𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐌𝐄- (ᴇᴅᴅɪᴇ ᴍᴜɴsᴏɴ)¹

𝟎𝟕|𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧

𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧⊰᯽⊱┈──("𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜 𝑤𝑒'𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛.")

⊰᯽⊱┈──╌❊ ¤ ❊╌──┈⊰᯽⊱

𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐎 𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐃.

He was mostly terrified, but confused was important too.

One minute, he was shivering and feeling ill from whatever the fuck just happened to him, and he was so sure they were all going to die the moment one of those things landed on the roof.

The next minute, they were gone. Not dead or a vanished kind of gone. Gone, as in they turned around and walked away from them like they weren't just seconds away from ripping them all to shreds.

Elias could still hear them, though. And they were so, so many of them. Hundreds of them, his mind supplied, although he had no idea of knowing exactly how, but he was sure that was the number.

The silence that followed was bewildered, and everyone was breathing hard. Elias looked Bridget, and her face conveyed the confusion he was feeling.

No one said anything, but Steve took the first step outisde. His bat was raised up as he walked out, and Elias wanted to tell him to stop acting like such a suicidal maniac, but he was too rattled to.

They all followed out after, and Elias was the last to get out of the bus.

"What happened?" There was Lucas, asking the million dollar question.

Most of them replied with different variations of 'I don't know' except for Elias, who was now watching his shaking hands.

"Elias and Steve scared 'em off? Mostly Elias because he just blew away the one his back without even touching it?"

Silence washed over them once more, and Elias glanced up to see everyone eying him with matching looks of wariness and worry.

"How the hell did you do that?" Yoshi asked, and Elias wished he knew what he was talking about.

"I-I don't know," he stammered. "I thought- I mean- I thought Steve was the one who got it off me. I don't know."

He looked at Steve, but said boy wasn't even looking at any of them. He was staring off in the direction where the monsters went in. "No. No way," he shook his head, then turned to give them a solemn look. "They're going somewhere."

Yoshi swore loudly, and Elias was sure it was because they all came to the realisation that it was something bigger than just a couple of monster slugs.

"We have to go," Bridget suggested, shuffling close to Elias in case he fell over again. "You fine walking on your own?"

The shock from the close encounter was fading, and with it went his tolerance for the searing pain on his shoulder. He winced and put his palm on top of the wound, and it came off with a smear of blood.

"Uh, yeah," he said to her, and that was the signal needed for the rest of the group to start walking.

Elias was starting to get tired when they got to the train tracks, and it was barely that long of a distance. He suspected he wouldn't hold out for long, but he stubbornly refused help whenever Steve or Bridget offered. He couldn't bear anyone touching him.

Dustin hung back with him, and the kid kept on looking at him with scrutiny on his face, like he was trying to figure something out.

"What?" Elias finally asked, tired of the staring. "Why are you looking at me like that?"