After looking away from Matthew, who was still smoking in the back of his car, Steve said with a tilt of his head, "Wait a sec. How big?"
With a gesture of his finger, Dustin told them, "First it was like that. Now he's like this."
After turning to look away from Dustin, Steve said to him, "I swear to God, man, it's just some little lizard, okay?"
Dustin replied, "It's not a lizard."
Steve asked him, "How do you know?"
In turn, Dustin asked him, "How do I know if it's not a lizard?"
Steve replied, "Yeah, how do you know it's not just a lizard?"
Dustin told him, "Because his face opened up and he ate my cat."
While Steve only raised his eyebrows to himself with a nod of his head, Matthew leaned forward from where he was sitting in the back of the car and said, "You know, Henderson, I've got a question that I've been dying to ask you since we got in this car. Is that okay?"
With a roll of his eyes, Dustin replied, "Fine. Whatever. Ask away."
Matthew asked him, "So, you said you found this, uh, lizard thing in your trash can outside of your home, right?" When Dustin only nodded his head, Matthew asked him, "And you said it yourself that it was unlike any lizard you've ever seen, right?"
When Dustin had nodded his head yet again, Matthew asked him, "So, what gave you the bright idea to bring a fucking faceless lizard into your fucking house, huh? Especially after what happened the last time we faced some fucking faceless creature almost a year ago? We almost fucking died at that school of yours because of that thing, and yet you still thought it was a good idea to bring that thing into your home?" When Dustin only sighed to himself, Matthew asked him, "Are you gonna answer my question or not?"
In turn, Dustin said to him, "I'm not."
Matthew replied, "And why the hell not, Henderson? You were the one that wanted my help to begin with, so why won't you just answer the damn question?"
Dustin told him, "'Cause I know that if I do answer your question, you're just gonna insult me the whole time and threaten me or whatever other thing you could do, and I really don't wanna deal with you or your shit. Ever think of that, Matt?"
With a wave of his hands, Matthew said, "I can see the headlines now. 'As of today, thirteen-year-old Dustin Henderson died because of his choice of being a complete fucking moron and bringing a faceless creature into his own home'. Oh, and your poor mother would be so heartbroken after losing her one and only son. I can only imagine what she would say when she found out that you were the reason that she couldn't find her cat."
After quickly turning around in his seat and pointing a finger in Matthew's face, Dustin said to him, "You keep my mom out of your mouth, Matt, or I swear to God—"
It was then that Matthew flicked open his switchblade and pointed it in Dustin's face as he asked the middle-schooler, "What? What are you gonna do if I don't, Henderson?"
Not long after that, Steve simply sighed to himself and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose and shake his head to himself.
* * *
After stopping in front of the cellar doors with Dustin and Matthew standing behind him, Steve said, "I don't hear shit."
Dustin told him, "He's in there."
After looking back over at Dustin and Matthew, one of whom was simply staring down at the cellar door and the other that was raising his eyebrows at Steve, Steve turned his attention back over to the closed cellar doors and lightly hit the bat against the chained doors.
After a couple seconds of silence, Steve hit the doors with the bat a little harder this time before he turned to Dustin and said to him, "Alright, listen, kid. I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank, you're dead."
Dustin told him, "It's not."
With a nod of his head, Steve said to him, "Alright?"
Dustin told him, "It's not a prank. If it was, do you think I would've brought Matt out here?" When Steve only nodded to himself with a mere tilt of his head and a raise of his eyebrows, Dustin said to him, "Get it out of my face."
While still pointing the flashlight into Dustin's face, Steve nodded his head over towards the cellar doors and asked Dustin, "You got a key for this thing?"
* * *
After giving the flashlight over to Steve and not seeing any sign of the faceless creature, Dustin said, "He must be further down there. I'll stay up here in case he tries to escape."
Not long after he said that, both Matthew and Steve slowly turned their heads to look over at Dustin, who only looked away from them and back down into the cellar.
After looking away from Dustin, Steve only let out a sigh before he started to make his way down the stairs with Matthew close behind him.
It wasn't until they were halfway down the stairs that Steve asked Matthew, "Hey, you got a bigger weapon than that knife of yours?"
With a scoff, Matthew said to him, "Of course I do, Harrington. I'm not a dumbass."
With a raise of his eyebrows, Steve replied, "Just asking. There's no knowing just what goes on in your head, Wheeler."
