teenage tragedy (Max Mayfield)

3. sixteen

"Cammie, wake the fuck up!" Mike shouted.

He shook the unconscious girl awake, looking over his shoulder at where Max was slowly getting to her feet.

Cammie jerked awake, her head spinning. She groaned and wobbled to her feet with Mike's help, blinking rapidly to clear her blurry vision.

"El's gone," Mike said, helping Max to her feet, too.

"Billy," Cammie mouthed.

They nodded and ran out of the tunnels, back towards the main area of the mall to try and find Eleven. As they ran, Max grabbed Cammie's hand. Cammie squeezed it three times, using her powers to open a door that would lead them through a store and into the main area of the mall.

The three of them ran through, but none of them expected what they were about to see. Eleven was sprawled on the floor, Billy stood to the side of her with a sick grin on his face. The Mind Flayer was in the center of the mall, a tentacle outstretched and aiming towards Eleven.

Cammie's eyes rolled back in her head and she felt as if ice had been dumped onto her. Her eyes turned pure white and her body moved unnaturally towards Eleven, arms outstretching.

Cammie could only watch this happening from inside her mind. She wasn't in control anymore. Something had taken over, had almost possessed her, and all she could feel was pain ripping through her body.

Her arms burnt painfully and she watched as her arms started turning black, elongating and stretching out to form tentacles. Three split from each arm, the razor blade teeth on the underside glinting in the neon lights illuminating the mall.

The tentacles were launched at the Mind Flayer and it jumped back. Billy moved in front of Eleven and Cammie's feet shuffled forward, the tentacles moving towards the Mind Flayer again.

"Cammie!" Steve screamed from somewhere, voice raw.

Cammie couldn't fight the thing controlling her to shout back.

"Stay calm," Callum's voice echoed in her mind. "It's just me. I'm so sorry, T, but I have to do this or you will all die," Callum whispered.

Cammie dodged a tentacle the Mind Flayer sent at her head. When she straightened up, she felt her entire body freeze. Not even Callum could focus with what they were seeing.

Several of the Mind Floater's limbs were attached to Billy's body, sucking the blood and his soul out of him with the razor sharp teeth cutting his skin.

"Billy!" Max screamed.

Cammie's body lurched forward as she teleported to the other side of the mall. Her tentacles shot out and grabbed the ones the Mind Flayer was standing on, yanking them out from under it. The Mind Flayer clattered to the floor and Cammie teleported in front of Billy, Max dragging his body away from the Mind Flayer.

Max stared down at her dying brother, tears streaming down her cheeks as she begged him to hold on. Cammie's body turned back to the monster, the tentacles slowly retracting back into her body.

Her body, however, slowly lifted off the floor. A white glow appeared over her chest, spreading across her entire body as she flew higher and higher until she was level with the monster.

The air around them seemed to turn into something similar to a tornado, just a lesser version. Cammie could hear people screaming for her, but she wasn't in control anymore. Callum had possessed her and she was going to fucking kill him when he stopped.

Cammie stared at the monster, eyes glowing white, and her arms shot out to the side. The white glow that had engulfed her moved towards the Mind Flayer, hitting it in the chest.

The entire mall went white, the other teenagers recoiling at the blinding light. The Mind Flayer screeched as it was burnt into ash by whatever Cammie had just done to it.

Cammie's eyes rolled back in her head and she levitated down to the floor, head hitting the floor with a dull thud. The light disappeared slowly, the others starting to look around.

Cammie's eyes slowly turned back to green and she blinked a few times, processing the waves of pain that seemed to be desperate to knock her out now she was back in control of her own body. Her ears were ringing and everything sounded muffled.

Cammie hears footsteps and Steve's face came into view, Will right behind him. They helped her sit up and the ringing slowly disappeared. She had no idea when Steve got here, but she assumes Scoops Troops had returned when they'd heard the bad radio call.

Cammie's stomach flipped when she heard Max sobbing, cradling Billy's dead body to her chest.

Cammie slowly shuffled over and Max let go of Billy, turning and pulling Cammie into a tight hug. She buried her face in Cammie's chest, Cammie burying hers in Max's neck, and continued to cry.

Cammie couldn't say anything. She didn't know what to say and she wouldn't even be able to physically say the words. So, she kisses Max's forehead and let her girlfriend cry over her dead brother while they waited for help to arrive.

Cammie sat in the back of an ambulance beside Eleven. Steve was leaning against the door watching them and Max was sat on the floor, leaning against Cammie's legs. Cammie's hands were stroking her hair while they waited for Joyce, Hopper, Murray, Erica and Dustin to get back.

They heard the first car engine as a car pulled into the lot. Cammie and Eleven jumped up. Joyce got out, rushing to Will.

They watched the car but only Murray got out. They frowned and looked at Joyce. She spotted their looks and just by the look on her face, they knew what had happened.

Eleven just stood there in shock. Her face fell and she started sobbing. Steve wrapped an arm around her side, pressing a kiss to the uninjured side of her head.

Cammie slowly sat down on the floor beside Max. Max wrapped an arm around Cammie's shoulders, letting Cammie cry into her this time.

"It's okay," Max whispered. "It has to be. It has to be okay," Max whispered.

Cammie didn't know how anything could be okay. They'd lost Billy, they'd lost Hopper, they'd all seen so much and witnessed such horrors.

Not to mention the fact that Cammie had noticed how similar the tentacles she could create from her body were to that of the Mind Flayer. Was she really the monster Dr. Brenner had tried to make her?

Cammie didn't know and she knew the only person who would possibly give her an answer was Callum. But he'd possessed her and used the two powers she'd never wanted anyone to see her use. And Billy had still died, even with his efforts. It was a shitty exchange and Cammie was pissed.

But, right now, she had to focus on Max. She had just lost her brother. Cammie could focus on her problems when Max was okay.

It wasn't like they'd be disappearing any time soon, after all. It seemed like Cammie was actually cursed, and she couldn't help but think that maybe she and Max would have the curse of Romeo and Juliet upon their shoulders, too.