10.

"ᵃʳᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ʳᵉᵃᵈʸ ᶠᵒʳ ᵗʰⁱˢ? ᵃʳᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ʰᵃⁿᵍⁱⁿᵍ ᵒⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵉᵈᵍᵉ ᵒᶠ ʸᵒᵘʳ ˢᵉᵃᵗ?"
—ᵃⁿᵒᵗʰᵉʳ ᵒⁿᵉ ᵇⁱᵗᵉˢ ᵗʰᵉ ᵈᵘˢᵗ ᵇʸ qᵘᵉᵉⁿ

The trio had finally made it to the old junkyard. Looking down at it from the top of the hill, they observed what they were working with. The different scraps of metal and old bus and cars would do. Steve let out a sigh as he continued to look around.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, this will do." Steve nodded his head and took off his sunglasses. "This will do just fine." He began to walk down the hill away from Dustin and Amber who gave each other a look.

"Well, I would hope so. This is all we got." Amber commented as Dustin began to snicker a little bit.

"Good call, dude." Steve complimented Dustin's choice of location which caused the younger boy to smile.

"Let's get this show on the road, Dusty." Amber said, patting his head following Steve down the small hill as he continued to drop the trail of meat.

*

Amber had Steve's sunglasses resting on her head as she watched him and Dustin pour out the remainder of the meat in one big pile. Cringing at the way it all flopped down onto the ground, she was holding back her vomit.

"Maybe, I'll go vegan for a while." Amber commented, backing away slightly.

"I said medium-well!" A new voice yelled which pulled all of their attention in the same direction. Looking up to see Lucas waving at them with Max Mayfield beside him. Amber cursed under her breath seeing the girl Lucas dragged further into it all.

"Who's that?" Steve questioned as he saw the unfamiliar redhead. He then turned to look at Dustin to see an unreadable look on his face.

"Let the kids talk, we should start getting things together." Amber told Steve as she ushered him away.

"Who is it though?" He asked, causing Amber to roll her eyes at him being nosey.

"It's the girl he likes." Amber whispered back, Steve had a flash of realization on his face.

"She's also Billy's step-sister." Amber added before walking away from Steve to go to Max who stood there awkwardly as Lucas and Dustin hid behind one of the old cars to have a little meeting.

"Sinclair dragged you into all of this?" Amber questioned.

"You believe all this shit?" Max asked, Amber hit her over the head.

"Language. And yes I believe it, I experienced something similar to this last year. I have the scars to prove it." Amber said.

"That big one on your side?" Max wondered.

"Yup."

"You said it was a dog." Max told her.

"And if I said anything differently you would've told everyone I was crazy. But it's not like I could've told you the truth anyway. Technically I was told by the government to keep it hush, hush, or I would be in deepshit." Amber informed Max.

"Language." Max exclaimed as Amber rolled her eyes.

"I'm older than you, don't start."

"Hey, will you two start boarding up the bus with that pile over there?" Steve asked the two girls with a little bit of sass.

"Whatever you say, Harrington." Amber went to salute but flipped him off.

"Real mature, Hayes." He commented as the girl turned away from him to show she didn't care about what else he was going to say at that moment.

The two girls continued to board up the bus with random scraps of metal they found. Making light conversation as they did so. Amber caught Max looking over at Steve who was muttering to himself which caused her to chuckle.

"You like what you're seeing, kid?" Amber raised an eyebrow as Max scoffed.

"As if. He seems like a douche." Max tried to brush it off which made Amber laugh.

"You should've seen him last year. But he's not that bad now." Amber shrugged her shoulders.

"Is that the guy you used to be friends with?" Max asked.

"Yup."

"The one who you–."

"Yes, Max. Enough about that. What's going on with you and those two idiots over there who are quite literally fighting for your attention." Amber pointed over to the two boys peeking through the window of the old car at them. They ducked down fast once they realized they had been caught.

"Nothing. There's nothing going on. They are nice company. I was hanging out with Lucas earlier. He's been trying to keep me in the loop." Max said, the older girl smiled as she watched Max blush a bit. A big bang was heard which caused the two girls to see Steve standing by the car the boys were hiding behind.

"Hey! Dickheads! How come the only ones helping me are Amber and this random girl? We lose light in 40 minutes. Let's go. Let's go, I said!" Steve demanded the two younger boys.

"All right, asshole! God!"

"Okay! Stupid!" The both of them muttered.

"Dustin Henderson, Language!" Amber yelled as she popped her head out from inside the bus. "Also. You tell them, Harrington!" Lucas started to giggle a bit at Amber yelling at Dustin but when the older girl turned to look at him, he instantly stopped.

