A/N: I had written out the fight scene way before I wrote chapter 1 and 2 because my brain was all over the place. The Snow Ball and other filler chapters are going to be up soon. I just have to revise the Snow Ball one before posting and all that :) R&R
I watched as the two were reunited and El was being hidden by Jim. Mike was mad at Jim and they went off to talk in a room. El looked to Max and I as we were the only unfamiliar faces. Dustin and Lucas went to go hug her and as they parted Max went to go introduce herself only for El to push past her and hug Ms. Byers. I scratched the back of my head as that was awkward. I walked up to Max and put my hand on her shoulder.
El wanted to close the gate but there was one problem, Will. If El closed the gate then Will would die but Ms. Byers had mentioned that the Flayer likes it cold. The plan was to make Jim's cabin unbearably hot to get rid of the virus. Nancy went with the Byers and El and Jim headed off to the lab. I stayed back with Steve and the kids as I wanted to help watching over them.
Now it was just a waiting game for us and Dustin had the bright idea to put a demo-dog in Mrs. Byers's fridge.
"Really?" I made a face,
"It's a groundbreaking scientific discovery." He looked to me,
"Mike, would you just stop already?" I heard Lucas ask from the other room
"You weren't in there, okay, Lucas? That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs." Mike told him
"Demo-dogs!" Dustin corrected Mike
"The chief will take care of her." Lucas tried to reassure Mike. I walked into the living room
"Like she needs protection." Max stated
"Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. All right?" Steve came in wiping his hands with a dish towel
" Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game. And second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench." Mike told Steve. He looked to me and I put my hands up as I was definitely staying out of his analogy or whatever point he was trying to make
"So my point is Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so, uh, there's nothing we can do." Steve stammered
"That's not entirely true.I mean, these Demo-dogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away." Dustin stated
"If we get their attention-"
"Maybe we can draw them from the lab." Max finished Lucas's sentence
"Clear a path to the gate." Mike added
"Yeah, and then we all die." Steve looked to the kids
"That's one point of view." Dustin looked to Steve
"No, that's not a point of view, man. That's a fact." Steve looked to Dustin.
Then Mike got the idea that we go to where Jim dug his hole and go to were the hub was and destroy it. Steve tried to get their attention as they all were coming up with a plan to help El. It sounded dangerous as who knew if there were going to be any of those demo-dogs down there.
"Hey, hey hey!" Steve clapped to get their attention, "This is no happening." He shook his head,
"But-"
"No, no, no, no, no. No buts. I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. We're staying here on the bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand?" Steve asked
"This isn't a stupid sports game." Mike argued,
"I said does everybody understand that? I need a yes." He looked to the kids and then to me,
"Steve's right. If we go there we risk our-" I was cut off by the sound of a car that was all too familiar. FUCK. I rushed to the window with Max and Lucas.
"He can't know I'm here." Max looked to Lucas as she was afraid "He'll kill me." She looked back to me, "He'll kill us." and then she looked to Lucas
"He's not going to lay a finger on you." I pulled her away from the window, "Or you." I looked to Lucas.
"Stay inside and away from the window." Steve spoke before he went outside to meet Billy. I started to pace as I was nervous. Max had told me about what Billy did to her skateboard and that pissed me off. He was always more controlling of her as she was younger and he damn well knew that he could try to control me but it wasn't going to work. When I turned I saw the kids peak outside the window.
"Guys, Steve said to stay away from the window." I hissed as I went to pull them away but it was too late. Billy pointed to us in the window as he now knew we were here. The kids ducked down on the couch and I backed up but could still see what was happening outside.
"Shit. Did he see us?" Dustin questioned,
"Yeah." I nodded as I watched Billy pushed Steve and then kicked him. "Get behind me." I told the kids as I stood in front of them. I wasn't going to let Billy lay a finger on any of them.
"Well, well, well." Billy said as he opened the door and then slammed it, "Lucas Sinclair, what a surprise." He looked past me to Lucas,
"Don't you even fucking think about it." I clenched my jaw as I held my ground,
"And what are you going to do, lard ass?" He laughed as he pushed me aside
"I thought I told you to stay away from him." He stood in front of Max,
"Billy go away." Max spoke,
"You disobeyed me." He paused, "And you know what happens when you disobey me." Billy threatened
"Billy-"
"I break things." He cut her off and slammed Lucas into a cupboard. I got up as Max, Dustin and Mike were pleading Billy to stop.
