As quickly as we could, the three of us took turns helping each other bandage our hands. Johnathan wrapped his own in the white gauze, and as he began to work on Nancy's the crimson was already seeping through. Nancy, in turn, circled the bandage around my hand gently. She looked up for a moment, eyes wide. "Did you hear that?"
"It's just the wind, Nance," Johnathan said. "Don't worry. The lights will flicker before it gets here."
"Is that too tight?" She asked me as she put some tape on to keep the bandage from unraveling.
"No it's perfect. Thank you," I said, standing up and grabbing the bat with the nails in it. From the corner of my eye I noticed Nancy taking Johnathan's hand into hers, inspecting his. I gave the bat a few swings, before a banging on the front door almost made me drop it out of shock. My head whipped around to look at Nancy and Johnathan, both looking as bewildered as I felt.
"You expecting a date tonight, Byers?" I asked as I walked slowly to the front door, the bat heavy in my hand.
"Johnathan? Are you there, man? It's Steve!" The banging continued. Definitely not anyone I was expecting. What the hell is he doing here? "Listen I just want to talk!" Apparently that.
The knocking on the door continued before I opened the latch and cracked the door, leaving only enough room for my face to show. "Listen-" I started but he quickly cut me off.
"Henderson, what.. what are you doing here?" He examined my face. "Listen, I listened to what you said and I know I need to apologize to Johnathan so will you please open the door?" He asked, trying to push his way through. I pushed back, knowing how hard it would be to explain all the shit behind this door. Our blood was still fresh on the carpet, and the Demogorgon will be here any second.
"Why are you always showing up at the most inconvenient of times, Harrington?" I shook my head and shifted my weight to my right leg, my left one throbbing from over-exertion. "You can't come in right now. Come back later, please; It's for everyone's sake." I tried to push him back so I could close the door without hurting him, but he grabbed my wrist.
"Y/N, what's this? Why are you bleeding? What happened?" It was a funny question, coming from someone who still had a busted lip and black eye. His eyes hardened and his jaw set as he tried to look inside the house again. "Did he do this to you?"
"No, Steve it's not what it looks like, I swear. Please just go," He was taking up too much time, at this point we were sitting ducks. I tried again to shut the door but he pushed back even harder this time.
"Y/N you need to let me in right now," He said, his protectiveness taking over and pushing the door open against my adamant protests. I stepped back before the door swung open and Steve launched himself inside the house.
He looked down to the bat in my hand, then to the gun on the table. "What the- Nancy?" His voice pitched as he saw her, confusing him even more. "What are you three-" I could see so many questions forming in his head that his mouth couldn't decide which ones to say.
"You need to get out of here," Johnathan said, pushing him towards the door by a fistful of Steve's shirt.
"What's going on in here?" Steve planted his feet, determined to stay until he got some answers. Noble intentions, Steve, but it's really not the time for this.
"I'm not asking you, I'm telling you: Get out of here!" Johnathan yelled.
"What is that smell? Is that Gasoline?" Steve's panicked voice rose above Johnathan's, who was still trying to push Steve out the door. I grabbed one of Steve's arms and started pulling too.
"I promise things will make more sense later, please Harrington," I pleaded.
I heard the sound of a gun clicking. "Steve!" Nancy yelled pointing the gun at him. "Get out!"
"Holy shit Nancy-" I said, my voice cracking.
"W-wait wait, What?" He yelled. His hands were up in surrender as he backed away from Nancy, pushing me behind him as well. "What is going on?!"
"Nancy this isn't helping!" I said in a sing song-y voice.
"You have five seconds to get out of here!" She said, Steve still sputtering and tripping over his words.
"Is this a joke? Stop, stop. Put the gun down! Hold on!"
"I'm doing this for you," She said, taking another step closer.
The Christmas lights behind her started to flicker. The Demogorgon was here. "Shit, shit, shit," I said raising my bat in defense.
"Nancy," Johnathan attempted to get her attention, but her eyes were locked on Steve's panicked movements.
"What is this?" Steve shouted again.
"Nancy," I said in a warning tone. The lights began to blink faster.
She started counting down, still attempting to get Harrington out of the house. "Three. Two."
"No, no, no! No, no!" Steve screamed, waving his arms at her to get her to stop.
"Nancy!" Johnathan and I screamed in unison. She turned to look at us. "The lights," Johnathan breathed.
"It's here," I said, looking around the front room for any sign of attack.
