Chapter 7
The goal had been to transform the shed until it was unrecognizable for Will, and by extent, the thing in there with him. They covered every surface in tarp, newspapers, garbage bags and duct tape. Even the furniture was disguised in cardboard. Jamie and Nancy were struggling to cover every last inch of the door — the duct tape did not want to stick to the dusty tarp.
"Uhm, Jamie?" Nancy asked, less than three inches to Jamie's right.
Jamie grunted, duct tape pieces in between her lips. "Yuh?"
"I'm sorry for ditching you at that party. I was really drunk and stupid, but I should have made sure you got home safe."
"I'm a month older than you." Jamie spat out some remaining pieces of tape. "You don't need to babysit me. Besides, Steve took me home."
"Yeah," Nancy said and smiled down at her hands. "About that. Just know that I wouldn't have any problems with you and him... you know."
"Know what?" Jamie thumped the stupid door in the case that got the tape to stick. The party seemed ages ago, like a different life. "I think we need the staple gun for this."
Nancy sputtered something, but fell silent when Steve came over with the stapler. "You need something nailed, ladies?"
"Here and here," Jamie said and indicated where he should staple the tarp down. He lost his suave smirk and did as told. "Then we can use the tape to attach this piece to that sheet over there."
Steve tucked the staple gun under his arm and followed her directions. "Like this?"
"Yeah, hold still," Jamie said and bent awkwardly under his arms to tape the pieces together. Nancy still sat on the floor, holding the already attached tarp, and stared. She didn't move until Jamie kicked her shoe and said: "Nancy, get that loose corner there, would you?"
When it was done, all the kids were directed back inside the house, all except Jonathan and Mike. From the kitchen window, they watched Jonathan carry the unconscious Will across the leaf-filled lawn and into the newly constructed cage.
"They're gonna tie him up, aren't they?" Dustin whispered and Jamie slipped her arm around his shoulders and squeezed. Dustin shook off her embrace, removed his cap and ran his hand through his curls a few times. Jamie watched him go, heart aching, without a clue how to make this better for him. She felt watched, and looked up to see Steve with a slight smile.
"What?"
"You both do that." He used his hand to draw a line between Dustin and Jamie a few times. "That hair-thing, where you ruffle up your curls."
"I do not," Jamie said and caught herself with her hand halfway to her head. She let it drop. "Great, now it feels weird to do it. So what, exactly? You mess with your hair all the time."
"True, but I do it with purpose," Steve said and slung the bat over his shoulder. "You do it without thinking."
Jamie mimed the way he said it and rolled her eyes. Now, she caught Nancy staring. "What?"
She shook her head quickly, like it was nothing. Whatever Jamie planned to say was wiped out when the lights flickered all over the house. That was a deja vu from last year. Only, when that happened last year, it meant the Demogorgon was coming.
It passed. No Demogorgon. She and Nancy looked at each other, glad to see they hadn't been alone in their sudden panic. Steve swung the bat a few times and let out a long breath. "Sheesh."
The day stretched on. Nancy made sure everyone had something to eat, even if it was a bowl of cereal, and Jamie helped her clean the kitchen the best they could afterwards. The Byers household was evidentially a busy one. Joyce was a single mom with two teenage boys and that left the house looking a little erratic at times. The house was on the smaller side, too, and felt even smaller with all the stuff jammed into it. Jamie doubted Joyce gave a rat's ass about how her house looked right now, but Nancy insisted on tidying up.
They all jumped when the door slammed open and Chief Hopper stalked inside, the others from the shed on his heel. He ignored all questions, grabbed a book from the bookstand and sat at the kitchen table. Using a crayon and the back of a cereal box, he wrote out some dots and lines.
"I think he's talking," he said to answer their endless questioning. He showed them the paper, now with letters underneath each cluster of lines and dots. Using morse-code, Will had spelled out the word 'HERE'. "Just not with words."
The mood lifted. There was hope.
The ones closest to Will went back into the shed, to keep talking to him, holding onto what was left of Will. Chief Hopper grabbed one of the SuperComms and concealed it behind his back. Jamie and Dustin were in charge of listening to the signal, writing down the dash and dots. Max and Lucas checked the table to couple it with a letter, which Nancy dutifully wrote down in large, crayoned letters. It took hours. Jamie imagined it took every bit of Will's strength to break through the Mindflayer's hold to send the message and it could be half an hour between each new signal for Hopper.
