warnings; violence, violence against kids, swearing, blood, mention of death, character death. again, inaccurate description of injuries. anything i've missed, please let me know!
this isn't very good.
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They couldn't tell you how long they'd been running aroud trying to get out but the coolness of the night air was a welcome relief when the four of them finally escape from the mall, spilling out into one of the deserted loading bays.
So far, the three youngsters had been following her blindly through corridors and unmarked doors but now that they were outside, guessing wasn't going to work. They needed a plan and they were looking at Samantha to provide.
They needed to get away from here, preferably as far away as possible and when she voices her suggestion to the rest of them, they're quick to agree.
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"How? We can't walk with El's leg." Mike points out.
"I know," she bites. She doesn't mean to be snappy with him but in case it wasn't obvious, she was a little bit stressed. They all were. She looks around, seeing a sign that leads in the direction of the loading bay exit, "Come on, this way."
"What about the others?" Mike asks again, "Nancy? Will?"
"They got out," Max says firmly and the blonde nods in agreement. Hopefully they'd be far away.
"We could go to your house?" the redhead then suggests, "Billy doesn't know where you live and it would give El a chance to rest."
Samantha's reluctant. No, her step-brother didn't know where her house was but what if, somehow, he managed to find them? That would lead him straight to her mom and dad, to Mike's family, putting them in danger.
But they didn't have much of a choice. Being at her house would be better than being out in the open and so she nods again, "Yeah. We'll go there. Even if it's just to get a car and then we can go to Illinois."
"Illinois?" Mike repeats, "We're still going there?"
"That's probably where Nancy and the others are heading." she theorises, "We should meet up with them there."
They head for the loading bay exit, waiting impatiently for the iron gate to rattle open and Samantha's face lights up when she sees a few cars littered across the parking lot - though hoping that there's a set of keys in one of them is like hoping for a miracle, which she personally thinks they deserve right now.
Maybe they wouldn't have to go to her house.
And so with a pep in her step, she leads in them in the direction of the closest one but as they step out of the gate, into the lot, her eyes are drawn to the left, where there's a very familiar crashed Camaro; flames licking from the hood towards the back and she raises a hand to stop Max and the others coming any further when she sees Billy standing by the totalled car.
He looks awful; drenched in sweat and with black veins running up and down the length of his arms, etching over his face. And he had been leaving. They would have been alright if that stupid gate wasn't so loud in opening because now, now he knew that they were still there and was looking right at them.
"Back," Samantha instructs, "Back, back in the mall!"
"Shit!"
Samantha makes sure to smash the button to close the gate as they pass before running infront of the others so she can grab hold of Eleven's legs.
"I'm sorry," she breathes when the girl cries out, "I'm sorry El."
They find the door they came crashing out of, sending them back into the maze that was the back area of the mall, the flickering lights making it harder than it should to navigate the many turns and trying to find the right doors.
"Oh, here!" Samantha exclaims, bringing them to a halt once more and she presses the buttons repeatedly - as if that was going to make it go any faster, "Come on!"
She straightens when the door they'd just come through slams open, sharing a look with Max who bravely goes to stand at the end of the corridor beside them.
"Billy," she begins, voice shaking, "Billy, you don't have to do this. Your name is Billy Hargrove. You live on 4819 Cherry Lane. Billy, please. I'm Max, you-"
"No!" Samantha yells, watching as the young girl collides with the wall, a sickening thud filling the small room before she falls to the ground.
"Mike, no!" Samantha reaches, fingers brushing her cousin's shirt as he too rushes at Billy, trying to stop him in coming any closer to the girl he loves but it's no use. Billy, with his enhanced strength pushes him off like he's nothing.
Samantha presses El back into the corner, spreading her arms out in front of her to try and protect the teen.
"Billy," she whispers, "Billy, please. Don't do this. You can-" she screams when Billy's hand makes contact with her face, throwing her off to the side like a rag doll but she manages to catch herself before she hits the wall, which has a fire extinguisher hanging on it.
Seeing El cowering into the corner, Samantha quickly yanks it off the wall, lifting it above her head and letting out a cry as she charges towards Billy but he turns at the last minute, wrenching the extinguisher from her hands and staring at her.
"Billy, please," she whispers, hoping to get through to him but like Will said, when the Mind Flayer takes over, he leaves nothing of the person they normally are. Billy is powerless to stop him, even though she knows that he'd be giving it his best shot. He doesn't give up easily.
She cries out again when he tosses the extinguisher at her, the red metal hitting her in the stomach, knocking the air out of her before he's giving her another shove and this time, she isn't able to stop herself and the back of her head collides with the wall.
