Complete Chaos

009

They continued to walk down the tunnel.

Julia was in the back, holding her sword pointing down.

Once they made it to the center where all the tunnels connected, they added the gasoline. Soon after, Steve threw his lighter, setting it on fire.

Tentacle-like creatures were in flames moving around. That was their cue to leave.

"Let's go."

They ran back down the tunnel "this way," Steve screamed in front of the group.

Mike was right behind her when he fell hard to the ground and yelled for help.

One of the tentacles was wrapping around his leg.

"Julia," he yelled, panicking.

"Don't worry, I got you," she told him.

The rest of the kids, hearing Mike, they ran back and started pulling him while Julia got a better hold of her sword, and with one clean swing, she cut the tentacle right off.

Mike got up, and Julia quickly checked that he was in one piece.

They continued to walk, but they didn't get that far when a demodog stopped in front of them. 

"Dart," Dustin said.

He was walking closer to Dart.

"Get back here."

"Dustin!"

"What are you doing?"

Dustin shushed his friends and slowly walked closer to Dart.

Dart moved as Dustin removed his goggles and bandana, "It's me, Dustin, your friend. You remember me; will you let us pass."

Dustin kneeled to be closer to Darts level, but Dart opened his petal mouth and growled.

"You're hungry; I've got our favorite. Nougat."

Julia wanted to get closer and pull Dustin out of harms way.

She didn't realize she had taken a step forward until Steve stopped her by placing his arm in front of her, stopping her from going any further.

Dustin had opened the candy and signaled them to walk while Dart was eating.

Slowly they walked around Dart, "Goodbye, buddy."

A loud, growling sound started to approach them.

"Run!"

"Let's go!"

They ran until they found the exit.

Steve helped the kids climb the rope first.

Only Max, Mike, and Lucas were the ones able to go up the rope; the demodogs were running rapidly toward them that Steve, Dustin, and Julia didn't have time to leave.

She was going to die this time devoured by those demodogs.

She was mostly scared for Dustin; he was so young she didn't want anything to happen to him.

She stood in front of him protectively. Steve had other plans; she was surprised when he hugged her, his back facing the demodogs running their way. He had his arms around them; he was even able to hold Dustin.

She waited for the impact for someone to start screaming for blood to splatter, but the creatures ran around them ignoring them in the process.

El did it; she closed the gate things could go back to normal.

◦ ◦ ◦

Steve took the kids and Julia to their homes. Max wanted to drive again, but Steve didn't let her.

"Do you want me to drop you off at Kims," Steve asked once Dustin was out of the car.

She shook her head, "I have to go home."

She knew her father wouldn't react nicely about not going home for a few days, but she already had a lie planned out.

If he asked or even noticed she was gone the last two days, she was going to tell him she was at Kim's place.

Julia told Steve her address, and she was a bit embarrassed to let him know.

He lived in a big house. He had everything he wanted, and she didn't have much.

To her surprise he didn't say anything. He didn't laugh or judge her; this was a new Steve.

They arrived at her house; Steve parked in front of the trailer.

With the sun shining, Julia could see Steve's beaten face.

He still had the bandaids that Dustin put on him. "Are you going to be okay," she asked.

She didn't want him passing out while driving on his own.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." He smiled, grunting in pain.

"I'll see you around," he asked as Julia was opening the car door.

Even though they had quite a few traumatic experiences, she didn't see Steve as a friend. They didn't have a lot of things in common. She was sure that if it weren't for the supernatural things going on in Hawkins, their paths wouldn't even cross. 

"Uh, sure," she decided to answer.  It wouldn't hurt to have him as a friend.

Steve was happy with her response; he needed good friends, and he knew that Julia could be that. She could be his new path.

Julia unlocked the front door and slowly made her way in. Her father was sleeping on the couch with several beers on the floor.

She tiptoed her way down the hall to her room, but she didn't get far as the floor creaked.

She held her breath and stopped moving, hoping her father was still sleeping.

Slowly she looked over her shoulder to make sure her father was still sleeping, but he had his eyes open and was looking directly at her.

He got up, almost tripping on his own two feet. "Where have you been," he asked, sounding half asleep.

She straightened up and said what she had practiced, "I was at Kimberly's house. I thought I left you a note," she said calmly with a smile.

He laughed and walked closer to her. She knew she messed up somehow by the way he was looking at her.

"Really, because I called Kim, and she told me that she hasn't seen you since Friday."

She was in trouble now, "Dad, I can expla-"

He threw a beer bottle at her, missing by a few inches and hitting the wall instead. She covered her face with her hands "go to your room and don't get out of there," he yelled.

She did as she was told and went to her room. She wanted to slam the door as hard as she could, but it would only make things worse.

She lay in bed, wishing that tomorrow would be better.

After everything that took place the last two days, she was exhausted and had no trouble sleeping; it didn't even bother her that she was starving.

Sleep seemed more important.

𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞

𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝙸 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜? 🤷🏻‍♀️