There's No Place Like Hawkins//Stranger Things. SH

FOURTEEN

The Monster

The next morning, Dustin cycled to the Wheeler's house, Catherine sitting on the back of his bike holding her crutches. Dustin went to the basement to see the rest of the party, while Cat hobbled up the stairs to Nancy's room. She knocked on the door, nearly falling over when she removed one hand from her crutches.

"Who is it?" Nancy called out.

"Um, it's Cat." Cat heard her friend's footsteps approach the door and when Nancy opened it Cat immediately made a beeline for the bed, Nancy helping her.

"How are you holding up?" Jonathan asked as Cat laid her head on Nancy's pillows.

"It's barely been a day. But you know, other than having like a thousand stitches and not being able to walk and getting like no sleep, I'm good."

Nancy sat next down on her bed and placed a pillow under the girl's broken leg to prop it up. "You couldn't sleep either?"

"Haha, nope. I made Dustin stay up all night with me and we watched movies all night. Because every time I closed my eyes I-"

Nancy cut her off. "Kept seeing that... thing?" Catherine nodded. "Me too. Wherever we were, that place... I think that it lives there."

Catherine slowly sat up, Jonathan helping her. She leaned on him and he placed an arm around her, making sure she didn't fall off the bed as she was near the edge. "Uh huh. Makes sense. It was... it was feeding there."

Nancy nodded. "Feeding on that deer. That means that if..." She inhaled deeply. "if Will and Barbara..." She trailed off, looking as if she was about to cry. Catherine leaned over, placing a hand on Nancy's leg as an attempt to comfort her. The girl placed her own hand over Cat's, squeezing it slightly.

"Hey." Jonathan leaned towards Nancy, moving Cat slightly so that she could still be comfortable. The girl laid down so that her head was near Nancy, her leg still being propped up by a pillow. "My mom said she talked to Will." Jonathan said. "If he's alive, there's a chance Barbara is, too."

"That means that she's trapped... in that place." Nancy pointed out. "We have to find it again."

"What?!" Catherine asked. "You're crazy."

"You wanna go back out there?" Jonathan asked her.

"Maybe we don't have to." Cat and Jonathan stared at her, waiting for an explanation. "When Cat and I saw it, it was feeding on that deer. Meaning it's.. it's a predator, right?"

"Right." Jonathan confirmed as Cat nodded.

"And it seems to hunt at night, like a... a lion or a coyote." She turned through the pages of one of the books that were sat in front of her. "But it doesn't hunt in packs like them. It's always alone, like... like a bear. And remember at Steve's, when Barb cut herself?" Cat and Jonathan nodded. "And then, last night, the deer..."