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FLUORESCENT LIGHTS BUZZ IN the hospital lobby. There's a low rumbling as the flickering becomes more frequent. Chills form on Brooke's body, her hand reaches out for comfort but no one catches it, leaving her hand to grasp at the air and form a nervous fist.
Will's hand flies to the back of his neck, sensing the Mind Flayer, "He's here," Will shivers. Brooke takes a deep breath, "We gotta get them—"
"Let's go," Danny cuts his sister off by tugging her away, Casey and Stella following. The receptionist yells at them that only two can go but they all ignore her. Brooke breathes through her nose and shakes her hand from Danny's grip. She shoves herself through the group of kids to be in front.
"Brooke, stop trying to be the hero," Lucas whispers with concern. "I'm not a—hero. You really think I'm letting you fuckers go into danger first? Hell no," She speeds up her stomping to the elevator only for them to figure out it isn't working.
"Stairs," Mike says quickly. They rush to the stairs to the right of them. As soon as they reach the second floor Brooke can hear crashing noises and then a loud roar. She starts to speed up with panic when there's an even louder shriek.
"Down the hall!" Stella yells. The teens run down the dark hall, the only small light being when they flicker on. They find the room and El uses her power to force the door open.
Brooke steps back into the wall when she sees what is attacking Nancy. It's a fleshy monster with teeth and way too many arms. Like a spider. It shrieks again but towards the group.
"What the hell—" Casey starts. "Is that?" Stella finishes. Their hands are laced together, knuckles are white from nerves.
The monster roars and crawls forwards but before it gets a chance to do anything, El screams and slams into a wall. Brooke's breath hitches when the creature wails. It doesn't phase El though, she repeats the move and slams it against the wall across from it. Debris falls around it and some onto Nancy the louder El yells.
Brooke wants to stop El, she wants to grab Nancy, grab Jonathan and run from the danger but she knows what El is capable of. El is capable of killing this thing but the fear still boils and whistles like a tea kettle inside of Brooke.
El throws the creature into the ceiling and then right down into the wall so hard that the hospital shakes around them. The brunette falls forwards a bit to regain some strength but somehow the creature isn't dead. The creature takes a single step forward before it's flown out of the window above Nancy. Glass shatters above the Wheeler girl as she throws her hands above her head.
"Casey, get the kids outta here!" Brooke demands of the boy. Already in the plans, Stella and Casey shove the kids forwards to find where the hell the creature landed.
Jonathan and Brooke run over to Nancy. "Nance? Oh my God!" Brooke falls to the floor beside the girl. Jonathan's heart leaps out of his chest when he holds his girlfriend's face in his hands, "Are you okay?" He repeats.
Nancy lets the spit pool in her mouth for a second, too shocked to properly get words out. She's a stuttering mess. "Alright, let's just get her up, okay?" Brooke says and Jonathan nods.
The two help Nancy down the stairs and to the cars. "Jonathan, are you hurt?" Brooke asks once Nancy is safely in the car. She scans over his scratched face and bloody hands. He looks down at his own hands, flipping them from the palm to the back, "I—I stabbed a guy."
Brooke knits her eyebrows together and then her face softens. Whatever he had to do to keep himself alive, they will discuss at a better time. "Okay, okay? But....you're okay?" She asks.
Jonathan nods quickly with a big gulp, "Yeah, yeah. Get in the car."
Brooke wraps her hand around the back handle but stops once she catches Casey and Stella's concerned looks from their car, "I'm gonna go with Casey. We'll meet you there." Brooke doesn't give Jonathan time to question it, there is no time really to begin with.
THE PLAIN GRAY WALLS in the room Paisley is stuck in is already driving her crazy. Ropes are digging into her wrists. It's useless to tug. The guards haven't been back since they initially threw her in here. The pain from being punched is becoming stronger and stronger. She's been punched from petty fights at school but nothing like that. Paisley is just thankful she can feel all her teeth.