"Woah, woah, woah, what's here?" Steve spun around looking at each of us wielding a weapon.
"Where is it?" I muttered searching in every corner, but not leaving from Steve's side. Because he was unarmed. Obviously.
"Where is what?"
"I don't know!" Nancy called back to me. All of the lights in the house were on the fritz, blinking rapidly making it difficult to see nearly anything.
"Goddamn it, where is it?" I yelled again.
"Hello? Will someone please explain to me what the hell is going on-" Steve's concerned screaming was cut off by the collapsing of the roof on the far left of the room. Nancy screamed and I pushed Steve behind me as the monster dropped down from the ceiling and let out a deafening roar. She started shooting at it, until Johnathan wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back down the hall.
"Go, go, go!" he yelled, so I grabbed Steve's wrist and pulled him along with the rest of us.
"Jump!" I warned him as we passed the bear trap in the middle of the hallway.
"Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god!" He screamed as he ran, being the last person into Will's bedroom. Nancy slammed the door shut. "Jesus, Jesus, What the hell was that?" he screamed, looking at us for the answers he needed.
"Shut up!" The three of us yelled together. There was another roar heard from the other side of the door. Loud, slow thumps made its way closer and closer to us. "What's it doing?" Nancy asked.
"I don't know," I said. Johnathan stood with his lighter lit, ready to light the gasoline trail the moment the yo-yo moved. But it didn't. The movement stopped. The electricity jolted and then went back to normal. All was quiet. "Do you guys hear anything?" I asked.
"Nope," Nancy and Johnathan muttered together.
Steve's panicked breath slowed from behind me, and the four of us crept out from Will's room. The monster was nowhere to be found. Not in the hallway, not in the living room. It just disappeared. Steve started muttering to himself, his head shaking in denial.
"This is crazy," he repeated over and over. "This is crazy, This is crazy!" He ran over to the phone and started to dial what I could only assume was 9-1-1. Nancy snatched the receiver from him and threw it to the floor. "What are you- What are you doing are you insane?" He yelled, his voice cracking as he looked at Nancy like a mad man.
"It's going to come back!" she yelled at him.
"It's not safe for you to be here," I stepped forward, his gaze slowly going from Nancy to me as I spoke.
"It's not safe for any of you guys to be here!" He argued. His eyes drifted to Johnathan, standing a bit behind us. Then back to Nancy. His jaw tightened as he seemed to come to a resolution in his mind.
"Go. It's going to be ok," I reassured himself. And maybe myself a little bit.
He took one last look at the three of us. We were definitely a sight to see. Bloodied and battered, but still upright. Barely. "This is crazy," He muttered before sprinting out the front door and to his car. I turned to look at my two friends.
"You guys ok?"
Johnathan laughed, "That was insane-"
The Christmas lights buzzed again. The darkness outside combined with the blindingly bright rainbow lights left a sickening strobe effect as they blinked, making finding an inter-dimensional monster even more difficult to find. My eyes squinted as I tried to focus at the task at hand.
"Where is it?" Nancy yelled, all three of us pressing together for support.
"Come on you son of a bitch," Johnathan threatened.
My head started to hurt. "I can't see for shit!"
The lights went out completely. I spun around, reaching out for Nancy's hand for a brace in the pitch-darkness. Nancy's eyes must have adjusted before mine did, because she yelled, "Johnathan!" Almost as soon as he was knocked to the ground by what I could only assume was the monster. I saw a shadowy figure over Johnathan, and heard the gross rumbling of the Demogorgon as it reared to attack.
"Go to hell you son of a bitch!" Nancy fired the gun at the monster, over and over, to no avail. I swung my bat and it connected with its rib cage. Roaring, its mouth turned, wide open, towards me. I brought the bat up over my head and swung it down with all my might. The nails struck the top of its head, and it roared in pain. The Demogorgon took a long, clawed arm and swatted me away like nothing. I collided with the wall, dropping the bat as I tried to protect my head from any serious damage.
Nancy's gun fired again as the monster crept towards her in long, stalking steps. Click, click, click. I could hear from the floor, she was out of ammo, and hope. I quickly crawled around searching for my bat, anything that could save her before it was too late, before Harrington came in swinging like a knight in shining armor.
He wielded the bat like a trusted sword as he struck again and again at the Demogorgon.
"Steve!" Nancy shouted in surprise.
I grinned breathlessly. "Harrington."
