"am i dreaming?"

★・・・・・・★

Driving to Dustin's place was quiet, the only sound being "Hammer to Fall" by Queen on the radio until Steve spoke up.

"Wait a sec, how big?" he asked again.

"First he was like that," Dustin spoke as he used hand measurements. "Now he's like this."

"I swear to God, man, it's just some little lizard, okay?"

"It's not a lizard!"

"How do you know?"

"How do I know if it's not?"

"How do you know it's just not a lizard?"

"Cause his face opened up and he ate my cat!" Dustin shouted.

Amber's mouth dropped as Dustin said that.

"He ate Mews?" Amber asked. She was fond of the cat, so hearing that news hurt her heart a little.

"No," he denied quickly. "Another cat, I didn't mean my cat. From the street. I saw it." Amber somehow believed him.

They got out of the car and Steve opened the trunk to get the bat with nails. They walked to the cellar and Steve said, "I don't hear shit."

"He's in there."

"Are you sure, Dustin?" Amber asked.

Steve banged on the cellar with the bat a couple of times and heard nothing. Steve shined the light on Dustin and Amber's faces as he said, "All right, listen, kids. I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank, you're dead."

"It's not."

"All right?"

"It's not a prank.

"Get it out of our faces."

"You got a key for this thing?"

Steve opened the cellar and took the flashlight from Dustin's hand.

"He must be further down there. We'll stay up here in case he tries to escape," Dustin said as Steve looked at them and sighed as he went down.

"So, when were you going to tell us that you had Dart?" Amber asked.

"I didn't keep him," Dustin lied. "I saw him from across the street."

Steve pointed the flashlight at them and said, "Get down here."

They went down there and saw Steve holding an old skin on his bat.

"Oh, shit," Dustin exclaimed.

Steve then pointed his flashlight at the corner of the brick wall, for them to see.

"Oh, shit!" he exclaimed once more.

"No way. No way."

It was broke. Dart escaped.

-

"Dustin! This is Lucas. Do you copy? Dustin?" Lucas said through the radio. Steve, Amber and Dustin were getting supplies to attract Dart.

"Well, well, well, look who it is."

"Sorry man. My stupid sister turned it off."

"Well when you were having sister problems, Dart grew again, he escaped, and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon."

"Wait, what?"

"I'll explain later. Just meet me, Amber, and Steve at the old junkyard."

"Steve?" Lucas questioned.

"And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket."

"Steve Harrington?" he questioned one last time.

"All right, let's go."

"Just be there, stat. Over and out," Dustin said.

-

They walked on the railroad tracks like last year when they were trying to find the gate. They were throwing down meat on the tracks in silence.

"All right, so let me get this straight," Steve started. "You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl... who you just met?"

"Alright, that's grossly oversimplifying things," Dustin sighed.

"I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway, Dustin?" Amber spoke. She knew they were talking about Max, but she didn't wanna say anything.

"An interdimensional slug? Because it's awesome."

"Well, even if she thought it was cool..."

"Which she didn't," Amber interrupted.

"I... I just... I don't know I just feel like you're trying way to hard."

"Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, all right?"

"It's not about the hair, man. The key with girls is just... acting like you don't care."

"Then you ruin the chance with them," Amber said.

"Even if you do?" Dustin asked as he ignored Amber's comment.

"Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts," Steve also said as he also ignored Amber.

"Then what?" Dustin asked.

"You just wait until, uh... until you feel it," Steve said as he threw back more meat.

"Feel what?"

"It's like before it's gonna storm, you know? You can't see it, but you can feel it, like this, uh... electricity, you know?"

"Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere—" Dustin started but got cut off by Steve.

"No, no, no, no, no. Like a... Like a sexual electricity."

That concerned Amber by what he was talking about. What? They're 13!
"Oh."

"You feel that and then you make your move," Steve explained.

Why was he talking about this right now? Amber was very jealous. Jealous that Steve was giving Dustin advice about how to get with Max.

"So that's when you kiss her?" Dustin asked. That made Amber really jealous. He was going to kiss her? Is it not obvious that she liked Max?

"No, whoa, whoa. Slow down, Romeo."
"Sorry."

"Sure, okay, some girls, yeah, they want to be aggressive.."

Amber started spacing out about what they were saying, because she saw the black mist coming from her hands again. She dropped the bucket full of meat and started backing away.

"Amber, you okay?" Dustin asked as she saw the two eyes on her.

"I- uh-" she started.

"Come on, kids," Steve spoke. "We need to go before sundown."

They started walking back to Steve. Dustin saw the mist. He knew nothing was right.

"As I was saying, Nancy's different. She's different than the other girls."

"Yeah, she seems pretty special, I guess."

"Yeah. Yeah, she is."

"But this girls special, too, you know. It's just, like, something about her."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey."
"What?"

"You're not falling in love with this girl, are you?"
"Uh, no. No."

"Okay, good. Don't."
"I won't."

"She's only gonna break your heart, and you're too young for that shit."

But she wouldn't. Max isn't like that. Even if she did, Amber would let her do it. Amber heard them go on and talk about what Steve uses on his hair. But she could only think about one thing. Well, two. Max and the mist.

Her powers.

-

They got to the old junkyard about 30 minutes later as Steve gave his approval.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, this will do," Steve said. "This'll do just fine. Good call, dude."

They laid down more meat and dumped the rest in the middle of the yard and Lucas called, "I said medium-well!"

He came with Max. Amber lit up slightly as she saw her.

"Who's that?" Steve asked.

Dustin pulled Amber and Lucas aside to speak to them, completely ignoring Steve's question.

"Really, Amber? You told her?"

"So what?"
"'So what?'"

"You wanted to tell her, too," she snapped slightly.

"But I didn't, all right? We all agreed not to tell her and to look for Dart."

