Chapter Thirteen: Better Than Revenge

The kids watched from their spot as Steve confronted Billy outside. Neither party was happy, but Annie was so much more worried about Billy's unhappiness. Annie went stiff as they got closer together, Steve moving from the safety of the porch.

"Billy wouldn't actually kill someone, would he?" Lucas asked, causing Annie to look at Max for her response. She only gave Lucas a worried look, and that was enough of an answer for Annie.

She quickly turned back to look at her brother. However, Billy caught her attention. They made eye contact. "Shit, guys..." Annie whispered, not wanting to alarm them if she made it up.

"What?" Mike asked from behind her.

Annie watched for a second longer, and her blood went cold when Billy pointed at them. "Shit." Steve turned to look as well, and that's when the kids knew they were fucked.

They all ducked down and hid under the window sill. "Shit, did he see us?" Dustin asked. Annie knew the answer to that, and just gave Dustin a worried look. Now she was worried for her brother's safety.

He moved back up to see Billy had pushed Steve onto the ground and was making his way into the house. "Shit! He's coming!" she yelled and they all moved from the living room and were going to hide further in the house when Billy slammed the door open.

They moved back in little steps as he came closer, Annie putting herself more in front of Max the closer he got. "Well, well, well," he said, then slammed the door shut. "Lucas Sinclair, what a surprise."

He looked at Annie, and the intensity behind his stare made her want to shrink back into a wall, hopefully even melt into it. "And you, that girl." He never elaborated.

"I thought I told you stay away from them, Max," he said, glancing quickly at everyone standing there. As he got closer to her, Annie made sure to put herself in between them even more.

"Billy, go away," she said just above a whisper.

"You disobeyed me." His voice was low, but steady. Annie was deathly afraid of this- of him. "And you know what happens when you disobey me."

Max shook slightly from behind Annie. "Billy..." she tried.

"I break things."

In a flash he grabbed Lucas and hauled him into the air. Annie let out a scream while the others let out yells. Lucas was shoved against a cabinet in the Byers' kitchen. "Lucas!" Annie screamed, her hands moving to cover her mouth.

The others yelled similar things, telling him to stop and put him down. Annie didn't know what to do, because there was no way a single one of them could go head-to-head with Billy. Hell, she was worried Steve wouldn't be able to. Billy was huge and looked extremely pissed off. She'd never even seen her dad this angry, or anyone for that matter.

"Since Maxine won't listen to me, maybe you will," Billy said, just loud enough for them to hear. "You stay away from her. Stay away from her! You hear me?"

"Leave him alone!" Annie yelled in the silence.

Billy turned around briefly. "Don't worry, you're next." Those words made her go pale and she stumbled back as he turned back to threaten Lucas. Max grabbed her arm so she wouldn't fall back.

"I said let me go!" Lucas yelled, and then kneed Billy in the groin, causing him to drop Lucas and stumble back a step. Annie gasped and let her jaw drop open. She was so focused on the scene in front of her, the edges of her vision almost went dark.

"So dead Sinclair! You're dead," Billy threatened, seconds after, barely even needing to recover.

Then, a new figured entered the picture. "No, you are." Steve threw a punch right across Billy's face, the other letting out a grunt as he went back. Dustin smiled and even cheered some. Annie couldn't feel her arms. Or legs. Her whole body felt strangely foreign.

"Steve!" Max yelled, worried. If Max was worried, then Annie was even more so. Like she said, she didn't think anyone had much of a chance against this angry Billy.

The moment he could, Lucas came hurrying over to the others. Annie could barely pat his arm, she was so distracted by the evil laughter coming out of Billy.

"Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh? I've been waiting to meet this 'King Steve' everybody's been telling me so much about," Billy called out, clearly enjoying this. Blood was tricking from his nose.

Steve put his hand on Billy's chest and shoved lightly as he said, "Get out." This was also strange to Annie, she hadn't seen her brother like this in a long time, not since a fight between her paneers got too out of hand.

Billy stepped back with the shove, dead still for a second. Everything seemed to be still with him- Annie could barely breathe trying to see what would happen next.

Billy swung, Steve ducked. Steve followed it up with another punch, sending Billy into the full kitchen table.

"Yes! Kick his ass Steve!" Dustin cheered.

"Get him!" Mike added on.

"Murder the son of a bitch!" Dustin kept going. Billy's laugh filled Annie's head.

Billy went flying into the sink as the others kept cheering Steve on. There were multiple spots on Billy's face bleeding now. She saw his hand move and grab a plate and her eyes went wide.

"Steve!"

It smashed into the side of her brother's face, causing him to stumble back. The cheers turned into yells of worry. Steve was holding onto his head and grabbed the table for support. Suddenly, they were much closer. There were tears in Annie's eyes.

