CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
BENCHED & BEATEN

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   THE GROUP JOINED together again at the table a few minutes later. Eleven was now back with the group and standing beside Hopper, "It's not like it was before. It's grown, a lot. I mean, that's considering we can get in there, the place is crawling with those dogs."

   "Demodogs." Dustin corrected.

   Hopper paused, furrowing his brows, "I'm sorry, what?"

   "I said, uh, Demodogs. Like Demogorgon and dogs." Dustin explained, not realizing that Hopper didn't care what it Dustin had said, but why he said it and why Dustin thought this was the time and place to correct him on something that wasn't important, "You put 'em together, it sounds pretty badass—"

   "How is this important right now?" Hopper interrupted.

   "It's not, I'm sorry," Dustin states, looking away in embarrassment. Liz rubbed his arm, feeling slightly bad for him.

   "I can do it." Eleven states, looking up at Hopper with a hopeful look in her eyes.

   "You're not hearing me," Hopper states, trying to change her mind.

   "I'm hearing you. I can do it." Eleven says confidently.

   "Even if El can, there's still another problem." Mike starts. "If the brain dies, the body dies."

   "I thought that was the whole point." Max said, furrowing her brows in confusion.

   "It is, but if we're really right about this... I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the Mind Flayer's army—"

   "Will's a part of that army," Lucas states.

   "He'll die along with that thing," Liz adds.

   "Closing the gate will kill him," Mike nods.

   The group was silent for a minute, until Joyce pushed back her chair, making it scrape against the floor. She moved to Will's bedroom with the rest of the group following her. She pushed open the door of his bedroom, allowing the cold November air to hit the group. Liz felt chills run up her spine at the brisk, night air hitting her.

   "He likes it cold," Joyce mumbled.

   "What?"

   "It's what Will kept saying to me: he likes it cold." She responded before moving over to the window and slamming it closed. "We keep giving it what it wants!"

   "If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then..." Nancy began.

   "Then we need to make the host uninhabitable." Jonathan finishes as he kneels next to Will in his bed, and grasps his hand.

   "So if he likes it cold..." Nancy continues before trailing off.

   "We need to burn it out of him." Joyce says, her voice dark.

   "We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time," Mike states

   "Yeah, somewhere far away," Dustin suggests.

   Their new plan was put together in an even shorter amount of time than the last one. Liz was skeptical about it and didn't really think it would work, but she tried to keep her hope up. Hopper lead Jonathan outside as Hopper carried Will to Jonathan's car. He gave directions to him about where the cabin that they would use to burn the monster out of will was. Nancy and Steve loaded heaters into the car as the portion of the group that was staying behind watched.

   The party had all given Eleven hugs and wished her good luck. They were all hoping they wouldn't lose her again. Mike was the last one to go up to her as she stood in the driveway. They said their goodbyes and even leaned in to kiss before Hopper interrupted them, "El. Come on, let's go. It's time."

   Eleven gave the group one last glance before she turned around and got into the car with Hopper. The group watched as they backed out of the driveway and took off down the road.

   The remaining group which consisted of the party and Steve went back into the house. Liz watched as Dustin made Steve wrap Dart up in a blanket to put in the fridge to preserve him. Steve thought it was stupid but Dustin insisted since it was a groundbreaking scientific discovery. Lucas and Max cleaned up the glass from the window as Mike paced the room, worrying about Eleven.

   "Mike, would you just stop already?" Lucas yells.

   "You weren't in there, okay, Lucas?" Mike yells back. "That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs!"

   "Demodogs!" Dustin yells from the kitchen making Mike roll his eyes. Liz sighed and shook her head at the boy.

   "The chief will take care of her!" Lucas argues, trying to get him to see that they shouldn't worry.

   "Like she needs protection," Max mutters and Liz couldn't help but agree.

   "Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. All right?" Steve interrupts, coming into the room as he wipes his hands on a towel.

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

   "Right... so my point is..." Steve starts before he goes silent, prompting the group to give him looks to continue. "Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so, uh, there's nothing we can do."

   "That's not entirely true," Dustin states, gaining the attention of the group. "I mean, these Demodogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away."

