Loss - Lucas Sinclair

The Mind Flayer (Part 1)

"You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas asked for the fifth time in twenty minutes. They were currently on their way to find out where the Demogorgons went to and so far they had no luck.

"Yes," Dustin replied, exhausted. "He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt."

"He was tiny two days ago," Max said from behind the group.

"Well, he's molted three times already."

"Malted?" Steve asked from beside Dustin.

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

"When's he gonna moly again?" Max asked.

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

"Yeah," Steve said, adding to the conversation, "and he's gonna eat a lot more than just a cats."

"Wait, a cat?" Lucas stopped Dustin. "Dart ate a cat?"

"No, what? No," Dustin quickly tried to lie but Steve didn't help him.

"What are you talking about? He ate Mews."

"Mews?" Max turned to look at Steve confused. "Who's Mews?"

"It's Dustin's cat."

"Steve!" Dustin tried to shut him up.

"I knew it!" Lucas shoved Dustin slightly. "You kept him!"

"No!" Dustin lied again. "No. No, I... No, I... He missed me. He wanted to come home."

"Bullshit!"

"I didn't know he was a Demogorgon, okay?"

"Oh, so now you admit it?"

"Guys!" Max tried to stop the fight before it got worse. "Who cares? We have to go."

"I care!" Lucas yelled. "You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!"

"So did you!" Dustin yelled back.

"What?"

"You told a stranger the truth!" Dustin shined his flashlight at Max.

She blinked a few times, trying to not go blind. "A stranger?" She scoffed.

"You wanted to tell her, too!" Lucas defended himself.

"But I didn't, Lucas, okay? I didn't tell her! We both broke the rule of law, okay? So we're even. We're even."

"No," Lucas yelled. "No! We're not even. Don't even try that. Your stupid pet could have ate us for dinner!"

"That was not my fault! He wasn't going to eat us."

"So he was crawling to come say hello?"

"Guys!" Steve yelled shutting both of them up.

With the silence around them they could hear screeches in the distance. Steve walked towards the noises with Lucas and Dustin following close behind.

"No, no," Max said staying behind. "Hey, guys, why are you headed towards the sound? Hello?"

No one responded to her, leaving her calling after them.

"Hello?" She tried again. She sighed before deciding that following the noises would be better than being alone in the woods.

They eventually stopped in a place where they could look over a lot of land, but it was too dark out to see anything.

"I don't see him," Dustin squinted trying to find the Demogorgons.

Lucas tried to use his binoculars to look more in the distance and found a lit up building he recognized.

"It's the lab," he dropped the binoculars from his face. "They we're going back home."

"We need to go," Steve said, starting to walk towards the lab. No one argued this time as they all followed.

***

"Hello?" They heard a voice call to them as they got closer to the lab. "Who's there? Who's there?"

They walked out of the woods to see Jonathan and Nancy standing together at the gates of the lab.

"Steve?" They both asked in unison.

"Nancy?" Steve asked back.

"Jonathan," Dustin said not wanting to be left out.

"What are you doing here?" Nancy asked as the two groups started walking towards each other.

"What are you doing here?" Steve repeated her question.

"We're looking for Mike and Will," Nancy said as the both stopped in front of each other.

"They're not in there, are they?" Dustin asked the question Lucas was wondering.

"We're not sure."

"Why?" Jonathan asked already fearing the worst.

Before any of them could answer, the monster screeching started again from inside the lab.

"That's why," Lucas said in a small voice, fearing that if his friends were in there, it might be too late.

Immediately, everyone started asking each other questions. They were constantly taking over each other where Lucas was having a hard time keeping up and eventually zoned out to try to come up with a plan.

"The power's back," Nancy said turning away from the group and towards the lab.

Jonathan quickly ran over to the booth where the buttons to open the gate were at. Everyone watched as he pushed the button over and over but nothing happened.

"Let me try," Dustin said, joining Jonathan in the booth.

"Hang on—" Jonathan said still trying to press the button.

Dustin shoved him out of the way. "Let me try, Jonathan." He too started to press the button over and over again but the gate still didn't budge. "Son of a bitch! You know what..." he started to smack the button, getting annoyed with it.

After a minute a beep came from the booth and the gate started to move open.

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

"You guys stay here!" Nancy said as she and Jonathan got into the car and drove through the entrance.

Now, it's just a waiting game, Lucas thought.

***

To say that they were bored while waiting for Nancy and Jonathan was an understatement. They were bored out of their minds. All anyone could do was pace and hope for the bus.

Lucas looked up seeing the stars in the night sky. They all looked so relaxed in the sky and it made Lucas a little jealous.

We have so much going on at once, we don't have anytime to relax.

"Guys?" Max brought Lucas back to earth.

Lucas looked toward the gate in time to see two cars turning the corner sharply. The horns started blaring as the car didn't slow do even though Max, Lucas and Steve were in the way.

They all luckily got the hint and ran out of the way as Jonathan's car almost hit them.

Hopper's truck was right behind them but instead of passing them he stopped quickly and rolled down his window.

"Let's go," he said as Steve opened the passenger door, yelling at everyone to get inside.

Once they were all inside, Hopper hit the gas, zooming off to someplace safe.

The Byers house.

Authors note
So I decided not to do The Lost Sister because it's more about El and I can only see a few scenes where Nikki could be brought up in the conversation. Who knows, I might come back and do it later if I have time.

If you guys want me to do it, I will be happy to. Just tell me and I will get around to it when I have a chance.

Love ya!!❤️❤️❤️