*ABANDONED* A Shot in the Dark - Steddie

one - dont waste your breath.

Eddie grabbed a lighter from the pocket of his black jean jacket, covered in stickers. He also took what seemed like a joint from his back pant pocket, and lit it. He and Steve were sitting in Steve's car, waiting for the group to finish a task they assigned themselves. "Don't smoke weed in my car," Steve mumbled, rolling his eyes. "Or what? You're gonna fight me?" Eddie joked, smirking smugly. "Roll down a window at least." He said, leaning into his hand, which was placed on the armrest. Eddie offered Steve the joint, handing it over and waving it in front of his face. Steve shook his head, pushing it away, brushing past Eddie's hand. "Oh come on, you're not even gonna try?" He groaned, making a pouty face. "We could die right here right now, theres no way I'm going out with weed in my system." Steve replied, his tone still serious. "I'll protect youu," Eddie laughed, smiling brightly. Steve looked over at Eddie and tried to hide the smile in his face by rolling his eyes, as he covered his face with the hand on the armrest, looking out the window and at the multiple story office building, wondering where the others were located. The whole building was overgrown, contaminated, taken over by monsters of Hawkins. Steve focused back to what was happening in the car, and turned the volume of the music up by one. "You know you want to." Eddie said, convincingly, grinning and nodding his head, passing the joint over once again. Eddie had to hold his hand with the joint up in front of Steve for a hot minute, before Steve sighed, rolled his eyes and with hesitation, took it. Eddie mimicked a standing ovation by whispering "Yes!! Steve Harrington is doing it!", and making a fake applause with his hands clapping his thighs. "It's not like I haven't but it's not like I.. have." He said, finding it difficult searching for the right words. "And what do you mean by that?" Eddie asked, raising his eyebrows and shaking his head. "I've smoked. Just not weed." Steve replied, still not meeting Eddie's eyes. He leaned his head back and exhaled a cloud of smoke up above him and onto the car roof, watching it spread apart like a mushroom. "You're surprisingly immune for the beginners smoke." Eddie laughed, shrugging and smiling downwards. Steve looked over to him and tilted his head, with a smug smirk on his face saying "I told you so". Their eyes locked in eye contact as both Steve and Eddie broke it off awkwardly. Steve stared in front of him, through the window. "It's been way too long. I'm going in." Steve stated, climbing out of the car and grabbing his bat from the backseat. "Ste- Steve. No. We were assigned here- Steve, get back in here- ugh." Eddie argued, as Steve ignored him and kept walking. Eddie stood and contemplated for a minute, then switched the car engine off and walked into the abyss of the office building with the other boy.

He caught up by jogging, loading his gun. "We should've stayed." Eddie mumbled, turning the safety on. "Calm down, Ed. If they're in trouble we're their only hope." Steve explained, staring straight ahead. "Ed? A nickname for a nickname?" He chuckled, grinning. Steve whispered an apology as Ed smiled even harder. "It's cool. I like it. No one called me Edward anyway, it's formal as shit," He rambled on, as he got interrupted by Steve stopping him in his tracks with his arm, shushing him. "Do you hear that?" You could hear the distant screech of an Achroid. An Achroid was an undead human, which couldn't see but navigated itself through noise and was incredibly swift and quick with their movements, and became furious with loud noises and distractions. Their main purpose is for killing. "Son of a bitch." Steve whispered under his breath, crouching down and moving quietly, moving quick but in a noiseless manner, as Eddie followed clumsily. They trailed into a room filled with electrical equipment, the colourful blinking lights emitting a colourful glow in greens, purples and reds. Steve let Eddie enter first, before standing up and locking the door. The blinking lights illuminated their cheeks, as Steve bit his lip searching through the cabinets and shelves for weapons. "What was that?" Eddie asked, leaning toward Steve. "An Achroid. It moves with sound, and guns don't really work with high numbers." He began, grunting while tugging on a cabinet to unlock it. "Melee weapons work best, like my bat. You need stealth for them." His voice was low, as he took his gun out from his pants and set it on the desk carefully, trying not to disturb the monsters roaming the office. Eddie nodded with a puzzled face, but pretended to understand what was happening. "Hopper would've been good at this." He mumbled, swallowing harshly. "Hopper?" Eddie questioned, leaning in further, almost at Steve's face once he stood up straight. They were around the same height. "Old police captain. He knew about everything, the upside-down, he actually believed. He would be useful right now." Steve explained, biting the insides of his cheeks. "What happened?" "I.. don't fully know. Is he dead, gone, I don't know. If we had some sort of contact with Will again, then maybe-" Steve ranted, a rise in his voice, being cut off by footsteps.

