Ruins - Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein
╔═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗
DO YOU COPY?
╚═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╝
Gwen helps Eleven into the back of Nancy's car with the help of Max and Mike before getting in next to her. "Lay down," Gwen tells her before Eleven slumps next to her with her head under Gwen's arm.
Mike shuts the back door after getting in himself along with everyone else. Nancy try's to turn on the car from the drivers seat, only to be met with the engine spluttering.
"What's wrong?" Jonathan asks.
"I don't... I don't know," Nancy tries again only to be met with the same result. "You can't be serious. Come on!"
"Didn't your mom just buy this car?" Gwen asks from the back.
"Yes. I'm sure it's fine," Nancy replies with a stressed voice.
"Did you leave the lights on?" Will asks.
"No."
"Do we have gas?" Lucas asks.
"Yes!" Nancy yells, trying again. "Come on!"
"Woah, woah, woah! Just stop. Stop!" Jonathan opens his door. "Pop the hood."
Nancy and Jonathan both get out of the car to figure out what is wrong with the car while the others stay inside.
"What the hell?" Jonathan exclaims while looking under the hood. "The ignition cable's gone."
Everyone's head turns at the sound of an engine revving. Gwen recognizes Billy's blue Comaro on the other side of the parking lot. "Is that Billy?" she asks.
"Yeah," Max breathes out.
"And he's flayed, I'm guessing?" she asks, remembering how weird Billy was acting a few days ago when he had come over to her house to use the bathroom.
Max nods again. "Mhm."
Nancy quickly opens the door next to Lucas. "Back in the mall!"
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
"Scoops Troop, do you copy?" Gwen speaks into the walkie talkie after she had taken it from Mike. "Scoops Troop, I repeat, do you copy? We're trapped in the mall and we need to get out of here."
No answer.
"Scoops Troop, do you copy? Billy, who's flayed by the way, has found us. He disabled our car and now we're trapped in the mall."
Still no answer.
"Scoops troop, I repeat, we need transportation. Do you copy?"
"They're not gonna answer," Mike tells her.
Gwen ignores him. "Steve, do you copy? Dustin?"
"Gwen-"
"Scoops Troop, you ice cream slinging jerks, do you copy?!"
"Gwen!" Gwen and Mike turn towards Nancy when she calls out. "We need help with this," Nancy nods toward the car that Eleven had flipped earlier.
Gwen sighs and hands Mike the walkie talkie before going with the others towards the car. Gwen gets behind the counter with Mike, Max, Jonathan, and Nancy and uses all of her strength to push it over, but it's not enough.
"Shit," Gwen groans.
"Let me try," Eleven says from the other side of the counter.
"El..." Mike trails off.
"I can do it," she tells him.
The others go to stand behind Eleven while she try's to use her powers. Gwen can hear metal start to move as Eleven focuses, but visibly, the car doesn't move. Eleven puts her arm down with a disappointed grunt.
Her powers are either incredibly drained, or non existent, and that fact scares all of them.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
"Push!" Jonathan exclaims as they all try pushing the car once more, this time with metal stands to balance the force.
They manage to get the car on its side and everyone sighs.
"Alright, great. Now, all the way. Ready?" Jonathan says and they all get ready to push again. "Three, two, one... Push!"
They all push again, and the car flips the right way around.
"Told you," Mike sighs. "Physics."
They all hop off the counter before Nancy and Jonathan try opening the hood while Mike, Max, and Gwen glance over at Eleven who rummages through one of the trash bins.
"What is she doing?" Max asks.
Eleven finds an empty coke can and places it on a table before focusing with dropped brows. Mike, Max, and Gwen walk up to her.
"El, are you okay?" Mike asks.
Eleven turns toward them with blood dripping from her nose and a fearful expression.
"Hey," Gwen walks up to her and wipes the blood away with her thumb. "This is a good sign," Gwen says, referring to the blood while she wipes her thumb on her overalls. "You're powers aren't gone, okay? You're just really drained."
Gwen is about to talk again, but she's cut off by rumbling on the roof. Everyone freezes before looking up. Pounding footsteps cause goosebumps to form on Gwen's arms, and the sound of glass beginning to break spreads terror through her body.
The Mind Flayer.
"Nancy!" Mike yells for his sister.
"Come on!" Gwen grabs Eleven and leads her, Mike, and Max away from the glass ceiling. They just make it behind a short concrete wall before the glass breaks. Gwen flinches when the weight of the Mind Flayer causes the whole building to shake underneath her.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
"Scoops Troop, this is... Bald Eagle," Murray says into his walkie while Dustin, Steve, Robin, and Erica lean in to listen from their spot next to the Cerebro. "I've reached another junction."
"This is what?" Dustin asks.
"The fourth junction," Erica answers.
Dustin nods. "Alright, so if my memory serves, this is right after the My Little Pony thesis."
"We went left, so he has to go right," Erica quickly says, not wanting Dustin to expose her.
"Fly right, Bald Eagle," Dustin says into the walkie. "Fly right."
"Roger that, flying right."
