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Eddie was performing one of his lunchtime rants when it happened. He stood on the table, arms out in mid-flow as someone interrupted with a scream. Everyone stopped looking at Eddie and turned as the scream was followed by a growl. He almost fell off the table as he looked across the cafeteria to the dog - was it a dog - it looked like a dog but wasn’t a dog.
The crowd around him hushed, and everyone stared as the not-dog moved into the room. Several people started to back away. The thing sniffed the air, it’s head moving one way and another. Eddie stumbled down from the table, stepping onto the chair, without really looking, catching his foot on the edge and tipping himself slightly, so he half-fell, half-stumbled down. At least he managed to stay upright, but his ankle twisted painfully, and his hand stung as he slammed it down on the table to keep himself steady. Every item on the table gave a dramatic rattle.
The pain at least gave him the hint that this was real, he wasn’t just high on the stash that Rick had just sold him yesterday.
The crash caused the not-dog to turn it’s head in his direction. On one side of the table Dustin frantically tugged something out of backpack. As he pulled the radio out he started to shout into it.
“This is a code red! Code red! Demodog in the school cafeteria, over!”
“No ones going to hear that!” Mike snapped at him, Dustin glared at him and spoke again.
“Code red! Demodog in the caf….”
Eddie lurched back as the creature roared, it’s entire head opening like a very aggressive flower, lined with teeth. Definitely not a dog, he decided. It turned, the muscles on it’s back rippling, the sleek body glittering in the sunlight.
The action broke the impasse, a chorus of screams started to echo around the room and the kids broke and ran for the doors. Eddie backed up with the rest, tables and chairs overturning in the chaos. The dog leapt forward, only arresting its attack as a chair flew across the room, almost taking Eddie’s ear off as it passed by his head. It slammed into the not-dog, knocking it back slightly. In response it nudged the chair then knocked it away, into a group of escaping kids, causing them to tumble over on top of each other.
Eddie turned to look to see Mike behind him, picking up another chair, only to be knocked down by a couple girls making their getaway. Then there was another shriek. The dog turned its head again at the sound.
During the chaos a few kids had fallen to the floor. Chrissy Cunningham sprawled on the floor, looking around frantically. Her pony-tail askew and her eyes a little dazed. A red mark on the side of her head indicated where she had been kicked in the chaos. Her eyes locked on her jock boyfriend Jason Carver, who was trying to push his way through the crowd to the door. The fact he had a girlfriend clearly forgotten.
“Jase!” she shouted, he at least paused and turned, but the dog moved closer, roaring again, practically in Chrissy’s face. She scrabbled back on her backside, feet sliding against the floor as she tried to gain the traction to get up. The not-dog tensed, shoulders lowering, ready to pounce. Eddie thought he should do something, although, no one else looked interested in helping.
Except for two people, Dustin moved forward, coming from Eddie’s left, Mike darted forward on his right.
“Oi,” Dustin shouted, waving his arms. “Oi, this way you ugly… demodog. Over here!”
The creature turned its head, momentarily distracted from Chrissy, Dustin moved around, still shouting and waving. Then he started to rummage in his pocket. Mike, moving towards her, picked up items off the nearest table, lobbing them at the demodog. Dustin kept yelling, moving forward to distract it as Mike reached Chrissy and grabbing her arms pulled her up onto her feet, shoving her behind him so he was between her and the demodog.
Then from a third direction, practically clambering over the kids trying to get out to get in, came Lucas. He crashed over someone, scrambled up onto the nearby table and started throwing things as well, slightly more accurately than Mike, his basketball training clearly paying off somewhere.
Eddie watched in shock as the three kids he had taken into his club, and probably considered the lowest in the food chain at the school, stood up to the demodog as if it was nothing more than an everyday occurrence. They kept yelling and throwing, the demodog moving one direction, and then the other as it tried to work out which way to go.
