The lab

Dylan made it to a ledge where he had an overview of the south part of Hawkins. He looked around seeing car lights and trees.

He felt air around him as his friends ran up to where he was standing.

"I don't see him?" Dustin said

Lucas then grabbed his binoculars looking through them, Dylan could hear Lucas's breath hitch

"It's the lab.......there going home." He said

_______________________________

The group was walking down the path, following the sounds of screeching as it was blinded by the crunch of the leaves they were stepping on. Dylan was trying to distract himself in anyway possible, chewing his lip or picking at his thumbs, but nothing worked.

Dylan could feel his heart beating out of his chest, the shakiness of his body, every step he took felt like a marathon. He didn't want to go back.

He's feet hurt, and his scars burned, he wanted to just scream and run.

  Dylan then started to hear screams, a man screaming, he looked around, Steve, Lucas, max, and Dustin had no reaction. They didn't hear it.

It got louder and louder

"No! No! How could you!"

"What did you do!"

"My Linda......NO!"

The screaming stopped when Dylan felt a hand on his shoulder, he flinched hard and looked to his left. Max had a concerned look on her face as she pulled her hand back.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you........are you okay?" The girl asked in a gentle tone noticing the state Dylan was in.

Dylan paused and just looked at the girl"Yea......yeah I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" She repeated

"Yes max, I'm Fine." Dylan responded

  "Look, I know you didn't want me knowing about all this stuff, but it's too late. So we need to work together, don't start pushing me away like Mike." Max expressed

Dylan thought of Mike which brought him some ease but was quickly swatted away at the question of how Mike was doing now.

"Yeah....okay sorry, I just-I've gotten a better understanding of how these monsters work how the people who brought them here work, it's not pretty." Dylan replied

"I get that........friends? For real?" Max said extending her hand out

"Friends." Dylan said shaking her hand

This time Max didn't blush at the skin to skin contact, someone else had caught her eye.

______________________________

LAB GATE

"Jonathan? I think there's something in the woods." Nancy said as she looked to see lights and rustling in the trees.

The couple walked towards it standing at the ledge where the grass started and the road stopped.

"Hey!" Jonathan yelled "who's out there!"

Steve, Max, Dylan, Dustin, and Lucas then walked towards them Turning their flashlight off.

"Steve!" Jonathan and Nancy simultaneously yelled

"Nancy?" Steve asked

"Jonathan?" Dustin asked

"What are you doing here!" Nancy yelled

"What are you doing here?" Steve mocked

"We're looking for Mike and Will." Nancy responded

"A-are they in the lab?" Dylan quickly asked his face anxious.

"We're not sure." Nancy replied looking at Jonathan

"Why?" Jonathan was cut off by the roar of Monster, the group could see the lights flickering inside the lab.Something was wrong.

_______________________________

  The group was chattering about the whereabouts of Will and Mike. Dylan told his story to the group about the Byers and what's going on.

He turned to see Nancy looking at the lab as the lights were turned back on.

"The powers back." Nancy said, as the group looked at the building before they all ran to the power box to open the gate.

Jonathan ran in and pressed the red open button, but nothing happened, he was shoved out of the way by Dustin who repeatedly slammed the button

"Son of a bitch.......open!" Dustin said

After he hit it over 20 times the gate finally opened.

Jonathan and Nancy jumped in the car, Dylan followed behind in the back seat.

"Dylan! What's are you doing!" Steve yelled but was cut off as Jonathan and Nancy drove away quickly.

Dylan looked out the window, remembering every part of the lab. They stopped in front of the building seeing Hopper who was with an unconscious Will, Joyce who was yelling, and Mike.

"GET IN!" Jonathan yelled as he saw monster trying to break the glass.

Mike quickly jumped in the car sitting next to Dylan as Joyce followed, Hopper placed Will in her lap and ran to his car.

Jonathan drove away quickly.

"Mike!" Dylan said all his worry washing away

Mike hugged the boy quickly, relaxing in his arms. He pulled back and saw Dylan who had dried  blood all over him.

"Are you okay? Is that blood?" Mike asked

"Don't worry, it's not mine." Dylan chuckled, hugging Mike again "I shouldn't have left you, I'm sorry."

"You were right." Mike said

"What?" Dylan asked

"I shouldn't have trusted him." Mike said in a whisper, as he looked down.

Dylan took a glance at Joyce who was crying and Will who was passed out, the mother was holding her son, his head resting against hers.

