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Sam squeezed into El's hand as tight as she could as the girl continued to scream in pain.
"What is that?" Erica asked about whatever seemed to be underneath El's skin.
"There's something in there," Mike stated.
"No shit," Sam said under her breath.
"Keep her talking. Keep her awake, okay?" Jonathan told them before running to the other side of the food court.
"You know, it's not actually that bad," Robin spoke. "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."
"Robin," Steve got her attention.
"Yeah?"
"You're not helping."
"I'm sorry."
Then, Jonathan came running back, holding a sharp knife and a wooden spoon.
"Okay. Alright, El?" he knelt down by her leg. "This is gonna hurt like hell, okay?"
"Okay," El sobbed.
"I need you to stay real still. Here," he put on gloves and handed her the spoon, "you're gonna want to bite down on this, okay?"
As Jonathan brought the knife to El's leg, Sam shut her eyes before she could see him cut into her skin. The sound of El's screams made Sam feel sick to her stomach.
"Stop it!" El screamed, Sam opening her eyes.
Jonathan was removing his fingers from the cut, and the thought of what just happened almost made Sam feel faint.
"I can do it," El said weakly, letting go of Sam's hand and sitting up.
El began using her powers to get the creature out of her leg, Sam clutching onto Dustin's hand. After a moment, El let out a scream that caused the window behind them to shatter, Sam using her hands to cover her head.
El lifted the creature from her leg and flung it across the room. As it attempted to crawl away, someone's shoe stomped on it. Sam looked up, seeing Hopper, Joyce, and a man she didn't know.
They seemed a little beat up, but Sam was so happy to finally see them. — El's leg was patched up before everyone gathered together. Sam was stood next to Max, an arm resting on the girl's shoulder. Sam's head was still pounding and her entire body ached, but especially her legs from all the walking.
"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world," Mike informed.
"And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece of it," Max explained.
"How big is this thing?" Hopper asked, holding onto El.
"It's big. Thirty feet at least," Jonathan answered.
