❁

and was willing to sacrifice himself, he climbed out of the bus, swinging his bat at dart. "give me that." meadow mumbled, stealing steve's lighter from her brother and crouching next to him by the window. max moved behind them, trying to see over their shoulders.

steve whistled. "come on, buddy. dinner time. human tastes better than cat, i promise."

"he's insane." max whispered, looking at meadow.

dustin shook his head, smiling. "he's awesome."

meadow nodded. "and he's gonna get himself killed." she watched as he swung his bat back and forth, daring the baby demogorgon to come nearer. dart didn't move, only opening his mouth slightly. meadow didn't think she'd been so nervous in her life, watching every single movement that both steve and the creature made.

"steve," lucas yelled from the top of the bus, catching meadow's attention, "look out! three o'clock!"

the girl moved dustin's head so she could look, immediately spotting another small demogorgon jumping onto a car behind steve. "steve!" she yelled, both her and dustin scrambling to open the bus doors so he could run to safety.

"abort!" dustin screamed, repeating the phrase until steve finally turned, seeing the new creature. it ran to him and he dodged it just in time, hitting it with his bat to send it flying over the car behind him.

all the kids began to yell for steve now, watching as he broke into a sprint for the bus. he ran inside, barely missing the open mouths of the creatures. meadow pulled steve inside as dustin closed the door, and the boy fell on top of her, both teens landing in the drivers seat.

meadow's breath hitched in her throat for a moment as she realized the close proximity, quickly remembering the severity of the situation. she grabbed a piece of metal, attempting to shove it onto the door with her feet, an attempt to keep the creatures out as long as possible.

"they can't get in!" lucas insisted. "they can't!"

meadow pushed the kids back. "go into the back of the bus, now!" she ordered, moving with them as one of the creatures broke through the doors. steve hit it with his bat while dustin picked up his walkie-talkie, frantically telling anyone on the other line that they were going to die.

a scratch to the back of the vehicle scared the group, and meadow followed max's gaze as she looked to the top of the bus. the girl screamed, falling into meadows arms. the small demogorgon reached out a hand, its claws barely missing meadow's eyes.

"everyone out of the way!" steve yelled, holding his bat up, threatening the beast to come nearer. it looked up as if alarmed, running off the bus. steve looked from side to side as it ran off, his gaze falling on meadow, who held a hand to her forehead. "are you okay?" he asked, watching as she moved her hand to the side.

she had been scratched, but it was small enough that she would be fine. "i'm okay, steve. let's just get out of here before they decide to come back."

he nodded, opening the door with hesitation, seeing that they were gone. "they're going somewhere." he confirmed, the group looking among themselves in fear.

where were they going, meadow wondered, and what could it be that it was more significant than them getting what could've been an easy snack?

after leaving the junkyard, the group moved back onto the train tracks, attempting to follow where they thought the creatures were headed. dustin began talking about dart and how he'd grown, seeing as it was pretty unbelievable that he had grown from the size of a slug to the size of a dog. "soon he'll be eating more than just cats." steve agreed, meadow sending him a look.

"cats?" lucas questioned. "dart ate a cat?" dustin shook his head violently.

steve seemed confused. "what are you talking about, he ate mews."

"mews?" max asked. "who's mews?"

"it's their cat!" steve said as if it was obvious.

"i knew it!" lucas exclaimed. "you kept him."

dustin shook his head "no!" the group all turned to look at him. "no, i- he missed me!" he insisted, watching as meadow and steve both rolled their eyes. "and he wanted to come home. i didn't know he was a demogorgon!"

lucas and dustin began to argue, insisting that the other had broken the party's code of law. meadow zoned them out, looking up at steve when she felt his eyes on her. "what?" she asked with a small smirk.

"you haven't taken off the jacket." steve commented, making meadow shrug and cross her arms. "it's fine. it looks good on you." meadow heard a sound and immediately looked up. "guys.." steve said as the two started to move towards it. "GUYS!" they finally looked up, stopping their bickering.

the group all made their way towards the sound, max following behind. meadow shined her flashlight around, not seeing dart anywhere. "it's the lab." lucas said after examining with his binoculars. "they were going home."

meadow led the way down to the lab, steve quickly catching up to her. "why are we going towards them?" max asked.

"because," meadow replied, "if we don't stop them then who knows all the damage they'll cause."

the group got out of the woods, shining their lights directly into nancy and jonathan. "steve?" they both asked in unison, nancy looking over to meadow. "what are you doing here?" nancy asked.

"what are you doing here?" meadow countered, lowering her light.

nancy looked to jonathan. "we're looking for mike and will."

"they're not in there, are they?" dustin asked.

"we're not sure.." nancy replied. "why?"

the group all turned when they heard the sound of dart and his buddies roaring, and the sound unmistakably came from the lab. "that's why." meadow said, looking over at the building, which was entirely dark. "is the power down?" she asked jonathan, following him over to the control panels.

she was an alumni of av club, so she knew how to jump wire a car, and she knew how to code computers and rebuild them. however, she hadn't ever seen anything like this system. the lights turned on and she immediately pressed various buttons in an attempt to open the gate.

it didn't work, and she cursed under her breath. "let me try!" dustin insisted, pushing her to the side. it still didn't work, but after trying at least twenty times, the gate opened. "i did it." dustin insisted, scrunching his nose up as meadow ruffled his cap, messing up his hair.

while meadow moved to sit by max, steve looked over to dustin. the boy was already looking at him, though. "so, steve.. you and my sister?"

the older boy looked over his shoulder at her, making sure she was out of earshot before replying. "yeah, dude. i really like her." he smiled.

dustin nodded. "i don't know, i guess i just.. i know you've liked her for a while. but i don't want you to hurt her."

"i plan to do everything in my power to avoid hurting her." steve replied. "i don't know, i guess i just feel like i don't deserve it, you know? and nancy.."

"did you not see nancy and jonathan?" dustin countered.

"what?"

he laughed. "dude, i think she's cool with it. but i also think you should talk to nancy about it, make sure you both get the closure you deserve."

steve groaned. "why are you so big and wise, henderson?"

"i'm not going to pretend to be all smart and shit," dustin spoke, "but my sister means more to me than anything, okay? and i know you've had a lot of relationships, you've been with different people. but i see the way she looks at you, and i just.. i don't know. if someone looked at me like that.. i'd go for it."

steve put his arm over his shoulder. "dustin, this.. this really means a lot to me. thank you."

he smiled. "don't worry about it. but if you're going to kiss her, or something, i do not want to watch."

he nodded. "okay, yeah, cool, got it." the two stayed there talking for a few more minutes before moving over to where the others were. they all looked up as they noticed the lights of the lab turning on abruptly.

"why did the power just turn back on?" meadow wondered aloud, leaning next to steve as he flipped something in his hands. jonathan and nancy had driven down to the lab to see if anyone was there, and, sure enough, they drove back with a full car.

another car passed, and hopper spoke from the wheel. "get in!" he yelled, meadow wasting no time in snatching the front seat. steve complained about it briefly, hopper silencing him with a look. once the whole crew was in the car, they sped off, headed who knows where to decide what to do next.