the message from dustin

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

Gabe tucked his Hawaiian shirt into his shorts and moved along the aisles, searching for a bowl. He was, in a way, glad Max had asked him to do this, because it gave him a couple seconds to be by himself, to let his mind whirl freely. He was trying to decide when he should tell Will how he felt, but the problem with that was that the chances of them dying in the next twenty-four hours were astronomically high. Sure, they had a little peace now, here in Bradley's Big Buy, but when would peace end? When would the Mind Flayer reform itself—because of course, it would, it wouldn't let them go that easily—and come crashing through the roof of wherever they were next?

Maybe he should just try and enjoy this momentary relief. But he couldn't help being scared, couldn't help but see those groping appendages burst through the wall. Another thing to add to his growing pile of images he would never quite unsee. Another ingredient for a nightmare. God, his nightmares were going to be awful if he managed to survive this. And... shit. Even if he did survive, he should probably start digging his own grave anyway, because, although his grandparents were cutting him a little more slack now because it was summer, he hadn't seen them in days. Dolores Burton was probably readying a spatula to kick his ass with when he returned. If, of course, she wasn't flayed.

Well, grandma, you'll just have to get in line, Gabe thought, before stopping in front of a packet of paper bowls. He'd found them.

He grabbed the pack and then set off back to the group to help patch up El's leg, but when he got there, it seemed that there was another problem entirely. Mike was practically in hysterics, and, as the group clustered around him, he revealed he'd just been contacted by the one and only Dustin Henderson, who, Gabe was extremely happy to learn, had not, in fact, been flayed.

"He said something about the gate," Mike continued, as Max, the healer, shooed his hands away from El's leg in order to clean the wound. El still seemed like she was hurting as Gabe crouched beside her, but she was managing to keep a neutral face. "The gate. I mean, he kept cutting off, and it sounded like he was in danger, so what else would it be? We have to find him!"

"Jesus, give me a second, Mike," groaned Max, who was dabbing rubbing alcohol on a napkin. "We can look for Dustin after El's leg isn't bleeding enough to fill a bathtub." She looked calmly down at El. "Okay, deep breaths, okay? This is gonna sting."

And El did indeed suck in a pained breath as Max swiped the rubbing alcohol over it, but she didn't cry out. She was really, really brave. Gabe knew that if he'd had a chunk carved out of his own leg, he'd be reduced to a puddle of tears by now. Or would have already bled out from thrashing around so much. Both seemed equally likely.

"Do you think she'll need stitches?" Alina asked. She, along with Will and Lucas, had shown up with a shopping cart filled to the brim with stolen fireworks, seeming excited about their idea. Gabe thought that the fireworks might work, but they'd probably all die before they even got a chance to spark them. "I mean, it looks really bad."

"Well, we can't exactly sew her up here, so I'm making do," said Max tensely, moving on to disinfect El's leg. It already looked leagues better with just the rubbing alcohol, soap and water applied, although it was still bleeding rather heavily. "Besides, I don't think the wound's big enough for them. It's deep, and that's why there's so much blood, but it's not big."

But it was still blood, and blood made Gabe want to throw up. He didn't take his eyes off the wound though, just watched as Max's expert hands finished disinfecting and moved on to bandaging. El whimpered slightly as Max tightly wound the white bandages around her calf, but she wasn't moaning anymore, so that was always a good sign.

"Okay, done." Max eventually stepped back, revealing a slightly bloodstained bandage and a calmer El. Everyone applauded Max's healing expertise, because without her, they'd probably still be fumbling around with bandages, and then they moved onto the next problem at hand, and that was contacting Dustin.

"You two can find him, right?" Nancy asked Alina and El.

"Yep," Alina nodded, then chewed on her lip. "We should've done it earlier. We shouldn't have left him back at his Cerebro. What if he was in trouble? Whatever was happening with him sounded almost as tense as our Mind Flayer."

"Yeah, I've felt guilty ever since then," said Gabe. "But I doubt anyone could've predicted the shit we were going to go through after that."

"We can apologize when we find him," Lucas said firmly. Well, that was true. At least he was still out there. And so the group moved to the frozen goods section, where the buzz of the freezer would serve as adequate background noise, and set up camp. El and Alina sat in front of the boxes of Eggos and tied American flags around their eyes as blindfolds. Gabe, Mike and Will perched on the shelf filled with dairy products, and Gabe, done with feeling guilty for his crimes, swiped a cheese wrapped in wax. He was starving.

He watched Alina and El link hands, blood immediately beginning to trickle from their noses as they launched into the void. Now, he was trying to be quiet in unwrapping his food, but Lucas—who was leaning on a stand full of watermelons beside Max—didn't seem to at all, for just then, he popped open a can of New Coke.

There was a hiss, and Max's eyes immediately shot to him. "Quiet," she hissed. Lucas shrunk in on himself.

"Oh, sorry." And then he began to slurp the drink while everyone stared at him. Gabe thought he knew why, and it had nothing to do with how loud he was being. It was because the majority of the world's population absolutely despised New Coke. Gabe had tried it, and he found that it wasn't as bad as everyone was making it out to be. In fact, it was rather good.

