Waiting was the true time killer; stalking hours and turning them to what felt like days. Apparently, Hawkins was engulfed with teenagers simply waiting for something today. Dottie Fields was huddled in an uncomfortable chair at Hawkins Laboratory with the the same children she had been stuck with last time when the town went to hell, waiting for news about Will Byers. Daisy Lonsdale was in the middle of the junk yard, waiting to kill a baby Demogorgon. Marigold Lonsdale and Duncan Downings were biding their time locked away in the labs, trying to find a way to escape their prison without hurting the powerful girl their grandfather wanted them to find. All this waiting and hoping, would soon enough, lead to the point of no return.

Limbs stiff and stomach growling, Dottie Fields pushed herself to her feet and started pacing the quiet corridor. Her brother, Micky, was passed out with a line of drool on his chin as his head was propped on Mike Wheeler's shoulder. The children had been waiting all night and all morning for news about Will, who had been carted away to Hawkins Lab after his seizure, along with Hopper and Joyce from the strange underground tunnels.

"What's taking them so long?" Dottie huffed, her anger was thin as ice since she hadn't eaten anything in hours. Mike Wheeler simply shook his head, mind too full with crazy ideas about his best friend. "Do you think they can fix Will?"

Mike chewed at his bottom lip. "It's not science that's inside his head, but the Shadow Monster."

Dottie paced for a long while again, watching the clock, which seemed to tick backwards at some point. Thankfully, before she could go completely stir-crazy, Joyce Byers exited the closest room and found the children. Her eyes were ringed red, her skin white as paper. Mike pushed Micky awake quickly, the boys scurrying to their feet.

"What's going on? Is Will okay? Do they know what's going to happen to him?" Dottie's mouth poured with questions, but felt horrible when she took one look at the mother who had carried so much worry in her thin shoulders for too long.

Joyce pushed a hand through her greasy hair. "You should have all gone home," Joyce offered quietly, trying to smile but it was no use. Everything was so strange right now.

Micky whispered a horrible thought. "Would they even let us leave?"

Dottie ignored his words, her hand reaching for Joyce's wrist, trying to offer comfort. She was always the first person to offer human touch in a way that could calm the mind and soothe the soul. "We're not going anywhere," Dottie said. "Did you find out any news?"

"They're not sure what's happening," Joyce replied, sniffing a little bit. "Whatever is inside his head, it's sucking the life from him. Dr. Owens used Will's memories, or what did you call them?" Her eyes shifted to Mike, who had fallen very quiet. "Now Memories? To pinpoint their next move against this thing, this Shadow Monster. They're going back to the tunnels with a lot of gun power now."

Mike shifted on his feet. "Can we see him?"

Joyce nodded but stayed quiet. The two boys hurried into Will's room, where he waited in bed with about five different machines hooked to his skin to monitor everything. Dottie stayed in the corridor, wanting one more moment with Mrs. Byers. "I can imagine all this is very scary for you," Dottie said, remaining calm. Inside her, fear was almost crippling, but she put on a brave face to show some hope for someone that needed it more. "But Will's a strong kid, he proved as much last year. He'll be okay."

"You're very kind," Joyce Byers said, tears wanting to blink in her eyes again. She took hold of Dottie's shoulders and drew her in for a hug, needing somebody to hold right now. Dottie wrapped her arms around her waist and took a deep breath. They parted when Dottie's stomach growled loudly. Joyce smiled for a second. "There's a vending machine on level three. Why don't you get some snacks. I'll tell Will you're coming back."

Dottie laughed lamely, shoving her hands into her denim overalls pockets. "Sure thing."

Weaving through the dim corridors alone was somewhat unnerving, but Dottie pressed on with the very thought of chomping down on a candy bar right now. Her nerves were shot, which meant she was in desperate need for sugar. She had just finished stuffing her pockets with bags of chips and an assortment of sweets when the strangest thing happened. A voice sounded in the deepest part of her mind, like an echo lost on the wind. She swung her body around, but found nobody standing behind her. But the voice came again, this time less like a dream and more like a mind invader.

His voice was smooth, like always, but held a great call for attention. We're in the lower levels. Please find us. We need your help, Dottie.

