The sound of Becca's tires crunching against the gravel of the Byers' driveway was soon accompanied by a sharp screech as the blonde hit the brake, bringing the red BMW to a stop with Jonathan's Ford not far behind. The girls quickly threw open the doors to the car, rushing over to where Jonathan, Nancy, and Michelle got out of the Ford, Jonathan hurrying to the trunk and pulling it open to reveal the supplies inside.

While Becca grabbed the bags of dog food and other supplies they'd gotten at Melvald's from the back seat of her car, Jonathan picked up the box from Hunting and Camping, which had been initially confiscated by Officer Powell before Hopper had eventually released him. The five teenagers filed into the dark house, only dimly illuminated by a lamp Michelle flicked on in the living room.

"Okay," Jonathan said, setting the box on the ground and surveying its contents. "First up, we need to finish putting up the rest of the Christmas lights. The bulbs are all in a box on the dining room table. If you guys want to start getting those put together, Nancy and I can get started on the trap."

The girls murmured their agreements as they got to work, and Anna retrieved the boxes of colored light bulbs from the kitchen, bringing them back and handing a box each to Becca and Michelle. As the girls got to work, Jonathan and Nancy carried the box containing the trap to the living room, putting it into position to where they could attempt to trap the monster if all went according to plan.

"So, how do we lure this thing here?" Becca asked as she began screwing in the tiny colored bulbs.

"Well, the monster likes blood, right?" Jonathan asked. "It took the injured deer, and you guys said Barbara cut her hand, so maybe that's what we need to do. Maybe that's what summons it."

"Mike called it something." Nancy suddenly spoke up. "He said it had a name, something the boys and El were calling it. A Demo-something. Demogoon?"

Anna paused, looking over at her with a confused expression. "A Demogorgon? Like in D and D?"

"That's it!" she said, but her voice was soon cut off by that of metal clinking as the trap fell apart, pieces clashing into one another as Jonathan's attempt to assemble it began to fall futile.

"Shit," Jonathan muttered, picking up one of the pieces as he began to start over.

"Do you need some help over there?" Michelle asked, screwing on the last light bulb from her box.

"I can't get these pieces to fit together." Jonathan said, squinting to try and read the instructions in the dim lighting. "Have any of you ever assembled one of these before?"

"Have you met my mother?" Anna asked, smirking. "She'd have a fit."

"Dad put a couple together when he took us on hunting trips, but I wouldn't have a clue where to start." Michelle added, taking the instructions from Jonathan as she began to look them over.

"I've got it," Jonathan insisted, attempting to put the pieces back together again, but the mouth of the trap snapped shut, nearly taking his finger off in the process as he pulled back quickly. "Shit!" he hissed, shaking his hand out and inspecting his fingers for any damage.

"If we don't have that trap, we're screwed." Becca pointed out.

Nancy looked around at the others before sighing. "We could always call for help." she suggested.

"Who?" Anna asked. "Hopper and Mrs. Byers are already on their way to the Upside Down. If we called them for help, they'd just make us go back to the school."

"I didn't mean the adults," Nancy said, exchanging a look with Jonathan, who nodded in response after a moment.

"Any of you know if Landon's around this evening?" Jonathan asked them. "He'd have to know how to put one of these together, right?"

"No," Becca said adamantly, shaking her head. "Absolutely not."

"We're not getting him involved in this." Anna agreed. "We can't do that to him."

"I hate to say it, but I think they're right." Michelle spoke up. "I don't think we have a choice. Think about it. We either get Landon to help us, or we send my mom and Chief Hopper into the Upside Down with the Demogorgon waiting for them."

Anna and Becca exchanged a look for a moment, both of them stone-faced before Becca finally nodded. "Fine," she said hesitantly, reaching for her keys. "I don't like this, but if there's no other option, tell him I'm already on my way to get him."

"I'll call him," Anna offered as Becca left the house without another word, the door slamming shut behind her, and Anna picked up the new phone from where it hung on the wall and began punching in the familiar numbers.

