Don't Panic - B. Hargrove

EIGHTEEN

Billy Hargrove hadn't noticed his sister's absence yet. He was too busy watching himself in the mirror. After a day of thinking about David Byers and Steve Harrington having spent the night together, he was exhausted from coping with bench presses and confused by how much he actually hurt. It was like he didn't know himself anymore, and as he started at himself, he wondered if he looked gay.
All gays had a certain something about them that made them recognize each other, didn't they? He couldn't find the slightest sprinkle of fairy dust on his face. He looked like he always did. Good. Handsome. Dressed up in his blood-red shirt while Metalica screamed into his ears.
He was manly, a force of nature with the looks of a porn star. Everything about him was designed to fuck girls. Not boys. That was still so unnatural to him. He was disgusting for thinking about how David Byers might look naked. Disgusted about himself for thinking about how good the boy had looked under him. It was a sin. A sin that tasted and smelled amazing, that he craved for it. And he wasn't the type to pine for anyone. He'd never been.
But here he was, struggling to get his ass out of the house to amuse himself with the girls at the party he was invited to simply because he was too jealous to.

At the junkyard, David had far different priorities than thinking about Billy. He and the others lay in hiding, waiting for Dart to appear. Anxiously, he leaned against Steve, who played with his lighter, flicking it on and off on repeat. David watched the flame light up and due over and over again, the view strangely calming.
His flint leaned next to him against the wall, as far away from the kids as possible, waiting for its time to shine. David wasn't especially eager to use the weapon as he could still remember how his dad made him shoot a rabbit with it when he was little. The scolding for missing the animal on purpose was still ringing in his ears every time he picked up the riffle.
So he had gladly let Lucas take the role of the lookout on top of the bus. He could feel Max watching him, her arms crossed in front of her chest, taking in every time Steve absently padded his leg in reassurance and how David's gaze shifted to the tiny holes of the armor to glance outside into the dark.
"So you fought one of these things before?" she asked, her voice calm and collected. Steve nodded as the flame flicked on again.
"And you're, like, totally, 100% sure it wasn't a bear?" she added.
David really liked her, but her skepticism was slowly getting on his nerves.
"Last time I checked, a bear doesn't open its face," he said quietly.
"Shit, don't be an idiot.Okay? It wasn't a bear. Why are you even here if you don't believe us?" Dustin, who had been pacing up and down, called her out rather rudely.
"Go home." he added.
Max got up with a huff.
" Fresh, Someone's cranky.Past your bedtime?" she asked Dustin, then climbed the ladder to join Lucas on the roof .
Dustin looked after him, his face strangely displaying pain. Steve had been watching the scene with a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. "That's good.Just show her you don't care." he told the younger boy.
" I don't ." Dustin whispered, and Steve winked at him, only making the kid angry.
"Why are you winning, Steve? Stop." "Don't listen to him. He asked Nancy out with puppy eyes." David interfered, trying to protect Dustin from Steve's awful dating advice.

Steve glared at him but didn't say a word. Maybe he regretted having told the other boy all about his dating life. There was a loud growl in the distance, the familiar noise echoing through the boys' bones. They looked at each other before jumping to their feet.
As fast as possible, David snatched his flint and climbed up, la between Lucas and Max, ignoring how the girl eyed him strangely. He squinted at the poorly lit yard.
"You see it?" he whispered to Lucas, who had the tactical glasses.
"Hold on," was the response as the hit scanned the surroundings.
"I've got eyes! Ten O'clock!" he then called out, and David immediately adjusted.
There it was, frame wobbling in the thick, white fog. From afar, it looked like nothing but a dog, but his proportions were slightly off at a second glance.
"You're sure that's not a dog?" Max asked, still trying to be the voice of reason .
"positive ." David responded quietly. "He's not taking the bait. Why is he not taking the bait?" he heard Steve say from underneath.
"Maybe he's not hungry." Dustin's voice followed.
"Maybe he's sick of cow." Steve huffed loudly, and David immediately tensed, realizing what his friend was hinting at.
"Don't you dare!" he called down, but it was already too late.
Steve had left the bus with nothing but his bat. He swung it around as he carefully walked towards the main bait, and David watched in panic as Steve whisked and called out to the monster.
"What is he doing ?"Max asked in shock.
"Being a total idiot."David started the obvious, busy keeping Steve's surroundings covered.
And there he neared, face closed but chittering lowly: Dart the Demogorgon. But that wasn't it. Lucas quickly spotted another one coming from behind.
"Steve! Watch out!" he screamed. "Three o'clock! Three o'clock !" Steve turned around, his face scrunching up in horror as his gaze met the other monster that growled at him.
The door of the bus was opened again, and Dustin feverishly called for Steve to abort this mission and come back to safety.
That caused the first Demogorgon to run at the boy, instinctively, David shot at it. The bullet slowed it down, allowing Steve to dodge the other monsters appearing. He smacked one with the bat and then ran for his life, jumping inside the bus.
"Get down!" David ordered for Max and Lucas, and both kids obeyed immediately while David gave of another salve, his fingers loafing the bullets into the gun as fast as possible.

