Chapter 31

023

• 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 (?) •

─────✧･ﾟ: *✧･

☄. *. ⋆ Stella’s shoulder screamed in pain as arms moved with her, sprinting up the stairs past the “use in case of emergency” signs.

She turned to climb the next set, but was stopped by a sudden impact against the side of her head, seemingly from nothing. Her hand went up to where she felt it, stumbling against the railing for a moment before trying to ignore it with a wince. She hurried up the steps.

Unsure of which floor to go to, Stella could only try to follow the flickering lights. But after a brief look behind her to ensure nothing was there, she crashed into the purple fabric of a dress, her heart skipping a beat just for a moment before she realized it had been Nancy, Jonathan behind her. “Nance!” It sounded a mixture of a noticing and a question as Stella gripped the railing she almost fell over.

“Stella, what are you doing?”

“What’s going on?” Stella’s voice was rushed. Something told her she didn’t have much time to sit here asking questions. Nancy turned for just a second to look behind her, telling Stella all she needed to know. “Come on!”

Stella followed Nancy’s lead away from whatever was chasing them– Stella didn’t know and didn’t bother to ask. Not now, at least.

They crashed through the door to a new floor, running to where Stella wasn’t even sure of.

A look back at the door, and Stella spotted the tall figure of a man, his eyes cold and dark. She started to heat her hands up, just hoping with all her might that it wouldn’t fail her this time.

They bolted past another hallway, Stella catching a glimpse of the two limp bodies having collapsed on the ground.

They found another room, Jonathan pounding his hand against the little buzzer that allowed him to speak to someone. It either didn’t work, or they didn’t get a response, but Nancy pointed them in another direction. “Stella! Jonathan!”

They barged through another door, Jonathan locking it behind them and leaving Stella with the uneasy feeling of knowing this was a dead end. No more running if he found them. Nancy grabbed the phone off the wall, took telling them it was ringing.

“Come on, pick up!” Nancy shouted, followed by a ‘Shh!’ from Stella. If anything, they should be silent right now. Silent and crouching out of view while Stella flamethrowed that son of a bitch.

The lights started to flicker again, and Stella didn’t even realize they had stopped.

“Nancy!” Jonathan called despite being beside her, but no other words were said before a sharp crash sounded. They turned to see the man’s fist easily having broken through the small glass window. Stella felt her heart pounding in her chest, trying desperately to hurry the heating up of her palms and ignoring the pulsing from the scarred bite. The man bent down slightly, perfectly gazing at them through the empty square. “Hi there.”

His hand snaked through the gap, reaching for the lock while Stella whispered to herself. “Come on, come on, come on,” she balled her hands up as if it would help the heating process. It was taking too long. Way longer than usual. “Come on.” She could feel her chest tightening. The heat was almost charged enough. She felt it thrum through her arms.

The lock clicked, and the blond man stepped through the door.

Come on…

“I’m here for you, Nancy Drew.”

Jonathan tried to throw a hit, but it was blocked instantly.

And…

Nancy tried to stop it.

Finally.

Stella braced herself for the pain and raised a hand, a missile of flames shooting forward before he managed to hurt Nancy. She got in front of Nancy and Jonathan immediately, the man being forced backwards as he screamed. Some things in the room caught flame, others causing small explosions. Stella shielded the two behind her from the impact. “Shit!”

Stella felt her entire body start to burn, obscenities leaving her mouth in agonized screams while the man was on the ground, rolling in attempt to put out the smaller-than-preferred fire caught on his clothes. Nancy kneeled to check on Jonathan, who now gasped for air. “Are you okay!?”

Stella’s now-blurry vision caught on the door. “Go. Go we gotta go!”

They started to run, Stella’s run more of a desperately fast hobble. The man on the ground gripped onto Jonathan’s ankle, making him fall and catching the girls’ attention.

The flayed man arose slowly through the pain that had dulled as the fire went out, lifting a stool over his head.

