Smoke -- Jim Hopper

35. HOLD ON

Man, wattpad is freaking out on me. Nothing is working :d

Short chapter, but we got fluffy/protective hop!! Yay!!

Not edited

___________________________________________________

Natalie held back a cry as she shifted her leg causing more blood to leak out of her wound. She removed her hand from her leg to wipe her nose with her wrist. Her tears had now dried, and she was waiting for the inevitable. It was only a matter of time before the dogs caught the scent of her blood and come to her. At least she was feeling so out of it from loss of blood it might not hurt as much.

She rested her head against the wall and looked up at the flickering light above her. She wished she could have told Jim she loved him one more time. She wished she could have told Will she loved him too. There were so many things she wanted to do, but her time was running out.

Natalie didn't even realize the door opened and someone ran in. She groggily looked at the person next to her and a lazy smile made its way across her face, "Bob, what are you doing here?" she whispered.

Bob's head snapped to the right as he looked down at her with surprised eyes, "Oh my gosh, Natalie!" he crouched down and scrunched up his face with disgust as he looked at her bloody leg "What happened?"

She shifted her body a bit so she could look at him better, "One of those damn dogs got me, tore up the back of my leg pretty good, I don't think it hit any arteries."

Bob gaped at her, "Oh man, not good. We have to get you out of here," he paced around and pulled out his walkie, "Doc, I found Natalie, let me know when we are clear to go."

Dr. Owens voice crackled over the walkie, "Get ready to leave, it's turning around."

Bob looked down at Natalie, "Okay, Nat. We have to get you out of here and back to Jim. Gosh, he was a mess," he said with a small chuckle and wiped brow.

Natalie's heart ached, "He was?"

Bob nodded, "Oh yeah, but we need to go. I'll help you up."

Natalie watched as Bob extended his hand towards her and she grabbed his hand. With a groan of pain, she shakily got to her feet, the back of her leg throbbing as more blood streamed down.

"Bob," she panted as she clung to his arm, "I'm really dizzy,"

He nodded, "It's okay, you're okay. We are going to get out of here, try to stay awake."

Natalie nodded but was starting to see little black dots in her field of vision, she was going to pass out, "Okay, I'll try." she whispered.

Bob slowly opened the door and they both slowly walked out, Natalie barely keeping up with him. Her breath was ragged as she tried to keep herself from passing out, and her bad leg was starting to seize up.

"Bob," she whispered, her eyes starting to water.

"Stop talking, we are almost there," he told her as they walked down the hallway.

Eventually, they reached the front doors leading to the main lobby. Bob wiggled the handle to open it, but dropped the walkie in the process. Natalie and Bob looked at each other and both burst through the doors just as a howl from a dog came from behind them.

Natalie's leg buckled and she fell to the floor with a slam. Bob immediately grabbed her arms and began dragging her forward and shut the door behind them.

Natalie looked up to see Jim rushing towards her, Will's limp body swinging over his shoulder as he ran.

"Natalie!" he cried out as he saw her on the floor.

With Bob's help, she managed to push herself off the floor and into Jim's free arm. Her bloody hands gripped tightly onto his shirt.

Jim wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her up as he quickly walked back to the door, his mouth dropping in worry when he saw all the blood on her.

Joyce ran over to Bob and smiled, "Bob!"

Bob gave her a tired grin, "Hey, Joyce."

Just then the door burst open and a dog leaped towards Bob, who miraculously sidestepped the attack and sprinted towards the door. He grabbed Joyce's hand and they all managed to get outside before the dogs could get them.

Jim handed Will over to Bob and scooped Natalie up into his arms and held her close, "We need to go!" he shouted and they sprinted over to his car and gently placed Natalie in the back of his car. Joyce, Bob, Mike, and Will were all in Natalie's truck.

Natalie looked up at Jim as he put her in the back, "Jim."

He looked at her with pained eyes, "Don't talk Nat, just hold on," he told her and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear before shutting the door and getting into the driver's seat. The engine roared to life and he booked it out of the parking lot and stopped at the gate, "Get in! Steve, I need you to drive." he told him sternly as he got back out and hopped into the back of the car with Natalie.

Lucas, Dustin, and Max all crawled into the backseat and looked over at Natalie with a gasp.

"Is she okay?" Lucas asked as he watched Natalie writhe in pain as Jim tried to put pressure on her leg.

Jim rolled his eyes, "No, she isn't okay." he snapped and looked down at Natalie who was gripping onto the seat in front of her. "Nat, please try and stop moving, can you do that?" he asked her softly and took her free hand in his.

Natalie nodded, "Okay," she whispered, her voice hoarse.

Jim nodded and leaned back on his heels the best he could and undid his belt causing Dustin to gasp and Lucas to make a weird face at him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Dustin shouted with wide eyes, his cheeks reddening a little bit.

Jim glared at Dustin as he pulled his belt from his pants and tied it around Natalie's upper thigh, "It's a tourniquet, please shut up," he growled as he leaned back over Natalie again his gaze shifting over her body, checking for any more injuries.

Natalie looked over at Dustin with a lazy smile, "Hey Dustin, glad to see your okay. Oh, can you tell your mom that I'm sorry for not looking at Mews again."

Dustin let out a shaky laugh, "About that, uh, Mews was eaten by a demodog, so..."

Natalie laughed, "I guess your mom was right when she said something bad was going to happen to him."