So! This starts off the same morning that Mike and El are "forced" to go out, meaning I just split this chapter and the last into two, but it's all going down at about the same time! We have a bit of the Party exploring the mall, but we mostly end up with Max and El having a little girl time and they explore as well!
"Anyone know where Dustin is?" Lucas asked as the group of friends rode their bikes towards the mall. El rode on the back of Max's, standing up with her hands on her shoulders for support, smiling as she felt the wind blow her hair back. Mike nearly crashed a couple of times looking at her.
"Mike and I both tried to contact him." Will said. "We didn't get a response- and Mike even called his house and his mom said he wasn't there."
"He's probably still trying to contact his girlfriend." Max said, shaking her head.
"Or driving Steve up the wall at work." Mike added.
"True."
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving." Lucas said. "I didn't eat breakfast and my mom gave me some cash. You guys wanna get Burger King?"
"You know Mike does." Will snorted.
"Shut up." Mike grumbled. "El's never had it, so she gets to try it."
"Yes." El grinned.
"My mom gave me a twenty earlier." Will said. "She was super distracted- something about the magnets not working on the fridge."
"Holly's letter's weren't working last night she flipped her shit." Mike said. "Weird, defective magnets I guess. I don't know what could cause it."
"Genius Mike Wheeler doesn't know what could cause magnets to stop working? I'm shocked!" Max exclaimed.
"If El wasn't riding with you I'd push you off your bike."
"With those noodle arms?" she asked. Mike glared at her. El bopped her on the top of the head gently.
"Don't be mean to Bean." she replied easily and Mike almost choked.
"He just threatened me!" Max whined.
"You were mean." El said, bopping her again. Max couldn't help but snort.
"Thanks, El." Mike smiled at her and she smiled back.
They arrived at the mall, chaining their bikes to the bike rack and wasting absolutely no time in running inside, Mike and El's hand's tightly clasped together. They reached the food court in no time, El bumping into people as she looked around in awe at all the lights and people, all the colors and different stores. Mike was on a mission to get to Burger King, so she didn't really have time to take it all in until they were sitting at a table, inhaling their burgers and fries.
"It's so… pretty." she said, popping a fry in her mouth, twisting in her seat a couple times as she looked around.
"Like you, El." Lucas deepened his voice and did a weird thing with his hand.
"Shut up, I don't even sound like that." Mike threw a pickle that fell off his burger at him.
"Hey, I don't want your nasty table pickles. Keep that shit over there." he threw it back at him, and it landed on his napkin. Mike stuck his tongue out at him.
It continued like that until they were done with their food, bellies satisfied, and Max- despite Mike's best efforts- dragged El off to do some real shopping, leaving the boys to their own devices, which, in the long run, probably wasn't a good idea.
Steve turned to the two girls, flashing them a grin.
"Okay, here you go, you got a strawberry and then a vanilla with sprinkles with extra whipped cream." Steve gave them their ice cream, and finally realized it was both Max and El, said, "Are you even supposed to be here?"
"Dad grounded me and Mike from doing homework. Called him dense." El said and Max snorted.
"Wheeler is dense, correct." Steve agreed.
"I don't know what that means." she replied, cocking her head to the side.
"Ask him, he'll explain it to you." Steve told her. "Speaking of that demon child, where is he, if you two are supposed to be out on the town or whatever?"
"He's fucking around the perfume with Will and Lucas." Max told him, putting a hand on her hip as she and El stood at the side of the counter, so Steve could get the next customer. She looked back at them. "Lucas just sprayed him in the face with perfume, so we should probably go fix that. Come on El, bye Steve!" she called, dragging El with her.
"Bye Steve!" El repeated, waving her ice cream at him.
"Bye!"
"Why in the hell would you spray me in the face!" Mike exclaimed, digging the heel of his hands into his eyes.
"You shouldn't have opened your eyes!" Lucas argued.
"You don't spray it in someone's face, Lucas." Will smacked him on the arm and lifted his hands up to Mike's face, forcing one of his eyes open.
"Ow, what the hell, Will?" Mike hissed.
"I was just seeing if it was red!" Will said.
