• 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚎𝚜 - 𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚍 𝙱𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚎 •

"Lucas, what's going on?" Bea shouts as she, Dustin, and Steve all look out the bus' windows.

"Hold on!" He called from above with Max. "I've got eyes!" The boy yelled down once he saw it. "Ten o'clock! Ten o'clock!"

The three spot Dart. "What's he doing?" Dustin asks the two next to him.

"I don't know," Steve and Bea answer.

"He's not taking the bait. Why is he not taking the bait?" Bea repeats as she begins to panic.

"Maybe he's not hungry?" Dustin suggests.

"Maybe he's sick of cow." Steve realized as he slowly backed away from the window.

"Steve, what are you doing?" Dustin asks as Steve picks up his bat with the nails and walks towards the bus door.

The older boy turns to the two of them, "Just get ready." He passes his lighter to Beatrice, trusting her more than Dustin with fire.

He slowly opened the bus door, stepping out as he raised his bat to be ready for attack. The door creaks as Dustin closes it behind him. Max comes back down to the others as they watch Steve from the window.

"What's he doing?" She asks.

"Expanding the menu." Dustin jokes with a serious face. He is joking, right? Right?

Watching Steve from the bus, Bea came to the realization that he looks like every idiot in every horror movie who follows the sound and yells 'who's there?' when they're supposed to be home alone.

Basically, what she means is; Steve Harrington is an idiot. A total, complete, idiotic dingus!

Max shook her head with fear. "He's insane."

"He's awesome," Dustin corrects as he stares in awe at his new friend.

"What an idiot." Bea concludes as she stands in between Dustin and Max.

She heard Max snort from her comment, and she could feel Dustin's glare to the side of her head since she disrespected Steve 'The Hair' Harrington.

The fog clears as they're able to see Dart more clearer now. "Steve, watch out!" Lucas yells from the top of the bus. "Three o'clock! Three o'clock!"

"Shit! There's more? I thought it was just Dart! Did Dart have babies? Did Dart get another demogorgon pregnant? Are these his kids or friends? What if he's a grandpa already? That happened so fast! How do we know if Dart is even a 'he'? What if this whole time, Dart was a 'she'?" Beatrice rambles as she steps backwards into one of the bus seats.

She's scared. For her. For Max. For Dustin. For Lucas. For — especially now — Steve. For Will and Mike who have been AWOL the past two days. She's just really, really scared.

"Bea. Bea! It's okay. You're okay. Everything's going to be okay." Max soothes her friend as she tries to not laugh at her friend's questions. She knows it's not a good time to laugh or a good thing to laugh at, but Dart being pregnant is kind of funny to think about.

When Beatrice calmed down, she noticed that Steve was back in the bus. Dustin had grabbed his attention, and after fighting some of the creatures off, he was safely in the bus. She was pushed to the back of the bus by Max, Lucas and Dustin followed as Steve attacked the monster that was trying to get in.

A claw almost hits Bea as it scratches through the back of the bus. The four kids scream as Dustin calls for help from his walkie-talkie. They stand from the back and place themselves in the middle of the bus. Though, that wasn't much safer.

Max was standing next to the ladder as one of those dogs climbed onto the bus, right above her. It growled and she screamed. Bea pulled her back as Steve ran in front of the kids. He was about to attack it as it jumped off (shaking the bus in the process) and stomped away.

Lucas and Max quickly let go of each other's hands (ones they were clenching onto out of fear) as the group slowly walked towards the front of the bus. Steve was in front, leading them as they got off the bus. Bea was in the middle. She would never want to be last.

"What..." Lucas takes a sharp breath, "...happened?" They all looked around in search for more dogs.

"I don't know," Max answers.

"Steve scared them away?" Dustin suggests.

"No." Both Bea and Steve answer. She earned a small glare from Steve when she agreed, but he continued.

"No way. They're going somewhere."

It's not over yet.

Walking towards the sound — like in every horror movie — Lucas was questioning Dustin if he was sure that the monster was Dart.

"Yes. He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt." Dustin informed.

"How do you know what his butt looks like?" Bea asked as she tried to suppress her laughter.

Dustin raised his middle finger at her insinuation as Max was thinking out loud, "He was tiny two days ago."

"Well, he's molted three times already."