In the end, they had the message.
"Close gate?" they all asked in unison as they stared on the large letters Nancy had taken down. There was no guesswork involving what gate he meant. The gate to Upside Down.
The phone rang. A shrill and penetrating sound.
"Shit! Shit shit shit!" she and Dustin blurted at the same time and fell over each other to get to it. Dustin won and tore off the receiver. He slammed it back down, even as Jamie said: "No, don't!"
It took a second before it rang again. Nancy was not having that and she pushed Dustin to the side and tore off the entire contraption, slamming it into the hallway floor. It gave a sad jingle, then it died.
"If he heard that..." Jamie started. She panted from the sudden rush of adrenaline.
"It's just a phone. Could be anywhere, right?" Steve asked, but without much conviction. They all stared in the direction of the shed. The hive mind meant Will would be able to communicate with the rest of the Mindflayer's army and bring the Demodogs right to their location.
"Oh God," Jamie said and wanted to cover her ears. She heard it first, of course she did, a howling roar out in the dark. Unable to look away, she stared at the forestline surrounding the Byers' house. They were coming.
"Do you hear them?" Dustin asked and she nodded. There wasn't enough spit in her mouth to say something. They all heard the second roar, a collective shudder passing through the group, and Dustin said what was on everyone's mind: "That's not good."
It was an understatement. Jamie grabbed Dustin by his collar and dragged him inside the house. "Everyone get in!"
"Can we outrun them?" asked Nancy, obviously considering taking the cars and leaving.
Dustin threw out his arms: "Not likely! And where to? We can't lead them into town!"
"House's our safest bet," Steve said as they all filed into the living room. He had both hands gripped around the bat. "Hopper's got that machine gun, that's gotta be worth something."
Jamie's fingers flexed in the air, as if she was squeezing an invisible blowtorch. It was probably on the floor of the Chief's car, and it had been nearly out of gas anyway. Her breath was quick and raggly and filled her ears, which she didn't mind because it meant not listening to the roaring of the Demodogs coming closer.
"Jamie? Jamie!" Dustin cried after her when she stalked into the kitchen. Fire. They hated fire. Undoing all of Nancy's work, she rooted through the cabinets, looking for something — anything — she could make a weapon of. Everytime she blinked, she was back here at this house, a year ago, when the drawings on the wall were Christmas lights and all they knew was that the Demogorgon could smell blood. She was back here, rigging up the trap for the Demogorgon, while Jonathan knocked spikes into his bat and Nancy loaded up the small rifle. Then it had only been one, and they still hadn't been able to put up a fight.
"Jamie!" Dustin said again and she nearly knocked him over when he laid a hand on her shoulder. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, it's just me."
"Dustin," she said as if seeing him for the first time. Her face was slick with tears and sweat. She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "Don't worry. I remember. No hysterics."
He grinned, even when faced with this hopeless situation, and Jamie couldn't help but grin back. She found what she was looking for behind him on a shelf. A can of Hot Shot wasp and hornet killer. She upended Dustin's backpack on the kitchen table and picked out two heavy-duty rubber bands. At least her newfound strength came in handy when she bent a table spoon to a 90 degree angle.
"Are you making a flamethrower?" Dustin followed her ministrations without interfering. "I thought you had specific constraint from the police about making fire-based weaponry."
"It's just a small one," Jamie said to her defense. She slipped the two rubber band over the can and fitted the spoon into the bands. In a drawer, she found a piece of candle that she broke so it was just an inch high. "You got matches?"
Dustin had matches, which he relented willingly. She held a lit match underneath the candle, dribbled wax onto the spoon until it formed a base, and then secured the candle-stub there so when she lit it, the flame would be directly in the line of fire for the spray nozzle. She held it up for inspection just as Chief Hopper and the rest barged into the kitchen. Will was unconscious again and hung limply in his brother's arms. Jonathan disappeared into a bedroom and returned sans Will.
"Jesus Christ, be careful with that thing," Hopper admonished Jamie when he saw the makeshift weapon in her hands. "Lighting the house on fire is last resort."