   "So, if we get their attention..." Lucas starts.

   "Maybe we can draw them away from the lab," Max finishes.

   "And clear a path to the gate," Liz adds.

   "Yeah, and then we all die!" Steve exclaims, prompting Liz to roll her eyes at her brother.

   "That's one point of view." Dustin states.

   "No, that's not a point of view, man. That's a fact." Steve tells him as Mike gasps slightly and runs into the kitchen. The group follows him.

   "This is where the chief dug his hole. This is our way into the tunnel." Mike says, pointing to a section of the map on the wall that Will drew. He then runs into another section of the house. "Here, right here. This is like the hub. So you got all the tunnels feeding in here." Mike kneeled down over it and put his hands on it. "Maybe if we set this on fire..."

   "Oh, yeah? That's a no!" Steve states, the group ignoring him.

   "The mind flayer would call away his army," Dustin says.

   "They'd all come to stop us," Lucas says excitedly as Steve continues to try and get their attention.

   "Then we circle back to the exit!" Mike adds. "By the time they realize we're gone-"

   "El would be at the gate!" Max finishes.

   "Hey. Hey! Hey!" Steve yells, clapping now to get their attention. They all turn to him as he puts his hands on his hips assertively. "This is not happening."

   "But—"

   "No, no, no, no, no! No buts!" Steve interrupts. "I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. We're staying here. On the bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand that?"

   "This isn't a stupid sports game!" Mike argues once more.

   "I said does everybody understand that?" Steve asks, waving his towel for emphasis. "I need a yes."

   "Ignore him," Liz says before looking back at Steve. "Just because you're older than us doesn't mean you're right and it doesn't mean we have to listen to you."

   Steve sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, "Liz, please, not now—"

   Their argument gets interrupted by the sound of an engine revving. Max runs to the window, followed by the rest of the group, "It's my brother." She turns to Lucas who was watching out the window next to her, "He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me. He'll kill us."

   "Stay here," Steve states firmly before throwing the towel to the ground.

   Liz grabbed Steve's arm, "Steve, no."

   "Stay here, it'll be fine," Steve tells her before walking out the door. Liz squishes herself between Lucas and Max on the couch as they all start watching the window.

   Billy Hargrove stepped out of his car, a cigarette dangling from his lips. He pulled the cigarette out and blew out the smoke before smirking, "Am I dreaming, or is that you, Harrington?"

   "Yeah, it's me. Don't cream your pants." Steve states, his hands on his hips.

   Billy takes off his leather jacket and throws it in his car, leaving a red button-up shirt that was mostly unbuttoned, showing off his sweaty chest as Steve walks up to him, "What are you doing here, amigo?"

   "I could ask you the same thing," Steve responds. "Amigo."

   "Looking for my stepsister. A little birdie told me she was here." Billy explains, his cigarette dangling from his lips. Liz glances at Max who looked scared to see her brother here and looking for her.

   "Huh, that's weird. I don't know her." Steve shrugs.

   "Small? Redhead? Bit of a bitch." Billy lists out. "Saw her hanging around your sister a few times."

   "Doesn't ring a bell," Steve says. "Sorry, buddy."

   Billy nods before sighing, "You know, I don't know, this... this whole situation, Harrington, I don't know. It's giving me the heebie-jeebies."

   "Oh, yeah? Why's that?"

   Billy takes another drag from his cigarette, "My thirteen-year-old sister goes missing all day, and then I find her with you in a stranger's house. And you lie to me about it."

   Steve chuckles, "Man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what? I don't know what you don't understand about what I just said. She's not here."

   "Then who is that?" Billy asks, gesturing to the window where the party was looking out of.

   The group quickly ducks down as Dustin exclaims, "Shit! Did he see us?"

   They run away from the window and stand a few feet from the door which gets slammed open by none other than Billy Hargrove, "Well, well, well." He slams the door shut behind him and starts walking over to the group of kids with his eyes set on Lucas, "Lucas Sinclair. What a surprise. I thought I told you to stay away from him, Max."

   "Billy, go away," Max says.