With a smirk now on his face, Matthew told him, "I'll take that as a compliment."
Steve only shook his head to himself before he eventually made his way down the rest of the stairs, only to find that the creature that Dustin was talking about was nowhere to be found.
What he did find, though, was what looked like a pile of gooey flesh that was left behind by the creature that Dustin had told them about.
After picking it up with the end of his bat, Steve looked over at Matthew, who was simply grimacing to himself with a scrunched up nose.
* * *
It wasn't until after Dustin had made it down the stairs and saw what was on the end of Steve's bat that he said, "Oh, shit."
While Matthew only raised his eyebrows at the thirteen-year-old boy, Steve pointed his flashlight over towards the other side of the cellar, which got Dustin to yell, "Oh, shit!"
Then the three of them slowly made their way over towards the hole in the wall and started to stare into the hole, while Dustin said, "No way. No way."
Then Matthew looked over at Dustin and said to him, "Well, so much for you keeping the damn thing in the cellar, Henderson." When Dustin quickly looked over at Matthew with narrowed eyes, Matthew said with a shrug, "What? You were the one that was keeping the damn thing in your house and then stuffing it into your cellar, not me."
* * *
While Matthew helped Steve with taking the things that were needed out of the trunk of his car, Dustin turned his back on the two high-schoolers and said into his radio, "Well, well, well, look who it is."
While Matthew went to look to see if there was a weapon that was much bigger than the crowbar that he took from the side of the road a little while ago, Dustin said into the radio, "Well, when you were having sister problems, Dart grew again, he escaped, and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon."
With a sigh, Matthew pulled his head out of the trunk of the car and went to say something to Steve, while Dustin said into the radio, "I'll explain later. Just meet me, Matt and Steve at the old junkyard. And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket."
It was then that Steve closed the trunk to the car and said, "Alright, let's go."
Then Dustin said into the radio, "Just be there, stat. Over and out."
* * *
While occasionally tossing raw meat onto the tracks, Steve said, "Alright, so let me get this straight. You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl who... who you just met?"
Dustin replied, "Alright, that's grossly oversimplifying things."
Steve asked him, "I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?"
With a scoff, Matthew said to Steve, "Takes one to know one, Harrington."
While Steve only rolled his eyes at Matthew, Dustin said to Steve, "An interdimensional slug? Because it's awesome."
Steve replied, "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, man."
Dustin retorted, "Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, alright?"
Steve told him, "It's not about the hair, man. The key with girls is just... just acting like you don't care."
Dustin asked him, "Even if you do?"
Steve replied, "Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts."
Dustin asked him, "Then what?"
Steve told him, "You just wait until, uh... until you feel it."
Dustin asked him, "Feel what?"
Steve said to him, "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?"
Dustin asked him, "Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere—"
Steve replied, "No, no, no, no, no. Like a... Like a sexual electricity."
In turn, Dustin said, "Oh."
While Matthew only rolled his eyes at them, Steve told Dustin, "You feel that and then you make your move."
Dustin asked him, "So that's when you kiss her?"
Steve said to him, "No, whoa, whoa. Slow down, Romeo."
In turn, Dustin said to him, "Sorry."
Steve said to him, "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."
With a snort, Matthew said, "Like a lion? Is that seriously the best analogy you could come up with, Harrington?"
With a sigh, Steve replied, "Shut it, Wheeler." Then he turned his attention back over towards Dustin and told him, "But others, you gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy, like a... like a ninja."
Dustin asked him, "What type is Nancy?"
After glancing over at Matthew, who was staring at him with a raised eyebrow, Steve told Dustin, "Nancy's different. She's different than the other girls."
Dustin said to him, "Yeah, she seems pretty special, I guess."
Steve replied, "Yeah. Yeah, she is."
Dustin told him, "But this girl's special, too, you know. It's just, like, something about her."
As he came to an abrupt halt, Steve said to him, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey."
While also coming to an abrupt halt, Dustin turned to Steve and said, "What?"
Steve asked him, "You're not falling in love with this girl, are you?"
With a shake of his head, Dustin said to him, "Uh, no. No."
While Matthew rolled his eyes at them yet again and went to walk past the two of them, Steve said to Dustin, "Okay, good. Don't."
Dustin replied, "I won't."
While they started to walk again, Steve told him, "She's only gonna break your heart, and you're way too young for that shit."
