CHAPTER NINETEEN.
THE BENCHWARMERS

☆ミ ☆彡

WARNING: Billy Hargrove attacking kids

"IT'S NOT LIKE IT WAS BEFORE. IT'S GROWN," Hopper was saying as they all stood around the kitchen table. He was referring to the gate to the Upside Down. Challan hadn't seen the gate before like the others but if it was bigger than the last time, that couldn't be good. "A lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."

"Demo-dogs," Dustin was quick to correct.

Hopper looked at him, "I'm sorry, what?"

"I said, uh, Demo-dogs. Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass—"

"How is this important right now?" Hopper interrupted.

"It's not. I'm sorry," Dustin deflated. Challan placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I can do it," Eleven informed.

Hopper sighed, "You're not hearing me."

"I'm hearing you. I can do it," she repeated.

"Even if El can, there's still another problem. If the brain dies, the body dies," Mike said.

"I thought that was the whole point," Max said.

"It is, but if we're really right about this... I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army..."

"Will's a part of that army," Lucas realized.

"Closing the gate will kill him," Mike confirmed. They all looked away from one another in thought.

"So what do we do? I mean, we have to close the gate, right?" Challan inquired. They all looked around at one another. None of them knew what to do. This was bad. Very very bad.

Ms. Byers stared forward for a second before going to the room where an unconscious Will lay. They all followed after her as the gears in her brain began moving. "He likes it cold."

"What?" Hopper asked.

"It's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold." She walked over to the window and closed it. "We keep giving it what it wants."

"If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then..." Nancy began.

"Then we need to make the host uninhabitable," Jonathan finished for her.

"So if he likes it cold..." Nancy continued.

"We need to burn it out of him," Ms. Byers finalized.

"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time," Mike instructed.

"Yeah, somewhere far away," Dustin added.

Hopper knew a place. And so Ms. Byers, Jonathan, and Nancy all went to Hopper's cabin to burn the Mind Flayer out of Will. Hopper and Eleven went to close the gate. The remainder of the group was tasked to stay at the Byers' house and wait for it to all be over.

Challan didn't mind waiting this time, she actually preferred it. This way, she would be safe. She just wanted to be safe and survive the night. This was how she did that. She along with Mike, Max, Lucas, Dustin, and Steve watched the others drive away. Once they were gone and out of sight, they went back into the house and the waiting began.

Dustin was making Steve put the Demo-dog into the refrigerator. Challan watched as the two struggled to fit the large creature in the small fridge. Steve turned to her, "You just gonna stand there or you gonna help?"

Challan shook her head, "I am not touching that thing." Steve huffed and Challan sent the two a smile before exiting the kitchen. Lucas and Max were sweeping up broken glass from the living room whilst Mike was pacing back and forth. Lucas stopped his sweeping and looked at his friend.

"Mike, would you just stop already?" Lucas was stressed enough and Mike's pacing wasn't helping the situation.

"You weren't in there, okay, Lucas? That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs," Mike fretted.

"Demo-dogs!" Dustin corrected and Mike sent him a look of aggravation.

"The chief will take care of her," Lucas reassured.

"Like she needs protection," Max muttered.

"Right? Doesn't she have powers or something?" Challan said.

Steve took the opportunity to step forward and speak, "Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. All right?"

Challan's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Why was he making sports analogies? But she had to admit, it was a pretty decent analogy.

"Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game. And second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench," Mike stated.

Mike was right, with Steve's analogy, they were on the bench. Challan didn't mind being on the bench. This was a safe bench.

"Rig— So my point is... Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so, uh, there's nothing we can do," Steve said.

"That's not entirely true," Dustin spoke up and Challan suppressed a groan, feeling that a plan was going to form amongst the group. A stupid and dangerous plan. "I mean, these Demo-dogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away."

"So, if we get their attention..." Lucas began.

"Maybe we can draw them from the lab," Max continued.

"And clear a path to the gate," Mike concluded.

