Chapter 36

028

• 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐲 •

─────✧･ﾟ: *✧･

☄. *. ⋆ Stella bounced her good leg as if it would help rid the pain from the other one.

It didn’t.

“Okay, so just to be clear, this… this big fleshy spider thing that hurt Essie and El,” he started. “It’s some kind of gigantic… weapon?”

“Yes.”

“But instead of like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon… with melted people.”

“Yes. Exactly,” Nancy confirmed again like it was normal.

“Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I’m just making sure.”

“Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?” Joyce asked, and Stella nodded. “Yeah,” she said positively as she leaned into Max, who spoke next. “Ess and El both beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it’s still alive.”

“Stella used her powers?” Dustin’s face lit up.

“Yeah…?”

“She practically blew the thing up,” Lucas shrugged. And Dustin slouched. “Damn it! I should’ve been there.”

“I still can’t believe Steve “The Hair” Harrington’s little sister has superpowers,” Robin muttered, her chin resting on her tucked up knees.

“They’re leaving by the second,” Stella grumbled, tossing a random piece of dirt on the fountain just to throw something.

“But if we close the gate again,” Will brought everyone back.

“We cut the brain off from the body.”

“And kill it.”

“And get Stella’s full powers back,” Dustin nodded.

“Theoretically,” Lucas added.

Stella jumped when a different-toned shout came from behind her. “Yoo-hoo!”

“Yoo-hoo!” The strange man who came in with the others waved papers like a crazy person while he walked over.

“The hell?”

He made the rest of the way over, slamming the paper down. “Okay, so this is what Alexei called the hub.” Before them was a loose lined paper with what looked like blueprints drawn out. “Now, the hub takes us to the vault room,” he explained. Hopper loomed over his shoulder, eyeing the paper almost judgementally. “Okay, where’s the gate?” He wondered, and the bald man- Stella still didn’t know his name -pointed to a spot immediately. “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.”

“More like five hundred.”

Stella turned when she heard the voice, although it was undoubted who it came from. Erica Sinclair stood with her hands on her hips, expression knowing as ever. “What, you’re just gonna waltz in there like it’s commie Disneyland or something?”

Stella felt a grin reach her face.

“I’m sorry, who are you?”

“Erica Sinclair. Who are you?” Erica asked, and Stella was glad to finally have the answer. “Murray… Bauman.”

“Listen Mister Bunman-” Stella chortled at the girl, biting her lip to stop as Erica continued. “-I’m not trying to tell you how to do things, but I’ve been down in that shithole for twenty-four hours. And with all due respect,” she looked out to the others, “you do what this man tells you, you’re all gonna die.”

Murray Bauman seemed dumbfounded. “I’m sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?”

“Um, I’m ten you bald bastard!”

Stella’s mouth dropped open, along with some of the others.

“Erica!” Lucas scolded.

“Just the facts!”

“She’s right,” Dustin chimed in. “You’re all gonna die, but you don’t have to.” He stepped forward, nearing the paper. “Excuse me. Sorry, may I?”

“Please.”

Dustin sat down, pulling the sketch closer. “Okay. See this room here? This is a storage facility.” Dustin circled a little square. “There’s a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system.” He drew a long line to the other end of the page. “That will lead you to the base of the weapon. 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 echoed.

“Don’t worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit, and we’ll just be your…” Dustin glanced at Erica, “navigators.”

Hopper nodded as if he were agreeing, but then, “No. Nope.”

–

☄. *. ⋆ “Hey, heads up.”

Stella looked over to see a radio being tossed to Dustin.

“You can navigate, just from someplace safe,” Hopper told him, pulling out a walkie of his own.

“It’s not that simple.”

“The signal won’t reach,” Erica elaborated, and Dustin picked up where she was and continued. “Not with this. You need something with a high enough frequency band to relay with the Russian’s radio tower. But for that to work, you need to have 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.” It didn’t take long for Stella to recognize he was talking about himself. “Oh, wait. That’s me.”

Hopper slumped his shoulders.

“If you want us to navigate, you got us. But we need a head start,” Dustin demanded. Then, after a silent look to Erica, “And a car.”

–

☄. *. ⋆ “Don’t do anything stupid,” Stella hit Steve’s shoulder with a grin.

“I should be the one telling you that,” he shot back, one hand ruffling her hair. Stella took a breath before turning, but Steve grabbed her arm and spun her back around into a hug. “Dude!”

She scoffed, reaching up to hug him back in faux-reluctance.

“Shit!” Stella exclaimed once she pulled back. Both Steve and Max, who had walked up to them, looked to her in concern. “What is it!?”

“I have a tournament next week! Shit!”

Both of the others sighed, Max speaking first in exasperated confusion. “I thought the season was over?”

“AAU.”
“AAU. I’m so screwed.”

