Episode 5
I am so sorry I've made you wait this long for this chapter. I went back to work and things got CRAZY. My apologizes once again, I hope you enjoy.
After the battle with Billy the group made their way over to their bikes.
"You sure you're okay?" Mike asked touching El's arm.
The feeling of his hand on her made her smile a bit.
"Yes," She said with a nod. Mike didn't fully believe it but continued to let her climb onto Max's bike.
As the gang headed back to Mikes house Mike couldn't take his eyes off El. She clung to the back of Max's bike trying not to fall over from exhaustion. He found himself constantly in awe of the bravery and power El possessed. She saved him, she saved all of them, just like she had done many times before. She was the most selfless person he knew. For the first time since their fight it felt like things were back to normal, strange since the most abnormal things were happening.
They snuck down to Mikes basement, it was late, really late. Thankfully Mikes parents don't keep close tabs on their children.
"So now what?" Lucas said as they all sat down on the couches.
"We need to figure out what to do next," Will said. "The mind flayer is back, how are we gonna get rid of it?"
"And how do we get Billy unflayed?" Max added.
As the group chattered away Mike could see that El was drained. She was at the far edge of the couch, her eyelids drooping.
"It's late," Mike said suddenly, cutting off his friends.
"What?" Lucas looked over as if his friend was insane.
"It's been a long night," Mike began slowly. "We will come up with a better plan if we get some rest. We can wake up early and try to figure out a plan."
"I don't know-" Will began to object.
Mike tilted his head in El's direction, and everyone slowly turned to look at their exhausted friend. She didn't even notice the stares she was so out of it.
"She's gotta re-charge," Mike whispered to his friends.
"Okay," Max agreed scooting closer to El and patting her arm.
El's eye shot open in an effort to look wide awake. She hoped she didn't miss anything important.
"We're going to get some rest," Max said softly.
"I'll get the extra pillows, blankets and sleeping bags," Mike said.
He and Lucas quickly gathered the supplies around the house quietly. When they came back down they got everyone situated with something to sleep on.
Lucas took the couch, Will put the two chairs together as a makeshift bed, while Max, Mike and El slept on the floor in sleeping bags. El was so tired when she got into her sleeping bag she began to fall asleep instantly. Before she could she looked around the room, she was sleeping right where the old fort used to be. Her mind drifted back to when she was hiding in Mikes basement. What El didn't know was that Mike wasn't asleep yet and he was thinking the exact same thing.
As he laid in the sleeping bad, unable to get the vision on El being choked by Billy out of his mind, Mike looked over at El. Max was between them but he looked passed her to see the sleeping brunette. She was exhausted and fell asleep quickly, her breathing shallow and rhythmic. He thought about her first night in the basement, how she was so scared and she slept in the fort. He smiled at just how much she had grown and learned over the years since then.
He closed his eyes and promised himself he would make things right soon, El was too important to give up.
The next morning
"The bottom line is we can't do this alone," Lucas agreed.
The gang had all woken up early to try and figure out a plan of action.
"We could go to Hopper," Max stated. "Or Will's mom,"
"I think that's our best option," Mike sighed.
He went over and picked up the phone to call the police station, thinking Hop would be at work.
"Hawkins police," Flo answered.
"Hi," Mike said awkwardly. "Is the Chief there?"
"No," She said. "He hasn't been in for a few days, if you find him send him my way."
"….okay," Mike said dazed as he hung up the phone.
He turned back to the friend group who looked at him curiously.
"He wasn't in yesterday," He said looking directly at El.
El didn't know what to say, he should have been at work. Her heart started to pound a little harder as she got up and dialed the number to the cabin. The phone rang and rang but there was no answer.
As she hung up, she shook her head at Mike.
"Let me try my Mom," Will said joining the group by the phone attached to the wall.
Once again, the line rang and rang but only the answering machine picked up.
"Okay this is weird," Lucas said becoming slightly panicked.
"I need to find him," El said looking around the room for something to tie around her head.
"Here," Mike said handing her a pillowcase off the pillow next to him on the floor.
El smiled gratefully at Mike as she took his offer and sat down on the couch as everyone sat opposite her. She began to concentrate, where was her father? It took a moment but suddenly she heard a faint grumbled she knew all too well. As he came into view it looked like he was swatting bugs away from himself.
"I found him," El said to the others who breathed a sigh of relief.
"Where is he?" Max asked.
"Woods," El said simply.
As she continued to watch she had no idea why Hop would be in the woods. What she was seeing did not give her much of a clue either.
"Woods?" Lucas asked looking at the others.
El focused more closely, Hop was talking to someone. Suddenly Joyce came into view. They were arguing about something.
