"we're talking away. i don't know what to say."

★・・・・・・★

Max managed to calm Amber down and get her sitting on the couch. Amber explained what Billy told her in the void, getting scared even just thinking about it.

"He said he was building something," she explained. "That it was all for me."

"Building something..." Max said. "Is he talking about the flayed?"

"He must be," Mike said.

"So, he's building an army, just like we thought."

"Yeah, but he's not building this army to spread."

"He's building it to stop Amber and Eleven," Will spoke.

"Last year, El closed to gate on him. I have a feeling that really pissed him off."

"Like, royally."

"And the Mind Flayer now knows that Amber is the only thing that can stop him and that El can close the gate. But if they're out of the way-"

"Game over."

"He also said he was gonna kill all of you," Amber said while grabbing Max's hand.

"Yeah, well, that's nice," Max said, squeezing Amber's hand.

Nancy heard a faint screeching sound and went to the window.

"Do you guys hear that?" she asked.

"It's just the fireworks," Jonathan tried reassuring her.

"Billy... When he told you this, it was here, in this room?" Nancy asked Amber as she nodded.

Amber and Will felt it. They felt the feeling again. He was there.

"He knows we're here," they said.

They all rushed outside to see if they could see something. Luckily enough, they did. They saw him. The Mind Flayer.

Nancy and Jonathan went to go get stuff while everyone else was boarding up the house.

"Hey, get away from the windows," Nancy told the kids.

They all stood there, scared. Amber and Eleven most of all. There was rumbling and stuff falling off the tables.

"It's close," Will said.

The trees outside were rustling and mugs fell and broke.

"Where'd it go?" Max asked softly.

All of a sudden, one of the Mind Flayer's arms broke through the wall and started trying to find El and Amber. It found Amber and tried taking her, but Jonathan hit it with the axe he found outside.

It threw Jonathan across the room and then tried taking him, but Nancy managed to start shooting at it but it didn't do much. Nancy was out of bullets and it tried taking her, but Eleven managed to save her. She used her powers and then cut it off, the arm then went out of the cabin.

"Holy shit," Max breathed.

Then another arm came through, trying to grab Amber. She stuck her hand out, and then another arm came through the other side of the cabin. She stuck her hand out and grabbed it, too. She looked back and forth at each arm, wondering how the hell Hawkins is this messed up. She brought her arms down and that made the ends of the arms cut off, just like what El did, and yelled as she did so. This took so much of her energy. Amber was panting and couldn't catch her breath.

Then two other arms came through and grabbed her and Eleven. It grabbed both of them by their calves and almost took them. Max jumped into action and tried to grab both back.

The grip on Amber's leg wasn't as strong as Eleven's, so Max managed to grab her from the Mind Flayer's hold. But not El.

El was scared out of her mind. She was sobbing and screaming, wanting more than anything to go home and be with Mike, everything not going on. Mike came forwards and replaced Max's spot, telling her to get to Amber.

Max immediately went to Amber as she lay on the floor, panting and bleeding from her leg.

"Are you okay? Amber?" she asked as Amber's sobs slowly started calming down.

"Lucas! Come on!" Mike yelled to him.

Nancy was shooting the Mind Flayer as Lucas grabbed the axe and started hitting it with the axe.

Everyone except Nancy, Max, Amber, and Lucas, were trying to grab El back, putting all their strength into it. They couldn't lose Eleven. Especially Mike.

Lucas managed to disconnect the arm and the end of the arm that was holding onto El. All the kids fell, and El wanted to sleep more than anything. She was exhausted. El lay next to Mike, as he asked, "El! El, you okay?"

And he managed to get a nod out of her, to signal that she was going to be fine.

The end of the arm was still connected to El's leg, so Mike saw it and pulled it off of her. That hurt like a bitch, so of course, El screamed out in pain. Amber saw how hurt Eleven was and managed to use her powers and tear the Mind Flayer's head in half, even though she could also barely stand on her leg.

Mike helped El up as Max helped Amber up. Nancy and Jonathan were yelling at everyone to hurry up and get out of there. They threw the couch off of the door and ran out to the car. Mike and Max helped Amber and El into the very back, trying very carefully to not hurt them more than how hurt they already were.

"Drive! Drive!" Mike shouted at his older sister. Then they drove off, leaving the Mind Flayer at the cabin.

-

They got to a store and Nancy broke the glass door with a brick. They got Amber and El in carefully, trying so hard to not hurt them. Nancy grabbed some rubbing alcohol and some gauze pads.

"Okay, get her down," Nancy said. She was going to clean Amber up first and then Eleven.

Max set Amber down while she was panting. Nancy pulled her pant leg up and they all got disgusted. Max was next to Amber, holding her hand and letting her squeeze it whenever it hurt. Which for her, it was a lot.

Nancy started getting the gauze pads out, but Max stopped her.

"What- what- hey, what are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm cleaning the wound."

"No, first we need to stop the bleeding, then clean, then disinfect, then bandage. I skate board. Trust me," Max said as she took over.

Max wanted to help her because she loved her. She never told her, but she really does. And she just wants Amber to be okay.

"Mike, hold this," Max said as she pointed to the gauze pad.

"Hurt her, and I'll kill you," she whispered so only Mike could hear.

"Keep the pressure on it, nice and firm, okay? We're gonna need water, soap," she told the older kids.

Lucas dumped everything out of his backpack and Max just looked over at him.

"Does any of this help?" he asked.

"No," she blatantly said. "Go get me a washcloth and a bowl."

"A bowl?"
"Lucas."

Will and Lucas went to go find a bowl, not wanting to get on Max's bad side. They waited a while and Mike eventually went to go find Will and Lucas to see if they got a bowl and a washcloth. Max quickly put pressure on Amber's wound, trying too hard to not hurt her.

