Stay or Go

Chapter 32

We walk through the dark forest slowly, trying to figure out where those creatures have gone. Steve and I are walking in front, incase they decide to jump out on us. Our hands brush against each other occasionally and I try to ignore the feeling I get whenever it happens.

"You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas asks my brother cutting through the silence "yes." Dustin says "he had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt." The new girl, Max, who has been silent since the whole bus ordeal argues "he was tiny two days ago."

I hear my brother sigh "he molted three times already." He tells us, Steve looks confused "malted?" he asks and Dustin shakes his head "molted." I confirm "shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms." Steve looks at me both confused and impressed.

"When's he gonna molt again?" Max asks, Steve and I getting a little further away from them. "It's gotta be soon." Dustin answers, his voice hinting at boredom "when he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it. And so will his friends."

We all keep our torches trained on the tracks just in case there is something to fall over. Death by tree branch is just as likely as death by demogorgan. "Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats." Steve muses thoughtlessly, this bit of information makes Lucas mad. "Wait, cat!" He says stopping his friend "Dart ate a cat?" Dustin opens and closes his mouth like a fish "no." He denies "what? No."

Steve looks between the two of them "what are you talking about?" He says "he ate Mews." I elbow Steve in the ribs for being careless and Max looks over at us "Mews? Who's Mews?" She asks. "It's Dustin and Lori's cat." Steve answers and Dustin glares at him as he shouts "Steve!"

Lucas pushes Dustin's shoulder gently ignoring his friends annoyance "I knew it!" He exclaims angrily "you kept him!" Dustin shakes his head and steps back a few paces, adjusting his cap on his head. "No!" He argues "no. No I.... No, i.... He missed me. He wanted to come home."

"Bullshit!" Lucas calls out. As they continue to fight I check in the trees surrounding us, since all this noise might attract the wrong kind of company. "I didn't know he was a Demogorgon ok?" Dustin gets defensive and Lucas raises his eyebrows "oh, so now you admit it?" He asks. I finally snap "guys, who cares? We have to go before we are attacked by said Demogorgan and his friends."

However this doesn't seem to deter Lucas as he bites back "I care!" He turns back to Dustin "you put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!" Steve frowns and leans closer to me. In my ear he whispers "what is he talking about?" I can't contain my shiver as I feel his breath against my skin. I pray he didn't notice that as I whisper back "Dungeons and Dragons." Steve nods his head slowly signalling he kind of understands.

"So did you!" Dustin screeches back to his friend. Lucas wrinkles his nose "what?" He asks suddenly calm now. "You told a stranger the truth." My brother explains shining his torch into Max's eyes, who scoffs and gives him a look "a stranger?" She asks. She steps froward as Lucas shouts back "you wanted to tell her too!" I roll my eyes and let my head fall so I am resting against Steve's shoulder "kill me now." I say quietly and I feel him chuckle.

"But I didn't Lucas ok!" Dustin argues back "I didnt tell her." Just then I hear something and Steve seems to hear it too as we both turn in the direction of the sound. "We both broke the rule of law ok? So we're even. We're even." I step towards the sound and Steve is right behind me, I can feel his presence like a comforting figure.

I feel Steve's hand on my arm as I hold tightly to my gun, heart hammering in my chest. "Hey guys." I call as they haven't finished arguing, when they don't listen Steve turns around and snaps "guys!" Which makes them shut up. The screeching is louder this time and we all start towards the noise, me leading the group and Steve right on my heels.

"No, no, no. Hey, guys, why are you headed towards the sound?" Max calls out as we leave the train tracks behind us but none of us answer.

Once we reach a clearing we stop and Dustin says "I don't see them." Lucas, who has finally finished shouting pulls out his binoculars and searches in front of us. "It's the lab." He tells us after a few moments of looking "they were going back home."

We decide to make our way down there and on the way we come to a huge fallen log, the others climb over with ease but as I do, I slip and almost fall on my face. "Gotcha." Steve says helping me up, I smile and brush myself off. "Weird." I muse "normally you are the one who pushes me to the ground." He rolls his eyes and we continue walking "oh ha ha." He says and I laugh.