Chapter 14//
Steve gritted his teeth as he exited the change room and into the musty smelling gymnasium, where his team stood in a circle in the center of the court. He was late, after staying up all night and sleeping through his alarm; he hated being late.
His team stole glances his way as he approached and settled in between two guys, but a pair of blue eyes lingered. Steve met Billy's lingering eyes, and Billy didn't look away until the coach stormed into the room.
"Alrighty boys," he huffed, trying to catch his breath, the papers on his measly clipboard threatening to fall off. "First game of the season is this Saturday, and I need all of you to works your butts off!"
Dread settled into Steve's belly, he had forgotten that Saturdays were game days-he'd have to let Eleven and Mike know. The three had planned to go to Hop's house that day, but he knew he'd take almost the whole day to sift through the house and wouldn't make it to his game.
"Harrington, Hargrove!" Coach barked, catching both their attention. "I need you two to be on your a-game. No fighting your team or anything, okay?"
Steve timidly looked back at Billy who was staring back at him, emotionless. They nodded to each other-a silent promise to behave-then looked back to the coach.
"I will make sure to be on my top game as well, sir!" Tommy piped up, clearly agitated that the coach hadn't addressed him with the other two basketball stars.
The coach shrugged, looking uninterested, and went back to planning the game's plays out; Tommy's face began to burn with both anger and embarrassment.
Steve watched as Billy smirked at Tommy who glared back at him. Something about Billy's smirk made Steve's lungs tighten, but he promptly executed the thought from his mind and paid attention to the man in the middle of the circle.
"Okay, now that we're done with that," Coach said, dropping his arms to his side. "Let's get practicing".
He split the boys in half-Billy and Steve on the same team-and ordered them to play against each other and focus on using the techniques they'd use in their upcoming game.
Billy and Steve had fallen into a lucrative routine where Steve would use his agility to get the ball to the other side of the court quickly then pass to Billy who shot into the air to dunk it. This happened over and over, like they were a machine. Their opposing team stood no chance, and in no time, won the game.
In fact, the coach ended the game early as the opposing team had not gotten one point and had began to give up. Tommy, who had been placed on the other team, fumed. He had had no chance to prove that he was better than Billy or Steve and it pissed him off to no end; instead he was stuck with a bunch of dead beat team mates.
Emulating their old selves, Billy and Steve hooted and highfived each-other with their win, ignoring the way their team look on with envy and distaste. The fight between the two being put on the back burner, for now.
There was an odd feeling between the two team captains after they celebrated, and when coach corralled everyone to the sidelines, they chose to stand far away from the other.
"Good work Hargrove and Harrington," Coach regarded the two, ignoring Tommy-whose face had become a crimson color, while writing something down on his clip-board. "I expect our first game to be a winner with you two working side-by-side".
Without looking at each other, they nodded in response to the coach. After the meeting, they were free to go. Steve noticed as he walked to the locker room, that Tommy had stayed back to talk to the coach, but he couldn't care less.
Steve showered, got dressed, and silently escaped the locker room without being approached; even Billy ignored him as he was too busy planning a senior party with some guy Steve barely recognized.
Once home, he yanked the phone from the wall and dialed Mike's number.
"Hello?" Mike said, out of breath, after a couple rings.
"Uh, hey, It's Steve," He replied, wondering why Mike sounded like he had ran from the school to his house to answer the phone.
"Oh, Steve, thank god you called!" the boy exclaimed, Steve could hear something banging around in the background. "El! Watch out!"
A clang erupted in the receiver, making Steve pull it away from his ear, fearing hearing loss. He heard a girl scream followed by more thuds.
"Mike what's going on?" he said, fear for the kids bubbling inside him, threatening to boil over.
"Demo-dog!" Mike yelled amongst sounds of crashing and inhuman screaches. "Please hurry!"
He needn't say more, as Steve promised, he'd be there ASAP. As fast as he could, Steve bolted to his car, not bothering to lock his house, and drove to the Wheeler's house. He noticed as he pulled up and screeched to a halt that neither of the parents' cars were there.
He rounded his car and ripped open the trunk to grab his bat, and when he lifted his gaze from the bat full of nails, he noticed Billy drive by in his camaro.
Their eyes locked for a moment, but Steve had no time to spare; he had to save those kids! He broke eye contact and ran into the house, his lungs already tightened from desperation, and sweat dripped from his hands and forehead.
Once he entered the foyer, he saw Mike underneath the giant and grimy Demo-dog paw, trying with all his might to push it off of him. The beat's petal-shaped mouth flaps were open and honing in on Mike's small figure.
He then noticed Eleven, who laid limp on the stairs that led to the top floor, blood running from her nose. He knew, then, that she had tried her best to fight the beast, but had expelled all her powers.
Even though despair gripped Steve's every cell in his body, he pushed forward, bat in hand, and attacked the otherworldly being. He succeeded in freeing Mike from it's grip, but found himself the new main target of the beasts rage.
Mike scrambled up to his feet and, knowing exactly what to do, began to drag Eleven further up the stairs to some sort of safety. Steve felt some sort of twisted pride as Mike carried out exactly what Steve would have wanted him to do.
A hollow sounding roar boomed from the chest of the beast, which heaved at Steve's eye-level. It pawed the hardwood below itself, seeming to prepare itself to advance Steve. But he was ready, with his bat strong in his hands, for whatever the ugly thing chose to do.
The beast pounced on all fours, in Steve's direction. Steve let out a scream and swung his bat to hit one of the flaps of it's mouth, which maimed it slightly. A tar-like goo seeped out of the wound, and the thing bellowed in pain.
Steve watched with wide eyes as it shook itself then jumped at him again, this time he was not so prepared and ended up on his back, under two of the demo-dog's paws. He struggled under the crushing weight and managed to ignore the goo that fell on his face.
But he was only human, and was terrified of dying, so he began to feel dread prick at his conscious. He had been in this situation in his nightmares, and the fact that it had become reality, scarred him.
He clawed at the paws with his short nails, wanting it to be at least a bit painful, which didn't even faze the beast. Steve's head flopped from side to side searching for his bat that he had dropped, and saw it-much to his dismay-by the front door.
Then he did something he regretted: he looked up at the open mouth of the demo-dog. A slime from the mouth began to drip onto his face, so even though he had wanted to scream, he kept his mouth shut.
Holy shit, I'm going to die, he thought to himself, feeling his body begin to go numb under the pressure. Sure, he had been attacked before, and fought many demogorgons, but those instances could never compare to being at the end of your life at the hand of the beasts.
He began to feel tears line his closed eyes. Not only was he about to die, but who would protect Eleven and Mike who had found safety in a room on the second floor?
When Steve felt a sharp set of teeth from the being pierce his belly, he had given up. He knew it was over and he admitted to himself that it was cowardice to give up; but he didn't care at that moment.
Then, something miraculous happened.
A/N: hey guys, sorry I disappeared. I've been working on something so I hope y'all can forgive me? thank yo for the support. Love you all<3