EAT OR BE EATEN ✮ STEVE HARRINGTON

The Battle at Starcourt Mall.

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"El!" I yelled, running to them with Dustin.

Once I reached her, I shoved Mike off of her and hugged her as tightly as I could. The pain all over my body didn't even bother me because I was holding my sister again.

"What happened?" El asks, looking me up and down.

"It's a long story." I shrug, looking down at her and her matching bruises. "What happened with you? Are you okay?"

Her face scrunches in pain. To the left, Steve and Dustin caught Robin up to speed about how El and I are related and how she has powers.

"Who's El?" Robin asked, still confused.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Nancy asked her.

"I'm Robin. Jo's friend and I work with Steve."

"She helped crack the top secret code." Dustin smiles.

"Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians." I answered.

"Russians? What Russians?" Jonathan asked me. "What happened to your neck?"

El's hand reaches up to the lavender bruises spread across my neck, catching everyone's attention. Her finger traced along the side and up my throat.

"The Russians that kidnapped us." I said, wiping my blood off from under my nose, which had to be broken at this point.

"Those were Russians?" Max looked at me like I was insane.

"Some of them." Erica answered.

"What are you guys talking about?" Lucas said.

"Didn't you guys hear the code red?" Dustin yelled.

"We couldn't understand you!" Mike yelled back.

"Damn, low battery!" He shouted. "Well, everything worked out, didn't it?"

"Worked out? We almost died!" Steve yelled.

"Yeah, but we didn't, did we?"

All of the arguing continued until suddenly, El collapsed in Mikes arms, pulling both of them onto the ground. I panicked asking all of them what was going on when Jonathan and Nancy started rolling up her pant leg as she groaned in pain. There was a huge bruised bulge in her leg. Whatever happened it was, was getting worse.

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"Someone needs to get that thing out of her leg!" One of the kids yells.

Jonathan and I made eye contact then the two of us ran off behind the counters. I found a knife and handed it to him, there was no way I would be able to do it. He heated it up on the stove and I ran back to the gang.

Robin was rambling about some girl from her soccer team when I returned and held Elevens hand, preparing for her to break mine. They had moved El over and Jonathan came back seconds later.

"El, this is going to hurt like hell." He said then sliced the knife through her shin but nothing came out.

She groaned then sat up and used her powers to remove what was inside of her leg. The glass wall from the store behind us shattered from her screams. The creature that flew out, now crawled across the floor until a familiar boot crushed it. We all looked up and saw Dad and Joyce.

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

Nancy held my hair up while Joyce inspected the burgundy marks around my neck and collar bones. Dad has barely looked at me. One quick glance at the bruising and my bloody face only for him to avoid me.