LIKE A HURRICANE ⭑ - Billy Hargrove ⭑

10 | Dirty, Rotten, Filthy

Billy, Steve, Max, and the middle school boys had stood on the front porch until both the Byer's vehicle and Hopper's truck were out of view. As they watched the night seemed to become chillier. It wasn't a cold type of chill but instead a chill that only served to unsettle Billy even more than he already was. They were separating out into smaller, weaker groups that wouldn't stand a God-given chance against the demo-dogs. Hell, they barely stood a chance altogether but at least being a more extensive group made Billy feel a little more at ease.

Though now that they were in the same group, with a plus one, they had started the evening off with, the emptiness of the house and the near silence of the air made everyone appear on edge. What was going to happen next? No one was quite sure. And right now, it is Steve and Billy's job to make sure all of these nerdy middle schoolers didn't get any so-called bright ideas that would put them in harm's way. Despite that, Dustin somehow managed to convince Steve to help him shove a dead demo-dog in the Byer's fridge.

"Is this really necessary?" Steve questions, standing before the fridge with a pile of discarded shelves and food at his feet. At first, Billy thought that he wouldn't let the pre-teen talk him into it. However, the blond's thoughts were quickly proven wrong when the former high school king sighed heavily and stood from his seat. To say Billy wasn't surprised would be a lie.

"Yes, it is, okay? This is a ground-breaking scientific discovery," Dustin nods with a confidence that makes Steve take a step back. The boy closes the fridge quickly, causing it to rattle before turning back to the burnet with a large grin on his face, "Thanks for your help, Steve."

"Y-Yeah, no problem, Buddy," Steve replies, patting him lightly on the shoulder, "You're going to be the one to explain this to Ms. Byers, alright."

Billy snorts, finding the whole situation mildly amusing, "Good luck explaining that." He lights a cigarette and takes a shallow drag from it. If Max were in the room, she'd have given him an incredulous look for smoking in a stranger's house. However, she's currently in the bathroom and he's a mixture of bored and anxious. An awful combination to be in because it made him itch for something strong.

Steve places his hands on his hips and raises a brow at the blond before turning back to Dustin. The boy shrugs, "I'll figure it out."

"Right," Steve replies and turns away. He looks as though he doesn't want to question how or why. Beside can Billy really blame him? He'd probably do or be thinking the same thing.

As Steve resumes his seat, Mike comes rushing into the living room with a backpack full of some sort of supplies. Max and Lucas are hot on his tail, one of them looking beyond stressed while the other looks plain confused.

"Mike, would you just stop already?" The boy half-yells as he throws his hands out, fed up.

Max nods, "You can't go with those things out and about."

"What's going on?" Steve exhales heavily, leaning his head heavily on one hand.

"Who's going where?" Billy adds, blowing out a puff of smoke, earning a half-baked glare from Max.

"Mike wants to the lab," Lucas replies, selling the other pre-teen out.

"You weren't in there, okay, Lucas?" Mike snaps, "That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs. Hundreds. I can't let just El just walk in there and be expected to just kill all of them. She'll get too worn out before she has the chance to close the gate."

Dustin pokes his head in but before he can say anything, presumably to correct Mike, Lucas speaks up, "Hopper is with her. Eleven'll be fine!"

Steve sinks deeper into his seat with a groan, "The chief will take care of her, Mike. We're not going anywhere," He lets his arm fall and leans against the back of the chair letting his exhaustion flood over his feature, "Listen, dude, when a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. All right?"