"THIS IS WHAT WE CAME FOR?" Brandy uttered with a groan, tightening the arms crossed over her chest. Dustin's cellar was slammed shut with a padlock secure, supposedly it was that way because of the three foot long and growing baby Demogorgon he had discovered.

"Why did I have to be dragged into this?" Martha Baker hissed from Brandy's left. Her dark eyes were particularly glued to her best friend in dismay, considering it had been the Brooks girl's demand she be picked up and brought along.

Steve Harrington shuffled behind the two girls, his sweaty hand gripping the baseball bat apprehensively. "Look, let's just...get this over with."

"Yeah," Dustin mumbled in agreement, although his voice was small and meek. "I'll, um, stay up here. In case it tries to escape."

"It's okay," Brandy casted a teasing look at the child, unable to withhold herself from ruffling his curls. "You can say you're scared. Eve, you stay with Dustin."

The smaller Brooks girl, who wasn't particularly adamant about seeing another real life Demogorgon, nodded quietly.

Brandy shifted her eyes back to Steve, who had been nervous in the girl's presence all afternoon. "Why don't you hand me that bat, Harrington?"

The brunet teen hesitated, the weapon swinging lightly at his side. "Uh, I don't know, Brandy. It's not safe—"

"Oh, spare me the hero complex, Steve," Brandy spat, wrapping her cold-bitten fingers around the handle of the bat. "This is a softball bat anyway. It's meant to be held by a woman." The Brooks teen didn't notice the glowing smile coming from Martha at her comment.

Instead, Brandy was rearing herself up in case of a monster, her eyes steady on the cellar doors. "By the way, Dustin," she tossed the words recklessly over her shoulder. "Most boys your age would usually ask for a dog. You can never go wrong with a golden retriever."

Dustin didn't laugh at her comment, and she didn't wait for no such thing either. Instead, she pried the doors open rapidly, bracing the bat in front of her for an immediate attack. The silence that followed only made the dread worse in everyone's stomachs.

"So...we actually have to go in there, now?" Martha asked anxiously, her nails fiddling with the threads of her jacket.

"No biggie," Brandy heaved a sigh, though admittedly her chest was heavy with nerves as well. "Stay behind me."

"No way." Steve stepped forward, attempting to paw the bat away from Brandy.

"No, Steve, I—"

"Just let me have—"

"You don't have to always—"

"Brandy, please!" Steve yelled, briskly cutting the girl's protests short and making her stare up at him in the moonlight. He met those eyes warily, a hint of emotion in that gaze Brandy found herself not too fond of. "I don't want you to get hurt."

Another silence trailed after that, one tinged with awkwardness, and Brandy slowly unpeeled her fingers from the bat. She said nothing, but every bit of annoyance and frustration boiled deep inside her as she chose to follow behind Steve into the cellar.

It didn't take long for Steve to discover a slimy, jade-colored patch of material that looked like shedded skin. He scooped the flesh up with a curled lip, showing the others and watching as they all mimicked the same look of disgust. "Shit," Dustin cursed under his breath.

The light flickered on and the five saw nothing but empty stone walls and ransacked supplies, no doubt by the monster that had left the shedded skin. "Well, he's not here now," Brandy pointed out with a huff. "So in conclusion this was, in fact, a waste of time."

"This thing really ate your cat?" Martha asked once again in disbelief, eyeing the gooey flesh that had gotten entangled in the nails on Steve's bat.

"Yep," Dustin replied, also gawking incredulously at the unknown material. "He must've molted again. He's probably bigger by now."

"We've got another problem," Steve declared, regaining the group's attention as he shoved a flashlight towards a considerably large hole in the corner. The small ray of yellow light revealed a seemingly endless dirt tunnel leading away from the cellar. Everyone felt their anxiety deepening upon seeing it.

"If this thing...really is, a Demogorgon..." Eve mumbled.

"Then we're in deep shit," Dustin concluded for her, his glassy eyes trained on the tunnel.

Everyone but Brandy had been shocked into fearful quietness. "God, I still can't believe we wasted a day on this shit."

"Brandy, c'mon," Martha muttered, lightly shaking her head.

"We had a plan today, Mae! A pretty important one," she added timidly, suddenly aware of the unwelcome outsiders listening in.

"A plan? What plan?" Steve demanded.

"None of your business, Tom Cruise. It was just...it was important."

Dustin cut in. "Alright, well, this seems a little more important, don't you think?"

