El went through the cabinet in the bathroom as she listened to Tory give a yell from Hopper taking off her coat. Her hands were shaking, and the chill that stood in her blood was starting to boil. She didn't know why everyone was here, she didn't know how everyone could fit into such a small space, and with the fire going it was becoming hard to breathe. She grabbed the dental floss, looking down at the white cartridge in her bloodied hands. She let her fingers rap around it as she tried to stop her hands from shaking.
"It looks like it hit her left shoulder," she heard Dustin say from the table. She looked over to see him standing over Tory with Hopper and Joyce. "If it had hit one of the arteries we would know already, but that doesn't mean she still can't bleed out." Hopper side glanced at him with confusion.
"How do you know that?" He asked Dustin, El slowly walked over; placing the floss with the rest of the supplies on the kitchen counter. The sink still ran, steam spilling from the hot water as it poured down the drain.
"Because I pay attention in biology," Dustin said. "It's basic anatomy." El looked around the Cabin. Will sat with dark circles under his eyes, Jonathan with his arm around Will's shoulder. Mike rested himself on the arm of the couch, watching as Joyce and Hopper took the girls shirt off, Mikes cheeks flaring red. Dustin crowded over the girl, looking at her shoulder with curiosity. Lucas stood a short distance away, not knowing what to do. Nancy pulled Mikes arm from the couch, making him look over at his sister as she tried to get him to look away.
"You need to see if the bullets out first," Dustin said.
"I know," Hopper said with a grumble. "How about you move out of the way," he said in his grumpy voice. Dustin took a few steps back from the table, watching as Hopper moved to the towel on the counter, pushing El out of the way to get to the sink. "You need to get warm kid," He said to her. "Go stand by the fire for a minute." El gulped down some air. She didn't want to get warm; her blood was already burning. Hopper wet the towel, looking over to Joyce who wore a pained expression. "Hold her down." Joyce nodded her head holding the girl by her good shoulder and stomach. Hopper pressed the wet towel down on the girl's bullet wound, sending a screech to move through the cabin.
The pain reached into El left shoulder, a pain she had never felt in her life as she began to sink to the floor with a cry. Tory became silent, the pain making her pass out. It was El that continued to shriek as Hopper pressed hard to the girls shoulder. The bullet not only sinking into Tory shoulder, but El's too. El's breath came fast as she stopped her pained cry, everyone looking at her. She couldn't take the crowd, how full the space around her felt as she felt Tory's pain build inside of her.
"What's wrong," she heard Hoppers voice scream. El couldn't see, she couldn't think, and air was too thick for her to breath. All she could see was darkness; a darkness that loomed over her back as she sat on her knees on the floor. The gash across her chest was on fire, and the noise of voices around her were dulled as she listened to her heart beat race.
"El," she heard from a distance. Her name being said on repeat as she found herself in the void; the black all around her. She listened to a girls muffled cry, echoing through the open space. Tory lay on the wet floor in the distance. El stood, running to the girl as she cried. She slid to a stop beside her, falling to her knees as she watched Tory lay on the floor, blood falling into the water.
"It's here," Tory said through gasps. "The darkness." El looked around her, trying to find anything. She couldn't hear anything, she couldn't see anything. Tory let out a muffled cry, her body beginning to dissipate in front of her. "It's looking for you," Her voice said as she disappeared. El stood from her spot on the floor, looking for anything that might move.
She spun in her spot, walking quickly through the void alone. Mikes voice echoed through her ears, her name flowing in and out as she took in heavy breaths. She couldn't get herself out, and she didn't know where Tory went. Did she wake up? Or did something else happen to her?
She heard a growl in the distance, followed by Joyce's voice saying Will's name. El looked around her, preparing herself for an attack, but couldn't find anything. Another growl sneered behind her; she spun again starting to feel disoriented. There it stood. A monster towering taller than her, and beside it Will stood, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, as he reached to touch the monster.
