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020. 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘂.
𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐈𝐓.
It was a shriek so loud and so gut-wrenching that she immediately dropped her pen and let it fall somewhere on floor, and shut her notebook so hard that a gust of wind blasted in her face. Her heart immediately jumped into a crazed race at the sudden and abrupt sound, instantly beginning to pound against her rib-cage in such a ferocious manner that it made her throat close up within a millisecond. It was a growl that nobody should ever hear, a growl so untamed and rapacious that she could only imagine hearing in a sci-fi movie— except this was real life. She wasn’t dreaming, she wasn’t imagining any of it, it was all real. And it was close.
She sat up straight where she was sitting, her eyes wide and struck with a look of horror. Her shoulders tensed, and she darted her eyes to the bus window, in the direction of where the howl came from. Steve and Dustin looked at each other wearily and wasted no time in reaching for the metal piece that covered the glass.
Then she darted her eyes to Steve, even though she didn’t want to look at him— but that didn’t matter anymore. It didn’t matter that only minutes ago they were on the roof of the bus, slowly leaning in. Her eyes burned into his with the same fearful expression, that said the words “it’s happening”.
She pushed herself off of the disheveled seat and had never moved her feet so fast. Quickly, she ran to the boys, stepping on her tippy-toes to see over both of their heads, in order to look out the window. She didn’t care that she was pressed up against Steve’s backside, or that his arm was pressed along the entirety of her stomach.
“Where is it?” She asked, her voice shaking.
She skimmed her eyes along the fog and the grass and the line of trees down in the distance. There was nothing but mist.
“You see him?” Dustin asked, without taking his eyes away from the window.
“No.” Steve answered with the tiniest shake of his head.
“Lucas!” Dustin turned his head and pulled away from the window just a little bit, calling up into the emergency exit. “What’s goin’ on!” he asked, through bared teeth.
Lori squeezed in closer to the grid window, her hand on Steve’s shoulder to keep herself up. She breathed out unsteadily, and kept trailing her eyes around the junkyard. Dustin squeezed in beside her.
“Hold on!” Lucas yelled, from the top of the bus.
Steve turned his head, looking at Lori who was only inches away from him, face struck with fear. She didn’t even bat an eye, she just stared out into the fog, alert.
After a few painful seconds, Lucas hollered words that none of them wanted to hear. “I’ve got eyes!” he shouted. “Ten o’clock! Ten— ten o’clock!” his voice cracked.
Steve’s arm nudged both of them on the way up, and he pointed his finger. “There.” he said, his voice higher-pitched.
Lori’s breath hitched dramatically when she caught sight of the demogorgon, hunched over in the mist near the old shed. Her heart palpitated.
“What’s he doing?” Dustin asked, urgently.
“I don’t know,” Steve answered, his tone breathless.
Chittering sounds erupted from outside the bus— low, mumbling growls.
“What’s he waiting for,” Lori said, her voice also breathless.
Steve let out a shaky breath, and she’d never heard him sound so nervous. “He’s not takin’ the bait,” he glanced to Dustin, panicked. “Why’s he not takin’ the bait?”
His breaths were loud, and so were Lori’s. Her hand tightened on his shoulder.
“Maybe he’s not hungry?” Dustin whispered.
Steve tilted his head to the side and slid his tongue over his bottom lip. “Maybe he’s sick of cow.”
And then, as if something occurred to him, he backed up. He shuffled backwards, her hand fell from his shoulder, and he stood up straight beside the ladder.
Dustin and Lori both looked away from the window to Steve. Dustin noticed the look on his face— it was the same look Lori had before she kicked open the shed and swung Dart into the cellar. He knew what that meant.
Lori stared at his face in the dark, noticing the way his eyebrows narrowed and his eyes tensed with deep thought.
She realized what he was doing. “Steve—”
But he turned away, and headed for the front of the bus, his feet moving quick.
Lori looked to her cousin, and they shared the same weary expression.
“Steve?” Dustin pulled away from the window, his face struck with shock. “Steve, what are you doing?” he said, quickly.
