°🌟16🌟°

🌟CHAPTER 16🌟~°THE MIND FLAYER°~

*🌟Third Person's POV🌟*

The walk felt like it was taking forever, and Hailey's legs were beginning to ache. The tension in the group was a living thing, thick and uncomfortable.

"You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas questioned, breaking the silence.

"Yes. He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt," Dustin stated, his eyes fixed on the dark road ahead.

"He was tiny two days ago," Max said, her voice laced with confusion. Hailey shot her a sidelong glance, still unhappy with the girl's presence, but knowing there was nothing to be done about it now.

"Well, he's molted three times already," Dustin pointed out.

"Malted?" Steve asked.

Hailey shook her head with a faint, weary smile. "Molted, Steve."

"Shed his skin to make room for growth. Like hornworms," Dustin explained.

"When's he gonna molt again?" Max asked curiously.

"It's gotta be soon. When he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it. And so will his friends," Dustin explained. Hailey rolled her eyes, her frustration with her brother simmering just below the surface.

"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats," Steve added grimly.

The statement landed like a bomb. "Wait, a cat? Dart ate a cat?" Lucas asked, his gaze snapping to Dustin.

"No, what? No," Dustin denied, but his voice was shaky. One thing about the Henderson siblings: they were terrible liars.

"What are you talking about? He ate Mews," Steve clarified, oblivious to the landmine he'd just stepped on.

"Mews? Who's Mews?" Max questioned.

"It's Hailey and Dustin's cat," Steve stated bluntly.

The reaction was immediate. The Henderson siblings spoke his name in a sharp, unified chorus of despair. "Steve!"

"I knew it! You kept him!" Lucas yelled.

"No! No. I... No, I..." Dustin fumbled over his words, trapped.

"Dustin, it's better if you're just honest right now," Hailey interjected, her voice tired. The fight had gone out of her.

"He missed me. He wanted to come home," Dustin said, a note of genuine sadness in his defence.

"Bullshit!"

"I didn't know he was a Demogorgon, okay?" Dustin pleaded.

"Oh, so now you admit it?" Lucas shot back.

"Guys, who cares? We have to go," Max tried to reason, but Lucas was beyond listening.

"I care! You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!"

"So did you!" Dustin shouted back.

"What?" Lucas asked, confused.

Dustin turned and shone the flashlight directly in Max's face. "You told a stranger the truth!"

Max scoffed in anger. Hailey and Steve exchanged a look-a silent question of whether to intervene or let the storm blow over.

"A stranger?" Max stepped closer; her voice dangerous.

"You wanted to tell her, too!" Lucas accused Dustin.

"But I didn't, Lucas, okay? I didn't tell her! We both broke the rule of law, okay? So, we're even. We're even," Dustin stated, trying to close the argument.

A piercing screech, much closer this time, cut through the night. The teenagers immediately fell silent, their heads whipping toward the sound. They took a few cautious steps forward, peering into the oppressive darkness.

"No, no! We're not even. Don't even try that. Your stupid pet could have eaten us for dinner!" Lucas yelled, refusing to let it go.

"That was not my fault!" Dustin retorted.

"Guys?" Steve tried, but his voice was swallowed by their anger.

"He wasn't gonna eat us," Dustin said, softer now.

"He was crawling over to say hello?" Lucas sneered.

"Guys!" Hailey yelled, her voice finally cutting through their argument. The screeching echoed again, closer and more urgent. Leaving their fight behind, they moved as one, following Steve toward the sound. A confused Max trailed behind, unable to fathom why they were walking toward the danger.

They reached a ridge and strained to see into the valley below. "I don't see him," Dustin whispered.

Lucas raised his binoculars. His breath hitched. "It's the lab. They're going back home."

The group moved with renewed purpose toward the Hawkins Lab perimeter. As they neared the main gate, they heard frantic shouts. On instinct, Hailey's hand shot out, grabbing Steve's arm to stop him. Her grip was tight, anxious.

"Hello? Who's there? Who's there?" a voice called from the shadows.

Two figures emerged from the woods. "Steve? Hailey?" The voices of Nancy and Jonathan were a blend of confusion and alarm.

"Nancy?" Steve asked, surprised.

"Jonathan," Hailey said in a terse greeting.

"What are you doing here?" Nancy asked, her eyes briefly flicking to where Hailey's hand still held Steve's arm.

"What are you doing here?" Steve countered, a defensive edge in his voice.

"We're looking for Mike and Will," Nancy explained.

