Alex lifted his arm, staring at the car, his body weak but still watching as the car slowly moved. He lifted his other arm, watching as the car started to move onto its side, giving Alex a second to breathe. Then, he lifted his arms and swung them down, the car going with it and landing on its wheels. Jonathan and Nancy walked over to the hood of the car as Mike wrapped his arm around Alex's waist and helped him walk over to a chair. When Alex sat down, he looked at Mike, watching him sit next to him and frowning.
"Mike," he said, grabbing the boy's attention and giving him a look.
"I'm really sorry about earlier, I know that Steve was just trying to help, but," he paused, looking over at Eleven and then back at Alex.
"When El used her powers too much, she disappeared. I can't imagine what would happen if you disappeared like Eleven did. I can't lose you, Alex," he said, taking the boy's hand.
"That's the thing, Mike. They were never her powers to begin with, so obviously they were going to way down on her." He said, squeezing Mike's hand.
"I know, but-" Alex cut him off.
"I understand that you care about me, and that you're scared, but you don't need to baby me. Yes, most of the time I'm going to need you there, but I don't need to be babied," he said, looking at Mike sternly. "This is the second time I've had to stop an argument over two boys who think they know what's better for me than I do." Mike nodded, sighing and looking down.
"I'm really sorry, Alex," he said. Alex smiled, grabbing his chin and tilting his head up to look at him. Mike leaned forward, placing his lips softly against Alex's. When they pulled back, Alex said,
"As long as you're sorry, then I forgive you." He said, pecking Mike on the lips again. Then, they heard something. Will slowly reached his hand up to his neck as everyone listened, hearing a soft thumping growing louder and louder. Then they looked up, seeing something humongous climbing on the glass roof, its pounding footsteps echoing through the mall. The glass slowly started cracking, and Mike stood up slowly, helping Alex up.
"Got it," Jonathan said, pulling out the car's ignition cable.
"Nancy!" Mike shouted. Nancy looked up, eyes widening as she grabbed onto Jonathan's arm and Alex, Mike, Justin, and Max ran in one direction, while Will, Lucas, Nancy, El, and Jonathan scurried to hide behind the car. The other four ran behind a drink stand, hearing the monster crashing down through the ceiling. It started wandering around, looking at the dead bodies of the Russians and flinging them away when he realized it wasn't Alex or the others. Mike slowly looked over the stand, seeing that the monster was turned away and getting back down. "It's turned away. If we go up the stairs now, we'll make it." He said, looking at Max.
"No way, not with Al's leg." She retorted.
"We have to try," Mike said, trying to persuade them.
"There's another way..." Alex said, all three of them looking at the boy. "To get out? Through the Gap." He whispered, looking at his boyfriend, best friend, and step brother. Mike looked over at the monster again before coming back down and whispering.
"Okay," he grabbed Alex's hand and said, "Now."
The four of them ran towards the store, squeezing through the entrance, Alex gasping as the metal pole fell down making a loud noise as it hit the floor. They ran to hide as the creature turned towards them, growling and stomping towards the store. They could hear the tentacles making small screeching sounds as it grabbed something and snarling at it. He growled, throwing it aside, landing right next to where the four of them were hiding. When they were sure it was safe, they quietly moved to a different hiding placing. They heard the creature snap at the place that they just left, snarling and growling. One of the tentacles slowly came at their side, opening their claws wide and getting ready to turn until a balloon popped. The tentacle vanished, and they could hear the monsters pounding footsteps slightly fading away from the store, but not going very far. Mike grabbed Alex's handed, pulling him out of the store and to the exit, the other two following them. They ran through the halls, going through doors and exits until they were outside, running up to a gate. Max ran over and pressed a big blue button, a buzzing sound emitting from the gate as it slowly opened. When it was opened enough, they ran out, only to spot Billy staring at them.
"Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go," Mike shouted, helping Alex run back past the gate and up to the door. They saw Justin run towards the gate again, slamming his hand on the button and running after them, Max opened the door, rushing them inside, Justin slamming the door behind them. They ran down a long hallway, not sure where they were going but just getting as far away from Billy as they could possibly get. They heard the door thud closed as they tried to speed up their movements, Alex putting as much pressure on his leg as he could without falling. They went through a door, walking down another hallway as Mike said, "In here, in here." They walked into a room with what looked to be an elevator. Mike started pressing the button as Max walked towards the hallway.
"Billy," she said. The three boys turned around, fear written across their faces. "Billy, you don;t have to do this. Billy. Your name's Billy, Billy Hargrove. You live on 4819 Cherry Lane. Billy, please, I'm Max, I'm your-" She was cut off by Billy slapping her, the strength of the Mind Flayer knocking her out. Mike grunted, running forward to hit him but getting shoved against the wall, getting knocked out as well. Justin surged forward, going to choke him but getting hit on the head, knocked unconscious.
Alex lifted his arm, not being quick enough and feeling his face covered by a cold hand. He was thrown against the wall, hitting his head and almost getting knocked unconscious, but his will to make sure the three were okay overpowered him. He felt himself get picked up and carried away from the three unconscious bodies laying on the ground. He tried to get free, but his heavy lids and his pounding headache won and he felt his vision go black.
