"Anybody getting a strong urge to make a run for it?"
Lucas' words fell on deaf ears as the group pulled back from the view of Billy's camaro in the parking lot, tensions rising high. Instead of gaining a response from his friends, he was greeted with a distant rumble.
All attention averted upwards, the ground becoming unsteady beneath their feet as the heavy rumble grew closer.
"Showtime," Tate whispered, fists clenching tight before releasing. She grabbed a rifle from one of the food court tables and tossed it to Nancy swiftly. "Everybody ready for phase one?"
Although the genuine answer was no, the group split off in their respective pairings.
The glass ceiling above them began to crackle, heartbeats thrumming high.
Mike and Eleven shared a frantic but lasting kiss before he was dragged off by Will, joining Lucas and Max at the base of the escalators where they would hide before phase two was initiated.
Eleven, Nina, Tatum, Jonathan and Nancy scattered to the exterior of the main floor, all armed respectively as they formed a wide circle, staring up at the skylight ceiling that was threatening to shatter from the weight of the creature above.
Nina retrieved a dual set of glock pistols from the back of her jeans, the imprinted number on her wrist coming to light as the sleeves of her tattered jacket pulled up.
Her heart was the steadiest of them all.
Holding her own rifle at the ready, Tatum sent Eleven an assuring nod as an unsettling snarl greeted them.
"This is insane. We're all going to die."
"Not helping, Mike!" Tate called, flicking the safety off of the M4 and resting it against her shoulder.
"Shit, sorry."
The glass above let out an incohesive scream as the weight became too much, the Mind Flayer curdling in victory as it collapsed beneath him, dropping his massive, spider-like body into the center of the mall.
The illuminated Starcourt sight swung on a cord as the rafting was severed, sending the lights into a panicked flicker as dust from the cracked floor fogged up the ground.
The Mind Flayer, triumphantly larger than before, let out a shriek as it bared a hundred rows of teeth. Its neck craned around, unsettled gargles and chitters emitting from his gaping mouth.
It can't see, El said, voice forcing its way into Tatum's head.
Tatum held a finger up her lips, eyes scanning the floor and making eye contact with those she could as they all remained at their posts.
Towering endlessly, the Mind Flayer slowly moved around, scanning the floor plan and missing those hiding in plain sight. A long, limb like hand stretched out from the base of the body, slinking around the floor and dodging the cracked and shattered concrete benches as it searched for something to eat.
Tatum's finger hovered over the trigger, sweat lining her brow as she raised the barrel of the machine gun toward the beast with its back turned.
It was when the scouring hand got too close to the safety of the escalators that she screamed.
"Open fire!"
A barrage of gunshots rang out, four of five key players shooting the screeching Mind Flayer and drawing it back from the escalators to center stage.
Tatum let out a scream against the raging in her ears, the sound of open fire and the wailing of the beast shredding the fabric of her brain. She reloaded another magazine of bullets, the tactic spread out to keep the sound going and maintain the Mind Flayer's attention.
It was under that deafening sound that the opening of the mall door was missed.
"Phase Two!" Tatum wailed, voice hoarse as she fought over the sound.
Under the panicked running of the younger party dashing for their positions on the second floor and the focus of shooting up a royally pissed Mind Flayer, Eleven's distress was missed.
"Get ready, El!" Tate shouted without shooting a glance in the girl's direction, firing as she dodged a swinging limb of the Mind Flayer.
"I'm out!" yelled Jonathan, flipping the weapon over in his hands and swinging it at a limb grappling for him. He yelped as a serrated tooth buried deep in his skin, slicing the head with a hunting knife before bolting to Nancy still firing off a well-stocked rifle.
"Don't be afraid. It will be over soon."
Tatum's eyes grew wide as she hit her trigger, no blast jamming against her shoulder and instead allowing her to hear a familiar voice. "Me too!" She glanced to either side of her, Nina on her right still shooting from the cover of a food stand while an empty spot remained on her left. "Eleven?" She gasped as a limb swung close, sending her staggering backwards to the glass entry doors.
It was her glimpse out the window that told her Billy's headlights were no longer on.
"Where is El?" Tate batted away the gruesome looking limb with her rifle, bolting to Nina as it was snatched out of her hands and tossed clear across the food court. "Where did she go?" she asked, catching her breath as she brandished the hunting knife she'd used to cut El's leg open.
Nina shook her head, appearing much older than thirteen as she fired off with no mercy against the wailing beast. "I was a little busy!" she called over the noise, war torn eyes not meeting her sister's. Her demeanor changed, looking to her spent pistols as she was left without ammunition.
