Say Anything | Steve Harrington |

Ch. 25 The Strategy

November 3rd, 1984
Hawkins, Indiana

   "Do you still have that bat?" Dustin asked from the front seat while Steve ran a hand through his hair for probably the hundredth time since we got on the road. "What bat?" He asked, sounding annoyed by the preteen sitting next to him who had been giving him directions on where to go the entire car ride.

   "The one with the nails, duh." Dustin remarked as he pulled his walkie out of his bag, "Where are we even going?" Steve asked as Dustin messed with the knobs on the walkie.

   "Guys, I'm being serious. We have a Code Red. Anybody there?" Dustin spoke quickly into his mic but no one responded, the sound of static instead met our ears. "Hello?" Steve called out to Dustin again.

   "My house. I locked Dart in my basement." "Who's Dart?" Steve asked, turning to look at Dustin and me. "His pet... lizard?" I tried, only for Dustin to turn around in his seat, "He is not a lizard!"

   "Well, then you describe what that thing is." I rolled my eyes at the boy, "Well, he's bigger than a lizard now for one." Dustin stated.

   "It grew again? Already?" I asked, leaning up in my seat so that I could fit between the two boys. "What does she mean by already? How big is this thing?" Steve asked, sounding slightly freaked out.

   "Well, first it was this big." Dustin held two of his fingers out to try and give a rough measurement to Dart. "And now he's this big." Now holding both of his hands about as wide as his body.

   "Holy shit." I muttered under my breathe, the idea of another Demogorgon running around Hawkins flashing through my mind. "Well, how do you know this thing isn't just a lizard?" Steve asked, blowing off the idea that it could be anything else.

   "How do I know if it's not?" Dustin asked annoyed with the boy, "Yeah, how do you know it's not just a lizard?" Steve asked raising both his voice and one of his hands off the steering wheel. "Cause his face opened up and he ate my cat."

   Sitting in silence, Steve nodded his head and shrugged, seeming to now accept that Dart might be a real threat.

   Reaching a hand between the two boys, I slowly turned the radio up a little louder so that the silence wouldn't be as weird.

~~~

    Once the car had come to a halt in front of Dustin's house, the three of us jumped out of the BMW and made our way to the trunk of Steve's car.

   "How long has that been in there?" I asked Steve as he pulled out the bat covered in nails from the night we fought against the Demogorgon.

   "Not long..." He muttered under his breathe before slamming the trunk closed, "So where is it?" He asked Dustin, who lead the way around the back of his house. "I locked him in there."

   Stopping in front of a storm shelter that's doors had been wrapped with a metal chain and locked together, Steve took a few steps closer to the doors. Leaning down to see if he could hear Dart.

   "I don't hear shit." He stated after looking down at the locked doors for a few seconds. "He's in there."

   Looking between Dustin and me, Steve slowly moved the bat to lightly tap on the metal doors. Nothing. Not hearing anything on the other side, Steve brought the bat down a little harder on the door. Nothing.