Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from Stranger Things or its plots or characters.
CHAPTER 8: THE MIND FLAYER
As much as Mike struggled against the soldiers and Bob, it was no use. Despite the fact that Mike was almost as tall as the older man, Bob had a lot more bulk to hold him back. Eventually, Bob was able to gain control and lightly shove Mike against a wall, effectively subduing him.
Taking a moment to catch his breath, Mike prepared to explain to him what was going on, but then alarms began blaring all around them. Mike's gut had already told him that the soldiers were dead but the alarms only confirmed his suspicion.
"What the hell?" Bob said as he glanced up at the yellow flashing lights, continuing to hold Mike against the wall but a little more loosely in his distraction.
"We're too late," Mike said more to himself than to Bob, realization hitting him. He was angry at himself for not seeing it sooner and promising Will that they wouldn't let the shadow monster spy back on them. He had been wrong and now those men had died; Mike was sure of it.
"What?" Bob still wasn't getting it.
"We're too late!" Mike yelled in his face. Taking advantage of Bob's surprise, Mike shoved his hands off him and ran back towards Will's room.
"What's going on?" Mrs. Byers spun to face them, confusion creasing her already worried brow.
"We're under attack," Mike said, skidding to a stop in front of her. His heart was racing in his chest, fear and adrenaline coursing through him. His eyes darted around the room, looking for something, anything that they could use to knock Will out. They landed on a couple of syringes the nurses had left behind, full of the sedatives that had knocked Will out the last time. Mike snatched up a syringe from the counter and ordered, "We need to make Will sleep."
"What?" Mrs. Byers confusion had transformed into incredulousness. She looked at Mike as if he had lost his mind, and maybe he had, but so had Will and as his friend had said before, maybe they were going to go crazy together.
There wasn't time to explain everything, but he had to try and get his point across and fast, "He's a spy! If he knows where we are so does the shadow monster!"
"He's lying!" Will screamed at him immediately, something the real Will would never do.
"He killed those soldiers and he'll kill us too!" Mike yelled right back, directing this as Mrs. Byers and Bob, hoping that would believe him or all of their lives were at stake.
That's when Will lost it.
"HE'S LYING! HE'S LYING! HE'S LYING!" he shrieked over and over, struggling against his mom and Bob as they held him down.
Loud repetitive pops could be heard just down the hall now, and the sound made Mike's pulse double in rate if that was even possible.
"Those are gunshots!" Bob stated the obvious, but Mrs. Byers was at least thinking clearly. She held her son by the shoulders and shouted to get his attention which he finally stopped yelling and gave her,
"Will! Will! Listen! Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am?"
"You're…," Will hesitated, clearly having to think about it, and continued after a pregnant pause, "you're…mom."
Mike watched all of this transpire and he could see Mrs. Byers' expression become pained as she stared down at the shell of her son. Then, she glanced determinedly at Bob and ordered,"Hold him down."
"Okay," Bob did as she asked, eliciting another round of screaming from Will,
"NO! LET GO! NO! NO! NO! LET ME GO!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Mrs. Byers apologized repeatedly and took the syringe from Mike who watched all of this in horror. He couldn't listen to his friend's screams anymore and he covered his ears with his hands, never taking his eyes off the awful scene.
Mrs. Byers stabbed the needle into her son's arm and almost immediately he fell limp against the bed. They didn't have long to catch their breath or process what they just had to do when the door flew open.
They all looked up and relief flooded Mike to see Hopper and not whatever monster would lead to their demise. Dr. Owens was behind him as well and they both turned at the sound of wood being smashed behind them. High pitched squeals and low growls could be heard closer than Mike felt comfortable with.
"We gotta go, we gotta go," Hopper urged them, reaching forward, yanking the wires monitors off of Will, and lifting him easily up and over his shoulder. They all turned and rushed from the room, Mrs. Byers grabbing the other vials of sedatives on their way out.
Mike jogged along behind Hopper and Bob who led the way, his heart racing, sweat dripping down his back in fear.
All of a sudden, Hopper came to a stop as human screams met their ears, and Mike could just make out the monsters tackling one of he doctors to the ground. There wasn't time to think. They had to run. Hopper made to go down another hall but a solider with a rifle was shooting at another one of the monsters, so that way was out.
Finally, Hopper led them into a side room, setting Will down on a table near the wall. Someone closed the door swiftly and they were able to get a look at their surroundings.
