The bell rings the halls of Hawkins Middle.  Max walks towards her locker to gather her stuff for her next class.  As she closes the locker, she jumps as she hears a throat clearing next to her and sees two familiar boys standing by her locker.  She gives them a weird look as one begins to speak to her. 

"Um...Hi, Max. I'm Dustin, and this is--" Dustin begins to introduce himself and Lucas, but Lucas cuts him off to introduce himself on his own. 

"Lucas." 

"Yeah, I know. The stalkers." Max says with a small grin as she watches them both stutter in embarrassment. 

They both stutter their words, "Uh, no. Actually..."

"We weren't stalking you." Dustin protests as Lucas nods, agreeing with Dustin, "No, we were just concerned because, you know, you're new and all."

Lucas rubs his forehead, feeling himself sweat nervously. 

Max eyes them both weirdly, it was very amusing watching them act so awkward.

"Yeah, for your safety." Lucas nods.

"Mmm-hmm. There are a lot of bullies here."

"So many bullies, it's crazy." Lucas stutters.

"Yeah." 

"Is that why you're wearing proton packs?" She asks sarcastically. 

Dustin grins with pride, "Well, these don't function. But...I do have this handy-dandy little trap here. And look, it even opens and closes. Look, look, look..." He says excitedly as he holds up his hand-made trap and clicks the button to open it like in the movie, "Voilà!" Dustin chuckles as Lucas exclaims.  "It's cool, right?" Dustin asks, but sees she wasn't amazed, "No? Okay. But, um...So, we were talking last night, and you're new here, so you probably don't have any friends to take you trick-or-treating, and you're scared of bullies, so we were thinking that it would be okay if you come with us."

"'It'd be okay'?" Max repeats with a scoff. 

"Yeah. Our party's a democracy, the majority voted you could come." Dustin smiles. 

"Didn't realize it was such an honor to go trick-or-treating with you." Max says sarcastically.

"We know where to get the full-sized candy bars.  We figured you'd want in." He adds.

"That's presumptuous of you." 

Both of them frown in confusion, but Dustin tries to play it cool, acting as if he knew what she meant, but Lucas was lost, "Yeah. Totally. Uh, so, um... you'll come?" Dustin asks. 

Max rolls her eyes with a small laugh as she shuts her locker and walks away. 

"We're meeting at the Maple Street cul-de-sac at 7:00. That's 7:00 on the dot!" Dustin calls out for her to hear, still grinning.  "'Presumptuous'." He chuckles and looks at Lucas, "That's a good thing, right?"

Lucas sighs as he rolls his eyes, walking away with Dustin following him. 

"Is it bad? Lucas, is it bad? Lucas? Son of a bitch, Lucas. Is it bad?" Dustin kept asking, worried that he just blew it with Max. 

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

While everyone was at school, Hopper at work, Fiona and Eleven were in the cabin, all alone.  Being lazy in front of the TV.  Ever since Mike introduced her to the TV, Eleven has been addicted.  Fiona, however, has become addicted to books.  She sits in the laz-Z-y boy as she flips through a book Hopper recently checked out for her at the library as Eleven surfs the channels. 

Fiona looks up from her book as she hears a gong sound coming from the tv.  It was a commercial with a woman dressed as a geisha.

"How does it feel? Like pouring pure silk onto my skin."

"Ugh." Fiona grunts, tired of commercials. 

Eleven tilts her head, using her energy to change channels.  Next, was a movie trailer of a man with guns, shooting people as a voice describes it.

"Inhuman. Relentless. Arnold Schwarzenegger is... The Term--"

"Hey! I wanted to see that." Fiona protests when she changes the channel again.  

"Too violent." Eleven says as she keeps her eyes on the screen.  

Fiona snorts, "Don't make me short circuit the tv again." She sends Eleven a teasing scorn, which Eleven sends her a warning glare, but she couldn't help but giggle with her sister.  

They both look up as they see a program of two actors.  A man and a woman.  

"Well, I'm stunned. I don't know what to think." The woman exclaims. 

"Don't you love me?" The man asks. 

"Of course I love you." The woman states. "It's just that it's so sudden.  I mean, it's not like you."

Fiona slowly places her book in her lap as she falls hypnotized to the show.  Watching the two people express their love for each other.  Her heart begins to fill with heaviness again.  The same kind of heaviness she feels when she thinks about Jace and how much she misses him.  

"Erica, I am this way because of you." The man says strongly. 

