The car ride was pretty silent with Steve driving. The radio played the song Hammer To Fall faintly. Dustin had explained a few minutes ago about the whole situation with Dart, and when Steve collected his thoughts, he spoke up.
"Wait a sec. How big?" He asked, glancing at me before looking back at the road.
"First it was like this." I demonstrated about three inches with my fingers. Then I brought up both of my hands and separated them about a foot. "Now he's like this." Steve sighed.
"I swear to God, man, it's just some little lizard, okay?" Steve said, directing his statement towards Dustin who was sitting in the back.
"It's not a lizard." I defended Dustin, to which Steve looked at me once more.
"How do you know?" He shrugged.
"How do we know if it's not?" I asked.
"Yeah, how do you know if it's not just a lizard?" Steve raised his voice a little as he got more frustrated.
"Because his face opened up and he ate my cat." Dustin matched Steve's tone, to which Steve just looked ahead at the road silently. He nodded to himself in realization that we were all in deep shit.
It was dark outside by the time we pulled up to Dustin's house. We went around to the back of Steve's car, and I opened up the trunk for Steve to get his bat out. I held up a flashlight as we went around to the back of Dustin's house to the basement doors. We were quiet for a moment, waiting to see if we could hear anything from down there.
"I don't hear shit." Steve told us as he stared at the doors.
"He's in there." Dustin shrugged. Steve looked back at Dustin briefly before turning to the red doors again. He lightly tapped it with his bat, nervous to go inside clearly. Steve licked his lips before smacking the cellar doors harder, but nothing inside could be heard. Steve turned to Dustin, which I held the flashlight to the boys face.
"All right, listen, kid. I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank, you're dead." Steve threatened as Dustin made a face at the light shining into his eyes.
"It's not." Dustin defended.
"All right?" Steve asked again.
"It's not a prank." Dustin whined a bit before turning to me. "Get it out of my face." He asked, and I shined the flashlight towards Steve instead from the side. Steve took the flashlight from my hands and shined it back towards Dustin's face.
"You got a key for this thing?" Steve asked Dustin, to which he nodded quickly so he wouldn't be blinded any longer.
We got the key, and Steve immediately went to open up the basement doors. He opened up both of them and crouched down while I held the flashlight once more. I shined it down the stairs before Steve turned to me. "Let me see that." He asked, and I handed him the light. Our hands touched briefly for only half of a second, but for whatever reason, my stomach began tying itself into knots. I figured I was just getting anxious from having to deal with a baby Demogorgon. What if Dustin got hurt?
Steve shined the light down the stairs and didn't see anything but the concreate floor. "He must be further down there." Dustin theorized. I could see Steve was nervous to fight this thing, but it wasn't anything he hasn't fought yet. "I'll stay up here in case he tries to escape." Dustin suggested, being a major wuss. I punched his arm and Steve turned and gave him one of his "are you joking" looks. He turned back to the basement, shaking his head at the kid before he turned and looked at me.
"You better stay up here too, then." Steve told me. "It would be dangerous for you to go down there without something to protect yourself with."
"Well, I could always use you." I shrugged with a grin. "If Dart decides to attack me, I could just throw you in front of myself and run." Steve scoffed.
"Thanks." He said in a monotone voice and I chuckled. I was joking, obviously, but I still wanted to go down there with Steve in case something bad happened to him. Steve sighed before standing up and walking down the steps slowly. I followed in behind him, making sure my steps were quiet.
We looked around for just a moment before Steve turned on the lightbulb above us. I came over to him and stood next to him as he looked down, using his bat to pick up a slimy, transparent sheet of skin that dripped with goop. "Holy shit." I said under my breath, realizing Dart must have grown even larger.
Steve looked to his right to find something else, and he began walking closer to it. I followed behind him, realizing Dart likely wasn't in the basement any longer. "Steve?" I heard a faint voice coming from the top of the stairs. "Steve, what's going on down there?"
Steve and I weren't listening to Dustin as we turned the corner to find something worse than a baby Demogorgon. Steve went back over to the basement door and shined his flashlight up at Dustin. "Get down here." He demanded.
Dustin reluctantly walked down the steps, and Steve held up his bat to reveal the disgusting skin that was left on it. He then pointed at the wall. There, a large hole was present, about three times the size that Dart used to be, and the bricks that were once holding it all together were on the floor. "Oh, shit!" Dustin exclaimed. The three of us walked over to the hole to look further inside, and there was a clear tunnel that ran through it. "No way. No way." Dustin mumbled to himself in disbelief.