A silence coated the room as Nancy's gun went out, every bullet on hand lodged inside of a crippled but still fighting Mind Flayer.
"Now!" Tatum called overhead, voice ringing out in the void. She squeezed Nina's shoulder, lowering her voice as the first firecracker sounded from the second level. "Go now," she told her, pushing her in the direction of the stairs.
"Flay this, you ugly piece of shit!" Lucas screamed, launching a lit flare into the Mind Flayer's mouth, where it burst with joy.
Tatum met Jonathan and Nancy halfway, ushering them to follow Nina. "Upstairs."
"What about you?" Nancy asked, sweat pouring down her face and her heart racing a mile a minute.
"I don't know where El went. I think Billy took her," she replied, forcing both of them towards the inactive stairs. "Go! I'll be fine!"
Fireworks celebrated the Fourth of July overhead, earning welching screams from the Mind Flayer as it grappled for something to hit, only to be disoriented each time it tried.
It was working.
"Hey asshole, over here!" Mike screamed from above, perfectly unaware that his girlfriend was missing.
Tatum ignored the gash on her arm as she ran a circle around the base floor of the mall, scanning desperately for any sign of movement that wasn't coming from the attack on Azathoth, dodging thick, staggering legs as it strived for balance but failed miserably.
It was a clinking of metal from one of the retail stores that drew in her out of the range of fire. "Billy?" she called, voice nearly turning to a sing-song out of pure exhaustion.
One of Eleven's shoes poked out from behind a rack of clothes, the teen unconscious on the checkered floor.
It was the groaning of Billy that sent her to the back of the shop.
Black veins coursed at the surface of Billy's body, the boy no longer keeping Eleven safe for the taking, but instead reacting violently in time with the offset of each firework being fed to the physical Mind Flayer just fifty feet away.
"Billy."
The brunet let out a staggered scream, back pulsing as the sensation of destruction filled his body. He slowly turned over his shoulder, face clenched in pain.
"We're almost out!" Lucas screamed from above, their firework supply diminishing.
"Dustin, we're out of time!" shouted Nancy over the last surviving walkie talkie.
Instead of being met with the doting face of Tatum as he turned, Billy was met with an elbow to the nose.
"Eleven!" Tate yelled over her shoulder as she caught Billy, rendered unconscious in her arms. She staggered backwards, holding up his weight as she began to drag him out of the back room. "El!"
"I'm here," she whimpered as Tate reached her, slowly climbing up from the ground. "What do we do?"
"We keep going," Tatum replied walking backwards as she dragged Billy's body from the store and back onto center stage. "Feeling up to it?"
"I don't know if I can do it." Eleven followed Tatum faithfully albeit her pained leg, blood still seeping through her bandages. She had earned a limp, but ignored the shooting strains.
Tatum pulled the knocked-out Billy to an open space on the main floor where the Mind Flayer had yet to tear up the ground, still squealing in the pit just in front of them under the attacks of fireworks. "You can. I know you can." She lifted her head. "Nina!"
"Ready!" Nina echoed from above as she began to descend that stairs, the cracks of the fireworks growing sparser.
Leaving Billy to the side, Tatum leaned down in front of El, cupping her cheeks lovingly. "We can do this. We can. They close the gate, and the three of us unleashing hell on the ugly mouth breather, okay? Once it's almost done, I get it out of Billy. Then it's over."
"Then it's over," Eleven softly repeated, a tear running down her cheek.
"Hey," Tate wiped the tear from her face, "no time for tears."
Eleven let out a scream as Tatum was pulled from her arms, Billy slamming the brunette to the ground beneath him.
Tatum held a finger in Eleven's direction as Billy loomed over her, pinning her to the floor with hate in his eyes. Her chest heaved as the sound of fireworks ceased overhead, eyes tracing Billy's as the Mind Flayer's attention slowly drew to them.
"The song," she coughed out, still scouring for the air that had been knocked out of her. "The song that was playing the car when you first got here. AC/DC." She drew in a deep breath, arms pressed painfully to the ground under Billy's weight.
An uncertain expression crossed Billy's pained face, jaw tightening. "I won't let you do it again. You can't have him."
"I had him long before you did," she replied without fear, swallowing hard.
The Mind Flayer chittered in impatience, mouth hanging wide with teeth bared to consume the world.
"Do you remember the first time you told me you loved me?" Tatum asked softly. "'You Shook Me All Night Long' came on the radio in my room while we were doing homework. There was too much snow outside for you to drive home, so you stayed longer and risked the wrath of your father anyway. You were singing and I kept telling you to quiet down because my dad was home and didn't know you were there."
