Dustin and Kim knocked on the front door of the Wheeler house, hoping that either Nancy or Mike would be home to help us with their little Demogorgon problem.
"Your line has been busy for over two house, Mr. Wheeler," Kim said once the door swung open. "Do you realize this?"
"Oh, I do realize," Mr. Wheeler replied.
"Is Mike home?" Dustin asked.
"No," Mr. Wheeler shook his head.
"No?" Dustin asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "Well, where the hell is he?"
"Karen, where's our son?" Mr. Wheeler called back into the house. There was a muffled reply before Mr. Wheeler turned back to us and said, "Will's."
Kim sighed, exchanging a look with her brother. "No one's picking up there. Nance, what about Nancy?"
"Karen, where's Nancy?" Mr. Wheeler asked his wife. There was another muffled reply before Mr. Wheeler said, "Ally's. Our children don't live here anymore. You didn't know that?"
"Seriously?" Kim rolled her eyes.
"Am I done here?" Mr. Wheeler asked, a bored expression on his face.
"Son of a bitch," Dustin muttered. "You're really no help at all, you know that?"
"Hey! Language!" Mr. Wheeler called as Kim and Dustin walked away.
"What the hell are we gonna do now?" Kim asked. "We need someone else's help otherwise that damn thing in the storm cellar is gonna eat us."
Steve's car pulled up in front of the Wheeler house and a smile spread across Dustin's face. "I think we found just the right idiot to help us."
Kim groaned as she followed her brother over to the boy with a large bouquet of roses.
"Steve!" Dustin called to him, practically having to drag his sister behind him. "Are those for Mr. or Mrs. Wheeler?"
He looked down at the flowers in confusion. "No."
"Good," Dustin said, ripping the flowers out of his hand and starting for Steve's car.
"Hey! What the hell?" Steve protested. "Hey!"
"Nance isn't home," Kim told him, sliding into Steve's passenger seat.
"Where is she?" Steve asked.
"I don't know," Kim shrugged. "It doesn't matter. We have bigger problems than your pathetic love life."
"You two still have your bats?" Dustin asked.
"Bats?" Steve asked, super confused by their weird behavior. "What bats?"
Dustin couldn't help but roll his eyes. "The ones with the nails?"
"Why?" Steve asked, his eyes still on Kim who had put her feet up on the dash as she always did.
"We'll explain it on the way," Kim told him. "Now get in or we're stealing your car and leaving you here."
"Okay, okay," Steve said, putting his hand's up in surrender as he hopped into the driver's seat.
As quickly as possible, Kim and Dustin explained everything that had happened in the past few days.
"Shit," Steve breathed once the siblings had finished their story. "This is exactly how I wanted to spend my weekend."
Kim tried not to laugh at his sarcastic comment. "Oh, you and Nancy had big plans?"
"Shut up," Steve muttered, knowing Kim was just messing with him.
They sat in silence for a minute, the only sound being the Queen song on the radio. "Wait a sec, how big?" Steve asked.
"First it was like that, now he's like this," Dustin answered, using his arms to show Dart's growth.
"I swear to God, man, it's just some little lizard, okay?" Steve said, not wanting a repeat of what happened the previous year.
"It's not a lizard," Dustin said, hating that Steve had been the only option for help.
"How do you know?" Steve asked.
"Oh, I don't know," Kim said sarcastically. "Maybe because it's face opened up and it ate my cat."
Steve grudgingly nodded. "Yeah, okay. Not a lizard." He sighed, parking the car in front of the Henderson house.
•••••
After getting his bat out of the trunk, he walked up with Kim to her room, Dustin waiting by the car.
"It's gotta be here somewhere," Kim muttered, digging under her bed for her bat. "I know I put it under here. Steve, check my closet."
"No way," Steve shook his head. "There's all sorts of weird girl shit in there."
She glared at him. "When I find that bat, I'm gonna hit you with it."
Steve chuckled. "Well, that will be pretty entertaining for Dustin."
