(2) Love You to Hell and Back (Max Mayfield / (Fem) You)

-Chapter 15: The Bite-

El sits on the couch, explaining what she saw. "He said he was building something." She says, looking at us. "That it was all for me."

I cuddle into Max as I remember what happened. How emotionless Billy was as he spoke those words. "Building something? Is he talking about the flayed?" Max asks. "He must be." Nancy says from behind us. "So, he's building an army, just like we thought." Lucas says, pacing the room. "Yeah, but he's not building this army to spread." Mike butts in. "He's building it to stop Eleven." Will adds.

"Last year, El closed the gate on him. I have a feeling that really pissed him off." Mike says. "Like, royally." Lucas adds. "And the Mind Flayer now knows that she's the only thing that can stop him. But if she's out of the way-" Mike says before Lucas cuts him off. "Game over."

"H-he also said he was gonna kill all of you." El adds in a small voice. They all look at her, shocked. " 'And when you're gone, we are going to end your friends...and then, we are going to end everyone.'"  I repeat the boy's words. Everyone looks at me. "That's what he said. I was there." I say. I look at El, who's looking at me in shock. "I saw you...I-I tried to call out to you, but you didn't hear me." I say. "Did you guys know she was doing that?" El asks the others. They look at each other. "We weren't really focused on her." Will admits, looking down.

"I was." Max says. I look at her, noticing fear in her eyes. "It scared the living hell out of me." She says. "What did I look like?" I ask. "You...You were kind of twitching, like, jerking around a little." She says, a far away look in her eyes. "Your eyes were...they were pale and kind of rolled back into your head." She adds. "You didn't seem to hear anything I said. Kinda like, in a trance." She adds. "A trance?" I question. "Yeah." she confirms.

The sudden sound of fireworks cuts into the silence, our attention being drawn outside, especially when a light screech is heard. "Do you guys hear that?" Nancy asks, walking to the window. "It's just the fireworks." Jonathan says. Nancy turns around suddenly, looking at us. "Billy...when he told you guys that, it was here, in this room?" She asks El and I. We nod together, confused. That's when a loud thud is heard and Will tenses up. He touches the back of his neck, looking at each of us. "He knows we're here." He says.

We get up, walking outside to see trees falling down. "There." I say, pointing down the road where something approaches. The Mind Flayer. He flings trees down like nothing, getting closer and closer to us.

We run back into the house, Nancy and Jonathan going out to the shed as the rest of us barricade the windows. "Bring that couch over." I say to El who uses her powers, moving it. The boys move a shelf together as Max covers a window with a chair. Not long after, Nancy and Jonathan enter, moving another couch to block the door.

Nancy walks to the center of the room, grabbing Hopper's shotgun and looking at us. "Hey, get away from the windows." She says, causing us all to move to the center too. We stop moving, silence filling the room, only a slight rumbling is audible. Everything shakes a little as we all look around in panic.

The rumbling increases, shaking more things as Nancy readies her shotgun and Jonathan readies his axe. "It's close." Will says as dust falls from the roof from the shaking. A mug falls off the rack, shattering on the floor. A few more thuds before suddenly....silence.

"Where'd it go?" Max asks quietly. The lights flicker slightly, but nothing is audible, silence engulfing the room.

That's when a tentacle comes smashing through the wall, sending wood splinters and shards everywhere. We all move to the side, away from the slimy thing as it lunges for El, getting too close for comfort. Jonathan uses the axe and chops the tentacle twice, sending chunks of tentacle going everywhere. "Ugh, gross." I mutter as Jonathan goes to chop it again. Instead of it hitting the Mind Flayer, though, the tentacle swipes at him, sending him crashing into a wall. "Jonathan!" Will shouts.

Jonathan drops the axe in the process as the tentacle goes for him again.

BANG

Nancy fires a round using the shotgun. She chambers the gun, the empty shell dropping to the floor before she shoots again. She does it again, shooting a third time as the tentacle wobbles backwards. She tries again, but instead of a shot being fired, it's empty. The Mind Flayer focuses on Nancy now, slowly moving forward before lunging at her, backing her into a wall...and stopping an inch away from her face.

I hear the high pitched ringing again and look to El who is focusing on the creature. The tentacle struggles in her grasp, trying to get to Nancy. El shouts, slamming it into the floor as pieces snap off of it before it recoils, running and going out of the cabin. "Holy shit." Max mutters as we watch it leave. That's when another one smashes into the cabin, the right side of El. She holds her right hand up, stopping it in its tracks before another tentacle smashes in, going for El's left side until she stops it with her other hand.

Holding both tentacles off, one hand for each, they struggle. El knows it's a matter of time before another one comes in, so she screams, pulling her arms together and chopping them into pieces. We all sigh in relief before one more smashes in, from the ceiling, grabbing a hold of El's ankle and pulling her to the ground.

She falls forward, getting dragged backwards before being pulled up. I run forward, grabbing one of her arms as Mike grabs the other. "El!" He shouts. We both heave her to our side, not losing the girl again. Jonathan grabs onto her, then Max, then Will. "Pull!" Mike shouts before we all do, keeping El on our side. From the side, I see Nancy reloading the shotgun. "Nancy, shoot it!" Jonathan shouts just as the Mind Flayer sticks its head into the hole, snarling and showing it's disgusting teeth which is dripping with some sort of goo. "Shoot it!" I shout as Nancy takes aim.

BANG

She shoots it in the face before chambering a round and shooting again, right into the Mind Flayer's mouth. White teeth splatter around us, but we don't let go. My arms are straining in pain to keep the girl here, refusing to let her go. I'm not losing her again. Nancy chambers another round and shoots again, hitting the Mind Flayer.

"Come on! Lucas!" Max shouts as Nancy shoots again. Lucas grabs the axe from nearby and runs to the Mind Flayer, chopping at it. "Pull her!" I shout as we all do. Nancy shoots again as El screams in pain from the grasp the monster has on her. It starts pulling harder, dragging us slightly with her. "Crap, crap, crap!" I shout as we do. Another shot is heard before I hear a shout. Lucas comes in, swinging the axe at the tentacle, severing it, dropping us onto the floor as it recoils. The mouth of the tentacle is still attached to El's leg.

"El! El, you okay?" Mike asks, panic lacing his voice as he looks over at her leg. He grimaces, going to it and pulling it off, leaving it scuttering away. Its head sticks through the hole in the ceiling, snarling at us, going to attack again until El stands. She holds out both hands, glaring at the creature. It seems to hold him at the hold as he struggles. Then, she pulls her arms apart, screaming, ripping the Mind Flayer's face into two. The sharp ringing goes off in my head as she does so, but the roars outside my head are louder.

El collapses into our arms as Nancy shouts at us. "Go, go, go!" She shouts. We run out, Mike and I helping El to the car. "Come on!" Nancy shouts, gesturing us into the car and watching the monster behind us. We get in, buckling in as Nancy gets into the driver's seat. "DRIVE!" Mike shouts as she steps on the pedal, getting the car to roar out of the driveway and away from the cabin. I turn around in my seat to see the creature wobbling slightly, dazed from El's attack.

Word Count: 1454