Dustin and Jamie followed him and the rest into the living room. Chief Hopper had a reassuringly big gun in his arms. "Hey, get away from the windows!" he barked to the kids who were hanging on the back of the couch to look out the living room windows. There was no room for discussion and they retreated to the back of the room. Jamie tried to push Dustin behind her, but he hung onto her arm to peer over her shoulder. Steve had his bat, Mike had grabbed a candlestick-holder, Nancy ended up with the same rifle as last year and Lucas brandished his wrist-rocket, which was as dangerous as a slingshot could be.
"Can you hear anything?" Dustin hissed and Jamie shook her head.
"No, not y- they're here."
As one unit, the group pulled closer. Steve bent in his knees, bat poised, ready to swing. Nancy and Chief both had rifles pressed against their shoulders, waiting for the ball to drop. A large thud had them all turn to the right. Bushes rustled and the monsters screeched, but nothing attacked. Not yet.
A snarl and a wet, organic sound and they all swiveled to the left. Something was wrong. Why weren't they attacking? More sounds, from the front, a long inhuman growl that ended abruptly. Dead silence. Jamie heard every heartbeat of her group, thudding at different rhythms, every raspy breath, every shifting of position, but she did not hear the Demodogs.
"AAAH!"
A Demodog crashed through the windows and Jamie screamed, closed her eyes and squeezed down on the spray can. A five-feet flame sprung out from the vicinity of the burning candle and followed the trajectory of the attacking Demodog. She was lucky she was in the front or Chief Hopper would have gotten a surprise haircut, from his neck and upwards. Muscle memory had her release the nozzle right away — short bursts or she risked the flame creeping back to the reservoir.
Chief Hopper, at her side, stared down at her. The flame had passed less than a foot from his face. He bit out: "What happened to last resort?"
Jamie said nothing and did not protest when Steve intercepted the spray can to blow out the candle. The Demodog wasn't moving. Had she killed it? The room filled with the smell of burnt flesh, but she had barely scathed the thick slimy skin of the Demodog. It lay limp on the floor, surrounded by broken glass, with its open petal-like appendages falling open.
Chief Hopper approached with gun raised. Everyone else instinctively stepped closer to look, Jamie too, even though she had returned to clutch at Steve's arm for support. Her breath caught in her throat when Chief Hopper nudged the body with his boot. In her mind, the head would spring open and swallow his foot whole. Instead, the head rolled back, still unmoving. It looked dead. But what killed it?
They were all so on edge that the creaking of the door made them all spin around, weapons up once more. It could have been the wind, had it not been for the lock clicking open on its own accord. Jamie, now defenseless, wrapped her arm around Dustin and held him close. Chief was up front and it could only have been years of experience that had him keep his finger off the trigger. The door chain also slid open, before the door itself opened slowly.
Jamie let out a sob of relief and felt Dustin slump his shoulders in her arms. Chief Hopper lowered his gun.
She was older, dressed differently, and had heavy make-up around her eyes, but there was no doubt. Eleven.
There were hugs, crying and a newfound hope coupled with Eleven's return. Jamie collapsed into the couch alongside Steve and Max, the three who had had the least to do with Eleven last year. Max was scowling, ears still burning after the blatant rejection from the other girl to even acknowledge her existence. Jamie's head was still reeling after everything. Eleven had hugged her, in the same way she hugged Nancy and Jonathan, but had then dropped to her knees in front of Jamie.
Jamie visibly recoiled when the young girl touched her left shin through her jeans. Eleven's unreadable face had peered up at her. "Pain."
Without saying much else, Jamie nodded rapidly, tears springing free. "Yeah. Pain."
Eleven nodded solemnly. Who knew what kind of knowledge existed in that head of hers? She had gone with Joyce now, to see Will, and Jamie was secretly glad of the reprieve from that all-knowing gaze. She wasn't in pain. The leg was healed up long ago, only scars remaining, but both she and Eleven knew that had not been the kind of pain she meant. Not physical pain, but...another kind of pain.
"You okay?" Steve murmured to her. He sat in the middle between her and Max, not the ideal circumstances for a private conversation.
"I don't even know anymore," Jamie mumbled and looked at her hands that laid in her lap. She spent so much energy trying not to think about her leg, or how it happened and how close she had been for it to happen again, and then this girl waltz in and just ripped the whole Pandora's box open in one go.
The dead Demodog laid unmoving and forgotten on the floor. Forgotten by everyone but Dustin, who was using a wooden spoon to lift at the petal-jaws to study it up close. He revealed the hundreds of teeth spread all over the jaw, each with their own individual muscle to bite and tear at the skin. Teeth and darkness. It was all-
"Hey, Dustin!" Steve called and both Hendersons jumped. Steve waved his palm horizontally across his throat. 'Cut it out.'