Steve reached down for his bat lying on the ground, and shoved a hand into his pocket.
“What the hell are you doing!” Lori said, her voice coming out coarse as she trailed her eyes from the bat to his hand, up to his head. She stood up straight.
He stopped, underneath the emergency exit and in the perfect slot of moonlight that only enlightened the most prominent features of his face.
“Steve,” Dustin asked again.
He turned around, bat in hand, his lighter in the other. He rose it in Dustin’s direction.
Then his voice came out hoarse, low, and serious. “Just get ready.” he tossed the lighter at him.
Dustin caught it, his mouth agape and unable to close. Lori’s eyes widened enormously.
“You’re going out there!?” She said, her voice rising.
But he was already turning away, heading for their barricaded door.
“You can’t seriously be going out there!” she said, outraged. Her feet were quick, following after him. “This wasn’t apart of the plan! Steve, this wasn’t the plan!”
She stopped at the front of the bus, just a few steps away from the door. Dustin quickly came after her, his hand wrapping around the side of her arm to keep her from going any further.
She was trying to repeat to herself that he’d done it before, he’d fought one of these things before, and that he could do it again. But as he pulled open the metal piece guarding the accordion door, his breath heavy and shaky, she suddenly felt like it wasn’t as simple as that. And it struck like a match in her stomach, when she thought of his idea not going right, that being a hero was going to bite him in the ass, that maybe the monster was going to charge at him and open its bloody mouth and—
“Holy shit,” Lori mumbled to herself, as his head disappeared at the entrance.
Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest as the creaking of the door sounded throughout the silence. It peeled open, slowly and painfully, and Lori couldn’t watch it for a second longer when she heard his foot crunch on the grass below.
Steve was walking slow, his steps careful and prudent— the bat ready at his side, held in double grip. His shoulders were tensed, and his knees were bent slightly as he moved.
Lori rushed to the window, peeled back the metal, and pressed herself to the grate. She stared at the back of his head, as he walked slowly— with prudence, but also with confidence, she noticed. He swirled the bat in his hand a few careful times.
The growling didn’t stop, and every time it growled, Lori’s heart began to pound faster. It was hidden somewhere by the shed, covered in mist.
“Steve Harrington, you are the stupidest person I have ever met in my entire life.” Lori whispered, as Dustin neared her side. Her voice was shakier than intended.
A few more steps further, a few more accelerations in heart-beating and Steve whistled. As if intended to bring forward a dog.
“Come on buddy,” they could hear him say, his voice remaining leveled but with a slight tremor.
He whistled again.
“Shit,” Dustin whispered, his head next to Lori’s at the window.
Steve swung the bat back and forth in front of his legs, as if he was taunting it.
Lori swallowed, and her throat felt dry. “Those things,” she said, wincing at the coarseness of her throat. “…they eat humans, right?” she asked, her voice quivery.
Dustin swallowed, and nodded slowly.
The ladder creaked behind them, and steps were heard. “What’s he doing!” Max asked, urgently.
“Expanding the menu,” Dustin immediately replied, his eyes slowly growing wide.
Lori swallowed again, when Steve reached the clearing in the middle— where they’d dumped all the remaining meat. He swung the bat.
“Come on, buddy,” Steve said again, this time more lightly. “Come on buddy, come on,” he said. “Dinner time.”
He rubbed his sneaker in the dirt, as if getting ready to charge.
“Human tastes better than cat, I promise,” he said.
“What’s he saying?” Max asked.
Lori shook her head, “He’s too far now.” she said, realizing this.
Max shook her head in disbelief. “He’s insane.”
Dustin’s lips drew up in a smile. “He’s awesome.”
He’s absolutely batshit crazy, Lori wanted to say, but she couldn’t take her eyes or her ears away from Steve.
Steve strengthened the grip on the bat, and then let it swing provokingly again.
And then, to all of their horror, Dart finally came out of the fog. His body was in full view— and Lori’s knees went weak— and Steve suddenly stopped swinging as he stared. There was a second where he shifted on his feet and held the bat up, ready.
