Firestarter

Chapter Nine

Steve Harrington, Girl Whisperer

ANNE SPENT MOST OF THE MORNING COLLECTING SUPPLIES. She couldn't think of much. What was useful for hunting a monster? Weapons, of course, but only Steve had one of those. She packed her radio so she could communicate with the others, and snacks and water bottles since they were likely to be out for the whole day. It was a big forest, and Dart was one creature. The likelihood they would run across each other was small.

There wasn't much time to think of anything else. Steve arrived with the others and pails of meat. They had all brought backpacks, Dustin had his radio headset, and Sam had somehow managed to acquire a gun.

"Woah, Woah, Woah," Steve shouted when Sam took out the gun to show them. "Put that back! Where did she get that thing?"

Sam raised an eyebrow at Steve. Once Andrew explained why Steve was upset, she told them it was technically her dad's. He didn't know she knew the combination to his safe, or that any of them even knew it existed in the first place, which was good for their safety but defeated the point of it being to "defend the house", as Sam's father had explained once. Anne eyed the weapon nervously but didn't disagree. It did help to not rely on just Steve's bat, even if Sam's marksmanship was up in the air.

Finally, they arrived in the forest by Dustin's house. Steve drove up a gravel path to park. They pulled on rubber gloves. With some help from Sam and Anne, he began to take out bucks. Anne wrinkled her nose at the smell of the meat. She didn't even know how they found it.

Andrew tried to help. Really. However, the buckets were about the size of his head and they quickly learned it would take both hands to carry one bucket. At best he could have wrapped an arm around the bucket and held it against his chest, but that lasted as long as he held his breath to avoid smelling it, which wasn't long at all.

"That is so gross! Do I have to put my hands in that?" Andrew complained.

Anne assured, "We have gloves."

Andrew grumbled to himself. Sam rolled her eyes and toss a handful of the meat at him, making him shriek and hurry away. Meanwhile, Dustin had gotten a message over his radio and Steve was setting gasoline cans next to the buckets.

"Dustin! This is Lucas. Do you copy?" Lucas's voice faintly from Dustin's headset. Anne paused to listen. "Dustin?"

Dustin pressed the respond button. "Well, well, well, look who it?"

"Sorry, man. My stupid sister turned it off."