"Oh my god," Bob breathed, staring up at something. Mike turned to see what he was looking at and he was certain his blood had froze in his veins at what he saw there.
There was a wall of monitors and on each and every single one was a monster, a Demogorgon. Some were just stalking about but most were ripping someone apart. Their screams had died down, the only sounds left were the low growls of the monsters and the tearing of human flesh.
Then the power flickered and went off entirely, plunging them all into darkness.
"Oh my god," Mrs. Byers whimpered from the back of the room.
The one positive in this situation was that the room they had stumbled upon appeared to be security. Even though the video monitors were down, there were maps of the facility tucked away in a cabinet and with the doctor there to explain where everything was they may actually have a chance of surviving these things and escaping.
"Okay, so this is us, and this is the nearest exit. But even if we somehow make it there, there's no way out," Dr. Owens told Hopper who held a flashlight they had found above the maps. Mike couldn't see exactly where the doctor was pointing, but he knew Hopper and the doctor would get them out of this. They had to. The only person Mike knew had ever managed to kill one of these things was El and it had been the reason she was gone now, so he wasn't hopeful they could take on a whole lab full of them.
"What do you mean?" Hopper asked, confused at why they wouldn't be able to just walk out if they got to the exit.
"The locks are fail secure," Dr. Owens explained.
"Fail secure?" Mrs. Byers asked, from behind them, unsure of what that meant.
"If there's a power outage the building goes on full lock down," Dr. Owens told them, remaining surprisingly calm despite the current circumstances.
"Can it be unlocked remotely?" Bob chimed in.
"With a computer, sure, but somebody's got to reset the breakers," Dr. Owens conceded.
"Where are the breakers?" Hopper asked, determined to do what needed to be done to get them all out of here.
"The breakers are in the basement, three floors down," Dr. Owens said, showing Hopper on the map. The police chief then promptly snatched the map and made to leave the room. But Bob's voice stopped him,
"Hey, where are you going?"
"To reset the breakers," Hopper said as if it were obvious, but Bob wasn't done.
"Okay, then what?"
"Then, we get the hell outta here," Hopper snapped back, annoyed that Bob was holding him up.
"No, then the power comes back on," Bob corrected him, sounding equally annoyed that Hopper was going to charge down there with no plan and no idea of what he was doing. "If you want to unlock the doors you have to reboot the entire computer system and then override the security codes with a manual input."
Even in the dark, Mike could see Hopper beginning to have his doubts. It seemed he hadn't considered all of that. But he was still determined to get them out there. "Fine. How do I do that?"
"You can't! Not unless you know BASIC," Bob said incredulously.
"I don't know what that means," Hopper told him flatly.
"It's a computer programming language," Mike explained, happy to finally be able to contribute.
"All right, teach it to me," Hopper requested, walking back towards them.
"Shall I teach you French while I'm at Jim? How about a little German?" Bob said sarcastically before turning to Dr. Owens and asking him, "How about you Doc? You speak BASIC?"
"No," Dr. Owens admitted.
"Okay, I got this," Bob said more to himself than anyone in particular then glancing up at Hopper, "I got this."
Mrs. Byers stepped towards him shaking her head sadly, "No, Bob."
"It's okay," he reassured her, and she pulled him into a tight hug. "It's gonna be okay. Remember, Bob Newby, superhero."
She gave a humorless laugh, her eyes full of worry and fear. Mike couldn't help but think that it was a long shot that Bob would make it, but it was the best shot they had.
Hopper went out with Bob to help him get a walkie from one of the dead soldiers but came back shortly looking like he had made a terrible mistake letting Bob go on his own.
Now, all there was to do was wait and remain as quiet as possible, hoping the monsters wouldn't find them in here. But they didn't have to wait long.
The lights came back on with a surge of electricity and the monitors flickered to life. After Mike's eyes adjusted he glanced around the room and then up at the screens to see Bob in the basement, alive and well.
"He made it," Mike said in disbelief and little bit of awe. He had really doubted goofy Bob would have it in him to actually get down there and flip the breakers, but he had done it and surprised them all.
With the power back on Dr. Owens was able to get the walkie set up to communicate with Bob.
"Okay, Bob, can you hear us?" Dr. Owens asked into the microphone while watching Bob on the screen above.
"Loud and clear, Doc, can you hear me back?" Bob's voice replied.