The line rang twice before it connected, the voice sounding in Anna's ear. "Hello?" Landon asked.

"Landon!" Anna exclaimed, "Hey, it's me. Are you busy right now?"

"No, I'm free," he explained. "My mom just left for work, so it's just me here. She's got the night shift tonight. What are you guys up to?"

"It's kind of complicated, actually, but long story short, Becca's on her way to come get you." Anna said. "We need your help over at the Byers house."

"Byers?" Landon asked. "I saw him and Nancy buying a bunch of hunting supplies earlier, but then somebody came into the store saying he got arrested outside The Hawk. Something about a fight with Steve. Is he okay? Why are you guys over there?"

"He's fine," Anna assured him. "We'll explain everything when you get here. See you soon."

"Bye, Anna," Landon said, soon followed by the clicking sound of the line disconnecting, and Anna returned the receiver back to its place on the wall.

"We got some weapons while we were there, too." Nancy explained, turning back to the box and beginning to empty the rest of its contents, setting down a small handgun with a box of bullets before pulling out a baseball bat, a box of nails, a hatchet, a hammer, and a fire extinguisher. "They aren't much, but hopefully they'll be enough to take this thing down."

Jonathan picked up the bat, the nails, and the hammer. "Michelle, pour a line of gasoline from the trap down to Will's room. We'll hide in there to lure it to the trap, and once its in place we can light it up." he instructed.

"On it," she said as he disappeared into his room, and as she picked up the container full of fuel, the sounds of hammering could be heard from inside the bedroom.

"I've got these," Nancy said, picking up the gun and the bullets, emptying the box onto the coffee table in the living room before she began to load them into the small firearm, and Anna reached for the hatchet, holding it close to her in a protective stance as she looked around the house, from the poorly assembled hunting trap with the line of gasoline leading down the hall to the numerous strings of Christmas lights lining every inch of the ceiling.

"This is going to work, right?" Anna asked, looking back over at Nancy.

The girl nodded slowly in response. "Yes," she said, voice shaky as she looked back at Anna with a solemn expression. "It's going to work because we don't have any other choice."

As Jonathan emerged from his bedroom with the bat, now full of nails hammered into the wood, the crunching sound of tires on gravel returned, signaling that Becca had come back with Landon. They waited as the doorknob began to turn, the front door opening slowly to reveal Becca with a very confused Landon behind her as he took in the dimly lit room lined with unlit strings of Christmas lights.

"Hey guys," Landon said, taking in the hatchet in Anna's hand before Jonathan's bat and Nancy's gun. "So what can I help with?"

"We need you to assemble this trap in the hallway," Jonathan explained, nodding towards where it still sat in pieces.

"O...kay," Landon said, his eyebrows furrowing together as he looked back and forth between Becca and Anna. "Why do you need me to assemble a trap in your hallway?"

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you." Nancy said.

He shrugged. "Try me,"

Becca nodded. "Go on, Anns, tell him." she said. "Let's see if he believes us."

"Okay," Anna said quickly, looking back at Landon as she attempted to find the right words. "Here goes nothing. So long story short, Will's alive. He was taken to an alternate dimension called the Upside Down by a monster that also took Barb the night of Steve's party, and Chief Hopper and their mom are on their way to get him, so we need to distract the monster and trap it so it doesn't get them too. So if we can trap it and burn it, then it can't get back to the Upside Down and hurt them. So, what do you say? Will you help us?"

The group stood in silence as Landon attempted to process Anna's words, the blonde boy studying the girl and the rest of their friends before looking back at the scene around him. To his credit, he hadn't laughed or run from the scene, which Anna had calculated as their two most likely options, but instead stood still, taking everything in.

"So let me get this straight," Landon said, crossing his arms over his chest skeptically as he studied Anna, Becca, Nancy, Jonathan, and Michelle standing across from him. "You want me to put together a trap in your home that you can douse with gasoline to try and catch a monster so you can burn it to death."

