Elijah Brooks's life is turned upside down when his best friend Will Byers goes missing one night. Teaming up with an unlikely group of friends, Eli finds himself transforming from a quiet bookworm to a courageous adventurer willing to do anything f...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"THIS IS WHAT WE CAME FOR?" Brandy uttered with a groan, tightening the arms crossed over her chest. Dustin's cellar was slammed shut with a padlock secure, supposedly it was that way because of the three foot long and growing baby Demogorgon he had discovered.
"Why did I have to be dragged into this?" Martha Baker hissed from Brandy's left. Her dark eyes were particularly glued to her best friend in dismay, considering it had been the Brooks girl's demand she be picked up and brought along.
Steve Harrington shuffled behind the two girls, his sweaty hand gripping the baseball bat apprehensively. "Look, let's just...get this over with."
"Yeah," Dustin mumbled in agreement, although his voice was small and meek. "I'll, um, stay up here. In case it tries to escape."
"It's okay," Brandy casted a teasing look at the child, unable to withhold herself from ruffling his curls. "You can say you're scared. Eve, you stay with Dustin."
The smaller Brooks girl, who wasn't particularly adamant about seeing another real life Demogorgon, nodded quietly.
Brandy shifted her eyes back to Steve, who had been nervous in the girl's presence all afternoon. "Why don't you hand me that bat, Harrington?"
The brunet teen hesitated, the weapon swinging lightly at his side. "Uh, I don't know, Brandy. It's not safe—"
"Oh, spare me the hero complex, Steve," Brandy spat, wrapping her cold-bitten fingers around the handle of the bat. "This is a softball bat anyway. It's meant to be held by a woman." The Brooks teen didn't notice the glowing smile coming from Martha at her comment.
Instead, Brandy was rearing herself up in case of a monster, her eyes steady on the cellar doors. "By the way, Dustin," she tossed the words recklessly over her shoulder. "Most boys your age would usually ask for a dog. You can never go wrong with a golden retriever."
Dustin didn't laugh at her comment, and she didn't wait for no such thing either. Instead, she pried the doors open rapidly, bracing the bat in front of her for an immediate attack. The silence that followed only made the dread worse in everyone's stomachs.
"So...we actually have to go in there, now?" Martha asked anxiously, her nails fiddling with the threads of her jacket.
"No biggie," Brandy heaved a sigh, though admittedly her chest was heavy with nerves as well. "Stay behind me."
"No way." Steve stepped forward, attempting to paw the bat away from Brandy.
