It took some work and time, as well as squabbling, but the group of five had finally managed to bring the junkyard to the perfect state in which they needed it to trap and kill the Demogorgon. And they'd done so just in time. As night fell over the junkyard, they found refuge in the boarded up and secure bus, left to wait for any sign of their plan being set in motion.
Nora had lost track of how long had passed as they sat and waited, silence spreading through the bus. None of them wanted to be talking and distracted when the creature finally arrived. According to Dustin, they couldn't risk being caught off guard. However, silence was bound to become too much for some at a certain point. And the first to break it was Max.
"So, you really fought one of these things before?" The redhead looked to Steve where he sat on the floor beside her. As Steve nodded, Nora leaned over so she could see past him and to her sister who was now showing a dubious look on her face. "And you're, like, totally, 100% sure it wasn't a bear?"
"Shit. Don't be an idiot, okay? It wasn't a bear." It was Dustin who answered instead of Steve, the tone of his voice showing just how annoyed he was getting with all of Max and Nora's scepticism. "Why are you even here if you don't believe us?"
Max, never one to simply accept someone being rude to her, stood to her feet with a roll of her eyes. "Geesh. Someone's cranky. Past your bedtime?" She bit back before climbing the latter to the top of the bus where Lucas and his binoculars kept and eye on the clearing and its surroundings.
"That's good. Just show her you don't care." Steve commended Dustin once the younger girl was gone, earning himself as well as the Henderson a sharp glare.
"Nope, all you're showing right now is that you're an asshole." Nora corrected in a firm tone. And if Dustin continued this way, she'd be getting Max and walking them both out of here, the plan be damned.
Ignoring Nora, Dustin's eyes focused on Steve as he tried to deny the accusation of caring. "I don't." But, of course, both of the high schoolers could see right past that. And Steve was the one who made it known. "Why are you winking, Steve? Stop!"
"He's just being immature." Nora shook her head at Steve but couldn't keep the small smile of amusement from her lips. Still, she focused on Dustin as she continued on. "But take it from me, as the damn sister, being an ass isn't gonna get you where you wanna be. Not in this case."
"Protective big sister, huh? I like the look." Steve commented, making Nora laugh as she turned back to him.
"Shut up, Harrington." She replied simply, not even bothering to deny the title. She wasn't the overprotective type, after all, Max was right, she could take care of herself. But that didn't mean she'd sit by and just watch someone be a jerk to her.
Her instructions seemed to stick, and even though he did laugh at her just a bit, Steve did quiet down. The silence within the bus itself, allowed Nora who was sitting right below the hatch of the roof to overhear Max's conversation with Lucas above them.
"My stepbrother's always been a dick, but now he's just angry all the time, and... Well, he can't take it out on my mom, so..." Max's voice drifted from above as she spoke about Billy, and Nora could feel eyes on her face. She knew if she could hear her sister so could Steve who sat beside her, but she didn't acknowledge him.
"So, he takes it out on you?" Lucas finished for Max, prompting the redhead to correct him soon after.
"More on Nora. She tries to make him focus on her whenever she can." As she listened to Max's reply, Nora's brows furrowed.
She never gave it much thought, never questioned turning Billy's anger on herself instead of their younger sister. But hearing Max speak about it now made Nora realize she was doing for Max the same thing Billy did for her so long ago. For a moment, she couldn't help but panic. Just for a second. Thinking that one day she might turn out the same way as he did. He started down this path in that same way.
With a small sigh, Nora pushed those thoughts away. She had to believe she wouldn't turn out the same way. It was in her control. Just as she started to try coming up with other things to focus on, a hand reached over and took hold of her own. But instead of just holding her hand, Steve proceeded to play around with her fingers, nimble from years of playing the piano, he moved them around, intertwining them as if it was the most amazing thing. Nora couldn't help but laugh as he did.
She looked up at his face, a smile painted on her lips as she watched him open his mouth to say something. But he never got a chance to do it. Suddenly, the sound of loud growling reached their ears making all five of them spring to attention. With her hand already in Steve's hold, Nora let him help her up to her feet before their faces drew closer to the windows, eyes wildly searching through the darkness and fog for the source of the sound.
"You see him?" Dustin questioned quietly.
"No." Steve was the one to answer vocally while Nora only shook her head in denial. Then again, she wasn't even sure what exactly she was looking for in the first place.
"Lucas! What's going on?" Dustin stepped away from the window, standing under the hole in the roof as he shouted up to his friend, hoping the boy and his binoculars would have better luck in finding the Demogorgon.
"Hold on!" Lucas called back, silence following his instruction for a few seconds before his voice sounded again. "I've got eyes! Ten o'clock!" With the new information, Steve, Nora, and Dustin turned their eyes to the left side of the junkyard.