Billy's eyes let go of a hateful film they had gathered, heart racing as he kept her pressed harshly to the floor.
"You tried so hard to change the lyrics. Every time 'American thighs' came, you tried to wedge 'English' over it and it was so awful." She laughed softly, voice catching in her throat. "I couldn't stop laughing, and then it was you who was worried about my father hearing it."
"I love your laugh, but oh my god, you're going to get us caught!"
The memory coursed as clear as day through Tatum's head, an image of Billy tackling her on the bed, just the same as he was in that moment.
"I do. I do love your laugh. And-"
"I love you," Billy quietly uttered, grip loosening from her arms. He reached for the pendant around her neck, running a thumb along the saint he didn't believe in worn by the girl he trusted the most.
Tatum raised a free hand to Billy's face, catching a tear before it could slip down his cheek. "I love you," she replied, in tune with the memory.
Nina skittered into view just shy of Eleven, pulling her arm to draw her back.
Tatum's eyes flickered from Billy's to her sisters, nodding before letting out an exertion of force and flipping Billy beneath her.
The scared, concerned eyes withdrew as Billy grew angry, growling in disbelief.
"It's closed!" Nancy screeched from above, gripping the radio tight.
On either side of Tatum, Nina and Eleven raised their hands towards the Mind Flayer as she turned her focus to Billy.
The nosebleeds on all three were immediate.
Nina and Eleven focused pained attention on the Mind Flayer, war cries emitting from them both as the blood drew heavier, the beast recoiling into itself under the excruciating damage.
Tatum, however, focused her hands on Billy, chest heaving as she forced hands above him, taunting Azathoth out of his head in a brutal battle.
The deep black veins began to ripple, coursing up through his legs and to his chest, fighting the hardest to stay brandished in his throat.
"You can't have him!" she screamed, tears of blood beginning to drip as she unleashed all she had.
A black plume of smoke ripped from Billy, billowing in a steady stream and darting towards his physical embodiment.
Billy coughed profusely as the last of the smoke left him, keeling over underneath Tatum before his head rolled to the side in defeat.
"You think you can defeat me?" a taunting voice boomed above.
"Tatum!" Nina barked, blood pouring from her nose and ears. "You just gave that thing a voice!"
Tatum jumped up from Billy, staggering back to Eleven and Nina, eyes wide as an omniscient voice crackled to life.
"He's still strong!" El called over the outward screeching, her own face marked with blood.
"Not for long," Tatum growled, brows lowering daringly as she raised her hands.
"I have ruled your lives for years. You wouldn't have life without me!" he snarled, voice alone shaking the ground around them.
Those above leaned over the second-floor balcony, hearts racing as fate played itself out below.
"I have seen your souls! I know how this ends! This world is mine!"
A outreaching limb plunged through Tatum's shoulder, the teen reacting not in scream of anguish but that of rage.
Tatum's feet began to lift off of the floor as the limb was forced out of her body, shredded to the side in retaliation. Blood poured from her nose and eyes, and now, her chest. Her screams echoed, eyes profound with determination.
Nina and Eleven's feet rose from the ground, joining their sister in arms in cries of war.
It was then that Billy – the real Billy – began to stir.
His eyes grew wide, not facing the beast but instead witnessing the three girls hovering in the air. He scampered underneath them, met with a view of the Mind Flayer as his back hit the wall.
He had the best seat in the house.
Another limb forced its way forward, surging into Tatum's side and drawing more blood than she had.
Nancy let out a heart wrenching scream as she collapsed against Jonathan, unable to tear her eyes away no matter how horrific the sight was.
"You don't decide our fate!" Tatum screamed through choked breaths, blood beginning to seep from the corner of her mouth as the teeth in her side were torn out by force, ripping it from not only herself but from the Mind Flayer.
Azathoth let out a blood curdling screech, his towering legs tightening in like a dying spider, rocking back and forth on its weight as his chest began to tear apart, ripping him in half before silence descended upon Starcourt, his body hitting the ground and causing tsunami of dust.
Nina and Eleven slowly lowered from their raised positions, but Tatum fell hard.
Tate's legs curled underneath her as she fell onto her back, spitting up blood as her vision grew hazy.
Feet clattered from above, the party on the second-floor racing over one another to reach the destroyed main level of the mall, desperate to get to her.
"Tatum!" Billy skidded from his safe place against the wall, reaching her before Nina or Eleven could loom over her. "Hey, hey." He tilted her chin, eyes flooded with tears. "Stay with me."
Nina tore off her jacket, pressing it firmly against the gaping wounds of her shoulder and side, the green fabric soon worn with red.
