Walls [Jonathan Byers]

Chapter 12:

We all filed into Will's room to see him on the bed.

"He likes it cold." Joyce said.

"What?" Hopper asked.

"It's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold." Joyce said before closing the window and turning back to face us. "We keep giving it what it wants."

"If this is a virus and Will's the host then..." Nancy said trailing off.

"Then we need to make the host inhabitable." Jonathan finished.

"So if he likes it cold..." I started.

"We need to burn it out of him." Joyce finished.

"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time." Mike said.

"Yeah. Somewhere far away." Dustin added.

Hopper reached over the bed and lifted Will off it. "I have an idea. Jonathan come on."

As Jonathan was walking past me he grabbed my hand. Jonathan pulled me along with him outside to his car against my protest. Hopper followed carrying Will and Joyce followed Hopper.

"Take Denfield. Then you'll see a large oak tree. You're gonna swing a right. That road is gonna dead-end. And it's about a five-minute walk from there." Hopper said as he reached the car and put Will into the back.

"Okay. Denfield to oak tree. Swing a right. That's it." Jonathan relisted.

"But it's channel ten, right?" I asked from the other side of the car.

"It's channel ten." Hopper reassured.

He put a hand on Jonathan's shoulder and looked between the two of us. "Listen. You let me know when that thing is out of him."

Hopper walked away and Jonathan turned towards the car.

"Jonathan." I said getting his attention.

He looked up at me.

"He's gonna be fine." I tried to reassure him.

We both joined Joyce in the car and Nancy walked up. I got out and without letting anyone talk, I headed to the kids and Steve on the porch and watched all the vehicles leave. The six of us still left at the house headed back inside to start cleaning up as much as we could. I sat on the couch, the scar on my hand catching my eye. Quickly I clamped my hand over the scar and felt a hand on my shoulder. Looking up, I saw Steve and all the kids looked at me confused.

"Lee? Are you okay?" Lucas asked.

I nodded. Seconds later Dustin convinced Steve to put the Demo-dog in the fridge so I watched as Lucas and Max cleaned up the broken glass and Mike pace back and forth.

"Mike. Would you just stop already?" Lucas asked.

"You weren't in there, okay Lucas? That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs." Mike said.

"Demo-dogs!" Dustin called as him and Steve came back in from from the kitchen.

"The chief will take care of her." Lucas tried to assure him.

"Like she needs protection." Max mumbled.

"Listen dude. If a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. All right?" Steve said.

"Okay. First of all this isn't some stupid sports game. And second of all we're not even in the game. We're on the bench." Mike pointed out.

Steve started stuttering. "Right. So my point is...."

We all looked at him as he looked at us.

"Right. Yeah. We're on the beach, so there's nothing we can do." Steve said.

"That's not entirely true. I mean these Demo-dogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus they were called away." Dustin said.

"So if we get their attention..." Lucas started.

"Maybe we can draw them away from the lab." Max added.

"Clear a path to the gate." Mike finished.

"Yeah. And then we all die." Steve raised his voice.

"That's one point of view." Dustin said.

"No. That's not a point of view, man. That's a fact." Steve said lookin at Dustin.

"I got it!" Mike said as he walked into the kitchen.

Everyone else followed and I hung back. Once more ideas started flying and Steve couldn't stop them I stepped in.

"Guys!" I screamed, getting all the kids attentions.

They all turned to look at me.

"We have to listen to Steve, sadly. If he says no, then we have to go along with what he says." I said.

"This is not happening." Steve said gesturing to the map that the kids were at.

"But..." Mike started before Steve cut him off by repeating 'no'.

"No buts. I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. We're staying here. On the bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job." Steve ordered. "Does everybody understand that?"

"This isn't a stupid sports game." Mike said.

"I said does everybody understand that?" Steve repeated. "I need a yes."

The sound of an engine made us all turn to the front of the house. Max ran over to the window and looked out it, the rest of us joining her at the window.

"It's my brother." Max said. "He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me. He'll kill us."

After telling us to stay put, Steve walked outside as her brother got out. The kids and I peered out the window and watched as they got closer. Max's brother's eyes landed on the window after a few minutes and the kids jumped back from the window.

"Shit. Did he see us?' Dustin asked as the kids hid on the couch.

I watched as Steve was pushed onto the ground and kicked. The brother started walking to the door.

"Get back." I ordered and gestured the kids away from the window.

They obeyed and we were all standing at the door.

"Lee?" Mike asked as I pulled the kids back away from the door.

It flew open and I started taking steps backwards with the kids

"Well well well." He said before slamming the door closer. "Lucas Sinclair. What a surprise."

I pushed the kids behind me and the brother stopped walking towards us.

"You're not touching the kids." I said staring into his eyes.

His eyes bore into mine. "Move."

"Leave." I said stepping closer to him.

He rolled his eyes and pushed me out of the way. I hit the floor and groaned in pain. Grabbing my head, I realized it had hit the ground because I had an slight headache now.