Max sighed and took Stella in her hold, beckoning her head towards the others. Stella gave Steve a small smile as one more goodbye.

The car engine sputtered dryly once Nancy turned the key. The sound caught Stella’s attention, worry beginning to return to her.

“What’s wrong?” Jonathan asked her, and she shook her head as she tried again. “I don’t… I don’t know.” The engine continued on with its broken sputter. “You can’t be serious. Come on!”

“Didn’t your mom just buy this car?” Lucas questioned, but it clearly only agitated Nancy further. “Yes. I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Did you leave the lights on?”

“No.”

“Do we have gas?”

“Yes!”

The car still didn’t start, despite Nancy’s efforts at turning the key harder each time. Jonathan stopped her, a hand reaching out. “Woah, woah, woah! Just stop, stop!” He pulled his door handle, stepping out. “Pop the hood.”

Nancy obliged, getting out of the car to check with her boyfriend, leaving the kids in quiet air filled with soft whimpers from El and stifled winces that came to Stella in waves.

An engine revved, but to everyone’s dismay, it was far too distant to be theirs.

Heads turned towards the lights further down the parking lot. Behind the wheel of the car facing them, ready to charge was Billy Hargrove.

And in the seat beside him…

“Ozzy,” Stella whispered.

The only thing that tore Stella’s eyes away from where she was squeezed beside Max and Will (she insisted El got the trunk) was the banging against the window by Nancy. “Back in the mall! Back in the mall! Go! Go, go, go!” She hustled, each kid filing out and Max taking up Stella’s arm before she even touched the ground.

They hurried back inside and Mike went straight for the walkie. “Scoops troop, do you copy? I repeat, do you copy?” We are trapped inside of Starcourt Mall in need of emergency transportation.” He continued to speak, but Stella stopped listening after a moment in favor to sit down as soon as possible and focus on Max instead.

The girl in question had her arms folded, biting her lip as she watched Nancy load her gun. “You’re gonna kill him, aren’t you?”

Stella’s face dropped from pain to pure sorrow and added concern for her own flayed friend.

“This is just a precaution, okay?” Nancy assured, but it was obvious Max wouldn’t be immediately comforted with that.

“And not just against Billy,” Will added. “If he knows we’re here, so does the Mind Flayer.”

Mike paced around, still talking into the radio.

Nancy looked from the car El had thrown to the others. “No chance that thing’ll drive, right?” She joked, getting a small smile out of Max. Jonathan, on the other hand, was put into thought by it. “We don’t need it to drive. We just need the ignition cable.”

–

☄. *. ⋆ Stella felt pathetic watching her friends struggle with lifting the crashed car.

They groaned and grunted, but even when she offered to help for a third time, they dismissed her and continued.

“Let me try,” El suggested.

“El…” Mike panted, but El just limped forward. “I can do it,” she declared, determined.

Stella scoffed incredulously when they agreed. She said the same thing. She told them she could do it the first time. She told them that really, they should just let her do it.

The whisper of her own self in her head echoed its least favorite words.

Useless.

Burden.

God, shut up!

Nails dug into her arm, an absentminded response she had grown to make a habit.

El couldn’t do it.

The car creaked and squeaked but no lifting happened. Stella used it to finally stand and hobble ahead, hissing when she stepped on her bad leg. “Let me do it.” She didn’t wait for a response before she managed her way to the car.

“Ess–“

“Cali.”

Stella’s half-pleading, half-stubborn expression led to Max’s hesitant step back.

With a deep breath and balance maintained on one leg, Stella pushed.

It was all she thought of. Not how it would’ve been easier just a month ago. Not about what her parents would do when she got home after missing their big fourth of July party with their stupid coworkers.

Push and prove your bitchy little head and bitchy little parents wrong.

Her arms started to scream as much as both her legs,- one terrorized by its injury and the other strained from carrying her -but she pretended not to hear it.

She felt a headache, and the ringing in her ears was joined by a lower one, the creak of the metal as the car was brought to its side.

Stella huffed out a desperate breath. She did it. She proved her head wrong.

“Holy shit!”

“God, Ess.”

Beaming, her friends ran over to help. The car crashed loudly as it fell the rest of the way. Nancy and Jonathan sped to the front of the car, tugging at the hood. “How do we get it open?”

“Uh- should be a latch. Check under the wheel.”

Stella’s attention left the two when she felt Max move.

“What’s she doing?” The redhead wondered, looking off at El. Stella followed her and Mike’s line of sight, seeing that the girl was rummaging through a garbage can.

Eleven stood up straight, empty Coke can in hand. It confused Stella further until she set it down, staring intently at it.

Nothing happened, but it started to make sense to Stella.

Tightening her grip on her girlfriend, Max walked over with Mike.

“El,” he called. “You okay?”

Stella froze.

A tingling in her palm cooled her blood.

