THE LOW GROWLING BEGAN ONCE MORE.

Carla awoke at the sound, breath hitching as she recognized the vines and dust particles of the other world—of the place she'd truly been in that night, the place where the monster called home.

She was still in between Jonathan and Nancy as she slowly sat up. Eyes tightly shut, the Wheeler slid off of her bed—she assumed her sister and friend would look just as her mother did in the previous nightmare, and decided against looking at them.  It would only make her more terrified of what was to come.

Suddenly, a soft, shaky voice started to quietly make its way through the house.  The familiar voice caused the brunette to still, and a glint of hope flashed through her—Will.  It was Will singing.

"Should I stay or should I go now....."

Now, Carla knew she shouldn't be overly hopeful at the sound of Will's voice—she didn't know what was real and what was fake anymore with all this monster stuff, with finding out this place and this creature were something other than fantasy.  But, that's the exact reason to why she was hopeful.

If the monster was alive.....maybe Will still was too.

"Will?" Carla breathlessly called out.  If the Byers' whisper singing was carried, her yell would surely be heard by him.  "Will? Is that you? I'm here again, I'm—I'm here to try and help you!"

"Carla? Carla!"

"Will!" Carla quickly stands up at the sound of his voice, and runs out of her bedroom.  Hopping over as many vines as possible, the Wheeler easily exits her blue yet somehow darkly lit house, as it was still the same as her real home. 

Her front yard couldn't say the same. 

Instead of it being her neighborhood, her front yard was the woods her, Jonathan and Nancy had been in that day. The trees had goo and slime and all kinds of muck stuck to the bark, slowly crawling down to the trunk, but Carla was quick to notice the tree holding the portal which had taken them to this place.

Which meant......

"Carla!"

Will's voice took the Wheeler away from her thoughts, and she looked in front of her to see Will.  His skin was sickly pale, and his clothes were covered in slime, hair matted down to his forehead with sweat and goo.

But, nonetheless, Carla had never been happier to see the small boy.

"Oh my god, Will." the brunette exclaimed, quickly running up towards the boy and engulfing him in a hug.  She didn't even care if this was a figment of her imagination or if this was really Will.  It felt so fucking good to embrace him, to see him in the flesh after everything. "Are you okay? Did the creature—"

"No, he hasn't gotten me yet. I've been running and hiding." Will explained, eyes darting around like crazy. 

"Okay, Will, d'you see that tree with a hole in it?"  Carla pointed behind her, towards the portal.  The Byers boy nods and she continues, "If this place is just like Hawkins but not, that portal should lead back to the Hawkins woods. If you go south, you'll end up at Steve Harrington's house, do you remember him, my ex?" Will nods again, "Ring the doorbell, and—"

The girl is cut off by the growl of a monster.

The two teens look over to see the creature standing over them.

Will has a horrified look in his eyes as he practically shoves her towards the woods, "Carla, run through that hole! I'll hold it off!"

Carla wanted to fight but she didn't want to meet the creature again.  So, as Will ran in the other direction, she dived for the hole and started crawling.

Carla sat upright, alert.

She eyed all of her surroundings, breathing slowing when she realized she was in her sister's real room—there we no vines or dust particles, and the light was softly pouring in her window, which wouldn't happen there.

Jonathan Byers was beside her, softly snoring, and the Wheeler was relieved to see his face wasn't all contorted and messed up. 

She was back.

"Carla, you're okay." she felt a hand on her shoulder, quickly whipping her head around to see Nancy.  The girl seemed to be wide awake—she supposes she wasn't the only one who had an abrupt awakening. "Nightmare?"

Carla nodded slowly, "Yeah...."

"Oh..." Jonathan suddenly groaned from besides the brunette, the boy having been woken up by the shift in weight and the surprised judder from Carla. Sitting up, he sleepily greeted, "Hey."

"Hey." Nancy replied. Carla sent him a soft smile as well. 

Looking at the two, Jonathan asked, "Couldn't sleep?"

Carla frowned, "Nightmare, again."

"Every time I close my eyes, I just.....keep seeing that thing." Nancy quietly responds, the memories sending chills down her spine. "Wherever I was—we were—that place, I think that it lives there. It was feeding there. Feeding on that deer.  That means that if Will and Barbara....." the Wheeler looked like she could start crying at the thought of her friend and the young boy trapped with that creature, in its hunting ground.