“Good demodog,” Dustin said as it roared again, head swivelling towards him. Dustin fumbled a candy bar out of his pocket and started to unwrap it. Breaking off a bit he threw it at the demodog, who lowered its head to sniff the treat, then it nudged it across the floor.
“What are you doing?” Mike snapped at him.
“D’Art liked them,” Dustin said.
“That’s not D’Art,” Lucas pointed out, throwing something at the dog but the plate hardly made an impact on the creature’s side.
The demodog nudged the treat and then roared again. There were more screams and people still rushed to get out of the exits. The creature looked up again and gave another roar, hunching down and stalking towards Dustin, who looked around to try and find something else as a weapon. However, it was then he realised he had moved into open ground, and he had nothing to use. Mike picked up another discarded chair, glancing at Dustin before he prepared to move forward. Dustin gave a nod, and Mike readied himself for whatever unspoken plan had just been made up. Lucas clambered down off the table and grabbed another chair, moving round to try and help Dustin.
However, before either of them could get far a third chair crashed across the room from the far corner, tumbling along the floor, propelled by force. Someone else getting involved, clearly following the route the demodog had taken to gain entry.
The loud noise and movement caused the demodog to turn away from Dustin and face the new threat.
Because it was clearly a threat, and a very startling one at that.
Just inside the fire door strolling in the room was Steve Harrington, clearly looking like he had just come from the video store. Holding of all things, Eddie realised, a baseball bat with nails in it. The room stilled as he appeared, walking casually towards the demodog. The three kids hesitated as they watched Steve.
Casually he tossed the bat from his right hand to left, reaching out to scrap the nails across the top of the nearby table, the screeching sound putting more than a few teeth on edge. Eddie winced at the sound, and the demodog roared.
But then again, Eddie thought, that was a lot of teeth to upset.
It swivelled to face Steve, who looked unperturbed by the attention. Instead he moved out into an open area of space, making sure the demodog’s attention stayed on him, tossing the bat back to his right hand.
Then looking up he gave an imperious flick of his head to the kids. Lucas and Mike followed the command immediately, backing up, still holding the chairs just in case, but they moved clear of what was, Eddie presumed, the impending confrontation.
Dustin, for a brief moment, hesitated, as he didn’t want to leave Steve alone to face the threat. However, Steve’s face darkened when he didn’t immediately move and he glowered at Dustin and flicked his head again. This time Dustin took the insistent second hint and reluctantly backed up. The demodog turned at the movement, but was drawn back to Steve as he moved closer, swinging the bat in the air.
“Come on you ugly…” Steve shouted looking as if he was about to swear, clocked the kids nearby and ended lamely with… “thing.”
The demodog roared at him, causing everyone but Steve to jump. Several kids paused their escape, more fascinated by Steve’s appearance than they were with self-preservation. Steve lifted the bat ready as the demodog tensed, it’s head lowering. There were shrieks as it pounced but Steve swung the bat, clouting the demodog on the side of it’s head, sending it spinning sideways. The creature skittered across the floor, trying to gain traction on the smooth tiles. Steve spun gracefully on the ball of his foot, so he remained facing the creature, but now he was between it and the kids. He swung the bat, keeping it low for the moment, at his side, but still clearly retaining some momentum with the movement.
He waited for the demodog to strike again. Eddie leant into Dustin, who had moved back watching the confrontation with his wide, adoring eyes fixed on Steve.
“Has he done this before?”
“He’s a badass,” Dustin said with admiration.
Another chorus of yelps and shrieks echoed around the room as the demodog leapt again. Steve ducked, smashing the bat into the creature’s shoulder, using such force he sent it spinning across the room, crashing into a table. The table tipped over spilling items everywhere, the demodog head butted the table, tossing it in Steve’s direction.
He ducked easily, wincing as mashed potato slapped onto his trainers and milk splashed onto his jacket. But he was ready as the demodog leapt again, crashing the bat into the dog’s side. It flew sideways and Steve went after it, slamming the bat down again. His foot sliding in discarded food, so his aim went off cracking into the tiled floor instead. He followed up with another swipe.
