Chapter 28: The Barb Rescue
The Pain Heal activated and agony slammed into me like freight train.
Hypothermia as ice spreading through my veins. Infection as fire in my blood. Lacerations as white-hot lines across my torso. Missing fingers as phantom screaming from my own hand.
I gasped, doubled over, but held contact.
Thirty percent absorption. Two-times healing acceleration. Five-minute maximum contact.
Barb's breathing steadied. Color returned to her face. The infections began responding—not cured, but reduced enough for her body to fight back.
Fifty seconds. The phantom pain intensifying.
One hundred seconds. My vision blurring.
One hundred fifty seconds.
Barb opened her eyes fully. "Steve? What are you—"
"Healing you. Stay still."
Two hundred seconds. The pain peaking. Hypothermia making me shake, infections burning, everything wrong.
Can't hold it. Too much. Too long.
I broke contact at two-forty, stumbled back.
The agony didn't leave. Phantom pain lingering—I felt Barb's injuries as echoes in my nervous system. Ice and fire. Missing fingers I could still sense.
"Jesus," Hopper breathed. "What did you just do?"
"Transferred her pain. Accelerated her healing." I forced myself upright despite shaking. "She's stable enough to move. We need to go. Now."
Nancy supported Barb. "Can you walk?"
"I... yeah. I think so." Barb tested her legs. Weak but functional. "What happened? I feel better. Not good, but better."
"Explain later. Move now." I grabbed my bat, checked the time. Two-oh-five AM. Two hours until gate closure. "Half-mile back to the lab. Straight shot if we're lucky."
We weren't lucky.
The clicking started before we'd gone fifty meters.
The Demogorgon emerged from the ruined high school building—covered in vines, walls collapsed, but the shape still recognizable.
It saw us. Shrieked. Charged.
"Run!" I shoved Nancy and Barb forward. "Hopper, cover them! I'll hold it!"
"Steve—"
"GO!"
They ran. Hopper half-carrying Barb, Nancy providing support.
The Demogorgon closed distance—forty meters, thirty, twenty.
Fight Master calculations: Injured from previous encounter. Left side favoring, minor limp. Face wound still bleeding. Aggressive but compromised. Use that.
I stood my ground until it was ten meters away.
Then I threw my bat.
The creature's face opened to shriek—perfect target. Bat tumbled end-over-end, nails catching in the petals of flesh, stuck there.
The Demogorgon clawed at its own face, trying to remove the weapon.
I used those three seconds to run.
Caught up with the others at the decayed library. Nancy glanced back, saw me, relief flooding her face.
"Keep moving!" I grabbed a length of pipe from the debris. "It's coming!"
The monster burst through walls behind us. Bat gone, face fully open, pissed.
"Left!" I pointed at the alley between buildings. "Cut through there!"
We ran through nightmare Hawkins. Every landmark familiar but wrong—the movie theater collapsed, the diner rotted, Melvald's just twisted metal.
The Demogorgon crashed through everything. Didn't bother with doors or alleys. Just smashed through walls, single-minded pursuit.
Barb stumbled. Nancy caught her. "Come on, you can do this!"
"Can't... can't run anymore..."
The creature gaining. Twenty meters. Fifteen.
I grabbed a rusted shopping cart, heaved it into the Demogorgon's path. It crashed through without slowing.
"Hopper! Suggestions?"
"Keep running!"
"Great tactical advice!"
Ten meters.
The lab appeared ahead through the ash-fog. Familiar chain-link fence. Guard towers. Containment building.
Almost there.
The Demogorgon lunged.
Claws raked across my back—three lines of fire. I screamed, stumbled, caught myself on fence.
"STEVE!" Nancy spun, rifle up.
"Don't stop!" I rolled under another swipe. "Get to the gate!"
She hesitated one fatal second.
The Demogorgon's tail—I hadn't known it had a tail—whipped out, caught Nancy across the ribs. She flew six feet, hit ground hard, rifle skittering away.
"Nancy!" Hopper dropped Barb, moved to help.
