CHAPTER TWELVE:
POINTLESS ARGUMENTS
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LIZ'S HAND BRUSHED against Max's hand as they walked through the woods, following the train tracks just like they had done earlier in the day. They had been walking for quite some time, and Liz hadn't been keeping track so, to her, it felt like forever. Dustin and Lucas were in front of the two girls, arguing over something, and Steve was leading the group.
"You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas questions, referring to the fight that had just occurred at the junkyard.
"Yes." Dustin sighs, annoyed at people not believing him about Dart. "He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt."
"He was tiny two days ago," Max says, confused at how Dart could've gotten that big in that small amount of time.
"Well, he's molted three times already," Dustin explains making Liz raise her eyebrows in surprise at how quickly he's grown in two days.
"Malted?" Steve questioned.
"Molted." Dustin corrected. "Shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms."
"When's he gonna molt again?" Max questions.
Dustin shrugs, "It's gotta be soon. When he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it. And so will his friends."
"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats," Steve states causing Dustin's eyes to widen at Steve's words. The rest of the group didn't know that Dustin had found Dart and lied about it to keep him.
"Wait, a cat?" Lucas questions Dustin, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder to halt his walking. "Dart ate a cat?"
"No, what? No." Dustin lies. Liz rolls her eyes at his horrible lying skills.
"What are you talking about?" Steve questions, oblivious to the fact that Dustin doesn't want Lucas to know. "He ate Mews."
"Mews?" Max questions. "Who's Mews?"
"It's Dustin's cat," Liz tells her before looking at Dustin sighing, "Dustin, just tell him."
"Liz!" Dustin yells at her, trying to tell her to shut up.
"I knew it! You kept him!" Lucas yells, hitting Dustin in the arm. He points at Liz, "And you knew and didn't tell us!"
"I didn't know!" Liz corrects. "He just told me today and I yelled at him for it already."
"No! No.No, I... No, I... " Dustin says, trying to lie but failing miserably. Lucas raises his eyebrows, wanting an answer. "He missed me. He wanted to come home."
"Bullshit!"
"I didn't know he was a Demogorgon, okay?" Dustin yells.
"Oh, so now you admit it?"
"Guys, who cares? We have to go." Max says, trying to break up the arguing.
"I care!" Lucas yells at her. Liz sighs and shakes her head at the pointless arguing. "You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!"
"SO DID YOU!" Dustin screams back at him.
"What?"
"You told a stranger the truth!" Dustin says, pointing his flashlight at Max.
Max scoffs, "A stranger?"
"You wanted to tell her, too!" Lucas yells.
"Yeah, but I didn't Lucas, okay?" Dustin yells back. "I didn't tell her!"
Liz finally walks over to them and gets in between them, "Will you both just shut up? You both broke the rule of law, okay, you're even!"
"No, no! We're not even!" Lucas denies, shaking his head which causes Liz to look up at the sky and wonder what she did to be dealing with this right now. "His stupid pet could've ate us for dinner!"
"That was not my fault!" Dustin yells.
"Jesus Christ, will you two please stop!" Liz yells as she pushes both of their chests. "This argument is so stupid and pointless and not what we should be talking about right now!"
"Yes, it is!" Lucas tells her, hitting her arm to remove it from his chest. "It could've killed us!"
"GUYS!" Steve yells, anger in his voice like he had been trying to get their attention for awhile. The silence of the group made the growls and screams of the creatures louder as the echoed through the trees. The sounds were loud enough that they had to be close.
The group immediately followed Steve as the left the comfort of the tracks and ran out into the dark forest. Liz heard Max yell, "No, no, no. Hey, guys, why are you headed towards the sound?"
They ran through the dark forest with only their flashlights and the moon to light their way. Somewhere along the way, Max had grabbed onto Liz's hand and despite Liz still being a little jealous of the small moment Max and Lucas had at the bus, she held onto the girl's hand. They finally let go once they got to the edge of a sloped hill. At the bottom of the hill sat an ocean of trees that spread all across the horizon.
"I don't see him," Dustin says.
Lucas peered through his binoculars and scanned the horizon before stopping on an area, "It's the lab." He lowered his binoculars, "They were going back home."
The group continued to run through the trees, trying to get to the lab as fast as they could. After what felt like an eternity of jogging, the group slowed down to a walk as they reached the edge of the trees that lined the entrance to the lab. A voice that they all recognized, except Max, called out, "Hello? Who's there? Who's there?"
They finally made it out of the woods and saw Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler standing side-by-side in front of the gated entrance to the lab. They both furrowed their brows when they saw the boy leading the group of four kids, "Steve?"
"Nancy?" Steve questioned.
"Jonathan," Dustin stated as both groups walked closer until they met in the middle, each and every one of them confused to see the other.
"What are you doing here?" Nancy asked, shocked and confused about why Steve was there and why he was with four of her brother's friends.
"What are you doing here?" Steve retorted.
"We're looking for Mike and Will."
"They're not in there, are they?" Dustin asked with a shaky voice, gesturing to the large, dark lab.
"We're not sure," Nancy answers. "Why?"
The shriek that followed her question answered it better than anyone could've. Each of them turned their heads towards the lab and prayed to God that their friends and family weren't in there. Liz gulped and couldn't help but grip her brother's hand as the shrieks of the Demogorgon's sent chills through her body.
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[ 1079 WORDS ]
I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN A MONTH AND THIS CHAPTER IS SO SHORT IM SORRY