"Well, is it?" Mike grumbled.
"Very. You look high."
"Oh that's fun." Mike huffed.
"Damn, if it hurts that bad go rinse your eyes out in the bathroom sink." Lucas rolled his eyes. "Ask El, I'm sure she'll help you."
"No." Mike replied, squinting at him. "I'm not a big bitch like you that needs his girlfriend to rinse his eyes out for him."
"What about girlfriends and rinsing eyes out?" Max asked, she and El popping up behind them.
"Mike called Lucas a big bitch." Will quipped.
"Why?" El asked.
"Because apparently, I needed Max's help to rinse my eyes out when Dustin sprayed me with hairspray." Lucas poked Mike's eye and Mike slapped his hand, looking at him as if he were offended. "He said he doesn't need his girlfriend to do that for him."
"Well, aren't you a big boy, Wheeler?" Max cooed. Mike scowled at her, but his look immediately softened when El walked up to him and looked at his eyes.
"Do you need help?" she asked.
"No, I'm fine." he chuckled. "It stings a little but it's not that bad." She nodded, and offered her ice cream to him. "No, I'm good. Thank you though." she nodded again and leaned into him as she ate her ice cream.
"Whipped." Lucas coughed.
"Literally shut the hell up." Mike grumbled. He then noticed El's new outfit, he had no idea what you would call it, but it was colorful and it looked awesome on her. "I like your new style." he told her, grinning. She blushed.
"Thank you." she told him. "I have more, I can show them to you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. Max and I are having a sleepover."
"At the cabin, don't worry, Wheeler." Max smacked him on the back a couple times. "I'm not taking her anywhere around the hell hole I live in."
"I mean it's cool, I just… I thought we'd be here longer."
"We're not leaving yet, you dummy." she rolled her eyes. "El still needs to experience a real movie, in a movie theater. Right, El?"
"Right." she nodded in agreement.
After a day full of colors and lights, and a literal sad goodbye from Mike and El, Max and El were hanging out in El's room, listening to music and looking at magazines. Max was holding El's hair brush, pretending it was a microphone and singing along to the music, and El bobbed her head a little to the beat. Max paused when she saw a certain face in a magazine, grinning at the look on El's face.
"Oh, you found Ralph Macchio." she sat on her knees and looked at the magazine in El's hands.
"Macchio?" El asked.
"Yeah, he's the Karate Kid. Hai-yah!" She karate chopped the magazine and El laughed. "He's so hot, right?" El shrugged at that. He had a nice face, but she liked Mike's face more. "I bet he's an amazing kisser, too. Hey, um… actually, out of pure curiosity… Is Mike a good kisser?"
"I don't know." she shrugged again. "I like it. He's my first boyfriend, I don't want to kiss anyone else."
"Not even Ralph Macchio?" Max wiggled her eyebrows and El giggled, shaking her head.
"Not even him." she replied.
"I wonder what they're doing right now." Max said. "Because they'd be oh so lonely without us!" she sighed dramatically, and El grinned. "What?"
Ten minutes later, the girls were laughing their asses off on the floor, having checked in on the boys in the void, only to find them burping, farting, eating junk food and watching movies. Hopper came home once they calmed down, totally expecting to see that Mike smothered his way into the house with more school work, but was glad to see magazines and clothes all over the place.
Once he'd gone back into the living room, leaving them to themselves, Max had a great idea and made up a game.
"It landed on Will, and we know what those idiots are doing. Spin again." Max told her.
"Against the rules?" El asked, confused.
"We make our own rules." El grinned and spun again.
"Billy." they chorused. Max stood up to grab the radio off of El's dresser.
"Okay, look, I should just warn you, if he's with a girl or doing something gross," she sat back on the bed and gave El her blindfold, "just get out of there right away, before you're scarred for life."
"Max…"
"No, I'm just saying, I'm serious. He's really gross."
"Max!" El laughed.
"Okay, shutting up now." Max snickered. El tied the blindfold around her head, and the two sat in silence for a bit.
