205. Welcome Chief

Chapter 205, welcome chief

"And you're positive that was Dart?" Lucas asked, completely adamant in his belief that the monsters absolutely could not have been Dustin's tiny, squishy lizard-friend he had met the other day.

"Yes," Dustin said again, exasperated. "He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt."

Max scrunched up her brow. "But he was tiny two days ago."

"Well, he's molted three times already," Dustin said, shuffling his feet along the railroad tracks. It was dark out, and their only source of light was Steve's flashlight, which he aimed to the ground in front of him. Dustin tripped over his own shoelace.

"Malted?" Steve said as he reached out with his free hand to help Dustin regain his balance.

"Molted," Dustin said again. "Shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms."

"Ew," Lucy muttered to herself, scrunching up her nose.

"When's he gonna molt again?" Max asked Dustin.

"It's gotta be soon," he replied, shrugging. "When he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it. And so will his friends."

"Why'd they run away?" Lucy asked. "It looked like they were called to something, but what else would possibly be calling them? And where the hell is my brother?"

"He's out there somewhere," Dustin said, shrugging offhandedly. "He's probably at Will's house, if I had to guess."

"If you had to guess," Lucy repeated to herself with a scoff. She stopped in her tracks, facing Dustin with her arms crossed. "Listen, Henderson, the only reason I'm here in the first place is for Leo. All I want to do is find him. Make sure he's safe. If you can give me any sort of information on that, now's your chance to come clean. Because so fucking help me God, I will find him, even if that means I have to go off into the woods in the middle of the night and make myself bait so those Demo-...things come after me instead of my brother. But before I do that, I will ask you one more time, Dustin: Do you have any idea where Leo is?"

"Will, Mike, and Leo are at the lab," Lucas said. Lucy's eyes moved to him, but he had shifted his gaze to Dustin. "Will had another episode and Mike and Leo helped Joyce and Hopper take him to the lab so they could run tests. I was radioing with Mike before you called me."

"So they're at the lab? So they're—they're safe," Lucy said, glancing between Dustin and Lucas. "Right?"

"Uh.. probably not, if that's the lab they're at," Steve called. He had veered off when the rest of the group came to a stop and was standing at the edge of a clearing, gazing down with a grim expression on his face. He turned over his shoulder. "You guys hear that?"

Lucy focused her attention on the silence, and it was not long before she heard what Steve had: Echoing screeches coming from below. She rushed over to Steve's side to see what was beneath them.

"Shit," she muttered, a hand on Steve's shoulder to stabilize herself. She shared a glance with him, then they both started off down the hill. She heard Dustin and Lucas follow after them, but Max called down: "No, no, no, hey—why are you guys headed toward the scary sound?"

The screeching only got louder as they moved closer to the official-looking building that Lucy could only imagine was the lab where all of Will's check-ups took place. She knew very little about the illnesses he was suffering—if any at all—and sometimes wondered what exactly he had gone through, because Lucy wasn't stupid. She knew the statement Hopper had put out when they found Will was not the whole story. But now Lucy was growing curiouser and curiouser by the second as she stalked towards a laboratory to save her brother from a bunch of man-eating demon dogs from, supposedly, another dimension. Some part of her itched to know the whole story, but one thing was for sure: It was obvious that it was all connected, and it all led back to Will.

When Lucy, Steve, Max, Dustin, and Lucas emerged from the woods next to the lab, there were two figures outside the gate that Lucy assumed to be security, or something, that they would have to create a way to sneak past. But when one of the figures turned towards them and yelled "Hello?", Lucy's mind clicked with recognition.

"Jonathan?" she called, half-jogging into the clearing.

Jonathan turned, and he blanched with shock, his eyes wide. "Lucy?"

Nancy raised her eyebrows at the sight of who was behind her. "Steve?"

Steve moved forward, confused. "Nancy?"

"Jonathan!" Dustin repeated, following Steve.

"What are you doing here?" Nancy sounded furious. She and Jonathan met Lucy and Steve in the middle, standing across from each other, everybody looking thoroughly frazzled.