Johnathan helped me stand up, wrapping me in the quickest hug possible, just to make sure I was ok. The monster had zero time to recover as Steve hit it non-stop, backing it down the hall, and right into our trap. "It's in the trap! It's stuck!" he yelled towards us.
"Now, now, Johnathan!" I pushed him forward as he scrambled to find his lighter in his coat pocket. He lit it and tossed it as quickly as he could. The lighter connected with the gasoline and immediately ignited with a whoosh, setting the Demogorgon on fire. It screeched and howled in pain, and I had to avert my eyes from the brightness of the fire. I spotted red near the couch. I ran towards it, grabbing the fire extinguisher as the creature's languished screeches faded. I quickly pulled the tab and emptied the contents of the extinguisher in the direction of the fire, before it could spread throughout the house.
The fumes flooded my nose, as well as the smell of burning flesh, and I choked as the smoke clouded the house. I backed away, towards the group and swatted the air away with my hands as much as I could. As the smoke cleared, there was nothing to be found within the trap.
"Are you shitting me?" I asked.
"No. No it has to be dead. We had to have killed it," Johnathan panted.
"Is everyone, you know, relatively ok?" I asked, looking around.
Nancy and Johnathan nodded, and we all looked over to Steve, who was staring at the three of us like a deer caught in headlights. "No, no, I'm fine don't worry about me. We just killed a giant monster that has a face that opens up and almost ate us! I'm fine! I'm cool!" His hands were running through his perfect hair, making it not so perfect, but not any less charming.
All of us looked a wreck, actually. The front half of Nancy's hair had fallen completely out of her ponytail, and both Johnathan and Steve were still severely beaten from their previous fight. I could only guess what I looked like as well.
Nancy wrapped Johnathan in a huge hug, and I watched Steve's face falter immediately. I could tell the two of them probably needed to talk, so I grabbed Steve's wrist and started heading to the bathroom. "Your face is still caked in blood, Harrington." Yes, it was more of an excuse to leave Nancy and Johnathan alone for a while, but treating his injuries sounded like a smart thing to do as well.
"You're bleeding all over," he joked, looking me up and down. I hid my face, trying to find a first-aid kit in the bathroom. Choosing to use the palm of my hand as the place to draw blood from was a bad idea in hindsight. I use my hands so much that it made it almost impossible to keep from bleeding. On top of this, the slowly-building scab on my leg opened up again throughout the fight. It left the skin around it red, raw, and sore, and it hurt so much to walk. "Y/N, sit down."
"You first," I smirked, pulling out a white box with the red cross on it. Then I grabbed a wash cloth and ran it under the warm water of the sink. "Harrington, I'm serious. Sit on the counter. I can't reach your face otherwise, you're too tall."
He stared me down with his hands on his hips. I put my hands on my hips as well. Two can play this game, Harrington. We can't both be stubborn. He rolled his eyes, giving up. "Fine. But you're next after me."
"Fair," I sighed, as he sat down on the counter next to the sink. I reached up to his face, with the cloth in my not-bleeding hand, and began to dab at the skin around his eye. There was a cut along the bridge of his nose, near his eyebrow, and his left eye was fairly swollen. The bottom of his lip was also busted. Johnathan wrecked his shit pretty badly. And yet? He still didn't look half bad. "Thank you. For coming back for us," I said after a moment. My elbow rested on his shoulder as I continued to swipe at the dried blood near his forehead.
"It's what I needed to do. I couldn't let myself walk away from my girlfriend and one of my friends in danger," He shrugged. I could have smacked myself in the head. Girlfriend, Y/N, girlfriend, get that in your head. I don't know why that word hit me so hard every time it escaped his lips. "I'm glad I came back. You guys definitely needed me," he joked, his head leaning forward as if what he said was only for me to hear. "I think I'm still in shock. That's the thing that hurt your leg, isn't it?"
I nodded, swallowing my pain for just a few more moments so I could finish cleaning up his face. With all of the dried blood gone, there were only the abrasions left on his nose and forehead. I grabbed a tube of Neosporin and applied some to each area. "There, it's like nothing ever happened." I gave him a smile before stepping back, resting against the wall for support as my leg felt like giving out.
"Ok, your turn, Henderson," He said, grabbing from underneath my arms and lifting me up onto the counter where he had just sat.
"Nooo, Steve," I groaned. I can't explain, even to myself, why I was so adamant on not letting him help me.