"Hey." Jonathan leans over towards Nancy, wanting to comfort her. "My mom said she talked to Will. If he's alive, there's a chance that Barbara is, too."

"That means that she's trapped....in that place." Nancy states, voice quiet. "We have to find it again."

"That means that she's trapped..in that place." Nancy responds in a sad tone, her voice a whisper towards the end. "We have to find it again."

Jonathan meets Nancy's gaze, "You wanna go back out there?"

"You wanna go back out there?" Jonathan questions, looking at Nancy.

"I think we should....just not like that, at least." Carla replies, thinking back to the previous night.  She gets an odd look from the Byers boy, and starts to explain. "When Nance and I saw it, it was feeding on the deer.  Which means it's something of a predator—a carnivore, I think we can all agree on."

Jonathan nods.

"And it seems to like to hunt at night, like a—a lion or a coyote." Nancy catches on to the idea her sister was trying to get past, "But it doesn't hunt in packs like them."

Carla nods, "Agreed. There seems to be only one that we know of—only one that's been attacking the area.  It's solitary, like a bear or something." She pauses before a light bulb flashed within her mind, "And, at Steve's, when Barb cut her hand.....she was bleeding—"

"And then, last night, the deer—"

Jonathan finishes, "It was bleeding too."

"One sec," Nancy mutters, opening another book that was lying on her bed—Carla assumes this had been why her sister had been wide awake when she abruptly woke up.  Opening the book, she sets her finger on an image of a shark, "Sharks can detect blood in one part per million.  That's one drop of blood in a million, and they can smell it from a quarter mile away."

Jonathan looks at the Wheelers, making sure he understands where they were going, "So you're saying it can detect blood?"

"It's just a theory."

"But a good one—a test worthy one." Carla looks at the two teens.  Sure, that creature did scare her but....she needed to know whether they were right, if this was a way to possibly get Will back. "All we need is a little blood and a little time."

The Byers looks at them seriously, "But if it works...."

"At least we'll know it's coming." Nancy finishes, softly yet confidently.

Before anyone else can say anything more, the doorknob begins to rattle, making all three teens jump back in shock—it didn't help that they'd just been talking about the monster, nerves already on edge.

"Honey, are you up?" At the voice of Karen Wheeler, Carla lets out a breath of relief.  The woman continues the rattle the doorknob, asking, "Is Carla in there with you? She isn't in her room."

"Right here, Mom!" Carla calls back, trying to sound as un-rattled as possible, "Nance and I were going over some last minute homework!"

Nancy continues, "I'm getting dressed right now."

"I, uh, made some blueberry pancakes." 

"We'll be down in a second." Nancy states firmly.

At the sound of Karen's receding footsteps, all three teens let out a collective sigh—Carla missing the way her sister's hand un-winded from Jonathan's. 

It's silent for a moment before Jonathan chuckles, "Your mom doesn't knock?"

The three teens let out a soft laugh before turning serious once more.

They had a monster to catch.

Carla had never been in a room with so many dangerous items.

After escaping her house via Nancy's window, the trio made their way into downtown Hawkins to some sort of store that Jonathan said would hold the right materials they needed for this plan—and hell was he right.

Now, the Wheeler wasn't sure what monster hunting materials looked like, but this place seemed to hold them. Every shelf was lined with guns, spikes, bats, gasoline, bear-traps, swords and knifes—pretty much any weapon you could imagine was sitting somewhere in the store.

Carla was pacing through isles, trying to figure out what would be truly useful—of course any kind of weapon would help, but she didn't want to be buying something she would never end up using.  Nancy did the opposite, blindly adding anything that screamed remotely dangerous into her basket, while Jonathan did both, checking over items before placing them in his basket.

Once she declared her shopping finished, Carla walked over and set her items on the counter.  Jonathan and Nancy were at her side, setting down a bear trap, gasoline, matches, and mallets—as well as other weapons which the Wheeler must have missed based on the variety her sister and her friend collected.

As if what they had gotten wasn't enough to bat the eyes of the man at the counter, Jonathan added, "And I'll have four boxes of the .38's." 

The man did as he was asked, grabbing the box of bullets and handing them over.  Looking at all the weapons, he couldn't help but question why the trio needed them—he'd never had a group so young come in to purchase a mass of weapons like this. "What're you kid's doin' with all this?" 

The three idly stare at one another before Nancy shrugs, "Monster hunting."

"Huh."

The man didn't question any more and ringed up their total.

