꒰꒰・┄┄・𓆩♡𓆪・┄┄・꒱꒱
"SUMMER, HELP US!" Max cries out as she sees the older girl running towards them. Both herself and Mike were struggling to carry Eleven as she limped across the pavement.
"We don't have long until the others get back so we have to hurry!" Summer frets and rushes to their aid, taking over from Max in the hopes that she could help the girl move a bit faster.
As the four of them reach the electric gate created by the Russians to keep everyone out of the loading dock, Max notices Billy emerging from the fiery mess that was now his car. Smoke sizzled up into the air and a crackling sound ensued but he so much as brushed himself down, without a care in the world for the car he supposedly loved more than anything, before storming towards them.
"Shit, go back! Go back!" Max says with fear and pushes the button to close the gate as the others race back towards the mall. Summer practically carries El now, trying to create as much space between them and the captivated boy as she could.
However, their attempt to hold him off with the gate does not go as planned and he stops it just before it fully closes. With the strength he now possessed from being flayed, he pushes the metal bars open with ease and slides through.
Running as fast as they possibly could, Mike leads them the way they had come - right back to The Gap. Except now, unfortunately for them, the door had locked from the other side, stopping them from entering and creating a dead end.
They try to push and pull the door open but it was no use. There was no way of getting the door open without either a key or some sort of an electric tool. But the worst part was that Billy had found them.
With fear streaming through her, Max steps out into the hall, tears pricking at her eyes as she watches her brother advance toward them like some kind of serial killer.
"Billy. Billy you don't have to do this. Billy." The redhead pleads. "Your name is Billy Hargrove. You live on 4819 Cherry Lane. Billy, please, I'm Max, I'm your–"
Though the words coming from the girl fall on deaf ears and the boy doesn't even hesitate before hitting her, knocking his little sister unconscious. Her body falls limp to the floor and Mike runs out to see if she's okay only to be shoved into the wall and knocked out cold too.
Summer stands protectively in front of El, her arm out as though it were a shield and the two retreat backwards against the door. She clenches a fist as Billy appears in the doorway, his muscles taut and hair a tangled mess.
He takes a step inside the smaller room and for the first time, Summer sees the magnitude of what the Mind Flayer had done to him. Dark tendril-like veins etched across his skin as if they had latched onto him and refused to let go. A pang of guilt develops in Summer but Billy wasn't himself right now and he was dangerous.
"Billy, this isn't you. Please." Summer begs but he doesn't so much as blink at her.
Instead, he moves forward with a raised hand, completely apathetic, and when he brings it down to collide with her cheek he stops. The palm of his hand remains only a centimetre away from her skin and he reaches for her hair, grabbing a good chunk of it and yanking her towards him.
"Leave her alone!" El shouts, tears streaming down her face and she raises her arm at him, but he simply swats it away and hits her, knocking her unconscious as well.
"As for you," He tugs harder on Summer's hair, a devilish grin now present. "He's been waiting for this moment for a long time."
Then she too is consumed with darkness as he throws her into the wall, her head bouncing off the plaster and she falls into a slump on the ground.
When she comes to, she's not exactly sure how much time had passed but it didn't feel like too long. Her head thumps from the blow and her skin feels cold against the tiled floor. Her eyes slowly flutter open and she lets out a gasped cry when she sees Billy kneeling over her.
"I hoped it would be you who woke first." He traces a finger along the edge of her jaw and down to her scar, taking in the smooth feel of the damaged skin and how the light reflected off of it.
"Don't touch me." She snarls, teeth clenched together and moves her head to the side. Annoyed by her actions, he cups her face with one hand, fingers digging into the hollows of her cheeks, and forcefully makes her look at him.
Next to Summer, El lay on the floor, her eyes flickering open slowly as she too takes in the scenery. Billy pulls himself off of Summer and kneels between the two, his features growing darker than they had been only seconds ago.
He looks up at the ceiling and then back down at the girls. "Don't be afraid. It'll be all over soon. Just try to stay... very still."
His threat-filled words spark something in Summer and she lunges herself at him, trying to shove him away from El but he throws her into the marble beam almost as if it were nothing. The force of the blow sends her to her knees, the air knocked out of her lungs and she struggles to breathe.