"No!" El screamed as she moved herself forward, reaching for Will. The Demogorgon screamed at her sending panic to cores down her body. She stopped a few feet from them, feeling her breaths move in and out at top speed. She let herself scream back in anger, watching as Will turned and looked at her through his white eyes. She felt the anger build, the fear, as she raised her hand at the demon, forcing a power to run in and out of her blood. She felt a static bounce off her skin as she watched the creature try to move towards her, but her powers holding it back. She could feel the weakness inside of her, pain coming back to her shoulder from Tory's wound. She couldn't stop her screams as the Demogorgon took a heavy step towards her, Will still standing in a catatonic state.
She let herself feel the weakness, the split in her body as the energy began to run out. Her scream was becoming weak, and she felt as if the world around her was shaking. The monster took another step, as she watched them slowly disappear. Will let a slight smile spilt across his face, the world around her going dark as she let her arm fall to her side.
…
The ground was shaking, but for Mike it was nothing compared to the loud streaking that was being emitted from El. The sound was deafening, and the worst part was it made everyone stop in their motions; making it hard for Mike to take care of her. He watched as the lights grew brighter, her screams getting louder, and the floorboards moved from their place. He knew what was happening, and even though he promised her he would stop it from happening, he had no control.
Hopper leaned over the new girl as El's screams became slightly softer. Hopper placed his hand over her shoulder as Mike crawled his way to El who remained on the floor in the kitchen. His ears were ringing and the floor still slightly rumbling. Dustin moved his way to Hopper, his voice soft as he tried to assist in any way that he could. As the ringing started to die down from Mikes ears he could ear faint whimpers from Mrs. Byers as she leaned over Will in the living room.
"I have skinny metal tongs in the right drawer by the sink," Hopper said to Dustin. "We can use those to get the bullet out." Dustin nodded his head as Mike looked down at El, her breaths coming in and out fast. She was hyperventilating, lying on the kitchen floor. Mike placed his hands on her arms, moving them up and down in hopes that it would calm her.
"Just breathe," he said quietly. She didn't open her eyes, she didn't whimper or scream. She brought one big breath in, gulping it down but never releasing it. "El," Mike said. He grabbed a hold of her shoulders, his stomach dropping from its place. "You have to breathe out," he said to her in a panic. "You have to breathe." El finally let her breath out, quickly bringing in another breath.
"Let me help," Lucas said over Mike shoulder. "Let's move her to the bed." Mike looked up at his friend, worry lying in his eyes as he tried to get Mike off the floor. Lucas places a hand on El's wrist. "She's cold," he said. Lucas looked around at their surroundings. "We need to move her." Mike finally found the ability to comprehend, nodding his head as he stood to his feet. He tried picking El up himself, but would have never gotten it done without Lucas helping. "Max is going to kill me when she finds out what's going on." Lucas said as they placed El in her bed. "I'm happy she's not here, but at the same time it would feel better if she was, you know?" Mike didn't answer.
He moved El away from the blood that still stained the sheets, moving her blanket over her small frame. She moved around slightly, her breaths calming at a slow rate. He let his eyes shut for just a second, thinking about just a few hours before; how they danced together at the Snow Ball. He opened his eyes back up, El laid pale, dark lines close to her eyes, and lips white.
"Shit," he heard Dustin mumbled from the kitchen. Something metal hit the top of the wooden table, Mike turned to look at Dustin. "Even if we get the bleeding to stop she's already lost so much blood." Dustin said. Mike and Lucas walked out of the bedroom door, looking over to the girl that lay motionless.
"Think positive," Hopper said, moving to get supplies off the counter. Mike searched the room for Will, finding him in the bed by the fireplace. Lines, like El's, covered his face; he's skin clammy and white. Mike walked over to his friend feeling like he had failed. He told Will they would figure it out; he told his best friend that it was going to be okay. This didn't look okay.
