.𖥔 ݁ ˖꩜ 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐏𝐓. 𝟏 ꩜ ˖𖥔 .

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ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : 【 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 8 】

𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐄𝐃 along the abandoned train tracks through the forest while chucking handfuls of raw meat on the ground, that selfish part of Molly began contemplating if she made the right call, ditching a gorgeous boy who was asking her on a date in favour of doing this. She didn't regret volunteering to save the world, she just didn't yet see how what they were currently doing would save the world. She trusted that the purpose would reveal itself soon enough. At least she hoped it would.

"They key to girls is just acting like you don't care."

Molly tuned back into Steve's idiotic conversation with Dustin about how to attract women.

"Yes, because nothing's more romantic than making someone feel like they're not worthy of you," she muttered sarcastically, aggravatedly chucking down another handful of meat.

"Don't listen to her, she hasn't been on a date in, uh let's see, ever," Steve shut her down before continuing his terrible advice for Dustin.

Molly rolled her eyes and continued to chuck meat while her thoughts meandered.

She worried about Will. Dustin told her he was still in Hawkins Lab, getting treated but he hadn't mentioned Will's condition having anything to do with this creature they were trying to lure away so hopefully that meant he would be alright.

With Dustin and Steve talking so much about romance, her thoughts drifted back to Billy. She was surprised at how unaware she was about his feelings for her. She thought he just wanted to tease her like any other boy (which is why she used herself as bait to save Max from him), but considering everything that had happened between them, it made sense that his interest in her would be the reason he resented Steve. She hated to admit it but she could understand why outside eyes would think she and Steve had romantic feelings for each other.

What's more is that, she was shocked at how much she wished she could have said yes to Billy. Maybe she really was growing soft and falling for his so-called charms, but she genuinely enjoy being around him. It would sound strange to anyone else but, he kept her on her feet but never made her feel like she was in actual danger. Very few people in her life fell into that middle ground.

Most regular people she had met since the events of 1978 constantly made her feel guilty or nervous around, constantly having to restrain herself and play up the persona of Molly Gordin, the Polish girl who had been living in Hawkins for a year and was timid, kind and completely normal. However, around any threatening people such as the guards or doctors who were the only faces she saw for about five years, Molly never let herself feel normal around for a moment. Around them, she was nothing but a weapon. That was how they saw her, how they treated her, so she used her weapon-like skills against them.

But around Billy, she didn't have to restrain herself, nor did she have to forget her humanity. She doubted he intended that, but nonetheless, she did very much enjoy spending time with him and hoped that she'd be able to meet him back in the park by ten.

Before she knew it, the three had arrived at the junkyard.

Steve looked around with his dumb sunglasses on and said, "Oh yeah. Yeah, this will do. This'll do just fine. Good call, dude."

They dumped the remaining meat into a pile and left a trail of gasoline leading towards the bus where they planned to hideout.

"I said medium-well!"

It was then that Lucas showed up on his bike, having brought Max with him. Dustin looked over at them with a look of jealousy.

"Who's that?", Steve asked.

Molly opened her mouth but hesitated to let Dustin speak, however he said nothing and continued to brood at the two other kids. Steve and Molly then shared a knowing look.

"Ohhh," Steve raised his eyebrows.

"Oh," Molly confirmed dryly.

Molly, Steve and Max began hauling scrap metal and other rubbish towards the run-down bus for defences while Dustin and Lucas hid behind a scrapped car and talked about secrets likely regarding Max.

Molly did consider interrupting their discussion so they could help out but she decided not to. They deserved to have their fun and keep their little secrets. However, Steve did not feel the same.

"What the hell," Steve muttered before heading towards the two kids, banging a rusted chair against the car, "Hey, dickheads! How come the only one helping us out is this random girl? We lose light in forty minutes, lets go."

Dustin and Lucas hauled ass and began helping.

