Chapter 15
The front door swung open, catching the demo-dog's attention. The beast raised his head to whoever stood in the front door, easing the weight on Steve.
"Holy! Fucking! Shit!" Steve heard a familiar boyish voice yell from the doorway.
Steve felt a mix of relief and anxiety over take him. Billy could help him, but at the cost of knowing about Steve's biggest secret.
The demo-dog growled at Billy. Steve, without seeing, could tell that Billy was frozen in shock. Steve began to pound of the paws holding him down, trying to divert it's attention, and soon it's weight lifted off of him.
He took in a deep breath,wasting no time, and pulled himself off of the floor. Blood rushed to his head making him feel woosy.
"Harrington!" Billy yelled from where he stood, cornered by the beast.
Steve's attention snapped to Billy. He picked up is bat from where he dropped it and ran to the demo-dog. With a war cry, he began whacking it's back, over and over.
The black goo gushed from it's body, and soon it fell-lifeless-to the floor. Billy watched on in awe as Steve transformed into this warrior version of himself.
Once the beast breathed it's last breath, Steve wiped his face with the sleeve of his jacket, and went to run up the stairs. Billy, feeling forgotten and completely freaked out, ran after him.
"Wait, Steve! What the hell is going on?" Billy asked Steve's back as they ascended the stairs.
Steve ignored him; too focused on the kids.
"Dude, what the hell?!" Billy tried again, attempting to catch up to his class mate.
Steve bee-lined it to a room with a closed door and knocked softly. Billy watched in silence, for once, wondering if there was another monster behind the door; he got into a fighting stance, just in case.
"Mike, it's me," Steve said carefully and softly through the door. This weird and foreign version of Steve haunted Billy; he had never seen his class mate act this way.
The door slowly opened and Mike's head poked through. Relief cleared his facial features, until he noticed Billy hovering at Steve's side in some sort of braced stance, then he looked terrified all over again. Billy noticed the way Mike reacted to him and scoffed.
"W-what's he doing here?" he asked, a hint of sass in each word. Billy rolled his eyes, little punk.
"Let us in," Steve gently demanded and Mike complied, not without grumbling under his breath. "Are you two okay?" he asked, making his way to Eleven's side and kneeling beside her.
"Yeah we're okay, El tried her best to protect us but she hasn't used her powers for so long that she tuckered out real fast," said Mike solemnly, kneeling beside Steve.
El looked as if she were sleeping, serene and unharmed, and Mike must have cleaned the blood from under her nose. Mike confirmed that he himself had not been injured, just shaken, and Steve felt somewhat content that he had been able to protect them without dying.
Hopper would have killed him, otherwise!
Billy cleared his throat, then, catching both Mike's and Steve's attention. Steve's eyes grew wide with shock as he finally registered that Billy had seen everything.
No turning back now.
"So...yah gunna tell me what the hell is happening?" Billy asked, his obvious temper boiling over. His tanned skin was a shade pinker and he looked angry and fearful all at the same time.
"Shit," Steve said more to himself. "Uh, how about we clean up first, I don't want anyone else seeing this."
Mike agreed, quickly, while Billy basically pouted; he eventually agreed as well. Billy hated when people stalled, but he'd take it easy on Steve, this time.
The sun was dipping into the horizon, and Mike mentioned that his parents were meant to be on a business trip and wouldn't be home, so they all sat in the living room.
Eleven had awoken, startled and panicked, but sat beside Mike on a couch while Mike tucked her into his side with his arm. She seemed to be the only one to notice that Steve had been hurt.
"Stand," she directed calmly. Steve held her eye contact and stood, he could feel Billy and Mike watching intently.
She approached him after peeling away from Mike and lifted his t-shirt, revealing a row of teeth marks, her expression becoming sympathetic. Billy drank in the sight of Steve's stomach, feeling weird, and wondered why Steve wasn't in agony from his wounds.
"Steve," Eleven spoke, running a finger along a puncture in his abdomen, analyzing the severity. "You will scar, but it is not serious".
Steve nodded, feeling a bit better, then dropped his shirt and resumed his seated position on the same couch as Billy who had watched with an unreadable expression; his leg bouncing in anticipation.
"Okay, we made a deal, we clean up the house and then you tell me what's going on," Billy said, impatiently.
A look was exchanged between Steve, Mike, and Eleven; which Billy noticed. Then Steve turned to look at the blonde boy beside him, and took a deep breath, preparing himself to reveal his biggest secret.
"Eleven," he gestured to the girl opposite to them who sat there, emotionless. "Was an experiment, er somethin', from the Hawkins lab..."
Steve explained to the best of his ability, with the help of the two kids, and Billy sat-quietly-absorbing all of their words. He looked blown away and Steve grew nervous that he wouldn't believe him.
The truth they revealed was to never to leave their group. Not only would it endanger anyone who was involved, but there were eyes everywhere, and Steve and the kids knew not to test the government's strength.
"Steve watches out for us, especially now that my father, Hopper, has disappeared," Eleven concluded for Steve.
