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˚ ₊ ♡ ❰ CRUEL SUMMER ❱
*✧ ─── ❝ ❪ THE THING! ❫ ❞
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˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ SEASON THREE ☀️ ⁺⑅

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SUPER FREAKS SERIES ⋆ 🚲.
♯ ❝ I'M ALWAYS HERE! ❞
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
˚ ₊ ♡ 1985, July 4th ─── episode seven & eight
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MILO WAS RUNNING, DESPITE THE PAIN THAT CRAWLED THROUGH HIM, DESPITE THE WEARINESS NESTLED DEEP IN HIS BONES, despite everything just to get to Eleven. The girl was bruised and bloodied, but it did not stop her from flinging herself in this arms. She shoved her head into his chest and Milo brought her in further as he crouched down. Eleven buried her nose in the crook of his neck and he rested his chin on the crown of her head. "thank you." She whispered. "for warning us."

Milo leaned back, brushing her hair out of her eyes with a fond smile. "I got you." He whispered with a brilliantly bright smile, before nodding at the smoking car. "Thank you too."

The girl grinned and Milo's brown eyes locked onto the wound on her leg, and his thumb brushed over the bandage. "What happened."

"Monster."

His eyes snap up to meet hers. "Killed it?"

The young girl nodded and shrugged, "I think."

"You flung that thing like a Hot Wheel." Dustin's laughter graced their ears as he rushed up to the duo with a toothy grin displayed on his youthful face, bringing his own arms around the two Hopper siblings.

Milo shook his head at the boy's enthusiasm before slowly untangling himself from the hug and standing back up to his full height again, and Juno was immediately beside him, wrapping a warm hand around his arm to bring him closer to her.

The boy smiled gratefully at her as she took some of his weight and the both of them observed the reunion.

"Lucas?!" Erica called out surprised, rushing up to her older brother.

"What are you doing here?" The eldest Sinclair spluttered out.

But the sassy little girl only pointed her hand at Milo, Juno, Dustin, Steve and Robin. "Ask them. It's their fault."

"True, yeah. Totally true, it's absolutely our fault" Steve nodded with his hands on his hip, brown hair dipping with each movement, his red-tinted eyes still dazed. He looked more busted up then before with the lights of the mall illuminating his face ─ plus the swelling around his face and the discoloration on his jaw and forehead from the bruising had become far more prominent.

Milo didn't even want to know how his face looked in comparison.

Robin stood unsurely, her head swiveling between Steve and the broken car. "I don't understand." She started, voice laced with confusion, "What happened to the car?"

"El has superpowers." Dustin casually stated, "Like Milo...or Zero, whatever you prefer ─ "

"Wait zero?"

Milo Raised his hand and smiled at the short haired girl, who's mouth fell open.

"─ hers are more on the offensive side of the spectrum, Milo like you know is more of a walking emotion radio tower that can find anyone he's connected too. They both can get into the Upside Down in their own way, guess that is a must to become one of Brenner's superkids." The boy continued to ramble and Milo winched as did Juno.

"What!" Robin blinked hard, looking shellshocked with her lips parted and her freckled face paling.

"Superpowers!" Steve threw his hands in the air in a casual manner, brushing of the girl's flabbergasted face, "She threw it with her mind, c'mon catch up!"

"That's El?" Erica asked bewildered.

"Who's El?"

"My sister."

"His sister."

Juno and milo blurted out together and the kids turned to face them.

"Why is she still here?" Eleven tilted her head, still weary of the girl huddled up next to Milo.

"Friend." Milo answered firmly, turning to look sternly at his little sister.

"Plus she's Brenner's kid!" Steve blurted out with a grin and everyone, who knew who the famed doctor was, turning in complete surprise toward the brunette. "Crazy right!?"

Eleven took a step closer to the girl, the protectiveness Milo always held over her, shining through now, but Milo gently shook his head while Max held her friend. "She is good."

"I'm sorry, who are you?" It was Nancy that cut through the rapid-fire conversation, her eyebrows pinched together quizzically. Milo only now noticed how dishevelled both Nancy and Jonathan had looked; hair frazzled, dishevelled clothes and a permanent flush of adrenaline on their cheeks, and speckles of blood painting their sweaty skin.

The teen, grinned, her chirpy demeanor influenced by the drugs still coursing through her body. "I'm Robin, I work with Steve!" She held her and out, but the oldest wheeler ignored her.

Dustin, all to happy with their new friend picked up after the awkward silence. "She cracked the top secret code." He pointed excitedly at her, bouncing on his feet like a child high on sugar.

"Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians in the first place." Steve added, letting his head lull up and down before flickering his eyes up to look at the more-than-likely dead Russians sprawled on the floor.

Juno hummed, "They called for Milo afterwards to help infiltrate their secret lair, and we went down this creepy elevator ─ but you know Steve ─ " She glared at him. " He was scared shitless and then everyone was screaming and Milo got overwhelmed by the emotions and fainted and we had to leave him because the evil Russians were coming and he got taken and I crawled through airducts with Erica and Dustin when Steve and Robin also got caught... which explains why the three of them look like they've been run over by a bus of course! But then Milo went to this Upside Down place and he went looking for El to warn her about something...wait what did you warn her about?" The girl's rambling came to a sudden halt and everyone was silent staring between her and Milo.

