Into The Fire~A Stranger Things fanfiction

Escape/It's Time/Hiding In Starcourt

I don't know how long I was dangling there unconsciously, but when I opened my eyes, it was because I was being rudely shaken by none other than Erica Sinclair. She sighed in relief as she saw me looking at her, and told me, "We thought you were dead! You're all covered in blood and shit." I groaned, in a serious amount of pain, frowning as I saw Dustin helping Robin and Steve out of the chairs, my girlfriend giggling like a lunatic. "They gave them the truth serum. It has an effect kind of like marijuana." I watched Dustin run over to me with a set of keys, and he stood on a chair, unlocking the chains, and I hit the floor hard. "Fucking hell, Dustin! At least the floor caught my fall.." I slowly stood up, examining my wounds, and sighed. They were bad, but I had had far worse, and either way, there was no time to focus on the pain, alarms blaring loudly throughout the compound. I stumbled my way after Dustin, barely able to keep my eyes open, blood dripping on the tile flooring underneath me, and could hear him and Erica shouting something, but couldn't quite make it out. My wrists ached badly, rubbed raw and bleeding, and the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes inside of the Shadows, but this time was different.

I was standing inside of a nice living room somewhere, the stale scent of cigarette smoke lingering in the air, and heard terrified whimpering coming from behind me. I slowly turned around, and saw El watching me, tears in her eyes, shaking like a leaf, and felt bad for her, gently walking over to her. "Hey, it's alright. I won't hurt you.." She studied me in confusion, then gently grabbed my left wrist, and turned it over, her eyes widening as she saw the faint numbers inked across my skin. "You're.. Like me." She held up her own wrist, showing me the number eleven, and I nodded. "Yes, but I'm also different. We need to get out of here, okay?" An uneasy feeling swept over me, as she looked at something behind me, and I turned my head to see Billy Hargrove walk into the room, squashing out a cigarette in the ashtray, but somehow, I knew it wasn't him. It was something inhuman, inside of him, and it was heading right towards us. I moved beside El, ready to protect her if I had to, though I knew she could likely take care of herself, and felt chills crawl up my fucking spine at the demonic sound of his voice.

He glared at me first, then at her, and said, "You shouldn't have looked for me. Because now I see you.. Now we can all see you. You let us in. And now, you are going to have to let us stay." I glanced at El, confused, but knew she understood, a look of pure terror on her face, as he walked closer and closer to us. I pulled her into my arms, and held her close, not wanting whatever that asshole was to touch her, feeling protective of her, as if she were a little sister to me, which, technically, the tattoo on her wrist made her in my eyes. "Don't you see? All this time, we've been building it. We've been building it for you. All that work, all that pain.. All of it, for you. And now it's time. Time to end it. And we are going to end you. And when you are gone, we are going to end your friends." Hot tears hit my skin as she sobbed, and shook her head, saying, "No!", and his eyes turned to me, as he continued, "And then, we are going to end everyone." Before I could say a word, El shot out one arm, and shouted, "Get away!", and Billy went flying. El suddenly disappeared, and I was left alone in the darkness, until I was yet again slapped awake by Erica. "Hey! Wake your ass up! We can't carry you with those two losers being stoned!"

I sighed, and got up from where I had been set on the floor, and realized we were inside of Starcourt. "Finally. Dustin, can you go find me a first aid kit? Me bleeding to death won't help any of you dumbasses." He sighed, but ran off, coming back a few minutes later with a first aid kit, and about ten minutes later, I had expertly bandaged my wounds, sighing in relief. "Okay, now what? My fellow agents won't give up so easily. They're going to come for us." I panicked a bit as I saw Robin and Steve missing, and Dustin sighed. "Relax, okay? They're in the bathroom, hopefully getting whatever that shit is out of their system. Our best course of action is to somehow meet up with my friends, get the hell out of here, contact the military, and let them deal with the rest." I shook my head, and told him, "No way. You told your friends I'm a Russian? You are going to get me killed. The military won't be so nice to me, and I'll be fucking tortured and interrogated. I will be your government's prisoner. My life might be shitty, but I won't live in some prison."