She swallowed in attempt to help her drying throat but it did nothing. Max slowed beside her, turning to look up as a low rumbling was almost inaudible.

Stella locked eyes with Max, holding just a bit tighter.

Afraid of what she’d find, Stella looked up.

Something was there. She couldn’t see what, but pounding grew louder and the building shook and whatever it was was close. On the roof. “Mike?”

The glass started to crack.

“Nancy!”

Before Stella knew it, she was running. She couldn’t help but worry she was slowing down her friends.

But just as they found a place to duck, glass shattered. Stella was almost knocked over as a quaking thud shook the mall entirely. She covered her ears with a silence wince when the sound was followed by a shrill roar.

She heard a faint voice, although she couldn’t tell whose until something clattered and Dustin’s voice broke up through the walkie.

Stella wanted to squeeze her eyes shut, keeping them open out of pure terror as the low growling grew nearer with every quaking stomp.

Dustin kept yelling through the obviously broken walkie, but the monster’s horrifying sounds overpowered it.

Stella held back a shouting scold when Mike dared to peer over, opting to wave him down instead. “Be careful, asshole!” She whispered almost silently when he came back.

“It’s turned away,” he informed them, “If we go up the stairs now, we’ll make it.”

“No way, not with Ess and El’s legs,” Max shook her head. Stella knew she was right. But the voice came back and all she wanted to do again was prove herself. “I can make it.”

“There’s another way,” El leaned over to add. “To get out. Through The Gap.”

Stella pictured the route in her head while Mike rose to peek again. “Okay. Now,” he took El’s hand, and Stella pushed herself to her feet, forcing her groans silent every time electric pain shot up her ankle.

Entering The Gap proved risky the moment Mike’s shoe crunched against broken glass. Stella thought it proved them dead when something was knocked over, crashing to the floor.

They ducked behind the first counter they saw while the snarling and footsteps came closer. She covered her mouth, just for good measure.

With a slam that earned a jump from the four, a mannequin landed next to them wearing the exact same thing as Eleven. They all stared at it in horror.

The stomping came to a stop, but they knew the monster wasn’t done. Chittering sounded, and they didn’t know what was after them until the same clawed tentacles from the cabin creeped around the corner.

This is it. This is it. This is it. This is it.

A loud pop, and the claw retracted, proving Stella wrong. She didn’t have much time to relish in the relief before she was back on her feet running the best she could.

Two of them stumbling down the path, they finally found the gate to the parking lot, only to end up in front of Billy on one side and Oscar on another. “Shit! Go, go, go, go!” They turned, but Stella paused. “You guys go! Now!” She forced herself to ignore her foot and ran from the group before they could protest. Max did anyway, and she didn’t listen. She passed Billy, and he ignored her in favor of the other three. Now it was up to Oscar to catch Stella. And he followed.

She staggered into another entrance of the mall, cool air hitting her again. She reached a door, one she racked her brain to remember the code of. Steve had told her when she first begged him to let her sneak in, but what was it? That was months ago. “Come on, come on, come on.”

She hissed in success when the keypad beeped, but as she reached for the door, she was yanked back. “Damn it!”

Oscar was on top of her before she could stand. “Oscar, wait!”

He didn’t wait.

Her face was shoved to the side when a supernaturally powerful punch struck across it. With everything in her, she managed to throw him off, ramming him in to a wall and feeling it herself with a grunt.

Keep him away from Max and the others. Knock him out, tie him up, something– anything that’ll make Billy have to come help and leave Max and the others alone. That was the plan. Just until the gate gets closed.

Dizzy, Stella sloppily threw herself onto him, throwing hits wherever she could, face contorting as she felt them all the same. One harder hit, and Oscar took a moment to recover. Stella used the chance to buy herself some time, but standing was not the walk in the park she was hoping it’d be.

Her desperate crawl in attempt to get to her feet was interrupted by a drag backwards, a grab of her hair, and a slam into the floor that she literally saved her face from by turning it at the last second.

She rolled over, Oscar ending up straddling her once again, this time holding her arms.

No other option and not as strong as the flayed Oscar, Stella hoisted her good leg up, hooked it around Oscar’s neck, and brought it swinging back down full force, taking Oscar with it. Stella finally scrambled to her feet in the time she had.

Inside now, Stella heard footsteps behind her, turning immediately this time.

Ozzy’s hands reached for her neck and she caught them, managing to hold them at an immovable position while she brought her knee to his stomach. Stella herself keeled over the slightest bit. He grunted, but it was brief before he recovered, stopping Stella’s ready-to-swing fist. He used that arm to pull her closer, then pushed inhumanly hard. Stella flew backwards, crashing down the couple of steps behind her and crying out when her head hit the floor.