The world spins as she looks back at the blond, trying desperately to breathe but only managing to suck in the tiniest bit of air.
El remains still on the ground - frozen with fear - as the Mind Flayer stomps across the roof.
"I thought you'd understand by now." Billy shakes his head with disappointment and then kneels down next to Summer, pulling her hair downwards so that she stares up at him. "Don't you get it? You're linked to him too. Ever since that night you had your pretty little neck shredded to pieces, a small part of you has always belonged to him!"
Summer grits her teeth. "You're lying."
"Oh, Summer. You're the one that got away and he doesn't like that. You know deep down that you should've died that night... but you didn't. And now he's come to collect."
"Go fuck yourself." She spits in his face, her saliva landing on his cheek.
Irritated, Billy wipes the substance away and then tugs on her hair harder causing her to yelp in pain. He then moves close enough that she can feel his breath on her skin, getting right up in her face.
"If you're not going to listen to me then what do you say we get someone else to come give it a shot, hey?" He lets go of her hair and her head falls between her shoulders.
Summers attention zones in and out as she tries to hold herself up, sweat dripping down her forehead from the feeling of nausea and her vision begins to blur. She blinks a few times - everything hazy - and when she manages to focus she's met with a very familiar face.
Her lips tremble as she lets out a painful gasp, not wanting to believe her eyes. ".....Mom." She cries, tears stinging her eyes as she stares at the hollow shell the woman had become.
Helene kneeled before her daughter, her skin riddled with the same dark veins and eyes clouded behind shadows. Her hair was a little matted and sweat coated her forehead but it was still Helene. She was still even wearing her doctor's coat with the new name tag Summer had made her.
"Listen to me, Summer." The woman's voice was different, monotoned if you will. "You are one of us, a part of him. So join us and we can be together... forever." She points to the roof where the Mind Flayer had begun its descent back down into the mall.
Billy stands proud next to El, her leg making it almost impossible for her to move. He stares up at the monster as if waiting for its approval while Helene looked at it as if it were her pride and joy.
"He says my time has come." Helene sighs happily and stands to her feet abruptly. She removes the coat from off her back, drops it to the floor, fluffs her hair a little and then offers her daughter a hand. "Come with me, Summer."
"What? Mom, what are you talking about?" The amount of dread and fear rushing through Summer was agonizing.
Wide-eyed, she watches as her mother moves to stand next to Billy and the two share a knowing look, a look of understanding.
"Mom! Stop! Summer shouts, coughing as she pulls herself up to her feet and hobbles in their direction. "Mom, please! Don't do this!"
"It is my calling, child. Just like it is yours." Helene takes one last look at Summer before stepping towards the Mind Flayer and, just like out of a horror movie, the woman's body starts convulsing with each step until she's nothing but a pile of flesh and bone, meshing together with the creature.
Summer lets out an earth-shattering scream and falls to her knees, unable to process what she had just seen or the fact that she had just lost her mother. Her throat tightens and aches as she cries, her chest feeling restricted as the oxygen struggles to enter her lungs.
Eleven wraps her arms around the girl, holding her as she screams out in agony and the Mind Flayer begins to move towards them. It opens its mouth where a smaller tendril crawls out, snaking its way through the air and in the direction of El.
"Get away from her!" Summer sobs and pulls herself back up to her feet and stands protectively in front of the girl. "You wanna kill someone, kill me! Go ahead, you fucking asshole!"
The extended tendril moves towards her -inspecting her - and then backs up as if it were about to attack when, out of nowhere, a firework goes off, letting out a loud bang and an array of colours as it hits the Mind Flayer in the back. Billy hunches over in pain, the black veins thickening on his shoulder, showing just how intense the connection between himself and the creature truly was.
"Flay this you ugly piece of shit!" Lucas shouts from the second level of the mall and throws another firework right into its mouth.
"Hey, asshole! Over here!" Summer hears Steve yell and then spots him throwing a firework. A tear-filled smile breaks upon her lips just to know that he was there. It gave her a little more strength and made her feel that little bit more whole.