Dottie dropped one of her candy bars, the thing melting on the ground. Her head wiped around again, trying to find the source of the voice. Fear spiked inside her stomach, pushing away her need for anything filled with sugar. "Duncan? Is that you?" She felt stupid for saying the words out loud, her voice bouncing off the walls and finding her again.

We need your help. Please hurry.

Confused by the fact she could hear Duncan Downings's voice inside her mind, Dottie shuffled away from the vending machine and found her way to a staircase. Casting one look over her shoulder, hoping nobody was paying too much attention to the lone girl in the corridors right now, she started her descent to the lower levels where she would find Duncan and Marigold.

***

Night had fallen slowly, and the ragtag group of children had done their very best to prepare the junkyard for a battle which would mimic the last time they faced a Demogorgon in an array of Christmas lights at the Byers' house last year. Currently, Daisy Lonsdale was twirling a plank of metal she had crafted into some kind of weapon, sharp at one end and firm enough to grip in her palm. She realised she should have grabbed her frying pan, which proved handy in her last battle against one of these monsters. Beside her, Steve was fiddling with his lighter, nerves clear as day on his face.

"Are you scared?" Daisy asked, listening to the quiet conversation that was occurring on the rooftop between Lucas Sinclair and newbie, Max Mayfield.

Steve shook his head. "I'm not scared of anything."

Daisy twisted her lips. "Bullshit."

"Are you scared?" Steve turned his gaze away from his lighter, which played like shadows on his face. They had spend all day together, but in the minutes before shit came raining down, he had fallen quiet. Daisy noticed a lot of things about this boy; one of them being the fact he was very good at hiding away the worry that weaved through his veins. Each child had small affects of post-traumatic stress disorder, a lot occurred in their dreams. His coping mechanisms came with weed and a constant need to fiddle. "You can be honest."

Daisy poked a hole in her jeans idly. "Yes," She hated her nightmares about monsters that clawed at skin and the way they wailed into the clouded nights. She felt small, pathetic even, that last year still plagued her mind. "How could I not be? We were nearly eaten last year."

Steve dropped his lighter to his lap and held out his hand. Daisy eyed it for the longest second. "Take my hand, Goldilocks." His words were quiet, not wanting the other children to overhear. Slowly, she placed her palm within his own. He held onto her hand like it meant the entire world tonight. "Do you feel better now?"

"That was a smooth move," Daisy snickered, but wiggled closer to him, so their shoulders were pressed together in the shadows of the bus. "But yeah, a little better."

Steve Harrington's smile was captivating, even when danger was looming on the horizon. He shifted his attention to Dustin Henderson, who watched from his seat near the bus doorway. "See, Henderson, that's how you do it." Daisy shook her head, but remained holding his hand, even if she wanted to strangle him. At least he was doing a decent job of keeping the mood lighthearted.

Dustin rolled his eyes. "You're a dickhead, you know that?"

"Yeah, but a dickhead with moves." Steve grinned in the darkness, even though a small ache in his heart begged to differ. While all the craziness that had unfolded in the last few days, he realised he had not thought once about Nancy Wheeler, which meant that maybe their relationship truly was done and dusted.

Before Daisy could even open her mouth and insult her favourite boy in the world, a very familiar howl, which was not quite an animal screaming to the moon, echoed through the junkyard. Lucas's voice echoed from above and the children rushed to the cracks in the windows, which had been fastened with scrapes of metal and wire. Goosebumps lined Daisy's flesh and her heart raced inside its cage under her blood and muscle.

"Do you see him?" Dustin questioned quickly.

Steve shook his head. "Nah, not yet, but he's out there."

Lucas screamed again. "I've got eyes! Ten o'clock!"

Daisy narrowed her eyes, trying to pinpoint the shadows moving through the layers of fog. It took her a moment to finally find the beast in the darkness. Her grip tightened around her makeshift weapon. However, the Demodog did not move from its stance and made no attempt at the baited trap they had worked hours on.

"Why's he not taking the bait?"

Steve blew out a sad sigh, knowing what had to come next. He kind of wished he had stayed home. "Maybe he's sick of cow," he said. "A little human might work though."

Daisy's hand caught Steve's jacket sleeve, before he could step from the safety of their bus. "You're being an idiot," Her words were laced with too much worry, which he picked up on. He had been an idiot his entire life and tonight would be no different. At least he would be a brave idiot. He glanced back at Dustin Henderson, who stared at him too. "Don't do this, Steve."