~
The morning rolled around without any of us getting a lick of sleep. We needed to find Dart and fast before he hurt anyone. We set up a plan that involved the same thing as before, with meat and weapons. But this time, we were more determined to trap or kill Dart. We were parked a little ways away from the old junkyard, and the three of us were gathering things from the back of Steve's trunk. I pulled out two buckets full of small chunks of raw meat, while Steve grabbed his bat and Dustin put on bright yellow rubber gloves.
"Dustin!" I faintly heard coming from Dustin's walkie talkie. "This is Lucas. Do you copy? Dustin?" Dustin turned and pressed a button on his walkie to speak into it.
"Well, well, well. Look who it is." Dustin remarked.
"Sorry, man. My stupid sister turned it off." Lucas apologized.
"Well, when you were having sister problems, Dart grew again, he escaped, and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon." Dustin explained in a sarcastic-ish tone.
"Wait, what?" Lucas asked.
"I'll explain later. Meet me, (Y/n) and Steve at the old junkyard."
"Steve?" Lucas questioned.
"And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket." Dustin demanded.
"Steve Harrington?" Lucas asked, thinking he must have misheard. Steve shut the trunk once everything we needed was out.
"All right, let's go." Steve sighed, and I picked up the two buckets to carry. Steve noticed I was carrying both and took one from me, to which I thanked him and he just nodded.
"Just be there. Over and out." Dustin spoke into his walkie before following Steve and I.
~
We walked along the train tracks that led to the old junkyard, tossing meat on the ground in a trail for Dart to follow later.
"All right, so let me get this straight." I walked beside Steve as Dustin walked ahead of us. "You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl who... who you just met?" Steve asked Dustin.
"Yeah, pretty much." I shrugged.
"All right, that's grossly over simplifying things." Dustin defended himself.
"I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?" Steve questioned.
"An interdimensional slug? Because it's awesome." Dustin grinned.
"Well, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't, I... I just... I don't know. I just feel like you're trying way too hard." Steve told him.
"Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, all right?" Dustin mumbled, looking down.
"It's not about the hair, man. The key with girls is just... just acting like you don't care." Steve advised. I rolled my eyes at them.
"Even if you do?" Dustin looked at Steve.
"Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts." Steve bullshitted.
"Really? Is that what you did with Nancy?" I asked, and Steve gave me a look. "I mean, you didn't care about her so much that you fought with Jonathan over her and managed to get your ass kicked?" I smiled at him mischievously to which he just rolled his eyes. Dustin continued with the conversation right after it.
"Then what?"
"You just wait, until uh... until you feel it." Steve shrugged.
"Feel what?" Dustin asked.
"It's like before it's gonna storm, you know? You can't see it but you can feel it, like this, uh... electricity, you know?"
"Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere--" Dustin began but was cut off by Steve.
"No, no, no, no, no. Like a... Like a sexual electricity."
"Oh." Dustin raised his eyebrows as he threw more meat on the ground.
"You feel that and then you make your move."
"And that's when you kiss her?" Dustin asked.
"No, whoa, whoa. Slow down, Romeo." Steve scoffed.
"Sorry." Dustin apologized under his breath.
"Sure, okay, some girls, yeah, they want you to be aggressive. You know, strong, hot and heavy, like a... I don't know, like a lion." Dustin made a little noise to signify that he was listening. "But others, you gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy, like a... like a ninja."
"What type is Nancy?" Dustin questioned.
"Nancy's different. She's different than the other girls." Steve told him.
"Yeah, she seems pretty special, I guess." Dustin shrugged.
"Yeah, yeah. She is."
"But this girl's special, too, you know. It's just, like, something about her." Dustin mumbled.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey." Steve quickly stopped him.
"What?" Dustin asked. The two of them stopped walking and I continued putting meat on the ground.
"You're not falling in love with this girl, are you?"
"Um, no. No." Dustin shook his head.
"Okay, good. Don't." Steve advised before the two continued walking. I stopped for a moment to continue walking beside them.
"I won't."
"She's only gonna break your heart, and you're way too young for that shit." I thought back to the party not too long ago, remembering how Steve and Nancy broke up. The two of them fell silent for a few seconds before Steve spoke up again. "Fabergé."
