28. mall rats

MALL RATS

✧･ﾟ: * Max laughs at Nora's flustered face and grabs her hand. "C'mon, we should get this to El," Max picks up a towel to go with Nora's bowl and they go back to the aisle El and Mike are in.

Nora's still starstruck.

They walk over to see the rest of the group already helping El up. Mike quickly explains they need to find Dustin, and Max and Nora drop each others hands to help carry El to the frozen foods section.

They open up all the freezer doors, so El can use the humming noise as static and they wait as she sits with an American flag blindfold.

After a few moments of silence, Lucas suddenly opens a can of Coke, startling everyone.

"Quiet," Max's hisses from beside Nora, their hands having found each other again.

"Oh, sorry," Lucas whispers back before he slurps, loudly, from the can.

"How can you even drink that?" Mike looks disgusted.

Nora looks at the pale boy in shock. "Because it's delicious."

"It is," Lucas nods with her.

Mike, Max, and Will look the two with furrowed brows, "What?"

"It's like Carpenter's The Thing," Lucas explains. "The original is a classic, no question about it. But the remake. . ." Lucas takes a sip and sighs. "Sweeter. Bolder. Better."

"You could be in a commercial for New Coke," Nora nudges Lucas and he grins at her.

"You're both insane," Mike shakes his head.

"So, you prefer the original The Thing?" Lucas frowns at Mike.

"What? No, I'm not talking about The Thing. I'm talking about New Coke."

"It's the same concept, dude," Nora raises her eyebrows.

"Uh, actually, it's not the same concept," Mike argues.

"It is the same concept," Lucas takes Nora's side, causing Nora to give Mike a smug smirk.

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is," Nora replies.

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is," Lucas states.

"No-"

"Hey!" El rips off her blindfold and looks at the others, mostly Nora, Lucas, and Mike.

"Sorry."

"Sorry."

"Sorry."

Mike looks up. "Did you. . . find him?"

El explains where Dustin is, and Will and Lucas fill a shopping cart with random supplies, and they all start towards the door.

"The movies?" Lucas repeats what El had told them earlier. "Dustin's so freaked out about the gate, he decides to watch a movie?" He's pushing the cart while Nora and Max stand on either side of him.

"Yeah, makes total sense," Nora rolls her eyes, not fully prepared to go on a wild goose chase.

"You're positive he said 'gate' and not 'great,'" Max looks back to Mike, who first heard the message.

"Yeah, like, 'this movie I'm watching is great,'" Will tries.

"It sounded like gate," El states from Mike's side.

"Which would explain how the Mind Flayer is still alive," Mike adds.

"Yeah, we just have to shut it again," Nancy says.

"Then, the monster dies," Will shrugs as Nora and Max move to the front of the shopping cart, helping Lucas pull it out the door.

"But if not. . ." Max starts, easily lifting the front.

"We always have Lucas' fireworks," Nora finishes, giving the boy a look.

"Keep mocking my plan, guys. Keep mocking it. I wanna hear you say it again, because you keep doubting me. You keep doubting me!"

"Ridiculous," Max mutters.

"Will? We're gonna prove 'em wrong, right?" Lucas turns to the small boy.

"For sure," Will states, but Nora's ninety percent sure he's being sarcastic.

—

✧･ﾟ: * The group enters the dead quiet mall through a back entrance, instantly knowing they aren't alone.

They see a few men, dressed in all black, holding guns, sneaking around.

Standing on the second floor while Dustin, Steve, Robin, and Erica hide behind a counter (Nora decides not to question the grouping), El steps toward the railing, pushes her arms forward, and sends a nearby car crashing into the men.

Cool.

The hiding four slowly stand up, looking around to see what happened, and they all grin when they see the others.

Nancy leads them, and they all go rushing down the escalator to reunite with their friends.

"You flung that thing like a Hot Wheel!" Dustin runs to hug El and Mike together.

"Lucas?" Erica yells when she sees her brother.

"What are you doing here?" Lucas looks surprised.

"Ask them," Erica points to Steve and Robin. "It's their fault."

"True, yeah. Totally true," Steve nods. "It's absolutely our fault."

"Steve!" Nora rushes to her brother. "What happened to you face?" Nora puts a hand up to touch Steve's swollen eye, also taking into account the cuts and bruises that surrounded his facial features.

He swats her hand away and notices the bandaid. "Me? What about you? What is this?" He shakes her hand in her face.

She pulls her hand away, "Oh, that's whatever. It doesn't even hurt anymore."

"It's a cut, dingus. She's fine," Robin cuts in, scoffing at his antics.

"Oh! Nora, you're friends with Robin." Steve changes the subject.

"Um-"

"You two would get along great."

Nora looks at the older girl, who just shares a confused look with her.

"I still don't understand what happened to that car," Robin shakes her head.

"El has super powers," Dustin explains, nodding his head to the brunette.

