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

THIRTY FIVE

The Spy

Cat's eyes fluttered open and she found herself alone in a hospital room. She slowly sat up, her head still pounding. She sat there for a moment, blinking furiously to stop the world from spinning before she carefully pulled the IV out of her arm. Man did she hate needles. Just the thought of them was enough to make her feel sick. She slowly hopped off the bed and made her way to the door where she stepped in the hallway.

She stood there for a moment, wondering where everyone else was. The shouting of doctors and the screams of a young boy quickly caught her attention and she instantly knew that it was Will who was screaming.

Her stomach dropped as she sprinted down the hall, tripping over her feet as she did so. Will had to be okay, he had to be. She didn't know what she'd do if he wasn't. The closer to the room she got, the more her head began to hurt again. She shoved the doors open, stumbling slightly as she did. It hurt her to see any of the Party in pain and her heart broke the more Will screamed. She walked over to Mike and pulled him into her arms. "We're gonna help him, Mikey. It's going to be okay." But neither of them knew that they were the furthest from okay that they'll ever be.

***

Steve drove down the road, music blasting from his radio. He turned it down slightly so he could be heard over the song that had started playing. The car ride had been quiet so far but Steve had a few questions for the curly-haired boy in his passenger seat about what he had just explained. "Wait a sec. How big?"

Dustin held up his hand, indicating the size Dart was when he found him, using his forefinger and thumb, showing that the creature was quite small. "First it was like that." Then he held up both of his hands, holding them up a lot farther from each other. "Now he's like this."

"I swear to God, man, it's just some little lizard, okay?" Steve sighed, not believing what he was being dragged into.

"It's not a lizard."

"How do you know?"

"How do I know if it's not?"

"How do you know it's not just a lizard?"

"Because his face opened up and he ate my cat."

Steve wasn't sure what to say. "Oh, shit."

"Yeah, 'oh shit'. And now Kit's gonna kill me."

"Wait, she doesn't know?"

"No. She doesn't know that her favourite and only cat is dead, okay."

Steve shook his head slightly. "You are so dead, man."

"You don't think I know that?"

Steve's car pulled up in the driveway of the Henderson household and the two got out of the car, walking round to the trunk. "You sure that Cat isn't home?" Steve asked as he pulled the famous bat from the trunk of his car.