✨CHAPTER 27✨
Steve was slowly trying to understand what Dustin has told him, processing what he has heard. "Wait a sec. How big?" Steve asks, interrupting the boy.
"First it was like that. Now he's like this." Dustin says, showing the size difference with his hands.
"I swear to God, man, it's just some little lizard, okay?" Steve says, not believing the boy.
"It's not a lizard." Dustin says in defence.
"How do you know?" Steve asks.
"How do I know if it's not?" Dustin answers him with a question.
"How do you know it's not just a lizard?" Steve questions the boy again.
"Because his face opened up and he ate my cat." Dustin states, shutting the teenager up, the drive to the Henderson house was quiet.
Driving into the driveway, only to see Hailey standing with her arms crossed, glaring as she saw her brother in the car. "What did you do to upset your sister?" Steve ask the boy, seeing her looking ready to kill. Dustin shook his head, not wanting to talk about it.
"Could you have taken any longer?" Hailey snaps in question. Dustin shyly walks closer to her, afraid he might die from her stare.
"I wasn't able to get Hopper, or any of the others, but I bumped into Steve and asked for his help." Dustin informs his sister, only then did she notice the teenager.
"Technically, I was dragged here." Steve points out, grabbing the bathroom from his car, Hailey could tell Dustin atleast informed him of what's going on, they took him to where they locked Dart in.
Steve stood closer, trying to listen if he heard anything, but there was no sound. "I don't hear shit." He says.
"He's in there." Dustin informs him, but Steve wasn't having any of it, he was already in a bad mood, he didn't need to be here when it wasn't actually necessary. "All right, listen, kid. I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank, you're dead." He says looking at Dustin.
"Stevie, trust me, I wish it was a prank." Hailey says, staring at the lock doors, he knocks on the door with the baseball.
"Hailey, You got a key for this thing?" Steve asks her, she nodded her head, handing over the keys to him, he opens the door, taking the flashlight from Dustin.
"Let me see that."
Looking down, they weren't able to see anything. "He must be further down there." Dustin points out, afraid of the thing he wanted to keep as a pet.
"I'll stay up here in case he tries to escape." Dustin says, Hailey sighs at her brother's cowardness taking the first few steps down, Steve immediately followed her, he couldn't let her go down there by herself, so he stayed close.
"Hailey? Steve?" Dustin calls down after a while of silence. "Steve, what's going on down there?" He calls once again, only to get a jump scare when Hailey appeared in his sight. "You better get your ass in here. Now!" She snaps, making him come down the stairs fast.
Dustin saw the skin on Steve's bat as he got down there. "Oh, shit. Oh, shit!" Dustin grunts out, knowing the creature has grown bigger, and there was a hole in the wall which is obviously were this creature has escaped from, and the path seemed to never end.
"No way. No way."
Surprisingly Steve decided to stay and help the siblings catch Dart, so as the sun started to rise bringing another day forth. The three were busy unloading the car with buckets of cow meat at the location where they will start leading the creature to a certain location.
Hailey glanced at Steve, for some reason things haven't been the same ever since Nancy broke up with him, and she felt like he was pushing her away too.
"Well, well, well, look who it is." Dustin says into his headset, Hailey took a wild guess and took it was Lucas, she wasn't able to hear what the other has to say.
"Well, when you were having sister problems, Dart grew again, he escaped, and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon."
Hailey rolled her eyes, if she recalled correctly that is what Will was trying to tell them that day in the AV club room.
"I'll explain later. Meet me and Steve at the old junkyard, and bring your binoculars and wrist rocket."
Hailey made sure she had everything that was needed, only to catch Steve looking at her, he quickly looks away closing his boots door in a hurry.
"All right, let's go." Steve says in a hurry, embarrassed he got caught staring.
"Just be there, stat. Over and out." Dustin says to Lucas, and so the three started following the train tracks.
"All right, 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?" Steve asks Dustin, watching Hailey who was walking a few steps ahead of them, the girl was glad she wasn't the only one thinking her brother was being ridiculous.
"All right, that's grossly oversimplifying things." Dustin points out.
"I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?" Steve asks trying to understand what the boy was thinking.
"An interdimensional slug? Because it's awesome." Dustin says in defence.
"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 too hard." Steve points out to the Henderson boy, Hailey couldn't help but laugh silently as she listens to their conversation throwing meat to the ground.
"Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, all right?" Dustin states in a slight jealousy tone. Hailey was curious about what advice Steve would be giving his brother. "It's not about the hair, man. The key with girls is just... just acting like you don't care." Steve points out.
"Even if you do?" Dustin asks, looking up at Steve in confusion.
"Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts." Steve says, Hailey couldn't help but roll her eyes, but kept on listening as she walked forward.
"Then what?" Dustin questions.
"You just wait until, uh... until you feel it." Steve says.
"Feel what?"
