Chapter 14

010

• 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐃𝐨𝐠 •

─────✧･ﾟ: *✧･

☄. *. ⋆ Dustin and the Harringtons finally arrived at the junkyard. Steve looked around, speaking after he sighed. “Oh, yeah. Yeah, this’ll do.” He took his sunglasses off. “This’ll do just fine. Good call, dude,” he told Dustin as he started walking, putting a cheeky grin on Dustin’s face. Dustin’s smile put one on Stella’s face before she followed her brother. Dustin followed close behind the girl, and the three started to empty the rest of the meat on the grass in the center of the junkyard, making one big pile. They all looked up when they heard Lucas’ shout. “I said medium-well!”

When they looked, they saw Lucas waving, but that’s not what Stella focused on.

No, she focused on the redhead next to Lucas.

Max.

Why was she here?

Lucas must have told her.

“Who’s that?” Steve asked, looking between Stella and Dustin as Max and Lucas started to make their ways over. Neither kid answered, Stella clenching her jaw in anger towards Lucas, and Dustin just seeming sad.

Stella immediately stormed over to Lucas, grabbing his arm and keeping a vice grip as she brought him behind and old car, Dustin joining while Max and Steve watched in confusion.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Sinclair!?” Stella whisper-yelled, crouching down behind the car.

“You told her?” Dustin was much calmer than Stella.

“So what?” Lucas didn’t see the problem.

“‘So what?'” Dustin repeated.

“You’re gonna get her killed, dude!” Stella continued to shout in a whisper, starting to feel the heat in her hand again. “You put her in danger!”

“You guys wanted to tell her, too!” Lucas defended.

“Yeah, but we didn’t,” Dustin reminded him. “All right? We all agreed not to tell her and to look for Dart.”

“Who you conveniently found,” Lucas pointed out, and Stella turned to look at her curly-haired friend, who didn’t return the glance.

“Are you suggesting that I’m lying?” Dustin questioned.

“I’m saying you have a creepy little bond with him,” Lucas replied. Stella stopped the argument, getting annoyed. They were straying away from the topic. Lucas shouldn’t have told Max. It completely endangered her. “Nobody cares, okay!?” She whisper-yelled yet again. “It doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is that you just completely disregarded Max’s safety. You knew she could get killed, and you told her anyway.”

Stella’s words left them in silence, and she stood up and left, going to help Max and Steve.

Max was dragging a metal sheet around twice her size, and Stella made her way over to the redhead. She said nothing, not looking at Max as she easily lifted one end of the sheet, putting it on her shoulder to lift it easier. Max, on the other hand, did look at Stella, a wave of guilt immediately washing over her as she remembered their last interaction. The redhead lifted her side a bit higher, glancing behind her before starting to walk backwards. Not a word was said between them until they finished, Max being the first to speak. “Thanks.”

“Mhm,” Stella nodded, still not looking at the redhead as she leaned over to grab a smaller sheet and put it against the side of the vehicle. Steve started scolding Dustin and Lucas about helping, which made them get to work, but between the two girls, there was silence for a moment before Max spoke again. “I’m sorry.”

Stella looked over at her.

“About- the argument.”

“It’s okay.”

There was another silent moment before Stella broke it, putting an old screen door up to cover a window. “I don’t blame you for being upset. Would’ve been weird if you weren’t,” she said, shrugging during the last sentence. They didn’t say anything else, but there was an understanding between them that they could both feel.

–

☄. *. ⋆ Stella looked through Lucas’ binoculars, lying on her stomach on the roof of the bus. Her bow and arrow was loaded as it rested beside her on the makeshift wall of tires. She sighed, seeing nothing. She then heard someone coming up the ladder, bringing the binoculars down to look and seeing a familiar head of red hair.

“Hey,” the Harrington girl smiled.

“Hey,” Max smiled back. Then she looked at the fog, Stella doing the same until Max broke the silence once again. “It’s kinda awesome,” she chuckled, making Stella look at her with furrowed eyebrows. Max elaborated for the girl. “The fog, I mean,” she told her. “Looks like the ocean.”

