Chapter 13: The Bench
"I won't be afraid, just as long as you stand, stand by me."
•
Eve was on the couch, messing with one of Bob's brain teasers as Max and Lucas cleaned the glass from the smashed window and Dustin and Steve put the Demo-Dog in the fridge to preserve it.
Eve was deep in thought as she messed with the brain teaser, blocking out everything Steve and Dustin were saying. They were an unlikely duo, but definitely a good one.
She continued to mess with the brain teaser absentmindedly as her mind went back to the tunnels. Her hands began to shake slightly, the image stuck in her brain like a feather to glue. She didn't see Max's glances or see Mike pacing - but Lucas did.
"Mike, would you just stop already?" Lucas snaps at the Boy rather loudly. This caused Eve to look over at Mike; she blinked rapidly as she came back to reality.
She wasn't in the tunnels, but every time she closed her eyes or let her mind wander, it felt like she was. And that absolutely terrified her.
"You weren't in there, okay, Lucas? That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs," Mike says to him, worry written all over his face and in his voice.
Eve thought it was quite cute how Mike worried for El. Over the year that El had been gone, she noticed Mike seemed down and upset all of the time, almost as if he was broken without her.
"Demo-dogs!" Dustin corrected from the other room, making Mike roll his eyes. The constant correcting starting to get on his nerves.
"The chief will take care of her," Lucas assures Mike with a nod. Lucas had never been the best of comforting, and he definitely wasn't very close to Eleven; but he knew what the girl was capable of. They all did, they all knew deep down that she'd be fine, but there was always a tiny bit of doubt looming.
"Like she needs protection," Max mutters as she gets off of the floor. Eve puts the brain teaser on the coffee table as Steve walks in with a tea towel, wiping his hands from the goo that was on the demo-dog.
"Dude you smell terrible," Eve says as Dustin walks over and takes a seat next to her, "seriously. You smell like something died on you."
"That would be his cat," Steve says, "demodog ate it."
"What!" Eve shouted, "Dart ate Mews!?" Eve asks, completely shocked. She loved Mews, the slightly obese cat always wandered to her garden, and she'd sit out there stroking the beautiful cat for hours on end.
"We have to help them, who knows what those dogs can do-" Mike starts.
"It's demo-"
"Shut up, Dustin," Mike shouts, stressed and completely on edge, "one of those things ate your cat, ate Bob, and it'll eat Hopper and El next."
"Talk about optimistic," Eve mumbles with an eye roll.
"Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it," Steve says to Mike who was still stressing, "All right?"
"Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game," Mike says to Steve with another eye roll, "And second, we're not even in the game.
We're on the bench."
"So my point is..." Steve stopped to think and everyone stared in anticipation, only to get let down, "Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so, uh, there's nothing we can do."
Everyone's hearts kind of sunk at that, Eve looked at Mike who looked like he was about to burst into tears from sadness, anxiety and frustration - she understood, she was worried about El too.
"That's not entirely true," Eve reveals, lifting the hearts of those around her as the smartest Harrington spoke, "I mean, these dogs-"
"Demo-dogs!"
"Demo-I-don't-give-a-shit, they have a hive mind," Eve says, sending a glare to Dustin before turning to look at the group with her head.
"She's right," Dustin nods at her words, "I mean... When they ran away from the bus, they were called away," Dustin says, "and then they kicked Eve's ass."
"Not important," Eve mumbles, looking down. She didn't really want to think about what had happened to her because she knew it was going to haunt her in the coming years - she'd read about a thing called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and she'd already started to get the symptoms.
"If we get their attention..." Lucas starts, his own brain starting to catch on to the idea.
"Maybe we can draw them from the lab," Max finishes and Eve smiles. If Max wasn't a part of the party after all this, she was going to be royally pissed.
"Clear a path to the gate," Mike nods, happy they'd figured out a way to keep Eleven a little bit safer.
"Yeah, and then we all die," Steve cuts in to their train of thought. He was definitely not letting his sister or her friends die - he was their Baby Sitter and if anything happened to them, he was getting the blame.
"That's one point of view," Dustin says with a little nod, Steve just wanted the kids to be safe and Dustin knew that - but the danger of the mission was just a risk they were going to have to take if they wanted to help.
"No, that's not a point of view, man. That's a fact," Steve says to the boy who he was practically besties with.
"I got it!" Mike says, pushing through Steve and Dustin, everyone follows, Max helping Eve walk through. Eve sent her a smile of appreciation as they walked through to Mike who was pointing to one of the drawings of the tunnels on the wall, "This is where the chief dug his hole. This is our way into the tunnel. So..." he gets up again and goes into a different room. They all follow, watching him, "Here, right here. This is like a hub. So you got all the tunnels feeding in here. Maybe if we set this on fire..."
"Oh, yeah? That's a no," Steve says pointing at it and shaking his head. He just wanted them to sit down, play bobs brain teasers while he made himself a hot cup of cocoa.
That cocoa was never gonna happen.
"The mind flayer would call away his army," Dustin says, ignoring the older Harrington.
"They'd all come to stop us," Lucas realises.
"We circle back to the exit," Eve added.
"Guys," Steve tries.
"By the time they realize we're gone-" Mike starts, only to be interrupted by Max.
"El would be at the gate," Max says with a triumphant smile on her face.
"Hey. Hey! Hey!" Steve says clapping his hands to get their attention. Their heads all turn to him, waiting for him to speak about sports or teams or something none of them really understood apart from Eve.
"This is not happening," he says to them. Eve sighs, annoyed.
"But-" Eve starts.
"No, no, no, no, no. No buts. I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. We're staying here. On the bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job," Steve tells them, "Does everybody understand?"
"This isn't a stupid sports game," Mike snaps.
"I said does everybody understand that?" Steve asks, flinging the tea towel onto his shoulder, "I need a yes."
Before anyone could say anything they heard an engine rev. Max quickly walked over to the window, Eve still under her arm. They saw an all too familiar Camaro. Max let go of Eve, knowing she'd be okay to balance on her own for now.
"It's my brother," Max says with wide eyes, her heartbeat rising, "He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me," she looks over at Eve, "He'll kill us."
Steve glanced at the two and then to the door - he knew he had to stop Billy, whatever it took.
Remember to vote and comment, I appreciate it!
1350 words
Edited✅