The woman looked at him in surprise, "Me?"

"'Me'?" Eleven mimics the woman's shocked look. 

"Mmm-hmm. You have made me wild and impetuous, just like you." The man grins. 

"'Impetuous'." Eleven repeats, learning the word.  

"People are going to be aghast." The woman says as the man hugs her from behind. 

"'People are going to be aghast'." Eleven mimics again. 

"'Aghast'." Fiona repeats. 

The man laughs as he continues to hold the woman, "They're gonna love it." They both begin to laugh and hold each other as the man continues to express his love to the woman, Erica.  "I mean, it's gonna stun the whole town."  Fiona didn't even pay attention when Eleven gets up from the couch and walks towards the window.  "The whole world! Erica, tell me that you will marry me, in this house, tonight..."

The man and woman's voices fade as Fiona's mind drifts to memories of her and Jace.  Remembering how gentle he was with her.  The feel of his fingers brushing against her skin.  How he held her when she was scared of the bad men.  His smile.  His kiss.  

Fiona sighs heavily and grunts softly when the heaviness became worse.  She rubs her chest, feeling the urge to cry again.  But she shoves it back.  She sniffles and wipes away the coming tears when she hears the curtain clatter behind her.  

Fiona gasps and jumps out of her seat when Eleven pulled the curtains open, "Don't! Hopper's rules." She paces over to her, but she stops when she sees what Eleven sees.  A squirrel in the bird feeder. 

It stops eating the bird feed and watches the two of them from where it sat on the feeder.

Fiona sighs as she thinks about how they escaped that night from the bad men and ran to the woods.  Snow was pecking the ground and both of them were so cold and hungry.  They spotted a squirrel and Eleven used her energy to kill it.  

Weeks of being out in the woods, hunters were filling the forest. Fiona managed to steal some coats for herself and Eleven.  

With the squirrel stripped and ready to cook, Fiona used her energy to create a fire for them both.  Eleven sighs as she turns the roasted squirrel in the fire.  Both of their stomachs were growling at the wonderful smell of food cooking in front of them.  Fiona sighs and strokes Eleven's short hair that has been growing since they have escaped to the woods. 

But, before they could eat, a twig snaps behind them.  They both gasp and look over their shoulders to see two hunters standing not too far from them.  Eyeing them both with curiosity and concern.  

"Hey. We're not gonna hurt you. What are your names?" Hunter #1 asks, but neither of them answered.  

"What're you two doing out here in the cold?" Hunter #2 asks.

Eleven glares and calls her energy to make one of the burning logs float.  The hunters eyes widen in shock and grunts when the log comes flying at the first hunter. Knocking him out cold to the ground.  

"Holy shit!" Hunter #2 exclaims, then grunts as he stiffens in pain when lighting bolts hit him. He yells in pain then falls to the ground, out cold by the shockwave. 

Fiona and Eleven both scramble towards them, getting their coats and hats for warmth. Fiona wraps their food up and quickly puts out the fire with dirt. Both of them rush away before either of them woke up to expose their whereabouts. 

Eleven sighs softly, thinking how much she misses the freedom she had out there with her sister.  But...they wouldn't have food or egos out there.  And they would be endangering everyone they care about.  Mike.  Jace.  All their friends.  

Fiona watches her sister's face, seeing the need in her eyes.  She gently pulls her close against her.  

"I know, sister.  It's hard.  But we must stay safe.  We're not stupid." Fiona says. 

Eleven sniffles, "Not stupid." 

Fiona moves away and gives her sister a small grin, "Zap?" She holds up her pinkie. 

Eleven sighs and touches Fiona's pinkie with hers, "Zap." She nods, agreeing with their unspoken promise.  To always be smart and hide from the bad men, even if they miss Mike and Jace.  

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

After leaving the girls at the cabin, Hopper picked up Jace and drove them both to the station.  Hopper gets out of the truck and is welcomed by a familiar smell coming from a truck parked next to his.  He recognized the truck as Eugene's.  Another local farmer and Merrill's top suspect of hitting his farm recently. 

Jace walks around to see what Hopper was looking at and watches him pull back the tarp in the back of the truck.  Thousands of flies explode from the cover, but still swarmed over many rotten pumpkins.  

"What the hell?" Hopper frowns.

"Did Eugene hit someone again?" Jace asks as he lights up a cigarette.

"No, this is Eugene's truck." Hopper mutters. 