"Malted?" Steve questions.

"Molted. Y'know? Shedding skin to make more room and shit." Beatrice tries to explain even though she's not a hundred percent sure how to explain it. Dustin nods at her explanation.

"When's he gonna molt again?" Max asked no one in particular.

"It's gotta be soon. When he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it."

Steve nods, "Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats." Wait, cat? What does Steve mean by cat?

"Wait, a cat? Dart ate a cat?" Lucas stops Dustin from walking. Everyone around them stop as well.

"No," he answers too quickly, "what? No."

"What are you talking about? He ate Mews." Steve put in his two cents, not helping Dustin at all.

"Mews? Who's Mews?" Max turned to Steve with a frown.

"Dustin's cat! Oh, my God! Dart ate Mews?" Bea yelled at her friend, her head flitting frantically around the group.

"I knew it! You kept him!" Lucas accused as he pushes Dustin's shoulder.

"No! No. No, I... No, I..."

Bea crossed her arms with a scoff, "You're a terrible liar."

"He missed me! He wanted to come home!"

"Bullshit!" Lucas points at his chest.

"I didn't know he was a demogorgon, okay?"

"Oh, so now you admit it?"

"Guys, who cares? We have to go." Max tries to stop the two boys from a fight. They have more important matters to attend to.

"I care! You put the whole party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!"

"So did you!"

Knowing where this is going, Bea steps in, "Okay. No, no, no. Telling Max and having a demogorgon as a pet are two very different things! And if we want to get technical, I told Max about me before Lucas brought anything up."

"All of us broke the rule of law, then! So we're even. We're even." Dustin finalized.

"No, no, we're not even! Don't even try that! Your stupid pet could've ate us for dinner!" Lucas argues.

"That was not my fault!" Dustin defends as Max and Bea look at each other and roll their eyes. Why were they friends with these idiots, again?

"Guys!" Steve grabbed the attention of the group of kids, right before they heard screeching noises. They all started to follow the sound behind Steve.

Just like every horror movie!

The boys were in the front with the flashlights as they followed the noise. Stopping at the top of a hill, Dustin told them how he doesn't see Dart. Lucas takes out his binoculars to look around, his eyes eventually landing on the lab.

"They were going back home." Bea concludes.

They continued walking, en route: the lab. Bea will admit it, she is scared. Walking in the pitch black woods with these strange dog things. It's scary.

After her random scream from the other day, she's been feeling iffy. More than normal. And with them all going in the direction of the lab, her stomach feels even worse.

They heard someone shout 'hello' into the woods, so they kept walking until they got to the light in front of Hawkins Lab.

There they found Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers. "Steve?" They both wondered.

"Nancy?"

"Jonathan?"

The two groups walked closer to the familiar faces.

"What are you doing here?" Nancy questioned. Only to have Steve echo the same question to her. "We're looking for Mike and Will." She answered.

"They're not in there, are they?" Dustin asks as he nods his head towards the lab.

"We're not sure." Jonathan says as Bea tells them, "Yes." Cue the sound of the monster screeching.

"Shit!" Lucas swears, kicking the dirt because Bea said 'yes'. They're in danger. And all of them might not make it out alive.

"What? Why did Bea say yes? She's been with us the whole time." Steve questions, not knowing the strawberry blonde's abilities.

"Bea. Are you sure?" Dustin places his hands on her shoulders.

She nods. "Positive. I can feel it." Her eyes start to water as she begins to panic. The thought of anyone in there not surviving makes her shudder.

The lights from the lab randomly turn back on. Nancy, being the first to notice, walks forward. "The powers back." She informed them.

They all rush to the gate, trying to open it in hopes of going in there to save the others. Jonathan pressed the open button multiple times, but it didn't work.

Dustin goes up to try as everyone stares at the Lab, trying to find a way through the gate. Then it happened again. The noise. The insufferable buzzing that Beatrice hears every time someone is about to die.

It starts off small. Like a low static. Then as the event gets closer to happening, it grows louder and louder. It soon sounds like a fly, buzzing in her hear. But it gets worse. And the only way to stop is to scream. She has to scream.

It's the only way to stop the damn ticking.

Dustin got the gate to open up (he likes to believe) and everyone got out of the way while Jonathan went to his car, ready to drive through. But he can't. Not with Beatrice in the way.

