╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮
TWENTY NINE!
dart and his friends
╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯

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Saturday mornings were usually pleasant in Hawkins, especially during the season of Autumn. Despite the cold breeze of November whisking through the town, the sun was up bright and early, allowing a sense of faint warmth to take over.

Most people would usually spend one of their days, relaxing at home in the warmth with a good book or just browsing through the many shops in the downtown. The younger generation would be gathered together at a local friends house or wasting their allowances at the arcade.

That was not the case for Nina Henderson, Dustin Henderson, Steve Harrington and Stanley Harrington.

The four teenagers were spending their Saturday morning, wandering through the thick forests in search of Dustin's lost pet, Dart, who also happened to be a baby demogorgan. The best plan that the four had come up with was to lure the beast towards a place by leaving a trail of red meat matter, in order to properly trap it.

That's currently what the teenagers were doing on their Saturday break, despite not being in the best of moods.

"Alright, so let me get this straight." Steve spoke up, breaking the silence that hung between the group as they all walked together alongside the railroad tracks.

"You kept something that you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a who.....who you just met?" Steve questioned in disbelief and a bit of annoyance by the situation.

"Alright, that's grossly oversimplifying things." Dustin scoffed at the older boy. 

"I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?" Steve pondered in confusion.

"Am inter dimensional slug? Because it's awesome." Dustin defended.

"Totally not." Stanley shook his head, earning a glare from the curly haired boy.

"Well, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't. I.....I just.....I don't know. I just feel like yours trying way too hard." Steve pointed out.

"Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, alright?" Dustin scoffed in annoyance.

"It's not about the hair, man." Steve argued, stopping in his tracks to turn towards the younger boy. "The key with girls is just.....just acting like you don't care."

"Even if you do?" Dustin asked in confusion.

"Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts." Steve confirmed, his voice full of certainty.

"I don't think that's how that works." Stanley pointed out in confusion.

He may not be the best at talking to girls, case in point, Nina but he understood that girls do indeed care more if a boy shows them the same level of care.

"Then what?" Dustin pondered, clinging onto the older boy's advice.

"You just wait until......until you feel it." Steve just shrugged.

"Feel what?" Dustin pondered.

"It's like before gonna storm, you know? You can't see it but you can feel it, like this.....uh.....electricity, you know?" Steve explained, alluding to something more mature but didn't want to outright say it.

Stanley immediately understood what his cousin was referring to but the Henderson siblings didn't as they were more naive.

"Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere." Dustin answered, thinking it was a scientific question.

"No, no, no, no, no. Like a.....like a sexual electricity." Steve corrected, feeling a bit embarrassed at finally having to admit it.

"Oh." Dustin's eyes widened.

"You feel that and then you make your move." Steve proposed.

"So that's when you kiss her?" Dustin questioned.

"No! Woah, woah, slow down, Romeo." Steve's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Sorry." Dustin mumbled, feeling some shame.

"Sure, okay, some girls, yeah, they want you to be aggressive. You know, strong, hot and heavy like a.....I don't know like a lion. But others, you gotta be slow. You gotta be stealthy like a.....like a ninja." Steve explained to the boy.

"What type is Nancy?" Dustin pondered out loud.

"Nancy's different. She's different than the other other girls." Steve complimented.

"Yeah, she seems pretty special, I guess." Dustin pondered out loud.

"Yeah, yeah, she is." Steve confirmed.

"That's so sweet." Nina complimented.

"But this girl's special too, you know. It's just like something about her." Dustin exclaimed.

"Woah, woah, woah. Hey, hey, hey." Steve exclaimed, causing the curly hair boy to stop.

"What?" Dustin asked in confusion.

"You're not falling in love with this girl, are you?" Steve pondered in disbelief.

"Uh, no, no." Dustin quickly shook his head.

"Ok, good. Don't." Steve reminded.

"I won't." Dustin confirmed with a nod

"She's only gonna break your heart and you're way too young for that shit." Steve pointed out.

"You have your whole life ahead of you, so don't worry about it." Stanley assured before the group fell into an awkward silence as they continued to walk alongside the railroad tracks.

"Fabergé." Steve spoke up suddenly.

"What?" Dustin asked in confusion.

"It's Fabergé Organics. Use the shampoo and conditioner and when your hair's damp.....It's not wet, okay? When it's damp.....You do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray." Steve explained.

