ZERO

CHAPTER SEVEN - THE PLAN

The clang of the buckets hitting the ground almost made Iris jump, but instead, it just alerted her to Lucas finally responding to Dustin's calls. She helped Steve take out the gasoline as he grabbed a few other things.

Steve caught Iris' eye, nodding at her.

"Stick to the plan." She mumbled, not listening to the conversation Dustin was having.

"Did you say Steve Harington and Iris Cassidy?" Lucas' voice carries through the walkie talkie, sounding much more confused about Steve being there than Iris.

"All right, let's go." Steve shuts the trunk of his car, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

"Just be there, stat. Over and out." The three walk away, Iris being the only one not carrying a bucket, forcing Steve to hold two.

"You can literally hold it with your mind, I don't understand." Dustin motions to the bucket of meat in his hand.

"But then Steve would only have to hold one." Iris nudges Dustin's shoulder, smirking.

   The three had an eventful morning, but they knew it was nothing to what the night would hold.

   They managed to get out of the house around 11, stopping to get a few pounds of raw meat and gasoline, as well as snacks for Dustin.

   The idea was to lead Dart back to the old junkyard, then light him on fire, much to Dustin's dismay. As much as Iris agreed that it'd be incredibly cool to domesticate a demogorgan, it wasn't really practical.

   The walk was long, the group trying to use as much sunlight Hawkins' autumn gave them. Dustin asked about Iris' "superpowers" over and over again, peaking Steve's interest. A little embarrassed, she kept them to a minimum.

Eventually, they fell into a line. Dustin led, Steve was behind him and Iris was the furthest from the front. The boys kept their eyes down as they walked, dropping the meat after every few steps. Iris kept an eye on her surroundings, making sure no one was around.

"All right, so let me get this straight." Steve starts up the conversation they were having earlier again. "You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl who you just met?"

"All right, that's grossly oversimplifying things." Dustin says.

"Not like you wouldn't do the same either." Iris chips in, falling into step with Steve.

"I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?" Steve ignores the girl next to him.

"An interdimensional slug?"

"Because it's awesome." Dustin and Iris say at the same time, queing a look of disbelief from Steve.

"Well, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't, I just," Steve stammers. "I feel like you're trying way too hard."

Iris snaps her neck to Steve, not believing the words he was saying.

"Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, all right?" Dustin says sadly.

"It's not about the hair, man." Steve starts. "The key to girls is,"

Suddenly, Steve stops in his sentence. It occurs to him that he genuinely had no fucking idea what he was talking about. Hell, he spent months on a girl who ended their relationship by saying it was bullshit.

He looked at Iris, who tilted her head at him in confusion.

Quickly, she took notice to his panicked expression. "Take it from a girl, Dust." She says.