We took off running, Lucas and Dustin leading the group and me bringing up the rear, hurrying them along.

"How did they find us?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know but they knew we were in the gym," I answered.

"Lando," Dustin supplied.

Suddenly the doors we were heading for burst open, flashlights shinning in our eyes. I stopped dead and grabbed Mike and El by their shoulders, turning them back the way we came.

"Go, go, go, go, go, go!" Mike and I yelled at the same time. Everywhere we turned there were more soldiers. We were stuck, but El stepped forward and stared them down. Blood started dripping out of their eyes until they all fell, presumably, dead to the floor. And then she collapsed, as well.

"El!" We yelled, rushing towards her.

"El, are you ok?" Mike asked, panting for air.

"Something's wrong."

"She's just drained!" Dustin said.

"No, no, no, she won't wake up! El!" Mike kept screaming her name.

As if things couldn't get worse, more soldiers and a man in a suit came around the corner as we sat there, defenseless, surrounding Eleven.

"Step away from the child," the suited man demanded.

"No! You want her, you have to kill us first!" Mike yelled as he stepped in front of El. The rest of us were quick to follow.

"That's right!"

"Eat shit!"

"Don't think so, dickface!" I said angrily.

Out of nowhere a pair of arms wrapped tightly around me, dragging me backwards along with the boys. We all started screaming and thrashing, but to no avail. "You're gunna regret this!" I yelled as the man in the suit bent down and picked up El in his arms, cradling her face like a psycho. "Eleven? Can you hear me?" He asked.

"Don't talk to her! Leave her alone!" I screamed, still fighting the soldier who was holding me back.

"Yes, yes, it's your papa."

"You're a sick man!"

"Let her go, you bastard!" Mike yelled over the rest of the noise.

"You're sick, but I'm going to make you better."

No! I couldn't let this happen! I was supposed to keep her safe!

"Bad," El started chanting, before switching to Mike's name. The electricity surged and I slowed my struggling, staring up at the lights.

"Blood," Mike said. I recalled what they had said at some point about blood attracting this monster.

"What?" Lucas asked.

"Blood," Mike said, more fear in his voice than before as the lights continued to go out on the fritz.

There was a thud, and then another, until the whole wall started crumbling and the monster stuck its head out, screeching.

"Demogorgon," Dustin said unnecessarily. The soldiers let us go in favor of their guns, brushing by to get a closer shot. Even the man in the suit left, allowing me to dart forward and scoop Eleven's limp body off the ground.

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Mike yelled, and I spun on my heel and took off after them.

"Come on, come on!"

"Go, go!" Lucas screamed.

"I'm going!" I yelled back, never having known fear like this before. This was worse than in the forest when it was Nancy and I there. Now I was the only adult here to protect these kids, and I had no way to do that. If anything happened to them, it would be all my fault. What was I going to do?

"Oh my God!" Dustin yelled as we dodged soldiers firing. It was like that thing was everywhere all at once.

"Hold on, we're almost there, we're almost there."

"Almost where?" I yelled, but even as I said it they were rounding into a classroom. Lucas slammed the door shut behind me, and I hurried to the back of the classroom to set El down on the long table. She groaned as Mike came over, grabbing her hand.

"Just hold on a little longer, ok? He's gone, the bad man is gone." I turned away from them, because now we had a bigger problem on our hands. I could still hear gunshots firing in the halls, but that wasn't what scared me. No, it would be when the shots stopped firing.

"You can eat as many Eggos as you want."

If we survive this.

I cringed as the monster screeched some more, followed by human screams. Those soldiers were going to get torn apart out there, and then we were next. I started looking around the room for something to use as a weapon. There were quite a few microscopes laying around, and with no better options, I snatched one of those up and crept towards the door.

Just in time for the gunfire to stop.

"Is- Is... Is it dead?" Dustin asked. We stood still, silent, for a beat, and then the door bust down, the Demogorgon standing on top of it. It made a noise that would haunt me in my nightmares forever as the boys started screaming.

"Get the wrist rocket now!" I heard Dustin yell.

Taking a deep breath, I held the microscope over my head and charged.

"Johanna!"

"No, don't!"

I got one good whack in before the thing reared back and sliced its claws across my stomach, sending me flying across the floor with a scream. It stood on its hind legs and started advancing on us as Mike screamed to get the rocks.

"Jo! Jo, get up!" Dustin yelled, tugging on my arm.

"Get back!" I yelled at him, curling around myself. Warm blood was pooling under the hand I had pressed to my stomach. This is how I was going to die. And then the kids would be next, because I wasn't able to save them. I'd never know if they found Will, if he was even still alive. I'd never see my mother or Jonathan again.

Lucas was hitting the monster with rocks, but it was doing nothing. That is, until the monster flew back into the wall as if a bus had hit it. I gasped, turning around to see Eleven standing up, her hand outstretched as if she was holding it against the wall. Which, I realized, she was. Mike yelled for her to stop, and she caused him to go sliding into some cabinets.

Advancing on the monster, her face a mask of pure concentration and anger, she stopped right in front of it before turning to look at the rest of us. Then her gaze landed on Mike.

"Goodbye, Mike," she said softly, before turning back to the monster.

