déjà vu

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

Five teenagers ran out of the cafeteria with their hearts in their throats. Alina's feet pounded on the slick floor of Hawkins Middle, the familiar jolt grounding her, keeping her from slipping away. Her hand safely in Lucas's, Alina listened to the sound of chatter from all around the halls. Occasionally, a flashlight beam would shine through the windows, and they'd all stop breathing, but then it would flick away, and they would run again. They'd been found. The bad men were in the school, and there weren't any vans for Eleven to toss at them in here.

"What are we going to do?" Alina asked, passing by where she'd confessed her feelings to Lucas. There was a dent in a locker where she'd walked into it after kissing him, and the sight of it made her stomach lurch. How quickly things changed. How quickly things fell apart. "We—we can't leave."

"Why not?" Mike asked, looking back to make sure they weren't being followed.

"You know they'll have guarded the entrances," Dustin said reasonably, clutching his side as they ran. "Unless we manage to get out a window or something, but there would probably still be people watching the outside."

"What are we going to do, then?" Alina asked, her words coming out broken from her panting.

"We'll have to hide," said Lucas. "Somewhere."

Five fugitives ran through the halls of Hawkins Middle, all of them terrified. Alina closed her eyes for a second, taking in the breaths that had been stolen for her during this run, before opening them again, scouting the rooms for anywhere that wouldn't be discovered. She was trembling from fear, her legs shaking as she ran. There wouldn't be any tricks this time. No quick escapes. If they were caught, they really would be caught this time.

The fugitives ran down the stairs, clutching their sides and suppressing coughs, when Lucas spoke, squeezing Alina's hand. "How did they find us?"

"I don't know," said Mike, "but they knew we were in the gym."

"Someone got caught," Alina realized, her heart sinking to her toes. "Someone betrayed us."

"Lando!" said Dustin, his eyes widening, and despite everything that was happening, Alina took a second to smack his arm.

"Not the time!" she hissed, just as a door opened, two flashlight beams shining right at their faces.

"Got 'em!" a man yelled, and the five fugitives stopped like deer in headlights. For a moment, they stared at the agents from the Lab, their faces in shadow, their hearts thumping hard, before the fugitives turned, running the other way as fast as they could.

"Come on!" shouted Lucas, practically pulling Alina up the stairs after him. Alina wondered if it was possible for a twelve-year-old boy to pull someone's arm out of their socket as he tugged her along after the others. They ran into another hallway, halting in their tracks when more light was shined into their eyes. More agents.

"Freeze!" one of them ordered, but it wasn't like any of the fugitives were going to take that advice. They turned, heading back the way they came, Mike ordering them to go left. Alina wrenched her hand out of Lucas's and quickened her pace, but they could only run for so long.

In the next hallway they turned down, another group of agents appeared, surrounding them on both sides. A blonde woman Alina recognized as being one of her father's coworkers stood in front of one of the groups, and although her eyes darkened with recognition when she recognized Alina, it didn't stop her from pulling out a handgun and aiming it right at her. Connie. Her name was Connie. And she was pointing a gun right at Alina's face.

On all sides, the clicks of guns being aimed at them could be heard, and Alina instinctively pushed in front of Lucas, shielding him from the guns. It seemed like the order to take her alive didn't mean anything anymore. And although Alina trembled, taking heavy breaths, knowing that each one could be her last, she didn't move from her spot in front of Lucas. She had to protect him.

When a gun is being pointed right at you, and you're seconds away from death, everything seems to slow down. Suddenly you're aware of every breath you're taking and how much of life you've really lived, and that was what Alina felt now as she shielded Lucas's body with her own. Even though the gun wasn't against her temple, she knew that there would be no blocking the shot if Connie chose to fire. When Connie chose to fire. Even Eleven wasn't that fast. So Alina trembled, her breaths leaving her in quick gasps as she waited for death.

Then something peculiar happened. Connie didn't shoot, and neither did the other agents pointing guns right at them. Their arms shook, and then thin streams of blood began to leak out of Connie's eyes, the same thing quickly happening to the other two agents. As Alina watched, blood began to spew out of their noses and ears as well, the crimson liquid making a slow descent down their faces. The agents choked, their guns quivering in the air, and that was when Alina saw that Eleven stood in front of the party, her head bent slightly as she concentrated all of her energy on the bad men.

