NOTE: sorry my chapter updates have been all over the place! college has been taking a major toll on me for the past few weeks and ive been trying to focus on my classes so my grades dont drop.
Rowen didn't realize how much she would regret doing this until it was too late to turn back.
Forty-seven hours too late, if she was keeping track. Which she wasn't. It just happened to be a piece of information sitting in the back of her mind... nagging her... rattling her insides to the point where she could physically feel her head begin to ache.
She didn't know why she was counting the hours when she couldn't change anything. She was already in too deep as it was. But that wouldn't stop her from regretting all that led up to this point.
That regret started with when she wandered into Dustin's room.
She wished she hadn't done that... really wished, now that she knew what it led up to. She was never that curious, so why was she then? Why was finding Mews so important? Did working at a police station have some kind of weird influence on her? Or was it just the pull she felt to help Dustin find his cat after being reminded of Speedy?
And when did she become willing to do stuff this stupid? When did she let Max get so close to stuff this stupid?
Never. That was when. She never did... up until now.
Now it was as if every bit of sense she had was knocked out of her all because she was introduced to too many things at one time... Too many impossible things which turned out to be completely possible. She was rattled, for lack of better word. She couldn't tell which way was up and which way was down. She couldn't stop thinking about how they had to get rid of these impossible things.
The first thing that she heard after discovering it all was that they had to get rid of it. Have to get rid of it. Have to get rid of it. That's all she could think about then. And, forty-seven hours later, that was still all she could think about, aside from wondering what time it was every other minute.
"Rowen."
"Hm?"
"Stop looking at your watch."
"Sorry."
The only reason she wasn't stomping out of that bus right then and there was because of Dustin's badgering. From his abruptly loud, obnoxious comments that kept her in place and somewhat assuring answers to her questions, to the look he threw her at one point that said 'I may not do anything to you if you leave, but the government might'.
Truthfully, she had him to blame. He was the one pulling her along... But, at the same time, she kind of let him do it.
Rowen all but invited Dustin to drag her by the arm, drag her into their world of monsters and superpowers all because he made such a firm point about how she was suddenly apart of it. About how she knew everything now as if it was some super-secret club... which it kind of was, she guessed. She was, in a way, one of them now. Max was too. And it felt weird. And Rowen couldn't get them out of it. Now that she was sitting inside a rusted bus with three almost-teenagers and Steve Harrington, a trap set and waiting right outside their hideaway, she knew she couldn't change her mind just because an intense feeling of regret decided to show up after they laid their bait and dug themselves in too deep to climb out.
She made her bed and now she had to lie in it. It was her decision, ultimately, and if they ever found Hopper, she knew he wouldn't blame a thirteen-year-old. He might blame Steve, maybe... who knows. But Rowen was the oldest out of this bunch. So, if anything happened to Max, if anything happened to any of them, it would be her fault. She knew that as well as she knew anything and she wasn't going to let it happen.
She may have lost all sense, let Dustin pull her along and made a decision she couldn't get out of, but she would be damned if she was the reason that any of them made it out with anything more than shaky hands.
"Rowen, seriously, stop looking at your watch. It's making me anxious."
She groaned out a deep sigh.
Rowen began to undo the strap around her wrist. She slipped it off in one easy motion, pushed herself up from where she sat and stalked to the front of the bus. The door was opened, and the piece was chucked out to the junkyard. She could no longer see it, but it landed to the ground with a thud. Returning to her self-made space, she sat with a thud as well.
"I didn't mean you had to get rid of it-"
"That's the only way I'm not going to look at it, okay?" Rowen told him, but his frown only deepened. "It's fine, Dustin. I didn't like it that much anyway."
Dustin still looked somewhat remorseful, but nodded, continuing to pace as he had done before.
"You know he's gonna be mad no matter what time we get back, right?" said Max. She adjusted in her seat on the opposite side of the bus, picking at the side of her shoe.
"I know."
Rowen had quietly grumbled her worries to Max before they all climbed into the bus, when the scraps were still being piled together. Neither of them had any faith that Billy would rat them out, and neither of them knew what they would say when they came home. He wasn't even aware of the fact that Max had left the house, to begin with. Their dad would demand an answer and she knew Billy would say he didn't know, which was why Rowen spent most of those two hours trying to concoct a lie that would save all three of their butts... Trying being the keyword. It was difficult to do anything with her heart pounding in her ears.
She was surprised she wasn't shaking feeling as nervous as she was.
"How long are we supposed to wait for this thing to show up anyway?" Max asked.
"Till he shows up," Dustin stated.
"So we could be here all night, basically..."
It wasn't a question, they all knew that. But Rowen knew the underlying meaning of Max's words, too. Words that said My step-dad is going to grow two heads and scream at us with both of them if we come home at ass o'clock in the morning.