   "You disobeyed me... and you know what happens when you disobey me. I break things." Billy then grabs Lucas by his jacket and pushes him up against a wall in the kitchen.

   "Billy, stop!" Max yells repeatedly.

   "Let him go!" Liz, Mike, and Dustin yell.

   "Lucas!" Dustin yells as things start falling off shelves from Billy's force against Lucas.

   "Since Maxine won't listen to me, maybe you will," Billy says to him. "You stay away from her. Stay away from her! You hear me?"

   "Get the hell away from him!" Liz yells at Billy, getting closer as she does so.

   "You stay out of this!" Billy yells at Liz. "I got a few words to say to you too!"

   "I said get off me!" Lucas yells before kicking Billy in the groin.

   Billy groans, "You are so dead, Sinclair! You're dead!"

   By that point, Steve pushes Liz, Dustin, and Mike back before grabbing Billy's shoulder, "No. You are." He then punches Billy hard in the face, which makes Liz laugh and smile.

   Lucas ran over to the group who hugged him and made sure he was okay. Liz rubbed his arm and squeezed his hand before he nodded at her, assuring her that he was okay. Billy laughed as he stood back up from Steve's hit, "Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh? I've been waiting to meet this King Steve everybody's been telling me so much about!"

   "Get out," Steve states, pushing Billy's chest slightly. Billy stands there for a few seconds just staring at Steve until he swings his fist, but hits air as Steve ducks. Steve then punches him the chin, knocking him against the table.

   "Yes! Kick his ass, Steve!"

   "Get him!"

   "Knock him out, Steve!"

   Steve punches him a few more times, making blood gush from Billy's face. Steve finally pauses as Billy just laughs once more.

   "Now! Now!"

   "Get that shithead!"

   "Kill the son of the bitch!"

   While Billy laughed, he picked up a plate from the counter and smashed it on Steve's head. Liz gasped and her eyes widened at her brother injured. She wanted to get closer and try to help him but was pulled back by Max.

   "Steve!"

   "Billy!"

   "Holy shit." Mike gasped.

   Billy marches over and punches Steve, knocking him into a shelf. Steve tries to get away, but Billy follows him into the living room and grabs him, "No one tells me what to do!" He then headbuts Steve making him fall to the floor, "Whoo! Get up!"

   "Stop, you're gonna kill him!" Liz yells, her eyes starting to fill up with tears at her brother getting beaten right in front of her. She felt Max wrap her arms around her and turn her around as she hugged her, so Liz wouldn't see any of it. "Stop hurting him!"

   He gets on top of Steve and continues punching him repeatedly. It all seemed to go in slow motion until Max did something Liz thought she would never do. She let go of Liz and grabbed the last syringe they had for Will, and she walked over and plunged it into Billy's neck, forcing the anesthetic into his bloodstream.

   Liz gasped and stood in shock, trying to process what just happened. Billy got off of Steve who had been knocked unconscious and stared at Max. He pulls the syringe out of his neck before staring wide-eyed at her, and slowly walking towards her, "The hell is this? You little shit, what did you do?"

   He then falls to the ground with a bang causing all of them to jump slightly but he somehow laughs. Max grabs Steve's bat which was leaning against the couch and holds it up, "From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand?"

   "Screw you." Billy mutters as the group stands frozen behind the redhead.

   Max then slams the spiked bat down between Billy's legs, dangerously close to his crotch making the boys flinch, but Liz couldn't help but smile. Max pulls the bat out of the hardwood floor, and holds it above her head once more, "Say you understand! Say it! SAY IT!"

   "I understand." Billy mutters.

   "What?"

   "I understand." He says louder.

   She then drops the bat to the ground as he goes unconscious, and grabs his car keys from his pocket. She holds them up to the group, "Let's get out of here."

   The boys stare surprised before sharing a look. Liz runs over to the girl and hugs her before trying her tears, "Thank you! Thank you so much! He could've killed my brother and you stopped it! Thank you!"

   Max smiled at her when Liz pulled away, "Let's grab him and get out of here."

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[ 2498 WORDS ]

i really want to finish this before school starts
up again so expect more frequent updates
especially since there's only like 3 chapters
left!!