"I swear, if I'm dying tonight because of you, I'm gonna haunt your ass so hard, Harrington!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm gonna go full Poltergeist and shit!"
"Then bring it, Graveswood."
"Challenge accepted."
***
In which after years of suppressing their...
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Chapter Forty-One: Goodbye
(The Upside Down, Pt. 5)
***
The lights flickered in harsh fluorescence as the Party ran down the corridors of the school. Distantly, Alistair could hear the shattering rapport of gunfire and the unnerving roars and chittering screeches of the Demogorgon before the gunfire cut off disturbingly abruptly. Beside him, a raven's corpse and ghost flew, cawing and shrieking. Alistair's body was heavy, like it weighed hundreds of pounds, and fatigue clouded his brain, the space between his upper lip and nose sticky from dried blood.
Yet still he ran, trying to outpace the monster behind them, making use of the distraction he'd unwittingly given them by raising those dead animals and somehow commanding them to attack the Demogorgon.
That was still something Alistair was trying to make sense of and process, because when the hell could he do that? Had that power always been there inside him, buried deep, deep down all these years? Or was it a new power that had recently developed, that had come to surface due to his fear and panic?
Alistair didn't know which answer he preferred.
"Come on!" Alistair heard Mike shout as he lead them to somewhere Alistair assumed would be momentarily safe. "Come on!"
"Oh my God!" Dustin shouted, and Alistair winced; his friend's loud voice did not help his headache at all.
But he could run on his own again, and Lucas wasn't just dragging him along. That was a plus.
Mike had doubled back to check on El, to assure her they were almost to safety. Alistair hoped that was true. After what he'd done, he was ready to pass out himself, his body struggling to cope with the energy drain of that power, especially since his ability to see ghosts didn't drain him as much.
When Mike finally stopped, Alistair stared at the place they would be safe.
Mr. Clarke's classroom.
Alistair didn't think a classroom would be remotely safe from an inter-dimensional monster, but where else could they go?
At least we can barricade the door, Alistair told himself as Mike opened the door, saying between pants, "Come on... come on."
They swarmed inside, Dustin making a beeline for a table as he said, "Come on, get her on the table."
Alistair, Mike and Lucas did so and El gave a weak groan as they helped her onto the table. Alistair's heart seized and he grabbed El's hand, squeezing it comfortingly before he raced to the door, slamming it closed and locking it before he ran back to the chairs slid into the tables and shoved them against the door, barricading it. He tried to ignore the cracks in the floor, like he ignored the cracks on the linoleum floor of the corridor, a visible sign of the reanimated rats bursting through.
