CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
JUDGMENT DAY

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   THE PLAN CAME together fast, almost too fast for Liz's liking. Nobody was one-hundred percent sure if the plan would work or if it was even good, but at this point, they were willing to try anything. Everyone's main focus was getting Will ready for the interrogation. Liz was worried that Will wasn't in there anymore and that it was just the Mind Flayer, as everyone was calling it. She had known Will since kindergarten and had almost lost him the previous year. She knew that she wouldn't be able to go through the grieving process again.

   The interrogation room was set up in the Byers' garden shed in the backyard. Hopper and Jonathan were the ones that cleared out all the fans, old furniture, boxes that haven't been used in years, and lots of other miscellaneous, useless junk in the middle of the backyard that formed a large pile. Nancy and Steve were assigned to use anything they could find to cover up the inside of the shed to make sure Will wouldn't be able to tell where he was and lead the Mind Flayer to them. The kids were assigned to look through the trash and in the kitchen cabinets to look for anything that they could find to cover up the inside of the shed.

   Mike and Max were searching in the kitchen, while Lucas, Dustin, and Liz were outside, digging through garbage. Liz found it ironic that just the other day she was looking for what they thought was a lizard and now she was looking through garbage to make sure a monster from another dimension couldn't find them. Dustin was the first one to break the silence, "Hey. I'm... I'm sorry about Dart and all. I guess I just thought that he was... my friend. I was wrong. I broke the rule of law, so if you want your girlfriend to take over my spot in the party, I understand."

   Liz raises her eyebrows, "Girlfriend?"

   Lucas sighs, and pinches the bridge of his nose in annoyance, "She's not my girlfriend."

   "I saw you two holding hands in the bus, Lucas," Dustin explains. Liz saw them hold hands but that didn't mean they were dating.

   "She was just scared," Lucas states, talking about Max.

   "Maybe, but I could feel it," Dustin states, making Liz pause her search through the trash.

   "Feel what?"

   "The electricity." Dustin states. Liz takes a deep breath and frowns at his statement. She didn't feel electricity between Max and Lucas but she knew there was a greater chance of them being together than Max ever even having feelings for Liz. Dustin grabbed a bunch of crumpled up newspapers and took them over to the shed.

   "Do you think she's my girlfriend?" Lucas questioned Liz.

   Liz sighed and locked eyes with Lucas, "I think in that moment she was scared and just needed someone to hold onto and in that moment, you were there. If me or Dustin had been in your place, I think the same thing would've happened."

   Lucas nods, "Do you think that she wanted it to be me?"

   Liz hesitated. She didn't want to have this conversation with Lucas. She loved Lucas and would love to have a conversation like this with him sometime but not about the same girl that she has a crush on, "Uhm... I don't know. I should probably get this to my brother."

   Lucas nods and Liz heads over to the shed. She opens the door and sees Steve and Nancy stapling newspapers and garbage bags to the walls of the shed, "I got some more for you."

   Steve stops stapling and grabs the pile of random papers from Liz. He pauses once he sees her expression, "You alright?"

   Liz nods but her expression shows something different, "Yeah, I'm fine."

   She goes to exit the shed but gets called back by Steve, "Hey, do you need to talk?"

   Liz turns around, "I don't think now is the best time."

   "Liz!" Steve yells but Liz ignores him and keeps walking. The last thing she wanted to talk about and deal with was her stupid crush on a girl that she doesn't even have a chance with and even if she did, Hawkins would never accept it.

   Once the shed was finished getting covered in paper, cardboard, political yard signs and anything else they could find, Jonathan carried an unconscious Will over to the shed and tied him to a chair with a wire. His body slumped over in the chair they put him which only made Liz feel nervous. He looked dead to her and she hoped that this wouldn't kill him. Everyone took one last look at Will, before they went back inside the house, leaving Joyce, Mike, Hopper, and Jonathan to talk to Will.

   Dustin watched from the kitchen window, his infamous hat off as he ran a hand through his curls. Across the room, Nancy leans against the wall next to the phone, and in the hallway to the right of her, Max and Liz sat opposite Lucas with their backs against the walls. On the other side of the wall Lucas was sitting against, Steve was stood in the living room practicing swinging his bat back and forth.

   "If he finds out where we are..." Max starts, running her hand up and down her arm in nervousness. "will he send those dogs after us?"

   "He won't find out." Lucas states.

