Stand by me (steve harrington)

Chpt 20: The Lab And The Dogs

"I'm sorry. Jesus" Steve mumbled. Once he had tightened it, i grabbed onto him and dug my fingernails into his shoulder. He winced but let me hold him.

After a long silence, Max coughed. "Where did they all go?" she asked. "Maybe Steve and Joy scared them off?" Lucas suggested.

"No...no, they're going home" i said pointing at the lab. They all turned around as a loud shriek could be heard in the distance.

"We have to go" i said trying to stand up. As i stood up, i quickly fell as i winced in pain. "No, we're not going anywhere. We need to get you to a hospital" Steve said.

"No, we need to go to the lab. There's people in there. We have to warn them" i said. Steve shook his head. "No!" he exclaimed. I glared at him as i put out my hand to help me up.

Steve groaned as he rolled his eyes. He took my hand as i put my arm over his shoulder. "We ready?" i said. We all began walking towards the lab as i leaned on Steve and limped.

As we made our way there, Dustin was trying to catch Lucas and Max up on how this all came to be. I didn't say much as we walked. I think i was still shocked over what had happened.

Steve asked me if i was okay once or twice but other than that, i was just quiet. "Your sure that was Dart?" Lucas asked. "Positive. He has the same yellow mark on his butt."

"But he was tiny like to days ago" Max said chiming in. "Well, he's molted  three times already" Dustin said. "Molted?" Steve questioned. "Molted. Shed his skin to make room for more growth. Like hornworms."

"When's he going to molt again?" Max asked. "It's gotta be soon. When he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it" Dustin said with a sigh.  "Yeah, then he's gonna eat more than just cats" Steve said.

"Wait, cat? Dart ate a cat?!" Lucas exclaimed as he stopped us. "No, what? No?" Dustin said. "What are you talking about he ate Mews?" i said. "Mews? Who's Mews?" Max asked.

"Its Dustins cat" Steve said. "Guys!" Dustin yelled. "I knew it! You kept him" Lucas shouted. "No! No... He missed me, alright? He wanted to come home" Dustin mumbled.

"Bullshit!" Lucas exclaimed. I rolled my eyes as they continued bickering. As i was trying to ignore Lucas and Dustin, Steve was staring off into the distance.

"What?" i asked. He began waking towards the direction he was looking as i lent on his shoulder. "Hey guys" Steve called out. They didn't listen.

"Guys!" Steve shouted causing them to shut up. A loud shriek echoed through the woods. It came from where Steve was looking at.

We all began walking towards the sound. "No guys why are you walking towards the sound!" Max exclaimed as she reluctantly followed us.

We walked to the edge of the woods which looked upon the whole of Hawkins. "I don't see them" Dustin said. Lucas took out his binoculars and looked around.

"Joy was right. It's the lab. They were going back home" Lucas said. Steve gave me a worried look. We all reluctantly went down the hill towards the lab.

As we finally got near the lab, we noticed flashlights in the distance. "What if it's the bad men?" Dustin questioned. "Then Joy will beat the shit out of them with that pole" Max said.

We walked towards the flashlights and heard someone shout "Hello? Who's there?". We walked quickly towards the voices to see Nancy and Johnathan.

"Steve?!" they both exclaimed. "Nancy?" Steve called out. "Johnathan!" Dustin said. "What are you doing here? Joy! What the hell happened?!" Nancy exclaimed as she saw me in my state.

"Long story. What are you doing here?" i asked. "We're looking for Mike and Will. We think they're with Joys dad" "They're not in there are they?" Dustin questioned. "We're not sure... Why?" Johnathan asked.

A loud screech came from the lab. "I told you" i mumbled as i looked at Steve. He gave me a worried look as i felt him hold onto me tighter.

"We have to help them. How do we get this gate open?" i asked. "The control for the gate is there but the powers out" Johnathan said pointing at the small controls shed.

Steve carried me towards it as we tried pushing all the buttons. "Jesus come on!" i said slamming down on the open button. "That's not going to work!" Dustin shouted. "It might!" i shouted back as i kept slamming on the open button.

"Hey, the powers back" Nancy said pointing at the lab. All the lights had come back on. "Told you" i mumbled. But, even though the power was back, the button still wasn't working.

"The real control room is in the lab. This is just for security. They need to turn on all the power inside" Lucas said. "And how do they do that?" Johnathan asked.

"They need someone who knows BASIC" Dustin said chiming in. "What is BASIC?" i questioned. "It's a computer programming language. It takes years to learn. You know, Joyce's boyfriend uses it. It's like-" "I don't care what it's like! We need to get the gate open now!" i shouted.

They all went quiet. I sat down on the stool and put my head in my hands. "We'll get them out okay, just... We have to wait" Steve said.

"We can't wait Steve! Those... Things, are in there! My dad is in there! Will and Joyce and Mike are in there" i shouted trying to stand up but fell as i tried.

I fell back onto the chair and hit the button one more time. "Jo listen" Steve said grabbing my shoulders. "We will get them out" he said. I nodded my head slowly.

"Okay, you dips shits are smart, what do we do?" Steve asked the kids. They all began talking until we heard a car swerve from inside the gate. Steve grabbed me and helped me up.

We saw two cars speeding towards the gate as they began honking. The first car burst through the gate as the second car stopped in front of us. I took a deep sigh of relief as i saw Hopper roll down the window.

"Let's go!" he said as we all scrambled into the car. When we all got in the car, he sped off. I crawled from the back of the car and hugged the back of the seat. Hopper kissed my hand as he continued driving. "I thought you were dead. I thought those things got you" i said with a shaky voice.

"I'm right here kid. I'm right here."