…
Hopper looked down at the girl; the blood was all over his kitchen table, the floor, and his hands. He moved fast, as he had Dustin take the metal kitchen prongs and shoved them into the hole to get the bullet out. Joyce panicked in the back as she tried to wake Will. El had stopped screaming, but she was hyperventilating, and Mike couldn't get her to stop.
"Just breathe," he could hear Mike's voice say behind him. He spoke softly as El let her breath slightly slow and stick in her lungs. Hopper drew the idea of her panic out of his mind as he patched the girl up. He listened to Lucas and Mike stumble behind them, bringing El into the other room as they worked. Dustin threw the bullet on the table as Hopper pressed the towel back onto the wound before reaching for the threading needle and dental floss.
He had given stitches only once when he was a big city cop in New York. A boy had been stabbed in a robbery, and he stitched the boy up as they waited for an ambulance to arrive. At the time he remembered the boy's cries from pain, his own hands shaking in his blood as he patched the boy. Now he saw his hands shake harder as he listened to the others all around the room. Dustin helps thread the Floss through the needle, handing it to him with a white face. He looked down at the girls face, just a little bit older than El. He swallowed hard as he put the needle through her skin.
Dustin took the towel every once and a while to dab the blood so he could continue. He stitched her six times before grabbing some cotton swabs, tapping them to the cuts to help the bleeding.
The girl half laid on the kitchen table. Her black jeans hung tight to her skinny legs, her shirt off only in her bra. His grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch, draping it over her body and picking her up. Lucas stood in his way a he moved her to El's room. Everyone watched as he tucked her into bed next to El, and sighed heavily with exhaustion. He turned to see Jonathan leaning over Will in his bed. He had fallen to the floor, yelling, as him and Dustin tried to find the built in the girls shoulder. Els screams had rung through the cabin, piercing everyone's ears with sharpness making the wooden floors shake. Everything was confusing, and everything was happening so fast. He turned and looked at El in her bed, the dark lines by her eyes giving him concern.
"What do we do now," Mike said from the door way. "Our parents are going to flip, those guys are probably still out there looking for us, and now we have three people passed out, two of which look like they've been to the upside-down and back. I mean, that girl was shot." Mike squeaked, coming into the room to get a better look at her. He grabbed at the girls arms looking over the wrist. Hopper moved to look over his shoulder; her left wrist reading 001.
"What if she doesn't wake up," Mike continued looking back at Hopper. "What is El opened the gate again?"
"I don't know kid," Hopper said. He looked over to El, thinking about her smile that night, how ready she was to be normal. "I think you need to get some rest," he said to Mike. He grabbed the boys arm, leading him out of the room and to the couch where Dustin and Lucas sat. Mike took a seat in the middle, reminding Hopper of the first time he had talked to the boys at the school.
Dustin rubbed his hands between a towel, the blood sticking to his hands. Lucas's head shot up and down as he tried not to fall asleep. Nancy stood in the corner with Jonathan as Joyce held Wills hand in Hopper bed. "We all need to sleep if we want to figure things out in the morning." Hopper said to everyone. "Jonathan," Jonathans head shot up to him, dark circles all around his eyes. "You and I can keep watch first." Jonathan nodded his hand, looking over to Nancy before heading back to the kitchen chairs. Hopper looked down at his watch, 4:34 A.M. He let out a huff of air before joining to boy by the front down, watching as everyone settled into their spots for the night.
…
Her head hurt, her ears were ringing, and she felt like she was on fire. Something stiff was lying next to her, and before she opened her eyes she imaged for just one second that it could be Mike. Instead she was greeted by the bold headed girl. Tory lay on her back, her breaths coming out harshly with sweat dripping from her forehead. El put the back of her hand to the girl head, something she had seen Joyce do to Will multiple times before. She was hot, really hot.
She looked around her room, the cabin silent. The last thing she could remember was the pain, the burning and stinging of her shoulder as she sat in the void. The remembered the monster coming after her and her energy being drained as she tried to stop it from attacking her. She didn't know if it had gotten to her, all she could remember after that was the shaking and the lights. Bright white lights playing in her eyes as she screamed away her fear, and pain.
