wanted - Eddie Munson

the battle of starcourt

July 4th, 1985

We hadn't been driving for long after the concert that Dustin and Suzie performed when the monster stopped in its tracks and turned around.

"Uh, guys?" Steve called out to get our attention "It's turning around!"

"What?" Nancy asked, snapping her head around to see that we were no longer being followed.

"It's turning around!" He repeated.

"We need to go back!" I said and Jonathan nodded as he moved his hands on the steering wheel.

"Hold on." He warned just before turning the car around and following the monster.

We reached the parking lot just as the monster was climbing inside from the roof. The moment the car was stopped I pushed around Steve and robin and ran inside, yelling back at the group that I was going to find Max. Once inside, I tried to be as quiet as possible as I saw the top of the monster. I snuck into one of the employee doors and bolted down the stairs.

I knew Max would try to maze herself in the back hallways to hide so that was the first place I looked. Walking up and down and not seeing anything before turning around to go back up the stairs and check the upper level. Just as I reach the stairs, my eyes caught something. It wasn't anything serious but it was something.

A push door was lightly swaying back and forth as if it had just been moved. I walked down the narrow hallway as quietly as possible, just in case Billy was back there. I pushed open the door and gasped at the sight in front of me. Through the flickering lights, I saw Max, she was laying on the floor unconscious with a bright red mark across her cheekbone.

"Max?" I ran over to her and slid down on my knees as I got closer. Picking up her head in an attempt to wake her. "Max?! Wake up!"

Her eyes squeezed shut tighter before fluttering open.

"Hey, hey. Are you okay? What happened?" I asked as she looked around.

"Billy." She groaned as she sat up. Her eyes went wide as they landed on something behind me, turning my head to see Mike laying there with a deep gash on his nose.

"Mike, wake up! Come on!" She called out to him, shaking his shoulders. He hummed as he woke up, looking around as his brain caught up with where he was and what was happening.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked from behind my sister as he slowly started to get up. He nodded before looking around, watching the lights dance from on to off. I looked around and realized that we were missing a kid. "Where's El?"

"Billy must've taken her, come on, we need to go," Max said as she looked between Mike and me. We agreed before running down the hall.

"Follow me!" I ordered as I ran down the hall in front of the two kids. I ran to the back exit of Scoops and pulled the door open, holding it before leading them out of the back room. The potent smell of smoke hit me as we got closer and closer to the main area of the mall.

My feet tripped up and skidded to a stop. Beyond the clouds of smoke and the dissipating sparks from fireworks, Billy stood facing the monster. He was guarding El who lay on the ground beneath him. The monster roared when it saw Billy protecting the young girl, opening its mouth to release more sharp tentacles.

El was crawling backward by her elbows, trying to get away as fast as she could without being noticed. With one final snarl, the creature tentacle shot forward towards El but Billy stepped forward. He put his hands forward, causing the sharp claws to sink into his arms.

I shuddered as I saw more tentacles come around. The monster was unhappy with Billy and would do anything to get him out of its way, including killing him.