A/N: Here comes the next chapter! Enjoy.

Night

Hawkins

"Oh, where is he?" Karen Wheeler sighed as she paced around the Wheeler home frantically.

"Calm down, Karen," Ted Wheeler replied, not bothering to look away from the TV. "He's probably just staying late with those boys again."

Karen rolled her eyes. "Well, you keep watching your shows, Ted. I'm calling Joyce, maybe she knows where Mike is."

Just as Karen walked to the telephone and laid her hand down to dial the number, the door to the Wheeler home opened as a certain teenager walked through. Mike Wheeler stepped through the door as he leaned against the side of it, he was sweaty and he seemed clearly exhausted. The boy looked as if he had run two marathons nonstop without any water or food whatsoever. He breathed deep, exhausted breaths as he slowly walked, making his way over to the stairs. Mike didn't bother to say anything to his parents, he didn't even bother to speak. He just went over to the stairs as he grabbed the rails and began walking.

"Mike, honey," Karen said as the exhausted teenager looked over to her. "Are you alright? You're sweating."

Mike looked at her uneasily, his vision starting to blur every now and then. "I'm fine. Just tired. I'm going to bed."

He turned around and began going up the stairs, heading to his bedroom as he ignored his mother's confused stare. Never before had she seen Mike acting like this in all the years she raised him. He had never come home looking practically bathed in sweat and exhausted.

"Mike, are you sure you don't want any dinner?" Karen asked. "Anything to eat? You must be hungry."

"No, I'm fine," Mike said, reaching the second half of the stairs.

"Goodnight!" Karen yelled as the sound of Mike's bedroom door closing loudly echoed throughout the entire house.

"See?" Ted said, still not turning away from the TV. "What'd I tell you?"

Karen scoffed at Ted, rolling her eyes as she muttered some curse under her breath. She left the living room area as Ted turned his slightly to the direction where Karen had left. He sighed as he pulled off his glasses, cleaning them with the end of his shirt. It was clear that his marriage with his wife was getting worse and worse with each passing day. They didn't want Mike or Nancy to know, both of them had enough to worry about with Nancy being pregnant with the baby. However, it didn't change the increasing rate of the deterioration of their marriage. The arguments and the fights had escalated to the point where even Ted was starting to doubt himself, which was rare as the man rarely ever got off his couch to do anything. The arguments were about a topic that had been important to Ted and Karen for years but more important to Mike. Ted wanted Mike to know the truth, the full truth about his childhood, while Karen preferred to keep Mike in the dark, not wanting the truth to hurt her child. Either that or Karen was afraid that she would lose Mike if he ever did know the truth. As of now, they hadn't told Mike the truth but that was something Ted wanted to change. However, he decided that it could wait another day. He put on his glasses and fixed his focus back to the television.

Meanwhile, in his bedroom, Mike stumbled around as he fell onto his knees. He could feel the exhaustion taking an extreme effect on him, sweat rolling off his skin. He pulled off his sweat-covered shirt as he threw it off to the side. When he looked at it, he could see a circle of red stained onto the shirt. Mike stared at it in confusion as he looked down at himself, he saw a circle-shaped stab wound on the side of his stomach. It wasn't bleeding but it was covered in blood. The teenager let his fingers rest on the wound as he felt a vision go through his mind.

The flesh stabbed Mike with a spike as he screamed before being dragged down. Mike was thrown to the ground as the flesh dragged him towards a large hole in the ground. The hole was covered and drowned in glowing orange energy, it almost seemed like a gate, one to the Upside Down. The flesh grabbed Mike as it forced him onto the energy. Mike screamed in pain, feeling the energy burn through his skin and enter his body. Though it didn't look like it, Mike felt as if he was being burned alive.

Mike struggled onto his feet as he went over to his bed. He grabbed the blanket with a tight grip as he fell to the ground, pulling the blanket down with him. Mike was on the ground, his vision was blurring, his hearing was silenced with an endless ringing sound. He could feel his senses weakening, his heartbeat slowing down. Mike felt the world around go dark as he fell off the ladder of consciousness, passing out completely.

