Chapter 7

Lacey, Jonathan and Nancy reached the hardware store, the car screeched to a halt outside and the three got out in a rush. Nancy was the first to enter, the bell at the top of the door that they'd entered rang and the person who was currently on shift looked up. Jonathan waved at the man casually who nodded and went back to his magazine that he'd been reading. The three dashed down the aisles, grabbing what they thought they would need. Jonathan found a baseball bat and some large nails. He would hammer the nails into the bat for more effect. Nancy and Lacey grabbed some smaller supplies and once they'd come across the bear trap and decided to purchase it they figured they had enough. They didn't understand why there was a bear trap in the hardware store in the first place but they shrugged it off. Once they were at the till ready to cash up, the teller looked over their purchases and eyed the three suspiciously. "What are you guys up too?" He asked curiously and Nancy replied, "Monster hunting…" The man looked at them all and laughed, "Well, you three be safe out there." He ended and Jonathan paid for the supplies before Lacey and Nancy grabbed the bags and headed out the door. "You don't think he's going to alert someone do you?" Nancy asked and Lacey looked over her shoulder back at the man who had gone back to his magazine. "Nope, he looks hopeless." Lacey finished and stored all the items they'd purchases into the trunk of Nancy's car.

"Let's get going." Nancy said hurriedly before they zoomed back up the road towards the Byer's house.

Inside the Byers residence, Jonathan was hammering the nails into the bat and Lacey and Nancy were placing the bear trap in Will's room. They would lead the creature to Will's room and burn it if it came down to that. Lacey then went on to line the hallway with gasoline; the smell was horrible but she was able to finish it without gagging. The Christmas lights were still littered around the Byer's house, this was how they would track the Demogorgon because according to Joyce Byers the lights flickered when Will was close.

Jonathan brought up a shotgun from the basement. He handed it to Nancy. "Seriously?" Lacey questioned, her eyes wide with surprise and Jonathan nodded, "We need all the help we can get and Nancy is good with it." He responded and Lacey looked at Nancy who shrugged, "It's true." Lacey scoffed and Nancy frowned. "What is wrong with you, it seems like you've been off with me the whole day?" Nancy asked, curiously and Lacey frowned this time but she didn't respond.

"Okay, is everything in place?" Jonathan interrupted; they needed to do this now because the others could be back at any time.

Jonathan grabbed a knife from the kitchen and came out. "We need to cut." He advised and the girls nodded, "The more blood the better." Nancy agreed. They dug the knife into their skins and the blood started to drip. Nancy picked up the gauze and bandage and closed Jonathan's wound. Jonathan closed Lacey's and she closed Nancy's, once that was done they stood back to back in the middle of room in the shape of a triangle and walked around in circles until there was a frantic knock at the door. "NANCY!" It was Steve's voice. Nancy and Lacey looked at each other, Nancy's look was of confusion and Lacey's look was of annoyance. "NANCY, I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE, I SEE YOUR CAR." He called and Nancy put the gun down and walked over to the door and opened it slightly. "Steve, you need to leave." She warned him and Steve nodded but continued to speak anyway, "Look, I told Lacey about us so I just thought I should warn you before…" He stopped speaking and looked at Nancy's hand. "What happened to your hand?" He asked as he saw the blood seeping out of the bandage that obviously wasn't wrapped tight enough. "Did Jonathan do that…?" He started but paused again.

"NANCY!" Lacey called out when she and Jonathan noticed the lights flickering. "It's coming." Jonathan added and Steve pushed the door open, "Do I smell gasoline? Lacey what are you doing here?" He asked pushing past Nancy. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Steve cried out and Jonathan looked at his bat and then at Steve and decided that Steve would need protection more than he would and threw the bat at Steve. Steve caught it swiftly but looked at Jonathan, "What the hell man?" He asked and Jonathan nodded, "You're going to need it." They were now circling the room in a square shape, Jonathan and Steve back to back, Lacey and Nancy back to back. Steve was on Lacey's right but Nancy spoke first. The lights were still flickering and they needed to be on full alert but she still spoke, "Look, Lacey I'm sorry about what happened with Steve okay, it didn't mean anything, it was stupid." Lacey looked at Steve who looked at her and nodded. "If anything, you guys need to be together." She continued. "You've both been miserable, you've been acting crazy and doing crazy things…" She added but before she finished there was a shrill scream that came out of no-where. The wall where Lacey and Mrs Byers had seen Will before glowed and throbbed like a heartbeat once again. A claw scratched through the wall paper and the Demogorgon appeared before them. It turned to the teenagers, and once it had found its feet its face opened into a flower shape, baring sharp pointy teeth, letting out a shriek.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" Steve screamed, wide eyed.

