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― season three, episode eleven;
SWEETER, BOLDER, BETTER
0:00 ───|────── 27:58
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3610 words
*.✧ 𝐂𝐇𝐋𝐎𝐄 ✧.*
"Are they in there?" Dustin's voice jolted me out of my daydream.
"Yeah, I just heard them." I lied, throwing the bathroom door open and barging in. Dustin and Erica were right on my heels. We spotted Steve and Robin, both of them sitting on the floor of the same bathroom stall, leaning on opposite walls.
I locked eyes with Steve immediately, even though I had planned on avoiding his gaze at all costs. My cheeks began to heat up, and I noticed his turning a light shade of pink as well.
"Okay, what the hell?" Dustin scolded.
Neither of them said anything, just glancing at each other mischievously. Then, they burst into laughter.
"You better stop laughing before I slap you." Erica snapped, and this made them shut up.
"All right, let's get out of here." Dustin sighed, turning and leaving out the bathroom door. The rest of us followed him one by one, meeting back in a group once outside. We checked to make sure the coast was clear, and then we started to make our way towards the main entrance.
"Blend." Dustin commanded as we walked, all of us trying not to look suspicious or stand out in any way. I walked beside Steve, my cheeks tingling as I tried not to smile as his words played over in my head.
Dustin sighed, "We just have to get on the bus back to town with the rest of these plebes and home sweet home, here we come."
"Uh, Dustin." I tapped him on the shoulder.
"What?" He hissed, glancing back at me.
"They probably know where we live, remember? Steve told them about us." I reminded him, ignoring the way that my stomach flipped when I said Steve's name.
"That's right." Dustin groaned before he turned t glare at Steve. "What is wrong with you?"
"Dude, I was drugged." Steve said.
"So?"
"What do you mean, so?"
"So you resist. You tough it out. You tough it out like a man." Dustin urged.
"Oh yeah, that's easy for you to say." Steve snapped.
"Guys..." Robin interrupted their bickering, staring straight ahead with wide eyes. We all stopped walking, spotting a man dressed in all black talking to some random lady.
And he was speaking in Russian.
"Abort." Dustin whispered, but somehow the man heard, looking over at us. "Abort!" Dustin cried out this time, turning and running the opposite direction. We all hurried to follow after him, pushing against the crowd as we ran away.
I glanced over my shoulder, seeing that the man was right behind us. "Oh, God." I breathed. Just then, I felt a hand on my waist and I snapped my head to see that it was Steve. "Come on," he whispered to me. He pushed me towards the middle section of the escalators, where Robin and Dustin were already sliding down while I tried to ignore the butterflies erupting in my stomach.
I slid down after Erica, hearing Steve's skin scrape against the makeshift slide right behind me. Once on solid ground, we sprinted into the nearest pop up restaurant in the food court, throwing ourselves behind the counter. I tucked my knees against my chest, trying to quiet my rapid breathing.
Dustin peeked out for a brief moment before reporting back to us, whispering, "We lost him, but we are surrounded."
I pressed my back impossibly further into the counter, making myself as small as possible. Maybe getting back to 'home sweet home' would be a bit more complicated than we had originally planned.
*.✧ 𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐘 ✧.*
After we finished bandaging her leg, El made us move her to the freezer section, so she could use the low hum from the machines as white noise. Max found her a bandanna in one of the aisles, so she could block out her vision to enter the void and find Dustin. I took a seat next to Will, feeling bad about lying to him earlier. We leaned against a small refrigerator unit full of fruits and vegetables.
I shot him a sympathetic look, not saying anything, but I felt the tension between us already easing. That was until Mike sat down on the other side of Will. The both of us immediately tensed right back up.
The silence was deafening as we waited for any news from El. At least, it was quiet, until Lucas broke it of course. He snapped the tab on a cold can of Coke open, the caffeinated beverage hissing loudly into the empty store.
"Quiet." Max snapped at him.
"Oh, sorry." He whispered back. He brought the can up to his lips, slurping softly.
"How do you even drink that?" Mike scowled at him.
"Because it's delicious." Lucas defended the sugary drink.
"What?" Mike and Max chorused, looking disgusted.
"It's like Carpenter's The Thing." Lucas explained. "The original is a classic, no question about it. But the remake..." he paused for dramatic effect and another sip. He smacked his lips as he took in the flavor. "Sweeter, bolder...better."
"Stupider." I groaned, holding my head in my hands.
"Don't even start." Lucas snapped, raising his voice. "You said I was your favorite."
"Your favorite what?" Mike looked over at me.
