STICKS AND STONES ↝ S. HARRINGTON

[28]

As the sun began to reach the western side of Hawkins, Anna, Steve, and Dustin approached the old junkyard on the hill. Old cars having long seen better days littered the open field, with a quickly-deteriorating bus at the back of the pack, now more rust than metal, however the scenery provided them with plenty of space to get to work.

"Oh yeah," Steve said, looking around at the scene before them with an approving nod. "Yeah, this'll do. This'll do just fine." he stepped forward, reaching back into the bucket full of meat and continuing to sprinkle the path for d'Artagnan to follow. "Good call, dude," he nodded back in Dustin's direction, and the Henderson boy couldn't hide the proud smile as he aimed it back up at his older sister.

"So whereabouts do you think we should end the trail?" Anna asked, walking a few paces ahead of the boys. "Landon's bringing another trap from the store, so we'll need enough space."

"Right about..." Steve trailed off, eyeing the bus at the end of the lot and stepping forward until they were about halfway between the edge of the field and the cars. "Here. We'll pour a trail of gasoline from here towards the bus, and when he's close enough, I'll light it."

The three of them gathered together in front of where Steve stood, and collectively, they turned over what was left in their buckets, sending the contents to the ground between them. Anna stepped back instinctively so as not to get any of the meat on her shoes, the remnants settling into a pile with a sickening squelch at the end of Dart's trail before Landon's trap would await the creature.

"I said medium-well!" A familiar voice called from the other side of the field, and the three of them looked up to see Lucas waving alongside Becca and Landon, along with a redheaded girl around Dustin's age, who greeted them with a small smile as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her sweatshirt.

"Who's that?" Steve asked, but when Dustin didn't answer, the two teens looked back at him, only to see Dustin watching the newcomers with a stony expression. Steve exchanged a quick glance with Anna, his eyebrows furrowing together as she looked back at the redhead.

"That's Billy Hargrove's sister, right?" Anna asked Dustin, recognizing the girl as the same one who'd gotten out of his Camaro on their first day at Hawkins High. "The girl you wanted to show Dart to."

"Max," Dustin muttered.

"Whoa, whoa, this girl's Hargrove's sister?" Steve asked, venom lacing his tone. "That guy's a dick," he muttered.

"Step-sister," Dustin corrected. "There's a difference."

"Alright, boss, what's the plan?" Landon called out as the groups met up, a cardboard box in his hands holding the trap inside. "Where do you want this thing?"

"Over by the meat pile," Anna instructed, noticing the missing figure among them. "Where's Michelle?"

"We couldn't find her anywhere." Becca explained. "We called their house a bunch of times, but nobody answered. Stopped by, too, before we came here, but nobody was home. That's where we found Lucas and Max, though."

"Michelle's probably wherever Will and Mike are." Dustin suggested, looking anywhere but in Max's direction. "We've been trying since last night to call them, too."

"So what's the plan?" Landon asked again. "We've got less than an hour of light left, and I don't particularly feel like putting this thing together in the dark and losing a hand."

"I thought you said you could put one of those together with your eyes closed." Becca reminded him, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked back at their friend skeptically.

"Let's not test that theory," Landon said, rolling his eyes as he set the box down a few feet away from the meat pile.

"As much scrap metal as you can find to reinforce the bus, we'll use that as our base." Dustin soon took control, relaying the plan to the others. "Then Landon puts the trap together. If Dart follows the trail, he'll wind up in the trap, and then we'll get him."