Chapter Seventeen

Later that night we had formed a plan. Together; we used Joyce's shed to build a safe house in, making sure that the walls were completely covered so that Will doesn't know where he is just in case he sends the mind flayer after us. We had completely cleared out the shed.

We leave Mike, Hopper, Joyce, and Jonathan in the shed along with a tied-up Will to the chair. A bright light beams on him; as he's going to be investigated by them. We figured those were the closest people that Will had, and it was a small space, so we couldn't fit them all.

Now, Steve, Dustin, Lucas, Nancy, Max, and I all wait inside. For something. Anything to happen. I want to know what was happening, but Will doesn't know me at all. He'll freak out when he sees me.

I stare out the kitchen window anxiously, biting my lip. I lean against the counter now, Nancy was in the same room with me. Steve was in the other room practising swings with his stupid bat, and Dustin was in one room. Max and Lucas were sitting down; opposite each other in the hallway.

"If he finds out where we are..." Max begins to Lucas. "Will he sends those dogs after us?"

"He won't find out," Lucas insisted.

"Yeah, but," Max softly said. "If he does..."

"Judgement day," was all he said.

I crack my knuckle and walked over to the couch. I was exhausted; I need sleep. But I can't when our world is about to end. So, I decided to just sit on the couch, grab the spare blanket that was on the edge of the couch and wrap it over my body.

I curled up in a little ball, pouting a little as I lay there; my head resting on the armrest. My eyes flickered over to Steve who walked over to me with a concerned looked on his face, I sit up a little bit and he sat down next to me.

"Hey," he speaks softly. He allows me to lay my head on his lap and he gently combs my hair.

"Hi," I whispered back.

"You okay?" I shrugged at his question. "Go to sleep, if you want, I'll wake you up if something important happens."

I gulped and tried to comply, I closed my eyes but every time I do; one of those Demogrogons is staring right back at me. My heart pounds at the thought. I don't need another panic attack. I've already had two tonight. I don't think I could handle the embarrassment anymore.

Suddenly, the door flies open; Dad storms in with some good news. Joyce, Mike, and Jonathan were behind him. He grabs a piece of paper, from the table.

"What happened?" Dustin asked and I got up along with Steve, rushing over to the tables with the others.

"I think he was talking, just not with words," Dad informed us. He draws a series of dots and a dash.

"What is that?" Steve asked.

"Morse code." A series of people replied including me, making Steve feel embarrassed. He glanced over at me and I gave him a comforting smile.

"H-E-R-E." Dad writes as the others chorused it. "Will's still in there. He's talking to us." Dad gives Joyce a look. Jonathan went to grab his boom box from his room. Our plan from here on out is that Mike, Jonathan, Dad, and Joyce went into the shed to distract Will and try to get him to talk to us more.

On the other side, Steve, Max, Dustin, Lucas, and Nancy are here with me, surrounding the table as we listened to Hopper on the radio spelling out words.

Eventually, we got the word CLOSE GATE.

I flinched when the phone goes off and I prayed Will didn't hear that. The phone goes off again, and Dustin curses as he picked up the phone again. But Nancy ripped it off the wall.

"Do you think he heard that?" Max asked.

"It's just a phone, right?" Steve asked. "Could be anywhere."

A monster was screeching in the background and I couldn't help myself, I grabbed Steve's hand out of comfort. He takes my hand and squeezes it tightly.

"That's not good," Dustin commented.

Dad then bursts through the door, giving me a near heart attack. Will was knocked out as Jonathan carried him, Joyce, Mike, and Jonathan racing in afterwards. Hopper comes in with a hunting rifle.

"Hey, hey, back away from the windows!" Dad demanded and we all backed away from the windows. Jonathan had put Will on the couch. "Do you know how to use this?" Hopper asked Jonathan, holding out a rifle.

"What?" Jonathan stammers.

"Can you use this?" Dad stresses.

"I can." I stepped forward. Dad tosses me the gun. Standing with the whole group, we faced the door. Dad and I aimed the riffles at the living room windows.

"Where are they?" Max asked. Behind Dad, Lucas aims his slingshot. Steve was gripping onto the spiked bat and Mike held a candlestick. 

We turned to the dining room window hearing a loud screech. "What are they doing?" Nancy asked.

"I don't know, maybe one of us should I don't know, go check it out or something?" I sarcastically respond. "Nancy, do you volunteer?" Nancy gives me an offended look. "Sorry, Nance. You know how I get under certain pressure—"

"Jun," Steve whispered, giving me a look, telling me to shut up.

