Chapter Sixty-Three: Planck's Constant

I slung the bag over my shoulder and unzipped it, pulling out the axe and the radio. I twirled the axe in my hand before turning the radio to the correct station and heading towards The Gap.

"Dusty-bun, do you copy?" The sound of a girl's voice on the radio almost made me stop dead in my tracks.

"I copy, Suzie-poo." I smiled slightly to myself. 

"You go Dustin." I whispered, stepping over glass and clothing racks until I reached the staff door.

"It sounds much better now, thanks. Ok, so listen, do you know Planck's Constant?"

"Do you know the Earth Orbits the sun?" I smiled, shaking my head as I proceeded down the hallway, keeping a look out for the kids.

"Ok, so I know it starts with two sixes, and then a...what is it?" Dustin questioned.

"Ok, let me just be clear on this. I haven't heard from you in a week, and now you want a mathematical equation that you should know so you can...save the world?"

"Suzie-Poo, I promise, I will make it up to you as soon as possible." 

"You can make it up to me now."

"What?"

"I want to hear it." I furrowed my eyebrows, glancing down at the radio in my hand.

"Not right now." Dustin said desperately.

"Yes, now Dusty-bun!"

"Suzie-Poo, this is urgent."

"Yes, yes, you're saving the world, I heard you the first time, but Ged is also saving Earthsea and he's about to confront the shadow, so this is Suzie, signing off."

"Wait, wait, wait! Ok, ok. Ok." He interrupted. "Turn around, and look at what you see." My eyes widened as Dustin began singing into the radio, The Never-Ending Story in a...surprisingly beautiful voice. "In her face, in the mirror of your dreams."

"Make beleive, I'm everywhere." My eyes continued to widen as Suzie began harmonizing with him.

"What the frick is happening right now?" I asked myself.

"Given in the light. Written on the pages is, the answer to A Never Ending Story! Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah. Reach the stars, fly a fantasy. Dream a dream, and what you see will be. Rhymes that keep their secrets will, unfold behind the clouds. And there upon a rainbow is,  the answer to a never-ending story! Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah. Story! Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah."

"Planck's constant is 6.62607004."

I shook my head, turning a corner, only to nearly run into Mike, Max, and Eleven.

"Oh, thank God!" I exclaimed.

"Billy's right behind us!" Max exclaimed.

"Here." I shoved my duffle Bag into Mike's chest, crouching down and letting El jump onto my back. Then we took off running down the hallway again.

"What about the Mind Flayer?" Mike asked.

"Outside, last I saw it. I don't know, we have to be careful."

"In here!" We ducked into a room that had an elevator in it. I set El down as he began pushing the down button frantically. "Come on, come on, come on!" 

I heard the door slam open, and turned around to investigate, only to see that Max was already out in the hallway.

"Billy," I rushed forward, grabbing her arm to pull her back into the room, but she fought against me, "Billy, you don't have to do this. Billy, your name is Billy, Billy Hargrove. You live on 4819 Cherry Lane, Billy please, I'm Max, I'm your-" He back handed her across the face, sending her to the ground and out of my grasp. I grabbed the axe in both hands, driving it into his chest, hoping to drive him back away from the door, but it snapped in half on impact. I looked at the broken Axe in shock, glancing up at Billy to see that he did not look like himself. He was sweaty, his eyes were bloodshot, and he had black veins trailing all over his body.