She has no idea where Robin is or Steve and she has no idea if the kids made it out. Her nose has been non stop sniffling because of her small cries. Paisley doesn't want to risk the guards hearing her so she's masking her sobs as best as she can.
Paisley takes a deep breath and pushes herself onto her knees from the tile floor. "Fuckers. Stupid Russians. This is what I get for working at an ice cream shop, really? Why couldn't I have a normal life? Does Brooke even miss me? God," She talks to herself to try and keep some sanity but it just sounds like she's losing more of it.
The big metal door swings open. Two guards in olive green suits with good and red accents walk in. Menacing smiles on their faces as they stare down at the young girl.
"What the hell do you want?" Paisley curses at them. The older guard with a hat crouches down and grabs at Paisley's cheeks in one hand. His thumb presses into the forming bruise on her cheek and she winces slightly.
"How'd you get here?" His Russian accent is heavy. Paisley narrows her eyes, "By pure luck," She answers sarcastically. The man lets out a sarcastic laugh and the other guard does the same. He roughly shoves Paisley's face away and she nearly falls on her side because of the imbalance.
"Who do you work for?" He asks with his hands behind his back. Paisley feels like she's swallowing her tongue. All the sarcasm she's learned from Brooke over the years is trying to come out but she knows it'll only come back to bite her in the ass.
"Scoops Ahoy. I work for Scoops Ahoy and so do the other two! We didn't mean to find this, okay? We're kids! Let us go!" Paisley pleads, her voice cracking at the end. The guards glance at each other. Some sick communication happens between the two of them. The younger guards harshly shoves Paisley's body in the metal wall. Paisley groans in pain and her head falls forwards a bit.
"You're kids? How did some kids find this, huh?" The guard makes Paisley look him in the eyes with a push of her chin. The brunette's shoulders shake witty adrenaline as she glares at him, "I told you, pure luck!" She shouts louder this time.
The Russian guard is fed up with her shit. He says something in Russian and then two other guards grab Paisley and force her to her feet.
"Hey! Hey! Let me go! Where are my friends? Please! Let them go!" Paisley kicks and screams but another door is opened and she's thrown into another unfamiliar room. Steve and Robin are thrown in seconds later.
"Robin?" Paisley forces herself to crawl forward a bit. "Paise? Jesus—Steve," Robin notices the lack of words from her co-worker and shakes his body, "Steve?" There's still no response and Paisley's blood goes cold. The guard that seems to be the guard comes through another door and Paisley gets to her knees again, "Is he dead? Did you fucking kill him?" Worry and anger laced in her words.
"What did you do to him? What did you do?" Robin desperately asks. The guard slaps Robin across the face. Paisley gasps when Robin falls to the floor next to her in pain. Somehow, through her anger, she gets to her feet, "You're a fucking maniac! You're a sick, sick bastard—"
The action is repeated to Paisley's unharmed, now harmed cheek but all she does is stumble to the floor. There's no way she's letting herself go down that easy. "Fucker!" Paisley jumps at the man but with no free hands, all she can do is kick the man in the shin. He stumbles back a bit, groaning in pain.
The other guards grab Paisley and throw her right into the floor, her head hitting the tiles hard. "Paisley! No, no! Hey, stop!" Robin puts her body over the other girls when the leader orders the others to do something in Russian.
The three are placed in chairs, back to back and stuck together. "Steve, wake up! Steve!" Robin wiggles around to try and make it harder for the Russians. Paisley is attempting to do the same but her head is throbbing in pain.
She's trying to look around but everything is blurry. She makes herself blink a few times which barely clears anything but Paisley can see a guard walking over to Steve.
The guard lifts Steve's bruised and bloody face up by his hair. "Don't touch him!" Robin protectively shouts. He clicks his tongue, mocking the state Steve is in. "Steve, can you hear me?" Robin asks with a shaky tone.