Stella knew that California was full of beaches. Hawkins didn’t have a single one. “You miss it?”

“What?”

“The ocean? Compared to California, Hawkins is like… a total bummer, I bet,” Stella assumed, and Max’s demeanor changed. She looked down, poking her cheek with her tongue and Stella could tell she was trying not to cry. Shit. Did I say something wrong? Fuck.

Max took a moment to respond. “No, it’s just… my dad’s still there, so…” she trailed off, and Stella nodded before Max continued. “My mom… and my stepdad, they wanted… a fresh start… away from him,” she explained. “As if… as if he was the problem, which is total bull.”

Stella sat up as Max continued. “And things… are just worse now. My stepbrother’s always been a dick, but now he’s just… angry… all the time and… well, he can’t take it out on my mom, so…” the redhead stopped. Stella finished for her. “So he takes it out on you,” she didn’t need to ask. She knew that’s what Max meant. Max stayed silent for a moment before shrugging. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you this. It’s just… I know… that I can be a jerk like him sometimes, and… I do not want to be like him. Ever. I guess… I’m angry, too, and… I’m sorry.” Max paused for a while before wiping a tear that escaped her eye. “Jesus! What’s wrong with me?”

“Max.”

The girl in question looked at Stella.

“You’re nothing like your brother, all right?” The girls locked eyes, neither of them looking away. “You’re cool, and you’re smart, and- like, really pretty,” the Harrington chuckled a bit, and her cheeks turned a little more pink than they already were from the cold. Max’s face turned bright red, but Stella didn’t see, thanks to the darkness hiding it. “And, like, totally tubular,” she joked, making Max laugh, her beaming smile warming Stella’s heart. “I saw you reach over and turn the wheel,” Stella said. “You turned the car, not your brother,” a pause. “Thank you,” Stella then added.

Max smiled, another tear falling.

“I like talking to you, Cali.”

“I like talking to you, Ess.”

The two were left in a comfortable silence, looking back at the fog.

In that moment, Stella bit the inside of her cheek, looking down, moving her thumb to dig into her skin. She thought about how she just wanted to let everything she was struggling with out. Tell Max about how her parents let their anger out on her, too. How she and Steve had to raise themselves. How she had to hide who she was because her parents would somehow find more anger to take out on her if they knew she was queer. How she was in love with the very girl she was next to.

And she almost did.

But she didn’t.

Don’t make this about you. Don’t be selfish. Don’t make it her problem.

Max looked over at the girl, seeing her hands, noticing. She furrowed her eyebrows, opening her mouth to say something, but they heard a screech in the distance before she could. They both got startled, Stella’s shock making her press harder, breaking the skin and drawing blood yet again. She ignored it though, knowing they had bigger problems.

Stella quickly brought the binoculars up to her eyes to try to find the source of the sound. She saw nothing, bringing them back down and looking to Max. “Do you see anything?” She asked, and Max shook her head. They then heard Dustin shout from inside the bus. “Stella, what’s going on?”

“Hold on!” Stella yelled, bringing the binoculars back up to her face. She scanned all of the junkyard that was in front of her, spotting something amidst the fog. “Holy shit. Ten o’clock! Ten o’clock, dude!”

Max reached for the binoculars, Stella handing them over. The redhead looked through them, speaking once she brought them down. “Wait, you’re sure that’s not a dog?”

Stella whipped her head to the girl. “What?”

Max shrugged, and both girls looked back out, Stella speaking first. “He’s not doing anything.”

They heard the bus door open and they peered over the tires, Stella’s eyes widening when she saw her brother. “Steve,” she breathed out before grabbing her bow and arrow along with the quiver and hurrying down the ladder. Max furrowed her eyebrows. “Ess, what are you doing? Ess?”

The redhead followed Stella down the ladder when she got no response, only to see the girl swinging the quiver of arrows around her waist. “Ess, what are you doing?” She repeated herself.

