THE KIDS AREN'T ALRIGHT ｡ STRANGER THINGS

38 - BEAT HIM BLUE

Midnight had come and gone; the stars starting to fade a little bit, the sun racing around the globe, chasing the moon to bring another day. Each second that went by, meant the war was ticking closer and the point of no return was looming like a dark cloud, threatening to rain, and sure enough, the rain came when the group huddled in the Byers' rickety house separated.

Jim Hopper piled his daughter into his truck with one destination in mind; the hole that was ripping open wider by the minute, buried deep with the basements of Hawkins Laboratory. Since Eleven had opened the Gate, the idea that she could close it seemed like a decent one, unfortunately the labs were guarded with an army, but that was a problem for a latter date. Duncan had gone with them, promising Marigold he would not be a hero, only a shoulder to lean on if Eleven needed a power boost. The pair were strangely connected; Rainbow Room buddies from a life that was blurred at the edges. Duncan liked her, maybe the first person he could find himself relating to in a world that was so odd to him.

Joyce Byers had carried her family on her tiny shoulders, all the way to Jim's hideaway cabin, deep within the woods where nobody, not even the Mind Flayer could reach, since Will had never been there, he could not pinpoint his location. Nancy had followed suit, now a part of the family, in a strange way. As she hurried down the rocky driveway, she pulled Dottie Fields with her, whispering that Will liked her best, which could help with trying to burn the Mind Flayer from his mind. Dottie had promised Daisy, that she would be no hero, and the girls shared a secret smile about Nancy wanting Dottie to join her.

Steve Harrington, now a pretty decent babysitter, stayed behind with the children, and the Lonsdale sisters, who were bruised and exhausted. Filling the horrible silence, they attempted to clean the mess; the glass and the paper tunnels that circled around the entire house. Marigold, almost too hopeful, was glad her night of strange activities had come to an end, even if they were technically benched from the action. They would not be heroes tonight.

Apparently, Marigold was the only one quite happy to be sitting this one out.

Mike Wheeler complained loudly, watching as Steve and Dustin struggled to shove the dead Demodog into Joyce's fridge for scientific purposes. Mike had been pacing for a long while. Marigold watched him, lounged in a dining chair, her leg extended as Daisy examined her wounded ankle, which had started bleeding again. Marigold had downed more painkillers like warm beer on a summer afternoon. "Hopper knows what he's doing," Marigold called out over her shoulder, mind a little frayed at the edges. She liked that. "Give him some credit."

Daisy snickered softly, tying a new bandage around Marigold's ankle. "Give him some credit? He didn't find you when you went missing. Some chief of police."

"That's because I wasn't missing," Marigold elaborated cooly. "So, of course, he couldn't find me."

Mike ignored them. "Did I mention the part where there are hundreds of those things in the labs now?" he jeered back at them, shaking his head. "They're walking into an ambush."

Steve, a little irritated by the argument that had been going back and forth now for nearly twenty minutes, turned from his handiwork, tossing a dirty tea towel over his shoulder. "Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. Got it?"

"Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game," Mike rebutted. "And second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench."

Marigold raised a hand proudly. "And some of us, are quite happy to be here."

Steve stammered a bit. "Right, so my point is..." His eyes drifted down to Daisy, who simply shrugged her shoulders at him. Everyone stared at Steve waiting. "Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so uh, there's nothing we can do."