"Yeah, we hear you all right," Dr. Owens told him.
"All right, give me a minute," Bob said and they watched him put down the walkie and began typing away on the computer in front of him. It didn't take long before he picked the walkie back up and said, "Open sesame."
A buzzing sounded as the locks clicked open, Dr. Owens turned to them, "It's open."
"Son of a bitch did it," Hopper said proudly, an impressed smile on his face that mirrored how Mike felt.
"All right, I'll meet you outside," Bob told them, getting up to head out, as did all of them in the security room.
"Nice job," Dr. Owens congratulated but then the screeching of one of those monsters and something else must have caught the doctor's eyes, "Hold on a second, Chief."
"What's wrong?" Hopper turned back and asked breathlessly. They were so close now.
"West stairwell's not clear anymore," Dr. Owens informed him pointing him to the monitor, a Demogorgon coming down those stairs.
Bob must have sensed something wasn't right because his voice came through, "What's going on?"
"You got some company," Dr. Owens replied, keeping his voice as calm as possible.
"Where?"
"West stairwell," Dr. Owens replied.
"I got an idea," Bob told him and Mike watched his figure rush back to the computer and begin typing away rapidly.
"What the hell's he doing?" the doctor asked exactly what Mike had been thinking, but it became clear when on another monitor the sprinklers began spraying a corridor. The Demogorgon must have heard it because he ran in that direction and away from Bob. Mike couldn't believe it. That was pure genius.
"Okay! Okay, that worked. Now get out of there. Go! Go!" Dr. Owens urged him and Bob ran out of the frame of the screen. Without anymore hesitation, Hopper turned and lifted Will into his arms with a grunt of effort. As they turned to leave the doctor stopped them, "Wait a second, Chief."
"What?"
"Take this," Mike watched as the doctor handed over a walkie talkie.
"What're you doing?" Hopper asked breathless and confused.
"If I see any more surprises I'll let you know. Go. Go!" Dr. Owen told him and Hopper took the walkie talkie as well as a machine gun.
Somehow, the police chief was able to carry Will and point the gun at the same time, leading the way as Mike and Mrs. Byers followed him down the seemingly deserted halls. As they neared the outer doors the three of them broke into a run. Mike held the door so Hopper could carry Will out but Mrs. Byers paused turning back to look for Bob.
Hopper handed Will off to him and Mike supported his weight the best he could. But then Mrs. Byers screams pierced the air. Mike's heart pounded in his chest, fear gripping him and making it difficult to breath. Did Will's mom get attacked by one of those things? Hopper ran back into the lab and Mike could hear the rattling off of gunshots. Hopper appeared again, dragging a hysterical Mrs. Byers out of the lab.
"What happened?!" Mike shouted, but he already knew. If Mrs. Byers was still here... a demogorgon had gotten Bob.
"He's gone! He's gone!" Hopper kept repeating to a distraught Joyce, continuing to pull her away from the doors as the demogorgons rammed them repeatedly. They wouldn't hold for much longer.
The roaring of an engine barely registered to Mike's ears over the screeching din of the monsters, but then a car squealed to a stop in front of them, the headlights cutting the darkness. It was Jonathan's car.
"C'mon! Get in!" Jonathan yelled at them and Hopper hauled Will up and into the vehicle while Mike and Mrs. Byers crammed in as well.
Jonathan told them in a rush that the others were near the entrance gate, so he dropped Hopper off at his truck. They sped to the gate, Hopper paused to pick up the rest of them, and they all raced back to Mrs. Byers house. Mike sat in the back with Will propping him up against the window, his mind completely blank from the shock of losing Bob. The only noise that broke the silence was the sound of Mrs. Byers sobs.
When they got back to Will's house Bob's car was still parked outside and it was a harsh reminder of the man who had just died to save them all. Hopper laid Will down on the couch, Jonathan and Nancy went to sit with him because Mrs. Byers had locked herself away in her room, too distraught to think clearly about their next steps right now. Hopper got on the phone almost immediately while the rest of them just sat around the kitchen table and listened.
"I just feel like you're not getting the urgency of the situation. The name? Sam Owens. Dr. Sam Owens. I don't know how many people are there! I don't know how many people are left alive. I am the police! Chief Jim Hopper. Yes, the number that I gave you. 6767, I will be here," Hopper yelled into the phone before slamming it back on the cradle.
