Chapter Text
Eleven.
Something dark and twisted was moving through the air. Dark and twisted and full of merciless greed.
Why don’t we ruin your life, Eleven?
The mindflayer thought for a moment, the darkness settling as it calms. Not unlike the eye of a storm, once the storm moves, you’re back in its depths.
Eleven has special people. We must find the special people. Collect. Bait. Destroy.
Billy’s eyes shined as he looked up.
—.—
The monstrous tentacle burst through the walls, causing everyone to scream and scramble away.
It moved with confidence toward Eleven, who shields her friends while staring at it in horror. But Jonathan takes an ax and slashes the monster, causing it to turn. He slashes again, and again, but the tentacle quickly throws him into the wall.
When the tentacle almost attacked Jonathan, a bullet ripped through it, Nancy just behind. She shot her gun a few times before she ran out, and the tentacle almost attacked her.
But it froze once again as Eleven used her powers, grunting in strain.
Everyone stares at it as Eleven keeps it in her hold, before ripping the front of it off and releasing it. The tentacle swings around and leaves the cabin from the hole it came from.
“Holy shit,” Max says.
Then, once again, a new tentacle bursts through a different part of the wall. Eleven barely has the time to stop it before another comes out from the other side.
Eleven stares back and forth between the two tentacles as everyone watches in fear.
Then she rips the heads off of the two and pants angrily, glaring as the two tentacles disappear again. But no one has any space to breathe, because another tentacle comes and darts to Mike.
It latches onto Mike’s leg, and he screams as it drags him across the floor. Everyone gasps and runs to him, with Eleven grabbing him first, Will and Max soon after.
Everyone was shouting and Mike was screaming and the monster was making disgusting noises— Then Jonathan looked over at Nancy, who was reloading her gun.
“Nancy, shoot it!” He screams.
She does as he says, and shoots the monster in the head multiple times before she shouts to Lucas, who grabs an ax and hacks away at the tentacle as Nancy continues to shoot.
There was a horrible long moment of everyone screaming and guns and the ax in flesh—
Mike grit his teeth, using his other leg to try and kick at the monster, but that only made the pain worse. Tears pricked his eyes and he felt miserable, his mind running too fast and it felt like his brain was going to explode out of his skull—
—before Lucas finally breaks through the tentacle and the monster screams, pulling away. Everyone who was holding onto Mike, which was everyone, fell back.
“Mike! Mike, you okay?” Will questions, checking Mike’s face. The boy gives a drowsy nod, completely drained.
Will looked down at Mike’s leg and saw the ‘head’ of the tentacle still connected to Mike’s leg.
Eleven grabbed it using her powers and ripped it off Mike’s leg, making him scream in pain. The tentacle piece dragged itself away and into a hole out of the house.
The monster looks back into the house and everyone stares up at it, other than Mike, who was barely staying awake through the pain. Eleven stood up and screamed as she used both arms, her powers ripping the monster’s head in half.
It finally disappeared and everyone collapsed in shock, panting and shaking from exhaustion.
—.—
“Okay, put him down,” Nancy says.
Will and Max gently place Mike on the floor, his back against the shelves. He winces in pain.
“Okay, lemme see,” Nancy says softly, pulling down Mike’s socks, which were completely soaked through with blood, to see the still gushing wound.
“Oh shit,” Max and Will whisper in unison.
Mike groans and Nancy pulls out a cleaning wipe and was about to place it on the wound before Max interrupted. “Woah, woah, hey, what are you doing?” She questions, frowning.
Nancy frowns back at her. “I’m cleaning the wound,” She says, and was about to place the wipe on Mike’s leg before Max stops her again, looking at her urgently.
“No, first, we need to stop the bleeding, then clean, then disinfect, then bandage,” Max orders, gesturing at the supplies. Nancy and Jonathan give her a look and she rolls her eyes. “I skateboard, trust me.”
Nancy frowns but nods. Max looks around and grabs a few napkins.
“Will, hold this,” She says, grabbing Will’s hand and pressing it on top of the napkins. Will gives Mike an apologetic look when the boy groans in pain again. “Keep the pressure on it, nice and firm, okay?” She starts and looks at Nancy. “We’re gonna need water, soap.”
“Yeah, okay,” Nancy says at the same time that Jonathan says. “All right.” The two teenagers stand up and rush to find the materials.
Max looks behind her at Lucas and Eleven. “Go get me a washcloth and a bowl,” She says.
“A bowl?” Lucas questions, frowning.
“Lucas,” Max says. Eleven grabs Lucas’s arm and the two rush off as well. Max looks back at Mike as he lets out a short and pained gasp.
Soon, everyone gathers back with the materials and Max finishes bandaging Mike’s leg.
The ravenette let out a sigh of relief, eyes drooping in exhaustion. “Hey, we need to stay awake,” Nancy says, grabbing Mike’s shoulder. Mike frowns and tries to make eye contact despite the haziness. “We’ve already spent too much time here.”
“Can’t we rest a little bit?” Will question, taking in Mike’s drowsy face.
Nancy glances up at the group and back at her injured brother, biting her lip. “..Fine, just a few minutes since we should get some food as well,” She says.
Mike blinked his eyes groggily and nodded.
Will jumps up and runs off to find snacks while Jonathan and Nancy continue to follow Max’s orders to keep the wound as bandaged and nice as possible.
“We got somethings,” Lucas announces, walking back over with both arms full of regular gas station snacks.
Mike smiles gratefully, his eyes still dazed.
—.—
Billy stalks forward, bending down slowly to wipe the still wet blood from the floor. She was here. Find her. FIND HER.
He stalked outside and back into his car, the blood still on his finger. It smudged on the car wheel, but of course the mindflayer didn’t care. Billy started the car and revved the engine, turning the wheel and heading off.. Towards the starcourt mall.