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𝙭𝙭𝙫𝙞. late-night serenade



CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
LATE-NIGHT SERENADE



        They're hurtling through the night, Steve's jaw is clenched in determination as he presses down on the gas pedal.  Robin, in the back seat, continues to clutch the radio to her chest.  Abby drums her fingers on the dashboard as the anxiety builds up.  She can't help but fear the worst.  What if the only thing that they find when they arrive at the mall is death and destruction?  More bodies to add to the wave of Russians that had scattered the floor of the food court.

She holds her breath as the mall comes hurtling into view.  Steve does not slow down as he turns violently into the parking lot.  He does not slow down as he assesses the situation before them; two cars, one parked horizontally against the curb, the other hurtling toward it at a high speed; one figure standing outside of the car; several loud reverberating gunshots.  Despite the bullets that ricochet off the metal and crack the glass window, the car continues to hurtle toward the figure, growing closer and closer and closer until suddenly, tires squealing and the world twisting and turning and blurring around them, they collide with the blue Camaro.

"Holy shit," Abby breathes as she grabs onto the door of the car.  She takes a few deep breaths as the world comes back into focus.

"You okay?" Steve asks.

"I think I'm gonna puke."

Her eyes land on the fire that has roared to life in the window of the dented blue Camaro.  Just past the orange flames that lick the window, and through the several cracks in the glass, Abby can see a figure unconscious.  She knows that this figure belongs to Billy, she can recognize his car anywhere.  He's slumped in the seat, his limp hands still clutch the steering wheel that his head slumps against.  He's the pawn of the Mind Flayer, just another puppet that the Mind Flayer has managed to grasp by his marionette strings.  Abby only hopes that he's been subdued long enough for them to escape.

A loud screeching fills the air and Robin lets out a small gasp.  Slowly, in unison, the three rise from their seats to stare at the giant creature that stands on its tendrils of legs on the roof of the mall.  It reeks of death and rot, of fury and scorn as it rises far above them.  From there, she can see its fury, the complete wrath that consumes it as it stares down first at the first car, loaded with its passengers, then to Billy's car, immobile and burning, and finally on their car.

"Holy shit!" Robin exclaims.

They continue to stare up at the Mind Flayer in pure horror, their limbs are frozen, their lips are parted.  Maybe, if they stay still enough, the monster won't notice them.  The loud sound of a horn honking accompanied by the squealing of tires against asphalt breaks them from their horrified trance.

"Get in!" Nancy shouts from the rolled-down window.

They don't need to be told twice.  They launch themselves over the side of the car and pile into the trunk while the monster continues to shriek in rage.  The other seats are occupied by Will, Lucas, and Isla while Nancy and Jonathan in the passenger's and driver's seats.  Steve barely manages to pull the trunk door closed before Jonathan slams his foot on the gas pedal and they peel out of the parking lot with a sudden lurch.  Abby watches with wide eyes as the Mind Flayer steps off of the roof and follows after the car with its eight legs of rotting flesh.  The ground rumbles beneath it with each step as it draws closer.

"Alex," Abby hears Steve murmur dully as the mall fades away from view.  She turns her head to Steve questioningly.  He's looking around the car in alarm, his gaze flits over Nancy and Jonathan in the front, then to Lucas, Mike, and Isla who all look back at him.  "Alex.  Where the fuck is Alex?  Guys?!"

"We—we got separated in the mall," Isla answers.  "I—I think she's with Max, El, and Mike though."

"Shit," Steve curses.  "Shit.  Shit.  Shit.  We have to turn around!  Right now!"

Abby instinctively reaches for Steve's hand and takes it in her own.  She gives it an assuring squeeze as she looks at Steve.  It's all that she can really do, besides hoping that her words help to calm him because she doesn't know what it's like to fear for a sibling.  "Hey.  Alex, she's a brave kid.  She can take care of herself.  I'm sure she's okay."

Steve takes a deep breath and nods.  He opens his mouth to speak, but before he can, an unfamiliar voice spews from the Robin that is still clutched tightly to Robin's chest.  He doesn't let go of Abby's hand.  "Dusty-bun, you copy?"

"I copy, Suzie-poo," comes Dustin's response.  "It sounds much better now, thanks."

Steve's jaw drops as he, Abby, and Robin look up from the radio, and all exchange a glance.  They're all thinking the same thing.  Abby hadn't doubted the existence of Suzie, but hearing the sound of her voice seems to solidify the idea that Dustin does in fact have a girlfriend.  Suzie the genius from science camp, Suzie who lives almost across the country in Utah, is on one of the opposite ends of the radio system.  If they were in any other situation, Abby might marvel at how everything was so interconnected, but she knows that this isn't the time.  Not when the Mind Flayer is right on their tail.

"Suzie," the three murmur in awe.

"Okay, so listen," Dustin continues.  "Do you know Planck's constant?"

"Do you know the Earth orbits the sun?"

Dustin lets out a small snicker.  "Okay, so I know it starts with two sixes, and then a ... wha—what is it?"

"Okay, let me just be clear on this," says Suzie.  "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?"

