Filly wishes she had eaten all three of those eggs. Sure she may have gotten sick, but she may have been just fine. When she asks where they've gone, Dustin orders them not to tell her.
"I am going... over there," she tells them, standing from the bleachers. The three are huddled around El, rubbing the towel to dry her and to warm her up. El has everything she needs and she doesn't need Filly.
Filly needs to do something. She has always been frail, but she can be an asset, too. She can help.
Jonathan is walking out the door to follow the two adults that leave. Filly goes as close to the blue double doors as she can, trying to listen. She can't hear a thing through the thick wood, so instead she watches.
She watches Joyce hug her son. Hopper stands by the open door of his truck. She watches their teeth move apart. They are speaking. Joyce pushes off of Jonathan, rushing to the other side of the chief's car. The hulking metal thing pulls back, driving away with its skeletal passengers aboard
He shifts from one foot to the other, weight pressing down on his ankles. She sees him turn around and reenter the building.
The teen boy walks closer to the girl in the hallway. He slides down the wall to sit next to Nancy.
"We have to go back to the station," she states.
"What?"
"Your mom and Hopper are just walking in there like bait. That thing is still in there. And we can't just sit here and let it get them, too. We can't."
"You still wanna try it out?"
"I want to finish what we started. I want to kill it." Their skeletons only stand after Nancy's last utterance, making for the outer doors. Filly lets go of the sight, deciding that in front of her is her opportunity. Her chance to help. She slips through the doors, one final glance at the little group that brought her out of her shell. She can help them by not being here, by fighting this monster.
"Wait!" she cries, letting the doors swing shut. The two taller teens turn back to her. Jonathan replies to her with a touch of nervousness.
"Filly? What's up?"
"I-I can help. I can see for you. I can watch out for you. Let me come."
It hadn't taken much convincing on her part. Filly is grateful for that.
The car is not like any she remembers. She only remembers a few, none as dingy or dented as Jonathan's, but she sits herself in the backseat without complaint.
The car rumbles when it starts, clunking off the lot before it gets smoother on the paved road. Nancy is the first to speak. "We're going to the police station. The boys, earlier they said you have, like, x-ray vision. Is that true?"
"Yes. I can see through many things when I look." Filly doesn't see why they would lie about such a thing.
The car clunks again when Jonathan hits a pothole. "Really?" he says, turning back for just a second to take her in. "I don't know." It is one thing to hear about the two girl's powers and another thing entirely to truly believe it.
"I used them just now. You followed Joyce and Hopper outside. Hopper went to the truck." At this moment, Jonathans eyes widen. Unless she was out there with them, she couldn't have know that. "Joyce hugged you, then went with him." Filly doesn't understand the trepidation. She simpy wants to aid the two teens. Jonathan and Nancy glance at each other, but quickly break the stare.
Nancy shifts in her seat, looking back at Filly. "Let's get back on track. We're going to the station, right? We have to sneak in. Can you watch our backs? See where the people in the station are so we can sneak by?"
Nancy sucks in a breath at Filly's response.
"Yes."
"Nancy? Jonathan?" The middle school parking lot is empty, not a soul to be seen. "Filly?" Mike looks deeper into the shrouded lot, squinting at the blurred shapes. He and his friends were left here. Alone.
His party is on their own now. One of the doors clangs against the cinderblock wall when he pushes through them.
"They're gone." Mike's long legs carry him back to the lowest seat on the bleacher.
Lucas looks blankly at him. "What?"
"Filly, and Jonathan. His car's gone."
"They're probably just sucking face somewhere," Dustin reasons, not at all concerned.
"Gross."
"No! No way." Mike is adamant that it isn't so.
"Yeah, you're right. Filly would ask too many questions." Dustin caves, looking up from his hands between his knees. "Did they go with the chief?"
"I don't know." Mike hadn't seen them leave, but El had.
"No," she says, still wrapped in the striped beach towel. The party members face the girl.
"What?" Mike pauses for a moment, not quite taking in her words. "Did you see them? Do you know where they went?"
"Yes." Her voice is as as mousey as ever, similar in tone to her sister's.
"Where? Where did they go?" Her one word response is something they all know.
"Demogorgon."
"Guys, guys! This is crazy," Mike protests. His sister is out there facing a monster, along with Jonathan and Filly. "We can't just wait around."
