CHAPTER THREE
THE JUNKYARD

        Abby, Steve, Dustin, and Alex plan gather at the edge of the woods early that morning.  There's a lot of ground to cover, and time has never been on their side.  The sky is overcast that day, the sun is blocked out by stormy gray clouds which only seem to reflect the somer mood that Abby has found herself in.  Her thoughts turn back every so often to the horror of the demodog with its rows of deadly teeth just mere feet away from her, how if they're not careful they can end up like Mews, chewed up and buried six feet underground.  And Abby Foster will be damned if she dies before she can make it to college.

The small group meets at the edge of the train tracks that wind through the forest of Hawkins.  Abby surveys each of the members of the small group: two thirteen-year-olds, one armed with scientific knowledge and a radio headset, the other armed with fists and biting insults, the king of Hawkins high school armed with a bat studded with nails, and a babysitter fueled only by ambition.  She only hopes that they'll be enough against the monsters loose in the town.

They've all brought backpacks filled with the necessities for their trek through the woods.  Steve opens his trunk to reveal four pails filled with chunks of raw pink meat.  Abby decides she doesn't want to know where he and Alex had managed to obtain this.  She adjusts the straps of her backpack as she leans against the trunk of her car, staring at the ground between her feet.

"Dustin!" A voice rings out from Alex's Supercomm.  "This is Lucas, do you copy?  Dustin?"

"Well, well, well, look who it is," Dustin drawls into his headset, placing his hands on his hips as Alex scrambles to withdraw the Supercomm from her backpack as Steve continues to unload the items from his trunk.

"Sorry, man, my stupid sister turned it off," comes Lucas' reply.

"Well, while you were having sister problems, Dart grew again, he escaped, and now I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon."

"Wait.  What?"

"I'll explain later," Dustin responds.  "Just meet me, Steve, Alex, and Abby at the old junkyard."

"Steve?" Comes Lucas's response.  

"And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket," Dustin adds.

"Steve Harrington?"

"No, a different Steve.  My dear brother thought it was better if we just let Hawkins be terrorized by another Demogorgon," Alex responds with sarcasm laced in her voice.  "Yes, of course it's Steve Harrington."

"Wait, and you said Abby's there?  Like Abby as in the Abby Foster that you—"

"Just be there, stat," Dustin interrupts quickly.  "Over and out."

"All right, let's go!" Steve calls.

They walk in silence for a long time.  There's a soft serenity to the forest, a few birds chip, and leaves crunch beneath their feet as they walk along the old, long-abandoned train tracks.  They've long since been overtaken by brambles and bushes, occasionally they'll stumble upon a plant spreading in between the pipes of wood that hold the tracks together.  Once, Abby had strayed into the woods and had stumbled across the old train tracks.  She had run alongside them the entirety of the day, determined to follow them out of Hawkins, but the town had always had a funny way of keeping those who didn't belong outside within its limits.  Now, though, the tracks are being sprinkled with chunks of raw, pink meat.

She walks alongside Alex as Steve and Dustin trail some distance behind them, their conversation has faded into the distance and reaches deaf ears as the distance between the girls and the boys grows greater.  Abby has gotten lost in the scenery, captivated by the trees despite the monotony of them.  Alex doesn't seem to be enjoying the scenery as much as Abby is.  There's a forlorn expression on her face, she seems a little dazed and her eyes are a little glassy.

"Hey," Abby nudges Alex, snapping the girl out of her trance-like state.  "Are you okay, kid?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that I was?" Alex asks.

"Look, we just met, I'm not expecting you to open up to me," Abby tells her with a soft smile, "but it's completely fine to not be okay.  You don't have to hide it."

Alex shrugs.  "It's just that ... we're hunting one of the things that killed one of the only people who understands what it feels like to get so mad that you've managed to hurt someone.  And it was nice.  I mean, the boys are great and all, but they still tread on egg shells around me from time to time still.  And, well ... she's gone now, and doing this ... it only reminds me that she's not here anymore."  She wipes away a stray tear, her face tinged peony pink.  "Sorry, for getting all wishy-washy on you like that.  Kyra-the-Counselor says it's good to try and connect with people—but I just dumped all my problems on you."

It's surreal to see Alex Harrington like this.  Vulnerable.  Open.  She's only ever been known for her uncontrollable rage, her guarded emotions, and the scars and black eyes that she collected like trophies.  She's only ever been depicted as somebody to avoid and be terrified because of her spiteful rage.  Nobody has ever attempted to look past the surface and the raw emotions beneath the bubbling anger.  

"Hey, don't worry about it," Abby assures her with a small smile.  "You just have to let it out sometimes."

Alex nods.  "Yeah, it's hard sometimes.  I can't really always tell the boys or Steve how I'm feeling because then they get all weird and act like I'm fragile.  Because girls are like a different species to them or something."

They walk in silence for a few more moments, and then: "Hey, Abby, why are you here?"

Abby lets out a small laugh.  "Well, as you know, the curly-haired shitwad decided it that it was a good idea to house a baby Demogorgon of all things.  I happened to show up just when he was luring it out of the house.  It was a, uh, wrong place, wrong time kind of thing."