"Yeah, and then we all die," Steve said.

"That's one point of view," Dustin told him.

"A very valid point of view," Challan stressed, giving Dustin a look.

"No, that's not a point of view, man. That's a fact," Steve said as he looked at Dustin.

Mike gasped and began walking past them, "I got it." They followed him out of the living room and to a different room that contained Will's drawings on the walls. Mike pointed to an area of the drawing. "This is where the chief dug his hole. This is our way into the tunnel. So..." Mike stood from his crouched position and walked to another part of the drawing that was on the floor. "Here, right here. This is like a hub. So you got all the tunnels feeding in here. Maybe if we set this on fire—"

"Are you crazy?" Challan asked at the same time Steve said, "Oh, yeah? That's a no." The two were ignored.

"The Mind Flayer would call away his army," Dustin said.

"They'd all come to stop us," Lucas added.

"Hey!" Steve tried to interject.

"We circle back to the exit," Mike continued.

"Guys." Steve's voice fell on deaf ears and Mike continued speaking.

"By the time they realize we're gone—"

"El would be at the gate," Max expressed.

"Hey. Hey! Hey!" Steve clapped and they all looked at him. "This is not happening."

"But—"

"No, no, no, no, no. No buts. I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. We're staying here. On the bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand that?" Steve interrupted. Challan was grateful for Steve in this moment. He was the only reasonable one outside of her. She was the only one who was okay with this though, the other four wanting to rebel against him.

"This isn't a stupid sports game," Mike repeated.

"I said does everybody understand that? I need a yes," Steve ignored Mike.

None of them got the chance to respond as their attention was drawn to an engine revving. Max made her way to the window quickly and jumped onto the couch, Lucas rushing to her side and the two of them peered out of the window.

"It's my brother. He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me," Max said before she looked over at Lucas and then to Challan who stood behind them. "He'll kill us."

Challan did not like the sound of that. She was already afraid about being killed by Demo-dogs and the Mind Flayer. Now she had to worry about stupid Billy Hargrove too? She couldn't catch a break.

"Stay here," Steve instructed before making his way out of the house and closing the door behind him. The young teens glanced at each other before rushing over to the window and onto the couch, watching as the scene unfolded. The two older teens began to converse but Challan couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Can you guys hear anything?" She whispered. A chorus of 'nos' were whispered back in response. This made her anxiety raise. But when Billy's head turned in the direction of the five at the window, pointing his lit cigarette at them, her anxiety skyrocketed. They all ducked down quickly, but it wasn't quick enough. He had already seen them. They were so screwed.

"Shit! Did he see us?" Dustin questioned.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he saw us, Dustin," Challan breathed. Her heart began pounding in her chest. This was so so bad. They should probably make a run for it.

The five moved away from the window and stood facing the door. Challan's breathing was labored as she anxiously waited for someone to come in, she hoped it was Steve.

But when the front door slammed open and Billy strolled in, her heart sunk and her breathing picked up. Billy's eyes scanned the faces in front of him.

"Well, well, well," he slammed the door shut behind him and Challan jumped. "Lucas Sinclair," his gaze averted to Challan. "And the witch herself. What a surprise." Challan gulped as he stalked closer to them. He then turned his attention to his stepsister. "I thought I told you to stay away from them, Max."

"Billy, go away," Max said quietly, her voice wavering as she spoke.

"You disobeyed me. And you know what happens when you disobey me," Billy continued, ignoring her words.

"Billy..."

"I break things." Challan hadn't expected him to be so fast. One minute, he was standing in front of Max, and the next, he was in front of her. His hand gripped her throat and she gasped in surprise. Before she could react, Billy was throwing her into a nearby wall. He then grabbed Lucas and slammed him into a shelf.