After having boxed up as well as paid for their items—which the three did evenly, given they were all a part of this hunt—the trio exited the shop, Jonathan unable to contain his laughter. "Monster hunting?"

Carla shrugs, "What else was she supposed to say? Besides, it's not like anyone would believe us."

Jonathan opens the trunk of his car and him and Carla set their boxes and weapons inside.  From beside the two brunettes, Nancy incredulously says, "You know, last week.....I was shopping for a new top I thought Steve might like.  It took me and Barb all weekend, it seemed like life or death, you know? And—and now...."

"You're shopping for bear traps with Jonathan Byers and your sister." Jonathan finishes, shutting the trunk.

"Yeah."

"What's the weirdest part?" Jonathan asks, "Me or the bear trap?"

Nancy smiles, "You. It's definitely you."

The two smile at one another, but the moment is ruined by the honking of a car.

"Hey, Nance!" Reed, a fellow student at Hawkins High, yells from the passenger seat of a red convertible, "Can't wait to see your movie."

Jonathan's brows furrow, "What the hell was that?"

"Yeah, what does he mean, Nance?" Carla looks at her sister, confused.

"I don't know." Nancy blankly replied, before turning around.  As if something caught her eye, the girl starts pacing away from the car and towards the movie theater.

"What? What? Hey! Where are you going?"

Carla chases after her sister, and her jaw drops immediately when she notices what Reed had been talking about—what Nancy was currently gaping at in horror.

Written on the movie theater marquee in bright red spray paint for all of Hawkins to see was Nancy The Slut Wheeler, sprayed under a new release titled All The Right Moves.

Carla feels her jaw clench because who the fuck would do such a thing? Calling a girl a slut to her face was one thing, but spraying for all of Hawkins to see was just cruel—especially when it was un-true.

Passersby send dirty glances towards Nancy, muttering and scoffing at her as they read the marquee.  The Wheeler girl has a look of betrayal, of hurt, intertwined in her shocked expression and all Carla wants to do is yell at whoever had done this because it was just cruel—

Laughing.

The girls jaw clenches even more, and her fists squeeze together at her side as she hears the familiar laughing of none other than Tommy fucking Hagan and the sound of spray paint.

"Wait—"

"Tommy you spell like a three year old."

"Shut up!"

"I didn't know you could spell."

Carla isn't sure when she started storming towards the alley way, but within seconds she finds herself pacing towards four familiar faces.

Tommy. Carol. Nicole. Steve.

It hurt to see Steve standing there beside Tommy and Carol, to know that he'd let this slide.  The fact that he'd broken her heart was her own problem, but if she's honest, she trusted Steve to be there for Nancy and this was what he did? Wrote slurs on the marquee? Fucking pathetic.

"Your humor must be broken, because that—" Carla makes her appearance known, watching as all four heads turn in her direction.  She jabs a finger towards the marquee, "—is not funny."

"Well would you look who it is, Little Miss I like it when perverts take photos of me!" Carol perks up, an amusing look on her face.  She looks towards her boyfriend, who was spraying upon the wall beside him. "Maybe we should write that one next." 

Carol then looked behind Carla, noticing her sister coming up behind her, an upset and angry look set on her face. "Aw, hey there princess."

"Uh oh.....they both look upset." Tommy sadly mimics.

Nancy charges straight for Steve, and Carla doesn't stop her as she raises a hand and slaps her boyfriend across the face—the girl actually has to hide her smile because the Harrington boy deserved that.

"What is wrong with you?" Nancy fires.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? I was worried about you." Steve retorts, face hard yet somehow filled with inflicted with pain as he scoffs, "I can't believe that I was actually worried about you."

"What are you talking about?" Nancy exclaimed, confused about the whole situation.

Carol steps forward, interjecting, "I wouldn't lie if I were you. You don't want to be known as the lying slut now, do you?"

Carla spat, "Shut your fucking mouth, Carol."

"Speak of the devil." Tommy states, causing all heads to turn, watching as Jonathan approached the scene.  Jumping of the box he'd been spraying, he menacingly greets, "Hi."

Pieces clicking together in her mind, Nancy faced her boyfriend again, "You came by last night."

"Ding! Ding! Ding! Does she get a prize?" Carol smiles, Tommy wrapping an arm around her.

Once again Jonathan was the cause of an argument between Steve Harrington and his girlfriend—once again, the girl getting accused of cheating.