"If that's what it takes," said Dustin, determined.
The stepsisters shared a wary glance.
"It's not going to take us all night." Steve was the one to answer this time, speaking with certainty as he flicked his Zippo open. "We know this thing likes meat, so we know it's going to take the bait... But we left a long trail. We just have to give it time to get here."
Max looked to Rowen for any reason to doubt what he said, but Rowen only gave her a grudging nod, and Max leaned further into her seat. She crossed her arms.
"So... you really fought one of these things before?" she asked Steve. He nodded. "And you're like... totally, one-hundred percent sure it wasn't a bear?"
Rowen sighed at Max's stubborn disbelief, frustrated. She didn't blame her, but Rowen figured that after telling Max twice, she would have given in by then. Seems she was wrong.
"Max I told you-"
"Shit. Don't be an idiot," Dustin snapped, cutting her off. "Okay? It wasn't a bear. Why are you even here if you don't believe us? Just go home."
Rowen all but expected Dustin to be cradling his nose or rubbing his cheek after barking at Max in the way he did... but Max never moved. Her arms stayed crossed and all she did was glare up at him with the familiar 'excuse me?' expression she would give Billy. And Rowen, albeit taken aback by Dustin, was a little proud.
Max rolled her eyes and stood, stepping towards the ladder. "Geesh. Someone's cranky. Past your bedtime?"
She climbed until she reached the top of the bus, disappearing from their sight.
"That's good. Show her you don't care."
Rowen's gaze snapped over to Steve. She felt for the nearest object, snatching an empty can, throwing it towards him. Steve jumped in his seat as it hit his arm, but saved himself from falling over in an ungraceful manner.
He gaped at her. "The hell was that for?"
"That was not good. Okay? What is with you and this 'acting like you don't care' crap?"
"What's with you and throwing things at people?"
Steve brushed off his arm as if having a rusted can hit it was so offensive, Rowen rolled her eyes. The opening and closing of his lighter resumed and Dustin continued to pace, wandering back and forth with a blank look as if he had never even heard their short-lived bickering.
Rowen wondered if he did.
It was his lack of a reaction that made her look over to him eventually. His shoulders were hunched, his eyes downcast, and his face was set into a permanent frown. It made her frown, too.
"Dustin? You alright?"
"Yeah..."
She watched as he collapsed into the seat Max previously occupied, cutting his eyes at the opening above them. Rowen turned her gaze up to it as well, just barely catching the tips of Max's shoes. She was bobbing her feet.
Rowen pressed her lips in a thin line, looking back to Dustin. "You have to cut her some slack," she tried, head leaning back against the layers of metal they piled against the sides. "You guys have fought a Demogorgon, I've seen one. All she's done is taken our word for it."
"I know," he grumbled shyly. "I didn't mean to get in her face. I'm just nervous."
Rowen huffed. "That makes two of us."
She hadn't realized how the wind had not blown once since they all climbed into the creaking scraps of the bus until it did. It had been dead silent for the entire two hours they sat waiting, and she could hear every noise that broke it. From her own rapid heartbeat to Dustin's footsteps, Steve's lighter, Max picking at her shoes... she could even hear Lucas when he shifted on top of the bus. But, when the wind pierced through, howled as if it was alive, the sound filled her ears and blocked those other noises. She could feel the cold wiggle through the oversized sleeves of her sweater, prickle her skin and suddenly, she felt more like bait than the meat that sat outside.
And they were just sitting there. No true battle strategy with nothing but a makeshift fort and a plan that may or may not work. Rowen hated it, but somehow she knew she would feel worse if she moved, trying to do something else.
She leaned further into her seat as she shivered from the chill of the wind, trying to salvage some warmth.
"Cold?"
She looked over to see Steve smirking at her. Rowen scowled. "No, shit."
Dustin took notice of her shivering, too. "Bet you miss warm weather, huh?" he joked weakly.
"Are you kidding? I hate the heat. I'm just adjusting to Hawkins' version of cold, that's all."
"What's California's version?" Steve asked.
"Bearable," she grumbled. "That's what."
Dustin smiled, amused. "You're gonna have to adjust to Hawkins' version if you want to stay here."
"Oh, don't worry about me," said Rowen. "I don't plan to stay here for that long."
She seemed to have said the wrong thing. The bus went silent again, and Dustin's smile immediately fell. "...You don't?"
Her heart couldn't help but sink at his tone... but still, she shook her head. The disappointment was as plain on his face as it was when he saw Max arrive with Lucas. She glanced towards Steve, but he was looking at Dustin. For a moment she thought he looked disappointed, too.
Rowen shifted uncomfortably. "It doesn't have anything to do with you guys," she assured Dustin, attempting to lighten the suddenly downhearted mood. "I just never wanted to leave to begin with."