At first, Nora still had trouble locating anything there until Steve's hand reached up. He pointed at a specific point in the clearing, and Nora had to squeeze her eyes before she finally saw a dark figure looming by where they'd dumped a big pile of meat to wait for it. But it wasn't eating. It looked like it was... like it was waiting.
"What's he doing?" Dustin questioned, and the same thing was on Nora's mind.
"I don't know." Steve gave out a small sigh, starting to worry about their plan not working. They'd expected it to focus on the food.
Nora didn't speak, but instead watched as the creature loomed. It didn't move or give any indication that it had noticed them yet. For a moment, she wanted to say what was on her mind, but thought better of it. But if someone had asked, from a distance, the creature really did look like a big dog or some kind of mid-sized woodland creature.
"He's not taking the bait. Why's he not taking the bait?" Steve questioned impatiently, making the trio in the bus share slightly panicked looks.
"Maybe he's not hungry?" Dusting suggested. And it didn't seem that preposterous to Nora. Depending on where it started to follow the trail they'd set, it could be that the animal was quite well fed by the time it reached the junkyard.
"Maybe he's sick of cow." Steve mumbled to himself, starting to step away from the window. From the corner of her eye, Nora could see him grabbing hold of his bat. The action had her jumping back so she could look at him.
"Don't you dare do what I think you're going to do!" She said, voice full of both disbelief as well as authority. Interdimensional monster or not, he was insane if he thought going out there as bait himself was a good idea. And he seemed to be thinking exactly that, if the fact that he completely ignored her and headed for the door was anything to judge by.
"Steve? Steve, what are you doing?" Dustin questioned once he noticed the commotion between his two companions. By the time he turned back to them, Steve was already at the door, hand fishing through his pockets.
"Just get ready." He said, proceeding to throw a lighter to Nora. She was too busy scrambling to catch it in the darkness and couldn't scold him for expecting her to be good at hand-eye coordination when things were suddenly thrown at her.
But she did manage to catch it. And then instantly pass it on to Dustin while she grabbed her own bat and followed after the Harrington. Just as he was about to open the door, Nora's hand latched on to the back of his jacket, forcing him to turn around.
"Are you crazy?" She questioned; voice much lower this time as they stood so close to the opening of the bus. The last thing she wanted was to finally make the thing aware of their presence. She wasn't sure how it hadn't noticed them yet with all the talking. Or maybe it had but didn't approach yet. Either way, she didn't want to agitate it with a loud voice.
"I dealt with this thing before, don't worry." Despite the reassuring smile Steve tried to send her, Nora still had half a mind to smack him across the head. With her bat.
"God we should have called animal control and let it be." She groaned, wondering what in the world made her think it was a good idea to try and stop a rabid animal all on their own. The comment made Steve let out a small chuckle as his hand grabbed the doors again.
"I'll be back before you know it. Just wait here." Was the last thing he told her before pushing the door wide open and jumping out of the bus. And all Nora could do was watch him as he started to sneak through the clearing, Dustin coming over and joining her side. Nora couldn't help but flinch as Steve's whistling broke through the tense silence. If the animal hadn't noticed them yet, it sure as fuck had now.
"What's he doing?" Max's voice made both Dustin and Nora turn to look at her as she climbed down the ladder and back into the bus, eyes focused on the window as she watched Steve move out in the clearing.
"Expanding the menu." Dustin answered, and Nora's eyes turned to glare at him this time.
"Oh, please don't say it like that." Saying it like that did nothing to calm her nerves.
"Human tastes better than cat, I promise." Steve's own taunts to the animal were just increasing Nora's need to grab him and drag him back onto the bus. What idiot thought this would be a good idea?!
"He's insane." Max commented.
"He's awesome." Dustin corrected.
"No, he's insane." Nora agreed with her sister.
Their debate soon turned quiet, all three keeping their eyes on the Harrington, none of them able to look away. Nora remained standing right at the door of the bus. She knew Steve had told her to stay and wait for him inside. But if for a moment she thought he might be in over his head, she had no intentions of doing so. She may not have fought a Demogorgon, or even a rabid dog before, but she knew how to swing a bat.
"Steve! Watch out!" Lucas' voice called out, making Nora jump in surprise for a moment before she realized who it was and relaxed. Well, relaxed as much as she could in a situation like this. Which meant: not at all.
"A little busy here." Steve didn't even bother looking back at the bus as she swung his bat around in the air, each step bringing him closer to the Demogorgon. Its face seemed to be focused on Steve by now. And even with the awareness of the human coming its way, the animal still didn't move. It just waited...
