"EL?" CARLA ASKED IN A PANICKED VOICE, "ELEVEN?"

The Wheeler girl held a weak Eleven Hopper in her arms with concern and confusion filling her veins. Eleven was clearly in pain—she'd collapsed under herself after all—but why, Carla didn't know.   The two girls sank to the floor, Carla placing El's head in her lap as lightly as she could.

The Wheeler's panicked calls for the girl must have finally gained everyone else's attention, because soon enough, Mike was at his sister's side, sinking down to Eleven's level.  She could tell how worried her brother was over El—his love for her showing, even in the more terrifying of moments.

"What's wrong with her?" Erica spoke up, looking down at the girl with confusion.

Mike reiterated the question, words rambling from his mouth, "What's wrong? What's wrong? What's wrong?"

"My leg," Eleven croaked out, face scrunched up in pain, "My leg."

 "Her leg, her leg, okay." Jonathan took charge, kneeling down in front of the girl.  He placed his hands on her leg, lifting up the pant leg to reveal a blood-soaked gauze and bandage, the would having bled even more since they left the convenience store.  Whether it was because Mike hadn't held long enough, the amount of movement they've done or just her own malpractice, Carla was unsure.  "Get that off."

As Eleven whimpered in pain from Carla's lap, the other Wheeler girl broke apart the bandage upon her wound to reveal it to the group.  Disgusted sounds chorused throughout the group at the sight of the putrid wound, faces cringing in utter revulsion.

Looking down at the gash, Carla couldn't help herself from letting out her own exclaim of disgust.  She almost felt nauseous looking at the thing, but she didn't let herself walk away.  She had to stay for El.  Eleven needed her.

The girl's entire leg was stained red, her skin growing more purple the closer to the wound you got, but, that's not where it ended.  A giant lump sat atop her shin, and inside the giant lump something was.....moving?

Carla's eyes widened as she noticed something moving within the wound, and she almost took a double take.  There was definitely something inside of El's leg—something alive, squirming inside of her skin as it tried to break past the open layer, the poking and prodding causing it's victim pain. 

As if the thing inside Eleven's leg had sensed everyone's eyes upon it, it suddenly started to squirm more, El wailing in pain and discomfort.   The Hopper squirmed around from Carla's lap, trying her best to contain her screams—though, her attempt was weak.

Mike fumbled over his words, repeating Eleven's name over and over again—as if that was doing anyone any good. "El! El! Are you okay!"  He was met with a scream of absolute pain, causing him to go into even more panic.

"What is that?" Erica asked, nose wrinkling as she watched whatever was in Eleven's leg squirm from inside of the skin.  Carla's eyes glanced down at the wound, noticing something of a tentacle causing a slight indent.

Obviously, the thing was beginning to cause Eleven more pain, because the girls whimpers and wails quickly turned into screams and cries of pain, the girl unable to hold them in anymore.  It was bad, and Carla knew that something had to be done before it got even worse.

"There's something in there." Mike stated, as if no one else's eyes had been bugging on the rather obvious movement within El's wound.

"State the obvious, Micheal." Carla probably shouldn't be making sarcastic comments in a time like this, but she truly couldn't help it.  It was frustrating, watching the young girl below her sob in pain, and the Wheeler wanted nothing more than to help her.  Mike stating what was already known wasn't doing anything of that sort. "We need to get this thing out. Right now."

El let out a yelp, "No!" 

"Jesus Christ." Dustin muttered.

Jonathan gave a look to his best friend, the girl nodding in response.  She clearly wasn't leaving El's side, leaving this all up to him—if no one else was going to help El, he would.  So, getting up from the tiles, he ordered the group, "Keep her talking. Keep her awake, okay?"

"Jesus Christ." Dustin muttered once more.

As the Byers' boy sprinted away from the group in search of something to help the injured girl, Carla took his words to heart and looked down at the sobbing girl, a frown etched on her face.  She couldn't even explain how terrible she felt.

