Don't Stop the Devil / Steve Harrington 1

Chapter 30

"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time." Mike says. "Yeah, somewhere far away." Dustin adds on. Hopper and El share a look and nod. "I've got a place in mind." Hopper says and we all look at him. "I have a cabbin in the woods not to far away from here." He says and goes to pick up Will as Jonathan and Joyce follow after him. "You two go find some heaters." Hopper says as he points at Steve and Nancy. They nod and go to the kitchen and out the back door towards the shed to look for heaters.

Steve's pov

Nancy and I grab a flashlight and go out the back door to look through the pile of stuff Hopper threw out of the Byers shed. I pick up a heater as Nancy goes to the other side of the pile. "You should go with him." I say after a few seconds of silence. "What?" Nancy asks as she looks up at me. "Jonathan." I say to further explain. "No, I mean I'm not just gonna leave Mike." She says with a sigh and I look up at her. "No one's leaving anyone." I say as I stand up and go over to her. "I may be a pretty shitty boyfriend but it turns out I'm actually a pretty damn good babysitter." I say as Nancy picks up a fan and I get a small heater out from under it. I hand her the heater with a smile. "Steve." She says as she looks into my eyes. "It's okay Nance." I say with a nod as I look down. "It's okay." I say again as I look back into her eyes.

"You look happy with him. That's all I want for you Nancy." I say as I go back to rummaging throught the pile. "You look happy with her too." She says and I freeze. "What?" I ask as I look up at her. "I see the way you look at her Steve. You never looked at me that way before." Nancy says and I sigh and look towards the Byers house. "She looks at you the same way." Nancy says after a few seconds of silence. I turn around and look at her surprised and she softly laughs. "You love her, don't you?" Nancy asks and I look back at the house. "Yeah, I think I do." I say with a small smile as I think about Bella. "Go be with her." She says and I nod and go back into the house.

Bella's pov

"Hey, be careful out there." I say as I come up to Eleven. "I will." She says with a small smile. She then walk out on the front porch with Mike and I smile. I hear the back door open and I turn around to see Steve. He looks at me and smiles, he walks up to me but before he can say anything Dustin calls us out onto the front porch. We walk out and watch as Jonathan and Hopper's cars drive away.

We all walk back inside and I lean against the wall as Dustin goes up to the dead demodog. "What the hell are you doing Henderson?" Steve asks as he comes up behind Dustin. "We need to preserve this. It could be studied maybe we could find out their weaknesses." Dustin says and I sigh and roll my eyes.

Max and Lucas come back into the living room with a broom and a dustpan. They begin to sweep up the broken glass from the window as Mike paces back and forth. Dustin runs into Will's room and comes back out with a quilt. "Here wrap it in this." Dustin days as he hands Steve the quilt. "What no." Steve says as he pushes the quilt away. "Steve!" Dustin complains. He wispers something in Steve's ear and then Steve sighs and takes the quilt.

Steve wraps the demodog in the quilt as Dustin runs into the kitchen and starts to throw things out of the refrigerator. Steve picks up the demodog and carries it into the kitchen. Steve shoves the demodog into the fridge as Dustin closes the refrigerator door. I quietly laugh and go back to my thoughts.

"Mike would you just stop already." Lucas says as he stops sweeping up the glass to look at Mike. "You weren't in there okay Lucas. That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs." Mike says defensively as he stops pacing to look at Lucas. "Demodogs!" Dustin corrects from the kitchen. We all sigh and glare at him as Lucas goes back to talking. "The chief will take care of her." He says to try and calm Mike down.

"Cause she needs protection." Max mumbles from the floor, still upset with her interaction with Eleven. "Listen dude, coach calls a play in a game bottom line you execute it alright." Steve says as he comes out of the kitchen while wiping his hands on a towel. "Okay first of all this isn't some stupid sports game, and second we're not even in the game we're on the bench." Mike snaps at Steve. "Ri- so my point is." Steve begins before realizing Mike is right. "Right, yeah we're on the bench so, uh, there's nothing we can do." He says as he throws the towel over his shoulder.

"That's not entirely true." Dustin says and we all turn to look at him. "I mean these demodogs they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus they were called away." Dustin explains. "So if we get their attention-" Lucas begins before Max cuts in. "Maybe we can draw them away from the lab." Max says as she look at Lucas. "Clear a path to the gate." Mike says in realization.

"Yeah and then we all die!" Steve exclaims from beside Dustin. "Well that's one point of view." Dustin says and Steve glares at him. "No that's not a point of view that's a fact." Steve says and Mike gasps and walks past them. "I got it." Mike says and we all turn to look at him.

"This is where the chief dug his hole." Mike says as he kneels down to one of the many drawings in the house. "This is our way into the tunnels." He says as he gets up again. "Here, right here, this is like a hub. See how all of the tunnels feed into here." Mike says as he goes to another drawing. "Maybe if we set this on fire-" He begins before Steve interjects. "Oh, yeah, that's a no." Steve says from behind me. "The Mindflayre would call away his army." Dustin says ignoring Steve. "They'd all come to stop us." Lucas adds in with a smile. "Hey." Steve says trying to get their attention. "Then we'd circle back to the exit. By the time they realize we're gone-" Mike says as Steve continues to protest. "El would be at the gate." Max finishes for him.

"Hey, hey, hey, this is not happening." Steve says finally getting the kids attention. "But-" Mike begins before Steve cuts him off. "No, no, no, no, no, no buts. I promised I'd keep you shit heads safe and that's exactly what I plan on doing. We're staying here, on the bench, and we're wainting for the starting team to to their job. Does everybody understand that?" Steve asks as we all stare at him. "This isn't a stupid sports game." Mike protests. "I said does everybody understand that?" Steve asks again as he takes the towel he was using earlier off his shoulder. "I need a yes." Steve says as we all just stare at him.

We hear a car in the distance and Max and I share a worried look knowing who's car it is. Max and I run to the window and sigh as we see Billy's Camaro pull up. "It's our brother. He can't know I'm here he'll kill me. He'll kill us." Max says as she look at me and then everyone else.