chapter nineteen
the precipice

        "EL!"

"ELEVEN!"

Their desperate cries echo around them as they tow their bikes through the woods.  It is more likely that El is hiding somewhere in these woods, where the trees are dense and the shadows consume living creatures at night than it is that she is hiding somewhere in town.  In the woods, you can hear things for miles.  The dangers that lurk in the shadows have a better chance of stealing you away if you hide in the open.  The sun is setting, and the November wind bites at any part of exposed skin, but it's too late for them to turn back now. 

"Eleven!"

"El!"

Alex pushes a stubborn tuft of her hair from her eyes.  Her throat feels raw from screaming El's name, but she's not about to give up this quickly.  They need El.  They need her more than ever, now that Lucas wants to find the gate alone.  The girl is still nightmare fuel, but Alex is going to have to push her fear aside because right now, all that matters is finding Will and making sure that Lucas stays safe.  Time is running out for them, it's been steadily slipping through their fingers since Will had disappeared.  Time has never been their ally. 

"El!" Alex calls.

The only response is the ragged sounds of her companions' breathing, and in the distance, the sound of their voices echoing back at them.  Alex watches as their breath billows out of their mouths.  She feels like they're alone in this universe with nobody to hear their cries.  The expansive woods threaten to swallow her and her companions whole.

A branch snaps behind them.

Mike throws up a cautioning hand and Dustin and Alex stop in their tracks.  "Hey, stop, do you hear that?"  Alex nodded, eyes bright with hope.  Perhaps they weren't so alone in the woods after all.  Perhaps El had gravitated toward their cries.  "El!  El?"

Alex whips her head in the direction of the footsteps that reply to Mike's cries.  Her heart thuds as the footsteps draw closer and the blood drains from her face.  The hand is back around her heart. squeezing incessantly because there is not one set of footprints.  There are two.  She was right.  They were not so alone in these woods, the thought of this company fills her either queasy dread.  Whatever they have attracted is not El.  Whatever they have attracted could be far, far worse.

Troy Walsh and James Dante crest the small hill and Alex feels her heart plummet into the depths of her chest.  They wear their hoods over their heads, but they do not mask the malicious grins as they approach the three.  Alex supposes that the hoods give them the courage to do what they normally would not.  It only takes a mask for someone to do something they normally would not.  The anonymity protects them from persecution.  Alex takes another step backward as the two boys draw closer and closer, exchanging a glance with Dustin.  They are animals trapped in a cage.  Troy and James are here to collect them, but not before they take the trophies back home.

"Hey, there Frogface," Troy sneers as Alex takes a small step backward.  As he draws closer, she notices with dread that he clutched a pocket knife in his hand.

James also wears a sinister smirk as he flanks Troy.  "Toothless.  Hothead."

"Shit!" Dustin hisses, letting go of his handlebars, already turning on his heels, away from the two boys who draw ever closer. "RUN MIKE!  RUN AL!"

For once, her instincts tell her to run.  Every muscle in her body screams for her to move, and she listens.  Grabbing Mike by the wrist, she bolts into the woods after Dustin, Mike close behind her.  She jumps over roots and ducks under the branches of the trees.  Alex has always been a runner, she finds exhilaration in the pumping of her legs and the wind in her face.  Today, she is aided by the adrenaline that pumps through her veins.  She doesn't dare risk a look back at Troy and James who have charged after them.

"You're dead, Wheeler!" Troy growls.

The venom in his voice only spurs Alex to run faster, zig-zagging through the trees in an effort to lose their enemies, but it is clear that Troy and James are not letting them get away easily.  On any other day, Alex would have stayed behind to fight, but Mike and Dustin are liabilities.  She doesn't want them to get caught in the crossfire.  Alex destroys everything that she touches, it's in her nature, but she'll do everything that she can to make sure that Dustin and Mike are not one of those things. 

The only thing that Alex hears as she runs is the heaving of her breath and the pounding of her heart in her ears.  Twigs snap and scratch her face, she no longer cares if they draw blood.  There's no time to weave around them now.  Dry leaves and twigs crackle and crunch below her pumping feet, brittle as bones.  She doesn't doubt that that's what her bones will sound like if Troy and James catch up to them. 