"Yes," Michelle and Nancy chorused.

"Yeah, that about covers it." Anna said.

"Pretty much," Jonathan added.

"So what do you think?" Becca asked, exasperation lacing her tone. "Can you put it together for us?"

"Oh I think you're all nuts, is what I think." he said with an amused smirk. "But yes, I can put it together if you really need me to."

Landon made quick work of the trap, with Jonathan sitting nearby to watch where he had gone wrong in his futile attempts to put it together. When the last of the pieces was finally in place, he wound back the metal jaw, securing it and slowly stepping back to admire his handiwork. "Alright," he said. "Nobody come near this thing, or else you're looking at losing a foot, and I don't think that's going to help anybody fight your imaginary friend, here."

"You're a lifesaver," Becca said, pulling her friend in for a tight hug as Jonathan set up the final parts of the plan. "Now get out of here. We need to move fast, but wherever you end up, I can pick you up and take you back home as soon as this is all over."

"Nope," Landon said, shaking his head. "I still think you guys are absolutely nuts, but I want to see this monster for myself."

"It's dangerous," Becca said, lowering her voice to not be overheard by Nancy. "That thing took Will, and it killed Barb."

"Then you're going to need all the help you can get." he said, looking back at Jonathan. "What's next?"

"That's it," he said, stepping out from the kitchen with a handful of steak knives, which he began to pass out to the girls. "Remember the plan,"

"Straight into Will's room," Nancy started.

"Don't step on the trap," Michelle added.

"Wait for the yo-yo to move," Anna said.

"Then we barbecue this son of a bitch," Becca said, picking up the lighter from the coffee table.

"Ready?" Jonathan asked, looking around at them, and the girls nodded as one by one, everyone raised their other hands to the knives, except for Landon, who looked between them all with a repulsed look on his face.

"I'm, uh, not gonna do that part." he said, turning away as Anna sliced into the palm of her hand, just deep enough for a small pool of blood to begin forming.

The metallic smell of blood formed in the air as it began to drip from their hands onto the rug below them, and Becca quickly moved to the Melvald's bags, grabbing a box of gauze and medical tape and beginning to open them with her teeth, holding onto them with her free hand. "Come on, we don't have much time," she urged, beginning to wrap her own hand before moving onto the next person.

"And, uh, what does that do, exactly?" Landon asked, still tinged a slight shade of green as he watched Becca begin to wrap Anna's hand.

"Oh, come on, it's just a little blood." Becca said, rolling her eyes. "Help bandage them up, your mom's a nurse for God's sake."

"We think blood attracts it." Nancy explained as Landon began to bandage her hand. "Barb cut her hand right before it took her. It's a predator. So the more blood..."

"The easier it'll be for it to find us." he finished, wrapping her hand. "How long do we have?"

A creaking sound came from the attic, causing Nancy to jump as they all looked up at the ceiling, a silence once again falling over the house as they scanned for the source of the noise. Anna looked back at her, Nancy's body nearly trembling after her encounter with the Demogorgon in the woods the night before.

"It's just the wind," Jonathan insisted in an attempt to make Nancy feel better. "Don't worry. My mom, she said the lights speak when it comes."

"Speak?" Nancy asked.

"They blink," Jonathan corrected himself. "Think of them as alarms."

"Is that what all this is for?" Landon asked, looking up at the letters painted on the wall in front of them. "The alarms?"

"Mrs. Byers said she used the lights to speak to Will, in that place." Anna explained, causing Landon to nod slowly, though she knew he still had a million questions running around in his mind and she didn't have the faintest clue how to answer any of them. "It's how she knew he was still alive."

"Right," he said. "And how doe-?"

Landon's voice was cut off by a sharp knocking at the front door, causing the six of them to jump as they stared at it in alarm. "Jonathan!" a voice yelled from outside, instantly causing Anna's blood to turn to ice in her veins as she recognized it. "Are you there, man? It's Steve! Listen, I just wanna talk!"

