"It's not like it was before. It's grown."
We were back, sitting around the dining room table, trying to think of what we could do to get El to the gate. During our discussion, Hopper brought up the fact that the baby Demogorgons were bigger than before when he'd seen them in the lab, according to the dead one that Eleven had killed.
"A lot," Hopper continued, his voice serious. He leaned against the kitchen counter, eyes tired as he looked between us all. We all stood around the table, except for Joyce who sat. "And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."
"Demo-dogs," Dustin corrected, spinning around to the man. I squinted at my little brother from across the table. I stood between Steve and Max, leaning my hands on the surface.
"I'm sorry," Hopper said, confused. "What?"
"I said, uh, Demo-dogs," Dustin said, making all of us look at him. "Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass-"
"How is this important right now?" Hopper interrupted, unamused.
"It's not," Dustin turned back around with a bashful blink. "I'm sorry."
"I can do it," Eleven said after a moment.
"You're not hearing me," Hopper shook his head.
"I'm hearing you," Eleven disagreed. I found myself smiling at her, impressed at how her vocabulary had grown. "I can do it."
"Even if El can," Mike cut in. "There's still another problem. If the brain dies, the body dies."
"I thought that was the whole point," Max said, not following.
"It is, but if we're really right about this..." Mike's voice went low. "I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army..."
"Will's a part of that army," Lucas realized. My eyes went wide before shutting in frustration.
"Son of a bitch," I said under my breath, stomping my foot lightly.
"Closing the gate will kill him," Mike said. Everyone's heads dropped, but Joyce's stayed up and her mouth parted. She stood up and rushed down the hall, and we were all quick to follow.
"He likes it cold," Joyce said when we all crowded into Will's room. He was laying on top of his bed, face up, still dressed in his hospital gown.
"What?" Hopper asked.
"That's what Will kept saying to me," Joyce told us. She glanced at Will's open window where the curtains were blowing in the wind. "He likes it cold."
She hurried over to the window and shut it before turning back to us.
"We keep giving it what it wants."
"If this is a virus," I said from beside Nancy, looking down at Will. "And Will's the host, then..."
Jonathan caught onto what I was saying and knelt down beside Will's sleeping form. "Then we need to make the host uninhabitable."
"So if he likes it cold..." Nancy said.
Joyce sighed, staring down at her son with her eyes glazed over. "We need to burn it out of him."
"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time," Mike said.
"Yeah," Dustin agreed. "Somewhere far away."
"I know somewhere," Hopper said, glancing at Wil and then at me. "Hand me that blanket."
I looked behind me to see an orange blanket and passed it to the Cheif, watching silently as he wrapped Will up in it. He then began spitting out directions to Jonathan and told the rest of us to look for heaters.
I went out back to the pile of stuff from the shed, followed by both Steve and Nancy. Steve and Nancy took flashlights from the dining room and shone it on the pile as we picked through it.
"You should go with him," Steve said suddenly to Nancy as I bent down to look at an old room heater.
"What?" Nancy responded, looking up. I felt like I should go, leave the two alone, but the glance Steve gave me told me I should stay.
"With Jonathan," Steve clarified. He must have overheard our conversation earlier. He crouched down and picked up some Christmas lights before throwing them back down.
"No, I'm..." Nancy scoffed as she brushed aside a broken piece of wood. "I'm not just gonna leave Mike."
Steve looked up at her. "No one's leaving anyone."
He stood up and walked around the pile to help her move a large fan. I did my best to examine an old cord and try to be as non intrusive as I could, but it was deemed hard with the two right in front of me.
"I may be a pretty shitty boyfriend, but..." Steve started, his shoulder almost touching hers. "Turns out I'm actually a pretty damn good babysitter. (Y/n) and I make for a good team."
I looked up, a smile growing on my lips as I met his gaze. He was smiling back at me at holding a working radiator which he held out for Nancy. She took it from him, looking guiltily up at him through dark eyes, and the way Steve just smiled at her almost broke my heart.
"Steve..." Nancy said, her voice cracking slightly.
"It's okay, Nance," Steve reassured her, his smile faltering as he stared at her. "It's okay."
"I..." Nancy started, but didn't finish as Steve walked off, back to the house without a second look in her direction. I stood fully and watched him go before looking back to my best friend.
"Go, Nancy," I spoke softly. I knew she was thinking of just staying when she looked at me, tears reflecting in the light of her flashlight. "Jonathan needs you right now."