"They didn't believe you, did they?" Dustin asked and got a sharp look from the older man.
"We'll see," Hopper said flatly.
"'We'll see?'! We can't just sit here while those things are loose!" Mike roared at him. He was pissed. They had to do something and here they were just sitting ducks, not to mention those things could be all over the place by now terrorizing Hawkins.
"We stay here, and we wait for help," Hopper told him with finality, effectively ending the conversation by walking away. Mike just stared at his retreating back in frustration.
They all just continued to sit in silence. Mike didn't know what to do. On one hand, Hopper was telling them they needed to just wait, and other Mike's instincts were telling him that they had to do something. He glanced again at the telephone trying to will it to ring but no such luck. His eyes drifted for a moment and landed on the pile of puzzle games Bob had brought for Will when he thought he was just sick. Mike stood up and strode over there, picking up the puzzle cube. Bob had been a lot of the things but he was a good guy who was brave and had saved them. They couldn't let him die in vain.
"Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?" Mike asked no one in particular.
"Really?" Lucas said in disbelief so Mike turned to them. This was how he could rally the troops, so to speak.
"He petitioned the school to start it and everything. And he had a fundraiser for equipment. Mr. Clarke learned everything from him. Pretty awesome, right?" Mike said, walking back towards them with the puzzle. Mr. Clarke had filled him on all of this one day after class and it had given Mike a greater appreciation for the goofy guy who hung around the Byers' house.
"Yeah," Dustin and Lucas agreed.
"We can't let him die in vain," Mike asserted putting the puzzle on the table. Dustin's reaction was strong and immediate,
"What do you want to do, Mike? The Chief's right on this. We can't stop those Demo-dogs on our own."
"Demo-dogs?" Max asked doubtfully, giving Dustin a sideways glance.
"Demogorgon… Dogs…Demo-dogs, it's like a compound," Dustin explained unnecessarily. "It's like a play on words, you know."
"Okay," Max snapped back silencing Dustin, but not for long.
"I mean, when it was just Dart, maybe," he conceded.
"But there's an army now," Lucas reminded them.
"Precisely."
"His army," Mike said quietly, his brain putting the pieces together as he spoke.
"What do you mean?" Steve asked from his spot leaning against the cabinets in the kitchen.
"His army," Mike repeated more confidently. "Maybe if we stop him then we stop his army too."
Mike strode purposefully away from them and into Will's room where the drawing of the shadow monster sat where they had left it, the others having followed him in there.
"The shadow monster," Dustin said in understanding.
"It got Will that day in the field," Mike explained, his heart beginning to race as the ideas formulated in his head. "The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him."
"And so, this virus, it's connecting him to the tunnels," Max questioned, looking for clarification.
"To the tunnels, to the monsters, to the Upside Down, everything," Mike answered, getting more excited as they neared the solution, but Steve wasn't getting it,
"Whoa, slow down, slow down."
"Okay, so the shadow monster's inside of everything, and the vines feel something like pain, and so does Will," Mike expanded on his theory.
"And so does Dart," Lucas added.
"Yeah, it's like what Mr. Clarke taught us, the hive mind," Mike deduced.
"Hive mind?" Steve asked, still not following.
"A collective consciousness. It's a super organism," Dustin defined.
"This is the thing that controls everything. It's the brain," Mike told them, looking at each of them to see if they were following.
"Like the Mind Flayer," Dustin concluded, and Lucas snapped his fingers at him in understanding. Mike couldn't have thought of a better comparison.
A collective "What?" sounded from the non-D&D players, Max and Steve, so Dustin found Will's manual and pulled it out to help illustrate the point. They also gathered the others to hear the theory.
"The Mind Flayer," Dustin began but Hopper quickly interrupted.
"What the hell is that?"
"It's a monster from an unknown dimension. It's so ancient that it doesn't even know its true home. Okay, so it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly developed psionic powers," Dustin explained to them as they all crowded around the kitchen table.
However, Hopper wasn't buying what they were selling, growling in annoyance, "My god, none of this is real. This is a kids' game."
"No, it's a manual and it's not for kids, and unless you know something that we don't this is the best metaphor-," Dustin argued back only to have Lucas cut in,
"Analogy."
Dustin looked at him disbelief for a second before launching into his tirade once more, "Analogy? That's what you're worried about? Fine! Analogy for understanding what this it."