In the void, El heard a car running, and looked to the side, only to see Billy's car, the headlights nearly blinding her. She walked towards it, noticing the cracked windshield, and leaned down to look inside as she walked by it. The trunk was open, and she heard an odd noise and looked in front of her, and she saw him, kneeling on the ground.
"I found him."
"What's he doing?" Max asked.
"I don't know."
Don't be afraid.
"He's… on the floor…"
It'll be over soon.
"Talking to someone."
Just stay very still.
It sounded like someone crying, their voice muffled.
Suddenly, he stood, and stared directly at El, making eye contact, and she ripped the blindfold off. El's nose was bleeding, and her eyes were read, a few tears having already slipped out.
"What is it? What happened?"
Tuesday, July 2, 1985
Thunder rolled in the distance as El and Max walked down the side of the road, headed towards Max's house.
"It's gonna start pouring soon. We should be at the mall or watching a movie or something." Max huffed. El looked at her.
"You don't believe me?" she asked.
I believe you saw some super weird stuff, totally, but you said Mike has sensed you in there before, right?"
"Yes," El nodded.
"So maybe it was just like that. Maybe Billy just… sensed you somehow."
"But the screams…"
"Yeah, I know," Max couldn't help but roll her eyes at the thought. "But here's the thing. When Billy is alone with a girl, they make, like, really crazy noises."
"They scream?" El made a face.
"Yeah, but, like... happy screams."
"Happy screams? What is happy screams?"
"It's like…" Max sighed. "I'm just gonna lend you my mom's Cosmo." she offered. El nodded. She had no idea what that was.
"His car's not here." Max said as they stopped in front of the house. "You really want to do this?" she asked. El nodded, and they headed inside. No one was home, which wasn't unusual these days. Max led her down the hallway, and opened Billy's bedroom door. The door squeaked. "Why do I get the feeling we're gonna find all kinds of wrong in here?" she opened the drawer on his bedside table, and immediately groaned. "Ugh! Gag me with a spoon."
They continued on into the bathroom, and El looked into the bathtub, which was full of water with plastic bags floating inside, the word ice written on them.
"Max?" Max walked up beside her and leaned down to pick up one of the bags.
"Ice. It's just ice. Probably for his muscles or something. He works out like a maniac." El looked at her for a moment, then something caught her eye on the cabinets under the sink. Blood. She opened both doors of the sink and brought out a green container, looking inside.
"El, what is it?" Max asked, and El reached inside, bringing out a red bag with a white cross and the word GUARD on it. Max's eyes widened, and then, El pulled out a bloody, yellow whistle.
"Do you guys hear that? It sounds like… Thunder. But wait! That's not thunder, it's..." Will continued on with his story, and Mike and Lucas were definitely enjoying it, but Dustin wasn't there, and neither were Max and El, and they just weren't feeling it.
"What should I do?" Mike asked Lucas.
"Uh, attack?"
"Okay, um, I attack with my flare." Mike said.
"Woosh! You missed!"
Mike rolled his eyes as Will continued, rolling his dice. This went on for a few minutes, until the phone rang, and it ended up just being telemarketers, rather than Max and El calling to see if they wanted to hang out. Mike and Lucas acted out a win and Will was fed up with it.
"Fine! You two win." he turned the music off.
"Will, I was just messing around." Mike walked towards him and Will glared. "Let's finish for real. How much longer is the campaign-"
"Just forget it, Mike."
"No! We wanna keep playing, right?" Mike looked at Lucas.
"Yeah! We want to keep playing."
"We can-"
"I said forget it, Mike! I'm going home."
"Come on, Will!" Lucas exclaimed and Will pushed him out of the way and stormed up the stairs. Mike huffed and followed him.
It was pouring out as Will walked out of the garage door.
"Come on, Will. I'm sorry. You can't leave, it's raining." Will ignored him and continued digging inside his bag. "It's a cool campaign, Will, really! We're just… not in the mood right now."
"Yeah, Mike. You're never in the mood anymore. You're ruining our party."
"That's not true!" Mike was hurt by the words.
"Really? Where's Dustin right now?"
"It's not like we haven't tried to contact him!"
"You don't seem to care all that much, and honestly, neither does he. And I really don't blame him. All you and Lucas do is make googly eyes at Max and El and- and it's ridiculous! All you two do is swap spit with dumb girls!"
