[A/N] Hey, it's been a while, but chapter five is finally done! Thanks again for the follows, reviews and favorites! I'm glad you're enjoying my story. I wanted to mention that a friend recently pointed out that there are some occasional typos in my stories and it's hard to fix that since english is not my first language, so please ignore the typos if you find those in the story.
I'll be posting next chapter really soon, hopefully.
"D'artagnan… I'm gonna call you D'artagnan" – Dustin Henderson.
Jason Allen was having an unusual week, to say the least.
First, his dog was killed in the middle of the night with no apparent reason, even though he rarely saw any kind of animals around his house, much less an animal that could have done such damage to a dog.
Weirdly enough, Jim Hopper himself had decided to investigate the incident and showed more concern and interest on it than Jason himself, only to take the conclusion that it wasn't anything worrying at all and walk away with what seemed to be an overwhelming relief, like he had taken a huge weight out of his back by simply checking the dog.
Now these men in well groomed suits with portable radios on their belts who introduced themselves as agents of environmental protection were knocking on his front door and saying he had to get rid of the dog's body.
"You what?", he asked, confused.
The men eyed each other. One was a bald elderly man and the other, though much younger than the first one, had a neatly combed grey hair and a beard of the same color that denounced that he left his youth a long time ago.
"We received an anonym call from the neighbors saying that you were burying a wounded animal in your property", said the older one with a tone of concern.
"Yeah, but it's dead", Jason said in confusion "I-I don't see what's wrong…".
"The fact that it was wounded could mean the cuts could have fungal or bacterial infections. Either of those could contaminate the soil and the nearby ecosystem", the younger one explained "That's why we need to give the body a proper destination".
Jason seemed confused. He didn't understand much of what those men said, but it sounded like something very serious.
"What exactly do you mean by that?", he asked.
"We intend on incinerating the body", the man with grey hair responded, then added "With your consent, of course. Otherwise, we have other ways of discarding it".
"Look, I can't pay for…".
"It will not cost anything, sir. We're not a private corporation; all expenses are paid by the government", the older one said "In fact, not allowing us to keep the body from contaminating the area would be illegal".
Jason widened his eyes and both men knew that they had his attention.
"Listen, sir, I know it's a bit of an inconvenience, but we don't have much of a choice, either. We're just trying to do our job", the younger one added "If you could let us get rid of the body, you'll be making things easier to all of us".
Jason sighed.
"Alright", he said, gesturing for them to walk in "It's on the backyard".
To the eyes of the workers of Montauk National Laboratory, the fact that most civilians were ignorant always helped them to put their hands on useful information without raising any suspicions. Jason Allen, for example, had no way to find out that burying his dog, wounded or not, wouldn't make any harm to the environment, much less to know the actual reason why those two men were taking the body away.
As they got in the white van on which the words 'Environmental Protection" were clearly legible in black letters on the side and carried a large metal container inside of which the deceased animal was, he didn't make any questions. Jason simply let those men take the dog away without any doubts that the right thing was being made.
Thanks to that, they and a few other researchers were free to examine the decaying body with no interruption or restriction many miles away, in the very edge of the town, on the decaying building that once was the Department of Energy.
A few white tents were spread around the yard behind the lab that had once been a field testing area, though they produced and tested only a few equipments in the yard. That wasn't the main purpose of the lab, it had never been. A handful of governmental vehicles such as black fords and white vans were parked around the camp on which a few scientists walked back and forth to run tests and analyze substances.
The main tent, slightly larger than the others, which held computers and most technological equipments in the camp, was the one on which the two agents that had acquired the dog and a few other scientists carefully examined the body.
"Any conclusions yet?", asked a woman on her late thirties, looking up from the notes she wrote down in a clipboard to the table set in the interior of the tent, on which the animal was lying lifeless.