“Don’t follow me,” Stella told her, heading for the bus door to follow Steve out as Dustin and Lucas watched with wide eyes.

“Ess, stop! Your arm!”

“I’ll be fine.” Stella opened the door, exiting the old vehicle and joining her brother outside. Steve turned when he heard the bus door open again, shouting in a whisper when he saw his little sister. “Essie, get back in the bus!”

Stella replied in the same hushed yell. “No! Are you crazy? What the hell were you thinking!?”

Max watched through the window in horror as the Harringtons argued.

“Essie, go back!”

“Shut up, Steve,” Stella told her older brother. “Focus,” she instructed, bringing the bow and arrow up, pulling it back, prepared to shoot.

They both slowly moved in the direction of the creature, ready with their weapons. The monster revealed itself, creeping out of the fog.

Stella closed one eye, pulling back the arrow harder as she got ready to shoot. Just before she did, they heard Lucas scream from the roof of the bus, where he now was. “Steve! Stella! Watch out!”

“Little busy here!” Steve shouted back, but Lucas just screamed again. “Three o’clock! Three o’clock!”

The siblings hesitated before looking over, their hearts plummetting and Stella lowering her weapon when they saw three more of the young Demogorgons heading towards them. They heard the bus door open again, followed by Dustin’s panicked yelling. “Stella! Steve! Abort! Abort!”

The Harringtons heard a growl in front of them, turning their heads to see one of the monsters starting to charge towards them. Stella brought the bow and arrow back up and shot it at the creature, making it falter as it screeched in pain. The moment the arrow landed, everyone on the bus started to scream. The bite on Stella’s palm started to sting a bit as she attacked the creature, but she couldn’t care less at the moment.

“Ess, come on!”

“Run!”

“Steve, hurry!”

Stella then noticed another one running at them, quickly reacting and grabbing her brother’s arm, taking him with her as she moved out of the way. She reloaded her bow and arrow and aimed it at another one of the monsters on her right while Steve turned around and hit one with his bat. The sting in her hand got worse, but was still bearable.

The younger Harrington heard three voices — Dustin and Lucas screaming “Stella,” and Max screaming “Ess,” all at the same time before she felt something sharp pierce into her right side. It knocked her bow and arrow from her hand as she cried out in pain and fell to the ground with a thud.

She barely dodged the young Demogorgon’s pounce, rolling out of the way and quickly hurrying to her feet as she pulled her knife from its sheath, now slightly limping. The monster ran at her again, and she jumped out of the way, landing on the ground. She quickly moved to her knees and used all her strength as she swung the knife, bringing it into the flesh of the creature.

Stella’s knife made a large gash on the side of the creature’s neck. The young Demogorgon screeched in agony, stumbling sideways before collapsing.

“Yeah. Me too, asshole,” Stella said before spitting blood onto the grass beside her.

She then heard the same three voices call her name again, followed by one of the young Demogorgons catching her by surprise. She felt a push on her right arm, throwing her to the ground and making her drop her knife. She managed to turn as she fell, landing on her back while a Demogorgon hovered over her. It pinned her down as it dug its claws into both shoulders, Stella grunting.

The monster roared, and Stella found herself staring wide-eyed at the rows of hundreds of teeth that soon sunk into her left shoulder.

She screamed, a guttural sound of pure agony. This topped any pain she had ever felt. Worse than spraining her ankle or breaking her arm, worse than her knuckles splitting when she hit someone, worse than anything she had ever experienced.

The adrenaline rush kicked in pretty quickly, though, becoming a natural painkiller and replacing the girl’s pain with rage. Pure rage.

Her hands warmed, and with her one good arm, she somehow managed to shove the creature off of her. Her flesh ripped even more as the monster’s teeth tore through her shoulder, being pried away from her. The monster screeched in pain the instant her hand made contact, which she found strange, but didn’t waste time dwelling on it. The creature fell over, and while it did, Stella rose to her knees again.

