Eye of the Storm ✇ Steve Harrington

Chapter Nineteen

One thing Nora would never admit out loud was that she hated the dark. It wasn't really a fear. She was seventeen for goodness' sake. But it wasn't like she really liked traipsing around the woods with only flashlights to guide them either. So when her options were do it with a group hunting down a pack of Demogorgons or do it alone in an attempt to find her way back into town; Nora chose the first option.

She walked alongside Steve staying close to both him and the flashlight with which he lit the path in front of them. However, her eyes continued glancing back, making sure Max was still close by and hadn't veered off on her own. She'd tried to convince the younger girl to go home again, but Max was stubborn. She refused to go and told Nora that she'd just follow them secretly if she had to.

"You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas spoke up, turning to his best friend with a questioning look. It was clear that, even though he'd been here when all of this shit happened last year (shit Nora still didn't have a proper explanation for), he too was having a hard time believing it for some reason.

"Yes. He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt." Dustin explained his reasons, and as far as they went, Nora thought it was good enough. Not that she really paid attention to the Demogorgons and patterns on their skin when they were attacking them with their heads which open up like creepy scary people eating flowers.

"He was tiny two days ago." Max pointed out, confused by the idea that something could grow that fast and get so much bigger.

"Well, he's moulted three times already." Dustin shared, making multiple people send him confused looks.

"Malted?" Steve seemed to be the one struggling to understand what Dustin meant the most. So much so that he even said it wrong.

"Moulted." Dustin corrected before going on to explain. "Shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms."

"Great. Now it's a pollywog, and lizard, and hornworm, and Demogorgon." Nora mumbled with a shake of her head. She was getting really tired of the comparisons. She just wanted to know what the fuck this thing really was.

"When's he gonna moult again?" Max questioned.

"It's gotta be soon. When he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it. And so will all of his friends." Dustin explained and Nora did her best to hide her reaction. Those weren't fully grown?! And they were following after them waiting for it to happen? Maybe if they catch them mid-moult, they're weaker? She really hoped that would be the case.

"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats." Steve commented. And it turned out to be a pretty shit comment. Not only because it earned him a smack on the shoulder from Nora but also because he'd slipped up and revealed something Dustin had been hiding from his friends.

Nora had a hard time catching up with all of the yelling and the fight from how fast it erupted between the boys. And it left the two of them arguing, at some point even Max joined in while Nora and Steve were left standing on the side. For a few minutes they remained there, hoping the arguing would stop, but when it didn't Nora finally took a step forward, leaving Steve's side as she intervened.

"Okay, enough!" She yelled over all of their voices, forcing them to shut up as they turned to look at her. "It doesn't matter whether he kept the... Dart! Doesn't matter who told who what!" She scolded. "What matters is that those damn things are out there, doing God knows who to God knows who. Not only do we have to find them, but need I remind you that actual, real-world animals still exist around here and we don't want those on our asses too?"

"You're right."
"Sorry."
"No, we don't."

All three of the kids answered unanimously, heads hung low as the scolding managed to knock some sense into them. And just as the argument stopped, Steve's voice called out to them, making Nora realize that at some point he'd stepped away and moved forward.