It didn't take long for the situation to escalate.
Once Dustin's mum heard about the 'missing cat', Lizzie and Dustin desperately tried to keep everything in check.
But she was so worried that she told almost everyone and went out into the whole street's gardens to check.
"Okay, here's what we do," Dustin said to Lizzie quickly. "I'll put the phone on answerphone and pretend to be calling someone up at Loch Nora or somewhere, then, when my mum goes up to check, we get Dart out of the house."
"If we can even call him 'Dart' anymore..." Lizzie muttered, then she looked up at Dustin. "Okay, come on."
It worked. Dustin 'phoned' someone up at Loch Nora and his mum came in in the middle of it.
"Oh, that's good news! Thank you so much, Mr McCorkle! Thanks so much! Yeah, alright, bye now! Thanks! Have a good one, alright, you too!"
He put the phone down and he and Lizzie turned to the worried woman in front of them. "Alright, great news."
"Have they found her?" She asked.
"No, but they saw her wandering around Loch Nora," Dustin winked at Lizzie, sticking to the plan.
"Aw! How did the poor baby get all the way over there!"
"I'm not sure, lost, I guess but they're gonna look for her," Dustin shrugged.
"How about we stay here? In case she shows up?" Lizzie asked.
"Okay, okay," his mum was crying now. "I love you, bye!"
"I love you too!" Dustin said, sending her off out the door.
As soon as she was out of earshot, Dustin and Lizzie ran.
They got protective gear out of the cupboard; hockey pads, protective helmets and sticks that they hopefully wouldn't have to use.
Dustin delved into his fridge to get bait - a two packets of ham and some salami.
Dart was in Dustin's room, so they laid out the ham/salami in a trail from his room, outside, then to the doors that led to Dustin's cellar outside his house. They were going to trap him in.
Then, finally, they got the pads and helmets on, they put oven gloves on their hands and got their sticks ready.
They got back together at Dustin's bedroom door. "You okay with this?" He asked Lizzie. "You don't have to-"
"Stop stalling!" Lizzie warned.
"Okay," Dustin winced. "Three... two... one... go!"
He slid the door open and the two ran out of his house as fast as they could with all the padding on.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god-"
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit-"
They ran out to Dustin's shed and locked themselves in it, but both knew that the shed wasn't very stable and it would only house a temporary relief.
"Come on, come on, take the bait," Lizzie begged, crossing her fingers so hard they hurt.
"Yes, yes, yes," Dustin breathed.
Dart followed the ham trail right down to the cellar. Come on... come on...
Then, on the one at the edge, he paused. Yes, yes, yes, yes-
"Argh!"
Dart turned and looked right at them, screeching. "Shit!" Lizzie shouted as she and Dustin backed away.
Then, after a couple seconds, Lizzie leaned forward.
To see Dart staring right at her with his 'no-face'.
Lizzie jumped and backed right up into Dustin, who inadvertently held her for a second before letting go rather embarrassingly.
The two backed into the opposite wall, panting.
"We've got to just go for it," Lizzie whispered. "Open the door in three and back him into the cellar."
"Okay," Dustin whispered back. "Three... two... one..."
"ARRRRGGGH!" The two barged out the door and hit Dart with their sticks, backing him up.
He ran and went straight into the cellar doors.
"Come on!" Lizzie yelled, and the two ran to the doors, where Dart was attempting to get out of, and slammed them, jumping on top to make sure he didn't escape.
"I'm sorry," Dustin said as the screeching continued. "You ate my cat."
Lizzie giggled.
They used a rope to tie the handles of the grate doors together and locked Dart in, then got shovels and began to dig a grave for Mews.
"Can you get anyone on the walkie?" Dustin asked Lizzie as he dug.
"I'll try," Lizzie shrugged, getting her supercom out and pressing the button. "Guys, this is Lizzie, please, this is really important, we have a code red!"
No answer.
Dustin tried. "Guys, this is Dustin, again! Does anyone copy? We have a code red, I repeat, a code red!"
Nothing.
"All must be busy," Lizzie shrugged, continuing to dig.
"Hopper's MIA and we've got a code red!" Dustin bellowed into the walkie again. Didn't work.