She grabbed the arrow beside her on the ground, lifted it, and brought it back down, plunging it into the side of the young Demogorgon’s neck, then doing it twice more as she shouted. “Why won’t you things fucking die!?” Dark blood splashed up and onto Stella’s face as she killed the monster. The bite on her palm had gone from a sting to a burn, but she barely felt it anymore. Compared to the bite in her shoulder, that was nothing.

She breathed heavily before her friends in the bus all called Steve’s name, and she looked up to see her brother get knocked over by one of the monsters, and it then hovered above him. She looked to her right, seeing her bow on the floor before picking it up, pulling an arrow from the quiver around her waist, aiming it at the creature above her brother, and shooting it directly in the side of the neck.

It thudded to the ground next to her brother, who got up, grabbed his bat and ran over to his sister. While Steve made his way over to the girl, she picked up her knife and slid it into the sheath.

Stella’s older brother grabbed her arm, bringing Stella to her feet and running with her to the bus as another young Demogorgon started to run at them. They reached the bus just in time, Max bringing Stella into a hug which Stella practically fell into, weakly hugging back, tired. Meanwhile, Dustin slammed the door shut behind them. “How the hell did Stella get that off of her!?”

Stella shook her head as a way of saying she didn’t know, the exhaustion overcoming her.

Max put Stella’s right arm around her shoulders, helping her to the seats in the back of the bus as the brunette panted heavily and the redhead wiped the beads of sweat that had fallen down her face.

Then, like a light bulb going on, realization dawned on Stella’s face as she hobbled to the seats.

While Steve struggled to keep the door closed, Dustin and Lucas screamed in fear and panic. Max sat Stella down and stroked the Harrington’s cheek with her thumb, wiping some of the Demogorgon’s blood off of the brunette’s face. The bus in its entirety started shaking as if they were in the midst of an earthquake before one of the young monsters managed to pierce through the metal sheet Steve had placed on the inside of the door, and Steve hit it with his bat while the younger boys ran to join the girls in the back of the bus. Dustin picked up his radio and started to scream into it. “Is anyone there!? Mike!? Will!? God! Anyone!”

The commotion directly outside of the door slowed to a stop, and they all eyed the roof of the bus, thudding from above being the only sound as they watched the ceiling dent with each thud. Stella slowly stood up as they listened.

Max happened to be directly under the hatch in the roof, and one of the creatures showed itself as it seemed to somehow look down at her despite its lack of eyes— or visible ones, at least.

Max’s stared up at it in terror, screaming when it growled, and Steve quickly rushed her to move. “Out of the way! Out of the way!”

Stella grabbed Max’s hand, pulling her back, then keeping their hands joined. Steve then started addressing the monster, threatening it with his bat as he looked up at it. “You want some!? Come get this!”

The creature roared, but then stopped, looking away before heading off in the direction it looked.

Stella and Max looked at the others, seeing Dustin and Lucas staring at the two’s joined hands, and Steve glancing at their hands before looking at his sister. Flustered, they dropped their hands.

It was silent aside from everyone’s heavy breaths, and Stella broke it. “That answer your question, Cali?” She said, panting. “Not a dog.”

They slowly left the bus, seeing one of the monsters running the opposite way, that one being the last one there.

“What… happened?” Lucas asked as if someone there would know.

“No fucking clue,” Stella shook her head.

“I don’t know,” Max told him.

“Steve and Stella scared ’em off?” Dustin suggested, making the Harringtons shake their heads.

“No,” Steve said. “No way,” he turned to them. “They’re going somewhere.”

That’s when the adrenaline went away, and Stella suddenly felt every wound in her body.

She fell to the ground.

─────✧･ﾟ: *✧･

WOO this chapter is FUN

stella’s going through it man

sorry this was late guys 💔

things i almost did part 7: stella originally vented to max about her home life and everything, but i rewrote it because her character is supposed to just kind of just bottle up her emotions bc she feels like she’d be burdening someone else with her problems and be seen as selfish so yeah

how did we like this chapter though?

thank you 4 reading 🙂