I Know The End ✸ Steve Harrington

viii. his army

chapter eight . . . his army

THEY ALL MET UP IN THE BYERS HOUSE, anxiously waiting around after they had all shared where they had been this whole time — connecting parts of the nightmare they had been apart of. Even with every piece of information exchanged, they still had to figure out what the 'monster in the sky' wanted with Will. At this point it seemed inevitable to escape it.

Josie felt herself too worn out to move her slumped form leaning against the counter, keeping the rest of the kids company. She watched Steve enter the kitchen, coming right beside her as they all listened to Hopper yell down the phone, demanding for news regarding the lab — news they were all highly concerned about especially when it was crawling with demo-dogs. The duo stood in silence, involuntarily scooting closer to each other for comfort, choosing to ignore the small intimate moment that they had in Hopper's truck and how they became stammering messes.

Hopper slammed the phone back onto the wall as he ended the conversation, drawing everyone's attention as fumes were practically steaming out of his skull. "They didn't believe you, did they?" Dustin asked.

"We'll see."

"We'll see?" Mike repeated, his voice starting to raise in anger. "We can't just sit here while those things are loose!"

"We stay here, and we wait for help." Hopper spoke through gritted teeth, running out of patience to deal with Mike's attitude. Turning on his heel he walked away down the hallway.

Josie saw the crestfallen expressions on the kids' faces, moving closer to the table. "Just don't worry about it too much, okay?" She smiled at them tenderly, masking on a brave face when really she felt her internally freaking out.

Unable to put it off any longer, the girl departed from the group, making her way towards Nancy nervously, her eyes flickering over at an unconscious Will. "How's he holding up?" She whispered to her friend, not wanting to disturb Jonathan's time with his brother.

"Still hasn't moved." Nancy mumbled back. "How have you been?" The two hadn't spoken in what seemed like days and a lot had happened within that period of time.

"Good...surviving." Josie answered honestly, glancing back at the the Party, who were all slumped in their seats.

Nancy followed her gaze, smiling softly. "You're both really good with them, you always are. You and Steve make a good team." Josie heard the suggestiveness behind her words, causing her eyes to widen.

"Oh, w-we're not—" She was cut off by Nancy's chuckle.

"I'm not mad, it was going to happen eventually." She assured. "Also, Jonathan and I..." Trailing off, Josie nodded in understanding with a smile creeping up on her face. "You two would be great together, I see how much he cares about you."