"It's okay," she heard a whisper come from the living room. "We'll figure this out," Joyce was there; with a whimper of what she assumed was Will. She sat up in her bed, looking back down a Tory with concern. She leaned over the girl gently as she tried to get herself out of the tangle of blankets and off the mattress.
The wooden floors felt cold on her toes, and the air felt a little stuffy as she slowly moved away from the girl and to her bedroom door way. The sun was peeking through the plastic drop curtains throughout the cabin, and the floor was littered with sleeping people. She stepped over Hopper who lay in front of her door, his hat over his face, and a couch pillow under his head. Jonathan sat by the front door, his head bent low with the small rifle in his lap; Nancy sat beside him, her head on his shoulder. Joyce looked up from her spot on the living room bed, Will lying next to her with dark circles under his eyes. She and Will made eye contact before he quickly looked away.
"How are you feeling?" Joyce asked slowly standing from her seat. She let go of Wills hand, making her way to El, carefully stepping over Dustin and Mike who were asleep on the floor. Her head hurt, which was normal after having such a big effect to her power, but the dull pain in her shoulder was slowly driving her insane.
"I'm fine," she said quietly. She looked down behind her at Hopper, then back up at the kitchen. The small pot where Hopper made his coffee every morning was empty, and there were still dirty dishes in the sink from the morning before when they had breakfast. "Coffee," she suggested to Joyce, pointing towards the small kitchen. Joyce looked over at the coffee pot and they both made their way to the kitchen.
Joyce watched as she filled the small coffee pitcher, putting water into the coffee maker and grabbing the box and Folgers coffee before turning the machine on. They stared at one another while the coffee slowly dripped out, the smell filling the small cabin. El looked to the kitchen table, dried blood staining the red wood.
"Here," Joyce said after following her gaze. "Let's try something to get the blood out." Joyce rummaged through the kitchen cabinets, pulling out a bowl and finding some of their wash cloths. She took the soap from the sink, filling the bowl with hot water and adding the soap as it foamed over with steam. El watched as Joyce soaked the towel in the soapy water, covering the table with the warm solution. "We should let it sit for a second, but you don't want to do it for too long or it will ruin the wood." El nodded in understanding.
"Is that coffee I smell," El heard Hopper's voice say from under his hat. They watched as he stood from his spot on the floor, peaking into El's room with a frown. He looked over to El with a sigh, walking over and shaking his hand through her hair. "How are you feeling kid?" he asked her with a tired voice. She shrugged her shoulders, desperately wanting to say that she was tired, that Tory kept making her shoulder hurt, and that she thought she did something bad when she was in the void last night.
"I'm fine," she said to him. He let out a slight laugh while shaking his head.
"Yeah kiddo," he said to her, moving towards the coffee maker. "I'm sure you are." She squinted her eyes at him, not appreciating his tone. Joyce took a dry towel, side glancing both of them as she went back to the wet table. "So," Hopper continued. "Mind filling us in on what the hell happened last night, or are we going to pretend like everything is fine?"
"She was shot," EL said looking over to her bedroom door.
"Really," Hopper said back.
"I didn't know the bad men where here," El continued. She thought back to last night, holding Tory up as she looked at the unconscious man in front of Wills house. "Kali came, she wanted me to leave with them, and then the men found us in the woods." She thought about the snow, red with Tory's blood as she snapped the man's neck.
"So after everything you were just going to leave?" Hopper said to her. Her mind came back into focus, thinking of his words. "After this entire year of being together, after getting you that birth certificate, you were just going to go?" El sat with her mouth open, Joyce stood still a few feet away. Why would he think she would go? Why would he think she would leave everyone, leave her home. She felt anger course through her blood as she looked at him.