The kids ran out of the way as Billy threw Steve into the bookshelf, things getting knock over and off of it. Billy grabbed a hold of Steve's jacket and said, "No one tells me what to do." After that, Annie was fearful this was it.

Billy head-butted Steve, a cracking sound echoing in Annie's brain as Steve went flying to the ground. "Steve!" she cried, the tears letting loose and dripping down her cheeks. Billy flipped Steve to his back and started punching away, hitting the sides and front of Steve's face with every blow.

Annie was full on sobbing at this point and leaned into Dustin, who had grabbed a hold of her arm during their run from the fight. "STOP! You're gonna kill him!"

Her watery cries of her brother's name made something in Max snap. She looked at the counter to her side and saw the needle full of stuff that made Will go to sleep. Grabbing the needle and taking the cap off, Max got ready to do something that would change her relationship with Billy for forever.

She turned back around moved past Mike and Lucas. When Annie saw her getting closer, her eyes went even wider. "Max, what are you doing?" she yelled.

There was no reply. Max just got closer and quickly stabbed Billy in the neck. Everything seemed to stop, the boys gasping at Max's actions and Annie trying to stop her sobs. Billy got up and faced Max, pulling the needle from his neck. When he did, Annie shivered at the blood on his knuckles.

He stumbled forward to a retreating Max. "The hell is this?" he slurred. "You little shit, what did you do?" He tried to repeat his question before stopping and falling flat on his back. Annie jumped at the thud.

As he laid on the ground, he laughed. It wasn't as evil as the first one, but it really wasn't much better. He was insane. Max looked over and saw Steve's bat leaning against the wall. "From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand?"

Annie froze, never expecting this side of Max.

"Screw you," Billy mumbled.

This pissed Max off, so she slammed the bat down in the floor, right between his legs. Billy picked his head off the floor and looked at the bat. The boys beside Annie were in complete silence as they watched Max.

She pulled the bat from the floor and held it up again. "Say you understand! Say it! Say it!" she screamed at him.

There was a pause and then: "I understand." He repeated himself after Max prompted, a bit louder, then passed out. Dustin finally let go of Annie's arm, now that it seemed the danger had moved on. She wasn't shaking quite as much, either.

Max dropped the bat to the floor and grabbed the keys to Billy's car, holding it up to the others, who couldn't move a muscle. Not until she said, "Let's get out of here."

Annie got out of her shocked frozen state and hurried over to Steve still on the floor. "Oh my god, Steve," she whispered as she looked over his completely bruised and bloody face. She was scared to touch him, worried she'd hurt him more. However, she did press two fingers to his neck and found a pulse. "Thank god."

She turned her head and looked at the others. "What do we do about them?" she asked, glancing between Steve and Billy.

"I say we leave them here," Mike said.

Annie's jaw dropped at his audacity, as did Dustin's. "Leave him here? What if Billy wakes up and kills Steve for real?" he asked with a raised voice.

"Well what's he going to do if we bring him?" Mike asked.

"Not die!" Annie yelled. "I'm not leaving my brother here with Billy after the latter just tried to murder him. And it's not like we're going to bring Billy with us or he'd murder us!"

They all sat in silence, trying to figure out what to do. "Okay, so we bring Steve. If he's not awake or functioning when we get to the hole, he stays in the car. Leave a note or something."

Mike sighed. "You do realize if he wakes up and sees what we're doing, he'll be pissed off?" he asked. Lucas nodded, taking in that view. Dustin shook his head. Max couldn't stop looking at Annie, making sure she was okay. And Annie was pissed.

"We will take him and if he wakes up and is mad, he'll at least appreciate we didn't leave him here. Now can we please get Steve into Billy's car before he wakes up?" Annie asked, looking fearfully at Billy.

It was quiet until Mike sighed. "Fine. Let's get him in."

Max pocketed the keys and everyone gathered around Steve to pick him up. "Careful, careful." Like Annie requested, they gently got Steve up off the ground and moved him slowly out to Billy's car. Lucas moved to open the door and they (not so gracefully) shoved Steve into the middle of the backseat.

"Great, now we figure out everything else."

The plan was to grab all the lighter fluid that existed in the Byers' house hold. Anything like that was grabbed and put in the trunk. Annie, focused on not getting killed, made sure to grab a bunch of gloves- any she could find- as well as goggles and bandanas for masks. They'd need this stuff if they were going into those gross tunnels.

Then, there was the seating arrangement. It took forever but they landed on Max driving, Lucas directing her, and then Mike, Dustin, and Annie would be in the back. Annie was the first to say anything about where she'd sit, determined to be there to calm her brother down when he woke up. The rest happened through lots of arguing and comparing of driving experience.

A/n: another chapter! I cant believe we're almost done with season 2 guys! Of course, I have a few chapters that go beyond the show before we get into season 3, and I can't wait for you guys to see those too!