Emily Hopper aka 003 has been through a lot in the past year. She escaped Hawkins lab with her sister El, helped defeat the Demogorgon, and made some new friends along the way. All in all, she has had it rough, but things are starting to look up for...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
While we wait for Jonathan, I catch Nancy up on everything that's happened today with the Demodogs and introduce her to Max. I left out the Billy part because now is not the time to be worried about my love life. Shit, my love life. I have a date with Billy tonight.
"Hey Nance, do you know what time it is?" I ask, trying to remain calm. "It's eight. Why?" She asks curiously. "Shit." I curse under my breath as I turn away from my best friend.
Right before Nancy begins to interrogate me, Max gets our attention. "Guys." Max says, clearly worried. We look up and see Jonathan's car, along with Hopper's police van, speeding towards us. Nancy, Steve, and I usher the kids off the road as Jonathan honks his horn.
Jonathan stops and picks up Nancy and then speeds off as Hopper pulls up to where Jonathan was. "Let's go." Hopper says, out of breath.
I open the door and all the kids quickly climb into the van. Steve looks at me and signals for me to get in. "No way. I call shotgun, Harrington." I say and he rolls his eyes and goes to the trunk to get in. I get in the passenger seat and Hopper looks over at me as a slight glare appears on his face. "Okay, let's go." Steve says from the trunk and Hopper speeds towards the Byers house.
"Why the hell are you here with them?" Hopper asks as he keeps his eyes on the road. "It's a long story." I say as I look back at the kids to make sure they're okay. "It's a long drive to the Byers house." He replies and I roll my eyes and start to tell him about today's events with the Demodogs.
.•°☾︎𑁍☽︎°•.
We finally make it to the Byers house and get situated inside. Jonathan lays a sedated Will on the couch, while Hopper calls the military to talk to them about the events at the lab. Joyce goes to her room to mourn the loss of her boyfriend, Bob. Nancy stays by Jonathan's side trying to comfort him. The kids sit down around the dining room table. Steve walks to the window, while I lean my head leaned against the wall.
I really hope I didn't blow it with Billy. I mean I completely ditched him. And I was actually excited about something for the first time in a while. Plus I really like him, which is very out of character for me.
Dustin pulls me out of my thoughts by speaking. "They didn't believe you, did they?" He asks as Hopper joins us in the kitchen. "We'll see." Hopper says, annoyedly as he shoots Dustin a small glare.
"We'll see? We can't just sit here while those things are loose!" Mike shouts as he looks over at Hopper. "We stay here, and we wait for help." Hopper says, leaving no room for negotiations. Hopper walks away and we all go back to our thoughts.
Mike gets up and goes to pick something up. "Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?" He asks with a sad look on his face. All the kids look at him as frowns appear on their faces.
"Really?" Lucas asks as he looks up at Mike. "He petitioned the school to start it and everything. And then he had a fundraiser for equipment. Mr. Clarke learned everything from him. Pretty awesome right?" Mike responds walking back to the other kids. "Yeah." Dustin responds with a frown.
Mike sits down a blue cube puzzle on the table and all the kids look at it. "We can't let him die in vain." Mike says confidently as all the kids look at him.
"Well, what do you wanna do Mike?" Dustin snaps at Mike as he stands up. "We can't stop those Demodogs on our own." Dustin says, using the name I've been calling the monsters from the beginning.
"Demodogs?" Max questions as she quirks her head to the side. "Yeah. Demogorgon. Dogs. Demodogs." I say making gestures with my hands. "Yes, exactly!" Dustin says and a wide smile appears on his face as he looks up at me. "It's like a compound." He says to further explain, still seeing everyone's confused looks. He continues to ramble on until Max cuts him off with a simple, "Okay."
"I mean when it was just Dart, yeah. Emily could have taken him out with no problem." Dustin says as he points at me. "But there's an army now." Lucas finishes for him. "Precisely." Dustin says with a nod as he looks at Lucas.
"His army." Mike says quietly. Steve and I look at him with questioning looks. "What do you mean?" I ask as I walk over to him. "His army." Mike repeats louder than before, an idea sparking in his mind. "Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army too." Mike says trying to explain. Mike gets up and goes to get something. He picks up a drawing of a spider-like creature and shows it to us.
"The Shadow Monster." Dustin says confused. "It got Will that day on the field. The doctor said it was like a virus. It infected him." Mike explains to us. "And this virus, it's connecting him to the tunnels?" Max asks as she examines the drawing. "To the tunnels, to the monsters, to the Upside Down, to everything." Mike says and I nod.
"Okay, woah, slow down. Slow down." Steve says, trying to keep up. "Okay so, the Shadow Monster's inside everything. If the vines feel something, like pain, then so does Will." Mike explains. "And so does Dart." Lucas says seeing where Mike was going with his plan.
"Yeah, it's like what Mr. Clark taught us. The hive mind." Mike says, happy that someone was seeing where he was going with his idea. "Hive mind?" Steve asks, getting confused again. "A collective conscience. It's a superorganism." I explain, remembering reading about it in a book one time. "You're awesome." Dustin says with a smile as he looks up at me. I send him a smile and then look back at Mike, waiting for him to continue with his plan.
"This is the thing that controls everything. It's the brain." Mike says pointing at the drawing. "Like the Mind Flayer." Dustin says causing Lucas and Mike to look at him with a look of realization. Lucas points a Mike and snaps. "What?" Max, Steve, and I ask in unison as we share a confused look.
