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c h a p t e r t w e n t y - s i x
As soon as the car lands, Nancy jumps down, immediately trying to pry the hood off. "How do we get it open?"
"Check under the wheel," Jonathan suggests, as he and Dawn also begin to search for a way to get it open.
"Shouldn't there be like a lever or a button or something?" Bianca points out.
"There should be."
Meanwhile, Max notices El digging through the trash cans, which she strikes as odd, even for the brunette, which makes her tap the closest person to her, which happened to Mike of all people.
"What's she doing?"
"El, are you alright?" Mike voices just as the girl holds her hand up to the can she'd fished out.
Before she can respond, the group starts to notice a booming noise coming closer. At first, it sounded so faint, you'd think it might've just been a little thunder. But as it gets closer, the group could practically feel the ominous creature lingering approaching them, waiting to strike.
"Got it," Jonathan announces as he grabs the ignition cable, unaware of the horror above them.
"Nancy!" Mike shouts as he spots it climbing on the roof, slowly breaking the glass ceiling, and runs in the opposite direction with Max and El.
Bianca runs as well, getting behind the car with Nancy, Dawn, Will, Jonathan and Lucas. As she does so, she starts to panic at the separation between them and the other three, especially since El's powers didn't seem to be working like they usually do.
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Unbeknownst to the chaos at the mall, the Scoops Troop successfully continues to navigate Murray from Weathertop, guiding him through the twists and turns inside the ducts.
"Scoops Troop, this is... hm... Bald Eagle. I've reached another junction," he begrudgingly speaks through the radio.
"That's what?"
"The fourth one," Sam nods.
"Alright, so if memory serves, this is right after the My Little Pony thesis," Dustin recalls.
"We went left, so he has to go..."
"Right."
"Fly right, Bald Eagle. Fly right."
"What's the My Little Pony thesis?"
"Do not remind me," Sam groans, eyes locked on Steve, who was staring off into the distance.
"Don't get him started."
"Get him started? Just tell me-" Robin furrows her eyebrows.
"Hey guys?" Steve speaks up, forcing them to pause the conversation and walk over.
They see the mall in the distance, only instead of the bright look it usually held, it was now showing the number one sign that something from the Upside Down was present: flickering lights.
"Did they ever make it out of the mall?" Sam voices everyone's concern.
Quickly, they run back over to the radio, trying to communicate with the group. "Griswold Family, do you copy? This is Scoops Troop. Griswold Family, I repeat, do you copy? This is Scoops Troop."
All they get in response is a loud roar as the Mind Flayer tosses the walkie to the other side of the mall, right next to where the teens were now hiding.
Bianca begins to tremble as the monster makes it rounds around the food court, only amplified by Dustin's panicked shouts into the broken radio. They could practically feel the floor vibrating underneath them, reminding them of just how much damage this thing can and will cause.
Eventually, Sam and Steve get enough of the waiting around for a response, charging towards the car.
"You can navigate without me right?" Sam calls out to Dustin and Erica, who nod.
"Yeah, but where are you going?"
"To get them the hell outta there," Steve responds. "Stay here, contact the others."
"Shit," Robin starts to follow them, figuring they might need all the help they can get.
"Wait, Robin," Dustin tosses her a walkie. "Stay in touch."
"Got it."
"Come on," Sam leads them to the convertible as the creature continues to loom over the trembling teens.
The monster inches closer to the car, just getting ready to fling it out of the way and tear the group apart when something clatters to the ground at the Gap, distracting it.
Bianca takes in a breath as it does so, knowing it was after Mike, Max, and El. She taps Lucas with fear in her eyes, gesturing to his slingshot with shaky hands.
"What?" he mouths.
"Distraction," she nods.
"What are you doing?" Nancy questions as he picks it up.
"Don't worry," he slowly stands, shooting a balloon near Sam Goody's, which gives both groups a chance to get away.
They run through the back entrance, eventually making it out of the mall, only this time without Mike, El, and Max. "Go, go, go!"
"Where are they?" Bianca shouts, opening the van doors.
They jump in just as Billy makes his presence known, revving his engine again.
"Get the car started," Nancy holds her gun up.
Jonathan quickly inserts the ignition cable into the back, hopping in the van as Dawn tries to start the engine.
She turns the key, only for the engine to sputter. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."
"Dawn, we have to go!"
"I'm trying!" she shouts, tears brimming her eyes as she turns it a few more times, now with the looming threat of Billy speeding towards them.
Nancy continues to fire at him, but it doesn't stop the boy.
"Nancy, he's not stopping!" Dawn continues to turn her keys, a shriek leaving her mouth as Billy gets about an inch away from the van, only offset by the yellow Cadillac crashing into his side.
Inside was Steve, Sam and Robin, who all looked a bit shocked themselves from the hit.
"Are you okay?" Steve asks the girls, who give him a look that said the exact opposite.
"Ask me tomorrow?"
"More like a year from now," Sam pants.
Their shock is only amplified by the Mind Flayer climbing on top of the mall, revealing itself to the Scoops Troop for the first time. Sam's eyes widen just at the sheer size of it, let alone the arms all complete with claws at the end.
"Holy shit."
"What the hell?" Sam gasps.
"Come on, come on," Dawn turns the key again, and finally the engine revs. "Yes!"
"Get in," Nancy shouts from the passenger seat, and in any other circumstance, Sam would laugh at the two girls sitting side by side.
Now, though, she was grateful for Nancy's presence, as the girl opens the back door, letting the trio pile in.
They pull off as fast as they can, but the Mind Flayer follows them closely, not letting up as they continue to drive down the road at full speed.
"Can you drive any faster?" Sam shouts.
"I'm pushing 80!"