   "Yeah, but, if he does..."

   "Judgment Day," Lucas states, making the hairs on Liz's neck stand up. Max and Liz shared a look of worry but Liz grabbed her hand and squeezed it making Max give a small smile back to her.

   The door to the kitchen was flung open followed by footsteps. The trio scrambled up, and into the kitchen where Hopper had come in through the back door, shortly followed by Joyce and the others. Hopper grabbed a piece of paper and a pen before he fell into the chair closest to him, everyone else gathering around the table.

   "What happened?" Dustin asked.

   "I think he's talking, just not with words," Hopper explains, as he starts drawing tiny dashes and lines across the envelope that he found to write on. It was morse code.

   "Hey, what is that?" Steve questions, the look on his face suggesting that he was extremely confused.

   "Morse code." The boys, Liz, and Hopper all replied simultaneously, causing Steve to look up sharply in embarrassment mainly at his sister and her friends knowing that and not him.

   "H. E. R. E," Hopper announced as he wrote the letters down under the dashes and lines.

   "Here." Everyone who could see the words on the paper read.

   "Will's still in there," Hopper announced, his voice laced with hope and relief. Liz watched Joyce's face light up with hope and Liz couldn't help herself from smiling at the sight. "He's talking to us."

   The groups split up again, but this time when Hopper left, he took his radio with him. Using the buttons, Hopper could transmit the morse code that Will was tapping out to Dustin who could read it. Lucas would use a key he found in Will's room to translate the code of dashes and dots into letter's which Nancy wrote down in a red crayon.

   "Okay, got it." Lucas began, looking on the key. "C." More silence went by as they waited for the Hopper to sound on the radio. More buzzes went by, "L. O. S. E. G. A. T. E."

   Nancy blew off the excess crayon, and then lifted the paper she had written on. Everyone gathered around her, all reading the two words that were written on the cardboard in red crayon, "Close gate."

   The loud, shrill ring of the phone caused everyone's heads to snap in the direction of the wall so fast they could've gotten whiplash. The phone trembled in the receiver as it rang throughout the house.

   "Shit, shit, shit!" Dustin screamed, racing across the room to pull the phone back and slam it back on the receiver to hang up.

   The room was engulfed in silence once more with everyone sighing in relief until the ringing started again. There was no hesitation from Nancy as she ripped the phone box from the wall, throwing it to the ground with a groan making it shatter across the floor. Silence filled the room again, except for the ragged breaths coming from Nancy.

   "Think he heard that?" Max questions.

   "It's just a phone," Steve states, shrugging. "It could be anywhere. Right?"

   The roars echoing outside answered Steve's question. Dustin voiced everyone's thoughts, "That's not good."

   A few seconds later, Joyce burst through the door, then Jonathan carrying an unconscious Will. "They heard! They're coming!" Mike raced around to the living room, his friends following him. They peered out the front window, watching for the Demodogs.

   "Hey. Hey! Get away from the windows!" Hopper yelled. The kids immediately jumped up from the couch, running towards the back of the room. Hopper turned toward Jonathan now without Will in his arms, as he held out a rifle, "Do you know how to use this?"

   "What?" Jonathan asked, surprised and slightly panicking.

   "Can you use this?" Hopper yelled, stressed.

   Nancy stepped forward, "I can."

   He tossed the gun to her and the group seemed to form a tight circle of protection inside the Byers' living room. Max stuck right beside Lucas who was holding out his slingshot. Dustin, Liz, and Mike were right behind Steve who was protecting them with his bat. Nancy and Hopper had their guns cocked and aimed at the door and windows with Joyce and Jonathan next to them.

   Shrieks came from the right of them, causing them all to spin towards the kitchen. The rustling of the bushes outside the windows caused them to stare and be prepared to fight. Another shriek and they turned back around toward the front of the room. There was a squeal that sounded a lot like the thing was in pain.

   The glass of the front window shattered inward, shards spraying across the wooden floor and rug. Yells came from the group in surprise of the Demodog bursting in through the window. The one surprising thing was that the Demodog wasn't moving. Hopper stepped forward slowly with his gun raised just in case it was still alive.

   "Holy shit," Dustin breathed.

   "Is it dead?" Max questioned.

   Hopper moved closer, finally nudging its head with his foot. No other movements besides the four parts of its face squelching happened. It was dead.