They all looked at Billy, the ticking time bomb, to see how'd he react. And when he burst into laughter, Steve realized his fears had come true; Billy didn't believe them.
"Well...that was a cute bed-time story, kids," Billy chuckled, shaking his head as he began to stand. He adjusted his leather jacket and turned to leave the house, shaking his head at the three, but Eleven ran after him and stopped him.
"Please," she begged, holding the hem of his jacket. "Let me prove it".
Billy looked down to the girls' eyes, then up to Steve who sat watching with Mike. Billy couldn't believe his ears and began to feel like they were pulling a prank on him, and he didn't take too kindly to pranks against him.
He then looked back down to the girl who still held onto his jacket, her eyes reminded him of the horror in his grandfather's gaze after being in the war. It was something he didn't expect a young girl to look like, and even fought to protect his sister becoming like this.
Unsure of the situation, Billy nodded, and allowed himself to be brought back to the living room. Eleven instructed him to sit down and hold out his hand, with which, he complied. He stole a glance in Steve's direction and when he saw the boy's eyes droop, either from exhaustion or uncertainty, his heart hurt.
Billy wasn't scared, more confused and incredulous than anything, but he felt like he owed Steve the chance to prove himself; for reasons he did not know.
So he held up his hand, while sitting on the couch he had just abandoned, and looked back up to the girl. She nodded at him and grasped his hand in her smaller ones.
Then it was dark.
He was alone, it seemed, in darkness which freaked him out. He swung a hand out in front of him, trying to grab anything, but became angry when he came up empty handed.
"Wh-where the hell am I?" He said to nothing, noting how his voice sounded as though he was speaking into water.
Then a light erupted in front of him, forcing him to adjust his eyes to the suddenness.
The girl, Eleven, became visible to Billy in the light. She was dressed in a hospital gown, and her hair was cut into a military buzzed length; he noticed a drop of blood drip from her nose.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked and tried to move forward, but he found he couldn't move his legs. "What's going on?"
"Billy, everything is okay," she said calmly, approaching him slowly so as to not frighten him. "We are safe here," she promised, her voice reverberating all around him.
"Where is here?" he asked slowly, trying to be calm, but failing miserably.
She offered him a small smile that didn't reach her eyes, and motioned for him to follow her. She turned and walked off into the light she came from. Billy, remembering how his legs weren't working, knit his brows together, wondering how the hell he could follow her.
He looked down at his feet, willing them to move, and when they didn't he huffed. "Hey, kid, I can't move".
"Look," Her voice sounded in his ear all of a sudden, bringing his eyes upwards to see that he had appeared beside her.
He looked down at her with wide eyes, wondering if that was all a dream of not, and then followed her gaze. In front of them was the old junk yard that he and Steve had been at recently, but it was summer, and at night. There were soft whispers coming from the bus' walls.
He heard an inhuman screech from off in the distance, from in the forest surrounding the junkyard, and his fight instincts began to kick in. Who ever was in that bus was in trouble.
Billy felt a hand on his clenched fist. Eleven spoke, "Don't worry, this already happened". Billy tried to relax and refocused on the scene in front of him, his heart beat failing to slow down.
He heard an older voice mumble something inside the bus, and then bus' door swung open. Billy's face paled and his heart stopped when Steve emerged from the bus, holding the same bat he had seen his classmate wield earlier on.
Steve shut the door, then stood a couple feet away from the broken vehicle, in a fighting stance. Billy's heart came back to life but in full throttle, as he watched movement from all around Steve.
Something in him screamed to save Steve, he hated seeing him in danger like this, but he reminded himself that this all happened in the past.
Damn, that's kinda hot, Billy found himself thinking when the summer moonlight illuminated Steve's determined expression. He didn't have time to realize what he had thought as beasts emerged from the shadows of the cars and forest and honed in on Steve.
Steve, surprisingly to Billy, didn't seem fazed, and when the beasts began attacking, Steve skillfully swung his bat. He whacked the things away from himself, ignoring the blood that splattered onto his clothes, grunting as he fought with all his might.
Billy realized, most likely just as Steve realized, that he was out numbered. Billy felt dread overtake him as the boy looked around at swarm of beasts that might kill him, and while Billy knew Steve was well and alive right now, he feared for the Steve in the past. He could then understand why Steve had acted so weird when they had gone to the junk yard the other day.
Steve backed up, hitting the beings that attacked away, towards the bus door. And once his back hit the door, it opened.
Billy was overcome with shock when he recognized the red headed girl who pulled Steve into the bus and shut the door. Max knew about all this?! And she never told him?! Little shit.
"Do you believe now?" Eleven asked, and Billy looked down at her with the same wide eyed gawk.
He didn't reply because he didn't want to swear in front of the girl, but she knew. She knew he knew the truth now, and she had done her job.
And suddenly they were back in the Wheeler's living room, Mike and Steve looking at Billy as if they thought he'd explode like a bomb. The room was silent, and oddly enough, so was Billy.
"So...what now?" Billy chose to ask, and relief washed over the other three. They now had another ally, a typically over-reactive and strong ally, that could most definitely help bring Hopper back.