"It's all gonna be okay, El." Carla placed one of her hands down by Eleven, the younger girl clutching it tightly.  "Hold on to my hand—squeeze as tightly as you need too, I don't care.  Just stay awake and listen to us."

"Okay." Eleven managed to say through a sob, squeezing her sister-figure's hand with as much as she had as another round of pain ran through her.

"It's uh, you know, it's not actually that bad.  There was a....the goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg and, like, the whole bone came out of her knee—six inches or something, it was insane." Robin began to ramble, and sure, Carla knew that she was just in full panic mode and was still confused about earlier—unlike everyone else, the Buckley had never been through an Upside Down event—but still.  How in the hell was this making anything better? 

Steve, who just like everyone else, sent the blonde a look, "Robin."

"Yeah?" 

"You're not helping."

"I'm sorry." 

Before anyone else could try and start another conversation, Jonathan ran back to the group, supplies in hand—a pair of gloves, a wooden spoon and a knife which was charred black on the end, "Okay. Alright, El? This is gonna hurt like hell, okay?"

El chocked out another sob, "Okay."

"Need you to stay real still." Jonathan frantically slipped on the gloves he'd brought.  After sliding the thin material on to his hands, he offered the poor girl the wooden spoon, sending her a look of sympathy, "Here, you're gonna wanna bite down on this, okay?"

As Mike took the wooden spoon from the older boy, Dustin, for the third time, let out, "Jesus Christ."

The Wheeler boy placed the object in El's mouth, the girl clamping on to it as instructed.  As he did, Jonathan lowered the charred knife over her leg before looking at the Hopper girl, almost second guessing himself because he indeed, was second guessing his decision.

"Squeeze my hand as much as you need to."  Carla repeated her prior words to the Hopper girl, feeling her give a weak nod, "You're not gonna hurt me—no matter how hard you do it, okay?"

From Eleven's other side, Mike grabbed on to the girls other hand, urging Jonathan.  "Do it." 

After another deep breath and what felt an eternity of waiting for him to just do it already did Jonathan actually lower the knife into Eleven's wound.  He made a slice across the wound, blood oozing from it, sounds of pain exiting El's lips—though they were muffled by the wooden spoon, which Carla was honestly grateful for.  She wasn't sure how many more painful screams she could take.

Once having made an incision, the Byers' boy let the knife clatter to the ground before closing in on the wound yet again, this time with fingers.  The boy swallowed down the bile that was building up in his throat, blinking a few times before finally sticking his fingers within the gash he'd created.

Carla felt herself gag at sight, her head snapping away from the scene.  After everything repulsive she's seen over the last few years......this topped the cake.  Her free hand was quick to reach up to her mouth, eyes cringing shut as she heard Eleven's screeches of pure pain at the contact, the girl squeezing the Wheeler's hand with so much force, Carla wouldn't be surprised if she broke a finger.

Steve, who'd noticed the reaction from his girlfriend, was quick to leave Robin's side and instead kneel down to Carla's level.  He wrapped a hand around her waist, allowing her to curl into his side every so slightly—though she still had to stay close to Eleven.

Sounds of disgust echoed through the group as El whimpered, her wound squelching as Jonathan's fingers searched through it, trying to grab whatever was looming inside.  The Wheeler girl wasn't sure how Eleven hadn't passed out yet, how she was managing to handle the pain.  

"Jonathan!" Nancy called.

"Stop talking!" Jonathan stammered, fingers twisting around within the gash, causing another screech from El, "Goddamn it!"

"No!" Eleven screeched again, this time managing to form words.  She spit the spoon from her mouth, "Stop it!"

Her words fell silent to Jonathan and it was Carla who got his attention, coming to the conclusion that whatever he was doing was not helping, and was only causing El unnecessary pain.  Turning back to face the group, she yelled, "Jonathan, stop! It's not working, you're just hurting her!"

The boy froze, looking at Carla before finally pulling his fingers out.   