"Then why did you?" he asked.
He was genuinely curious, she could see that, but she shifted again. "...It's a long story."
Seems it wasn't enough of an answer to satisfy him. "Did your dad's job relocate or something?"
Rowen shook her head. "No."
"Did he doing something illegal?"
"No, Dustin..."
Steve resumed the opening and closing of his Zippo, intervening. "What about your mom-"
"She's not-..." Rowen cut herself off before her voice could raise, pausing, breathing deeply. Dustin flinched at her tone, Steve looked expectant. She looked down at her hands. "She's... she's not my mom," she said firmly, shaking her head again. "I know I've been calling Max my sister, but she's my stepsister. Susan is my step-mom."
It still felt like she was saying the wrong thing... or maybe not enough.
"Listen, she's... She's not a terrible person or anything. But she's pushy and whiny, and she's been trying to replace my mom for the last seven years, and... and my dad made us move because he hated her ex-husband as much as she did."
"Your dad moved you across the country for that?" Dustin asked, unable to believe it. "My mom and dad are divorced, too, but it's not like he can't live in the same state."
Rowen huffed. "Yeah, well... my dad's a little territorial. And Susan exaggerates." She began to rub her wrist as if the bruise was still there. It had all but disappeared now, a small, faded splotch of green that she could barely see after a week. It didn't hurt anymore, either, but she was grazing her fingers over it as if it did. As if talking about her dad and Susan made that place throb again. "She didn't even hate him for a good reason. They just... didn't get along, you know? Typical reasons for getting a divorce."
"Then what made it so bad to where your dad decided to move so far?"
She shrugged. "He couldn't stand the idea of Max visiting her dad all the time."
"What do you mean?" Steve pipped up.
"It's this thing called joint custody," Dustin answered for her. "My parents did that when they first divorced. I used to visit my dad every couple weeks."
"Yeah, I know what joint custody is, Dustin," Steve said. "Tommy's parents are divorced."
A beat passed.
"It doesn't matter what it means, honestly. It didn't last for very long," said Rowen, rubbing at her eyes. "Like I said, Susan hated him... I don't even know how she did it, but she got sole custody. Max wasn't allowed to see him anymore, either."
"What did he do?" Dustin asked.
Rowen laughed dryly. "Nothing... Susan just didn't want her to be around him."
The silence lasted long enough for them to hear the wind return. It shook the bus and Steve flinched, immediately pushing himself up to look out the window. Dustin was on high alert, Rowen shivered again... but when the sudden wind ceased to a breeze, he relaxed back into his seat, as did Steve.
"Wait... I don't get it," Dustin said after a minute of thinking. "If Max wasn't allowed to see him anymore, then what was the problem?"
"The problem was that Max kept sneaking out to see him anyway," Rowen told him. "But he lived like two hours away, so... I always went with her."
"You took her?"
She nodded. "I thought we could get away with it. She hadn't seen him in over a year at that point and I just... I don't know. I felt really bad. And her dad was nice. That's why I kept taking her."
"But?"
"But my dad caught us, eventually... and he lost it. There was a 'for sale' sign in our yard about a week later."
Steve and Dustin exchanged a look. The wind blew again.
"It's my fault," she thought aloud. "That we're here."
"How could it be your fault?" Steve asked. "So what? You took Max to see her dad. That's not a crime."
"It was a crime to my dad," she said gravely. "And Max's dad still could've gotten in trouble because of what I did. Susan could've pressed charges against him if she wanted."
"Did she?" Dustin asked
"No," said Rowen. "I talked her out of it."
He hesitated, messing with his jacket sleeves. "...What'd you do?"
Rowen bit her lip. "...I owned up to it," she said plainly. "I got in deep-shit trouble, but I owned up to it."
"You took the blame?"
She shrugged. "I had to. Besides, it's not like I was totally innocent. I did help her sneak out."
"Yeah, but it's not your fault," Dustin insisted. "You were just being nice."
"Yeah, and look where my 'being nice' got us-"
She could barely finish her sentence before a roar all but rattled the bus they sat in. Steve jolted this time, Dustin stood immediately... and Rowen, albeit startled, soon crossed to the other side of their hideaway. She put herself between the two boys, all of them peeking through the grated opening. Through their tiny window, she could see that, along with the wind, came a heavy fog, unsettling, appearing out of nowhere.
Rowen noticed a lot of things tended to appear out of nowhere in Hawkins. In the forests, in people's houses. Maybe that was just how the town was... or maybe she was right, thinking they were in the makings of a horror movie setting. All they needed was a monster... and she wondered if their monster was about to appear.
"Do you see it?"
"No..."
"Lucas!" Dustin called. "What's going on?"
"Hold on!" Lucas shouted. They waited. "I've got eyes!" he shouted again. "Ten o'clock! T-ten o'clock!"