"Since Maxine won't listen maybe you will." He threatened before Lucas kicked him in the crotch,
"You are so dead Sinclair, you are so dead." He threatened but I pushed him away from Lucas and punched him in the face. Billy laughed as I shook my hand as it hurt,
"That's cute Ty. Really." He lunged forward and snatched my hair and pulled on it so I was looking at him in the face,
"While I'm at it, you might as well be dead too." He threatened before he punched me.
"Hey, leave her alone." I heard Steve say as he turned Billy around and punched him. Billy laughed once more and still had my hair in his grasp as he was recovering from the punch. He threw me to the ground really hard and I ended up hitting my head on the floor. I groaned as it really fucking hurt.
"Looks like you got some fire in you after all!" Billy exclaimed, "Huh. I've been wanting to meet this king Steve everybody has been telling me so much about." He got into Steve's face,
"Get out." Steve demanded as he pushed Billy back with two of his fingers. Billy then took a swing at him and Steve dodged it. I crawled my way over to Max to stay out of the fight. I watched from the sidelines as the kids cheered Steve on. Steve threw punch after punch before Billy laughed and slammed a plate on Steve's head. He stumbled back and then Billy slapped him. I slowly got up and went over to punch Billy, only for him to dodge it and punch me in the stomach making me fall to the floor in pain once more,
"Stay out of this, bitch." He growled before turning his attention back to Steve. He grabbed him by his jacket, "Nobody tells me what to do." He told Steve before headbutting him and Steve falling to the ground. He then got on top of Steve and started to beat the shit out of him. I had to try to do something. I looked for something around the room until I noticed the bottle and syringe. "Max." I spoke and pointed to it she grabbed it and headed towards Billy before stabbing him in the neck with it. He looked back and got up to look at Max. He took the syringe out and started to walk towards Max. He started to sway and fell back on the floor laughing. I crawled over to Steve to see if he was okay but he was knocked out.
Max grabbed Steve's nail bat and held it,
"From now on you leave me, Tyler and our friends alone." She threatened,
"Screw you." Billy said before Max slammed the bat between his legs, he looked to it before she took it back up. "SAY YOU UNDERSTAND." She yelled, "Say it. SAY IT." getting ready to strike if he didn't say he understood.
"I understand." He said quietly,
"What?" She asked
"I understand." He said louder.
I watched Max walk over and grab his keys. I got up and looked to them,
"You are not driving." I looked to Max, she turned back and looked at me,
"You hit your head, there is no way your driving." She spoke, I looked down at Steve and then back to them. "It's gonna be a tight squeeze but let's just grab what we need and go." I sighed as I went into the kitchen to grab a towel and two ice packs along with some band-aids . The Mike, Max and Lucas wanted to leave Steve behind but Dustin and I told them he should come with us and he would be cool with it.
I was in the back with Mike, and Dustin, with Steve being mostly on my lap as I could hold his weight better than Mike and Dustin. It was a little uncomfortable but at least I could ice his head and try to stop any bleeding. Max was speeding to make up for wasted time, and I was trying not to focus on how bad her driving was because I would freak out. She did have one driving lesson in a parking garage after all.
"Oh man." I heard Steve softly say as he was coming to. I watched him look over to Mike, "Nancy?" He questioned before going to pinch his nose,
"Don't touch." I pulled his hand away, he looked over to me, "Welcome back." I smiled at him,
"Hey you put up a good fight against him, he kicked your ass, but he put up a good fight." Dustin told him, I glared at Dustin,
"Are you okay?" I asked Steve,
"Okay your gonna keep straight for half a mile then make a left on Mount Sinai." Lucas looked to Max. I watched Steve looked to Lucas and then to Max,
"What's going on?" He asked as Max turned around, "Oh my god." He exclaimed as I knew he was freaking out,
"Relax Steve, she's driven before." Dustin tried to calm Steve,
"In a parking garage." Mike countered,
"It still counts." Lucas defended,
"Oh my god." Steve started to explain,
"Relax. They were gonna leave you behind but Tyler and I told them you'd be cool." Dustin tried to calm him down, he turned to me as I saw the panic on his face,
"Why aren't you driving?" He asked
"Because I hit my head." I looked to him before he asked Max to stop the car, she sped up and took a sharp turn. Steve was trying to brace himself as Max's driving was scaring him.
