The Long Game, Lucas Sinclair

032. we have a catch up sesh

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO.
3x08: The Battle of Starcourt

This was proving to be the longest night of their lives. Sam didn't even know what time it was anymore—just that it was late. The moon shone down, bathing her in a dim glow, and she felt the cool breeze that came with the night.

"Locked," Jonathan said after trying to open the mall's emergency exit doors.

"Are you sure?" Will asked, stepping forward to open the doors himself—however, they were still locked. "Oh."

"I've got an idea." Corey stepped forward with the axe from Hopper's cabin in his grasp and over his shoulder.

Everyone turned to look at him, confused.

"Where did you get the axe?" Jonathan asked desperately.

"Stole it from the cabin, obviously." Corey stepped in front of the door, ready to swing at the glass. "Now let me just—"

"No, wait," Nancy stopped him in a hushed voice. "There might be an alarm."

"No one cares," Corey deadpanned.

Nancy shot him an agitated glare. "I care!"

"There wasn't an alarm at Bradley's."

"This is different."

"How is this different?"

"This is the mall—it's a big corporation and it's really famous right now," Nancu argued, causing Corey to roll his eyes. "That means they can afford heavy security and alarms. Also, these are emergency doors—the fire alarm will go off!"

"Why don't we go through the back doors? Where the storage comes—?" Mike had started to say, but his voice was cut off by the sound of glass shattering.

Sam's hands snapped up over her ears at the piercing nose. She looked to see that Corey had impatiently smashed the door with the axe against Nancy's wishes.

The door broke into millions of dangerous pieces, just like the ones at Bradley's store. An alarm didn't go off, and Corey shot Nancy with shit-eating smirk on his face as he stuck an arm through the door and pulled on the handle from the inside.

"Not locked." Corey smiled like an asshole, opening the door for everyone. "Ladies first."

Sam had to muster all her strength to limp into the mall. Max and Mike still had to help El walk, and Sam could tell why, because this ankle shit hurt like a bitch. She'd been trying to shut off her physical connection with El since the grocery store, but was clearly failing horribly. The throbbing pain was expanding again, and it slowly felt like it was returning to the burning pain that had both girls wailing.