Now, Carla could see that last night looked odd. Seeing your girlfriend sitting in her room beside the school-wide freak could make you upset, or concerned that you weren't the only one but......Steve shouldn't have just assumed like that, or written that she was a slut before fully knowing the story. Had he not seen Carla there too? 

"Look, I don't what you think you saw, but it wasn't like that." Nancy defends herself, trying to get the message over that her and Jonathan hadn't been doing anything romantic, that she hadn't cheated.

Steve's face showed nothing but hurt, "What, you just let him in your room to.....study?"

"Or for another pervy photo session with Carla, too." Tommy remarked, Carla clenching her fists together to try and stay calm but she was growing angry.  

Nancy tried again, "We were just—"

"You were just what? Finish that sentence." Steve cuts in, moving closer to the Wheeler, slightly towering over her. "Finish the sentence."

  Carla knew that her sister was in a horrible spot because if she admitted to 'hunting monsters' she sounded like a liar, and if she didn't say anything at all, she sounded guilty. 

Nancy stayed silent, unable to give out a reasonable answer. 

Disappointed, Steve made a final comment, "Go to hell, Nancy."

"Oh, go fuck yourself, Steve." Carla spits, staring at her ex-boyfriend with more hate than she ever had. This was not the boy she fell for, who left flowers in her locker and slipped her notes in the hallways like the total dork her was. "How many times are you going to accuse your girlfriend of cheating with Jonathan, huh? How long is it going to take for you to figure out that a boy and a girl can be friends without wanting to get in each other's pants?"

Steve was quick fire back, "What do you know about last night?!"

"Uh, everything. I was there." Carla snapped.  Steve really should have done his research. "I was there, and I saw everything—well more so, nothing—happen.  You really should have asked what happened before labeling your girlfriend as a slut to all of Hawkins, I mean if you're even sure Nance is going to still be your girlfriend after this is resolved because personally—"

Jonathan grabbed on to the Wheeler's arm, "Come on, Carla.  Let's just leave before you get more worked up—"

"You know what, Byers? I'm actually kind of impressed." Steve began to ramble, clearly angry and full of emotion. "I always took you for a queer, but I guess you're just a little screw-up like your father." He paces forward, shoving Jonathan as the boy tries to pull Carla away, wanting to get out of the alley before he and Carla both lose it. 

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that house is full of screw-ups. You know, I guess I really shouldn't be surprised. A bunch of screw-ups in your family."

"Steve, shut up." Carla rips her arm out of Jonathan's hold, crossing over towards her ex-boyfriend—God she doesn't understand how she'd dated such a douche bag. "You don't get to fucking talk about them like that."

Steve's tone is low and almost threatening, "Move out of the way, Carla."

"Why should I? I'm not yours to boss around. I'm not Nancy—I'm not gonna put up with your shit." the Wheeler continues, speaking before thinking through her words. "You can't just call my sister a slut and then start commenting on Jonathan's family when yours isn't much better.  Jonathan might be poor, but at least his mom makes time to be in his goddamn life."

Carla's mind calls her out for the low blow, but honestly, she doesn't even care anymore.  She was just pissed.

"Carla, leave it. I'm fine." Nancy grabs her sisters arm, but the girl doesn't budge, staring at Steve coldly.

Her comment seems to shut the Harrington up for a moment, but he was quick to start spewing cruel comments at the Byers boy once more, words falling out of his lips faster than before. "I mean, your mom......I mean, I'm not even surprised what happened to your brother."

"Steve, shut up!" Nancy yells at the Harrington, who doesn't listen at all.

The Harrington shoves the Byers boy again, "Carla, I've tried to tell you and Nancy, I'm sorry I have to be the one to tell you, but the Byers, their family, it's a disgrace to the entire—"

Steve didn't have time to say anything else before his words were cut off by Carla's fist.

The girl had never fully hit someone like this—she'd never been a violent person.  But it felt great as she watched Steve fly back at the hit, clearly surprised by the impact.

Before the Harrington boy could even get back up, Jonathan was flying at him, throwing fist as well—Carla being shoved backwards as the two boys began to fight one another in a fit of rage that couldn't be stopped.

The Wheeler watched as the two boys collapsed on to the road of the alley, rolling on top of one another trying to fight for dominance. Carla had never witnessed a fight between two boys, and she thought they looked rather stupid, yet again, how else were they supposed to continue? Certainly not civilly.  Someone had to be put in their place.

"Steve!"

"Stop Steve!"

"Knock it off you guys!"