"The injuries are abnormally large and the killing pattern is unusual", the elder man who had convinced Jason Allen to hand the dog over said, pointing at the wounds with the pen he held "Most carnivores use their teeth to cut the prey's neck and then usually feed on the abdomen, where the flesh is more accessible. This creature seems to have used its claws to tear a hole in the abdomen and then it bit the neck".
The female scientist cringed at the sight and smell of the carcass.
"Anything from the samples?", she asked to the grey-haired researcher, who sat at a small metal desk in a corner, examining bits of skin and bones and exposing test tubes to flames.
He turned around on his chair, nodding.
"All of the samples react abnormally to the heat", he stated.
"How so?", asked a much older man who hadn't said a word until then.
Covered in shadows, he was standing near the entrance of the tent, looking at the dog with a mysterious interest in his left blue eye. The right one was pallid and semi closed, with a deep scar drawn from his eyebrow to his mouth. Despite being seemingly intact, the eye had been permanently blinded.
The grey-haired scientist who analyzed the samples carefully selected a small chunk of flesh from a flask and picked it up with a pair of forceps. Once the man had a proper hold of it, he lit a small blowtorch on, letting a strong and static open flame blossom from the end of the pipe and simply set fire to the flesh.
It started to squirm as if disturbed by the flames, turning black much faster than a regular chunk of meat would. Finally, a small spiral of black spores rose up from the sample like living ashes, gaining distance from the heat. The scientist extinguished the flame.
The ancient man stepped closer to the researcher ant examined the pile of dead black specs that floated down lifelessly from the ceiling of the van. In a black and flawless suit and imposing posture, it wouldn't take much imagination for one to compare him to the grim reaper. There was little white hair left on the top of his head, but it was still impeccably combed. He leaned against the table, examining what remained of the gloomy show they all had just witnessed, allowing a devilish grin to appear on his mutilated face.
"Extraordinary", Dr. Martin Brenner said.
"Mike! Mike, do you copy?!", Dustin yelled to the radio "Son of a bitch!".
The boy looked at the ceiling and closed his eyes hopelessly.
"Stupid fair, stupid bedtime, piece of shit", he muttered, walking around the living room.
He was thankful that his parents were at work then. He could only imagine what they would do if they found their son loudly cussing in the house. He pressed the speaker button.
"Hello, Mike? This isn't a joke, alright? We need to go to the fair together! It's the rule of the Party!", he said and waited for an answer, in vain "You gotta be kidding me!".
He threw the radio across the room and it luckily landed on the couch.
"Yeah, you can go to your stupid walk in the fair with your dates. I bet that you're all kissing each other by now, you and your new girlfriends", Dustin sat back on an armchair, defeated "This is what I get for being loyal to you guys. Guess what, next time Lucas messes up in D&D, I'm not saving his ass".
Dustin usually had a fertile mind that could find creative solutions for most problems, but right then, his options were limited to either sit around and feel bad or sit around and feel bad while eating. The second option was more appealing.
Still mumbling countless curses under his breath, Dustin got up and went to the kitchen to search inside drawers and cabinets for anything edible. His mood got a lot better when he found a half-full bowl of three musketeers sitting on the corner of a rather high shelf on a drawer. That was the candy that not only him, but all of his friends had earned on Halloween. Dustin seemed to be the only member of the Party to enjoy the thing, so all of his friends had gave him the handfuls of nougat they had instead of throwing it away. The boy was planning on saving the candy for an especial occasion, but he ended up forgetting about it until that moment. Luckily, the candy was still one month away from expiring.
"Yes!", he laughed a bit "I knew these would be worth keeping at some point".
He grabbed the bowl and took it to the living room, where he turned on the TV and started devouring the candy. He didn't intend on eating the whole thing, but he wouldn't be surprised if it somehow happened.
Not long passed before Tews, Mrs. Henderson's new cat, started to hiss. The little black and white kitten sat in front of the backdoor and seemed uneasy about something outside. At first, Dustin thought it was just trying to spit out a hair ball, but the hisses got louder and sounded a lot more threatening. At last, the cat started to scratch the glass and meow loudly.
