Chapter Forty-Nine
Never Ending Story
Veronica ignored the pain that seemed to vibrate through her entire body as she hit hard against the tiled floor behind the counter. She bit down on her lower lip to muffle her cry when her head smacked against the white tile. An extra reason for the ache in her head and the ringing in her ear. While they dove behind the counter of the food court station, Jonathan kept his arm wrapped around her tightly. The heavy footsteps of the Mindflayer echoed through the silent mall. She couldn't tell if it was moving farther away from them or closer. The chittering noise caused her heart to move further and further up her throat.
Veronica wasn't sure if she wanted to scream or cry.
On the other side of Jonathan were Nancy, Lucas, and Will, who sat with his knees pressed tightly to his chest. The younger boy was shaking with his eyes squeezed shut and tears moving down his pale cheeks. Veronica stopped herself from reaching over and comforting him. She wasn't even sure if she would be able to. With her energy being extremely low, she wasn't able to hold up her blockers, making her feel everything.
Everyone was too scared to speak or move.
Instead they sat there and listened as the monster that haunted their lives over the past two and a half years hunted and stalked through the mall.
But then, there was a voice.
It caused Veronica's back to straighten before the realization of whose voice it had hit her.
"Griswold Family, do you copy?"
"Griswold Family, do you copy?"
Dustin's voice came from the walkie that was left abandoned at the other side of the center court. It drew the attention of the Mindflayer, thinking it had found its prey. But it was faced with a mechanical device that only increased its anger. One of its flesh formed stumps,
it grabbed onto the walkie, before opening its face and screaming into it. Next, the sound of the small device smacking against the wall, plastic pieces breaking off, and scattering across the floor. Dustin's voice continued to be audible, growing more frantic this time, with more static in the voice.
The Mindflayer continued its search.
"We need to figure a way out of here," Veronica whispered, her dark eyes locking with Jonathan's as she spoke.
"How do you think we should do that?"
"If this place is anything like Scoops Ahoy!, which I'm sure it is, we can make through the swinging door, into the back, and then the back halls."
"We make any slight noise. That thing is going to catch us," Nancy whispered.
"We have to try," Veronica spoke, her shoulder deflating, "I'm not going to sit here waiting for that thing to tear us all apart."
"Ok, ok," Jonathan took a few deep breaths. "Let's just stop and think for a moment."
Before anyone else could say a word, the sound of glass breaking and crashing came from the other side of the court. The five of them slowly turned and peaked over the counter, barely coming over the top of it, to watch as the Mindflayer moved toward some stores. The Gap specifically.
"I think the others are in there," Will spoke up.
Long tendrils came from the back of the Mindflayer and reached into the store, using it as a way to search through the building since it was too large to fit it. It grabbed onto anything that resembled a human shape, it seemed, throwing mannequins across the door, causing more of a mess. They knew that capturing the other three was only a matter of time.
Lucas was the one to make a move first. Grabbing his slingshot out of his pocket, he grabbed a piece of sharp debris before loading it.
"What are you doing?" Nancy harshly whispered to him.
"Trust me." He spoke before standing up fully, pulling back on the sling and launching it far across the mall.
Seconds later, everyone moved to duck back behind the counter as the enormous sound of a balloon drew from the store, the Mindflayer's attention popping. Its loud growling roar caused nearly everyone's ears to ring, as it stomped and moved to the source of the noise.
"Go, go, go, go," Jonathan spoke, moving to press a hand against Veronica's back, pushing her forward as they all scrambled from behind the floor.
She stumbled a bit and could pull it together enough to lead the five of them through the kitchen and out the back door into the back halls. The terrifying sounds of the Mindflayer becoming increasingly distant. They ran through the concrete halls, which were filled with a barely bright enough blue light. As she burst through the front doors, she quickly felt the cool summer air against her skin.
"Get to the car!" Nancy shouted.
Lucas, Will and Veronica clumsily moved into the backseats of the car as Jonathan and Nancy moved around to the front. And as if on cue, the revving sounds of Bill's Camero reached everyone's ears from across the parking lot. It as an instinct that Veronica moved to place her body between the car door and the kids beside her.
Deep down, Veronica knew that her powers were worthless, but that didn't mean she wouldn't do what she could to protect those that she loved.
"Get the car started," Nancy spoke before rounding the front of the car, firmly standing to face Billy, before racing the revolver she found forward.
"Nancy…" Veronica spoke out, loud enough she could hear her. She wasn't sure why she did. It wasn't like the two of them got along great, but that didn't mean Veronica wanted her to be in harm's way.
Jonathan slammed down the front hood of the car before climbing into the driver's seat. He fumbled with the car keys for a moment, before the clicking sound of the engine trying to turn could be heard.
"Shit…shit…shit! Come on!" Jonathan screamed toward the vehicle, like it would understand his frustration and fear.
But he continued to try.
Even as Billy's headlights came closer and closer.
Even as the ringing sound of the gun going off continued,
Even as Lucas screamed in panic from the backseat, "We need to go! We need to go!"
Veronica froze with helplessness as she watched the car move closer and closer to them. For a moment she tried to reach deep down in herself, hoping for even a moment something would come up. Something to help her stop Billy from harming her and her friends — her family. But nothing happened.