Alex shakes her head.  "No, I mean in Hawkins.  I mean, you've worked so hard to get money for college, but why didn't you just ... leave?"

"Well, for one, my parents would both have cardiac arrest if I just ran away, and well, I don't know ... I guess, I just want to leave in a way that's meaningful to me.  If that makes sense," Abby lets out a sigh as Alex nods along.  "My family's been in Hawkins for generations, probably since the start of this town, and I want to be able to get out in a way that none of the others have."

Alex nods.  "Inspiring."

"Not really," Abby responds with a shrug.  "I mean, isn't that what everyone wants to do?  Get out of here?  It's just we all want to do it differently."

"Yeah, I guess," Alex glumly stares down at the ground between her feet as she reaches a yellow-gloved hand into the pail of meat.  

✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*

The junkyard is a field of dead grass and rusting scraps of metal are scattered across the dead sea of grass.  There are a few abandoned cars, pillaged of their important parts and left to sit for eternity in the junkyard.  In the center of it all sits an old school bus, it's paint has been faded and chipped over the years, it's rusted and far too old to function any longer.

Steve surveys the area with an approving nod.  "Oh yeah.  Yeah, this will do."  He removes the sun glasses form his face to get a better look.  Abby lets out a small chuckle as Dustin grins proudly.  "Yeah, this will do just fine.  Good call, dude."

The four travel further into the junkyard, trailing their raw chunks of meat all the while.  Abby glances around at the abandoned cars and scraps of metal, all things that will come in handy for when Dart comes.  They dump the remaining meat in their buckets into a pile in the center of the junkyard.  

"I said medium-well!" A voice calls from across the clearing.

There, several yards away stands a boy dressed in a beige jacket with a camouflage bandana tied around his forehead.  His bike is propped up next to him as he waves at the group with a wide grin.  Beside him stands a girl with bright red hair that tumbles down her shoulders in soft waves.  One hand is slung in the pocket of her green jacket while the other hangs limply at her side.  Abby notices Alex's mood shift when the girl's eyes land on the boy and the girl, she seems to perk up slightly and there's a small smile on her face as she raises a hand in greeting.

"Who's that?" Steve wonders, nodding toward the girl.

"Oh, that's Max," Alex hums with a smile.

"Wait, Max is a girl?" Steve questions.

"Yeah, she is.  Why are you so surprised, Steven?"

"I don't know, the way you talked about her, I just thought ..." 

Dustin only lets out a sigh and pulls Alex and Lucas away in the shelter of one of the abandoned cars as soon as the boy and girl reach them.  Abby stares after the three teenagers for a moment with a bemused expression on her face as the indistinct sounds of a hushed conversation reach her ears.  Shaking her head at their antics, Abby turns away from the abandoned car helps Max to pry a sheet of metal from the ground.

 "Hey, I'm Max, by the way," Max tells her.

"Abby," Abby responds as she dusts her hands off on her jeans.  

They whirl around, holding back laughs as Steve bangs a collapsed chair against the abandoned car that Alex, Dustin, and Lucas are sheltering behind.  "Hey!  Dickheads!  How come the only people helping me out are this random girl and Dustin's babysitter?  We lose light in 40 minutes, let's go!  Let's go I said!"

"All right, asshole!" Dustin yells back in exasperation.  "God!"

"I humbly beg your forgiveness, your royal highness," Alex calls.  She bows before him mockingly, but Steve only rolls her eyes and hits her lightly on the back of the head.  Alex retaliates by kicking his shin.

For the next forty minutes, they work as quickly and efficiently as they can.  They shed their yellow gloves and empty pales, they wipe the sweat off of their brows and discard the layers they had donned earlier that morning.  There are little pauses in between their tasks, time has never been on their side, and the sun is sinking fast.  It's only a matter of time before the creatures of the night emerge from their hiding places and bare their sharp teeth.  There is little conversation as they work, everybody has realized and accepted the reality of the situation that they are in and the risks that they are willing to take.  There isn't any room for mistakes, and there certainly won't be any do-overs.  

Steve rings the pile of meat with kerosene and trails it to the door of the school bus.  Max and Alex work together to fit an old ladder into the school bus and prop it up against the emergency escape exit.  Abby, Dustin, and Lucas work together barricade the flimsy school bus doors with the rusted sheets of metal.  They roll barrels through the clearing, stack tires atop the bus, and reinforce the integrity of the walls of their makeshift shelter from the approaching storm.  They make sure to block any openings with a sheet of metal.  They are meticulous in their work.  Their safety depends on it.  

And finally, as the sun sets over Hawkins with a mixture of orange, pink, and yellow, the group climbs into the safety of the school bus.  

But their work is far from done.  

author's note: aye, the start of alex and abby's friendship!  though after season two they don't see much of each other unfortunately.

also i really don't think i'll have time to squeeze it into the story, but what both lucas (in this chapter) and alex (last chapter) try to say about abby was that dustin used to have a crush on abby and they just keep making fun of him for it whenever they can because they're like that.