"We can't stay here!" Alex shouted as they crouched down behind a stall, "Eleven's too weak and i think if i try and use my powers I'll pass out!"
"Hold on, I have an idea," Mike told the gang, grabbing his walkie, "Scoops Troop, do you copy? Scoops troop do you copy? Scoops troop, I repeat, do you copy? We're trapped in the mall and in need of emergency transportation."
Alex toned him out and leant against Max, lifting her bandage slightly and then cringing at the wound. Blood was still seeping out of the wound and it was deep, more so than she originally thought. And it was fucking painful.
She followed Max's glance as she watched Nancy lift a gun off the side.
"You're gonna kill him aren't you?" Max asks, her voice almost breaking as Nancy checked the bullets.
"This is just a precaution, okay?" Nancy reassures her with a sad smile.
"And not just against Billy," Will adds, "If he knows we're here, so does the mind flayer."
Nancy looked over to the car El threw at the Russians with a hint of an idea. "No chance that'll drive right?"
Johnathan and Atlas jumped up with an idea, "You don't need it to drive," Johnathan says.
"We just need the ignition cable," Atlas finishes.
~~
They were all stood behind the car, trying to push it over but ultimately failing, the car was way too heavy for them to move. Eleven finally spoke up.
"Let me try," she says to them, making Mike attempt to protest, "I can do it."
Everyone nodded and moved out of the way of the car as she attempted to turn it with her mind.
But nothing happened.
~~
An additional five minutes later and Mike had explained something about physics and how a larger surface area pressing against the car would make the car easier to move. Now, everyone was stood, holding a stool from the Pizza place, they managed to get it to turn onto it's side and them completely right side up. Alex didn't offer much, only having one arm able to use but she still had a stool and pushed with one hand, helping a little.
"Told you, physics," Mike says to them smirking, watching as they tossed the stools to the side.
The eldest three rushed around the car, Atlas getting inside so he could pop the hood. Alex stood with Mike and Max, they were looking at El who was staring intently at a can of New Coke.
"Max?" Alex whispered, looking up at the ceiling, Mike and Max shared a look before following the girl's gaze. The glass roof was cracking, The mind flayer had arrived.
"Nancy!" Mike shouts to his sister, but the older girl has no time to react before the ceiling caved in and eventually shattered, glass shards flying in every direction.
Max grabs Alex's hand and pulls her down quickly so they were crouched behind a counter with Mike and El. All four were breathing heavily and in some state of shock.
Alex was breathing quickly, trying to stop herself from having a panic in the mall. She drew her knees to her chest and lead her head on Max's chest, the ginger girl wrapping her arms around her.
Alex squeezed her eyes shut tighter as the thing roared, she couldn't help but feel terrified, still terrified of what that thing did to her, what it made her do. "Oh my god," she muttered, repeatedly as it roared again, she could feel it getting closer to them as she tensed against Max.
Alex opened her eyes as Mike carefully got up and looked over the stand, observing the monsters position and ducking back down to them. "It's turned away," He whispered to the three, "if we go up the stairs now, we'll make it."
"No way," Max disagrees, looking at the girls on either side of them, "not with El's leg and Alex's stomach, we won't make it!"
"I'm fine, Adrenalines kicked in, barely feel a thing!" Alex exclaimed, wanting to take the opportunity and get the fuck away from that thing. What she told Mike was a total lie, the pain in her stomach was almost unbearable.
"There's another way out," El said in a pained whisper, turning the teens attention over to her, "through the gap."
Mike checked the mind flayer again, it was still facing away from them, he ducked back down and nodded. "Okay," He helped El to stand. "Now!"
The four teens sprinted across the mall floor and over to the gap, making it through the doorway silently until El knocked against a metal stand, making it fall and create a huge noise.
"Fuck," Alex whispered, pulling the other three into a corner beside the display area. The four leaned against the wall as the Mind Flayer's tentacle broke through the store screeching.
They were truly and royally fucked.
They listened in silence as the thing screeched and wailed, all holding in a gasp as a mannequin wearing the same clothes as Eleven was flung in front of them. The four looked at it in shock, looking at each other in a panic.
