Together Again

Chapter 4 - The In-Between (part 5)

I don't really know what happened, but this chapter did something weird and deleted all the writing, so I had to unpublished it and restore the old version. So this is not a new update!!

Jonathan glanced out the window of Steve's car. He was sitting in the backseat while they drove, none of them really knew where they were going, but Jonathan needed to get out of the house. He couldn't stand seeing it like that. They decided to go for a drive as they tried to figure out what was going on.

Steve spoke up from the drivers seat, after he had been thinking hard about the situation. "So let's look at the facts. Something from the upside down is living in Hawkins for sure, the cloud. And we have had two mysterious break in's in the past 2 days, neither of which we could find where the intruder broke in." He stated.

Nancy mumbled something from beside him, but she was too quiet and they couldn't hear her. She had a confused look on her face as if she was thinking. Suddenly her head flew up from looking at her lap as she exclaimed. "It's not a who, it's a what!" The boys were confused, what was she talking about? She went on to explain her thoughts. "Two mysterious break in's right after we discover the cloud. Coincidence? I think not. Clouds can move easily right? They are a gas and can fit through tiny cracks. What if the cloud is the one who did the breaking in. I don't know why, but I think it's after something."

Although none of them said it aloud, they were all thinking the same thing. We need to kill the cloud. None of them knew how, but there had to be a way. Or at least a way to get it back to the upside down. They made a list of anything that they thought they could use.

1. 3 fire extinguishers
2. 3 cans bear spray
3. 3 air horns
4. 3 cans hair spray
5. 3 Flashlights
6. 3 tool belts
7. 1 Beef Roast
8. A full tank of gas

  "Okay, lets go over the plan." Steve stated as Nancy finished writing down the list. "We set out the beef roast at the junkyard and wait for it to come." They knew that it liked meat, but they had no idea how it ate it. Steve continued. "When it is eating the beef roast, we will sneak out from behind different pieces of junk and spray it with the fire extinguishers from all directions. We will fill the tool belts with hair spray, bear spray, flashlights and air horns. If the cloud gets too close, spray it with either the hair spray or the bear spray, if one of those doesn't work then we have the other one for backup. If you get into too deep of trouble for those to work, blow the air horn so that the other two know to come help you. If you are able to, shine the flashlight so that you are easier to find. If we ever need a quick escape, blow the air horn 3 times as fast as you can, and everyone run to the car. I will turn it on when the cloud comes, along with the lights so it is easy to find, I will have a spare seat of keys as well just in case."

Nervously they all looked at one another, not sure if they were ready to face this...thing. After all, it wasn't some living, walking, solid creature, this was a whole new level.

Steve made a stop at the hardware store. With his new job as deputy, no one questioned why he was buying all this stuff anymore. He chuckled at the thought of his and Nancy's first trip to the hardware store 2 years ago.

He got back into the car to see Nancy and Jonathan quickly let go of each other's hands. Didn't they just break up? He wondered. He pretended not to notice, but there was a tear drop making its way down the right side of Nancy's face, opposite from him. Obviously something had happened between them. He had thought that maybe....well, he thought that Nancy had been friendlier to him than usual. He thought that maybe they could begin dating again. Obviously not anymore. He had gone on a few dates over the past year, he had had two girlfriends, but he broke it off with both of them. There just wasn't the spark he felt with Nancy. He honestly wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

He started the car and began driving towards the junkyard. "Wait! Stop here!" Nancy shouted about a mile from the junkyard. She pointed into the trees, some of the leaves were moving a ways in, but only in one spot. Could it be the cloud?

The three of them jumped out of the car. As quietly as possible, they closed the door, grabbing the bags of supplies. They each took a tool belt. The tool belts each had four loops to put bigger tools in, 2 in the front and one on either side. There was a large pocket in the very front that could zip up and an adjustable clip in the back. There were 3 clicks as they clipped them around their waists. Steve handed out the cans of hairspray and bear spray. They each put one in either side of the tool belt. The air horn went in on the right front loop, the flashlight went in the front left loop. Steve took the extra keys and put them in his pocket.

As Nancy reached for the beef roast to put it in her pocket, Jonathan put a hand out to stop her. "No, let me." He stated.

"But—" Nancy started. Jonathan Interrupted.

"No Nancy, I don't want to put you in danger. I want to do this. And I won't take no for an answer." He lectured, then snatched the roast out of her hand. He turned on his heel and looked into the woods

Nancy rolled her eyes, she was about to protest. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Steve shake his head no. He mouthed the words "let him." How did he know what she was going to do? She wondered

Steve knew that she was going to protest, he had known her for too long. She wasn't one to quit easily. He didn't want them to start an argument though, so he stopped her. As they all grabbed their fire extinguishers, a sound caught their ears.

It was a shriek, like a terrified, stomachs wrenching scream. Nancy's head shot up. A look of terror in her eyes. She looked at Steve, and didn't notice that Jonathan was beside him, jealous that her initial reaction was to turn to Steve.

She breathed a single word in their direction. "Mike."

~End of Chapter 4~