"Who you conveniently found," Lucas chimed in.

"Are you suggesting that I'm lying?"

"We're saying, you have a creepy little bond with him."

"Yeah, that was before he turned into a baby Demogorgon."

"And you haven't heard from Mike?"
"No."

"Or Will?"
"No."

"Hopper?"

"No! No one is around. Why do you think I'm with Steve Harrington? Something's-"

"Wrong. I agree. Which is why we need as much help as we can get," Amber said.

Max grunted as she was going to move something over. It made the three look at her.

"She didn't believe me anyway," Amber said.

"You probably didn't tell it right," Dustin said as Amber and Lucas looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"That must be it," Lucas said sarcastically.

"So, we good?" Amber asked as she held her hand out for Dustin to shake.

Steve banged an old chair on the old car they were squatting behind to get their attention.

"Hey! Dickheads! How come the only one helping me out is this random girl? We lose light in 40 minutes. Let's go. Let's go, I said!"

"All right, asshole!"
"God!"
"Okay! Stupid!"

-

They protected the old bus that they were going to hide in as it got darker and darker. Steve poured gasoline from the meat to right where the bus door was, so when it was time, they could light Dart on fire. Max found a ladder and put it right where there was an opening to the roof. Amber thought it was a smart idea, something she wouldn't have thought of.

They all went in the bus, Amber last one in, as Steve closed the door. They just needed to wait. As it got darker, Amber went on the roof for a lookout. Max went up there to talk to her after Dustin started getting mad at her. Lucas gave her his binoculars to keep watch since she'd be up there anyways.

"It's kinda awesome," Max broke the silence.
"Huh?"

"The fog, I mean. It looks like the ocean."

"You miss it?"
"What?"

"The ocean. The waves? California? Hawkins seems pretty lame, I bet."

"No, no, no, it's not that. It's just... My dad's still there. So.."
"Why?"

"It's the legal term called 'divorce.' See, when two people don't love each other anymore-"
"Yeah."

"My mom and my stepdad, they wanted a fresh start away from him. As if.. as if he was the problem, which is total bull. And things... are just worse now. My stepbrother's always been a dick, but now he's just angry... all the time and... well, he can't take it out on my mom, so..."

"So he takes it out on you?" Amber assumed.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this," Max said. "It's just.. I know I can be a jerk like him sometimes, and I do not want to be like him. Ever. I guess I'm angry, too, and... I'm sorry. Jesus, what's wrong with me," she finished as she started wiping her eyes.

"Hey. You're nothing like your brother, okay? You're cool and different. And you're super smart. And you're, like, 'totally tubular'," Amber said, mimicking what Dustin and Lucas said Halloween night. It made Max laugh. And it made Amber's heart melt.

"Nobody actually says that, you know."

"Well, I'm stealing it from Dustin and Lucas. So, I do now."

"And it makes you seem really cool," Max said sarcastically.

"I like talking with you, Mad Max."

"And I like talking with you, Shortcake."

Their moment got interrupted by a growling sound. Everyone turned their heads to the sound and Amber picked up Lucas's binoculars he gave her while she went up there and looked through the binoculars to see nothing.

"Amber?" Dustin yelled. "What's going on?"

"Hold on!" She shouted back.

Amber looked a couple more times for her eyes to finally land on... a baby Demogorgon.

"I've got eyes! Ten o'clock! T-ten o'clock!"

Amber kept her eyes on the baby Demogorgon.

"Wait, you're sure that's not a dog?"
"What?"

Max came down as soon as she saw Steve get out of the bus and offer himself to the Demogorgon.

"What's he doing?" Max asked.

"Expanding the menú."

As soon as Amber saw other Demogorgon's, she shouted, "Steve, watch out!"

"A little busy here!"

"Three o'clock!" she alerted him. "Three o'clock!"

They tried attack Steve as Amber ran outside, the three kids yelling at her to get back inside.

"Get back inside!" Steve demanded.

"No! I'm helping!"
"How?"

As soon as he asked that, another Demogorgon tried attacking them. Amber used her powers to grab it and throw it back, killing it.

"Holy shit!" she heard Lucas yell.

Another attacked as Steve used his bat to swing at it.

Just at the right moment, a Demogorgon managed to make three pretty decent cuts on Amber's left arm. She screamed out, letting the others know she was hurt.

The three shouted for them to come back into the bus as they ran as fast as they could. They closed the door right before a Demogorgon could come and eat them.

"Shit!" Dustin said as Steve tried to keep the door from bursting open.

"Are they rabid or something?" Max asked.

"Yeah! Something!" Amber responded, holding her arm.

"They can't get in! They can't!" Lucas exclaimed.

The door bursted open to reveal a Demogorgon. Steve grabbed his bat and kept hitting it so it was dead.

"Is anyone there?" Dustin asked. "Mike? Will? God! Anyone!"

Amber grabbed Max's hand and pulled her closer so she could try to at least protect her.

"We're at the old junkyard, and we are going to die!" Dustin yelled.

The door stopped getting banged on by Demogorgons, only to hear footsteps coming from the roof of the now-damaged bus.

Max looked up to see a Demogorgon over her head. She screamed. Amber pulled her out of the way and used her powers to take control of it. It gave up so Amber slowly did the same. The Demogorgon looked away at something, looked back at Amber, and left. They all did.

Amber and Max were still holding hands as Max asked, "What the hell was that, Amber?"

"The sad thing is, Max, it only gets stranger."

Then they took their hands apart.

They all were behind Steve as he slowly opened the door to reveal no Demogorgons. They all walked out of the bus carefully as Lucas asked,
"What happened?"

"I don't know."

"Steve scared 'em off?" Max suggested.
"No."

"No, no way. They're going somewhere."

But the question was, where?