Shadows of the Night •a Stranger Things story•

Your Ass is Grass

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After camping out at Steve's place over night in the living room and making a pit stop at the butcher shop in town, Dustin, Steve, and Chris are standing near the edge of the woods, parked not too far from the outskirts of town.

Chris is wearing a short-sleeve shirt, feeling a little cooler than normal, but still feeling out of focus and tired sometimes. Dustin and Steve, both dressed appropriately for the autumn weather, are at the trunk of Steve's car. Steve places two full buckets of raw meat on the ground.

Dustin's walkie suddenly cracks to life. "Dustin! This is Lucas. Do you copy? Dustin?"

The boy grabs his walkie from Steve's trunk, adjusting the antenna. "Well, well, well, look who it is."

"Sorry, man," replies Lucas. "My stupid sister turned it off."

"Well, when you were having sister problems, Dart grew again, he escaped, and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon," Dustin says bluntly.

"Wait. What?"

"I'll explain later. Meet me, Steve, and Chrissie at the old junkyard."

"Steve?" asks Lucas.

"And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket."

"Steve Harrington?"

"All right, let's go," Steve says, grabbing the rest of their supplies and slamming the door shut.

"Just be there, stat. Over and out." Dustin turns off his walkie and picks up his bucket of meat, following Steve into the forest. Chris checks behind their backs, before taking up the rear.

The coffee pot between Robbie and Lisa is about a quarter full. They've been sitting at the booth in the cafe for about two hours. Lisa has a notebook near her, and a blueprint of the Columbus National Lab. They've been exchanging information after a very intrusive and detailed interrogation of one another to make sure they can trust each other.

"If we do get as far as getting Nine and making it into the hallway, we'll have to worry about the cameras. Not looking suspicious. Nine is intelligent, but he's a kid. He could accidentally give us away."

"How far can you get him without anyone thinking something is wrong?" asks Robbie.

Lisa points to the blueprint. Robbie leans forward. "Room 304," she answers matter-of-factly. "The Light Room. It's where he...reaches out to Chris..." Lisa frowns, looking down at her mug. It's nearly empty, nothing but the last dregs of coffee left. Lisa reaches for the pot at the same time as Robbie; she quickly retracts her hand. "Oh, sorry."

Robbie shakes his head. "No. No." He grabs the pot. "Here." He tops off Lisa's coffee and then pours the rest into his own mug. Lisa smiles warmly at Robbie, and he must admit, she is very pretty.

"Once they realize you've helped him escape," Robbie begins, watching as Lisa sips the coffee. "What are you going to do next?"

Lisa's forehead creases with thought. She scratches behind her ear, shifting in her seat. "I better hope that some people in Hawkins can take care of him."

"And you?"

Shaking her head, Lisa replies, "He is the only thing that matters now."

Chris tries to keep the pace with Steve and Dustin, who are moving across the train tracks, dropping small cubes of raw meat as they go. The two boys have large yellow gloves on. Steve takes a moment to look back at Chris, hoping she is still doing okay. She's definitely still sick and is much more tired than she should be.