"I never said I agreed to leave," she fired back. Her voice slightly higher than his. "Is that what you think of me, that I would leave the second I had a chance?" he raised his eyebrows at her. She looked around the cabin, locking eyes with Nancy. She was being too loud, she was waking everyone up. "Home," she said a little louder. "This is my home," she pointed at Hopper, "you are my home." They looked at one another with blood shot eyes, both refusing to let a tear slip past their eye lids. "I am not as smart as everyone else," she continued, "but I do know the difference between people that want me and people that love me." She turned around to storm to her room. Dustin and Mike sat on the floor looking at her, Lucas standing from the couch. She stomped to her room, slamming the door before regretting her action. Tory stirred from her bed, moaning through her fever.
El wasn't stupid, she knew the girl was dying, and she knew the longer she stayed in this cabin with her the more weak she was going to feel. Eventually everyone else would feel it. They needed to get out of there, to figure out a plan. This was all her fault, the only reason everyone was hiding was because of her. The only reason Hopper spent all of his free time in the middle of nowhere was because of her. She wanted to hit something, or cry; she didn't know which one would feel better.
She thought about the darkness, how she could feel it inside Will last night. He was in the void with her; how, she didn't know. She let herself think about the energy she lacked, how she spent it all last night with the Demogorgon. The last time she opened the gate it was different, she saw the monster, throwing her energy out as self-defense. She had seen the opening in the lab, it had been instantaneous. Last night she had done the same thing. She had used her fear into her energy, but as she stood in her room looking around her walls she didn't see anything. There was nothing there to show that she had opened the gate, but it felt like she did. It felt like there was something out there, something coming. She didn't know how to stop it, how to hide from it.
"Water," she heard a small voice say. El looked over at Tory, her eyes still closed but her breathing picking up slightly heavier. "Water," she said again through her dried lips. EL turned back to her bedroom door. Flying out, everyone look right at her as she stormed to the kitchen to fill a cup with water. Hopper bounced off from his spot on the counter, following her back into the room as El took a seat on the bed. She placed her hand on the back of the girls head, leaning it forward before putting the glass of water to her lips. The girl drank slowly, taking every sip with a big breath. El took the glass away, looking up at Hopper, her door way filled with everyone watching.
"Thank you," Tory said, slightly opening her eyes to look at El. "I'm not dead," she said. El let a small smile pass her lips and she nodded her head at the girl.
"How much does it hurt," Hopper asked, leaning over the girl and taking the blanket from her chest. He looked at her bandage, most of it red from blood. "I'm going to have to clean this," he said to her. "We don't want it to get infected." He looked over to El, leaving to get something to clean the wound with.
"I'm sorry," El said to her. She didn't really know what she was sorry for, but she heard that people said they were sorry when they didn't know what else to say.
"Me too," the girl said back. "I can't control who feels what when their around me." She let in a raspy breath. "Sometimes when I concentrate really hard I can control it, but most of the time I just latch onto people and it happens." El shook her head.
"It doesn't hurt that bad," she said quietly to her. They remained silent for a moment, El looked around her room not knowing if she should talk or not.
"Did you find Kali," Tory asked. El looked into the girls eyes. Her face pale and clammy.
"I haven't looked," Hopper came back into the room with new bandages and a wet towel. He pushed El aside to get a closer look of the stitches. El watched as Tory hissed with pain, her shoulder twitching with a sting. She put her hand to her left shoulder, looking around to see if anyone saw.
"They probably ran," Tory said through gritted teeth. "They're really good at running." El nodded her head, knowing fully well that they were. "Last night," she continued at Hopper tapped the bandage over her shoulder. "I felt it," El leaned a little closer to her words. "I felt it there, in the darkness. It smelt of death, and made me feel like the world was falling around me." Hopper stopped his motions. Looking down at the girl, then up at El. She made eye contact with him, before turning away. She looked up at the snow glob that sat on her wall shelve. "Did it find you," Tory asked faintly. El didn't want to answer the question, not truly knowing what the right answer was. Was it the Demogorgon she was talking about, or was it the feeling she had now? The feeling of something coming, of something looking?