"What?" I asked.
Steve pointed to his hair for a second. "It's Fabergé Organics." He sighed, directing his sentence towards Dustin. "Use the shampoo and conditioner, and when your hair's damp..." He turned back to face Dustin. "It's not wet, okay? When it's damp..."
"Damp." Dustin repeated.
"You do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray." Steve mumbled. I grinned a bit.
"Farrah Fawcett spray?" I asked in a joking tone.
"Yeah, Farrah Fawcett." Steve nodded as he stopped walking. Dustin and I followed and looked at him. "You tell anyone I just told you that and your asses are grass." He threatened the two of us and I just continued chuckling to myself. "You're dead, Henderson and (L/n). Do you understand?"
Dustin and I nodded as Dustin spoke up. "Yup."
Steve sighed with a grin and nodded his head as he turned back to the railroad and began walking again. "Okay." The two of us walked beside him once more.
"Farrah Fawcett, really?" I asked once more.
"I mean, she's hot." Steve shrugged.
"Yeah." Dustin agreed.
"Is that why you use it?" I questioned Steve.
"What? No, no. Well, maybe." He joked and I smiled a bit, looking down at the railroads as I threw more meat onto it. I couldn't tell you why I was feeling so shy and anxious recently. I probably just needed some sleep.
~
We finally arrived at the junkyard after what felt like hours and our buckets were almost empty. Steve had put on some glasses at some point while we were walking, and when we arrived, the three of us stopped to look around at the scene.
"Oh, yeah. Yeah, this will do." Steve nodded in approval, taking off his sunglasses. "This will do just fine." He began walking towards the junkyard, and I looked at Dustin to see him smiling widely. "Good call, dude." Steve said to Dustin. We continued tossing the rest of the meat onto the ground in a trail up towards the center of the junkyard. Once we got to the center, Steve and I leaned over to dump what was remaining into a large pile. As we did so, a voice in the distance could be heard.
"I said medium-well!" Lucas shouted over at us. He waved, standing a bit in the distance. Next to him stood a vibrant redhead with her hands in her pockets. My mouth opened a bit in shock that Lucas would bring Max here with us knowing what we're about to do.
The two of them began walking over with Lucas walking his bike.
"Who's that?" Steve asked Dustin and I. Max crossed her arms as she walked. Dustin didn't respond, and Steve looked between the two of us, realizing who she was.
Once Lucas reached the three of us, Dustin asked for Lucas and I to follow him so we could talk in private. We crouched behind a red car for some privacy.
"You told her?" Dustin asked Lucas.
"So what?" He shrugged.
""So what?"" I repeated, confused as to why he didn't understand what Dustin and I were getting at.
"You guys wanted to tell her, too."
"But we didn't, all right?" Dustin sighed. "We all agreed not to tell her and to look for Dart."
"Who you conveniently found." Lucas rolled his eyes.
"Are you suggesting that I'm lying?" Dustin argued.
"I'm saying you have a creepy little bond with him." Lucas responded.
"Yeah, that was before he turned into a Demogorgon."
"And you haven't heard from Mike?" Lucas asked.
"No." I sighed.
"Or Will?" He questioned us.
"No." Dustin responded this time.
"Hopper?"
"No! No one is around." Dustin said in a frustrated tone. "Why do you think we're with Steve Harrington? Something's--"
Lucas cut him off. "Wrong. I agree. Which is why we need as much held as we can get."
"Lucas, she doesn't know what we're up against. We do. You're putting her life at danger, you realize that?" I explained, still upset that he would bring Max into this. While I wanted her in the party, I didn't want her to get hurt.
"She didn't believe me anyway." Lucas shrugged as the three of us stood to watch Max carry metal sheets towards a broken down bus.
"You probably didn't tell it right." Dustin argued.
"That must be it." Lucas agreed with a small grin. He turned to Dustin and held out his hand. "So, we good?" Dustin smiled a bit, about to shake his hand before Steve came up behind the three of us and smacked a rusty chair against the car.
"Hey! Dickheads!" He looked at the two kids before glancing at me. "And (Y/n). How come the only one helping me out is this random girl? We lose light in forty minutes. Let's go." He began walking off and we followed, but apparently not quickly enough. "Let's go, I said!"
"All right, asshole! God!" Dustin shouted at him.