Dustin looked at Jamie and backed away from the Demodog in a heartbeat.
Jamie started breathing again. "Thanks."
"Anytime."
Jamie caught Max looking at her leg. The young girl at least had the decency to look away shamefully, but Jamie still wanted to cover herself up even more. Sometimes, she had dreams where the scars would suddenly start bleeding again, seeping to the fabric of her pants, spreading first in a pretty zig-zag pattern before it blended into one big bloody mess. Those were the worst dreams, where the border between reality and dream was blurred and she had to convince herself she wasn't bleeding when she finally woke up.
Eleven and Joyce emerged from Will's bedroom and Eleven said: "I can close the gate."
There were issues. Plenty of them. The lab was taken over by a horde of those Demodogs, which Jamie agreed was a much better name than just referring to them as 'those dog', but she didn't raise the issue when Chief Hopper wanted to know the importance of it. Then there was the matter of Will. According to Mike, he was likely to die if they closed the gate.
Unless they evicted the Mindflayer from Casa William first. It was a plan. Hopper and Eleven would go to the lab to close the gate, Jonathan and Joyce would take Will to some secret cabin that Hopper knew of and tried to fry the Mindflayer out of Will. She, Nancy and Steve would stay where they were, taking care of the kids.
The so-called kids argued that this was bullshit, and especially Mike wanted to go with Eleven and Hopper.
"Out of the question, kid," was Hopper's only response to that, not even looking up from assembling a shotgun he had retrieved from the back of his patrol car. Steve and Nancy went out to the shed to search through the wreckage for any more heaters. They brought them back to Jamie, who tinkered with them to increase their effect to full range. It would cause them to eventually overheat, but they should be good for a couple of hours at least.
Nancy had a thoughtful expression, appearing to watch Jamie fiddle with some wires, but was in reality just staring out into thin air. Jamie politely pretended like she hadn't heard the conversation when they went out back, when Steve told Nancy to go with Jonathan and that he and Jamie were more than capable looking out for the kids. Every so often, Jamie caught Nancy staring at Jonathan.
"Jesus Christ, just go with him," Jamie muttered and screwed the protective lid back on the heater oven. She placed it in Nancy's unresisting hands. "This one's done."
"Are you gonna be okay here?" Nancy held the heater like a shield between them. "I — uh — I suppose being in this house brings it all back again."
Back to teeth and darkness and blood and torn flesh. Jamie shook her head, releasing the bad memories. She wished Nancy could do the same. "We'll be fine, Nance. We just gotta make sure our brothers don't do anything stupid."
Nancy smiled thinly. "Hardest job of all."
"Don't worry. I'll keep Mike safe."
Nancy nodded and had that strange expression on her face, like Jamie was speaking a language that she recognized, but couldn't understand. "I'm glad you're feeling better. I mean, really better. It's good to have you back."
They hugged, quickly and tightly, wishing each other luck.
Before long, both cars pulled out of the dark driveway and disappeared down the long stretch of road through Mirkwood. Steve watched until the lights disappeared from sight, before he turned and clapped his hands together. "All right, you little shits. Let's get this place cleaned up."
Groans ensued. Steve apparently had a philosophy of idle hands being the Devil's workshop and put them all to work. The house was a mess, but they started in the living room. At Dustin's insistence, and Jamie's protests, they placed the dead Demodog in Joyce's fridge. In the name of science, said Dustin, and Jamie wondered how much more Joyce's frayed nerves could handle if they forgot to tell her it was there when this was over.
Jamie was picking up large glass shards from the floor, when Dustin tried to hiss at her. With his lisp, it came out more like: "Pfft!" than "Psst!" He was kneeling by the bookcase and held up a large lexicon-like tome. 'A-Z Psychopharmacology'. She had to read the title three times before she realized what it was. A lexicon for drugs.
Dustin jerked his head in the direction of Will's room, but played it cool when Max gave them a weird look. At least he tried to play it cool, like he was just trying to get his bangs out of his face. Jamie rolled her eyes, but followed her little brother when Max looked away.
"Now we can find out what kind of drugs you were on," Dustin hissed excitedly before Jamie even had time to shut the door. She flinched and looked over her shoulder, but no-one had followed them.
