Two of a kind...... A Billy Hargrove story

Chapter 34: Starcourt part 2

"Back in the mall" Nancy said calmly as she kept her eyes on the car that was revving in front of her "back in the mall!" She shouted after realising that nobody had moved "go, go, go!" Kali shouted as she helped the kids out of the car and ushered them inside, Nancy and Jonathon weren't far behind her as they all ran inside. The revving of Billy's engine could still be heard as they ran deeper into the mall "shit" Kali muttered as she tried to catch her breath, after Max had set El down she ran over to Kali to make sure she was okay, she placed a hand on Kali's back as the older girl rested her hands on her knees, she turned her head and smiled at the young red head beside her "I'm okay Max" she spoke as she slowly stood back up. Kali joined El at the table while Mike paced back and forth trying to reach Dustin in the radio "scoops troop do you copy?" There was no answer so he kept trying "scoops troop do you copy? Billy has found us. He has disabled our car and we are trapped in the mall" Nancy was stood next to El, preparing her gun "you're gonna kill him aren't you?" Kali spoke softly as she looked over at her friend "this is just a precaution okay?" Nancy sent her a soft smile as she spoke, the plan was to save Billy but just in case shit went sideways, she wanted to protect not only herself but her friends and although they weren't exactly close, she would do everything in her power to protect Kali and the baby "no chance that thing'll drive right?" Max spoke as she pointed over to the car that El had thrown at the Russians, Kali followed the young girls gaze as her eyes fell on the car and that's when it clicked "we don't need it to drive" she turned her head towards Jonathon and Nancy "we just need the ignition cable!".

Kali felt useless as she stood and watched her friends try and push the car the right way round, Nancy insisted that she sit this one out due to the baby and to Kali's surprised when she tried to argue back it was Jonathon who spoke up "no Kali! Nancys right, you can help when we've turned it but right now, you need to stay put" it was the first time Jonathon had protected her and honestly it left her a little speechless. They struggled to push the car, no matter how hard they tried it wouldn't move "I can do it" El muttered as she stood at Kali's side, raising her hand towards the car. Kali noticed how much the young girl was struggling, the car only vibrated slightly, she rested her hand on El's shoulder and told her to stop, El let out a small sob as she wiped the blood away from her nose and stormed off towards the food court. The group came up with a new plan, using metal poles to push against the car would be a lot better apparently, Kali didn't understand the science behind it but once the car had flipped over she quickly made her way over to grab the ignition cable, Lucas threw his hands into the air in victory as he jumped off of the counter "told you, physics" Kali rolled her eyes at the young boy, and once Nancy had finally found the latch to pop the hood Kali began her search, Jonathon stood next to her and watched in awe. Truth be told, he found it a little sexy but he'd never admit it or say it out loud, "do you see it?" Nancy shouted as she ran to Kali's side "I don't know. It should be here" Kali muttered as she leaned closer to the car "distributer, distributer... got it!" Kali shouted in triumph before she was pulled to the side of the car by Nancy. While she was searching she didn't even notice that the mind flayer had made its way onto the glass roof of the mall, Nancy had pulled her to safety as the roof broke and the mind flayer had crashed onto the floor below.

Kali, Nancy, Jonathon, Will and Lucas all hid behind the car while Max, Mike and El had hidden on the other side of the mall. Kali tried to control her breathing as she clutched the ignition cable to her chest, she sent a panicked look over to Nancy who held her hand, squeezing it lightly to reassure her but Kali started to panic more when she heard the radio "Griswald family, this is scoops troop, do you copy?" The five of them all looked at each other when they heard the mind flayer roar "Griswald family, I repeat, this is scoops troop, do you.." the radio cut out. The creature continued to roar and snarl as it made its way around the mall, searching for El, Kali quickly looked around the side of the car when she heard something fall "they've gone into the gap" she whispered to the rest of the group who furrowed their brows in confusion "shit, he knows they're in there" she whispered once again when she saw the creature release one of its tentacles into the store, being too big to go in there itself. Kali turned to look at the group as Lucas was preparing his slingshot "we need a distraction" she looked over to Lucas who seemed to have the same idea as her as he stood from behind the car, he managed to hit a balloon on the opposite side of the mall, the creature let out another loud roar as the balloon popped and as soon as its tentacle had retracted it made its way over to the sound "go, go, go!" Jonathon whisper yelled as he helped Kali from the floor, all five of them running out of the mall towards the car, Kali turned her head as she ran to see the other three teenagers running up a set of stairs.