Owens watches everyone leave and eyes the glares Hopper and Jace had on him.  He couldn't blame them.  After what Brenner did to them, it's no surprise how much they hate him.  But what can he do?  All he can do is go back to work and continue to keep the secret of the creatures and the gate hidden.  No one must know what is being done.  Unlike Brenner, Owens was struggling with how to keep the creatures away from town and to keep the gate contained.  

"They're ready for you, sir." A woman walks up to him and guides him towards the lab.  

Owens and the woman goes down the elevator towards another lab that had a control center and a glass barrier between them and the vines that were coming from the gate below them.  Day by day, they have been keeping watch of the gate, measuring it and recording it.  He has noticed that every day, it was getting bigger.  Growing.  

"Patty." Owens greet the scientists. 

"Sam."

"Afternoon, sir."

He looks over to watch one of his men suit up in fire protective gear as he goes inside the glass barrier with a flame thrower. 

"Looks like another hot one today, huh?" Owens jokes. 

"Never gets old, sir." The man grins as people help him with his gear, placing his helmet over his head.  

The man with the flame thrower goes through decontamination as gas hiss all over him and he walks inside the barrier, turning on the thrower and begins to set the vines on fire.  Inside, the sound of screeching is made. Screeches of pain from the fire as the vines flap around like tentacles. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After school was over, Dustin and Lucas couldn't get over the mystery about Max.  While Will and Mike were gone, they went to survey Arcade Palace.  Lucas managed to get his binoculars and looked out for Max.  But she wasn't there...yet, he believes.  

"Still no sign?" Dustin asks. 

"Jack shit." Lucas sighs out in disappointment. 

Dustin checks his watch and his eyes widen in alarm, "Oh! Damn it. My mom's gonna murder me." He says worriedly, but he couldn't abandon his post.  

"So go home. I'll radio if she comes." Lucas says. 

Dustin scoffs, "Oh, yeah, nice try. You just want me out of here so you can make your move."

"Oh, 'cause you're such a threat." Lucas rolls his eyes. 

"That's right. She will not be able to resist these pearls." Dustin smiles big, showing off his new teeth and purrs, which startles Lucas and disturbs him. 

Dustin looks up as he hears a car rev up and sees a familiar redhead sitting in the passenger's side.  He pats Lucas's arm real fast to see.

"Ten o'clock. Ten o'clock."

"What?" Lucas asks and jumps when he sees her, looking through his binoculars.

Billy skids his car to a halt, making Max jerk in her seat.  She storms out of the car, arguing with her step brother.  

"They're arguing. They're arguing." Lucas says as he elbows Dustin.  

Dustin rolls his eyes at Lucas, "Oh, my God.  I see that. I don't even know why you need those.  God. You're so stupid." He says. 

Billy takes off without waiting for Max to shut the door.  Max flips him off as he leaves a trail of dust behind him.  She goes inside to get away from the world and escape into the video games.  First thing she plays is Dig Dug. 

Lucas and Dustin watch from outside with matching grins, "She's incredible." Lucas says. 

Dustin looks out with a dreamy smile, "She's..."

"Mad Max." They both say, smiling.  It was pretty obvious that both of them were quite smitten with the mysterious Max.  Now that they know her true identity, they must make it their mission to get to know her and maybe welcome her into their party.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Night has fallen and at the Wheeler's, Mike was brooding at the dinner table like always since that night when he lost Eleven.  With Nancy at the Hollands, it was just Karen, Ted, Mike, and Holly.  

"After dinner, I want you to pick out your toys for the yard sale." Karen states.  

Mike sighs, rolling his eyes as he plays with his food, "Fine."

"Two boxes' worth." She adds. 

Mike exclaims in disbelief, "Two boxes?"

"You heard me."

"I'm fine with you giving away a couple, but the other ones have way too much emotional value." Mike argues. 

"Emotional value?" Karen didn't buy it. 