"What the hell is he doing here?" Becca hissed as Steve continued to pound on the door, and she quickly moved to the front door, opening it just enough for her to see Steve on the other side.

"Steve, listen to me." Becca said.

"Becca?" Steve asked. "Wait, what are you-?"

"You need to leave." Becca insisted, cutting him off.

"No, I'm not trying to start anything, okay?" he assured her.

"I don't care, Steven." Becca said adamantly. "You need to leave, now."

"No, no, no, listen, I messed up, okay?" Steve stammered. "I know I messed up. Really, I just want to make things right. Please, I..." his voice trailed off as something caught his attention. "Becs, what happened to your hand? Is that blood?"

"Oh, nothing!" she insisted, panic lacing her tone. "It was just an accident."

"Wait, what's going on?" he asked. "Did Byers do this to you? Why are you even here?"

"No," she said as Steve attempted to push past her, but she held her ground, keeping him outside. "Steve, it's nothing, just go home before I tell Uncle Mark and Aunt Kerry about your fight." she threatened.

"I don't care about that, let me in," he said, pushing her back as he entered the house, his eyes frantically searching around before landing on the other members of their group, all bandaged up except for Landon. "Anna? Nancy? What the... what is all..?"

"You need to get out of here," Jonathan said adamantly, crossing the room towards Steve in an attempt to push him back outside.

"What is all this?" Steve asked.

"Listen to me, I'm not asking you, I'm telling you, get out of here." Jonathan insisted.

"What is that smell?" Steve asked. "Is that gasoline?"

"Steve," Nancy said, accompanied by the click of the gun's safety as she pointed it at her boyfriend. "Get out!"

Anna's eyes widened as she and Becca shared a look before looking back at Steve, who now stared at Nancy wide-eyed with his arms above his head in surrender. "W-w-wait, what? What is going on?"

"You have five seconds to get out of here." Nancy threatened, her voice wavering as she attempted to keep her cool.

"Steve, go," Anna added, "We'll explain later, just go."

"Okay, is this a joke?" Steve asked, his eyes still locked on the gun in Nancy's hand. "Stop, put the gun down."

"I'm doing this for you," Nancy assured him as the Christmas lights began to flicker over her head, turning Anna's blood cold once more. "Three,"

"Nancy," Jonathan tried to get her attention.

"Two," she said, not registering the lights flickering over her head.

"Stop!" Steve shouted.

"Nancy!" Michelle exclaimed, finally getting the girl's attention. "The lights,"

"Oh shit," Landon mumbled as Jonathan scrambled for the bat, and Anna held the hatchet close to her as they scrambled together as a group, their backs to one another as they tried to catch a glimpse of the monster.

"It's here," Jonathan said.

"Wait, what's here?" Steve demanded.

"Where is it?" Nancy asked, ignoring Steve's question.

"Where is what?" he asked desperately, beginning to panic as his eyes searched frantically around the room.

"I don't see it," Anna said, eyes darting around.

"Where's what?" Steve asked again. "Hello? Will someone please explain to me what the hell is going-?"

Steve's question was cut off by a sharp crack as the ceiling began to crumble in the corner of the room, the plaster falling onto the carpet as a smattering of tentacles took its place, a snarling sound evident as the Demogorgon began to break through the thin layer separating them from the Upside Down. At its first glance, it looked like a pale man, hands grabbing for purchase on the broken tentacles, its skin gray with hints of purple veins and covered in slime.

Nancy aimed the gun at the Demogorgon, beginning to fire off shots before Jonathan reached for her, pulling her away. "No, go! Go, go, run, go!"

With a screech, the Demogorgon broke free of the hole in the ceiling, dropping down onto the floor on all fours as the teenagers began to run from it. Anna grabbed Steve's arm, pulling him after the group to the hallway where the trap waited as the Demogorgon let loose a piercing scream.

"Jump!" Jonathan shouted to warn Steve as they all jumped over the trap.

