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021. 𝗺𝗶𝘅𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗱,
𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿.
𝐍𝐎𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀 𝐅𝐄𝐖 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐒. The atmosphere was silent, with the distant growling of the creatures quickly running away and the sound of their feet along the frail leaves of the junkyard. The bus was taken by one last, mighty shake, that left the five of them gripping for anything to keep steady while their minds raced with fear, confusion, horror, and now— the overcoming sensation of relief. All that could be heard was the sounds of the demogorgons scurrying away, the mechanics of the bus clinking and metal scraping, and their heavy, heavy unstable breathing.
Lori’s mind was a fucking cacophony. Her chest was still rising and falling at an unhealthy rate, and her hands were still shaking but kept the lighter in grip. Her heart was aching and her head was pounding tremendously now, even more than before. Now that there wasn’t any banging, any screaming, any hollering, or any growling— she was left with the sound of her pounding head and the beat of her heart that she could hear in her ears. Her breaths were quick and uneasy, and she felt like throwing up, but her tongue and throat were so unbelievably dry that she found it difficult to swallow the liquid in her mouth. Her throat scratched when she swallowed— scraped from all the yelling and the screaming.
She noticed now, now in this standstill moment where everything was cruelly silent, now that she had the chance— she noticed that there was something dripping down her head, a small, thin dripping. Slowly, with her vision slightly fogged, she rose her shaky arm and touched the side of her forehead where she’d scratched it on the metal— when she’d fallen in the driver’s seat. The tip of her finger landed in a small patch of liquid on her forehead, and when she looked at it, even in the dark she could identify its dark red color.
“What—” Lori swallowed, her voice coming out low and coarse, “the— hell— was— that.” each of her words were cut short by a sharp breath. She shut her eyes.
But as soon as she shut her eyes, the image of the monster slid back into view, its bloody teeth right in her face. She saw the flaps of its mouth, closed at first for a few moments, but then opened wide to blow a gust of wind right at her. The rows of teeth— the endless, endless, bloody and spiky teeth that scraped on for miles down the length of it. The blood, the gore, dripping down from the fangs, and the leaking drool from its obscured jaw. And the claws, gripped on the edges of the emergency exit and covered in blood— inching closer and closer to her face, ready to reach in and tear her apart. The scales of its hunched body that ran on down its sticky limbs.
She shot her eyes open at the image of it in her mind, as a chill slithered down her entire spine and sent her fingers cold.
Everyone sort of collectively swallowed the air in their throats and took a few moments to register what the fuck just happened. Even though there was no amount of silence in the world that could allow them to register it fully.
Steve gripped the bat with a tighter hand, and chewed on the inside of his lip— still prudent. His eyes were still pinned on the emergency exit for a few long moments, as if it were going to come back. Lucas and Max unraveled their hands from each other’s. Dustin breathed out unsteadily, his mouth agape.
Dustin adverted his attention to Lori. But she didn’t look up, just kept her gaze pinned in front of her in complete shock. Even though she wasn’t looking, he gave her the tiniest, barely noticeable smile that said ‘thanks’ for saving his ass. But his eyes were still grave, still confused.
Steve turned his head to Lori. She was still holding the back of her head, and keeping her fingers over the gash at the same time. He didn’t notice this at first.
She slowly trailed her eyes up to meet his, as if it would give her any sense of reality. Her vision was blurry, but she could still see him, and he looked at her with a fearful expression. She simply stared, her mouth agape, hand on the back of her head and fingers on her gash— breathing heavily. He nodded, the tiniest nod, and turned away with a heavy breath.
Slowly, he took the first step. Still holding the bat beside his head, he made his way to the front entrance of the bus, where he’d attacked one of the creatures. His steps were slow and careful, eerily silent except for his heavy breathing. He tightened his grip on the bat with every reluctant inch forward, and with every creak the bus made beneath his feet. The three kids inhaled sharply and followed behind him, only a few steps behind. They were huddled close to one another.