"But... But Steve-"
"Don't worry about Steve," I cut her off, walking closer to her. "I- I've got him."
Nancy nodded and swallowed, taking my hand in hers. She met my eyes as her own began to dry. "Take care of him, okay?"
I furrowed my eyebrows and a slight heat rose to my cheeks. "...What?"
"Just... Take care of him."
I had so many questions for Nancy, and wanted to ask them all, but I knew by the tone of her voice that our conversation was over. "Okay."
Nancy squeezed my hand one last time before hugging me tightly.
"Good luck," I told her as she walked away, around the house and to the driveway. I stood for a moment to shake myself off and then headed back inside. The living room was empty, but I could hear voices from the porch. I gently opened the door and slipped out, doing my best to not look at Steve. I instead rested my hands on my brother's shoulders and watched as Mike and El said their goodbyes a little away from the group.
"Just be careful, okay?" Mike said, looking down at El. His back was facing us, but I could tell he was crying. "I can't lose you again."
"You won't lose me," Eleven shook her head.
"Do you promise?"
"Promise."
There was a moment, as the two leaned into each other, where I swore they were about to kiss, but Hopper spoke from where he leaned on his car. He was the one that was going to take her back to the lab; to close the gate.
"El..." He said. Eleven whirled around to look at him. "Come on, let's go. It's time."
She turned back to Mike, and they nodded, before she went over to the car and climbed in the passenger. Behind them, Nancy got into Jonathan's car with him, Joyce and Will. Jonathan then started the engine and turned around. He drove down their road, followed by Hopper.
I took one of my hands off of Dustin and gave a small wave, smiling sadly when I saw El's hand pop out of the window to wave back. Dustin, Lucas, Max, Mike, Steve and I all stood for a moment, watching the lights get small in the distance.
"Uh, okay," I said after a moment, breaking the silence. I glanced over to Steve who was already looking at me. "Let's go back inside, yeah?"
Steve nodded and helped me to lead the kids back inside, but Mike didn't budge.
"What's he...?" Steve asked, looking out the door.
"One minute," I said, going back outside and shutting the door behind me. The night was eerily calm, the polar opposite to what I was feeling. For a moment, it was like I could pretend all of this was just pretend.
I walked over to Mike with my arms wrapped around myself and just stood next to him, looking out into the dark.
"She's gonna be okay," I whispered to him, unwrapping one of my arms to put around him instead. He leaned into my touch with a sniffle and nodded.
"Yeah," Mike said. "Yeah, I know. I just missed her so much, you know? And now that she's here... I don't even get to keep her."
Mike's voice cracked on his last words and he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
"Wanna head inside?" I whispered gently. Mike took a second to nod his head and walked to the door, dropping my arm from his shoulders. We then went back inside together and were immediately met by Dustin throwing the contents of the Byers' fridge onto the ground.
"All right," he announced when it was all out. "It should fit now."
"What the hell are you doing?" I asked, walking into the kitchen and leaving Mike with Lucas and Max. Steve was standing in front of Dustin, a bundle of blankets in his arms, and I realized with a frown that it was the dead Demo-dogs' body.
"Is this really necessary?" Steve asked my brother as I leaned against the counter beside the fridge with my arms crossed over my chest.
"Yes, it is, okay?" Dustin snapped. "This is a ground-breaking scientific discovery. We can't just bury it like some common mammal, okay? It's not a dog."
"All right, all right, all right," Steve said in an exasperated voice as he walked over to the fridge. "But you're explaining this to Mrs. Byers, got it?"
Steve made an effort to shove the dead body into the fridge, but it's head peaked out of the blanket and slammed against the top, leaving a slimy residue behind.
"Christ, help me out," Steve said to Dustin and I. I furrowed my eyebrows.
"What are we supposed to do?" I asked, holding back a smile at his frusteration.
"Just - someone get the door!"
"All right," I said, leaning off the counter and going around Steve to the fridge door. "I got it."
"Ew," Steve dropped the Demo-dog in the empty fridge and tried to wiggle his arms out from under it. "Jesus-"
"God-" Dustin said, running around to help me close the door as Steve backed up. We slammed it shut before the body could fall out and I shivered, disgusted.
"Mike, would you just stop already?" I heard Lucas say from the living room. I turned and peaked out to see that he was sweeping the glass on the floor with Max, Mike pacing up and down the room beside them.