"Okay, so this Mind Flamer thing-," Nancy began, clearly trying to understand but Dustin corrected her quickly,
"Flayer. Mind Flayer."
Nancy sighed and gave him a sideways glance, "What does it want?"
"To conquer us, basically, it believes it's the master race," Dustin continued but now, Steve felt the need to contribute.
"Like the Germans," Steve stammered.
"Uh, the Nazis," Dustin corrected with annoyance.
"Yeah, yeah, the Nazis," Steve agreed, not understanding the distinction.
"Uh, if the Nazis were from another dimension, then totally. It views other races like us as inferior to itself," Dustin explained. Mike could see Hopper in the back ground rubbing his face in exasperation; he felt this was a waste of time clearly, which only made Mike angrier, so he elaborated anyway,
"It wants to spread and take over other dimensions."
"We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it," Lucas predicted the worst case scenario.
"That's great, that's great, that's really great!" Steve exclaimed, unable to handle the information, so he walked away from the table for a moment. Nancy, on the hand, seemed to be on board because she picked up the manual to look at it more closely, verbally processing,
"Uh- Okay so if this is thing is like a brain and its controlling everything, then if we kill it…"
"We kill everything it controls," Mike finished her thought for her, glad his big sister was at least trying to understand.
"We win," Lucas concluded.
"Theoretically," Dustin reminded them all.
"All right, great, so how do you kill this thing? You shoot it with fire balls or something," Hopper asked, rejoining the conversation and taking the book from Nancy.
"No, no, no fireballs. You summon an undead army because zombies they don't have brains and the Mind Flayer it likes brains. It's just a game," Dustin stammered, realizing how ridiculous it sounded as Hopper stared him down.
"What the hell are we doing here?" Hopper growled, slamming the book shut and throwing it down on the table. He walked away again in anger.
"I thought we were waiting for your military backup," Dustin replied, defensively.
"We are!" Hopper roared back, turning to look at them. Mike wasn't going to be deterred by the older man.
"But even if they come, how are they going stop this? You can't just shoot this with guns," Mike thundered right back at him fiercely. He was so tired of Hopper just charging into everything guns blazing and not using his brain. They had used D&D as an analogy last year and it helped them find Will was it really out of the realm of possibility it could help them again?
"You don't know that! We don't know anything," Hopper debated hotly.
"We know that it's already killed everybody in that lab!" Mike shot back.
"And we know the monsters are gonna molt again," Lucas added.
"And we know that's it's only a matter of time before the tunnels reach this town," Dustin concluded as well.
"They're right," the weak voice of Mrs. Byers made all of them look over to her. "We have to kill it. I want to kill it."
Mike thought Mrs. Byers really didn't look so good. She still wore the rumpled scrubs from the lab and her eyes were red-rimmed from tears, not to mention the dark circles from lack of sleep.
"Me too, me too, Joyce, okay? But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here," Hopper tried to reason, speaking to her much softer than he had to any of them.
"No, but he does. If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to him. He'll know its weakness," Mike explained his theory, walking towards where Will lay unconscious on the couch.
"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore. That he's a spy for the Mind Flayer now," Max questioned.
"Yeah, but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is," Mike said, figuring it out as he spoke. Mrs. Byers had convinced Hopper when none of them good, so the police chief finally agreed. They formulated a plan and put it into action quickly.
Mike led Hopper out into the shed and he said, finally on board with the plan, "Yeah, this'll work."
Hopper got to work on clearing out the shed, Nancy and Steve covered the walls in tarps, while Dustin and Lucas searched through the trash for newspapers to cover the walls as well.
Then all had a job and it reminded Mike of last year when they all got the "bath" ready for El to use her powers and find Will in the Upside Down. Thinking of her caused a sharp pain to stab in his chest. He had been fairly distracted trying to survive the demo-dogs that he hadn't had a chance to think of her, but now she had returned to the surface. Max didn't help matters either.
"I get why El was your mage now," Max told him from her spot behind him. Mike's head was under the sink, but his eyes shot over to her in confusion and annoyance.
"What?" Mike barked. He really didn't want to have this conversation, and especially not with Max and especially not now when all of their lives were in danger.
"Lucas. He told me all about her," Max explained as she broke off pieces of tape to use to hang up cardboard and newspaper on the shed walls.
Mike hated the casual way she just brought up El as if she had any right to even know about her much less speak her name.