"Does it hurt?" she asked Amber.

"Uh, not bad. It's not as bad as El's," she said about the girl in the next isle over.

"You're gonna have an awesome scar. You'll look even more badass."

"'Bitchin'' as El says."

"Yeah, bitchin'," Max said as they lightly chuckled.

"Amber..."

"I've been meaning to tell you something. It's just, being broken up, it's been hard."

Then there was noise coming from the walkie, but they couldn't hear any words, so they shrugged it off.

"And... I know that Billy scares you. It's just, I wanted the Mind Flayer to leave you alone. And that's why I did what I did. It's like, I didn't want this to happen, you know? And, like... I'm sorry. It's just, like, I've never felt, like this, you know, with anyone before... and... you know, they do say it makes you crazy."

"What makes you crazy?"

"You never- you never heard that term... before? You know, like the phrase, like... 'blank makes you crazy,' like the word..."

Amber didn't understand what she was saying, so she took random guesses.

"'Girlfriends?'"

"No, no, no, no, no, not- not girlfriends. It's like a feeling or..."

"A feeling..." Amber said softly.

"Yeah, like something... like, old people say it to each other sometimes."

"'Old people?'"

"Yeah. What I wanna say is... that I just... I know that I-"

Just then, Dustin's voice came through the walkie. Mike came back in time and answered Dustin.

"Dustin?" He asked.

"Mike?"
"Dustin!"

"Mike! Oh, my God, you have to listen. I know I've been MIA, and I'm sorry, it's not because I'm mad. I mean, I actually was mad..."

Then he started going in and out because he was talking too fast.

"Dustin, you're going way too fast. I can't understand you."

"And now- they're using- to open the gate."

"Dustin, you're- you're breaking up. Dustin you're cutting out. Dustin, you there? Dustin? Dustin!"

Then Nancy came back and saw the three kids sitting and trying to talk to Dustin.

"What is it?" she asked.

-

They got Amber and El cleaned up and decided that Eleven should try and find Dustin in the void. All the freezer doors were open, which probably wasn't good for the food, but they had to do what they had to do.

Amber sat on the floor because she couldn't stand for long. Lucas and Max were standing by fruits, Nancy and Jonathan were also standing by fruits, and Mike and Will were sitting on a freezer type-thing.

Lucas opened a can of New Coke and opened it loudly.

"Quiet," Max whispered to him.

"Oh, sorry," he whispered back as he tried sipping it quietly.

"How do you even drink that?" Mike asked him.

"Because it's delicious."

"What?" Max and Mike asked at the same time.

"It's like Carpenter's The Thing. The original is a classic, no question about it. But the remake..." he said as he sipped. "Sweeter, bolder... better."

"You're insane."

"So, you prefer the original Thing?"

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

"It's the same concept, dude."

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

"It is the same concept."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is," Lucas said as his voice got louder

"Hey," El said as she took the bandanna off her eyes.

"Sorry," they both apologized.

"Did you... find him?" Mike asked.

Eleven sighed and explained how she found him sitting at the movies. They got up, Max helped Amber up of the floor as Mike helped El, and took a cart full of fireworks. They were going to strap them on the roof of the car.

"The movies?" Lucas asked. "Dustin's so freaked out about the gate, he decides to go watch a movie? Yeah, makes total sense."

"You're positive he said 'gate' and not 'great'?" Max asked.

"Yeah, like, 'This movie I'm watching is great.'," Will suggested.

"It sounded like 'gate'," Amber stated.

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

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

"Then the monster dies."

"But if not, we always have Lucas' fireworks," Max said sarcastically.

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

"Ridiculous."

"Will? We're gonna prove 'em wrong, right?"

-

They got to Starcourt Mall but it was closed so they snuck in. There were people there who were speaking a different language. They were going to a food place. The kids figured Dustin was there.

El used her powers to make a car that was in the mall go crazy. They looked at her as she flung the car and killed the men. Dustin, Steve, Erica, and Robin looked out from the counter and at Eleven as the other kids came into view.

The kids came down, Max helping Amber and Mike helping El, and the other four came towards them.

"You flung that thing like a Hot Wheel!" Dustin said as he hugged El. "Holy shit. Amber, are you okay?"

"I'll be okay," she smiled.

"Shit. We can't catch a break, can we?"

"Not at all."

"Lucas?" Erica said.

"What are you doing here?"

"Ask them. It's their fault."

Steve pulled Amber aside carefully to talk to her.

"Hey, Amber."

"Uh, hey?" she questioned.

"There's something really important that I need to say... it's about Kristen."

"Wait... Was she with you?"

"Yeah."

"Where is she? Is she okay?" Amber said, getting worried for her sister.

"She... How do I say this. Shit, okay. Kristen... She died on the way."

Amber was stunned. She didn't cry right away. She didn't break down right away. She stood there, barely even able to stand.

"Amber?"

"Give me a minute, please," she said softly, almost unable to hear what she said.

Steve nodded his head and went back to the others. Amber stood back, covering her ears. Tears started escaping her eyes, but then she fell. Max looked over at her, as well as everyone, and ran over to her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa."

"Amber! Amber!" Max said as she turned her over on her back.

"What's wrong with her?" Erica asked.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Max asked.

"My leg. My leg," she weeped.

"Her leg, her leg. Okay," Jonathan said.

He took the covering off her leg and it looked worse. Worse than before. There was something moving inside of it and it hurt like a bitch. She started crying even more from the pain and wanted to just curl up and sleep.

"Amber! Amber! Amber, are you okay? Amber! Amber! Amber!" Max said.

All she did was scream in pain.