"Yeah, we could have, but I only know its name, I can't remember what the active ingredient was," Jamie muttered.
"Try!" Dustin said, already flipping the huge book open to check for entries under 'S'.
Jamie closed her eyes and tried to think back to her latest session with Doc Owens. It was like trying to remember a long-forgotten dream. "Uhh...four syllables. Ending in -ine." Jamie shrugged excessively when her brother gave her a deadpanned stare. "I didn't know there was going to be a test! It sounded like... ni-ni-ni-nine."
Dustin stuttered, but recovered with some effort. "Okay, okay, so, second's letter probably an 'i' or an 'y'?"
"There's got to be at least a thousand entries in that book." Jamie had no idea why Joyce had that book in the first place. She worked at a convenience store. Maybe she had taken a class or something to be allowed to handle prescriptions? There was no way of knowing.
"If the second's letter's an 'i', then the first one is probably a consonant, right? Right?" Dustin hadn't given up. He started at 'B' and his finger flew down each page, looking for any of the longer words. "Cimetidine? Dicyclomine? Didanosine?"
"No, no, it had a- a- a harder sound. Like a 'p' or a 't'. Pi-ni-ni-nine or Ti-ni-ni-nine."
"Super-helpful, Jamie," Dustin mumbled, still going through the lists. He worked fast, before the others wondered what had happened to them. He went through all drugs starting with P, Jamie shaking her head at each one, and started on the T's.
"Thiamine. Tiagabine. Tianeptine. Ticoclidine. Tizanidine."
"Wait, wait, wait, go back, go back."
"Ticocli-"
"No, the other one."
"Tianeptine?" Dustin asked and Jamie had him repeat it.
"Yes!" She snapped her fingers and pointed at him. "Yes! That's it! Tianeptine!"
"Okay!" Dustin said excitedly and propped the book so they could both read. "Tianeptine, tricyclic antidepressant. Used to treat major depressive disorder or extreme anxiety. Acts as an atypical agonist of the μ-opioid receptor with- okay, that's not helpful. Uh...It is known as a super-suppressant and its use is controversial in US Medical Science. Typical side-effects include: personality changes, fatigue, headaches, flatulence-"
Jamie rolled her eyes at Dustin's immature grin.
"-and drowsiness. Dude. It says right here! Super-suppressant! The doctors knew you could develop powers, they had to!"
"The doctor told Chief Hopper to keep tabs on me." Jamie had to sit down, suddenly out of breath. "This means we have to be careful, Dustin! You can't tell anyone about this. Not even mom!"
"Fine fine! To be clear, I can tell Mike and-"
"No! Not Mike, not Lucas, certainly not Max and-" Jamie froze and held her hand up to make Dustin stay quiet. "Car."
Dustin rushed to the window to look out. "Maybe Mrs. Byers or Hopper forgot something?"
"It's not their car." Jamie dropped the medical lexicon and rushed out into the hall. The rest of the gang was huddled together and Steve gave a bitter exclamation when he saw her.
"Ah, Jamie, please help me convince these little shitheads that we are under no circumstances going into these weird tunnels to try and lure the Demodogs away from the- hey, Jamie!"
"Someone's coming." She peered out the window, quickly joined by all the kids, and now the headlights were visible. The engine revved loudly and she knew that sound.
"It's my brother," whispered Max from beside her. "He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me." She turned to Lucas. "He'll kill us."
"Or he'll get himself killed," Jamie said as the car skidded into the spot next to the late Bob Newby's car. Angry rock music blared from the insides of the car before it was shut off when Billy killed the engine. "This whole area could still be crawling with Demodogs."
"All right, all right," Steve said and handed the bat to Dustin along with a towel he had been using to clean. "Stay here, I'll handle this."
"Handle this how exactly?" Jamie asked and followed Steve to the hallway. "Maybe if we just don't answer the door, he'll go away."
"Look." Steve paused by the front door to give her what she thought was a bit over-the-top patronizing look. "I know guys like Hargrove, okay? They're bullies and bullies are all talk. They back of the second someone stands up to them. Don't worry."
"Maybe Jamie should go instead." Dustin appeared in the hallway, followed closely by the others.
"What, why?" Jamie asked with her lip curled. She had argued that no-one talk to him, not that she had to go out there instead.