"That's what I thought, Sinclair. You're lucky you're not near me right now or I would slap you upside the head for dragging Max into this." Amber pointed at the boy who instantly ran to follow Steve instead of helping the two girls.

*

The group had all worked their asses off as the sun began to slowly set. Once they had gotten everything done that they needed too, Amber stood outside of the bus, waiting for them all to file in. Once everyone had stepped in, Steve shut the door and they began to start the waiting game.

Amber had handed out snacks to Max and Lucas and waters so they could have something while they waited. When Steve began to pout about them getting a snack and then seeing Dustin already chowing down on some crackers, Amber had to snatch his backpack from him to unzip the other part of the pocket to show him his snacks.

"What did you think I was doing with your backpacks this morning? Packing it with rocks?" Amber asked him as he sent a little glare her way before opening up his own crackers and water.

"Remember, throw your trash into one of the backpacks after so it doesn't mess any of this up." Amber sternly told all of them before she sat down besides Steve on the floor of the bus.

The sun had disappeared, they all were becoming bored and a little on edge. Lucas had made his way up onto the top of the bus to keep a look out with his binoculars while the other four stayed inside. Dustin was pacing while Steve kept flicking his lighter open. The actions were slowly getting on Amber's nerves as she clamped her hand down on Steve's lighter to stop him from continuing.

"So you really fought one of these things before?" Max asked as she looked at Steve and Amber. Steve nodded his head, going to use the lighter again until Amber completely ripped it from his hands to put in her pocket.

"And you're, like, totally, 100% sure it wasn't a bear?" Max wondered.

"I would know if it was a bear that tried to kill me, Max. And I literally played hockey with the one we are currently trying to lure here. It's real." Amber said.

"Why are you even here if you don't believe us? Just go home." Dustin snapped at Max which caused Amber's eyes to flicker over to the boy with slight confusion at the outburst.

"Geesh. Someone's cranky. Past your bedtime?" Max asked before heading up the ladder to get away from Dustin. Steve was smirking a bit before looking at Dustin.

"That's good. Just show her you don't care." Steve said proudly. Amber hit him hard in the shoulder.

"I don't." Dustin told him. Steve winked at him which caused Amber to hit him again.

"You're unbelievable." She scoffed before she got up and moved herself to the other end of the bus to distance herself from the two boys.

"Wha– what did I do? Come on, Hayes." Steve called out to the girl who ignored him as she kept her eyes focused on looking through the small peep holes in the bus.

While the other three were still down in the bus, Lucas and Max had situated themselves on the top. The two began to get in a bit of a personal talk, as Max couldn't help but let some of her feelings she kept built up inside, out.

"My step brother's always been a dick, but now he's just angry... all the time. This past summer, he was actually decent because he met Amber. Even my stepdad liked her. He would always tell Billy that she was the best thing to happen to him and would be the only good thing he ever had." Max told Lucas as she stared out at the fog.

"Billy for a moment thought that he was finally doing something right, his dad was proud of him. But then summer began to wind down, and Neil began to tell Billy he needed to get his act together because a girl like Amber wouldn't put up with his shit. And then came around the time she was leaving and instead of the long distance, they called it off. Neil went mental, going off on Billy, saying it was his fault Amber left and didn't want to be with Billy. And that he was a screw-up. Billy got so upset and then he became so angry. He flipped the switch and it all went downhill." Max explained the details to Lucas, needing to get some of it off her chest that she had experienced listening and watching it unfold.

"When we moved here, I overheard Neil talking about Amber to Billy and Billy saying he saw her at school. Neil told him to fix his shit, but then Billy started to bring over all of these random girls. And then I realized it was probably because a part of what Neil said was true. Amber wouldn't want him anymore, well, not as he is now. He's different now. Amber doesn't want or need that anger. She was good for him and he was good for her, but only for a limited time. I think they both knew that deep down."

"Some things just don't work out for the better. It's weird to even think about Amber giving someone like him the time of day. He's an asshole." Lucas said.

"Yeah. He had a soft spot for her though. It was like he removed all that suit of armor around him for her. Amber was the only good thing he had that was normal. But once she was gone and his dad got worse, it got placed back up. This time permanently. He's just filled with so much anger now. I know that I can be a jerk sometimes... and I do not want to be like him. Ever. I guess I'm angry too with everything, but I'm sorry." Max apologized to Lucas before wiping at her eyes to make sure she didn't cry.