"You weren't in there, okay, Lucas?" Mike yelled. "That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs."
"Demo-dogs!" Dustin yelled, moving up beside me while Steve walked out into the room. I followed, watching the boys.
"The chief will take care of her," Lucas reassured him.
"Like she needs protection," Max muttered with an eye roll.
"Listen, dude," Steve said to the younger boy. "If a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. All right?"
"Okay, first of all," Mike said. "This isn't some stupid sports game. And second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench."
"Uh, r-right, so my point is..." Steve trailed off and we all stared at him until he finally just nodded. "Yeah, we're on the bench, so, uh, there's nothing we can do."
"That's not entirely true," Dustin said. "I mean, these Demo-dogs, they have a hive mind.
"Oh, right," I remembered, thinking of earlier that night. "When they ran away from the bus, they were called away."
Lucas nodded. "So, if we get their attention..."
"Maybe we can draw them away from the lab," Max said.
"And clear a path to the gate," Mike said.
"Yeah, and then we all die," Steve said, his voice raising slightly.
"Well, that's one point of view," I said, looking from the kids to Steve.
"No, it's not a point of view, (Y/n)," Steve shook his head at me. "That's a fact."
Mike suddenly gasped and pushed between Steve and I. "I got it!"
He hurried to the kitchen and we all followed, watching as he kneeled down at the fridge and jabbed one of the tunnel drawings with his finger.
"This is where the chief dug his hole," Mike told us. "This is our way into the tunnel. So..."
He got up and ran back to the living room where all the tunnels met up into a big room-looking area.
"Here, right here. This is like the hub. So you got all the tunnels feeding in here. Maybe if we set this on fire..."
"Oh, yeah," Steve interrupted. "That's a no."
"Let him finish," I said, smacking him on the arm.
"The mind flayer would call away his army," Dustin picked up on what Mike was saying.
"They'd all come to stop us," Lucas said.
"Hey," Steve tried to stop.
"We circle back to the exit," I said, already on board with this plan if it meant helping everyone else.
"Guys," Steve said.
"By the time they realize we're gone-"
"El would be at the gate," Max said.
"Hey, hey! Hey!" Steve clapped his hands together. "This is not happening."
"But-" Mike started.
"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. Does everybody understand?"
I scoffed. "Steve-"
"This isn't a stupid sports game," Mike spat.
"I said, does everybody understand that?" Steve almost yelled. "I need a yes."
"No," I said, staring at him. He looked at me, his eyes relaxing. "Steve, you can't be serious. They're kids, not stupid."
"Oh, yeah?" Steve said, his tone sharp. "You wanna try me?"
"Excuse-"
My sentence was cut short by the revving of an engine outside. I looked down the room at the windows, as did everyone else, and Max ran to look out of one. Lucas followed her and they stared out.
"It's my brother," Max said in a panicked voice. "He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me. He'll kill us."
I bit my lip. "Okay, um. Away from the windows."
Max and Lucas backed up and I glanced at Steve.
"I'll take care of it," Steve said, heading to the door.
"I'm right behind you," I said. He studied me for a moment before he turned away, apparently convinced. I gave one last look to the kids before Steve opened the door. "Stay away from the windows, got it?"
They all nodded, and I followed Steve outside, closing the door behind me.
"Am I dreaming," Billy said as he stepped out of his car. "Or is that you, Harrington?"
"Yeah, it's me," Steve said cooly. "Don't cream your pants."
"And (Y/n)," Billy looked me up and down, and I noticed a cigarette hanging from his lips.
"Oh, shit," I realized out loud, putting a hand up to my mouth as everything came back to me. "We had a date tonight, didn't we?"
"Wait, what?" Steve's cool demeanour disappeared when he looked down at me, his eyes searching mine.
Billy chuckled. "Ah, it's all right, sweetheart. I had to cancel, anyway."
I bit my lip and looked down, ignoring Steve's questioning glances.
"Uh, well, y'know," I smiled awkwardly. "Those things happen."
I felt Steve's eyes on me once more before he started walking forward toward Billy. I stayed a bit behind, sensing the tension between the two.
"What are you doing here, amigo?" Billy asked Steve as he approached.
"I could ask you the same thing," Steve said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Amigo."
"Looking for my stepsister," Billy said, taking a long drag form the cigarette. "A little birdie told me she was here."