"Yeah, well, he shouldn't have," Mike growled back at her, "and just because you know the truth doesn't mean you're in our party, you do know that right?"
Mike knew he was being harsh in his hurt and anger, but this didn't chance anything. It wasn't Lucas' place to talk about El to a practical stranger. If El was out there it could put her in danger and Lucas hadn't even wanted El in their party to begin with, so he had no business talking about her at all.
"Yeah, I know," Max replied quickly, averting her eyes from him. Then, she had self-deprecatingly, "I mean, why would you want a stupid zoomer in your party anyway?"
He continued on with his task finding the ammonia to wake Will up, feeling only slightly guilty at being so mean to her, but her next words caught him a little off guard.
"I'm just saying. El, she sounds like she was really awesome," Max said sincerely.
Mike paused for only a second, considering that. 'Awesome' didn't even come close to describing El, it wasn't even the tip of the iceberg. She was so many things and 'awesome' was just one in a list of adjectives he could use to describe her, but he couldn't do this right now.
"Yeah, she was...," Mike agreed shortly, shutting the cabinet as he felt his heart being crushed by the mere mention of her name. That pain quickly transformed into rage towards the Demogorgons, as he continued, "-until that thing took her. Just like it took Bob."
Mike gave her a withering look and then stood up and walked away quickly. He didn't know where that had come from. Why had he compared El to Bob? That was the first time he had even entertained the idea that maybe El was dead. Why now?
He had to push these thoughts away because it was time for them to gather in the shed and get the Mind Flayer out of Will.
"All right, you ready?" Hopper asked Mrs. Byers and she turned to look at him.
"Yeah," Mrs. Byers didn't seem confident in her answer but they all knew this had to be done to save their friend and themselves, maybe even the world.
Hopper approached Will, where they had tied him to a chair and poured ammonia on a rag, holding it beneath his nose until the chemical woke him up. Will blinked several times against the bright light they had placed in there, his eyes then going wide as he struggled against his bindings.
"What is this?" Will asked with urgency in his voice as he stared wildly around at them. "What is this? Why am I tied up?"
His mom was the first to try and talk to him. She kneeled down in front of him and assured her son, if he was still in there, "Will, we just want to talk to you. We're not gonna hurt you."
Will looked at her for only a moment before ignoring her reassurances and looking around the room, "Where am I?"
"Recognize this?" Hopper asked firmly, bending down in front of Will as well to show him the picture of the shadow monster that Will himself had made. "Do you recognize this?"
"No," Will shook his head. Mike knew that if it was really Will then he would remember that picture. That thing had been haunting him, and Mike would never forget the look of fear that had come over his face when they talked about it on Halloween.
"Hey, we want to help you, but we need to understand how to kill it," Mrs. Byers explained gently to Will, but she didn't realize that she wasn't talking to Will right now.
"Why am I tied up?" Will shouted in her face, his voice only getting louder and more insistent. "WHY AM I TIED UP?! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"
Mike watched in horror as one of his best friends began to thrash around in the chair, flailing his head wildly to free himself. Hopper had to hold his upper body to keep him from hurting himself. The lights began to flicker and then Will's voice began to change; it became deeper and not his own. For a moment, Mike thought they were too late and that the Mind Flayer had already taken over his friend, an overwhelming feeling of grief smothering him.
"LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" Will continued to scream but eventually he seemed to have spent all his energy because his eyes went wide and his words became slower as Will struggled to breath around the effort. "Let me go…. Let me go."
As Will sat there panting, looking even more pale, Mrs. Byers sat across from him, leaning close to speak quietly to him, "Do you know what March 22nd is?"
Will's face remained unchanged as she continued unfazed, "It's your birthday. Your birthday. When you turned eight I got you that huge box of crayons. Do you remember that? It was 120 colors. And all your friends they got you Star Wars toys but all you wanted to do was draw with all your new colors. And you drew this spaceship, but it wasn't from a movie, it was your spaceship. A rainbow ship is what you called it. And you must have used every color in the box. I took it with me to Melvald's and I told everyone who came in, 'my son drew this.' And you were so embarrassed, but I was so proud. I was so, so proud."
During her story Will's had stared at her with rapt attention, his face a flat mask revealing no emotion or recognition, but his eyes, his eyes were Will's eyes again.
