Episode 7
Sorry, this update took so long. Being back at work takes a lot of my time. There is also so much happening in these next few episodes it is a little daunting to write. Here we go!
El shook with fear as she continued to sob in Mike's arms. This was all her fault, the mind flayer only wanted her.
"It's all my fault, its all my fault," She muttered.
The group looked on, unsure of what to do. Nancy locked eyes with her brother, she knew El needed him right now. She tilted her head towards the bathroom. Mike understood and nodded.
"Come here," Mike said gently helping El off the floor. "Let's get you cleaned up."
Max was about to offer herself for the job but was silenced by the way El leaned into Mike, wrapping her arms around his waist.
They slowly went into the washroom and closed the door. The party breathed a sigh of relief and continued to discuss what would happen next.
El sat on the edge of the bathtub and looked up at Mike, her breathing still panicked.
Mike picked up a washcloth and ran some warm water over it. He kneeled in front of El.
"May I?" He asked raising the cloth.
El just nodded, finally beginning to calm down once again.
"Whatever happened in there El," He said as he gently whipped the blood off her face. "We'll deal with it together."
"You guys shouldn't have to," El said as a single tear ran down her face. "All these attacks they're all because of me."
"That's not true," Mike said finishing up with the washcloth and taking her hands in his.
"Billy said the mind flayer is after me," El sighed. "It wants me and it won't stop."
Mike got a sinking feeling in his stomach, of course, it was after the most powerful thing that could destroy it.
"We aren't going to let that happen," Mike said confidently.
"I don't want anyone else to get hurt," El whispered looking down at the floor. "You guys don't have to do this all to protect me."
"El," Mike said taking her face in his hand. "We wouldn't be alive without you, you've saved us so many times."
El melted into his warm touch. This was the closest they have been since breaking up.
"No," El responded. "You'd be living normal lives without me. I opened the gate and the mind flayer wants me."
"Brenner made you open the gate," Mike argued. "It doesn't matter. I wouldn't change any of it now."
El raised an eyebrow.
"It brought you to us," Mike said simply. "We needed each other."
Mike watched as her mouth began to turn up into a small smile. His eyes inadvertently flicked back and forth between her eyes and her lips. Slowly they both began to lean forward.
Suddenly a knock on the door brought them back to reality.
"Mike is everything okay?" Nancy's voice called from the other side of the door.
"Yeah," Mike said clearing his throat. "Just a second."
Mike got up and put the washcloth away. El maneuvered around him to splash some water on her face.
"Better?" He asked when she looked into the mirror and saw him standing behind her.
"Yeah," She smiled sadly and opened the door to join the others.
She sat on the couch and everyone gathered around.
"I tried to get out of the void," El began to explain. "I was back here, in the cabin but no one was here."
"You were still in the void?" Lucas asked. "Is that why you were calling for Mike?"
"Yes," El said as her cheeks turned ever so slightly red. "Billy was there."
"He said he was building something," El continued just above a whisper. "that it was all for me."
"Building something?" Max said puzzled. "Is he talking about the flayed?"
"He must be," Nancy said.
"So he's building an army just like we thought," Lucas said pacing behind the couch.
"Yeah but he's not building this army to spread," Mike assured.
"He's building it to stop Eleven," Will confirmed.
"Last year El closed the gate on him," Mike recapped. "I have a feeling that really pissed him off."
"Like royally," Lucas agreed.
"And the mind flayer now knows that she's the only thing that can stop him," Mike said putting all the information together. "But if she's out of the way."
"Game over," Lucas said sadly.
"He also said," El continued cautiously. "He was gonna kill all of you."
Everyone's eyes widened as the reality of the situation sunk in. El felt terrible that she dragged her friends into this mess, but she felt they had the right to know what the mind flayer was planning.
"Oh well that's nice," Max sighed.
Suddenly Nancy went ridged in the corner. Everyone turned to look at her to see what was going on. She stepped closer towards the window silently.
"Do you guys hear that?" She asked.
Everyone listened but could hear nothing over the July 4th festivities.
"It's just the fireworks," Jonathan said gently.
