chapter 007 ,
demogorgan rampage

LUCY WASN'T SURE HOW MUCH she liked the idea of Lucas sitting on top of a bus as 'lookout', but she figured she would much rather be alerted if there really was a man-eating lizard coming at them, so her caution quickly simmered down. She, Dustin, Steve, and the new girl Max sat inside the bus, windows boarded and doors barricaded. Night had fallen, and the only source of illumination they had was the lighter Steve was messing around with.

Max glanced between Dustin and Steve. "So.. you really fought one of these things before?"

Steve just gave her a noncommittal nod.

"And you're like, totally, one hundred percent sure it wasn't a bear?"

"Shit," Dustin said, "don't be an idiot, okay? It wasn't a bear. Why are you even here if you don't believe us? Just go home."

Max stood from her seat, giving Dustin a slight glare as she moved towards the ladder to the top of the bus. "Someone's cranky. Past your bedtime?"

Once she had climbed all the way up, Lucy said, "Well, wasn't that nice?"

"That's good," Steve told Dustin. "Just show her you don't care."

Lucy raised her eyebrows. "What, you told him to act like that?"

Steve nodded. "Ladies come flocking when guys play hard to get."

"Really? I wouldn't take any love advice from you, Harrington, seeing as—"

"Okay, okay." Steve stopped messing with the lighter and put his hands in the air. "I just thought that maybe middle schoolers would need different approaches to love."

Lucy looked to Dustin, then nodded up to the roof. "Go tell her you're sorry and you were a dick."

     Dustin grew defensive, stammering out excuses, but Lucy shook her head decisively.

     "Now, Henderson."

     He flipped her off, then started to climb up the ladder to the roof, leaving Steve and Lucy alone once again. She collapsed into one of the raggedy bus seats, sitting diagonally from Steve, watching him play with the lighter.

     He glanced up at her. "You're good with them. The kids."

     She shrugged, exhaling a sigh. "I have practice."

     "Leo have girl problems?"

     Lucy tilted her head to the side, her lips parting. "Not... really. But they all act the same way when they're in love: They're all douchebags. Girls their age are not into it. Speaking from experience."

     "But girls our age are?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "No, Steve, no girls are into that."

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not a douchebag."

"Not anymore."

"Hey, I was never a douchebag," he said defensively, sitting up. "Not that I can remember, at least."

"Please," Lucy scoffed. "You were probably the biggest of them all."

"Was not!"

"Why did I break up with you?" Lucy wondered to herself. "Hm.. maybe because you were being a douchebag."

"Okay, one time," he said, holding up his pointer finger. "One time, I was a douche. Doesn't mean I always was."

"But you were."

He leaned forward in his seat challengingly. "I might've been annoying, but I definitely was no douchebag."

Lucy mirrored his body, leaning in. Their faces were half a foot apart—if that. "Just admit it, Steve. This is a stupid argument. You were a douchebag."

     "I'll admit it if you admit that you were bossy."

     "Bossy?" Lucy raised her eyebrows, her lips parting in shock. "I was not!"

     "Luce, you're trying to boss me into admitting I was a douchebag. Bossy."

     "Because you were a douchebag."

     "And you were bossy."

     "Douchebag."

     "Bossy."

     "Douche!"

     "Boss...y."

     "Jesus, Steve." She stood, throwing her hands in the air. "See, I every time I start think you're even a little bit mature—"

He cut her off when he stood as well and took hold of her face, one hand on her cheek and the other on the back of her head, bringing their lips together in a kiss. His lips were just as she remembered them to be; soft, easy to kiss, welcoming. They kissed as if they had been doing so forever, as if the year since their last kiss didn't exist.

     Lucy was startled, at first, and it didn't take long before she took a step back. Steve was looking down at her with some kind of satisfaction in his face. His lips were upturned in a faint smile. His eyes danced around Lucy's face, glowing.

     When he spoke, his voice was low, the seductive tone Lucy remembered from their relationship making a comeback. "How's that for mature?"

     "That was insanely immature, but just.. shut up." She put her hands on his face, bringing him back into the kiss. This time, they both pushed into it, Lucy's hands traveling through his hair and Steve's moving from her cheeks to her hair to her waist, and everywhere in between.

