The Long Game━ (l. sinclair)

i plunge to my death

Together, they pushed with the poles. Instead of getting the car a couple inches, the car shifted all the way onto its side.

The group of eight took a break, all breathing and panting together.

"All right great," said Jonathan, hopping up onto the counter with everyone else. "Now, all the way. Ready?"

Everyone placed the ends of the poles back onto the car.

"Three, two, one... Push!"

They shoved the circular ends of the poles against the car once more. It didn't take long for the car to turn over completely, proving Sam's theory to be correct.

"Told you," Sam panted. "Physics."

Lucas hopped off the countertop, and held out a hand for Sam. She took it gratefully, and he helped her jump down. Her ankle screamed in pain at the bursting pressure, but Sam only let herself give out a quiet strain.

Corey got down and walked over to the hood of the car. He tried opening it with the help of Nancy and Jonathan, but the dented metal didn't budge.

"How do we get it open?" Nancy asked.

"Uh," Corey nodded towards the steering wheel, hands still on the hood, "there should be a latch. Check under the wheel."

Nancy walked swiftly over to the wheel, searching.

"You see it?" questioned Jonathan, still trying to force the hood open with Corey.

"I don't know. Hold on."

Sam watched the trio try and get the hood of the car open with Mike. Max was in between them, but she wasn't staring at the car. Her attention was looking elsewhere.

"What's she doing?"

At the sound of Max's voice, Sam and Mike turned around to figure out what Max was so puzzled by. They saw, over in the distance, that El was digging through a trash can desperately. She was throwing out handfuls of trash, seemingly in search of something.

Sam, Max, and Mike shared confused eye contact.

"Come on," said Mike, wanting to figure out the answer to Max's question.

The three of them traveled over to where El was, Max making them go slow because of the pain in Sam's ankle. She was getting worse at hiding it the more that the aching grew. If anyone paid attention to Sam, they would note the slight limping of her left leg. Max was paying attention of course, so she knew.

They saw that El had placed an empty Coke can on top of the trash can. Her head was lowered, fingers curled over the rim of the bin tightly, and her entire body was shaking.

"El," Sam started, watching as El's entire body deflated in defeat. "You okay?"

El just looked back at the trio, definitely not okay.

Over by the car, Corey and Jonathan finally popped the hood open. This hood, after being so damaged by El, didn't stay up on its own. Jonathan held up the dented, red metal whilst Corey searched for the ignition cable.

"Do you see it?" Nancy asked, having left the steering wheel.

"I don't know," Corey shook his head. "It should be right here." He leaned in closer, squinting like he was Sam, trying to find it. Corey muttered, "Distributor... Distributor..."

Will had been watching them the whole time, as he hadn't gone with Sam, Max, and Mike to check on El. Suddenly, a chill went up the boy's spine. He put a hand to the back of his neck. There was a thudding noise in the distance.