"Three o'clock! Three o'clock!" Lucas' call of warning had Nora holding on to the edge of the bus as she let herself lean out of it to be able to see the direction which the boy was talking about. And she did see it.
There was a second one of those things out there. This one much closer and not moving veiled by the mist. And Nora could see it rather well. "Yeah, okay... That's not a dog." She mumbled to herself, eyes swinging back to the boy whose back was more than exposed to the Demogorgon who could attack at any moment. "Steve get back in here!"
Beside her, Dustin too was screaming for Steve to 'abort'. However, all of their calls and warnings came too late. It was as if the creatures realized they'd be missing their chance, and working as an in-sync unit, they all pounced the next second. As she watched them charge at him, Nora realized Steve wouldn't be dealing with two of those things but even more.
She'd been calling Steve insane for going out there. Well, moments later she looked like a big hypocrite. But she didn't care. Not as she jumped out of the bus, ignoring the calls of Dustin and Max ringing behind her as she ran forward. Her bat slammed against one of the Demogorgons as it tried to jump on Steve's back. Instead of successfully attacking, the Demogorgon was sent flying through the air.
The sight of the Demogorgon flying by him made Steve swing around for a moment, surprised eyes meeting hers and staying there for just a few moments before his senses snapped back into action. With the other Demogorgons charging at them, Steve grabbed hold of Nora's hand and pulled her along with him, running back to the safety of the bus.
They jumped into the bus, Nora rather ungraciously landing on the floor while Steve leaned against the now closed door to prevent the Demogorgons from pushing inside as they were trying to. However, in the time the trio sprang into action to help him hold the door, one of the Demogorgons managed to push its head through an opening, his... mouth?... starting to snap at them wildly. Giving up on the door to get away from its bite, Dustin and Max ran to the back of the bus while Steve pushed Nora behind him before slamming his nailed bat into the beast's head repeatedly until it backed off.
"Ok, so we are actually dealing with an interdimensional monster." Nora mumbled, more to herself than anyone else, her voice full of surprise as she and Steve continued to barricade the door.
From the back of the bus, Dustin's voice sounded as he attempted to contact whoever he could through his radio. "Is anyone there? Mike? Will? God! Anyone! Shit! We're at the old junkyard, and we are going to die!" He screamed into the device.
"Not the most reassuring thing to hear right now!" Nora yelled back at him, definitely not liking the pessimism as she continued to push against the door being ravaged by Demogorgons.
All of their attention soon snapped to the sound of claws scraping against the roof, one of those things obviously jumping up and grabbing hold. Nora's eyes looked to the roof as she heard it moving towards the back of the bus, and then caught on to the latch which still remained open after Lucas too had climbed down at some point.
"Max! Get away from there!" Nora tried to call out to her sister who was standing right below it. And for good reason because moments later the moon which had been shining down on the redhead was blocked out by a shadow of one of the beasts, the sight of it right above making Max scream.
Nora was ready to rush in her direction, but she wasn't the first to do so. Steve reached her first, pushing the redhead out of the Demogorgon's way and into her sister's arm as he raised his bat. "You want some? Come get this!" He screamed up at the Demogorgon which seemed ready to jump down into the bus.
The beast let out a growl, and Steve clutched onto is bat tighter at the sound, but instead of jumping down on him, the Demogorgon's head turned. It stood, watching the distance for a few long seconds before it moved. The force with which it jumped back to the ground shook the bus.
And this one wasn't the only one running away. From the window, the five teenagers watched as the Demogorgons all ran off. Each and every one rushed back into the woods. All in the same direction. And once again, the junkyard was safe. Confused looks passed between the group as they all inched towards the door again. Once it was open, Steve and Nora were the first two to jump down from the bus, eyes watching the last of the monsters as it disappeared beyond the tree line.
"What happened?" Lucas was the first one to ask the question which seemed to be on all of their minds. And none of them had a good answer, really.
"Steve scared them off?" Dustin suggested.
"No, no way." Steve shook his head in denial. He would have loved to take the credit, but he maybe would have scared off the one on the roof. Not all of them and not at the same time.
"It's like they were called back." Max said with furrowed brows, remembering how dogs would just turn back from whatever they were doing when their owners would call. Demogorgons may not have been dogs as she expected but they acted a bit like them.
"Like a dog whistle." And Nora seemed to be going in a similar direction. "We can't hear it, but they can." She explained, even though everyone should know what a dog whistle was and how it worked.
"But who blew the whistle?" Lucas asked.
"And from where?" Dustin added on.
The group all looked at each other, and as much as Nora didn't like it, she knew what would be happening next. So when they started to follow the direction in which the Demogorgons left, she simply gripped her bat tighter. And followed.