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 fighting their way through the woods in hopes of finding where Dart and the other Demogorgons went to. But as the night got even darker, they were starting to realize that luck wasn't on their side.

"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 molt 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."

Lucas shook his head, seeing right through his words. "Bullshit!"

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

"Oh, so now you admit it?"

"Guys!" Max tried to stop the fighting 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 get the dark spots in her vision to fade. "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 clearly towards the edge of the woods, where they could look over a lot of land, but it was too dark out to see anything.