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___________ c h a p t e r t w e n t y - f i v e
"Are you alright?" Sam lightly touches the side of Steve's face, trying to see his wounds more.
"Oh, what, this? Totally fine," he waves her off. "I'm just glad you're okay."
"Steve, there's blood all over your sailor uniform, something tells me it's not totally fine."
"I've gotten my ass kicked too many times to start crying about it now," he shrugs.
"This isn't just Jonathan punching you a couple times. You got tortured by Russian soldiers."
"When this is all over, we can talk and you can patch me up like you always do. I'm alright, I promise," he grabs her hand, hoping it would assure her.
"Okay," she nods, turning to Dawn. "Jake gave me your message."
"So he is good for something other than not taking a hint," she chuckles.
"Surprisingly. What did Billy do?"
"He got possessed by the Mind Flayer thing," she explains. "The kids said he attacked them, to which I asked if they were sure that was a result of his possession or just his usual behavior, but apparently the only thing that could stop him was El's power."
"Wait, so Billy's not just regular psycho anymore, he's possessed?"
"Just when we thought he couldn't get any worse. He gave your sister that lovely bruise on her hairline."
"He did what?" both Sam and Steve gasp.
"Yeah. His friend's a lot scarier, though," Dawn shivers. "That thing attacked me and Nancy at the hospital. Don't think I've ever been that scared in my life."
Sam simply wraps an arm around her, feeling sorry that she had to go through it without her.
"Well, that settles it. He's gonna die. They're gonna die," Erica shakes her head.
"Yep, most likely," Dustin agrees.
"You guys survived," Lucas argues.
"Barely. We could've really used you guys down there."
Bianca, Mike, Will and Lucas all nod in agreement, just glad to have Dustin by their side again.
"Could've used you up here, too," Mike nods.
"Yeah, man. We missed you."
"Yeah, big time," Will agrees.
"Totally," Bianca grins, and they all pull him in for a group hug.
"I missed you guys, too. Big time."
Erica cuts into the moment, teasing their sappiness. "Please don't cry, nerds."