Dylan grasped Micheal's cold hand, Mike looked at the boy, and smiled before resting his head on Dylan shoulder.

Dylan had never felt this much relief in his life, he could never lose Mike.

________________________________

BYERS RESIDENCE

"Sam Owen. Dr. Sam Owen." Hopper raised his voice as he was speaking on the home phone in Joyce's house. "I don't know how many people are there!"

Dylan leaned against the counter, turning on the sink and wetting a towel. Will was still unconscious on the couch as Jonathan was by his side. He hadn't seen Joyce since they arrived and he didn't take his eyes off of his friends as they sat on the kitchen table.

He squeezed the towel out and rubbed his face and hands where blood has splattered on him. It had turned a dark purple and Dylan could still smell it. The feeling of the wet blood still lingered on his skin as he washed it away.

"They didn't believe you did they?" Dustin asked Jim as he hung up the phone.

"We'll see." The chief frustratingly answered

"We'll see?" We can't just sit here while those things are loose!" Mike yelled

"We stay here, and wait for help." Hopper replied his gaze set on Micheal

"It's the best thing we can do right now Mike. Sorry." Dylan truthfully told him. Mike looked at the boy and noticed his flannel was torn up and his bandage dirty.

"When the last time you changed your bandage?" Mike asked

Dylan looked at his arm, there was blood soaked Into the bandage and the top flap was peeling"Umm.....I changed it once.....after you had put it on."

Mike nodded "What happened?"

"Dylan saved our lives is what happened!" Dustin said a smile in his face

Dylan chuckled and opened the cabinet with the first aid kit. He opened it up and grabbed a big bandaid out of it. He took the original one off and cleaned up the dirt and blood. He was about to put on the new bandage until Mike stopped him

"Hey, don't put a new one on, let it breathe." Mike said.

Dylan sassily faced Mike "Didn't know you went to medical school wheeler."

"Psh I don't need medical school to see your a pain in the ass who doesn't know how to take care of his wounds." Mike quickly said back with a smile

Dylan chuckled "Fine." He put the bandage back in the kit "I'll let it breathe."

______________________________

Dylan, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Max we're sitting at the table in silence, no one knew what to really say, they were all just waiting for someone to tell them Will was okay or the military is saving them.

Mike had stood up and walked over to the coffee table in the living room, he had picked up a blue cube shaped brain teaser."Did you guys know Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?"

"Really?" Lucas asked

"He petitioned the school to start it and everything." Mike said excitedly "then he had a fund-raiser for equipment...Mr Clarke learned everything from him......pretty awesome, right?"

"Yea...awesome...thanks Bob." Dylan said bittersweetly as the group agreed

"We can't let him die in vain." Mike stated

"Well what do you want to do, Mike?" Dustin asked his voiced raised in annoyance "the chiefs right on this. We can't stop those Demo-dogs on our own, not even Dylan.....There's too many."

"Demo-dogs?" Max asked

"Demogorgon......dogs. Demo-Dogs." Dustin sounded out "If it was just dart then yea...but." Dustin said

"There's an army now." Lucas finished

"His army." Dylan mumbled his face serious

"What do you mean." Steve asked his brother

"His army! Maybe if we stop him, then his army goes down too like.....like a hive mind!" Dylan explained

Mike ran to wills room the group following himHe grabbed a drawing on Wills desk and handed it to Dustin

"The shadow monster." Dustin said

"It got will that day on the field. The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him." Mike explained

"And this virus, it's connecting him to the tunnels?" Max asked

"It's a hive mind....it connects to everything, t-the tunnels, monsters, the upside down as a whole." Dylan explained

"Whoa, slow down...slow down." Steve asked as he grabbed the paper.

"Okay, so the shadow monsters inside everything. and if the vines feel something like pain, then so does Will." Mike explained to Steve

"And so does dart." Dylan said

"Yeah. Like what Dylan and Mr Clarke said...a hive mind." Lucas said

"The shadow monster controls everything, it's the brain." Mike said

"Like the mind flayer." Dustin replied his face concerned

"The what?"

_______________________________

Dustin slammed wills DnD textbook on the kitchen table as everyone except Joyce surrounded it.

"The mind flayer, it's a monster from an unknown dimension. It's so ancient that it doesn't even know it's true home. It enslaves races of other dimensions, by taking over their brains, using its highly-developed psionic powers." Dustin explained

"None of this is real. This is a kids game." Hopper sighed

"Okay then, Hop how about you bring out your "adult" game that could help us figure out what exactly is happening....because your government friends aren't being helpful right now." Dylan remarked

"Yea! This is a manual first of all, and it's also the best metaphor-" Dustin started before he was cut off

"Analogy." Lucas said

" Analogy? That's what you're worried about!" Dustin yelled a he looked at Lucas "Fine. An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is."