"I found it," Will's voice said from the door, causing El to jump in surprise. She looked over to the boy as he hunched over with lack of energy. His eyes were still darkened; blood still spotted his sleeve from when he cut her. "It was almost like a dream, like I couldn't stop myself from what was happening." El turned looking from Will to Hopper, then to Tory. She felt like the room was closing in, like the air was too sticky to breathe.
"I can't breathe," El said almost to herself. Her voice was short, almost a squeak. She was seeing spots as she tried to breath, looking around her as if the walls were closing in. She felt Hoppers hands on her shoulders, but she couldn't hear what his was saying, all she could hear was her heart beat.
She pushed him out of the way, moving to the front door. She tripped over all the people in front of her, unlocking the door with her mind while pushing to chairs in front of the door out of her path. The sun was bright, and the air was cold. There was still a foot of snow everywhere, and the wood on the porch make her toe numb. She fell to her knees as she took in the air, not knowing what was happening. She felt like she was dying.
…
"She's having a panic attack," Mike said as he pushed his way through everyone. He followed her out the door, bending down next to her to grab her shoulders. Her breaths were ragged like last night; she was gulping down air too fast and not letting it flow out of her lungs. "Breathe El," he said to her, feeling the panic radiate off of her.
"Get her back inside," Hopper said stepping onto the porch. Mike felt anger in him as he stared at Hopper.
"She needs fresh air," Mike said to him. "What do you expect to happen when you stuff her in a small space for so long?" he yelled.
"Keep your voice down," Hopper said to him. He watched as Hopper pulled her up, ushering her back inside. Mike stood stomping back after him.
"You can't keep her in here," Mike said leaving the front door open. "She can't take it anymore. There's too many people here, she's already been through so much. Just give her a chance to get some fresh air." Hopper placed her on the couch, Dustin taking a seat next to her to try and calm her down.
"She doesn't get that opportunity," Hopper said back. "They are looking for her, and they almost got her." Hopper placed his hands over his face; Mike looked around at everyone else. "We can't fight," Hopper said lowly. "We need to figure out how to get out of this. Not only are they looking for her, but now they're looking for all of us." Mike let down a gulp. He thought about his mother, how she probably walked into their rooms this morning and found that her kids weren't there. He looked over to Nancy who was biting her lips trying not to freak out herself.
"Mikes right," Mrs. Byers said from the kitchen. Mike looked over to her with raised eyebrows. "We can't just keep her in here all the time. No one can live like that." Hopper let out a sigh.
"Where do we go then?" Hopper asked her. "Where can any of us go?" they all looked around at one another, waiting for an answer. "We have a girl that was shot who can't be moved right now, and we have a boy who is sleep walking and doing creepy shit in his sleep." Hopper looked down at El, her breath coming at a calming rate. "What did you see last night," Hopper asked her. "Why did the floor shake, why did the lights brighten? What did you see?" El looked up at him with tears in her eyes. She looked around the room, and Mike felt his heart sink when she looked at him.
"You can tell us," Mike said moving closer into the room. A gust of wind went through the cabin from the open door, but no one paid any attention to it. "You can trust us." She bit down on her lip, standing from her spot on the couch and moving into her room. She looked over to the girl that lay in her bed, Mike moved for the doorway to get a closer look. The girl tried pulling herself up from her spot, resting her back on the wooden rail from the bed post.
"Papa had her," El said, looking back at him, "and Kali got her out. That's how everyone ended back here, that's how Papa came to the house." Hopper moved into the room, to stand beside Mike. He could feel heat radiating off of Hopper like anger. "They wanted me to come with them, to help stop the bad men from hurting others." She looked back at the girl, her eyes darkening. "She says there's a darkness, one that is following me, but I think it's following Will more than me." She looked back at them, her eyes shallow as her mind went somewhere else. "I saw it, last night in the void. Will was there, but it was almost as if something was in his place." Mike had never heard her speak so much. He tried not to get distracted by her soft voice, but to concentrate on what she was saying.