Elsewhere in Hawkins

In the Russian Base, a group of twenty soldiers lined up as they divided themselves evenly to the right and left sides of the hallway. Ten soldiers were lined up on the right side of the hallway, ten on the left. They had their machine guns pointed to the end of the hallway as the red lights shined through the entire area. The soldiers had gotten word that some sort of threat had come from the gate during testing. What kind of threat or what the threat was they didn't know. All they knew was that they were the last line of defense between that said threat and the outside world. If the threat made it past them, it could make it to the outside world. The soldiers aimed their machine guns to the end of the hallway. There was no way that any kind of threat could have made it this far. Out of the four hundred and seventy-five soldiers at the base (not including the other staff and guards), two hundred soldiers were immobilized against it. If whatever was on the other end of the hallway made it here, that meant one hundred and eighty soldiers were powerless against it. So what could twenty soldiers do?

The soldiers forced themselves to calm their nerves, readying themselves for whatever would come through. They waited and waited when suddenly, the first few lights in the end of the hallway broke as it went dark. The hull of the walls groaned as growling echoed through the hallway. Then, the Demogorgon stood tall as it walked through the darkness, appearing in the light. The soldiers stared in horror at the creature, it had a human-like structure but it looked nothing like a human. It was an otherworldly creature, a monster in the night.

"Open fire!" one of the soldiers yelled in Russian.

The soldiers instantly obeyed their orders, not hesitating for the slightest fraction of second. Bullets flew through the air, all of them striking the creature at once. The Demogorgon simply continued walking, unaffected by the bullets that rained upon it. The bullets dropped from the Demogorgon's flesh-like skin, the scars they induced healing instantly. The creature elongated one of its arms, shaping a spike on the edge. The Demogorgon threw its spike-ended arm outwards as it reached the frightened and scared soldier at the other end of the hallway. The spike went right through the soldier, killing him instantly as the spike went through his heart. The nineteen other soldiers in the hallway continued firing uselessly at the Demogorgon. The creature was a Demogorgon but it was much stronger, faster, smarter, more powerful than the one that came in 1983. As the Demogorgon kept its elongated, spike-ended arm in position, several miniature spikes stretched out all over its arm. The spikes were unevenly long, each one being between one to three and a half feet long. The Demogorgon roared as it swung its arm all over the hallway, stabbing many soldiers all at once. The soldiers screamed in pain as each of them felt between two to five spikes stabbing their bodies. The Demogorgon retracted its elongated arm as it went back to its 'normal' size, the two hundred soldiers that stood in its way were all dead, brutally murdered and killed. They all were, bones broken, flesh ripped out, alien-like spikes plunged into their organs.

The Demogorgon calmed itself upon smelling the scent of blood as it walked through the bloodied halls, which were now filled with the dead bodies of the twenty soldiers who once stood in the Demogorgon's way. The alien creature walked to the end of the hallway as it reached a large, two-parted, six-inch metal door. On the side of it, there was a blue holographic-like surface that accessed the massive elevator on the other side of the doors. The Demogorgon let out a growl as it rested its hand on the surface, letting its synthetic and alien flesh sink into the electrical systems. The doors opened as the Demogorgon was able to enter the massive elevator. The Demogorgon was able to use the access elevator to escape the Russian base and enter the Starcourt Mall that was above it. The Mall was closed at the current time, so there was no one inside and the entire place was dark. The Demogorgon broke through the door of an 'employees only' entrance door, it was now free in the outside world, in Hawkins. The Demogorgon got onto its hands and feet as it began running up one of the hills in the forest of Hakwins. After two minutes of running, it had reached the top of the mountain. The Demogorgon stood tall at the top of the mountain, turning its head up as it let out a roar that echoed throughout the night. It was in Hawkins and its mission had just begun.

The Next Day

Morning

"Is it done?" Will asked as he, Eleven, Max, and Lucas stood in Dustin's bedroom.

"It is…" Lucas said, extending the last word in his sentence. "...now."

The four of them looked down at the banner that Lucas, Max, and Eleven had been working on for the past two hours. They had all arrived at Dustin's house around three hours ago. They had been waiting for Mike to come but in the hour that they waited, he hadn't shown up. Max insisted that they all work on the surprise banner and the rest of what they had planned out for Dustin's surprise party. With any luck, Mike would eventually show up. Eleven had been particularly worried, Mike hadn't called her through the phone or the radio at all last night. She had stayed up for hours last night, hoping he would eventually call her but nothing. Silence. In the morning, she wanted to call him but Hopper had been quick to drop her off at Dustin's and as a result, Eleven didn't have the time to call him.

