GLORY DAYS ｡STEVE HARRINGTON

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT ; ALEXEI

He didn't say anything else. Stella felt a cold numbness wash over her, and she collapsed beside him, knowing that the life inside him had soaked through his white shirt and into the damp soil of the carnival grounds. 

She couldn't bring herself to look at her own wound, so instead she sat on the grass, sobbing until she felt the contents of her lunch make its way out of her mouth. She vomited until her throat was raw and her nose stung, her eyes now far too sore to even open. She coughed and spat and tried to ignore the fact that the world around her was spinning. Her hands were stained scarlet red, which only made her stomach churn more. 

"Stella!" Joyce cried out, but it was mere noise in her ears. The teenager retched, her fingers gripping the green grass like it was an anchor of some kind. "Alexei, oh my God!"

Stella curled up on the ground, her mind reeling. 

"I just left for a minute, to get a corn dog," Murray sniffled, reaching out for Stella, cradling her head. "A stupid corn dog."

"Oh, God," Joyce whimpered, covering her mouth with her hand. She looked back at Stella, and choked up a little, watching as Murray removed his belt to tie around her shoulder as a tourniquet. "Is she gonna be okay? She's not gonna, she's not..."

"Go find a first aid kit; there oughta be one in this place," Murray instructed, trying to lift Stella to her feet. She was practically dead weight, pale and heavy with only a shrivel of life left in her. He looked at her shoulder and sighed a breath of relief when he noticed that there was an exit wound on her back. "I think it's only a flesh wound, but she's far too traumatised right now. She'll be okay if we can stitch her up, but we gotta be careful that she doesn't go into shock."

Stella groaned as she was forced to stand, and she clutched Murray like her life depended on it (well, it sort of did). "We can't leave him."

"Stella, we have to," Murray muttered, his own voice thick with anguish. "I can't...we don't have time, we have to get to Starcourt and stop all this shit from happening. We'll come back for him, I promise."

"Alexei," Stella wept, looking back to see the scientist's lifeless body one last time. "I'm sorry."

★☆

Joyce Byers was glad she wasn't the one in the backseat with Stella Collins. Instead, she had her foot to the floor and her eyes on the Fun House, where Hopper said he'd be. She tried her best to block out Stella's cries of pain as Murray's careful hands stitched her up with a needle and thread they'd swiped from the first aid tent on the way out. 

To Joyce, Stella was a ray of light in a dark storm. They had worked together at the general store for a year or so until the teenager left, yet Joyce had never truly considered how important she was. She had taken care of Will when there was no one home; she'd been a friend and an influence to her young son. She was always kind and considerate, and never allowed herself to be beaten. She'd gotten through so much; it was devastating to hear about what happened to young Annabelle Connelly, but she'd made it through that and had grown because of it. 

"Joyce!" Hopper yelled, diving into the passenger seat once he saw the car pull up to the carnival ride. "Drive! Go!"

Murray swore as the vehicle jerked, turning his head to glare at the other two adults. "Careful!"

Hopper looked back and his eyes widened at the sight of Stella Collins covered in blood, sweat and tears. "Shit. What happened? Where's Alexei?"

No one said anything. Stella shakily inhaled. 

"Okay, you're all done, kid," Murray assured her, breaking the string and opening a thick bandage to wrap around her shoulder. He then handed her one of the bottles of water he had nicked from the fair, opening it and allowing her to drink. The loss of blood (as well as her lunch) meant she was absolutely parched, though he made sure she didn't drown herself in the refreshing substance. "Try not to move too much."

Stella nodded and grimaced as she pushed herself up. Her arm felt like jelly and the sharp, burning sensations were still there, but the knowledge that she was likely going to survive had calmed her beating heart down a little bit. She forced herself to stare up at the sky and make sense of everything that had just happened. 

She knew. She knew that everything was going to end up like this. It was a pattern. Everything seemed okay for the briefest of moments, only for it all to collapse and cut her deeper than any physical sword ever could. 

Alexei was gone. A man who she had come to deeply care for like a brother, a best friend, was dead. She should have objected to leaving the car and going to the carnival. She should've kept a closer eye out for threats. She hadn't been paying attention, and now she had a hole in her shoulder and another dead person she cared about. 

"Murray, hey! Translate!" Hopper shoved a talkie into Murray's face hurriedly, noticing that someone was muttering into it.

Murray sighed softly and took the device, holding it up to his ear to decode the foreign language. "We've found the children. They are still in the mall, lower level. Block all the entrances to the food court."

"Shit," Stella swore, knowing exactly what children the Russians were talking about. "Shit, shit."

 The radio then went silent, and Murray frowned, still listening intensely. 

"Nothing?" Joyce asked after a moment, turning the wheel violently as they exited the fairgrounds. Murray shook his head. 

"Food court? You sure they said food court?" Hopper inquired, leaning over the back of the seat. 

"I'm sorry, have my translation skills been letting you down?" Murray shot back sarcastically. 

"Jesus Christ, will you guys grow up?" Stella snapped irritably, causing the two men to sigh and settle down. 

"We don't know it's your kids," Murray tried to assure the Chief, and Joyce scoffed.

"Yes, we do."

★☆

one more episode left holy shit