"I can do it," Eleven announced through a sob.  She let go of Carla's hand and weakly pushed herself up.  With the support of the two Wheelers, she repeated herself more firmly, "I can do it."

All eyes were on the Hopper girl as she raised a hand in front of her wound.  The gash squelched and Eleven let out exclaims through gritted teeth, trying her best to keep concentraiting on the thing festering inside of her rather than the pain that gnawing away at her.

The creature started to chatter as it made its way closer to the exit of the wound, and so did Eleven—the girl's screaming growing more forceful and painful.   The lights, as usual, began to flicker on and off, bright flashes of each color dancing around in Carla's line of vision.

Finally, with an ear-splitting scream of agony, Eleven managed to pull whatever had been crawling around inside her leg out.  At the same time, the store window behind the group completely shattered into pieces—from her scream or the use of power, who knew—and Carla felt herself getting pulled closer into Steve's chest, glass cascading beside her.

The glass had no effect on El whatsoever, and Carla looked back at the girl to see her levitating the creature from her leg and into the air—her scream never ending.  Turning the thing away from her, El then thrust her arm forward, sending it far away from the group. 

Landing on the linoleum tiles, the creature begins to crawl away when it is suddenly stopped by an incoming boot, the thing becoming nothing more than a pile of blood as its crushed.  

Looking up to see who the boot belonged too, Carla can't help the small smile that appears on her face when she sees none other than Jim Hopper standing in front of them—Joyce Byers and Murray Bauman at his side.

As expected, Carla found herself in the middle of an explanation about what had gone down within the past few days, everyone catching each other up on the shit they'd been forced to go through.

Since Hopper and the other adults, as well as Steve and his group had no clue what the Mind Flayer was, and what it wanted, the group involved with him started first, explaining their own side. 

"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into this world." Mike explained to everyone, "He also wants Carla.  For what reason, we don't really know.  He's tried to get her multiple times over the course of this week, and—"

"—it almost got me." Carla cut her brother off, "As well as El, with one tiny piece in her case." 

"How big is this thing?" Hopper questioned from the bench he was sitting on, Eleven resting beside him lazily.  She looked exhausted, and Carla felt terrible—she was always the one to fight, despite only being a kid.

"It's big." Jonathan answered, "Thirty feet at least."

Carla added, "And it keeps getting bigger.  When it tried to get me in the hospital....." she tried her best not to shudder at the thought of the Mind Flayer standing over her, ".....it wasn't as big as it was when it attacked El at the cabin—"

Hopper's eyes widened at the word 'cabin' and he quickly cut the Wheeler girl off, "Wait, cabin?"

"Oh, I forgot, you don't know." Carla sent an apologetic look to the older man, who didn't know the damage that had been done to his home. 

"Yeah. It sorta destroyed your cabin." Lucas answered, earning a deadpanned expression from the owner of the house—it was definitely not going to be cheap to fix, and would take ages to clean.  The Sinclair noticed the look and added a small, "Sorry."

Carla offered with a shrug, "I'm willing to help you fix it."

"Okay, so just to be clear, this...." Steve took the group back on track once more, needing clearance on his own thoughts, ".....this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, and that wants Carla, it's some kind of gigantic weapon?"

"Mhm." Carla hummed, as if this was an average thing—which to the group it honestly was. 

"But, instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon with.....melted people?" 

Nancy nodded, "Yes, exactly."

"Yeah, okay, I—yeah, I'm just making sure." 

"Are we sure that thing is still out there, still alive?" Joyce spoke up from beside Hopper and El, the girls leg draped over her lap.

"El beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive." Max confirmed.

Will then stated, "But, if we close the Gate again—"

"We cut the brain off from the body.""And kill it." Lucas firmly said, before adding a small, "Theoretically."

"Yoo-hoo!"

The sound of rustling papers echoed through the food court, and the entire group looked towards a nearby store to see Murray Bauman walking their way, papers waving above his head in an attempt to gain their attention.  "Yoo-hoo!"