"He's still not here," El said.

"Damn it, Wheeler," Max muttered under her breath. "Where are you?"

"I'll call him," Lucas said, setting down his backpack as he unzipped. He pulled out a radio from it as he extended the antenna to its maximum length. He spoke into the radio, holding the button on the side. "Mike. Mike, are you there? Mike, do you copy? Over."

Elsewhere in Hawkins

Wheeler Home

In his bedroom, an unconscious and shirtless Mike Wheeler laid motionless on the ground, his blanket laying on top of him. The sound of a voice echoing through his radio ruled all noise in his room aside from his breathing. Lucas Sinclair's voice got louder and louder as it came through the radio. Mike's head turned as he woke up with a start, his eyes peeling open as he threw himself into a sitting position. Mike panicked for a moment as he took a moment for his senses to recover, his hearing was normal, he could see properly. Not only that but he didn't feel sick, tired or exhausted anymore. He felt perfectly fine. Mike pulled his blanket away, fully revealing his upper body as he looked down at his bloodied injury from last night. It was healed, no longer bleeding but it had scarred in the shape of a disoriented circle. The ebony-haired teenager sighed as he leaned on the wall behind him, taking a deep breath. It wasn't for another moment or so that he finally became aware of his radio.

"Mike! Are you there? Do you copy?" Lucas called through the radio.

Mike forced himself onto his feet as he walked over to his backpack. He unzipped it fully, pulling out his radio as Lucas' voice suddenly became louder. He extended the antenna to its full length, pressing the button on the side as he spoke.

"Mike! Are you there? Do you co-"

"Yeah, I'm here!" Mike yelled into the radio, tired of hearing Lucas repeat his words over and over.

"Dammit Mike! Where the hell have you been?"

Mike flinched upon hearing the words. Should he tell Lucas and the rest of the party about what happened to him? Could it have been a creature from the Upside Down that kidnapped him? If it was, which it most likely was, his friends needed to know. Especially El, as she was the only capable of stopping anything from the Upside Down due to the fact she had powers. Mike sighed, maybe there was nothing to worry about, deep down he believed that there was nothing he had to worry about. Whatever kidnapped him last night hadn't kept him, he'd escaped and made it safely home. The worst thing was that he'd have a nasty scar on the side of his stomach. Besides, he didn't want El and the rest of his friends to worry. Mike pressed the button on the side of the radio as he held it close to his face.

"I, uh, I overslept," Mike said. "I'm sorry."

"Okay, whatever," the annoyance in Lucas' voice was clear on the radio. "Just get down here and hurry, Eleven's worried and it's really starting to get annoying."

"I'm on my way,"

"Seriously, hurry, Dustin's gonna be here in twenty minutes."

Hawkins

Dustin walked up the driveway of the Henderson home, where he and his mother lived together. His mother had dropped him off at home, saying that she had to go run some errands. She had offered to let Dustin have his friends over while she was gone, that way he wouldn't have to be alone at home. Dustin took a key as he unlocked the door to his house and entered, he closed the door behind him, locking out. The curly-haired teenager set his backpack on the table as he sighed, walking towards his bedroom. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks as he saw several of his old toy cars laid neatly on the ground. Dustin frowned in confusion, he didn't remember leaving those cars like that. Then, the lights on each of the toy cars lit up as they simultaneously drove towards another room down the hallway. Dustin panicked, he unzipped his backpack and pulled out his hair spray, specifically the one that Steve had recommended to him last year. He followed the cars as they slowly continued moving into the living room. The cars suddenly stopped in the room as Dustin kneeled beside them. Holding his spray in one hand, he picked up each of the cars one by one with his other hand. Unknown to the curly-haired boy, Eleven, Mike, Lucas, Max, and Will were slowly sneaking up on him. Eleven and Mike were behind Lucas who held the 'Welcome Home!' banner at both hands, extending it to the fullest. Max was on Lucas' left, holding her hand up, getting ready to count down from three. Will was Lucas' right, sneaking on Dustin with the rest of the group. He noticed the hair spray in Dustin's hand as his eyes grew large in shock. It was just like his vision last night, Dustin with hair spray, Will and his friends sneaking up on him, there was only one thing that was going to happen: Dustin spraying the hair spray on Lucas' eyes.