Brandy cocked her head at him in agitation, her boots scuffling against the dirty floor as she advanced towards him. "You know, you've got some mouth for an eighth grader—"

"An eighth grader who's experienced first hand what those things are capable of. Same as you. Whatever your plans were for today, they can wait. Hawkins is in danger."

Your friend is in danger. That's what Brandy wanted to scream at the determined curly-headed boy. To put him in his place and stress the importance of the investigation on her father. But she couldn't reveal Hopper's secret to anyone else. Besides, El was a strong individual and she knew that she could probably hold whoever off while this was dealt with.

"Fine," Brandy grumbled, folding her arms once again. "What do you want us to do?"

"We have to trap him," Dustin answered warily, catching eye with everyone as they listened. "I think I know a good place. Steve, can you get us two buckets of cow meat?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

~

The following day was as cold as ever, and the lack of clouds in the sky mirrored Brandy's thinning patience. Especially when she had to meet the reserved but quietly pining eyes of Steve Harrington again, who was now tossing clumps of raw beef onto the train tracks behind them.

"God, this feels so stupid," Brandy groaned to Martha and Eve, who paced evenly at both of her flanks. "How do we even know this will work? Setting up a trap that goes all the way across town like this?"

Martha heaved her shoulders in a small shrug. "It's like Dustin said. Hawkins could be in some real deep shit if we don't at least try."

Brandy huffed through her nostrils, her agitated silence enough to show she somewhat agreed. Her dark eyes flew behind her again, eyeing the two muttering boys warily. She could tell by their tucked heads and the occasional glances from both of them that their conversation involved her.

"God, he's so frustrating."

"I don't know, Dustin's a pretty smart kid." Martha chimed in amusement.

"I meant Steve, dummy."

Her smile was cracked and crooked. "I know you did, dummy. You can't seem to stop talking about him."

"I—"

"What's going on with you two anyway?" Eve piped up, continuing to play footie with a gray rock dancing at her feet. Her eyes didn't gaze up to meet the slightly gawked face of her sister.

"Uh, nothing...nothing anymore."

"C'mon Brandy, don't lie," Martha pursed her lips together with a slight tinge of amusement to her look.

"I'm serious! I've been avoiding his stupid ass for days. Honestly," the girl hesitated, suddenly wishing she had a rock of her own to entertain herself with. "I'm kind of glad he didn't kiss me back."

"Really?" Martha's inquired in astonishment.

"Yeah. I guess. I don't know, I've been thinking. Like..." Her hands began to grow balmy under the layer of her coat pockets. "Like maybe I never even liked him in the first place."

"Seriously?" Even the Baker girl was unconvinced.

"C'mon, Mae! We are nothing alike! He's a fucking athlete for Christ's sake. The most athletic thing I've ever done is climb out of a window to skip fifth period." Brandy shook her head, stealing another look at the brunet teen behind the three girls.

"Well yeah, but last summer—"

"Last summer was nothing," Brandy cut the girl off briskly, tossing her knives with a quick gesture towards her younger sister.

Eve scoffed at the threatening tone of her older sister. "I'm not stupid, Brandy. I know you were totally boning him."

Martha's mouth latched open, a loud bubbly laugh falling out from her rosy lips. Brandy was trembling with maroon, shooting gaping eyes at the Brooks twin. "Hey! You make it sound like we did it often! God, why couldn't you just pretend you were oblivious?"

"She has a point though," Martha chirped, her voice still bright with laughter. "Everyone thought you really liked the guy."

Without much of a thought, the Brooks girl let out a growl as she kicked at the gravel under her sneakers. "Yeah, that was the point."

Martha's eyebrows shot up as confusion spread onto her face like a sheet. "What do you mean?"

Brandy felt her chest ache with regret, mentally scolding herself for letting such a private thought tumble out. "I mean, I just...I dunno. I don't care much for what people think, but you and I both know the type of shit people say about me for not dating any boys. About us, for that matter. And when Steve starting showing interest...I don't know. I felt like I needed to like him back."

"Oh," was all Martha could really say.

"I mean, I think I liked the fact that Steve liked me. I mean, not just because he's like, the king of Hawkins High, but also just because a boy was finally showing interest in me. It made me feel not so hopeless and untouchable, you know? Like I wasn't a complete and total freak."

A silence fell between the three girls. Eve had barely been paying attention once Steve's name came up, especially when there shadowy monsters on her mind. But Martha was genuinely surprised, staring at her friend speechlessly.

"You've been thinking about this a lot, huh, B?"

Brandy couldn't even look at her, feeling embarrassed for some odd reason. "Yeah. Guess so."

