Forever - Billy Hargrove Story

Dynamic Duo

"I don't know if this is a good idea" Nancy voiced as Mike tied the bandana around Eleven's eyes and Max got the static on the TV. "Didn't you say the Mind Flayer found her before and knew exactly where she was?" she questioned "Well yeah, but how else are we supposed to figure out where it is" Mike shrugged none of us having any time to answer before the cabin started to shake. "What is that?" Lucas asked looking out the window before turning back to us confused "It's probably just from the fireworks" Jonathon assured no one getting the chance to tell him how dumb that was before there was a tentacle shattering a window. "How is this possible?" Mike shouted putting himself in front of Eleven protectively as the creature broke through the ceiling of the cabin and was flailing around in search of its first victim. "I don't know but we need to get out of here" Jonathon shouted back ushering Nancy, Will, Lucas and Max towards the door. "And go where" Mike shouted back, the three of us separated from the rest of them as we tried to escape the tentacles. "It already knew we were here, where can we even go?" Eleven cried screaming out as a tentacle wrapped around her ankle and dragged her into the air. "Get it off!" Mike screamed holding tightly to Eleven's hands as Will and Max ran around to grab Mike so Eleven didn't get pulled away. I looked around for something to use as a weapon and grabbed one of the kitchen knives stabbing the creature wherever I could without getting too close to El. Lucas soon came to the rescue with an axe chopping at the tentacle holding El until it and her fell to the floor the creature screeching in pain. "Let's go!" Jonathon yelled already dragging Nancy out of the cabin and to the vehicle, Mike and I supporting Eleven and crawling into the back. Jonathon peeled away from the cabin as soon as everyone was in wanting to get as far from the Mind Flayer before it regrouped as possible. "What do we do?" Nancy cried all of us scared and unsure at the moment. "Go to the grocery store, we need to patch Eleven's leg" I spoke as loud as I could coughing very shortly after. "Alright" Jonathon agreed speeding as fast as he dared down the roads and into town skidding to a stop out front of the store.

"So how do we get in" Will asked after trying the door and finding it locked "Move" I croaked grabbing the axe Lucas had maintained hold of and smashing through the glass of the front door. "Okay we need water, a bowl, and bandages" Nancy listed off sending the kids in search of the items while Mike and I dragged Eleven to the back of the store and gently set her down. "I'll be right back" I mumbled pushing back up to my feet and running to the freezer aisle pulling out a box of eggo waffles and running back passing Eleven the box knowing it would get her strength back up. "Okay here's everything you asked for" Max called running over with the things Nancy had requested. "Where are Lucas and Will? Everyone needs to stay close" Jonathon ordered getting to work helping Nancy wrap Eleven's leg to stop the bleeding. "I'll go find them" Max offered jogging back to the front of the store in search of the two missing boys. "Mike isn't that the walkie?" I asked hearing crackling coming from his backpack "Hello?" he asked pulling the device out and trying to get a clear signal "Dustin" came out crackled "Mall" was the next clear word "Code Red" was the last two words before the walkie talkie went silent. "Did he say Code Red at the mall?" Mike asked as the other three came back over with boxes full of fireworks. "We might need them" Lucas defended adjusting his grip on his box at the questioning looks. "We need to go to the mall. Find Dustin and figure out what's going on" Will stated seriously all of us looking from one another uncertainly before we unanimously decided to go to the mall. Picking Eleven up off the floor we limped her out to the car and carefully piled everyone in amongst the boxes of fireworks. "We have no idea what we're walking into" Nancy pointed out as Jonathon drove the short distance to the mall and parked directly out front of the doors. "Do we ever know what we're walking into Nancy" I sighed popping out of the back and helping Mike lift Eleven out before we all slowly headed into the seemingly silent mall.

