𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬 ➤ 𝑹. 𝑩𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒚

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓

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"𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙩 𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚"

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𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟒𝐭𝐡, 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

"𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐄 is," Valerie whispered, pointing to a small trembling figure laying on the cold, grimy tiles of Star Court Mall. She had to keep her voice as low as possible, the Mind Flayer was looming above them despite most of the group being situated on the second floor of the building. The creature was so large that its height almost reached the roof as it stepped towards El in slow, disjointed movements. In childlike terror, she was inching back as it did so, terrified of what would come next.

Billy Hargrove was somewhere in the room, though Valerie couldn't see him at the moment. Seemed like he knew better than to openly pick a fight with them, or perhaps he just considered them a mild inconvenience, a small obstacle in the Mind Flayer's plans. Oh well, she had the small satisfaction of almost taking him out with her car after all. If he stayed out of the way, they could deal with him later.

"Ready?" Steve nudged her, and Valerie shoved back petulantly, but nodded firmly, a sardonic tug at her lips, the fireworks clasped tensely in her hand. The other hovered at the waistband of her jeans, brushing against the firearm tucked there securely, just in case they should need it. As the cool metal thrummed against her skin, she had a feeling they would.

She raised her arm, aiming at one of the Mind Flayer's legs. She would've loved to go for the head, but in all honesty, she wasn't exactly sure where that was. The monster was an unintelligible mass of limbs and slime and razor sharp teeth. It was difficult to pinpoint any weak spots in its exterior. 

"Flay this, you ugly piece of shit!" Lucas shouted, not wasting any time, and threw his firework at the creature, hitting it squarely in the back with a deafening bang.

Sparks flew as it bounced off its skin, the colours lighting up the dreary atmosphere of the mall and the Mind Flayer let out a shrill screech. The noise was dreadful, rattling painfully through her skull, but nevertheless, she propelled her explosive at it. 

Everyone quickly followed suit, the bright embers almost blinding the group as they proceeded to launch the fireworks at the creature, distracting it from El, and hopefully injuring it at the same time. Morbidly, it was the most fun she'd had all day. Inflicting damage on the thing that wanted to tear apart her world so cruelly, as if the people around her were nothing more than blips in its existence. How miserable.

Firework flew after firework, Valerie's arm was getting sore from the repetitive motion, and her brain hazy with the overwhelming light and sound, so when the creature began to stagger in her direction, she found herself closing in too. 

It wasn't until it near enough that Valerie felt like extending an arm might end up with the limb being bitten off, that she realised she was out of fireworks. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to move away, her body was motionless as she watched its attention snap towards her. It didn't seem to have eyes – not ones that she could see at least – but if it did, she was certain they were looking right at her.

"Sial!" in a panic, her fingers fumbled for the handgun tucked in her jeans, but as she removed it from the waistband it slid from her grasp and clattered to the ground, just out of reach. Valerie let out a shaky breath as she stared fearfully at the Mind Flayer.