"speaking of lazy days gone by, isn't it crazy how quickly time flies by?"
gore warning for the first part of this chapter! please stay safe
——
"we have to do something!" mike yelled as eleven let out another blood-curdling scream. the thing under her skin was thrashing around now, contorting her leg as it tried to escape. "keep her awake!" jonathan directed, sprinting over to one of the empty restaurants. "ok, let's move her over here- get her on this side" mike said. steve, nancy and lucas helped pull her small body over to lean against the wall of the plants in the middle of the mall. all the while she was still whimpering in pain.
"y-you know, it's actually not that bad, the goalie on my soccer team- i think her name was bethany? this other girl slid into her leg and like the whole bone came out, it was like six inches or something-" robin began.
"robin?" steve interrupted, noticing the horror on the rest of the groups faces. "yeah?"
"you're really not helping!"
"oh, i'm sorry..." she laughed anxiously.
jonathan returned before the conversation could get any more awkward.
felicity cringed when she realised his plan. he had a wad of tissue in one hand and a sharp knife in the other. "this is gonna hurt like hell, ok? just stay real still." he was using the soft voice he used around will. he kneeled down and pulled on plastic gloves. "you're going to want to bite down on this ok?"
he handed a wooden spoon to eleven who nodded weakly. the tip of the knife lowered so it was hovering over the wound. felicity looked away, fearing she might faint. "do it!" mike grimaced. there was another shriek, signifying that the knife had met flesh. and another, signifying that jonathan was trying to pull it out. "STOP!" el shouted as his fingers moved agonisingly around the cut. "stop... i can do it!"
tears streamed down her face as she sat up. "are you sure?" max whispered, squeezing her hand. eleven didn't reply. she began to pull it out, using so much force that the glass window of the store behind them shattered completely. time seemed to slow down as she howled and panted with the effort of it all. eventually, a small, writhing piece rose out of her leg. she flung it across the room and was immediately swarmed by mike and max. felicity watched in awe as the creature began to crawl away, leaving a trail of blood on the white tiles.
it didn't make it very far, as a large boot stomped on it. felicity looked up. standing before the party was jim hopper, a man she didn't recognise and a very worried looking joyce byers. jim had a black eye forming and a split lip, joyce's mascara had run and there was blood on her shirt. it seemed they weren't the only ones who had gotten into trouble.
——
"the mind flayer built this... monster in hawkins. he built it to stop el, to kill her, to pave a way to our world" mike explained.
"and it almost did! that was just a tiny piece of it," nancy added. hopper looked disgustedly at the crushed remains. "how big is this thing?"
"it's big," felicity mumbled, "thirty feet at least. it sort of destroyed your cabin..."
"ok so just to be clear, this... big fleshy spider thing that hurt eleven, it's some kind of giant weapon?" steve puzzled. nancy nodded.
"but instead of using screws or metal, the mind flayer made its weapon with melted people?"
"yeah, exactly."
"yeah, ok. i'm just making sure."
"are we sure this thing is still out there? still alive?" joyce asked from where she was holding eleven. "el beat the shit out of it but yeah, it's still alive" max confirmed.
"but if we close the gate again-"
"we cut the brain off from the body. we kill it."
——
the other man that joyce and hopper and brought slammed some papers down on a cafe table. he'd been rummaging around since he arrived, seemingly unfazed by seeing eleven use her powers or learning about the demogorgon. "okay, this is what alexei called 'the hub'," he pointed to a smaller room in the middle of the sketched map, "now, the hub takes us to the vault room."
"ok, where's the gate?" hopper asked, peering at the map. lright here," he pointed to another room. "i'm not sure on the scale of this, but i think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe... fifty feet or so?"
"more like 500" erica piped up. "what, you're just going to waltz in there like its russian disneyland or something?" hopper raised his eyebrows in surprise. "i'm sorry, who are you?" the man asked, his face a picture of annoyance.
"erica sinclair. who are you?"
"murray... bauman."
"listen, mr bunman. i'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but i'be been down in that shithole for twenty four hours. with all due respect, you do what this man tells you? you're all going to die." it was starting to male sense now, where dustin and steve had been, why they knew so much.
"sorry, why is the four-year- old talking to me?"
"i'm ten, you bald bastard!"
max stifled a giggle.
"she's right, you're all going to die, but you don't have to. excuse me, may i?" dustin made his way over to the map and pulled it over to him. "ok, see this room? this is a storage facility. there's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground vent system. follow that and it will lead you to the base of the weapon. it's a bit of a maze, but between me and erica i think we could show you the way."
"you can show us the way?" hopper repeated disbelievingly. "don't worry, you can do all the dangerous hero shit, we'll just be your navigators" he smiled. "no" hopper shrugged.
——
"that settles it" erica sighed. "he's going to die!"
dustin glanced over to where hopper was loading an assault rifle. "yep, most likely." he agreed. being his typical stubborn self, he had refused dustin and erica's help and chose murray's plan instead. it didn't seem very logical, but no matter how much they argued they couldn't change his mind. "don't say that," felicty tutted, not wanting to upset el any more, "you guys survived!"