"Mike," starts his longest friend. "In case you forgot, we're still fugitives. The bad men are still looking for us."
Dustin backs him up. "Yeah, and we don't even know where your sister and Filly are."
"El can find them."
"Mike, look at her!" Dustin gestures with an open palm, prompting the taller boy to really look at the girl. She's hunched, hugging her knees to her chest. She doesn't look well. "I still think we should stick to the chief's plan."
"Exactly. We stay here, keep El out of sight and keep her safe." Lucas is staring into Mike's eyes, pleading. "That's the most important thing, remember? Besides, she's okay. She's with Filly."
"Yeah, and she's kind of a badass now, so..." Dustin trails off, spinning on his heel to walk in the opposite direction.
"Well, where are you going?" Mike calls. After all that talk, he hadn't expected one of his friends to try and run off. "You just said stick to the plan!"
"I am. I'm just gonna go get some chocolate pudding." Walking off, the toothless boy shrugs casually, palms up. "I'm telling you, Lunch Lady Phyllis hoards that shit."
"Are you serious?" Lucas starts moving after their friend, leaving Mike and El behind him.
"El needs to be recharged! And did you see the eyes Filly was making at those eggs?"
"Do you believe me now?" she asks the teen who carries a box of metal into his family home. Filly tags after him with a fire extinguisher clenched in her small hands. Nancy, having placed the gas canister in the hallway, returns just before she posed the question.
"I think I speak for both of us when I say yes." The other girl answers her, daring Jonathan to dispute her claim. He does no such thing. Jonathan is appreciative of the diminutive girl. Her assistance at the station was a great help, she had easily spotted the single guard and warned them of him.
Not having been part of the plan's creation, Filly was tasked with screwing all the bulbs back in. She didn't know what the others were doing, banging coming from all areas of the home as they set to work. Of course, they had run through it with her multiple times on the car ride here.
Filly has never seen so many lights strung about in her life. She remember them in much lower quantities. There are many mentions of Christmas in her books as well, full paragraphs about season's greetings and the joy and merriment that comes with it. The five years she was trapped in Hawkins lab, she never felt any merriment on the day of Christmas, not that she knew when it had come.
She likes the decorations, though.
Finally screwing in the last bulb, stretched out on the tips of her toes, she takes a short moment to rest. She thinks Jonathan would probably not mind if she were to get a snack from the kitchen. She pauses, however, when she realizes that there is already food set out.
Two vessels sit upon the yellowed linoleum, pushed up next to the counter. One is filled with clear water, the other holding brown pellets that smell like some kind of animal by-product. She crouches near it, a sour, almost nutty scent wafting into her nostrils. Did Jonathan leave this for her? She hadn't seen anyone go into the kitchen.
Filly brings a handful of the marbles up to her face, giving a small lick to one piece. It's not something she would neccessarily like to eat. She grows braver, lowering her mouth to her palm and devouring the handful in one go.
It's much worse in larger quantities, she realizes a bit too late. She forces it down, however, knowing that she must have something in her belly to use her sight. In order to be of some help, Filly has to forgo her personal preferences on foodstuffs. She dubiously stares at the bowl again, wondering if she'd be able to get down another bitter handful. Maybe if she pinched her nose?
"Filly, you done with the lights?"
She spins around, nearly knocking into the taller boy in her haste. "Yes, Jonathan. You are finished?" He nods, walking past her to open a drawer. He roots around inside, cutlery clinking together in high tones. She follows him to the living room when he passes her a second time, but not before pocketing the army knife he had given her earlier. He takes three steak knifes with him.
Passing them out with trepidation, Jonathan starts speaking to the two women. "Remember..." Nancy doesn't let him get far.
"Straight into Will's room. And-"
"Do not step on the bear trap." Filly had almost done so herself earlier in the year. She had found many old hunting traps in the woods before she moved to the bus.
"Wait for the yo-yo to move." Nancy adds, looking to Jonathan for him to end the thought.
"Then..." He hold up his lighter, flicking open the lid and striking the flint with his thumb. The top snaps closed, puncuating his words. "All right. You two ready?"
Filly nods and Nancy repeats his last word.