"What do you think happened?  Revenge of Merrill?" Jace asks as he blows out a trail of smoke.

Throwing the tarp back over the pumpkins, Hopper grunts, "Let's go ask him." He says and heads inside with Jace. 

After listening to Eugene's story, Hopper couldn't believe that two men would go so far over a feud.  

"So, you're telling me that Merrill poisoned your farm, because he thinks you poisoned his, which, of course, you didn't?" Hopper asks, making sure he got the story right.

"No, sir.  And I got me an alibi the night he accuses me." Eugene states with a furious frown, "My Jenny and her boys were in town. I was with them all night."

"Did you actually see Merrill?" Jace asks as he walks over towards them, stirring his coffee.

"No need. That man done lost his mind. Went around slandering me, threatening all sorts of madness." Eugene says.

Powell snorts, "A pumpkin conspiracy."

"Hawkins' very own Chinatown." Callahan chuckles. 

Jace sighs, rolling his eyes as he sips his coffee.

"Merrill threatening to do something and him actually doing something are two very different things." Hopper says. 

"Are you two still at it?" A voice scoffs from the door.  Gloria walks in as she catches most of the conversation, "When will you boys ever stop?  I swear, you two are like a bunch of five year olds. 

"I'll stop when stops.  Which will be till he's six feet in the ground." Eugene grumbles, then looks at Hopper again, "You got a better explanation?" He says, gesturing at his rotten pumpkins. 

Hopper shrugs, "Cold weather."

Jace frowns, "It's October, Unc." He mutters. 

"Yeah, it's a cold one." Hopper says. 

Gloria and Jace both share a frown, Gloria was hesitant, but Eugene wasn't done.  He sends Hopper a glare and holds his hands up.

"You see these hands?"

"Yeah."

"You know why they look like that?"

"Because you're old?"

"You're damn straight."

Powell and Jace couldn't help but chuckle, Eugene sends them both a glare, but continues to speak.

"And I've been doing this a long time, Chief. A long time. And I ain't never seen anything the likes of this. None of us have." Eugene sighs out. 

Jace frowns, "None of us?"

"Merrill didn't just hit me last night.  He hit damn near everyone." Eugene says. 

Gloria moves closer, "What are you talking about?"

"Jack O'Dell, Pete Freeling, Rick Neary, the Christensens. All of their crops, dead." Eugene says. 

Jace frowns, "Unc, if something is going on with the crops..." 

"We could be facing a crop pandemic.  The whole town will suffer." Gloria states. 

Hopper sits up and grabs a pad and pencil, "Give me those names again." He says and takes the names down. 

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

After school, Max skateboards her way to the high school to meet up with her stepbrother, Billy.  She sighs in irritation when she sees him waiting for her.  Knowing he was going to give her shit for being late.  She could not stand him.  Everything she did always made him so angry, she hated her mom for marrying his dad.  To sharing the same house with him.  

"You're late again." Billy states when she arrives next to the car.

"Yeah, I had to get catch-up homework." She mutters.

Billy scoffs, "Jesus. I don't care. You're late again, and you're skating home. Do you hear me?"

Max rolls her eyes with a sigh and gets into the car with him.  Billy takes off with the radio blaring.  As they drive through town, Billy scoffs as he watches the house and trees go by. 

"God, this place is such a shithole." He mutters bitterly.

"It's not that bad." Max shrugs. 

"No?" Billy scoffs and rolls Max's window down, taking a deep breath, but pinches his nose as his face grimaces in disgust, "Mmm! You smell that, Max? That's actually shit. Cow shit." He says sarcastically.  

"I don't see any cows." Max sighs and rolls her eyes as she pressing the switch to roll up the window.  

"'Clearly, you haven't met the high-school girls." He remarks and scoffs at her, "So what, you like it here now?"

"No."

"Then why are you defending it?"

"I'm not."

"Sure sounds like it." He accuses. 

"It's just we're stuck here, so..."

"Hmm.  You're right. We're stuck here. And whose fault is that?" 

"Yours." She says softly, but he caught it and she stiffens when his voice hardens. 

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing." She quickly says. 

"Did you say it's my fault?" He glares at her and the road.

"No." Her voice trembles softly."

"You know whose fault it is." He says, gripping the steering wheel tightly.  "Say it. Max...say it."

But, she wouldn't. Knowing if she did, he would hurt her.  

"SAY IT!" He jerks towards her, his face nearing hers.  

