Something is coming. Something hungry for blood" – Michael Wheeler.

"Since when?", Hopper asked in the living room.

"Can you hear anything?", Will whispered.

"Shhh!", Max replied, pressing her ear against Will's bedroom door to try to hear the adults chatting.

There was only a candle illuminating the room, barely enough for the kids to see each other, which made Will and Lucas deeply uncomfortable.

"I… I'm not sure. I mean… The first time I had an episode was yesterday", Nancy told the chief "But I just saw Him today".

"Holy shit", Max mumbled at the mention of an episode.

"What is she saying?!", Lucas asked.

"If you guys don't shut up I swear I'm gonna steal Dustin's 'Spider Man 129' and set it on fire!", she snapped.

"You wouldn't do that", Lucas accused, narrowing his eyes.

"Does Dustin even have that comic book?!", Will questioned.

"Just shut up, okay?!", Max said, focusing once again in the other conversation.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell anyone, Nancy? You know what it has done to Will, you know what it has done to us…", Jonathan said.

"He wouldn't let me!", the girl yelled so loud that even Will and Lucas, who sat on Will's bed heard it.

The lights flickered. There was a pause.

"Okay, I'm confused right now", Steve said "Who the hell is 'he'?".

Silence.

"That's how Will talked about that thing", Joyce finally spoke "He kept talking about it as if it was a person… As if it was talking to him; interacting with him".

"I still don't get it", Steve said.

"The monster that got Will last year, it talked to him, it made him into some sort of… I don't know, some sort of slave", Jonathan explained.

"…And now you're telling me it got Nancy", Steve confirmed.

There was another pause. Someone probably nodded during it, but Max couldn't tell from where she was.

"And this, uh… This other creature you saw, it… You said that it was fighting Will's monster", Hopper spoke and waited Nancy to confirm it.

"Yes. I think it started the fight, but He was the one who knocked down the Ferris wheel", Nancy said then added, defensively "He didn't mean to interact with our world; it wasn't his intention".

"But is it back? Is the portal open again?", the chief inquired.

"He…", Nancy struggled to speak "Yes, there are a few portals that are still open, but not for long. He's too weak to keep them open right now".

"Guys, you need to hear this", Max said.

The boys ran to the door and leaned against it to try to pay attention to whatever was left of the conversation.

"'Weak'?", Hopper asked.

"He lost the battle. He's weak and powerless now. He doesn't know what attacked his world. He needs our help", Nancy affirmed.

A sarcastic, high-pitched and nearly insane laugh put an end to the girl's sentence and interrupted the conversation.

"Help?!", Joyce asked, still sarcastically "That… That monster that put us through hell for two years, that tried to kill us all; it needs our help?!".

"He didn't know what he was facing! He didn't know that El was so powerful when he attacked us! He won't ever come back if we do as he says", Nancy shouted defensively.

Everyone went quiet.

"We gotta burn him out of her", Joyce said.

Chester started barking again.

"Excuse me; WHAT?!", Steve said.

Judging by the rough noise of wood scratching the floor, someone had abruptly gotten up from their chair, probably Nancy.

"It's the only way we can get rid of it", Jonathan said "We have to take her somewhere where is too hot for it to bear".

"But what if it kills Nancy?", Steve said.

"It won't", Joyce assured.

"No!", Nancy said "You won't burn Him out".

"Sweetie, just calm down… It'll…".

"You won't burn him again. You won't hurt him anymore!".

Nancy screamed, but the sound was quickly muffled. Someone probably had put a hand over her mouth. Now, they were all talking so loud that the kids didn't need to lean against the door anymore.

"Chief, help me…! Aw, shit! She bit me!", Steve said.

"Kid, sit down!", Hopper said.

"No! No! No!", she insanely shouted.

"Sweetie, look at me!", Joyce said "You can't live with this thing inside you forever, okay? We're getting it out".

"You won't burn me", she said.

Max, Will and Lucas jumped back when a loud ghostly sound was heard from the living room, followed by more screams.

"What the hell? What the hell? What the hell?" Steve yelled.

"Step back! Don't let it touch you!", Hopper said.

"Nancy? Can you hear me?! Nancy?!", Jonathan desperately spoke.

"Screw it", Max said, pulling the door open, driven by an urgent curiosity.

The three kids simultaneously went to the corridor to see a black shadow zigzagging on the living room and forcing Jonathan, Nancy, Steve and Joyce to step back. Will gasped and immediately stepped back as well. Max grabbed Lucas' hand.

The shadow was growing bigger and it moved up and down like a tentacle with a mind of its own. It surely became aware of the kids' presence in the corridor, because that's where it headed next, slithering through the floor and projecting itself towards the children.

"No!", Hopper shouted.

It would've hit Max right in the head if Lucas hadn't pushed her out of the way at the very last second. Instead, the shadow made an arch above Will's head and broke out of the house through the window at the end of the corridor, shattering it. Once outside, it went to the forest and disappeared from sight.

The lights went back on.

Chester whined and hid under the dining room table.