Filly is no stranger to sharp objects. Her junkyard was stuffed full of brokemn bottles and old cans with fine edges. There were glass shards littering most of the lot, pieces of things that she would use to cut strips of fabric for her foot wrappings and other such things. She had one old blade sitting by her bed in the stationary vehicle. It had to have been trashed long ago, the wooden handle warped and splintered off in spots. The only thing she used it for was hunting.
While it's true Filly's powers could do nothing to help defend herself, she did use them to hunt. The forest creatures weren't able to detect her as she could them, and a flying blade to the back would stop any mammal or bird in it's tracks. It had taken her 80 days to perfect the throwing motion, practicing day in and day out, tossing the knife at the treeline for hours on end before she was able to feed herself. The winter months were unkind to her belly.
She feels no fear when she places the sharp edge against her palm. An old scar stares up at her, but it hasn't faded in the least. The chirps of anxious baby birds ring in her ears, but there are no birds here. She shakes away the thought that turns her kibble filled stomach.
The larger knife is in her back pocket, but she uses the smaller blade to slice her hand on Nancy's count of three. This kind of wound is typical to her, but she can see that Jonathan and Nancy are uneasy about it. She wraps her own hand, having done it many times in the last year all on her own.
While the other two teenagers lick their wounds, Filly vows to keep watch. "I will guard." There is a black lettered alphabet scrawled on the wall behind them. They let her go and she stalks to the door, beginning her slow, silent pace along the front wall of the house, preparing her sight to pierce the wood and fiber if needed.
She stills at the creak that sounds from the door.
"Did you hear that?" Nancy's voice is higher than normal, eyeing the place that Filly stands. The man of the house assures her of their safety.
"It's just the wind."
"Filly?"
She looks, taking in the outer world in shades of blue deepened by the night. "I do not see a monster." There is, however, a vehicle approaching. She hopes maybe the car is only passing through. Before she can say a thing, Jonathan cuts in.
"Don't worry. My mom, she said the lights speak when it comes."
"Speak?" Nancy voices the question that runs through Filly's mind.
"Blink," he amends. "Think of them as alarms." Nancy is satisfied, going back to bandaging his cut.
Filly refocuses her sight outside. A set of bones approaches the door. Filly stalks up to it as well, letting her powers drop. She doesn't look back at the others, but hears the gasps when a banging arises from the door.
"Jonathan!" Another pair of knocks. "Are you there, man? It's.. It's Steve!" Why would Jonathan's friend visit at a time like this? She contemplates his arrival, unlatching the chain. "Listen, I just want to talk!"
Filly cracks open the door.
The first thing she notices is the hair. Its brunette and fluffed, coiffed over his head in a soft looking mane. A few strands have fallen loose, coming to rest upon his brow. Below the curl is one eye, swollen almost shut, the brown irises training on her clear blues. The side of his face is mottled by bruises and scabs, the bottom of his lip spit while his mouth hangs open. His earthen orbs flit over her countenance.
Steve looks upon the beautiful girl, or at least she should have been beautiful, but she's too gaunt. Her cheekbones protrude unnaturally from high on her face, the line of her jaw too visible to be healthy. He could point out every bit of sinew in her neck and he can see the points of her shoulders through the woolen poncho she wears. Dark fringe sprouts around her ears and forehead, a mess of onyx dusting her nape. She's skin and bones.
"You should not be here." Filly looks the teen up and down. He's taller than her by at least a head, meaning she has to tilt her chin up to look him in the eyes. "You need to leave this place to keep your pretty hair safe."
"Wha- Uh, I'm sorry, is Jonathan home, Miss...?" The good looking young man trails off. He's giving her the time to tell him her name, Filly realizes a tad slowly.
"Fil-"
"Phyllis!" Nancy shouts over her with an awkward quirk in her brows, tearing her away from the door and occupying the space. "She's just a... a family friend... Steve, listen to me. You need to leave." Filly shuffles back, standing behind his girlfriend. Steve's never seen her before, not at school or at the Wheeler's.
"Nancy, what- I'm not trying to start anything, okay?"
"I don't care about that. You need to leave." The young man, however, is not pleased with that course of action. Filly agrees with Nancy, though. This is not the place for Steve.
"No, no, no. Listen, I-" He stammers over the words, smacking the doorframe in his frustration. "I, I, I messed up, okay? I messed- I messed up. Okay?"
