Chapter Text
The house was quiet, almost too quiet, but that wasn’t unusual these days. Max and El sat in the middle of the living room, a pile of cards in between them as they leaned against the two opposite couches of the Byers living room.
The two girls were still in their pajamas, even though it was well past noon, the sun starting to go down outside. A pile of various pillows, blankets and sleeping bags lay shoved in the corner, moved out of the way to make space for their card game.
“Max.” El whispered gently, snapping her friend out of her thoughts.
“Hm?”
“It’s..your turn.”
“Oh...y-yeah sorry.” Max mumbled, laying down a card. She tried to focus on her own cards as she felt El’s eyes trained on her, her face growing hot. She hadn’t meant to zone out...again, but it was so easy to get lost in her own thoughts nowadays.
“Max-“ El started gently.
“I’m fine.” She heard herself reply automatically. She didn’t even know if it was true anymore, just that if she could get them to believe it they’d get off her back.
“I’m not stupid, you’re not fine. I know you’re thinking about him.” The redhead glanced up at her friend, before throwing the rest of her cards into the middle with a sigh. She didn’t need her friend to specify who she was referring to.
“I’m that obvious, huh?”
“No-well yes- but you also mumble in your sleep.” Max felt her face grow hotter. Yes, she’d been having nightmares that something had happened to Lucas and Mike, but she wasn’t aware she had ever talked in her sleep, it made her wonder what else her friends had heard her say.
“It’s just...it’s been three days. Usually they’re back by now but...” she mumbled quietly, leaving her sentence hanging in the air as she picked at the thick carpet. “Don’t you miss him?”
“I’m sure they’re ok.” El said encouragingly, choosing to ignore the question. She tried to give her friend a brave smile, but she was just as worried, Mike was gone too, and Lucas was like her brother.
Max weakly returned the smile, picking at a loose thread on her pajama pants.
“Do you want to try cards again?” El asked, trying to change the subject to take their minds off the boys.
Max shook her head, pulling her knees to her chest. “No, no I’m done with cards. We’ve been playing for hours.” She said softly.
El nodded. “Should we start dinner then?” Max shook her head slowly, muttering a small “not right now” as she rested her head against her knees.
“Max you haven’t eaten anything all day. C'mon it’ll take our minds off of them for awhile.”
Max shook her head again. “Max-“ the redhead shook her head again, a little more forcefully this time, and El realized maybe this time, she didn’t want to stop thinking about them.
Max blew out a shaky breath and looked out the front window for the millionth time in three days. A single tear ran down her cheek but she quickly wiped it away, hoping El hadn’t seen. She had, but El knew better than to push her best friend. It wouldn’t go anywhere, Max only opened up to Lucas now.
“We could go talk to the boys.” She suggested, gesturing to Will’s closed bedroom door. Dustin and Will had been silently working all morning.
“No, they’re our only chance to survive right now. We can’t bother them.”
El’s head dropped and she swallowed down the lump in her throat, trying to remember how everything had gone wrong. A million questions ran through her mind, but she knew the answers to all of them, even though she didn’t want to admit it.
Why couldn’t they leave? Because of the swarms of demodogs surrounding everywhere but the Byers house. They reacted mostly to very loud sounds, and the smell of blood.
Why did Mike and Lucas have to leave for days at a time? Because it was the only way to get supplies if they wanted to survive this. And the two of them were the best fighters, aside from El when she had her powers, but right now they were on and off, and they couldn’t risk that. The boys were also looking for new routes, for a way they could leave this town, and find help.
Why were Dustin and Will their only chance of survival? The two of them, together, knew the most about the Upside Down and the monsters, if there was any chance of escaping, Will and Dustin would figure it out.
All four boys had decided to leave the girls out of all of this, even when they objected, which only turned into the argument that the boys wanted them to be safe, and didn’t want them hurt, and no matter what, the boys always somehow won that argument.
They didn’t know where the older kids were. Steve, Nancy, Jonathan and Robin had gone out on a mission and didn’t come back, the kids had been alone for almost two months now, everyday growing quieter. They couldn’t sleep, jumping at every little noise they heard in the darkness as they huddled together, and when Lucas and Mike were gone, it only got worse. Not only because everyone was worried about their safety but also because none of them knew about what was going on out in the world, Mike and Lucas never said anything.