"Hey! They're not dumb Will! It's not my fault you don't like girls!" Will stared at him, as if daring him to continue. Mike sighed. "Look, I'm not trying to be a dick. Okay? But we're not kids anymore, Will. What did you think? That we'd never get girlfriends? That we're just gonna sit in my basement all day for the rest of our lives?"
"Yeah," Will scoffed. "Yeah, I guess I did." he climbed on his bike and rode off, not caring about how cold the water was, ignoring Mike's calls for him to come back.
"Will, come on!"
Lucas stayed in the basement, probably asleep again, so Mike immediately went to his mom's room, where she was reading, Rosie lying at her feet, sleeping peacefully.
"What was all that noise I heard down there?" she asked. Mike let out a deep breath through his nose and fell on the bed next to her, burying his face in a pillow.
"I'm an asshole." he said, voice muffled.
"What happened?" She placed a bookmark in the book and put it on the bedside table, rolling onto her side to look at him.
"Will wrote a campaign, and we've been playing since we woke up this morning." Mike explained. "And I just… I haven't been feeling it, you know? I still love the game and all but… the Party has just been divided, I guess. Dustin was away at camp, and now we can't find him, and Max and El are off doing who knows what." he groaned into the pillow.
"So how does that make you an asshole?"
"A telemarketer called and I guess Will could tell how… relieved, I was to answer the phone instead of play. But I wasn't trying to be an asshole, and me and Lucas kind of made up our own ending, and it made him mad. He started to leave and I followed him to try and make him stay, and we kind of got into an argument." Karen nodded, listening to her son ramble. "He said all that me and Lucas do is make googly eyes at El and Max and then he called them dumb. That pissed me off but I tried not to yell at him, and said that it wasn't my fault he didn't like girls yet and that we aren't kids anymore. We're not gonna sit in the basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives." Karen frowned, because it was getting to that point that it was true, and she didn't like it, but she couldn't do anything to stop it. They were growing up.
"Maybe he's feeling left out? He's been through a lot."
"I know he has, mom. And if he's left out he just has to speak up! I've tried not to make him feel that way. I don't know." he rolled over onto his back. "And he said that I was ruining the party. Me. And that really hurt, because that's the exact opposite of what I've been trying to do."
Karen knew that. She saw how he tried to include everyone when they were together. She also remembered that night he finally talked to everyone, how he begged them not to leave him. She truly didn't know what to do.
"That's… a lot. I don't think you've ruined anything, baby. You're trying your best."
"That's not good enough. Never has been, I guess." he shrugged.
"No, we're not gonna go there. We're done with that talk." she said, voice stern. He looked at her. "You are doing your best, and no less. You're an amazing friend, Mike. Never forget that. Did he leave?" she asked.
"Yeah. It's raining." he said, voice flat.
"Lord." she sighed. "Joyce is gonna have a cow. You and Lucas get your rain coats on and go after him. Don't give up so easily, Mike. It'll all be okay."
Max and El ended up going to the pool, only to find that neither Heather or Billy showed up for their shift today. El saw a bulletin board with pictures on it, and walked over to it, eyes zeroing in on Heather's picture.
"Heather. Do you think you could find her?" Max asked. El looked back at the two employees in the office, the girl laughing at something the guy had said. She turned back, and ripped the photo off the board.
And that's how El found herself, sitting on the floor of the showers, each shower running, the door locked, and a pair of goggles covered in duct tape, Heather's picture in front of her. Max sat on a bench behind her, and watched her quietly.
In the void, the first thing El saw was a mailbox with fourteen thirty-eight hanging underneath it. She walked closer and placed a hand on top, and to her left, a red door shimmered into existence.
"What do you see?" Max asked.
"A door. A red door."
She opened it, and on the other side was a white bathtub. She walked closer, it was full of ice.
Suddenly, Heather burst out of the water, gasping for breath.
Help me. Help me!
She was yanked under again, and with it, the bathtub disappeared, and El fell to her knees, and she could see Heather being pulled further and further under the water. El held out her hands, but it was of no use. There was no way to save her. She ripped the goggles off, chest heaving.
