No One Left Behind

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Warnings: mentions of blood, wounds, etc. (the scene where Eleven has the creature in her leg)

(Later - Same Outfit)

"What is that?" Eric stared at the lump. Eleven held my hand tightly, not wanting to let go. Jonathan told us to keep her talking while he went to grab something from a random store. My brother continued to repeat the words 'Jesus H Christ.' "Dustin. I swear if you repeated that one more time," I looked up at him. He ignored my response and quietly freaked out. 

Eleven sat in between my legs while Mike was by my side. Mike held onto her hand, wishing he could take her pain away. "This is like that time one time, during my soccer game, this girl slid into another girl's leg, and the bone came out of her knee, six inches or something. It was insane," Robin said. "Robin," Stella said, "You're not helping." Robin apologized. 

Jonathan came back with a few bandages and a knife. Hazel took her flannel and tore off the sleeve. "You're gonna want to bite down on this," she said. She bawled the sleeve up, handing it to Eleven. Eleven set it into her mouth and nodded to Jonathan that she was ready. I turned my head to the side when Jonathan began to cut where the creature had risen from. 

I felt Eleven's body shake under my arms. She shook her head, telling Jonathan to stop. "I can do it," she claimed. I set a hand on Eleven's lower back, helping her sit up. Our telepathic friend extended her hand to remove the creature from her leg. She let out a scream. 

The glass behind my friends and I broke, causing everyone to back up or duck. Steve put his arms around me to prevent the glass from falling on me. The thing that was causing her pain was thrown across the floor. Murray, Joyce, and Hopper appeared. Jim Hopper crushed the creature underneath his shoe. 

📻📻📻📻

(Later - Same Outfit) 

The others were telling the rest of us what they encountered. While hiding out in Hopper's cabin, the Mind Flayer attacked. They escaped but ended up with a piece inside Eleven's leg. I stood beside Steve with his arm around my shoulders, a common stance between us. "How big is this thing?" Hopper questioned. "Thirty feet?" Jonathan answered. 

"Yeah," Lucas stated, "It sorta destroyed your cabin. Sorry." 

Sheriff Hopper nodded, thanking him for answering. Stella got up from the bench with Hazel joining her. "So, this big fleshy spider thing that hurt Eleven is some kind of huge weapon?" Stella said. Nancy nodded in response. "But instead of screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon with melted people," Steve added. 

"Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Joyce questioned. "El beat the shit out of it, but it's still alive," Max said, smiling at Eleven. Eleven held Hazel's ripped sleeve around the wound on her leg, keeping pressure. "But if we close the gate again-" Will said. "We cut the brain off from the body," Hazel interjected. "And kill it, theoretically," Lucas added. 

Our conversation was interrupted by papers rustling behind us. Murray Baumen stood at a far table, looking at all the different maps and notes that had been put together. "Okay, this is what Alexei called the hub. Now, the hub takes us to the vault room," Murray explained. "Okay, where's the gate?" Hopper asked. "Right here, I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe 50 feet this way," Murray said. 

Erica looked up at me. Both of us knew that what Murray suspected wasn't necessarily true. "More like five hundred feet," I said. Murray looked up from the paper with his brows furrowed. Erica rolled her eyes. "You're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?" she remarked. Murray stood up from the table and crossed his arms. "I'm sorry, who are you?" he asked.