"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?" Steve tries to explain to the boy.
"Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere..." Dustin states, Hailey just had to smile at her innocent little brother not getting what Steve was actually telling him, Steve quickly cut him off. "No, no, no, no, no. Like a... Like a sexual electricity."
"Oh."
"You feel that and then you make your move." Steve says, making the younger boy question him. "So that's when you kiss her?"
"No, whoa, whoa. Slow down, Romeo." Steve says, hoping Hailey wasn't thinking he's trying to turn her brother into some player.
"Sorry."
"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." Steve explains, his eyes on Hailey, wondering what type of girl she actually is, she was never as easy to read.
"Mmm."
"But others, you gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy, like a... like a ninja."
"What type is Nancy?" Dustin curiously asked, making Steve hesitate to actually answer. "Nancy's different. She's different than the other girls."
"Yeah, she seems pretty special, I guess."
"Yeah. Yeah, she is."
"Just out of curiosity, what type is my sister than?" Dustin asks catching the Harrington teenager off guard. "Well... Hailey... She's out of every guy's league, even mine."
"But this girl's special, too, you know. It's just, like, something about her." Dustin speaks up, hoping to take the conversation into another direction.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey."
"What?"
"You're not falling in love with this girl, are you?" Steve questions him.
"Uh, no. No." Was Dustin's only response.
"Okay, good. Don't."
"I won't."
"She's only gonna break your heart, and you're way too young for that shit." Steve points out, after those words left his mouth a sudden silence fell over the three, Hailey felt like her own heart breaking.
Hailey started walking faster, getting even more ahead of the two, but she did so, so that she wasn't able to hear them talking anymore, as Steve was telling dustin the secret to his hair, he did notice Hailey walking faster than before, he felt like she was trying to distance himself from her, and that made his heart cleanch.
They finally arrived at the junkyard after a long day of walking, Steve was the first to sigh, inspecting the area Dustin has chosen to capture Dart. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, this will do. This will do just fine. Good call, dude" Harrington says, walking forward, Hailey ruffled her brother's hair with a smile, making the smile on his own face grow even more, glad both teenagers were satisfied with his plan.
They kept throwing a trail of meat until the middle of the junkyard, throwing what they had left over in a pile.
"I said medium-well!" A voice yelled, looking up Hailey couldn't help but frown, seeing Lucas with the red head girl, making her sigh out in annoyance.
"Who's that?" Steve asks the boy, but Dustin wasn't very happy to see her either.
First they needed to turn the bus into a hiding place, where Dart won't be able to reach them, thinking they are food. Hailey was ready to kill a boy, when she found out he has told her everything, things they weren't even suppose to bring up to other people.
Steve was getting annoyed at two boys hiding behind the car, gossiping like two little girls, he slams a chair against the car making them jump. "Hey! Dickheads. How come the only ones helping me out is this random girl and Hailey?" He asks making the two boys curse at him silently.
"We lose light in 40 minutes. Let's go. Let's go, I said!" Steve states trying to get them to move faster, since they didn't have a lot of time left
"All right, asshole! God!" Dustin says annoyed.
"Okay! Stupid." Lucas mutters as they follow behind the teenager.
Hailey and max was put in charge of finishing the bus, the boys said they would finish everything on the outside, which made things move along faster. Hailey has found herself checking out Steve, he looked so good, working as hard as he was.
As they were able to finish up, the group got in the bus, hiding and waiting for Dart to show up.
Lucas was on the look out on the roof, Dustin was walking up and down, Hailey was watching Steve playing with the lighter, wondering why he decided to stay and help in the first place.
"So you really fought one of these things before? And you're, like, totally, 100% sure it wasn't a bear?" Max asks, breaking the silence, Steve nodding his head at her first question.
"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." Dustin snaps in annoyance, shocking Hailey, she couldn't understand why he was acting this way.
"Geesh. Someone's cranky. Past your bedtime?" Max questions, she got up joining Lucas on top of the bus.
"That's good. Just show her you don't care." Steve mutters to the boy.
"I don't." Dustin says, but Steve only gave him a wink, confusing the boy. "Why are you winking, Steve? Stop." Dustin states, Hailey looks at the two rolling her eyes.
"If you two idiots think acting like you don't care, is gonna get you anywhere, than your dead wrong." She speaks up, staring outside the bus, the two males staring at her. "What do you mean?" The younger Henderson asks his sister.
"Some girls would prefer being held in his arms, listen to him talk about his day, support him with every decision he wants to make, the closer he is, the better you feel because you know he's okay." Hailey says, Steve was closely listening to every word she had said, but no one dared to speak up after that, Dustin knowing she was actually talking about the Harrington male.
The silence was broken with a growl ringing through the air, having everyone back on their feet, to see where it came from. "You see him?" Dustin asks, unable to see clearly in the dark.