"Farrah Fawcett spray?" Dustin questioned, trying to contain his laughter but kind of failing as his tone was filled with amusement. Even Stanley had to bite his own lip to contain his own laughter.

"Yeah, Farrah Fawcett." The Harrington boy grumbled in annoyance at Dustin's reaction. "You tell anyone I just told you that and your ass is grass. You're dead, Henderson. Do you understand that?" Steve demanded in a threatening tone.

"Yup." Dustin nodded.

"That goes for you too, older Henderson and Stan." Steve threatened the quiet teens in the back.

"Yeah, we understand. We won't tell." Stanley assured his older cousin.

Nina just nodded with a meek smile on her face as she truly was at a lost of words at this whole conversation occurring.

"Okay." Steve nodded, content with their answers.

"Farrah Fawcett, really?" Dustin questioned.

"I mean, she's hot." Steve pointed out before walking forward again. The rest of the teens followed right behind the eldest boy.

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The sun had began to fade and the air had became a bit crisper once the four teens had arrived at the local junkyard. The group had probably spent the last hour or so just marching through the forest, leaving a special meat trail to trap Dart, their new demogorgan friend.

Dustin Henderson had the brilliant idea of setting up their base of operations at the local junkyard as it was a spacious area of land and was barely occupied by anybody at all times of the day.

Steve Harrington took one look at the place and immediately agreed to set up camp there for the night or how ever long they would be stuck waiting for Dart to make its grand entrance.

The four teens decided that the best thing to do while they waited was to make a protective fort for the teens to all hide in case Dart tried to attack them. Fortunately for them, there was an abandoned school bus that laid in the middle of the property, so it was the perfect place for the teens to hide in.

They came to the conclusion that if they made the exterior more sturdy and filled the surrounding area with more traps than it would be perfectly safe for them to hide in. That's exactly what the group was currently doing as they waited for Lucas Sinclair to finally make his appearance.

Dustin Henderson and Steve Harrington had decided to pair up together to sort through the many piles of sheet metal to grab some that could be useful for building a protective bubble around the abandoned school bus.

Nina had taken on the task of setting up the red meat bait and the designated traps all by herself as she felt it was important for her to do something all by herself.

Stanley was going to help the other boys collect scrap metal before Lucas showed up but both immediately denied his help as they wanted him to try and talk to Nina by himself.

Stanley found it awkward to talk to the older girl on his own as he often became a tongue twisted and clammy mess due to his massive crush. It was no secret to the Party members that Stanley liked the older girl, so his friends were all desperately trying to play wingman for the boy.

Steve had practically pushed his younger cousin towards the girl, who currently sitting by herself and dumping out the many buckets of red meat. He had practically fallen over his feet out of nervousness when he finally approached the girl.

"Hi." Stanley awkwardly greeted, in a loud tone, trying to get Nina's attention.

"Hi." Nina finally looked up at the boy with a gentle smile to calm his frazzled nervous.

The girl's gummy like smile and soft twinkling eyes brought some sense of relief to the Harrington boy but he also became even clammier as he was given a deeper glance into her beauty.

Nina Henderson had definitely had a major transformation once she had moved into the Henderson household and reintegrated into society. She no longer looked like a frazzled girl, who was clueless about the world around her.

She now had a bubbly confidence to her, that was present in her appearance and her speaking abilities. Her untamed choppy short hair had turned into a shoulder length style that caused her black colour to shine in the direct sunshine. Her translucent pale skin has become a warmer tone as she now had a healthy quality of life.

The spark in her eyes has brighten dramatically over the year as she was more excited to experience the joys of the outside world. This was a new experience for her and she loved life now.

"How's the trap going?" Stanley questioned awkwardly, sitting down beside the girl.

"I think it's going well. Key word is think as I have no idea what I'm doing." Nina exclaimed.

"Yeah, bear traps are a pain to set up." Stanley agreed, trying his hardest to not stare at the girl's face and make her uncomfortable.

Instead, he stared at her outfit of choice. A white shirt, a pink cardigan that covered the top of her matching tennis skirt and a pair of brown loafers. It was a simple but classy look and represented something more important to Nina Henderson, freedom.

"I really like your outfit today." Stanley complimented.

"Oh, thank you." Nina blushed, looking down at her legs as she nervously fiddled with her skirt.

