One

Chapter Eight - part two

   They waited, wrapping up their wounds with bandages from the first aid kit Joyce kept in the bathroom. Phina did hers by herself, shooing Jonathan away when he tried to help.
   "Go help Nancy," she told him, "I've done this plenty of times on my own."
   She now sat against the wall, on the floor, ignoring their quiet whispers. She had pulled the gun she had stolen from the waistband of her jeans, switching it from hand to hand. It was a .9mm, a similar caliber to Nancy's, but this one packed a stronger punch.
   "Where'd you get that," Nancy suddenly asks.
   "I stole it off an agent from Hawkins Lab earlier when I went with Hopper to get Mike," Phina shrugs, looking up at the two.
   "Do you even know how to use that thing," Jonathan asks.
   "Come on Jon, you have so little faith in me," she laughs, "I'm a better shot than you are."
   "When did you learn to use a gun," Nancy shouts.
   "Remember when I was in 8th grade, I was hanging out with that Clark kid? Yeah, well that summer  he took me shooting with his family almost every weekend," Phina explains.
   Nancy sighs through her nose, shaking her head at her sister. Nancy goes back to wrapping Jonathan's wound, and Phina tunes them out again. She stared up at the ceiling, thinking. Thinking of her past, of her family, of the craziness going on lately, just thinking. Getting lost in her own mind. She did it to distract herself, to keep her from feeling the terror coursing through her. Not for herself, no, she didn't care what happened to her, not at all. No, if Jonathan or Nancy were to get hurt, she would never forgive herself. Or if something happened to the kids, while she had left them on their own, that would kill her inside. The terror was enough to shake her to her bones, so she drowned it in the thoughts she could control, the good ones.
She fell so deep into her mind, that she was almost blind to the entire world. Nancy and Jonathan's conversation fell on deaf ears.
   Loud knocking suddenly sounded on the door making Phina jump, breaking through the veil of escape she had made. She falls back into reality, hard, she looks towards Nancy, who's eyes are wide with terror.
   "Jonathan! Are you there man! It's Steve," Steve Harrington shouts from the other side of the door.
   Phina jumps to her feet, why is he here?
   Steve starts knocking again, "listen, I just want to talk!"
   Phina looks at Nancy and Jonathan, who both give her a nod, and walks over to the door, cracking it open.
   Steve looks at her, confused, "Phina?"
   "You need to leave," tells him right away.
   "Listen, I'm not trying to start any shit," he pleads.
   "I don't care, you need to go. Please," Phina pleads back.
   "I know, I messed up, I messed up! Ok, please, I just want to make things right," Steve's voice wavers, "ok? Please."
   Phina gives him a look that he's never seen before, a look of understanding, of sadness, of, fear? She was scared of something, scared for him. He looks down at her hand that's resting against the door, noticing the bandage.
   "What happened to your hand," he asks, he grabs her hand gently into his, cradling it, "is that blood?"
   Phina she rips her hand out of his, "that is none of your concern."
   "What's going on Phina," he asks, "wait, did he do this?"
   "What! No," Phina shouts.
   Steve pushes past Phina to get inside, "Steve! Steve, stop! You need to leave!"
   "Let me in," he pushes past her and stumbles inside, seeing Nancy and Jonathan standing in the middle of the insanely messy house.
   "What is, what the," Steve stutters, looking around at the lights and the lettered wall.
   Jonathan starts to push him, "listen to me, you gotta get out of here. I'm not asking, I'm telling!"
   "What's that smell, is that gasoline," Steve shouts.
   Nancy pulls her gun on Steve, "Steve! Get out!"
   "Wow wow, wait, What," Steve yells, holding up his hands, "what is going on!"
   "You have five seconds to get out of here," Nancy shouts, "five."
   "Nancy, that's a little over dramatic, don't you think," Phina shouts at her sister then turns towards Steve, "Steve! You need to leave, right now!"
   "Four."
   "Put the gun down," Steve pleads.
   "I'm doing this for you," Nancy tells him, the lights flickering above her.
   "Three."
   Phina pulls her gun out of her waistband, looking around the room, at the lights.
   "Phina! What is happening," Steve screams, seeing the gun in the redhead's hands.
   "Steve, you need to go, please go" Phina shouts, then turns to her sister, "Nancy!"
   "Two," Nancy continues counting, Steve freaking out, yelling.
   "Nancy! The damn lights," Phina shouts.
Nancy stops her countdown and looks up, looking at the rapidly blinking lights. She turns away from Steve, looking all around. Phina slowly makes her way over to Steve, he was completely defenseless, and was now on her list of people to protect.
   "It's here," Jonathan shouts, grabbing the nail ridden bat.
   "Wait what's here," Steve asks.
   "Where is it," Nancy asks.
   "Where is what! Woah," Steve screams, seeing the bat, "easy with that!"
   Phina pulls Steve towards her, raising her gun to protect them, "shut up and stay close to me, got it? Where the hell is it Jon!"
   "I don't know," Jonathan yells.
   "Where is what, hello! Will someone," Steve is cut off by the Demorgorgan crawling through the ceiling.
   Phina and Nancy both raise their guns, shooting off a few rounds at it, not affecting it at all. Jonathan grabs Nancy and turns towards Will's room.
   "Go, run!"
   The Demogorgan falls through the ceiling and Phina turns, grabbing Steve's hand and bolting. The race back to Will's room, the Demogorgan letting out an awful screeching roar.
   "Jump," Phina shouts to Steve as they get to the trap.
   "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," Steve screams, as he leaps over it.
   They run into the room, the door slamming shut behind them. Steve grips Phina's hand in absolute terror. She subconsciously pulls him closer to her, squeezing his hand back, half to comfort him and half to comfort herself.
   "Jesus! What the hell was that," he shouts, "What the hell..."