Steve Harrington offered her a wink. "You like idiots, right?"

He disappeared through the door, which slid back into place once he was on the grass. Daisy watched with her heart in her throat, as he twirled his baseball bat around in his hands so gracefully. Max had dropped into the bus carriage from the roof, watching and waiting like the rest of them.

"What's he doing?" Max questioned, eyes wild with horror and curiosity. She had never seen a monster and had not believed a single thing Lucas had told her, but suddenly, it all seemed very real.

Dustin smiled, just a little bit. Maybe Steve really was awesome. "He's expanding the menu."

In the creeping shadows, Steve's voice could still be heard. "Come on, buddy," he called out, stalking closer to the pile of meat he had dumped there hours ago. "Human tastes better than cat, I promise."

A rustling sound found Daisy's attention first, her eyes snapping towards her left. She couldn't see anything, but there was a low growl which she heard every single night in her dreams. Lucas was shouting from the rooftop again, finding the source of the noise too. "Steve watch out! Three o'clock! Three o'clock!"

Through the fog, Daisy saw them all clearly. Multiple, maybe six or eight, Demodogs were circling around him. He was suddenly the bait. "Fuck." Dread filled Daisy's stomach like coal and before her mind could even process her actions, she was pushing towards the door. Dustin yelled after her, but she kept moving.

Her combat boots hit the grass and fog wrapped around her ankles within seconds. On her left one Demodog snarled, his mouth opening wide and showing her the horrors she'd seen in her nightmares too many times to count. "Steve!" Daisy screamed, her voice sounding like a church bell in the open night air.

Steve barely had time to react, only to see her standing meters behind him and in danger. He was already shaking his head, but had more pressing matters in that second. A Demodog sprung on his right and he swung the spiked bat perfectly, the monster falling to the dirt with a whimper. His achievement and pride was short lived as another went straight for his head. Daisy, fear pulsing through her entire body and making her feel electric, twisted her metal weapon in her hands and aimed for the Demodog racing towards her. Her throat tightened with a chilling scream when the metal sliced the monster's neck, dark blood spaying onto her neck. Another jumped into its place, knocking her to the ground where her cheekbone connected with a rock.

Dustin was yelling into the foggy air, "Abort! Come on! Fucking abort!"

Daisy hurried to her feet, hands slick with blood and dirt and her weapon back within her grip. A strange howl sounded right next to her ear, but no monster sunk its claws into her skin. Hands circled around her waist, yanking her body upright. "Who's the idiot now?" Steve questioned with another shake of his head. Daisy simply grinned, feeling a little dangerous with her solid take down of at least one Demodog.

Steve pulled Daisy towards the bus, monsters flocking behind them. He practically pushed her through the doors, which were closed seconds later. Demodogs pounded on the metal, growling and barking and making all kinds of horrible sounds. The bodies shook the bus horribly, the metal the children had put up being torn a part. Daisy touched the blood on her cheek, which pulsed with pain and she blinked across at Max, who looked like she was about to vomit.

Dustin was trying to catch somebody on his radio, calling for help, but it was no use. Steve Harrington hurried the younger children to the back of the bus, bat still in hand. He stared across at Daisy, seeing the blood on her cheek and down her neck. He was almost in awe. "We're going to die," Daisy whispered, not wanting scare Max further, which was maybe impossible.

Steve shared her fears. "Maybe."

Above, a crying sound of metal alerted their gaze to the rooftop. A Demodog was moving closer to the gaping hole in the roof where the ladder sat. Daisy hurried towards Max, who stared up at the night sky and screamed in the face of horror as she got her first true glance at the beast. Daisy yanked on a loop in the girl's jeans and pulled her backwards. Steve settled by her side, weapon raised towards the Demodog's mouth.

"If we're about to die, I should probably tell you that—" Steve started, but his sentence was cut short as the monster looming above them vanished. His frown inched deeper on his forehead, but relief filled his heart.

Eerie silence filled the bus carriage. Seconds bled together, dragging onto the next. Slowly, the group followed Steve Harrington to the door way and into the night. Howls faded into the night and the junkyard was empty once again. "What happened?" Lucas questioned, voice startling the group.

"I don't know."

"Maybe Steve scared em' off?"