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

Molly found the disaster preparation rather fun. It reminded her of she and her brother making forts in the forests when they were children. It was actually forts that helped Molly overcome some of her prejudice against the Americans she was surrounded by. She had spent her entire childhood believing Americans were nothing but ignorant, greedy, uncultured, overpowered, wreckless pigs. While she wouldn't completely rule out those beliefs entirely, she did come to appreciate the people she came across in her time in Hawkins. She was helping Jonathan and Joyce find Will by looking through the woods and Jonathan took her to the fort he and Will built together. It was then more than ever that Molly completely saw herself in Jonathan's love and fear for his brother. She would have done anything to know that Vladimir was alive and safe, and she doubted she would ever forgive herself for leaving him and her mother to the mercy of the world without her. When Will came home, she too felt such relief and joy. It was as if Molly felt the joy of Jonathan's reunion with his brother vicariously.

As they continued to build up the bus's defences, Molly noticed Max struggling to pick up a ladder. She dropped the sheet of tin she was holding and dashed towards the younger girl.

"Here, I'll take the back," she said as she picked up the back end of the ladder.

Max looked at her with confused gratitude, "Thanks," before leading it into the bus.

The two steadied it against the bus's open roof when Max asked, "Why do you like my brother?"

Molly looked at her, caught off guard, "Uh..."

"I mean, it's just 'cause you seem like a, you know, good person?", she elaborated.

Molly burst out laughing at that, "Oh, you are a funny girl, Max. I can see why the two boys are so smitten with you."

Max's eyes went wide before she scoffed, "Yeah, sure."

Molly detected her sarcasm and gave her a confused look, "What do you mean? Look, they would kill me for telling you this, curse their shyness, but those boys are falling over themselves for you."

"But I've been a total jerk to them," she said.

Molly was careful to dance around her lack of knowledge on the situation, "That may be true, but I've found very little can be done to change a boy's mind when he thinks a girl is cool."

"Is that why you hang out with Billy?", she asked.

Molly bit her lip, "I know he isn't a very kind boy sometimes, I know he's not kind to you, so this will sound very bizarre. I feel safe around him. I can handle him, he can handle me... And I'd be willing to distract him for you any time," she joked.

That got a smile out of Max.

As the daylight continued to fade, defence preparations concluded and the group resolved to hide out in the bus and wait for the creature known as Dart to come after them.

˖𖥔 .

The sky soon turned black as the group continued to wait, on edge as to what could be out there. Molly was secretly keeping watch via some moths outside the bus. She hadn't told the kids about... well anything really. They knew so little about her and she believed they didn't completely trust her yet so she was certain they should not yet know about her powers, her history, or anything about her except her name and current desire to help her friends survive. It was because of this fear that Molly said nothing when Lucas went up to the roof to lookout.

Molly left the moth's body when she heard Max ask, "So you really fought one of these things before?", to which both she and Steve nodded.

"And you're a hundred percent sure it wasn't a bear?", she pried further.

"Shit, don't be an idiot, okay? It wasn't a bear," Dustin huffed

"Dustin!", Molly scolded him, "Don't be rude."

He ignored her, "Why are you even here if you don't believe us? Just go home."

Max rolled her eyes, "Jeez, someone's cranky. Past your bedtime?", before climbing up the ladder to hang out with Lucas.

"That's good, just show her you don't care," Steve told him.

"I don't," he replied, which elicited a wink from Steve, "Why are you winking, Steve? Stop."

Steve shrugged and continued flicking his lighter.

Molly looked at him in disgust, "This is what you've been teaching him?"

"Yeah?", Steve shrugged.

Molly stared at him, "Has he... wronged you?"

"What? No," Steve shot back, "It's solid advice!"

Molly scoffed and gestured to Max on the roof with Lucas, "Yes, clearly."

Steve scoffed, "Well, you're falling for a bad boy yourself so I don't think you can really talk."

"I like Billy because he doesn't ignore me. He pays attention to me, he calls me strange and beautiful and it doesn't feel fake, he doesn't lie to me and I don't lie to him" Molly ranted, cutting herself off when she realised her last statement wasn't true.

Steve raised his eyebrows, halting his lighter flicking, "Oh, so he knows? He knows everything, he knows you're not from Poland?"