"Keep going!" Alex calls back to Mike and Dustin, who have fallen behind her.  

With a sigh of relief, they break out of the forest and into a clearing.  The relief soon turns to dread as Alex realizes that they have no place to hide from Troy and James.  The trees were obstructive, but at least they provided cover.  Now, they're out in the open when no place to run, but forward. 

Suddenly, Dustin lets out a groan of pain.  "Cramp!"

"Just keep going!" Mike encourages.  Dustin lets out another cry of pain.  "Keep going!"

At the pain in Dustin's voice, Alex pulls to a stop and doubles back, joining Dustin at his side.  She wraps an arm around her waist and Dustin wraps his arm around her shoulder and together, she pulls them along.  She should have kept running.  Maybe she would have had a chance to escape, but their friendship has made Alex soft.  Softness has ruined Alex, but maybe, that wasn't the worst thing that could have happened to her.  Her softness allowed her to let people pierce through her exterior and burrow themselves in her heart. 

"C'mon, Dustin, we can do this," Alex encourages.

"Shit!" Mike skids to a jarring halt in front of them.

She spoke too soon.

James approaches them from the front, having looped around without them noticing.  Troy is quick to close in on them from the back.  Cornered, with nowhere left to run, the three scramble for weapons.  Dustin brandishes a twig while Alex and Mike both pick up rocks from the ground.  They stand, back-to-back and shoulder-to-shoulder, staring down the bullies that close in with each passing second.

"Stay back!" Mike shouts, brandishing the rock above his head.  "Don't come any closer!"

Mike lets out a grunt as he hurls the rock at James when he only moves closer.  It soars through the air, hard and fast, but hits the ground several feet away from James.  Alex rolls her eyes.  Now they only have two weapons between them.

"Nice throw, numbnuts," James scoffs.

Before either of them can stop him, Dustin lets out an almighty battle cry and charges at Troy with his stick.  But he's brought a knife to a gunfight, and what good is a stick going to be against a knife?  Dustin swings at his face, but Troy easily dodges out of the way and wrestles Dustin into a headlock, forcing the boy to drop the stick to the ground.  Alex watches with horror as Troy presses the blade of his knife against his throat.

"Dustin!" Alex cries.

"If you know what's best for Toothless, you'll put the rock down," Troy snarls.

Before, Alex thinks that she wouldn't have relented the rock.  She would have fought back with tooth and nail, and she would've taken any chance she could to run, even if it meant leaving Mike and Dustin behind.  Even if it meant that they got hurt in the aftermath.  After all, as Alex saw the world, it was either kill or be killed.  At the end of the day, survival was survival.  She did whatever she had to avoid any harm that would come to her, even if it was inevitable.  But Alex is different now.  Alex is softer.  Because now, there are people that care about her, and as much as she doesn't want to admit it, she cares just as much about them.

"God damn it," she whispers to herself.

She drops the rock.

Her hands remain in the air, arms bent at a ninety-degree angle to show the boys that she remains unarmed.  James takes this moment of vulnerability to pounce, and before she can fight back, his arm is tight against her windpipe, and her head snaps back into his chest.  Her tongue throbs and she tastes blood—she must have bitten her tongue—and her arm is pulled behind her back and twisted in at an odd angle.  Alex winces as she struggles in James' grip, but the arm only presses closer to her windpipe and pain shoots up her arm.

"Let them go!" Mike shouts.  "Let them go!"

"Stay back!" Troy threatens, "or I cut him!"

"What do you want?" Mike demands.

"I want to know how you did it," Troy replies.  Dustin lets out another whimper and Alex feels her heart sink in her chest.  In a way, she thinks this is her fault.  All the times she fought back, all the times bit and scratched and clawed, all amounted to this: Dustin with a knife against his throat and Mike cornered between his two friends.

"How I did what?" Mike questions.

"I know you did something to me," Troy snarls, "some nerdy science shit to make me do that."