"Okay, so this mind flamer thing." Nancy started

"Mind FLAYER." Dustin corrected her

Nancy sighed, ignoring him "What does it want?"

" to conquer us, basically... it believes it's the master race" Dustin replied

"Like the German?" Steve brought up, Dylan saw Dustin face as he turned and gave Steve the most judgmental look he had ever seen.

"He means the Nazi's" Dylan disappointedly said

Dustin nodded "yeah, if the Nazis were from another dimension, totally...... uh, it views other races like us as inferior to itself."

"It wants to spread, take over other dimensions." Mike said

"We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it" Lucas added

Dylan walked away from the kitchen as a semi argument started, he kneeled down next to Will watching the boy took deep breathes. Out of anyone why Will? The sweetest boy he knew. He didn't deserve this pain. He was apart of the army....which means.....

"They're right." Dylan turned to see Joyce who had walked in the kitchen. "I want to kill it."

"Me too..me too Joyce, but how exactly do we do that? We don't know what we're dealing with here." Hopper explained

"He would know" Dylan spoke up as Hopper and the rest of them looked at him."Will. He apart of this....he can see and feel everything the mind flayer could. Will knows its weaknesses."

"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore? He's a spy for the mind flayer now." Max questioned

"Well, he can't spy, if he doesn't know where he is." Dylan said coldly

________________________________

Dylan was outside with Hopper carrying out heavy machines and tables from the shed in the Byers backyard. He finished clearing out the shed and walked back into the home seeing Micheal and Max talking, he stopped to listen but not to interrupt them.

"She sounds like she was awesome." Max said

"Yeah...she was, until that thing took her...like it took Bob." Mike said as he walked away. Dylan's heart dropped, he forgot about that secret....it still pained him, how broken Mike was and he couldn't help him....like he always did.

Dylan just went back outside and helped Steve. And Nancy stable the black sheets to the walls.

The group then covered up the whole shed as Jonathan propped up a chair grabbing Will and tying him to it.

Joyce, Hopper, Dylan, Mike, and Jonathan were in the shed with the boy watching as Hopper woke him up with chemicals.

Will gasped as he shot up straight, his green eyes  now noticeably brown.

"What? What is this......what is this! Why am I tied up!" Will yelled as he squirmed around in his chair.

Joyce kneeled down in front of him "Will, we just want to talk to you. We're not gonna hurt you."

"Where am I?" Will yelled ignoring Joyce.

Hopper showed Will his drawing of the shadow monster "you recognize this? Do you recognize this!"

Will shook his head, Dylan could see the boy shaking his hand tapping against the chair and his legs jerking every once in a while.

Will started to scream "Why am I tied up! Why am I tied up! Why am I tied up! Let go of me! Let go! Let go!" The lights started to flicker. As Wills voice grew distorted

Dylan looked away covering his mouth. He felt tears welling up in his eyes at the sight of his friend. He needed to stay strong, he took two deep breathes and turn back around seeing Will calmed down and Joyce was sitting in the chair in front of him.

  "Do you know what March 22nd is?" Joyce asked  "it's your birthday. Your birthday........when you turned eight, I gave you that huge box of crayons. Do you remember that?  It was 120 colors. And all your friends got you Star Wars toys, but all you wanted to do was draw with all your new colors." Joyce smiled "and you drew this big spaceship but it wasn't from a movie....it was your spaceship. A rainbow ship."

Dylan smiled at the memory of going to Wills house and seeing it hung up on the fridge.

"Do you remember the day dad left?" Jonathan spoke up as Will turned to look at him "we stayed up all night building Castle Byers......just the way you drew it. And it took so long because you were so bad at hammering." Jonathan and Joyce chuckled. " you'd miss the nail every time, and then it started raining, but we stayed out there anyway. We were both sick for like a week after that. But we just had to finish it."

Dylan noticed Will tapping on the side of the chair harder, almost like a pattern but he couldn't out his finger on it. He decided to speak to Will.