"Do you remember the day dad left?" Jonathan spoke up from behind his mom, breathing shakily as he began his own memory. Will's eyes slid over to him and followed as Jonathan came to crouch at eyelevel with his brother. "We stayed up all night building Castle Byers, just the way you drew it. And it took so long because you were so bad at hammering. You missed the nail every time. And then it started raining but we stayed out there any way. We were sick for like a week after that, but we just had to finish it, didn't we? We just had to."
The darkness in Mike was started to lift because it really seemed like they were getting through to him, so he was emboldened to tell his favorite story of their friendship.
"Do you remember the first day we met?" Mike began, tears already dripping down his cheeks as Will glanced over to him. "It was- it was the first day of kindergarten. I knew nobody. I had no friends... and I just felt so alone and so scared."
While he spoke Mike couldn't seem to find the courage to look Will in the eye. Maybe it was because he was afraid his friend really was gone and he wouldn't remember the most important memory Mike had of them as friends. Or maybe because he was terrified he was going to lose another person to these monsters. But halfway through, he was able to glance up through his sniffling to see his friend's eyes held just an ounce of recognition, so he kept speaking, "but I saw you on the swings and you were alone too. You were just swinging by yourself, and I just walked up to you and I asked, I asked if you wanted to be my friend. And you said yes, you said yes."
Will's breathing was just as erratic as all of theirs and Mike knew that he had gotten through somehow, and he finished, "It's the best thing I've ever done."
If Mike didn't know any better he'd think that Will was on the verge of tears, but he just hoped if wasn't the Mind Flayer playing with their emotions.
"Will, baby, if you're in there just please, please talk to us. Can you do that for me, honey?" Mrs. Byers pleaded with him. "Please, I love you so much."
Will's face really looked on the verge of crumpling into tears and Mike thought he was going to be able to tell them out to defeat the Mind Flayer, but then they could all see the change again. The creases of emotion on Will's face smoothed and his eyes glossed over as he spoke flatly, "Let me go."
The feeling of utter defeat permeated the room. They had just poured their heart and souls and it had gotten them nowhere. Mike sniffled, trying to collect himself to figure out what to do next when Hopper ushered them all outside and back into the house. Mike followed along with everybody else, confused but anxious to hear what the chief had figured out and willing to hold onto any glimmer of hope whatsoever at this point.
Hopper sat down at the kitchen table with an empty envelope and a pen, explaining, "I think he's talking, just not with words." He drew a series of dots and dashes as they all craned their necks over his shoulder to see what was happening.
"Wait, what is that?" Steve asked.
"Morse code," every answered in unison.
"H-E-R-E," Hopper spelled out.
"Here," Mike read, his mind slowly coming to a realization.
"Will's still in there. He's talking to us," Hopper concluded, looking up at them. Hope filled them all again that their friend wasn't gone.
They all sprang into action. Jonathan grabbed his radio, and they split back up, with Mike, Mrs. Byers, Hopper, and Jonathan heading back out to Will in the shed. The tactic was simple: keep telling Will their happiest memories of him in the hopes that he would stay with them enough to tap out the answer to defeating the Mind Flayer. The others stayed inside with a walkie talkie, so while Will tapped, Hopper mirrored his taps on the walkie talkie behind his back. Jonathan put a tap in the radio, blaring that weird song he liked.
"Do you remember the first time I played you this?" Jonathan started, "Mom and Dad were both arguing the next room. So, I played you the mix tape I made you. And it was the first time you got into music. Real music."
Mike was up next thinking of one of the many memorable D&D campaigns where Will was the hero. Eventually Mike concluded his tale, "And then the party escaped into the sewers and there were those big insect things, and you guys were still on level one. Then you cast Fog Cloud and saved us. You saved the whole party."
Mrs. Byers sat down in the chair across from Will next and spoke softly, "You saw that little girl and she was in the sandbox and she was crying. You gave her your Tonka Truck and I told you we couldn't afford to buy another one. You said she should have it because she's sad. 'She's sad mommy.' I love you so much, so, so much."
As the song ended, in the silence they heard the piercing sound of the phone ringing inside the house. Will's eyes snapped to it and they all held their breaths to see if he knew where he was, but almost immediately Will's eyes rolled back into his head and moved under his eyelids.
"Hey, hey, can you hear me?" Mrs. Byers asked, leaning forward from the chair towards her son, but it was no longer her son.
Will's head was jerking side to side and he was breathing heavily. Hopper leaned forward and said what they had been dreading but already knew, "It knows, it knows where we are."
