"Okay, let's split up" Nancy announced once they arrived at the school.
"What? That's a terrible idea" Steve stated.
"Let's just hurry up and find them" Karmen insisted, as she ran off towards the kitchens, as Nancy and Jonathan ran to the gym.
"Woah, wait!" Steve exclaimed, as he reached out and pulled Karmen back behind a wall.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Karmen questioned, as he held her back.
She then realised just how close they were, as she felt his breath tickling her forehead, and his hand against her wrist.
"Look…soldiers" Steve gestured to the vans outside the school.
"They're already here" Karmen realised.
"Come on, we can go in the back way" Steve suggested.
Once they got to the door they found it was unsurprisingly locked, as Steve began trying to break the lock.
"I've got this" Karmen smirked, as she moved Steve out of the way.
She raised her palm and within a second, a small orb had formed which she sent flying towards the lock, which instantly exploded, pushing the door open.
"Woah…" Steve trailed off, as he followed her into the building.
"You go that way, I'll go this way…we meet back in the middle" Karmen told him, as he nodded.
She hadn't gotten far when she spotted dead bodies on the floor, but she could tell it wasn't the monster that had killed them. They had blood pouring out from all over their faces.
"Eleven" Karmen gasped, when she saw the small girl in the grip of Dr. Brenner.
"Let her go!" Karmen exclaimed, picking up a gun from a nearby soldier.
The remaining soldiers all turned around and aimed at her, as Dr. Brenner merely spared her a glance.
"You're not going to shoot me, Six. You're not a killer" Dr. Brenner reasoned.
"Do you really want to bet your life on that?" Karmen asked, as she turned off the safety on her gun.
She spotted Mike, Dustin and Lucas were all being restrained by soldiers behind Dr. Brenner, as they gave her worried looks. She lowered her gun to level Dr. Brenner's head, and looked him dead in the eye. He could tell she wasn't bluffing. Gritting his teeth, the old man let Eleven go, who instantly rushed into Karmen's arms.
"And them too" Karmen insisted, gesturing to the boys.
With a nod of his head, the three boys were let go, quickly rushing over to the pair. Suddenly all the lights around them started flickering wildly, as everyone looked around them.
"Blood" Mike mumbled.
"What?" Lucas queried.
"Blood!" Mike insisted.
"Oh shit" Karmen gasped, as she turned around.
The wall behind them began to crumble, as the familiar shriek of the monster could be heard. Karmen started to back up, as the clawed hand of the creature reached through the wall.
"Demogorgon" Dustin gulped.
The soldiers instantly went on the defensive, shooting at the monster, but Karmen knew it would do no good.
"Come on!" Karmen cried, as she lifted Eleven into her arms to carry her, slinging the gun around her shoulder.
"Run! Run!" The boys screamed, as they ran away.
Karmen looked back to see the monster had jumped onto Dr. Brenner, happy that the old man was finally getting his comeuppance. She didn't stay to watch the rest. They quickly ran into a classroom, hoping they would be safe from the creature there, but Karmen expected otherwise.
"Let's get her onto the table" Karmen advised, as Dustin and Lucas helped her, supporting Eleven's head.
"Just hold on a little longer, okay? He's gone. The bad man's gone. We'll be home soon, and my mum…she'll get you your own bed. You can eat as many Eggos as you want. And…we can go to the Snow Ball" Mike told Eleven, taking her hands in his.
"Promise?" Eleven sniffled.
"Promise" Mike exclaimed, stroking her hands.
Karmen had to restrain herself from 'awing' at the adorable pair in front of her. She hadn't realised just how much Mike seemed to care about Eleven. Before anyone could say anything else, there was a loud roar from outside the door.
"Stay back" Karmen warned them, as she pushed the kids behind her.
They heard gunfire for a few more seconds, when suddenly it came to a stop. Karmen felt her hands tremble, as she listened out for any noise.
"Is…Is it dead?" Dustin asked.
"Why did you say that?!" Karmen sighed, knowing Dustin had just jinxed them.
"Sorry" Dustin said, with a small shrug,
Karmen jumped out of her skin when the door was ripped off it's hinges and the creature dropped through, only a few seconds later.
"Use the gun! Use the gun!" Mike screeched, as Karmen bit her lip.
"I actually have no idea how to use one of these things…What? I grew up in England" Karmen replied, when they all gave her a look.