At this point, Abby has turned her attention back to the monster that trails just behind them.  The thumping has not stopped, the trees that line the road around them still shake with every step that the Mind Flayer takes.  Her hand, still interlocked in Steve's shakes slightly as the anxious thoughts in her head swirl around, but she feels Steve give her hand a reassuring squeeze.  There isn't any time for sweet messages of sorrow, not when the world is quite literally at stake and the roots of the darkness only continually reach deeper as the seeds of evil are watered.  There are the lives that are still at stake, blissfully unaware of the evil that lurks in Hawkins. 

"Suzie-poo, I promise, I will make it up to you as soon as possible," Dustin assures her. 

"You can make it up to me now."

"What?"

"I want to hear it."

"Not right now," Dustin pleads.  There's an unmistakable twinge of desperation in his voice.  He knows the kind of danger that they're in.  Abby only hopes that he'll be able to get through to Suzie before it's too late.

"Yes, now, Dusty-bun," Suzie replies firmly.

"Suzie-poo, this is urgent."

"Yes, yes, you're saving the world, I heart you the first time," Suzie answers, there's an edge to her voice that causes Abby to fear that she has planted her feet too firmly in the idea of whatever she wants Dustin to do.  "But Ged is also saving Earthsea, and he's about to confront the shadow, so this is Suzie signing off."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Dustin exclaims.  "Okay.  Okay.  Okay.

Abby lets out the breath that she didn't realize she had been holding.  They're so close to retribution, so close to getting the code and cutting off the brain from the body.  And then Dustin begins to sing.

"Turn around ... look at what you see ... in her face, the mirror of your dreams ..."

Suzie joins in then, harmonizing with Dustin from across the country.  "Make-believe I'm everywhere, given in the light.  Written on the pages is, the answer to a never-ending story ... ahh ... reach the stars, fly a fantasy ... dream a dream, and what you see will be ..."

Abby's jaw drops as she stares down at the radio in Robin's lap. Steve cinches his eyebrows and turns to exchange a glance with the other occupants in the car as if he were making sure that he was not the only one witnessing this spectacle.  Abby's eyes dart to the Mind Flayer behind them every now and then as Dustin and Suzie continue to sing as if everything else in the world has disappeared.  Her heart continues to pound, and she only hopes that it's over soon.

"Rhymes that keep their secret will unfold behind the clouds ... and there upon a rainbow is, the answer to a never-ending story ... ahh ... story ... ahh."

"Planck's constant is 6.62607004," says Suzie.

"You just saved the world," Dustin gushes.

Suzie lets out a happy sigh.  "Gosh, I miss you, Dusty-bun."

"And I miss you more, Suzie-poo."

"I miss you more, multiplied by all the stars in our galaxy."

"No, I miss you—" Dustin starts before his voice is cut off.

"If we weren't getting chased by a giant monster made out of melted people, I'd say that serenade was adorable," Abby hums in an attempt to fill the silence that has washed over the car, but her comment falls short. 

There were those few moments filled with the passionate singing that seemed to brighten their prospects, just for a few moments, but they had soon slipped away out of their grasp.  The Mind Flayer continues to chase after them, and with it, the continuous thump and rumble.  It's a perilous game of follow-the-leader that they're playing with the monster.  It's determined to snare them in its trap, to strip away their free will until they too are nothing but more puppets to the Mind Flayer.  In the end, no human is significant enough to be left standing.  The Mind Flayer only cares about death and rot.  Why terrorize and rule over humans, when you can make them your puppets, bending them to your every will so that there is no hope for rebellion? 

But Abby knows that she can't ponder on the why's.  Not when they'll only sprout into more and more.  If she ponders the whys, she'll be filled with what-ifs, and after the what-ifs, she'll be fantasizing, romanticizing a life that is not hers.  A life that will never be hers.  This is the reality that she faces, and she knows that she can't pull at the delicate threads that structure it.  To do that would be to test the only delicate structure of her sanity that has already been worn down by the insurgence of supernatural creatures.

Suddenly, the world around them falls into silence save for the humming motor of the car.  The rumbling seems to fade away, the tremors don't seem as strong anymore.  There's something wrong.  Abby looks up through the back window to see that the Mind Flayer has turned around.  Something about this seems all, too familiar.  After all, they were just barely out of the Mind Flayer's reach.  Eventually, they would have run out of gas, eventually, they would be trapped and cornered.  Why turn back now?

"It's turning around!" Steve announces.

"What?" Nancy demands, whipping around in her seat to gaze out of the back window for herself.

"It's turning around!" Steve repeats.

"Maybe we wore it out," Lucas suggests hopefully.

And then it hits her.

"No," Abby shakes her head.  "It's like what happened with the Demogorgons at the school bus.  It got called back."

Jonathan nods.  "Yeah, I think she's right.  Hold on."

They don't have time to brace themselves before Jonathan is jerking the steering wheel in the opposite direction.  The tires squeal against the road as the car spins around violently.  Screams fill the car as they are thrown in every which way.  Abby lets out a loud yelp as she tumbles to the far side of the trunk.  Her head collides painfully with the padded sides before the car steadies once more. 

Abby glances back through the window at the scenery disappearing behind them.  They're no longer on their way to Illinois.  They're going back to save their friends.






author's note: so i kinda forgot about this for a few months and i apologize so sincerely because there's literally like three chapters left, but i am going to be fixing up the next chapter, hopefully splitting it into two posting those, and then finally the epilogue. 

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