The front door swung open, slamming into the wall, and Max and El both jumped, instinctively reaching for eachother. Lucas stumbled in, Mike’s arm draped over his shoulder as he tried and struggled to hold his weight. He tossed his and Mike’s backpacks toward the couch, adjusting Mike’s weight to hold him up better.
The two of them were bloodied and bruised, their clothes torn and their faces dirty. Mike looked the worst, sweating and paler than usual with purple bruises forming on his bare arms, but the worst part was his leg. The pant leg of his jeans was torn open, revealing a large gash from his knee to his shin. It was bloodied to the point that they couldn’t see where the blood on his jeans ended and the wound on his leg started.
“Max...Will, Dustin...first aid...go.” Lucas panted as the two girls jumped up. She nodded, quickly disappearing down the hallway.
“Mike what happened?” El asked as she helped Lucas guide the taller boy over to the couch.
“Attacked.” He mumbled, as Lucas fell onto the couch next to him, throwing an arm over his face. “Attacked? Attacked by who?”
Max returned to the living room, Dustin and Will close behind. “That’s way worse than I thought.” Dustin muttered under his breath as the two of them kneeled down to examine the boy's leg. Will carefully ran a finger over a section of the gash, causing Mike to hiss in pain.
“Easy.” He groaned.
Max sat down next to Lucas, and he forced a small smile. “Hey.” He said gently, noticing the worry on her face.
“Hi.” She said back, sounding as small as she felt. Lucas looked as if he wanted to say something, but Mike yelled out in pain as Dustin started cleaning the wound, turning their attention back to the rest of the group. El squeezed his hand as tears started to spill down his cheeks.
“Will, hand me that rag...thanks. Here take this.” Dustin said, passing Will a bottle of hydroperoxide. Since they’d been stuck alone here, Dustin had become their expert for first aid, with much more valuable information that Max’s skateboarding wound knowledge.
“What happened?” Max whispered, turning back toward Lucas and gently running her finger over one of the bruises on his cheek. He flinched back when her skin made contact, despite her touch being extremely light. She watched him sadly, slowly dropping her hand from his face as he consciously tried to relax his expression.
“ Don’t even try.” She said firmly, Lucas laughed anxiously.
“Yeah ok it hurts a little, but it’s probably not as bad as it looks.”
“Probably?” She questioned.
“Yeah...I haven’t exactly seen it yet. I mean I’ve seen Mike’s but they didn’t get me so...” he stopped, slapping a hand over his mouth, his eyes going wide as he realized he’d unintentionally told her what had happened.
“ They got you?” She hissed and he leaned forward, shushing her. The two of them glanced back at the others and, seeing they were all focused on Mike, turned back to each other.
“Yeah it was, ok? But, just...don’t tell El, Will or Dustin, please?” She swallowed, looking from the bruise on his cheek into his eyes. There was something almost...different about them, and although she couldn’t put her finger in it, she could tell it was serious.
“Ok.” She whispered. His expression relaxed, and he leaned back against the couch.
“Thank you.”
“But-“ he sat up again. “You have to tell me what happened later tonight.”
He contemplated it for a moment. “Fine.” He finally said, “but we wait until everyone is asleep, ok?” She nodded. Mike groaned in pain again, and the two turned their attention back to their friends.
“Max, can you go get a bottle of water from the kitchen for me?” Will asked, looking up at her from his place on the floor, where he was currently holding something against Mike’s leg to stop the bleeding.
“Yeah sure. You want me to get you an ice pack too?” She said, turning toward Lucas.
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“Mike?” The taller boy gave a weak thumbs up. “I’m-ahh-I’m good.” He said, wincing slightly as Will applied more pressure.
Max walked into the kitchen, her mind going a million miles an hour trying to figure where the boys had gone this time, and how it had been different than all the other times, but one question was at the top of her mind:
Why had Mike and Lucas been unexpectedly attacked by a pack of demo dogs?
—————————————
Lucas watched Max go, before turning back to Mike, who was leaning his head back against the couch, his eyes squeezed shut and his teeth clenched as Will continued to hold the gauze against his leg.
He wasn’t sure why this time had been different from all the other times, why they’d been attacked.