Steve pointed between the holes they peered through at a figure a few yards away. "There."
The silhouette she squinted at was blurred by the fog, barely visible from where they stood, hidden from it. At the very least, she could tell that it was an animal... but Rowen knew without a shadow of a doubt that that silhouette belonged to what they had been waiting all night for.
And she shuddered when it began to move.
"What's he doing?" Dustin asked.
She could see Steve shake his head from the corner of her eye. "I don't know."
"It's just standing there," she observed quietly. "Why is it just standing there?"
"It's not taking the bait," he muttered.
"I thought you said it would?"
"I did- I thought it would, but..."
"Maybe he's not hungry?" Dustin offered.
"Maybe he's sick of cow..." Steve offered in return.
A heavy beat passed as he exchanged a look with Rowen.
She gulped, glancing between the two. "So, uh... w-what do we do? What do we do now?"
She never received an answer to her question. Steve backstepped away from the window without saying a word, catching her attention when the bus creaked under his shoes. She turned around to see what he was doing, but all he did was stand there, still staring out their little window.
"What?" she asked, wondering if she was missing something he had picked up.
Steve's gaze shifted to her, but he said nothing. When he grabbed his bat from the other side of the bus, he caught Dustin's attention, too.
"Steve? Steve, what are you doing?" he asked. Nothing. Dustin poked at her arm. "What's he doing?"
Rowen cast him a sideways glance, but she never said a word, either... until Steve tossed her his Zippo, and suddenly she realized just exactly what he was doing.
She gaped at him, then the lighter in her hands, then at the junkyard, then at him again. "You're an idiot. Like truly, completely an idiot."
"So I've been told," he said flatly. "Just be ready."
Steve marched towards the front before either of them could protest, bat gripped tightly. The door screeched under his touch, not at all quiet, not at all discreet. She supposed it didn't matter, though. Not when he was using himself as bait.
Bringing attention to himself was the idea.
Both she and Dustin rushed back to the window, peaking through the grate, waiting... Steve took his time to step away from the bus. He was hesitant and she didn't blame him for it. If he changed his mind and decided to come back inside, she wouldn't blame him for that either. But he didn't. Steve kept going.
He began to whistle at the creature as if he was calling a lost pet, bat swinging back and forth in his hand like a pendulum.
She exhaled a long breath, mumbling, "I swear to God if he gets eaten..."
"He won't."
Now Rowen was gaping at Dustin. "Dustin, he's literally offering himself as monster food-..."
"What's he doing?" she heard Max ask from behind her, descending the ladder with loud steps.
Rowen and Dustin opened their mouths at the same time.
"Being an idiot."
"Expanding the menu."
Max came up to Rowen's left, peeking through the grated window herself.
Steve was still swinging his bat, whistling, treating the Demogorgon like it was a wary dog not so trusting of the food or the person that sat in front of it.
Then his whistling stopped.
"C'mon, buddy," they heard him try. "Dinner time. Human tastes better than cat. I promise."
That was when Max mentally caught up with the other two, realizing. "He's insane," she stated.
"He's awesome." Rowen heard Dustin object giddily.
The wind chose this time to blow again. It whistled softly, but it was strong enough to cause the fog to move faster than it had been on its own. The mist which covered the ground parted... and the silhouette was no longer just a silhouette.
They already knew what was coming. Rowen expected to see Dart. But when the fog cleared... it revealed something much more horrifying. Dart was indeed what they saw. He looked relatively the same; still no face, still all leathery and hunched. His tail still twitched as it did when he was devouring Mews. Only... now he was three times bigger, and it was intimidating as hell.
She could hear him growl from where they hid. It was a sound that ran shivers up her spine, and probably always would.
How Dustin, Lucas, the other boys, and Eleven put up with one that was even bigger, nevermind one they all faced head-on at some point... she could not comprehend. If anything she applauded their bravery.
At the same time, she couldn't help but scold herself for hiding while Steve was practically inviting Dart to eat him... But what exactly was it that she was supposed to do?
"Steve! Watch out!" Lucas's sudden shouts startled them.
"I'm a little busy here!" Steve shouted back.
"Three o'clock! Three o'clock!"
Lucas was warning him. Rowen tried peering into the darkness, where he implied something else stood waiting. She squinted, looking through the piles of junk and broken down cars, trying to spot something, anything that was moving... Then her eyes widened. "Oh my god..."
There, propped on top of one of the cars, was another Dart. Two more crouched low to the ground next to it, and they all had their sights set on Steve. There were three more of them.
"Wait- there's more of them?!" Max questioned, shocked.
"Where the hell did they come from?" Dustin thought aloud.
Rowen began to shake her head, stepping away from where they watched. Steve was going to get himself killed. She all but bolted to the front of the bus, yanking open the door handle.