"I was thinking.......Maybe, after this.......we should do something together?" Stanley suggested.

"Like what?" Nina questioned in confusion.

"I don't know.......maybe...." Just as Stanley Harrington was about to muster up all of the courage in the world to ask out the girl of his dreams, he was rudely interrupted by Lucas Sinclair.

After what felt like hours, the boy finally made his appearance and even brought the infamous red head, Max Mayfield, along with him.

"I said medium well!" Lucas exclaimed, waving down at the group.

"Who is that?" Steve questioned the younger teens beside him, upon catching sight of Max.

Neither teen answered as they watched the pair walk down the hill together, towards each other. Just as the two touched the flat ground, Dustin immediately pulled the Sinclair boy off to the side to most likely complain about him inviting the red head.

Max just awkwardly stood there as she tried her best to help the eldest Harrington boy with moving pieces of sheet metal around. Steve got fed up with the lack of assistance quite quickly and decided to go yell at the younger boys.

"Hey! Dickheads!" Steve exclaimed in annoyance, slamming a chair against the abandoned car the two boys were perched behind.

Both boys flinched upon hearing the loud sound. "How come the only one helping me out is this random girl?" He asked but received no answer.

"We lose light in forty minutes. Let's go. Let's go, I said!" Steve pointed out before walking away to continue helping the other three teens, who were still in the process of setting up traps and such.

"Alright, asshole! God!" Dustin scowled, following after the eldest boy with Lucas in tow.

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The dark night had quickly encroached on the group of hardworking teens. By the time they had finished barricading the area surrounding the local junkyard, they were greeted by the pale moonlight and the cold autumn breeze.

It was a long tedious task that took all day to achieve but the teens had finally finished every caution measure necessary to protect themselves and were now ready to take cover as they waited for their victim to reveal itself.

The group of six teenagers immediately piled into the decked out school bus to hide from the outside world. Lucas and Nina had decided to take watch by sitting on the roof of the bus with a pair of binoculars.

This left the other four teens to sit comfortably in the bus as they waited for any type of commotion.

"So you really fought one of these things before?" Max questioned, breaking the awkward silence between the entire group. "And you're like totally a hundred percent sure that it wasn't a bear?" She was definitely unconvinced by the situation.

"Shit, don't be an idiot. Okay? It wasn't a bear." Dustin exclaimed in annoyance. "Why are you even here if you don't believe us? Just go home." He questioned, completely irritated by her presence.

"Geesh, someone's cranky. Past your bedtime?" Max asked in a sarcastic tone as she got up from her seat.

She scoffed at the sight of the curly haired boy's annoyed face before climbing up the ladder to sit on the roof talk to Lucas and Nina instead (two people who'd prefer her presence in this moment).

"That's good. Just show her you don't care." Steve reminded, slightly impressed.

"I don't." Dustin confirmed but the eldest Harrington didn't get the message and just continued to send assurances in the form of winks. "Why are you winking, Steve? Stop." Dustin begged in annoyance.

"God, you're so stupid." Stanley groaned.

The group of four sat in silence for a while before a loud howl in the distant cut through the silent air in the junkyard. The four teens immediately sprung up from their seats, rushing to the barricaded windows to try and get a peek at what kind of commotion was occurring outside.

Due to the dusk of night being upon them, the junkyard was covered in a cloudy haze of fog that masked the real appearance. This meant that it would be harder for the teens to recognize any intruders unless they had a perfect view, which they didn't.

"You see him?" Dustin questioned worryingly.

"No." Steve shook his head.

"Lucas, Nina, what's going on?!" Dustin called up to the two teens spying on the roof.

"Hold on!" Lucas exclaimed before going silent, probably to investigate the matter closely with his binoculars. "I've got eyes! Ten o'clock! Ten o'clock!" The boy warned in a panic.

"There." Steve pointed out the window.

Sure enough, there was some sort of dark shadow peeking through the cloud of fog and low clatter of noises rang through the air. That meant Dart had arrived.

"What's he doing?" Dustin questioned.

"I don't know." Stanley answered, not taking his eyes off the sight in the distance.

"He's not taking the bait. Why is he not taking the bait?" Steve questioned in panic.

"Maybe he's not hungry." Dustin shrugged.

"Maybe he's sick of cow." Steve suggested.