Soon he had to realize it had no use and slid down the ladder himself just in time for the monsters to attack the bus. They shook and tore at it, but the metal didn't give in.Yet, one found a hole big enough to reach inside, but Steve quickly hammered his bat on the paw, making the creature squeal in pain. Dustin panicky tried to reach anyone via radio, but still, there was no answer.
Claws rigged through the sides, and everything screeched and howled under the attack. David rubbed over to help Steve barricade the door, not noticing his plan had one major flaw. Max did.
"Hey!" she called out, pointing at the open headlight of the outlook. Something was already on the roof. As fast as possible, David slid over the floor, hoisting his gun and positioning himself in front of the girl. He was not allowing it to come through. Ominously, the monster stepped closer, paw reaching for the ladder. Just as David had remembered, it didn't have a real face until it opened into a horrifying maw with dozens of sharp teeth. With shaky hands, he aimed down its throat, ready to use his last bullets to kill it. But suddenly, the monster lost interest. Its maw closed, and it let out a loud growl echoed by the others of its kind. Then, it left.
They listened in shock as the growling moved away until it was utterly silent. Carefully, Steve moved over to open the door and peek outside. The others followed, hiding behind David and his gun.
"What happened?" Lucas glanced around the empty yard in confusion.
"Maybe they scared them off," Dustin answers, gesturing toward the two older teens.
"No. No way," Steve shook his head, turning to meet his best friend's gaze. "They're going somewhere," David said out loud what both were thinking. "Something or someone has called them."

Back at Billy's, his father and stepmother had come home, and the woman had immediately noticed her daughter missing while Billy was pumping himself up in his room, smoking and headbanging, finally ready to get out to that party after all. Three beers could do wonders, so he was drizzling himself in perfume, rubbing it into the most critical spots in pure excitement for a hookup. He looked at himself in the mirror once again. He wasn't gay. He was as straight as someone could be, and as soon as a pretty lady was under him, he'll be over the boy on his mind. "Billy?" his stepmother called out for him.
"Yeah, I'm a little bit busy in here, Susan!" he called back.
"Open the door. Right now!" his father demanded, and the bit knew it was better to obey his orders. With a sigh, he opened the door.
"What's wrong ?" he asked his father, head high.
"Why don't you tell us?" the man responded, sternly looking at his son he didn't like particularly much.
But Billy didn't want him either. "Because I don't know." he huffed. "We can't find Maxine," Susan softly explained.
"And her window is open ." her husband added.
"Where is she?" Bill knew he was in big trouble.
"I don't know," Billy answered, and he hated how meek he sounded.
His father scoffed.
"You don't know?"
"Look, I'm sure she just went to the arcade or something. I'm sure she's fine." Billy turned to get his leather jacket from the closet, aware of how Neil stepped into the room.
"You were supposed to watch her." the man calmly explained. Billy sighed.
"I know, Dad, I was. It's just you guys were three hours late and, well, I have a date. I'm sorry, okay."
He had turned after putting in the jacket and was now dealing with his cuffs avoiding to look into his father's eyes.
"So that's why you've been staring at yourself in the mirror like some faggot instead of watching your sister?" That hit a little too close home for Billy just to accept.
"I have been looking after her all week, Dad. Okay?" the boy exclaimed angrily .
"She wants to run off, that's. Her problem, all right? She's 13 years old. She shouldn't need a full-time babysitter. And she is not my sister!" That was dripping Neil over the edge, and he leaped forward to press his son against the wall with brutal force. Billy grunted as his back hit his shelve.
He knew it was his fault for pulling the man's trigger, but still, he hated that man. He started at him in anger as his father got his point across by smacking him in the face.
"What did we talk about?" he reminded his son, a finger directly in his face.
"Respect and responsibility," the boy snarled, panting from the sizzling pain on his cheek.
As Neil left, telling Billy to find Max, and the door closed behind him, Billy let out a few silent tears of despair. Some things were never going to change.