"What the hell do you want?", Dustin yelled, out of patience.
Tews only hissed louder as a response. Dustin got up from the armchair and opened the glass door so the cat could get out, but it didn't. Instead, it stepped back in fear and hissed at the backyard.
Dustin followed his cat's eyes to see a slight movement on a bush at the edge of the woods. The boy squinted to try to see if it was just some small animal messing around, like a raccoon or a deer or if it was something more troublesome, like a street dog or maybe a bear. The bushes stopped shaking and a loud screech came from them, which caused Tews to run into the kitchen and Dustin to cover his ears.
It seemed like an eternity had passed since the last time he had heard that sound. The boy could never forget the noise that still haunted his dreams. It did not feel natural. It felt like something from another world, a sound that shouldn't exist. That was the bone-chilling sound of pure evil at its last moments, the scream of a trapped beast trying to escape.
It was the roar of a demogorgon.
The bushes shook again.
"Shit!", Dustin slammed the door shut so fast that he was afraid the glass would break.
He picked up his radio before rushing to his room, cursing through the whole way. Once in his room, the boy locked the door behind him with his heart beating almost as frenetically as his hands shook.
"Mike! I need you to answer! It's a code red; I'm not kidding!", he yelled "Mike! Lucas! Max! Steve! Erica! Anyone! It's a code red! There is a demogorgon in my house!"
No response.
"You have to be kidding me", Dustin let go of the radio and eyed the door, having second thoughts on leaving his room "Alright, alright. There's a demogorgon in my backyard. What would Steve do? Well, he'd kick his ass with a baseball bat, but I can't just punch a demogorgon down…".
His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of his old hockey-stick leaning against a wall in a corner.
"…Or can I?".
The backdoor slid open and a terrified Dustin sneaked out. He'd feel a lot better if he had his hockey outfit on as well, but the truth was that he had no idea of where it was, so he had nothing besides his clothes to offer him any protection and he was sure that a pair of sweatpants and a "Jaws" shirt wouldn't do much to keep a demogorgon from biting his face off.
Perfect.
Dustin closed the door behind him and swung the hockey-stick around like a matador luring a bull closer.
The roar had ceased and so had the movement in the woods, but a few primal growls still came from the forest, though not as close as before.
"Come here, you son of a bitch! I know you're there", Dustin whistled a couple times "Come on, I know that Steve and Eleven kicked your butt and I know I can do the same!".
As much as his plan seemed suicidal, it wasn't completely irrational. Dustin knew how much D'artagnan the demodog hated to be exposed to the light; it hurt its skin and caused it to flinch every time he was in contact with it. It was a warm day outside and the boy was standing under the sunlight. With some luck, he'd catch the demogorgon off guard and hopefully land a few hits on the confused creature before it could react.
"Hey, I'm over here! Remember me? I'm friends with the girl who sent you back to the Upside Down. I bet that hurt, didn't it?", he teased.
A slightly louder growl came from somewhere in the woods and it startled the boy.
"Hey, dickhead! I'm right here!", the boy said "Come here and I'll knock your head off, you hear me?"
The growls grew louder and closer. It was walking towards Dustin.
"Alright, let's do this", Dustin mumbled to himself, holding his improvised weapon very tightly.
With all the confidence left in his body, he let out an energetic yell, ran towards the monster out of sight and he regretted it immediately after seeing the size of the creature that came out of the bushes. It was not a demogorgon.
A large quadruped animal trotted through the forest floor and leaped from the bushes, landing heavily on the edge of the woods. It stood on the borderline of the shadows. The animal opened its mouth, spreading its five lips apart and let out another deafening screech at Dustin. Some of its teeth still had blood on them. Its black skin was moist and rough like an amphibian's.
"Shit!", Dustin screamed, falling on his back and dropping his hockey-stick.
Hopeless and terrified, he started kicking his legs forward to push himself away from the huge demodog. The creature still roared at him, spitting saliva all over the boy's clothes.