With a snort, Matthew turned to face Steve and asked him, "What, you mean like how Nancy apparently broke yours?"
With his eyes narrowed, Steve went to throw a raw piece of meat over towards Matthew, only for Matthew to do his best to dodge it and then fall backwards off of the track with a groan.
While Steve stared down at Matthew and walked past him with a smirk on his face and his eyebrows raised, Matthew stared up at him with a scowl on his face as he said, "Asshole."
* * *
After coming to a halt in the junkyard, Steve said with a nod of his head, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, this will do. This will do just fine. Good call, dude."
While Dustin grinned to himself and went to walk after Steve, Matthew simply stood there and stared after Steve with that same scowl on his face and a tight grip on the handle of his switchblade.
Not long after that, Matthew begrudgingly walked after the two of them and over to where they were pouring the leftover meat onto the ground, only to stop and turn his head when he heard a voice yell, "I said medium-well!"
Then Matthew tilted his head when he saw Lucas Sinclair standing with the red-headed girl that he'd seen around Billy Hargrove and Valerie Mayfield.
After taking a quick glance over towards Dustin, Steve asked him, "Who's that?"
When Dustin only stared at the girl, Steve started to look over towards Matthew, only to stop when he saw the murderous look that the sixteen-year-old boy had on his face.
* * *
After watching Matthew put an unlit cigarette into his mouth and then light it with his lighter, Steve asked him, "You're seriously smoking right now?" When Matthew only waved a hand in response, Steve asked him, "Why are you smoking?"
Matthew replied, "Why not? It helps to take my mind off of things that get me to freak the fuck out." When Steve only waved his hand in the red-headed girl's direction, Matthew told him, "She probably doesn't even care. I mean, with Val and Billy as her stepbrother and her actual sister— who both smoke, mind you— I doubt that she would give a shit if I smoked around her. Besides, why do you care? You're the one that keeps flicking open your fucking lighter, Harrington."
Steve told him, "Yeah, that's 'cause this lighter here is needed for the plan."
Matthew retorted, "Yeah, and this here cigarette is the only thing keeping me from fucking strangling you for the shit you pulled out on the tracks. So, either I smoke, or I go over to you and fucking kill you, Harrington. Your choice."
With a shake of his head, Steve went back to flicking open his lighter.
And not long after he did that, the red-headed girl asked him, "So you really fought one of these things before?" When Steve only nodded his head, she asked him, "And you're, like, totally, a hundred percent sure it wasn't a bear?"
It was then that Dustin said to her, "Shit. Don't be an idiot. Okay? It wasn't a bear. Why are you even here if you don't believe us? Just go home."
As she went to stand up from where she was sitting, the red-headed girl said, "Geesh. Someone's cranky. Past your bedtime?"
It wasn't until after she'd already climbed up the ladder and over towards where Lucas was staring out into the binoculars that Steve said to Dustin, "That's good. Just show her you don't care."
Dustin replied, "I don't." When Steve only winked at him, Dustin asked him, "Why are you winking, Steve? Stop.
With a smirk on his face, Matthew said, "Yeah, Steve. Why don't you stop giving the kid shit advice about how to win someone over?"
Steve replied, "Oh, yeah, Wheeler? Tell me something. Between the two of us, who's the one that's actually dated someone? 'Cause from what I can remember, you've never dated anyone. So..."
In response to Steve's words, Matthew's jaw had simply clenched, and his nose had flared before he took out his still lit cigarette and threw it over towards Steve.
With his eyes wide as ever, Steve quickly jumped up and out of his seat in an attempt to avoid the lit cigarette and then started to repeatedly put it out with his shoe.
As soon as it was put out, Steve turned to look over at Matthew with a scowl, only to stop and sit back down with his arms crossed over his chest when he saw yet another lit cigarette hanging out of Matthew's mouth.
* * *
After hearing a loud and abrupt roar from outside of the abandoned bus they were in, Matthew and Dustin quickly joined Steve by making their way over towards him and staring out the window.
After a couple seconds of them doing just that, Dustin asked Steve, "You see him?"
Steve replied, "No."
It was then that Dustin moved his head back and asked, "Lucas, what's going on?"
In turn, Lucas yelled, "Hold on! I've got eyes! Ten o'clock! T-Ten o'clock!"
Then Steve pointed a finger out in the direction that Lucas had just told them and said, "There."
Dustin asked him, "What's he doing?"