"Huh, that's weird. I don't know her."
"Small? Redhead? Bit of a bitch?"
I raised my eyebrows and frowned, wondering if he was always such a dick.
"Doesn't ring a bell," Steve denied. "Sorry, buddy."
Billy plucked the cigarette from his mouth and looked down. "You know, I don't know, this... This whole situation, Harrington. I don't know. It's giving me the heebie-jeebies."
"Oh, yeah? Why's that?"
"My 13-year-old sister goes missing all day. And then I find you with both her and my date in a stranger's house."
I shivered and tried to hold back a grimace.
"And you lie to me about it."
Steve chuckled a little. "Man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what? I don't know what you don't understand about what I just said. She's not here."
"Then who is that?"
Billy pointed at the house and I turned around to see all of the kids in the window, staring out at us over the couch. When we looked, they all immediately crouched down.
"Son of a bitch," I said under my breath.
"Oh, shit," Steve said, turning back to him. "Listen-"
He was cut off by Billy shoving him in the chest and pushing him to the ground. I jumped back and gasped.
Billy then began kicking Steve, and although I didn't want to just leave him there, I needed to get to the kids.
I turned around and bolted inside, slamming the door behind me.
"Are you shitting me?" I yelled at them. They were all standing at the door, guilt written across their faces.
Dustin looked between everyone and then scratched the back of his neck. "...Sorry?"
I shook my head and walked up to them. "Just go over there. Now."
The four stood behind me in a line and I looked at the door, holding my ground when Billy swung it open. It hit the wall with a thud, and his eyes quickly found Max.
"Well, well, well," Billy said, eyeing her, and then Lucas. "Lucas Sinclair - what a surprise."
He started walking forward, but I stood my ground and moved closer to Lucas.
"I thought I told you to stay away from him, Max," Billy spoke straight through me to his stepsister, his voice dangerously low.
"Billy, go away," Max's voice squeaked from behind me.
"You disobeyed me," Billy continued, close enough that I could feel his breath hot on my face. "And you know what happens when you disobey me."
"Billy-"
"I break things."
Billy shoved me out of the way and made me trip onto the ground. Without me blocking, he was able to pick up Lucas by the collar of his jacket and carry him into the dining room.
A chorus of shouts came from the kids as Billy slammed Lucas against a shelf.
"Get off of me, you-" Lucas was stopped by Billy's hand on his mouth.
"Since Maxine won't listen to me, maybe you will," Billy said. I started to get up slowly, dusting myself off and making sure I hadn't hurt anything on the way down. "You stay away from her."
"Shit," I whispered, watching the pair and easing myself to stand fully.
"Stay away from her!" Billy yelled as I started toward him. "You hear me?"
"He said, get off!" I growled, coming up behind him and using the tip of my foot to kick up and into his crotch. Billy stumbled back with a grunt, letting Lucas go.
He then rounded on me, taking his hand away from his man-hood.
"What did you do that for, sweetheart?" Billy spat, a shit-eating grin across his features as he came to stand with his chest almost against mine.
"Oh," I chuckled dryly, not scared of him. "I think you know."
I drove my knee up into his crotch once again, making him kneel over in agony.
"You are so dead, Henderson!" Billy growled, and, just as he stood back up, I was pushed to the side by Steve who, at some point, had recovered from Billy's fist and had come back inside.
"No, you are," Steve said before throwing a punch to Billy's face making him stumble back into the kitchen.
My eyes widened as I remembered how his and Jonathan's fight had gone last year. "Steve!"
Billy started laughing hysterically, and I took this distraction to yank Lucas' arm and pull him back to the rest of the kids. I hugged him tightly, looking over his shoulder at Steve and Billy.
"Are you okay?" I whispered to Lucas, checking him over. He nodded quickly against my shoulder.
"Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh?" Billy said, opening and closing his jaw as he walked back to Steve. Blood was beginning to fall from his nose as he grinned at Steve. "I've been waiting to meet this King Steve everybody's been telling me so much about!"
"Get out," Steve growled, pushing Billy's chest lightly with his fingers. I clutched Lucas, reaching my arm out to the other kids when Billy swung his fist. Steve ducked and instead hit Billy again. Billy flew into the kitchen table, shattering a few glasses.
"Yes!" Dustin cheered. "Kick his ass, Steve!"