They tried again when they cleaned the floor from the ham stains. They tried again when they got Mews' blood off the carpet.
Until finally-
"Could you please shut the fuck up?" Flora's voice came down the supercom.
"Language!" Lizzie yelled down hers.
"Where's she speaking from?" Dustin asked.
They got their answer a second later when Erica's voice came on. "Listen to Flo! Shut up!"
"Erica? Erica, is Lucas there?" Lizzie asked immediately.
"Don't know, don't care," came the answer.
"Where is he?"
"I told you. I don't know, and I don't care!"
"Is he with Mike?"
"Oh, just go away!" Flora came on.
"But it's super important, please tell him; we have a code-"
"A code red? Hm, I heard," Erica raised her brows. "Well I got a code for you instead. It's code shut-your-mouth!"
The line went dead.
"Erica?" Dustin asked. "E-Erica?"
Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Flora probably turned it off, knowing her."
"Wouldn't put it past her," Dustin grinned.
"Let's go to Mike's," Lizzie suggested. "We know Lucas isn't home and that Will is struggling, so he's the only option."
"Okay," Dustin said. "But let's try the phone first, see where he is."
So they did. But the line was busy. They waited. The line was still being used. The tried again. Nothing.
And after two hours, Dustin conformed to the fact that it wasn't working. And that they needed to bike over there.
After a quick bike ride, the two dumped them on the grass and rushed up to the door.
Ted, Mike's dad, opened the door.
"Your line has been busy for over two hours, Mr Wheeler, do you realise this?" Was Dustin's first line.
"Yes I do realise that," Ted said bluntly.
And sure enough, when Lizzie looked past him in the house, Karen was on the phone.
"Is Mike home?" She asked quickly.
"No," Ted said.
"Well then where the hell is he?" Dustin asked rudely.
"Karen, where's our son?" Ted bellowed in the house.
Karen rolled her eyes, covered the speaker on the phone and shouted. "Will's!"
"Will's," Ted relayed back, even though he didn't have to.
"No one's picking up there," Dustin rolled his eyes.
"Wait, Nancy, where is she?" Lizzie asked hopefully.
"Karen, where's Nancy?" Ted shouted again.
"Ally's!" Karen did the exact same, then continued her conversation on the phone.
"Ally's," Ted said. "Our children don't live here anymore, you didn't know that?"
"What the fu-"
"Watch your language! Am I done here?" Ted asked.
"Son of a bitch, you're really no help at all, you know that?" Dustin muttered as he and Lizzie began to walk away.
"Language!" Ted yelled again, shouting after them before slamming the door.
All hope was lost. Dustin and Lizzie had no help, the had no one to relay all their information to, and no idea where anyone was.
Until a single car rolled up on the drive.
Steve Harrington got out of it with a bouquet of red roses, and Lizzie smiled wryly when she heard what he was saying.
"I love you, I'm sorry... sorry? What the hell am I sorry for? Oh shit, okay, I'm sorry..."
"Hey, Steve?" Dustin suddenly said, walking towards him.
"What'd you want?" He asked them.
"Are those for Mr or Mrs Wheeler?" Dustin asked, gesturing to the roses.
"No?" Steve said as if it was obvious.
"Good," Dustin took them.
"Erm, excuse me, I paid ten dollars for those and not so you could just give them to your girlfriend who already loves you enough!" Steve shouted.
"Oh, she's not my girlfriend," but Dustin went red as he said it.
"So why take my roses?"
"Look, Nancy isn't home," Lizzie explained. She had heard the story of Nancy and Steve's break up, and actually felt sorry for the guy.
"Where is she?" Steve asked.
"Doesn't matter, we have bigger problems than your love life," Dustin said. "Look, d'you still have your bat?"
"Bat? What bat?" Steve asked.
"The one with the nails in that you showed us all this summer at a game of rounders!"
Lizzie remembered that day. They had all played rounders at the Wheeler's and Steve had jokingly brought along his brutal bat with nails hammered into it.
"Why?" Steve asked.
"We'll explain on the way!" Dustin said, jumping into the passenger seat on the car whilst Lizzie jumped in the back.
"Okay," Steve said, as he jumped in. "Tell me what happened."
So, slowly and carefully, they began.