"Okay! Stupid." Lucas did the same. I chuckled at them and jogged over to a metal sheet that was laying on the ground and began bringing it over to the bus to fortify our base.
We worked quickly and efficiently, the five of us. Rolling barrels and helping one another place sheets of metal onto the bus to secure it. I helped Max grab a ladder to place inside of the bus so we could access the roof while Steve poured a trail of gasoline from the center to the entrance of the bus.
By the time we figured we were finished, there was still some light outside. Tires lined the roof of the bus for protection and cover and tins and barrels sat outside the bus to fortify it a bit. We covered the windows with metal sheets and mesh coverings in case we needed to look outside.
Needless to say, we had to wait a long time. Lucas headed up to the roof to be on lookout with his binoculars, and Steve and I sat beside one another on the seats with Max to our side.
"So you really fought one of these things before?" Max asked us, her arms crossed. Steve nodded, playing with the lighter by flicking it on and off. "And you're, like, totally, a hundred percent sure it wasn't a bear?"
"Shit. Don't be an idiot. Okay? It wasn't a bear." Dustin raised his voice at Max. Max scoffed at him. "Why are you even here if you don't believe us? Just go home."
"Dustin!" I scoffed at his audacity and Max got up from her seat.
"Geesh. Someone's cranky. Past your bedtime?" She mocked him as she went over to the ladder. She climbed up as Dustin paced back and forth.
"That's good. Just show her you don't care." Steve congratulated Dustin.
"I don't." Dustin mumbled. Steve looked at him and winked. "Why are you winking, Steve? Stop." Steve shrugged and went back to playing with his lighter. I sighed at them.
"Acting like you don't care is just going to cause them to feel hurt and then they'll move on because you're an asshole." I told them, to which Steve rolled his eyes.
"I think I would know." Steve told me.
"You think you know what girls want more than girls?" I remarked sarcastically. Steve shrugged and nodded.
"Yeah."
"Do you know what Nancy wants? Do you think you know what I want?" I questioned him. He stared at me momentarily before looking away. "You're full of shit, Harrington."
"Yeah, well, I thought I knew what Nancy wanted for a while but I guess I was wrong about her." He mumbled, looking at his lighter. He sighed to himself and I looked away, feeling bad for the guy.
"They didn't do anything, Steve. He just took her home." I told him. "After I dropped you off, Jonathan came and picked me up. Nancy was asleep in the backseat of his car."
"That's not the point, (Y/n)." He glanced my way, to which I did the same. Our eyes met briefly before he began to speak again. "You know what she told me that day when we had gym and she came in?" He asked, and I shook my head, keeping my eyes on him. "She said she was just drunk. So I asked her to tell me that she loves me." He stopped flicking his lighter as he sat in thought. "She couldn't even get the words out of her mouth." He mumbled, and I looked away.
"Shit, Steve. I'm sorry, man." I sighed softly. "I didn't know that."
"And now I can't even apologize because she's not home and I got wrapped up in all of this... bullshit."
"Hey." I grabbed Steve's attention, and he looked at me. I looked his way, too. "If you weren't here, who'd keep Dustin in check?"
"You could." He shrugged.
"I mean, yeah. But I can't babysit and kill a Demogorgon at the same time like you. So I'm glad you're here with us." I smiled at him, to which Steve gave in and grinned a little to himself as he shrugged and looked away from me. The two of us looked back down at the ground as Steve flicked his lighter on and off once more in silence.
Only a minute or so passed before we could hear a loud screeching from outside of the bus. We shot up and looked outside the window, Dustin coming up next to us to look as well.
"You see him?" Dustin asked.
"No." Steve shook his head.
"Lucas, what's going on?" Dustin shouted up to the roof.
"Hold on!" Lucas yelled back. A second passed before he shouted again. "I've got eyes! Ten o'clock! Ten o'clock!" He stuttered through his words a bit, his voice cracking. We looked to see where he directed it at and Steve pointed.
"There." He said, and I caught glimpse of a figure wandering around.
"What's he doing?" Dustin asked in a hushed voice.
"I don't know." I whispered.
"He's not taking the bait. Why is he not taking the bait?" Steve muttered.
"Maybe he's not hungry?" I theorized.
"Maybe he's sick of cow." Steve stared ahead at the Demogorgon before pulling away from the window. Dustin and I looked back at him before a sinking feeling in my stomach grew. He turned towards the entrance.
"Steve? Steve, what are you doing?" I asked, pulling from the window too.