"What are you doing here?" Steve shot back, his hands on his hips. "It's not safe."

"We're looking for the kids," Nancy said, gesturing to the lab. "They're—"

"—in trouble," Lucy interrupted, nodding along breathlessly. "We need to get inside."

Nancy and Jonathan exchanged a look, and Jonathan turned back to Lucy, his brow furrowed. "What do you mean, they're in trouble?"

Before anyone could reply, an ear-piercing shriek resounded from the lab, and all of their heads snapped towards the sound. Lucy's stomach lurched. She looked back to Jonathan and Nancy, nodding towards the lab.

"That's what I mean."

"We can't even get inside," Nancy said, crossing her arms. "The power's down. Gate's locked until it's back up. And if they're in as much danger inside as you say they are, then we have no chances of the power coming back."

"So we're locked out," Steve said, running a hand down his face. "There's absolutely no other way in? None at all?"

"Not that we know of," Jonathan replied, shaking his head. "Besides, we're—"

"Okay, I didn't ask you, I asked Nance," Steve told Jonathan, sounding defensive. "Why are you even here? You know, you should be out buying a present for Lucy's birthday since you forgot about it, asshole."

Lucy's eyes widened. She heard Lucas's "Oh, shit," from behind her, but ignored it. Lucy parted her lips, speechless, and met Jonathan's gaze. His gaze shifted from Steve to her and she could see the guilt melting into his expression.

But before he could say anything, Nancy called back to them, having split off back to the gate when something caught her attention. "The power's back!"

Steve rushed over to the guard booth and pressed every button he could find, hoping at least one would open the gate and let them inside. Lucy, Nancy, and Jonathan watched from behind the glass. Lucy's fingers tapped the side of the booth anxiously and she chewed on the inside of her cheek, waiting for the gate to slide open.

Nothing.

"Here, let me try," Jonathan said, shoving past Steve inside the booth. He pressed his thumb down on the glowing red button. Steve stumbled out, running a hand through his hair. Jonathan was still pressing the button to no avail. Lucy set her forehead against the glass, exhaling a sigh.

"Son of a bitch!" Dustin exclaimed, pushing his way inside the booth and past Jonathan. "Let me try, Jonathan. Let me try!"

The moment Dustin's finger hit the red button, a buzzing sound followed, and the gate's lock clicked. Slowly, the gate began to slide open. Everyone gazed at it.

"Hey," Dustin chuckled, "I got it!"

"Alright, you guys wait out here," Nancy said, turning to the rest of the group. "We'll go in, get them out, and pick you up when we're done."

"Are you serious?" Lucy said, at the same time that Max, Steve, Lucas, and Dustin all began to disagree. But Nancy just got in the passenger's seat of Jonathan's car, giving the rest of them one last, "It's safer out here!" before they peeled into the parking lot.

Lucy ran her hands through her hair, pacing around behind the gate, imagining Leo inside the lab, falling victim to one of the monsters from the junkyard. Lucy crouched down, rubbing her face, trying not to start crying in front of the rest of them.

When she looked up, Steve was in front of her. She stood up and shoved his shoulders. "What the hell, Steve? Why would you bring up my birthday right now?"

He put his hands in the air, his eyes wide. "I—I dunno, Luce! I was pissed, okay? He forgot your birthday! That—that's screwed up!"

"We don't need to be worried about that right now!" she said, grabbing fistfuls of her hair and throwing her head back. "Oh my God, Steve—"

"Okay, yeah," said Steve, miraculously calmly as though speaking aloud to himself, "I know you aren't really upset about this, just stressed about finding Leo—"

"Oh, I'm pretty upset all-around, Steve—"

"Watch out!" Max suddenly shouted, and Lucy and Steve only just stumbled out of the way as two cars came barreling through the gate. The first sped right past them, but the second—the sheriff's car—skidded to a stop next to them.

Hopper rolled down his window and shouted, "Let's go. In! Come on!" And the six of them needed no further instructions, climbing in as quickly as possible, tumbling over each other into the backseat of the car.

Via Chatter

Shoutout Bailey flayedcrank I love you