With a shake of his head, Steve said, "I don't know."
And while the three of them continued to stare out the window, Matthew slowly started to move his hand towards his zipped closed backpack.
Then Steve told them, "He's not taking the bait. Why is he not taking the bait?"
Dustin replied, "Maybe he's not hungry?"
Steve said to him, "Maybe he's sick of cow."
Then Steve quickly pulled away from the window and stared out the door to the bus, which got Dustin to ask him, "Steve? Steve, what are you doing?" When Steve didn't respond, Dustin said, "Steve?"
After turning around to look at both Matthew and Dustin with a lighter in hand, Steve told them, "Just get ready."
Then he tossed the lighter into Dustin's hands before the doors to the bus were opened and he eventually stepped out of it with the nailed baseball bat in hand.
It wasn't until after he was out of the bus that the bus doors were closed, and Matthew had finally pulled his crowbar out of his backpack.
Then Matthew quickly made his way over towards one of the windows and watched as Steve slowly walked in the direction of where the raw meat was sitting on the ground.
Not long after that, the red-headed girl climbed down the ladder and started to stare out the window as she asked Dustin and Matthew, "What's he doing?"
Dustin replied, "Expanding the menu."
With a shake of her head, she said, "He's insane."
With a grin on his face, Dustin said, "He's awesome."
Then Matthew said with a shake of his head, "He's a fucking dumbass."
Not long after Matthew said that, Lucas yelled, "Steve, watch out!"
In turn, Steve yelled, "A little busy here!"
Then Lucas yelled, "Three o'clock! Three o'clock!"
It wasn't until after one of the miniature Demogorgons had hopped up onto one of the cars and was staring directly at Steve that Dustin quickly ran towards the very front of the bus and yelled, "Steve!" After opening the doors to the bus, Dustin yelled, "Steve! Abort! Abort!"
After watching Steve throw himself out of the way and over an abandoned vehicle from an incoming Demogorgon and then proceed to swing his bat at another Demogorgon, Matthew said to himself, "Holy shit."
And while Matthew continued to stare at Steve with wide eyes, the three middle-schoolers started to repeatedly yell for Steve to hurry and run over towards the bus that they were in.
It wasn't until Steve had thrown himself into the bus that they attempted to fully shut the door, only for the Demogorgon that was running after him to repeatedly throw itself at the door.
While Matthew held onto the crowbar with an even tighter grip and stared at the door that Steve was trying to push shut with the bottom of his shoes, the red-headed girl asked them, "Are they rabid or something?"
While Dustin went ahead and sat in the driver's seat to the bus, Lucas yelled, "They can't get in! They can't!"
It wasn't long after he said that that one of the Demogorgons had forced its way through the nearly closed door to the bus and Steve was starting to repeatedly hit it with his nailed baseball bat, while Dustin yelled, "Shit!" Then he asked into his radio, "Is anyone there? Mike? Will? God! Anyone!"
After a banging was heard on the back of the bus and the red-headed girl had let out a scream, Dustin yelled, "Shit!" While Lucas and the red-headed girl quickly moved away from the back of the bus and over towards where the ladder was with Matthew standing in front of them and holding his crowbar like he would a baseball bat, Dustin yelled into the radio, "We're at the old junkyard, and we are going to die!"
It was then that the sound of a door clattering was heard and the sound of a thud from on top of the bus, which got the red-headed girl to slowly look up and see a Demogorgon holding onto the ladder and staring down into the bus.
As soon as the red-headed girl started to scream, Matthew quickly pushed her behind him with his eyes directly on the Demogorgon, while Steve yelled, "Out of the way! Out of the way!"
While now slightly standing in front of Matthew and the three middle-schoolers, Steve was holding his bat up again and towards the Demogorgon as he said, "You want some? Come get this!"
In turn, the Demogorgon only opened up its face and let out a screech before it turned to look away from them and then let out a growl before it started to run away from the opening to the top of the bus.
It wasn't long after they heard some growling in the distance that they hesitantly opened the doors to the front of the bus and stepped out of it to see no signs of any more Demogorgons.
After watching both Matthew and Steve step off of the bus with weapons in their own hands, Lucas took a step off of the bus and asked them, "What happened?"
The red-headed girl replied, "I don't know."
Then Dustin asked them, "Steve scared 'em off?"
With a shake of his head, Steve said, "No. No way. They're going somewhere."