Author's Note: I got a request on my tumblr to do a fic for episode 9 where Steve gets injured by one of the Demodogs and the kids have to take care of him, so here is the first chapter! I'm not sure how many chapters this is gonna be yet, but I know it'll at least be 2. Hope you like it! I'll update as soon as I finish chapter 2!

Those things were coming. Those, what did Dustin call them? Demodogs?

He needed to make sure the kids got out safe, and he lifted them out the hole where they'd entered one by one. First Max, then Lucas, then Mike, then... Shit! It was too late. The Demodogs were surrounding them. Steve was standing at the ready with his bat, keeping Dustin close to him so that he wouldn't get trampled.

They'd almost made it unscathed before Steve felt one of the demodogs run into his side as it ran past. It's claws has scraped his leg, leaving a deep gash, and he grunted in pain.

After what felt like hours, but was really less than a minute, the monsters had passed. Quickly, Steve hoisted Dustin up far enough to reach the rope, then climbed up after him, with more difficulty than he usually would due to his injured leg -- not to mention the previous beating he'd suffered at the hands of Billy Hargrove.

He pulled himself up and laid down in the dirt for minute, breathing heavily.

"...Everybody okay?" he asked after he caught his breath. The kids nodded in response. "Good. Now let's get the hell outa here." He stood up at this point and lead the kids back to the car.

They stood in the glow of the headlights for a moment as they became blindingly bright and then dimmed again. "What the hell..." Steve said in a hushed tone. "El," Mike said.

"...I'll drive," Max said after another couple moments.

"No. Nope. No way in hell. Being in the car while you're driving is worse than fighting those demo-things," Steve said. "Demodogs," Dustin corrected and Steve rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

The five of them piled into the car, Steve behind the wheel, Dustin riding shotgun, and Mike, Lucas, and Max in the back seat.

They arrived back at the Byers' and upon entering they found Billy still unconscious on the floor. "Shit," Max and Steve said in unison.

"What should we do with him?" Max asked. "I'll drag him outside. We'll leave him on the porch -- he can drive himself home when he wakes up," Steve said, "You guys just go wait in the kitchen until mrs Byers gets home."

The kids obeyed, much to Steve's surprise, and he sighed. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, he couldn't ignore the pain he was in. His head was pounding from the beating he'd taken from Billy earlier that night, and he could barely put any weight on the leg that the demodog had ripped open, and... shit, was that blood?

The creature had done more damage than he'd originally thought, and now the blood was dripping down his leg to the floor. He didn't know how long he'd been bleeding before that.

He sighed and bent down, grabbing Billy's unconscious figure by the arms, and dragging him out the door and onto the porch with great difficulty.

"You're a real asshole, you know that?" Steve said as he not-so-gently dropped the other boy onto the splintering, wooden porch.

He limped his way back into the house, closing and bolting the door behind him, and leaning his back against it, feeling his head swim.

He needed to do something about his leg before he lost more blood. He didn't know much about injuries that weren't sport related, but he knew that losing blood wasn't a good thing.

He started walking away from the door, planing on making his way to the kitchen. One of those kids had to know where the Byers' kept a first-aid kit, right?

Steve only got a few steps, however before his head swam again -- so badly this time that he couldn't focus and before he knew what had happened, he felt himself hit the floor, unable to catch himself. "Shit," he thought. He weakly tried to get back up, but between his pounding head and his bleeding leg, he just couldn't muster the energy, and he felt himself falling unconscious.

Just then the kids came running in, having heard the thump Steve had made when he fell. The last thing he was aware of before he fell into complete unconsciousness was Dustin yelling "Oh shit!"

"What's wrong with him?" Max asked in a tone of confused concern. "I don't know," Mike said with an edge to his voice, "Your brother beat the shit out of him!"

"He's not my brother!" Max yelled.

"Guys..." Lucas said, staring at Steve's unconscious form. "Why do you even care about him?" Mike said, gesturing to Steve. He was still yelling at Max, having not heard Lucas. "He tried to protect us!" Max said, "Why don't you care?!"

"Guys!" Lucas yelled, and Max and Mike stopped arguing to look at him. "What?!" they said in unison.

Lucas pointed at Steve's injured leg, "He's bleeding."