"They're hunks of plastic, Michael." Ted says. 

"You already took away my Atari." Mike says, still feeling the pain of losing his game system. 

"Didn't wanna lose more toys, you shouldn't have stolen from Nancy." Karen points out. 

"I didn't steal. I borrowed." Mike argues. 

"Oh, and you didn't curse out Mr. Kowalski last week either, right? Or plagiarize that essay? Or graffiti the bathroom stall?" Karen ask.

"Everyone graffitis the bathroom stall." Mike shrugs. 

"So if your friend jumps off a cliff, you're gonna jump, too?" Ted scoffs. 

"We know you've had a hard year, Michael. But we've been patient. This isn't strike one. This isn't even strike three." Karen says. 

"It's strike 20. You're on the bench, son. And if it'd been my coach, you'd be lucky to still be on the team."

Mike frowns at him weirdly. 

"Two boxes. Two." Karen says, keeping her foot down. 

Mike angrily stabs at his food.  Incredibly pissed off that he has to do this stupid punishment. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soon, Nancy and Steve made it to the Hollands.  When they were walking towards the door, Nancy spies a 'For Sale' sign displayed on their front lawn.  She frowns in confusion about that.  Where they moving?

Once they reached the door, Nancy sighs anxiously, ready to get this over with. 

"Okay. Ready?" Steve asks. 

Nancy nods, "Yeah."

Steve sighs, "Okay." He says and rings the doorbell. 

Soon, they were greeted and sat down at the table.  Instead of a homecooked meal, Mr. and Mrs. Holland presented them a take-out dinner of KFC. 

"I'm so sorry I didn't get to cook. I was gonna make that baked ziti you guys like so much, but I just forgot about the time, and before you know it, 'Oh, my God, it's five o'clock'." Mrs. Holland apologizes and chuckles as she serves them.  

"It's fine. It's great." Nancy smiles politely.  

"Right. I love KFC." Steve says. 

Hesitantly, Nancy begins to break the ice as she was curious about why they were selling the house, "So, I noticed a 'For Sale' sign out in your yard. Is that the neighbors', or..." She trails off. 

"-You wanna tell them?" Mrs. Holland asks as she turns to her husband. 

"Go ahead." He says to his wife. 

Mrs. Holland sighs, "We hired a man named Murray Bauman. Have either of you heard of him?" She asks Nancy and Steve. 

Both of them shake their heads, "No." "No, I don't think so."

Neither of them knew who he was.  

"He was an investigative journalist for the Chicago Sun-Times." Mrs. Holland says. 

Mr. Holland hands them a business card with Murray's face on it, "He's pretty well known."

 Anyway, he's freelance now, and he agreed to take the case." Mrs. Holland says. 

Steve stutters in surprise, "That's...That's great.  No, that's really... That's great, right?" He asks as he turns to Nancy, but she looked bothered.

"Um, what exactly does that mean?" She frowns.

Mr. Holland grits his teeth in anger, "Means he's gonna do what that lazy son of a bitch Jim Hop--" His anger directed at Hopper, but Mrs. Holland stops him from going overboard.  

He calms himself, "Sorry." He exhales deeply as he steady his nerves, "What the Hawkins police haven't been capable of doing. Means we have a real detective on the case." 

"It means...we're going to find our Barb." Mrs. Holland smiles big, having such high hopes of bringing her daughter back home. 

"If anyone can find her, it's this man. He already has leads. By God, he's worth every last penny." Mr. Holland says. 

Nancy hid her discomfort, What could she say? 'You're wasting your time and money. You're daughter was taken by a 7 foot monster with a Venus Fly Trap head and killed in a place called the Upside Down'? They'll call her crazy and soon, she'll be taken by the lab. 

"Is that why you're selling the house?" She asks instead. 

"Don't worry about us, sweetie. We're fine. More than fine. For the first time in a long time, we're hopeful." 

Nancy felt like she was breaking inside, she felt like such shit.  It pissed her off that she couldn't tell these people the truth without having flags waved by the Lab.  They deserve to know the truth.  It was killing her. She tries so hard to hold back her tears.  

"Excuse me. I'll be right back." She stammers as she gives them both tight smiles, but Steve could see right through her.  But, he didn't know how to comfort her without letting them know. 

He turns to give them both smiles as everyone goes back to eating.  He chews on his chicken, "It's finger-lickin' good."

"Mmm." They chuckle.  

Nancy breaths heavily over the sink.  God, the pain was killing her inside.  Everywhere she went in this house, there were pictures of Barbara everywhere.  Even in the bathroom.  When she sees Barb's picture all she could see was her telling her to do the right thing, but how can she.  She places the picture face down and moves to sit on the tub.  She finally lets it all go and begins to cry as she covers her face.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mike sat in his basement, going through of his toys.  Trying to decide what stays and what goes.  He sees Rory the T-Rex, hearing him screech.  His Millennium Falcon that Dustin tried to get Eleven to fly.  Eleven.  He looks over to the fort, missing her still.  Wondering where she was.  He gets up and sits inside the fort, grabbing his COMM to call out to her once more. 

"El, are you there? El?" He calls out, hearing the static crackling.  "It's me. It's Mike. It's day 352, 7:40 p.m. I'm still here. If you're out there, say something. Or give me a sign. I won't even say anything. Just... I wanna know if you're okay." He waits...and waits...and waits.  Still hearing the static.  Slamming the antenna back into the COMM, he mutters bitterly to himself and he places it back down, "I'm so stupid." He grumbles and begins to walk away, but he freezes when he hears a distorted voice calling out to him. 

"Mike."

He gasps and rushes back to the fort, scrambling to get the COMM into his hands.  

"Mike?"

"Hello, is that you?" He calls out with hope in his voice. 

"Yeah, it's me, Dustin. What're you doing on this channel again? I've been trying to reach you all day. We were right. Max is Mad Max."

Mike sighs in disappointment, he didn't have time for this.  

"Yeah, I'm busy." He cuts the call and tosses the COMM away.  Sighing deeply, he rubs his face.  He was so sure he finally had her, but it was just Dustin. 

"But--"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dustin frowns as the call was cut.  He knew Mike has been acting more grumpy lately ever since Eleven was gone.  But still...

"What do we do now?" Lucas asks. 

"We stick to the plan." Dustin states. 

"Mike's not gonna like it." Lucas points out. 

"Last time I checked, our party is not a dictatorship. It's a democracy." Dustin argues. 

"What if Max says no?"

Dustin scoffs, "How can Max say no to these?" He purrs again. 

Lucas looks at him weirdly, "I told you to stop that.  I'll see you tomorrow." He says as he heads home. 

"Later." Dustin calls out as he heads into his driveway.  He parks his bike by the garage and trashcans and begins to head towards the door, but freezes when he hears something.  

Chirping.  

He turns to see where it was coming from, thinking it was his mom's cat.  

"Mews!" He makes kissing noises, but didn't hear anything. "Mews."  Still nothing.  Thinking nothing of it, he heads inside.  

Once the door shut, a creature hidden in the trash can crashes against the metal, making loud noises inside.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Popping some Jiffy Pop over the stove, Joyce laughs as Bob was filming her with a camcorder.  She frowns at him and giggles. 

"Stop. Stop!"

"What? Come on, you gotta get used to it. This is the future." Bob grins as he keeps filming her, thinking how beautiful she is on camera. 

"Well, put the future down and get me a clean bowl." She teases. 

While Joyce and Bob were being silly in the kitchen, Will was in his room, drawing and Jonathan knocks on his door. 

"Hey, bud. I didn't know what you'd like, so I got a variety.  Take your pick." Jonathan says as he holds up the VHSs and moves to sit on the bed with Will. 

Will just shrugs, "Whatever you want." He says and goes back to drawing. 

