There's No Place Like Hawkins//Stranger Things. SH

SIXTY TWO

The Battle of Starcourt

El continued to scream and sob in pain as the others desperately tried to calm her down. The thing in her leg seemed to be moving and when Cat finally took a look at it, she felt like she might vomit. "What is that?" Erica asked as the thing beneath El's leg kept moving.

"There's something in there." Mike said.

"Way to state the obvious." Cat snapped as she ran her fingers through El's hair.

"Keep her talking. Keep her awake, okay?" Jonathan instructed, standing up.

"Where the fuck are you going?" Catherine asked him. She didn't get a reply as Jonathan raced off to grab the supplies he needed for the improvised operation. She and the others helped El to sit up, the younger girl's head resting on Catherine's chest.

"You know, it's not actually that bad. There was a... The goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg, and the bone came out of her knee, six inches or something, it was insane." Robin rambled, the whole group just staring at her.

"Robin." Steve said.

"Yeah?"

"You're not helping."

"I'm sorry."

Jonathan came running back over, holding a knife and a wooden spoon. "Okay. All right, El?" He crouched down by her leg. "This is gonna hurt like hell, okay?"

El sobbed and nodded her head. "Okay."

"Need you to stay real still." Jonathan added as he put on a pair of clear plastic gloves. "Hey, you're gonna want to bite down on this, okay?" He handed a wooden spoon to Mike, who was sat by El's head. The younger boy placed the spoon in between El's teeth.

Jonathan hesitated as he hovered the knife above El's leg. "Do it." Mike said firmly.

Jonathan began the operation to remove the thing living under El's skin. Cat screwed her eyes shut, unable to look. After a few minutes of El screaming in pain, she told them that she could do it. Catherine helped her sit up straighter. They all watched as El used her telekinesis to pull the thing from inside her leg. She was screaming intensely as she did so. The glass wall behind them shattered and Cat was quick to protect El from the small pieces of glass that flew everywhere, not caring if herself became injured. El continued screaming as she pulled the slimy creature from her leg and hovered it in mid-air for a few moments before throwing it across the mall.

The creature tried to scuttle away. But it only got a few centimetres before a boot stepped on it, crushing the creature completely.

Cat moved her gaze up the body of the new arrival, her eyes eventually landing on their face. They had reinforcements. Jim Hopper and Joyce Byers had arrived, along with some nearly bald man whom Catherine didn't recognise.