Lucas answered before I could, smiling proudly, "She said I was her favorite out of all Will's friends."
Mike's mouth fell open in offense. "Are you kidding me? After everything we went through last year?"
I was starting to get angry, so I snapped back, "Yes, Mike," I spat out his name like it was a bad word. "After everything."
"What did I ever do to you?" He was talking at full volume now, and under normal circumstances I would've just told him to shut up and left it alone, but my blood was boiling now.
"Oh, I don't know." I spat. "You haven't really been the easiest to get along with this year."
"What is that supposed to mean?!"
"Hey!" El cried out, yanking the blindfold off her face. This made the both of us shut our mouths right away.
"Sorry." We said in unison, hanging our heads sheepishly. I took deep breaths, trying to calm down, all while leaning back into the shelves of food, wishing I could sink inside them and just disappear forever.
"Did you...find him?" Mike asked hesitantly.
El glared at him, making sure he knew that she was not happy with him. But then she sighed, dropping the tough act. "Yes." She set the bandanna on the ground beside her. "He's at the movies."
"In the mall?" Will spoke up.
She nodded. "I think so."
I got to my feet, eager to step outside. "Let's go then."
We all clambered out of the freezer section, Mike helping El hobble along. As we made our way to the door, Lucas scoffed.
"He's so freaked out about the gate, that he decides to go watch a movie?" He asked. "Yeah, makes total sense."
"Are you sure he said 'gate' and not 'great'?" Max questioned.
"Yeah, like 'This movie I'm watching is great.'" Will agreed.
"Sounded like 'gate'." El insisted.
"Which would explain how the Mind Flayer is still alive." Mike added.
"Yeah, we just need to shut it again." Nancy said.
"Then, the monster dies." Will nodded.
We finally reached the front doors and Max stepped outside to help Lucas wiggle his shopping cart through the doorway. "But if not," she said, her voice drenched in sarcasm. "We always have Lucas' fireworks."
He clicked his tongue at her. "Keep mocking my plan, Max. Keep mocking it. I wanna hear you say it again because you keep doubting me. You keep doubting me!"
"Ridiculous." Max scoffed, giving the cart one especially hard yank, managing to get it into the open air.
"Ashley, back me up. You said it was good." Lucas glanced over his shoulder at me.
"I said I liked it, not that it was good." I corrected him.
"Same thing." Lucas grumbled.
"No, it's not the same thing." Max said, annoyed. "El is our best bet to beat this thing, but if you want to throw your stupid little fireworks at it, then be my guest."
Lucas shook his head, as if he was disappointed in her. "I'm gonna prove you all wrong."
"Whatever, just put your shit in the car." Max shoved him towards the trunk that Nancy had just opened.
I sighed, trying to mentally prepare myself for what might be ahead. Knowing the Mind Flayer and what it can do, I had a sinking feeling that the night was only getting started.
We arrived at the mall after a short drive, it only taking us about seven minutes to get there. As soon as Nancy had parked, I realized that something was wrong.
"The lights are off." I murmured.
"It's probably closed." Max spoke up from two seats over from me, El being the divider between us.
"It's only 8:30." I shook my head, staring at the dark inside of the mall. "Usually it closes at 10, maybe even later if there's a movie showing still going on."
"How do you know that?" Mike snapped. "You only went to the mall once."
"Will would always come home at 9:30, which Mom said was just before it closed." I shot back at him. "Also, I wasn't talking to you."
Max stifled a giggle and Mike gasped. "You are so-" he started but Nancy cut him off.
"Guys stop it." She spat. "This is serious. Let's go inside."
Solemn silence fell over all of us as we got out of the car and made our way to the front entrance. El used her powers to pry the door opens, the automatic sensors turned off for some reason. Once we stepped inside, we saw that there were armed soldiers circling around in the food court below.
"Okay, something is definitely going on." Lucas whispered.
"You really are my favorite, by the way." I hissed back.
"There they are." Will spoke up.
"Where?" El asked him. He pointed and we all followed his finger until we spotted Dustin, Erica, Chloe, Steve, and Robin, all crouched down behind a food store counter. Some of the guards was approaching them rapidly with a tight grip on his gun.
El snapped her head to the side, causing the car that was displayed on the other side of the food court to start blaring the emergency alarm. The soldiers whipped around to face the commotion, watching as the car began to rock back and forth.
With her mind, El lifted the car off of the ground and flung it towards the soldiers. The heavy vehicle crashed into all of them as it soared through the air, killing them all in one fell swoop.
Moving slowly, Dustin and the others rose to their feet, staring at us with wide eyes. Dustin's face broke out in a smile and he jumped over the counter to run closer to us.
We sprinted over to the escalator, going down it like it was just regular stairs. "You flung that thing like a hot wheel!" Dustin cackled wildly as he threw his arms around El in a tight embrace.
"Lucas?" Erica raised an eyebrow at him.
"What are you doing here?" Lucas asked, exasperated.
"Ask them, it's their fault." She pointed at Steve and Robin, who were standing sheepishly off to the side.
"True, yeah." Steve nodded. "It's absolutely our fault."
"I don't understand what happened with that car." Robin asked.
"El has superpowers." Dustin told her.
"I'm sorry?"
"Superpowers." Steve and Chloe chorused, looking over at each other and then blushing at the ground.
"She can move stuff with her mind." Dustin finished for them.
"That's El?" Erica gasped.
"Who's El?" Robin was still confused.
"I'm sorry, who are you guys?" Nancy squinted at her and Chloe.
"I'm Robin, I work with Steve."
"I'm Chloe, I'm Dustin's sister."
"They cracked the top secret code." Dustin boasted.
"Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians." Steve nodded.
"Russians?" I furrowed my brow. "There are Russians?"
"The Russians!" Steve exclaimed, motioning to the unconscious bodies that littered the room.
"Those were Russians?" Jonathan gasped.
Lucas brought a hand up to his temple. "What are you talking about?"
"Didn't you hear our code red?" Dustin asked.
"Yeah." Mike snapped. "I couldn't understand what you were saying."
Dustin sighed. "Goddamn low battery."
"How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery!" Steve scolded him.
"Yeah, well everything worked out, didn't it?"
"Worked out?" Erica scoffed. "We almost died."
"Multiple times." Chloe added.
"Yeah, but we didn't, did we?" Dustin snapped at them.
"It was pretty close." Steve murmered.
Dustin opened his mouth to yell at him again, but Lucas intervened, "Okay, Russians? As in, they're working for the Russian government?"
"What are you not comprehending?" Dustin sighed. "Am I not speaking English?"
El had wandered away from us, and I glanced over to her, just to keep an eye on her. She scrunched up her face, seemingly in pain, bringing her hands up to plug her ears. I furrowed my eyebrows, turning my whole body to face her. "El?"
She didn't answer me, and nobody could hear me over the current bickering, so I called out louder this time. "El!?"
I heard her whimper, pushing her finger further into her ears. Then, with a thud, she crumpled to the floor.
Before I knew what I was doing, I was crossing the gap in between us and hitting my knees beside her. Her eyes were squeezed shut in pain so I knew that she was still conscious. My swift movement to get onto the floor alerted everyone of the situation and they all crowded around.
"What's wrong? Talk to me." I put my hand on my shoulder to try and help her sit up, but she pushed against me. "My leg, m-my leg." She groaned. Mike had kneeled beside me and was gripping at her hand, both of us scared to look at the wound.
Jonathan came around the other side, Nancy right beside him. They got to work taking the bandage off of her shin, the blood that had dried to the gauze making it hard to get off. I squeezed El's shoulder as she cried in pain as the bandages were peeled from her.
I finally dared to look at the damage once everyone groaned in disgust. Her leg was a dark maroon, bruising and blood all over. The gash was already starting to close, healing itself, but beneath the skin something was squirming. Like there was something alive that was under her skin.
"Holy shit..." I breathed, bringing my hand up to cover my face as I fought the urge to gag. El cried out as her skin crawled, literally, and I tightened my grip on her.
"El, are you okay?" Mike asked, voice panicked.
"What is that?" I hissed, forcing myself to pull my eyes away.
"I have no idea." Mike answered me before going back to shaking her shoulders. "El? El!?"
She gritted her teeth before letting out a loud scream, tears rolling down her cheeks. She sobbed, writhing around in pain as whatever was inside her leg tried to get out.
*.✧ 𝐂𝐇𝐋𝐎𝐄 ✧.*
"I got this." I said firmly, rising to my feet. "Make sure she stays awake, I'll be right back."
Steve and Robin looked up at me to give me a quizzical look but I ignored them and marched over to the nearby pizza stand. I jumped up and slid across the counter, entering the employee's only area. I rushed into the kitchen, grabbing a knife from the wooden storage block and took it over to the stove, flicking the flame on quickly.
"What the hell are you doing?" I almost jumped at Steve's voice, but I was on a mission so I kept my cool.