The girl looked at them as El spoke. Watching Hopper with curiosity, and nodded her head slowly as El spit words out of her mouth. Mike could feel the chill of the outside filling the room as he listened to everyone shuffle in the living room.
"I don't want to be here anymore," he heard Will whisper to his mom in the kitchen. Mike looked out the bedroom door to see Will looking at his mom with panic in his eyes. "Can't we go anywhere else?" Mrs. Byers put her hands on his shoulders, frowning down at him. Jonathan walked over, standing over them waiting for his moms answer. Lucas and Dustin leaned their butts on the back of the sofa, looking into El's room. He looked back at them; they raised their eyebrows at each other.
"Just give me a little bit," he heard Mrs. Byers say. "Let me make some plans in my head before I come to a decision." Will slumped a little bit by her answer.
"I don't want to be here either," El said softly to Hopper. She motioned around the room with her hands, "weird," she said. Hopper huffed out a breath at her. He looked around the room to see if anything was off and Mike did the same.
"It is coming," the girl said in a raspy voice. "This darkness," she looked right at El. "It has been latching onto my emotions, making everything seem dark in the light." Mike gave her a confused look. He turned and looked at the guys, all three staring at one another in thought.
"I have to go mom," Will said softly to his mom. Mike walked out of the room to get a better look at him. Will held his mother's arms, standing at the same height as her. "I have to get out of here," he said with tears in his voice. Mrs. Byers looked at him in question. Will began to back his way to the door.
"Will," Mrs. Byers said. "What are you doing?" Mike felt Hopper walk out of the room behind him, his boots stomping on the wooden ground. El appeared at his side. Will looked at her with tears in his eyes, his back to the open door way.
"Don't you feel it," He said to El. Mike look to his side, staring at her. She looked at Will through a squinted vision; her forehead crinkling in question. "Don't you feel like you have to run?" They stared at one another for just a moment, before Will turned his back to them and ran out the door. El let out a breath, following him.
…
She felt stupid, only because, like Will, she was running through snow with only her socks on. Her head was still hurting, but the further she got from the cabin the less her shoulder hurt. She could see Will a little ways in front of her. He ran through the deep snow, falling every once and a while. She could hear Hopper behind her a little distance off. There was also Joyce who was screaming Will's name. She looked back at her foot prints, wishing that there was a way to hide them. She could feel her cut bleed slightly on her chest as she moved her arms back and forth, trying to run faster toward Will.
It felt like they had been running forever. Will had slowed down after a while, giving El the chance to catch her breath. She could hear Wills breath go in and out harshly, and she ran fast to get to him. He bent over slightly, trying to breathe before he started to move again, so once she was close enough she grabbed his arm.
"It just feels like I can't get far enough," Will said to her through breaths. El felt a pull, like something was making her want to move. Her head gave a tinge of pain, and she closed her eyes to the bright snow. "I can't feel my feet," Will said to her with a wince.
"It might help to keep moving," she said pulling him forward. She thought back to the days she was on her own in the woods. How she would feel her face and ears go numb. After a while it didn't feel like cold, the air didn't feel like anything. "Where are we going?" She asked Will as she picked up their pace.
"I don't know," Will said to her. "It's weird," he continued, "it's like he's still inside of me; the Mind Flayer. I know he's not, but somewhere in the way back of my mind I still feel like he's there, just watching. "El looked around at her surroundings, trying to get her barring as he talked. "Sometimes I feel the need to be in the cold," he stopped in his tracks, forcing El to stop with him. "Sometimes I feel like I want to hurt someone," he said to her, his eyes staring her down. She felt her stomach drop as she looked at him.
"Do you want to hurt someone now?" She asked Will in a low voice. He stared at her for a moment before answering.
"No," he said shyly, and then started to move forward. "I just need to get somewhere." They continued to walk in silence.