The creature stood between us and them. Face fully open. Clicking triumphant.
It's herding us. Separated Nancy and Hopper from me and Barb. Smart. Terrifying.
I grabbed Barb, dragged her behind a collapsed car. "Stay down."
"Steve, your back—"
"I know." Blood running hot down my spine. Three deep gashes. "Stay quiet."
The Demogorgon stalked toward Nancy and Hopper. Slow. Methodical. Hunting.
Hopper positioned himself between the monster and Nancy. No weapon. No ammunition. Just his body as shield.
"Come on," Hopper said quietly. "You want someone? Take me."
The creature lunged.
I moved without thinking.
Sprinted from cover, pipe held like spear, Fight Master calculating trajectory.
The Demogorgon's face opened wide for the killing strike on Hopper.
I drove the pipe straight into its throat.
Black blood exploded. The creature shrieked, thrashed, threw me fifteen feet.
I hit the ground, rolled, came up with pipe still in hand—ripped from the monster's throat as I flew.
The Demogorgon stumbled. Not dead. Not even close. But hurt. Bleeding from mouth and throat and face.
"Gate!" I gasped. "Everyone! Now!"
Hopper grabbed Nancy. I grabbed Barb. We ran as unit.
The lab entrance—blast doors sealed but side entrance still open from our infiltration.
Through corridors. Down stairs. Sublevel One. Two. Three.
Behind us: crashes. Shrieks. The Demogorgon following.
The containment chamber door—heavy steel, still open.
We burst through.
The gate pulsed weakly—shrinking, four hours almost up, membrane thinning.
"Down!" I pointed at the grappling line still hanging. "Rappel now!"
Nancy went first despite injured ribs. Hopper second with Barb over his shoulder. I grabbed the line—
The Demogorgon crashed through the chamber door.
Blood pouring from multiple wounds. Face barely functional. But still coming. Still hunting.
It's going to follow us through. Bring the nightmare into normal Hawkins.
Can't let that happen.
I pulled the Grappling Hook release. The line detached, fell into the gate with Nancy and the others.
Then I grabbed the chamber door and pulled.
Three years of enhanced strength from Fight Master. Every muscle screaming. Door weighing hundreds of pounds.
It moved. Inch by inch. The Demogorgon charging.
I got it halfway closed when the creature hit it from the other side.
Impact threw me back. Door held. The monster trapped outside the chamber, shrieking fury.
But the gate was still open. Still pulsing. Beginning final collapse.
I looked down. Nancy and Hopper on the other side, normal lab, safety.
Looked at the chamber door. The Demogorgon trying to break through.
If I jump now, the door opens. The monster follows. Everyone dies.
If I stay, I hold the door. Make sure it can't cross. Gate closes with me on the wrong side.
No choice at all.
I braced against the door, shoulder screaming, back bleeding, entire body one continuous wound.
"Steve!" Nancy's voice from below, distant. "Jump!"
"Can't! It'll follow!"
"The gate's closing!"
"I know!"
Hopper's voice: "Steve, you jump right now or you die here!"
"Hold the door," I grunted. "That's the mission. Complete the mission."
The gate contracted. Six feet across. Five. Four.
The Demogorgon slamming against door. Steel bending. I couldn't hold much longer.
Three feet.
Two.
Then something grabbed me from below.
Invisible force yanking me toward the gate. I lost grip on the door, flew backwards, tumbled through the shrinking portal—
—and crashed onto concrete in normal Hawkins Lab.
Eleven stood above me. Nose bleeding rivers. Eyes rolled back. Both hands extended.
"Friends," she whispered. "Don't leave friends."
The gate snapped closed behind me. Sealed. The Demogorgon's final shriek cut off mid-sound.
Silence.
We'd done it. Will extracted. Barb extracted. Everyone home.
I tried to stand. Collapsed. Blood loss and Pain Heal exhaustion and Fight Master burnout hitting simultaneously.
"Steve!" Nancy caught me before my head hit ground. "Stay awake. Don't you dare—"
Darkness took me.
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