Was it really going to happen? Would it be just like it was in Will's vision? Will thought to himself for a moment, there was only one way for him to find out. Max finished her countdown from three as everyone except for Will and Dustin yelled at the top of their lungs.

"Surprise!" they all yelled.

Instantly, Dustin screamed with the loudest screech of a voice as everyone jumped backwards in fear. The curly-haired teenager immediately turned around reflexively, aiming his hair spray right at Lucas' eyes. However, just before Dustin started spraying, Will extended his hand as it was between the tip of the hair spray can and Lucas' eyes. The spray reached Will's hand as Dustin continued spraying for a moment before recognizing his friends as he set the can down. Will removed his hand as he and the rest of the party stared at Dustin awkwardly.

"Surprise?" Lucas said silently.

"Dude!" Dustin exclaimed. "I could've sprayed that on you. You're lucky Will saved your eyes."

"Yeah, nice reflexes, Will." Max said as the rest of the party turned to face him.

"Uh, yeah," Will replied awkwardly. "Thanks."

Dustin sighed. "I mean, thanks for the surprise, guys. Really. Now, c'mon, I've got something to show you."

The curly-haired teen left the room as Will, Max, and Lucas followed him through the exit area and to his bedroom. Mike was about to go after the rest of the party when Eleven suddenly held his wrist, pulling him to her.

"El, hey," Mike said. "Dustin's got something to show us."

"You didn't call me last night," El said, trying to contain her anger but Mike could already tell.

"Yeah, I know. Look, El, I'm sorry, it's just-"

"I was worried about you. I thought something happened to you."

Mike chuckled as he cupped Eleven's cheeks with his hands. "Hey. I'm fine, we're both alright. You don't need to worry. There's no Demogorgon or army of Demodogs coming after us. Nothing like that."

El smiled as she pulled Mike in for a kiss, the two stood still in the room, keeping their kiss ongoing. After a couple moments, they eventually heard their names being called.

"MIKE! ELEVEN!" Dustin called. "Get over here!"

"We should go," El chuckled. "They'll get mad."

"Yeah," Mike said, smiling.

The couple held hands as they ran to Dustin's bedroom where the rest of the gang was.

Elsewhere in Hawkins

Jonathan and Nancy were walking down the streets of downtown Hawkins. Jonathan was dressed in brown khaki pants, a beige shirt and a black thin jacket while Nancy simply wore a purple dress. The couple held hands as they continued making their way through the streets of downtown Hawkins. The two of them had decided to go shopping together for more clothes for the baby. The two of them were currently discussing some possible names for the baby. They had been walking for well over half an hour, discussing more and more names.

"How about…" Nancy said, stretching out the words as she spoke. "Jennifer? If it's a girl?"

"Hmm, too classic," Jonathan replied.

"C'mon! Jennifer's a good name."

"Debatable."

"Debatable?"

"Alright, what if it's a boy?"

"I don't know. Never thought about it, I always thought it'd be a girl. So I never thought of any boy names."

Jonathan smiled as he began chuckling, struggling to contain laughter. "I can think of one."

Nancy frowned in confusion before her face straightened upon realizing what Jonathan meant. "No."

Jonathan smirked. "C'mon."

"No!" Nancy squealed while smiling. "Jonathan, we are not naming our child after you."

"Alright, fine," Jonathan sighed as the two of them suddenly stopped. "What is it?"

Nancy seemed uncomfortable as a look of panic seemed to appear on her face. Jonathan stopped as he held her shoulders, looking down at her. In the past few months, he had often caught Nancy having that same look on her face. He wanted to talk to her about it but he never got the chance. However, now seemed like the time for him to finally talk to her about it.

"Nancy, what's wrong?" Jonathan asked as Nancy shook her head.

"Nothing," Nancy replied, pursing her lips.

"Nance, talk to me, I know you've been like this for a while. Just tell me what's going on."

"I'm not ready, Jonathan."

"What?"

"I don't think I'm ready," Nancy said. "I want this baby more than anything, but I'm not ready to be a mother. I don't even know if I can be a good mother."