Heavy boots circle the teens. "I think your friend needs a doctor," The guard says with a heavy Russian accent. He circles back to Robin. The blonde's piercing blue eyes glare at the Russian. This man has hurt her friends—he hurt Paisley which strikes a cord Robin didn't know could be striked. She's not an angry person, being raised by hippies can make you a chill person but right now she wants to kill the Russian men around her, brutally.
"Good thing.......we have the very best," The guard sarcastically tells the girls. His arms have almost caged Robin into his presence. Paisley is straining her neck to make sure nothing happens to Robin but she has no idea what she'd even do if he did. Robin is seething with anger. Nose twitching along with the corner of her right eye.
The guard looks back at another and laughs. They're all laughing at the torture of three teenagers. The man turns back and Paisley can just see Robin spit in the man's face. He pauses and Paisley's heart drops. He wipes the spit off his face slowly and glares right back at Robin but it doesn't phase her. She continues her death glare.
"You're gonna regret that, маленькая сучка (little bitch)," The man curses. The girls have no idea what he said but fear overrides the anger in Robin's veins for a second. He says something once again in Russian and they leave the teens in the room to yell and thrash against the restraints.
"You ugly shitheads!" Paisley curses, kicking her feet all around. "Let us outta here!" Robin yells, as if they'd give in to her demands.
Their pleas are useless. Cursing is useless. The door closes on them and Paisley's head drops, tired and in pain, just wanting to be anywhere else.
BLOODY TISSUES ARE THROWN on El's bedroom floor of the cabin. The TV hums once again as El has the black scarf around her eyes in an attempt to find Billy or anyway that is flayed. Behind the door, the rest of the group anxiously sits and waits for anything from the girl. Situated on the barstool next to Will, Brooke can hear and see Nancy frantically calling Blackburn's Farm Supply.
"It can't be good for her to be in there this long," Mike paces the room. "Mike, you need to relax," Max scoffs. "What if she gets brain damage or something?" Mike panics. Stella side eyes Casey for a second before speaking up, "Can that happen?" She asks the group. "Yeah, oh shit, is that a real thing?" Lucas comes to the realization. "No, it's not. He made it up," Max rolls her eyes.
Brooke raises an eyebrow, "No, brain damage is real. Ask Steve." It comes out as an insult but with the amount of punches Steve took last year Brooke wouldn't be surprised if he's actually more fucked in the head than before. Jonathan presses his lips together. He's noticed Brooke's need to bring up Steve every so often, it's funny in a way. She would bring him up to talk shit but now her tone is softer at the mention of him, leaving those who noticed confused as to what has really changed. Jonathan knows it can't just be that they're friends.
Max shrugs off Brooke, "Mike doesn't know what the hell he's talking about."
"Oh, and you do?" Mike retorts. Both Martel siblings roll their eyes at the Wheeler's dramatics.
Danny hops off the barstool, Will's eyes unknowingly following the boy, "Would you leave her alone?"
"Who? Max? She doesn't know what the hell she's talking about!" Mike yells like Max isn't right there. The redhead jerks her head back in offense, scoffing loudly. Brooke refuses to deal with this right now. She mentally blocks out the children's argument and turns to Jonathan and Casey.
"You okay, Jonathan? I haven't really had the proper opportunity to ask," Brooke asks, leaning a bit over the counter. Jonathan looks away from Nancy on the phone to Brooke, "I'm fine. I'm alive, aren't I?"
"We're all alive in this room and I don't think I'm okay," Casey laughs but concerned eyes flash at him, "I—I'm okay!"
"Okay, sorry to bother—" Nancy gets cut off by those on the other end of the phone. They can faintly hear the dial tone and then the click of Nancy putting the phone back on the hook. "Who's next?" Nancy sighs, walking over to Jonathan who has the phone book. Jonathan sighs deeply, crossing off the ad of the Farm Supply's place, their last resort, "There is no next. Unless you want to start calling random people's homes."