"You mean piss your pants?"

"Our friend has superpowers," Dustin blurts.  He's writhing and squirming in Troy's grip, trying to get as far away from the edge of the knife as he can.  There's desperation in his voice and he sounds like he's going to cry.  "And she squeezed your tiny bladder with her mind."

"Shut up!" Troy snaps as he forces Dustin closer to the blade.  "I think I should save Toothless here a trip to the dentist.  Help him lose the rest of his baby teeth."

"No!  Leave him alone," Alex shouts, her voice raw and raspy with utter desperation. 

"Don't think we haven't forgotten about you, Hothead," Troy sneers, "and don't think we're not going to leave you with a permanent reminder of this.  But first...it's Frogface's turn."

"My turn for what?" Mike demands.

"Wet yourself," Troy orders.

Mike blinks.  "What?"

Alex lets out a sharp laugh.  "Are you saying your revenge is to get us to piss ourselves?  God, and I thought you guys couldn't get any stupider."

A meaty hand covers Alex's mouth and James hisses, "Shut up."  Alex glares and James uncovers her mouth.

Troy jerks his chin over to the precipice of the cliff.  Alex is too far away from the edge, but she knows what awaits them at the bottom.  Nothing but blue water.  But water will do nothing to soften Mike's fall.  Not from this height.  From this height, when you come into contact with water, the bonds that hold the molecules of the water together resist the force that your body has pushed against it.  From this height, there is no chance of survival. 

"Jump..." Troy instructs.  "Or Toothless gets an early trip to the dentist, and Hothead gets a cool new scar."

"Stop," Dustin writhes in Troy's grip, feet scrambling on the gravel.  "No."

"I'll cut him right now!" Troy screams as he brings Dustin closer to Mike.  With each small step, the knife ventures closer and closer to Dustin's skin. 

Mike glances back at Alex before turning back around to face Troy while Dustin lets out a small whimper.  He nods.  "All right, just hold on!  Hold on!"

"Mike, don't do it!  I don't need my baby teeth, Mike!" Dustin pleads, still struggling.

"Mike, don't, please!" Alex begs.  "They're going to hurt us either way."

"Mike, seriously, don't!" Dustin pleads.

Mike does not listen.  He takes those few steps toward the edge of the precipice.  The end of the pathway.  The end of it all.  Alex struggles even harder, twisting and turning and thrusting her free elbow into James, but the boy is unaffected.  The breeze ruffles his fluffy black hair and she can see his body sway, shaking slightly as rocks tumble over the edge of the precipice. 

"Mike, don't do it!" Dustin cries again.  "Seriously, don't do it, man!  Seriously, don't!"

"Mike, please!" Alex shouts, voice breaking.  "Please.  We'll find a way out of this!  Just run!"

James looks over at Mike's frail form at the edge of the cliff and his grip on Alex loosens ever so slightly, but it's enough for Alex to properly breathe again.  "Troy, I don't think this is a good idea, man," he says, voice wavering.

"Mike, don't!" Alex and Dustin both shout.

"Dentist's office opens in five..." Troy shouts, "four...three...two..."

"MIKE!" Dustin screams.

Alex struggles once again as she stares at Mike's small form, only yards away.  His shoulders are heaving and his fists are clenched at his side.  He knows just as well as Alex that he will not survive the fall, and yet he's willing to give up his life to make sure that she and his best friend will be able to live. 

"One!"

And Mike jumps.

There is a strangled scream that escapes from Mike as he disappears over the edge, and then the world falls silent. James relinquishes his grip on Alex and she stumbles forward toward the edge of the cliff, followed by Dustin, Troy, and James. Her knees buckle and her stomach churns at the idea of what she might see when she looks over the edge—a ripple and a broken body—the body that had been pulled out of the quarry only three days ago wasn't real. But this one will be.

Except, when she finally gains the courage to peer over the edge of the cliff, there is no ripple, no body, no sign that anything had disrupted the surface of the water. Instead, Mike is suspended, spread-eagle, arms and legs flailing hundreds of yards above the surface of the water. His whimpers echo off of the still surface of the water and reflect back to them. He had been only inches away from death, and yet he had accepted it to make sure that they were safe.