The Demogorgon attacked, hearing the sound of Steve's voice. It darted towards Steve but Nancy fired a shot which only seemed to make the creature angrier. Steve held the bat out at arm's length and before they knew it Steve was beating the creature with the bat. Slime and whatever the Demogorgon was made out of, splattered all over them, but the creature continued to fight back until Steve beat its leg off. The Demogorgon screeched in what sounded like pain and advanced towards Lacey who didn't have a weapon on her. Nancy shot at it again but the bullet went straight through it and hit the window which shattered. Jonathan jolted behind the Demogorgon to try and leer it into the bear trap. The Demogorgon turned in the direction of the window shattering which was where Jonathan was now. Steve had been ready to take on the creature for Lacey who noticed this. She nodded in thanks and Steve smiled at her before going back to the creature. Nancy threw the shot gun at Jonathan who managed to catch it. He shot into Will's room which caused the Demogorgon to head in there. They heard the bear trap snap shut and the Demogorgon screamed again. Lacey grabbed the matches off the table and threw them to Jonathan. After a few shrieks from the creature there was silence. Jonathan had lit a match but blew it out when the silence filled their ears. "It has to be dead right?" Nancy whispered and Lacey looked at her and shrugged. She really didn't know. Once they were all crowded outside Will's room they peered in and gasped. The creature was gone.

"What the hell man!" Jonathan cried out in frustration. He stormed up the passage and put the gun down on the table. Steve, Nancy and Lacey proceeded to follow him but Steve clutched onto the bat. "Where did it go?" Steve asked, confused and the three looked at him. They all realized that Steve didn't know anything about what was going on in Hawkins. "The school." Lacey said suddenly. Jonathan looked at Nancy, "Do you think?" He asked and Nancy, suddenly grabbing whosever car keys were the closest and throwing them to Jonathan, said "Let's go!"

"Will someone tell me what's going on here?" Steve questioned once they were all in the car, it turned out to be Steve's car keys that Nancy had grabbed. Jonathan had wanted to drive but Steve refused and got into the driver's seat. Out of habit Lacey had gotten into the passenger seat and Nancy and Jonathan were made to sit in the back. Steve had handed Lacey the bat once she got into the car. She wondered why he'd brought it with but then didn't bother to ask because he'd now asked the question no one wanted to answer. The three didn't respond to Steve immediately. "Is this why everyone has been acting weird these past few days?" Steve asked again. His panic had subsided and now he just wanted answers. They were near the school and once they arrived at the school they saw the commotion. Half of the middle school was on fire. There was a fire truck and a few firemen hovering around the place trying to put the fire out. The police department were there in full force.

Steve parked his car and once Jonathan and Nancy had run off to find the others Lacey looked over at Steve who was staring at the school in shock. "Look Steve, now is not the time to explain everything but we will explain once everything is over." Lacey informed him and took his hand in hers. "Will you help me find Dustin?" She asked. Steve nodded and held Lacey's hand while they searched the crowd for Dustin.

"MIKE" Karen Wheeler wailed when she saw her son. "Are you okay, what happened?" She asked the questions. Lacey saw Nancy standing by Mike who looked upset.

Jonathan was seen talking to a police officer. "DUSTIN?" Lacey called out into the crowd. She eventually found Dustin with Lucas. They were talking animatedly about what happened in the school. Dustin and Lacey's mom Claudia also came into view after talking to the police. "LACEY!" Claudia cried, "Why are you two so dirty? "She asked, looking at Lacey and Steve in disgust. They'd forgotten that they were probably covered in Demogorgon guts after Steve beat the creature. "What happened here?" Steve asked, curiously. "The police say it was a science experiment gone wrong." Claudia responded. "Dusty and his friends were involved." She added. Dustin frowned, "Mom, we're fine, stop stressing about." Dustin responded and pointed to himself and Lucas in the process. "Well the school's not fine, they'll probably claim damage to private property or something like that." Claudia added and Dustin rolled his eyes.

"Should we go home?" Claudia asked and Lacey paused, "Hang on a sec mom." Karen was now speaking to the police and Nancy and Mike were standing alone, "Is everything ok?" Lacey asked the two. "The Demogorgon is gone but so is Eleven." Nancy whispered to Lacey who looked over at Mike and realized why he was looking so forlorn. Jonathan came over to them now. "They found Will." He cried out to them in shock. "Are you serious?" Mike asked a glint of happiness in his voice. "Mom and the Chief, found him. They're taking him to the hospital." He added with a nod and a smile.

"Would you mind taking me there?" Jonathan asked Steve who nodded, "Sure." He responded. Lacey smiled at Steve who smiled back at her.

