dream » stranger things.

xviii. mom and dad

wendy carmichael stood next to steve, watching as jonathan, nancy, and joyce drove off in jonathan's car.

behind them, chief hopper and the new girl that wendy had encountered, el, drove off back to hawkins labratory. wendy looked down at mike, whom was standing in front of steve and her.

wendy saw mike send el off, and she saw the two almost kiss. wendy placed a hand on mike's shoulder, attempting to comfort him.

"c'mon guys. let's go inside." she whispered, causing all of them to go back inside of the byers' home.

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wendy sat on the couch, listening to dustin and steve as they tried to get the demodog into joyce byers's refrigerator.

her eyelids were becoming heavy as her energy was becoming drained.
she yawned, starting to close her eyes.
not even a minute had passed by before wendy's eyes snapped open.

the sound of steve crashing the demodog into the refrigerator startled wendy, waking her up. the seventeen year old girl was on edge again.

her eyes traveled over towards lucas and max as they swept up the glass that had broken during eleven's entrance.

then, she looked over towards mike, whom hadn't stopped pacing since he came into the house.

"mike, can you please stop pacing?" wendy looked at the anxious thirteen year old.

"you weren't in there, wendy! okay? that lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs!" mike defended.
"demodogs!" dustin yelled out, walking into the room.

"mike, the chief will take care of her." lucas chimed in.
"like she needs protection." max scoffed, referring to eleven and her grand entrance.

"listen, dude, if a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. all right?" steve looked at mike as he walked into the room. steve wiped his arm down with a towel.

"okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game. and second, we're not even in the game. we're on the bench." mike stated, causing wendy to raise an eyebrow.

he had a point.

"right...s-so my point is....right yeah, we're on the bench, so, uh, there's nothing we can do." steve responded, trying to recover from mike's statement. steve slung the towel over his shoulder, defeated.

"that's not entirely true. i mean, these demodogs, they have a hive mind. when they ran away from the bus, they were called away." dustin stated.

"if we get their attention..." lucas started, trailing off.
"maybe we can draw them from the lab." max completed.

"clear a path to the gate." mike informed.
"yeah, and then we all die!" steve looked at the kids.

"guys, we can't risk our lives." wendy stated, standing up.
"that's one point of view." dustin commented, looking at steve and wendy.

"no, that's not a point of view, man. that's a fact!" steve responded, looking down at dustin.

mike gasped, walking through dustin and steve.
"i got it!" he exclaimed. naturally, everyone followed to where he was leading.

"this is where the chief dug his hole. this is our way into the tunnel. so...here, right here! this is like a hub. so you got all the tunnels feeding in here," mike stated, going from one of the drawings to another until he was in the middle of them to where multiple tunnels connected to one.

"maybe if we set this on fire..." mike began to think of a plan.
"oh yeah, that's a no." steve pointed to the drawings.

"nothing is being set on fire." wendy shook her head.
"the mind flayer would call away his army." dustin stated.
"they'd all come to stop us!" lucas pointed out.

"hey!" steve warned.
"then we circle back to the exit." mike formed a plan.

"guys!" wendy tried to gain their attention.
"by the time they realize we're gone—" mike started.
"el would be at the gate." max completed.

"hey. hey! hey! this is not happening!" steve yelled at the three kids.

"but—" the kids objected.
"no, no, no, no, no! no buts. we promised that we'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what we plan on doing! we're staying here, on the bench. and we're waiting for the starting team to do their job! does everybody understand that?" steve scolded.

"this isn't a stupid sports game!" mike defended. the last thing wendy wanted was for any of these kids to get hurt.

"i said does everybody understand that?!" steve snapped, snatching the towel off of his shoulder and pointing it at the kids. the kids were silent.

"we need a yes!" wendy looked at the kids, resting her hands on her hips. the kids were silent, and the sound of a revving engine caught everyone's attention.

max ran over towards the window, looking out of it. lucas sinclair joined her, and the two gazed out of the window.

"it's my brother." max stated, looking back at wendy carmichael.