Lori felt like her feet couldn’t move, out of fear for what might be waiting outside, and out of fear for what had just happened. Her mind was racing at an uncontrollable speed, trying to decipher everything that happened in the last few minutes, trying to register the absurdity of it. She stood there, staring at the ground and letting the blood from her forehead soak into her fingertips, her eyes fixed on the floor.
When the bus door creaked open, emitting a pop, she darted her eyes towards it. Steve was pulling it open, the kids close behind him. It slowly reeled open by the push of his hand, and his steps thudded on the creaky stairs. Then his sneaker crunched on the dead grass.
Slowly, her head thumping along with her heartbeat, she let her feet take her towards the front of the bus, stopping when she was behind Dustin. They each inched down the stairs, slowly and carefully.
A final growl was heard, and it startled her and everyone else— but it quickly drowned out in the distance, meaning it was completely gone, and they let out relieved breaths.
“What. Happened.” Lucas said, his words slow.
“I don’t know,” Max said, quietly.
Dustin swallowed. “Steve scared em’ off?” he tried.
“No,” Steve answered, confidently. He was down on the grass now, his back turned. “No way.” he slowly turned around, the bat on his shoulder. And then he said, with full certainty, “They’re goin’ somewhere.”
“I don’t feel so good.” Lori felt breathless, like her lungs were shrinking and her stomach was emptying. She closed her eyes for a moment and swallowed.
Dustin turned to look back at her. He was about to say something, but stopped when he noticed the blood on her fingers, that was slowly leaking from her temple and down her cheek. “Lori— you’re bleeding!” he said, urgently.
Lori didn’t and couldn’t think of words to say, as she sat down in the driver’s seat and placed her palms on the sides of her head, her elbows on her knees.
“What?” Steve whipped his attention back to the bus.
Everyone turned to look at her, Lucas and Max stopped on the stairs. Dustin turned around and took a step towards her.
He reached for her temple, but realized that there was blood all over her fingers. “Agh— shit!” he cussed. “Lori, what happened!”
Lori heard the sound of someone urgently climbing up the stairs, and then she opened her eyes to see Steve crouching down in front of her. Lucas and Max stepped out of the bus to make room, sharing an occasional glance.
“Shit— did’you bring like a, like a, first-aid kit, or somethin’?” Steve asked Dustin, glancing up to him.
Lori winced when Steve wrapped his arm around her wrist and slowly took her hand away from her forehead. He inhaled sharply when he caught sight of the small gash over her forehead. It was about as big as a regular paper clip, and not deep enough to require stitches. But she sure was bleeding a whole lot.
“‘Did I bring a first-aid kit?'” Dustin repeated sarcastically, as if the answer was obvious. “Of course I did, Steve,” he said, and quickly stepped past him to walk down the aisle. “Not like we were planning to fight off a god damn demogorgon, or anything!”
“Just pass me a band-aid, okay?” Steve said, with a grimace.
“Fuck,” Lori breathed out, her eyes shutting hard at the sharp pain cascading through her forehead. “Don’t touch it.”
Dustin ruffled through his backpack.
“How’d you get this,” Steve asked, his voice concerned. “Did it touch you? When you were at the ladder— “
“No,” Lori whispered nimbly, and winced harder when he pushed her hair out of her eyes, as if he’d just touched her open wound— except he hadn’t. “Steve, it’s fine. I just hit my head on the window.” she shuddered away.
He stared up at her with narrowed eyebrows, but her eyes were closed. She had stained blood on her cheek and on her forehead.
“You’re bleeding, Lori,” Steve said, as if it would make a difference.
“Yeah— no fuckin’ shit.” she propped her elbow on the steering wheel and placed the other side of her head on her palm, rubbing her temple. Her eyes were still closed. She let out a quiet grunt of pain.
“Here,” Dustin said, and exhaled a sharp breath of air as he neared them. He passed Steve the first-aid kit that he’d brought with him.