"Hey, you're nothing like your brother, okay? He lost himself in his anger. You won't, Max. You're not like him. And you have friends there for you,... you have me. You're cool and different. And you're super smart. And you're, like, totally, tubular." Lucas tried to make light of the conversation as Max chuckled.

"Nobody actually says that, you know." She told him.

"Well, I do now." Lucas confirmed.

"And it makes you seem really cool." Max said.

"I like talking with you, Mad Max."

"And I like talking with you, stalker." Max smiled as they heard first a cough below them. They turned to see Amber at the bottom of the ladder.

"I only got to hear that last part which was so adorable, but can you guys stay on task right now?" Amber questioned them with a teasing look which caused Max to roll her eyes. Then a loud screech echoed in the air which caused the older girl to step off the ladder to look out as Steve and Dustin did the same thing at the other end of the bus.

"I'm not seeing anything but the fog right now." Amber announced in annoyance.

"You see him?" Dustin asked Steve.

"No. Like Hayes said, there's fog." Steve told the younger boy.

"Lucas, what's going on?" Dustin called up to his friend.

"Hold on! I've got eyes! Ten o'clock! Ten o'clock!" Lucas shouted to them as Steve pointed.

"There." He said as Amber moved over towards them, leaning over Steve's shoulder to get a look.

"What's he doing?" Dustin questioned.

"I don't know. He's not taking the bait. Why is he not taking the bait?" Steve wondered.

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

"Or his taste buds are changing and no longer prefers the cow." Amber brought up and Steve nodded his head in agreement. Steve backed away from the two which caused them to turn to look at him confused.

"Steve? Steve, what are you doing?" Dustin asked. Amber shook her head in disbelief.

"Harrington. I swear to god, you're not going out there right now. What I said the other night about you being the bait was a joke." Amber said as she walked over to him as he grabbed his bat.

"You have the lighter, just get ready." Steve told her, she gave him a look.

"Steve..."

"Is the Amber Hayes going to tell me to be careful? I'm touched." Steve said, placing his hand to his chest. She slightly shoved him.

"You jerk. Just make sure you don't get eaten." She told him as he nodded his head.

"I'll try my best." He told her before he opened the bus door and walked out, Dustin shut it behind Steve as they rushed over to the side to keep their eyes on Steve. Steve's whistling filled the bus, trying to get dart's attention.

"What's he doing?" Max asked as she came down the ladder.

"Expanding the menu." Dustin told her.

"God, he's such an idiot." Amber muttered.

"He's insane." Max added.

"He's awesome." Dustin smiled.

"Steve, watch out!" They all heard Lucas yell which caused Amber to frantically look all around.

"Three o'clock!" Lucas called out.

"Shit." Amber shouted, tossing Dustin the lighter and snatching her bat from the floor.

"Lucas, get your ass down here!" Amber yelled before she opened up the bus doors.

"Steve abort!" Dustin shouted as Amber charged out of the bus. Instantly smacking at a demodog full force, it got thrown across the yard as Steve hit another one. One had managed to scratch at Amber which caused her to let out a shriek before she swung the bat again in anger and pain. Steve came closer to the girl to hit the next one before motioning for her to start heading back to the bus. She began to quickly back away before she saw Steve turn around and they sprinted back towards the open doors. Once the older teenagers made it back on the bus, the door slammed shut on the creatures. The bus shook under their force as all of the younger kids held onto the seat for support.

"Are they rabid or something?"

"They can't get in! They can't get in!" Lucas yelled as the kids began to freak out as one of the creatures arms broke through, clawing around trying to get to them but Steve started smacking it with the bat. The kids ran to the other side of the bus as Dustin tried to call for help. The kids kept jumping around to get away from the monsters hitting against the bus.

While Amber was keeping her guard up and Steve was dealing with the demodog at the front of the bus, she felt it as instinct as she quickly turned to face Max. Seeing the redhead girl looking up in fright before she screamed. Amber charged forward, shielding Max from the demodog on the roof. It screeched at her while she stood her ground, bat in her hand ready but she kept her eyes on the creature the entire time as if they were having a stare down. Then something in the distance stole the demodogs attention as they all seemed to run off. Silence had consumed the entire bus, only hearing the howling off in the distance.

Steve made his way out of the bus cautiously before Amber followed him, both of their bats in their hands still as they looked around. The kids followed behind the older teenagers in confusion.

"What happened?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know." Max replied.

"Amber scared them off with her death stare and Steve with the bat?" Dustin questioned.

"No." Amber said, even though Dustin might not have been too far off with one of them.

"No way. They're going somewhere." Steve told them.