Chapter Eighteen: Promise

I didn't find the kids in the gym when I got back, so I ran through the school until I got to the cafeteria. Mike and Eleven were sitting at one of the tables, while Lucas and Dustin were nowhere to be seen.

"MIKE! I FOUND THE CHOCOLATE PUDDING!" I heard Dustin scream from the kitchen. I chuckled, rolling my eyes and making my way over to them.

"You guys ok?" I asked. 

"Us? What about you? El said you went off to fight the Demogorgan." I nodded.

"We're fine. Its dead, I think. Can't be sure but it looked pretty dead." I turned my attention to El. "How you feelin'?" She shrugged.

"What's 'putting'?" She asked.

"Pudding. Its...its this chocolate goo you eat with a spoon." She furrowed her eyebrows in disgust. "Don't worry, when all this is over, you won't have to keep eating junk food and leftovers like a dog anymore. My mom, she's a pretty awesome cook. She can make you whatever you like." I smiled.

"Mike...that's a nice sentiment, but I highly doubt your Mom is gonna let Eleven stay with you guys." I said.

"Why wouldn't she?"

"Well, seeing as the 'bad men' raided your house today looking for her, they probably think she's a threat. Who knows what they told them." I said. "But you know...I bet Dad would consider you coming to live with us."

"That could be fun!" Mike said. "You guys would be like sisters!"

"Sisters." She repeated. I nodded. She looked at Mike. "Would you be like my brother?"

"What? No, no." 

"Why no?" I smirked, hiding it behind my hand.

"Because...'cause its different. Especially if you don't live with us."

"Why?"

"I mean, I don't know, I guess its not. Its stupid." I chuckled, shaking my head and standing up, patting Mike's shoulder.

"I'll leave this one for you to explain, Romeo." I said, making my way towards the kitchen.

"Ooh, Riley, good, you're back! Help us with this pudding." I grabbed a basket, carrying it out and putting it on Mike and Eleven's table, only to find that Mike was gone. "This will charge your battery right up. I'm telling you."

"Where is Mike?" I asked, looking around the room. I turned around just as he came running back in.

"Guys? Guys!"

"What is it?" Lucas asked.

"They found us!" My eyes widened.

"Go! Back door, go!"

We ran out of the cafeteria, taking off down the hallway towards the back door. I pushed the kids in front of me, bringing up the back and desperately wishing we had bought more bullets.

"How did they find us?" Lucas asked.

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

"Lando." Dustin said. We stopped as the door opened and several military police barged in just as we reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Got 'em!"

"Go, go, go, go, go!" I shoved them in front of me one at a time, bringing up the rear once again as we ran up the stairs and down the hallway. We turned another corner, only to be met with even more guys, so we backtracked, passing the first group again and going for a third route, only to be met by a blonde lady, flanked by MPs, who pointed a gun in Eleven's face. I ran forward, shoving her behind me.

She put a hand on my arm, gently pushing me aside and staring at them menacingly. Suddenly their flashlights on their guns began to flicker

I clapped a hand over my mouth as blood began to stream from their eye sockets, running down their faces. She was squeezing their brains. All at once they all fell to the ground, and El was quick to follow. I grabbed her, wrapping my arms around her and scooping her up into my arms.

"El, are you ok?" Mike asked. "El? El!"

"Its ok, she's just drained."

"No, something's wrong. She won't wake up. El! EL!" I reached around, putting my hand under her nose.

"She's barely breathing." I said.

"We gotta go." Lucas told us.

"Leave her!" We all looked up, spotting the Dr. Brenner guy from the newspapers and even more MPs. "Step away from the child."

"No!" Mike shouted. "You want her? You'll have to kill us first!"

"That's right!"

"Eat Sh-" Lucas was cut off by more guys coming from behind, picking them up off of the ground. I pulled El close to me, glancing from side to side until one of them snuck up on me and bashed me in the face with their rifle, knocking me to the ground and taking El with me. Brenner took her from my arms as I fought to retain consciousness, sitting down and grabbing her face.

"Eleven? Eleven, can you hear me?"

"Papa?" She asked groggily as blood dripped from her nose. The boys were screaming, fighting against the arms that were holding them.

"Yes...yes, its your papa. I'm here now!" She glanced at the boys, before her eyes fell on me.

"Don't listen to him." I mumbled. "You're just an experiment to him, he doesn't care-" My words were cut off by a food to the face, causing me to fall on the ground with blood streaming from my nose and mouth, and I could already feel my eye swelling up.

"LET HER GO!" Mike screamed. "LET HER GO!" 

Eleven began looking around, whimpering as I spit blood out onto the tile.

"Shh, 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."

"NO!" I screamed, driving my foot into the side of his head. I waited until he fell over and then grabbed El, dragging her away from him, as the lights started flickering. My eyes widened. "Blood."

Suddenly, the big concrete paw-print on the wall behind the MPs began shattering as the monster started to fight its way through.

"Demogorgan!" Dustin said as it broke through. They let go of the boys, raising their guns, and they scrambled towards me. They dragged me to my feet, with my arms still wrapped around Eleven and we ran in the opposite direction.

We went to the science classroom, and Lucas locked the door as I lifted Eleven onto one of the lab tables, setting her down as my face screamed in pain. My left eye was now completely swollen shut, so I could hardly see a thing. Mike grabbed her hands.

"Just hold on a little longer, ok?" He told her. "He's gone. The bad man's gone, we'll be home soon, and Hopper and Riley will get you your own bed and you can eat as many Eggos as you want...and we can go to the Snow Ball."

"Promise?" She asked, tears welling up in her eyes. I walked over, putting a hand on her head and stroking her hair.

"Yeah. I'll help you get ready for it. We'll go shopping for dresses, I'll do your make-up. It'll be really fun. Promise." I said quietly.

The monster let out a loud screech, and we whirled around to see that the gunfire had found its way into our hallway, lighting up the window in the door. Suddenly the shooting stopped, but the lights continued to blink.

"Is-Is it...Is it dead?" I shook my head.

"I don't think so."

After a few seconds of silence, the door flew off of its hinges and the Demogorgan burst into the room.

"Go, go, go!"

"Get the wrist rocket!"

"Take it out, now!"  Lucas started shooting rocks at it.

"What is that gonna do, if guns won't hurt it?!" I asked. I thought for a second. "Take Eleven, go out the window, and get out of here"!

"What about you?!" Mike exclaimed. I shook my head, turning towards the monster.

"This is my fault." I said. "Its only right that I-"

Before I could even finish my sentence, the Demogorgan went flying back, suddenly pinned to the chalkboard as if...by magic.

Eleven walked past me, making her way towards the monster.

"Eleven, stop!" Mike and I both reached out to stop her, but she waved her hand, sending us both flying across the floor until we hit the cabinet.

"El, no!" I screamed. "No, you don't have to do this!" 

She ignored me, continuing to walk towards it. It screamed in pain as the lights flickered and she turned around to look at us one last time, stopping right in front of it.

"Goodbye, Mike." She said. "Goodbye Riley."

She turned forward again.

"No more." She lifted a hand, and the monster screamed, forcing us to cover our ears. I wrapped my arms around Mike, hugging him, unable to watch as Eleven's scream joined the monsters. Tears streamed down my face as the lights stopped flickering. We slowly looked up to see a wave of ash floating through the air, and a giant, burned, hole in the chalk board, but no sign of the monster...or Eleven.

"El?!" Mike pushed me off, walking to the front of the room. "EL?!"

"Eleven?!"

"Eleven?!"

"EL! EL WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Guys..." They turned to look at me and I sniffed, wiping my eyes. "She's gone...she's gone."