"God," she gasps, bringing her hand up to press against the tender spot but she's relieved to see that she's not bleeding, "Ah, Jesus."
Her vision is blurry, unfocused as she pulls her hand back to look at it; all she can do is close her eyes and will the world to stop spinning.
She can hear El scream, vaguely hearing Billy attack her once more before the room goes silent and Samantha tries to get up, god does she try but every time she manages to make it to her feet, she makes it about two steps before crumbling again.
She crawls over to check on Mike and Max, who are both out and as much as she wants to stay and wait till they wake up, she can't. Eleven doesn't have that long and so she grabs the discarded fire extinguisher before following after Billy.
Her head throbs as she moves through the corridors, the flickering lights are making her feel nauseous but she pushes on. If she caught up, maybe she would be able to to somehow distract him so Eleven could get away.
Samantha steps into the ice-cream parlor, seeing the man laying Eleven down on the steps that lead down to the fountain and it quickly becomes clear that even if she managed to take his attention from her, the girl wouldn't be going anywhere.
Billy leans over her, leaning down to whisper something in Eleven's ear and she takes the opportunity to attack, rushing up behind and striking him over the head.
He falls to the side but isn't down for long, turning to glare at her as he stands up.
"Leave her alone you flaying bastard," she hisses, gripping her weapon tightly as he advances on her, once more grabbing tearing the extinguisher from her hands and tossing it up to the side.
Samantha clenches her hand into a fist and swings when he's close enough, letting out a gasp when he stops her just inches from his face.
He steps closes, so they're practically nose-to-nose, "Enough."
He jerks her arm in the opposite direction while simultaneously bringing his free hand down right on her elbow and the scream she lets out is louder than the crack that the bone makes when he breaks it.
He doesn't have to do anymore; between that and the pain coming from the back of her head, her legs give out and all she can do is sit there as he returns to Eleven.
Looking up at the broken ceiling, she sees the Mind Flayer returning; slowly crawling it's way down the support columns and when it reaches the floor, the ground vibrates with every heavy step it takes.
Eleven sits up and Samantha calls her name as it opens it's mouth, releasing one of the screeching tentacles that was searching for them earlier.
She covers her ears when there's a deafening bang, a sudden pop of blue exploding about the giant creature. That's followed in close succession by multiple bangs.
"Lucas," she breathes, vaguely remembering the excitement that was on the boys' face when he'd found the fireworks.
The Mind Flayer is screeching in pain and Billy isn't much better; writhing on the floor with every pyrotechnic that goes off.
Eleven is inching backwards, away from the danger and Samantha starts crawling to her, reaching out her good arm to take her hand when Billy recovers and grabs her ankle.
"Eleven!" she yells when the girl is dragged away from her, her name leaving the girl's mouth in a scream as her hands desperately claw at the floor, trying to find purchase on something, anything she can grab to stop herself.
Billy roughly moves her into her previous position, leaning over her once more as he pins her hands down so she can't move, patiently waiting for the Mind Flayer to come and take the person he's wanted since the beginning.
The Mind Flayer is still being attacked by fireworks; large body stumbling and colliding with the mall's walls and railings. There's stuff falling around her; bits of wood, glass which bites into her skin and she can hear the roaring of flames as fires start all over the place.
She should move, Samantha knows that but she can't. She can't bring herself to leave Eleven and so she just sits there, cradling her broken arm to her chest and watches with tears in her eyes when she sees Eleven's mouth moving.
She was talking to him and Samantha sees that the pressure he has on her wrists lessens, allowing Eleven to free a hand and rest it gently on Billy's blackened face.
For a second, it's as if Billy had regained control, managed to break free from the Mind Flayer's hold.
The fireworks stop coming and the creature wails, Samantha watching silently as Billy stands, leaving Eleven laying on the steps.
But he's standing in front of her, looking up at the Mind Flayer thumps closer, opening it's mouth.
She looks away, she can't see Eleven die and she closes her eyes, expecting to hear a scream or something but it doesn't come. At least not from EL.
Billy's scream echoes around the mall and Samantha lifts her head, seeing that he's been impaled by two tentacles, one on either side of his torso.
"Oh god," she whispers and seeing that Eleven has frozen, she crawls towards her and when she realises that Samantha's there, she leans back against her. "You're alright," she whispers, "You're alright. Don't look,"
Eleven turns her head into her neck just as the Mind Flayer delivers one final blow to Billy's already beat up body.
"Billy!"
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now would you have a concussion after being tossed into a wall? probably but I'm not a doctor and don't know much about injuries/medical stuff so if it's wrong, let's pretend we don't see it haha