"Right, sorry," I murmur. The bushes rustle outside the window. Another snarl was heard and we turned back to the lounge window. Suddenly, it all went quiet.

I let out a small cry as a Demogorgon flies through the window, lying on the lounge floor. I clung onto Steve, as everyone else lets out a yell. Wait, I have the gun. Dad inches slowly towards it. It seemed to be... Dead.

"Holy shit," Dustin commented.

"Is it dead?" Max softly asked.

Dad touches the creature with his foot, it's slimy head flops back. He relaxed his grip on the gun. Everyone turned around as we heard the bolt of the door unlock. They all raised their weapons.

The door chain slides unlock. The door opens and someone enters the house. Dad lowered his gun, a girl was standing there. That girl's hair is slicked back and her eyes are darkened with makeup, with blood dripping from her nose. I frowned as I recognised her—what the hell happened to El?

Mike and the girl stepped close to each other. "Eleven," Mike says, completely shocked.

"Mike." Eleven gasped, gripping onto him. They hug, shutting their eyes as they hold each other.

"Is that..." Max mumbled to Dustin and Lucas. Dustin and Lucas nod. Mike and Eleven end their emotional brace.

"I never gave up on you," Mike told her. "I called you every night. Every night for—"

"356 days," Eleven concluded and I smiled a little. It was cute for the first two weeks, but then it got overly annoying.  "I heard."

"Why didn't you tell me you were there?" Mike questioned, hurt in his voice. 

"Because I wouldn't let her." Dad stepped forward, glancing over at El. Mike turns back as Dad stepped forward. "The hell is this? Where you been?"

"Where have you been?" El fired back and I lowered my rifle. Dad wraps her up in a hug.

"You've been hiding her." Mike realises, his mouth widening. "You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike shoves Dad slightly forward.

"Hey!" Dad snapped. "Let's talk. Alone." Mike glares as the two left the room.

"El!" I rushed over to her and hugged her tightly, she hugged me back. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine." El pulls back, smiling. "Are you okay?"

"Better now," I kissed her forehead. "Now that my little sister's with me." She couldn't help but grin at that comment. Dustin and Lucas rushed over and she hugs them both.

"We missed you," Lucas tells her.

"I missed you, too," El replies back.

"We talked about you every day," Dustin quickly said. El studies Dustin. She reaches out and touched his front teeth.

"Teeth." El softly says.

"What?"

"You have teeth," El tells him and he grinned.

"Oh. You like these purls?" He purrs and I cringed as I stepped back to where Steve was. He wrapped an arm around me, pulling me closer to him as we watched.

Max instantly stepped forward and held out her hand and El's face instantly went sour. "Eleven? Hey, um. I'm Max. I've heard a lot about you."

El ignores Max's offered hand and moves toward Joyce, giving her a hug. "Hey. Hey, sweetheart." Joyce greeted sweetly.

"Can I see him?" El asked as she pulled back a little from the embrace.

Joyce's face falls but leads her to his room, where we had put Will for now. Moments later, they come out and walked to the table with the message on it. "You've opened this gate before, right?"

"Yes," El whispered.

"Do you think that if you go back there, you could close it?" Joyce questioned. El meets Joyce's gaze before staring off determinedly.

︾ 

Now, all of us are gathered in the kitchen trying to devise a plan. "It's not like it was before," Dad said. "It's grown. A lot, and I mean, that's considering we can get in there. That place is crawling with those dogs."

"Demo-dogs." Dustin cuts in and I give him a look.

"I'm sorry, what?" Dad sighed.

"I said, uh, demo-dogs," Dustin repeats. "Like Demogorgons and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass—"

"How is this important right now?" Dad snapped.

"It's not. I'm sorry." Dustin apologised and I glared at my Dad for being so harsh.

"I can do it." El insisted, looking over at my Dad.

"You're not hearing me." Dad lowly said.

"I'm hearing you." El snapped back. "I can do it." Dad looked over at me for help and I raised my hands in the air.

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

"I thought that was the whole point." Max frowned.

"It is, but..." Mike huffs. "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 the army." Lucas realised and my eyes widen.

"Closing the gat will kill him," Mike concluded. Joyce beckons us to go into Jonathan's room, and we all gather. Will was lying face up on the bed.

"He likes it cold." Joyce realises and I glanced over at the window that was opened, the curtains fluttering open.

"What?" Dad asked.