She jumps in fright by his yell and gasps when he speeds up.  Her eyes widen when she sees familiar boys riding their bikes down the street.  Billy was getting closer and closer to them, and he wasn't slowing down!

"Really, everyone dressed up last year." Dustin scoffs as he chats with his friends. 

Max eyes them with worry, knowing her stepbrother too well, "Billy, slow down."

"Oh, these your new hick friends?" He asks with no care.

"No! I don't know them."

"I guess you won't care if I hit 'em, then? I get bonus points, I get 'em all in one go?" He asks, pressing harder on the gas.

"No, Billy, stop. It's not funny." She says, begging him to slow down.

But Billy only drummed his hand against the wheel, not caring at all that he was scaring her. In fact, he found it funny watching her be so afraid.  

"Hey, guys?" Dustin looks over his shoulder when he hears the familiar sound of an engine and his eyes widen in fear when he sees a car zooming towards them.  All three picked up the pace and pedaled as hard as they could.

"Billy, come on, stop it. It's not funny. Stop!" Max shouts, but Billy wasn't listening.  He eyes the boys and presses harder to go faster.  Grinning as he watches them pedal so hard.  

"Go!" Lucas shouts.

"Mike, you need to haul ass!" Dustin shouts. 

When they were mere inches away from the bikes, Max had enough.  

"Billy, stop it!" She grabs the steering wheel and jerks it to turn and swerve around the boys.

"Whoa! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" Dustin yelps when the car goes around them and they dive for the grass.  Dustin falls off his bike before the car could hit him.  

"Yeah! That was a close one, huh?" Billy shouts and laughs as he keeps driving on.

Max looks behind them, sighing in relief that they were ok.

"Holy shit!" Dustin exclaims as Lucas helps him to his feet.  All three of them breathed heavily as they watch the car speed off, "Was that..." Dustin points in disbelief. 

"Mad Max." Lucas pants. 

She hopes that the boys won't take it personally.  She knows she'll have to explain, but she hated people sticking their noses in her personal business.  Especially her family business. 

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

Jace frowns as he exams the crops on Eugene's farm with Hopper and Eugene as Jenny and her boys watch from afar.  Flies buzzed all around them as the overpowering smell invaded their noses.  Jace kneels down and uses a pen to look at one pumpkin that was completely black.  It folds over into slime as he poked it.  

"Ugh." He gags and quickly get to his feet, covering his nose and mouth from the smell.  

"Now, you tryin' to tell me, with a straight face, cold did this?" Eugene asks Hopper.

Hopper was more concerned with the distance.  It looked like the rot didn't stop at the farm. 

"How far does it go?" He asks as he and Jace walk towards the woods.  

"Unc, over here." He says as he paces towards a tree that was covered in the same kind of rot and slime coated the bark.  "Jesus." He mutters

Hopper lifts a gloved hand and touches the slime.  It looked so familiar, he couldn't put his finger on it.  

"Hey, Chief, you copy?" Powell's voice erupts from the COMM.  

Hopper grunts as he tries to get the slime off his glove and reaches for his COMM, "Uh...

"Hey, Chief."

"How's it looking over there?"

"Like a giant pissed all over Jack's bean field.  Smells, too. It smell over there?"

"Uh, yeah, little bit."

Callahan grunts in disgust as he and Powell look over the rotten crops that were once green, now gray and covered in weird slime, "Smells like a nursing home, man."

Powell waves his off as he tries to listen to Hopper's orders, "Listen. I want you guys to track the rot, see how far it goes. Just, uh, mark anything that's dead."

"That's gonna take some time." Hopper could hear the frown in his voice.  

"So take it. And, look, we don't know what caused this. Could be poison. So don't touch anything without gloves." Hopper warns. 

But, Powell looks behind him to see Callahan touching the slime, and sniffing it on his fingers.  He sighs and rolls his eyes, "Copy that, Chief."

Hopper places his COMM back on his belt and turns to Jace, "Jace, head to the Christensens and see how bad it is over there.  Mark how far it goes." 

Jace sighs deeply, "Got it, Unc." He nods and heads towards his truck to drive to the farm.  

Hopper turns back to Eugene, "You got any marking flags?" He asks. 

As soon as he got the flags, he begins to mark from the farm through the woods, following the rotten trail.  He had a gut feeling this wasn't going to turn out the way he expects.  Something was going on with the crops.  But he needed to find out what before the panic starts.