Billy grunts and hisses in pain as more fireworks hit the Mind Flayer and Summer sees it as an opportunity to get El away.
From the side of her eye, El sees Summer gesturing for her to crawl away and with each of them keeping an eye on Billy, the two of them slowly start to back away. The older girl offers the other a hand once they're side by side and as she's about to get El on her feet Billy knocks Summer over and she lands with a thud.
With one hand clasped around Eleven's leg, he viciously grabs a hold of Summer's wrist and drags the two of them back to the edge of the step, kneeling over them both with a hand pinning each of them down.
"Billy, stop." Summer heaves a sigh, her voice cracking from the sobs. "You're stronger than this. I know you are. Just let us go."
Summer knew it was useless trying to plead with the boy while he was under the control of the creature but something in his eyes changed and for a second he seems a lot more like his usual self.
"Seven...feet." El whimpers. "You told her... the wave was seven feet. You ran to her, on the beach. There were seagulls. She wore a hat... with a blue ribbon. A long dress with a blue and red flower. Yel-yellow sandals covered in sand. She was pretty. She was really pretty." The girl lifts a hand to his face, gently caressing his cheek as though to give him solace. "And you, you were happy."
The dark veins across his skin slowly begin to disappear as he leans into the girl's touch, closing his eyes and basking in the memory that El had brought back to the surface of his mind. The two girls watch as his eyes fill with tears, wetting his lashes and then falling.
Billy removes his hand from El and she sits up, ready to crawl away, but stops when he remains hovering over Summer. When he opens his eyes they're filled with regret, and despair, practically begging for forgiveness.
"Billy..." Summer sighs. "You're not someone else's puppet. You deserve better than that."
Though the boy wasn't too sure whether she was referring to the current situation or his home life, perhaps she meant both, but either way, he felt somewhat complacent.
Billy takes in a deep breath and then slowly leans down, pressing a kiss to the girl he had so wrongfully mistreated's forehead. It was a little ill-timed but for what the boy was about to do it seemed like now or never, and he knew he had wronged a lot of people, but Summer was one of his main victims and he needed her forgiveness.
"I'm so sorry." He whispers before pulling away, his expression twitching with guilt. He felt the worst about what had happened to Helene, especially given that he knew what it was like not to have a mom and whether he could've stopped it or not, he still played a role in the woman's death.
When he removes himself from her the two share a knowing look. Summer knew what was about to happen - what the boy was about to sacrifice and she knew that there was no stopping him. Billy wanted to go out like a hero, but most importantly, he wanted to prove that he wasn't anyone else's bitch.
The two girls quickly crawl away, sliding themselves back on the tiles as they watch the scene play out. The fireworks had begun to slow down, eventually stopping, and the Mind Flayer turns back to the edge of the step where Billy stood his ground.
The smaller tendril emerges once again and launches itself at the boy but he throws his hands up and catches the sides of its toothy mouth. He yells as he strains against its strength, holding it off for as long as he can only to have more tendrils snake out from the creature and circle him menacingly.
One of them advances on him and digs itself into his side. Then another. And another, until they had all latched onto him and lifted him into the air. Black blood pours from his mouth and he lets out one last scream before the mouth tendril rips right through his chest.
"Billy!" Max screams out from behind them.
His shirt soaks with blood and he's dropped to the floor as the Mind Flayer begins to spiral out of control. It crashes into the railing on the second floor and then falls to the ground in a heaping fleshy pile.
Mike and Max run out from behind, the boy immediately pulling El into his arms as Max stares down at her dying brother in shock.
Summer moves to Max's side and she cries at the sight of the boy. "Billy, Billy, get up, please. Billy, get up." She shakes him.
He lays, almost lifeless, coughing and choking on his own blood and then turns to look at the younger girl.
"I'm sorry." He whispers before exhaling sharply, letting out his last breath and then his face goes stiff. Emotionless.
Max shakes his limp body, begging for him to wake up but he was already too far gone. Summer takes one last look at the boy, brushing the front of his blond hair out of his face and then leans down to kiss his forehead, returning the gesture.
"You did good." She whispers.