"Do you remember when you came to my house the day before my 10th birthday?" Dylan asked as Will looked at him "you were close to tears, and had the guiltiest look on your face, I ask you what was wrong and you told me....you couldn't get me a birthday gift, money was too tight and you couldn't even spend a single cent. I just grabbed my new pair of converse and asked you to draw on them....thats all I wanted. And you did ." Dylan smiled as he felt a tear slide down his face. He lifted up his foot showing his converse "I wear them everyday, and I'll keep wearing them until they completely fall apart because they remind me that I have the most amazing friend. You Will, you're the most caring person I have ever met, and if you just draw a single line on my shoe every birthday I'll be happy with it if it means you're there." Dylan felt mikes hand on his shoulder as he walked forward.

"The first day of kindergarten.......I knew nobody. I had no friend and I just felt so alone and so scared,....but." Mike sniffled "I saw you on the swings and you were all alone, too. I just walked up to you and asked if you wanted to be friends....you said yes.....you said yes." Mike smiled, and looked at Dylan "and then a kid tried to push you off the swings, it happens so quick but the kid was pushed to the ground, I looked up to see Dylan standing there with no hair." Mike laughed as Dylan laughed with him "from then on we were all friends...and it was the happiest moment of my life, I had never felt so complete. Asking you to be my friend Will was one of the best decision of my life."

Will just watched his friends cry, his face emotionless, Dylan still was taking note of how Will kept on tapping the chair it grew louder and faster. Wills mother and brother crouched down in front of him.

"Will, baby if you're in there, just please talk to us.......please." Joyce begged

Dylan saw how Wills face dropped his lip quivered and his nose grew red as his eyes welled up in tears, in a blink of an eye it all vanished he was back to his emotionless state

"Let. Me. Go" Will demanded

Dylan walked over to hopper "Hopper?"

"Yea kid?" Hopper asked

"Look at Wills hand. What's he doing?" The boy asked in a whisper, Jim looked at Wills hand observing the pattern.

"Is that what I think it is? Morse-" Dylan started

"Morse code." Hopper signed and ran back into the house Dylan and Mike following behind.

Hopper grabbed a piece of paper and sat down at the kitchen table

"What's happening?" Dustin asked

"I think he's talking, just not with words." Hopper concluded.

"Morse code." Dylan explained as the group nodded

Hopper wrote down the pattern on the piece of paper "H.E.R.E"

"Here" everyone stated

"Wills still in there. he's talking to us." Hopper said

______________________________

The group advised a plan, Hopper and Mike went back to the shed with a super comm, hopper would press the button to replicate what Will was saying as Dylan was writing down the pattern on a piece of cardboard with a crayon from the kitchen.

After 20 minutes of translating and telling will story's they did it.

"Close gate?" The group read

They were interrupted but the sound of the phone ringing, they all quickly turned their heads towards it, they weren't supposed to make any loud sounds that might alert Will where he's located or alert the mind flayer.........

"Shit..shit." Dylan cursed

He quickly ran up to the phone and hung it up. A second past and it rung again this time he grabbed the entire telephone tearing off some wall paper in the process and throwing it harshly on the ground as it crumped to pieces.

"Do you think he heard that?" Max asked

"It's just a phone. It could be anywhere. Right?" Steve questioned

"No.....it's smart... Damn it!" Dylan yelled as he grabbed the super comm. "Hopper! What's going on?" Dylan asked the man

*He found us......we don't have much time.* Hopper responded

They then heard screeching in the distance,

"That's not good." Dustin said

_______________________________

Everyone was in the living room, Max, Mike, and Lucas were by the window trying to see something. Hopper came trotting in with two guns.

"Hey! Get away from the windows!" He yelled as the three backed up, Dylan stood guard in front of them.

Hopper turned to look at Jonathan "Do you know how to use this?"

Jonathan stuttered as he looked around

"I can!" Nancy spoke up as Hopper threw her the gun.

The group was standing all around in the living room each of them grabbing something anything to defend themselves. Dylan was in front of them all, his hands clenched into fist.

Dylan could hear the roars of the demo dogs getting closer and closer, he could feel the cold sweat down his back. He took deep breaths trying to calm himself, he can fight.

The group turned to face the sounds of snarling and rustling of the bushes outside the house. They then faced back towards the front hearing the sound of groaning.

In the blink of an eye a demo dog was thrown through the window, Dylan stopped the monster mid air along with pieces of glass before gently placing it on the ground.

"It's dead?" Dylan was confused as he looked through the broken window, not seeing anything.

They all turned their attention the sound of the locks on the door becoming un done.

Dylan walked towards the door ready to attack anything that came his way, until he saw a person with slick back hair and black eyeshadow, she had a black coat with jeans.

"Eleven?"