"Holy shit!", Max said, looking outside.

The teenagers and the adults ran to the corridor. Nancy struggled to move, standing up with Jonathan's help.

"What the hell was that?", Steve asked.

Will glared through the window.

"The Shadow Monster", his voice cracked.

"Where the hell did it go?", Hopper asked, trying to spot the shapeless monster in the night.

"It's going to find someone else", Nancy said "Someone that doesn't knows about it so they won't know how to get it out".

Her voice was a hoarse whisper and she could barely stand up with Jonathan supporting her. She looked like she hadn't slept in weeks. They remained silent, eyeing each other for a few moments. After what seemed to be an eternity, Hopper sighed.

"Take these kids back to their homes, son. Their parents must be dead worried. I'm gonna call the wheelers and tell them to come and pick their kid up", he said to Steve.

Steve nodded and led Lucas and Max out of the corridor.

The teenager was at the door and the kids were already outside when he noticed the faintest of noises. He stepped back in the room and realized that the source of the sound was Mike. Max and Lucas peeked inside.

"Mhhh…", the boy grunted and moved on his chair "Mhhhhhh!".

"Shit! Chief! He's waking up!"

Nancy, Jonathan, Will, Joyce and Hopper came back to the living room in a rush and witnessed the same scene Steve had just seen: Mike squirming on his chair as if having a nightmare he couldn't wake up from. No one of them really knew what to do, so by the time Nancy decided to let go of Jonathan and limp towards her brother, he already woken up.

"Eleven!", he yelled, startling everyone else in the house.

Sweat ran down his face and soaked his hair. He panted and his eyes were flying across the room as he tried to understand where he was and how he got there. He then saw the pallid little figure on the couch. Mike hastily got up and tried to run towards her, but his legs were too weak and failed to support his weight, causing him to pathetically fall to his knees in front of Jane.

"Oh, no, no, no, no!", he said "Is she okay? How long has she been like this? What happened to her? Why is there so much blood…?".

"Hey, hey!", Hopper said, walking towards the boy and putting his hand on his shoulder "Take it easy, buddy. You just woke up; you shouldn't be running up and down and spilling out questions. She's gonna be fine, she's just drained. It's the same thing that happened when she closed that damn gate. Now sit here and try to calm down, alright?".

Hopper was gesturing at the armchair, but Mike didn't bother to get up; he sat down on the very floor. There was a brief pause.

"Why is she like this?", Mike asked "She didn't use her powers".

"She did. She stopped the Ferris wheel", Lucas answered "She saved us".

"How long is it going to take for her to wake up?", the boy questioned once again.

"We don't know!", Hopper said "We know just as much as you do, kid".

Mike opened his mouth to make yet another question, but he gave up halfway through it and looked back at El. Her hair was messy and her skin was pale. Her breath was faint and rhythmic. Hopper was lying; it hadn't been this bad ever before. Mike just lowered his head and closed his eyes.

Will, Max and Lucas walked back inside and stood next to him. Lucas just silently put his hand on his friend's shoulder and Max remained quiet, not sure of what she should say.

She remained unconscious for another hour or so. Mike's headache got slightly better, but it was still there and it refused to go away. The kids had decided to spare him from the fact that the Shadow Monster was involved in all of that. Mike was already upset enough.

Hopper was quietly standing on a corner with his head lowered. He played with Jane's blue elastic hair band between his fingers. That very same object had belonged to Sara as well.

'C'mon kid, wake up', Hopper thought, 'God knows that I can't lose my little girl again'.

But she didn't react. She only did move many minutes later, when she inhaled deeply and flinched as if waking up from a nightmare.

Lucas could have sworn that Mike was holding his breath the whole time and only let it go when her eyelids opened.

There was a collective sigh of relief, though no one knew for sure how well she was, but at least she was awake now.

"Hey kid", Hopper spoke, stepping closer "How you feelin'?".

Jane sat up quickly and stared Hopper for a few long seconds before looking around the room. Finally, she curled up in defense and kept staring at the chief.

"Where is Papa?", she asked.

Hopper frowned.

"Did you dream about him?", he asked "Don't worry kid. You're safe now".

She didn't seem content with the answer.

"Where is Papa?", she insisted.

The cop laughed softly.

"C'mon, El. You know he's not around anymore", he said.

Her face crumbled down to a morbid shock. She looked like she was on the brink of tears.

"Gone?", she asked.

"Yeah, you know that he's gone. He's not gonna hurt you anymore", Hopper ensured.

Mike carefully walked up to her and knelt next to her seat on the couch. She immediately flinched, which made him nervous.

"El, I um… I'm glad that you're okay. I thought I had lost you", he forced himself to display a brittle smile.

El looked at him for a few seconds, staring deep into his eyes before she spoke again. Mike would expect anything from her, anything at all, but he still wasn't ready for what she said next:

"Who… Who are you?".

Next chapter preview: Everyone is on edge about Eleven's condition and no one is sure of what to do. The Mind Flayer finds another, more dangerous host.