1983 || Stranger Things

ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ғɪᴠᴇ | ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀɴsʜᴇᴇ

      "He's here." Julie said. At that moment, a loud growling that everyone could hear made Dustin, Steve and Julie run to the bus windows.

      "You seem him?" Dustin asked.

      "No." Steve answered.

      "You hear him?" Dustin asked Julie.

      "He's getting closer."

      "Lucas, what's going on?" Dustin called up to his friend.

      "Hold on!" Lucas yelled back.

      Julie focused all of her energy into pin-pointing Dart's location. She was struggling to do so, and she wasn't sure why. "Guys, I can't find him." Julie said, her eyes closed.

      "I've got eyes! Ten o'clock! Ten o'clock!" Lucas stuttered.

      Julie opened her eyes and let her ears guide her to Dart. "There." she pointed.

      "What's he doing?" Dustin asked.

      "I don't know." Steve said.

      Julie heard Dart's quiet chittering as clear as if he was standing right in front of her. "He's not taking the bait." she said.

      "Why is he not taking the bait?" Steve asked.

      "Maybe he's not hungry?" Dustin suggested.

      "Maybe he's sick of cow."

      "Maybe he's tricking us?" Dustin and Steve's heads snapped to Julie, who shrugged lightly.

      Steve backed away from the window slightly, causing Julie to look at him. "What are you doing?" she asked.

      "Steve? Steve, what are you doing?" Dustin asked as Steve moved farther away.

      Steve sighed and breathed heavy, turning and revealing his lighter. "Just get ready." he said, tossing the lighter to Julie, grabbing his bat and walking out of the bus.

      "Here. Hold this." Julie said, passing the lighter to Dustin and taking her headphones off.

      "Julie, don't do it," Dustin pleaded as Julie grabbed her barbed wire bat.

      "Dustin, he can't see him, and I can hear him. It'll be fine." Julie said, backing out of the bus to join Steve.

      When Julie saw Steve, he was swinging his bat and walking slowly. Julie came up next to him with her finger to her lips, signalling for him to be quiet. Clearly, Steve didn't like that Julie was doing this. Julie walked slowly and slightly ahead of Steve, listening to Dart's movements.

      Out of the blue, Steve whistled. "Come on, buddy." he said to Dart, continuing to whistle. Julie sighed and whistled to Dart to, figuring they had nothing to lose. Julie pointed in the direction that Dart was, and Steve nodded as he followed her lead.

      "Come on, buddy. We aren't cat, but you still might like it." Julie said, standing next to Steve as they both swung their bats.

      "Come on, buddy. Come on. Dinner time. Human tastes better than cat, I promise." Steve said softly, as the two of them came face-to-face with Dart.

      As Dart came out of the fog, Julie's eyes widened at his size. "We're dead." she whispered to Steve.

      "Shut up, and keep your bat in front of you." Steve instructed, preparing himself as Julie heard similar sounds in a different direction.

      She turned around and saw monster just like Dart. "Steve?" Julie said to him, but he didn't answer.

      "Steve, Julie, watch out!" Lucas called from on top of the bus.

      "A little busy here!" Steve yelled back, as he and Julie got back to back, each facing a baby demogorgan.

      "Three o'clock! Three o'clock!" Lucas screeched.

      "I can't read clocks, Lucas!" Julie screamed back, right as more monsters appeared, growling loudly.

      "Steve! Julie! Abort! Abort!" they heard Dustin scream from the bus.

      Right then, Dart lunged for Steve, and a different monster ran at Julie. The two of them seperated as Julie swung her bat at one of them. Another one lunged at her chest and knocked her against a car. Julie was surrounded and was surely about the be eaten, as she did the one thing all girls and Lucas are capable of doing; screaming extremely high-pitched. When Julie screamed, it came out like a banshee's scream, and everyone covered their ears. Fortunately for Julie, the demogorgans around her exploded. Unfortunately for Julie, she was covered in their blood and guts.

      "Steve, Julie, run!"

      "Julie, Steve, hurry!"

      "Run!"

      Julie got up and ran towards the bus after Steve, guts flying off of her. After Steve made it inside, he extended his hand out to Julie, who took as she dashed inside. They shut the door and all piled in a clump as the monsters tried to break in.

      "Shit!" Dustin yelled.

      "Are they rabid or something?" Max asked.

      "Is that important right now?" Julie yelled, helping Steve shove more sheets of metal against the door.

      "They can't get in! They can't!" Lucas screamed.

      The monsters continued growling and everybody screamed while Steve and Julie pushed their feet against the door, willing it to stay closed.

      "Why don't you scream again?" Steve suggested, right as a monster's arm broke through and attempted to slice him. Julie and Steve swung at the arm with their bats, while the kids ran to the back of the bus and attempted to make contact with Mike or Will.

      "I don't think that's a good idea!" Julie answered, as loud banging was heard overhead.

      Julie snapped her head over to Max when she heard the girl scream. She and Steve got up, and Steve pushed Max back into Julie's arms. "Out of the way! Out of the way! You want some? Come get this!" Steve yelled, raising his bat to the monster above them.

      Right as the monster was about to attack, it lifted its head and growled, running and jumping off of the bus. Julie heard the growling get farther and farther and farther as the monsters retreated. Julie let go of Max to pull Steve by the collar and head to the front of the bus to investigate.

      When they got outside, all of the monster were running away, leaving the five of them in utter confusion. "What happened?" Lucas asked, though no one had an answer for him.

      "I don't know." Max said.

      "Steve and Julie scared 'em off?" Dustin suggested.

      "No. He's not scary. They're definitely going somewhere." Julie answered, holding her head in her hand.

      "Now that we're going to die, can we talk about how awesome that was!" Lucas said, walking up to Julie.

      Julie smiled lightly as the kids all went on about how cool her scream was. "Yeah, yeah, I'm cool, I know." she shrugged off, taking a deep breath and leaning onto Steve.

      "You okay?" Steve asked softly. Julie shook her head.

      The kids all talked among themselves outside, as Steve led Julie into the bus to sit down. "It's okay." Steve whispered, sitting down in his previous spot, letting Julie rest her head on her shoulder. He took off his jacket, and offered it to the blood covered girl as a blanket. She thanked him.

      "Steve?" Julie asked quietly. Steve hummed in response. "Thank you."

      "For what?" Steve asked Julie.

      "For being you."