"Everyone stay together" Jonathon murmured leading us through the mall everyone stopping as we noticed some men in black with guns advancing on a food stand. "Look. There" Max pointed out gesturing to the men with a finger. "I got this" Eleven whispered holding out her hands and focusing on the bright red car not far from us. I grinned as Eleven threw the car effectively knocking out all the men with guns. "Dusty" I squeaked happily seeing the boy safe with Steve and Robin. "Erica?" Lucas questioned not sure what part the young girl had to play in this as we looked over the four people in front of us. "Holy shit! Did you and Billy get into a fight again?" I croaked out jogging and meeting Steve half way across the lobby seeing the damage done to his face. His eyes swollen shut and blood and vomit covering him literally from head to the toe of his shoes. "No it was Russians this time" he grumbled hugging me tightly "Russians?" I repeated quietly looking at Dustin for confirmation the nod all I needed to know Steve wasn't being dramatic again. "We cracked this secret Russian code and we were spying on them. We went to go see what they were smuggling in, turns out it was an elevator and we ended up getting interrogated by Russians" Robin rattled off quickly making me snort only to cringe at the sharp pain that followed "Erica, Dustin are you two okay?" I asked brushing Erica's hair back as she nodded and wrapped her arms around my waist "These nerds almost got me killed" she muttered making Dustin snort "By the My Little Pony Theory you are also a nerd" he commented making me giggle as I pulled him into the hug as well. "I'm just glad you're alright" I coughed out letting them go to join the others as I set off to find a first aid kit for Steve. Returning I gestured for him to sit and began cleaning his wounds wiping away all of the blood, vomit and spit on his face.

"Why are you here?" Nancy questioned as I used a towel to clean up Steve's face, interrupting the plans and ideas that were being thrown back and forth by everyone. "Because this dingus dragged me into his stupid Russian conspiracy" the girl mumbled quietly as Nancy walked away with a huff. "So what's with you two? I thought you hated each other?" Robin questioned pointing between Steve and I. We may or may not have made it a point to be extremely mean to each other around Robin just because we thought it was funny. "She hates me, I'm secretly head over heels in love with her" Steve commented making me snort "I don't hate him." I rasped swallowing thickly "And he's not in love with me. We've been fooling you all summer" I explained lowly trying not to irritate my throat any more than absolutely necessary. "Stevie here is the group babysitter" I whispered "and my best friend and I'm the hero and his biggest fan" I boasted puffing out my chest "Sometimes we swap because the boys listen to her better and I need my ass kicked again just to remember what it feels like" Steve shrugged making us both laugh. "Usually we pull double duty cause we are" I paused "THE DYNAMIC DUO" the kids shouted followed by giggles making Robin fall into a fit of laughter. "We've trained them well" I grinned going back to cleaning up Steve's face the best I could. "What happened to your throat?" he questioned tracing the edges of the bruising lightly "You remember Donnie Baker? He's under the Mind Flayer's control, we tried to burn it out of him like we did Will" I explained slowly dropping the dirty towel to the side now that he looked somewhat human again "Needless to say it didn't work and he got the upper hand" I shrugged taking a step back opening my mouth to talk more when Eleven began screaming.

Turning to see the girl thrashing around on the floor holding her lower leg, the bandages soaked through with blood. "El" I cried rushing to her side, sliding to the floor and ripping the bandage off to see something wriggling beneath the surface of her skin. "Oh god, what do we do" Nancy cried no one knowing what to do until Jonathon ran over with gloves, a hot knife and a wooden spoon. "You're going to want to bite this" he advised handing the spoon to Mike who slipped it between Eleven's teeth. "Let me" I whispered stilling Jonathon's hands before he could pull the gloves on. Nodding he passed them to me and I quickly pulled them on not wanting the knife to cool down too much. Gritting my teeth I placed the blade to her skin and cut opening up the wound giving me room to try and pull whatever was inside out. Digging my fingers into the hole I swore as the thing wiggled free from my grasp. "Piper" Eleven shouted suddenly causing me to look up and see her staring at me determinedly "I can do it" she nodded holding out her hand, nodding I backed up throwing the gloves to the side as she screamed using her powers to remove the chunk of mind flayer tongue that had been left behind. I couldn't look away as she strained herself to remove it from her leg, her screams growing louder and louder until with one final scream she pulled the wiggling chunk free from her leg and sent it skidding across the floor. All of us staring in disgust as it continued to wiggle alone the ground until it was stomped on by a pair of very familiar brown boots. "Hopper" I whispered following the leg up to the ugly pink Hawaiian shirt he had been sporting when he arrived home last night.