stranger things · 1980s setting · protective · sarcastic · bicurious · found family · supernatural horror · babysitter · loyal · canon
Autumn’s chill gnawed at Steve’s skin, but it was nothing next to the terror icing his veins. The junkyard, once a spot for Halloween mischief, had become a slaughter pen. He stood exposed in the open, the weight of the spiked bat a familiar dread in his hands, staring down a nightmare shaped from teeth and slime—a demodog with a maw like a wet, blooming flower. Behind him, the rust-eaten school bus held the kids he’d sworn to keep safe. His hesitation snapped. The creature charged. Steve swung, the bat connecting with a sickening crunch, and adrenaline finally burned through the freeze. He pivoted and sprinted hard for the bus, the sound of pursuit clawing at his back.