The Protector

The Bathtub Part 1

After successfully making it the basement, Maddie and Dustin sat on the couch while Mike led Eleven to the bathroom to help her get cleaned up. Maddie thought it was adorable how much Mike cared for Eleven even if he would never admit to it. This was before Maddie and Dustin heard a muffling voice over the walkie-talkie. "Is that Lucas", Dustin asked Maddie. "Go get Mikey and El", Maddie replied trying to get the walkie to work.

"Lucas, if you can hear us, slow down. We can't understand you", Mike said. "Yes, I copy! Do you? They know about Eleven! Get out of there! They know about Eleven! The bad men are coming! All of them! Do you hear me? The bad men are coming! ", Lucas exclaimed through the walkie-talkie only to be muffled on the receiving side. "Mad hen? Does that mean anything to you? like a code name or something?", Dustin asked slightly confused. "The bad men are coming!", Lucas exclaimed again coming back into range. "Bad men", Maddie and Mike said at the same time.

"Stay here!", Mike shouted at Eleven before running upstairs followed by Dustin. Maddie quickly grabbed her back containing her gun and her walkie-talkie before heading upstairs after assuring Eleven that it would be okay. Mike, Dustin, and Maddie all looked out the window to see a shady looking man sitting in a repair vehicle. "What's that man doing?", Mike asked alarmed. "You don't think...", Dustin started to say before Mike ran to his mother. While Mike tried to get his mother's attention Maddie and Dustin continued to look out the window. Soon enough more vans started to pull up causing Maddie to pull Dustin back and close the curtains. Maddie then ran to the kitchen while Dustin yelled, "Mike!". "One second", Mike replied before resuming his conversation with his mom. "Mikey!", Maddie shouted at Mike gaining his attention. "We need to leave right now", Maddie added motioning for Mike to follow her.

Maddie ran outside the house with the kids ignoring her wound. She was about to run to her car before deciding it was too risky. She then got on the back of Dustin's bike and they started to pedal away.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!", Dustin shouted nervously. "Dustin! Dustin do you copy?", Lucas asked through the walkie. "Yeah, Lucas, they're on us", Dustin said alarmed. "Where are you?", Lucas shouted. "Cornwallis", Dustin answered quickly. "Meet me at Elm and Chery!", Lucas stated. "Copy. Elm and Cherry!", Dustin said before Mike added, "Okay". After changing directions, the boys pedaled to the road where three of the vans ended up behind us. "Shit!", Dustin shouted loudly. "This way, come on!", Mike answered just as loud. "Out of the way! Out of the way!", Dustin shouted driving through a random person's backyard.

Finally meeting up with Lucas, the boys were convinced that they lost the vans. This was until they saw the vans coming up right behind them. "Go, go, go, go, go!", Mike shouted. Not seeing another option, Maddie quickly got her gun out of her bag. "What are you doing?!", Dustin questioned nervously. "Just keep pedaling straight!", Maddie shouted while aiming for the closet van's tires. After multiple tries she finally hit one causing it to come to a quick stop slowing down the rest of the vans. Because of this Maddie didn't have a chance to take out the van in front of her. However, in a matter of seconds the van flipped overtop of the bikes landing in front of the other two active vans. This allowed for the kids to finally reach the junk yard to hide.

Once they got off their bikes Maddie quickly held her stomach trying to block out the pain. She slowly approached Eleven who was listening to Dustin ramble on about how awesome it was that she flipped the van only to be shut down by Mike. Eleven quickly gave Maddie a tight hug causing her to groan in pain making Eleven give her a questionable look. Maddie only shook her head "no" as an answer. Before Eleven could question anything else Lucas approached her.

"Everything I said about you being a traitor and stuff... I was wrong. I'm sorry", Lucas stated remorsefully before holding out his hand for her to shake. "Friends... friends don't lie", Eleven started making Maddie look down feeling guilty about lying to the kids. "I'm sorry too", Eleven finished. "Me, too", Mike stated holding his hand out for Lucas to shake. After looking at Mike's hand for a moment Lucas shook it causing Maddie to smile.