When they split apart the second time, they barely had time to catch their breath before Max and Dustin were barreling back down the ladder into the bus and shouting urgently. Lucy and Steve were forced apart when Max and Dustin landed between them.

"It's time!" Dustin yelled, rushing to the back of the bus to check the reinforcements.

     Lucy's heart rate picked up. She split from the center of the bus and separated two of the metal scraps covering the busted windows of the bus, peering outside curiously. The night was dark, the moon's glow shadowed by the clouds circling above the junkyard. A misty fog cascaded down from the trees.

     Lucy wasn't even sure what she was supposed to be looking for. Some part of her was waiting for a bear to pop out, like Max had said, and that all they were preparing to battle was some big animal. But then a rustling from the left caught her attention and her fingers pulled the scraps further apart so she could get a better look outside.

     At first, she didn't trust what she was seeing. The shape was dark against the pale backdrop of the night's fog. It had a sinewy body and a strange pointed head. It couldn't be a bear, or even Dustin's little pet lizard that had gone missing. It was just a trick of the light—or rather, the lack thereof. Her eyes were playing tricks on her.

     The meat she and Steve had laid out was still splattered in a goopy heap in the clearing, surrounded by a circle of gasoline Lucas and Max had planted. The creature didn't go to it. When Steve opened the door to the bus and stepped out into the junkyard, Lucy didn't understand what he was doing.

     When he stood over the pile of meat, twirling his spiked baseball bat, she understood. He was using himself as bait. The thing didn't charge him, like he'd been expecting it to. Instead it stayed low to the ground, like it was stalking him.

     That was when the others revealed themselves. They slunk through the salvage yard from all sides. Lucas crawled down from the top of the bus, panting, clutching a pair of binoculars in his hand.

     "There's more!" he said. It didn't take long for the rest of them to catch on.

     The four of them began to scream at Steve, trying to get his attention, telling him to look. To run. He heard the urgency of their shouts and turned just in time. One of the dark creatures lunged, and he barely got out of its way, throwing himself across the hood of a junked-out car.

     Then Steve was running, pelting back towards the bus, with the creatures scrambling after him. When they moved over the misty ground, Lucy knew for a fact she was not looking at something that belonged in the natural world.

     "Jesus," she muttered, as Dustin slammed the folding door to the bus just in time.

     Steve was breathless, but he held the bat like he was ready to throw himself into danger again. He looked over the rest of them. His eyes flickered over Lucy for a moment longer than the others. "Is everyone okay?"

Before anyone could reply, the bus began to shake, as if one of the monsters was rattling it like a baby's toy. It was like an earthquake. Lucy reached out for something to stabilize herself with and connected with Steve. He pulled her into him and wrapped an arm around her, yelling for Max to get away from the ladder.

The shaking stopped. Lucy looked up. The opening to get to the roof of the bus was still open. Indents began to trail all the way across the roof, like something heavy was walking above them. Max was peering up into the opening.

Suddenly, one of the creatures appeared in the opening. Its pointed head was no longer pointed; it opened into some sorts of flaps like an evil flower, revealing rows and rows of serrated teeth surrounding a roaring mouth. It bellowed right into Max's face. She screamed and Lucas pulled her back, getting her out of the way right in time for Steve to raise his bat.

"Out of the way!" he instructed, his voice loud and demanding. "Out of the way! You want some? Come get this!"

Just as the monster lifted one of its webbed feet and made to crawl down the ladder towards them, it paused. Its head turned to the right. Lucy took a tentative step forward to get a better view of the monster—but then, it was gone. It leapt off the bus and Lucy could hear it scrambling off into the distance with the rest of them.

Everybody stood up, confused. Steve was the first to open the bus door and take a step outside, scanning the surroundings.

All of the monsters were gone.

"What... happened?" Lucas said, his slingshot hanging limply at his side.

Max shrunk behind him. "I don't know."

Dustin was behind her, peering out from next to her shoulder. "Steve scared 'em off?"

"No," Steve said. "No way. They're going somewhere else."