It seemed like hours of watching blood squirt out of Connie's eyes, the woman who had always been nice to Alina when she was around, the woman who had taken Alina on tours when both her father and Brenner were busy, the woman who had been an inspiration to an eight-year-old Alina. The women who wouldn't hesitate in blowing her brains out.

Then, it was over, and all of the bad men (and women) fell to the ground. Dead. Drained like lemons. All of them. Eleven had just killed all of them.

And she seemed to be feeling the effects of what she'd done, too. Blood trickled from her ears, and she glanced back at her friends for a second, taking a deep breath, before she collapsed onto the ground, joining the dead men and women of Hawkins Lab.

"El!" Alina sank to her knees next to the girl who'd saved their lives, Lucas, Mike, and Dustin doing the same. Eleven's eyes were closed, bruises coating her face, veins bulging out of her head. It was just like Alina, except this time—

"El, are you okay?" Mike panted. "El!" He took a panicked breath. "Something's wrong!"

Alina bit her lip. Eleven looked so peaceful there, as if she was taking a nap, but Alina knew it was serious, especially considering how much more powerful Eleven was then Alina. If Eleven was knocked out, it meant that she'd gone way overboard.

"She used too much power," she said, shaking Eleven. "Way too much, if she's like this."

"Yeah," said Dustin. "She's drained."

"No, no, no, she won't wake up." Frantic tears filled Mike Wheeler's eyes as he tried to wake up the unconscious girl. "El!" he pleaded. "El! El!"

Alina grabbed Eleven's wrist, feeling a weak thud against her fingers. "She's still alive," Alina announced. "Come on, El, wake up, come on..."

Mike, who was practically hysterical now, leaned down, testing for breaths. After a moment, he came up, trembling. "She's barely breathing," he announced.

Lucas was looking around nervously, knowing it wasn't good to stay in one place for too long. "We gotta go," he told the others, but none of them wanted to leave Eleven's side until they knew she was okay.

"We'll have to carry her," said Alina. "Then we can bring her—"

"Leave her."

The voice didn't belong to any of the fugitives. It was a voice of many personalities. The current one was a voice laced with venom; a cold voice packed with malice made to install fear into any who heard it. But Alina had heard its other personalities. The soothing one, a voice like honey that spoke almost hypnotically, making you want to agree with anything it said, even if it was ludicrous. She'd heard that voice a month ago.

"I need you to trust me, Alina. Do you trust me?"

"Y-yes. Yes, I trust you."

"Good. I'm your friend, Alina. I'd never do anything to hurt you."

It was a voice that lied right through its teeth.

Alina sprung up to face Dr. Brenner, clenching her fists. Here stood the man that had authorized those tests on Eleven. Here stood the man who'd lied to her. Here stood the man who faked Will's death and killed countless people. Here stood the man that Alina hated the most.

Alina realized that she wasn't the only one who'd stood. Mike, Lucas and Dustin were all standing protectively in front of Eleven, glaring at Brenner defiantly, and if looks could kill, he would've been dead from the force of the four fugitives' stares. Unfortunately, that wasn't how it worked, and instead, he just glared back, stepping over the bodies of his employees like they were no more than props in this twisted little play.

"Step away from the child," he instructed coldly, flanked by more men. Jesus, Alina had time to think, how many people does it take to kill a couple of kids?

"No!" Alina wasn't surprised that Mike was the first to speak. "You want her, you'll have to kill us first."

Dustin and Lucas stepped forward to meet Mike and Alina. "That's right!" Dustin said.

"Eat shit!" yelled Lucas, and Alina couldn't help but adding something as well. Something that might really sting.

"I will kill you for what you've done to her, you piece of shit! I'm not scared of you any—"

Her words were cut off as she was grabbed roughly from behind by an agent she hadn't realized had snuck up behind her. She cried out in pain as she was jerked against the man's chest, his beefy arms preventing her from escape. The cliff. This was exactly like at the Quarry.

"No!" The sound of Lucas, Dustin, and Mike's cries was the worst thing Alina had ever heard. Turning to look, she found that her friends were also trapped in the arms of their own agents, spewing swears and yelling out for Eleven.

