SERIOUSLY, STEVE,
JUST STOP TALKING !

☀︎

THE GROUP HAD KEPT TO THE TRACKS IN SEARCH OF DART. They had all stayed close together so that none had wandered off or fell behind. Lucas had still been a bit suspicious about the fact that Dustin had been so convinced the monster they encounter was Dart. "You're positive that was him?"

Dustin rolled his eyes, annoyed with how much he had to explain himself. "Yes. He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt. Isn't the right, Alex? Back me up."

"Dustin, I have no idea, okay?"

Shaking his head, he pointed a flashlight up to her eyes. "Come on, you should know. He had it when he was born, right? Like a birthmark."

"How the hell would she know that?" Lucas asked with a scoff. Steve hadn't seen the issue as he felt this was common knowledge among the group. "She threw him up. It's, like, her kid or something, right?"

"What the hell did he just say?" Lucas asked loudly while Alex had given Steve a hard shove. Opening his mouth, Dustin had went to explain as Alex pulled Steve behind the group, leaving the kids to talk. "You can't just say stuff like that like it's normal."

"Yeah, well, none of this is normal," he argued and he was exactly right. At this point, he felt there was nothing else that could shock him. "Here," he said quietly, passing over his flashlight and bat. He had taken notice of the goosebumps on her arm and the fact that for once, Alex had looked cold. Slipping off his jacket, he handed it out towards her to take. "Please, just don't argue and say I'll be cold. I don't care about that. Just let me feel good that you're cold and back to normal."

She gave a small smile as she took it in her hands and handed his stuff back. "Thanks," she said softly. Putting on his jacket, the warmth had felt the most comfortable than she had ever felt. His jacket had been a bit bigger, but to her it fit perfectly. Reaching out, he straightened it out for her. "There, you look good in it."

"You know I'm sorry for all of this. Pulling you back into this mess and all of this near death situations."

"Alex, don't," he instructed gently. "I'd go to hell and back for you. At this point you could turn into one of those things, and I'd still be there for you."

"Would you still give me your jacket?" She teased. However, the sound of the kids picking up a fight had cut their conversation short. Making their way up to them, they had all come to a stop in the middle of the tracks. "Dart ate a cat?" Lucas asked loudly.

"No, what? No," Dustin scoffed, avoiding all eye contact.

"What are you talking about?" Steve interrupted. Once again, he felt that everyone was clear on what had been going on, failing to read Dustin's desperate pleading eyes. "He ate Alex's cat."

"He ate Mews!" Lucas screamed, shoving back Dustin's shoulder for his attention. "I knew it, you kept him!"

Dustin had only managed to stutter out a few failed attempts of saying "No" and soon gave in as his shoulder slacked. "He missed me. He wanted to come home."

"Bullshit!"

"No, he might be right," Steve spoke up. "Maybe he wanted to see Alex again, right? In a way, she technically helped make him and she's been connected to all this."

"Seriously, Steve, just stop talking," Alex whispered over to him. Realizing he had said too much and at an inappropriate time, he gave a small nod and kept his mouth shut for the moment.

"I didn't know he was a demogorgon, okay?" Dustin continued on, focusing only on Lucas.

"Oh, so now you admit it?" Lucas yelled over him.

"Guys, who cares. We have to go!" Max tried to yell to them, taking a step to go but no one followed along. Looking over to Alex and Steve for help, she knew it was no use as they had just watched the two continue their fight. Alex had leaned into Steve, growing more bored and annoyed with all the back and forth that was getting them no where.

"I care! You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!" Lucas yelled.

"So did you! You told a stranger the truth!" Dustin screamed. Lifting his flashlight up, he shined it right in Max's face before shining it back towards the ground. At that point, Alex had pulled herself off of Steve to diffuse the fight once they tried to drag Max into it. "All right, shut up, guys. We all broke the rules here. Lucas told Max everything without party permission, Dustin kept a demogorgon, and at one point, I was told to kill all of you guys."

All eyes had shot over to her at her words, turning the fight into a new direction. Breaking the silence, Lucas took a step back in shock. "You what?" He yelled at her with the flashlight pointed in her face. That was until he pointed it in Dustin's eyes next. "She what?" He yelled once again.

"I didn't do shit to you!" She fought back.

Wanting in on the fight, Max crossed her arms as she stood beside Alex. "Mike and I talked about me being in the party! I'm your zoomer, not a stranger!"

"Jesus Christ," Steve mumbled, looking out into the forest for look out while everyone else fought.

"Zoomer is not a thing!" Dustin yelled.

"It can be!" Alex yelled, defending the girl next to her.

"You don't get a say, you're out of the party!" Lucas screamed, taking a step towards Alex angrily.

"Excuse me? She is not out of the party!" Dustin screamed back to him. At this point, it was an endless and meaningless fight that would not be resolved in the middle of the woods so late at night.

"Uh, yeah she is! She literally just said she was on a mission to kill us! Kill us!"

Over all the yelling, Steve had heard the familiar screeches of the monsters out in the distance. Stepping off the track, he shined his light out ahead. "Hey, guys?" Steve said, looking deeper into the forest, "Guys!" He screamed once more, finally gaining the groups attention.

The whole group stopped their fighting, turning to Steve. A loud screech spoke for him, making all of them drop their drama for now. Without talking, all the boys started to run off, leaving behind Max and Alex.

Alex let out a groan as she followed after, slinging the bat over her shoulder and following along. It had been another mission to head out on, and none of the boys had stuck together or waited for everyone before running off, and they had done it all with no plan.

"Hey, guys, why are you headed towards the sound?" Max called to them.

"Come on, Max!" Alex called over her shoulder. Rushing ahead of Dustin and Lucas, she made her way towards the front of the group alongside Steve. "She is right, you know. We're crazy for chasing this thing."

"Yeah, but crazy chases us too," he shrugged. Each had looked over their shoulder, making sure all the kids had been following along. "Come on, dipshits! Keep up," Steve called out to them.

Alex looked to Steve as he kept his eyes forward, he was so determined to kill these things and take care of the kids at the same time. She couldn't help but fall more in love with him now. Being out here was more than he deserved and he made it clear he was doing it all for her. Crazy never really chased him in all this, but he had no problem helping when the crazy chased her.

As they emerged out of the woods, they had all slowed down into a walk. Their flashlights had shot out across the grass, waiting for any threats to come their way. Instead, a voice had called out to them. "Hello? Who's there?"

They had slowly approached the lab as Alex had reached for Steve's arm to hold on to. Hawkin's Lab had not always had the most friendly people to deal with and with demogorgons heading home, right to the lab, then they were most likely not at their friendliest.

As they approached where the voices came from, Nancy and Jonathan the first to recognize them. "Steve?" They both had questioned in surprise.

"Nancy?" He questioned back. Alex let her grasp on him go as the two had made their way over. However, Jonathan had been ahead of Nancy as he rushed over to Alex and pulled him into her arms. "What are you even doing here?"

"I could ask you the same," she laughed as they let go of one another. Turning over to Nancy, she pulled her into an embrace next. "Nance, where the hell did you two go?"

"It's a long story, trust me," she sighed. Glancing over her shoulder, she looked back at the lab before turning to Alex. "We're looking for Mike and Will..." Her voice trailed off as she held Alex out at arms length, realizing she had been in Steve's jacket.

"Are they here?" She asked. Had they been at the lab, her worry had only grown. Every monster that had came to the junkyard was headed right there and there was most likely more on their way.

"We're not sure..." Nancy said quietly. The sound of monsters screeching came from the lab making everyones heads turn. Everyone trudged back over to Jonathans car, all talking at once to figure out what was actually going on.

"Who has seen Will or Mike today? Anyone?" Nancy questioned the group, looking around for answers.

"I saw them both yesterday. We were all at Jonathans house," Alex spoke up, looking over to Jonathan as he tried pushing the button to the gates repeatedly.

"Did something happen? We saw the house..." Nancy put all her focus on Alex, looking for more answers out of her.

"I-I guess. But Will seemed okay when I left." Alex's eyes turned away as guilt really began to settle in. The release of the Shadow Monster had been so relieving, that it hadn't truly hit her that it only put Will in danger. Bringing her hand up to her mouth, she nervously picked at her lips. If anything happened to him, she knew she would never forgive herself.

"The powers back!" Nancy said, pushing past Alex to get a better look at the lab. Everyone turned their heads to see the lab now lighting up through the windows. People were inside and that could mean that Mike and Will could possibly be safe. The whole group ran over to Jonathan but the gate still wasn't opening.

"I got this," Dustin said with confidence, pushing everyone out of his way and then pushing Jonathan out of the way. When the gates still didn't open even with Dustins extra button pushing, Alex looked over to Steve for comfort. A lump in her throat formed when she saw him rubbing Nancys back to comfort her.

She looked down at the ground in sadness but said nothing. A hand slipped into hers making her shoot her eyes up to see Max holding onto it reassuringly.

She attempted a small smile at the girl which Max returned.

"Boys suck," she whispered, squeezing Alex's hand once more for reassurance. Both girls looked up to the gates, silently hoping they would open at any minute.

Inside, Bob Newby had been sat at a computer, saving everyone inside. Being the smarter one there, he had managed to get into the system and open the gates just as he had turned on the lights. As the gates began to open when Dustin pushed the button a final time, he stood back with a bright smile. "I did it!"

"I'll go get them!" Jonathan yelled to the group, flinging open his car door. Following alongside him, Nancy had hopped into the passenger seat just before he laid his foot on the gas as sped off.

"Guess we stay back," Dustin mumbled to himself, walking over to Steve.

"This is boring," Alex said, walking around in circles around Max while they waited for the others to get back.

"Yeah, this is shit! We should be in there," Lucas agreed, walking closer to the fence, staring up at the lab. After everything they had gone through, staying back and waiting was not fair. They came to the fight and were the ones left behind.

"Well tough shit guys. We all can't be up there or else they wouldn't have enough room in the car," Steve said.

After moments of silent complaining from the younger boys, a loud car honking came from the lab and the headlights grew wider the closer it got.

"Move!" Steve yelled to the three that were wandering around on the street. Alex grabbed Max and Lucas by their arms, pulling them back with her, colliding right into Steve and Dustin. Jonathans car flew past them quickly and Hoppers police car slammed on the brakes right next to them yelling at the rest of the group to climb in.

Alex and Steve ushered the kids into the back quickly then Steve slammed the door shut just as Dustin sat down in the back seat. Steve gripped Alex by the arm, pulling her to the front seat with him, slamming the door shut as soon as she sat on his lap.