"Bea! Beatrice, get out of the way!" Everyone shouts frantically at their friend who's back is facing them.

She slowly turns around with teary eyes that she can't hold back much longer. Realization dawns on Dustin and Lucas' faces as they shake their heads, not ready to believe it.

"No. No! Bea, do not scream!" The pair order as they don't want to imagine who's going to die tonight.

But she doesn't listen. She needs to get it out. She screams. This scream probably tops all of her other screams for being the loudest. And it hurts. She feels so much pain from this one. Everything hurts as she realizes who she was just screaming for.

"Bob," she meekly says before everything goes black.

•••••

Rain.

It was Beatrice's favorite weather.

Rain can be perceived as peaceful to some, but it is most commonly thought of when sad timings come.

But to Beatrice Holland, rain is the most beautiful thing. It always helps calm her. God, how much she wanted it to rain right now.

After her scream of bloody murder (literally) or banshee prediction, or whatever the hell you want to call it happened, she was brought back to the Byers. Where she awoke on what she presumes to be Joyce's bed, based on the large bed frame.

She stayed there for a while. Just staring up at the ceiling — which was still covered by Wills drawings.

She wanted to cry, but she has no more tears left in her. All she does is cry, scream, faint, repeat. Wasn't she supposed to be a superhero or something?

No.

She isn't.

That's Eleven. She is the superhero. The one who can save everyone.

And she's gone.

You know who Bea is? A predictor of death. That's all she does. She knows who is going to die but can't do anything to save them. It's bullshit. All bullshit.

Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit!

It wasn't until maybe five minutes after she woke up when Joyce came in to check in on her. Beatrice sat up as Joyce sat next to her on the bed with hollow eyes.

They said nothing as the both of them wrapped their arms around another. But neither of them cried. They were too drained, too much in thought to let their emotions out.

Jim Hopper soon walked in and Bea took that as her cue to leave. She slowly stood from the bed, her feet softly hitting the designed carpet as she stepped around Jim and walked out.

Walking into the hallway felt odd. It was eerily quiet. No one wanted to talk. They were all grieving. She assumed that they all put it together that Bob Newby was dead.

The strawberry blonde first caught Max's eye as the redhead sent her a comforting smile. As Beatrice went to take a seat in the kitchen, Mike — who had left to go to the living room beforehand — spoke.

"Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?" He asked, holding what looked like a blue cube.

"Really?" Lucas questioned. This is news to all of them. Bob Newby started the club that is now only them? What are the chances?

Turning around to his friends, Mike further explains, "He petitioned the school to start it and everything. Then he had a fund-raiser for equipment."

The group took everything in. Even Steve, who was leaning on the kitchen counter. "Mr. Clarke learned everything from him." He continues, walking back to the kitchen table, "Pretty awesome, right?"

The two boys respond with 'yeah's as Bea and Max only nodded their heads. Mike placed the cube on the table. "We can't let him die in vain."

"What do you want us to do, Mike?" Dustin snaps, which made Beatrice jump. All the previous events have taken a toll on her.

He muttered a quick apology for scaring his friend as he continued, "The Chief's right on this. We can't stop the Demo-dogs on our own."

"Demo-dogs?" Both girls questioned the boy's word choice.

Looking at them, he explains, "Demogorgon. Dogs." He moved his hands in a 'together' motion and concluded, "Demo-dogs. It's like a compound. It's like a play on words—"

"Okay." Max cut him off since they understand it now.

Going back to the topic at hand, Dustin says, "I mean, when it was just Dart, maybe..."

"But there's an army now."

"Precisely." Dustin agrees with Lucas.

"His army," Bea added, almost whispering.

"What do you mean?" Steve raised an eyebrow, since his and everyone else's heads snapped to the girl when she actually said something.

"His army." She repeated, looking at Mike. He seems to have come to the realization before everyone else so he continued what Bea started.

"Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too." Beatrice nods in agreement as that was what she was thinking.

It's time to be the superhero.

Not like Eleven.

But like Bob.

Beatrice must become the superhero for Bob Newby.

For Bob Newby: Superhero.

•••••

(🕰) T TIME!

"whot an idihot!" - hermione granger

•••••