"Billy," Nancy said quickly turning around to El. "When he told you this it was here, in this room?"
El nodded her head, unsure of what Nancy was trying to say. Suddenly they all heard what sounded like a crack of thunder in the distance of the forest.
El began to get a bad feeling when out of the corner of her eye she saw Will reaching for the back of his neck.
"He knows were here," Will said.
The group all got up and went outside without a word. They looked into the distance, seeing the town fireworks going off in the sky. Just then they could see the outline of a giant spider-like creature knocking down trees in its path. The monster was a hundred times bigger than the one at the hospital. Everyone's blood ran cold at the sight of it. El feared she wasn't strong enough to fight something so big. She knew she had to try, for the sake of her friends she had to give it all she had.
"Back inside!" Nancy yelled.
Once the group was back in the cabin they all looked lost.
"What do we do!?" Will asked.
"Reinforce everything," Jonathan said. "Push all the furniture against the doors and windows, block everything. Find anything you can to fight this thing off"
The group began to do just as he said. Nancy found a gun and Jonathan found an ax.
As El looked around she couldn't imagine what Hopper would say if he were here to see the cabin this way.
"Help me with this?" El asked Mike from across the room. They were moving the coffee table to block the window.
"Yeah that's good like that," Mike said as he and El put it in place.
"Hey get away from the windows," Nancy called to El and Mike breaking them out of the conversation.
They made their way back over to the group in the middle of the room. Everything went silent as they waited.
The cabin began to shake slightly with the footsteps of the Mind Flayer. Dishes began rattling, causing everyone to shake in anticipation along with them.
"It's close," Will said quietly.
Outside trees began to sway and the lights began to flicker. One of the mugs fell off the counter, causing it to crash to the ground. El jumped at the sound, walking backward and grabbing a hold of Mike's arm for only a moment.
All was quiet for a moment as if the monster was gone. They all waited, wondering what would come next. Without warning one of the Mind flayers tentacles came flying through the window into the cabin. The group scattered with a scream. El through out her arm pushing her friends behind her. She stood in awe of the creature in front of her, wondering what she could do to stop it.
Before she could do anything, Jonathan began hitting it with an ax. After the second time, the tentacle hit Jonathan, throwing him into the wall. As it threatened to get closer Nancy began shooting it with the rifle she had locked and loaded. This only made the monster angrier.
Once Nancy ran out of bullets she pushed herself into the wall, waiting for an attack that never came. The group looked over and saw it was El who was holding the monster back with her powers.
El used her powers to get the tentacle away from Nancy and rip off the end of it, causing the rest of it to fly away through the window.
"Holy shit," Max said with a sigh of relief.
The relief only lasted a second as another tentacle burst into the cabin. El was ready and caught it instantly, stopping it in its tracks. Then another came in through the opposite window. Mike began to panic, what if this was too much for El, how was she going to stop this giant monster?
El weighed her options quickly and took a deep breath. She used her strength to rip off the ends of both tentacles, once again they fled away.
Just as she was catching her breath suddenly the roof of the cabin came off in a swift motion. The group saw the mouth of the giant monster and a tentacle-like tongue came flying towards El. Within seconds it had her by the ankle, threatening to eat her.
Without even thinking Mike's body went into action, springing forward to grab El's arm. El began to scream as Mike strained to keep hold of her. The rest of the group joined in, trying to get El out of the grasp of the mind flayer.
Mike used every ounce of strength he had to keep hold of El. All he could think about were all the times he let her go, he couldn't let it happen again. He didn't care what happened, he could not let her go again.
"Nancy shoot it!" Jonathan yelled as Nancy tried to reload the gun.
As Nancy shot off the gun Lucas looked around to try and find a way to help. He spotted the ax and jumped up to try and cut El free.
Just as Mike feared they were losing their grasp on El Lucas managed to sever tentacle that had hold of her. The momentum sent the party falling to the ground. El landing in Mike's arms.
"El!" Mike said trying to brush some of the hair out of her face. "El you okay?"