"You idiot!" Lucas screamed, hitting the man who was holding him. "Let go of me!"

The sound of Lucas's screams—and the cry of pain he made after, as the man's arms tightened around him—were enough to snap Alina out of her funk. Think. What did you do on the cliff? What did you do on the cliff?

Alina's eyes flicked down to the man's toes. They were covered in thick boots, unlikely to even be affected if Alina brought her leg down. That was a no go. But as she struggled fruitlessly, she knew she'd have to find some other way.

Think, Alina. You can't let this happen, not again.

And so Alina Fairgrieves did a very stupid thing that just might work. She leaned forward and sunk her teeth into the man's hand, hard.

Her teeth broke through his skin as she chomped, and the metallic taste of blood flooded her mouth. The man holding her let out a shriek, letting go of her, and Alina shoved him away as hard as she could, beginning to run towards Eleven, but before she could reach her friend, she was jerked back, collapsing to the ground just as a boot made contact with her ribs.

Alina cried out, pain lancing through her, and rolled over just as another hit rattled her body. The man hauled her to her feet, his hand glistening with blood, and slammed his fist against her cheek. Alina's whole body shifted with the blow, and all she could think as pain shot through her was it's happening again. It's really happening again. And then she was on the cliff and Mike was hovering on the edge and he was going to jump.

"—stop it!" Dustin's voice brought her back to reality, which wasn't much better. "Stop it! Stop hurting her!"

Alina groaned. She'd bit her tongue when he had hit her, and the blood she spat out was a combination of her own and the man's. Some of the splatter landed on his shoes, and Alina felt a painful surge of smugness before reality sunk in. She was still trapped. And Dr. Brenner was staring at her, his lip curling.

She reached for her abilities—up until now she'd somehow forgotten about them, but the itch stubbornly refused to show up. She would somehow have to make it out of this without them.

"Alina Fairgrieves," said Dr. Brenner. "Brandon's child. Your father's been hiding secrets from us, you know. Secrets about you. He's a coward."

Alina couldn't find the strength to struggle, but she did find her voice. "You're the coward!" she screamed. "You're a monster!"

But Brenner had already moved on from her, kneeling beside Eleven. He lifted up the girl slightly, shaking her roughly and calling her name.

"If she's not waking up for us, she's not going to wake up for you, asshole," Alina called out, before a bloodied hand clamped around her mouth, effectively stealing her voice, too. She breathed deeply, her eyes darting around at her still-shouting friends, trying to figure out what to do.

Then she saw the blood on the ground.

Shit.

Eleven, meanwhile, had opened her eyes. "Papa?" she whimpered, blinking blearily at the scene around her.

"Yes," said Brenner. "Yes, it's your Papa."

"Let her go!" Mike shouted. "Let her go, you bastard!"

Eleven turned, her eyes meeting Mike's, and she let out another whimper before Brenner jerked her head away. "Shh," he said. "You're sick. You're sick, but I'm going to make you better. I'm going to take you back home, where I can make you well again. Where we can make all of this better, so no one else gets hurt."

"Bad," Eleven muttered, and a surge of hope went through Alina. Eleven had to make it through this. She had to remember them. She could get them out of this, because something was going to happen soon, and then they would all be really screwed. "Bad," Eleven repeated, reaching out for the fugitives still encased in the hold of the bad men. "Mike... Mike! Mike!" her eyes met Alina's. "...Al!"

And that was when the lights started to flicker above them.

"Blood," gasped Mike, coming to the same realization Alina had.

"What?" Lucas spoke next, stopping his struggling for a minute.

"Blood!" repeated Mike, just as the wall began to break, the bricks beginning to curve as if something was forcing its way out. In just a few seconds, a head-shaped hole was made in the wall, and a creature thrust itself out of the school crest, opening its flower-like mouth to reveal several deadly rows of teeth.

"Demogorgon," Dustin breathed, and things got a lot more complicated. 

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: i literally put alina through so much pain in this book oops 

it's not gonna get much better though

anyway, i hope you enjoyed this chapter! alina is such a badass and i love her so much. y'all AREN'T ready for the next chapter... i am so sorry

i'm tempted to do a double update and also post it, what do you guys think? 

'till next time!