"Oh my God, oh my God!" Steve yelled, just missing the trap as he jumped over it, the seven teenagers piling into Will's room and slamming the door shut behind them.

"Jesus, Jesus!" Steve shouted as soon as they were shut in Will's bedroom. "What the hell was that?"

"Shut up!" the others chorused, brandishing their weapons as the creature sounded from the hallway, and Jonathan flicked the lighter on.

They waited, attempting to catch their breath while the Demogorgon continued to snarl from behind the door, and Anna watched the yellow yo-yo, begging for it to move, but it stayed in place. She tightened her grip on the hatchet handle, hoping that, wherever Joyce and Hopper were, they'd managed to find Will while the monster was gone.

"What's it doing?" Nancy asked.

"I don't know," Jonathan replied.

Suddenly, the lights stopped flickering, bathing them all in the warm yellow light of Will's bedroom lamp as the snarling sound ceased. Anna looked back at Becca, who watched her with a confused expression as the yellow yo-yo still remained in place on the chair in front of the door.

"Do you hear anything?" Nancy asked, and Jonathan shook his head, snapping the lighter closed.

"No," he said, slowly moving to the bedroom door and pulling it open.

On the other side of the door, the hallway was once again dark, the only source of light now the lamp in the living room as the monster was nowhere to be found. Jonathan led the group, bat held tightly in his hands as they wandered back to the empty living room, checking around corners for any sign of the Demogorgon, but they were once again alone, the ceiling having returned to its plaster as the tentacles were gone.

"So that was the monster," Landon mused, letting out a deep breath. "I'll admit, you might not be crazy after all."

"This is crazy," Steve began to mutter from Anna's side, his voice growing steadily louder and louder. "This is actually crazy. This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy!"

Steve quickly ran to where the telephone hung on the wall, picking up the receiver and beginning to punch in numbers before Nancy grabbed it from him, throwing the device onto the floor where it landed with a sharp crack.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked. "Are you insane?"

"It's going to come back!" Nancy exclaimed. "So you need to leave. Right now."

"She's right," Becca said. "Go,"

Steve looked around at all of them, trembling as he ran for the front door and slamming it behind him. As soon as Steve was gone, the lights began to flicker again, pulling Anna's attention to the string of lights above her head.

"Eyes up," Becca said, picking up the hammer as they began to circle one another again, eyes covering every inch of the room.

"Where is it?" Michelle asked.

"Come on," Jonathan said, the lights beginning to flicker more violently. "Come on, you son of a bitch! Do you see it?"

"No," Nancy said, her voice shaky. "Where-?"

"Where are you, come on!" Jonathan shouted as the lights went out, leaving them in pitch blackness as a low growling sounded from behind Jonathan, the creature slowly standing to its full height.

"Jonathan!" Nancy shouted, pulling the boy's attention nearly a second too late.

Anna had heard the monster was nearly ten feet tall, but nothing could have prepared her for the behemoth standing before them. With a snarl, it pounced on Jonathan, knocking the bat out of the boy's hands as it tackled him to the ground, holding it down with a clawed hand pressing down on his chest.

"Jonathan!" Nancy shouted, firing the gun at the Demogorgon in an attempt to kill it, or get its attention away from Jonathan. "Go to hell, you son of a bitch!"

Nancy continued to shoot at the Demogorgon as it stood back up, the bullets piercing its skin but appearing to have no effect as it now loomed over her. Where they had originally thought the monster had no face, it now opened up, splitting open to reveal a gaping mouth lined with razor sharp teeth, and the sound of bullets stopped, replaced by a dull click as Nancy ran out of ammunition.

"Nancy!" Anna shouted, attempting to hit the monster in the back with the hatchet, but it turned, knocking it out of her hands and sending her sprawling across the living room, sliding across the floor until her back hit the wall, bringing her to a stop.

"Anna!" Becca yelled as another scream pierced through the air, this time in the form of Steve, hitting the Demogorgon with Jonathan's bat.

