The Monster
The next morning, Dustin cycled to the Wheeler's house, Catherine sitting on the back of his bike holding her crutches. Dustin went to the basement to see the rest of the party, while Cat hobbled up the stairs to Nancy's room. She knocked on the door, nearly falling over when she removed one hand from her crutches.
"Who is it?" Nancy called out.
"Um, it's Cat." Cat heard her friend's footsteps approach the door and when Nancy opened it Cat immediately made a beeline for the bed, Nancy helping her.
"How are you holding up?" Jonathan asked as Cat laid her head on Nancy's pillows.
"It's barely been a day. But you know, other than having like a thousand stitches and not being able to walk and getting like no sleep, I'm good."
Nancy sat next down on her bed and placed a pillow under the girl's broken leg to prop it up. "You couldn't sleep either?"
"Haha, nope. I made Dustin stay up all night with me and we watched movies all night. Because every time I closed my eyes I-"
Nancy cut her off. "Kept seeing that... thing?" Catherine nodded. "Me too. Wherever we were, that place... I think that it lives there."
Catherine slowly sat up, Jonathan helping her. She leaned on him and he placed an arm around her, making sure she didn't fall off the bed as she was near the edge. "Uh huh. Makes sense. It was... it was feeding there."
Nancy nodded. "Feeding on that deer. That means that if..." She inhaled deeply. "if Will and Barbara..." She trailed off, looking as if she was about to cry. Catherine leaned over, placing a hand on Nancy's leg as an attempt to comfort her. The girl placed her own hand over Cat's, squeezing it slightly.
"Hey." Jonathan leaned towards Nancy, moving Cat slightly so that she could still be comfortable. The girl laid down so that her head was near Nancy, her leg still being propped up by a pillow. "My mom said she talked to Will." Jonathan said. "If he's alive, there's a chance Barbara is, too."
"That means that she's trapped... in that place." Nancy pointed out. "We have to find it again."
"What?!" Catherine asked. "You're crazy."
"You wanna go back out there?" Jonathan asked her.
"Maybe we don't have to." Cat and Jonathan stared at her, waiting for an explanation. "When Cat and I saw it, it was feeding on that deer. Meaning it's.. it's a predator, right?"
"Right." Jonathan confirmed as Cat nodded.
"And it seems to hunt at night, like a... a lion or a coyote." She turned through the pages of one of the books that were sat in front of her. "But it doesn't hunt in packs like them. It's always alone, like... like a bear. And remember at Steve's, when Barb cut herself?" Cat and Jonathan nodded. "And then, last night, the deer..."
"Hmm, it was bleeding, too." Jonathan finished as Cat nodded.
"One sec." Nancy went through her books, some of which Cat was leaning on and so had to lift her head in order for her friend to find the book she was looking for. She pulled the book of sharks from underneath Cat's head and placed it on top of the one with the lions. "Sharks can detect blood in one part per million. That's one drop of blood in a million, and they can smell it from a quarter mile away."
"So you're saying it can detect blood?" Both Jonathan and Cat asked at the same time, sharing a look as they did so.
"It's just a theory." Nancy said, her voice quiet.
"We could test it." Nancy and Catherine nodded, agreeing with Jonathan. "But if it works..."
"At least we'll know it's coming."
The door rattled and Cat nearly let out a shriek as she scrambled to sit up on the bed. "Honey, are you up?" Mrs. Wheeler's voice called through the door and the teens let out a sigh knowing it was just her.
"Yeah, Cat and I are just finishing some homework."
"I, uh, made some blueberry pancakes. Cat's welcome to have some too."
"We'll be down in a second." Nancy sighed as they heard her mother's footsteps walk away from the door. Both Jonathan and Nancy looked down to see their hands intertwined and quickly pulled their hands away from each other.
"Your mom doesn't knock?" Jonathan asked after a moment of silence. The three teens let out a small chuckle.
***
Jonathan, Nancy and Catherine were in a store buying stuff to trap and kills this monster. As Cat was unable to pick stuff up she followed behind Nancy on her crutches, pointing out anything that might be useful.
Cat stood next to the counter as both Jonathan and Nancy piled the stuff in front of the clerk; including bear traps, hammers, gasoline and nails. By the look on the clerk's face, they looked absolutely crazy purchasing what they were.
