𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖆𝖑 || 𝘀. 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

S2E6: The Spy

"Here we stand or here we fall
History won't care at all
Make the bed light the light
Lady mercy won't be home tonight yeah"

Hammer to Fall softly plays on the radio as Steve drives us back to Dustin's house. Dustin explains everything to the very clueless Steve about what's going on, with me occasionally chiming in to further dumb things down to his level.

"Wait a sec. How big?" Steve asks, referring to the size of Dart. The size of the monster was the one part of the story I thought he would understand. I was wrong.

"First it was like that." Dustin holds his hands only a few inches apart. "Now he's like this." He widens his hands to about two feet apart.

"I swear to God, man, it's just some little lizard, okay?"

"It's not a lizard!" I say. "We've already been through this."

"How do you know it's not just a lizard?" He asks.

"How do I know he's not just a lizard?" Dustin asks. "Because his face opened up and he ate my cat."

Steve shuts up after that and uncomfortable silence falls between us all as the information slowly seeps through Steve's thick skull. Sometimes he'll understand things quickly, but other times... he won't.

"We're just waiting
for the hammer to fall
While you're waiting
for the hammer to fall."

He parks in Dustin's driveway and we get out, walking around to the trunk of the car to get some supplies out consisting of Steve's bat, my knives and a flashlight.

Once again we're finding ourselves fighting an interdimensional monster, severely under weaponed... I'm starting to see a pattern here.

Dustin shows us to the basement containing what he has now informed me is a baby Demogorgon. Steve shines his flashlight on the closed red doors that are locked together with a chain and padlock. We listen carefully for a moment for Dart, but all we hear are owls and crickets in the woods.

"I don't hear shit," Steve says.

"He's in there," Dustin insists.

Steve taps the metal doors with his bat, then waits for a response from the monster within. Nothing happens. He bangs his bat on the doors again, but still, not a sound. "All right, listen, kid." He shines the beam of his flashlight in Dustin's face, making Dustin's face scrunch up from the blinding light. "I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank, you're both dead." He shines the light in my face to further get his point across.

"It's not."

"All right?" He asks, shining the light back and forth in our faces.

"It's not a prank," Dustin says. "Get it out of my face."

I push Steve's arm with the light down, getting it out of Dustin's face.

"You got a key for this thing?" He nods his head towards the basement.

Dustin pulls the key from his pocket and unlocks the padlock, pulling the chain off. He steps back, allowing Steve to be the one to open the doors.

Steve kneels down on a knee, looking down into the pitch black cellar, still holding his bat in one hand. "Let me see that." He takes the light from Dustin and shines it inside.

I watch over Steve's shoulder as the light roves over the walls and floors below. No baby Demogorgon is down there. At least not in the part of the room we can see.

"He must be further down there. I'll stay up here in case he tries to... escape," Dustin heroically volunteers.

I pat Steve on the shoulder and step back. "I'll leave the heroing shit up to you, Harrington."