Jailbird || Stranger Things

thirty-one ➵ plant your feet

"What the hell are you guys doing?"

    Teresa watched with furrowed eyebrows as the contents of the Byers' refrigerator was laid out in the kitchen, the Demodog no longer in the living room in the corner. Instead, it was in the hands of Steve Harrington, who was attempting to carry it into the kitchen, wrapped in some kind of blanket. His destination seemed to be the aforementioned ice box.

    The group froze, even Mike forgetting what he was about to ask. Steve turned towards Teresa like a deer in headlights, eyes wide as he blinked at her.

    "This was not my idea," he said, lifting a hand to show his innocence, but the movement made the body drop, and Steve scrambled to pick it up again. The movement was so incredibly frantic, perhaps a little dorky, that Teresa had to hold back a laugh.

    "This is in the name of science!" Dustin pointed at her, taking out the last few items and laying them on the counters.

    "I don't think Joyce is gonna thank you for it," Teresa chuckled, watching Dustin take out the shelves.

    "All right, it should fit now."

    "You're buying all their groceries."

    "Is this really necessary?" Steve grunted, the weight heavier than he expected.

    "Jesus," Teresa sighed. "All right, Max, can you and the boys clean the living room? There's a broom somewhere," she waved her hand, and the two boys immediately helped her out. She instead went to help Steve, wrapping the creature in the blanket—it really reminded her of ET—and taking one half from him to lighten the load.

    "In answer to your question, Steve, yes, it's necessary, okay? This is a ground-breaking scientific discovery. We can't just bury it like some common mammal, okay? It's not a dog," Dustin stressed.

    "All right, all right, all right. But you're definitely explaining this to Mrs. Byers, all right?" Steve said, groaning once more as he and Teresa shifted their hold. "Christ. Help us out."

    "What am I supposed to do?"

    "Get the door!" Teresa and Steve snapped at him, Dustin immediately doing as told.

    "All right, I got the door!"

    With a few more curses, a bit more shifting, and complaints, Steve and Teresa finally got the creature into the cleaned out fridge. The head lolled onto Teresa's hand, Steve gagging at the sight of saliva or slime dripping out of its slightly open mouth.

    "Jesus," she uttered, wiping her wet wrist into Steve's jacket, who let out a shout of disapproval.

    "God!"

    "Sucks to suck," she shrugged, pushing the body further into the compartment, before Dustin closed the door, and the three of them pushed against it.

    After a collective sigh, the three of them let the sink faucet pour out, Teresa and Steve washing their hands. Even over the sound of the water, they could hear Mike pacing as Lucas still swept up the broken glass.

    "Mike, would you stop already?"

    "You weren't in there, okay, Lucas? That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs," Mike looked at him, still a little worked up over Max's knowledge of the ordeal, as well as getting his girlfriend back and losing her all in the space of an hour.

    "Demodogs!" Dustin called out, but no one seemed to care about the correct names.

    "The chief will take care of her," Lucas ignored Dustin's correction.