"Steve!" she shouted. "Get back! Now!"
Dustin practically clambered over to her side. "Abort!" he yelled. "Abort!"
But Steve wasn't listening.
He took notice of the other creatures behind him. With his bat raised defensively, his head jerked around, looking at one, looking at the other, looking between them as they all wheezed out inhuman growls.
None of them moved, not until the one who appeared first suddenly screeched, face opened up to display an array of teeth. It charged, and Steve made a break for it. He dodged it, running, then rolling over the hood of one of the cars as another pounced and missed. Steve whacked the last which lunged his way as if it had been a baseball. It flew back in the same manner, and that was when she and the kids began to shout again.
Max and Lucas joined them by then, and they all shouted for Steve to hurry, jump back into the safety of the bus.
This time, he bolted.
Steve hurled himself inside the bus, the door was yanked closed, Rowen was knocked back into the front seat. Max held onto the side, holding her hand in a death grip. Lucas stood beside Max, Dustin almost fell into Rowen's lap, but he pushed himself back up. Steve sat in front of all of them, hurriedly reaching for a sheet of metal to cover the door as the multiple Darts rammed themselves against it, trying to break the glass.
"Holy shit!" Dustin cursed.
"Are they rabid or something?!"
"They can't get in!" Lucas shouted frantically. "They can't!"
But his assurances weren't so assuring.
Just as he blurted out the words, the bus jolted roughly, tilting backward almost as if it was about to topple over. They all screamed to some degree, clinging to either the bus or each other as the entire thing was pushed one way, then falling back the next. Rowen now knew how the fish she won at the carnival felt when she wrestled against a seven-year-old Billy, trying to keep the bowl she put her beloved fish in from falling off of the kitchen counter.
The Darts- Demogorgons... whichever it was, she could hear how they roughly threw themselves against their hideaway. Whether rocking them back and forth to see if it would make them fall out or trying to shake off the layers of scrap metal they piled up around it... they were doing something. She just wished she knew what it was so she knew what she had to do... But she didn't have enough time to think.
Steve's feet slipped off of the sheet of metal they were holding against the door and a clawed hand immediately burst through.
They screamed again.
"Move, now! Go!" Rowen shouted, ushering the three kids away from the front to a safer space. They bolted to the back of the bus, hiding behind the seats. Rowen positioned herself behind the ladder in front of them.
Dustin grabbed for his headset. "Is anyone there?! Mike! Will! GOD! ANYONE!"
Claws pierced through the back and the kids stumbled.
"Guys back away! Now!" Rowen ordered, waving them towards her.
All three scrambled over to her sides, Lucas and Dustin near the window while Max stepped past her, gripping onto the ladder. Rowen's heart was pounding furiously, so much that it was tough to breathe. She was shocked she was even moving, with the way terror usually seemed to freeze her, keep her feet planted wherever she stood.
Steve was still near the door, vigorously whacking at the Demogorgon which had broken through. Max was trying not to panic, Lucas had gone mute, and Dustin was still yelling into his headpiece.
"We're at the old junkyard," he continued, attempting to calm himself down so he could speak clearly. "And we are going to die!"
Loud booms had a knack for showing up as the boys finished their sentences. Another came from the top of the bus, and it made both her and Max jerk around, staring wide-eyed at the front... but it seemed they were the only ones to catch it. It was only when the booms grew louder... closer... that the boys stopped as the stepsisters had. Max was frozen, all but attached to the ladder with Rowen right behind her. Lucas and Dustin planted themselves like statues.
Now she was sure they were in a horror movie... because she quickly realized that the booms were footsteps, and they were approaching the opening above them, left wide and unguarded. Did she dare look up?
She did... and so did Max, who was but a few feet away from the nightmarish creature now above them. It stalked to them like a cat would, grabbed at the top of the ladder with one clawed hand and craned its head down, gurgling the way Dart did when Rowen first found him.
Staring it in the eye pushed Max from panicked to terrified.
She screamed louder than she ever had, and Rowen's instincts kicked into high gear. She grabbed Max by the arm and wrapped her own around her shoulders, pulling her back while Steve appeared from the front just as she did so.
"Out of the way!" he ordered. "Out of the way!"
He pushed both of them behind him with one hand, holding the bat towards the Demogorgon with the other.
Steve stared the monster in the eye, pointing the spiked bat in the face of the thing they were supposed to kill, but was now attempting to kill them.
"You want some?! Get this!" he shouted. The Demogorgon roared in his face relentlessly and for a second, Rowen feared that they were about to watch the thing snatch Steve up, tear him to pieces and then come for the rest of them. It made her grip around Max tighten.