I walked to the bathroom, and went inside, finding Steve and Robin laughing on the floor, but their laughter stopped as they saw me. "Are you done being high now? We're being hunted in case you forgot." I frowned, giving Steve a dirty look as he eyed me curiously. "What? Stop looking at me like that, or I'll give you more bruises, Harrington." He shook his head, and looked away, before replying, "Uh, sorry- It's just that Robin told me about the, um, together situation." It took me a minute to put it together, and I glanced at my girlfriend in shock. "You.. Told him?" Robin and he both stood up, and she walked over to me, pulling me into her arms, and I saw tears in her eyes. "Yeah, of course I did, you dingus. You were being tortured right in front of me, and I couldn't do shit about it. Kind of made me realize how stupid hiding how much I love you from the world is." I winced hard, and replied, "Okay, babe, I love you and all, but could you maybe be more careful? I'm in a lot of pain." She instantly let go, and settled for holding my hand, walking out of the bathroom with me and Steve.

Dustin sighed as he saw me and Robin holding hands. "Jesus, it took you long enough to admit it. Now, I have a plan to get out of here. If we wait for the right time, we can blend in with the crowds leaving the movies, and walk right out of the door with them, and wait for my friends to get here. So do exactly what I tell you, and we might stay alive longer." We all hid in the bathroom for what felt like eternity, and then, as the movies all ended, we peeked out the door. Dustin whispered, "And... Blend", and the five of us slid into the crowds of people heading for the exits, my injuries throbbing every time someone ran into me, but I kept my fingers laced with Robin's, afraid of losing her or being left behind by accident. Erica said, "Well, that worked." Dustin replied, "Of course it worked. Now we just need to get on the bus with the rest of these plebes, and home sweet home, here we come." I muttered, "Except for me. I have no home.." They went silent at that, until Steve said, "Uh, Dustin. yeah, we might not wanna to go to your house." Dustin asked, "Why?', and Steve awkwardly replied, "Well, I might've told them your full name."

That led to a quiet argument between the two of them, which I ignored, my head pounding, until Robin whispered, "Guys." I looked at where she was staring, and felt the color drain out of my face. Two of my fellow agents were standing nearby, questioning people, and as Dustin whispered, "Abort", they turned and saw us, hatred in their eyes as they looked at me. Instantly, we all turned around and ran in the opposite direction, and, as we found the escalators powered off, we all slid down them like a slide, the four of them standing up smoothly, but I would have landed on my face if not for Steve catching me. "Thanks, Harrington." He nodded, and offered me a slight smile, and we all hid expertly behind the Orange Julius counter, trying not to make a sound. A few minutes later, the mall went silent, except for the footsteps of the agents, as they walked around slowly, hunting us. One of them told their superiors that they had found us, and I panicked a bit. I whispered really quietly, "Let me go out there and take care of them. I can easily take at least three of them down, and you can run while they're distracted."

Robin whispered back, "No way, Ana. I'm not letting you die to save our asses." Erica moved a bit, and then, I heard one of the agents say, "Everyone, get over here. I found them." I whispered, "I have to. I love you.." I slowly snuck out from behind the counter, and slowly stood, raising my hands, and spoke to the agents in Russian. "You know how this ends. I will kill you. Let them go, and I will go with you quietly." They smirked, and attacked, and I fought back with all my fury, plunging my fist into one man's face, then swung my leg around, and slammed my left heel into another's kidney, but that didn't do much. They were well trained, likely by my father, and no matter how much blood I drew from them, or how injured they were, they weren't exhausted like I was, and before I knew it, they were all taking turns kicking and beating me in all my injured areas, white hot pain flooding my body. I swore in both Russian and English, but gave up on fighting back, hoping Robin and the others would run while the men were distracted. The next thing I knew, the car alarm on the prize car for the raffle went off on its own, and the men turned, slowly looking up. I spat out blood, and curled up, not quite able to move yet, or able to look and see what they were staring at, but the next thing I knew, I felt air rush past my face, as the car flew into the agents, crushing and killing all of them..