"What happened? El!" El looked at Max, pure fear in her eyes.
Mike and Lucas were absolutely soaking wet when they reached the Byers house, and Mike immediately started banging on the door, calling for Will.
But Will wasn't in the house, he was sitting in Castle Byers, flipping through a comic book, but it wasn't interesting to him in the slightest. He sighed and threw it down, looking around until his eyes landed on a Dungeons and Dragons book. He could hear Mike's voice now.
Something is coming. Something hungry for blood.
What is it?
What if it's the Demogorgon?
Oh Jesus, we're screwed if it's the Demogorgon!
It's not the Demogorgon!
He turned to look at a drawing hanging up, of himself in costume.
Will your action!
Fireball!
His eyes went down to the pictures, one of them at the science fair, the other at Halloween last year. He picked the latter up
Who ya gonna call?
Ghostbusters!
"It's stupid. It's so stupid." he hated the fact that he was crying, but he needed it. He was so angry. He ripped the picture up and threw it, then ripped the drawing and anything else hanging up down. Then, he picked up a baseball bat, and with purpose, stomped out of Castle Byers.
He screamed and cried as he swung at the wood, until the Castle Byers sign fell off, and he threw the bat down, pulling at the wood until it fell down. Then he finally fell to the ground, and cried.
After a few minutes, the skin on the back of his neck tingled, and he brought his hand up to touch it. He stood up, breathing hard, and then he heard his friends calling his name, and they ran up behind him.
"Will? Are you okay?" Mike asked, voice loud over the storm. Will turned around slowly, and stared Mike in the eye.
"He's back."
"Is this it?" Max asked, unable to keep the slightly annoyed tone out of her voice. Thankfully, EL didn't notice, too focused on the house in front of them. Forgive Max for not wanting to be out in the pouring rain, and would rather be inside in her comfortable bed, sleeping or reading comics.
Without a second thought, El unlocked the door and opened it, wiping the blood from under her nose, and they stepped in. Max stopped in front of a framed photo, a mom, dad and daughter.
"This is her house." Max muttered.
"What?" El whispered.
"Heather's house." Max said.
There was loud music in another room, and a woman laughed loudly, and they both turned their heads in the direction of the sound.
"Isn't that cute, huh?" a man said, voice quiet.
"He's so funny." the lady laughed.
The three sitting at the table- Heather's parents, and Billy stopped their conversation the moment Max and El stepped into view.
"Max?" Billy said, an odd, happy look on his face. Max blinked
"We didn't mean to... barge in." Max said, looking back and forth between the three seated at the table. "We tried to knock, but… maybe you didn't hear us over the storm." she pointed at the window.
"I'm sorry, who is this dripping all over my living room right now?" Heather's dad said, looking at them with almost… disgust.
"I'm sorry." Billy let out a loud laugh, and gestured to each person he referred to as he said, "Janet, Tom, this… is my sister, Maxine." he tossed his napkin on the table and stood, as Janet let out a happy,
"Oh!"
"What on earth are you doing here? Is something wrong?" he asked, oddly cheerful. That was definitely weird.
"We just wanted to make sure everything was okay."
"Okay? Why wouldn't it be okay?"
"Where is she?" El cut right to the chase, staring him down.
"I'm sorry. Where is who?"
"Well, they're a little burnt, I'm sorry…" Heather walked in carrying a tray of cookies, stopping quickly when she noticed the two girls standing in front of Billy.
"Heather! This is my sister, Maxine." he turned to El, staring right back into her eyes. "And, I'm sorry, I did not quite catch your name."
"El." she said flatly.
"El. Now, what is it you were saying, El? You were looking for somebody?"
"I... I saw… I saw you…" El started, but Max interrupted.
"Your manager. At the pool. He said you guys didn't come in to work today, so we got worried." she offered, hoping that would be a good excuse.
"Heather wasn't feeling so hot today, so we thought we'd take the day off to nurse her back to health." he looked over at her, crossing his hands in front of his body. "But you're feeling just fine right now, aren't you, Heather?"