"I could easily do that. Sheriff's adopted daughter perks," Brooke flips her hair with a teasing smile. Legally is she Hopper's daughter? No. Would never happen. Shawn doesn't want Brooke at the house, yeah, but him still legally being her dad still gives him power over her. Even if Brooke doesn't listen to shit that man says.
"It doesn't make sense," Nancy frustratedly says. "All of this doesn't make much sense," Stella mumbles. "There's a pattern, okay?" Nancy raises her voice, "A consistency to their behavior. They've been feeding on these chemicals since this started, and—and, what, they just stop, out of the blue?"
"Maybe they have all the chemicals they need. Maybe they've all turned into those....things," Will speaks up. "But what about the source? I mean, did the Mind Flayer just suddenly stops infecting people? And even if the frayed are monsters now, why can't El find them?" Nancy wonders. Brooke bites at her lip, thinking about the questions but also having the same internal battle that she keeps subsiding. The need for Steve to be by her side. For the first time since all this shit started, Steve isn't here, next to her. But, there's a part of her that is hoping that Russian bullshit was indeed just bullshit and him, Paisley and Robin are all getting paid, slinging ice cream and wondering where the hell Brooke is.
Then again, if Brooke hasn't contacted Paisley for more than like two days, she just tends to show up at her house, which she has yet to do so.
There's a loud shouting and then the kids walk over. "Okay, can you guys settle an argument for us?" Max asks, "Who do you think should decide El's limits? Mike or Eleven?"
None of them even get to answer though because Mike speaks up. "The way that you frame that is such bullshit," He curses. "It's not bullshit, Mike. This is your whole problem. And it's also precisely the reason why she dumped your ass!" Max shouts.
Brooke lets out a PFT and turns away to giggle. "El dumped you?" Nancy says in surprise. "Yeah, because she is conspiring against me. She's corrupting her!" Mike points to the redhead. Jonathan and Brooke glance at each other, hearing Mike's bullshit arguments practically their whole lives.
"No, enlightening her. The fact is, she's not yours. She's her own person, fully capable of making her own decisions!" Max makes a good point.
"She's risking her life for no reason," Mike says. "No reason? Mike, these weirdo flayed fuckers are doing whatever they do. It's putting Indiana and possibly the whole world at risk!" Brooke retorts. "Killing, flaying...." Lucas trails off. "Transforming into monsters!" Danny adds on.
Mike looks beyond annoyed at all his friends ganging up on him. "And El's not stupid. She knows her abilities better than any of us," Nancy tells him. "Exactly, thank you!" Max rapidly nods her head. Brooke stands up from the stool, getting entertainment from the annoyance in Mike's face, "El is indeed her own person with her own choices and that choice was to find the flayed and dump your ass." A smug smile forms on her face that Mike narrows his eyes at.
"El has saved the world twice, and Mike still doesn't trust her," Max continues the argument. "You wanna talk about trust, really? After you made Eleven spy on us?" Max goes quiet after Mike says this. Brooke's eyes widen and her cheeks puff up to hide her giggles. Stella feels like she's in an awkward position, as per usual with the kids around. Both only children, Casey and Stella aren't the best with handling when the kids argue. When they joined the group, it's been the most amount of time either have spent with kids. Her back is against the wall, looking towards Casey for help but the boy doesn't know what to do.
"Wait, what?" Lucas sits up. "Oh, she didn't tell you this?"
"No!"
"Your girlfriend used El's powers to spy on us!" Mike spews. Brooke sighs loudly but it goes ignored as she walks past the arguing kids and towards El's room. The argument Mike is making is drowned out until he shouts a confession, that he loves El and can't lose her—again.
"Oop—" Brooke accidentally says out loud. All eyes are on Mike as his chest moves up and down. The door to El's bedroom opens and El walks out, "What's going on?" The silence confuses her.
"Nothing. Nothing," Mike quickly says. "Just a family discussion," Lucas answers. El looks at Brooke for more answers but the older girl just shrugs, not wanting to expose Mike's confession.
"Oh.......I found him," El says. "Found....who?" Nancy asks.
"Billy," El states.