"He's with…" El began to explain. "Will's mom."
"My…my mom?!" Will asked shocked.
"What are they doing?" Max asked curiously.
El tried to block out the voices of her friends to hear what Joyce and Hop were talking about, she caught the tail end of Joyce's sentence.
"Il…an….ois," El sounded out each syllable. "They're going to Illinois."
Suddenly there was a pounding on the basement door.
"Mike breakfast!" Mrs. Wheeler called.
"NOT NOW MOM!" Mike screamed back.
"Illinois? Illinois? Like the state? The state of Illinois?" Mike stammered as El took off her blindfold.
Max looked over at Mike with an annoyed expression. How many times can he say the word Illinois in a sentence?
"Illinois," El said unsure as she shrugged her shoulders.
"It's got to be the state," Lucas said.
"A what?" El asked.
"It's a place," Mike explained. "Hawkins in our town but its in a state called Indiana. Hopper and Joyce are apparently going to the state of Illinois, which is next to us."
El nodded her head, thankful for the explanation.
"That doesn't make sense though," Will stammered. "Why are they going there,"
Max noticed El began subconsciously wiping under her nose, but the blood had begun to dry.
"You guys figure that out," Max interrupted taking her friend by the hand. "I'm going to help El clean up."
The boys watched as Max lead El into the bathroom and shut the door. El remained silent as her friend helped her.
Max turned on the water and grabbed a face cloth from the pile next to the sink. She ran it under some warm water and brought it to El's nose. She tried to be gentle as she whipped the blood.
Both her and El turned their attention to the red marks on El's neck from Billy. El grazed them with her fingertips, it was still slightly swollen but not nearly as bad.
"Does it still hurt?" Max asked.
It looked painful, Max thought to herself. She still couldn't believe Billy done that to her friend. Except, it wasn't really Billy it was the mind flayer making Billy do these awful things.
"Only when I talk," El said quietly.
"Well it's a good thing you're not Mike then," Max teased. "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you'd be in constant pain."
El laughed a long with Max. She had to admit Mike did talk a lot. Sometimes it was because he was nervous, usually its just because he had a lot of idea and needed to get them out.
As Max continue to tease the boys El could hear Mike from the other side of the door.
"Somethings not right," She heard him ramble. "I can't get Hopper off my back all summer and all of a sudden, he's hiking with Will's mom to Illinois? And Dustin's MIA too? I mean this can't be a coincidence."
"What does it matter?!" Lucas said exasperated. "The point is they're not here! It's up to us!"
"Up to us to do what exactly?" Mike asked.
"Find Billy and stop him," Lucas explained.
"Okay that's a really nice sentiment but even if El could find him again and that's a pretty big if," Mike argued. "Then what?"
"Hey they're talking about you," Max said stopping her rant to hear what they boys were saying.
"We burn the shit out of him," Lucas offered. "And make sure he doesn't escape this time."
"Okay then what?" Mike asked.
"Then we win," Lucas tried.
Both El and Max rolled their eyes as Max fixed El's hair.
"No see that's the problem," Mike argued. "We don't, we don't win! We got the mind flayer out of Will before and he just came right back. We don't just have to stop Billy, we have to stop the mind flayer."
"How the hell do we do that?" Lucas asked.
"I don't know!" Mike said defeated.
"Maybe El does," Will said hopefully.
Max raised an eyebrow in the mirror as they listened, there was a pause in the conversation.
"What are they still doing in there?" Mike asked to no one in particular.
"I dunno," Lucas said with a mouthful. "Girls just like hanging out in bathrooms."
"Oh my god," Max laughed quietly.
"Why?" Mike asked confused.
"I dunno," Lucas grumbled eating some more.
"They're conspiring against me," Mike whispered.
El turned to look at Max, what did conspire mean? And why did Mike think that's what they were doing?
"That's what your concerned about right now?!" Will whisper yelled.
"Its not my main concern," Mike defended. "It's just a sub-concern."
"I thought it was already over," Will shot back.
"It's not over! Okay? We're just taking a break," Mike blushed.
El blushed slightly as Mike defended their relationship. It made her heart flutter a bit.
"She said she dumped your ass," Will said harshly. "That doesn't sound like a break."
"It wasn't!" Max yelled from the bathroom. "You guys do realize we can still hear everything you're saying, right?"
El giggled as Max rolled her eyes at their stupidity.
"Conspiring I told you their conspiring," Mike said shaking his head.
Will sighed and walked away from his friend. Just then there was a knock on the basement door.
"NOT NOW MOM!" Mike yelled.