Mike looked into her eyes, she looked exhausted. She nodded her head but he could tell something was wrong. She gripped her hand around the back on his neck, she didn't want to let him go, she had been so scared.
Mike looked down and saw the mind flayer was still attached to El's ankle. He got up and instinctively pulled it off, throwing it into the corner. He winced as El screamed, he knew it had to hurt, but he couldn't leave it attached to her.
As the mind flayer roared on in anger, Nancy tried to reload the gun again. Everyone was shocked when El mustered up the strength to stand, leg still bleeding. She eyed the monster with determination. She knew if she didn't try to kill it first it would succeed in killing her.
With all the strength she had left and let out a scream and used her powers to tear the mind flayer in two.
As she released, she tumbled backward into Max's arms.
"Go go go!" Everyone began to scream. This was their chance, now that the monster was wounded.
Mike raced over and put one of El's arms around his shoulder, Max took the other. They all rushed out to Nancy's car. As everyone piled into the car Mike helped El in as she groaned in pain. Mike essentially sat her on his lap in an attempt to get into the car faster.
"Drive!" he yelled to his sister as she closed the car door.
They sped away leaving the monster behind in the forest for now.
"It's okay," Mike tried to sooth El as she breathed heavily, trying not to cry out in pain.
"We need to get her help," Jonathan said to Nancy as he looked back at El.
"I know where to go," Nancy said speeding off towards town.
Thankfully with everyone at the carnival the downtown was deserted.
"Mike," El said through her teeth as she gripped Mike's shoulder.
"I know," Mike said trying to calm her. "I know it hurts; we will make it better I promise."
El locked eyes with him, seeing the truth behind his words but also the fear. She focused on taking deep breaths, trying to curb the pain.
Nancy drove like she was in an action movie, tires squealing as they pulled up to Bradley's Big Buy. Nancy and Jonathan broke down the glass door as Max and Mike helped El out of the car and into the store. El winced in pain as her friends helped her, each time she even tried to put weight on her leg it throbbed.
They all followed Nancy as she walked towards the pharmacy aisle.
"Ok get her down," Nancy said hastily as she grabbed rubbing alcohol and gauze.
Mike and Max eased El onto the floor, propped up by the shelving behind her. As Mike removed her arm from around his neck, she gave him a grateful look, which didn't go unnoticed.
"Ok let me see," Nancy said to El as she began to pull up her pant leg revealing a deep gash that oozed thick blood.
"Oh shit," Max said under her breath. The whole group looked wide-eyed at the wound the mind flayer left behind.
"Mmmmm," El suppressed her groan as the pain continued.
Nancy began to get to work before Max stopped her.
"Wow hey, what are you doing?" Max asked.
"I'm cleaning the wound," Nancy said as if it was obvious, trying to continue her task.
El let out another small groan catching Mike's attention. He shifted closer to her, he was on one knee and he grabbed her hand placing it on his knee.
"Hey your gonna be okay," Mike whispered to her. "Squeeze my hand, try to take your mind off the pain."
"No first we need to stop the bleeding, then clean, then disinfect, then bandage," Max explained as Nancy and Jonathan gave her a surprised look. "I skateboard trust me."
"Mike hold this," Max said gently as she placed some gauze over El's wound. She physically took Mike's hand and placed it on top of the wound.
El cried out in pain. Mike winced, knowing that he was helping but it was tearing him up that he was causing El pain. He simultaneously squeezed El's hand and put pressure on her wound to stop the bleeding.
"Keep the pressure on it nice and firm okay?" Max said knowing Mike was the best person to keep busy tending to El.
"We're gonna need water, soap," Max said to Nancy and Jonathan.
"Okay," Nancy said as they both rushed off to help.
Suddenly all three teens heard a strange sound. They turned to see that Lucas has dumped everything out of his bag. Mike stared up at him confused.
"Does any of this help?" Lucas asked innocently.
"No," Max said honestly. "Go get me a washcloth and a bowl."
"A bowl?" Lucas asked confused.
"Lucas," Max threatened.
Will hit his arm, trying to get Lucas out of Max's line of fire. He had no idea where to find these items but he knew they had to try.