Martha gazed for a moment more, wondering if the brunette would gain the courage to meet her wandering eye. But she didn't, and the Baker girl chose to let out a repressed sigh. "Well, don't worry. I'm sure the day will come when you find a guy you genuinely like, and not just because he's the first boy that ever picked you out."

"Woah," Brandy chuffed, smiling enough to show her small dimples. "Kind of brutal, Mae."

"Hey, I can only on say that because I myself have never been looked at by a male specimen either."

The girls laughed together, heads tilted toward the sky. And Steve watched the two with an ache, completely unaware of the revelation the Brooks girl had been making.

The junkyard looked the same as ever, littered with broken vehicles and other items that were, well, junk. And Brandy should know. She'd spent a furious amount of time cradled in the heart of this place, nursing a joint or whatever bottle of alcohol her stoner friends had brought. It had been a while since she'd done that, though. Especially with all the shadows dancing back into her life.

Steve stood beside her, his lips puckered with confidence as Dustin glanced up at the teen boy for approval. "Oh yeah," he smirked through his sunglasses, and Brandy almost wanted to smack him. "Yeah, this'll do. Good call, dude."

Brandy huffed out another sigh of air as she followed the two boys as they tossed down more meat. "So what are we doing again? Turning that bus into our personal fortress?"

"Yeah, we have to. The meat leads Dart here and we hide to make sure we don't get eaten," Dustin replied nonchalantly, like the idea of an inter-dimensional monster making you its supper was casual.

"I said medium well!" A distant voice called as the final contents of the meat buckets were dumped into one gross, heaping pile. Everyone turned their heads and Brandy recognized the boy Lucas Sinclair, Rene Campbell, and a ginger trailing alongside him.

"Who's the redhead?" Brandy mumbled curiously, looking to her younger sister for answers.

"That's Max," she answered almost carelessly, and judging by the inquisitive flare in her eyes she was probably wondering more why her best friend was tagging along with the two.

"Hold on," Dustin intervened, a serious spark catching flame in his gaze. "Lucas, man. Really?"

The Sinclair boy furrowed his brow at his friend, obviously confused by the curly-haired boy's sudden frustration. "What?"

The Henderson didn't allow for explanation, instead lurching out and gripping the boy's wrist tightly. Brandy suppressed a grin as he dramatically dragged Lucas towards a more secluded spot, determined to chew him out for something.

"Rene? What are you doing here?" Eve hustled forward, eyeing the blue-eyed girl curiously.

"I was helping Lucas with Max," she answered vaguely, and while her response was obscure Brandy could summon a pretty good answer for what it meant. And it was something she was very uninterested in, so she careened towards the redhead of the discussion instead.

"You're Max? New kid?" She asked, not entirely ambitious to talk to the stranger but it was something to keep away from Steve.

"Uh, yeah. Who are you?" Her voice was gruff and rough around the edges, her freckled expression squinting at Brandy with puzzlement.

"Brandy Brooks. You probably know my twin siblings, huh?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, mostly Eli."

"Ah, yes. My writer nerd of a brother," Brandy began scrambling forward in the dirt, looking for loose scraps of metal to collect for the bus. "It's rather unfortunate he couldn't be here with us. Probably off somewhere with Mike and Will."

"Yeah, that's usually how it works. Although now I don't have to worry about them having so many secrets."

"Huh?" Brandy blinked at her in bewilderment.

"You know about the monster stuff too, right? And...the girl?"

Oh my God. No wonder Dustin looked upset when he saw this girl at Lucas's heels. She was a complete outsider to all of this. Until now. "Oh...uh, yeah. Just your typical teenage bullshit, you know? Flesh eating monsters, kids with superpowers. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Yeah," Max answered humorously just as Martha tumbled back into view, carrying her own set of scrapped materials.

"Found some good stuff, Mae?"

The Baker girl huffed in rasped amusement, dropping the rusted metal sheets at her feet. "Hopefully it's good enough to save our asses from whatever Dustin's pet has turned into."

There was a distant clang that made all three girls jump, and Brandy noticed a distressed Steve chastising Lucas and Dustin for not helping. For once, Brandy had to agree with the brunet boy. Time was ticking, the sun was slinking into the ground, and death felt very much possible as night crept closer. All of it was making Brandy anxious.

Should've just went to the fucking lab.

Luckily enough, three teenagers and five tweens were just enough to get the job done. By the time stars blanketed the sky, fog crawling on the soggy grass, everyone was crowded into the fortified bus with impatience. The only two not slumped in the darkness of the vehicle were Lucas and Max, who were perched on the roof waiting to give the signal that Dart had arrived. If said signal would ever come, that is.