"Mike open the door!" Nancy yelled from upstairs.
As Mike look up at the door confused he heard the bathroom door open. El and Max slowly came out with matching curious expressions.
Mike ran up the stairs and opened the door to reveal his sister and Johnathan looking worried.
"Is Will here?!" Johnathan asked quickly trying to see downstairs.
"Yeah," Mike said. "What's up?"
"Johnathan?" Will called as he went over to the bottom of the stairs after hearing his brothers voice.
"Thank god," Johnathan said pushing past Mike to get to his brother.
"What's going on?" Mike asked.
"I think the Mind flayer is back," Nancy said.
"What? Why?" Mike asked. He knew they had the exact same news but he wanted to hear Nancy's explanation first.
"A lady I was interviewing for the paper I think she is being controlled by the mindflayer," She said quickly. "Maybe she's the new host."
"No that can't be," Mike said confused.
"Why not?" Nancy said shocked that her brother didn't believe her. "I have proof!"
"Because we just had an intense showdown with Billy at the pool where we tested to see if he was the host and he nearly killed us all," Mike spat out quickly.
Nancy's eyes almost fell out of her head and Jonathan looked like he might be sick.
"Billy Hargrove?" Nancy asked. "Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah," Lucas chimed in. "Thankfully El was there and she tossed Billy through the wall,"
Nancy looked at the brown haired girl seated on the couch. She still couldn't believe she was the same shy little girl with the shaved head all those years ago. She was extremely powerful and she was so proud and grateful for her keeping everyone safe.
"Not before he almost choked her to death," Mike interjected.
"What!" Nancy yelled kneeling down in front of El to get a good look.
El tilted her head up so Nancy could see the marks Billy left. Nancy winced as she touched her neck.
"You sure you're okay?" Nancy whispered to El.
El just nodded her head.
"So what happened with Billy," Nancy asked. "How do you know he's the host,"
"We did a sauna test," Will explained. "We locked him in the sauna and turned it up really hot to see how he would react. He told us everything about the mind flayer and how it's made him do all these bad things."
"Not to mention he has enough strength to break out of the sauna and almost kill Eleven," Lucas added.
Nancy just nodded her head. Billy must be the host, but if that was true what happened with Mrs. Driscole.
So what happened with the lady?" Will asked.
"Yeah what makes you think she's a host," Mike added.
"Right," Nancy said coming back to her senses. "I'll explain."
All the curious teens leaned forward to hear Nancy explain the rats and Mrs Driscol. As Nancy spoke both El and Will began to get goosebumps.
"I went to visit her at the hospital last night," Nancy continued. "She was fine and then suddenly she was thrashing and her veins were popping out and she was screaming. Demonic like screams."
Everyone was silent as Nancy shook her head trying to get the image from her mind.
"She looked me right in the eyes," Nancy explained. "It was the same thing, the exact same thing that happened to Will last year."
"And look at this," Nancy said crouching down to the table to show them a piece of paper. "Look at the body temperatures."
The kids leaned over to look at the paper, all the temperatures were below what they should have been.
"He likes it cold," Will said confirming Nancy's hunch.
"Okay so this crazy old woman who was eating fertilizer," Mike said trying to wrap his head around the story.
"Mrs Driscol," Nancy interjected.
"Right yeah Mrs. Driscol," Mike continued. "What time was this attack?"
"Last night," Nancy said obviously. Hadn't she already explained this part?
"Right but what time last night?" Mike asked.
"Around 9," Nancy said quickly.
All the teens looked at each other as their hears sank, they knew this had to mean something.
"You waited all night to call," Jonathan whispered.
"I was waiting for the doctors to run some tests," Nancy said sheepishly.
"You weren't there?!" Will said accusingly to his brother.
"Well I'm here now aren't I?" He said in frustration.
"Hallelujah," Nancy said a little too sarcastically.
"Oooo," Lucas winced.
Mike looked over at El who looked at Jonathan and Nancy sadly. Mike sensed some tension between them and realized he wasn't the only one having romantic problems.
"Um so what time was your sauna test?" Nancy said trying to get back on track.
"Around 9," The group said in unison.
"Well that proves it," Nancy said excitedly. "That proves my theory."
"She's flayed," Mike agreed. "Just like Billy."
"Flayed?" Jonathan asked.
"The mind flayer he flays people." Mike explains. "Takes over their minds. Once they do that they basically become him."
"If there are two flayed," Lucas began.
"We have to assume there are more," Will continues.
El's hairs begin to stand on end. The thought of an army of flayed people made her want to be sick.
"Heather," She said to herself. That must have been what she saw.