"I'm feeling so much better. Do you girls want a cookie? They're fresh out of the oven."
Max and El decided to go back to Max's for the night, so that Max could show her some of her things, considering Billy more than likely wouldn't be going home tonight, and Neil and Max's mom were nowhere to be found.
"Which one?" Max asked, holding up two comic books as El walked back into her bedroom from brushing her teeth.
"I don't know." she said as she made herself comfortable next to Max.
"Hey, there's nothing to worry about anymore, okay?"
"It doesn't make sense."
"What doesn't make sense?"
"Heather. The blood. The ice."
"Heather had a fever, so she took a cold bath, but she's better now. That has to be it." Max said, shrugging. " I don't know where that blood came from, but… we saw her. We both saw her. She's totally fine." Max waved her off.
"What about Billy?" El continued, brows furrowed.
"What about him?"
"He seemed wrong."
"Wrong is kind of like his default." Max scoffed. "But it's nice to know he's not a murderer, because that would've totally sucked." Max grinned, chuckling, and El smiled back, letting it go for now, and looked at the comic book on the bed in front of them.
"Who... is that?" she asked.
"See, this is why you can't just hang out with Mike all the time." Max snorted, and continued on to explain who the woman in the comic was.. "This is Wonder Woman. AKA Princess Diana. She's from Paradise Island, which is, like, this hidden island where there are only women Amazon warriors."
Wednesday, July 3, 1985
Max and El were rudely awakened by Max's supercom going off, Lucas' voice repeating the same thing over and over.
"Do you copy? This is a code red. I repeat, this is a code red. Max. Do you copy? This is a code red." she picked it up, hair all in her face, and said,
"Shut… up." she slammed the antenna down and turned it off, tossing it down and turning over in the bed.
Then the phone rang.
"You've got to be kidding me." she hissed, throwing the covers off and storming over to the phone.
"I'm sleeping. Go away." she started to slam the phone back down until she heard Mike's voice.
"This is Mike. Do not hang up. Something happened, something bad. Our very lives can be at stake."
"What are you talking about?"
"Just come over to my house. We'll explain everything."
"What?" she asked.
"Hurry." he hung up.
"What did he say?" El asked. Max looked at her for a moment and sighed.
"It's too early for this shit."
At the Wheeler's, they were trying to get in contact with Dustin.
"Try Dustin again." Mike said.
"He's not answering." Lucas said.
"So, try him again." Mike demanded.
"Dustin, do you copy? I repeat, this is a code red."
They'd barely had time to greet each other before Will was explaining what happened, and Mike made a mental note to compliment El on her outfit for the day when they had a moment to themselves. If they did.
"I didn't think it was anything at first. I mean, I think I just didn't want to believe it. The first time I felt it was at Day of the Dead." Will shivered just thinking about it.
"Power went out that night, too." Mike said.
"And then I felt it again at the field near the Nelson farm the next day. Then again yesterday outside Castle Byers."
"What does it feel like?" Max asked.
"It's almost like… You know when you drop on a roller coaster?"
"Sure."
"Yeah."
"No." El's response didn't phase him, and he continued.
"It's like… everything inside your body is just sinking all at once, but… this is worse. Your body… it goes cold and... and you can't breathe. I've felt it before, whenever he was close."
"Whenever who was close?"
"The Mind Flayer."
El immediately panicked.
"I closed the gate." she said, eyes wide.
"I know, but… what if he never left? What if we locked him out here with us?"
"This is him. All of him." he took a black crayon and drew a quick model of what he'd seen on the fiend that day as he explained. "But, that day on the field, a part of him attached itself to me." he swiped a hand over the drawing, leaving a dark residue on his hand. "My mom got it out of me… And El closed the gate." he flipped the paper over. "But the part that was still in me, what if it's still in our world?" He slapped his hand down on the paper, leaving a handprint. "In Hawkins."
"I don't understand." Max said, shaking her head. "The Demodogs died when El closed the gate. If the brain dies, the body dies."
"We can't take any chances. We need to assume the worst. The Mind Flayer's back." Mike said, looking around at them. He very much wanted to shrink in on himself at the words. He never thought he'd be hearing them again.