Steve placed the kit on his knee and ruffled through it to find a band-aid. He placed the kit on the ground when he found one, and began tearing the packaging.
“It’s just a cut,” she said, when she felt him reach up and hover the band-aid over her forehead for a place to put it. She opened her eyes.
It was a combination of the near-death experience and the fact that half an hour ago, Steve was inches away from kissing her that made her feel so uneasy and pissed off. It made her insides weak when she thought about being on top of the bus, and it made her insides weaker when she thought of the demogorgon growling in her face. She was scared, pissed off, and uncomfortable in every sense.
She reached up for the band-aid and grabbed it, lightly taking it from Steve’s hands. She didn’t really add too much thought to what she was doing— but all she knew, was that if Steve tended to her wounds, she wouldn’t be capable of hating him so much afterwards. So, she did it herself.
“Your fingers are covered in it,” Steve pointed out. He tried not to think about her fierce coldness towards him— because he, too, was feeling extremely uneasy from their almost-kiss and fighting the demogorgons. He didn’t really know why he was trying to help her, tend to her wound, but he told himself that it was a general reaction and that he’d do it for any of the kids if they were hurt too.
“This isn’t,” Lori paused to wince, when the band-aid touched the open gash. She drew in a sharp breath. “The most important thing right now.” her voice was in a whisper.
He wanted to say, “yeah, you’re right”, but he also wanted to say “Just because you’re Lori Philbin doesn’t mean you don’t have to come first”. Because he knew Lori would never put herself first. But he said neither, and pressed his lips together and watched her carefully.
Dustin was standing next to them, noticing the tension that they practically radiated through the roof. He knew they didn’t really like each other before— but now, after all of this, something was different between them.
“Guys, I think we better get going,” Lucas called, lightly, from the bottom of the steps.
Lori reached for the bandages in the first aid kit, her head coming close to Steve’s as she grabbed one. “Yeah.” she mumbled, through slightly closed lips. She wiped the blood off her fingers with a bandage.
“What’s the next move, Steve?” Dustin asked, his hands resting on the bus seats at either side of him.
Steve looked down at his hands, thinking for a moment.
Lori dropped the bandage back into the kit and placed her head in her hands again, her eyes shutting tightly and her chest letting out a stressed sigh.
“We should, uh…” Steve said, folding his hands together. He looked up to Dustin. “We should find Mike and Will— hopefully they’re with Hopper, y’know, that’d be the best option. If not, then… then we have to find him, too. Make a call.”
“Yeah, okay,” Dustin nodded a few times, agreeing, and adjusted the straps of his backpack. “Alright— you okay, Lor?”
“No.” Lori grumbled through her hands.
Dustin swiveled around and made his way to the back of the bus with quick feet.
“Come on,” Steve said to Lori, lightly, as he stood up.
There was a little bit of shuffling before Dustin came back with Lori’s backpack— shoving her notebook in the bag as he neared. “Here,” he passed it to her.
She rose her head, feeling it pound as she did, and grabbed her backpack. She didn’t look up at Steve as she pushed herself to stand, her body aching even though she didn’t undergo any physical constraining. She breathed out heavily as she slid the straps over her shoulders.
Steve and Dustin caught eyes, and they shared the same grave expression, referring to Lori. Dustin gave him a weak smile.
“Alright, let’s get moving,” Steve said a little louder, as he turned away and stepped for the stairs.
“Where to,” Lucas asked, as he adjusted his backpack. Max was beside him, looking around uncomfortably.
Steve stepped down the bus stairs, and told them the plan, as Lori settled her breathing and fixed the bandage on her head. They slowly followed, and Lori didn’t really want to look around at the raw meat anymore, because it reminded her of the monsters. It was dark outside, and quiet. She crossed her arms hard over her chest as they stepped into the fog.
She didn’t want to follow them. She didn’t want to keep going, after all of that. There was no part of her that wanted to see a demogorgon again, every fiber in her body wanted to run away and forget about all of this. So, why was she still walking next to them?