"And I'll have four boxes of the .38s." Jonathan said, talking about the bullets that were behind the counter. Cat just smiled at the man as he looked at them like they were crazy.
"What you kids doin' with all this?" He asked, placing the boxes on the counter.
"Um.." Jonathan turned to Nancy, not sure what to say.
"Monster hunting." She said simply.
"Huh." The man scoffed.
"Yup. We're going to kill the monster that did this to me." Cat pointed to the long cut down her arm and face.
***
"'Monster hunting'?" Jonathan asked as both he and Nancy carried the boxes of stuff to his car, Cat just behind them on her crutches.
"You know, last week..." Nancy started as she and Jonathan began to load the car's trunk. "I was shopping with for a new top I thought Steve might like. It took me, Cat and Barb all weekend."
"It was fun though." Cat interjected, smiling. "And the tops I brought have yet to be covered in paint from my artwork."
"Yeah. It seemed like life or death, you know? And... and now-"
"You're shopping for bear traps with Jonathan Byers."
"Yeah." Nancy said as Jonathan closed the trunk of his car.
"What's the weirdest part?" Jonathan asked. "Me or the bear trap?"
"You. It's definitely you."
"I was gonna say the fact that I got attacked by a fucking monster, but whatever." Cat laughed.
A car horn caught the teen's attention. "Hey, Nance!" Someone called from a red car. "Can't wait to see your movie." The boy laughed, before whistling in Cat's direction. "Hope you make an appearance, Henderson." The car drove away and Cat frowned in confusion.
"What the hell was that?" Jonathan asked as Cat threw her middle finger up at the car full of boys, leaning on Jonathan's car for support while she did so.
"I don't know." Nancy turned around and began walking away.
"What?" Jonathan asked as Cat tried to keep up with her friend. "Hey! Where are you going?"
Jonathan began to follow Nancy down the street, Catherine desperately trying to keep up with the two of them.
"Nancy, wait!" The tall boy called out, picking up Cat so she didn't get left behind. She thanked him for doing so. He followed Nancy across the street to the movie theatre, placing Cat back on her feet.
The sign read 'All The Right Moves starring Nancy The Slut Wheeler. Featuring: Catherine Psycho Henderson'.
Cat gasped in shock. "No way. Who the fuck did this?"
"Jesus." Jonathan breathed out, not sure what to say.
Cat heard laughing from around the corner and the sound of a spray can hissing and Nancy did too, the two girls making their way to the alleyway, Cat slightly slower than Nancy.
"Tommy, you write like a three-year-old." Catherine heard Carol's voice as she tried to keep up with her friend.
"Shut up!" Tommy yelled.
Cat caught up with Nancy and saw who she was staring at. She wasn't surprised at who she saw. "Of fucking course." She muttered under her breath.
Tommy was spraying something on the wall while Carol, Nicole and Steve watched him.
"I didn't know you could spell." Nicole told him.
Cat watched as Nancy made her way towards the group. She followed, wanting to make sure her friend was alright, which she clearly wasn't.
Carol caught sight of the girls, her focus on Nancy. "Aw, hey there, princess!"
"Uh-oh! She looks upset."
"Shut up, Tommy!" Cat yelled, standing behind her friend and leaning on her crutches. They all watched as Nancy walked up to Steve and slapped him round the face.
"Oh!" and "Damn!" were heard from Carol, Nicole and Tommy.
"What is wrong with you?" Nancy asked Steve, her words seething with anger.
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? I was worried about you."
"Bullshit. Absolute bullshit." Cat scoffed, stepping forward to stand next to Nancy.
"I can't believe that I was actually worried about you." Steve scoffed.
"What are you talking about?" Nancy yelled.
"I wouldn't lie if I were you." Carol said. "You wouldn't want to be known as the lying slut now, do you?"
"Oh, fuck off, Carol!" Catherine yelled. "No one asked you."
"Don't talk to her like that." Tommy jumped down from where he was standing, shoving Cat as he did so. She fell backwards and Jonathan was quick to catch her, helping her back to her feet. "Speak of the devil." Tommy said as his eyes landed on the boy.
Nancy turned back to Steve, tears in her eyes as she understood what he was getting at. "You came by last night?"