"Yeah. And if he is, he'd want to attach himself to someone again. A new me."
"A new host." Lucas said. Everyone looked at El.
"How can you tell if someone is a host?" she asked.
"I don't know, he looks pretty normal to me." Max said. The group were hidden behind a car, and she was looking through a pair of binoculars at her stepbrother. Only he didn't look normal. Billy was seated in the lifeguard tower, under an umbrella, wearing a hat and sunglasses, wearing a long sleeved shirt and a towel over his legs. Mike looked at her weird.
"Normal?" Lucas asked. "How many times have we seen him with his shirt on?" she looked at him.
"I mean… it is a little weird."
"More than a little." Mike rolled his eyes, looking down at her. "He was in a tub with ice. The Mind Flayer likes it cold." he looked over at his girlfriend, whose eyes were trained on the odd lifeguard. "Plus everything El saw."
"But he's lounging at the pool, which is, like, the least Mind Flayer thing ever."
"Not exactly." Everyone looked at him. "The Mind Flayer likes to hide. He only used me when he needed me. It's like... like you're dormant. And then, when he needs you, you're activated."
"Okay, so we just… wait until he gets activated." Max suggested.
"No." Mike shook his head. "What if he hurts someone?"
"Or kills someone." Will added.
"We can't take that chance. We need to find out if he's the host." Mike pushed off the car he was leaning on, and walked away.
"Where are you going?" El asked, only a little offended by the way he walked away from her.
"I have an idea. Boys only." he motioned for Will and Lucas to follow him.
"Seriously?" Max snapped.
"Just trust me on this one. Honestly." Mike told her, and they disappeared a moment later. Max huffed and crossed her arms. El continued watching Billy.
"Okay, so we wait until the pool closes, until everyone leaves, and we somehow get him to come from here and…" Mike explained, leading the two into the men's showers, through the locker room, the gym, "get him into here," and to the sauna. He opened the door, only to see five sweaty men sitting inside.
"Hey, shut the door!" one yelled.
"Hey, come on, kid, shut it!" another yelled, and Mike slammed the door shut.
"I think I just threw up in my mouth." Lucas deadpanned.
"Agreed." Mike muttered, then looked past the pipe on the wall, and saw the sauna controls. "And look, the controls are right here. It's perfect."
"Will it get hot enough?" Will asked.
"Two hundred and twenty degrees. We just have to figure out how to get him in here."
"Then we lock him in…"
"Heat him up…" Lucas continued.
"No matter what happens, we'll know. We'll know for sure."
The group split up, Lucas and Will going to look for something to lock Billy inside with, and Mike and El went to look for one of the dummies they used to practice CPR. She easily unlocked the door and she pulled Mike inside, closing it behind them for a moment. Mike started towards the dummy, but she stopped him, pulling him in and hugging him.
"I had fun with Max yesterday." she said, smiling when he hugged her back, resting his chin on the top of her head. "But I missed you."
"I'm glad you had fun." he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. "I don't mean to hog you and keep you away from everyone else. Anytime you want to hang out with someone else, you can, El. I'm not trying to control you."
"I know. I l-" she paused for a second, and then continued. "I like spending time with you. A lot."
"Me too." he smiled. She pulled away and kissed him on the cheek quickly, and went to grab the dummy. It was pretty heavy, and before she could really get a grip on it, Mike was taking it from her. She saw the face he made as he hefted it up and stifled a giggle. "This thing is super creepy." he grinned, holding it with one arm and putting his hand on it's chin. "I think it'll work, right buddy?" he made it seem like he was replying, "Right Mike!" and El let out a loud laugh, shaking her head at him.
"Come on, you dummy." she told him, and grabbed his wrist, pulling him with her.
It was creepy, being at the pool at night. No one was around, it was completely empty, besides them and Billy, who was in the shower. They had everything set up in no time, and were hiding, waiting for the right moment to begin.
He was at his locker when they made the first noise.
"Pool's closed." he said, making no move to go anywhere. They made another noise.
"Hey. Do you hear me?" he slammed the locker shut. "Pool is closed!" they heard him banging on the locked door, and Mike took that as his cue to start. The lights turned off.