As they drive, Dustin gets in contact with Suzie, who, to Sam and Bianca's (and really, everyone's) surprise, was real, in hopes of retrieving the number Hopper and Joyce so badly needed to get the key to end all of this.
"Suzie," Robin grins.
"She was real," Bianca gasps.
"I'm just as shocked as you," Sam whispers.
Of course, Suzie is very familiar with Planck's constant, and agrees to give it to Dustin under one condition.
"Turn around, look at what you see," Dustin begins to sing, prompting everyone in the car to look at each other in disbelief.
"You cannot be serious," Dawn glances to the back as they sing the chorus.
"Is this real? This can't be real," Sam shakes her head.
"He's never hearing the end of this," Bianca giggles, as they finish the song.
The levity is quickly broken by the monster's sudden change of direction, which could only mean that it now knew that El wasn't with them, which put the three younger teens in grave danger.
"It's turning around," Steve announces.
"What?" Nancy questions.
"It's turning around! How much more explanation do you need?" Sam shouts.
"Maybe we wore it out," Lucas suggests.
"Doubt it."
"Hold on, everyone!" Dawn yells, before making the sharpest U-turn she possibly could, following the monster right back to that hellish mall.
"Come on, come on," she pushes the gas, getting them back to the mall right after the Mind Flayer, and haphazardly parking in front of the door.
"We're gonna need those fireworks now!" Bianca starts handing them to everyone as Dawn parks.
"There should be a bunch of lighters in that tin in the back," Dawn guides, fishing her own from her pocket.
"Why?"
"Are we here to save the children or to question my habits?" Dawn narrows her eyes.
"Good point."
Surely enough, there were enough lighters for every other person in the group, which was fine as long as they got into groups.
Carrying the fireworks, the group quickly enters through the upstairs entrance as the Mind Flayer inches toward El.
Lucas tosses one at him before it can attack her, successfully distracting it. "Flay this, you ugly piece of shit!"
One by one, the group tosses the fireworks at it, trying to keep it away from El long enough for Hopper and Joyce to close the gate.
Bianca lights the last one from their stash, throwing it at the monster's mouth as El seems to talk to Billy, attempting to get through the real him under the Mind Flayer's possession.
"Dustin, we're out of time!" she speaks into the walkie.
"Hurry! Close it!" the boy yells into the mic to Joyce, who was in a mental battle whether or not to close it with Hopper stuck next to the machine.
Lucky for them, El gets through to him, getting Billy to gain control of his mind just as Max and Mike run into the food court. The monster goes to attack El, only for Billy to grab it, holding it off.
"Is he..?" Dawn squints.
"She got through to him," Bianca smiles.
Its arms come at him from all sides, piercing through various spots on his torso, before delivering a final blow to his heart.
"Billy!" Max screams as he drops to the ground.
Just in time, Joyce closes the gate, causing the monster to shake and bang into the balconies, ultimately collapsing onto the ground.
Bianca immediately runs downstairs, wanting to console her friends.
"Billy..." Max cries as Bianca rounds the corner, pulling her into her arms as she sobs.
El joins their hug, also shellshocked from the encounter.
"It's okay, Max," Bianca touches her head, comforting her the same way her sister had done for her so many times in the past. "It's gonna be okay."
Dawn reaches for Sam at the realization that it was over, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug, as the girls look on at the scene in equal parts shock and relief.
Eventually, the military, firefighters, and paramedics come, attending to everyone's injuries and debriefing them on what the story will be this time. They even start a fire to solidify the validity of the lie, putting it out after it's released some smoke into the air.
As they wait for their parents to come, Bianca lays her head on Mike's shoulder, a sorrowful look on her face.
Joyce comes out before they arrive, immediately hugging Will. El looks around for Hopper as well, which makes Bianca and Sam realize the sad truth.
He didn't make it.
"Oh, my God," Sam gasps, tears filling her eyes.
"He didn't make it," Bianca shakes her head, the tears unable to stop flowing.
It only gets worse when the Flores's arrive, panic in their faces as they spot their daughters. "What happened?"
"It was a fire," Sam shakes her head.
"The mall... it just burst into flames," Bianca shrugs, wiping her tears.
"What happened to your head?" Leo pulls Sam and Bianca into a tight hug, while Mike and Steve step back.
"Crowd. We got a little trampled, it's nothing," Bianca looks down.
Gianna turns to Steve and Mike with frowns on her face, never wanting to see any of the kids in pain, and pulls them into her arms as well.
Not expecting the affection from her, the boys gasp, but quickly relax into the hug, not getting them all that often, especially in Steve's case.
"Where are your parents?" Leo asks them.
"They're on the way," Mike nods.
"They're... not in town," Steve sheepishly responds.
"You can stay with us for the night," the man nods to Steve.
"Really?"
"You shouldn't have to go home alone after this. Especially not like that."
"Thank you."
"Gianna? Leo?" Joyce walks over, sadness in her voice.
"Joyce, oh my God," Gianna hugs her, confused by her attire. "Where's Hop?"
She just shakes her head, and Leo pales at that. Hopper was, by all definitions, his best friend.
When everyone else in town counted him and his wife out, Hopper stuck by them. When they'd first moved to town, he was the one that convinced the firm manager to give him the job. To this day, Hopper was the one person he never doubted was there for his family.
"What?"
"He's gone," Joyce cries.
"Oh-Okay," Leo blinks away his tears, reaching for his kids. "We... Um- We should go home. Get them cleaned up."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm glad you made it out okay, Joyce."
They wait just a few minutes more for everyone's parents to get there, not wanting any of the kids to be stranded or outside anymore tonight, before making their way back to Maple Street.
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a/n: the way i sobbed when hopper "died"
AND THE LETTER omg