(1) California to Hawkins (Max Mayfield/(Fem)You)

-Chapter 12: The Spy

Just then, we all hear an insanely loud roar coming from somewhere outside. I stand, twisting to see out of the peepholes we have. Max does the same next to me. "What was that?" Max whispers. "Dart." I reply. "Lucas? What's going on?" I hear Dustin shout. "Hold on!" I hear the reply. After a few moments of silence, Lucas' voice rings out clear. Squeaky and terrified. "I've got eyes! Ten O'Clock! Ten O'Clock!" He shouts.

Max and I run to the side window, peeking outside. There I spot a figure lurking in the mist. "There." I say, pointing. The others gather around my peephole, looking out. "What's he doing?" Dustin asks. "I don't know." I reply. We watch as the creature just stands there, unmoving. "Wait, you sure it's not a dog?" Max whispers. I look at her and shake my head. "Trust me. It's not."

"He's not taking the bait. Why is he not taking the bait?" Steve asks, panic lacing his voice. "Maybe he's not hungry." Dustin suggests. There's no way. Demogorgons are always hungry. I stand, Max watching me as I do. "Maybe he's sick of cow." I say. I step back to think for a moment. "Y/N? Y/N. What are you doing?" Dustin asks. "He needs more options." I say. "Wait what? Y/N. What do you mean?" Max asks. Dustin shakes his head wildly. "No, Y/N." He says as I turn towards the door. "Dustin, what does Y/N mean?" She asks. Dustin looks at her. "She's their new bait." He says.

At this, Max shakes her head, gets up to her feet and grabs me by the arm. "No, Y/N. NO!" She says. "He's not coming forward if we do nothing!" I say. "But come on! You can't go out there! It's dangerous!" She says. "It's dangerous if we stay here!" I say back. "You accepted the risk, as did I, years ago." I say. Max refuses, still holding my arm. "Goddammit, Max." I say, trying to get her off. Then I hear the metal creaking of the door and I whip my head in that direction. I see Steve, standing halfway out the bus. "Steve, no." I say, shaking my head. He just tosses me the lighter. "Just, get ready."

He gets off, closing the door behind us and we all run to the peepholes to see. He goes out, whistling and taunting Dart. "That's insane." Max says. We watch as the creature slowly steps further out from the mist, revealing more of its face....that's until we hear Lucas' panicked cries. "Steve! Watch out!" He shouts. "I'm a little busy here!" Steve shouts back. "Three O'Clock! Three O'Clock!" he shouts. We all look in that direction to see yet another creature. "Oh shit." I say. I run to the metal door of the bus and pry it open. "Steve! RUN!" I shout. Steve dodges the creatures, rolling over the hood of a car and whacking one with his bat. Another one goes around the side to sneak up on him. "Crap. Steve!" I shout. He doesn't hear me. He's too busy fending off two of the creatures already. "Shit, shit, shit." I mutter to myself. I look around, finding anything I can use to help. I spot a broken sharp metal pipe sticking out from our barrier. It wasn't really attached to anything. I take a deep breath, turn to Max and smile. "This is the risk." I say before turning and darting out the bus.

I hear Max scream my name, but I ignore her, running to the pipe and prying it out of the barrier. Once in my hand, I twirl it around and walk towards the sneaky monster. "Hey trashbag!" I shout. The creature turns to me and snarls. "Yeah! Fuck you too!" I shout before it runs towards me. I step out of the way, using the pipe to hit it's back as it passes me. "It growls and turns towards me again. I take off running, getting to the other side of Steve. "What the hell are you doing here, Y/L/N?" He asks. A monster jumps at him and he hits it with his nailed bat. "Saving your ass. Now come on!" I shout, pulling him with me as I turn to run.

Now running side by side, I quickly turn to throw the pipe at one of them. The pipe sails through the air and hits one of them, causing it to fall to the ground whining. "Yeah! Take that asshole!" I shout. Steve gets to the bus first and gets ushered inside, but before I could, one of them takes a leap at me and blocks my path. "Shit!" I shout. "Y/N!" Max shouts from inside. "Close the door! I'm going around! And when I get back, you better fucking have them open and ready!" I say. One of the creatures jumps at me, nicking me in the face with one of its claws. I hiss in pain, my hand shoots up to the wound where blood now drips down. "Why couldn't we have been friends?" I ask it. One of them runs at me, headbutting me and slamming me into the side of the bus. I groan in pain as the creature backs up. "Y/N!" Max shouts. "Here!" Steve shouts from on top of the bus. He drops the nailed bat at me and I catch it. "Well hello there." I say. The same one jumps at me and I hit it with the bat, causing it to whimper and back up slightly. I stand, facing the monsters.

"Yeah, you little shit." I say. I take off running around the lot. Damn, I'm really unfit. I push on, ignoring the pain in my legs and lungs. I sprint as fast as I can before I hit the home run. I was running straight towards the bus and the doors opened up, ready. Max was at the door, holding her arms out for me. "Come on, Y/N! Come on!" She shouts. Hearing the creatures behind me, I run, as fast as I could. The door getting closer and closer until I take the last step and jump into the bus, falling into Max's arms as Steve closes the door. Not even a second later, the monsters slam into the door, screeching and growling.

Heaving and sucking air into my lungs, I lie in Max's arms and close my eyes. "Y/N? You're not dying on me, right?" She asks, panicked. I shake my head lightly. "No." I say. "I..Just...Need...Air..." I say, heaving between words. The monsters crash into the door, Steve trying his best to keep it shut. The rest of us run towards the back as they slowly pierce their way in. Dustin tries to radio for Mike or Will, with no response. "We're going to die!" He shouts into the radio.

We hear loud thudding on the roof now and look up to where the ladder meets the roof. Max is standing, right there, at the ladder. "Max....move." I say. She doesn't. Clearly frozen in place as the creature sticks its ugly head into the gap. It growls at her and she screams in response. I shove her out of the way, taking my pocket knife and pointing at it. "You want some? Come on!" I shout, using my hand to push Max behind me.

But instead of going for the kill, it turns away, roaring at something else and leaving. We listen quietly as it leaves. All of them leave. And we breathe sighs of relief. I look down, noticing that, while I was trying to push Max away, she instead, intertwined our fingers and was hugging my arm. She notices that I was looking and quickly takes a step back and clears her throat. "What happened?" Dustin asks. I walk towards the door, slowly prying it open and peeking outside. "All clear" I say, after not seeing any. "What happened?" Lucas repeats Dustin's words. "I don't know," Max says. "Steve scare them off?" Dustin suggests.

"No." Steve says. "No way." He adds as I step forward and look at him. As if I knew what he was thinking, I turn to the others. "They're going somewhere." I say.

Word Count: 1370