The oxygen was knocked out of her lungs as her back slammed painfully into the wall. She sucked in a painful breath, which was more of a gasp. For a quick moment, she couldn't move, she couldn't think, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't hear anything. Everything around her was a blur. She didn't register the shouts from her friends or when Lucas kneed Billy in the groin. Her brain had gone hazy, her vision blurring. She might have hit her head. She honestly didn't know. She hoped it wasn't a concussion. It only began to clear up when Steve re-entered the home and punched Billy in the face.

That's when she realized that Max was in front of her, hands on either side of her face repeatedly calling her name. That's when she realized that Lucas was standing beside Mike and Dustin, looking completely shaken up. And that's when she saw that Billy had gotten the upper hand and was beating the absolute shit out of Steve.

"Hey, hey, look at me," Max commanded. Challan did just that, focusing on Max's blue eyes. She had never seen them this close before. Challan could get lost in Max's blue eyes if she let herself. "Are you okay?"

Challan could only nod in response and Max sighed. "Okay." Her hands left Challan's face, taking her warmth with her as she marched over to the table that held the syringe containing the sedative that they had used on Will. Max grabbed it, uncapped it, and walked over to Billy who was on top of Steve punching him over and over again.

Max brought her arm up before stabbing the syringe into Billy's neck. Billy stood up and looked at Max before pulling the syringe out of his neck.

"The hell is this? You little shit, what did you do? What did you do?" Billy stumbled before falling backward onto the floor. He then started cackling like a maniac.

"Psycho," Challan muttered as she pushed herself off of the floor. Max grabbed Steve's discarded baseball bat and raised it as if she were ready to swing.

"From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand?" Max instructed.

"Screw you," Billy responded.

Max didn't miss a beat as she swung the baseball bat down into the wooded floor between Billy's legs. The nails dug into the wood and Billy looked at the bat with worried eyes.

"Say you understand! Say it! Say it!" Max yelled.

"I understand," Billy muttered.

"What?" Max quipped.

"I understand," Billy repeated louder. His eyes slowly closed, his head rolling to the side, and then he was out. Max dropped the baseball bat and walked around his unconscious body. She dug into his pockets and pulled out his car keys, holding them up.

"Let's get out of here," she said.

Challan looked around the room until her eyes spotted Steve who had been knocked unconscious by Billy.

"I hate to break it to you but, Steve's unconscious so he can't drive," Challan informed, clearing her throat when her voice cracked.

"I can drive," Max stated.

"You don't have your license," Challan replied.

Max shrugged, "Yeah but I know how to drive." Challan sent her a look that told Max she was unconvinced.

"Let's go guys," Max said when they all looked around at each other in silence. Slowly they started moving. Challan didn't want to go but if she stayed there, Billy could wake up and try to hurt her again. She'd rather face the Demo-dogs.

"Wait!" Dustin called, halting the group as they began gathering supplies. "What about Steve?"

"Leave him," Mike said before continuing what he was doing.

"We can't just leave him," Dustin argued.

"You wanna bring him with us?" Lucas questioned incredulously.

"Yeah, he was kinda against the plan," Max pointed out.

"So was Challan," Dustin retorted.

"Why am I in it?" Challan asked him.

"No! Steve will just freak out," Mike said.

"He won't!" Dustin defended. Lucas, Max, and Mike gave him looks that indicated they weren't convinced.

"Look, I promise Steve will be cool. You kind of saved his ass, Max, so he's gotta be cool," Dustin assured.

Mike rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Let's move."

The group began loading supplies into the trunk of Billy's car. They went back in to get Steve off of the floor and struggled to drag him out of the house. It was even harder to put him in the backseat but somehow they managed.

The group of five walked back into the house, doing a final sweep to make sure they had everything they needed.

"Are we ready?" Mike inquired.

Challan looked around the room briefly. "No," she informed before walking over to an unconscious Billy. She peered down at him, face curling in disgust. Without thinking, she swung her foot back and brought it forward into his face. The four behind her gasped and more blood gushed out of Billy's nose. Challan let out a breath before turning back to face them. Varying levels of shock were on their faces and she shrugged.

"Now I'm ready."

••••

I hate Billy.