They concluded that whatever Murray had to say was important, and gathered around the table which he'd slammed his papers upon.  From Carla's angle, they looked something like a map, but to what, she wasn't entirely sure until the man explained.

"Okay, this is what Alexei called the 'hub'." Murray pointed to a specific spot on his paper, "Now the hub takes us to the vault room."

Hopper looked down at the sheet, "Okay, where's the Gate?"

He pointed to another spot, "Right here.  I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the fault room, maybe fifty feet or so." He moves a hand across the paper.

"More like five hundred." Erica Sinclair stepped forward, hands on her hips.  Murray looked up at the girl, confused about why she was arguing.  Noticing his confused expression, the girl pressed, "What, you're just gonna waltz in there like its commie Disneyland or something?"

Carla looked at the Sinclair girl, biting her lip to keep from laughing.  Erica was truly a gem at times.   

Murray looked at the girl, un-amused by her words,  "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Erica Sinclair.  Who are you?"the girl snapped.

"Murray.....Bauman."

"Listen, Mr. Bunman, I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I've been down in that shit hole for twenty-four hours." Erica voiced, stating her opinions as if she wasn't the youngest in the room—the person no one expected much from.  Little did they know, Erica never kept her opinions to herself.  "And with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die." 

"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" Murray exclaims, clearly annoyed that someone—especially a little girl someone—was arguing with him.  He looks around the group as if the answer would lie within them.

Erica claps back, "Um, I'm ten you bald bastard!"

This time, Carla can't help the laugh that leaves her lips, and she leans into Steve's chest to muffle the sound.  Only Erica would have the confidence to say something like this—the Wheeler girl knows she never would have done so.

Murray's jaw drops to the floor, and Lucas sputters at his sister's attitude, "Erica!"

"Just the facts!"

Dustin steps forward, stating the same point in a much more professional manner, "She's right.  You're all gonna die, but you don't have too.  Excuse me."  He steps towards the balding man, asking, "Sorry, may I?"

"Please." Murray replies, a fake smile on his face.

Dustin sits himself down in a chair and pulls the papers toward him, all eyes falling upon the boy, "Okay, see this room here? This is a storage facility." he draws a circle around a certain room, "There's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system.  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 repeats slowly, looking at Dustin.  Truly, the police chief didn't trust being led around a Russian base by two children.

"Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit—" the Henderson boy waves a hand in the air, clearing out the argument the man hadn't even begun. "—and we'll just be your....navigators." The curly haired boy smiled.

The chief smiles and nods as if he's going to approve of the overly-confident teens plan before saying, "No." 

Dustin's smile falls, but before he can argue, Hopper repeats himself with a shrug, "Nope."

Carla lets out a small sigh, looking at the older man.  She understood his hesitance, but doing it Murray's way would end up with him dead—according to Erica and Dustin, that is.   Even if it wasn't completely baked, it was still a decent plan.

But, if anyone knew anything about Dustin Henderson.....it was that he never took no for an answer. 

mara's misc

i must have the spirit of cedric diggory in me because me updating back to back is a once in a blue moon occasion.  

i literally spent all night this chapter—i decided to finish most of it instead of sleep, i wonder where my priorities lie—and it ended up pretty good!

 the first half was so gross to write and re-watch.....one of the grossest st scenes period.  eleven's wound is so nasty and like idk how miss girl handled the pain that was jonathan cutting her leg and putting his fingers into it bc i would have been a fucking menace.   i don't know how people watch this scene, (this episode is my favorite, i shouldn't talk).

the gang is back together!! i love when all of the group is finally back bc now its like finally feeling like the end.....oh yeah, we are in finale territory.  this is scary.  i literally don't know how i'm almost finished with s3 and im actually not ready to move on to s4.   let me stay in my delulu starla era forever.

anyway, hope you enjoyed <3 see you back soon with chapter 18!