Max looked over at her friend. She felt bad, El had a bad feeling about Billy and Heather from the very beginning and Max told her it was nothing.
"Billy was doing something to her." El explained when she saw everyone's eyes on her
Her mind wandered back to the void where she saw Billy leaning over Heather. Her grimaced as she continued to explain.
"She was scared," El said quietly. "She was screaming,"
It took all of Mikes self control not to reach over and take El's hand. She had obviously seen a lot in the void, not to mention what she had just been through with Billy.
"Bad screams," El said as if she was making a point.
"What's a good scream?" Lucas asked confused.
"Max said…" El began but was then cut off by her red haired friend.
"Doesn't matter," Max said quickly.
The boys blushed slightly as they caught on to what Max had meant. Mike shook his head, what had Max been teaching El over the past few days.
"I'm sorry I'm lost," Nancy said. "Who is Heather?"
"She's a lifeguard at the pool," Max explained.
"Heather Holloway?" Nancy asked.
Even though no one responded Nancy looked to Jonathan.
"Tom," They both said at the same time.
"What?" Mike asked trying to be in the loop.
"Our boss at the paper," Nancy said turning on her heels. "Everyone follow me."
"Where are we going?" Will asked as they climbed the stairs.
"To Heathers house," Nancy said. "We gotta see what's going on."
Everyone piled into Nancy's car and drove to the Holloways house.
Nancy rang the doorbell twice….everyone in front of the door felt a little uneasy. The silence to them meant something was wrong.
Nancy and Johnathan turned around and looked at El.
El noticed this and became concerned, the worry melted away when she saw Nancy slide her eyes towards the door.
"Right," El thought to herself. She concentrated and nodded her head and the door clicked open.
"Tom!" Nancy called to the silent house. "Heather,"
El shivered slightly, both from the silence and from the chill coming from the house.
"Jesus it's freezing," Max said as they walked through the house.
As they continued, nothing looked out of the ordinary.
"Do you smell that?" Nancy asked.
The group turned back to her, they had been looking around the room for any signs of something strange.
Nancy turned to the kitchen and was caught off guard by the smell of chemicals, there were cans of chemicals all over the counter, spilled everywhere.
"More chemicals," Nancy said confused.
"You think their guzzling this shit?" Jonathan asked.
"Yeah either that or they just went on a hell of a cleaning spree," Nancy shot back.
"But last year Will didn't eat chemicals," Max observed. "Did you?"
"No," Will said quietly. "This is something new."
"Mr. Clark," Mike said suddenly. "Fifth grade, what happens when you mix chemicals together?"
"You create a new substance," Will and Lucas say in unison.
El watched with slight awe at how smart her friends are. She knew some would call them nerds, but they knew a lot. She hoped one day she would know as much as them.
"What if they're making something?" Mike mused.
"In themselves?" Max wondered. "I mean come on if you drink this crap it'll kill you."
"Yeah," Lucas agreed. "If you're human,"
Suddenly Nancy heard the sound of a door opening.
Mike and El caught eyes as they followed Nancy through the house. El blushed lightly as Nancy and Jonathan filled in the blanks of what must have happened to Tom. Mike couldn't help keep a close eye on El. He was still shaken by what had happened to her the night before.
Mike had to admit he was impressed with his sister for figuring all this out just by looking for clues in the house.
"There must be a place where all of this started right?" Nancy mused. "The source."
"Somewhere he didn't want me to see," El clued in.
"If we can find the source then maybe we can stop him," Nancy wondered. "or at least stop it from spreading or doing whatever the hell its doing with those chemicals."
"How do we find it?" El asked.
"Mrs. Driscol," Will pipped up suddenly. Everyone turned to look at him with curiosity.
"If she wants to go back so badly why don't we let her," He said.
Everyone turned back to Nancy who nodded her head. "Alright lets go,"
Once the group had decided to go to the hospital Nancy hoped the "friendly" receptionist wouldn't be there. Sure, enough as they tried to sneak passed, she told them only two could go up at a time.
"You guys wait here," Nancy whispered to the teens as she pointed towards the waiting area.
"You sure?" Mike asked apprehensively.
"Yeah we will be fine," Nancy smiled tilting her head to Johnathan.
"Okay," Mike nodded as they two escaped to the elevator.
All the teens shuffled around unsure of what to do next. Mike and El locked eyes again, it looked like she was about to say something when Max grabbed her arm.
"Come on," She said quietly. "Let's go look at some magazines."
El frowned slightly but nodded her head and followed her friend. After all that's been happening she was so torn. Max told her so many things, and opened her eyes to how much of a liar Mike was being. But at the same time El knew that he meant well and that she really wanted them to not be mad at each other anymore.