"All right." Jonathan sighs as he looks to see what Will was drawing, "What are you working on?" He sees a drawing of a kid that was like a zombie and he was in the dark woods.  "Zombie Boy? Who's Zombie Boy?" Jonathan asks. 

"Me." Will sighs. 

Jonathan frowns, "Did someone call you that?" But Will was quiet, meaning someone did, but he hated that his brother shuts down when things bother him.  He didn't want Will to close everyone off, especially him, "Hey. You can talk to me. You know that, right? Whatever happened.  Will, come on, talk to me."

Finally, Will had enough, "Stop treating me like that." He says angrily. 

"What? Like what?" Jonathan frowns. 

"Like everyone else. Like there's something wrong with me." Will scoffs. 

"What are you talking about?"

"Mom, Jace, Dustin, Lucas. Everyone. They all treat me like I'm gonna break. Like I'm a baby.  Like I can't handle things on my own. It doesn't help. It just makes me feel like more of a freak." Will says, tired of everything. 

"You're not a freak."

"Yeah, I am. I am." Will scoffs. 

Jonathan sighs and sits where he was completely facing Will, thinking of reverse physiology, "You know what? You're right. You are a freak."

Will was startled to hear that, "What?"

"No, I'm serious. You're a freak. But what? Do you wanna be normal? Do you wanna be just like everyone else? Being a freak is the best. I'm a freak." Jonathan say. 

"Is that why you don't have any friends?"

Jonathan chuckles, "I have friends, Will."

"Then why are you always hanging out with me?"

"Because you're my best friend, all right? And I would rather be best friends with Zombie Boy than with a boring nobody. You know what I mean? Okay, look...Who would you rather be friends with? Bowie or Kenny Rogers?"

Will shudders in disgust, "Ugh."

Jonathan laughs, "Exactly. It's no contest. The thing is, nobody normal ever accomplished anything meaningful in this world. You got it?"

Will shrugs, feeling a little better, "Well...some people like Kenny Rogers."

Suddenly, they hear a voice coming towards the room and sees Bob at the door, "Kenny Rogers. I love Kenny Rogers." Bob grins and chuckles. 

Will and Jonathan both share a look, stifling their laughter. 

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing." Will shakes his head, waving it off.

Bob spies the movies Jonathan picked out, "Mr. Mom." Bob whoops happily, "Perfect!"

As Bob takes the movies back into the living room, Will and Jonathan break into fits of laughter.  

Together, they sat in the living room with Joyce and Bob, watching Mr. Mom. 

"Where's Mommy keep the extra diapers?" Michael Keaton asks in the movie. 

Bob and Joyce were having the time of their lives while Jonathan was about to pass out from boredom.  Will was pigging out on the popcorn. 

Suddenly, the phone rings and Joyce jumps as flash backs of last year run through her mind.  

"Hey.  It's okay. Let it go. Probably just a crank call." Bob waves it off. 

Joyce nods, giving him a smile, "Okay." But in the back of her mind, she was still haunted by the phone ever since she was shocked several times to contact Will in the Upside Down. 

"Holy mackerel!"

"Let it go."

"Aw, man!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, at the lab, it seemed like another boring night.  The fat scientist threw his rubber ball back and forth on the wall.  Thinking this just gonna be one of those long nights of nothing but beeps from the computers.  

But, soon, to his shock...the alarms begin to go off like crazy.  He rushes to alert his supervisors that something was happening.  Something was stirring inside the gate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up in the middle of the night as everyone was fast asleep, Will gets up to use the bathroom.  As he was washing his hands, he begins to hear a familiar rumbling in the distance.  He shuts the water off and walks out of the bathroom.  The closer he got to front door, the louder the rumbling became.  

Breathing heavily, he watches the door slowly open by itself.  Reveling Upside Down.  