Filly honestly feels at fault for the whole fiasco. She didn't know she wasn't supposed to open the door. She had been able see him and she knew he was human. When someone knocks, you answer. Right?
"Really. Please. I just want to make things right. Okay? Please. Please..." If Filly was in Nancy's shoes, she would've opened the door at his heartfelt plea. However, that would only put the boy's life in jeopardy. "Hey, what happened to you hand? Is that blood?" He grabs the girls hand, turning it in his palm, but she snatches it away, coming up with a quick excuse.
"Nothing. Noth- It was an accident."
"Yeah, what's going on?" Steve at least knows there's no hanky panky, not with a strange girl hanging around.
"Nothing." Nancy leans against the door, feeling the tension coming off her boyfriend in waves.
"Wait a sec. Did he do this to you?" The man starts pushing on the door. Filly looks at him, clearly unsure what she should do. Even with her added strength, it's unlikely the two girls could stop him from entering. "Nancy, let me in!"
"No. No! No, Steve!" Nancy calls him but he brushes past her and Filly.
"Steve!" Filly has gathered that that's the handsome one's name by now. "Please, leave!"
He has less conviction at what he sees next.
Steve halts. Jonathan stands in the middle bearing the same wound as the two girls. What he's just walked into, he has no idea. All he knows is he's just found his girlfriend and an emaciated girl, both wounded, in a building with Jonathon Byers and a veritable armory.
"What is... What the..."
"You need to get out of here." Jonathan puts his hand on Steve's chest while he's digesting the room's appearance.
"Woah, what is all this?" He sniffs the air, holding the younger teen away. "What's tha- What is that smell? Is that... is that gasoline?"
"Listen to me. I'm not asking you. I'm telling you to get out of here!"
All Filly can see is the gun Nancy raises at the newcomer. "Steve, get out!"
"W-wait, wait." Steve thinks she must be losing it. Nancy just wants him away from the monster. "What? What is going on?" he screams.
"Gun. Gun. Nancy, this is bad. This is unsafe!" Filly doesn't like this, so many things can go wrong. The other girl's arm doesn't waver.
"You have five seconds to get out of here."
"Okay, is this a joke?" Steve's afraid now. He may die tonight because he had tried to apologize and he doesn't even know why. "Stop. Put, put the gun down."
"I'm doing this for you." Filly believes Nancy, but this is not the way to go about things. Nancy would be destroyed if her gun went off and killed the boy, and so would Filly. She does not want to witness more death. She's so distressed that she doesn't hear Jonathan.
"Nancy." He's the only one that observes the lights. "Nancy."
"Hold on, hold, hold on! Wait, is this a... What is this?" Filly would force the teen out the door if she could, to protect him from the two threats he faces. The monster and Nancy. He's just a bystander. She tries pulling on his sweater when Nancy starts counting.
"Please do not!" Filly can't think. She wants everyone here to live. She has seen death before, she can't watch it happen again. She grabs Steve in earnest, trying to shove him away, but she's weak. Inadequate. The teen stands up to her pushing, taking it without a glance in her direction. "Get away from here, Steve!" The atmosphere is stifling. She thinks she may cry. Steve thinks he might piss his pants.
"Three. Two."
"Nancy." Jonathan needs her to look up. They don't have time to mess around with Steve right now.
"No, no, no! No, no!"
"Nancy!" At his yell, she finally looks at him. "The lights. It's here."
She and Filly are aware of them instantly. The string lights above them flicker wildly, a plethora of shades flashing upon the wallpaper.
The passerby's safety is paramount to Filly. He's come in with no knowledge of their strategy, no idea of the horrors they will soon face. She grabs the front of his sweater to keep track of him and looks. She has to focus, tuning out the continued squabble in the home to key in on her sight.
"Wait, what's here?" Steve is very confused. The girl, Phyllis he thinks, is grasping his front and the other two are frantically searching the room. The other boy plucks a nail covered baseball bat from the coffee table, backing up to Nancy's rear as she waves around her firearm. "Woah! Easy with that!"
"Where is it? Filly, where is it?" Nancy shreiks, her and Jonathan turning in circles.
"Where is what?" he questions the group. They're acting insane right now and he can't get a clear answer from them. The girl at his side is acting more reasonably, but her eyes are giving him the creeps. Is there no one rational in this house?
