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CHAPTER FORTY-THREE; THE TODFTHR
also known as;
( the flayed; part three )

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"OH, MY GOD, CAN YOU NOT WALK SO CLOSE TO ME? YOU STINK," JOYCE GRUMBLED AS THE THIRD HOUR OF WALKING PASSED. Sweat beaded across Stella's forehead, but her spirit wasn't broken. She was marching ahead of the group with Alexei being dragged behind, her eyes bright and thirsty to reach their destination. She hardly paid attention to the arguing adults behind her; to be honest she was starting to get annoyed by them.

"I get it, I get it. You're upset, right?" Hopper scoffed, shaking a bug off of his arm. "Cause I blew up the car?"

"Yeah, with me in it," Joyce uttered sourly in response. 

"Well, I just want to remind you of something, Joyce," Hopper smacked the back off his neck. He seemed to be the only one with a problem regarding the buzzing insects, as no one else had really paid them much mind. They were annoying, sure, but they were tolerable. "I am not a mechanic."

"Yeah, clearly," Joyce then nodded forward towards Alexei, who was panting as he tried to catch up with Stella. She was trying her best to enjoy the hike, appreciating the nature around her, just not the attitudes of her companions. "That's why you should've listened to Alexei."

"Oh right, yeah. Your new boyfriend, right?" 

Stella furrowed her eyebrows in complete confusion as she kept walking. She didn't really have a choice in listening the never-ending arguing between the two, seeing as she had no idea where she was going, and no stretch of forest was far enough away to shut out the noise. 

"Yes, every man I talk to from now on has to be my boyfriend," Joyce retorted, rolling her eyes irritably. 

"Yeah, he reminds me a bit of a Russian Scott Clarke," Hopper stopped in his tracks, grabbing her by the arm. Stella glanced back over her shoulder and sighed, realising that she was probably the most mature person there, despite being the youngest. Alexei knocked into her shoulder, as he wasn't really paying attention, and she huffed, resting her forehead against his shoulder. Now that they'd come to a halt, her feet were beginning to ache. 

Before she could complain, however, her nose caught a whiff of something. Her brows knitted together and she whipped her head to the side. She inhaled a couple of times, smelling something faint, but recognisable. Her eyes flickered over to Alexei, and she lifted her hand to her nose, then she rubbed her stomach. There was a dip between his brows as he turned and sniffed as well, before humming softly. She nodded her head to the side, before breaking into a run. Alexei caught on quick enough, trying to move his legs to keep the same pace.

The two sprinted away from the childish supervisors, their names being yelled after a moment or so. Stella laughed as she felt a rush of adrenaline, and once Alexei matched her speed, he too giggled cheerfully. It was as if there was finally something fun to do. 

"You two! Come back here!" Hopper called angrily, but neither of them stopped. The forest seemed to be filled with more and more light as they ran, and soon enough, Stella could hear the passing of cars. She beamed as leaves and branches were crushed underneath her feet, knowing that with every passing second she was closer to civilisation. 

Alexei began excitedly muttering in Russian, pointing to an opening in the trees. He yanked Stella towards it and she tripped over her feet, grabbing his arm for stability. She bumped him a little as she skidded to a stop, her wide eyes resting on the beautiful, gleaming 7-Eleven across the highway. She inhaled once again, realising the smell was a mixture of many things she knew.

Hopper and Joyce caught up within moments, both of them panting as they grabbed the two runaways. Neither Stella nor Alexei cared though, both were staring at the convenience store with drool spilling from the sides of their mouths. Stella didn't realise how hungry and thirsty she had been until she caught the scent of petrol and cheap coffee combined with the muffled sound of heavy metal music. 

Without any hesitation whatsoever, she tugged Alexei down the muddy hill, anxious to get inside the store. She craved the taste of any sort of beverage -- even New Coke. She hoped they had a blueberry slurpee, those were always her favourite. Her sneakers hit the flat ground and she looked down, not even frowning at the sight of her ruined shoes. She didn't care. The fact that she had made it out of the forest and had brought and end to Hopper and Joyce's incessant arguing was so satisfying she could cry.

The bell chimed as the quartet entered, and Stella stood for a moment in the cool air-conditioned atmosphere. She wanted to fall onto the linoleum floor and take a nap out of the summer sun, but she knew that would probably be inappropriate. So she decided against it and followed Hopper towards the drink fridges. Alexei handed her a Coke and she chugged in with ease, feeling the cold liquid hit the back of her parched throat. 

"You all gonna pay for those?" the worker at the cashier called from the front of the store, and Stella sent him a thumbs up without looking his way, eager to swallow the last few drops the can of Coke offered. Hopper burped as his answer. 

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Stella sipped on her cola slurpee as Hopper pushed her and Alexei out of the convenience store. Between her upper and her pit was a block of plain chocolate that she planned to eat on the rest of the journey, you know, for sustenance. Alexei had his own cherry drink, happily sipping on it like a five year old. 

"Keep your mouths shut," Hopper suddenly said, a strip of beef jerky between his teeth as he shoved them towards a pale yellow Cadillac that had pulled into the gas station. The Chief reached for the door once they got to the car, forcing the two cuffed individuals inside. "Alright, hop in. Come on, get in!"

"Hey!" The owner shouted, throwing his hands up in the air as the dirtied, strange people fell into the backseat of what was clearly a prized possession of his. Stella shuffled around in the leather seat, getting herself comfortable. There had been a lot she had done in the last twenty-four hours she wouldn't usually be comfortable with, but now, she'd just learned to roll with it. Hopper didn't really know what he was doing, but he appeared to be pretty good at winging it so far. 

"You 'hey! You 'hey'!" Hopper shouted back, pointing at the man who wore expensive clothes (Stella could tell, as they were ugly and probably the height of fashion). "This is a police emergency, alright? I need to commandeer your vehicle. What is your name, Sir?"

 "Todd."

"Todd? Todd, listen to me. Those two punks in there, I know they don't look it, but they're two of the most dangerous criminals in the world," Hopper nodded towards Stella and Alexei. The latter took a gracious sip from his Slurpee, smiling politely at Todd. Stella, however, turned around and quirked her eyebrows at the rich man. "He's, uh, murdered many children. She's...committed arson. Burned down six houses in three days."

"What?"

"Yeah, they're bad news," Hopper rolled his eyes and gave the man the rest of his jerky, before walking around to the driver's seat. "I tracked 'em over two state lines-"

"What's going on?" Joyce stormed towards them, and Hopper took a step back, placing his hands on his hips. 

"Ah, Detective Byers," he cleared his throat. Joyce nervously glanced over to the man, before pouting her lips and nodding once. Stella would've laughed at the woman if they were in any other situation. It was clear she wasn't a brilliant liar. "He's agreed to...lend us his vehicle to transport our dangerous criminals."

"Oh yeah, they're really dangerous..." Joyce trailed off as she slid into the passenger seat. Hopper climbed in after her, pointing to both of the backseat besties. 

"Child murderer, arsonist," he said as he shut the door behind him. Joyce's eyes widened and she tried to form a response, but she had no idea what to say. "We better get going."

"Hey, how do I get my car back?" Todd asked, rushing to the driver's side. 

"You just call the station," Hopper waved him off as he started the engine, resuming the loud music Todd had been playing. 

"What station?"

"Ooh, I like the sound of that, Todd!" Hopper yelled over the booming metal tunes. Todd called out something that sounded like a repeat of what he just said, but Hopper didn't really care. As he took off, he pointed at the rich man with a grin. "You're doing the right thing!"

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this is boring and short but do i care? no not really i want to sleep to be completely honest

good night