"Get the wrist rocket out, now!" Dustin shouted, as they started searching through his jacket.
"Go, go, go!" Mike screeched.
As the boys pelted the creature with rocks, Karmen saw the creature was not fazed by this at all. She took a step forward and pushed the flailing boys behind her.
"You guys need to run, now. I'll distract it" Karmen told them.
"What?! No way" Mike insisted.
"Go, now! Don't look back, just run" Karmen exclaimed, as she began pushing the boys to the side.
"We can't leave you here!" Dustin frowned.
"I'll be fine. Honestly. Just go" Karmen nodded, at the sadly.
She began to approach the creature as the boys started to flee from the classroom. She raised her hand as an orb that she had been creating for the last minute began to glow. With a scream, she threw it with all her might at the creature. It was blasted backwards, as she fell to her knees, exhausted from using that sort of power. As she looked up she was horrified to see that the monster had a gaping hole in it's chest…but it was still coming for her. She began crawling away as it loomed over her, drooling all over her legs. Karmen felt her heart stop for a moment, when it opened it's face to show its razor sharp teeth. Suddenly it's large clawed hand hit her in the head, as everything faded to black.
Karmen shot upright as she woke up, her heart pounding as she remembered the last thing she saw. She found out she was still in the same classroom and frowned as she saw the boys around her. She opened her mouth to speak, but it turned into a gasp as she saw Eleven walking towards the creature, that she had pinned up against the wall.
"Goodbye, Mike" Eleven whispered, as she turned around the face them.
"El, stop!" Karmen shouted, as she stood up, but Eleven used her powers to stop her.
"Thank you…for always being my friend" Eleven smiled at her, as she turned to face the monster.
"Please don't do this! El!" Karmen insisted, as she struggled against the invisible force holding her in place.
Eleven let out an ear-splitting cry as she raised her hand towards the monster, and it began to disintegrate in front of her. Soon the dust of the creature surrounded her, as Karmen was suddenly let go by the invisible force. She dropped to her knees when she saw Eleven was nowhere to be seen.
"No, no, no…" Karmen cried, as she put her hand to her mouth.
Later that night, Will had been found by Hopper and Joyce, much to everyone's relief. He was quickly taken to the hospital, where everyone, and their parents came to see if the young boy would be all right. Jonathan came in a couple of hours later to tell them he had woken up, as the boys rushed into see their friend. Karmen followed them, laughing at their ecstatic faces as they began to bombard Will with information. She noticed Jonathan smiling fondly at the scene next to her, and felt her heart flip over momentarily, before shaking her head. That was something she needed to get over. Quickly. She started to leave the room when she heard someone call out her name. Karmen was shocked when she saw it was Will.
"You know who I am?" Karmen frowned.
"Yeah, I saw you, only for a few seconds when I was in…that place. I heard you when you were looking for me. Thanks" He smiled at her, as she nodded.
"I'm glad you're okay" She grinned at him, before leaving the room.
She let out a deep breath as she exited the hospital, finding the cool night air refreshing against her skin.
"Hey" A voice mumbled from beside her, as she turned to see none other than Steve Harrington.
"Hey…what are you still doing here?" Karmen inquired.
"I was going to wait for Nancy but…she's staying with Jonathan" Steve shrugged.
"Oh…" Karmen trailed off.
"Do you want a lift home?" Steve questioned.
"Yeah…Thanks" She smiled at him, as they began to walk in unison.
Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! And so the friendship between Steve and Karmen will begin to grow, and hopefully be sickeningly adorable. Steve is still going to be trying to get over Nancy for a while, and so is Karmen over Jonathan. Please leave a review:)
LIsa: I thought about that for a bit, but I think it will work better with Karmen thinking Eleven's gone, for now at least. Thanks for the review!
uNICOrnDIANGELO: Steve being protective is always cute, and yeah I think his motherly instincts probably were kicking in, haha. I'm really glad you think I'm adding Karmen into the story well, as that's always really difficult. Thank you so much for the review:)
tazsgirl6969: Here's the new chapter, I hope you like it:)
Micky-Moo: Thanks for having faith, haha. I'm really looking forward to adding Billy and Max into this story. I think Karmen will interact with Billy more as their similar ages, but the siblings are going to change things up a little. Karmen's going to hit it off really well with Max. With Billy...not so much, haha. Thank you for the review:)
