~ Hidden Love ~

CH8 - The Battle of Starcourt Mall [PT1]

"What is that?" Erica asked.

"There's something in there." Mike told us.

"No!" Eleven cried out.

"Jesus Christ." Dustin said, shocked.

"Mike, just keep her talking. Keep her awake, okay?" I ordered Mike. I got up and ran to a Japanese restaurant. I looked through the drawers and found a wooden spoon, some gloves, and a knife. I slipped the gloves on and turned the stove on high. I held the knife at the flame and waited for it to become very hot. I ran back to the others with the spoon and hot knife in hand. I knelt down near her leg. "Okay, El? This is going to hurt like shit. Bite on this, okay?" I told her as I handed her the spoon. "Please stay very still for me, okay?"

"Okay." El said through the sobs as she bit down on the wooden spoon.

"Jesus Christ." Dustin muttered next to me. I grabbed her ankle and held the knife above the wound, quickly mentally preparing myself. "Holy shit. Holy shit." Dustin muttered as I looked at El.

"Do it." Mike responded to me. I nodded and took a deep breath. I cut into El's leg as she started screaming.

"Oh, shit." Dustin exclaimed. I cut until it looked big enough. I stopped cutting and dropped the knife. I exhaled shakely as I stuck my gloves finger in E's leg. Everyone flinched as El yelled louder. I almost got the thing, but it kept moving too fast.

"Y/n!" Nancy yelled.

"Shut up!" I snapped back to her. "God-fucking-damn it!"

"No! Stop it!" El yelled to me as I took my hand out of her cut. "I can do it." El sat up as she started using her powers to pull the thing out. She started screaming as she tried to pull the thing out. El's screams shattered the display glass behind us, sending shards our way. The lights started to flicker as El pulled out a worm creature. She held it and flung it across from us. As I looked up to see where she threw it, I saw Hopper, Mom, and some half-bald guy. I took off my blood-stained gloves and had another reunion with Mom. After that, everyone stood around next to the fountain.

"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world." Mike told us.

"And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece of it." Max finished.

"How big is this thing?" Hopper asked.

"It's big. Thirty feet, at least." Jonathan answered.

"Yeah. It sorta destroyed your cabin. Sorry." Lucas apologized to Hopper.

"Okay, so, just to be clear, this.. this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, is some kind of gigantic.. weapon?" Steve asked.

"Yes." Nancy told him.

"But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer make its weapon.. with melted people."

"Yes, exactly."

"Yeah, okay. I– Yeah, I'm just making sure."

"Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Mom asked.

"El beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive." Max answered.

"But if we close the gate again–" Will started.

"We cut off the brain from the body." I told them.

"And kill it." Max continued.

"But, theoretically." Lucas said.

"Yoo-hoo!" The balding guy caught our attention as he waved papers at us. "Yoo-hoo!"

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