Our Never Ending Story | Steve Harrington x Reader

[8] The Tunnels

El and Mike hug tightly.
"I never gave up on you. I called you every night. Every night for-" Mike says on tears.
"353 days. I heard." El says.
"Why didn't you tell me you were there?" Mike asks her.
"Because I wouldn't let her." My dad says and goes over to her, "the hell is this? Where have you been?"
"Where have you been?" El asks and they hug. I run over to El and hug her tightly.
"You've been hiding her. You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike shouts and shoves me.
"Hey! Let's talk." My dad says holding him and they go into another room.
I hug El again and she goes over to Lucas and Dustin.
"We missed you." Lucas says.
"I missed you, too." El says.
"We talked about you pretty much every day." Dustin laughs softly.
"Teeth." El says touching Dustin's mouth.
"What?" He asks confused.
"You have teeth." El says and Dustin and Lucas laugh.
"Oh, you like these pearls?" Dustin asks and purrs. Me and Steve look at each other laughing.
"Eleven? I'm max, I've heard a lot about you." Max says and sticks out her hand for El to shake it. El pushes past her and hugs Joyce.

"Can I see him?" El asks referring to Will. And they go into a different room. They come back and Joyce shows her the 'closegate' message.

"You opened this gate before, right?" Joyce asks El and she nods.
"Yes."
"Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?" Joyce asks.
"Yes."

"The lab isn't what it was like before. It's grown. A lot. And that's considering we can get in there. That place is crawling with those dogs." My dad explains.
"I can't do it." El says.
"You're not hearing me." My dad says.
"I'm hearing you. I can do it." El says.
"Even if El can, there's still another problem. If the mind Flayer dies, his army dies." I point out.
"I thought that was the whole point?" Max says confused.
"But Wills apart of that army. Closing the gate would kill him." I say and Joyce goes over and sees Will and we all follow her.
"He likes it cold..." Joyce mutters.
"What?" My dad asks.
"It's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold. We keep giving it what it wants!" Joyce shouts.
"I'd this is a virus, and Wills the host, then..." Nancy begins.
"Then we need to make the host uninhabitable." Jonathan says.
"So if he likes it cold..."
"We need to burn it out of him." Joyce says.
"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time." Mike says.
"Yeah, somewhere far away this time." Dustin says. Me and my dad look at each other.

"Take Denfield then you'll see a large oak tree. You're gonna swing a right. That road is gonna dead-end and then it's about a five-minute walk from there." My dad explains and we go back in.

I go out to the car with my dad and El when my dad stops me.
"Hey, where are you going?" He asks pushing me away.
"I'm going with you?" I say.
"Absolutely not. You stay here, where it's safe." He says.
"I know how to use a gun." I say.
"That place is swimming with those dogs. You're not coming. End of." My dad says and drives off with El.

Dustin starts to clear the freezer to put the demo dog in.

"All right. It should fit now." Dustin says.
"Is this really necessary?" Steve asks holding the dog wrapped in a blanket.
"Yes, it is, okay? This is a groundbreaking scientific discovery. We can't just bury it like some common mammal, okay? It's not a dog!" Dustin yells.
"I'll bury you like a common mammal now." I mutter and walk off and sit on the couch.

Mike starts pacing around the room.
"Mike, would you just stop already?" Lucas asks irritated.
"You weren't in there, okay, Lucas? That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs." Mike says.
"Demo-dogs!" Dustin yells from the kitchen.
"The chief will take care of her." Lucas says.
"Like she needs protection." Max mutters.
"How will the chief take care of her? You can't just shoot these things with guns!" Mike yells.
"Listen, dude, a couch calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. All right?" Steve asks coming in wiping his hand in a towel.
"Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game. And second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench." Mike says.
"So my point is..." Steve stammers, "yeah, we're on the bench, so there's nothing we can do."
"That's not entirely true. I mean, these demo-dogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away." Dustin says.
"So, if we get their attention we can draw them from the lab and clear a path to the gate?" I ask and Dustin nods.
"Yeah, and then we all die." Steve says.
"That's one point on view." Dustin says.
"No, that's not a point of view, man. That's a fact." Steve says.
"I got it!" Mike asks and points to one of wills drawings.
"This is where the chief dug his hole. This is our way into the tunnel. So..." Mike says and runs somewhere else.
"Here. Right here. This is like a hub. So you got all the tunnels feeding in here. Maybe if we set this on fire..." Mike says.
"That's a no." Steve says sternly.
"The mind Flayer would call away his army and they'd all come to stop us." I say.
"We circle back to the exit and by the time they realise we're gone-" Mike begins.
"El would be at the gate." I say.
"Hey! Hey ! Hey! This is not happening!" Steve yells.
"Steve-" I begin.
"I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. We're staying here. On the bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand?" Steve yells.
"This isn't a stupid sports game!" Mike shouts.
"I said does everybody understand that?!" Steve yells again. A familiar engine starts to rev up the street.
Max and Lucas run to the window.
"It's my brother. He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me. He'll kill us." Max says.
"Billy Hargrove is your brother?!" I ask and she nods.
We look out the window as Steve goes out to talk to him.
"Am I dreaming, or is that you, Harrington?" Billy asks smoking a cigarette.
"Yeah, it's me. Don't cream your pants." Steve says and walks towards him. I stand by the door to hear better.
"What are you doing here, amigo?" Billy asks him.
"I could ask you the same thing. Amigo." Steve says.
"Looking for my stepsister. A little birdie told me she was here." Billy says.
"Huh, that's weird. I don't know her." Steve says.
"Small? Redhead? Bit of a bitch." Billy asks.
"Doesn't ring a bell. Sorry, buddy." Steve says.
"You know, I don't know, this whole situation, Harrington, it's giving me the heebie-jeebies." Billy says.
"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Steve asks.
"My 13-year-old sister goes missing all day. And then I find her with you in a strangers house. And you lie to me about it." Billy says.
"Man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what? I don't know what you don't understand about what I just said. She's not here." Steve says.
"Then who is that?" Billy asks pointing at the window.
"Shit! Do you think he saw us?" Dustin asks.
"Oh, shit. Listen-" Steve says when Billy pushes him to the ground and kicks him.
"Steve!" I shout and open the door standing in Billy's way.
"Okay, look gorgeous. Do you want to do this the easy way, and move or the hard way?" He asks and I stay silent. He bashes my head against the wall and I fall to the ground. My vision goes blurry and I can only hear faint shouting and a high pitched ringing. I close my eyes.