Chapter 11

"Shit, shit, shit." Dustin groaned in a soft whisper while they sat in the kitchen listening to Dart chew up their mothers pet cat Mews.

"Where did you get that thing?" Lacey whispered angrily and Dustin put his finger to his lips and shushed his sister who frowned. "Dustin!" She warned and Dart made a hissing sound which made the two decide that they needed to get out of the house. Once they were outside Lacey turned on Dustin, "Seriously Dustin?" She questioned and Dustin groaned, "Look I didn't know it was a Demogorgon, two days ago it was the size of a small lizard." He informed Lacey who looked up at the house in surprise as if she could see the creature her brother had named Dart. "This thing has been in our house for two days?" Lacey asked, eyes widening in shock. Dustin nodded, "I found Dart on Halloween, in our trash." He informed and Lacey looked back at the house again, thinking. "But how is it now the size of a dog?" She asked, looking at Dustin seriously. "He must have moulted." Dustin explained and Lacey shuddered, imagining the Demogorgon shedding skin.

"How are we going to get it out of the house and how are we going to explain Mews to mom?" Lacey asked her younger sibling who didn't reply but Lacey saw his blue eyes narrow from the house to the storm cellar.

"I have an idea!" Dustin exclaimed looking at Lacey who nodded and gestured her hands in anticipation.

"We can lure him into the storm cellar and trap him in there while we go get help." He ended and Lacey nodded. It was actually a good plan.

Dustin went into the house slowly and quietly grabbed a three musketeer's bar that he had left over from his Halloween candy. "This is what I've been feeding him." He showed Lacey the chocolate bar and Lacey scoffed. "Seriously, you've been feeding him nougat?" She asked him and he nodded. "He likes it." Dustin said before placing some down by the front door and leading a path of it to the storm cellar entrance. Dustin then went back into the house to lure the Demogorgon outside. Once Dart was on the move Dustin told Lacey to hide in the shed and Dustin ran and hid with Lacey behind once Dart was spotted. The two watched with bated breath as Dart made its way to the cellar.

Once Dart had gone down into the cellar Dustin and Lacey dashed to the doors to lock them up. Dart hit his body into the door a few times and when it realized it wasn't escaping the banging stopped.

Lacey and Dustin had been pushing on the doors so it wouldn't get free either. Lacey eventually let out the breath that she'd been holding in and lay on the doors.

"I'm sorry." Dustin said to the Demogorgon who was now trapped, Lacey watched her brother closely, "But you ate my cat."

"We need to bury what's left of Mews. We can come up with an excuse later." Lacey said and Dustin nodded.

Once Mews was buried in the back garden Lacey and Dustin washed their hands and Dustin looked at Lacey. "Does Steve still have his bat?" He asked and Lacey shrugged. She got on the phone and dialled Steve's number. "Steve, do you still have your bat from last year?" She asked him, not even saying hello.

"Yup, why what's up?" He asked and Lacey looked at Dustin who nodded as if he could hear the conversation between the couple. "We need you to bring it to the house now." She ordered before hanging up the phone. She realized she'd been rude but she didn't have time to ponder over that.

Dustin had been radioing the party while they waited for Steve to arrive but no one was answering.

"Guys this is Dustin again, does anyone copy, this is a code red, I repeat, a code red! I really need someone to pick up here. Hopper's MIA and I've got a code red, a code red!" Dustin spoke into the walkie but no one responded. He spoke into the walkie a few minutes later while Lacey scrubbed Mews blood out of the carpet. "Alright, it's Dustin again. Seriously I have a code red…" He was interrupted by the voice of a little girl that sounded a lot like Lucas's sister Erica. "Could you please shut up?" She responded, "Erica?" Dustin questioned but continued on, "Erica, is Lucas there, Where is he?" Dustin asked the girl who in a nonchalant way responded with "Don't know, don't care."

"Listen, is he with Mike?" Dustin continued, rolling his eyes at Erica's response.

"Like I said, don't know don't care." She stated and Dustin, who was getting annoyed by now pressed on, "Please tell him its super important, tell him I have a code…" But Erica interrupted him, "A code red?" She asked and Dustin nodded to himself and smiled, "Exactly. "mmhmm, I got a code for you instead, it's called code shut-your-mouth." And the sound of radio static hummed through the speaker. "Erica?" Dustin asked and sighed in exasperation.

Steve arrived shortly after Dustin spoke with Erica. He was holding his bat when Lacey let him in the house hurriedly.

"What is going on?" He asked, looking at the Henderson siblings.

"Dustin…" Lacey said and looked at her brother who nodded.

"We've got a Demogorgon trapped in our cellar." He stated and Steve stared at the two, not sure if he should believe them or not.

"What?" He asked his voice was shrill.

Lacey looked at Dustin, "Explain more." Lacey ordered Dustin, who by now was shuffling his feet, not looking at the two older teens in the eyes.