"Okay El," Max said. "Once the bleeding stops it will start to feel better."
El squeezed Mike's hand tighter, hoping Max was right. After a few minutes, Max kept checking and the bleeding had indeed stopped.
"Ugh, where are those guys?!" Max said impatiently. "The bleeding has stopped now we need to get this wound cleaned."
Max huffed and got up. "I'll be right back."
"Oh man I can't believe Lucas is gonna die," Mike said trying to lighten the mood.
"Don't mess with Mad Max," El laughed lightly as she tried to sit up. She was starting to feel better now that the bleeding had stopped but there was still some pain.
"I should keep checking on this or she might kill me too," Mike said taking a look under the bandage.
"Ugh," Mike said looking back at El. "Does it hurt?"
"Mmmm not bad," El downplayed the pain. She knew Mike was worried about her and she didn't want to give him more of a reason.
Mike could tell by the look on her face that she wasn't telling the whole truth.
"You're gonna have an awesome scar," Mike said trying to look on the bright side. "You'll look even more badass."
"Bitchin," El said using her favorite word she learned last year.
"Yeah bitchin," Mike agreed with a laugh.
El smiled and tilted her head to the side. Right now, sitting with Mike, she felt like things were back to normal for the first time since they broke up. They were talking and laughing as they did before.
Mike decided that since things were going well and they were alone, this was his time to apologize.
"El," He said after trying to gather his thoughts.
"Yeah," El asked curiously, he looked worried.
"I've been meaning to tell you something," Mike began. "It's just…being broken up…it's been hard."
There was a slight crackle on the SuperCom, most likely frequencies getting crossed. Both teens turned back to each other.
"And I like that you and Max are friends now," Mike continued. "It's just…I was jealous at first and…and angry and that's why I said all that stupid stuff. And it's like I wanted you all to myself and now I realize how unfair that is and selfish and …I… I'm sorry."
El's face began showing the trace of a small smile. Her heart was swelling, Mike was saying all the right things in the nerdiest way possible. She could tell he was nervous and scared of her reaction. He was finally acknowledging what he did wrong, this is what she had been waiting for.
"I just…I've never felt like this….you know with anyone before and…" Mike tried to explain as she gestured between them. "Ya know they do say it makes you crazy."
"What makes you crazy?" El asked.
"You never heard…you never heard that term," Mike asked.
He had no idea why but he couldn't bring himself to say the words he felt. He was hoping she would catch on but of course, El wasn't good with turns of phrases.
"You know like the phrase 'blank makes you crazy' like the word," Mike tried again.
El looked at him perplexed. She really had no idea what he was talking about.
"Girlfriends?" El guessed.
"No no no no not girlfriends," Mike argued.
"Boyfriends," El said thinking she figured out the riddle.
"No no no no not boyfriends either," Mike attempted. "It's like..it's like a feeling….ya like something…"
El tried to piece together what Mike was telling her. A feeling?
"Old people say it to each other sometimes," Mike rambled.
"Old people?" El asked totally confused.
"Yeah! What I want to say….is" Mike stumbled.
EL looked at him with wide eyes, trying to get him to spit out whatever he wanted to say to her.
"… that….I just….I….know that I," Mike continued.
Suddenly the SuperCom sounded again, this time it was clear that it was someone's voice.
El's heart sank a bit, she really wanted to know what Mike was trying to tell her. El tried to hear as Mike and Dustin communicated over the radio that was breaking up throughout the conversation.
"DUSTIN!" Mike yelled as Dustin cut out completely.
"What is it?" Nancy asked as they returned with their supplies.
"Dustin," Mike tried to explain. "he said it was a code red but he cut out before I could find out more."
"Did he say something about the gate?" El asked.
"I think so," Mike said.
"But we don't even know where he is," Jonathan said.
"I can find him," El said quickly, trying to get herself to stand.
Mike rushed back over and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Hey not yet," He said softly. "Let's get your leg fixed up then we find Dustin."
"Okay," El nodded and looked back to Nancy.
Max returned with the rest of the supplies shaking her head.
