𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐄 || 𝘔𝘈𝘟 𝘔𝘈𝘠𝘍𝘐𝘌𝘓𝘋

31. t is for trauma

T IS FOR TRAUMA

July 4th, 1985
⏰ 11:15 pm, 📍Hawkins, Indiana

༺♥༻ Nancy gets into the drivers seat and starts the car—tries to start the car. At almost the worst time possible, the car won't turn on.

She turns the key and the engines stalls, then splutters.

"What's wrong?" Jonathan asks from the passenger seat.

"I don't..." Nancy turns the key again. "I don't know."

The engine continues failing with each attempt.

"You can't be serious, come on!" Nancy yells, putting her shoulder into turning the key.

"Didnt your mom just buy this car?" Lucas asks from beside Will.

"Yes." Nancy answers, annoyed. "I'm sure it's fine."

"Did you leave the lights on?" Will offers.

"No."

"Do we have gas?" Lucas asks with a shrug.

"Yes!"

Nancy turns the key as hard as possible into the ignition. Same thing. "Come on!"

"Woah, woah, woah! Stop, stop!" Jonathan yells, putting his hand on Nancy's elbow.

"Pop the hood." He gets out of the car.

Nancy presses the button and the hood opens. Jonathan observes the engine as Nancy gets out after him. All of a sudden, an engines revving takes everyone's attention. They turn their heads out of the window to find a blue Camaro, headlights flashing on and off.

Billy.

Nancy pounds on the window closest to Lucas. "Back in the mall!"

She opens the door as Lucas runs out, followed by Will, then Stephanie, and Max.

Stephanie and Max run to the back of the car to help El get into Starcourt as fast as possible.

Mike grabs his walkie talkie almost like a reflex. "Scoops Troop, do you copy? Scoops Troop, do you copy? Scoops Troop, I repeat, do you copy? We're trapped in the mall and in need of emergency transportation."

Lucas grabs his slingshot and practices his aim.

Max and Stephanie watch as Nancy finds a gun from one of the dead Russians.

"You're gonna kill him, aren't you?" Max asks, holding onto Stephanie's hand.

"This is just a precaution, okay?" Nancy says as she loads the gun.

"And not just against Billy." Will assures. "If he knows we're here, so does the Mind Flayer."

Nancy's eyes wander to the flipped car, leaning against the counter of a restaurant. "No chance that thing'll drive, right?" She smiles, laughing at her own joke.

"We don't need to to drive." Jonathan shakes his head. "We just need the ignition cable."

The group quickly runs over to the car, trying to push it away from the restaurant. Obviously a bunch of kids aren't going to lift up a two thousand pound car, so it falls back into the counter, glass breaking off of the windows in the process.