better by myself - steve harrington AU

chapter 8 - junkyard

As we sat waiting in the bus, the day drew closer to evening. The sun hadn't set yet, but the small piece of sky we could see through the skylight became duller and duller. Inside, it didn't really resemble a school bus at all. Some seats had been completely taken out, others had been shifted around to create an environment that could pass for something of a living room more than rows of seats.

Lucas had appointed himself as lookout, since he had brought his binoculars, which meant he sat on the roof while the rest of us stayed inside the bus. Being the babysitter, I objected of course, but eventually got downvoted. Steve sat on the floor, leaning against the seat that Max rested on. Dustin was pacing around, and I stood still. I was too restless to sit down, but too exhausted to pace like Dustin. 

"Can you guys please sit down?" Steve asked for the third time since we got here. 

"No." Dustin said firmly. I only shot Steve an apologetic look. 

I wasn't paying attention to the conversation taking place in the bus until Max got up from her seat. My ears barely tuned into Dustin responding in an irritated manner: "just go home."

"Jeez." Max muttered as she got up to climb the ladder. "Someone's cranky. Is it past your bedtime?" She spat as she disappeared up through the skylight.

Dustin looked upset and I barely caught how Steve seemed to wink at him.

"Why did you just wink?" I pried, earning a surprised look from Steve as if he had forgotten I was there.

"I didn't-" Steve started but was interrupted.

"Steve told me to act like I don't care," Dustin explained loosely to me and then turned to Steve. "But this time I actually don't care."

"Care about what?" I asked, piercing my eyes at Steve. "About her?" I whispered, equal parts curious and accusatory.

"No, no" Steve began as Dustin nodded at me. "No, not like that."

"I can't believe you, this is what I'm talking abo-" I began, but was interrupted by Max and Lucas trying to get our attention. 

"It's here." Lucas whispered as loudly as he could, and the three of us pressed up against the window to confirm. There were only small slivers of the window that wasn't covered by scrap, but I could make out the familiar shadow anyway. Even though it was far away, it looked significantly bigger than it had last time.

It was even darker out now, although the sky was still a shade of dark blue, and a fog had started to roll in. As I watched the monster carefully make its way towards the end of the meat trail, I realised I was still clueless of the exact details of the plan. We'd kill it, yes. But how? As I pondered, I could see Steve shifting next to me. When I turned to him he was getting his bat ready. 

"You're not serious." I said, more as a statement than a question. Steve just shrugged his shoulders. 

"It's what should've happened in the beginning." He replied. I couldn't sense even a hint of fear in his voice. Neither in his body language as he confidently made his way to the door.

"It's a bad idea." I said, but not in time to change his mind about opening the door.

"Close it behind me." He just said as he disappeared out, and I had no other option than to obey him even though it unsettled me.

"He's actually crazy." I uttered.

"He's awesome." Dustin gleamed, as he studied him through the window. I walked back to the window to stand next to Dustin. I supposed Steve could be described as awesome.

We all watched him slowly walking up to the monster, you could practically touch the tension in the air. I tried convincing myself that Steve would succeed. There wasn't any other option, he had to kill that thing or else I wouldn't know what to do.

Suddenly, Lucas started shouting from the roof. "3 o'clock Steve!" Steve unwillingly tore his eyes from his opponent and looked where Lucas told him to. My eyes searched as well, and then I saw it. Another monster that looked exactly like Dart. I hadn't time to be confused about that, because the more I looked around, the more of them I saw.

"Oh my god." I whispered to myself. Steve wasn't going to make it. Without warning, one of the creatures attacked. Luckily, Steve was aware and agile, and managed to hit first. But then they started going at him one by one. Steve hit, and ducked, and ran, but it was obvious he was fighting a losing fight.

From atop the roof, I could hear Lucas and Max yelling for him to abort. Beside me, Dustin had frozen still. I knew it was up to me now. Hesitantly, I went over to the door and opened it. I yelled for Steve but he couldn't catch a break. "Steve?" I tried without success. "Steve!" I yelled, earning his brief attention as he took shelter behind a car. I gestured for him to hurry into the bus. And as if it would help, I held my arm out to reach for him. He wasn't nearly close enough to grab, but somewhere in my mind it felt like he would get in faster if I helped pull him in. His eyes which had been fixated on me now trailed to my left, and they seemingly got wider.

"Hannah, don't-" I hadn't noticed the creature leaping towards my arm until after it had left its mark on me. The thing had managed to scratch me along my entire forearm as it tried to grab me. In that moment, everything moved so fast yet it was the longest few seconds of my life. Steve came sprinting towards the bus, hitting the monster so hard it flew a few feet away before it had a chance to invade our shelter. He hurriedly jumped inside, moving us both away from the doors so he could close it. The monster clawed at the door then, prompting Steve to sit down and lean against it.

"Are you alright?" He asked, as if he didn't see the same thing I did. Blood was gushing from my arm, staining my blue jeans. Dustin helped me sit up straight as I began to feel light-headed. I could hear everyone talking, but my heartbeat sounded at a higher volume than anything else. Dustin removed his jacket at some point to tie it around my arm, trying to at least somewhat control the bleeding. 

The bus was now being shaken by the monsters, presumably trying to get in. The feeling of imminent death grew stronger, but I couldn't even wrap my head around that. The shaking seemed to stop after a while, and a serene silence settled around us. The serenity of it didn't affect me however, I still felt terrified, and I was completely frozen. I couldn't stop staring at my bloody hands.