𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍 [𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚝𝚘𝚗]

XVI

┓

run

┗

𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 3𝚛𝚍 1984
𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚜
𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐

"what's he doing?" lucas asks, "expanding the menu" valentine replies, gripping on her bat, adrenaline being released.

"human tastes better than cat, i promise" steve says "he's insane" max says, "he's awesome" dustin grins, "steve, watch out!" valentine says, seeing another monster crawling over to him, "a little busy here!!" he shouts back.

valentine couldn't tell if it was the adrenaline running or the protective side she feels towards steve but before she could've processed it, she was out of the doorway on the bus and running to the monster which was about to attack steve from behind.

jumping over a car boot she lifts her bat up and slams it into the sider of the monster, throwing it across the junkyard. "val get back inside!" steve shouts, hitting monsters with his bat as valentine does the same. "not until you do" she replies. stepping ontop of a car to have a better view.

"three o'clock! three o'clock!" valentine hears the kids screaming and she turns to her side and her bat meets the face of a monster which jumper towards her. she felt a claw gnawing at the scar on her leg; opening damaged tissue. she grips the bat and smacks the monster gripping her thigh.

"steve!" she yells and he gets cornered, "jump!!!" she yells to him, he gets the memo and jumps ontop of the car. "abort steve abort!!" dustin yells, "val come on" steve says. valentine grips her bat yet again as the two jump across cars.

"steve run!! valentine hurry!!" the kids scream repeatedly. valentine hears a growling to her left so she stops and sees another monster, she hits it in the face with her bat. "son of a bitch" she says.

"val! come on!!! please" she hears steve. she turns and begins running. "shit shit shit shit shit" she screams as a dog like creature runs towards her. steve holds his hand out and she grabs it so he can pull her onto the bus. valentine falls into him and hugs him. "you're okay" he says, "you're okay" she smiles softly at him. "never fucking do that again" he whispers to her, "it's cute that you tried to protect me n all but you're like over a foot shorter than me" he smiles, "i'll always step inbetween you and something like that" she replies.

their moment is cut off as dustin starts yelling. "shit!" the two teens look at him and help them shut the door. "are they rabid or something?" max asks, "they're fucking hungry little shits i know that much" valentine replies as the younger boys begin panicking. "they cant get in! they cant" the two shout.

"and they wont" valentine says, trying to also comvince herself. steve kisses the top of her head, sensing her worry.

they hear growling and everyone begins screaming. valentine making sure she has her gun in her waistband then starts looking out the gaps.

"shit!" dustin yells and he grabs his walkie. "is anyone there? mike? will? god?! anyone!?!" as a loud bang is created by somthing hitting the side of the bus. "we're at the old junkyard and we are going to die!!" he screams into the walkie, "shut the fuck up dustin dont say that shit" valentine says to him as a monster throws itself to the side of the bus.

before anymore could be said theres a scratching at the doorwhich is followed by a loud bang. they look up and see the soon to be causes of their deaths.                

as it growls, they all scream while valentine gets ready to start hitting the fuck out of it with her bat. "out of the way! outta the way" steve says, walking towards the creature.
"you want some?" he asks, "come get this" he says, swinging his bat towards the monster.

valentine looks up at the exit at the top of the bus and near enough throws herself up the ladder. swinging her bat at the monsters trying to get inside. she soon climbs ontop of the bus and starts fending off the creatures, steve joining her.

they can hear monsters growling in the distance as one pushes steve onto his back. the others follow the low growling while screeching away themselves. valentine helps steve up, "jeez" he mutters.

"what happened?" max asks, "i don't know" lucas replies, "steve scared 'em off?" dustin suggests, "no" steve says, "no way" he says looking at valentine and she immediately realises. "they're going somewhere" the two say as they look over to where the growling came from.

"you're positive that was dart?" lucas asks, "yes he had the exact same yellow pattern on his butt" dustin replies. "he was tiny two days ago" lucas says, "well.. he's molted three times already" dustin replies, "malted?" steve asks, "molted steve, molted" valentine corrects him, "shed his skin to make more room for growth" valentine explains, "like hornworns" dustin says.

"when's he gonna molt again?" max asks, "it's gotta be soon" dustin says, "when he does he'll be fully grown or.. close to it" dustin says.  "and so will his friends" valentine says. "yeah and he's gonna eat alot more than just cats" steve says, "wait a cat?" lucas says, "dart ate a cat?" lucas asks, "no what? no" dustin says, "what are you talking about?" steve asks, "he ate mews" he adds, valentine nudges him to get him to shush.

"mews? who's mews?" max asks, "it's dustin's cat" steve replies, not getting why valentine was nudging him. "steve!" valentine and dustin say at the same time.

"i knew it! you kept him!" lucas says, "no! no." dustib defends himself, "no i.. no.. um.. he missed me, he wanted to come home" he says "bullshit!" lucas says, "i didnt know he was a demegorgan okay?" dustin replies. "oh so now you admit it?" lucas says.

"guys, who cares? we have to go" steve says, "i care! you put the party in jeopardy! you broke the rule of law!!" lucas argues, "so did you!" dustin argues, "what?" lucas asks, "you told a stranger the truth!" dustin says, max scoffs, "a  stranger?", "you wanted to tell her too!!!" lucas replies, "but i didn't lucas, okay? i didn't tell her" dustin says.

"we both broke the rule of law, okay? so we're even" dustin says, "no, no! we're not even. don't even try that" lucas says, "your stupid pet coulda ate us for dinner!!" he shouts, "that was not my fault!" dustin argues. "guys?" steve calls, "he wasn't gonna eat us." dustin replies. "oh right so he was crawling to come say hello?" lucas asks, monotone voice heard. "guys!!!" steve shouts, making the screeching heard by the entire group after shutting them up.

valentine and steve look at eachother and walk towards the screeches, the younger boys following, no one listening to max's protests "no, no, no. hey, guys, why are you headed towards the sound?" max asks, "hello?" she calls out before sighing and running after them. "i don't see him" dustin says, "it's the lab" lucas says, "they were going back home" valentine says.