"I'm sorry?"

"Superpowers," Steve repeats. "She threw it with her mind. C'mon, catch up."

"That's El?" Erica points to the girl.

"Who's El?" Robin exclaims exasperated.

"I'm sorry," Nancy interrupts. "Who are you?"

"I'm Robin," she grins. "I work with Steve."

"Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians in the first place," Steve adds.

Nora looks up in confusion, "Russians?"

"What Russians?" Jonathan asks.

"The Russians!" Steve gestures to the two men lying on the floor - probably dead.

"Those were Russians?" Max gasps.

Erica shrugs. "Some of them."

"What are you talking about?" Lucas exclaims, just as lost as everyone else.

"Didn't you hear our code red?" Dustin asks.

"Yeah," Mike answers. "But I couldn't understand half of what you were saying."

"Goddamn low battery!" Dustin shakes his head.

"How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery!" Steve scolds.

"Okay, Mom," Nora rolls her eyes as Steve shoots her a glare. It isn't very effective since Nora can't even see one of his eyes.

"Okay, well, everything worked out. Didn't it, Steve?" Dustin states.

"Worked out?" Erica scoffs. "We almost died!"

"Yeah, but we didn't, did we?" Dustin argues.

"It was pretty damn close," Steve says.

"Okay, Russians?" Lucas interrupts the banter. "As in, they're working for the Russian government?"

"What are you not comprehending? Am I not speaking English!" Dustin throws his arms up dramatically. "We hav a full-blown, Red Dawn situation!"

"So this has nothing to do with the gate?" Max questions.

"This has everything to do with the gate!"

Everyone is too busy trying to exchange information, they don't notice El walking off. They finally turn as Mike rushes forward when she collapses. "El! El! El! What's wrong?"

"My leg," she whimpers, small beads of sweat collecting on her forehead. "My leg."

"Her leg, her leg," Jonathan takes off her bandages. "Okay."

Gasps and groans of disgust are let out at the sight of El's wound.

It clearly got worse, and it's now almost glowing with something moving underneath her skin, like a worm.

El groans in pain before letting out a scream.

"Something's in there," Mike announces, watching the same movement in her ankle as Nora.

"Keep her talking," Jonathan directs. "Keep her awake, okay?" He then runs off to the different food places surrounding them, looking for supplies.

El's groans stop as she drifts in and out of consciousness, Mike trying to shake her from falling asleep.

"Hey, hey, hey. Stay awake, awake," Mike turns to Steve and Dustin. "Let's get her on this side, on this side."

"Uh. . . you know, it's- it's not actually that bad," Robin starts rambling as everyone else tries to move her to a different angle. "The goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg, and the whole bone came out of her knee, six inches or something, it was insane!"

Everyone stares at her.

"Robin," Steve purses his lips.

"Yeah?"

"You're not helping."

Robin sighs. "I'm sorry."

Jonathan runs back to them, rubber shoes pounding on the hard linoleum. He kneels beside El, carrying a knife, gloves, and a wooden spoon.

"Alright, El. This is gonna hurt like hell, okay?" He puts on the gloves as El nods with a wary look. "Need you to stay real still," he hands her the wooden spoon. "Here, you're gonna want to bite down on this, okay?"

Mike puts the appliance in El's mouth, everyone standing around in worry.

Nora shoots Max a quick glance before grabbing her hand, squeezing tightly.

Jonathan moves the knife to El's shin and Nora turns her head, eyes still on the grotesquely mesmerizing scene. Jonathan cuts into El's wound, everyone staring in disgust. He then throws the knife down, shuts his eyes, and reaches into El's open cut.

She screams even more, and Nora shoves her face into Max's shoulder at the squelching noises she hears.

"Jonathan!" Nancy yells, as his method clearly didn't work.

"Stop talking!" He shouts back, reaching deeper to try to grab whatever is inside of El. "Goddammit!"

El shakes her head, spoon falling out of her mouth. "No! Stop it! Stop!" Nancy pushes Jonathan away, and El sits up with the help of Mike and Dustin, tears streaming out of her eyes. "I can do it," she whispers. "I can do it."

She takes a deep breath, holding her hand over the injury. She squeezes her finger and more movement occurs in her leg, Nora slowly peaking her head out of Max's shoulder.

El yells in pain as whatever it is fights against her, and she cries out as a tiny, slimy, slug-like creature comes out of her leg.

Screaming so loud the window behind the group breaks, causing Steve to shield Nora and Max from the glass bits, El throws the thing to the side, breathing heavily.

They all turn to see where it went. A flash of panic goes through Nora as she sees the creature continue to move, but it quickly goes away as someone steps on it.

Hopper.

Everyone lets out a collective sigh of relief, knowing Hopper, Joyce, and the third man with them (Nora didn't recognize him) would be able to give the kids information they didn't have.

They all relocate at the center fountain, explaining over each other what's going on.

