𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐔𝐄! ✽ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

42

𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐍 𝐏𝐔𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 brush of the woods, towards the sound of familiar voices. "who's there?" they shouted. "who's there?!"

"god, will you clam up?!" she yelled in response. she stumbled from the forest to be faced with nancy and jonathan. steve, dustin, lucas, and max came to a halt behind her.

"dani?" the two questioned in unison.

"why's that so surprising?" the redhead asked, her brows dipped. she flicked off foliage from her knit top.

"nancy?" steve inquired as he stepped in front of sheridan. the girl's face fell as she watched him near her; her heart along with it. almost instantly, nancy began to scold him.

"what are you doing here?!" the wheeler girl screamed. sherrie jogged up to steve's side. she was prepared to defend him if need be.

"what are you doing here?" he countered.

"we're looking for mike and will," she answered. both groups had met each other in the middle, congregating on a grassy patch just inside the perimeter fences.

"will's not with you?" sheridan asked her younger brother. he shook his head in response.

"they're not in there, are they?" dustin interrogated. his head motioned towards the lab.

"god, i don't even wanna think about that," dani sighed. she ran her hands through her tussled hair and her eyes snapped shut. she stepped away from the group.

"why?" jonathan questioned. on cue, the demogorgons roar echoed from the laboratory. all of the kids were frozen and paralyzed with fear.

"we haven't seen will-" lucas and dustin attempted to deduce.

"no, sherrie and i haven't seen will since-" steve began.

"well, i don't know where you went, jonathan, but mike spent the night with will at our house, and next thing steve and i know, they all take off in bob's car," sherrie answered.

"steve spent the night with you, dani?" dustin inquired.

"oh, so first bob, and now steve?!" jonathan yelled. a look of disgust painted his sister's face.

"what the hell is it to you?" sheridan barked back in response. "and what do you have against bob? what do you want me to say, sorry you're not the man of the house anymore?!"

"the power's back!" nancy interrupted. everyone spun around to watch as lights flickered on, floor after floor.

without another word, jonathan made a beeline for the security post. he dashed into the glass booth with everyone running after him. he began to signal the gate to open, but to no avail. the gate had stayed stationary. sherrie groaned in defeat. "let me try," dustin insisted as he entered the stand.