"Steve!" Nancy yelled as the lights continued to flicker, but Steve continued to advance on the Demogorgon with the bat, pulling its attention away from Anna and allowing Becca and Landon to pull the girl up to her feet.

"Are you okay?" Landon asked as Steve kept the Demogorgon's attention, leading the monster out of the room as he continued to swing the bat at it.

Anna nodded. "F-fine," she stammered.

Anna jumped as the sound of the metal trap catching echoed through the house, and she rushed into the hallway, expecting to see a wounded Steve but was instead met with a roaring Demogorgon, its foot trapped in the metal jaws.

"He's in the trap!" Steve shouted, Jonathan hot on Anna's heels as he flicked the lighter back to life. "He's stuck!"

"Jonathan, now!" Michelle yelled as Jonathan tossed the lighter onto the carpet in front of the trap, catching the gasoline trail as it blazed to life.

The teenagers were bathed in a blinding white light as the fire ignited, the shrieks of the Demogorgon nearly deafening as it got caught in the blaze. Anna brought a hand up to shield her eyes from the light as Michelle ran back to the living room, picking up the fire extinguisher and aiming it at the trap.

"Watch out!" she shouted, dousing the blaze in the extinguisher as the house slowly went dark once again, the light from the flames being replaced by the lamp as it slowly illuminated the room once more.

The room fell silent, devoid of any shrieks as the trap lay empty in a pile of ash and burned carpet, the only sign of the Demogorgon that of a sizzling pile of slime on top of the metal jaws. One by one, they began to cough as the smoke reached them, and Anna pulled the collar of her t-shirt over her nose in an attempt to shield it.

"Where is it?" Nancy asked.

"No," Jonathan said, shaking his head as he stepped closer to the trap. "It has to be dead. It has to be,"

Slowly, the Christmas lights began to illuminate the hallway again, and Anna looked up nervously, though to her confusion, they were nothing like the Demogorgon's. Rather than the violent flickering they had grown accustomed to, instead the colored bulbs lit up one by one and stayed lit, moving in a path towards where the seven teenagers had gathered.

"What is that?" Landon asked as they followed the path of the lights, moving from the hallway into the living room, and towards the front door.

Jonathan stepped forward towards the door, watching the lights with an awestruck expression. "Mom," he muttered. "Is that you?"

Jonathan pulled open the front door, and they all hurried outside, gathering on the porch to see the streetlight hanging over the driveway slowly flicker to life. "Where's it going?" Nancy asked, craning her neck to try and catch a glimpse of the monster.

"I don't think that's the monster," Jonathan said.

"Then what is it?" Landon asked.

Anna glanced back over at Jonathan. "It's Joyce," she said suddenly. "And Hopper. I think they're here. The other here, in the Upside Down. And they're safe. We did it."

The others began to smile as the peaceful stillness of the night settled around them. "What do we do now?" Becca asked.

"Wait for some kind of update, I guess." Jonathan said as they began to make their way back into the house, and he made a beeline for where the phone lay on the floor, picking up the receiver. "A little cracked, but hopefully it should still work." he said, placing it back onto its holder.

The group waited with bated breath for any sort of news, Michelle and Becca beginning to clean up the space while Steve paced around the room, and Anna took a seat on the couch, finally allowing herself time to catch her breath. Aside from the fire in the hallway, and the blood staining the rug on the living room floor, the house still remained intact, and they'd all managed to walk away from their fight with the monster.

When the phone finally rang on the wall after what seemed like hours, Jonathan leapt out of his seat, picking up the receiver and holding it to his ear. "Hello?" he nearly shouted, holding the phone closer as whoever was on the other end began to speak. "We're here, we're okay. Did you find him?" there was a pause as they continued speaking, everybody's eyes glued on Jonathan. "We'll be right there."

Jonathan hung up the phone before turning back to the group, eyes glassed over in tears as he began to cry but unable to fight the smile on his face. "They found him," he said. "He's going to be just fine."