Drowning • Billy Hargrove

Chapter 23

We finally pulled into the Starcourt Mall. Outside in the parking lot, we saw everybody huddled around Steve, Dustin, Lucas's little sister Erica and a random girl.
"Dad!" El yells, finally noticing us. She ran towards him and leaped into his arms, reminding me of what I used to do.
"Mom!" I heard Will and Jonathan yell, running towards Joyce.
I walk over to Steve who was looking at me.
"What happened to you?" I say, noticing his bruised face.
"Russians happened." He simple says.
"We accidentally intercepted a secret Russian call and found their hidden lab. They didn't like us that much." The girl says. I recognized her voice and it was Robin, the girl who worked alongside Steve at Scoops Ahoy.
"Wow." I say.
"What happened to you? You look a little beat up yourself." He says, pointing to all of the bruises and scratches on my body.
"Billy got possessed by the Mindflayer and went a little crazy." I say.
"The Mindflayer? It's back?" He asks, oblivious to the whole situation since he was trapped in a Russian lab.
I nod my head. "Yeah. And it's worse than before."
"What in the world is a Mindflayer?" Robin asks.
"A big monster that possess people." Steve says.
"And I thought El having powers was crazy." She says.
"El had to use her powers?" I ask, concerned.
They both nod. "Yeah she threw a car at the Russians who were trying to kill us."
"Guys! Come here!" Nancy yells, signaling us to join the group.

"So how are we going to stop this?" Mike asks.
"We know how to shut the gate off." Murray says. "We have directions. It'll be a piece of cake!"
Erica starts to laugh. "Yeah right!"
"I'm sorry, why is there a four year old speaking to me?" He asks.
"Um I'm ten you bald bastard!" She says, causing Billy and I to quietly giggle.
"Erica!" Her older brother, Lucas yells.
"I've been stuck in that shithole for more than 24 hours! It's the opposite of piece of cake! You listen to this guy, you're all going to die!"
Dustin nods his head. "She's right. On the map you may think something's fifty feet away when it's actually 500 feet. We know how to crawl through the vents. We could show you how to get through."
"Okay then tell us." Joyce says.
"Okay let's go!" He says.
"Hold on!" Dad yells. "Do you think you're coming down here with us?"
Dustin nods. "You're not going to make it without us."
"You're not coming with us! That's final." Hopper says.
Erica sighs. "You guys are all going to be dead then."
"We could use the walkie talkies." Steve says, piping in.
"There won't be a strong signal." Dustin says. "But wait! I have an idea." He says, grabbing a walkie talkie. "Take this and put it on channel 6." Dustin says, throwing the walkie talkie at Joyce.
Dustin grabs Steve's arm and they run off towards their car. Robin and Erica follow not far behind.

Everybody decided that the best place for the remaining kids and teens to stay was at the mall in the parking lot.
"Kate! El!" Our dad says, calling us over. He was prepared to go.
"I can fight! Take me with you!" El says.
"I know you can fight, better than any of us. But right now, I need you to stay here and to keep safe." He says.
"You've got to be careful too, you know." I say, smiling.
He nods. "I will be. Now you two keep safe and I'll be back." He says, hugging us. He smiles at us and turns to catch up with Joyce and Murray who were already entering the mall.
"He'll be fine." I say, hugging El.
"Yeah I know." She responds.

We wait around ten minutes before the walkie talkie comes to life.
"Hello? Hello? Can you hear us?" Dustin says through the walkie talkie.
"We can hear you loud and clear." Mike says.
"I can hear you too, but I don't want to be annoyed while I'm working!" Murray replies.
"Hop and I can hear you." Joyce says.
"Okay well where are you guys now?" Dustin asks.
"We're getting on the elevator." Joyce says.
"Okay good." Dustin says.

A tap on my shoulder startles me, causing me to turn around. It was Billy.
"Hey."
"Hey." He says back. "This is kind of crazy."
I nod my head and giggle. "I know."
"I made up with Max." He finally says after a long pause.
"You did? That's good! What did you say?"
"I told her I was sorry for being a jerk all the time. You know, me almost dieing has changed me in ways."
I smile. "Oh yeah?"
"I think so." He says. "I'm a better man  than I was before." He says, smirking.
"Can I ask you something?" I say, being serious.
He nods his head. "Anything."
"When you were, you know, possessed, did you bring anybody to the Mindflayer?"
The expression in his face changes into a frown. He nods.
I pull him into a hug. We hug for awhile until we were interrupted.
"Kate?" El asks.
I let go of Billy and look at her. "Yeah?"
"I have to go to the bathroom." She says.
"Okay, I'll come with you." I say. I definitely didn't want her to go alone.
"Want me to come with you?" Billy asks.
"I think we'll be just fine." I respond.

We enter the silent, eerie mall. Since there were no bathrooms on the side of the mall we were on, we had to walk all the way across to the movie theater bathrooms.
The last film to play this evening got out about half an hour ago, so nobody was here.
El entered the bathroom and I waited by the doors for her to come out.
A movement caught my eye, causing me to jump.
"Brandon?" I ask. "What are you doing here?"
He emerges from the dark, he was with his stepmother, and my mother.
"We just decided to come and watch a movie." He says. I can see that their clothes were dirty and they had red stains all over them. Blood.
"Uh, okay." I say as they walk closer to me. I had a really bad feeling about this.
"Kate, sweetheart." My mother says. "I just want to talk."
"Talk about what?" I spit out. She was the last person I wanted to see.
"Well can I bring you somewhere so we can talk in private?" She asks.
"Where?"
"A better place." She says smiling, getting right up in my face.
My heart drops, they were talking like the man who was in the middle of the street. They were flayed.