"I... I misspoke," she muttered.

"That's what I thought," he resumed flicking the lighter, "You need to quit acting like you've got it all figured out."

"Well you do too," Molly retorted.

"Yeah, but I don't. Molly, we're teenagers, no one has anything figured out," he told her.

"Then why does everyone act like they do?", she asked.

"Because that's what our parents want. They expect us to be adults and treat us like kids," he mused.

The two fell back into silence. Molly returned to her position of possessing a moth outside. The only sounds were Steve's lighter and Max and Lucas' conversation up above.

"Wait, you're not from Poland?", Dustin spoke up, "Where are you from?"

Molly shot back out of the moth again and froze in panic. She looked to Steve who shared the same look of fear.

Before either of them could come up with an answer, a roar echoed outside, calling everyone's attention.

"You see him?", Dustin asked.

"No," Steve replied. Molly shook her head.

"Lucas, what's going on?", Dusting called up to the roof.

"Hold on!", Lucas paused, "I've got eyes! Ten o'clock!"

The three down below spotted the creature.

"There."

"What's he doing?"

"I don't know."

They continued to watch. The creature seemed disinterested in the bait, perhaps picking up on the scent of gasoline emanating from the pile of meat.

"He's not taking the bait. Why's he not taking the bait?", Steve asked.

"Maybe he's not hungry," Dustin suggested.

Steve then had a realisation, "Maybe he's sick of cow," Steve then got up towards the door, pulled out his lighter and told them, "Just get ready," and tossed the lighter to Dustin.

Molly couldn't believe what she was seeing. Steve opened the doors and carefully crept out of the bus. The further Steve came from the bus, the more on edge Molly grew. She heard the creature lurching and making otherworldly noises. She wanted to reach out and possess the creature to hold it back from attacking Steve, but if she did, she would have a lot to explain.

Suddenly, Lucas called out, "Steve, watch out! Three o'clock! Three o'clock!"

Everyone turned to 3 o'clock and realised there was another, two other creatures surrounding Steve.

Dustin and Molly quickly opened the door as Dustin shouted to him, "Steve! Abort, abort!"

The creatures lunged at him and he swiftly dodged them as the kids opened the door and shouted at Steve to get back in the bus. Molly began truly worrying and slowly started reaching out her hand.

As the bus was right in sight, Steve tripped over and one of the creatures came to stand over him. He tried kicking it away but it lunged at him again. He held his arms over his face as he braced for the creature to attack him but it stayed still. So did the other two. Steve and all the kids looked around in complete confusion.

A strained grunt called the kids attention towards Molly, who had her eyes shut and blood streaming from her nose.

These creatures were a different thing entirely for Molly. She had only ever possessed simple animals or humans before. But these creatures were a battle. Though they were only small, it took a great amount of strength to keep them still. She heard things inside their minds. It seemed there was another entity instructing these creatures already.

Through her mental battle, Molly grunted at Steve, "Get... in!"

Steve quickly got to his feet and dashed the rest of the way into the bus, Dustin closing the door behind him. When he did, Molly let go of the creatures and slumped down in exhaustion. Steve put his shoulder around her and set her down on the seats. Unfortunately, only a few seconds after she let go of the creatures, they started climbing over the outside of the bus and banging against the door.

When one broke in through the door, Steve took his bat and beat it down. The kids ran towards the back of the bus, Dustin calling out on the walkie-talkie to anyone who might be listening.

It wasn't long before the others got on top of the bus and found the hole in the roof. As the kids started screaming, Molly stood up and guarded them behind her as Steve went the roof to beat away the creatures. However, just as it was roaring at Steve, it suddenly turned away and jumped off the roof, running somewhere else, followed by the others.

Steve and the kids looked towards Molly but she shook her head, "That's not me."

They crept outside, watching the creatures run away, growling as they went.

"What happened?", Lucas asked.

"I don't know," Max replied.

"Steve scared them off?", Dustin asked.

"No, no way," Steve turned to them.

Molly recalled the force inside the creatures' minds, "They're going somewhere."