The demodog, by some instinct, managed to shift sideways to avoid the second blow, and it roared at Steve, who merely tried batting the thing again. It skittered backwards.
“How is he a badass?” Lucas asked Dustin.
“Yeah, I mean Will’s brother can beat him up,” Mike said.
Eddie raised his eyebrows, he had heard about that incident, hardly able to believe it, until he had seen Steve’s face at school a few days later. Now he listened, curiosity piqued, to the kids almost casually chat as Steve tackled the creature.
“He won against one of the Russians,” Dustin said. Eddie’s head whipped round to stare at him and then back to Steve to keep an eye on the action.
“They mangled his face,” Lucas pointed out.
“He still knocked one of them out,” Dustin argued. “He used a phone receiver.”
“What about Billy?” Mike said. “We had to rescue Steve from him.”
“Well, Max did,” Lucas added.
“Dustin!”
The discarded radio crackled as someone else spoke on the radio, the sound suddenly loud in the room. It caused the demodog to turn, and the crackle sounded again. Eddie couldn’t identify the voice but Dustin darted forward to grab the radio up off the floor. Limping on it’s right hind leg the demodog turned from Steve and launched itself at Dustin.
With a yelp Dustin leapt sideways to avoid the charge, the radio flew one way and Dustin slipped on something and went sprawling. The demodog landed lithely, turning on the spot and it roared at him, tensing to spring at Dustin again. Mike and Lucas lurched forward as defence and Dustin scrabbled to grab the crackling radio.
By a split second he managed to grab it and use it as a weapon as the demodog lunged forward to try and bite him. He lashed out and slammed the side of the demodog’s head with the radio. As the demodog shook it’s head, stunned from the blow Dustin scrabbled clear, skidding to his left as Steve shot forward, bat raised for another strike.
Eddie stepped back in shock and then flinched as Steve, with lithe speed swung the bat. Dustin scrabbled backwards and ducked expertly as Steve reacted before the demodog could strike again.
“Stay!” Steve yelled as he struck, knocking the demodog away from Dustin.
“Away!”
Another thud.
“From!”
Another heavy thud.
“Him!”
Steve’s last strike had the power of anger as he slammed it into the demodog’s head, with a sickening squishing sound. The demodog’s body slumped dramatically, like a puppet with it’s strings cut. Dropping down it lay still.
The tableau held for a moment. Steve kept his eyes on the demodog for a moment, bat held a few inches above the body just in case it moved again. Dustin behind him scrabbled to his feet. Lucas and Mike slowly lowered the chairs they were holding and stepped forward.
The radio crackled again, causing everyone but Steve, still focussed on the demodog, to jump.
“Dustin? Code red?”
“Hi Nancy,” Dustin said into the retrieved radio. “Code red contained. Steve’s on it.”
“Please tell me he did not baseball bat that thing to death in the middle of the school cafeteria.”
Steve turned his head at that, grimacing slightly, and then looked at the audience.
“OK, I won’t,” Dustin said, cutting Nancy off quickly. “Presumably she would have told us to evacuate and contain until she got there.”
“Maybe,” Steve said, prodding the demodog with the end of the bat to assure himself it was dead, then he straightened up and stepped back looking at Dustin. Dustin patted himself down.
“No harm done.”
Steve’s eyes then moved to Lucas, then Mike, who both echoed the fact they were both okay.
Then Eddie watched as he leant the bat against his leg reaching up to tidy his famous hair and then he smiled brightly, inanely and charmingly at the stunned, silent audience. Eddie watched as Dustin swooned and then turning to the rest of the students still in the cafeteria he saw the female section, and part of the male section, also swoon in the face of King Steve’s charm, and now distinct badassary. If that was a word, Eddie’s mind sniped.
“Everybody okay?” Steve asked, charming smile in place, as if what he had just done was something you normally did on a Tuesday lunchtime.
And Eddie, to his dying day, intended to deny that fact that he swooned too.
Just a little bit.