"Sanitizing the blade." I said simply, pressing the knife closer to the flame, willing it to heat up faster.
Steve sucked in a breath, freezing in his tracks as he started to join me in the backroom. "You're gonna cut it out of her?" He spoke through gritted teeth.
Satisfied with the cleanliness of the blade, I turned the stove off and then faced Steve. "Yeah, what else?"
I pushed past him, leaving the restaurant, snatching up a wooden spoon before crossing the counter for a second time. "You're insane." He scoffed, following me out.
"No, I'm helping." I fired back, making my way back to the group.
"You don't have to help everyone, you know."
I screeched to a halt, whipping around to face him, my expression stern. "Yes. I do."
He didn't say another word so I finished going back over, sinking down to the floor next to Eleven with the knife in my hand.
"Bite down on this, okay?" I spoke to her, keeping my voice gentle. "I know you don't know you very well, but I'm gonna help you, alright? I promise."
El nodded tearfully, opening her mouth so I could insert the wooden spoon. I waited as Ashley pulled her into her lap, looping her arms under her elbows, holding her secure. "It'll be over soon." Ashley murmured to her. "Be brave like you always are." Mike took and squeezed her hand as well. Then, I lifted my knife into the air, ignoring how my hand trembled.
"Do it." Mike nodded to me.
I swallowed hard, setting the tip of the knife against her shin, but not pressing down yet. I hovered there, trying to gain the courage to cut into her, but I just couldn't.
"I'll do it." Jonathan slid across the floor over to me, holding out his hand for me to give him the knife. Reluctantly, I placed the weapon in his hand, biting down on my cheek as embarrassment filled me.
He immediately drove the knife into the wound, wincing as El screamed from his doing. He sliced about a four inch opening right above her skin bone, before tossing the knife aside. He bit down on his lip before sliding his fingers inside the open wound.
El went on sobbing as he dug around inside of her leg, trying to grab onto whatever was hurting her. "I can't..." he paused his sentence to gag, his hand now all the way inside. "I can't get it."
A newfound burst of confidence washed over me, and I rolled up my sleeve. "I see it from here, let me try."
"Okay." I didn't have to ask him twice to take his hand out. Not giving myself anytime to think, I shoved my hand into the gaping gash. Flesh and blood was warm against my hand as I pushed further inside.
My fingertips brushed against the end of something wiggly and slimy, and I gasped. "I got it!" I exclaimed, pressing the creature between my fingers as I tried to get a better grip. It was squirming so much and was so gooey that it slipped right out of my grasp.
"Fuck!" I yelled. "Sorry, I lost it."
"You almost had it!" Jonathan encouraged, wiping his messy hand off on his jeans. "Do you want to try some more or -"
"I'll do it."
The two of us snapped our heads to look at El, who had spat out the spoon. "What?" I shook my head. "No, don't worry about it, we've almost-"
She choked back a sob. "No," she repeated. "I'll do it."
I nodded to her, slowly extracting my fingers from inside her, the air hitting my hand, now wet with blood.
"Holy shit, that was badass." Dustin whispered to me as I slid over to sit next to him.
"Shut up." I snapped, digging my nails into my thighs as I waited for what El was gonna do. She raised her hand, hovering it over her leg, furrowing her brow together as she concentrated.
"No, Chloe." Robin urged. "He's right, that was cool."
"Thanks, Rob." I said quickly, keeping my voice hushed. "But Jonathan did way more, and El is the real badass here, not-"
"Hey," Steve cut me off, sinking down to the floor beside me. "Just take the compliment, yeah?"
"Okay, yeah." I nodded, a blush creeping over my cheeks from out close proximity.
The world around me blurred, and the only thing that I could see was Steve, sitting right in front of me, staring at me with amazement in his eyes. The moment was interrupted by the soft sound of glass cracking.
I snapped my head up to see a split starting to form in the window of the store that was behind us. "Shit." I hissed, raising my voice to add, "Everybody get down!"
Just as I yelled, the glass erupted into a million tiny pieces, falling over everyone in a sheet. All of us ducked and covered our heads, and I felt the tiny shards dig into my arms as they fell.
El was screaming as the glass exploded and she pulled the thing out of her leg using her powers. What rose from the opening that Jonathan had made was a small, mucus covered creature, resembling a large slug.
With one last roar, El tossed the alien to the other side of the room, the creature splattering against the floor. Her shoulder slumped as she panting, and the rest of us watched as the creature collected itself and starting to inch across the floor.
Then, a large boot stomped out its last attempt at life.
━━
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