Feelings, Max Mayfield ¹ ✓

xxxi. way down we go

"Keep her talking," Jonathan informed them. "Keep her awake, okay?"

He sprinted off to find supplies, searching through all the different food places in the food court they were currently in. Eleven's wound was continuing to ooze out blood onto the linoleum. Her moans of pain had stopped as she was starting to drift in and out of consciousness. Mike started to shake her, "Hey, hey hey. Stay awake, awake." He turned to Dustin and Steve. "Let's get her on this side, on this side."

"Uh... you know, it's — it's not actually that bad. There was a..." Robin started rambling as Mike, Dustin, Steve, and Nancy attempted to move Eleven to a different angle. "The goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg, and the whole bone came out of her knee, six inches or something, it was insane!"

The whole group stared at her, all of them confused as to what that story was doing to make the situation better in any way, shape, or form. Steve pursed his lips, "Robin."

"Yeah?"

He shook his head, "You're not helping."

Robin sighed, "I'm sorry."

Jonathan sprinted back to them, his shoes pounding on the hard linoleum before he kneeled beside Eleven. He had a large knife, gloves, and a wooden spoon in his hand, "Alright, El, this is gonna hurt like hell, okay?" Eleven nodded as he put on the gloves. "Need you to stay real still." He then handed her the wooden spoon. "Here, you're gonna want to bite down on this, okay?"

Mike put the spoon in Eleven's mouth. Liz was starting to stress out but hoping and praying that Eleven would be okay. Liz stood beside Max who looked just as worried. The two girls shared a look before grabbing each other's hand and squeezing tight, both praying Eleven would be fine. Jonathan moved the knife closer to Eleven's shin, hesitating for a moment before starting to slice into her leg. Eleven started to scream the second the knife cut into her skin. The entire group, even Jonathan, looked disgusted by the sight in front of them. Jonathan threw the knife down before closing his eyes and reaching into Eleven's wound, causing her to scream even more. Jonathan dug through the wound, the squelching noises making Liz feel nauseous.

"Jonathan!" Nancy called out, not knowing what he was trying to do.

"Stop talking!" Jonathan yelled back before starting to dig deeper into the wound. He was trying to grab whatever was in there but he couldn't get a good grip on it. "Goddamn it!"

Eleven shook her head, the spoon falling out of her mouth. "No! Stop it! Stop!"

Nancy had to push Jonathan back to get him to stop. Eleven sat up, tears falling down her face as she whispered in pain, "I can do it. I can do it."

Eleven sat up, Mike and Dustin helping her. She took a deep breath before holding out her hand over her wound and squeezing her fingers. The movement caused more movement to occur in her leg as she started to try to get the creature out. Eleven squealed in pain as the creature moved and fought back inside her leg. She cried out and screamed as the tiny, slimy creature that resembled a slug slowly came out of her leg. She screamed so hard that the glass window behind them shattered and landed among the group. Steve shielded Liz and Max from the glass as it fell on them. Eleven then threw the creature across the room before it was stepped on by Hopper.

The entire group looked across the room, seeing Hopper, Joyce, and another man that Liz didn't recognize. Liz felt herself sighing in relief as it was no longer just the kids and the teens. She also knew that Hopper and Joyce would most likely have information that would help them. Things were going to start coming together and that's exactly what happened as the group relocated to the center of the mall, right at the fountain the food court. They had started explaining what was going on, Hopper mainly wanting to know about the Mind Flayer.