unpredictable ; jonathan byers

chapter twelve-end of an era

Casey

"God damnit," I muttered, standing up from my spot on Jonathan's couch. I headed over to the front door while psyching myself up to tell Steve to fuck off since I would not allow him to screw this up for us, however, Nancy and Riley had already beaten me to it. 

Nancy quickly cracked the door, only letting it open a few inches and Steve's eyes furrowed when they landed on the two girls. "Riley? Nance? What the hell are you guys doing here?" 

"You need to get out of here," Nancy warned. 

Steve only seemed to get even more confused. "What? Why? What the hell is-" There was a stoppage of his words as he finally glanced down to Nancy's bandaged hand on the door, his facials growing concerned. "Whoawhoawhoa, hold the fuck on, did he do this to you?" He questioned, his strength overruling hers as he pushed through the door, only to stop in his tracks once he looked up at the hanging lights, his eyes beginning to widen at the sight. "What the...?"

"Get out of here, Steve," I ordered him as Jonathan stepped in to start pushing him back to the door. "Go home."

"Listen, you need to leave. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you," Jonathan countered.

"I don't understand, what the fuck is going on?" Steve questioned us, continuing to resist under Jonathan's strength.

"Alright, that's it," I muttered, finally becoming fed up from his stubbornness and I snatched my gun from the waistband of my jeans, raising it towards Steve. 

"Whoawhoa, is this a joke?! Stop, Casey, just put the damn gun down!" Steve pleaded, his hands raised in defeat. 

"I'm doing this for you, Steve," I told him, reaching up and cocking the gun to hopefully intimidate him enough to leave. "I'm not going to tell you again."

"Casey..." Jonathan warned as he glanced to the ceiling. "Casey, the lights!"

His words snapped me back to reality as I lost my intense glaze with Steve and I looked up, seeing that the lights had begun to flicker. "Get your bats guys, it's here," I ordered my friends and watched as they all grabbed their weapons from the coffee table before we all gathered in a circle, back to back.

"Where is it?!" Riley exclaimed.

"Where is what? Whoa, easy with that thing, Casey!" Steve shouted nervously from the side.

I rolled my eyes, but didn't look in his direction. "For the love of God, Steve, shut the fuck u-"

My words were interrupted as the ceiling suddenly caved in and I gulped in horror as I watched none other than that same creature I found in The Upside Down emerge from the hole it created, moaning as it began to crawl out. I didn't hesitate to raise the pistol its way and fire off multiple rounds.

"Go, go! Run, go!" I heard Jonathan scream before I felt his arm wrap around my middle as he pulled me back towards Will's room before pushing me in front of him to follow the girls while he made sure to not leave Steve behind. 

The five of us quickly piled into Will's bedroom, slamming the door shut behind us, Jonathan pulling the lighter out of his pocket while Nancy, Riley and I prepared our weapons.

"Jesus, Jesus! What the hell was that?!" Steve continuously screamed.

"Shut up!" Jonathan and I shouted simultaneously before we turned back to the door, preparing ourselves for what was coming from the other side. Jonathan flicked the lighter on and I cocked the gun once more, while Riley and Nancy got into position with their bats. A few seconds went by before we opened our ears to the sound of the creatures' footsteps, followed by weird gurgling noises.