But the roaring suddenly stopped, and the creature looked away. Its attention was taken by something else... a sound... another roar, she concluded. It stepped off of the ladder, back onto the roof and roared again, but it no longer roared at them. She couldn't see it as its feet tapped lighter against the roof, but the Demogorgons soon leaped off of the bus, jolting it as they had done when they threw themselves into it.
The noises stopped, the roars stopped... She no longer heard any inhuman growls or booms made by them, but her rapid heart beat rang loud and clear. Were they gone? They were off the bus, she knew that at least.
Her grip around Max lessened just a little, her eyes scanned the one window, out to the junkyard for any sign of them. She couldn't see anything.
"You okay?" she asked Max quietly.
Max nodded. "Yeah... you?"
"Yeah..." Rowen turned to the boys. "Dustin?"
"Y-yeah, yeah... I think so."
"Lucas?" Rowen's hand just barely grazed his shoulder, but Lucas flinched a good two inches away, only registering the fact that it was her when he looked her in the eye.
He nodded, too. "Yeah, uh... Yeah, I'm okay."
Rowen only found the will to breathe normally again after they all nodded their heads. She took in a few deep breaths, letting Max free of her grip, stepping in front of them to stand next to Steve.
He looked as confused as all of them did, but he was still on edge, gripping the bat so hard that his knuckles went stark white.
"What just happened?" she tried, staring out the grated window once again.
Steve shook his head weakly. "I don't know..." His voice was hushed as if speaking normally would bring the Demogorgons back.
They both decided to walk towards the front of the bus at the same time, all three kids following slowly but surely behind them. Rowen assumed that Steve had beaten the one so much that she would find a limp body at the steps, but nothing was there but small pieces of the same sticky skin that sat in Dustin's cellar.
They stepped over it, and Steve pushed at the door, slowly and as steadily as he could.
Once it got to a certain point, the door jerked open with a POP! and Steve jerked, pausing. But he soon stepped out, onto the dirt to see where the Demogorgons had gone... if they had gone anywhere.
Turns out they had. Rowen just barely caught sight of their tails before they disappeared back into the fog, running away from them.
But, even with that certainty, she didn't move from the steps of the bus. Rowen stayed planted where she was, and the kids peeked around her shoulders.
"What. Happened?" Lucas asked.
"Did Steve scare them off?" Dustin wondered aloud.
"No... No way," said Steve, turning around the look at all four of them. "They're going somewhere."
Now Rowen was shaking... After all the tossing and screaming and hearing those words... now she couldn't keep her hands steady. It was as if her body only realized and reacted to what was happening two minutes later than it should have.
Rowen didn't feel safe, not at all. She still felt like they were treading on thin ice even though the four Darts no longer tried to knock them out of the bus.
She stepped off of the bus anyway, found the courage to detach herself from it. The kids immediately did the same, quickly leaving yet still sticking close to her sides as if doing so somehow made it safer.
"So, what do you think? Should we follow them?" Lucas asked them tentatively.
"Follow them?" Max gaped. "You realize we were almost eaten, right?"
The two fell into a fit of bickering. Dustin attempted to be the mediator between them... but, eventually, he too fell into the bickering. And, despite being in the middle of it, Rowen didn't have enough energy to try and stop them.
Steve turned to face them. "Hey, guys," he tried, but they kept throwing hollow quips at each other. "Guys..." he tried again. "GUYS!"
The three startled when he resorted to shouting, falling in line like soldiers under their captain or a band of misfits under their leader. Steve waved a hand at them like he was one. "Listen, we're not just gonna blindly follow these things. Okay? One, that's stupid considering what just happened and two, we don't have any kind of game-plan to follow."
"So we come up with one!" Lucas countered.
"Rowen, what do you think?"
Her head snapped to Dustin who, until that moment, was the only one that had been looking at her. But now they all were, waiting, looking at her expectantly as if somehow her opinion mattered so much all of a sudden. Rowen could understand why Max looked at her this way. Max had come to her for her opinion God knows how many times in the past... But to have all of them do that?
Rowen's mouth fell open. "I don't know, guys," she told the kids, giving them all wary glances. "Steve has a point. I mean, we came here so we could kill that thing. But now there's like, what? An entire pack of them?"
"It's not like we're gonna try and kill one again."
"Dustin, I realize that but-..." She licked her lips, trying to wrack her brain for the right words. "I just think we need to be a little smarter."
Both he and Lucas gave her blank stares.
She sighed out a groan. "Okay, listen, I wanna know where they went, too, but... I think, if we're going to follow them, we should at least go back to the tracks. Okay? It's pitch black out here and yes, we have flashlights, but it's probably better we follow something that's gonna lead us back to town instead of trying to find our way through the forest."
No one protested.
Rowen looked between all four of them. "Okay?"
She received three nods.
"Let's go, then," Steve announced.