   "Shut up," the other three teens yell at him.
   The Demogorgan screeches again and Phina pushes Steve farther behind her, raising her gun towards the door. Steve yelps, cowering behind Phina.
   "What's it doing," Nancy asks.
   "I don't know," Jonathan breathes heavily.
   Phina grips Steve's hand, not caring that she was practically breaking it, neither did he.
   She watches for the yo-yo to fall, but it doesn't. The lights stop flickering, and it goes silent in the hallway.
   "Do you hear anything," Nancy asks.
   "No," Jonathan answers, closing his lighter.
   Jonathan slowly opens the door, preparing for the Demogorgan to attack, but it doesn't happen. He looks back at the others, a confused look on his face.
   The four teens slowly creep out of the room, looking for any signs of the Demogorgan. To their relief, it wasn't there, Steve still holding onto Phina's hand like a scared child.
   They walked slowly back into the main room, Phina holding her gun to the ground, ready to aim and shoot at any given time. Jonathan leads them, his bat held out in front of him. Nancy and Jonathan look for any signs of the monster, finding none.
   "This is crazy," Steve was whispering to himself, slowly getting louder, "this is crazy, this is crazy! This is crazy!"
   He finally lets go of Phina's hand and grabs the phone, dialing 911 probably. Phina marches over and takes the phone from his hand, throwing it to the ground and slamming her foot down on it.
   "What are you doing! Are you insane," he shouts at her.
   "It is going to come back," she yells at him, "and you need to get the hell out of here before it does!"
   Steve looks down at her, her fiery emerald eyes glowing, not in hatred, but in concern. For him, he realizes. She had never, ever been concerned for him, no, she'd hated him from the moment they met, for her to be scared for him, worried for him, meant that he was in serious danger, and she didn't want him to be hurt.
"Please Steve, you've got to get out of here," she whispers, "please."
   He nods, shell shocked. He give her one last look, before bolting out the door, running to his car.
   Phina let's out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding as soon as he is out of her sight.
   Almost as soon as the door closes behind him, the lights start flickering like crazy again. The three of them circle up, back to back, looking everywhere for it.
   "Where is it," Nancy asks.
   "Come on. Come on you son of a bitch," Jonathan says, "you see it?"
   "No," Nancy shakes.
   Phina's heart pounds in her chest, "where the hell is it!"
   "Come on, come on, come on!"
   The lights go out completely, Phina looks up at them, "son of a bitch."
   The noise of the Demogorgan makes Phina turn around sharply, to see it standing over Jonathan.
   "Jon!" "Jonathan!"
   The Demogorgan hits Jonathan, knocking him to the ground, and his bat falls from his hands. It gets on top of him and slowly lowers it face to his.
   "Jonathan!" Nancy yells.
   It opens its mouth, Phina raises her gun and starts shooting at the same time as Nancy.
   "Go to hell you son of a bitch," Nancy yells at it.
   It stands up to its full height, looking at Nancy and Phina. They continue to shoot at it, Nancy running out of bullets before Phina. Phina shoves Nancy behind her as the thing steps towards them, running out of bullets after a few more shots. The monster takes its sweet time walking over to the girls, almost as if it is taunting them, like it knows it's won. Phina slowly raises her hands towards the Demogorgan, the center of her palms slowly heating up, her eyes beginning to glow golden. The Demogorgan pauses.
   Then, out of nowhere, Steve screams, hitting the Demogorgan with the nail ridden bat.
   "Steve," Phina shouts, lowering her hands so she won't hurt him.
   The monster swings at him, but Steve ducks, taking another hit at it. He backs towards the hallway, the Demogorgan following. Steve hits it again, and again, until it steps in the trap.
   "It's in the trap," Steve yells, and the three run over to him, "he's stuck!"
   "Jonathan now!" Nancy screams.
   "My lighter, it's gone," Jonathan shouts, searching his pockets.
   The Demogorgan starts to pry the trap open, screeching in pain.
   Phina panics, pushing Jonathan out of the way and yells, "god damnit, move!"
   Jonathan jumps out of her way and she throws her hands up, her eyes glowing golden and a wave of fire shoots from the palms of her hands. The gasoline lights, and so does the monster.
   "What the hell," Nancy screams.
   The monster screams, the fire licking the roof of the house. Jonathan grabs at the fire extinguisher, not about to let his home burn to the ground. As the room is engulfed in smoke, all of them are blinded. They are limited to their sense of hearing.
   Coughing fills the air, and then a scream, Phina's.
   Steve recognizes it instantly, "Phina!"
   The smoke clears, and to the teens horror, the monster, and Phina, are gone. All that is left is the strange gooy substance bubbling on the bear trap, and drops of human blood mixing into it.
   "Where is she! Where is it," Steve shouts, holding the bat in the air.
   "I don't know! It should be dead," Jonathan yells, frantically looking for his best friend.
   Tears stream down Nancy's face, her mind filling with awful thoughts, like how she might loose her sister, just like how she lost her best friend.
   "Where is she, where did it take her," Steve yells, his voice cracking, turning to look at Nancy and Jonathan.
   "The upside down," Jonathan whispers, tears for his best friend forming in his eyes, he falls against the wall, almost as if he can't support himself anymore.
   Steve falls to his knees, Jonathan's reaction causing Steve's heart to painfully lurch. Phina was in serious danger, and Steve realized he had no idea how to help her. And, with that thing there as well, she was as good as dead, and Steve could feel his world crumbling beneath him.

-2126 words-
Oh no! Phina's been taken!!! Here is that action I've been promising you, and the little Steve action as well. Hope you enjoyed it.
-Morgan