Daisies || Max Mayfield

45: The Bite Part 2

Her leg was a bloody mess. A large lump of something sat under her skin, bright red and swollen. Everyone looked away as El groaned. All of a sudden, the thing moved, like one of those tentacles things. 

I immediately turned around, covering my mouth. I couldn't get the picture out of my head. Just thinking about it made my lunch come up.

She was screaming now, horribly loud in the mall. It bounced off the walls, amplifying it even more as Mike repeated her name over and over.

"What is that?" Erica groaned.

"There's something in there!" Mike shouted above Eleven's screams. He was panicking, just like everyone else in the fucking mall because what the fuck are you supposed to fucking do when there's a fucking moving piece of whatever the fuck in this random girl's leg!

"Jesus Christ-" Dustin gagged next to me, looking away for a second.

"Just keep her talking." Jonathan stood up, running away. "Keep her awake, okay?"

"Jesus-"

I watched Jonathan sprint across the mall to a restaurant and shuffle around in the drawers. Every few seconds, another shout from El snapped me out of it and I had to cover my mouth again.

Her shouts stopped, but she was still groaning quietly.

"Hey hey hey, stay awake, okay?" Mike asked. "Stay awake, stay awake. Get her on her side."

"Easy, easy," Dustin added, his shoes squeaking as he helped move her.

I glanced back, immediately regretting it when I saw her red face, tears all over. I looked away, finding Robin.

"You-you know it's not actually that bad. There was ah, the goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire. This other girl slid into her leg and the whole bone came out of her knee, six inches or something-"

"Robin," Steve muttered.

"Yeah?"

"You're not helping."

"I'm sorry." She groaned, running her hands through her hair.

Jonathan ran back, crouching by El's leg with a shiny knife and a wooden spoon. 

"Okay, alright, El." He picked up her leg, moving it closer to him. "This is gonna hurt like hell okay?" He sounded so innocent when he said it like his voice was super soft when he's out here literally about to cut her fucking leg open.

She replied with a pained okay, and reached for Mike's hand.

"You're gonna wanna stay real still, okay?" He continued, putting a pair of plastic gloves on. He handed her the spoon. "Here, you're gonna wanna bite down on this, okay?"

Mike took it and put it in her mouth, while Dustin malfunctioned and kept repeating Jesus Christ over and over.

"Holy shit holy shit holy shit-" Robin was freaking out a little bit away from me, in the back and frantically turning in circles.

I definitely wasn't looking anymore and had my hands over my ears.

Her ear-piercing scream sounded again, mixed with sobbing and groaning. It just got louder and louder, only stopping when she took short breaths. 

Everyone gasped when she started screeching. Even though I was on the verge of throwing up, I couldn't stop myself from looking.

JONATHAN HAD HER HAND INSIDE HER FUCKING LEG HOLY SHIT

Pus and blood were oozing out as he dug around while El screamed. Nancy and Mike were shouting at him, along with El still fucking screeching and everyone else was panicking.

My stomach rumbled as I turned back around, directing my focus to not fucking throwing up. I felt a little woozy but that doesn't fucking matter right now because someone over there has his hand in someone's leg and that's so fucking disgusting-

"Stop it!" El cried, the spoon clattering on the floor as she spit it out. She was whimpering as she spoke again. "I can-I can do it."

Everyone stepped back, except for Mike.

At first, I just heard a weird squelching noise, and then she started screaming. And it didn't fucking stop. Her voice got hoarser and hoarser, breaking every few seconds. All at once, the glass window behind her shattered.

I whipped around to see a small tentacle being pulled out of her leg. It was the same thing as the things in the cabin, just a lot smaller. She was still screeching, suspending it in the air in front of her.

I could feel my lunch coming back up, feeling my body shake as I watched her.

I couldn't even look away as she threw it across the mall, watching it slide to a stop on the tiles. It chittered, picking itself up and trying to drag itself away before a boot stomped on it, crushing it.

I looked up to see Hopper standing on it, and Will's mom right behind him. On his other side was a weird man, just a few inches taller than Joyce.

And that was such a fucking cool entrance it would've been so awesome if I hadn't ruined it.

All it took was one glance back at El's leg, and I immediately turned to the trash can and threw up.