"Holy shit," Alex breathes.

They watch, with wide eyes and bated breath as suddenly, Mike is being pulled upwards. It's as if the puppet master of their universe has decided that he doesn't want to cut the strings of Mike's marionette just yet and instead is pulling him back up and away from danger. He soars over their heads and lands on the ground behind them with a yelp. But they aren't who he looks to as he pushes himself up. Alex, Dustin, James, and Troy all follow his stunned gaze.

There stands Eleven, fists clenched at her sides, a glare on her face as she stares down at James and Troy. Her dress is torn and stained, her white shoes are no longer white, and her wig is gone, revealing her shaved head. Dirt and blood and tears are smeared across her face, accumulated during her time away. As James and Troy step toward her, she jerks her head ever so slightly, but it is with enough force that James is knocked onto the ground. El jerks her head again, this time more violently, and snaps Troy's arm in two. Alex winches at the sound of the splitting bone as James cries out, knees buckling beneath him.

"She broke my arm!" He cries. "My arm!"

"Go," El orders.

The boys don't need to be told twice.

"Let's get out of here!" Troy cries in terror. His face is wet with tears as he scrambles up from the ground, cradling his broken arm to his chest. "Let's go!"

"Yeah, that's right!" Dustin calls after them striding forward as their forms disappear around the corner. "You better run! She's our friend, and she's crazy! You come back here, and she'll kill you! You hear me? She'll kill you, you sons of bitches!"

The ghost of Jame's grip still lingers across Alex's skin. She wants to scrub at her skin until it turns red until it blisters and feels like it's going to peel because nothing else will cleanse her from this encounter. Her knees still shake and the adrenaline that had pumped through her veins finally dissipates. Her knees buckle and she drops to the ground. The gravel digs into her palms and knees and threatens to pierce through her skin, but she pays no attention as the situation becomes all too real. Mike had almost died for them. James and Troy had genuinely wanted to hurt them. If El had arrived a few moments later...no. She shakes her head. There's no use dwelling on what could have been because here are the facts, the real, solid facts: El did not arrive too late, they are alive, Mike is alive, and El saved them.

She glances over at Mike with a newfound respect and he glances back at her.  They meet eyes for only a second, but that seems to say all the words that Alex cannot bring herself to vocalize right now.  Mike had been willing to give up his life if it meant that Dustin and Alex could live.  He hadn't even hesitated.  Alex sends Mike a sort of lopsided, exhausted smile and Mike returns it after a moment.  Dustin's gleeful laughs fill the air, and Alex cannot help but join in despite her exhaustion. Their victory is short-lived as suddenly, El collapses to the ground. Alex scrambles up, legs still tremoring, hands shaking, gravel clinging to her skin. She stumbles once on her way to El's small, frail body before she falls to her knees before her. Two streams of fresh blood drip from her nose, her head lolls to the side, and her chest rises and falls to a steady beat.

"El, are you okay?" Mike asks gently. "El?"

El's eyelids flutter open and she lets out a strangled sob as she takes in the sight of the three standing over her, all with varying expressions of concern. "Mike...I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Mike repeats.  "What are you sorry for?"

"The gate..." Another sob.  "I opened it.  I'm the monster."

"No," says Mike with a shake of his head.  "No, El, you're not the monster.  You saved me.  Do you understand?  You saved me."

El sits up and Mike pulls her into a hug.  Alex joins in after a moment, wrapping her arms around both of them.  She rests her head against El's bony shoulder and closes her eyes.  A moment later, she feels another pair of arms wrap around her and she knows that Dustin has joined the messy embrace of limbs and blood and tears.  She lets out a small breath, melting into the warmth of the hug.

This is what friendship is. 

"It's okay," she whispers.  She's not exactly sure who she's talking to; herself, or El, or Dustin, or Mike, but these are the words that she needs to hear the most.  "It's going to be okay."

author's note: this was a whirlwind, and also kinda shitty.  BUT i love these kiddos with my whole heart.