"Here we go," Max said taking the soap and water and mixing it.
"What's wrong?" Mike asked.
"Lucas found fireworks," Max rolled her eyes. "He says it's a backup plan."
"Ok El this might sting a little," Nancy said as she soaked cloth of soap and water.
"Ok," El said bracing herself. Mike sat next to her and took her hand.
Nancy began cleaning the wound gently, continuously looking up at El to make sure she was okay. She smirked slightly at Els's hand squeezing that of her little brother. Max had dropped the bomb that El dumped Mike but from the looks of things they seemed to be doing just fine. This made Nancy happy, she knew El was good for Mike, they needed each other. They had already been through so much together at a young age, that was bound to make an impact.
El tried to stay still and let Max and Nancy clean her wound. She was okay until the disinfectant, which stung a lot. She squeezed Mike's hand and tried to bite her lip to keep from crying out.
"There we go," Nancy said as she finished wrapping the wound in gauze. "Better?"
"Yes," El said sighing in relief. "Thank you."
"Where do you want to find Dustin?" Mike asked as he helped El to her feet. "There's no TV here."
"I just need something that makes a sound like background noise," El explained.
"What about the freezers?" Mike asked looking towards Nancy and Jonathan.
"Yeah," Jonathan shrugged. "I guess they make like a humming sound."
"I need a blindfold," El reminded Mike.
"I'm on it," Jonathan said running off.
Mike slipped his arm around El's waist and helped her to the freezer section.
"This should be good," El said stopping Mike in front of one of the freezer displays.
"Of course you choose this one," Mike laughed looking at a freezer full of egos.
Max and Mike helped El to sit on the ground. She looked at Mike and briefly stuck out her tongue in retaliation.
"Here you go," Jonathan said coming back with Lucas and Will. "This is all they had."
He handed El an American flag bandana. She folded it up and began to tie it around her head.
"That's great thanks," She opened the door of the freezer to hear the noise better, she focused in to try and figure out where Dustin was.
Everyone stayed silent as El went into the void. The freezers worked well, soon she was in the void looking around for Dustin. After a few minutes, she found him sitting in a seat at the movie theater. She couldn't tell what he was watching or if there was anyone with him. He wasn't saying anything because he was in the theater.
El tried to focus on the sounds around Dustin but she suddenly only heard her friend's voices.
"So what you prefer the original thing?" She heard Lucas say.
Ughhh she tried to block out the sounds of the voices but it was no use.
"It is the same concept," Lucas argued.
"No it's not," Mike argued back.
"Yes, it is!" Lucas said once again.
"Hey!" El said as she tore off her blindfold.
Everyone's heads turned to El quickly.
"Sorry," Mike said quickly forgetting El was trying to work.
"Sorry," Lucas said slightly embarrassed.
"Did you….find him?" Mike asked hoping he didn't ruin El's chances.
She stared back at them for a moment before answering. "Yes."
"Where are they?" Will asked.
"Movie theater," El replied.
"Alright let's go then," Nancy said.
Mike helped El off the floor, sliding his arm around her shoulder while she put hers around his waist
Lucas grabbed his cart full of fireworks and looked at the others with a confused expression.
"The movies?" Lucas mused. "Dustin's so freaked out about the gate that he decides to go watch a movie? Yeah makes total sense."
"You are positive he said gate and not great?" Max turned back to Mike and El.
"Yeah like this movie I'm watching is great," Will interjected.
"Sounded like gate," El assured the rest of the group.
"Which explains how the mind flayer is still alive," Mike agreed.
"Yeah we just have to shut up again," Nancy said simply.
"And the monster dies," Will explains.
"But if not we always have Lucas' fireworks," Max teased.
"Keep mocking my plan Max," Lucas shot back. "Keep mocking, I wanna hear you say it again because you keep doubting me. Keep doubting! Because I and Will are gonna prove you wrong right?!"
The group gathered everything and spend off towards the mall. It wasn't hard for them to get in, unknown to them, most of the guards were inside looking for the scoops troop. El used her powers to get passed any obstacle they had. Slowly they made their way to the upper level.