"That could work," Max agreed. "She's a girl and Billy usually forgets I exist if there's a girl to impress." She gave Jamie a once-over. "Uh, maybe pull down your shirt a little or do something with your hair."
Jamie made a face and gave Max the finger. "I don't wanna go out there. Demodogs, remember?"
"You'll hear them coming a mile off," Dustin argued and started to physically push her out the door. "Come on, this'll work, he gave you that ride and all. He obviously doesn't hate you."
This was news to Max. "Wait, Billy did? When?"
"That has nothing to do with anything, I basically had to- hey, hey!" Jamie swatted at Dustin's hands who were busy trying to push her out the doorway. She stooped to glare at her brother and his dumbass friends. "Fine! But you little assholes better hide."
"If he tries anything, I'll be right here," Steve said, though he looked less than convinced at this plan. Not that Jamie was feeling more confident, but at least she didn't have any illusions of Billy being the kind to back off if met with opposition. Remembering Max' words, she looked down at herself and scowling, without saying a word, she wrenched off her sweatshirt so she was only in an old faded t-shirt with the tattered remains of an MTV-logo.
"Not - a -word," she grumbled to Steve and darted out the door before Billy could hear them talking through the wall.
Billy hadn't been rushing to knock on the Byers' door and was in the midst of lighting a cigarette when Jamie stepped outside. He wore an acid-washed leather jacket over a dark-red shirt that he had managed to button perhaps the two lower buttons on. That left his chest exposed and free to ogle at, and Jamie was glad the lighting was so poor outside.
"Now this is an unexpected surprise," Billy said and blew cigarette smoke out his mouth. Jamie was freezing without her sweatshirt, and crossed her arms over her chest for both warmth and protection. "What are you doing here, Madge? I thought this was the Byers' house. Ah, right...Jonathan, was that his name?" Billy's smirk grew and it was like he could smell her blush rising, because he obviously couldn't see it. "Hope I didn't interrupt anything."
"You did, actually," Jamie said curtly and took a few steps off the porch, mostly to show she wasn't intimidated by the Californian, even though she clearly was. "It would be nice if you could leave."
Billy sat down on the bumper of his car and let his gaze trail lecherously up and down her body. There had been no need to pull down her shirt, Billy was more than happy to let his imagination fill in any blanks. "Now, you see, I would — not one to come in the way of true teenage romance — but I'm looking for my stepsister. A little birdie told me she was here."
There was no time to wonder who this little birdie could be. No-one had any idea of knowing that Max would be here. Jamie tried to keep a straight face as she asked: "What stepsister?"
"Small? Redhead? A bit of a bitch?" Billy used his hand to indicate Max' approximate height.
"Sorry, don't know her."
"You're a bad liar, Madge."
"My name is Jamie," she said to change the topic. She stood her ground, even when every instinct in her body told her to run, as Billy got up from his car and stepped closer to her. Cigarette smoke wafted in her face as he exhaled.
"Jamie," he repeated and the sound of her name rolling of his tongue was strange and exhilirating all at once. The glint in his eyes was back. A primal instinct told Jamie that this guy's focus was a dangerous place to be. "Short for...?"
"For Jamie." He had tried to sidestep her and she blocked his path. "You don't have any business here. Please leave."
"I'll leave," Billy said and now the glint was replaced with something cold and hard. He got up in her face. "With my stepsister."
The door opened behind Jamie and she cursed inwardly. Billy broke off the stare first and smiled. "Am I dreaming, Harrington, or is that you?"
Jamie didn't turn to look at Steve, not trusting Billy enough to let him out of her sight.
"Yeah, it's me, don't cream your pants."
"Now," said Billy and returned his focus to Jamie, like he was seeing her in new light. "And here I thought it was Steve who was stringing two girls along at the same time. Kinky, Madge."
"Back off, Hargrove," Steve said and took Jamie' place in front of Billy. "You need to leave."
"As I said," Billy was talking to Steve, but looking at Jamie. "I'm looking for my stepsister."
Steve replied without hesitation: "She's not here."
"Oh, really?" Billy asked and then nodded towards the house behind them. "Then who's that?"
Jamie could kill those little assholes. She and Steve both turned, just in time to see the tops of the kids' heads disappear from the window. Steve cursed under his breath and turned back: "Listen-"
Billy shoved Steve, knocking him off his feet and to the ground. "I told you to plant your feet!"
