"It knows exactly where we are! It saw us, it was taunting us." I rushed to the windows from my manic state, looking for any visible sign and still reeling from the visual of Billy fresh within my mind. He was fighting the Flayer with all his might, trying everything he could to escape and help because I know he doesn't want to do these horrible things that the Flayer is making him do.

"Billy was in so much pain......" I could barely focus on the task at hand, too preoccupied with the thoughts of Billy out there, controlled by this bastard and helpless to stop him. Until the sudden reverberating sounds I knew all too well filled the darkened forest around the cabin with an ominous groan, warning us that he was here. And he wasn't backing down.

"Come on Lan! Get away from the window!" Jonathan's sudden hands on my arms startled me back to the here and now, doing everything I could to be strong and fight, when all I wanted to do was cry and scream, scream in frustration. I barely made it away from the window before it was completely shattered to the ground and the arms of the monster flung into the cabin with all its might, going straight for El and I. One her way, one mine. It broke right through the roof to have instant access to us all, along with reaching in through the walls. The growls of the monster sent screams from my lips the minute it attached to my leg and hauled me up into the air right out of Jonathan's arms, throwing me around the cabin into the walls and shelves lining the once neat walls. I was barely coherent once it had enough fun with damaging my body for its own pleasure, lifting me further into the air towards its now exposed rows of sharp teeth with the most intense pain coursing through my leg that I've ever felt before in my life. Tears were falling from my eyes and to the ground, pleading for someone to get me down. It wanted to kill me.

"Laaaaaan!!!" Jonathan roared my name through the air, trying desperately to grab my hands along with Nancy, when Eleven screamed out into the night with all her might, forcing the monsters grip off of my leg and dropping me to the ground with a thud, crying out in pain the moment my hurt leg connected with the wooden floor below me. More tentacles from the monster bust throughout the house to reach El and I further, each being stopped by the force of her power, completely ripping them apart and landing them to the ground. Her nose was bleeding like crazy and she was extremely exhausted, but she kept going, ripping each new tentacle that came within reach of us right off it's body.

"Shoot it!!! Shoot it!!!" Along with El's strength and Nancy's amazing aim, they started the process of getting it away from us. My leg was throbbing like crazy the moment I managed to get up off the ground and scream with all my might at the horrible being looking down upon us from the open hole in the roof, wanting nothing more than to end this thing. My screams seemed to echo out all around the cabin with the most deafening sound to accompany it, sending the monster rearing back from the mere sound of it, El's strength and Nancy's shots doing its magic as well. It suddenly was ripped in half at the top, its deafening growls filling the night air once we all managed to make our escape out the door from it being distracted. Jonathan and Nancy got me into the car with Eleven and Max sitting right with me while I practically cried from every possible thought going through my mind.

"Let's go!!! Now!!!" We sped off down the drive as fast as we could with everyone panicking from what just happened within the cabin, knowing this was far from over. I was overwhelmed with pain.

"We have to get to a supply store or something. We need to clean up Lana's leg. And quick." Max's worried eyes greeted mine as I laid my head in her lap to calm down the pain coursing through me, trying not to even think about it. It was slowly fading from my mind, but Billy was far from my thoughts. I could feel him.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We managed to make it to the thankfully closed Bradley's Big Buy without any problems or unexpected followers, barley making it into the store with the shooting pain in my leg taking over my senses. Jonathan and Nancy sat me down on the ground and exposed my leg to see the damage, and it was oozing blood. It looked terrible.

"Guys..... that thing we saw..... it's something he's creating. Out of people..... his army." Nancy and Jonathan looked surprised that I knew anything about it. But I knew more than they thought. I could see things, almost like I did before with Will. It was creating something horrible to take over the world, make its own. It's much worse this time.

"We know. We've been investigating it for the paper. And didn't realize what it was until now. You see what he's doing?" I slowly nodded with pained etched onto my face the moment the cover the wound to stop the bleeding, my tears rolling once more from every single thing I was seeing and feeling. Mostly from Billy. It was intense. Much more intense than it was when this first started.

