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"Every Breath You Take"

I'll be watching you

Every breath you take, every move you make

- The Police

As Hopper stood watching, horrified and fascinated, the red dots on the radar screen turned into an actual … creature, climbing up out of the depths of the hole. It moved like a dog, but dogs didn't climb.

Next to him, Owens said softly, "Mother of God."

The creature was slowly standing up, using the window to hold itself upright. Hopper leaned forward, wanting to get a closer look at its closed-off face. He could see its breath fogging the window. Its hands pressed against the glass, like human hands, but with longer fingers, tipped with sharp claws.

Then the face opened, like a flower, but an uglier, darker flower than any Hopper had ever seen, and the creature launched itself at the window with an audible impact. Again and again, as Hopper and Owens drew back.

"It's polycarbonate. It—it can't get through." The statement would have sounded more comforting if it wasn't clear that Owens was scared out of his wits.

Then the creature stood on its hind legs, making some kind of a trumpeting sound … and its friends started appearing from the depths behind it.

One of the techs, watching, said, "Mother Mary and Joseph."

Hopper found it odd to be hearing religious oaths from these people, who felt such a need to play God themselves. But it was hardly time for that conversation, not with the creatures aiming a concerted attack against the window—which, polycarbonate or not, was cracking under the pressure.

"You sure about that glass?" he asked.

Owens slammed his hand down on a red button next to him, and alarms sounded throughout the building.

"Let's get out of here," Hopper said loudly, when it appeared that everyone else was too frozen to move.

"Right," Owens said. "Everybody out."

They hurried through the door, Hopper standing on the other side until everyone was through, and then he slammed it shut. It was a heavy, metal door. It would keep those things in, right?

Behind the door, he heard the glass breaking as the window shattered under the onslaught. Well, apparently they were about to find out.

Joyce! She and the others were still upstairs. "Owens! We have to get the kid."

"Yeah. Uh … this way."

He and Owens ran together, Owens directing him to a stairwell. He only hoped they would be in time.

Standing next to Will, Joyce heard the alarms go off. Mike and Bob came running into the room, and she met them at the door. "What's going on?"

"We're under attack," Mike said breathlessly. He looked around, hunting for something, and then grabbed a hypodermic from the counter, holding it up. "We need to make Will sleep."

"What?"

"He's a spy! If he knows where we are, so does the Shadow Monster."

"He's lying!" Will protested.

"He killed those soldiers; he'll kill us, too!"

Will sat up, screaming, "He's lying! He's lying! He's lying!"

Joyce looked at her son's face, contorted with an anger that was not his own. 'We should go now', he had said. This, whatever was happening, was what he had meant. What he had brought on all of them. Her baby boy.

A burst of noise sounded outside the room. Bob looked toward the door. "Those are gunshots!"

Will was still shouting "He's lying! He's lying!" over and over again.

Joyce didn't want to believe that she had lost him, not even now, but … she had to know. "Will. Listen, listen." She held him still, looking into his eyes. "Do you know who I am?" His eyes were blank, and she said it again, louder. "Do you know who I am?"

"You're … You're …" He was searching for the name, and at last he got it. "You're Mom!"

But it had taken too long. There was so little left inside this child that was still her son, he barely recognized her. Mike was right—he was a spy. If they were going to have a chance, he was going to have to sleep, the connection between his mind and the Shadow Monster closed off. She looked at Bob. "Hold him down."

Bob did so, holding on tightly while Will struggled and shouted, "No! No! Let go! No, let me go!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Joyce cried to the part of Will that was still in there, even as she firmly held his arm and ran the needle into it.

The screaming stopped, Will's eyes closing.

Just as he sank back against the pillows, knocked out, Hopper burst in, with Owens behind him. He stared at the room, sizing up the situation, seeing the needle in Joyce's hand.

Behind him came an unearthly scream. Down the hall, the doors were splintering. Whatever was screaming was about to come through.

"We gotta go, we gotta go!" Hopper snatched Will up.

Joyce grabbed the rest of the bottles of sleeping stuff—they couldn't have Will waking up again, not until they were safe.

And they ran. In the hallways around them, people screamed and guns fired. In front of them, some … thing tackled a man in an army uniform, man and thing sliding across the floor.

Behind them was more gunfire, another man in uniform shooting at something.

Hopper opened the door nearest him, hurrying into the room. Owens shut the door and locked it behind them.

Inside the room was a bank of monitors, on which they could see everything. Those creatures had taken the entire building. Bodies lay everywhere; the creatures were the only things still moving. Bob stared at the monitors in horror. "Oh, my God."

Above their heads, the lights flickered, and then the power went out entirely, leaving them stranded in darkness.