"Steve!" Jamie had cried out, but Steve was okay, much unlike the kids would be if Billy got to them. She rushed after the mullet-haired guy, who had wrenched off his jacket on his way inside the house. "Hey! Hey, hey, hey!"
She reached the door just as he did and slammed her whole body against it to shut it. "You're trespassing! Get out of here or I'll call the police!"
"Hiding a 13-year-old runaway? That's kidnapping, baby," Billy said and yanked the door open. Superstrength or not, her bodyweight remained unchanged and she skidded across the porch. She glanced at Steve, but he was still groaning and picking himself up, leaving Jamie swearing and following Billy Hargrove inside the house.
Instead of targeting Max, Billy went straight for Lucas. Billy had at least fifty pounds on muscle on Lucas and he lifted the younger boy like he was made of cardboard. He wasn't though, he was made of flesh and bones and easily breakable things and he was thrown against the wall with a painful thud.
"Are you insane?" yelled Jamie and rushed to break Billy's hold on the boy. "He's - just - a -kid!"
"A kid who's going to stay away from her!" Billy roared into Lucas' face. His arms were solid as rock and Jamie couldn't manage to break the grip. Billy shook Lucas, hitting him against the wall over and over again. "You stay away from her, you hear me?"
"LET HIM GO!" Jamie shouted and gripped the pressure point on Billy's hand and squeezed. It was a good trick, her cousin had taught her that, and Billy howled. He lost his grip on Lucas' collar, but only long enough to shove Jamie sharply into the floor like she weighed nothing at all. Her head thumped against the dresser, a penetrating bolt of pain splitting her brain. "Ugh!"
"I said get off me!" Lucas yelled and used the temporary lapse of attention on him to force his knee up in Billy's crotch. Billy grunted and dropped Lucas.
Billy was crouched over, but Lucas hadn't used enough force. There was plenty of fight left in Billy. He growled: "So dead, Sinclair. You're so dead!"
Steve tapped Billy on his shoulder. "No, you are."
It was a good punch. Steve rotated all the way from his hips and planted his clenched fist right in Billy's nose. Billy sailed backwards, but he was laughing hysterically.
"WHOO!" he shrieked and straightened up to face Steve. "Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh! I've been waiting to meet this King Steve everyone's been telling me so much about."
Both Billy and Steve had their fists up, but there was a confidence in Billy's stance that Steve lacked. The difference was small, but evident, as Billy centered his weight further down, planting his feet to give him stability. On top of that, Billy wanted a fight. Steve didn't.
Steve dropped his fists, thinking it was over. He pushed Billy back to keep him at arm's length. "Get out."
"Steve watch out!" Jamie cried just as Billy dipped his shoulder, a giveaway of the suckerpunch he sent Steve's way. Steve ducked, leaving Billy going in a wide circle, and popped up again to land another jab in Billy's face.
The kids were all shouting, egging on Steve to kick his ass, all except Max who had gone white. Max, who had seen her stepbrother fight before. Max, who knew the damage a Hargrove could do with his hands.
Jamie got off the floor and tried to break them apart."Guys, stop it!" She had this vague idea that if she got between them, they would stop, too afraid of hitting her. "Guys!"
Billy, an apparent believer in equality of the sexes, shook her off his arm and sent a sharp elbow to her face. Her eyes she swore and sputtered blindly. Only instinct made her realize that Dustin had released a primal warcry and flung himself at Billy.
"Don't you touch her!" he shrieked and punched Billy wherever he could reach him with his pudgy balled fists.
Billy laughed and blocked the punches by holding Dustin away from him by his throat. "Let me guess, the little brother?" He looked at Jamie who was still trying to get up from his last jab. "What were you gonna do if I touched him? Oh yeah, break my face." Billy punched Dustin in the mouth.
Jamie saw red as Dustin sagged like a sack of flour. She launched herself at Billy, not trying to hit him, but tackled him at his waist so they both crashed to the floor. She didn't know how to fight, not a fistfight, but she had enough cousins that she could hold her own in wrestling and she and Billy struggled for the upper-hand, writhing on the floor, a complicated mass of limbs and fury.