"Shut up and just let me help you." Propping my leg up onto the counter as well, he started rolling up my pant leg to get a better view of my calf. While keeping eye contact with me. God, is he doing this on purpose? Heat rose to my face, and I looked away so he wouldn't see. "Sorry, does that hurt?" he asked quickly, lifting his hands away, taking the warmth with them.
"I'll be ok, keep going." I swallowed, my throat dry, and I forced myself to not react physically, lest Steve get worried again. He was gentle and his hands were light as he began to unravel the gauze, starting at the top. As the fabric reached the top of the rip in my skin, it caught, seemingly stuck together over the course of the last day or so of complete misadventure. I screwed my eyes and mouth shut and prepared for the stupid amount of pain that was about to come as Steve continued to peel the gauze connected to the claw marks.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit! Harrington, oh my god could you go any slower?" I asked sarcastically. I think he was trying to make it hurt less by going agonizingly slow, which was thoughtful, but definitely not helping.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Steve ran his hands through his hair and then looked at me. "I'm going to pull it off quickly, ok? But it's gonna hurt like shit."
"It already hurts like shit!" I said, my voice raising.
"Ok, just calm down. On three, ready?"
I nodded my head.
"One." His hands wrapped around the fabric, grabbing a handful of it so he had more to anchor a larger pull.
"Two." He looked up at me through a sheet of eyelashes. His eyes were full of worry. Maybe pity. Two of my least favorite emotions to see on someone's face.
"Three." He pulled, slowly at first then gradually adding speed. The already raw skin burned as the bloody, yellowed gauze disconnected from the open flesh. My fingers dug into Steve's shoulder. My chest felt tight and I closed my mouth to not let my scream escape. It didn't work very well.
"Holy shit, Y/N are you-" Johnathan and Nancy were standing in the doorway, but at the sight of the Freddy Kruger-gore-shit happening to my leg their mouths dropped. Nancy turned away, not able to look closer, but Johnathan stepped forward. "That has to be infected!" Steve had pulled off all the gauze by now and my calf muscle was twitching in pain.
"Uh huh, thanks Dr. Byers for the diagnosis," I said through gritted teeth.
"Jesus ok," Johnathan muttered under his breath, pulling Steve away from me to get a better look. Then he shuffled through the first aid kit for saline solution and poured some on another wash cloth. "Alright, I'm just going to clean it... It's probably gonna sting."
"Of course it will," I laughed dryly.
"You've already gotten through the worst of it I promise," He reassured. Starting at the top he worked his way down my leg, cleaning the blood and the area around the claw marks. A bit of the solution seeped into the open tissue and I groaned as it stung. but Johnathan was annoyingly right. The worst of it was definitely over. Still hurt like shit though. He helped put some ointment on it and wrapped it up again. "Can you stand?" he asked me.
"I don't want to even if I could," I joked.
"Maybe we should do something more helpful than saline solution; Like, I don't know, maybe take them to a doctor?" Steve suggested sarcastically.
I hadn't noticed that Nancy had left the bathroom until she called to us from the front room. "Hey guys, I think those Ambulances are headed in the direction of the school..."
"Shit, the kids, we forgot about the kids!" I jumped down from the counter before my knee gave out, forcing Johnathan and Steve both to reach out to steady me before I crashed to the floor. "I'm fine, come on we have to go!"
"We can take my car," Steve said grabbing his keys. Before he ran out the door he stopped at Nancy. "Nance-" He started, apology at the ready, but she cut him off, pulling him into a hug.
"Thank you, Steve," She muttered into his chest, and he sank into the hug with a smile on his face.
"Come on, lovebirds, we have children to save," I said rolling my eyes. Johnathan's arm was supporting me around my waist, my arm flung around his shoulder, as he helped me hobble out his front door and into Steve's car.
I was sitting in the back seat anxiously with Johnathan as we kept getting passed by first responders. Pulling into the middle school wasn't easy, and from the back all I could see were the flashing lights coming from the various vehicles all over the campus.
"Dustin?" I called out as I climbed out of the car. I spotted his curly head of hair huddled around Mike and Lucas. His head perked up at the sound of his name. He was sitting in the back of an Ambulance, wrapped in a thin brown blanket, similar to the ones around his friends as well.
"Dusty!" His eyes locked with mine from afar, and his face broke out into a toothless grin. He hopped down from the back of the vehicle and ran as quickly as his short legs could carry him right into my arms. "I'm so glad you're ok," I whispered, my fingers in his hair comfortingly.