"Come on man let's get a snack," Lucas said patting Mike on the back. "You want anything Will?"
"No thanks," Will said looking a little jumpy.
Mike sighed as he put in some money and made his choice of snack. He so wished Max would leave El alone for a few minutes so he could talk to her. His mind was elsewhere until he heard the unmistakable sound of the machine coming to life, but his candy didn't come out.
"Aw come on you piece of shit," Mike growled.
From across the room El lifted her head at Mikes words. She looked curiously over to what was bothering him. She watched as he and Lucas began hitting the machine. She took a quick look at Max who was immersed in her magazine. With the flick of her head El "nudged" the machine to help Mike out.
Both boys were taken a back instantly by all the candy coming down. They both looked directly at El who simply averted her eyes and whipped her nose quickly.
Lucas shrugged his shoulders and began picking up candy. Mike however continued to look at El.
"Thanks," He said sincerely.
She smiled slightly and nodded back at him. She quickly looked back to Max to find that she missed the whole interaction.
Mike bent down to help Lucas but he couldn't help but look back at his ex-girlfriend. Lucas noticed his gaze and leaned closer to Mike.
"Dude," Lucas began slowly. "I think that was it,"
"That was what?" Mike asked confused.
"The olive branch," Lucas whispered.
"…the what?" Mike whispered back and his face scrunched up.
"Oh my god," Lucas marveled. "You're helpless."
Mike felt as if his friend was speaking a different language
"Okay," Lucas said placing a hand on Mike's shoulder. "I'll distract Max, give you an opening, then talk to her. Alright?"
Mike nodded and looked back to the beautiful girl he had grown so infatuated with. He hoped this would go better than last time he tried to talk to her. Granted that was only yesterday.
As Lucas tried to distract Max, Mike sat to think about what he would say to El. He decided that he should just speak the truth.
"Hey want some candy?" Lucas asked Max showing her his arm full. He placed the candy all over the table for everyone to share.
"Yeah I'll have some skittles stalker," Max laughed as Lucas grabbed them at the same time.
"Ah ah ah," He laughed. "I'll throw you catch,"
"Oh you're on," Max laughed getting up and going to the corner with Lucas.
Eleven watched as Max left with Lucas, she sat on one of the chairs and continued to read her magazine. She could feel Mike sit down beside her, she wasn't sure what to say, she didn't know if he was still mad.
"Hi," Mike said trying to act casual but he had no idea what he was doing.
"Hi," El said awkwardly. How was it only a few days ago they were talking about everything and kissing in her bedroom. What happened to make them act like strangers.
"Does your species like M&M's?" Mike smirked as he held up the package of candy.
El didn't answer but extended her hand. Mike gratefully shook the bag into her hand. She smirked up at him as she took the candy.
"I like the new look by the way it's cool," Mike offered.
It was true, he liked the way El looked before but just from the way she acted in these new clothes she was happier. They very much suited the most amazing girl he had ever met.
"Thanks," She replied sweetly.
They both stole glances as each other as they smirked and ate candy.
Mike wanted to pour his heart out to Eleven right then and there. To tell her how sorry he was for being such an idiot. But as he sat in silence, watching her smile, he couldn't get anything out. He was so enjoying having her not be angry with him. He knew it had only been a few days but it was too long.
El felt the same, she wanted to talk with Mike about everything that had gone on between them over the past few days. He lied but maybe she had been a little hard on him, and for that she was sorry. As she went to open her mouth Max and Lucas and Will sat down around them.
Once they saw that Mike and Eleven didn't seem to be fighting Will made the first move to sit, then Lucas and Max followed. Max was showing Lucas the magazine she was reading. Will was looking around the hospital in a daze.
El leaned closer to Mike.
"What makes M&M's so good?" She wondered looking at the plain brown package.
"I dunno," Mike smirked as he felt her lean into his side. "Let's look."
The two teens got a strange kick out of reading the ingredients list on the bag of M&M's.
"Whats…..soy lecithin?" El sounded out the word slowly.
"Or dextrin?" Mike asked confused. "Carnauba wax?"
"Sounds gross," El giggled.
"But yet they taste so good," Mike said clutching the bag. "Must be the gum acacia."
El continued to laugh then she noticed Will rise from his seat. She looked up and noticed the lights were flickering. She grabbed a hold of Mike's arm, unsure of what was happening.
Sorry to leave it on such a cliff-hanger. I originally kept going but after re-watching the episode I realized it ended here. I hope the next chapter won't take as long, but I cannot make any promises. Thanks for reading. Leave a review to let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions for missing moments.
