GONE GIRL » Billy Hargrove

0.19 » yeah, and then we all die

I walked over to the kitchen as a constant clanging caught my attention - Dustin was currently emptying the fridge entirely. And by entirely I meant completely; he even took out the shelving and just dropped it to the ground like it was nothing.

Meanwhile Steve picked up the dead demadog he had wrapped up in a blanket.
"Alright, it- it should fit now," the young boy expressed as Steve was just staring at him with a confused look. "Is this really necessary?"

Dustin rolled his eyes and motioned for Steve to put the thing into the newly emptied fridge already. "Yes it is! Okay ... this is a groundbreaking scientific discovery! We can't just bury it like some common mammal, okay? It's not a dog!"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!" I called out and nodded my head towards Loki, who had been trailing after me the entire night wherever I went. The boy once again rolled his eyes and murmured a short apology before looking back at Steve, waiting.

"Alright alright alright ..." My best friend heaved up the corpse yet again while walking over to Dustin. "... but you're explaining this to Mrs Byers, alright?" he asked as he pushed the demadog into the fridge, the head almost immediately turning away again and I helped him stuff it into the small space.

"Help us out?" Steve looked at Dustin who was just standing around doing nothing. "What am I supposed to do?" He asked and I rolled my eyes.

"The door, man, the door."

Now the boy nodded, "Alright, I got the door ... god damn!"

We all leaned against the fridge for a moment and slowly stepped away, I still held up my hands in case it fell back out right away. Fortunately the door stayed closed and Steve placed his hand on Dustins head. Maybe babysitting wasn't so unlike Steve after all ...

"DEMADOGS!" Dustin called out as we all walked back to the living room and I jumped, for a split second convinced that there was a real threat. After realising that he seemingly only corrected someone I took a deep breath and leaned against the door frame.

Now Lucas spoke up. "The chief will take care of her."

Right. They were probably talking about El, or rather trying to calm down Mike who looked awfully distressed for a boy his age. Then again we all had seen some shit that night.

"Like she needs protection," Max mumbled.
Steve threw the rag he had been holding for a while now over his shoulder and looked at the kids. "Listen, dude, if the coach calls a play in the game, bottom line, you execute it."

Okay what now?

Mike furrowed his brows. "Okay, first of all this isn't some stupid sports game. And second we're not even in the game we're on the bench."

Steve looked at the ground for a few seconds before continuing to speak. "Right so- ... my point is,..." Another break.

"Right. Yeah. We're on the bench so uh ... there's nothing we can do."

He shrugged as though there was all there is to it and none of us could do anything about it, but Mike was having none of it - he wanted to help Eleven somehow. But before he could veto, Dustin spoke up as well.

"That's not entirely true ... I mean these demadogs they ... have a hivemind? When they ran away from the bus they were called away."

There seemed to be some sort of telepathy going on between the four of them that neither Steve nor me could follow.

"So if we get their attention-," Lucas started out and Max continued.
"-maybe we can draw them away from the Lab-"
"-and clear her path to the gate!" Mike concluded and Steve looked at me with a worried expression before turning to the kids.

"Yeah! And then we all die!"

"Well ... that's one point of view," Dustin mumbled as my best friend walked past him. "No, that's not a point of view. That's a fact!"

I agreed with Steve for the most part, then again - knowing those children - I was curious as to what kind of plan they would come up with regardless.

Suddenly Mikes face lit up and he ran over to the kitchen, all of us following him, confused.

"I got it!" He crouched down next to the fridge and pointed at a red X that was drawn onto the map of scribbles that were spread out all across the house.

"This is where the chief dug his hole; this is our way into the tunnels." He jumped back onto his feet and walked over to the living room, dropping down next to a seemingly larger part of the map. It was like a main crossing where most of the tunnels lead.
"And here, right here ... this is like a hub. We've got all the tunnels leading to here? Maybe if we set it on fire-"

"Oh Yeah, that's a no." Steve called out but the others weren't listening as Dustin continued Mike's idea.

"-the mind flayer would call away his army-"

The what now?

"-They'd all come to stop us-" Lucas went on as Steve tried to get their attention by yelling "Hey!"

Mike continued. "Then we circle back to the exit-"

"HEY!"

"-by the time they realise, we're gone-"

"HEY!"

"-El would be at the gate." Max finished as Steve began to clap loudly several times.

"HEY HEY HEY!" He pointed down at the map. "This is not happening."
I sighed deeply and Loki sat down by my feet as Mike attempted to protest - Steve stopped him.

"Nonono. No buts! We promised we'd keep you shitheads safe and that's exactly what we plan on doing. We're staying here on the bench and we're waiting for the starting team to do their job! Right Luce?" My eyes grew wide as he looked at me and I nodded slowly. "Does everybody understand that?"
"This isn't a stupid sports game!!" Mike called out again, now a hundred percent out of patience.

Steve began waving around with his rag and I took a step to the side to avoid being hit in the face.
"I said does everybody understand that? I need a yes."

I was just about to add something to the discussion when the roar of a car engine came closer and closer to the house, until the headlights lit up the windows.

Max and Lucas ran over to the couch in order to get a look at who was arriving and I saw Max' eyes widen significantly.

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

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A/N: It's just about to get interesting, yes yes😏
I spent about an hour going through a couple scenes on 0.5x speed for this and the next chapter just to get all the dialogue in, talk about dedication😂
Anyway, I hope you guys liked the new chapter and thanks for reading & commenting💕