She landed hits where she could, elbows, knees and heels hitting soft spots on his body. Sometimes she hit, sometimes she didn't. Jamie shrieked of frustration, especially when she realized he wasn't actively trying to fight back, only ward off her blows. He took advantage of a knee she tried to send to his head, and flipped her hard onto her back, so he was on top. With his bottom arm, he leaned over her throat, choking her, all the while whispering: "Give up yet? Give up yet?"
Jamie clawed at his arm, eyes watering, lungs screaming for air.
"Hey, dickhead!"
Steve forced Billy's head around to land another good blow to his face. Jamie used the opportunity to plant both feet into Billy's chest and pushed! He flew off her, hit the far wall in the living room, and landed in a heap. He did not stay down.
Jamie croaked and groaned, head reeling from the cut-off supply of oxygen returning full-force, and the shapes of Billy and Steve blurred. Billy kicked Steve in the stomach and the next thing she knew, Billy sat ontop of Steve's chest and punched and punched and punched, not stopping even as Steve's head lolled to the side without resistance.
"You're killing him!" she cried and sprawled on the floor. Up, she had to get up!
Halfway to standing, leg slipping from beneath her, she saw Max came out of nowhere. Max stabbed Billy in the neck with the syringe they used to sedate Will. At last, he stopped punching. Somehow, he rose to standing, touching his neck, grunting at Max.
"The Hell is this? You little shit, what did you do?" His speech slurred, finally, Jamie had worried not even the sedative could stop him. He'd taken absolutely everything else they had thrown at him. As a tall guy, Billy had a long way down, and he fell straight onto his back, a few feet away from where Jamie was still trying to get up and next to Steve who was still not moving.
Billy laughed, moving his arms like it was funny when they just flopped down again. The sedative had been for Will. Maybe there wasn't enough in the needle to knock out Billy? Max had considered the same thing, apparently, as she stalked over to retrieve the spiked baseball bat.
"From here on out," she said and stood over Billy, bat raised, "you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand?"
"Screw you," moaned Billy, not able to lift his head.
Max gritted her teeth and swung the bat down so it embedded into the floor between Billy's legs. That got his attention, and Max wrenched the bat out of the woodwork and raised it again. "Say you understand! SAY IT!"
"I understand."
"What?"
"I understand," Billy murmured again and fell still. He was out.
Everyone struggled to catch their breath and Max let the heavy bat clatter to the floor. Jamie coughed and rubbed her throat from where Billy's arm had nearly crushed her escophagus. She clambered over to Dustin, who was awake, but disoriented.
"Dustin! Are you okay?" she asked and tried to move his arms so she could get a better look at his face. Nothing broken, just a split lip that would probably swell to about three times its regular size.
"You shouldn't hit girls," slurred Dustin and Jamie was torn between kissing him and killing him.
"That's right, you little shit, but you shouldn't hit people twice your size either," she said, hugged him and then smacked his head. "Are you out of your mind? He could've killed you!"
"Shouldn't hit girls," Dustin repeated and Jamie figured he was still not completely up to speed yet. Still, he was better off than Steve, who lay unconscious on the floor next to Billy.
"Is he breathing?" Lucas asked after Jamie had knelt down to check on him. He was, but his face looked like a mashed up beefcake. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and he had the same split lip like Dustin had.
"Steve? Steve, wake up!" she said and tried to shake him without hurting him. Steve mumbled something incoherently, but didn't stir. "Shit!" She looked at Billy, also out cold, hardly a scratch on him. "Shit!"
"Uh, are you okay?" It was Max, standing by her side. "I mean - uh - there's blood in your hair."
"Shit!" Jamie said again and touched the back of her scalp with her fingers, probing between the locks to find a wound or a crack. Her hair was wet, with blood, as her fingertips came back red. No wound that she could find though. "Probably just a scrape."
"Are you okay to drive?" asked Mike as Max bent down to fish Billy's car keys out of his pocket.
For a second, she thought they meant the hospital, to admit Billy and Steve, but of course her little brother's asshole friends didn't have anything as cozy as that in mind.
"She doesn't know how to drive." Dustin was apparently recovering quickly and returning to his little shit-status. "Ow! What? It's true!"
She couldn't handle the kids' disappointed stares at her. "I was in a coma when I was supposed to have driver's ed." No reaction. "I'm on heavy meds!"
"That's okay," Max said and pocketed the keys for herself. "I can drive."
So everybody's probably figured out it's gonna be a slow slow-burn. Please let me know what you think :) Thank you for reading.