“Jonathan!” Both girls tried to warn, but not before the stool came crashing down onto his back.

The man slowly turned to Nancy and Stella. Jonathan’s weak call for them to run sent them bolting, hesitating to leave him for a moment, but with no time to think.

They shut themselves in another room while the man called Nancy’s name behind them, a fire extinguisher clutched in the older girl’s arms as a backup weapon that Stella didn’t want to admit they’d probably need.

Hid behind a curtain with nowhere else to go, they could only listen as the door pushed open, the man’s chilling voice sounding. “Yoo-hoo. Nancy Drew… where are you?”

His footsteps got closer and closer, voice repeating Nancy’s name. Stella held a hand over her own mouth while she tried to heat them up again. It was barely working. Nancy looked to her, holding the fire extinguisher. Stella nodded, and their plan was silently formed.

“Marco…” they could hear the curtains across from them opening. “Marco…” his voice grew more angry. “Marco.”

“Polo!” Nancy shot out from behind the white sheet, lifting the extinguisher over her head before bringing it down on the man’s face. Stella clutched her mouth tighter, muffling her guttural cry. Another loud clang joined with another shot of pain through Stella’s skull.

The man dropped to his knees, Stella squeezing her eyes shut when she saw Nancy lift the weapon one more time. “Go… to… hell!”

With the impact, a deep, sharp pain spread from just above her sternum throughout her chest. She finally crumbled to her shins, hands grasping each part of her body that screamed with burning pain. She gasped for air, feeling as if she couldn’t breathe despite feeling the air perfectly flow through her.

“Stella!”

“I’m okay,” Stella choked out, the words hoarse and barely audible. “I’m okay,” again, with more voice. The lights surged to life before shutting out completely for a moment, then coming back on to reveal the man who now convulsed on the ground.

“What’s happening?” Nancy asked, voice panicked. Stella looked down at her hand, black veins visible and pulsing growing more intense than usual. “I– I don’t know. It’s doing something.”

“Oh, God.” Stella watched the man’s face slowly devolve into a disgusting, unidentifiable mass. It was like he was melting. It just kept going until his whole body wasn’t his anymore– puddles of deep red goop around clothing. Stella swallowed the bile back.

The disturbing sight of it all only got worse, the slimy matter creeping across the floor. Going somewhere. Like it had a mind of its own. Stella and Nancy looked to each other before following after it.

As it entered the long corridor, it only seemed to grow, joining together to become less of a slimy pile.

Jonathan stood at the other end, the same exact thing in front of him.

Both piles of the mysterious sludge met in the middle, piling taller and growing more solid. Tiny cones like legs sprouted from it, only becoming larger until it resembled a giant spider. It faced directly at Nancy and Stella, letting out a shrieking roar.

“Shit.” Nancy started to back up into the emergency exit, unable to open the door.
Stella turned and realized, them hoved the door open with all her might. Part of her once again thanked Dart for biting her as the door forced open under her push. “Go, Nance! Hurry!” She pushed Nancy through the door before she could argue, leaving the monster separating only Stella and Jonathan.

“Stella, go!” Jonathan tried to shout. Stella’s feet were planted, her hands recharged from earlie her eyes on nothing but the giant creature before her and her mind on keeping this thing from Max by any means necessary. “Jonathan, go into that room on your left.”

The boy took a glance at the room, then back at her. “What are you doing!?”

“Jonathan, get in the room! Right the hell now!” Her fists tensed and opened repeatedly. Jonathan finally complied, and Stella took in a deep breath as the spider-like figure of goo crept closer to her. “Come on, asshole.”

As if it understood her, it broke into a sort of gallop, charging right at her. Stella’s sight fixed on the gap she saw between the monster and the wall. She ran at the creature, turning and slipping through the empty space at the last second. She huffed out a laugh, adrenaline getting the best of her. For a moment, it felt like a basketball game.

And after all, she was the best in Hawkins.

