The Byers Girl (On Pause until season 5)

Chapter Five: Dig Dug

As Joyce finishes putting together her son's maze of drawings, Will explains to Mike that he can see everything the shadow monster is doing, both in the Upside Down and Hawkins. He expresses fear over this, but Mike states that it may be a good thing, as now Will can be their "spy" against the monster.
Will asks what happens if it spies back, but Mike assures that they will not let him. In the tunnels, Hopper hears screeching before being sprayed by a growth in the wall with spores that make him cough severely. As he collapses, the way out above him begins closing itself up with vines.

Jonathan and Nancy get a motel room together. Jonathan asks Nancy if she wants the light off or on, and she starts laughing. She explains the question gives her a sense of déjà vu. They open their hands to compare their scars from last year, and she states that hers is bigger than his. After a moment, Nancy asks why he became distant after that, and he mentions Will and his family. She insists that she waited for him to make a move, but he points out she only waited a month. Upset, she turns away from him and tells him she wants the light off.

Will awakens in a panic and tells Joyce he saw Hopper in mortal danger. Hopper awakens in the tunnels and vomits, realizing the air is making him sick. He fashions a makeshift facemask out of the sleeve of his uniform and begins walking, leaving broken cigarettes to mark his trail. A tendril slithers after him.

Lucas asks his father for advice on what to do when one upsets a girl. He tells him to apologize, then do what she wants. He leaves and bikes past Claudia Henderson, looking for her (deceased) cat.
Dustin lures her away from the house by claiming the cat was spotted somewhere outside of town. When she leaves, Dustin armors himself in hockey gear and leaves a trail of bologna slices that lead to his storm cellar. He opens the door to his room, where he has locked d'Artagnan inside and hides in the shed in his yard. Dustin hits Dart into the cellar with a hockey stick when he takes the bait and locks him inside.

Meanwhile, Eleven hitchhikes to the Ives house, and Becky Ives recognizes her as Jane when she opens the front door with her mind. She finds Terry still in her chair, murmuring the phrases "rainbow," "three to the right, four to the left," "breathe," "sunflower," and "four-fifty"" repeatedly.

Nancy and Jonathan drive to Murray's bunker in Illinois. He shows them his conspiracy board regarding the events of 1983, which Nancy immediately begins to poke holes in.

Lucas bribes Keith to label the Palace Arcade's Dig Dug machine as out of order so he can get Max alone in the back office. He promises to tell her the truth about what happened the previous year, but only if she accepts the risks of the knowledge that comes with it, which she sarcastically does.

Will draws the place where he saw Hopper in his vision, but it is just another blue line. As Joyce and Mike find its place in the drawn maze, Bob arrives to check on Will. Realizing his love of puzzle solving can help them, Joyce invites him in on the grounds that he asks no questions. Bob pulls her aside, concerned for both her and Will, but trails off when he recognizes a heart shape in the drawings that outlines a distinct lake in Hawkins. He realizes the lines are pathways that do not go over water, and that Will has charted out the entirety of the town.

Hopper stumbles across an open area full of bones and dead animals. When he pulls out his lighter, he realizes the vines around him retract from the heat. He fashions a torch out of a bone and his jacket and begins to cut at the vines, trying to find a way out. Dustin buries his cat and calls on his Supercom for his friends to come help him, only coming across Lucas' sarcastic sister Erica, who hangs up on him.

Eleven ignores Becky's questions and sadly notes that Ives will not recover from her catatonia. Becky shows her the room that Ives had set up in case Eleven ever came home, and Becky offers to her a home, which Eleven accepts. The lights flicker, leading Eleven to Ives, whose nose is bleeding. The TV channels flip until they change to static, and Eleven realizes her mother wants to speak to her.

Bob charts Hopper's area by marking a map of Hawkins and comparing it to the distance between landmarks on Will's map.

Dustin visits the Wheeler house to find Y/n who watches Holly during the day but is only met by Ted who is unhelpful. As he leaves, Steve arrives, with flowers in his hands mumbling nervously.
"Steve!" Dustin calls.
"Are those for Mr. or Mrs. Wheeler?" He continues.
"No" Steve says confused.
"Good" Dustin says grabbing the flowers.
"Hey what the hell" Steve says angrily.
"Y/n's not here" Dustin says walking away.
"Where is she?" Steve asks concerned.
"We need to find her" Dustin says walking over to Steve's car.
"We have bigger problems than your love life" Dustin says opening the car door.
"You still have that bat?" Dustin asks.
"Bat? What bat?" Steve asks confused.
"The one with the nails" Dustin says waving his hands around.
"Why?" Steve asks.
"I'll explain on the way" Dustin says.
"Now?" Steve asks seeing Dustin get in the car.
"Now!" Dustin says louder.
"Okay" Steve says running to the car.
Steve and Dustin continue driving around until they see Y/n who's talking to a girl with short brown hair outside of the library.
"Y/n!" Dustin yells driving closer catching Y/n's attention.
"Hey" Y/n says smiling as they pull up closer.
"We gotta go get in" Dustin says quickly.
"Dusty I'm with a friend" Y/n says motioning to the girl with short brown hair who is Robin.
"This is more important" Dustin says seriously.
"It's okay Y/n/n don't worry about it I'll call you tonight" Robin says hugging Y/n walking away.
"Okay this better be important" Y/n says turning to look at Dustin sighing.
Y/n gets into the back seat not noticing Steve watching her from the mirror every few minutes.

The tendrils take advantage of Hopper's exhaustion to trap his legs, pulling him down to the ground and constricting him. Max completely doubts Lucas' explanation until she sees that he is genuinely fearful of the consequences of telling her, asking him to prove it. Billy arrives to pick her up, and Max warns Lucas (while grabbing his hand) not to follow her out. Billy notices him regardless, and again warns her not to talk to him.

Nancy and Jonathan finish explaining the definitive story to Murray with the recording of Sam Owens talking about lying to the public. Nancy and Murray discuss what to do with the information, and together conclude the true story is too outlandish and exposing for the general populace to hear, but a more acceptable yet still damning story of a chemical leak would work. At Hawkins National Laboratory, a scientist shows Owens something strange about the infected soil samples they took: it floats away from the source when exposed to heat, as do all the other samples in the vicinity.

Eleven enters the void using a blindfold cut from a tablecloth. When she approaches Ives and tells her that she is home, Ives grabs her hand and simply says "no." She sees a younger Ives having a painful labor, before learning her story: Ives had a C-section while giving birth to Eleven and had her baby taken from her by Martin Brenner, everyone but her and the people involved being told that she miscarried. She brings a gun to the lab and finds Eleven and a young girl with dark skin playing in a room but is dragged away by security before she can grab her daughter. Brenner puts her in her catatonic state by having his men give her electroshock therapy on maximum intensity, and her memories start to repeat out of sequence and on a loop, the phrases she utters revealed to be components of the memories themselves. Eleven awakens from the void stunned.

Joyce, Bob, Mike and Will drive out to the spot Bob marked, and Will receives more visions of Hopper as they get closer. His directions lead them to Hopper's car and dig site. Joyce gets the vines to move by hitting them with a shovel, and she and Bob descend into the tunnels. They follow Hopper's cigarette trail and find him being choked by the tendrils. Joyce cuts him free just as lab soldiers in hazmat suits arrive to guide them out. As they torch the vines, Will suddenly screams and begins convulsing.

To be continued...