The Long Game, Lucas Sinclair

doomsday is close at hand

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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 him, 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.

Desperately, Jonathan asked, "Where did you get the axe?"

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

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

"No one cares," deadpanned Corey.

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

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

"This is different."

"How is this different?"

She argued, "This is the mall — it's a big corporation and it's really famous right now," 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 bat 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 had a 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 precious, burning pain that had both girls wailing.

The group walking into the mall and quietly moved forward, trying to make their way to the movie theater. Sam could tell they were nearing the location when the smell of popcorn filled her nose, but abruptly stopped with a pulled face. Everyone else stopped out of confusion.

"Wha—?"

"I sense something," Sam whispered eerily. "Fear. Lots of it."

They all went quiet, watching as Sam's eyebrows furrowed and she tried following the source of the emotion. They heard barely-audible commotion with the moment of silence they provided for Sam. She trudged in the lead, left leg dragging with her, and soon enough Sam brought them to a small balcony on the second level that looked over the food court.

Starcourt Mall was terrifyingly mute — there wasn't the loud chatter from shoppers, or the music that would play on the speakers for everyone to enjoy. It was dead silent, and it gave off an eerie feeling that brought everyone to stay on their toes. The commotion they heard turned out to be footsteps. Not their own — but someone else's. There were multiple pairs of the sound, and they were still heard when the group all stopped moving.