Steve stood tall in the night, listening to the sounds of the monsters grow distant. Daisy joined him, chin tilted to the sky and her metal weapon hanging from her fingertips. "No, no way," Steve replied. "They're going somewhere."

***

Deep within the basement levels of Hawkins Laboratory two teenagers waited, hoping for the best. They had been stuck in a tiny isolation room for hours, which only made the deep seeded paranoid grow within Marigold's mind. She was trying to remain calm, for her cousin, but it was getting harder to keep her facade in tact.

Duncan's powers were untested, he had only ever heard voices in his head, not placed his own voice inside somebody else's mind. However, it was worth a shot if they could contact Dottie Fields somehow, to break them free from this nightmare. For an hour, Duncan had sat cross-legged on the cold hard flooring with his eyes closed and his body still from movement. His eyelids had flickered with jerking motions and his lips parted each other second. Soon enough, blood had dribbled from his nose as his body and mind become exhausted.

"Do you think it worked?" Marigold knelt next to him, offering him a tissue from her purse. His eyes were filled with such desperation. He did not want to be in these labs, did not want to be anywhere near Hawkins right now. He did not want to find a strange girl named Elven, who some believed was not dead. He did not want to hurt her, to save himself.

Duncan clean away the blood, his movements sloppy from fatigue. "I have no idea," he answered honestly. He had never played around with his powers, never wanted to test their limits. They had only ever been a burden. "I hope so."

They waited in a painful silence; too many things unsaid between them. Marigold wanted to apologise to him again and again. She had promised he would be safe, that it was time to return home. Apparently, she had been wrong, which was something she never was. She had not intended to put him in more danger, not at the hand of their own grandfather. Duncan, on the other hand wanted to say only six words to her; you tried your best, thank you.

But neither said anything, only waited.

Moments felt like hours, but when there was a knock at their door, both of them jerked towards the noise like creatures of the night. Marigold peered through the tiny glass panel in the door, finding a familiar set of brown eyes. Dottie Fields waved excitably at them both. Then, the door was falling open as a keycard was flashed against the door panel. Nobody questioned how Dottie, kinder than anybody in town, had stolen it.

"Thank goodness," Marigold flung her arms around her friend.

Dottie smiled, very proud of herself. Chocolate was smeared across her bottom lip and her hunger was gone for now. Her eyes skipped to Duncan, who waited quietly, just watching. He was still not very comfortable around people that were not his family. He was growing, learning, always, but social situations still made him feel out of place. "I heard your voice," Dottie said. "Inside my head. How?"

Duncan offered a shrug. "It's a long story."

"Well, you'll have to tell me later," Dottie replied. "We should go before somebody realises their keycard is missing." She held up a thin keycard with a blank face from some lab employee printed on the side.

Marigold pocketed the keycard smoothly and followed Dottie back through the corridors, that were strangely empty. "You're the best." she told Dottie, which caused her cheeks to flush. She shook her head in reply, simply only doing the right thing.

"Don't mention it," Dottie said, rounding a bend in the corridor, trying to remember which way led her back to the staircase she had come down. "Why were you both locked down here anyway?"

Duncan slowed down behind them, a hand pressed to his temple. Marigold didn't notice, only kept walking. "It's a long story, too," She was not quite sure how she would explain that her grandfather was some evil mastermind that wanted some girl with powers in his grasp, and thought they could help. "Why are you here?"

Suddenly, screaming echoed through the corridor, followed by gunshots from below. Dottie skittered to a stop, her sneakers squeaking on the flooring. Marigold rounded back to Duncan, who was doubled over, hand still touching his temple. Only two floors down laid the Gate, which was a hot spot for death and destruction right now. Dottie gulped down a worried scream. "What's going on?"

Marigold raced back to her cousin, her hand on his shoulder. "Duncan, what's wrong? What's happened?"

Duncan opened his eyes and they were filled with pain, a pain which Will Byers had been inflected with for many hours today. "Something's coming," Duncan said, "wait, no, it's already here. They're here."

"Who's here?" Marigold shouted, panic rising in her chest.

The distant screams were starting to grow louder, the light above their heads flickering uncontrollably. Duncan stretched out his hands, one finding Marigold's tiny palm and the other begging Dottie to his side quickly. "We've gotta' get out of here. Now."