Once her bag was retrieved from the bus, they made their way back, following the same path of which three of them came.
There was an odd way to how the forest branched apart, the way it thinned out and gave way to the junkyard. Somehow Rowen didn't notice when the sun shone above them. With the stars now in the sky, it looked like a gateway... a shriveling, withered, gateway which once looked safe but now looked uninviting.
Vines curled upwards, sprouted from the ground with the tree roots intertwined... It all twisted and curved before them, grew out from the canopy of trees and blocked the harsh end of the tracks as if saying do not enter. It was an unwelcome feeling. Rowen felt like they were walking into someone else's territory, invading someone else's space...
They went in anyway, walked over the vines and the roots, sticking close together with their flashlights splayed out against the dead trees. Rowen didn't regret bringing the camping spotlight which took up most of the room in her bag. When she turned it on it almost made the dark in front of them not seem so dark anymore... It didn't lessen the feeling of freely walking into some sort of danger, but it at least gave some comfort.
She was still waiting for something to jump out at them, though, which was why her light stayed glued to the brush.
For the first five minutes they walked down the tracks, Rowen and Dustin argued who would bring up the rear. Rowen wanted to be smart, Dustin wanted to- though he wouldn't admit it -be seen as brave... In the end, Rowen won. With Steve's help, she convinced him to walk in front with Max and Lucas... though he ended up walking ahead of them, thinking that leading the group would be as equally brave.
Max stayed the closest to her when they started, continuously looking over her shoulder, trailing towards Rowen's side. Had she not been forced to walk ahead, Rowen was sure she would have gripped at her arm if she had the chance... But Max only looked down at her shoes, staying quiet for a while.
Rowen rarely knew her to be that scared... The times when she was being times neither of them wanted to relive. But if she was being honest, now- despite happening for a whole other reason -was no different. She did not and would never want to relive being two seconds away from turning into monster food.
As Rowen did herself, Max eventually relaxed, walking in step with Lucas and throwing multiple questions towards Dustin. Rowen felt a little better seeing it, noticing how her shoulders were no longer tense. Having the crunch of their shoes muffled out by the kid's voices was another reason for her steady breathing... But, while she appreciated that, she wished they would do anything but argue.
"You're pretty good at this, you know."
Rowen threw Steve a look. "Pretty good at what?"
He shrugged. "All of it." He pointed between Lucas and Dustin. "You got those two to stop arguing like fifty times, you got Max to stay even though she didn't believe us. You came up with the idea of baiting Dart... You made pretty much every decision, really."
Rowen quirked an unconvinced smirk at the last one. "I think you're reaching a little..." she said. "And we both have been the decision-makers, just saying."
Steve huffed. "Yeah, but you've been making all the smart decisions while I offered myself as bait."
"And that makes me good at this?"
"I mean, you're keeping the Brandy Bunch over here in line without losing it. That's gotta count for something."
Rowen looked away from him, smiling a little. She actually liked that nickname for the three in front of them. It was fitting.
"You're keeping them in line too, you know," she told him.
Steve huffed. "I'm trying..." he grumbled.
A moment passed.
"Oh, by the way..." Steve dug his hand into his jacket pocket. "I found this." He held out her watch, face a little smudged from the dirt it was pressed into. "I'm surprised I didn't step on it when Dart and all his buddies were coming at us."
Rowen opened her mouth, taking it from him. "Thanks," she said, smiling reluctantly. The piece was dropped into her now spacious bag. "I was kind of beating myself up for throwing it out of the bus."
"What, was it a family heirloom or something?" Steve tried joking lightly.
Rowen looked at the dead leaves and trees around them. "No, it was my mom's."
Steve went quiet. He turned away, focusing on keeping an eye out for Dart, the possibility that he or more than one of those Demogorgons might jump out at them. "Did she give it to you?" he thought aloud.
Rowen wasn't exactly hesitant. She was going to answer, it just didn't come to her automatically. But in the time she spent thinking, Steve realized he had voiced his thoughts rather than keep it to himself, and it made him shake his head. "Right. Sorry," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "No more questions."
Rowen was the one to shake her head this time. "No, it's fine it-..." she trailed off abruptly, glancing ahead at the three in front of them. "It's just-..." She cut herself off again. Rowen couldn't think at all with the kids' conversation being so loud. Arguing had been their faithful companion for the last twenty minutes, but Dustin and Lucas's voices were escalating this time. And Rowen found it hard to talk over. Frustrated, she sighed. "It's just these three are too loud, Jesus..." she said. "Guys, what are you arguing about now?"
"About how Dart can molt more than once a day," Dustin said.
"He can't molt in one day," Lucas pressed. "There's no way he can grow that fast."
"Malt?" Steve questioned, squinting.
"No, molt. As in molting," Dustin corrected sharply. "It's when an animal sheds old skin to make room for new growth. Like hornworms."