"The Mind Flayer," Mike starts explaining to Hopper as he nods along. "It built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El, to kill her, and pave a way into our world."

"It almost did," Nancy adds. "That was just one, tiny piece of it."

"How big is this thing?" Hopper questions.

"It's big," Jonathan nods, pursing his lips. "Gotta be thirty feet. At least."

"Yeah, it sorta destroyed your cabin," Lucas comments. Hopper just sighs, seemingly unsurprised. "Sorry."

"Okay, so, just to be clear, this. . . this big, fleshy spider-thing that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic. . . weapon?" Steve asks. Nancy answers with a simple, 'yes,' and Steve continues. "But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made it's weapon. . . with melted people."

"Yes, exactly," Nancy nods, unfazed.

"Yeah, okay," Steve nods, clearly weirded out. "I- yeah. I'm just making sure."

"Are we sure this thing is still out there - still alive?" Joyce asks.

"El beat the shit out of it," Max tells her, nodding. "But, yeah, it's still alive."

"I think it's the strongest thing we've dealt with so far," Nora informs.

"But if we close the gate again-" Joyce starts.

"We cut the brain off from the body," Max finishes.

"And kill it," Lucas nods. "Theoretically."

"Yoo-hoo!" A voice calls, causing everyone to turn around. They see the man that came with Hopper and Joyce - Murray, as Nora learned - waving papers around. "Yoo-hoo!"

He sets the papers down as everyone crowds around a table. "Okay," he unfolds a sort of map. "This is what Alexei called, 'The Hub.' Now, the hub takes us to the vault room."

"Okay, where's the gate?" Hopper asks from besides Murray.

Murray points to another room. "Right here. I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe fifty feet or so."

Erica steps forward, shaking her head. "More like 500. What? You're gonna waltz in there like it's Commie Disneyland or something?"

"I'm sorry. . ." Murray looks at her annoyed. "Who are you?"

"Erica Sinclair," she puts her hands on her hips. "Who are you?"

"Murray. . . Bauman."

"Listen, Mr. Bunman," Erica puts up a hand as he scoffs at her attitude. "I'm not trying to tell you how to do things. . ."

She then, proceeds to tell him how to do things.

Once Erica's done telling everyone they're all going to die, Murray just scoffs again.

"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?"

"I'm ten, you bald bastard!"

"Erica!" Lucas scold his sister as Nora discretely gives her a high five.

"Just the facts!" Erica high fives Nora back loudly, causing Lucas to notice and glare at the two.

"She's right," Dustin nods. "You're all gonna die, but you don't have to. Excuse me," he gestures to the map. "Sorry, may I?"

"Please," Murray smiles sarcastically.

Dustin sits down, pulls the papers to him, and takes out a pencil. "See this room, right here? This is a storage facility. There's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system. That will lead you to the base of the weapon." He looks at Hopper and Murray. "It's a bit of a maze down there, but between me and Erica, we can show you the way."

"You can show us the way?" Hopper raises his eyebrows.

"Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit, and we'll just be your. . . navigators."

"No," Hopper shakes his head before shooting Dustin a smile. "Nope!"

The adults go off, gathering supplies, trying not to die, and the kids group around the fountain.

"Well, that settles it. He's gonna die. They're gonna die," Erica concludes.

"Yep. Most likely," Dustin nods.

Lucas frowns, "you guys survived."

"Barely," Dustin scoffs. "We really could've used you guys down there."

"Could've use you up here too," Mike nods.

"Yeah. We missed you dude," Nora agrees.

"Big time," Will adds.

Dustin walks forward, and everyone wraps their arms around each other. "I missed you guys too. Big time."

"Please don't cry, nerds," Erica gives a disgusted look.

"Can we keep her?" Nora not-so-discretely whispers as they pull apart.

"Erica," Lucas warns, ignoring Nora's comment.

"Keep saying my name," Erica narrows her eyes. "See what happens."

"Hey, heads up!" Hopper calls over, tossing Dustin a walkie talkie. "You can navigate, just from someplace safe."

"It's not that simple," Dustin argues. "The signal won't reach. Not with this. You need something with a high enough frequency band to relay the Russian's radio tower. But for that to work, you need someone who has both seen their comms room and has access to a super-powered handcrafted radio tower, one preferably already situated at the highest point in Hawkins," Dustin smirks. "Oh, wait. That's me. If you want us to navigate, you got us. But we need a head start. And a car."

Hopper pulls out a set a keys from his pocket and tossed them to Dustin. Dustin and Erica go over to Steve and Robin and they hurry out of the mall to get to Dustin's radio tower.

Joyce and Hopper decided Nancy and Jonathan would take the remaining kids to Murray's house, where they would be safe, while the adults would take care of everything.

They start out of the mall, and Nora mentally prepares herself for every worst case scenario.

Here we go.

a/n:

longer but less nora and max moments, v sorry