Those weren't normal footsteps. That someone's feet squelched as they hit the ground, leaving a trail of goo. "Shit." Steve cursed, and grabbed his bat then slipped under a desk, Eddie following. "It's kind of cramped in here." He complained, brushing against Steve's shoulder with his, as Steve glared at him, and widened his eyes. "Oh! Sorry." He mouthed, miming himself zipping and locking his mouth. Steve focused on the creature outside, as its footsteps descended, as he got the perfect idea. "Wait here." He whispered, climbing out. He held onto his bat as Eddie gave him an uneasy look, and gulped. Steve nodded, and unlocked the door with a click. He stepped out, as the Achroid turned around. It growled at a low volume, as Steve braced himself. "Hive-mind." He mouthed to himself, making small bounces. He kills one, the others are hurt, come running at him and he takes on them all. Spotless plan.
The Achroid slowly got closer, a squish after every step it took, its head twitching around. Steve exhaled, and swung. He grunted as blood came gushing out of the screeching monster's neck, as he hit it over and over again. The neck was the Achroid's lethal hit. One shot to the neck and thats them done. Running could be heard, 2, maybe 3 Achroids were running right at him. Steve closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply, finding his inner anger before swinging the bat at an Achroid again. Eddie watched from under the desk, chewing on his nails as the fight unfolded. Steve hit one in the neck as another came at him from behind, clawing at the left of his back. He grunted and bit back a yell, turning around with the bat and swinging it right at the Achroid's face, as it fell to the ground dramatically, with a splash of its own goo. He hit it once more as he stood up straight, rooted to the spot. There was one right behind him. He felt its hot breath on his neck. He breathed shakily as he lost blood through the wound in his back, rolling his eyes back in hope that the monster wouldn't hear him and just walk away, but to his surprise - Eddie shot it. Eddie shot the last of them with the gun Steve left on the desk. Steve quickly turned his head to look at Eddie, who was still holding the gun in the stance. Over the gun, he noticed Steve looking at him, as he set the gun down on the floor and climbed out of underneath the desk and jogging over to Steve. He looked around and at the dead monsters circling round them, and raised his eyebrows. "You sure thats all of them?" He asked, still staring at the Achroids. "Y-yeah." Steve said, breathless, as he grabbed for the injury just above his hips. Eddie looked up at Steve who was looking at the blood running to his hands, and then looked down at his hips. "Shit, you're hurt." He stated, as Steve inhaled sharply. "Yeah no shit-" He said, panting, and almost collapsing, as Eddie grabbed for him at the shoulder. "Let's put you in the car for now, I'll go get the others." Eddie said, in a comforting, low voice. "Okay." Steve whispered, as Eddie smiled softly. "Don't waste your breath."

Eddie ran downstairs into the basement, hitting the flashlight on against the palm of his hand. "Robin? Nancy?" He called, getting to the bottom. "Max?" "In here!" They shouted back, as Eddie ran over. They locked themselves in a broom cupboard as soon as Robin pointed out the noises. Max sighed of relief as they all clamoured out of the tiny closet, taking deep breaths. "Are they all dead?" Nancy asked, catching her breath. "Yeah, me and Steve took care of them." Eddie replied, with a grin in his eyes. "On the topic of Steve, where is he?" Robin asked, still perturbed. "In the car." "Doing?" "Currently.. probably bleeding out. We should get him to a hospital." "Why didn't you start with that?" Both Max and Nancy yelled, as Robin gave him a face of both worry and disgust as they ran past him and up the stairs.

- wc: 1619 words