THE GOLD | b. hargrove

chapter sixteen

The walk back to Steve's car felt a lot more taxing than the journey they'd made to the junkyard. The lack of light, save for the moonlight that filtered through the tree line and the weak beams of the flashlights, and the unspoken fear from their close encounter with the demogorgans made it feel like there was a weight hanging over the group. Pushing on their bodies as if gravity had somehow gotten stronger over the past hour or so.

Harriet was still leaning into Steve's side as they walked, a few steps ahead of the kids now. They'd barely spoken a word since leaving the junkyard, but it was a comfortable silence. After the horrific cacophony of screams that had surrounded them earlier that night, the peaceful quiet was a welcome change. Their own silence meant they could hear the conversation going on behind them too, listening in to the kids theorising about the monsters, where they'd gone and why they'd left.

"You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas had previously seen the creature that Dustin had captured a few days ago, and it was more akin to a slug than the horrific monsters that had attacked them that night.

"Yes! He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt." Dustin sounded exasperated at this point, tired of being questioned about wether or not Dart had grown into a demogorgan as if it undermined his intelligence.

"He was tiny two days ago." Max chimed in. The redhead had more to wrap her head around than the rest, having never experienced anything like this before.

"Yeah, well, he's molted three times since then." Dustin spoke as if this were the most obvious thing in the world, as if they weren't talking about a creature quite literally not from this world.

"Malted?" Steve craned his head round to look at the teens behind him, finally caving and joining in the conversation instead of just eavesdropping.

"Molted." Dustin corrected, though the words did sound essentially the same. "Shed his skin to make room for more growth, like hornworms."

Steve nodded, recalling the large pile of sticky flesh he'd found in Dustin's cellar.

"Well, whens he gonna molt again?" Harriet kept her eyes on the ground in front of her as she asked the question, still feeling too exhausted to fully join the conversation.

"It's gotta be soon. When he does he'll be fully grown, or close to it." The thought of the monsters getting any bigger made Harriet's stomach turn. They didn't know how many of them were even out there, and the last thing they needed was multiple fully formed demogorgans tearing through Hawkin's. "And so will his friends."

"And he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats." Steve added, not thinking anything of his comment. He assumed he was just stating the obvious but as Lucas stopped in his tracks at his words, it was clear this information was not shared amongst the whole party.

"Wait, a cat?!" Lucas was staring intensely at Dustin, waiting for an explanation. "Dart ate a cat?"

"No, what? No." Dustin shook his head, clearly flustered trying to deny the statement.

"You literally told us he ate Mews?" Harriet turned her head around now, equally as confused as the others. She was doubting her own memory now, but if Steve also thought Dart ate Dustin's cat then surely it was the case.

"Mews?" Max looked at Harriet and then back to Dustin. The whole party was stood still now as the tension rose in the air.

"That's Dustin's cat." Steve watched as Lucas's face screwed up at this information, clearly unaware of Dart's feast at the Henderson home.