𝗨𝗚𝗟𝗬 // 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

067

The truck door rolls open as Murray climbs inside, hat almost falling off of his head as he crawls forward, losing his breath from the tiniest strain of his body.

"Santa's bought a full sack today!"

"Ew," I proclaim, Robin laughs.

Murray slams his feet back onto the rocky path infront of us, grabbing various goods from the bag, shoving an object into Robin's hands that she stares at unimpressed, "a fresh telemetry tag, scarcer then hens teeth these things."

"What is it with you guys and weird sayings," I mumble as I observe the object Robin is now holding out for us to look at, "yeh like you've never said hens teeth," Robin teases, causing me to genuinely question myself for a moment before Murray interrupts again, handing Nancy two cases of bullets and shells for her and Hopper.

"Anyone order a salad?" He holds up a lettuce, grinning brightly as he replaces the vegetable with a grenade in his finger tips, "grenade salad!"

I can't help but chuckle as my friends stare dead pan at the man, but personally, I found it quite amusing as he begins to explain, "I hid the grenades in the- Ruby gets it!"

The two girls stare at me in disappointment and I seize my laughter at their glares, shrugging, I proclaim, "what? I got it."

He shuffles his feet before pointing my direction, surprising me, "where's that boyfriend of yours? I got a gift for him." I simply point to the radio tower and his lips form a small circle, "oh," he carries on, "anyway I also got Gatorade for El's battery-"

"Did someone say Gatorade?" The before mentioned man runs from behind the truck, stopping beside me as Murray chucks him a bottle, "sure, but it won't go too well with this-" and from the bag he pulls out a ray of sunlight, a holy gift I could only dream of..
Boppers.

"Oh my god Boppers!" He throws me the box with a confused look to Steve, "I thought you requested these?" My boyfriend scratches his neck, "yeah, well, they're her favourite."

I smile as I rip open the box, already biting into one of the treats as I assume Murray's gift to Steve is the snacks in my hands, but as he hands Nancy a file of paper work, I notice the pair share a look I don't quite understand, as if they had unfinished business.

Nancy stares at the paper with thought consumed eyes, tilting her head slightly, "a burn? Tonight? But that's-"

"Too soon, I know, but whatever they're doing evidently needs a serious injection of recourses."

"That's a lot of cargo," Robin comments, gaining a snarky, "thank you captain obvious," from Murray before I tilt my head in a twin motion to Nancy's, biting my lip "but it is a lot... that's gotta take some time.."

Murray's once snarky stare at Robin forms into a lovely grin, staring at my perplexed features as he points in agreement, "exactly! Thank you Ruby, Around two hours, minimum."

Robin leans over, "how come he likes you more than me? I'm a delight."

I shrug, "I think Erica scared it into him."

Nancy ignores our whispering and lifts her head from the document in her fingertips, holding it so carefully as if it were gold, as if it were the key to all of our problems, which to be honest, it kind of was.

"Two hours.. gives Hopper enough time for a crawl," Murray nods, eyes suddenly dark and words sharp, cutting into the air and piercing the souls of the group around me as something in the atmosphere shifts, the playfulness of it all disappearing,

"Maybe tonight's the night we finally find that bastard and end this."

I can't pretend to ignore the of eyes that shoot towards me, or the way the hairs on my neck stand at the mention.