The creature turned, following her through halls, away from Nancy and Jonathan and up another floor. As far away from the lobby, from her friends– from Max –as Stella could get it. “Over here, asshole!” Stella turned into a room, then left it again, weaving around the monster out into the hall again. At this point, she almost started dribbling a ball that she didn’t even have.

When she bought herself enough time, she led it into one final room, where she backed herself up against the wall. Once the creature got close enough, she raised a hand, letting a flood of flames bigger than her shoot out. The impact almost knocked over Stella herself as the room quickly heated up.

She covered her ears, the room filling with the piercing shriek of the monster and herself as they both writhed in pain.

Most of it seemed to shrink back down, part of the goo separating itself only to build back up, just slightly smaller now.

“Shit.”

It roared in her face, and the fire Stella tried to muster up just came out as embers and smoke. “Shit, shit, shit!”

She slipped away from the corner she was stuck against, and nearly made it to the door, only to be stopped by an unsettling leg-like limb wrapping around her torso and slamming her to the ground. Her head thudded against the linoleum as she winced.

The creature’s slimy limb reached for her leg, and the goop it was formed out of encased her ankle. She weakly lifted a leg to kick it away, and it only worked for a second before it regenerated itself. “Let…” she panted, “go!”

Sharp bits of whatever the concoction was made of sliced up and down her leg as it swallowed it. Stella groaned in pain as she tried to tear her foot away, only further ripping the shards of whatever through her skin.

Her powers weren’t doing anything besides buying her some time, and she couldn’t say she didn’t expect it. She knew it’d take even longer for her hands to heat this time, and it’d be no good anyway. That’s why she was even doing this, though, wasn’t it? To prove herself? Maybe if she managed to fight this thing off just once, maybe the others wouldn’t think she was weak. Maybe Stella wouldn’t think she was weak.

“Ess!”

Stella’s mind screamed ‘no’ when she realized Max had gone looking. That she was part of the danger now. But Eleven standing protectively in front of all of them acted as some consolation.

“Jesus.”

“What the fu–” Max was cut off by a screech from the monster that towered over Stella. It had turned, and soon began to charge after El, who stopped it almost immediately. She threw it against a wall, then the other one, then the ceiling, then brought it crashing back to the ground. It didn’t seem to take any damage, simply getting back up. But finally, Eleven sent it flying through the window, just above Stella’s head as she ducked.

Max rushed to Stella while the others hurried downstairs, Max’s eyes scanning every inch of her girlfriend to ensure her safety. “Ess! Oh my God, your leg. And–“

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Stella supported herself against Max, pushing to her feet. Her whole body ached and she somehow still managed to focus on her powers being unable to help her. They were useless then, she was useless. And who was Stella if not useful? “Come on, we gotta go.” She hobbled out of the room with a concerned Max in tow.

The word scratched at her head over and over and over, a terrible, repetitive song she couldn’t forget. Useless. Useless. Burden. Burden. Burden. Then verse two, once she noticed that was somehow her main focus. Selfish. Selfish. Selfish.

Useless.

Burden.

Selfish.

This isn’t about you.

She had that song stuck in her head for as long as she could remember. It was all her parents played. All even she played.

And even as she watched the putrid puddle of previously-more-fear-inducing goo sink into the sewer grate, the song played.

–

☄. *. ⋆ Stella stared into the white wrap around her ankle, at the scarlet that soaked it. She bit her lip. She never usually minded the scars that came from any kind of fight, big bad monsters included as she had racked up a few of those by now, but this one was just different. A deep mark that would always remind her of how she failed.

“Mike, you need to relax.” When Max spoke, Stella started to wonder how long people had been talking. She was only brought back to the present when Max’s voice pulled her from her thoughts.

“What if she gets brain damage or something?” Mike’s pacing slowed for a moment, and Lucas perked up. “Oh, shit. Is that, like, a real thing?”

“No, it’s not. He made it up,” Max accused. “Mike doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about.”