"El! Don't, please!" I yelled, trying to stand up but I couldn't. The monster was squealing, but when El lifted her arm, it let out an ear-piercing shriek that went on and on as he started to practically disintegrate, wrapping the two in a haze of black. When it disappeared, they were both gone.

The boys rushed forward, yelling her name, but I couldn't move. Silent tears ran down my face, but these weren't due to the pain. Not the physical pain, at least. But the pain in my chest at the cruel truth.

Eleven was gone.

Steve stood on the Byers's porch with Nancy and Jonathan, after watching the street light flicker. They stood there in shocked silence for a long time, before Steve whirled on them.

"What the fuck was that?"

"Steve-" Nancy started, but he cut her off.

"No, no! I want straight answers here, 'kay? Cause we almost just died, and-" He cut off with a yell, doubling over and holding his stomach.

"Steve?" Nancy asked, rushing forward. "Steve, are you ok? Did you get hurt?"

"It feels like I just got ripped open, no I'm not ok!"

He missed the worried look Nancy and Jonathan shared. They had talked earlier about their suspicions concerning Johanna and Steve after seeing her walk into the police station battered and bruised. They shared the silent fear that they were right, and something was happening back at the school. Worse, that something really bad had happened to Johanna.

"Come on, we gotta go. Can you drive?" Jonathan asked, grabbing Steve's shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, I think so. Where are we going?"

The three hurried towards their cars, Steve's driver side door still hanging open from when he had rushed inside and saved their asses.

"To the school."

They rolled me out on a stretcher, every bump making the skin pull and sending fresh waves of pain through me. There was so much commotion happening in the parking lot, I don't know how I saw him, but as soon as I did I started yelling his name.

"Jon! Jonathan!" He searched for a moment before his eyes landed on me and he came running, Nancy close behind. When he got to me he grabbed my hand, holding it tight.

The tears came faster, my breathing ragged. "She's gone, Jonathan. El's gone, she- she's dead, she's just gone and it's all my fault-" I dissolved into hysterics, snot and tears dripping off my chin. But through the sorrow and the ebbing fear came anger, and suddenly I was yelling at him.

"Where were you? Why did you leave?"

He has the decency to look ashamed. "We needed to distract that thing so mom and Hopper could get to Will. We were trying to help."

"You just left without telling me?" I yelled at him, still crying.

"You would have wanted to come with us."

"Damn straight I would have wanted to! You could have gotten yourself killed!"

He shook his head. "Someone needed to stay with the kids, to protect them."

"Yeah, great fucking help I was. All I did was get myself cut open, and El-" A keening sort of noise broke forth from my throat as I threw my head back down. God, the pain was killing me, eating me alive.

And then behind Jon I noticed someone else standing there, watching with something like horror and worry on his face. Something that didn't belong there.

"Wh-What the hell is Steve fucking Harrington doing here?" I demanded, taking in the sight of his bloody face. Jonathan really did beat the shit out of him. For a moment I almost felt bad, but then I reminded myself that he deserved it.

Jon glanced over his shoulder before answering. "He saved our lives."

I stared at him in shock. I would have never expected that from him. What had he even been doing there? Trying to start another fight?

As if he knew what she was thinking, her twin supplied, "He came to apologize."

Without meaning to, a snort escaped my mouth, followed by a cough. But seeing my twin reminds me of my other brother, and I sober up very quickly.

"Did... Did they-" I couldn't seem to get the words out, and it seems I've run out of tears at this point. Dry sobs wrack my shoulders now, a mere after wave of what happened tonight.

"Yes. They found him, he's in the hospital now," Jon says, causing me to cry out in joy and surge up, wrapping her arms around him despite the pain in her midsection. With my eyes clenched shut, I missed Steve's cringe of pain.

"Mike!" I yelled, pulling back. "Dustin! They found Will! He's alright!" I don't know if they heard me, but another cough wracks my body, and this time my hand comes away bloody. Just on time, the EMT's swoop back in and load me into an ambulance, Jonathan following in after them. He sat next to me, holding my hand, the entire drive to the hospital.

Even though I had new hope and a reason to be joyful, I couldn't help the deep sorrow that wedged itself deep into my heart. It would be months before it would go away.

Steve pulled into the hospital's parking lot, putting his car in park. With a deep sigh he thumped back against his seat, leaning his head as far back as he could. After a moment he picked it back up and turned to look at Nancy, who he had driven over there.

"Do you..." He started, but didn't have the words to finish.

"Think Johanna's your soulmate?" She supplied for him. After seeing the gashes on her stomach, she just knew deep inside that that had been what had caused Steve to cry out in pain back at Jonathan's house. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

They sit in silence for a moment before Nancy turns her whole body to face him, and picks up one of his hands. "Steve, we don't have to do this anymore if you don't want to. It's obvious that she's your soulmate. I've been wondering since you got into that fight with Jonathan, because right after that, she came in looking exactly how we had last seen you. I'll be ok, Steve. Don't worry about me."

Steve nodded but didn't respond, not sure what he would even say. He loved Nancy, truly, he did, but Steve was a hopeless romantic and for all his talk about staying with Nancy- soulmate or not- he couldn't help but feel different now that he had really found her. Nancy sets his hand back down and opens her door, getting out and closing it behind her.

He sits in thought for a while longer before getting out as well and heading to the waiting room with the rest of the people who had been to Hell and back that night.