At last, the screech ended and the animal kept its head pointing towards Dustin as if it could somehow see him. Dustin still sat on the floor only a couple feet away when the demodog made something that turned his skin as white as paper.
It stepped out of the shadows.
Like a jaguar, it slowly approached Dustin, dragging its paws forward and breathing heavily. The warmth and the light didn't seem to bother it at all. The boy could have ran, or screamed, or done anything to fight the creature. Instead, he stood still in shock, eyes wide and heart racing. Afraid and powerless like a bird facing a snake. The creature lowered its body as if it was preparing to pounce and kept looking at the boy.
But instead of pouncing, it sprung its front legs up in a cheerful jump and let out little content growls, waving its petal-shaped lips around. The creature was now bouncing up and down like a happy dog as it acknowledged Dustin's presence. When it lowered its head and front legs to jump again, the boy recognized a familiar spot on the creatures back.
"Holy shit", Dustin's voice shook as he slowly got up from the floor "Dart?".
D'artagnan growled cheerfully and jumped in the air once again at the mention of its name. Dustin couldn't help but laugh.
"How are you even alive buddy?", he asked, stretching his hand to pet the creature "Jesus, you're big. You're like three feet tall…"
Dart stepped away from Dustin's hand and hissed at the boy. Dustin jumped back.
"Shit, alright, alright. You don't like being pet…", he said "Are you hungry? Wait right here".
Dustin turned around to go back in the house and the demodog followed him.
"Wait, no! I said wait! Wait right here. I'll be right back, understand?", he asked.
Dart growled and stepped closer.
"Son of a bitch. Alright, screw it. Sorry buddy, but I can't let you in", Dustin said, walking in and closing the door before the animal could enter the house.
He quickly ran to the living room and grabbed the bowl of three musketeers. He had no idea why, but Dart loved it as much as he did. Dustin found some trouble in opening the backdoor again, since Dart was leaning against it to try to get in. Once outside, the boy got a candy out of the bowl, opened the wrapping and threw it to the demodog. Dart caught the treat in the air and grunted gratefully at his master.
Dustin sighed.
"What the hell am I supposed to do with you now?", he asked to no one in particular.
The boy looked at the outdoor basement entrance a few feet away. Dart had escaped the place once before, but he didn't have any options available.
"Alright, follow me, buddy", he said "I need to keep you somewhere".
Dart didn't need another command to walk behind Dustin for a couple feet, but he halted when they reached the entrance to the basement. The boy turned around to see a monster as tall as Mike's little sister looking down – Though he didn't have eyes – in fear at the basement, like a kitten that's too scared to jump in the water.
"Come on, Dart. I won't lock you in here alone this time, I promise", the boy said "I need to hide you somewhere".
Dart hesitated, analyzing the steps down the dark room. Dustin pulled another three musketeers from the bowl and stretched showed it to the demodog.
"Here, you can have this one if you come down", he spoke.
Reluctantly, the animal walked down, carefully crawling down the steps towards the treat that was being offered to him. He grabbed the candy from Dustin's hand and happily chewed it.
"Alright, you want another one?", Dustin asked, showing yet another candy to the creature.
Dart growled in anticipation and stared interestedly at the bar of chocolate.
"Okay, fetch!", the boy said, throwing it as far as he could.
As the demodog jumped past him and ran through the basement, Dustin put the candy bowl on an old shelf and ran upstairs, only stopping once he had reached the door. He couldn't see much further in the dark room, but judging by the noises inside of it, Dart was still devouring his snack in a corner.
"Alright, hold on! I'll be right back. Don't you move!", he yelled and exited the basement.
Never before in his life Dustin had ran so fast into his house. In a blink of eyes, he was already in his room, grabbing his flashlight on his bed and leaving the hockey-stick inside the closet.