Many minutes passed where no one spoke. Nobody really talked as they made it out of the junkyard, walking under the stars. Steve was holding his bat in his backpack and shining his flashlight, Lori was staring at the ground of train tracks, and Dustin was between them, focusing on his radio. Lucas and Max were trudging along behind them with their flashlights on. They were back to the train tracks.
All of them were thinking about what happened, the enormity of what happened, and the absurdity of what happened. And the fact that it wasn’t over. The fact that worse was probably on its way. They walked together, nobody speaking for a while, on the train tracks that led to the other side of town. They didn’t know where they were heading to, they didn’t have a destination in mind— all they knew was that they had to find Jim Hopper, or Mike and Will. They must know about the demogorgons by now, right?
Dustin grabbed Lori’s elbow, and lightly pulled her to the side of the tracks. “Can we talk for a minute,” he whispered.
Steve turned his head to look at them as they stopped and stepped off the train tracks to the side. He narrowed his eyebrows.
“Just— one sec,” Dustin told them, to settle their curious faces. He put a finger up.
Steve looked to Lucas and Max, and jerked his head to the side— motioning them to keep walking with him.
“What it is, Hagar,” Lori said, her voice monotone as she stared at the ground.
The two of them began walking slowly, a considerable amount of distance separating them from Steve, Max and Lucas.
“I kinda feel bad if I don’t say, like, thank you— or whatever,” Dustin said, looking at his feet. “You kinda saved my ass back there, y’know.”
“Yeah, I know,” Lori said with a sigh, her head jerking lightly to the side.
“So, thanks, I guess.” Dustin concluded, looking over at her with a small smile. “You care about me more than I thought you did.”
“Well, if you’re not alive, then who’s my familial exemption for my grounding,” she said.
“That’s not why, Lor.” he said.
She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it when she let that sink in. She chewed on the inside of her lip.
“Yeah.” she breathed out after a moment, and looked up to the trees.
He nodded, his lips in a tiny smile. She turned to look at her cousin. And even though her heart was still beating through her chest and her stomach was still turning— she rose her hand and lightly pushed the back of his head forward, so that he stumbled a bit on his feet. Even though things were grave, he still managed to chuckle, even if it was just a little bit, barely even audible. Lori’s lip twitched, but that was it.
The sticks crackled beneath their feet as they caught up to the group, smoothing their way back into their spots. Except this time, Dustin wasn’t separating the two older teenagers. Steve glanced to Lori when they arrived back, but she was looking away.
“So— you’re positive that was Dart?” Lucas started, sparking new conversation. His voice was skeptical, like he still didn’t believe after all that.
“Oh, here we go,” Lori mumbled, under her breath. Of course they couldn’t go a mile without talking about it, they were going to have to talk about it eventually— she knew that. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t allowed to hitch her breath at every mention of a demogorgon.
Steve nudged his elbow to her upper arm. She rolled her eyes, but he couldn’t see.
“Yes.” Dustin said, with a sigh. “He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt.”
“We— okay, he was tiny two days ago,” Max commented from behind them, her eyes squinting.
“Well he’s molted three times already.” Dustin explained, his voice monotone.
“Mm… Malted?” Steve narrowed his eyebrows.
“Molted.” Dustin corrected. “Shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms.” he said, with a glance to them.
“Hornworms?” Lori spat.
“Well, when’s he gonna molt again?” Max asked, urgently. She was leaning into the back of them.
“It’s gotta be soon,” Dustin suggested. “And when he does, he’ll be fully grown or close to it.” he paused, and then said, “And so will his friends.”
“Yeah, and he’s gonna eat a lot more than just cats.” Steve interjected, sounding annoyed.
Lori’s heart skipped a beat at the mention of Mews, and instantly, the image slid into her mind— the image of when she’d opened Dustin’s room and seen Dart devouring the poor animal. It was crazy to think about that now, because only a day ago it was the scariest thing on her mind. Now there was much worse.
