Stranger Things

Hey.

I know you're scared, and I know you're angry,

but I promise you, we are here to help you.

Hey, Derek, Derek.

If you keep doing that, you're gonna hurt yourself.

Just calm down so we can talk, okay?

Do you know who I am?

An evil child kidnapper.

Okay, I understand why you would think that,

but I'm not evil.

I'm just a mom, a regular mom.

That's my son, Will.

Zombie boy.

You know why they call him that?

Because he died and came back to life.

But what people don't know is that when he went missing,

he was taken by a terrible, scary monster.

And now, that scary monster is after you.

Yeah, I know. Mr. Whatsit told me, which is why you need to let me go.

No, no. Mr. Whatsit is not who he says he is, okay?

He is lying to you. All these monsters, they work for him.

That's why we took you here to this barn. We thought this barn was safe,

but he's found us.

So we have to move you again, somewhere he can't find you.

So if I untie you, will you cooperate and come with us?

Please?

Okay, great.

You're a very brave kid, Derek. I want you to know that.

Very--

- Let me go! Get off of me! - Derek. Please!

- The door! Get the door! - Help me!

Let me go! Get off me!

- Stay down! - Get away!

Somebody help! I'm being kidnapped!

Get away from me! Let me go!

Mom, the rope! I need the rope!

- Let me go! Eat dirt! - Ah!

Come try us, dipshit!

Shit!

Dude! She's not lying to you, okay?

Mr. Whatsit is a very bad guy. He sent the monsters after you.

Suck my fat one!

Jesus! What?

You just signed your death warrant, dipshit!

You're a psycho, and you're going to jail!

- There is a monster coming! - We're trying to help you.

- La, la, la, la. - Derek, please!

You gotta come down.

I'm not listening. La, la, la, la.

Stay back!

You want him, you're gonna have to come through me!

Yeah, we got him! We got him!

It flipped! It's headed back towards us!

Come on. What are you doing, man? We gotta turn around!

Wait. Gates are like Peanut Butter Boppers, right?

- What? - The outside is, like, crunchy and tough.

But bite down on it, it gives way to a gooey, creamy core.

Dude, what the hell are you talking about?

I drive fast enough, the beamer can punch a hole into the gate,

and then we can track the Demo on its home turf in the Upside Down.

- Follow it back home. - We're losing the signal!

We won't be able to follow anything if we crash!

We won't crash if it's like a Bopper!

It's almost gone!

Do it.

- Oh my God! Oh my God! - Jesus.

- Oh my God! Oh my God! - I got it! I got it!

Oh God, no!

- It's not gonna work. - We're not gonna make it!

- It's not a Bopper. Stop! - Slow down! Jesus Christ!

- Shit! Oh my God! - Hang on!

We did it! Woo!

Signal?

- Strong! - Oh my God!

We got you, son of a bitch! We got you!

Will!? Will!

I'm right here, Will.

It's okay.

I got you. I got you.

I got you, sweetie.

Uh, hockety-pockety?

Oh, yes, yes, that's right.

Hockety-pockety wockety wack Odds and ends and bric-a-brac

- I'll be with you in just a minute, son. - What?

Packing's almost done!

Shush!

Jelly!

Alan Miller?

I'm sorry, what is this about?

It's your daughter, sir.

Our boy's taking us on a shortcut through Roane Cemetery.

- That's almost at the county line. - Doesn't this thing get tired?

Unfortunately, it looks like the opposite. I think he's speeding up.

- What? - I'm losing the signal.

You've gotta be shitting me!

- Can you go faster? - Let's see.

Henderson, you've gotta talk to me. What do you got?

- Henderson, what-- - I'm picking up interference.

- How is that important? - It means I can't hear the signal.

- Listen harder. - What do you mean?

- You wanna put these on? - I'm driving!

You do the driving. I do the navigating.

- What is that? - I don't know.

Steve, slow down.

Is he ahead of us or not?

- Steve! - Steve, watch out!

- Steve, watch out! - Shit!

Jonathan, it's Mom. Answer me, please. Over.

Jonathan, please answer.

Jonathan, Nancy, Dustin, it's Joyce. Please answer me.

Hey.

Any luck?

Well, on the plus side, I guess that means they made it through.

Do you wanna see where they're headed?

What is it?

I don't know,

but I could feel it's important to him.

To Mr... Whatsit?

His real name is Henry.

AKA Vecna.

AKA One.

That's too many names.

Why won't you just zip it and listen, dipshit?

I had this feeling he didn't want me there.

I wasn't supposed to see it.

You've never been this close to the hive mind before.

I mean, that thing was, like, feet away.

Sometimes at The Squawk, when a signal comes in too strong,

it overloads the whole system.

I think that's what this was, an overload.

You didn't just tap into the hive mind.

You jacked right in to the goddamn control center.

And Holly. Where was Holly?

Holly. Holly, she was...

She was attached to this... this spire.

And she became a part of it somehow, like it was doing something to her.

And... And there were others.

There were three others.

I thought Vecna was just coming for dipshit.

So did I. But I only knew about Derek because he walked right past me.

Serendipitous timing.

- You hear that? Serendipitous. - I don't know what that means.

I'm really not loving all of these extra spires.

I mean, night one, Vecna kidnaps Holly. Night two, he takes three more.

He's escalating. And he's coming for more.

Eight more, if this is accurate, which brings him to a total of 12.

What does he want with them? And why kids?

- And why 12? - I don't know.

But we have to stop him before he takes any more

and buy Dustin and the others time to find this place, to find Holly.

If we can pinpoint his exact targets, we could get them out of Hawkins.

And out of Vecna's reach.

Did you forget we're quarantined?

- That's not all. - There's another problem.

On the way here, we saw soldiers load Debbie Miller

onto a bus with a bunch more kids.

We followed them for two blocks more, and they loaded more kids onto it.

I don't think they were taking them to school.

Vecna's not the only one that wants these kids.

Eleven was at the Wheeler house the same night Holly was taken.

Twenty-four hours later, we've got three more missing kids.

There's 73 children in Hawkins between the age of nine and ten.

If the pattern holds, our next target will be from this group.

And you believe Eleven has taken these kids?

For what purpose?

Killing them, protecting them. The reason doesn't matter.

These children? Where are they now?

Arriving at the MAC-Z any moment, which is where I want you.

I should be looking for Lt. Akers. I find Akers, I find--

You'll find a dead man.

Report to the MAC-Z, Colonel. That's an order.

Major General.

With all due respect, these kids are in danger.

To use them as bait seems...

Seems what, Sergeant?

Reckless.

It's only reckless if you fail to protect them.

Are you telling me you can't protect them, Sergeant?

No, ma'am.

Good.

I'm sorry for scaring you.

I haven't seen anyone in... a really long time, so...

I guess I got excited.

Good news is it doesn't look that deep.

Not enough for stitches.

I bet it stings though, huh?

You can talk to me, you know.

I won't bite.

You do remember me, right?

I've been to your house.

Like, a lot.

You're Max, Max Mayfield.

You skateboard and never take off your Walkman.

- That's me. - But--

How am I in here when I'm in a coma in Hawkins General?

That's a very reasonable question.

We should get going. It's not safe here. Come on.

Where are we going?

My home.

Well, I can't go far. I came here to meet Henry.