He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes as Mike hissed, "How do you even drink that?"

Lucas shrugged. "Because it's delicious."

"What?" nearly everyone was in unison with that, and Gabe found that he was in a crowd of adamant New Coke haters. Well, they had their opinion, and he had his.

"No, he's right," he couldn't help but mutter, keeping his voice down for Alina and El. "New Coke is just as good as the regular Coke. Maybe even better."

"You can't be serious," Max breathed, but Lucas was already shooting Gabe a grateful look.

"Exactly," he said. "It's like Carpenter's The Thing. The original is a classic, no question about it. But the remake..." he slurped his drink, smacked his lips and looked to Gabe, who quickly caught on, and the two of them said the infamous catchphrase in unison.

"Sweeter, bolder, better."

Mike shook his head incredulously, leaning forward on his perch. "You're insane. Both of you are insane."

"So," said Lucas, "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."

Even though Gabe agreed wholeheartedly with Lucas's passionate argument, he couldn't help but slip a glance to Alina and El, who were grimacing. Alina kept curling and uncurling her fists, and he realized that she was unconsciously tuning into their conversation, when she should be focusing on finding Dustin, wherever he was. He immediately shut his mouth of any retorts that had formed in his throat.

Mike didn't seem to get the memo. "Uh, actually, it's not the same concept."

"It is the same concept," Lucas snapped.

"No, it's not."

Lucas was yelling now. "Yes, it is!"

And that was when Alina and El simultaneously pulled off their blindfolds to shoot their boyfriends (well, in El's case, ex-boyfriend) identically scary glares. "Hey," El snapped.

"Do you guys ever shut up?" Alina asked at the same time. "I mean, I know that this is a once in a lifetime event where Michael Wheeler is actually right about something, but it's really hard to concentrate on Dustin with all of that yelling."

"Sorry," said Mike and Lucas at the same time, embarrassment flushing both of their cheeks. At the last second, though, Lucas muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?" Mike snapped, crossing his arms.

"Nothing," piped up Lucas, though everyone present could probably guess what he was saying.

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

"Yeah, no thanks to you," said Alina, leaning against the shelf behind her.

"He's at the movies," El elaborated. "At... the mall."

And that was all they needed. They all rose to their feet almost at once and prepared to leave, wondering why Dustin would be at the mall—especially when he was in danger—but not doubting the validity of Alina and El's claim. They stocked the already-overflowing shopping cart with even more fireworks, and Jonathan and Gabe both had to help carry a few boxes. Alina added ice, extra bandages for El, and some beef jerky and trail mix, because they were all starving.

As they began to push the cart out of the store, the party inquired as to what Dustin was doing. "The movies?" Lucas asked quizzically. "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 Mike, who was supporting El, the girl still unable to walk on her injured leg.

"Yeah," said Will, "like, 'this movie I'm watching is great.'"

"Sounded like 'gate,'" insisted El. Alina broke open a packet of beef jerky and popped a handful into her mouth.

"He looked all freaked out when El and I saw him," she said. "Like, more freaked out than usual. Maybe he was staying in the mall to lie low? Or he was hiding from something."

"That's definitely a possibility," said Mike, taking a handful of beef jerky from the offered bag. "And anyway, it would explain why the Mind Flayer's still alive."

"Yeah, we just have to shut it again," said Nancy, which sounded a lot easier than Gabe knew it actually would be.

"Then the monster dies," said Will.

Max and Gabe clustered around the front of the shopping cart and helped lift it through the door. Max shook her head. "But if not, we always have Lucas's fireworks," she mocked.

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

"Will? Al?" Lucas turned to his friends. "We're gonna prove 'em wrong, right?"

"Precisely," said Alina, nodding in affirmation. "Max, it would be good for you guys to have some defence. Like, defence that actually works, that actually hurts the monster, instead of what you've all currently been doing, which is a lot of running around and hiding. Gabe, you're exempt from that comment, because you've saved our asses twice now with your knives."

Gabe grinned, and Lucas snapped, "Well, not all of us have superpowers!"

"I know," said Alina. "And running around and hiding is what I'd expect of you. But, you're still pretty good in my book, Lucas Sinclair. You know, it's what I like about you. You find solutions." And then she slipped her hand into his.

"Oh, God, now his fakakta plan has to work," muttered Max. "Otherwise you'll have to take that compliment back, and I don't know if his heart could take it."

As he helped load the car with the fireworks, Gabe's eyes immediately shot to Will, who was staring at Alina and Lucas's interlocked hands with a sort of jealousy. Perhaps it was because he'd never really had anyone like that. Neither he nor Gabe had experienced the blossoming summer romances the rest of the party—except Max—had. That thought gave Gabe a burst of pity, as well as a tiny drop of courage. And so, he moved towards the boy, and laced his hand with his.

Will didn't let go.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: gabe and lucas vs alina and mike: the battle of the new coke

next chapter we're getting our reunion 😋 along with a non-canon scene of lucas sinclair saving the day because i love him <3

i'm literally in online class as i post this so i hope you enjoyed :) i think this was worth not paying attention to macbeth :))

'till next time!