11. Monster Showdown

"Wait, what's here?" Steve asked, as Jonathan went to pick up his bat.

"Where is it?" Nancy questioned, as Karmen picked up a kitchen knife from the table.

"Woah, be careful with that!" Steve exclaimed.

"Where is it?!" Nancy insisted, as she and Jonathan looked around, back to back.

"I don't know" He answered.

"Hello?! Will someone explain to me what the hell is going-" Steve was cut off as the ceiling suddenly caved in.

Nancy shot at the ceiling as the creature they had been waiting for appeared. It opened it's razor sharp jaws and screeched at them, as Karmen felt her heartbeat quicken.

"You're firing too early!" Karmen told her.

"Go! Run!" Jonathan shouted, as he grabbed Nancy by her waist.

They ran past Karmen and Steve, the latter who was staring at the creature in disbelief.

"Come on!" Karmen cried, as she grabbed his hand and pulled him behind her.

"Jump!" Jonathan called after them, as they leaped over the trap.

"Oh my God, oh my God!" Steve yelled, as Karmen pulled him into the bedroom.

Jonathan slammed the door behind them so hard, his sign fell off the pin on the other side.

"Jesus! What the hell was that?!" Steve screamed, as Nancy and Jonathan turned around.

"Shut up!" They said at the same time.

Steve was quiet immediately, as Nancy held up the gun, while Jonathan raised both the lighter and the bat. Karmen tried to quell the panic that was rising in her, as she gripped the knife in her hand. It was then that she realised she was still holding Steve's hand. She quickly let go, as she heard Steve let out an awkward cough.

"What's it doing?" Nancy queried, as the monster had still not appeared.

"I don't know" Jonathan replied, as no one moved.

A moment later the lights began to flicker, before going back to normal suddenly.

"I think it's gone" Karmen suggested.

"Do you hear anything?" Nancy inquired, as Jonathan put his head to the door.

"No" He shook his head, opening it.

They all cautiously exited the room, seeing that the creature was gone and nowhere to be seen. As they went into the living room, Steve began to mutter.

"This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy!" He exclaimed, as he went to pick up the phone.

"What are you doing? Are you insane?" Steve questioned, as Nancy grabbed the phone from him.

"It's going to come back!" Nancy told him.

"You need to leave, okay? Right now. It's not safe here" Karmen insisted, as she began ushering him to the door.

"But…" Steve trailed off, as she opened the door.

"Too many people have already been hurt by this thing, Steve. I don't want anyone else getting hurt who doesn't need to" She explained, as she closed the door behind him.

Steve quickly rushed over to his car, dropping his keys as he desperately tried to open it. Once he did, he noticed the lights inside the house had begun flickering again and knew what that meant.

"Where is it?" Nancy panicked, as the fairy lights around them flickered.

"Come on. Come on, you son of a bitch" Jonathan exclaimed.

"Do you see it?" Karmen asked, as they all went back to back to each other.

"No" Nancy mumbled.

"Where are you? Come on!" Jonathan yelled, angrily.

Karmen took a deep breath, as she stilled herself to not be so scared as last time. She needed to help. The lights went off, as they all gasped, not being able to see much.

"Jonathan! Nancy cried, when she saw the monster now standing behind him.

It threw Jonathan across the room, who dropped his bat in the process. It then jumped on top of him, opening it's mouth wide as it dribbled on his face.

"Go to hell you son of a bitch!" Nancy screamed, as she shot it numerous times.

This seemed to only anger it as it stood up and began to approach a terrified Nancy, who continued to fire at it until she had no bullets left. Karmen began to create an orb in her hand as the creature got closer and closer to her friend.

"Hey!" Karmen shouted, as the creature turned around.

She threw it at the monster, almost missing it, only managing to hit its shoulder. She gulped as she saw there was now a gaping hole there, as it screamed at her angrily. It started to run for her, when it was intercepted by Steve shoving the bat into its chest.

"Steve!" Karmen gasped, as he continued hitting it closer to the trap.

He spun the bat around his hand, making Karmen's eyes widen, causing the creature to step back into the bear trap.

"It's in the trap!" Steve announced, as Karmen came to stand beside him.

"He's stuck!" Karmen called over to Jonathan, who was standing up.

"Jonathan, now" Nancy insisted, as the boy threw his lighter at the creature.

Instantly it went up in flames, as the monster squealed and squirmed. It continued to burn as Jonathan saw the ceiling was beginning to catch fire.

"Get back" Jonathan stated, as he picked up a fire extinguisher.

Steve placed an arm protectively in front of Karmen, as the flames started to die down and smoke surrounded them. They approached the trap carefully, all of them coughing, seeing that there was no sign of a body.

"Where did it go?" Nancy asked.

"No. It has to be dead. It has to be" Jonathan exclaimed.

Karmen was bandaging her hand, as after all they had been through in the last hour, it had started bleeding more profusely. She was finding it hard holding the bandage, while trying to stick it down, when Steve came to sit next to her.

"Here, let me help" He mumbled, as he held the bandage down.

"Thanks" She smiled at him, finishing.

"I saw what you did, throwing that...thing at the creature. What are you?" Steve couldn't help but ask.

"I'm human, with a little bit added I guess" She shrugged.

She then went on to give Steve a quick recap of who she was, and how that connected to the monster that had just attacked them.

"So…is there anything else you want to spring on me? Maybe bald green aliens like in the movies?" Steve went on, as Karmen laughed.

"Now that would be crazy…" She mocked, as she realised government conspiracies weren't as crazy as that.

However, this reminded her of the person at the centre of the government conspiracy. The girl she had sworn to protect.

"Oh no…Eleven" Karmen gasped.

"What?" Nancy frowned, when she heard this.

"We left the kids defenceless at the school…it could be coming for her" Karmen explained.

"We could lure that thing back here?" Jonathan suggested.

"No, it will never come back here now it knows we can hurt it" Karmen shook her head.

"Then we should go to the school" Steve stated.

"You don't even know Eleven" Karmen said, raising an eyebrow.

"She's just a little kid, who from you just said needs our help" Steve responded.

"There's no plan if we go there…it will have the chance to surprise us" Jonathan frowned.

"My brother's there" Nancy insisted, already getting her coat on.

"Okay, let's go" Karmen mumbled, as they all walked towards the door.

"C'mon, we should take my car" Steve told them.

"Steve, why are you doing this?" Karmen asked.

"Because I'm included in this. It's like you said I don't want to see anyone get hurt…especially not Nancy…or you" Steve admitted, surprising her, as he walked over to his car.

Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! We can start to see the friendship forming between Steve and Karmen, as they both start to see a completely new side to each other. Please leave a review:)

LIsa: Thanks for the review:)

Micky-Moo: Steve and Karmen are slowly going to get closer, as I think they both understand each other a lot better than anyone else does. It is very hard to choose between Jonathan and Steve, isn't it? Haha:)

tazsgirl6969: Thanks! Here's the new chapter:)

uNICOrnDIANGELO: Aw, thank you so much! I think El and Karmen's relationship is really cute and look forward to exploring it more in the future. Yeah, Karmen definitely will blame herself if she can't save Eleven.