"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 One-Hundred-And-Nineteen: The Bite
(The Battle Of Starcourt Mall)
***
El's agonised cries rattled through the empty mall.
Rowan stared at the girl she considered a little sister in all but blood, worry for El and nauseating horror for the wound on her leg and the thing underneath her skin swarming inside her—a mutual reaction shared by literally everyone around her.
"What is that?" Erica questioned as they all leaned in closer to get a better look at the twitching, blob-like shape moving under El's skin.
"There's something in there," Mike said.
"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock," Rowan retorted, but her sarcasm was frayed as she stared at the thing writhing inside El's leg.
It writhed faster and El immediately cried, "NO!" Rowan's heart ached for El, as Alistair held her hand tighter and Mike held her in his arms.
"Jesus Christ," Dustin breathed.
"Keep her talking. Keep her awake, okay?" Jonathan ordered, before he was running, making a beeline for one of the food court restaurants.
"Okay. Okay, we can do that," Cami said, making eye contact with Alistair who told El, "El, stay awake, okay? We're gonna get it out, okay? Just hold on a little longer."
El could only give a tiny nod, her face contorted with pain.
"Jesus Christ," Dustin muttered again and Rowan looked over to Steve and saw the look on his face. She moved to his side, grabbing his hand and letting their fingers interlock. To support him. And by the way he gripped her hand back, it was needed, and reciprocated.
"Hey, hey, hey. Stay awake. Stay awake, okay?" Mike gently commanded, fear of watching the girl he loved die stark on his face, of losing her again. Looking around, he said, "Let's get her on this side, on this side."
Rowan immediately let go of Steve's hand, the both of them moving to help El onto her back and be as comfortable as she could along with Mike, Alistair, Nancy and Dustin, trying to be as gentle as possible and not aggravate the torturous pain El must be going through.
"Easy. Easy, easy, easy," Steve ordered as they finished adjusting El's position. Rowan cast a look to El and her heart twisted at seeing the sweat on El's forehead, her features screwed up in agony. God, the pain she must be going through...
"It's uh... you know, it's not actually that bad," Robin piped up, the tremble to her voice telling Rowan this was one of her nervous rambles. "There was a—the goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg, and like the whole bone came out of her knee, six inches or something, it was insane."