"How about we all go?" Jonathan asked and Dustin and Lucas came over to Mike and nodded in agreement. "I'll drive the boys." Karen Wheeler said with a nod and that's when Dustin and Lacey's mom came over. "What's happening?" She asked curiously, "They found Will, he's being taken to the hospital." Dustin responded in delight. "That's amazing!" Claudia said and the others nodded. "Mrs Wheeler will take the boys and we'll go with Steve." Lacey informed her mom who nodded. "I'll see you kids at home later then." She nodded and walked off. Lacey, Nancy, Jonathan and Steve walked off to Steve's car. "What about Barb?" Nancy suddenly said remembering her friend, she felt disgusted in herself that she'd forgotten. "Let's get to the hospital and find out." Lacey responded and Nancy nodded slowly but looked back and then agreed because the boys had already gotten into her mom's car.

When they reached Hawkins general hospital they scurried into the reception area where they saw Hopper. Joyce was obviously with Will in the doctors rooms.

"What is he doing here?" Jim Hopper asked looking at Steve.

"What happened to you guys?" He asked again after looking the foursome over and seeing them all dirty. "We tried to fight The Demogorgon." Jonathan informed Hopper who looked at Jonathan and then at Steve and then the girls. "Its fine, he knows, he did the most damage to the thing." Lacey told the chief of police who looked Steve over once more then nodded.

Once the kids arrived with Mrs Wheeler, Jim called all of them over to discuss what had happened. Mrs Wheeler was told to hang back while they talked

The kids told their story animatedly, informing that Eleven had destroyed the creature but had then vanished with the Demogorgon into wherever they went. Nancy, Jonathan & Lacey recounted their story with the Demogorgon. Dustin looked at his sister wide eyed. "You'd never do something like that." He advised and Lacey rolled her eyes at him but Dustin laughed. "When did Steve get involved?" Dustin asked curiously and Steve told Dustin his part. "Steve 'the hair' Harrington fighting a beast, thought I'd never see the day." Jonathan joked and the others laughed. Mike still looked sad but when Mrs Byers came out of the room with a smile on her face she called them over, "He's finally awake, you guys can see him now, let Jonathan go first though." Joyce said with a nod and the two went back into the room.

"What about Barb?" Nancy asked Chief Hopper and then looked at Mike and the others. "Uh…" Dustin started but the Chief interrupted. "It seems like Ms Holland didn't make it." Chief Hopper informed Nancy. Nancy nodded slowly. She didn't say anything more, she just walked away, she wanted to be alone. Lacey watched Nancy walk off and felt her throat clog up. She realized she hadn't helped Nancy that much in finding Barbara because they were more focused on Will. Steve looked at Lacey, "Follow her, she needs comfort." He advised and Lacey nodded. She followed Nancy and when she reached her she was crying. "I feel like I betrayed her somehow, I betrayed Barbara, I betrayed you, I haven't been a very good friend through this whole ordeal." She sobbed. Lacey took Nancy into her arms and gave her a hug. "You didn't know much about it in the beginning." Lacey informed her, "Don't beat yourself up. Barb was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Lacey added. Nancy sobbed harder, "Because of me, I forced her to go to Steve's party." "Nancy, it's not your fault, please stop blaming yourself." Lacey continued to hug Nancy who eventually calmed down. She wiped the excess tears away and looked at Lacey. "I am really sorry for everything, Lace." Nancy said and Lacey shook her head, "Don't worry about it now." Lacey responded and Nancy nodded. The two girls walked back to the group. Nancy stood close to Mike who looked happier now that he was going to see Will. "Come on kids." Joyce called them to the room.

Once they were all inside and saw Will, excitement overcame them. The boys jumped onto Will's bed and started recounting the story to him. Will looked shocked, amazed, amused and baffled all at the same time. Lacey smiled but then felt someone tug on her arm. She turned around and saw that it was Steve. He gestured for them to leave the boys and go out the room. Lacey nodded and followed him. Once they were outside in the hallway Steve turned to Lacey. He leaned again the wall suavely. "Look, I know this is probably not the right time to ask you this but I just wanted to know, are we okay, I've missed you these passed days and I just wish things could go back to normal?" He asked and Lacey looked at Steve and then at her feet. She didn't know what to say to him. She shuffled her feet around a bit and then decided to speak, "Okay, why don't we see how the rest of Summer goes?" She asked and Steve nodded. He pulled her into a hug and they cuddled for a while before Lacey looked up at him and gave him a quick peck. He smiled down at her and felt content.

Ok so I've finished the first season like this. If anyone wants more feel free to review and then I will go onto season 2. I've got a few ideas for Season 2 but if anyone would like to assist with some ideas your help is appreciated.

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