"I can't see it! There's nothing!" Filly screams, but she keeps at it, praying she will catch the monster in her sight.
"Hello? Will someone explain to me what the hell is going-" He jumps at the ceiling busting in. The smaller girl by him stares oddly at the roof's vertex. The corner of the ceiling bulges as though a leak has sprung, but that can't be right. Steve's words dry up in his mouth.
Filly lets go of the sight. It's here and their plan has been changed. Steve is as a wrench thrown in the gears. Nancy fires at the fleshy growth above. Jonathon shouts for the girl, grabbing her around the waist to put her back on track. Their plan should work if they follow it.
The mass drops from the ceiling, emitting a beastly roar. Filly runs after her companions, tugging Steve along with her. If she can keep this one person alive, then she'll be all right in the end. This is Filly's hope and she knows it's all she needs. Hope.
He starts following, so she lets go of him, shouting for him to jump when they reach the trap. "Oh, my God!" He repeats relentlessly, his steps soinding just behind her. Once they reach the end of the hall, they shut themselves in Will's room.
"Jesus! Jesus! What the hell was that?" Steve wants answers, but he receives orders instead.
"Shut up!" his schoolmates shout. The entity in the house is noisy, screeching flowing down the hall to their ears.
"Filly. Filly, can you find it?" Jonathan turns to the other girl. Steve looks between them and the door. He does a double take when he sees her eyes. Her dark pupils are miniscule, the frigid color of ice ringing them widely as blood vessels swell in her slcera. At her temples, her veins pulse madly, feeding blood into the organs at a pace yet unseen.
The yo-yo is still. Nancy points her gun in preparation for the creature to pounce. Jonathan has the lit zippo ready.
The black haired teen answers. "Yes, it's, it's there. It's moving-" The lights stop their flashing, going steady. "Gone."
"Gone?" Nancy asks, rounding on the girl. "What do you mean it's gone?"
"It's not inside the house. It's not outside the house. It's... nowhere." Her answer scares Nancy. She had hoped it would be easy, that their plan would go off without a hitch. She doesn't like idea of going back out, but that's what they do.
Jonathan pushes the door with his fingertips, allowing it to creak open. Filly still has her power engaged, following slowly behind him and Nancy, her hand clutching Steve's arm. She had said it's hard for her to see right in front of her when she uses her powers, that it's near impossible to look while she's walking. She would trip most of the time.
They follow Jonathan, creeping past the open bear trap and into the family room. Nancy turns the corner with him, Steve and Filly slowly going after them. The house is empty, just as she said it would be. She has to let go, let her eyes return to normal or she'll pass out. She also lets go of the boy behind her.
Filly rubs her temples, feeling the strain.
Two teens silently stalk the family room. Two teens stand by the kitchen entrance.
"This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy! This is crazy! This is crazy!" Steve ramps up his hollering until he surges for the wall at his last word. Filly finally opens her eyes once more, puzzled at what the boy plans to do. He seizes the phone handset, planning to call 911. He pushes all three buttons, but before it can ring, the handset is snatched from him and flung to the ground. "What are you- What are you doing? Are you insane?"
Nancy does not care for his cries, only for his life. "It's going to come back! So you need to leave," she orders him, looking as though she may threaten him again. "Right now." He looks left to Filly, then Jonathan, then settles his gaze on his girlfriend.
He scrambles out the door. He's not proud of it.
With the interloper out of the picture, Filly feels good about their chances. She's sorry for Steve and the way they all acted toward him, but it's safer for him to go. She's vindicated by the lights returning to their manic flashing. The others look about. Filly is half-starved, but she'll keep going. She looks once more.
"Where is it? Filly?" Nancy spins about in place, trying to keep her eyes everywhere at once.
"Come on. Come on, you son of a bitch," Jonathan says under his breath. "You see it?"
"No," says the shortest of the group. "There's nothing yet."
Not until the lights cut out for the second time.
"Behind you, Jonathan!" Her warning comes too late. Jonathan is bowled over by the fleshbound beast and his bat knocked away. He hopes his younger brother hasn't had to deal with this creature, the existence of it alone is enough to give even Jonathan nightmares.