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

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

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

"So if he likes it cold..." I spoke, lacing my hands through with Steve secretly.

"We need to burn it out of him."

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

"Yeah, somewhere far away." Dustin nodded.

Dad had suggested that Jonathan, Joyce, Will, and Nancy all go to our cabin and burn it out of him. Once that happens, El and Dad are going to close the gate.

Mike was saying goodbye to El and I was saying a quick bye to Dad.

"Dad, please," I whispered tearfully. "What if I need you here? What if something goes wrong?"

"Nothing's going to go wrong," Dad tells me, placing his hands on my shoulders, and making me face him. "Kid, I promise. Your job is to stay with Steve and the kids and keep an eye on them. Keep them safe. I'll keep El safe."

"Keep yourself safe, too," I added before hugging him. "I love you, Dad."

"Love you too, kiddo." Dad ruffs my hair up and I whined, pulling away. "Go say goodbye to El." I looked over to see El standing alone.

I run up to her and hugged her instantly, wrapping my arms around her. "You've got this, El," I tell her enthusiastically.

"Thanks, Juno." El beamed. "I'll see you later."

"Damn straight you will. I'll make us the biggest eggos you'll ever see." El's eyes widen at my words. "And you can have it all to yourself."

She grinned. "Okay—"

"El, come on. Let's go." Dad called over by the car.

El turned to give me one last look, before turning with my Dad. "Stay safe you two!" I called out to them, a little worry seeping through my voice. Those two are my family, I can't let anything bad happen to them.

︾ 

We decided to clean up a bit in the Byers' house. I felt bad for trashing it, so, with Steve and Dustin's help, Steve grabbed the Demo-dog and Dustin opens the fridge, emptying it completely.

"All right," Dustin confirms. "It should fit now."

"Is this really necessary?" Steve asked, holding the dead Demo-dog that was wrapped up in a towel.

"Yes, it is, okay?" Dustin argued back. "This is a groundbreaking scientific discovery. We can't just bury it like some common mammal, okay? It's not a dog."

"All right, all right." Steve groaned as he shifts towards the now empty fridge. "But you're explaining this to Mrs Byers, all right?" Steve struggles to put the Demo-dog in and I smiled in amusement. "Christ. Help me out?"

"What am I suppose to do?" Dustin asked.

"Get the door. Get the door, man." Steve groans.

"Okay, alright, I got the door." Dustin closes the door. Steve pushes the Demo-dog into the fridge and Dustin closed the door.

I take a step back from Steve as he turned around, and he noticed this. "You're slimy and gross."

"Did you wanna hug?" Steve asked and opened out his arms I shake my head, laughing.

"No." He takes a step forward. "Steve, I swear to God, no—Steve!" I ran away from him as fast as possible, leaping over anything in the way, giggling. "Steve, if you even think about going near me while being like that, you are so dead—"

I was cut off in the bathroom and I slammed the door shut, just before Steve could even come near me. "Jun!" Steve groaned, pounding on the door. "Come on, open up." I locked it quickly, grinning evilly, I won.

"Yeah, right!" I scoffed, crossing my arms as I faced the door.

"Jun, seriously, open up," Steve whined. "I won't hug you, I promise." I stayed quiet. "Jun?" I walked over to the window carefully. It was a one-story house, so I climbed out the window and was planning to go around the front of the house and scare Steve, but that's when I heard a rev of a car.

I ran towards the front of the house and hid behind the bushes, it was Billy who had shown up. Steve was now outside as well, the two boys facing each other.

Billy was holding a cigarette in his mouth, eyeing Steve. "Am I dreaming or is that you, Harrington?" Billy asked.

"Yeah, it's me. Don't cream your pants." Steve rolled his eyes, his hands on his hips. I almost scoffed, he's stealing my line.

Billy strips off their jacket. "What are you doing here, amigo?" Billy questioned as Steve walked over to Billy. I stayed quiet in the bushes, trying not to make a sound.

"I couldn't ask you the same thing," Steve stated. "Amigo." I almost laughed.

"Looking for my stepsister," Billy answered. "A little birdie told me she was here."

"Huh, that's weird," Steve lied. "I don't know her."

"Small? Redhead? Bit of a bitch?" Billy described her and I rolled my eyes.

"Doesn't ring a bell. Sorry, buddy," Steve lies again and I have to say, he's doing a pretty damn good job of it, too.

Billy takes the cigarette out of his mouth. "You know, I don't know, this..." He clicks his tongue. "This whole situation, Harrington, I don't know. It's giving me the heebie-jeebies."

"Oh, yeah? Why's that?" Steve asked.

"My 13-year-old sister goes missing all day," Billy began. "And then I find her with you in a stranger's house. And you lie to me about it."

Steve chuckled. "Man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what? I don't know what you don't understand about what I just said. She's not here."

Billy points to the Byers' house. "Then who is that?" I looked over and saw that Max and the kids were staring through the window before they all quickly ducked down. I pinched the bridge of my nose, annoyed.

"Oh, shit, listen—" Before Steve could explain himself, Billy shoves a hand towards Steve, and Steve falls to the ground.

"I told you to plant your feet." Billy snarled at him before kicking him hard in the stomach. My face fell and when Billy stormed towards the house, I rushed over to Steve who was groaning on the floor.

"My balls... My balls..." Steve moaned and I kneeled in front of him.

"Steve?" I whispered out in shock and saw that blood was rushing from his head already. "Steve! Oh, my God."

"Jun? Is that you?" Steve turned opened his eyes and looked at me, his eyes widening.

I heard the door slam and looked over at the house. "Steve, the kids. Shit, the kids, Steve, come on!" I pulled Steve from the ground, bringing him back up to his feet. "You good? You okay?"

"Other than my balls hurting, yeah, I'm fine." Steve snapped before glaring at the door. "I'm gonna kick his ass."

"Fuck you are, you are Steve Harrington." I tried to hype him up as we walked towards the door. "You are King Harrington!"

"Damn right, I am!" Steve could feel my encouragement before storming into the house, me following behind him. We walked in on Billy holding his crouch. Lucas had just kneed him. I mentally cheered for him.

"You're so dead, Sinclair!" Billy roared. "So dead!" Before he could touch Lucas, Steve jumps in.

"No, you are." Steve grabbed him before swinging a punch. Billy bounces back laughing maniacally and Lucas runs towards me, I put my arm around the boy, trying to shield him from Billy.

"Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh?" Billy laughed out. "I've been waiting to meet this King Steve everybody's been telling me so much about." Billy's nose bleeds.

"Get out." Steve glares at Billy harshly. Steve uses two fingers to gently push Billy back.

Steve ducks Billy's swing, then lands his own punch. "Yes! Kick his ass, Steve!" Dustin yelled out, as Billy flies towards the kitchen table.

"Murder that son of a bitch!"

"Kick his ass, Steve!"

Steve punches Billy into the kitchen counter, where Billy grabs a plate and smashes into Steve's head which made me cringe. "Billy!" Max snapped angrily.

"Holy shit! Steve!" I worry and Billy storms over to Steve and punches him again. Billy grabs Steve by the jacket.

"No one tells me what to do." Billy snarls. Billy head-buts Steve to the floor. "Woo!"

"Get up!" Dustin called out. "You're gonna kill him!"

Billy strives towards Steve and straddles him before punching him across the face again, over and over. "Billy!" I yelled out, hopefully trying to get him to stop. "Billy, stop!"

I noticed Max noticing a syringe over by the table and she grabbed it, before pushing the needle into Billy's neck which made him stop all of his actions. Billy staggers to his feet and turns to Max.  He glances to the side of the syringe hanging in his neck before yacking it out of his neck.

"The hell is this?" Billy asked, his voice fading slowly as he took a few steps toward Max. "You little shit, what did you do?"

Billy then falls to the ground, laughing. Max picks up the spiked bat and holds it over her step-brother. "From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand?"

"Screw you." Billy slurs out.

She slams the bat between his opened legs and raises it again. "Say you understand! Say it! Say it!" Max shouted.

"I understand," Billy muttered.

"What?" Max hisses.

"I understand." He repeats, before his eyes drift close, dropping the bat. She walks around Billy and fishes his keys out of his pocket.

Max holds them up to us. "Let's get out of here."

"Hang on—What the fuck just happened?!" I asked the kids, and my mouth completely dropped.

"We're going to distract—I'll explain it on the way!" Dustin insisted. "Do you know how to drive?" He turned to me.

"No! I don't know the first thing about driving." I admitted shamefully, that while all my friends can drive, I can't.

"Oh, my God." The kids complain.

"I know how to drive," Max tells us and we all turned to her. "Yeah, Billy taught me."

"Okay, good enough for me." I agreed. "But I'm front seat, okay? And we have to take Steve, too." I looked down at the unconscious Steve. The kids also began to complain about that, too. "Hey! We're taking Steve, he'll be good, I promise."