They hadn’t done anything different than normal, checking areas and muting their radios, usually the dogs didn’t attack if they didn’t hear them, but today, they’d attacked without a reason, barreling through the forest and catching the two boys off guard. Mike had managed to kill a few with his rifle, but after he’d run out of bullets he’d been forced to use his knife. The demodogs did not make the fight fair, and two had jumped Mike at once, Lucas had barely been able to fend them off with his crossbow. Mike had laid on the ground, screaming and crying in pain as his friend tried to calm him down. They’d camped in an abandoned neighborhood house before making the trek back to the Byers the next day, and Lucas had done all he knew how to treat Mike’s leg, and keep the dogs away, simultaneously.
He made a mental note to ask Dustin if they’d found anything new about these creatures, to see if there had been any other “attacks” lately.
Max re-entered the room, handing Will the plastic water bottle and breaking him out of his thoughts. He managed to gain his composure back before she sat back down next to him on the couch.
“Here.” She said gently, sitting back down beside him as she held an ice pack, or more like a frozen bag of peas, against the side of his face.
“Thanks.” He said, giving her a small smile as he reached up to hold it against his face, but instead Max grabbed his wrist with her free hand, pulling it away from his face and lacing her fingers through his.
“Please don’t go back out again.” She managed after a few minutes, looking down as she rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand. She wouldn’t make eye contact with him.
“I have to. We’re low on food, and bullets, if I stay here we’ll be out in a week.” She looked up at him for a moment, before dropping her gaze again. She didn’t try to argue, because she knew he was right, and no matter how scared she was, he wasn’t going to quit trying until he got what they needed.
Lucas turned back to Mike as Will finished cleaning his leg, tossing the water bottle into a nearby trash can. The white bandages on the boy’s leg were already turning a dark, crimson red, even though the wound had been completely cleaned moments before.
Lucas knew Mike wouldn’t be in good enough condition to go out on the next trip with him, but it was out of the question to stay here and wait. Their food and water supply was almost gone, and they only had enough batteries for the radio to last a few more days.
He knew they’d made rules against it, but he knew he might have to end up going alone. Dustin and Will were so close to figuring out more about these creatures, and making Max or El come with him instead was out of the picture. The boys had already decided on not putting the girls in danger, no matter how much they insisted.
He suddenly remembered one of the highlights of the trip, and turned excitedly back toward Max. “Hey I got something for you.”
She turned her head to look at him, gently pulling the bag away from his face as he leaned down to big up his abandoned backpack off the floor. She noticed it looked exceptionally more worn out since the last time they’d left, the green fabric had faded into a dark grey and was fraying all over.
She watched as he carefully pulled out a skateboard. Her skateboard . It was faded and worn out, but it was definitely her skateboard.
“How?” She gaped, dropping the peas on the couch and reaching out to take it from him.
“We stopped at each of our houses and got some things we thought everyone would want. I also got your box of pics from California, I’d figured you’d want that.” He gave her a nervous smile, as if she’d lecture him about going in her bedroom without her, but instead she leaned forward and pulled him into a hug.
He hugged her back, holding her closer and longer than he usually did. He knew that Max wasn’t just thanking him, she’d been worried he wouldn’t come back this time. He almost hadn’t, but she didn’t need to know that part. She let out a breath, leaning into him a little more. He knew this was all the relief from the worry of the past three days, because he was finally home, finally safe.
“Woah, is that Max’s?” Dustin asked, sitting on the ottoman in front of the two of them, unintentionally breaking the moment. They pulled away, and Max held up her board.
“Yep it’s mine.” She smiled.
“Oh yeah, give everyone their stuff.” Mike said, inching his way closer to the two of them.
Pretty soon Lucas had opened both his and Mike’s backpack, and had given El her old teddy bear and some books from the cabin, Will his drawings, pictures and sketchbooks from Castle Byers(since they were already at his house and the fort had been almost completely destroyed) and Dustin his headset radio and language translating books.
“What’d you get from your house?” Max asked, bumping Lucas’ shoulder as he handed Mike his D&D game board and files.
He glanced at her as they walked to the kitchen and she thought she saw some kind of emotion flash across his face. But he quickly turned away, zipping up the now empty backpack. “I’ll tell you later.”
And maybe she was just imagining it, but it seemed as if something had shifted in him, that something was changing. Days later, Max would realize that it would become worse than she could’ve even possibly imagined.