"we barely survived. we could've really used you guys down there."
"we could've really used you up here too" she said, bringing him in for a hug. "we really missed you, dude" lucas admitted.
"yeah, big time" will nodded, joining the hug.
"please don't cry nerds" erica sighed.
before her brother could scold her for a second time that afternoon, hopper called them over. "ok, heads up, you can navigate. just from somewhere else, somewhere safe."
"it's not that simple! the signal won't reach, not on this," he waved his walkie talkie in the air, "you need something with a high enough frequency band to relay with the russian's
radio tower. but for that to work you need someone who has seen their comms room and has access to a super-powered handcrafted radio tower- one preferably already situated at the highest point in hawkins... oh wait, that's me! if you need us to navigate we can, but we need a head start. and a car."
hopper groaned, then threw steve a set of car keys from his pocket. "don't crash it. it may or may not be mine." he explained. steve, robin, dustin and erica rushed out to the car park.
——
"are you scared?" felicty asked, looking up at max from where she was resting her head on her shoulder. "to be honest, i've been scared since last october" she laughed, "but it's ok, el can close the gate and them this time it will all be over. finally."
"i'm sorry you got dragged into all of this..." she frowned. it was weird to think there had been a time when max didn't know about el or demogorgons or the upside down.
"i wouldn't change it for the world" max said, holding her cheek with her hand.
max dropped her hand to her shoulder as joyce came over to them. "lis, promise you'll keep will safe while we're gone?" she requested, fidgeting with her hands. "of course!" she answered. joyce wrapped her arms around them both, mumbling a quick thank you then something about going to speak to hopper. as she left, she turned to them. "you two make a good couple, you know?"
"i... well we're-" felicity began, but the taller girl simply slipped her hand into hers and beamed.
"max!" mike shouted over, "come help with el!"
"my god, can he do anything by himself?" she sighed, kissing lis on the cheek lightly before running to help eleven stand.
——
once again, the party found themselves piling into the car, with nancy and jonathan in the front. nancy turned the key as mike helped el sit down, but the engine only spluttered. "what's wrong?" jonathan wondered, leaning over to try the key himself, but with no success. "i... i don't know?"
"didn't your mom just buy this car?"
"yes. i'm sure it's fine!"
"did you leave the lights on?" will questioned. she gestured to the switch, "no!"
"well do we have gas?"
"yes! come on!" she turned the key again, but nothing worked any better than it did the first time. "woah, woah, stop. pop the hood," jonathan sighed, climbing out of the car, "i'll see what's wrong."
he swore. "the ignition cable's gone nance!"
"are you sure?" she asked, getting out to join him. in the distance, a car engine revved, distracting them from starting an argument about it. "shit!" nancy breathed, realising who was behind the wheel. "kids? back in the mall!"
she pulled open the door, will and Lucas practically falling out onto the concrete. "back in the mall! go, go!" there was no time to question what it was they'd seen, they party sprinted back into starcourt.
——
"scoops troop, do you copy?" mike said into the silver walkie talkie. "i repeat, scoops troop, do you copy? we're trapped in the mall and in need of emergency transportation. scoops troop, do you copy? billy has found us and disabled our car, we are trapped in the mall..."
"you're going to kill him, aren't you?"
max asked matter of factly to nancy who was loading a gun on the floor. "no, this is just a precaution, ok?" she reassured. max got the impression she was lying.
"it's not just a precaution against billy, if he knows we're here then so does the mind flayer" will reminded her. she nodded, looking around the mall, anywhere instead of at the gun. her eyes landed on the car eleven had flipped earlier. "hey, there's no chance that thing will drive, right?" jonathan's eyes lit up with an idea. "we don't need it to drive, we just need the ignition cable! come on!"
under his orders, they arranged themselves on the sides of the car and began to push it. the upturned car didn't move an inch. they tried again, sweating with the force, but still only managed to raise it a few inches. "shit..." Steve cursed as they dropped it back down, "what do we do now?"
"let me try" el said, limping over.
"el..." mike protested breathlessly, but it was no use. "i can do it."
——
eventually, the group managed to turn the broken car back up the right way -a joint effort of el's powers and shoving it with stools from a nearby restaurant. no one stopped to question why eleven needed the extra help, putting it down to how tired she must have been, but when she immediately ran to a nearby trash can felicity realised perhaps they had been wrong to just brush it off. "what is she doing?" max muttered, watching as she began rooting through the trash and pulled out an empty can. "i have no idea..."
they decided to go and investigate. there was a feeling of dread spreading through felicity, but she wasn't sure if that was because she was worried for eleven or for another reason. "el?" max shouted, causing her to loose her concentration on whatever she was doing with the can and look up. suddenly it dawned on lis that there was a muffled crashing sound outside. "wait..." she breathed, looking up at the glass ceiling.
it was beginning to warp and crack, the individual glass panes threatening to break at any moment. she was oddly entranced by it all. the feeling of knowing that something terrible was about to happen yet you had no power to stop it or alter it. "come on!" el called, grabbing her hand and sprinting in the direction of a nearby store. she looked back to see the mind flayer come crashing through the glass and land in the middle of the mall.
