𝗨𝗚𝗟𝗬 // 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

022

"Holy shit!" I put her to the ground as soon as possible, shaking her lightly, when all she does is scream I panic once more, "Holy shit!"
Everyone is crowding around us quickly, people screaming for their friend as I step back and let them do their thing.
It's like they all knew what was going on and I, I'm just a burden in their way, panicking as some poor little girl screams in agony on the floor.

The world went blurry, as if someone had wiped a lens or forgotten to press record. Words were muffled and I could feel my limbs go numb. There was a girl on the floor, a young girl, shaking because something something was crawling inside of her. Russian guards I can deal with, but I wasn't expecting this.

"Hey!" I'm snapped out of my thoughts by a clicking finger and thumb in front of me, Steve stands there with a worried look, brows furrowed, "hey! You ok? You good?"

I let out a shaky breathe, "how could I be good right now?" My eyes don't meet his, only stay looking behind him at the poor girl crying on the floor, "how could I be fine when there's something really fucking freaky about that girls leg!"
He stands in front of the image I'm referencing, blocking my view and he draws out a finger, slowly, to point my chin upwards and face him.

"We'll handle it." He tries to reassure me and for a moment it works, there's just something about his eyes that calm me, they make me warm and fuzzy, forgetful of the world around me. But a scream snaps me back into reality like a lightning bolt and I find myself running over to the group, standing besides Robin as El bites down on what seems to be a wooden spoon, a knife digging it's way into her leg.

I want to vomit. Especially when the blood spurts out and whatever that thing is comes face to face with the knife, as if it senses it.
"Ruby," I hear a slight whisper and notice his presence besides me, "Ruby look away," I want to question why as the girl gets up and hold her hand at her leg, but before I can Steve is pulling my head into his chest.
It's warm, the feeling climbing over my body and blocking out any chill I once had.
But it's not enough to cover up her screams.

There's a squelching sound and I look up from Steve's chest to find Chief Hopper, Miss Byers and some man I don't know. Why is Chief Hopper here?

***

"The Mind flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins to stop El, to kill her," Mike Wheeler explains to those of us who didn't know, proving to me he is a smarter kid than I already thought. He carries on, "and pave a way into our world."

Pave a way?

"So this thing isn't from here?" I can't help but ask, feeling uncomfortable as eyes turn to look at me and nod, "it's from a place called the upside down."
I nod and pretend to understand, clearly not doing a good job at acting as Steve leans over and whispers in my ear, "that portal the Russians had, it went to there."

Ohhh that makes so much more sense!

"And it almost did kill El, that was only one tiny piece of it." A small ginger girl pipes up, giving Mike a sort of side eye.
"How big is this thing?" Sheriff Hopper questions, holding on to El a little tighter than before, "it's big. Thirty feet at least."

"Yeh, and it kinda destroyed your cabin," Lucas spurts out, clearly trying to joke his way through the upcoming anger of the sheriff, but instead he just sighs and squeezes El's arm.

From besides me, Steve speaks up, clearly still confused, "so just to be clear, this big fleshy spider thing-" great description Harrington, "- that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic weapon?"

"Yes," Nancy perks up and the look of her eyes locking with Steve's makes my stomach flip, but he carries on, completely ignoring her stare, "but instead of like screws and metal the Mind Flayer is made of.. melted people?"

He questions it as if it's insane, which to be honest he wouldn't be wrong, but Nancy confirms matter of factly, causing the popular boy to nod around the group nervously, "yeah okay cool just making sure."

"Are we sure this thing is still alive?" Miss Byers pipes up, running a hand through her greased hair, "El beat the shit out of it but yeah.. it's still alive."

"But if we close the gate-"

"We cut the brain off from the body!"

"And kill it."

Damn these kids are geniuses.
There's a silence as we let the words wash over us for just a moment before a loud "yoo hoo!" Causes us to turn simultaneously to the unknown man from before.

***

Paper is banged onto a table as the strange man from before begins to explain, finger tracing over blueprints.
"This is what Alexei called the hub, now the hub takes us to the vault room."

"Okay, where's the gates?" Hopper questions, gaining an answer quickly, "right here. Now I don't know the scale on this but I think it's fairly close to the vault room. Maybe 50 feet or so."

That's not right.

"No. It's not." I find myself shaking out, hating the immediate attention that is drawn my way, "it's uh- it's more like 500," I can't help but gulp under Sheriff Hoppers harsh stare.

"I'm sorry who are you?" The questions causes a flush of embarrassment to overtake me and I'm about to stumble out my name when Erica walks in front of me, "who are you?"

"Murray.. Bauman," the man is clearly shocked by the child's attitude, eyebrows wide and suddenly stuttering a little, "well Mr Bunman-" I can't help but giggle a little, "I'm not trying to tell you how to do things but we've been down in that shithole for 24 hours."

Lucas perks up at his sisters use of wording, but she carries on, ignoring his dumbfounded expression, "and if you don't listen to her," she points at me and I can't help but smile at her for a moment before she turns back around, "you're all gonna die."

"Why is this four year old and her weird mother figure questioning me?" The man looks me up and down in disgust, which Erica is not a fan of, "um I'm ten you bald bastard!"

"Erica!" The older Sinclair boy objects to his sisters language, but she simply shrugs, "just the facts!"

***

Dustin had spent his time with the sheriff and his strange friend ordering them on where to go, sternly pointing at the blue prints and I'm not gonna lie, the kid impressed me.

Now we were waiting as the adults gathered their weapons, Hopper clocking a gun in the corner which I pretend didn't make me jump a little bit.
Steve is doing a good job at trying to distract me as Robin sits in the corner to think.

"So he's like her dad?" I question, referencing to the small, powerful girl and the sheriff, "yeah I guess so, she's the best thing she's got to it anyways."
A moment ago Steve told me to ask him whatever I wanted, that he would fill me in on the past two years. I tried not to choke when I found out this had been going on for two years, I felt so blind.

"Anyways can you believe that Mind Flayer thing?" He chuckles as he rests a hand on his knee, we're sat facing each other, his legs are sprawled out and mine are crossed politely.
"Yeah.." I breathe out, a little frightened, "like moulded people, how gross is that?" The popular boy laughs and I can't help but giggle along, in all reality, the concept is pretty strange.

A funny thought brushes into my brain, one about my favourite therapist,
"God Miss Cook is gonna freak when she hears about this.."

"Sorry, did you say Miss Cook?" Nancy pipes up from behind us, causing me and Steve to turn our heads as she furrows her brows. Jonathan shares a small look with her, the meaning of which I can't work out.

Shit. Nancy Wheeler is about to find out I see a therapist.
There's no hiding it now.

"Yeah uh.. I did." I find myself whispering, slightly embarrassed by the thought of Hawkins Princess knowing my secrets. Somehow, it made me want to compare myself to her more, but ironically I remember Miss Cook's words,
I am beautiful.

"I'm sorry but.. Miss Cook's dead."

And then my world shatters.