"Yeah.... I feel Billy. I see him. I see what he sees sometimes. It's bad. Real bad." I laid my head against the shelf behind me, calming my racing heart from the rush of intensity coursing through me, feeling as if Billy is close by.

"We need water and soap to clean this. A bowl of water also." I grinned a little at Max for trying to distract me, knowing just how troubled I was over Billy, and seeing how strong she was actually being. I know it's hurting her to. More than she'll say. Everyone eventually left to look for the supplies to clean my leg, leaving just Max and I to wait. I softly took her hands in mine to soothe both of us from the mixed emotions we both felt.

"You're amazing Mad Max. I know this is hard. But.... we have each other. Billy knows we're still here and not going anywhere. I promise." She eyed me for a moment in thought, fighting the tears she so badly wanted to let escape.

"I know Billy is a major asshole, but he's still my brother. He's just been through so much. His mom...... it hurt him so badly that he just became a whole other person. He didn't want me around what so ever. And I didn't either at first. But he's changed so much in the last few months. I don't want to lose him Lan...." I softly hugged her to me with her words bringing on even more tears, knowing exactly how she felt.

"We're going to do everything we can to get him back. I don't care what it is, I will find a way." I kissed her forehead with a little smile to comfort her troubled mind, when a muffled voice suddenly came through the walkie talkie we had on us just in case. And I about cried even more from relief once I realized who it was.

"Dusty?! Is that you?! Are you safe?!" I jerked it up off the ground and held on to the button for dear life for him to hear me, irritated from the cutting in and out of his voice. I've been worried sick about him, wondering where he was all this time.

"Lana!!!! I'm so sorry I've been MIA. I'm not mad at anyone. But this is a code red!!! I've been trapped..." He was talking a mile a minute and breaking up so horribly, I could barely make out what he said. Only a code red and trapped is all I heard.

"Dust! Slow down! You're cutting out. I can barely hear you." I was panicking, trying to listen so intently to what was happening and just having that sisterly feeling that he was in danger.

"The..... Russians....... Hawkins..... Drive!!!!" I stood up as best as I could with Max helping me, trying to get a better signal to hear him correctly, but to no avail. He was cutting out even worse.

"Dust!!! Are you there?! Whatever is going on, stay hidden!!!" It went silent on his side, causing me to scream In frustration from the thought of him in danger.

"What's going on?!" Nancy and Jonathan came running back from all of the commotion, seeing my irritated gaze. My leg was quickly forgotten from the mere thought of Dustin out there somewhere in danger. I didn't care about myself. Only my brother.

"Something is wrong with Dustin. I couldn't make out a whole lot of what he said. Only, Russian, Hawkins, and Drive. We need El to find him! Please!" I did my best to sprint towards everyone, rushing to get to Eleven to find Dustin and go save him. What did he mean by Russians?!

"El! We need you. Can you find Dustin? He's in trouble!" Her wide eyes and slight nod made me feel a little better, knowing she could find him pretty quickly. But the nagging feeling in my bones wouldn't stop. Billy is close. Even closer than before.

"We have to hurry! Billy is close....." Mike helped El get prepared to look for Dustin while I ran to the front of the store to look out for anything suspicious. I felt so horrible having Mike, Eleven, Max, Lucas and Will here in this mess. And in danger as well. I would do anything to keep them safe. That's why I'm glad I was the one that got hurt and not them.

"He's at the movies!" I jumped a little from the sudden voice of Lucas behind me with everyone else in tow, seeing the cart full of fireworks. And I didn't even want to know why.

"Really Lucas? Fireworks?" We all ran out of the store before anything else could happen, loading everything up as fast as we could.

"Don't knock the plan Lana. You never know if we'll need them." I smiled a little with a nod, really only focusing my eyes on the darkened road ahead of us before we all got into the car to head to Starcourt. And that's when I saw him. Billy, staring me down from the back window. I watched him until he was completely out of sight from me, feeling the worst kind of pain in my heart. I love him so incredibly much and wanted to do anything I could to save him. And that's what I intended to do.