"No."
"Lucas, what's going on up there?" Hailey asks their look out. "Hold on!" He yells trying to get a better look as the growling got closer to them. "I've got eyes! Ten o'clock! Ten o'clock!" The Sinclair boy informed the others, their eyes moved to the direction they were told to look.
"There." Steve points out, finally able to see the creature between all the mist, getting closer to the pile of meet.
"What's he doing?" Hailey asks.
"I don't know."
"He's not taking the bait. Why is he not taking the bait?" Steve mutters softly seeing that Dart wasn't eating what they left out for him. "Maybe he's not hungry?" Dustin suggests.
"Maybe he's sick of cow." Steve says, he stood up straight, thinking, he looks at Hailey who was staring up at him curiously, wondering what he was thinking. Steve was about to do something that could end up getting him killed, so what he was about to do, was to have no regrets for when he dies.
Steve takes Hailey's face in his hands, pulling her into a kiss, shocking the girl, her body froze right there, when he pulled away he quickly made his way to the door. "Steve? Steve, what are you doing? Steve?" Dustin questions, staring at the teenager.
Steve's breathing was heavy, but he was still gonna do this, throwing Dustin the lighter, he says, "Just get ready." Steve made his way outside, swinging his bat, Hailey finally snapped out of it, staring at the boy worried, promising herself if they made it out alive, she was going to kick his ass.
"Come on, buddy." Steve says, continuing his whistling.
Max came down, joining the siblings after she saw Steve making his way towards the creature. "What's he doing?" Max asks taking a spot next to Dustin by the window. "Expanding the menu." Dustin told her, Hailey was on her last nerve, watching him doing something so dangerous.
"Come on, buddy. Come on, buddy. Come on. Dinner time. Human tastes better than cat, I promise." Steve taunts the creature, so that it would approach him.
"He's insane." Max states.
"He's awesome." Dustin says, with a smile on his face.
Watching him stand there as Dart appeared infront of him, Hailey felt like her world was about to end, and with Lucas suddenly yelling out in panic, didn't make anything better.
"Steve, watch out!"
"A little busy here!" Steve shouts back, still not aware of Dart's friend behind him. "Three o'clock! Three o'clock!" Lucas shouts loudly to make him aware.
"Steve!" Hailey yells in panic, this was getting out of hand.
"Steve! Abort! Abort!" Dustin yells, opening the bus doors, so the teenager can get back in the bus and fast. The two creatures growled, before running straight for the Harrington teenager, for a second he was frozen untill he heard her voice yelling for him.
"Steve, run!" Hailey yells out, at the top of her lungs, he may have been ready to die, but doesn't mean he actually wanted to.
"Steve, hurry! Steve, run!"
He hits one of them away, rolling over a car, to get away from them, he ran straight for the bus getting back in.
"Shit!"
The two creatures kept running into the bus trying to get in. "Are they rabid or something?" Max asks, but no one answered her question to busy stopping those things from getting in.
"They can't get in! They can't!" Lucas shouts in panic, but the monsters growled from the outside, making the bus move as the kept jumping against it, Hailey tightly held onto Steve, with the bus moving so much, Hailey fell right on top of him, they quickly got up seeing one of them found an opening.
"Shit!"
They ran to the back of the bus, Steve hitting the creature stopping it from getting in. "Is anyone there? Mike? Will? God! Anyone!" Dustin yells into his headset that's connected to his radio, but there was no answer.
A loud bang came from the roof.
"Shit! We're at the old junkyard, and we are going to die!" Dustin kept on trying to get ahold of someone, but there was no answer or a sign of any sort.
Hailey and Max were the only one's noticing the movement on the roof getting closer to the opening, where Lucas was keeping a look out. When the creature came face to face with them, the two screamed, Steve quickly pushed the girls out of the way.
"Out of the way! Out of the way! You want some? Come get this!" Steve yells, the monster was screeching in response, making his way closer to them. Monsters growling in the distance had this one stopping, it gave a loud growl and then it disappeared, the bus was moving side to side.
After the bus stopped moving and it got really quiet, did they make their way out of the bus. The growling of monsters was growing quieter by the second.
"What happened?" Lucas asks.
"I don't know." Max states, hiding behind him.
"Steve scared 'em off?" Dustin questions, not sure himself.
"No. No way. They're going somewhere." Steve points out, in the direction they disappeared into.
Hailey took this chance to slap Steve against his head. "Ouch. What the hell was that for?" Steve asks holding his head, looking at the girl, who had tears at the corner of her eyes. "If you ever scare me like that again, I will have your head, you can't just do stupid things like that, does your life really mean that little to you? Do you even...." Hailey says hitting his shoulders, frustrated with his actions, Steve cut her off, pulling her into another kiss.
The kids groaned out, looking away from the teenagers, who was locking lips right infront of them.
°•Unedited•°