"You know, this plan has quite a lot of holes in it," Brandy spoke out into the silence, puncturing it harshly. "I mean, what if the little shit just doesn't like beef? Or he just went home, to the Upside Down? Those portals pop up anywhere."

"It'll work. Have some faith, Bran." Steve cocked a side smile at her, and she was too tired to even argue with it anymore. They would probably have to have a conversation about it sooner or later, but not when a large monster is coming their way. Supposedly.

"I still can't believe you ever kept that thing," Rene cast a bemused look at Dustin, who was pacing the small area anxiously. "Most people would be just fine with a dog."

Brandy glowed at that. "That's what I said!"

"Look, I didn't know, alright?" Dustin's voice was tinted with sourness, and even in the dimly lit bus Brandy could see the sharpness of his eyes at Rene. "If you're just gonna make fun of me this whole time, why don't you go home?"

The Campbell girl's face was quickly poisoned with hurt, and she scrambled to her feet rather quickly. "Geez, okay. Sorry for trying to make light of our situation. Maybe I'll have better luck upstairs, where's there's no assholes around." The girl descended up the ladder without another word.

An awkward silence drenched the remaining figures inside the bus, until Dustin found the courage to speak again. "Steve, you give pretty shit girl advice."

The Harrington bucked up at that. "What? No I do not!"

Brandy exchanged a glance with Martha, who was pressed into her left flank and fidgeting with her fingers quietly. The Brooks teen chirped up, "What are you guys talking about?" Her words went unnoticed, though.

"Oh really? So you think that went well? Because I think I just pissed off one of my best friends." Dustin threw back.

"Well, obviously she's not gonna be happy at first! You just gotta give it time. Let her realize she actually kinda digs it. Then she'll come falling into your arms."

"Right. Look, I told you earlier, being a careless jerk doesn't really work with girls."

"Oh, because you're the expert, Henderson?"

Brandy's hands were frantically flying through the air. "Woah, hold on!" Her voice was loud enough to catch the attention of everyone inside the bus, but the brunette kept her fiery eyes latched on Steve. "Let me get this straight. You told him to say that shit?"

Steve looked embarrassed now, shaking fingers reaching up to paw through his oily hair. "Well, not exactly. I just...told him girls like it when guys pretend they don't care."

"Are you fucking kidding me, Steve?" She cried out incredulously. "You honestly think that works? Is that why you didn't kiss me back at Halloween?" Now she had said too much, and she knew so from the way everyone shifted uncomfortably around her, but she didn't care. It wasn't a secret there was history brewing between the two.

"No! No. You're...you're different—"

"Right. Because all women deserve to be treated like shit unless you really, really care about them? Because women don't deserve to have men respect them and be considerate of their feelings?"

The boy had fallen into shameful silence, and he deserved it. Brandy was entirely unbelieving of what she was hearing from him. She sighed, however, and shifted her attention to the pathetic Harrington protégé standing near him. "Look, Dustin. Next time you want girl advice go to an actual girl, okay? Men don't know shit. And you better apologize to Rene at some point tonight. You know...when monsters aren't trying to eat our faces off."

"Sure thing."

Before the conversation could continue, and it probably would've resulted in Brandy ranting about misogyny and the patriarchy, a shrill screech sounded in the distance. It was enough to make chills rattle everyone's spines as Steve hustled towards the gaps in the windows.

"Oh my God, I think I'm gonna poop," Brandy muttered under her breath.

"Brandy," Martha replied, too distressed to sound amused.

"Sorry! My bowels get fucked up when I'm nervous, you know that!"

Dustin cast a worried glance towards the small opening in the bus ceiling. "Lucas, what's going on?"

"Hold on!" He replied with a loud yell, making Brandy slam her boots into the metal floorboards in frustration.

"That monster is gonna eat us alive if he doesn't stop screaming!"

Of course, Lucas couldn't hear her demands, however. "Ten o'clock!" He shouted. "Ten o'clock!"

Steve, Dustin, and even Eve crowded around the tight gaps in the window shutters, watching whatever strange creature was lurking in the fog. But Brandy stayed furiously glued to her spot in the floor, and Martha refused to leave her.

"I am not looking. I am not looking," she mumbled anxiously, her teeth beginning to graze the hard bone of her knuckles.

"He's not taking the bait. Why's he not taking the bait?" Steve eyed Dustin warily.

