29. what is a griswold

WHAT IS A GRISWOLD

✧･ﾟ: * Mike and Max help El to Nancy's car as El winces at her leg again. Nora opens the car door, letting Mike and El into the very back. From there, Nora, Max, Lucas, and Will squeeze into the middle while Nancy and Jonathan sit in the front.

Nancy turns the key in the ignition, but the engine simply sputters in response. She forces the key continuously but engine refuses to comply.

"You can't serious! Come on!" She exclaims.

"Didn't your mom just buy this car?" Lucas asks exasperated.

"Yes," Nancy sighs annoyed. "I'm sure it's fine."

"Did you leave the lights on?" Will tries troubleshooting.

"No!"

"Do we have gas?" Lucas questions.

"Yes!" Nancy aggressively turns the key again. "Come on!"

Jonathan reaches forward, stopping the brunette from further assaulting the car. "Stop, stop! Pop the hood!"

Nancy obeys as Jonathan gets out of the car. He observes the engine, Nancy stepping out with him. After a few seconds, a sudden engine revving from their right catches everyone's attention. A blue Camaro in the center of the abandoned parking lot flashes it's headlights.

Billy.

"Back in the mall! Back in the mall!" Nancy taps the glass as the kids eyes widen at the sight.

Everyone rushes out, tripping over each other in their hurry. Nora and Mike grab El with Max's help, and they all run into Starcourt.

Mike instantly reaches for a walkie talkie, trying to reach Dustin and the rest of the "Scoops Troop." Lucas grabs his slingshot, and Nancy takes a gun from one of the dead Russians, checking how many rounds there are.

"You're gonna kill him, aren't you?" Max flinches beside Nora.

"This is just a precaution, okay?" Nancy frowns.

"And not just against Billy," Will assures. "If he knows we're here, so does the Mind Flayer."

Nora places a light hand on Max's shoulder and the redhead smiles softly at the reassurances.

Nancy looks around at the car El had flipped over. "No chance that thing'll drive, right?" She laughs softly.

"We don't need it to drive," Jonathan shakes his head, eyes widening as a plan unravels. "We just need the ignition cable."

The group quickly goes over to the car, all on one side, trying to push it away from the restaurant it had fallen into. Everyone's face scrunches, muscles flexing, but they admit defeat after the car doesn't budge.

"Let me try," El walks forward, and sticks an arm out. Nora frowns at her heavy breaths and shaking body. The brunette is clearly worn out.

"El. . ." Mike tries, as concerned as the others.

El just takes another step, limping slightly. "I can do it."

The group steps back, observing, but the car never moves. El just lets out a frustrated sigh, and Mike offers another solution.

They all collect metal poles from around the mall and push them to the car. The car moves off of the restaurant, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. Jonathan says some encouraging words and they push more, trying to get the car right-side-up.

"Told you," Mike says smugly as the car pushes over fully. "Physics."

Nancy and Jonathan just go straight for the hood, trying to get it open. It doesn't move, and Nora watches as Nancy struggles with the hatch.

The kids are about to go help, until a sudden pounding comes from around them. Nora's head shoots up, looking around the mall in confusion.

Her eyes widen when she sees the Mind Flayer about to break the glass ceiling in.

"Nancy!" Mike shouts, but the teen has no time to react before the ceiling caves in, glass shards flying everywhere.

Someone grabs Nora's hand and she finds herself hiding in between Mike and Max behind some sort of counter. El's on the other side of Mike, breathing as heavily as the others.

Lucas, Will, Nancy, and Jonathan duck behind the car and Nora watches as Lucas silently pulls out his slingshot.

You think that's going to work? Really?

The Mind Flayer has gotten bigger than it was before, and it lets out a loud roar as Nora shuts her eyes in fear, still grasping someone's hand.

"Griswold family, this is Scoops Troop! Do you copy? Over!" Dustin's frantic voice comes through a walkie talkie lying in the middle of the floor.

The Mind Flayer picks up the device, roars again into it, and slams it against the wall. Dustin's garbled voice continues through, but no one can make an effort to answer him.

Nora's tries calming her breaths, slowly moving her eyes open. She notices Mike and El nudging each other before turning to her and Max, nodding toward the direction of The Gap.

The four nod to each other and make a run for the clothing store, instantly sneaking through the racks as they tiptoe as quietly as possible.

Nora feels the presence of the monster and holds her breath, letting Max pull her behind another rack, Mike and El by the one beside them. She feels herself shake as the clothes behind her rustle, and she's ready to be attacked by the Mind Flayer. . . until a balloon pops.

Lucas, I take back everything I've ever said about your slingshot.