El moved towards the balcony where she could look down to the food court, she could hear voices.
"Stay back," She whispered to the rest. She moved slowly and quietly. She saw a bunch of armed men all moving in one direction.
She knew she had to get them out of the way so they could find Dustin and the group. She turned and saw a car sitting off to the side. She began to focus her powers. Soon the car alarm went off as the car began to shake.
The rest of the group began to inch forward as they heard the commotion. El focused on the car, then she brought her hand forward with one last push and the car went flying. It hit all three men and sent metal and glass flying everywhere.
She saw a group of people stand up from behind the counter, it was Dustin. As they all looked towards El she smiled back at them.
"Come on!" Lucas said rushing down to meet the rest of the party.
El began to take a step but felt a bit lightheaded.
"Wow," Mike said grabbing her arm as she swayed a bit. "Let me help."
El gratefully accepted as she made her way down the steps with Mike's help.
"You flung that thing like a hot wheels!" Dustin laughed as he rand towards El and Mike to hug them.
El had no idea what that meant but laughed anyway at her friend's reaction. Dustin was always the most amazed by her abilities.
"Lucas!" Erica yelled.
"What are you doing here?!" Lucas demanded.
"Ask them it's their fault," She accused.
"True…yeah… totally true," Steve said. "It's absolutely our fault."
"I don't understand what happened to that car," Robin said as if she was losing her mind.
"El has superpowers," Dustin said simply as he pointed in El's directions.
"I'm sorry?" Robin said in awe.
"Superpowers," Steve said again. "She threw it with her mind. Come on catch up."
"That's El!" Erica said shocked.
"Who's El?!" Robin yelled.
"I'm sorry," Nancy interjected. "Who are you?"
"I'm Robin," She said nervously. "I work with Steve."
"She cracked the top-secret code," Dustin explained.
"Yeah which is how we found out about the Russians in the first place," She said nonchalantly.
"Russians?" Jonathan asked. "Wait….what Russians?"
"The Russians!" Steve exclaimed.
"Those were Russians?" Max asked.
"Some of them," Erica shrugged.
"What are you talking about!?" Lucas said what everyone else was thinking.
"Didn't you hear our code red?" Dustin asked puzzled.
"Yeah, but I couldn't understand half of what you were saying," Mike explained.
"God damn low battery," Dustin yelled.
"How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery!" Steve said in a fatherly tone.
"Yeah well, everything worked out didn't it Steve?" Dustin argued.
"Worked out!" Erica yelled. "We almost died."
El wasn't sure if it was all the confusion and questions but her head was beginning to spin. Her ears started to ring and her leg began to throb. She began to step away from the group, sweat prickling her forehead from the pain.
Her nose began to trickle blood as she looked around, trying to figure out where that high-pitched noise was coming from. She brought her hands up over her ears as her friends continue to argue. Her head began to spin again and suddenly she was on the ground.
The group all turned in surprise. Mike, of course, ran into action first.
"El!" She yelled as he kneeled next to her. Everyone else followed suit.
"El," He said again as he rolled her onto her back. "What's wrong? What's wrong?"
Her eyes glazed over, she looked very out of it. Mike desperately wanted to take the pain away, but he couldn't help if she didn't tell them what was happening.
"My leg…..my leg," El whispered.
"Her leg," Jonathan said. "Okay her leg."
He and Nancy were right by her feet so they began to lift her pant leg. The bandage was bloody so they lifted it to reveal a bright, infected looking wound.
Everyone groaned at the sight of it, especially those who weren't there to see it originally.
Then something under the skin began to move, like a glowing worm. Everyone's eyes went wide, and they had no words for what they were seeing.
El began to cry out in pain as whatever it was moved around her leg.
"El….El!" Mike yelled trying to keep her talking.
Her teeth were clenched together as she groaned, her eyes still closed.
"El are you okay? El? El? El!" Mike continued.
Everyone looked on as the girl they so desperately needed let out an echoing scream.
Wow, that was intense. The next chapter is going to be more intense so get ready. We are almost done! Thanks for reading let me know what you think