He was about to leave when an idea popped in his mind. The boy turned around and immediately opened all the drawers, searching among piles of books, some of which he was yet to return to the library. After what seemed to be an unnecessarily long amount of time, Dustin found what he was looking for: an old blue book that displayed the image of a happy Labrador on its cover.
The book was titled 'dog training for beginners'. It used to be Will's back when the Byers' dog, Chester, was just a puppy, but it never actually learned an actually useful trick, so the book was given to Dustin since he was supposed to get a dog a few years back, but his mother ended up falling in love with an orange kitten at the pet shop and bought it instead. Thus, the book was left forgotten in his bedroom and Dustin would not have ever remembered it if the insane idea of training D'artagnan hadn't crossed his mind.
Just as fast as he got to his room, the boy ran back outside with his flashlight and carefully entered the basement to find an impatient Dart sitting at the bottom of the stairs. The nougat bowl was knocked over, but the candy was still intact. Judging by the bar of chocolate covered in saliva on the floor, the demodog had actually tried to eat it on Dustin's absence, but found out that it didn't taste as good with the wrapping.
"Alright", Dustin said, closing the basement door and turning both the little light bulb that barely illuminated the place and his flashlight on "If you wanna stay here at least for today, you'll have to learn how to behave, alright?", he showed the book at the creature.
Dart simply leaned its neck to the side.
"So, if you want more nougat, you'll have to earn it, buddy", said Dustin, opening the book and skipping through a few pages of introduction until he found an article about training "Okay, here it is: how to teach a dog to sit down. 'Offer a treat to the dog, placing it right above its head and say the word sit. The dog will sit down to get a clearer view of the treat…' You don't have… Alright, screw it. 'Repeat the process and soon it will start to associate the gesture and the command to sit with a reward'. Sounds pretty simple, huh?".
Dart growled as if agreeing. Dusting closed the book and placed it on the bookshelf.
"Alright, let's do this", he said, grabbing a chocolate bar and showing it to Dart "D'artagnan, sit".
The demodog simply waited for Dustin to let go of the candy. The boy stepped closer.
"D'artagnan, sit!", he commanded again.
Dart jumped towards Dustin and roared loudly in response, causing him to drop both the candy and the flashlight in fear.
"Shit!", he yelled, desperately reaching for the flashlight on the poorly illuminated floor.
Once he grabbed the object, he pointed it at Dart, only to see him peacefully eating the candy he made his master drop.
"Oh, boy. This is going to be a long day", Dustin muttered.
Indeed it was.
Ted Wheeler seemed not to care about the doorbell ringing multiple times as he tediously read the newspaper on the couch, which all of his neighbors knew, was his usual response to sudden visitors in the middle of the day. He only looked up at the front door when the sound repeated itself.
"Honey, can you please answer the door?", he asked.
Karen was upstairs. Ted was right across the room.
"I can't, I'm giving Holly a bath!", she replied.
Groaning, Mr. Wheeler took his time to put down the newspaper and get up from the couch to answer the door. Ted monotonously opened it to see a dark skinned teenager with an unusual purple haircut partially hidden by a hood and black leather clothes.
"Can I help you?", he asked without fully opening the door.
"Um, yeah. I'm looking for my friend Jane. She said she lives with the chief, but no one answered at his place. I went to the police station and they told me that she might be here", the girl said.
"Karen, was Jane Hopper here today with Michael?", Ted asked, turning his head at the second floor.
"No, Hopper came here to take her home last night!", Mrs. Wheeler informed.
"No, she left last night", Ted repeated to the weirdly dressed girl.
She pursed her lips.
"Do you know where she might be?", she asked.
"Look, you ain't gonna find any of my son's friends in here. They're all probably at the fair right now", Ted replied.
A glimpse of hope crossed her eyes.
"Would you mind pointing where the fair is? I just arrived in town".
Next Chapter Preview: The party enjoys their day at the fair, but the tension between Max and Jane eventually burts into a fight. Joyce and Hopper seem to be developing a new bond and Mike has something to tell Jane.