"Ding! Ding! Ding!" Cat sent daggers at Nicole, wanting to just punch her in her stupid face.
"Does she get a prize?" Carol asked sarcastically, wrapping an arm around Tommy. Cat glared at her too.
"Look, I don't know what you think you saw, but it wasn't like that." Nancy told them, her focus on Steve.
"Yeah, exactly. Nancy wouldn't cheat on you. In fact, it's way more likely that you'd cheat on Nancy than she'd cheat on you!" Catherine cried, shoving Steve's shoulder back slightly.
Nancy pulled Catherine back before she did something more than just shoving Steve. Steve wanted to glare at the small brunette, but he couldn't bring himself to glare at her so he settled for ignoring her completely.
"What, you just let him into your room to... study?" Steve asked bitterly, glaring at Jonathan.
"Or for another pervy photo session?" Tommy laughed. Cat let go of her crutches, the only things keeping her upright, and hobbled over to Tommy, throwing her fist and landing a hit on his nose- breaking it with a loud crack. Jonathan pulled her back before she could hit him again.
"We were just-" Nancy started but Steve cut her off.
"You were just what? Finish that sentence." He stepped closer to her, looking down at her. "Finish the sentence."
Nancy breathed heavily, trying to work out what to say.
Steve scoffed. "Go to hell, Nancy." He stepped back, leaving Nancy looking like she was about to cry.
Jonathan stepped forward, grabbing her arm, as Cat leaned against a wooden crate. "Come on, Nancy, let's just leave."
"You know what, Byers?" Steve stepped towards Jonathan. "I'm actually kind of impressed." He pushed the tall boy. "I always took you for a queer, but I guess you're just a little screw-up like your father." Jonathan and Nancy tried to walk away, the latter helping Cat with her crutches. Steve grabbed the back of Jonathan's jacket, shoving the boy forward. "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that house is full of screw-ups." He shoved Jonathan again. "You know, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised." Both Nancy and Cat turned around, Cat seething with anger, ready to punch the boy in the face, whether or not she has a crush on him. "A bunch of screw-ups in your family." Steve continued.
"Harrington," Cat hopped forward on her crutches, glaring at the tall boy. It would have been slightly menacing, except for the fact that she was tiny and her balance was all over the place. "Do you ever know when to stop."
"Jonathan, leave it." Nancy warned as she pulled gently on Cat's sleeve to stop the girl away from Steve. She could sense that one of her two friends were close to throwing a punch.
"I mean, your mom... I'm not even surprised what happened to your brother." Steve continued.
"Steve, shut up!" Nancy demanded, the same time that Cat yelled, "Shut up, Harrington." She was pissed. She felt like she was apart of the Byers family, Joyce often calling her the daughter she never had, and so she was ready to punch Steve in the face, her hands balling into fists as she let go of her crutches.
"I'm sorry I have to be the one to tell you," Steve continued, riling up Jonathan even more, "but the Byers, their family, it's a disgrace to the entire-" He was cut off by Jonathan whirling around and punching him in the face, sending him flying into some of the wooden crates. He got back up, running at Jonathan as the two sent punches at one another. Nancy calling out to them for them to stop.
Cat took this opportunity to painfully hobble over to Tommy H. and punch him the face, breaking what was left of his nose. He punched her back, sending her to the floor. Cat tried to get up, but with a broken leg it was pretty difficult. Before Nancy could even help her, Tommy sent a kick into Catherine's ribcage. She grabbed his leg, pulling him down to the concrete floor. He scrambled to his feet as the other two stopped fighting. Cat glanced up to see the cops pull up behind the two groups.
Cat felt herself being lifted up by one of the policemen, her eyes not looking away from Tommy, Carol, Nicole and Steve as they ran. She pulled her elbow back, smacking the cop that held her right in the nose, breaking it. "Oh! My nose!" Callahan yelled as he tightened his grip on Catherine, pulling her towards the police car. He pushed her down onto the hood of the car, locking handcuffs around her wrists.
"Get off me!" She screamed, her good leg kicking him where the sun don't shine. Both herself and Jonathan were shoved into the back of the car while Nancy stood there, absolutely distraught as the others fled the scene.
***
Edited: 5/4/2020
Edit 2: 29/7/2021