She pulled to a shortstop and Mike was impressed, "Told you, Zoomer." She spoke before taking the keys out. Everyone started to pile out of the car and Steve ended up stumbling out. I followed behind him as he got up and braced himself against the car. We started to put the gear we assembled on,
"Hey where do you think your going?" He looked to Mike as he was walking, "We are not going down there right now. I made myself clear." He was saying to the kids as he went into dad mode.
"Tyler, a little help here." He looked to me,
"I think we're past trying to stop them. What we do down there is gonna help, whether we die or not" I looked to him as I went in the hole.
I looked around the tunnel as it was dark and black things were floating around.
"Holy fuck." I looked around. Did the Upside Down look similar to what I was seeing? It looked like something straight out of a sci-fi horror movie.
"I'm pretty sure it's this way." Mike said as he looked down at the map,
"Pretty sure?" Steve questioned him,
"Well follow me and you'll find out." He told Steve,
"Woah, woah woah. If you little shits die down here, I'm getting the blame." He walked up to Mike, "Got it dipshit?" He asked him as he took the map. "From here on out, I'm leading the way." Steve announced before he started walking. Even if he was being rude, I still thought it was sweet that he took charge to protect the kids. I knew it was partially because he promised Nancy, which made me wonder if he was still hoping they would get back together. I followed behind him as we started making our way towards the center chamber.
"How are you feeling?" Steve asked me as I ended up walking next to him,
"I'll be fine." I answered, "I want to thank you for sticking up for me and the kids. Billy has had it coming for a long time." I looked down at the ground,
"It was nothing." He spoke,
"You- " I was about to say before Dustin screamed. I turned and ran to see what was the problem and he was saying something about it being in his mouth. He started spitting and told us that he was fine. I rolled my eyes as he didn't need to be overdramatic.
We finally came to what looked to be the HUB. I looked around at the many tunnel entrances and I was a little afraid that we were going to die because we had no idea how many of those things were.
"Let's drench it." Mike spoke before we got to work into covering the walls with gasoline. I was trying to listen to see if any of those demo-dogs were close by as I was afraid of a surprise attack of some sort. When we ran out of gasoline we went to where we came in. We crowded around Steve as he lit the lighter and threw it. We watched as the place lit up and tentacles started to wiggle about. We all started to make a run for the tunnel's entrance as those dogs would be coming after us.
Mike had fallen and was trapped by one of the tentacles, so we had to go back and save him. Once he was free, we were met face to face with one of those demo-dogs.
"Dart?" Dustin asked as he started to walk towards it,
"Are you fucking nuts?" I asked as the others were also telling him not to go near it.
"Stop!" He spoke, "He trusts me." Dustin spoke as Dart came closer to him. I watched as Dart seemed friendly towards Dustin. I was holding my breath hoping that it wouldn't try to eat Dustin's face off. It's face opened and screeched at Dustin and he apologized about the storm cellar. He then got out a candy bar and left it on the ground. We made our way past Dart as he started to eat it. I was honestly amazed that one of those things weren't hostile...maybe it was a good thing that Dustin had kept Dart.
We continued on our way down the tunnel but it shook and then there were the sounds of more demo-dogs. Now it was time to really get out of there before we were demo-dog meat. The rope to the surface was in sight and I helped Steve lift each of the kids up. Then it was Dustin, Steve and I as the demo-dogs got closer. I clutched Steve's arm as this was it. This was were I was going to die. I closed my eyes but there wasn't any pain. I opened my eyes to see the dogs running past us,
"Eleven." I heard Mike say.
When the dogs were past us, Dustin, Steve and I made our way back to the surface (climbing up the rope was a lot harder than going down it). The lights on Billy's car got brighter before going back to normal. It must have meant that Eleven closed the gate and I was relieved that this was finally over.