He swung at me but I ducked, wrapping my arms around his waist and throwing all of my weight against him. Instead of tackling him to the ground like I'd hoped however, he wrapped his arms around my waist, turning around and hurling me down the hallway. I collided with the wall and fell to the ground hard, feeling the breath leave my lungs as he stomped into the elevator room. I heard another slam, and I heard El scream, only to see Billy come out a second later with El draped over his shoulder.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" I screamed as he walked towards me. "PUT HER-" He kicked me full on in the face, driving my head back against the wall and knocking me unconscious instantly. 

~~~

I woke up to hands shaking my shoulders, and opened my eyes to see Mike and Max standing over me with bruises on their faces.

"Where's El?!" Mike exclaimed.

"B...Billy." I stuttered, forcing myself onto my hands and knees.

"Come on, we gotta go!" They both pulled me to my feet and took off running. I stumbled after them for a few steps before straightening and following them to the Scoops Ahoy Service door. We ran through it to see the Mind Flayer standing in the middle of the food court, surrounded by fire and smoke. El laid on the floor and in front of her stood Billy, staring up at the menacing creature.

El pushed her way back, and I started running towards her as one of its fleshy arms shot out of its mouth to attack her. She crossed her arms in front of her face and I dropped to the ground, sliding on my knees across the floor and throwing my body over hers just as Billy reached up and caught the hand.

"NO!" I glanced up in shock at Billy standing there, fighting off the Mind Flayer. I wrapped my arms under El's, dragging her quickly across the floor as more arms came from the creature, stabbing through Billy's body, causing blood to seep through his wife beater. he fell to his knees, letting out a scream as the last arm plunged through his chest.

"BILLY!" Max screamed. He fell to the ground and the arms retracted back into the creature they stemmed from. Not long after that the monster began to Stumble until it eventually crashed to the ground, one last gargling sound leaving its mouth before it finally died for good. They'd closed the gate, the monster was dead...we'd done it again.

Mike ran forward, dropping to the ground and wrapping his arms around El, and I stood up, watching as Max walked over to stand beside her brother, who wasn't quite dead. She dropped down beside him as he gargled, black blood seeping down his chin.

"Billy, Billy get up, please. Billy, get up, please, please." I walked over, crouching down beside him and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"You did great," I said, rubbing Max's back, "Its ok, Billy...its over. You can rest now."

"I'm sorry." He said. I nodded.

"I know...I know." He let out one last breath before the life left his eyes, and Max broke down, hiding her face in my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her, my eyes not leaving the High School Bully that had just saved all of our lives. She rolled out of my arms, laying in El's lap, and El began to stroke her hair.

"Its alright, its ok. Its ok." She said, tears streaming down her own face. 

~~~

It wasn't long after that that the military came busting through the doors, along with the fire department, Ambulance, Police, anyone who could come was there.

I sat in the back of an ambulance while El sat with Mike in an adjoining one. I heard footsteps and looked up in time to see Steve walking over to me, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. I stood up, tears dotting in my eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said, my voice wavering, "I'm sorry, I know we said we do it together, but I could leave her behind. I could leave her-"

He cut my off by wrapping me up in his arms and his blanket, his chin resting on top of my head.

"I know...its ok, Barbie. I know." I wrapped my arms around him, thankful that as far as I knew, two of the three most important people in my life were ok.

There was only one more that was left unaccounted for.

I heard a familiar voice crying tears of joy, and looked up to see Joyce, now dressed in a Russian soldier's uniform, wrapped in a tight embrace with her youngest son. I moved away from Steve, my eyes locking with El's as we both began to comb the parking lot, searching for our father.

Please be ok...please God please let him be ok.

Joyce looked up from Will, meeting our eyes, and we could tell from the heartbroken tears that pooled from hers that our father would not be coming back. I shook my head.

"No...no, its not...she's wrong." I started walking towards the mall again, but Steve ran over, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Whoa, Riley, where are you going?"

"I'm going in there to find my father!" I said, pushing past him. He stepped into my path again, but I kept fighting him until eventually, he wrapped an arm around my waist, holding me back. "Steve, let me go! STEVE! LET ME GO!"

"Riley, you have to calm down-"

"I HAVE TO GO FIND HIM!" I screamed as the sobs began wracking my body. I slumped against Steve, who fell backwards, sitting on the ground and pulling me against his chest. "DAD! DAD, WHERE ARE YOU?! DAD...please...dad."

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry." Steve whispered in my ear, slowly combing my hair out of my face.

"No...No, he's not dead. He can't be dead, he promised! Steve he promised..." El ran over, sitting beside me and wrapping her arms around my shoulders. I hugged her back, both of us sobbing as we crouched together, and Steve moved to wrap his arms around both of us.

"I'm so, so sorry." He whispered.