"When's Dart gonna molt again?" Rowen asked.
"It's gotta be soon," said Dustin. "When he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it... And so will his friends."
"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats," Steve chimed in.
"Wait, a cat?" Lucas grabbed Dustin's arm, stopping him along with the rest of the group. "Dart ate a cat?"
Dustin shook his head. "No, what? No..."
"What do you mean 'no'?" Rowen questioned. "He ate Mews. We buried him yesterday."
"Mews? Who's Mews?" Max asked her.
"Dustin's cat."
"ROWEN!-..." Dustin shouted.
"I knew it!" Lucas exclaimed. "You kept him!"
"No! No... No, I-..." Dustin stuttered over his words, repeating himself. They all gave him the same look, and he gave up with a sigh. "He missed me," he tried. "He wanted to come home."
"Bullshit!"
"I didn't know he was a Demogorgon!"
"Oh, so now you admit it?"
"Wait, if you didn't tell him about Mews, then how the hell did you explain how I got involved in all of this?" Rowen asked Dustin, interrupting their banter.
"He told me you saw Dart in the forest before conveniently running into him," Lucas informed her angrily.
"Guys, who cares?" Max tried reasoning. "We have to go."
"I care!" Lucas burst. "He put the party in jeopardy. He broke the rule of law."
"SO DID YOU!" Dustin yelled.
A few more seconds and Max was arguing, too, as they had at the junkyard. The three turned into a little circle of banters and shouts and once more, they were defending themselves, defending whatever the hell it is they were doing or had done. It was beyond the point of aggravating, but Rowen was beyond the point of trying to defuse it. She sighed through her nose, dragging her light along the brush to her left. The kids arguing continued to be the only noise, and their group continued to be the only ones occupying the forest. It was empty, apart from them and maybe a few animals that weren't already scared off by the loud voices.
If they were there, she couldn't hear them... but after a moment, Rowen began to hear something else. Something far off. She looked to her right, shining her camping spotlight towards an incline. She heard the noise again, listened... It sounded like a roar.
Gaze still on the piles of leaves and tree branches, Rowen tapped at Steve's arm repeatedly before walking off of the tracks. She didn't look to see if she dragged his attention away from the argument taking place. Her shoes crunched, and the sound came again... It was louder this time, but even as Steve came to stand to her left, the arguing continued.
"Hey, guys..." She heard him say. Dustin and Lucas only got progressively louder. "GUYS!" Steve shouted.
They stopped, looking at him attentively, shutting their mouths. The roars came again. They heard it this time, and when they did, Lucas and Dustin jumped into action, following her and Steve... But Max stayed put.
"Hey- guys, why are you headed towards the sound?" she asked.
Rowen ignored her question, ushering her along. "Max c'mon!" She only gave Rowen a wary look, but Rowen's stare hardened. "Max..."
The thirteen-year-old groaned, reluctantly following. They trailed upwards until the incline stopped, walked until they reached the edge of what she realized was a large hill. She couldn't see where they were or anything to tell her one way or the other... but being able to see the skyline of Hawkins was evidence enough. They were way outside of town.
"I don't see them," Dustin said amidst the faint roars.
Lucas lifted his binoculars, searching...
"It's the lab," he eventually said. "They were going back home."
Rowen shuddered. Home?... How many of those things were they keeping in that lab? Tens? Hundreds?
Without a word, they decided to slowly trek down the hill, inching closer towards the lab and closer towards what Rowen was hoping wouldn't be sitting there waiting for them.
Now that she had her watch back, she could say it took them maybe fifteen minutes to get to Hawkins Lab. As if her feet weren't already tired, by the time they got close to the entrance, they were aching. And although it made her want to slow down, that wasn't why she suddenly chose to stop. Two heads bumped into her back.
"Ow!"
"Hey! What-..."
Rowen squinted, ignoring Max and Dustin. "Is there a car down there?" she asked quietly, as if whoever owned the car would hear her if she didn't.
Steve took a step forward, shining his flashlight forward. "Yeah...," he said, spotting the vehicle too.
"Someone else is at the gate?" Lucas asked from behind them.
"Who is it?" Max asked.
"I don't know," Steve answered. He continued forward, towards the entrance where the brush parted. They all stepped over a few more vines, a few more rocks, walked around a few fallen branches... Then the trees began to thin, and that was when she saw the faint image of two people.
"Hello?" One called. "Who's there?"
Rowen and Steve kept marching forward with the kids in tow, walking out of the forest, onto a poorly cut side lawn. Their flashlights no longer made it difficult to see who stood before them, and when they finally saw who it was...
"Steve?" The pair said in unison.
It was then that Rowen finally recognized their faces... and she became confused. What were Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers doing at Hawkins Lab?