"What's the My Little Pony thesis?" Robin asks and Steve stands up after hearing a noise in the distance.
"Don't get him started," Erica says.
Steve stares at the mall from the top of the hill with horror written all over his face. He knew he shouldn't have left her there. "Hey, guys?" he calls before the others walk up from behind him to see what Steve's looking at.
Every single light in the mall flickers and distant sounds of screeching fills their ears.
They turn around and rush back to the walkie talkie. "Griswold Family, this is Scoops Troop! Do you copy? Over!" Dustin yells into the walkie. "Griswold Family, I repeat, this is Scoops Troop. Do you-" Dustin pauses when the Mind Flayer shrieks from the other side. "Griswold Family, do you copy? Do you copy?!"
The Mind Flayer roars into the walkie, causing all of the Scoops Troop members faces to pale.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
The Mind Flayer throws the walkie toward the wall that Gwen hides behind. She squeezes her eyes shut at Dustin's voice.
"Griswold Family, this is Scoops Troop. Please confirm your safety! Griswold Family, Please confirm your safety! Are you en route to Bald Eagle's nest? Please confirm your safety... Someone, please just answer! Is anyone there? Gwen! Just answer!"
Gwen's grip tightens on Elevens hand at her brothers desperate attempts to contact them.
At least Dustin is safe. At least they're all safe.
Gwen lets go of Elevens hand before peaking over the half wall they are hiding behind. "It's turned away," she tells them as she sits back down. "If we go up the stairs now, we'll make it."
Max shakes her head. "No way, not with El's leg."
"We have to try," Mike insists.
"There's another way..." Eleven whispers. "Through the Gap."
Gwen peaks out again to see the Mind Flayer with its back facing them. "Okay, we have to go now."
The three of them run forward towards The Gap, Mike and Gwen helping Eleven as she limps. Walking through the shattered window, Eleven trips on a piece of broken glass. Gwen ignores the Mind Flayer's snarls and helps Eleven up before leading the three kids behind the register. They all crouch down, hiding from the Mind Flayer as it makes its way into the store.
Gwen feels the ground rumble from under her, before small screeching replaces the loud snarls. A tentacle from the Mind Flayer branches off and begins searching in the store.
Gwen flinches when it charges at a mannequin wearing the same outfit as Eleven. Seeing that it's not Eleven, the Mind Flayer discards it, throwing it at a wall before it falls next to the four teenagers.
Gwen pulls her lips together and lets out a nervous breath as the tentacle continues to search through the store. She clenches her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering with fear, listening intently to the tentacles screeching and hissing.
Their eyes all widen when the tentacle comes into view from Mikes left side, and they hold their breaths, waiting for it to notice them.
...Until a balloon pops from outside the store.
They sigh in relief when the tentacle retracts and the Mind Flayer stomps away from The Gap.
"Let's go," Gwen whispers to the others before they make their way out through the back entrance.
Gwen leads the way through the concrete hallway until they get to an exit. Gwen walks through the gate that leads to the parking lot, ahead of the others while Mike and Max help Eleven walk.
Gwen stops in her tracks, causing the others to bump into her, when she sees Billy's car on fire with him standing right next to it. "Shit," Gwen turns around and pushes the others in front of her. "Go! Back in!" Gwen hits the button to close the gate while she runs. She reaches over the others to hold the door open while they run inside before she gets in herself.
Gwen leads them through the hallway again, not exactly knowing which way to go. The flickering lights along with her empty stomach makes her slightly dizzy, but she pushes past that, focusing on losing Billy and getting the other three to safety.
They reach a dead end and rush into another small room connecting to the hallway. "In here," Gwen says when they see a door. Gwen pushes the button on the wall to open the door a few times, but nothing happens. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," she rolls her eyes, continuing to press the button.
"Billy."
Gwen turns to the door they had just came from to see that Max had branched off. Max stares at Billy's approaching figure with anxiety.
"Billy, you don't have to do this," she says with a shaking voice. "Billy. Your name's Billy, Billy Hargrove. You live on 4819 Cherry Lane," Her voice gets louder as Billy doesn't slow down. "Billy, please, I'm Max, I'm your-"
Billy punches her into the wall, knocking her unconscious before she can finish her sentence.
Mike leaves Eleven and Gwen's side to rush Billy, but Billy easily throws him into the wall next to him, also knocking him unconscious.
Gwen glares before closing her eyes and opening them when they're lavender. She tries to use her powers to access his mind, but instead of millions of stars, she sees nothing. She sees void.
Billy picks Gwen up and slams her into the ground, causing her to hit her head and lay limp beneath him.
He turns toward Eleven and as she fails to use her powers against him, he pushes her head into the wall behind her before throwing her into the opposite wall.
With all four teenagers defenseless, Billy approaches Elevens limp body and picks her up before throwing her on his shoulder.
Gwen tries to open her eyes, she tries to move, but she can't. She feels too tired.
The last thing she feels before everything goes black, is a cold hand clasp around her wrist.
— an
It's downhill from here folks
Word Count: 1929