ꕥꕥꕥ
It was dark by the time they had finished. They had been to Steve's house to get the bat and a few other things, and were now heading back to Dustin's to get Dart out of the grate.
The radio was playing softly as Dustin and Steve talked.
"So, how big?" Steve asked for the second time.
"First he was this big," Dustin's hands were centimetres apart.
"But now he's like this," Lizzie 's hands were considerably further apart than Dustin's.
Steve drummed on the steering wheel and muttered. "I swear to god, man, it's just some little lizard..."
"No it's not!" Lizzie said suddenly.
"How do you know?" Steve asked with raised eyebrows.
"How do I know if it's not?" Lizzie challenged.
"Yeah, how do you know it's not just a lizard?"
"Because his face opened up and ate Dustin's cat!" Lizzie shouted. "And his face was exactly like the Demogorgon's last year! It's the same shit, happening again!"
Steve, shocked silent, stayed still, and eventually shrugged to say he agreed as they turned into Dustin's drive.
As the car stopped, Lizzie and Dustin got out and Steve got the bat from the back of the car. Then, slowly, they walked back to the cellar doors where the two had trapped Dart hours prior.
Steve waited for a few seconds, then said. "I don't hear shit."
"He's in there," Dustin said.
Steve wasn't convinced.
Lizzie smirked. "Well, if you don't believe us, you could just go down there without the bat to prove-"
"No!" Steve said, hands tightening on the bat as he slowly reached forward and banged on the doors.
No screech. Nothing.
Steve banged harder.
Not a sound.
Steve turned and shone the torch right in Lizzie's eyes. "Alright, listen kids, if you're playing some sort of prank on me, you're dead. Alright?"
"Believe me, we wish we were joking," Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Can you stop blinding me now?"
"Okay," Steve shrugged, taking the light out of her face. "You gonna undo this thing?"
Together, Lizzie and Dustin undid the careful knots they had tied earlier, then, slowly, they leaned back and let Steve go in. He opened the doors slowly and shone the torch down the steps.
He wasn't there.
"He must be further down," Dustin said quietly. "Lizzie and I'll stay up here, in case he tries to escape."
Steve turned and looked at the two kids. He didn't want to admit it, but he had to help them, because he had only been with them for five seconds and he already felt like protecting them.
So, he advanced down the steps alone.
Lizzie and Dustin saw him walk down and turn the light on, but didn't see anything else.
After a minute, Dustin called down the steps. "Steve? Steve, what's going on down there?"
The two jumped as Steve appeared back at the bottom of the steps, pointing the torch in their faces. "Get down here."
They frowned at each other before rushing down the steps.
When they got down, they saw Steve, looking at something slimy that was hooked on his bat. It was a skin. Dart had shed again.
But that wasn't the worst part.
In the corner of the cellar (where Steve now pointed to torch) all the bricks had been pulled out, and behind them, lay a tunnel.
A tunnel that was surprisingly Dart-shaped.
And the one that he had escaped by.
ꕥꕥꕥ
Fire. That's the only thing that could defeat a Demogorgon. And, providing Dart was a Demogorgon, then Lizzie, Dustin and Steve had made the perfect plan.
They got loads of meat to use as bait, then Steve got some gasoline from his car, and rubber gloves to carry it with.
Then the three of them drove to the junkyard. Well, they went as far as they could go on that side; and they were just packing up the stuff to walk it along the old abandoned railway tracks when Lizzie and Dustin's supercoms went on.
"Dustin? Lizzie? This is Lucas. Do you copy?"
"Well, well, well, look who it is," but Dustin smiled, relieved.
"Sorry, guys, my stupid sister turned it off," Lucas said. "And
"Well, when you were having sister problems, Dart grew again, he escaped and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon," Dustin quipped.
"Wait. What?" Lucas asked, clearly surprised. Lizzie didn't blame him, she would be too.
"We'll explain later," she said into her own walkie. "Meet us and Steve at the old junkyard."
"Steve?" That was the second surprising part.
"And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket!" Dustin added.
"Like, Steve Harrington?"
"Just be there, stat! Over and out!" Lizzie yelled into her walkie.
She shut the ariel, picked up a meat-bucket and walked on.