wires, steve harrington

seven.

since steve apparently didn't fear danger, and was willing to sacrifice himself, he climbed out of the bus, swinging his bat at dart. "give me that." meadow mumbled, stealing steve's lighter from her brother and crouching next to him by the window. max moved behind them, trying to see over their shoulders.

steve whistled. "come on, buddy. dinner time. human tastes better than cat, i promise."

"he's insane." max whispered, looking at meadow.

dustin shook his head, smiling. "he's awesome."

meadow nodded. "and he's gonna get himself killed." she watched as he swung his bat back and forth, daring the baby demogorgon to come nearer. dart didn't move, only opening his mouth slightly. meadow didn't think she'd been so nervous in her life, watching every single movement that both steve and the creature made.

"steve," lucas yelled from the top of the bus, catching meadow's attention, "look out! three o'clock!"

the girl moved dustin's head so she could look, immediately spotting another small demogorgon jumping onto a car behind steve. "steve!" she yelled, both her and dustin scrambling to open the bus doors so he could run to safety.

"abort!" dustin screamed, repeating the phrase until steve finally turned, seeing the new creature. it ran to him and he dodged it just in time, hitting it with his bat to send it flying over the car behind him.

all the kids began to yell for steve now, watching as he broke into a sprint for the bus. he ran inside, barely missing the open mouths of the creatures. meadow pulled steve inside as dustin closed the door, and the boy fell on top of her, both teens landing in the drivers seat.

meadow's breath hitched in her throat for a moment as she realized the close proximity, quickly remembering the severity of the situation. she grabbed a piece of metal, attempting to shove it onto the door with her feet, an attempt to keep the creatures out as long as possible.

"they can't get in!" lucas insisted. "they can't!"

meadow pushed the kids back. "go into the back of the bus, now!" she ordered, moving with them as one of the creatures broke through the doors. steve hit it with his bat while dustin picked up his walkie-talkie, frantically telling anyone on the other line that they were going to die.

a scratch to the back of the vehicle scared the group, and meadow followed max's gaze as she looked to the top of the bus. the girl screamed, falling into meadows arms. the small demogorgon reached out a hand, its claws barely missing meadow's eyes.

"everyone out of the way!" steve yelled, holding his bat up, threatening the beast to come nearer. it looked up as if alarmed, running off the bus. steve looked from side to side as it ran off, his gaze falling on meadow, who held a hand to her forehead. "are you okay?" he asked, watching as she moved her hand to the side.

she had been scratched, but it was small enough that she would be fine. "i'm okay, steve. let's just get out of here before they decide to come back."

he nodded, opening the door with hesitation, seeing that they were gone. "they're going somewhere." he confirmed, the group looking among themselves in fear.

where were they going, meadow wondered, and what could it be that it was more significant than them getting what could've been an easy snack?

after leaving the junkyard, the group moved back onto the train tracks, attempting to follow where they thought the creatures were headed. dustin began talking about dart and how he'd grown, seeing as it was pretty unbelievable that he had grown from the size of a slug to the size of a dog. "soon he'll be eating more than just cats." steve agreed, meadow sending him a look.