"Hey, hey," Jonathan said quickly, cupping Nancy's cheeks. "You're gonna be an amazing mother. We're gonna be amazing parents. Look, if I'm being honest, I'm not ready to be a father at all. But we've come this far. If we can save the world twice while babying our little brothers, we can raise a kid. It'll be hard but we just have to take it slowly. Baby steps. Literally."

Nancy chuckled at the last part as she and Jonathan smiled. Hearing Nancy laugh was the best sound he could ever have the pleasure of hearing. The two of them took a moment as they looked at each other. Nancy smiled as she wrapped her arms around the back of Jonathan's neck.

"You should be a speechwriter," Nancy joked as Jonathan chuckled.

"Yeah, no, that was just for you." He replied with a smile.

"Jona-"

Suddenly, before Nancy could say anything, a loud roar from some sort of creature echoed through the streets. Jonathan and Nancy turned their heads as they stared at the empty intersection, several people on the sidewalk had stopped in their tracks upon hearing the noise. Then, a car flew out of nowhere as it crashed onto the intersection, stopping several cars that were driving. Gasps of shock flew around the streets as Jonathan and Nancy stepped back in fear and shock. The car had been completely torn and shredded to bits and pieces. Not only that but it had been crushed and crumpled into a ball like a piece of paper. Out of nowhere, a large 10-feet-tall creature landed on top of a random car, crushing the top of it as the glass windows broke, killing the driver inside. Nancy and Jonathan stared in shock, it wasn't just any creature that had landed before them, it was the Demogorgon and it looked stronger and more powerful. The Demogorgon stood tall on top of the car as it let out a rage-fueled and bloodlusted roar. Everyone on the streets began screaming and running in panic. Jonathan grabbed Nancy as he looked around the streets for a place to hide. He spotted a theater as he pulled Nancy with him. The two of them ran as fast they could towards the theater, one could only run so fast with their pregnant girlfriend.

They reached the doors of the theater as Jonathan opened the doors and pulled a panicked Nancy inside. The two of them got inside as the Demogorgon crashed through the windows, the sudden arrival of the creature causing Nancy and Jonathan to fall onto the ground. The Demogorgon rose to its feet as several people in the hallways of the theater screamed with panic. The people screamed in fear as some of them tried to run out the doors, some ran back into the theaters, doing anything to get away from the monster in desperation. The Demogorgon roared loudly as it extended several flesh-made spears from its body, the spears stabbing into the bodies of many people as their heartbeats stopped, their lives ending simultaneously. Jonathan and Nancy stayed on the ground, looking up at the Demogorgon in horror. This Demogorgon was different, it was more powerful, stronger, and deadlier. The Demogorgon retracted its spears, dead bodies dropping simultaneously, as one of its limbs suddenly slammed the trigger alarm to the fire alarm. The alarm began ringing throughout the entire building as the creature screamed and wailed in pain upon hearing the loud noise. The Demogorgon quickly leaped out of the theater, flying through the large, broken window. Terrified screams echoed through the streets as the creature's roars faded into the noisy background of screams.

In the theater, Jonathan and Nancy were still on the ground, holding onto each other with a tight grip. Jonathan lifted his head as he looked outside the broken window, seeing the empty streets. Faint screams of panicked and frightened people could slightly be heard due to the silence. The entire theater was evacuated with the exception of Jonathan and Nancy.

"Nancy," Jonathan whispered to his frightened girlfriend. "Stay here."

"Where're you going?" Nancy whispered but Jonathan didn't answer.

Instead, Jonathan kept his knees slightly bent as he sneaked to the window, looking out at the streets. His eyes were peeled widely open as he scanned the area for the Demogorgon. It was gone. Jonathan let out a sigh of relief as he looked down. Not only had he and Nancy been attacked by Demogorgon in broad daylight, but that said Demogorgon was now in Hawkins. No one was safe and it was only a matter of time before the Demogorgon struck again.

A/N: I'll end that chapter right here. I'll try and see if I can keep the updates coming. However, I am losing motivation to continue this story and I might end up scraping. Do leave a review and let me know what you think as reviews are my motivation for me to continue my stories. If do you want me to continue this story, let me know in the reviews.