"Go to Hell, you son of a bitch!" Gunfire rings out as Nancy shoots. It doesn't seem to hurt it, only turning its attention to her.
The monster's dripping maws no longer threaten the teen boy. Instead, the beast faces Nancy, barb-like teeth on full display when it roars. She walks backward, shooting into it's body and head until the weapon starts to click. She's out of ammo.
"Nancy?" Filly doesn't understand why she isn't shooting when the creature still stands. "Nancy!" The gun clicks over and over. She has to act. Filly grunts, throwing the steak knife at its unguarded rear, the blade burying itself into muscle. The hulking mass squeals, slime wicking off its body while it whirls on her.
She has one more dagger, the one in her pocket. She unsheathes the metal, seeing the creature slinking in her direction. She nearly trips over the low table, striking the back of her knee on it.
She has no choice but to throw it, the thing's arms are too long to engage. The creature outreaches her easily. Gripping the knife blade, she hopes and then she tosses it. It seems to spin in slow motion, a rainbow of colors glinting off the surface of it before embedding itself in the torso of the monster. Its muzzle opens up, blooming like a flowerbud on a Spring morning.
But this is no flower.
Jonathan lays on his back, sputtering. Nancy searches her pockets for bullets, hands trembling. Filly has run out of weapons and places to run to. They are dead, or at least they will be.
Filly thinks to close her eyes. They flick open, however, at the grunt of effort from a sillhouette jumping before her. Bat in hand, Steve had returned to them.
He had never been one to stay on the bench. His pride wouldn't let him. He beats the figure with the nail bat, careful not to let it counter. This is the most important fight of his life, so far.
"Steve!"
The lights wink, letting the baskeball captain view his opponent somewhat. A streak of shining steel peeks at him from the monster's stomach. He bashes it, hitting the knife on it's handle and forcing it further into the beast. Its roar rumbles the floor under his feet.
Steve retreats, the hall on his left. If he can just get the entity where he wants it, they all make it out of here alive. He swings the bat and it smashes against its left arm. He dodges the claws that slash at him, ducking under it. He did the same during his fight with Jonathan, but the stakes now are much higher.
He makes contact again with its left side, forcing it further toward the hallway. He twirls the bat in his hands, committing to the stroke of his next attack. The impact sends the creature stumbling backwards, unwittingly stepping right into their snare. The jaws close on the beast's leg.
"He's in the trap!" Steve's shout spurs the three teens into action. "He's stuck!" The two girls clump around him. Nancy calls for their partner.
"Jonathan, now!" The shorter boy rushes to where they wait, zippo flying open. He strikes the flint and tosses it to the floor.
An inferno blazes before them. While they brace against the flames, the monster gives a long screech.
Filly has never experienced such a heat. "Get back!" She does as Jonathan commands, grasping onto Nancy and Steve, hands fisting their clothes to pull them away. He uses the fire extinguisher to douse the charring carpet. Heavy smoke clouds the hall.
Filly wheezes, the smoke inhalation causing discomfort. Soon enough, all four are coughing from the haze. The smoke clears moments later, unveiling their tripped claw trap, it's teeth grasping onto naught but air.
"Where did it go?" Nancy spits.
"No. It has to be dead." Jonathan slumps against the wall, feeling drained. "It has to be."
Steve, bat gripped tightly in both hands, suggests the strange newcomer's obvious talents be used. "Can you do that thing with your eyes? Find out where it is?"
She tries, but her eyes just strain. There is no blue tint to the world, no bright skeletons appear in her sight, not even those who stand by her. A tear slides from her duct. "I... It isn't working. I can't see. I'm... I used it too much."
The hunger tears her stomach with pain. Even the sizzling bits of flesh and blood smell good to her right now.
"Woah!" Jonathan starts when she hits her knees. Steve and Nancy, who fall at her sides, speak to her and rub her back.
"Hey. Hey, you okay?" Steve asks softly. She feels Nancy's hand stroking her shoulders in slow circles. Filly's stomach growls, alerting them.
She'd drank as much water as she could before leaving the bus, hoping it was enough, but it wasn't. Her bad eating habits were coming back to bite her in the ass. "I'm s-so hungry." She grips her middle, the noise embarrassing her as much as it is hurting her.