"Billy!"
"Who's there?"
"Billy!"
"Who's there?"
"Billy! Billy!"
"You think this is funny, huh?"
"Billy. Come and find me!"
"I find you, it is your funeral."
"Come and get me. Come on!"
"Billy!"
"Got you." Billy saw the dummy hanging up in the sauna, and grinned, laughing and clapping his hands like a maniac.
"Come and get me, you piece of shit." Mike said as Billy opened the door. He paused, before storming in and grabbing the dummy by the throat and holding it in the air.
"Hey." Billy looked at the supercom taped to the dummy's chest. "Behind you." he threw it down and looked behind him.
"Hi." El said, and threw him into the wall, slamming the door as Mike and the other's came in, rushing to lock him in.
Billy beat on the door for a moment, grunting as he tried to open it, before stopping and looking out the window at them.
"Max." Max stared him down, before looking at El.
"Do it."
Will ran to the controls, and turned it as far as it would go.
"Max! Let me out of here! Let me out." his breath fogged up the glass.
"You kids… You think this is funny? You kids think this is some kind of sick prank, huh? You little shits think this is funny?" he spit at the glass. "What is this? Open the door. Open the door!" he put all his weight into the door, and they all jumped, stepping back. "Open the door! Open the goddamn door!" he dropped to the ground and started screaming, and Will looked at the meter.
"We're at two twenty." he said. He rejoined them, standing beside Mike- behind El.
Billy started crying, and repeating things over and over once Max looked inside the glass. He started begging and pleading with her to let him out, promising that it wasn't his fault. That he'd done some really bad things, and that he made me do it. This continued for a few minutes, the other's standing back wearily, until Will felt it.
"He's activated." Will said, touching the back of his neck. Mike looked at him, then at Max.
"Max, get away from the door." Mike said.
"What?" she turned to look at him.
"Get away from the door!" he yelled as Billy broke the glass. Max backed away from him quickly as he screamed,
"Let me out, you bitch! Let me out! I'll fucking gut you! Let me out!"
He reached out and grabbed one of the poles holding him inside, and threw it at her. Lucas grabbed his slingshot, and shot a rock directly at Billy, and it knocked him down long enough for Max to run to them. The light's started flickering. Billy started running at the door, trying to break it down.
"He can't get out, can he?" Max asked.
"No way." Lucas shook his head. "No way."
He broke down the door, sliding on his knees in front of them before jumping up, staring El down as she got in her fighting stance, holding her arms out in front of the group to protect them. Lucas put his arm in front of Max, pushing her behind him. El raised her right hand, lifting a barbell up, and throwing a thim, pinning him against the wall by his neck. She threw up her other hand, grunting as she felt her powers flowing out towards him.
She screamed as he fought against her, and he threw it off him, dropping to the floor and immediately grabbing her by the hair.
"No!" she screamed.
He looked at the group as he grabbed her neck, squeezing. Her hands flew up to his, clawing at his hand.
She beat at his arm as he lifted her high in the air, kicking her legs as he stole the air from her. "No! No!" she coughed and cried, but it was no use. She couldn't get him off her. And then,
"Go to hell, you piece of shit!" Mike hit Billy over the head with an empty bar, and Billy hit the ground. Will, Lucas and Max jumped back in shock. They hadn't even noticed the boy grab it. Mike went to hit him again, as El hit the floor heaving, catching her breath. Billy caught it and snatched it from him, throwing it.
Mike stepped back, and Billy stepped forward, until Mike was hitting the wall. He just knew he was about to get his ass handed to him, but then, Billy was in the air again, and El was getting off her knees. She looked exhausted, but she wasn't gonna let Mike get hurt. She held him in the air as she slowly made her way in front of Mike, screaming as she finally threw him, as hard she could. He went flying through the brick wall, and El let out a sob as she fell against Mike, slowly falling to the ground and he caught her, falling with her. They sat that way for a moment, El sitting between his legs, practically hugging his knee because she couldn't reach anything else, before he got up and helped her up.
By the time the group looked out of the hole in the wall, Billy was long gone.