"Get off of him, seriously!"

Tommy came forward, "Kick his ass, man!"

"Get off! Stop!"

Carol shoved her boyfriend towards the fight, "Get in there, he's going to hurt himself!"

The Hagan boy did as asked and started to shove Jonathan away, but was stopped by Steve who  put a hand out, pushing his friend away, "Hey! Hey! Get out of here! Get out of here! Get out of here!"

Jonathan threw to which Steve dodged, the latter reciprocating the punch by sending one to the prior's cheek. The Byers boy's face flew back for a moment, Jonathan quickly clocking a blow to Steve's jaw, the boy groaning as the hit's made.

The Harrington doesn't have time to throw another punch as Jonathan is quick to throw one himself, hitting the prior's nose square on—Carla's sure he could have broken it if the hit was as hard as she thinks it is.  The hit causes Steve to fall back onto the concrete.

The hit looked hard and so did the fall, and Carla cringes as Jonathan climbs on top of the Harrington, grabbing the collar of his shirt with one hand, throwing aimless punches with the other—the Wheeler can hear the splattering of blood with each hit.

"Jonathan, stop!" Nancy pleads, unsure on who to even root for—Steve was being a douche bag but he was her boyfriend, and she didn't want him too hurt.

"Okay, Jonathan, you've done enough! He gets the message!" Carla yells, starting to grow worried for Steve.  She knows she shouldn't—he didn't deserve her sympathy, and she'd been the one who punched him first—but her heart yearns for Jonathan to get off of him before he gave him serious brain damage, or a broken nose.

The sound of sirens echos within the alley, causing the teens to go into even more panic than before.

"Cops!" Tommy yells, "Cops!"

"Guys!" Nancy screams, "Jonathan, get off him!"

"Cops! Come on!"

"Jonathan, get off! You're gonna get in trouble!" Carla yells, eyes wide as the police cars pull into the alleyway, Jonathan still on top of Steve, throwing punch after punch without a second thought.

"Just go, Carol!"

"You have to stop!"

"Jonathan! Get off!"

Nicole and Carol are shouting, Nancy and Carla trying to intervene before Jonathan gets in serious trouble—one Wheeler tries to get Jonathan away while the other tries to pull Steve up and off of the ground.

Tommy too is intervening, getting in Jonathan's face, "Hey, he's had enough man! I said he's had enough!"

Carla looked at her friend, hands outstretched as she tried to hold the Byers boy back with the help of Tommy—yes, the Hagan boy was helping her. "Jonathan, seriously! Do you want to knock him out and get in more trouble than you already are?"

The cops exit their vehicle and approach the scene, one of them yelling, "Kids! Alright, stop!"

Words from everyone's mouth mix into a wave of chaos, as the teens and the police try to get Jonathan Byers off and away from Steve Harrington.

An officer tries to pull him away, only to get elbowed in the nose and sent flying back into a nearby car.  Carla cringes, knowing if he wasn't already in trouble, accidentally hitting an officer would ice the cake.

"Oh! My nose!"

Finally, the other officer manages to forcefully pull Jonathan off and without hesitation, Carla is pulling her ex boyfriend off the ground, wanting him to be out of here before the Byers boy has a chance to break free and come after him again.

Steve sends Carla a surprised look—had she really just helped him after screaming at him? After being so pissed?—but the girl doesn't even give him time to say anything more before shoving him towards Tommy. "Go!"

The officer who'd been hit in the nose starts chasing after the runaway teens, sending the Wheeler girl a glare for letting the teens get away.  

She hears the other officer yelling and whips her head over towards their vehicle to see Jonathan pressed against it, hands cuffed together.

Nancy lets out a shaky breath, hand over her mouth to stop from getting emotional.  Carla walks over to her and hugs the girl, letting all anger and jealousy slip away for the moment.

The two girls block out the chaos as they stay in each other's embrace.

maras misc

carla punching steve first like the badass she is has to be one of my favorite choices in this book.  i can't hold a punch but that kid had it coming being so fr. 

this chapter was okay! not my favorite to re-write but it's not terrible.  i actually gave carla some personality during the fight instead of her just kind of making like one comment at steve and then just like screaming for jonathan to chill.

but, on a brighter note, we should be getting the whole gang together within a few chapters!! i love writing the big group fight scenes or the when group reunites after seven/eight episodes of fighting the same force in different ways.  

hope you enjoyed! see you back with chapter thirteen!!