——
max, eleven, mike and felicty found themselves pushed up against a seafood stand. i mean, of all places to die this is one of the worst, felicity thought to herself. they could hear every step the mind flayer took, it's slimy arms making a sickening squelch as they connected with the cold floor. it was coming closer and closer, then stopped. there was a much quieter squishing sound, what they could only assume was the piece eleven had removed rejoining the body.
the mind flayer moved sluggishly around the mall, throwing around chairs and tables in its path. "it's turned away!" mike hissed, "if we go up the stairs now we can make it!"
"what, no way, not with el's leg" max pointed out. "we have to try at least!"
"there's another way to get out," eleven cut in, "through the gap!" mike poked his head up from behind the counter again. "okay, now?"
the four sprinted as quietly as the broken glass would let them. perhaps this was it, perhaps they could escape and this would all be ok? felicity let her thoughts distract her as she tripped over a step into a shop. no time to stop, she carried on running towards the back despite the shooting pain in her calf and foot. "here!" mike called, practically yanking her to the floor behind a stand.
it was too quiet. they knew the mind flayer was following them, yet it hadn't seemed to have found them, there seemed to be absolutely no movement in the store. they almost jumped out of their skin when a fleshy arm threw a mannequin at the wall. to their shock it was wearing the same shirt as eleven. a tentacle-like hand snaked it's way around the corner, literally feet from mike's head. felicity squeezed her eyes shut and grabbed onto max's arm.
seconds before the mind flayer could strike, a loud clatter from the opposite side distracted it. it roared and quickly retracted its arm, chasing after the source. "let's go!"
——
"shit, this way, come on!" max called, turning the corner. she almost didn't recognise billy. he looked like he hasn't slept in days, he was covered with sweat and blood stains, his car was on fire? the way he looked at her as she looked over her shoulder chilled her to the bone, he had the most demonic grin plastered on his face. she made sure press the button to shut the gate behind them.
they had no choice but to go back into the mall, cutting through the corridors of the delivery entrances. "ok, come on, come on!" mike pleaded, pressing the green 'open' button on the nearest door. "billy... billy you don't have to do this..." felicity hear max stammer, realising he'd followed them anyway. "billy! your name is billy Hargrove and you live on 4819 cherry lane," she remembered the way he had sobbed that it wasn't him when they performed the sauna test and hoped to god there was still some of him left. "billy please, i'm your-"
she had no time to finish as he struck her across the face. she crumpled to the floor and instantly felicity was at her side, "max? max! can you hear me?" she stirred in response, mumbling out an incoherent sentence. maybe it was the barely tolerable pain in her own ankle or pure terror that max might be hurt, but she was too preoccupied to notice billy carrying el's limp body away.
——
"what is that?" max groaned, sitting up. "max, oh my god!" felicity exclaimed, hugging her fiercely. now that she came to think of it, there were some loud, almost explosion, noises coming from not so far away, but she had no idea why or what it was. mike was beginning to wake up next to the west wall. "w-where's el?" he asked, rubbing the already forming bruise on his cheek. "where's el?" he repeated.
"i don't know, she must be out there!" she admitted, starting to cry.
"how did i let him take her?"
"there's not time to think about that, let's go find her" max said, kissing the top of her head.
"this way!" mike yelled. somehow, he had an almost photographic memory of the corridors and soon enough they were back in the big open centre of the mall. it took a while to locate the small girl in the midst of the smoke and rubble, but felicity felt her jaw drop when she did. eleven was on the floor, but billy stood in front of her. he was blocking the mind flayer from getting to her!
they watched as six arms reached out, picking him up off the floor as blood leaked onto his dirty tank top. black liquid poured out of the corner of his mouth, making him choke a little. the mind flayer drew it's head nearer to him, exposing another head in the middle of its rows of teeth. max seemed to see in slow motion as the head plunged forwards and right into the centre of his chest. "BILLY!" she screamed, not knowing if he could hear her.
from the moment billy hit the floor, the mind flayer seemed to deteriorate.
it flailed around, hitting the railings of the upper floor in one last surge of energy, then sank to the floor like a deflated balloon.
max found herself running to her step brother. she felt totally numb, all she could do was whisper "billy, billy get up, please, billy, you have to get up, please" through her tears.
"i'm sorry," he wheezed, "i'm sorry maxime."
"no, no, no, no! billy stay awake, get up, please..."
"be happy for me" he smiled. it was barely audible, but by now max was kneeling close to him. "billy!" she sobbed, shaking his shoulders lightly, "billy, please!"
she collapsed into felicity's arms, sobbing heartbreakingly loudly. "i'm sorry," she soothed. "it's ok, it's ok..."
——
"el, you need to stay here- where are you going?" mike called. the party were sat in various fire trucks and ambulances wrapped in blankets. "she's going to joyce..." felicity pointed, spotting her with will in the crowd. she saw joyce envelope her in a tight embrace and knew it was bad news.
——
3223 words!!
the longest and last full chapter :(
i cried writing this
feel free to vote and comment!
~ bee 💜