"Oh, shit," Mrs. Byers said underneath her breath, spinning to grab a syringe and turned back to Will, quickly injecting the sedative into his upper arm. Instantly, Will went limp against his restraints but it was too late.
Mike followed Hopper and Jonathan outside of the shed, only to hear the distant, but unmistakable shriek of the demo-dogs. Mike's heart plummeted into his stomach. Rushing back inside, Jonathan exclaimed, "They're coming!"
"What?" Mrs. Byers said instinctively, but she knew what they were talking about. Mike hurried to help Jonathan untie the ropes around Will, his fingers fumbling in his fear. They had to get him inside and quick or they'd all be dead.
"We gotta go," Hopper urged, "C'mon, let's go!"
They didn't need to be told twice. Jonathan heaved Will up onto his shoulder and they all ran for the house, Hopper bringing up the rear. As soon as Mike got into the house he joined Max and Lucas at the front window to see if they could spot the monsters approaching.
"Hey! Get away from the windows!" Hopper yelled at them and they did as they were told. Hopper then turned to Jonathan holding out the old hunting rifle, "Do you know how to use this?"
"What?" Jonathan replied lamely
"Can you use this?" Hopper repeated more insistently, but it was Nancy who spoke up, telling him confidently,
"I can."
She stepped up and he tossed it to her. Mike was surprised to see that she knew how to handle it. If they survived the night he'd make a note to ask her about that.
They all gathered in a tight group in the middle of the living room the adults and teenagers in the front with various weapons, Nancy with the rifle, Hopper with the machine gun, and Steve with the bat with all the nails in it. Even Lucas had the wrist rocket out and at the ready.
"Where are they?" Max asked from the back of the room, Lucas standing protectively in front of her. Mike felt completely helpless. He had no way of defending himself or really any hope they would make it out of this alive. But regardless, he grabbed one of their science fair trophies and held it up, ready to fight these bastards to the death. He wanted so badly to kill one of the things that had taken El away from him, killed Bob, and were part of the thing possessing Will.
The growling started low and then grew louder as they neared, but then there was sudden loud thudding near the door and the rustle of the bushes outside.
"What're they doing?" Nancy asked, pointing the rifle straight at location of the sound. There was more snarling, but then a different noise.
It almost sounded like a cry of pain. More screeching and groaning but also loud bangs continued to sound all around the front of the house. None of them could see anything through the front windows but the leaves moving on the hedges got their attention.
The noise stopped abruptly. They all just stayed in place, hearts racing in terror, their breaths coming in short gasps.
A crash made them all jump as one of the demo-dogs was pelted through the front window. It slid the short distance across the living room and came to rest against a side table unmoving.
"Holy shit," Dustin swore as they all hesitantly approached the creature's body, its teeth still gleaming in the low light.
"Is it dead?" Max asked, her voice low. In response, Hopper gave its grotesque head a shove with the tip of his boot. From where Mike was it looked like it's neck must be broken, the way it flopped over like that, lifeless.
In the silence, the sound of the door creaking startled them all back to their positions, weapons raised in self-defense. The dead bolt flung upwards. The chain slid over and out of the track on its own.
Mike's fear-addled brain wasn't thinking clearly but he only knew of one way that was possible...
The door slowly creaked open, a figure stepping forward, their appearance gradually coming into view.
Mike's brain wasn't able to fully process the information his eyes were receiving.
Converse shoes… faded jeans rolled up at the ankles…black blazer…
All of the air had been sucked out of the room. Mike couldn't breath as his eyes took in more familiar characteristics of the new arrival his feet propelling him forward of their own accord, as if he was being pulled towards this person like a magnet.
Dark hair… pink lips...bloody nose...chocolate brown eyes...
It was her.
It was El.
A/N: Whew… so a lot happened this chapter, mostly action. But you best believe next chapter is where it all happens. I'm definitely going to be splitting up the next episode into two chapters. One for the bulk of the action at the end and then an epilogue which maybe equally long (or longer) that fills in the gap before ending on the Snow Ball. I really can't wait for you guys to read it because I'm super stoked about it. Just like in the show, all of that waiting and them pining for each other will have been worth it. Please let me know what you think and I am formulating my own season three as I finish this one up, so any and all ideas are welcome. Thank you guys for the support and as I've said before, reviews are writer fuel. PURE FUEL!