"Get him!" Mike said. "Get that shithead!"
"Murder his ass!" Dustin cheered again when Steve landed another hit. I let go of Lucas and let him stand beside Max, my eyes only focusing on the fight in front of me. "Kill that son of a bitch!"
Billy laughed again as he was pushed into the countertop. He grabbed a plate from behind him and used it to break on Steve's head, making him stumble back.
"Steve!" Lucas yelled.
"Billy!" Max's voice came out as a plea. I just stood there, frozen, not knowing what to do.
"Holy shit," Mike gasped. Steve bumped into Dustin, and Billy kept coming toward us.
"Shit, move!" I said, my voice coming back to me as Dustin narrowly avoided a punch aimed for Steve. The kids and I moved back into the wall as Billy followed Steve into the living room.
"No one tells me what to do," Billy said, holding Steve by the edge of his jacket. He then brought his head into Steve's, sending him backward again and onto the ground. "Whoo, get up!"
"Billy, stop!" I screamed, my voice overlapping the kids' shouts. "You're gonna kill him!"
Billy didn't listen, though, and sat right on Steve to punch him. It was like time slowed as Billy continuously punched Steve unconscious, the yells of the kids faint in the background. I didn't know what to do, until Max tapped my arm and pointed to a needle sitting on a shelf beside her.
It was the same as the one I'd seen Joyce holding earlier - the one that they used to put Will to sleep. Luckily, it still had some anesthetic left in it.
I glanced up one last time before grabbing the needle, taking off the protective plastic and rushing forward to Billy. I raised my arm before planting the needle in his neck and pushing down on the syringe.
The kids all stopped yelling and I moved away, slowly backing up as Billy stood from Steve. He tripped slightly, blood coming from his mouth, nose and coating his hand. He slowly pulled out the needle from his neck and looked from it to me, his movements getting slow and sloppy.
"Hey, the hell is this?" Billy said, attempting to walk toward me but his legs seemed too heavy. "You piece of shit, what did you do?"
"Hey, man," I spat at him, clenching my jaw and holding up my arms. "I'm just protecting my kids."
I stuck out my hand and pushed lightly on his chest, watching as he fell to the floor with a thump.
"Shit," Mike whispered, staring at him on the floor. Billy began laughing again, and I was quickly shoved aside by Max who was holding Steve's bat over her shoulder.
"From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone," Max said, her voice firm as she stared down at her stepbrother. Her eyes were full of hate as she clutched the bat, and something told me she wasn't afraid to use it. "Do you understand?"
"Screw you," Billy mumbled. She swung the bat as hard as she could to land on the floor between his legs before pulling it back up when Billy reacted.
"Say you understand!" She shouted. "Say it! Say it!"
"I understand," Billy almost whispered.
"What?" Max barked.
"I understand," He repeated, his eyes shutting as he fell asleep. The bat dropped from Max's hands with a clang, and I stepped forward to place my hand on her shoulder.
She turned around and looked at me with wide eyes, not hesitating to hug me. I wrapped myself around her securely and held her head to my shoulder. I moved us slightly so that I could face the boys, and they were all looking at us, shocked.
"You did good," I whispered to her, clutching my hand in her bright orange hair. "You did real good."
I pulled away, giving her a small smile, before turning my attention to the other unconscious boy on the floor.
"Shit," I said, kneeling on the ground beside Steve and lightly tracing my fingers on his cheek. Blood was dripping out of his mouth and nose and I could see a black eye already forming.
"Is he okay?" Dustin asked worriedly from over my shoulder. He, Mike, Lucas and Max all crowded around him, looking at his beaten face.
"Uh, yeah," I swallowed, doing my best to stay calm. "Someone get me a towel."
"Got it," Lucas said, jumping up and running to the kitchen. He came back a second later with a hand towel and tossed it to me.
"Thanks," I muttered, folding the towel and dabbing it against Steve's face gently. It quickly began soaking up the blood as more bruises bloomed across his skin. "Shit, Steve."
Max got up suddenly and walked over to Billy. She crouched down and pulled out the key to his car from his pocket.
She held it up for us to see and glanced at me, only saying her next words when I nodded. "Let's get out of here."
~~~
Hey, Lovelies!
I hope you enjoyed today's longer chapter!! There are only two more chapters until the end of the season so I'm dragging them out!
I love all of you dearly, know that my IMs are always open <3
Until next time :)