𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐔𝐄! ✽ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

70

❝𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈 𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊!❞ sheridan demanded from the hatch. nancy  whipped around to face her and the harrington boy with a horrified expression; steve sported one of his own, a meager tag-along who had no idea what dani was doing either.

"what?!" jonathan exclaimed, fists pounding against the wheel with his word. his voice broke with mystification. "are you insane?!" the kids had now snuck their own peeks at the pair, worry evident on their faces as well.

"d-dustin got my keys," she stuttered, patting down her bloodied denim shorts. she could've swore she put them in at least one of her pockets after hopper handed over the toddfather. as her hand guided itself along her front pocket, metal clinked, signaling she did indeed have them. a small sigh of relief fell from her lips. "betsy's in the employee lot; you guys can drive around for a sec, ditch the mind slayer-"

"flayer," will, mike, and lucas monotonously commended in unison.

dani huffed a deep breath out of her nose, imaginary steam piling out. "lose the mind flayer," she began, tilting her head and widening her eyes as she pounced in mike's face, placing emphasis on his grammatical suggestion, "take steve and i to the car, and while you guys get the hell out, we'll go back for robin, dustin, and erica. by that point, we'll both be going separate directions—he'll be forced to pick one of us!"

"what, so we have a 50/50 shot at surviving this?!" her middle brother barked. while sheridan offered up her explanation, though, he had been subconsciously ducking between the foliage-lined medians toward the mall's employee exit.

"not exactly, but if anything, i would say the odds are in your favor; i wouldn't be surprised if it chose to follow us," dani answered as she used her thumb to motion between herself and steve. "but i think splitting up would better all of our odds at this point!"

jonathan let a sigh fall from his lips. he glared ahead, speeding through the stop signs as he began to round the final bend. he saw betsy, the car's red paint still glimmering in the dark of night. "be ready to peel out of here!" he seethed, pressing into the gas. 

not far from sherrie's face, will placed his arm between the backseat headrests. his palm upturned as his sister's eyes met his—within them, deep down, she could pick out the fear. she offered up a sympathetic smile, as well as her hand. their fingers intertwined, tears welling in their eyes. "i love you," will mouthed. she watched as his bottom lip quivered.

"i love you most," she mouthed in reply. she kissed the palm of her other hand and, twisting his hand over, placed it atop the back of his. he squeezed his eyes shut as dani held him, not dignifying his tears, in front of his friends especially. "stay safe," she whispered aloud. 

steve turned his head to the side hastily, raising his eyebrows and stretching his jaw in attempt to coerce his own tears back into their ducts.

abruptly, the wheeler family vehicle came to a screeching halt; jonathan had stopped just to the left of betsy. "go, go, go!" the byers boy shouted. sherrie's hand slipped from will's as her and steve spilled out the back instantly. keys in-hand, she dashed to betsy's driver's side, steve shutting the hatch behind her.