It was like a light snuffed out.
But like something else was hearing her prayer, out of nowhere, a white convertible crashed into the side of Billy's car. Diverting his path and causing him to spin out. For a moment, everything was deathly silent as everyone seemed to be frozen in shock. Veronica turned to look out the front windshield at the white car, seeing Steve behind the wheel.
Jonathan could turn the car and get started just as the familiar thumping and growling sounds grew closer and closer. Everyone turned and watched as the Mindflayer scaled up the back of the mall before looming down over them. Nancy ran around to the other side, barely getting her door closed, as Jonathan started to drive off. Robin and Steve scrambled out of their car, Jonathan only stopping for a second to allow them to climb in through the back.
"Go! Go! Go!" Lucas screamed before Jonathan slammed on the gas, peeling quickly out of the Starcourt Mall parking lot. The Mindflayer jumped down from the roof before giving chase to the station wagon.
"Oh my god!" Robin screamed, as if for a moment, she was processing everything that was happening. "Oh, my god!"
"Robin," Veronica reached over the backseat to her friends, turning her body to face them, before reaching a hand over. "Are you alright?"
"Can you ask me that tomorrow?" She spoke with a dry laugh, her wide blue eyes turning back to look out the back window.
"How did you get here so fast?" Veronica spoke, turning her attention to Steve, "We tried reaching out earlier, before…"
Her eyes shot toward the back, watching as the Mindflayer continued chasing after them. It was at a distance where the fear she had could subside a little but wasn't fully gone.
"That convertible had a little more to it than my BMW." Steve moved closer, with his body pressing against the back bench. He wanted nothing more than to pull her over and bring her into his arms. He wasn't sure why, but Veronica looked more drained than when he left.
He reached a hand up to caress her face gently, hating the icy feeling he felt coming from her skin. "Are you ok?"
Her eyes closed for a moment, before a heavy sigh passed through her chapped lips. "I don't…I'm drained…more than usual, more than I have ever been before."
Steve's frown deepened. "What do you mean?"
"I can't feel it anymore," she whispered, her voice cracking as her eyes began to fill with tears. "I can't feel it. Even El said…there was nothing."
"She pushed too hard," Will spoke up from beside her, his face masked with sadness as he looked to Veronica. "We needed a cable from the car that El had thrown into those Russians. We couldn't get it flipped, so…she…she used her powers and flipped it back."
Steve's eyebrows pulled together tightly. "Veronica…"
"Please, I-I…" She shook her head, that shame coming back at her as she pulled away from Steve, "I didn't know what else to do."
Steve opened his mouth a few times, but nothing came to him. He could see the defeated look on her face, and the last thing he wanted to do was add to that.
"We'll figure this out ok?"
Veronica pressed her lips together firmly into a flatline as she nodded her head. She reached over again and grabbed onto Steve's hand, needing him as close to her as possible. So she could feel some semblance of safety.
"Copy Dusty-bun, can you hear me?" a young girl's voice came from the walkie sitting in the backseat.
"Can hear you loud and clear, Suzie-poo, thank you." Dustin's voice followed after.
"Suzie?" Robin questioned.
"…do you know Planck's constant?" Dustin asked, unaware he was having a conversation that many could hear.
"Do you know the earth orbits the sun?"
"I know how it starts, but I could really use your help with remembering the rest."
"Okay, let me just be clear on this. I haven't heard from you in a week, and now you want a mathematical equation that you should know the answer to, all so that you could save the world?"
It seemed everyone cringed inwardly at the tone Suzie was using toward Dustin.
"Suzie-poo, I promise, I will make it up to you as soon as possible." Dustin spoke frantically.
"You could make it up to me now…I want to hear it…"
"Hear it? Not right now."
"Yes, now, Dusty-bun." Suzie commanded.
"Suzie, this is urgent," Dustin panicked.
"Yeah, yeah you're saving the world." Suzie spoke flippantly. "But Get is also saving Earthsea, and he's about to confront the shadow. So this is Suzie signing off…"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Dustin shouted, "Ok! Ok!"
And then, seemingly out of nowhere, the familiar song started coming through the walkie talkie. It took Veronica a moment, cause she'd only watched it once. But both Suzie and Dustin began belting out the theme song to Never-Ending Story through the walkie system.
"What the actual hell was that?" Steve questioned the moment it was over.
"I think it was…sweet…" Robin chuckled slightly, causing a few others to do the same.
Veronica looked out the back when she noticed something strange—the Mindflayer was slowing down. It slowed down enough until it could fully turn back and head in the direction that it originally came from. Back toward Startcourt Mall.
"It's turning around," Veronica whispered, her brows furrowing together in confusion.
"What?" Steve snapped his head around to look back out the window.
"Maybe we tired it out?" Lucas suggested.
"I highly doubt that!" Jonathan called from the front.
And it was then that Veronica looked around and noticed that three people were missing. That one, most importantly, was missing.
"Where is El!?" she screamed. "Where is my sister!?"
AN: Sorry for the late wait (something I hate doing and seeming to be doing alot) but I have been busy! I was working at getting accepted into a Master's program, that I thankfully got into it! So all my energy was being poured into that on my downtime. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Leave a review with thoughts.