"Ifoundthiscreatureinourtrashonhalloweenandtookitinasapetbutitturnsoutitisaminidemogorgonordemodog." Dustin said in a flurry of words. "What?" Steve asked again, looking at Lacey who sighed.

"Come on." Lacey said and dragged the two boys out of the house towards the storm cellar. "We need your help." Lacey said, pointing at the bat. "This thing ate Mews." Lacey added and she saw Dustin roll his eyes, "That's not the worst thing…" Dustin responded and Lacey frowned, "Dustin, you know mom loves that cat how do you think she's going to react when she finds out Mews is missing?" Lacey questioned and Steve's eyes darted from his girlfriend to her brother as the siblings bickered. "We could tell her that she ran away or something…" Dustin tried and Lacey started to say something back but Steve had had enough. "Come on guys, enough." He told the both of them, shaking his head. "I swear to god if this is some sort of prank..." Steve started to warn Dustin but Lacey shook her head, eyes wide with terror. Dustin slowly opened the doors and Steve walked down the steps. "We'll stay up here, in case he tries to escape." Dustin called down to Steve and they watched him disappear into the darkness. "Steve?" Lacey asked, quietly. Steve didn't respond immediately, "What's going on down there?" Dustin asked this time but Steve eventually appeared scaring the shit out of Lacey and Dustin, laughing.

"There's nothing down here." Steve stated, after he'd calmed down.

"What?" Dustin asked confusion in his words.

"Get down here and see for yourselves." Steve said, gesturing towards the darkness with his free hand. Lacey and Dustin looked at each other and pushed past Steve down the stairs. Lacey looked around as Steve flashed the torch Lacey had given him earlier. Dustin reached for the light hanging from the ceiling and turned it on, Dustin gasped and Lacey moved her head in the direction he was looking. "He moulted again." Dustin informed the two pointing at the gooey shed skin that was on the floor next to a hole in the ground that Dart had obviously dug and escaped through. Steve came over to see the find and whistled.

Lacey groaned and stomped up the stairs, Steve and Dustin following quickly. "Lacey what's going on?" Steve asked her and she turned to look at him, fear on her face. "We let it escape, it could be anywhere." She looked at Dustin who was looking just as frightened. "This can't happen again, no, no, no." Lacey said, shaking her head in panic, her face paler than usual.

Steve and Lacey hadn't really spoken about the events from last year and if Steve brought it up Lacey would shut off. He only really spoke to Jonathan and Nancy. Now Steve realized it was because she was shit scared of what happened last year. It wasn't that she didn't care that it happened which Nancy had brought up in the last conversation they'd had it was because she did care and didn't want it to happen again to anyone. She'd obviously held in all her emotions but she was letting them out now. It was the worst timing because now Steve had to control both of them.

Steve looked over at Dustin who seemed to be racking his brain for a solution, at least he was calmer than Lacey. The kid had always been smarter than them. Always. Obviously he'd lost his mind a bit, taking in a Demogorgon, but he did admit that he hadn't known what it was.

While Lacey panicked and Dustin paced Steve suggested an idea.

"We can lure him again, away from the town." Steve said and Dustin looked up paused his pace and nodded.

"We can get some meat or something." Steve added, Lacey was still pacing and panicking and mumbling to herself. She was going to be of no use right now so Steve had to rely on Dustin who was listening to Steve intently. "The junkyard!" Dustin chirped and Steve nodded, thankful that there was another brain assisting his because half of his was worrying about Lacey. Dustin ran into the house to grab buckets and some washing gloves, leaving Steve to deal with Lacey. He stepped in front of her and she walked into him not even realizing he was there. She looked up at him and he put his hands on her shoulders to steady her. "I know you're freaking out but you can't right now Dustin needs you… I need you." Steve said to her and she nodded slowly but tears had started to trickle out of her eyes. "I knew you weren't that tough." He added and pulled her into a tight hug, his head was resting on the top of hers.

"I'm sorry." Lacey mumbled into Steve's chest and Steve shook his head. "There's nothing to be sorry about Lace." He assured his girlfriend who nodded. Her face was leaning against his chest and her breathing was calming down to match Steve's. Steve pulled her away and wiped away the tears that were left on her face.

Dustin came out of the house at this moment carrying the bucket and gloves. He saw Steve consoling Lacey and admired the two for a bit. He smiled to himself but the minute Steve looked up and saw him standing there his facial expression turned blank. Steve didn't need to know that Dustin was finally warming up to him after years of the Harrington boy dating his sister. He'd seen how he'd treated her in the past and wasn't going to let him get away with it that easily. "Let's go." Dustin said, and the two teens broke apart from each other, Lacey turning to Dustin and pulling him into a hug. "I love you no matter how stupid you've been." She stated with a small giggle and Dustin rolled his eyes which Steve noticed and Steve pointed at Dustin almost as if he was telling him to behave. "Okay, okay." Dustin moaned before pushing Lacey off of him. "We have a demodog to find!" He stated and the three led themselves to Steve's car.