The Long Game, Lucas Sinclair

i plunge to my death

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"Scoops Troop, do you copy? Scoops Troop, I repeat, do you copy? We're trapped in the mall and in need of emergency transportation."

Mike was pacing back and forth near the center of the food court, trying to contact Dustin with Lucas's Walkie that was luckily still in his backpack.

Lucas and El were over at the eating area of the food court — Lucas was sitting at a table, stretching his wrist rocket, practicing for whatever time he'd need to aim and shoot something; El stood and watched him silently. A little bit in front of them, Jonathan paced nervously.

Corey, Max, and Will couldn't help but watch as Sam and Nancy robbed the bodies of two, dead corpses. They were Makarov guns, which made Sam feel a little lighter, because she liked pistols much more than the large guns. Sam tucked the Makarov behind her back underneath the waistband of her underwear, hidden underneath her overalls, since she didn't have any other form of keeping it stored.

"You're gonna kill him, aren't you?"

Sam stood up to meet Max's uneasy stare. She felt a little horrible for making her best friend think that she was trying to kill her step-brother.

"I swear this is just a precaution, Max," Sam promised.

"Yeah," Nancy checked that her gun had bullets in it, before putting the cartridge back. "We needed the gun back at the cabin, remember?"

Will added, "Exactly," trying to make Max feel better. "If Billy knows we're here, so does the Mind Flayer."

Max only breathed out with a shaky nod, wrapping her arms around herself unsurely. The six of them fell silent, able to hear Mike in the distance.

"Scoops Troop, I repeat, we are in need of emergency transportation. Do you copy?"

Mike walked past the car El flipped over previously. Nancy's gaze settled on it, upon being reminded that it was there.

"No chance that thing'll drive, right?" Nancy huffed, and she said it as a joke, but they all knew she was secretly wishing the car worked.

Sam hummed, thinking. "If I used my powers, maybe it would."

But Jonathan's head tilted at the car, realizing something at the same time as Corey.

"We don't need it to drive," said Jonathan, looking to Corey.

Corey shared eye contact with Jonathan, eyebrows lifting. "We just need the ignition cable."

So everyone ganged back together, hopping up on the countertops of the food shops that the car was turned over against. Sam, Will, and El stood and watched as they tried flipping the car back over with their bare hands. The group used whatever strength they could muster to roll the car over.

"Come on! Use those muscles!" Sam teased, standing on the left side of El as the two girls watched the group with Will. 'Shut up, Sam!' she heard one of them shout, but she couldn't tell who since they were all grunting and panting loudly. The car creaked and was pushed slightly to its side, but it barely moved an inch.

In the end, they were all too weak to flip the car. Everyone dropped it back down, causing the remaining glass to shatter.

Sam's head craned towards El and Will. She whispered, so no one would curse her out, "Guess they couldn't master the... mechanics... of it."

Will snorted, reaching over El to nudge Sam for the horrible joke.

"Let me try," El told them, sick of hearing them pant and murmur; she also wanted to free herself from Sam's horrible jokes. She limped forward, not letting anyone protest.