"Move," Max whispered to them, barely loud enough to hear as they shuffled around the display and over to the cashpoint, making sure the creature was facing away as they moved. The four ducked down as the Mind flayer snapped a tentacle where they had previously been hidden.
They all froze in fear and held their breaths. Hoping the creature would think they'd left.
But then they noticed the claw come around the corner, right beside Mike's head. The boy sat frozen in fright as El glared at it and Max winced, turning the other way. Alex decided to just Fuck everything as she looked at the thing and stopped a few feet away from them, focusing her attention there as she twisted her hand, making that part erupt in flames.
The thing retracted it's claw immediately, screeching wildly as it burned.
Alex felt lightheaded as she leaned against Max for support.
"lets go," Mike says, with the creature distracted. The other three nodded and followed him, El with Mike helping her along and Max was essentially keeping Alex from passing out.
They managed to escape unnoticed, the mind flayer seemed to have occupied itself else where as the four squeezed into the small elevator, Mike repeatedly pressing the button until it shut.
Which it refused to do.
A door slams from down the hall and Max walked out of the elevator, Alex just a few steps behind.
"Billy." Max said, noticing her brother, in complete control of the mind flayer, "Billy, you don't have to do this," Mike and El come out of the elevator, not wanting to accidentally leave their friends if it were to shut.
Alex stepped protectively in front of Max, a sudden rush of adrenaline kicking in as she was over protective. "I'm not letting you get to her," Alex says, glaring at the boy.
Billy smirked as he stepped forward, wanting the fight.
Alex stepped forward with equal ferocity, her good hand balled into a fist as she raised an eyebrow, distracting him as she punched his gut as hard as she could muster. It must have been somewhat effective as Billy groaned before swinging his fist at the girls face. Alex didn't have time to block so it hit her, right in the jaw that he had broken a couple days prior.
Alex bodied it as best she could and faced him again, stepping aside as he stepped forward for a hit, simultaneously, Alex elbowed him with her cast, shaking of the pain as it scraped Billy's face, making him wince.
He glared at her as he propelled forward, sweeping her legs out from underneath her as she stepped forward. Alex let out a short cry as she fell but quickly rolled out the way of his foot, aimed at her face.
Alex got back up to her feet quickly, Billy was facing away as he approached El so she grabbed his hair, yanking him backwards. Billy wasn't expecting the force so he stumbled backwards, leaving Alex enough time to catch his chin with her fist. Putting even more distance in between him and her friends.
He growled at her in fury, all sense of Humanity lost behind those blacked out eyes. He wasted no time getting her back. Throwing his whole body weight onto her, tackling her to the ground making Alex shout in pain and fury.
Billy straddled her with his knees and leant down, smiling sadistically as she attempted to free herself. He repeatedly smashed his fists across her face, making the girl bleed even more, eventually turning into darkness. She faintly heard Max cry out before Billy hit her one last time, making her see red.
~~
Alex wakes up to a pounding in her head. God it felt like her head would explode. Alex lifted her fingers to her nose, it was swelling again and blood was dripping from it.
"Alex?" Max says from behind her, Alex blinks a few times to focus on her voice, "Alex!"
Alex see's the ginger crouch in front of her, brushing hair off her face. Alex winced at the touch, forcing a smile at Max as she sat up, "Max," she said, using the girl's hand to stand up.
Max rushed over to Mike and shook up, "Mike," he didn't move, so she shook him harder, "Mike, wake up."
Alex groans and leans against the wall for support. She raised a hand to her eye and winced the the touch, pulling her hands down and looking at the red dripping from them, "Fuck," she muttered.
Mike had woken up properly now and his eyes were darting around the corridor as he noticed something, "Where's El?"
The three look at each other in panic and tear down the hall, ignoring any pain they were in and retracing their steps back into the main portion of the mall.
Mike sprinted ahead and left Max and Alex behind to catch up, the three pausing in the entrance to the store they had been previously hidden in. The mind flayer was in full form, the kids were on the balcony above and Lucas was hurling his fireworks at it.