“Mike hasn’t known what the hell he’s been talking about for a while now,” Stella still managed a jab at Mike despite the stabbing feeling in her gut and essentially everywhere else.

“And you guys do?”

Their voices raised, and Stella gave up on being a part of the argument, her head falling back against Max’s chair, which the Harrington sat in front of. Her head was pounding, but she struggled to find moments recently where it wasn’t.

Max stood up, Mike following. They went over to Nancy to help settle the debate, and Stella followed although she continued to drown out the argument. That was, until she heard her name.
“You wanna talk about trust, really? After you and Stella made Eleven spy on us?”

“Okay, ‘made Eleven spy on you’?” Stella perked up, stepping forward from the counter.

“Wait, what?” Lucas held up a hand, and Stella rolled her eyes.

“Oh, they didn’t tell you this?” Mike seemed happy to let the can of worms open right up.

“No!”

“Max and Stella used El’s powers to spy on us!”

“No, no, no–” Max intervened, “we did not make her. It was her idea.”

Stella nodded in agreement. “Yeah, and why is it any of your business what she does with her powers anyway?”

“Yeah, why are we even talking about this, seriously?”

Will nodded in agreement to Max and Stella. “Yeah, who cares?” But Lucas turned to him right away. “I care!”

“Yeah, I guess girlfriends don’t lie, they spy!” Mike shot his words at Max and Stella, despite his statement technically being shot at El.

“We were just joking around,” Max defended, but Mike just wouldn’t drop it. “Wouldn’t it have been so funny if I was taking a massive shit or something!?”

Stella and Max scrunched up their noses, Max glancing at her girlfriend for a split second. “You weren’t!”

“But what if I was?”

“Then gross!”

Stella stepped forward a bit. “You’re just mad because El caught you saying stupid shit and now she’s pissed off at you!”

“What did he say?” Now Nancy was speaking out of pure curiosity. Stella was happy to enlighten her of her brother’s bullshit. “These two–” Stella stepped towards the boys again, prodding both Lucas and Mike’s chests, “said that girls are a ‘totally different species’,” she put air quotes up. Mike scoffed, rolling his eyes while his sister’s brows shot up. “What?”

“Yeah and that we’re a ‘mystery’,” Stella recalled the words again.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Mike defended, leading Stella to roll her eyes and for Max to shoot him a glare. “I’m just trying to demonstrate how careless Max is with Eleven’s powers. And how she made Stella careless, too!”

“Mike, I swear to God, don’t!” Stella got closer again, eyes shooting daggers right back into Mike’s. The boy stepped back, his demeanor faltering slightly in a way that showed he took it back. “You’re all careless with her!” He continued. “You’re treating her like some kind of machine when she’s not a machine, and I don’t want her to die looking for the flayed when they’ve obviously vanished off the face of the Earth.” That wasn’t true. They all knew they weren’t in the clear. They couldn’t be. It wasn’t over. “So can we please just come up with a new plan because I love her and I can’t lose her again!”

Stella’s eyes widened, and she pursed her lips to prevent herself from going slack-jawed. She glanced at Max, whose mouth hung slightly open with no realization or attempt to stop it.

The bathroom door opened behind her, and they turned to see Eleven, who Stella realized was certainly able to hear them. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Nothing,” Mike shook his head right away, the hostility of his previous demeanor lingering in his voice. Lucas’s much calmer one joined in. “Just a family discussion.”

“Oh.” El faltered, and a pang sent through Stella. She had definitely heard it and definitely wanted to talk about it more. Maybe she’d get the chance, Stella hoped.

The silence started to hang in the air, and the Harrington glanced to see who’d break it. “So…”

“You find ’em?”

─────✧･ﾟ: *✧･

felt kinda weird ending it here but this chapter was getting long and i haven’t updated in a while so…

merry late Christmas and volume 2 was SO GOOD. i lowkey gotta figure out some plans i’m making for season 4-5 stella…

thx for reading!! (please comment guys)