   Behind them, the porch creaked, the quiet sound deafening in the utter silence of the room. They all whipped around, and watched as the doorknob twisted, unlocking itself. The chain darted in a few jerky movements until it fell off its hold, bouncing against the door. Liz gripped onto Steve's arm as the door clicked open, swinging open, revealing her.

   Liz slowly let go of Steve, her eyes widening. She had on white converse with thick white socks that disappeared under her jeans that were folded up around her ankles. She wore a black, oversized jacket over more black clothes. Her short hair that had grown since Liz last saw her, and was slicked back and turned a dark shade of black with grease and hair dye. Blood trickled from her nose as her eyes scanned the group.

   Eleven.

   Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Liz couldn't believe her eyes. She stood frozen, tears starting to fill her eyes as Mike stepped forward. Eleven's head raised her eyes widening, as a smile made its way onto both of their faces. Breathing heavily, whispering each other name's, the two met in the center of the room, hesitating before throwing their arms around each other. They squeezed their eyes shut and savored the feeling of each other's bodies in their arms.

   "Is that..." Max starts.

   Liz nods as her eyes start to well up with tears, "Eleven."

   Mike was the first one to pull back, "I never gave up on you. I called you every night—every night for–"

   "Three-hundred and fifty-three days." Eleven finished. "I heard."

   "Holy shit," Liz breathed out as she laughed lightly at the sight of Eleven actually alive and well.

   Eleven turned her head towards Liz at the laugh she made. Eleven's eyes brightened as she saw her best friend, "Liz."

   Eleven smiled largely, and let go of Mike. The two girls walked up to each other and wrapped their arms around each other. Liz sighed, "You're alive. Oh my god, I missed you so much."

   "I missed you, too." Eleven replies, a smile on her face as she lets go of the girl and stares at her with happiness in her eyes.

   "Why didn't you tell me you were there?" Mike questions from behind them. "That you were okay?"

   "Because I wouldn't let her." Hopper spoke up, causing Mike to turn away from the girls with a confused glance. Hopper just looked past Mike at Eleven. "The hell is this? Where you've been?"

   "Where've you been?" Eleven growled back before she fell against his chest and he wrapped his free arm around her shoulders, kissing her head. Liz furrowed her brows in confusion before she finally realized and her eyes widened.

   "You've been hiding her! You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike shouted, shoving Hopper's back, the anger that he's been holding in for almost a whole year threatening to come out.

   "Hey, hey, hey!" Hopper yelled, spinning around and grabbing Mike's arms as he tried to hit Hopper once more. Hopper grabbed the collar of Mike's shirt, "Let's talk. Alone."

   Mike grunted and wrestled in defiance as Hopper shoved him out of the living room and into one of the bedrooms. Mike was heard shouting even before the door closed. Liz knew he deserved to yell and scream out the anger he had been holding in.

   Dustin and Lucas stepped up, and Eleven smiled as she wrapped her arms around both of them, "We missed you."

   "I missed you, too." Eleven smiled.

   "We talked about you pretty much every day." Dustin spoke, as both boys let go of the girl. Eleven pulled back, her eyes focused on Dustin.

   She furrowed her brows, and stuck her fingers in Dustin's mouth causing him to instinctively pull back, "Teeth."

   "What?" Dustin questions.

   "You have teeth." Eleven states, making Dustin laugh and share a smile with Lucas and Liz.

   "You like these pearls?" Dustin smirks, doing a small growl which makes Eleven jump slightly.

   "Eleven?" Max spoke, finally gaining the courage to walk up to the reunited foursome. She smiled at Eleven as Eleven stared at her. "Hey. Um, I'm Max." She holds out her hand to shake Eleven's. "I've heard a lot about you." Eleven focuses her gaze on Liz which confused the girl before she shoved her way past Max.

   Max frowned as Eleven headed over to Joyce. Liz put a hand on her arm, "She'll like you eventually, don't worry. She's just met you and she's reuniting with everyone right now."

   "You sure about that?" Max questions.

   Liz nods and smiles, rubbing Max's arm in assurance, "Yeah, how could someone not like you?"

   Max smiles at her before letting out a small laugh and looking down at her feet. Liz knew that he didn't have a chance with the girl but seeing her smile at something she said, made Liz think that maybe, just maybe, she had a chance.

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[ 2627 WORDS ]

i haven't updated in so long. i'm sorry!!