"Yeah, he's probably hungry for human." Stanley pointed out, earning a glare from both boys.

The eldest Harrington boy suddenly pulled away from the window and carefully grabbed his bat of nails. "Steve? Steve, what are you doing?" Dustin questioned nervously but the boy ignored him.

"Just get ready." Steve answered briefly as he threw his lighter to the curly haired boy to catch, which he did with ease.

Steve Harrington then decided to make the brave choice of actually venturing outside. It was probably one of the stupidest ideas he's ever had but at least he had some sort of bravery, despite being completely terrified.

The eldest boy carefully stepped into the fog with his precious bat in tow, in case he had to swing at any oncoming danger. The five teens, who stayed behind in the bus, just nervously watched the eldest Harrington boy and waited for his signal to attack.

"What's he doing?" Max questioned in confusion, quickly scurrying down the ladder.

"Expanding the menu." Dustin deadpanned.

Steve Harrington had ventured further into the fog that he looked like a mere speck to the teens at the bus. Despite the amount of fear rushing through his veins, he continued to hold his head up high as he whistled for the attention of the blood thirty monster for the Upside Down.

Once the teen boy had stumbled upon the pile of bait, he positioned himself in a frozen stance as he dangled his bat in front of him in order to swing easily if he needed to. The beast was only a few metres away from him, growling in the darkness. Steve swing his bat back and forth to make his presence known even more.

It wasn't long before Dart had actually made his first appearance to the eldest teen, which was definitely a shocking sight. The once little slug creature that ate nougat bars and sat in a small container had tripled in size. Dart no longer looked like a slug but now looked like a terrifying monster from the Upside Down.

It's appearance matched the demogorgan but it was a mutation of the old monster. It still had the same slimy wrinkled dark body, no face and the same a row of deadly sharp teeth but now, it's was stationed to walk on four legs instead of two, just like a dog would. He growled, ready to pounce on Steve in any given moment.

"Steve, watch out!" Lucas warned upon realizing that the junkyard was crawling in these mutated dogs. It seems that Dart had brought some backup to protect itself from the six armed teens.

"A little busy here." Steve shouted back, not taking his eyes off Dart's position.

"Three o'clock! Three o'clock!" Lucas exclaimed in a panicked tone.

The Harrington boy immediately spun around, making direct eye contact with the other mutated dogs that invaded the property. He was complete surrounded by the beasts, who all held the desire to rip him apart, limb for limb.

"Steve! Steve! Abort! Abort!" Dustin exclaimed, ripping open the bus door to call out to the boy.

Steve turned back towards Dart, just as the beast began to lunge forward at him. The Harrington boy luckily moved out of the way in time as the monster jumped right at his figure. He rolled over the hood of an abandoned car to avoid another beast that flung itself right at him. When his feet touched the ground, he was immediately greeted by another one but he easily took care of it by swinging his bat at it.

The teens sat in front of the door, screaming for the eldest boy as he scurried his way over to them, stumbling over his feet in a panic. The monsters were hot on his trail as he sprinted towards the bus but luckily, he made it in time, jumping in and closing the door on the bloody thirsty monsters.

The group quickly moved away from the closed door that was currently being abused by the rabid monsters.

"Are they rabid or something?" Max asked in a worried tone as Steve ripped off a metal panel and placed it in front of the closed door.

"They can't get in! They can't!" Lucas exclaimed.

Steve used his feet to hold the door close and Stanley immediately rushed to his aid. The Harrington boy grabbed another sheet of metal placing it in front of the door that was barely holding on at this point.

The beasts had become so rabid that they resorted to smashing their bodies into the metal to release it open but the amount of force being inflicted caused the bus to violently shake. The teens all stumbled forward, hitting the seats in front of them. They all jumped up in an instant when the door had finally burst open a crack.

Steve Harrington immediately began to beat on the monsters with his bat as the rest of the teens rushed to hide behind the seats.

"Is anyone there? Mike? Will? God, anyone!" Dustin exclaimed in a panic, trying his hardest not to fumble as he used his walkie talkie to get help.

"Holy shit!" Stanley exclaimed, stumbling over again as another violent shake to the bus occurred.

Luckily, Nina had caught his falling figure and helped him lean behind a seat. The two stood close together and gently held hands out of comfort before their 'supposed death.'

"We're at the old junkyard and we are going to die!" Dustin announced into the walkie talkie.