And just as things got intense with the view of Dart, a thud came from somewhere outside and Lucas hollered from up above.
“Steve! Watch out!” he screeched, with urgency.
“A little busy here!” Steve yelled back, his focus still pinned.
“Three o’clock! Three o’clock!” Lucas cried out.
Lori shot her head in the direction, and to her great horror, there it was. The unthinkable. What they said was impossible. Another demogorgon— on top of an old car, and another one, on the grass. All bearing their teeth at Steve in the middle of the junkyard.
“Oh my god,” Lori’s words came out with shock, something more than shock. “Oh— my god!” she placed her hands on the window and pushed herself up.
Steve whipped his head around, noticing the approaching threats.
“Steve!” Dustin cried, and pushed past everything on his way to the door. He kicked it open, and on his knees he shouted, “Steve! Abort! Abort!”
Lori looked for a second longer, as Steve scanned his surroundings in a panic, at all the approaching demogorgons. There was fear stricken on his face, and he grabbed the bat harder, seeming unable to decide what to do. She rushed over to the door, standing behind Dustin.
And then, like a shot ringing through the air, Dart lunged for him. Steve bounded out of the way, rolling over an old car and landing on the other side. Quickly, he swung the bat and it collided with one of them, sending it flying somewhere else in a series of growls and squelches.
“I can’t watch this—” Lori felt like her chest was giving out on her. She tried to close her eyes, but somehow they couldn’t close, and she was stuck standing there, watching as Steve fought against these monsters— feeling her breathing stop at the idea of him not winning. Feeling entirely helpless.
And then Max and Lucas were at her sides, yelling and screaming his name relentlessly.
“STEVE, RUN!” Lucas yelled, over and over again.
“COME ON!” Max’s voice was high-pitched, “HURRY— HURRY!”
“Run! Go! Run!” Dustin yelled, waving his arm uncontrollably. “STEVE RUN!”
And Steve finally turned around, and he was quicker than ever— running in their direction. They yelled and screamed and shouted for him, and the volume of all their voices against the growls was deafening and frightening.
He threw himself into the bus, landing on his side on the hard floor, and knocking Dustin and Lori over into the driver’s seat. She lost her balance immediately from the impact, her feet came out from beneath her, and she was suddenly flying backwards into the seat— her head hitting against the driver’s window in a hard thud and the side of her forehead scraping on one of the metal pieces covering the window. It sent a shock right down her head to her neck, and all of a sudden, she remembered passing out.
Because the impact on her head now was the same as it was when she hit the ground in front of the cellar. And now she knew— she remembered being so scared in the shed, kicking the door down and swinging the baseball bat. She remembered hitting Dart right into the cellar now. She remembered how scared she was, how scared and helpless Dustin was, and she remembered the sudden need to protect both of them in a heartbeat.
She groaned loudly, but nobody heard or saw her hitting her head on the window. All of them clamored in the entrance of the bus, trying to catch themselves and their breath in a crazed hurry.
Steve collided with the floor, and immediately kicked his leg against the bus door, his arms reaching out in every direction to keep steady. Max and Lucas were shoved into the first seat of the bus, and Dustin was on Lori’s foot, his hand gripped on one of the mechanisms.
“SHIT!” Dustin cried, literally, it sounded like he was crying, his mouth open and face struck with agony.
There wasn’t nearly a second before the monsters bounded against the door, hitting their slimy bodies against it. The bus shook. Violently.
Steve kicked the door to keep it closed, repeatedly.
“Are they rabid or something!?” Max yelled, over the growls.
The growling and squelching never stopped— and it was loud, disturbingly, excruciatingly loud. The monsters struck the door of the bus, the sides of it, and made it shake. Really shake.
In a rush, Steve turned his shoulders and reached for one of the steel pieces, grabbed it, and threw it in front of the door. Holding onto the dashboard and one of the seats, he pushed his feet against the door to keep it barricaded.
“They can’t get in! They can’t!” Lucas screeched.
Lori placed her hand on the back of her head, holding it as it began to throb.
They growled outside.
With another strike, the bus shook violently. Everyone erupted in screams, Lori’s throat hurt from yelling, and her chest stung from heaving. Her heart was battering against her rib-cage, harder than it had ever done before, pounding in her ears. She had never been this terrified in all her life.
There was only a moment, only a brief moment, where nothing shook. But that moment ended when an arm, a slimy, creature’s arm cut through the door and the steel, with an ear-wrenching growl. She tried not to look at it, her eyes shutting tightly as her face scrunched in fear.
“OH MY FUCKING GOD!” Lori screamed at the top of her lungs, but it blended in with all of the other screaming. “GET UP, DUSTIN! GET UP! GET UP!”
Her head was pounding, her chest was aching with fear, and her hands were shaking uncontrollably. Everyone screamed, everyone yelled. She kicked her leg, making Dustin stand up.
Steve grunted, yelling at the top of his lungs as he grabbed the bat tighter, and began swinging it at the arm with such a brute amount of force. The creature gurgled in pain, and squashing sounds emitted from all around. It growled and hollered, striking against the door again.
“SHIT! SHIT!” Dustin hollered, as he stood up and began running.
Lori kept her eyes on Steve, as he swung repeatedly at the decaying arm, her face horrified and body almost unable to move. But she got up anyways, trying to decide in a crazed frenzy if she should stay and help Steve, if she should protect the kids— who were running to the back of the bus— or if she should duck down behind a seat and cry in fear.
She took option two, mixed with option three. Her feet were hard on the bus floor, running all the way to the back of the bus with the kids in front of her— all screaming relentlessly.
“STEVE!” Lori called, her voice cracking in the middle. She whipped her head around and saw him at the door, swinging with all his might. The squelching didn’t stop, meaning that he was getting direct hits.
Max and Lucas huddled behind a disheveled seat, screaming every time the bus shook. Dustin was scrambling for his walkie-talkie and threw himself onto a seat. Lori ducked down beside them, staring at the floor and wondering if they were really going to die.
“Is anyone there!? Mike? Will?” he yelled into the microphone. “GOD— ANYONE?!”
As soon as he finished yelling, claws suddenly ripped through the wall of the bus— scraping through the barricaded steel right in between Lucas and Dustin. A growl hollered from outside.
“SHIT!” Dustin screeched, and scrambled away on the floor in horror.
“Get away from the wall!” Lori hollered, her hand wrapping around Max’s arm and tugging her away. She reached for Lucas next, but he was already bounding out of the way. “HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT!”
She was standing in the middle of the bus, her hands raking through her hair with stress she’d never exhibited before. Her chest was heaving uncontrollably, and her eyes darted in every direction— not sure if she wanted to look at the claws scraping away at the steel on the side, or Steve in the front of the bus, or the constant strikes against the vehicle that shook them relentlessly.
“We’re at the old junkyard, and we are going to DIE!” Dustin screamed into the mic.
Lori felt like she couldn’t walk. Like she couldn’t even move. Her head ached, it even had a painful heartbeat. Her hands could not stop shaking.
The door clattered, and the growling suddenly stopped from that end of the bus, where Steve was.
Lori shot her head towards him, feeling her chest rip when he bounded back from the door, letting out a loud, pained grunt. For a second, she thought he’d gotten hurt. That he’d gotten scratched, bitten, or hit. And for a second, she felt her heart drop to her stomach.
“STEVE!” she called again. This time louder.
Somehow, even though she felt like she couldn’t walk, something took her feet in his direction. She rushed over to him, her eyes wide with panic.
She knelt down beside him. “Are you okay?” she asked, frantically. It was only when she crouched down that she could see in the dark that he wasn’t hurt, wasn’t scratched, was not bitten.
Before she could do anything else, let out… a breath of relief? She noticed Dustin out of the corner of her eye, stepping up the ladder. Trying to get a better lookout on where the monsters were, if there were more coming.
And then there was a thud on top of the bus, that caused everything to go quiet. Lori looked up at the roof.
And then another thud.
And then Lori looked to Dustin, who was climbing up the ladder like a fucking idiot— she was realizing it with great dismay and great panic.
Then something came over her. She didn’t know it yet, obviously didn’t have time to think about it— but it was the same thing that came over her when they were in the shed. Dustin was in danger, and even though he’d stupidly, willingly put himself in it, he was still in danger. The demogorgon was on the roof. It was approaching. Slowly. And it came over her, that same, unfamiliar urge to help, because her little cousin was in danger.
Another thud.
Her feet moved again, this feeling completely consuming every part of her body and mind— this time moving as quickly as they could possibly could. Taking her in the direction of the ladder, where he was climbing, but not quite reaching the top just yet.
Another thud.
And just as the monster neared the emergency exit, its face appearing over the hole, Lori’s arms wrapped around Dustin’s body and roughly yanked him away.
She didn’t care where he landed, if he landed at all. Before she let go of him, she reached a hand into his sweater pocket and grabbed the lighter— in some sort of crazy rush that only lets you multitask when in great panic. She let go of him, and he stumbled to the floor with a grunt.
And then it was just Lori, the ladder, and the emergency exit.
Slowly, with her body aching in fear, she tilted her neck back an inch at a time, in immense hesitancy. Her eyes trailed from the steps of the ladder, inch by inch, in reluctant and painful silence.
The claws.
Then the slimy hands.
The scaly torso.
And then finally— the separated bloody mouth that she’d seen in Dustin’s room.
Her mouth was agape, and even though her body was in complete shock, she managed to flick the lighter open, produce the flame, all at her side while keeping her eyes pinned on the monster. There were no words to explain how fast her chest was rising and falling.
And just as it opened its mouth, ready to flare its bloody and drool-covered teeth, she extended her arm and brought forth the flame.
“TAKE THIS YOU PIECE OF SHIT!” she yelled, her voice cracking. She swung her arm out, letting go of the lighter.
It’s hand erupted in flames, burning as it roared and screeched in pain. But the screeching stopped after a few moments.
And then the flames went out.
It paused, only for a moment, looking down at its hand.
And then it opened its mouth and let out its ear-wrenching scream, its endless rows of spiked teeth opened wide right in her face and blew a gust of wind through her hair.
Lori screamed at the top of her lungs and shut her eyes.
So much for being a hero. At least, recognized by the kids and by Steve, she’d saved Dustin. At least she did something.
In her mind, she braced herself for the impact, thinking that is was about to jump in, swallow her whole and kill her right there. Her eyes were shut as tight as she could and her lungs heaved in a gut-wrenching scream, coming all the way from the bottom of her stomach. So loud it could’ve broken the glass windows.
But before it could do anything else, two arms wrapped all the way around her stomach and yanked her to the side.
“Out of the way— OUT OF THE WAY!” Steve roared, his hands gripped tightly around Lori’s waist.
When he let go, her eyes shot open and she wasn’t under the emergency exit anymore. She was at the side, away from it, in a clear zone. But then she looked to Steve— who took her spot.
“You want some? Come get this!” he yelled with a mix of anger, fear, and power. His teeth gritted and the bat was held up right beside his head. The monster roared through his words.
And they all watched, with complete and utter horror, as the mouth opened again in another screech. This time threateningly, the flaps of its mouth wide open and ready to jump right in and tear all of them apart.
Lori reached for the back of her head, that was back to throbbing— now that her crazed rush of urgent protection was embarrassingly over. She ran her hands through her hair, her heart racing at the thought of the demogorgon jumping in and tearing Steve to pieces. It was seconds from happening.
But then, it looked away.
The demogorgon looked to the side, and let out a road— not aimed to them at all. Aimed at something in the distance. Suddenly, they were swept up in growls from every angle outside the bus.
And then it hopped off the roof, out of sight, and shook them with it.
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