

"Well, excuse you. Where did you even go?" I rolled my eyes, shining my flashlight between him and Nancy. "We had to go deal with something, why didn't you stay at home?"

"You had to deal with something without me? Besides, I was home until Dustin needed help and no one was there for him. Sound familiar." I stated crossing my arms while the rest of the group had their own conversation on what to do about the power.

"I wanted you to stay back for Will, that's it." "Bullshit, Jonathan." He and I continued to argue while Nancy slowly walked away from both groups. "You do realize this all your fault, right?" Jonathan questioned me, my breath caught in my throat at his words, giving him exactly the rise he wanted.

"You know, Will's disappearance? Nancy hating you. You losing my trust. That's all on you, not me. Seriously, Nell, you used to tell me everything." He ranted, warm tears fell down my cheeks at his words, but I couldn't hold back a cruel chuckle. "Don't do that. Don't you dare." I shoved a finger in his chest as my tears continued to fall.

"You think I don't blame myself for everything? Fine then, two can play that game. What kind of brother abandons his sister? His baby brother? And all for what? My best friend? And don't you dare act like you haven't been hiding your feelings for her from me."

"Guys!" Nancy yelled, pulling all of us out of our conversations.

"The powers back on." She stated before all of us made our ways towards the gate, Jonathan going straight for the guard post to open it.

"Dammit!" He yelled from inside, pushing the button multiple times. "Let me try." Dustin stated confidently, pushing him out of the way.

Though like Jonathan, all he accomplished was mashing the button an unnecessary amount of times.

"Guys, what do we do?" Dustin asked, stopping himself from pressing the button anymore.

Placing a hand on my head, I looked around the looming building, before a buzz sounded from the gate, the red lock turning to green before it slowly slid open. "I did it!" Dustin yelled victoriously from inside the post.

Grinning at the boy, I looked around the entrance of the building to find four figures emerging from the still blacked-out first floor, the only light coming from the blinking alarm inside.

"They're outside!" I yelled, quietly thanking God that they were alright. "I'm gonna go get them." Jonathan stated, running to the side of his car, followed by Nancy doing the same.

"What are we supposed to do? Just wait here?" Steve questioned, the tone of his voice changing slightly as he looked from Nancy to Jonathan. "Wait, we'll be right back with them."

"And then what?" Steve questioned again. Rolling my eyes, I looked back at the entrance to find that now only three figures stood in front of the door, two belonging to both Mike and Will one being held up by the other and Hopper holding a gun.

"I think mom went back inside." I called out, grabbing Jonathan's attention. "Is Will still inside?" He asked, halfway into his car. "No, he's with Hop but somethings wrong."

"I'm going. We'll come back for you guys." Jonathan stated, the slamming of both his and Nancy's door stopped Steve from stalling them any longer. "We can't just stand here." Dustin groaned, walking out from the booth while Jonathan drove through the gate.

"Well, what do you suggest? Cause this is the best we've got." I stated, leaning on the fence, watching the car pull up to the door, now only Mike and Will stood outside.

"Everything's gonna be fine." Steve mumbled, leaning next to me once he noticed the fear slowly starting to rise in my eyes, my breathing becoming shakier. "I really don't think it will be."

Even though it had only been a few seconds after Jonathan parked his car, it felt like an eternity before Hopper came back out of the doors, holding mom back in one arm and firing his gun with the other.

Helping the two kids into the car, Hop practically pushed mom into the backseat with them before running to his own vehicle.

"They're out!" I yelled, pushing off of the fence as Jonathan and Hopper sped back towards us.

Moving the kids out of the way of the road, Jonathan sped away from us while Hopper came to a halt in front of us throwing his passenger door open. "Get in!" He yelled, pushing the passenger seat up to let us into the back.

"Go, go!" Steve yelled, helping Max, Lucas, and Dustin into the back seat.

Grabbing my hand gently he helped me into the back with them before sliding the seat back into place, locking us in before slamming the door behind him.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked as Hopper followed behind Jonathan, leaning up in my seat so that I could look up at Hopper. "I'll explain when we get you kids somewhere safe."

"Please, Hop. Is Will okay?" I practically begged as he kept his eyes glued on the road. "He will be. We don't know what's wrong with him, exactly."

Nodding, I quietly reached between the armrest and the passenger seat to grab Steve's hand to keep calm. "Tell me it's gonna be alright." I whispered to him.

Nodding, he squeezed my hand, "Everything's gonna be okay, Nellie. I promise."