"Got it!" she exclaimed, pulling it out and nearly scraping Steve with the many nails.
"Okay, so you weren't joking about hitting me with it," Steve said, eyes wide as he backed away from her.
She rolled her eyes as she set the bat down on her bed and looked through her closet. She smirked as she found what she was looking for and pulled the leather jacket over her tee shirt.
"Why do you need that?" Steve asked, handing her the bat again.
"It's cold so I need something on my arms," Kim said defensively.
Steve raised his eyebrows, knowing the real reason she wanted to wear a leather jacket. "So it has nothing to do with the aesthetic of it?"
"Okay, so many it has a little bit to do with the aesthetic," she inclined her head. "Come on, let's go make sure Dust hasn't been eaten by a Demogoron yet."
"Yeah, that would be fun to explain to your mom," Steve joked. "First the cat, now her son."
•••••
The three of them stood outside the storm cellar, Steve's flashlight aimed at the red metal doors. "I don't hear shit," he said.
"He's in there," Dustin assured him.
Steve looked back and forth between the door, Kim, and Dustin. He banged his bat against the door, waiting for any noise from the baby Demogorgon. When nothing happened he aimed his flashlight in Dustin's eyes. "Alright, listen, kid. I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank, you're dead."
Dustin blinked rapidly in the bright light. "It's not. It's not a prank. Get it out of my face."
"Either of you got a key to this thing?" Steve asked.
Kim nodded, digging through her leather jacket pocket until her hand brushed against the small, cold metal key. She tossed the keys at Steve and he easily caught them, unlocked the doors, and then threw them open.
"He must be further down there," Dust said, Kim shining a flashlight around the part of the cellar they could see. "I'll stay up here in case he tries to escape."
Kim scoffed as she started down the stairs in front of Steve. "Yeah, that's why you don't want to come down here."
"Hey, hey, stay behind me," Steve whispered, trying to push her back.
"No way," Kim whispered back, her bat held high. "That thing attacks it'll mess up your perfect hair and we can't have that."
Steve laughed at her stupid jab, thinking she was the bravest and dumbest person he knew.
Once she reached the middle of the room, Kim pulled the string attached to the singular light bulb, giving them a little more light. "Ew, what the hell is that?"
Steve wrinkled his nose as he picked up the slimy substance with his bat. "No idea."
"It looks like some kind of skin, but it's not the right shape to be a snake," she muttered, thinking back to the science textbook she had been studying from a few nights ago.
"Kim," Steve breathed, his eyes no longer on the slimy skin.
She followed his gaze and her eyes widened at the large hole in the side of the wall. She walked back over to the stairs that lead down to the cellar and pointed the lashlight up at her brother. "Get down here."
Hesitantly, Dustin crept down the stairs. "Oh shit," he muttered, seeing the skin and the large hole in the wall. "No way."
"I vote that we send Dustin in there to see where it goes," Kim joked.
"Why me?" Dustin asked, his voice trembling a bit with fear.
"It's your pet, that's why!" Kim argured, not totally joking anymore.
"Okay, just calm down everyone," Steve said, putting a hand on both their shoulders. "We're not going to find this thing in the dark. We just have to wait until morning and then go after it."
•••••
While Dustin tried to fall asleep, Kim and Steve sat in her room trying to figure out a plan. "So we're just gonna leave the meat out and hope it follows?" Kim asked. "What if it's vegetarian?"
Steve rolled his eyes and tried not to laugh. "It ate your cat. I don't think it's vegetarian."
"Right," Kim said, looking down sheepishly.
Steve gently placed his hand over hers. "Hey, it's gonna be okay. We're gonna find this thing, we're gonna kill it, and then it'll all be over."
"I just don't want Dustin to get hurt," she said, looking down at his comforting hand on top of hers. She slowly pulled her hand away from his, not knowing where his relationship with Nancy stood.
Steve blushed, thinking she had pulled away because she didn't like him as anything more than a friend.
Trying to cover up the awkwardness, Kim faked a yawn. "We should probably get some sleep. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow."