[ Location: Hawkins High School - Parking Lot ][ Date: November 3th, 1984 - Saturday Afternoon ]
"I'm telling you, it ate Mews!" Dustin screamed, waving his arms like a windmill.
Steve Harrington leaned against his BMW, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. He was holding a bouquet of roses (rejected by Nancy, again) and looked like a kicked puppy with great hair.
"Wait," Steve rubbed his temples. "You kept something you found in the trash?"
"It was a pollywog!" Dustin argued.
"And now it's a cat-eating dinosaur?" Steve asked skeptically.
"Demodog," I corrected, stepping out from behind a parked car.
Steve jumped, nearly dropping his flowers. "Jesus! Where did you come from?"
"The library," I lied (I came from the woods, grinding Apparition). "Dustin called a Code Red. I answered."
"Vivan!" Dustin looked relieved. "Thank god. Someone with a brain. Tell him about Dart!"
"Dart is a carnivorous interdimensional reptile currently occupying Dustin's storm cellar," I summarized. "And he's hungry. We need a ride, a bat, and raw meat."
Steve looked at me. He looked at Dustin. He looked at his car.
"I hate you guys," Steve groaned.
[ Location: Steve's BMW ][ Time: 4:15 PM ]
"So," Steve said, glancing in the rearview mirror as we sped down the road. "You guys fight monsters? Like... actual monsters?"
"We dabble," I said, leaning back in the passenger seat. I was examining Steve's nail-bat, which was sitting between the seats.
'Primitive. Brutal. Effective.'
"And you," Steve pointed a finger at me. "You're the rich kid from the hill. Frostwell. Why are you hanging out with these dweebs?"
"They have better stories," I shrugged. "And better snacks."
Dustin leaned forward from the back seat. "Steve, do you still have that bat? The one with the nails?"
"Yeah," Steve tapped the weapon I was holding. "Right there."
"Good," Dustin nodded. "We're gonna need it."
"So," I looked at Steve. "Nancy dumped you?"
Steve gripped the steering wheel tighter. "She didn't dump me. We're just... taking a break. A drunk break."
"Right," I nodded. "Well, if it makes you feel better, she's currently running around with Jonathan Byers hunting the same monster we are. So, technically, it's a double date from hell."
Steve looked like he wanted to drive into a tree.
"Also," Dustin interrupted. "How do you get your hair like that?"
Steve sighed. The Mom Mode activated.
"Fabergé Organics," Steve said seriously. "Use the shampoo and conditioner. And when your hair is damp—not wet, damp—you do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray."
"Farrah Fawcett spray?" Dustin gasped.
"You tell anyone I told you that," Steve threatened, "and your ass is grass."
"Noted," I grinned. "But does it deflect monster spit?"
[ Location: The Junkyard ][ Time: 5:00 PM ]
We met Lucas and Max at the junkyard. They were unloading buckets of raw beef.
"Ew," Max wrinkled her nose. "This smells like death."
"It's bait," Lucas said, dumping the meat into a pile in the center of the clearing.
I stood on top of the old school bus (our fortress), watching the perimeter.
'System. Status.'
[ Telekinesis Mastery: Level 5 (94%) ][ Objective: Survive the Pack. ]
"So," Max climbed up the ladder to join me. She looked at the meat pile, then at Steve practicing his swing. "Is this for real? Or is this some elaborate prank to get me to like you guys?"
"If I wanted to get you to like me," I leaned against the rusted railing, "I'd take you to an arcade, not a garbage dump filled with rotting meat."
She smirked. "Smooth. But seriously. A monster?"
"Monsters," I corrected. "Plural."
She froze. "Plural?"
"Dart isn't alone," I said, my voice dropping. "I've seen the tunnels. It's a hive. If we lure one, we lure them all."
"Then why are we doing this?!" Max hissed. "This is suicide!"
"Because this is a kill box," I said, stomping on the reinforced roof of the bus. "If we hunt them in the woods, they flank us. They eat us. Here? We force them into a chokepoint."
'I'm letting the plot play out because the Junkyard is the best defensive position we have. It's not negligence. It's strategy.'
Below us, Steve was fortifying the bus windows with sheet metal.
"Hey!" Steve yelled up. "Romeo! Less flirting, more lifting! This sheet metal is heavy!"
"On it, Mom!" I called back.
I focused on a loose car door lying in the dirt.
'Telekinesis.'
[ Ability Active. ]
I didn't lift it with my hands. I stared at it.
The heavy steel door floated up, hovering ominously.
Max's eyes bugged out. "How are you..."
"Magician," I winked.
I floated the door over to Steve. He grabbed it, hammering it into place over a window gap.
"Thanks," Steve grunted. "Man, this trick is handy. Can you move a sofa?"
"I can move a van," I said (truth).
"Show off," Max muttered, but she was looking at me like I was a wizard. Which, technically, I was.
[ System Notice: Telekinesis Proficiency Increased. ][ Current Mastery: Level 5 (95%) ]
'5% to Level 6. I need that upgrade before the main wave hits.'
[ Location: The School Bus - Interior ][ Time: 6:30 PM ]
Night fell. The fog rolled in. Thick, white fog that smelled like ozone.
We sat inside the bus. Steve was swinging his bat, looking nervous. Dustin was pacing. Lucas was checking his wrist rocket. Max was looking out the reinforced window.
"It's quiet," Lucas whispered.
"Too quiet," I muttered. 'Classic line. Never say the line.'
"He's here," Dustin said, looking at his compass. "North-East."
We heard a growl. Low. Guttural.
Steve stood up. "Stay here."
He walked out of the bus door, stepping into the fog. He stood on the pile of cars, bat raised.
"Come on!" Steve yelled into the mist. "I'm right here! Come and get it!"
'He's brave. Stupid, but brave.'
"Steve!" Dustin hissed. "Get back in!"
"I don't see him!" Steve yelled back.
I closed my eyes. I didn't need eyes.
'Remote Viewing. Scan the perimeter.'
[ Ability Active: Remote Viewing (Level 5). ]
My mind expanded. I saw Steve standing on the car. I saw the bait pile.
And then I saw them.
Not one.
Six.
They were crawling over the cars. Slithering through the tall grass. Flanking him.
"Steve!" I screamed, snapping back to reality and kicking the door open with my mind. "3 o'clock! 9 o'clock! It's a pack! GET IN!"
Steve spun around.
A Demodog leaped from the shadows.
Steve swung. CRACK. He knocked it out of the air.
But another one lunged from the left.
"Abort!" Steve yelled, scrambling back toward the bus. "ABORT!"
He dived through the door. I slammed it shut with my mind just as a set of jaws snapped at his boots.
BANG.
The bus shook. Something heavy landed on the roof.
Then another THUMP. And another.
We looked up at the ceiling. The metal groaned.
"They're on the roof," Max whispered, her face pale.
"How many?" Lucas asked, terrified.
I looked at the ceiling, sensing the weight distribution with my Telekinesis.
"Six," I said grimly, gripping my wand in one pocket and my shovel in the other. "Maybe seven. They're testing the perimeter."
One of the roof hatches creaked. Claws tore at the metal.
Steve raised his bat. "Alright. Everybody stay back."
I stepped up beside him. My eyes glowed faintly violet.
"Save the bat for the little ones, Harrington," I said, facing the buckling roof. "I'll handle the heavy lifting."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patreon Updates:
Discount code : 03C64
Content: Read 20+ chapters ahead. + Access to All my fanfictions.
Link: https://www.patreon.com/c/kapa69
Support Goal:
200 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter.
Please drop a Stone to support the story!