Family Line - Dustin Henderson

009|

"You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas questioned, from where he was walking besides Max. Dustin was walking ahead of them Steve on his right, River on his left, the Hargrove boys hand being held firmly in his own.

River hadn't spoken a word since the junkyard, which worried Dustin slightly. He kept falling behind the group walking by himself which was when Dustin had grabbed ahold of his hand dragging him to walk at the front with him and Steve, scared that he'd eventually stop walking altogether.

Lucas had sent him a questioning look when he first realised they were holding hands, while Max just smiled to herself. Steve kept smirking at Dustin while looking between him and their hands, which caused Dustin to blush slightly every time, but he never let go. 

"Yes," Dustin replied to Lucas's question, "He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt."

"He was tiny two days ago." Max spoke up.

"Well, he's molted three times already.

"Malted?" 

"Molted." Dustin corrected Steve, "Shed his skin to make room for growth, like hornworms."

"Well, when's he gonna molt again?"

"It's gotta be soon. And when he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it." Dustin paused, "And so will his friends."

"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats."

River looked up when Dustin suddenly was pulled backwards by Lucas causing River to nearly fall over backwards, "Wait, a cat?" Lucas asked in disbelief, "Dart ate a cat?"

"No..." Dustin shook his head, "What? No."

"What are you talking about? He ate Mews." Steve interrupted. 

"Mews? Who's Mews?"

"It's Dustin's cat."

"Steve!" Dustin yelled turning to face the older boy, letting go of River's hand.

"I knew it!" Lucas yelled once again pushing Dustin in the shoulder, "You kept him!"

"No!" Dustin spoke defensively, "No. No, I... No, I... He missed me. He wanted to come home."

"Bullshit." Lucas denied.

"I didn't know he was a Demogorgon, okay?"

"Oh, so now you admit it?"

"Guys, who cares?" Max spoke up glancing worriedly at River who looked like he was about to fall over, "We have to go."

"I care!" Lucas exclaimed, "You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!"

"So did you." Dustin yelled back, "You told a stranger the truth!"

"A stranger." Max asked moving forwards.

"Oh, yeah, and what about River, you told him and he's not in the party!" 

"That was different." Dustin spoke his voice lowering as he glanced down at River who was staring at his feet rocking back and forth, "We both broke the rule of law, okay? So we're even. We're even."

"No, no! We're not even. Don't even try that.  Your stupid pet could have ate us for dinner!"

"That was not my fault!"

"Guys!" Steve yelled breaking them up, they all stopped and it was silent for a second, all apart from the growling coming from the distance. The Demodogs. Dustin and Lucas moved forwards, Dustin quickly stopping again, reaching back to grab River's hand, pulling him with them.

"Hey guys, why are you heading towards the sound." Max yelled from behind them, "Hello? Guys?"

They walked through the trees into a clearing which gave them a clear view of the whole woods bellow them, "I don't see them." Dustin shook his head.

"It's the lab," Lucas spoke up after looking through his binoculars, "They were going back home." 

They had been walking for what felt like forever, and River was surprised his legs hadn't given out beneath him. He was glad that Dustin was still holding onto his hand, squeezing it reassuringly every few miniutes.

The group walked out through the trees, finally reaching the entrance of Hawkins Lab. They were all surprised two people already there, they both looked around Steve's age. They obviously knew the Harrington boy as they both spoke his name in shock when they realised it was him.

"Nancy?" Steve spoke, "Jonathan?"

"What are you doing here?" The girl, Nancy spoke rushing forwards.

"What are you doing here?" Steve shot back.

"We're looking for Mike and Will."

"They're not in there, are they?" Dustin asked pointing with his free hand towards Hawkins lab.

"We're not sure." Nancy muttered, glancing towards River who was almost hiding behind Dustin.

"Why?" Just as Jonathan asked this, there was a loud screeching from inside the building.

The group stood in a circle, discussing ideas when suddenly the lights inside the building turned back on. River was the first to notice tugging on Dustin's sleeve to get the boy to notice.

"The powers back." 

Jonathan rushed open to the entrance booth pushing the open button for the gate, he pressed it a few times when nothing happened.

"Let me try." Dustin pushed Jonathan out the way.

"Hang on."

"Let me try, Jonathan!" he lent down with his free hand pushing the buttons non-stop, "Son of a bitch! You know what..." The gate suddenly opened, causing Dustin to laugh, "Hey! I got it. I got it."

Jonathan and Nancy got back into their car, telling the others to wait where they were. River forced himself to finally move pulling Dustin with him to sit on the curb at the side of the road. 

Dustin finally looked at the Hargrove boy frowning when he noticed how pale was, "Riv, you okay."

River looked up, eyes widening at the nickname, "Y-y-y, " He tried his best to answer but nothing came out so instead stuck to frantically nodding his head.

Dustin nodded, once again squeezing River's hand, "You're gonna be okay. I... We won't let anything happen to you."

"Guys." Max spoke standing in the middle of the road, River frowned as Dustin pulled him to his feet, the group moving to stand besides Max. They're eyes widening as they saw two pairs of headlights moving down the road towards them.

They quickly rushed out the way as the first car drove straight past them. The second car, pulled to a stop besides them and a man who River guessed was Jim Hopper by the Hawkins Police which was painted across the side of the truck.

"Let's go." The man waved opening the door to get in. The kids all scrambled into the back while Steve sat in the front besides Hopper.

"Let's go."