The sound of the growling began to quiet down and the only thing heard was the grunts coming from Steve Harrington as he aggressively beat another mutated dog to death.

It seemed like they were in the clear but that relief was quickly cut off when harsh footsteps sounded on the roof. Max harshly gripped the metal ladder, starring up at the ceiling with wide eyes of fear as she followed each step.

Suddenly she was greeted by the appearance of a monster and that when she realized that the roof hatch was open. It looked down on her, causing her to release a scream of bloody murder.

"Out of the way! Out of the way!" Steve exclaimed, immediately pushing the red head girl behind him.

Nina used her free hand to quickly grabbed the Mayfield girl by the arm, pulling her down towards the ground to hide.

"You want some? Come get this!" Steve shouted fearlessly.

Just as the Harrington teen was about to swing his bat, the blood thirsty monster suddenly stepped backwards, freezing on the spot as if it was in some sort of trance. It wasn't just this one mutated dog that acting strange, the rest of them in the junkyard all froze on the spot as well.

The beast howled again but this time, it's voice sounded more shrill as if it was suffering from some sort of pain. The beast howls became more aggressively shrill as it began to stumble backwards out of control.

Suddenly, the howls stopped completely and the group immediately prepared by stepping back in case it tried to attack them again. Instead of attacking the six teens, the mutated dog just completely exploded into a pile of bloody flesh as of it was commanded to self destruct itself.

The sight was unpleasant to say the least. It looked like a baking experiment gone wrong but replace flour with blood. The fleshy inners were scattered on the roof of the bus and now closely resembled the pile of rotting meat the teens left as bait originally.

The worst of it all was definitely the blood.

Human blood was already atrocious but blood from an dimensional monster was worse. It was almost a deep red wine colour and it splattered everywhere inside and outside of the bus. Even poor Steve Harrington received a few splotches of the crimson liquid on his face.

The group of teens all screamed in disbelief as they never expected the monster to just suddenly explode on them. "What the hell just happened?" Dustin asked in complete disbelief.

"I think it just exploded on me." Steve answered in annoyance as he used his sleeve to wipe the monster's blood from his cheek.

"Yeah! But how?!" Lucas exclaimed in shock.

The other monsters situated in the junkyard all began to howl aggressively in sync. Just like the recently exploded mutated dog had done a few minutes prior.

The group of teens all shared wide eye looks before rushing towards the bus door and opening it slight, in order to get a good look at what was occurring outside. It was exactly the same thing as they had just witnessed prior.

Every single monster hobbled around in pain with shrill howls before suddenly, exploding into a million different pieces of bloody flesh. The Party watched the sudden annihilation with wide eyes of disbelief but were also simultaneously cringing in disgust due to the unpleasant sight of death.

"Holy shit...." Stanley breathed out in awe.

"What the hell?!" Steve exclaimed.

"They just randomly exploded?" Max questioned.

"Good for us though." Nina pointed out, earning a glare from the others.

Steve Harrington decided to step off of the bus first since he was the oldest of the group. The rest of the group followed right behind him as he carefully surveyed the area with his raised bat. Some of the other preteens held raised weapons as well in case the eldest Harrington needed backup.

The junkyard had gone completely dead silent, almost too silent for their liking. Even the sudden snapping of a twig had caused the entire group to jump in fear and prepare themselves for a fight.

The noise belonged to a shadow outline that slowly travelled in the thick cloud of fog towards the teens. Steve and Dustin both shined their flashlights towards the shadow outline, hoping to catch a glimpse of who this mysterious person could be.

"Who's there?" Steve demanded, desperately wanting to know who was now stalking them. "Who the hell are you?! Reveal yourself!" He held his flashlight up with a shaky hand, pushing the younger teens behind him as protection.

The shadowy figure became smaller and smaller as it closely approached the artificial light. The thick fog made the person unrecognized to the group as they blended it well but the mysterious aspect of the shadow was made known to them once they had entered the light.

To most people, it would just be some strange girl that just happened to stumble upon them but to the group, it was something else.

Everyone's (except Max's) jaws dropped when they were finally able to get a good look at the person. It was someone they haven't seen in over a year and was presumed dead.

It was Wendy Harrington.

★ 𝐎𝐃𝐃 𝐄𝐘𝐄 ! stranger things fanfic ★
(© 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝘆𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱)