𝐈𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 ; 𝐌. 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝

Chapter Nine

S3E8: The Battle of Starcourt

"Jace. Jace. Jace, get up. Jace, can you hear me? Jason. Jace! Jace!"

Jace'a ears rang as his eyes finally opened, the voice continuing as his body was shook violently. The boy gathered enough strength to lift his head, seeing Max kneeled beside him. Her face seemed to soften as she realized he was finally awake.

"Shit, thank god you're okay," she said, helping the boy up to his feet before she cupped his face into her hands. "Are you okay? Did he get you too bad?" she asked as she examined his face.

"I'm okay, don't worry," he said, gently touching the side of his eye which hurt almost instantly. "That's gonna leave something... holy shit, your cheek," Jace said, examining the large red bruise that now lay across his girlfriends cheek.

Before either of them could speak any more, they turned around to see Mike finally awake, Jace rushing over to help the boy up. Mike was also bruised up, but he didn't seem to care that much as he frantically searched the room.

"Where's El?" he simply asked. Given the question, Jace looked around, seeing no sign of the girl. His heart seemed to drop.

As if mutually agreeing, Mike ran out through the hallways first, Jace following as Max and him ran hand in hand behind Mike. Nothing could prepare the three of them for what they were about to see. Running out through the entrance of Scoops Ahoy, they were all stopped in their tracks, their jaws dropping from the sight before them.

There stood in the middle of Starcourt, the large monster with violent fires surrounding it, with none other than Billy Hargrove facing straight towards it, while Eleven lay on the ground. The monster let out a loud screech, opening its mouth, ready to kill Eleven. However, the lunging arm didn't hit El, it hit Billy. He had saved her, fighting against the monster as he yelled out in pain. As usual, the monster was far too strong for Billy to handle alone. More arms emerged from the creature, it's fangs quickly sinking into Billy's torso. Billy's body went limp before he fell to his knees. With one final blow, the arm went straight through him.

"Billy!" Max screamed out beside Jace, the boy quickly wrapping his arms around her to hold her back from running at the monster.

Tears jerked at his eyes as the girl struggled against him, watching as the creatures arms returned back to its body, Billy falling to the ground.

Suddenly, the creature started to thrash around, snarling and crying out in pain before it dropped to the ground dead with a rumbling thud. Everyone stared in disbelief as the scene around them started to really sink in.

Mike was first to run forward, quickly kneeling beside El and making sure she was okay. Jace then gently let go of Max who stood still for a moment before slowly walking forward. Jace followed behind her, realizing that Billy was still alive, just barely. Max knelt down over him, Jace kneeling down behind her as the two shared their final words.

"Billy? Billy, get up. Please get up. Billy, get up, please, please." Max begged, her tears choking back her words.

"I'm sorry..." Billy managed to say, exhaling deeply for one final time.

"Billy, wake up. Billy, get up. Please, Billy..." she said, starting to shake his lifeless body before she inhaled sharply. "Billy!" she screamed one final time before her crying became hysterical.