"Steve?" Dustin joined me. Steve grabbed his bat and held up his lighter.
"Just get ready." He told us, tossing the lighter to me. I caught it and chewed on my bottom lip.
"You can't be serious." I told him, and he didn't answer as he turned to the door. He opened it, the hinges creaking as he stepped down and made his way onto the dead grass. He held up his bat and I watched from the window, fidgeting with the lighter in anxiousness. Dustin shut the door in case the Demogorgon decided to come into the bus.
Steve slowly walked his way through the fog towards the center of the junkyard. Dart chittered, not noticing Steve right away. Steve whistled, trying to get it's attention. "Come on, buddy." He whistled some more, swinging his bat around in a bit of a careless and relaxed motion. Max quickly came down from the roof.
"What's he doing?" She asked us.
"Expanding the menu." Dustin responded. I sighed and continued watching, worried something might happen to him.
"Come on, buddy." Steve called again. "Come on, buddy. Come on. Dinner time." He stood in front of the pile of meat that we dumped out earlier, holding his bat in front of himself defensively. "Human tastes better than cat, I promise."
Max watched from the window with Dustin and I. "He's insane." She shook her head, and I nodded in agreement. Dustin just grinned.
"He's awesome." He smiled. I couldn't disagree with him.
Through the fog emerged Dart, but he looked ten times larger than when we last saw him. A voice from above began screaming. "Steve, watch out!" Lucas called out to him.
"A little busy here!" Steve called back, not taking his eyes away from Dart.
"Three o'clock! Three o'clock!" Lucas shouted, his voice cracking. My stomach dropped as Steve looked to his side to see a second Demogorgon. I ran over to the door and Dustin followed behind.
"Steve!" The two of us shouted. I quickly opened the door, the creaking louder on the rusty metal.
"Steve! Abort! Abort!" Dustin yelled loudly, the two of us standing at the door. As soon as Dustin shouted, Dart opened his face and began running directly towards Steve. The second one came from behind, and Steve dodged them both and ran to the left, rolling over the hood of a car. He recovered, quickly turning back towards the Demogorgons and smacking one with his bat that tried to attack him. Everyone stood by the door now, shouting frantically for Steve to run back over. The Demogorgons chased after Steve who was now running for his life back towards the bus doors.
He jumped in, avoiding all of the steps so he wouldn't get caught by the Demogorgon, and fell right into Lucas and I. Dustin shut the door quickly, the Demogorgons that were chasing him slamming against the door. Steve sat on the floor and quickly grabbed a sheet of metal that sat next to us before placing it against the door. He used his feet to block them from coming inside and pushed hard on the door. The bus rocked as the monsters screeched and slammed against the side hard. Steve's feet let loose of the metal, causing a Demogorgon to peek it's head in through the door.
Steve grabbed his bat and frantically began beating the shit out of it while the kids and I ran towards the back of the bus. I stood in front of them protectively while Dustin began talking into his walkie. "Is anyone there? Mike? Will? God! Anyone!" Dustin shouted. The second Demogorgon flung itself onto the side of the bus near us, leaving a large dent there. "We're at the old junkyard, and we are going to die!"
Clanking could be heard from above. It was slow, but it was moving closer and closer to us. The four of us in the back looked up, noticing little dents forming in coming closer towards us. Max stood by the ladder, and the Demogorgon towered above from the hole in the ceiling. Max looked up and began screaming, to which Steve ran over and pushed her out of the way.
"Out of the way! Out of the way!" He shouted at us before he stood underneath the Demogorgon, holding his bat up protectively. I grabbed onto Max and held onto the frightened girl. "You want some? Come get this!" The Demogorgon's face opened up as it screeched at Steve, until it's attention was averted elsewhere. Its face closed a bit as it looked to the side, stepping away from the hole before screeching into the sky. It walked off, jumping off of the bus which caused it to rock a bit. We all sat watching the roof before we heard monstrous roaring from a far distance.
Bravely, Steve stepped out of the bus, jumping when the door clanged. I followed behind him, and he looked around the junkyard before stepping off of the bus. We watched as one of the Demogorgons ran away from the area.
"What happened?" Lucas asked slowly, following behind Steve and I.
"I don't know." Max muttered.
"Steve scared 'em off?" Dustin thought.
"No. No way." Steve turned to face the kids and I. "They're going somewhere."