He felt frozen again as he feels goosebumps form all over his neck.  Finally, he could move.  He walks outside and stands on his porch a he sees the familiar storm in the sky.  Large, red and black storm clouds forming over his town.  But this time, when the lighting shine through the clouds, he could see something more clear in the sky.  It was huge with long tentacles that were as long as his entire town.  As if it could swallow it whole.  His eyes widen in terror at the sight. Why was he seeing this?!  Why is this happening?  It feels too real.  He needs to wake up.  Wake up!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hopper sighs deeply as he walks through the woods towards a small cabin.  Knowing who was waiting for him inside, he knew they weren't going to be so happy.  Walking up the wooden steps, he lifts a hand and begins to knock rhythmically.  As if he was delivering a secret code.  

Soon, the door unlocks and he makes his way inside. He was welcomes by the sound of the tv and a heavenly scent coming from the kitchen.  Sniffing the air, he could smell a home cooked meal.  He frowns at that. 

"What's that smell?" He asks. 

"Roast beef with potatoes and green beans.  Also added some gravy." A woman's voice speaks from the kitchen.

"What happened to the TV dinners I left?"

"We're tired of them and the cooking channel was on." The woman's voice says with a smirk. 

Hopper chuckles, "You raided the stock fridge?" He scoffs as he takes his coat off.

"You're complaining now about my cooking?" The woman scoffs. 

"Ok, I admit.  That first time when you tried cooking was a huge failure.  But, slowly, you have been improving.  And it does smell great." Hopper says as he gets a beer from the fridge as the woman had her back to him as she continues to fix their meals.

"I know, better than that lasagna." The woman laughs. 

Hopper grimaces at the memories, "Ugh, don't remind me.  I'm still digesting it." He walks over to the small dinner table and sees  it set up for three, but one plate already had half eaten Eggos on it.  "Hey, what'd we talk about?" Hopper frowns as he scorns.

"No signal." Another girl speaks up.

"What?"

"No signal. It's 8-1-5. You're late." The girl says. 

Hopper sighs, "Yeah, I lost track of time. I'll signal next time, all right? Uh, and it's 8:15. It's not 8-1-5."

"Eight-fifteen." The girl repeats. 

"Now, what did we talk about?" He asks again as he sits down for the girls to join him. "Dinner first, then dessert." "Dinner first, then dessert." Hopper and the woman say together.  

"I told her.  But she was impatient." The woman laughs. 

"Sister is slow with cooking." The girl says as she moves to sit with Hopper.  Her brown short curls moving as she slumps in the chair.  

"I don't care.  Dinner, then dessert, always. That's a rule. Yeah?" Hopper asks as he eyes the girl sitting in front of him. 

Eleven sighs but nods, "Yes."

Footsteps approach and plates were placed in front of them.  Fiona sighs as she sits in her chair, joining them.  Her long black hair was tied up in a bandana and she wore long jeans and a plaid button up shirt. 

"Wow, this looks amazing." Hopper exclaims as he eyes the perfect slices of roast beef before him.  

"I followed the recipe exact to what that lady said on TV." Fiona says and the three of them begin to eat their meal. 

"Mmmm!  So much better than TV dinners.  So much better." Hopper says as he happily chows down.  He can't remember when was the last time he had a good home cooked meal.  Fiona was getting better and better with her cooking skills.  

Fiona and Eleven both giggle at Hopper's face.  Hopper grins as he wipes his messy mouth and goes back to his meal.  He hates that he must keep the girls a secret from everyone, but if he wants to keep them safe, he must keep them hidden from the world.

* I finally found the transcripts to Hemlock Grove season 3, thank god!  Now I can get back to finishing up the third and final book.  I want to finish this book as well.  I'm so addicted to writing.  Updating will be a little slow due to finals.  I will update when I can on the next chapters.  Next month, I'm going to devote my time on Hemlock Chronicles 3.  Hope you are enjoying my books.  Please leave votes and comments.  Love hearing from you all.  Lots of love ~Song~*