"What did you eat last?" Steve doesn't know who she is, not really, but he can't in good conscious let her starve.
"Something from the bowl. On the floor in the kitchen."
The two look at Jonathan. Steve wonders what kind of food would be in a bowl on the floor. A few beats pass, Jonathan thinking of what it could be. Nancy looks behind herself, finding only the two dishes for the dog to be resting there.
"The dog food." He answers finally.
She shrugs. She doesn't know what dog food looks like, not did she know that dogs had a special food just for them.
"What about before that?" Nancy asks, leaning in. At first she was grossed out by the girl, all bone with a blanket of skin, lifeless black hair falling about her face. When she hears she ate dog food, she is disgusted, but now she is just sad for the other teen. How terrible to have nothing to eat, so much that you would eat anything you saw.
"Two da-days ago," she stammers. "Rodent."
Rodent: noun /ˈroʊ.dənt/
any of various small mammals with large, sharp front teeth, such as mice and rats.
Mammal: noun /ˈmæm.əl/
any animal of which the female feeds her young on milk from her own body. Most mammals give birth to live young, not eggs.
Steve feels much the same as his girlfriend. He's horrified at the prospect of a person being so hungry they'd lower themselves to eating dog food. He doesn't know what to think, though. Was she kidnapped? Kept in a cage? Lost in the woods? In any case, he thinks the girl needs fuel. He sends a pointed look to the younger boy.
"Jonathan, can you get-" Nancy starts, but he rushes past them into the kitchen. She doesn't have to finish her sentence for him to realize what she's asking. Filly needs food, especially after the fight. It took a lot out of everyone.
He raids the pantry, returning with bags of chips and jerky. "Here, eat. Filly, I'm so sorry, I-I didn't know."
Filly can't reply, for she has ripped into the first bag he hands her. Her hand is already stuffing the potato crips into her gullet, nearly choking herself with the volume.
When the string lights start to turn on again, its gentler. Not wild like before, the bulbs illuminate at a steady pace. Nancy straightens, Jonathan following her movement. They look at the girl, hesitant to leave her.
Steve waves them off, the strung bulbs lighting up is clearly signifcant to the two. "Go. I'll stay with her." She forgets that Steve is there until he speaks. Ripping open the bag jerky like a woman possessed, she eyes the young man. He had really surprised her by coming back. "Filly, right? So, not Phyllis." The thin girl had forced another handful of the cured meat down her gullet, swallowing thickly.
She nods her head. "I have never heard of a Phyllis before." Steve thinks it's an odd name for the teeen, but she's also an odd girl. "I have never heard of a Phyllis before. You are Steve."
He chuckles, thinking her phrasing strange. "That's my name. Don't wear it out." He leans back against the wall, resting his hands on his knees. The bat is right next to him, just in case.
"I don't think I can wear it anywhere." Filly furrows her brows at him, flummoxed by Steve's words. What a strange yet handsome boy, she thinks.
"Good one," he snickers.
"Good what?" She stuffs more jerky into her mouth, emptying the pouch. She looks forlornly at the flat bag. Should she have saved some, she wonders. It's the tastiest thing she can remember eating.
"Wow. Okay, you're serious." Steve runs a hand through his hair, thinking. Maybe she was kept in a cage or kidnapped. Her growth is stunted, her frame skeletal, and now she doesn't know simple turns of phrase. "It's, it means you shouldn't call someone's name too often."
Filly's never heard such a thing. "Why?"
"Well, uh," Steve begins anew. "Because then people may get tired of being called and they might stop answering you." The girl frowns.
"I'm sorry, Steve."
"Wha- why are you sorry? You didn't do anything to me."
"No, but... this, uh..." Filly doesn't know how to say it, gears turning in her head. She takes a moment, thinking back to her books.
Involve: verb, transitory /ɪnˈvɑːlv/
to include someone in something, or to make them take part in or feel part of it.
"This was not a fun time for you. I'm sorry you got... involved."
He barks out a laugh. "No, it wasn't fun. I'm glad I was here, though. I don't know what would have happened to you guys if I wasn't."
"We would have died." The girl smiles at him from her spot among the junk food. She's uncomfortable and her smile looks pained, but it's real. "Thank you, Steve."
A/N: I was so tempted to write "If her gun go off." Y'all should be thankful I have some self control.