Before Stella could process, a hand gripped her hurt ankle, making its way down to the worst part of the injury. “Stop it! Let me go!” She kicked and thrashed, but the effort was fruitless. The hand gripped the bruised swollen ankle, and squeezed. “No!” The force of a sledgehammer crushed the already incredibly agonizing injury, slowly and horribly. “Fuck!”

Bending at a uncomfortably odd angle, Stella reached over to grab the hand hurting her. The searing heat of her palm fizzled against his skin. The burn Stella felt from it was worth the release of the hold, despite her sob.

Pain even worse now, but nothing left to do, Stella ran. She figured her best bet now was to just keep him busy chasing her.

She ducked behind a counter, finally gaining some time. When she peered over, her eyes landed on Billy and a weak Eleven, no Max or Mike in sight.

Chittering returned, loud steps joining it as the same monster from earlier stepped through the roof of the mall.

Panicking impossibly more, Stella’s gaze wandered. No sign of Oscar. But, feet away, a broken clothing rack with a single pole left. She grabbed it in a hurry, leaning on it as she dragged her leg along.

She didn’t know what she was trying to do, but she stood behind El on the floor regardless. She watched from behind Billy with heavy breath as a tentacle reached out.

She was ready to do something, anything.

But she heard her name. Steve’s version of it and his voice, undoubtedly. With loud pops, the tentacle stopped and a burning pain exploded in Stella’s side. Billy keeled over in a perfect mirror of her.

The mall shook once again as the monster stumbled to the side. More searing pain took over Stella as she brought herself to watch this time.

Steve and Lucas, along with everyone else, stood on the second floor. They launched lit fireworks, and for a moment, Stella grinned.

Blinking as if it would rid the pain, she focused on El again. She reached to grab under Eleven’s arms, dragging her backwards and away. She was stopped yet again, this time being hoisted over shoulders. Familiar ones. Ozzy’s. “El!”

One of the many kicks she struggled in finally broke her free. The wind was knocked out of her when she thudded against the ground. She ran for the pole she had moment before, swinging it across Oscar’s face dark-veined and shutting her eyes when she felt it.

A pressure around her waist. A snake-like wrap around her middle, and Stella was slowly brought backwards. Oscar followed while the tentacle pulled her. “Please, no, please!” No amount of struggling would help her this time. “Ozzy!“

He froze. Stella didn’t notice, too busy wriggling in the grip, but Oscar paused. Ozzy paused.

Now in front of her, Billy stood up straight. Stella started to be lifted up by the tentacle, and Ozzy rushed forward.

He didn’t hurt her. Something changed, and Stella saw the fight in his eyes, for the first time in forever, she saw Ozzy in there. He pulled her back, fighting against the monster’s hold. It snarled and growled at him, but he continued. They both left the ground, and the tentacle started to thrash both kids around, seemingly sick of Ozzy’s attempts.

Stella was suddenly flung from its wrap around her, crashing into a support beam with a yelp and rolling until she came to a stop. She sat up immediately.

Ozzy lay propped on his elbows, terrified glossy eyes fixed on the clawed vine aimed down at him. Behind him, Billy stood tall in front of a similar one. The tentacles gripped Ozzy’s limbs, holding him down.

Stella watched in horror as both tentacles drove themselves like spears. One through Billy’s chest, the other through Ozzy’s stomach.

Stella heard Max’s voice somewhere. Billy’s name.

Ozzy’s name, in her head with mouth unable to form the word.

Wet drips down her cheek.

Crashes of things she didn’t see.

Ozzy’s limp body, all she could see.

And silence.

Gripping the same beam she was thrown into, Stella stood, immediately trying to stagger to Ozzy. Gentle hands stopped her. “Essie. Essie, no, no, no.”

“Ozzy,” a broken sob.

She pushed out of her brother’s arms to her friend, clinging to the hope he was still alive that she knew was irrational but she couldn’t help but entertain. Stella crumbled to her knees, half a slip on the scarlet liquid puddled beneath them. “Ozzy. Ozzy, can you hear me?” She took his hand in both of hers. “Ozzy, please. Please, please, Ozzy.”

The hand squeezed hers back, weakly and faintly, but she gasped nonetheless. “Ozzy! Ozzy, I’m so sorry. It’ll be okay.”

He shook his head, almost undetectable as his blood-covered eyes opened the slightest bit to meet hers.

“No, it will. You’ll be okay.”

Ozzy smiled, the last light that reached him.

His grip loosened completely.

“No. No, no, no, no.”

“Essie–“

“No! No, Ozzy! Ozzy, please!”

Steve’s arms took her up into a hug she couldn’t return. “Ozzy!”

“Ozzy, please! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Ozzy!”

─────✧･ﾟ: *✧･

i published this like two weeks ago but it apparently didn’t upload??? my bad guys…

3791 words, 12.49 am, been writing for four hours, school in the morning, and SEASON 3 IS DONE.

well kinda. besides the epilogue.

bada bada BOOM