"Monster." Milo spoke with a lilt of fear in his voice, one no had ever seen him display. Not when he faced the Mind Flayer, or when he knew Will was possessed, this was something different. Something that scared him beyond anything. "Monster who knew us." He pointed between himself and Eleven.

Jonathan, who had been intensely listening stammered out; "Wait back up, Russians? What Russians?"

"The Russians!" Steve bristled, pointing aggressively at the smoking car, where they laid, his eyes wide despite the swelling around his eyelid.

Max' eyes grew bigger as she spluttered; "Those were Russians?" The disbelief was written all over her face.

"Some of them." Erica shrugged.

"What are you talking about?" Lucas waved his hands about.

"Didn't you hear our code red?" Dustin turned to the dark skinned boy.

"No!" Lucas stated frustrated, the only thing we got was from Eleven." He pointed at the girl. "Who had seen Milo─ who warned us about the danger, the monster!"

"Plus we couldn't understand half of what you were saying!" Mike added, remembering the jumbled talk that had been more static and white noise than a conversation through the walkie talkie earlier.

"Goddamn low battery." Dustin cursed.

"How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery!" Steve was violently waving his hand, slamming it down on his open palm to emphasize his point.

"Well everything worked out, didn't it?" Dustin countered, unfazed, but Steve was riled up, and turned to face Milo as if the words from earlier had finally caught up to him in his brain.

"Wait you knew about a monster?" Steve looked at Milo, who blinked up at him, his face aching and his body sore as it throbbed with the adrenaline slowly fading away. He frowned, brows pinched together.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell us!"

Juno bristled protectively, "You two were high. Milo was barely conscious and we were running away from the Russians who were chasing us! With guns!"

"Okay. Okay. Jeez." Steve muttered.

"We're here now aren't we?" Juno crossed her arms. "We made it and now everyone knows about the Russians and the Monster and the weird pulsing Gate!"

"Gate!?"

"The Gate is open again?" Nancy's mouth parted in disbelief.

"Yes!" Steve exclaimed. "The Russians opened it."

Jonathan's face contorted.

Milo rubbed his temple, a pounding headache making it hard to keep his eyes open with the bright lights.

"Are you okay?" Juno whispered concerned.

He nodded, trying to shake off the pain, but before he could say anything, Erica's shrill voice cut through the air. "We could have died!"

"Yeah but we didn't did we?" Dustin glared at the youngest of their group.

But Milo wasn't listening anymore, he felt a chill run up his spine and the hair's on his neck prickled. Cautiously he took a step away from Juno who had returned to ongoing debate between his friends. And it seemed he wasn't the only one noticing the shift in the air as he saw El slowly moving away from the group.

The muscles in his face were taut, shoulder bunched together as the Hopper siblings stood side by side, staggering forward. Beside him, El remained dazed with blood running down her nose and she started to pant louder, confusedly looking around.

In unison both siblings covered their ears, clutching them. Milo's face scrunched up as fear consumed him once more. It made his hands tremble and his heart pound wildly in his chest.

Before he could even think, Eleven's leg gave out from underneath her, and he reached for her.

They both struck the floor before anyone could blink.

The noise that left El's lips as they laid on the ground, broke Milo's heart. He carefully placed the girl down and leaned over her, brown eyes overflowing with fear at the sight of the girl in pain.

Mike and Steve were shouting as they reached her, and Mike was by Milo's side in an instant, worry clouding his eyes.

"El?" Dustin shouted, "El?"

The girl in question whimpered and Milo's heart was in his throat at the girl squirmed on the ground in pain, breath leaving her lips in harsh shallow puffs. The blond was propping her head up in his lap, brushing away the hair in her eyes. "What is it?" He questioned hurriedly.

The girl kept whriting on the floor, tears pouring from her eyes.

"What's wrong with her?" Erica asked, huddled close beside Juno.

"What's wrong?" Mike echoed, on his knees next to Eleven.

Eleven was in pure agony as she screamed and mumbled incoherently and Milo slowly started to feel that same overwhelming feeling from before. The emotions around him were going haywire, like a car alarm blasting directly in his ear but he ignored it, bit his lip until he tasted blood in his mouth.

El. He thought. I need to help Eleven.

His chest felt tight, and it was as if his skin buzzed with electricity. But he forced those feeling away and instead, focused solely on Eleven. His worried eyes searched her trembling form and finally El cried out; "My leg!"

"Her leg, her leg!" Jonathan panted, nervous fingers bunching up her cuffed jeans up to her knee, revealing the gnarly-looking bandage. Blood was soaking through it, and it drippled down her leg as he unwrapped it with haste.

A bite was revealed, and Milo had a hard time keeping calm at the sight of it. It seemed to have a heartbeat of its own as it throbbed and a painful red discoloration was spread around it. It looked infected, blood trickling down, puss ─ purple and darkening and very unnatural.