The four run from the creature as it's distracted, El leaning on and Mike and Nora as Max leads them through the halls.

They take a turn and Mike aggressively presses the elevator button.

"Come on, come on, come on," he mutters as Nora tries putting more of El's weight on her, not wanting the brunette to exert herself anymore than she has to.

The door slams open from down the hallway and Max walks out as Mike presses the button faster.

"Billy."

Nora almost cries at the girl's words.

"Billy, you don't have to do this," Mike and El turn around, but Nora takes over pressing the button, wanting to get out of this nightmare.

"Billy, you're name is Billy Hargrove. You live on 4819 Old Cherry Road. Billy, please, I'm Max, I'm your-"

Billy pushes Max to the side, and Nora instantly rushes forward, Mike and El close behind. Nora's about to push Billy, but he easily grabs her shoulders and slams her into a wall beside Max.

That's when it all goes dark.

—

✧･ﾟ: * Nora wakes up with a buzz in her ears.

"Max," is the first thing she mumbles out, trying to look around her.

When did my head get so heavy?

"Nor?" She's hears a confused voice beside her. "Nora!"

Nora sees a freckled face come into her peripheral vision and she lifts her head in the slightest. "Max," she tries again, but her voice is hoarse.

Max shakes her shoulders slightly and Nora sits up. "Okay, okay."

"Mike," Max quickly rushes over to the boy after making sure Nora's alright. "Mike, wake up."

Nora groans and stands up, leaning on the wall for support. She puts a hand to her head to try and stop the pounding, but she winces upon contact.

"Aw, man," she sighs, looking at the sticky, red liquid that now covered her fingers.

"Hey, come on," Max helps Mike and the two stumble over to Nora, all leaning on each other.

Mike looks around for a second. "Where's El?"

The trio regains control of their minds and run down the halls they'd come from.

Max runs ahead and stops at the entrance of a store, looking at the food court.

Nora and Mike stop behind her, looking at the Mind Flayer with. . . fireworks exploding around it?

At the foot of the monster, is Billy pinning El down, El looking defenseless.

Billy slowly stands up and El tries crawling backwards. Max's face is shrouded with worry, and Nora places a hand on her shoulder.

The Mind Flayer growls, showing off it's rows of teeth. Another mouth opens up inside of the first one (woah), and it reaches out for El.

Billy jumps in front of her, and holds his hands out, making the mouth latch itself onto him.

Billy screams as he tries to fight off the Mind Flayer, falling to his knees at it's strength. The monster uses another arm and stabs Billy in the abdomen, then another through his right side, and continuously as Billy's screams start to slow.

"Billy!" Max screams. Nora's heart breaks at her tear-stained face.

The Mind Flayer starts to squirm in pain until it falls to the ground. Dead.

Mike instantly rushes to El and holds her while Max leaves Nora's side and runs to Billy. Nora follows behind at a slow pace, unsure how to comfort the redhead.

"Billy, get up," Max sobs, shaking her brother's shoulders. "Please. Billy, please. Please, get up!"

"I'm sorry," Billy mumbles.

"Billy. . ." Max shakes her head.

Nora drops nexts to Max, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Max-"

"No," Max just shakes her head again. "Billy, wake up. Billy, get up. Please, Billy. . ." Max gasps as the light in his eyes goes out. "Billy! Billy!"

Max practically falls into Nora's arms, sobbing and shaking. El joins the hug and three girls sit there, Nora trying to comfort her friends as their breaths shorten from crying so hard.

"It's gonna be okay," she whispers.

Oh, how she hopes she's right.

—

✧･ﾟ: * The mall has almost completely burned down, and the kids are outside in firetrucks, waiting for their family members to show up.

"Nora?" Nora snaps her head up at her name dropping Max's hand as she rushes to Steve who was looking around in worry. "Nora!" He exclaims upon seeing her, wrapping his arms around hers.

"Steve," she whispers, not trusting her voice to speak louder.

"Are you okay? I mean, obviously not 'okay,' but-"

"I'm-" Nora's voice breaks off and her brother just holds her tighter.

Nora doesn't want to know where her parents are. They haven't shown up before, and she doesn't need them to now.

She just cries into Steve's jacket as everyone else's families start to show up.

The younger Harrington doesn't even notice Hopper not showing up with Joyce.

She doesn't notice El's broken face as she looks around in despair.

She doesn't notice Max staring at the Harrington siblings hugging each other.

She doesn't notice Max struggling to talk to her own parents about what had happened.

She doesn't notice anything other than the cold feeling that hasn't left her body since this all started.

a/n:

i feel kinda bad about being mean to billy now-