"Are you ok?" He asked in return. "Where did you go?"
"We killed a freaking demogorgon!" I grinned.
"Eleven did too!" Our shared joy faltered as he looked at me again. "Eleven, she's gone. She saved us and then... poof, disappeared."
"Well we can just go looking for her, right? Like when she left after she hurt Lucas," I tried to reassure him.
"No, Y/N I think she's really gone." He looked up at me sadly.
"I'm so sorry Dusty," was all I could think to say. She was such a strange addition to our lives, and she had been removed from it as quickly as she had appeared.
Nancy got out of Steve's car and found Mike, who was being reunited with his parents. I saw Lucas stand up and be swept up into a hug from his mother, and his little sister Erica being reluctantly pulled into the embrace as well.
Johnathan nudged my shoulder. "Maybe we should get you to one of those ambulances and see what they can do about your leg?"
***
"Here, let me get the door for you," Steve said opening up the passenger seat door for me to get out. Dustin handed me a pair of crutches.
"Maybe I should get injured more often, if you guys are going to be this nice to me," I joked, setting the crutches underneath my arms.
"Or how about: Let's not," Dustin stared at me like I was crazy, and we both broke out into laughter.
Will had been recovered from the Upside Down and admitted to the hospital, to which the three of us were heading right now. Nancy and Mike were already there, along with Lucas and the other Byers.
Nancy rose to greet us when the waiting room door opened. "Hey," she breathed, standing on her toes to give Steve a hug. Then she turned to me. "How are you holding up?"
"Six freaking stitches!" I rolled my eyes.
She looked over to Dustin. "How much convincing did it take to get them to use the crutches at all?" she laughed.
"All day," he groaned. When Nancy laughed again his face lit up, and he went to go sit with his friends.
"I think he likes you," I whispered jokingly.
"I think so too." She nudged my shoulder then walked over to her seat, kicking her dad's feet out of the way so that I could make my way behind her without tripping. Ted, now wide awake, looked at me as I sat down.
"What happened to you?" he asked looking me up and down.
"I fell," I said, staring at him blankly. That was enough of an answer for him so he shrugged and went back to sleep.
An hour or so passed by. Dustin was passed out on Lucas's shoulder, who was snoring loudly with his head against the wall. Mike was leaned forward, staring off into space with his knee bouncing. I've always felt that Will was most important to Mike. He was probably anxious to see him.
The door opened wide and all the people in the room, save Lucas and Dustin who were still asleep, sat up a little bit straighter to hear the news. Johnathan stood in the doorway, eyes tearful. "He's awake," He smiled. Mike leapt up and shook his friends.
"You guys, Will's up!" He said, as the two startled awake. Without a moment to let them process his words, Mike was running down the hall, the others close on his trail. Johnathan walked behind them, his hands in his pockets.
"Come on," Nancy said, standing. We left the crowded waiting room as quickly as my crutches could allow.
Standing in the doorway of Will's room, she and I watched as our siblings reunited with their friend. Nothing could wipe away their smiles. They hugged, more like piled on to, Will and immediately jumped into a rushed re-telling of the current events. Seeing them all together again and happy pulled at my heartstrings. What would I have told Barb if she had made it too? She should have made it back. I don't think I can ever forgive myself for leaving her that day. Something shifts in Nancy's body language. She looks into my eyes and we share a silent conversation. She misses her too. Nancy and I will not forget Barb.
***
"Hey, thank you again, Steve. For everything. The car rides, the emotional support, and you know, monster slaying." We were standing outside my front door. Dustin had already ran inside, so it was just the two of us.
"No, no I should be thanking you. You really knocked some sense into me back when we were at the gas station. I'm so happy you're my friend, Y/N." He was looking so sincerely into my eyes.
"I promise I'm a step up from Tommy and Carol," I teased.
"Yeah, I know you are."
As unwanted as it was, heat traveled to my ears and my cheeks. I rolled my eyes and laughed lightly, "Whatever, later Harrington!"
"You have my number, remember? Call me if you need me!" he said over his shoulder, already on his way back to his car. I recalled the picture Johnathan had taken of me forever ago with Steve's number scribbled on the back.
Closing the front door behind me I yelled to Dustin. "Hey Dusty! Get the popcorn ready! I still have that rental of Return of The Jedi to watch!"