Alex smirked and turned to Max, "Told you the fireworks would help,"
Max hit her arm lightly, muttering that it wasn't the time for jokes. Alex sighed and turned her attention back to the scene, her attempt at lightening it up was lost.
At the foot of the monster, Billy was towering over El, pinning the young girl down as she ran out of defences. Alex had never seen El looking so lost, without her powers and on her own, seeming like death was imminent.
Billy slowly stands up, El scrambled backwards, wanting to escape whatever he was planning. Mike had gone pale and shaky; Alex grabbed his hand in reassurance and let him squeeze it as tight as he wants.
The mind flayer growled, it was deep and ominous, making the mall shake ever so slightly. It's teeth were gruesome, rows of jagged shards barely resembling teeth and every time it opened more, a row popped in the middle of the previous rows.
The mind flayer flings it tentacle at El, the girl squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the impact but it never came.
Billy had stepped in front of her, holding his hand out so the mouths on the tentacles latched onto him instead.
Billy roared as the tried to fight the thing off his limbs, falling to his knees as blood began to fall from him. The monster used another arm and shot it through his stomach, Billy doubled over, screaming as they kept hitting him, latching onto his sides until his screams stopped and Blood began to cover him.
"Billy!" Max screamed, her voice breaking as she watched the sight. Alex let go of Mike and held her girlfriend in a hug, stopping her from running out in front of the mind flayer.
The Mind flayer began to convulse and squirm while wailing until it eventually fell still and collapsed in on itself. Dead. They closed the gate.
Mike instantly rushes to El's side and holds her, whispering reassurances in her ear. Max left to break down by Billy's body, shaking his shoulder trying to bring back any life.
Alex walked behind her as Max cried into him, "Billy, Billy please!" Max cried as she shook her brother's shoulders, "Billy, wake up, Billy get up please..."
She stopped and let out a large cry as he never responded.
Alex wrapped her arms around Max, sitting behind her as Max leaned into her, tears falling on both of them as she repeated Billy's name. Unable to process that he was dead.
Alex looked around at everyone, noticing solemn looks on their faces but Atlas wasn't with them, but he was there still. Maybe he had gone outside or...
~~
Alex let go of Max, not able to hold back her own tears as she saw her brother, leant against the rubble as his chest was bleeding. Alex sprinted beside him and broke down, he offered her a sliver of a smile.
"Atlas?" She said, kneeling beside the boy and lifting his shirt up to look at his wound. He could barely nod, the light leaving his eyes. "C'mon man, you gotta pull through," she begged, crying into his shoulder, she couldn't let him die, not like this.
"I'm sorry," He muttered in her ear, his voice was hoarse and she could tell he was just putting on a brave face for her. Beneath his smile, he looked scared, scared of dying at eighteen, scared of leaving his sister alone.
Both of the siblings were crying, Atlas was barely alive, the mind flayer had gone straight through his chest, just about catching his heart as he slowly bled to death on the Mall's floor.
Neither said anything as they cried into each other, it couldn't end like this, Atlas was supposed to go to college, they would move out together, he would become some sort of Rockstar, with all his cool piercings and he would get married. Not like this, he wasn't supposed to die at eighteen, from a monster with no way of getting out.
Atlas reached into his pocket and passed Alex a piece of paper, her name was scrawled on the front. She cried, "No, Atlas please, no," The light had left his eyes as he took a shaky breath,
"One more year, yeah?" he reassured weakly, falling completely still as Alex let out a heart wrenching scream. Falling back into Steve who had gone over to the pair, he held his sister tightly, both of them crying as they sat there.
"It's gonna be okay, promise," Steve whispered in her ear, trying to stop her cries.
She slumped on the wall by his body, clutching his flannel, as if that would bring him back. Her eyes scrunched up as tears fell from her face, Alex was unable to stop them from coming. He couldn't be dead, Atlas was the most lively, bouncing around with a skip in his step. But here he is, on the floor of the fucking mall with a hole through his chest.
A/N:Totally didn't cry while writing this