Partners in Crime - Max Mayfield

The Bite of 85

"He said..he was building something." El sits on the couch next to Will, Max, and Chris while Lucas paces behind them. "That it was all for me." "Building something..is he talking about the flayed?" Max asks and Chris nods "Most likely, a part of him is inside every one of them so he has some plan for them." "Like building an army, like we thought." Lucas says and Mike nods "Yeah but he's not building an army to spread." "He's building it to stop Eleven." Will inputs "Last year, El closed the gate on him. I have a feeling that really pissed him off." "Like, royally." Lucas adds "And the Mind Flayer now knows that she's the only thing that can stop him." "Because if what El said is true," Chris sits up "Then he still thinks I died." "Either way, if you're both out of the way." Mike leads and Lucas nods "Game Over." "He..also said he was going to kill all of you." The room goes silent for a moment "Yeah, well, that's nice." Max snarks and Chris snickers softly.

Nancy moves toward the windows of the cabin as she hears the faintest sound of a screech. Nancy shudders as the screech goes again. "Do you guys hear that?" The group focuses on her and Jonathan looks towards the window. "It's just the fireworks." Nancy shudders once more before turning towards El. "Billy..when he told you this, it was here, in this room?" El silently nods and a thudding noise, that grows louder and louder can be heard. Out of the corner of Chris' eye he notice Will's hand slowly going towards his neck. "He knows we're here." Will says and the group quickly move outside. 

Over the cover of the fireworks, the creature moves closer and closer to them, throwing trees to the side before as it gets closer, screeching its arrival as El looks at it with fear. 

The group quickly get to work preparing for the attack. Nancy grabs a shotgun from the shed, while Jonathan grabs an axe from a nearby tree stump. The two older teens rush back inside the house as El and Mike board up the windows. "Yeah that's good." Mike tells her and the two step back while Max and Chris board up another window along with Will and Lucas. Nancy and Jonathan keep the couch against the door before grabbing their weapons once more. "Get away from the windows." Nancy orders and the group stand in the middle, forming a circle. The room is entirely silent for a few moments before the rubbling reaches the house. The electricity begins to freak out and the group watches every side of the house with bated breath. "It's..close." Will mutters as it gets closer and closer.

Then, it stops

The only sound coming from the fireworks being shot at the celebration. "Where did it go?" Max asks but no one answers, swiveling their heads to try and see where it might attack from. Suddenly, a large tentacle bursts through the side of the house with a large shriek as the group gasps and backs away from the tentacle. The tentacle turns towards El who watches it in horror before Jonathan chops at it with the axe. The creature shrieks at the attack and Jonathan swings again, landing another blow. He goes for a third strike but the tentacle swings back and slams into his chest, sending the teen flying and crashing into the wall; dropping his weapon as he does. The tentacle screeches at him and it charges at him, being interrupted by a blast of Nancy's shotgun. The tentacle shrieks in pain for a moment before twitching and switching targets towards her. She shoots two more shots before the gun gets jammed. The tentacle screeches at her and Nancy moves back against the wall. The tentacle charges forward toward her face and she closes her eyes, accepting her fate.

Yet, the tentacle is stopped, a mere two inches from her face and slowly pulls back.

El stands near the tentacle, her hand outstretched, as she pulls the tentacle further and further from Nancy. The tentacle squirms, screeches, and screams but that doesn't stop El from decapitating it. The tentacle squirms and twitches, removing itself from the house back where it came in from. "Holy shit." Max lets out a gasp but as soon as those words leave her mouth, another tentacle breaks through the house, aiming for El. She manages to stop the tentacle from getting closer only for another one to enter, forcing her to use both hands in different directions. The two tentacles shriek and bark at her but El holds strong before letting out a yell, decapitating both tentacles with a swing of her arms. El pants from exhaustion as the tentacles exit the house once more. Once again, another tentacle join the attack, smashing through the roof and latching onto El's leg. The creature pulls El towards it, making El scream in pain as she dragged on the floor and then pulled into the air. Mike grabs El's arm and the others join him while Nancy reloads her shotgun. "Nancy!" Nancy looks over to Chris "When I tell you to, shoot it!" Nancy nods and Chris runs past the others, jumping up and grabbing the tentacle, quickly decaying the tentacle. "Now!" Chris yells and Nancy shoots the tentacle just before the spreading decay can reach El's ankle. The monster roars in pain however the decay gets overlapped with the gooey flesh of the flayed.