AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (BENEATH HIS FEET) | STRANGER THINGS ✓

CHAPTER THIRTEEN | LIFE OR DEATH

Everyone piled into the car once more and zipped right out of the quick mart parking lot.

     "You brought the cereal with you?" Mike asked, baffled as he took notice that Amanda had indeed hauled the box of cereal under her arm and had taken it with her.

Amanda nodded. "If we were gonna be breaking and entering, might as well have left with something."

Mike looked at her, confused. "Weren't you the one going on about breaking and entering being illegal?"

"Opinions change. And besides, it was life or death, every man for himself, you gotta do what you gotta do to survive, that type of thing."

     Mike opened his mouth to respond and then close it, and Will tried his best to stifle his laugh. Amanda then opened the bag and held it out to Mike. "Want some?"

     Mike shook his head and Amanda shrugged, taking her bag back, as well. She held it out to Will, who happily took a handful of his own.

     "What's going on between you two?" Mike asked, looking between the two of them. "We've decided to build an alliance," Amanda answered simply. Will feigned offense. "I thought we were friends!"

     "Friends can be allies, you know?"

     "That doesn't answer my question," Mike brought the conversation back around before it could turn into something else entirely. "It does, actually," Amanda responded, "you asked what was going on, and I told you that we've decided to build an alliance and that we have become friends."

     Mike looked at them blankly and then there was silence. "So," Amanda spoke up after a while, "who was on the radio that got you screaming about a code red?"

     "Oh," answered Mike, "that was Dustin. He said was calling from the theater in Starcourt Mall. Something about the Russians infiltrating from the underground."

     "We did hear the music in the message coming from the horse ride that one time so it makes sense the Russians were right under our nose. Which is kinda scary if you really think about it," Amanda recalled. "So not only are we fighting the Mind Flayer, — "

     "But we're fighting Russians, too," Will finished her sentence. There was another silence that fell upon them as Nancy sped the station wagon down the street.

When Amanda was in school, everyone around her thought it strange how she believed that if you were to put a handful of Lucky Charms in your pocket, it'd bring you good luck. However, she didn't have any Lucky Charms on her. She just had her Smurf Berry Crunch, which she thought was just enough luck. So she put a handful into the left pocket of her overalls and hoped for the best.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'

When Nancy's car came to a screeching halt, Amanda had to bite her lip to keep from screaming because she thought the car was going to tip over.