The Henderson didn't move from the window, still watching whatever was out there. Brandy really didn't want to know. "Maybe he's not hungry."

Even from her spot on the floor, Brandy could instantly see the shift in Steve's posture, his shoulders growing slack with an epiphany. "Maybe he's sick of cow."

"See? I fucking told you guys!" She whisper-yelled through gritted teeth, which had begun to chatter from her nerves. Martha had wound her arm tightly through Brandy's in attempts to relax her, but it was ineffective.

It was quite apparent she was breaking down of some sorts, and if she wasn't so caught up in her anxieties she would've felt embarrassed. Especially since she hadn't been this frightened during her last encounter with a Demogorgon. "He doesn't like beef! You guys could've switched it up. Maybe bought some fucking pork!"

"It's fine," Steve uttered, shuffling across the creaking bus with newfound determination.

"Steve? Steve. What are you doing?" Dustin demanded with fearful impatience, noting the way the older boy had gripped onto the bat of nails.

"Just get ready," the Harrington teen replied, tossing his lighter to the curly-headed boy.

"What?" Brandy had caught on. "You're going out there? Are you a fucking idiot? Where's your brain cells?"

"Brandy, relax," Steve's hands reached out and gently brushed the fabric of her sleeves, and Brandy hadn't even noticed that she'd somehow scrambled her way off the floor and towards him. "I got this, okay? I may be shit at talking to girls, but I'm pretty good at kicking Demogorgon ass."

If they had been anywhere else, she would've definitely scolded him for the level of cheesiness in that line. But they were swamped in a fog-filled junkyard, ravaged by a hungry monster, so she just gulped and nodded. She ran to the window this time, watching cautiously as the boy's figure wandered closer to the slimy creature nearby.

She watched all of it pass by like a blur, Steve swinging his bat tauntingly one instant, the monster lunging forward the next, until it became very, very clear that Dart wasn't alone.

There were more of them, and Brandy felt a new urge to act propel in her heart. If there had ever been a time for convenience, she was glad it happened now, with the rusty crowbar she found and the fresh courage gripping her body.

"Fuck off!" Brandy shrieked as her sneakers landed on the soft, padded grass, charging towards one of the ugly creatures attacking Steve. She lifted the crowbar over her head and slammed it down hard, the two prongs digging into the slimy shoulder of her enemy. It let out a pained wail that singed her ears, and she had to fight back the urge to skid away.

"Brandy!" Steve groaned, sliding off the car hood he had previously swerved into and moving towards her. "What are you doing?"

"Helping you, dumbass!" She answered in an irritated yell, driven by muscle-ripping fear as she swung her weapon at another one of the strange dog-like animals. "Why are there more of them?"

"I don't know, but look!" Steve pointed his thumb back towards the bus, where a Demogorgon of sorts had clambered its way onto the roof.

"Shit. Go, go, go!" Brandy harshly jabbed her shoulder into the small of Steve's back, pushing him towards the bus as several more monsters began to nip at their heels. She had just enough time to close the door behind them before a slimy head collided with the sheet of metal. Her body stood guard at the entrance as Steve sprinted forward to attack the creature curled up at the ceiling entrance, and there was so much noise and screaming her body was shaken with confusion and fear.

And as quickly as it began, it ended, with the noise fading away as several unearthly bodies crawled away from the bus and back into the darkness.

"Did we scare them off?" Martha asked wondrously as they warily stalked out of the bus and into the open clearing. They could still catch the silhouettes of their previous attackers as they slunk back towards the woods.

"I don't know," Steve replied breathlessly, and he let out a choked gasp when an iron pair of arms was suddenly wrapped around his waist like a set of bars. It was especially shocking when he saw they belonged to Brandy.

"Fucking God! I thought we were dinner back there, Harrington," Brandy pulled away from the hug quickly, panting as she gawked up at him.

She wasn't aware of what she was doing, how she had made the aching in the boy's heart return with a simple hug, but she couldn't have known. All she knew was that she almost died next to a boy that, even though she didn't like him, she still cared for him, even if it was hard to admit.

"Um, guys, I think I have an idea of where those things are headed," Eve spoke up, which was remarkable given how fearfully silent she had been. Everyone turned to her, listening, and she didn't wait to give her answer. "The lab, right?"

Of course. It would make sense. That place was, after all, where everything had started. Where the wall had ripped open and been replaced with the first portal to the deadly dimension.

"She's right," Martha piped up, and everyone fell into agreement.

Steve eyed everyone, assuming leadership position as the woods stretched out before them. "Let's go."