Tate smiled softly as her name was echoed by the concerned party arriving at her side, the pain fleeting from her body as those she loved came in and out of focus.
The filtered sound of helicopters sounded overhead, engines of heavy military trucks nearing in the distance.
"It's okay," she said, spitting up blood as she coughed, smiling despite it all. She raised a hand to Billy's cheek, losing feeling in her fingers as she brushed the tears from his face.
Mike held Eleven tight, Max and Lucas doing the same as Jonathan kept protective arms around Will and Nancy.
Nina kept the pressure tight on Tatum's wounds, the color of her jacket now unknown under all of the red. Her panic remained as suppressed as she could manage, only allowing a few tears to escape as she worked tactically to stop the bleeding. "I just got here, Tate," she said as she secured her belt around Tate's chest, taking any donations of spare clothes to press against the gaping holes in her sister. "We have to see Dad, don't we? Right? You, me and Ben. The three of us."
"That would be nice," Tate replied quietly, her hand on Billy's face held warmly by his.
"And we still have to go surfing, remember?" said Billy. "We have to go to California."
Tate smiled sweetly, the color draining from her face. "We can find your mum."
"I've already found her," he told her. "She wants to meet you. She wants to meet the only girl I've ever loved."
Her smile grew, vision growing hazier as she searched for the brilliant blue she had fallen in love with. "Will you tell my parents I'm sorry?"
Billy pressed a kiss into her palm. "Tell them yourself."
"I should have told him he was right about Nina," Tate said, her blinking beginning to slow. "I shouldn't have made him stop looking for you."
"I'm here now, Tate. That's all that matters," Nina assured. "Hang in there, okay? There are lights outside. People are coming to help."
"They're a little late to the party," she mused with a smile, disrupted by a bloody cough that she shoved away. "A bunch of teenagers took down that ugly bastard."
"Tatum, hey," Billy kissed her hand again. "Keep your eyes open."
"Over here! We need help!" Mike shouted as the mall doors busted open, the sound of heavy footfall piling in.
"See? They're here," Nina told her, using her sleeve to wipe as much blood from Tatum's face as she could, ignoring her own tears. "They're here. Just hang on."
Tatum coughed through her words, the collar of her shirt spattered with blood. "Tell Steve...tell him that, that I'm a better babysitter than he is."
A miserable laugh rang over the group, the smiles on all of their faces wet with tears.
"Tatum!" Ben's voice cracked over the room as he burst past the line of arms guards, sliding to her knees in front of her and followed in close pursuit by Joyce, who wrapped her children tight.
Nancy brushed her tears as she tore from the group, shouting fervently at the soldiers looming by the entrance of the mall. "We need a medic!"
"You came back," Tatum said as Ben's face came into view, humming warmly to herself.
"Of course I came back, kid." Ben frantically searched Nina and Billy's eyes for help, but they were out of options.
And they were out of time.
"Where's Hopper?" she asked, her breathing growing more ragged by the second.
"He'll be here," Joyce assured sadly, Will bundled in her arms.
Hopper wasn't coming.
Tatum had grown to a stark white, blood wading around her in a puddle that was beginning to cease. She swallowed hard, her voice low. "I told my dad that I didn't want to move here in the beginning." A small trace of a smile met her red tinged lips. "But then I wouldn't have met all of you. I would have been so bored if I hadn't moved to Hawkins."
"Tate," Billy said as his voice cracked, "keep your eyes open."
"It's okay."
"Nothing about this is okay," he replied, sweeping a wisp of hair from her face. "Just stay with us. We're all here."
"That's why it's okay," Tate assured softly. "You're all here, and I'm not scared. I'm not."
Ben's hand wrapped around hers, squeezing it tight. "You've never been scared of anything. That's your superpower."
Tate laughed, letting it fade before she began coughing again. "I've got more superpowers than that, big bruv."
The wheels of an EMT's gurney screeched along the broken path to them, several men shuffling in their direction.
Tatum's perfect hearing was diminishing, car exhaust and helicopter propellers falling silent. She smiled, Billy's face coming into focus. "I kept you safe."
"You did," Billy said, voice catching his throat as he kissed her hand repeatedly. "You did."
"You kept us all safe, Tate," said Mike, El pressed tight to his chest as tears streamed down their faces. "We're alive because of you."
"That's all that matters."
Tatum's chest took a last rise, her eyes taking in the shining moon above as her breath seeped out slow.
Screams and cries of anguish echoed through the mall, the pain surpassing that of what the Mind Flayer had caused.
The weight of the beast was gone, but what they got in return was so much worse.
Tatum Rivers was dead.