further apart // max mayfield x oc

4: iv (the battle of starcourt)

"speaking of lazy days gone by, isn't it crazy how quickly time flies by?"
gore warning for the first part of this chapter! please stay safe

——

"we have to do something!" mike yelled as eleven let out another blood-curdling scream. the thing under her skin was thrashing around now, contorting her leg as it tried to escape. "keep her awake!" jonathan directed, sprinting over to one of the empty restaurants. "ok, let's move her over here- get her on this side" mike said. steve, nancy and lucas helped pull her small body over to lean against the wall of the plants in the middle of the mall. all the while she was still whimpering in pain.

"y-you know, it's actually not that bad, the goalie on my soccer team- i think her name was bethany? this other girl slid into her leg and like the whole bone came out, it was like six inches or something-" robin began.
"robin?" steve interrupted, noticing the horror on the rest of the groups faces. "yeah?"
"you're really not helping!"
"oh, i'm sorry..." she laughed anxiously.

jonathan returned before the conversation could get any more awkward.
felicity cringed when she realised his plan. he had a wad of tissue in one hand and a sharp knife in the other. "this is gonna hurt like hell, ok? just stay real still."  he was using the soft voice he used around will. he kneeled down and pulled on plastic gloves. "you're going to want to bite down on this ok?"

he handed a wooden spoon to eleven who nodded weakly. the tip of the knife lowered so it was hovering over the wound. felicity looked away, fearing she might faint. "do it!" mike grimaced. there was another shriek, signifying that the knife had met flesh. and another, signifying that jonathan was trying to pull it out. "STOP!" el shouted as his fingers moved agonisingly around the cut. "stop... i can do it!"

tears streamed down her face as she sat up. "are you sure?" max whispered, squeezing her hand. eleven didn't reply. she began to pull it out, using so much force that the glass window of the store behind them shattered completely. time seemed to slow down as she howled and panted with the effort of it all. eventually, a small, writhing piece rose out of her leg. she flung it across the room and was immediately swarmed by mike and max. felicity watched in awe as the creature began to crawl away, leaving a trail of blood on the white tiles.

it didn't make it very far, as a large boot stomped on it. felicity looked up. standing before the party was jim hopper, a man she didn't recognise and a very worried looking joyce byers. jim had a black eye forming and a split lip, joyce's mascara had run and there was blood on her shirt. it seemed they weren't the only ones who had gotten into trouble.

——

"the mind flayer built this... monster in hawkins. he built it to stop el, to kill her, to pave a way to our world" mike explained.
"and it almost did! that was just a tiny piece of it," nancy added. hopper looked disgustedly at the crushed remains. "how big is this thing?"
"it's big," felicity mumbled, "thirty feet at least. it sort of destroyed your cabin..."

"ok so just to be clear, this... big fleshy spider thing that hurt eleven, it's some kind of giant weapon?" steve puzzled. nancy nodded.
"but instead of using screws or metal, the mind flayer made its weapon with melted people?"
"yeah, exactly."
"yeah, ok. i'm just making sure."

"are we sure this thing is still out there? still alive?" joyce asked from where she was holding eleven. "el beat the shit out of it but yeah, it's still alive" max confirmed.
"but if we close the gate again-"
"we cut the brain off from the body. we kill it."