“Wait.” Lucas immediately placed his hand on Dustin and stopped his walking. “A cat?”
Dustin’s face struck with a shocked expression. They all stopped walking.
“Dart ate a cat.” Lucas said, slowly growing outraged.
As Dustin tried to deny, Lori stopped beside Steve, the sleeve of her jacket touching his. Even if she was unsettled and “mad” at him, she couldn’t deny that standing close beside him felt safer than standing multiple steps away like she arguable wanted to.
Dustin tried to deny the accusation.
“What are you talking about,” Steve flickered his attention to the boys. “He ate Mews. Lori saw—” he motioned to her, “That’s how she got involved in all thi—”
Lori nudged Steve’s side.
“Mews? Who’s Mews,” Max asked.
Lori was rubbing her temples with her eyes shut. “Dustin’s cat,” she said, with a certain distaste. “And yeah, it’s true.” her voice came out bitter.
“Steve! Lori!” Dustin exclaimed.
“I knew it!” Lucas shoved Dustin’s shoulder. “You kept him!”
As Dustin tried to deny it again, Lori turned to Steve. She let out a breath and lowered her voice to where only he could hear. It wouldn’t leave her mind.
“When he said fully grown, he means like…” Lori turned her head to look up at him. “Like when you fought one last year— that big?” she said, softly. “Bigger than us?”
He looked down, and found her eyes in the dark. Her scared eyes that he could tell were trying to put up a front, to look tough. Slowly, he nodded.
She looked down, a barely audible “oh my god” falling past her lips.
“Guys, who cares— we have to go,” Max interjected the boys’ growing argument.
“I care! You put the party in jeopardy— you broke the rule of law!” Lucas shouted. “Twice!”
“So did you!” Dustin shouted back, equally as angry. “You told a stranger the truth!” he shined his light at Max.
She scoffed and edged towards them.
“So did you, Dustin!” Lucas hollered. “I can’t believe you used that argument against me! Did you forget that your cousin is standing right there?!”
“We had no choice but to tell her!” Dustin screamed, “With the way she found out it was practically impossible to not—”
Lucas stepped forward and pushed his shoulder again, cutting him off with more yelling.
Lori’s attention was grabbed. “Okay— any more yelling and you’re gonna draw those things right back to us!” she said, seriously and loudly. Everybody stopped, not a breath was heard. “Stop yelling and— argue with the fuckin’ walls in your head, alright! Shut the hell up!”
They were sort of taken aback by that, and paused for a moment. Steve blinked at her.
“God.” Lori spat, and turned away. “You pieces of shit are gonna get us killed.”
When she took a few steps off the track to look into the distance— there was a clearing in the trees that overlooked Hawkins— she heard talking, but their voices just a little bit lower. Way lower, because all of them were afraid of Lori Philbin — if they hadn’t been before, they were now.
And then they were arguing about something like being even— Dustin not even being remotely close to even— there was a loud howl in the distance. A familiar howl. That sent Lori’s eyes wide.
“Steve,” She said slowly, without looking back. Her voice was calmer now.
He already noticed what she did, and was slowly stepping away from the group.
“Steve!” she said, more urgently this time, and turned around to see him approaching. “Do you hear that?” she said, more quietly.
He stopped beside her, his arm just grazing the back of her own. She looked up at the side of his face, expression tense, and then looked back to where the roaring came from.
“Guys.” Steve said, after a small evaluation of the screeching. When their bickering didn’t stop, he said it louder, “Guys!”
It caught their attention right away. They all shared the same expression, and when screeching roared in the distance again, their faces immediately went to panic.
Lori looked up to Steve, he looked down at her. She swallowed hard and he nodded, right before all of them hopped on their feet into a jog down the trees.
𝙅𝙐𝙇𝙄
tensions have risen, amiright?
i love my internally conflicting emotion-filled teenagers who’ve just realized they want to kiss each other so very badly 😍
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