Milo almost jumped up as the flesh around her leg moved, and El's leg twisted.

Juno blanched, hand flying to her mouth at the sight of ─ something, moving beneath the girl's skin, like some kind of parasite. "What the actually F ─ " she gasped.

El was screaming now, and clenched her teeth so tightly Juno feared she might break them. "We, we gotta get it out!" Juno hurriedly rushed out, eyes following the thing as it moved through flesh and muscle tissue and El wailed in pain.

"El? El?" Mike was starting to panic. "Are you okay? El? El?"

She was sobbing and Milo did his best to wipe away the tears that leaked from the corner of her eyes.

"What is that" Erica groaned as El's flesh sizzled.

"Something is in there." Mike said.

"Get out. We get it out!" Milo was mumbling, pushing down on El's shoulders when she shot up and he clutched on of her hands in his. Her nails digging into his palm, marking him with crescent-moon shaped indents.

"Jesus christ."

"Keep her talking, keep her awake, okay?" Jonathan instructed firmly, pushing himself up, sneaker pounding onto the floor as he made a dash to one of the food courts.

More arms and hands were needed to keep El on the ground as she struggled in their grip, painful cries and pleads falling from her lips.

"Hey, hey hey!" Mike leaned over the girl, "Stay awake, stay awake. Let's get her on her side."

Together the moved her carefully. "Easy, easy, easy, easy." Steve held her tightly as they rolled her to her side and Milo moved away from underneath her, pushing himself backwards. Brown eyes blown wide with fear as he watched, unsure of what to do now.

"You know it is actually not that bad." Robin tried to calm the girl down in a desperate attempt. "The goalie in my team, Beth Wildifire, the other girl slid into her leg and the bone came out of her knee. Six inches or something, it was insane."

The morbid picture Robin painted assured no one. "Robin." Steve interjected.

"Yeah?"

"You're not helping."

"I'm sorry."

Carefully Milo crawled to El, his eyes meeting hers. "You will be fine." He promised. "I'll protect you princess." He recalled the words he had spoken upon their first meeting. "I'm here. I'll be here always."

The girl sobbed, hand reaching for his own and he held on for dear life, his own forehead resting against hers just as Jonathan came rushing back, sliding down to his knees.

"Okay. All right, el?" He started, "This is gonna hurt like hell okay."

"Okay." She cried out and Milo held her tighter.

Shakily, Jonathan pulled out some disposable gloves and fumbled with a wooden spoon, almost dropping it, but caught it before it could fall on the ground. "You need to stay real still."

At those words, the others circled around her, clutching down her ankles, arms and hips and pressed her into the floor. Juno was across from Milo, holding the girl's arm down. But they were in their own world as Milo whispered to her in a voice so low no one but them could hear the exchange.

"You're going to want to bite down on this." Jonathan held the spoon out for Milo who wrapped his fingers around it and gave it along to El.

She sobbed again before pinning the wood spoon between her teeth.

Milo did not let his gaze move away from his little sister, not when the other started to grunt from the strain of holding El down, not as Dustin started to curse as Jonathan cut her open. He only had eyes for her, whispering small comforts.

Eleven screamed out.

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit."

"Oh shit."

Milo heard the knife clatter to the ground as Jonathan finished his incision, but the wretched sob that escaped El's cracked lips when the boy started to dig around in her flesh shattered his soul.

El's nails dug in even deeper in his skin, surely drawing blood at this point, they were both breathing heavy. The others were yelling, as El's skin squelched.

"No!" El's voice was strained with the wooden spoon between her teeth, but the words still rung loud in their ears and when the spoon fell from her lips, the pitch of her voice might be able to shatter glass "Stop it! Stop! Stop!"

She managed to wrangle herself out of Milo's arms and ferociously push away Jonathan's hand. "I can do it! I can do it.." her words were breathless.

Jonathan drew his hands away from the wound, the cheap disposable plastic gloves dripping with blood and Milo felt his stomach lurch.

Juno who was next to the boy, pulling him back and he didn't protest.

El's breathing grew heavy, as she bend herself over her own body, using her left hand to prop herself up whilst her right hand outstretched itself toward the wound. Her chest was heaving up and down in pants and her hand hovered over the infected wound, moving, searching until she locked onto the creature.

With bathed breath they watched as it writhed in her grip beneath her skin and in one strong move, El flexed her wrist and it flew from her skin, followed with a roar of pain, the lights flickered and then ─ the glass of a store window shattered behind them.

Juno threw her hands over her head as small shards of glass flew around the space and when El's scream settled she dared to look up again. She scrunched up her face at the sight of the slimy creature as it crawled over the floor leaving a trail of blood and purple puss behind.

Milo was on his feet, ready to kill the creature, but before he could, a boot stomped on it, blood and goo splattering on the floor.

More footsteps followed and Milo raised his head, hands bailing by his side, eyes flickering up, ready to face whatever came.

An immense feeling of relief flooded him at what greeted him instead.

"Dad."

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