slow ride | STEVE HARRINGTON.

32. the queen bee nazi

"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats," Steve huffed, shining his flashlight around the tracks.

As her stomach rumbled, Ringo brought her backpack around to the front of her body, reaching in for a bag of chips after tucking the axe into a strap at the front. Immediately upon opening the bag, Steve dug his hand inside and took out a handful of chips, receiving a glare as a result.

"Wait-" Lucas stopped, taking Steve's words into account and reaching out to stop Dustin. "A cat? Dart ate a cat?"

"No, what? No!" Dustin stammered.

"What are you talking about?" Steve interrupted out of confusion, prompting Ringo to roll her eyes at his stupidity. "He ate Mews."

"Mews?" Max turned, "who's Mews?"

"Um?" Ringo tried to save him, her voice muffled with the food in her mouth. "It's a name we gave a dead rat... that we... fed him with. You know."

"No? When did that happen?" Steve furrowed his eyebrows. "It's Dustin's cat."

"Steve!" Dustin bellowed, while being shoved by Lucas.

"I knew it!" His friend was shouting, voice echoing through the trees. "You kept him!"

"No!"

"No?"

"No, I-... No, I-... he missed me. He wanted to come home."

"Bullshit!" Lucas scoffed.

"I didn't know he was a demogorgan, okay?" Dustin defended, his voice getting louder and louder.

"See what you did," Ringo teased Steve with a fake disappointed look, polishing off the rest of the bag of chips. "Fucking Yoko."

"So did you!" Dustin's roar brought their attention back to the group of pre-teens. "You told a stranger the truth!"

"Wh- a stranger?!" Max recanted angrily, stepping forward towards the argument.

"Jesus," Steve muttered to Ringo, "were we this dramatic?"

"Kids," Ringo called out in a bored tone, "there are people that are dying."

"Shut up, Ringo!" All three of them shouted back at her, causing her hand to fly up to her chest in offence as they all turned back to arguing.

Steve snorted at her expression, "that's you told."

Unable to help herself, she chuckled along with him at the situation, grateful for the momentary reprieve from stress. Although a screech in the distance soon reminded them of what was going on.

Steve and Ringo met eyes with suspicious expressions, turning their heads back to the source of the sound and stepping forth to the tree line to investigate. Just in case, she tore her axe back from the strap it was held in and lifted it high.

"Hey guys?" Steve spoke hesitantly, a rustling sound further away stopping him and the blonde next to him in their tracks. "Guys!"

Their bickering stopped immediately from the volume of his tone, the newfound silence allowing them to hear the same animalistic screeching in the distance. All members in the group darted towards the tree line, tracking the sound while Max lingered behind.

"No, no, guys- why are you heading towards the sound?!" She demanded, staring incredulously. "Hello?!"

When no one answered her, she was left with no choice but to follow after them, or stay on the tracks by herself.

Their trail led them to a cliff edge, where they were given a bird's eye view of the forest and Hawkins. If it hadn't been for the eerie fog or the circumstances that led them to this point, Ringo would have thought it was a rather beautiful view.