✓ Adventures In Babysitting / Steve Harrington ¹

𝙭𝙭𝙞𝙫. glory & gore

The girl continues to scream, unfazed by the shattering of the glass behind her.  With one final, feral screech, the thing inside of her leg is yanked out of the wound.  It flails in the air as El holds out a hand, still screaming, still bleeding as blood flows out of her nose and drips onto her shirt.  Finally, she thrusts her hand out and sends it flying several feet away where it lands with a pathetic bounce on the tiles.  It chitters and attempts to scurry away, leaving a trail of blood behind it, but before it can get far, a black boot slams down on top of it splattering blood and guts across the ground.

Abby's gaze travels up from the boot and rests on Jim Hopper.  He looks worse for wear with a gash above his left eyebrow, and a bruise forming beneath his right eye.  There's a tiredness that rests in his eyes, accentuated by the crease in his eyebrows as he gazes at the motley crew of teenagers.  Flaking him are Joyce, whose hair is touseled and her shirt wrinkled, but otherwise in much better condition than Hopper and Murray Bauman, the town conspiracy theorist who had helped to shut down Hawkins Lab, dressed in a white tank top and blue shorts.

Abby allows a smile to spread across her face. 

✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*

Abby and Isla sit side by side on the rim of the fountain. The water is still, the only peaceful thing amidst the insanity that the world has fallen into. Isla leans her head on Abby's shoulder while Abby snakes an arm around her friend's shoulders and pulls her a little bit closer. Her eyes travel to Steve and Alex who sit on the bench across from them with along with Joyce and Hopper who supports El who sips from a soda cup and then to the rest around them. Robin sits on the space next to them, her knees are drawn to her chest and she rests her chin on her folded elbows, Will and Lucas occupy the space next to hers, and Erica leans against one of the small pillars. Dustin, Jonathan, Nancy, and Mike all stand in a line nearby in various positions.

The past few days have taken a toll on everyone. Arms hang limply, eyes are dull, everything seems so dull, so hopeless. There are no interruptions as each group relays the trials and tribulations they had suffered; from the Scoops Ahoy group cracking the Russian code to the death of the Russian scientist that Joyce's group had kidnapped.

Abby bounces her knee in anticipation as horrid thoughts rush through her head.  Her parents could easily be a part of the Mind Flayer's army.  For all she knows, the Mind Flayer had already planted its seed in them during her absence, and it only grows inside of them the longer that she spends away from them.  But she knows that her friends need her here too.  In order to uproot the seeds, they have to first defeat the Mind Flayer.

"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins," Mike explains, "to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world."

"And it almost did," Nancy adds. "That was just one tiny piece of it."

"How big is this thing?" Hopper questions.

"It's big," Jonathan answers. "Thirty feet, at least."

"Yeah," Lucas agrees. He sends an apologetic glance to Hopper as he adds, "It sorta destroyed your cabin." Hopper lets out a sigh and slouches. Lucas winces and whispers, "Sorry."

"Hey, it's looking a little crushed, but I'm sure that it's nothing that we can't fix," Isla assures the chief, though it's clear that all hope to restore Hopper's cabin is null and void.

"Okay, so, just to be clear ... this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic weapon?" Steve asks.

"Yes," Nancy nods.

"But instead of, like, instead of screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon with melted people."

"Yes. Exactly."