We all began walking back, wondering what to do next.
"You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas asked Dustin.
"Yes. He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt."
"He was tiny two days ago." Max said.
"Well, he's molted three times already."
"Malted?" Steve tried correcting him. He wasn't all there.
"Molted." Dustin confirmed. "Shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms."
"When's he gonna molt again?" Max asked.
"It's gotta be soon." Dustin answered. "When he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it. And so will his friends."
"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats." Steve added.
"Wait, a cat?" Lucas stopped Dustin. "Dart ate a cat?"
"No, what? No." Dustin lied.
"What are you talking about? He ate Mews." Steve said.
"No, don't remind me." I said, hiding my face with my hands.
"Mews? Who's Mews?" Max asked.
"It's Dustin's cat." Steve told her.
"Steve!" Dustin yelled at him.
"I knew it! You kept him!" Lucas said, shoving Dustin in the shoulder.
"No! 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, who cares? We have to go." Max interrupted them.
"I care! You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!"
"So did you!"
"What?"
"You told a stranger the truth!"
"A stranger?" Max scoffed.
"You wanted to tell her, too!"
"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, no! We're not even. Don't even try that. Your stupid pet could have ate us for dinner!"
"That was not my fault!"
"Lucas, it doesn't matter right now! We can talk about that later!" I yelled at him. I heard screeching off in the distance.
"Guys?... Guys!" Steve yelled at them. They all heard the screeching as we ran to it.
"No, no, no. Hey, guys, why are you headed towards the sound? Hello? Hello?" Max shouted at us as we continued to run. We all stopped.
"I don't see him." Dustin said.
"It's the lab." Lucas said. "They were going back home."
Everyone started to walk forward towards the lab, but I stayed back. Hopper told me Brenner was gone and they weren't experimenting on kids right now, but it still made me anxious wondering what they would do if they found out. Steve looked back at me and headed towards me.
"You don't have to come if you don't want to."
"No. I have to do this." I said. Steve held out his hand for me to hold. I grabbed it and we walked towards the group. We started to walk out of the bushes as we heard a voice say "Hello? Who's there?" from the other side.