"They're not in the lab, are they?" Hailey asked, a new dread coiling in her stomach.

"We're not sure," Nancy admitted.

"Why?" Jonathan asked, concerned. Another chorus of unearthly screeches from the lab's direction answered him. His face paled with fear for his brother.

A throbbing headache began to pound behind Hailey's eyes as everyone started talking over one another, a cacophony of panic where no one was truly listening.

"We haven't seen Will-"

"I haven't seen him since-"

Nancy suddenly stopped; her attention captured by something behind the fence. Hailey followed her gaze. The compound, once dark, was now blazing with light.

"The power's back on," Nancy stated.

Jonathan sprinted back to the gate's keypad, jamming the button. It remained stubbornly locked. Dustin rushed to his side. "Let me try."

"Hang on-" Jonathan muttered, but Dustin pushed him aside. "Let me try, Jonathan!" He mashed the button repeatedly. "Son of a-! You know what..." He caught Hailey's warning glare and swallowed the curse, turning back to press the button with frantic, desperate hope.

Suddenly, with a loud buzz, the gate shuddered and began to slide open.

"Hey! I got it!" Dustin chuckled in victory. "I got it!"

Without a second's hesitation, Nancy and Jonathan leaped into their car and sped toward the main building, leaving the others standing at the gate.

The kids stood frozen in the road, waiting. Hailey and Steve leaned against the guard shack, staring into the ominous woods. A universe of unspoken words hung between them, but now was not the time.

"Guys?" Max said, pointing. Two pairs of headlights were speeding toward them. Jonathan's car led the way, horn blaring as it swerved around them. Chief Hopper's Blazer screeched to a halt right beside the group.

"Let's go!" Hopper barked.

Steve immediately snapped into action, ushering the kids toward the truck. "Come on! Come on, let's go! Let's go! Come on!" He helped Hailey in, his hand a steadying press on the small of her back before he climbed in after her. He slammed the door shut and hit the dashboard. "Go!"

Hopper didn't need telling twice. He slammed his foot on the accelerator, and the truck peeled out, racing toward the Byers' house.

Hailey and Steve stood by the wall in the living room, a silent vigil over Will lying unconscious on the couch. Hailey rubbed her arms nervously, her worry for her "little wizard" a cold knot in her stomach. Behind them, Hopper was on the phone, his voice a low, frustrated growl that did nothing to ease the tension.

"Sam Owens. Dr. Sam Owens."

"How many people at the lab?"

"I don't know how many people are there! I don't know how many people are left alive!"

"Have you contacted the police?"

"I am the police! Chief Jim Hopper!"

"Is there a number I can reach you at?"

"Yes, the number that I gave you, yes."

"Okay, yes, I got it."

"6767...I will be here."

"I'll have them contact you."

"They didn't believe you, did they?" Dustin asked the moment Hopper slammed the phone down. Steve turned and walked toward the window where the kids were seated, seeking a distraction. Hailey followed, her presence a quiet comfort. She knew seeing Nancy with Jonathan had to be a fresh wound for him.

"We'll see," Hopper grumbled.

"'We'll see'? We can't just sit here while those things are loose!" Mike argued, his voice tight with panic.

Hopper turned on him, his tone firm and final. "We stay here, and we wait for help." With that, he walked away to the room where a grieving Joyce Byers had locked herself after the death of her boyfriend, Bob.

Hailey stared out the window into the thick, impenetrable mist. Her mind drifted back to the junkyard, to the desperate press of Steve's lips against hers. She was pulled from the memory by Mike's voice.

"Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?" Mike asked, holding the video game Bob had brought for Will.

"Really?" Lucas asked.

"He petitioned the school to start it and everything. Then he had a fund-raiser for equipment. Mr. Clarke learned everything from him. Pretty awesome, right?"

"Yeah," Lucas and Dustin muttered in unison.

"We can't let him die in vain," Mike stated.

"What do you want to do, Mike? The Chief's right on this. We can't stop those Demo-dogs on our own," Dustin said pragmatically.

"Demo-dogs?" Max questioned.

"Dustin likes to do a play on words," Hailey cut in, saving a long explanation. "If he can mash two words together, he will. Like he just did."

"Okay."

"I mean, when it was just Dart, maybe..." Dustin trailed off.

"But there's an army now," Lucas pointed out.

"Precisely."

"His army," Mike muttered softly.

"What do you mean, Mikey?" Hailey asked, noting the intense look on his face.

"His army. Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too." Mike hurried into Will's room, the others trailing behind him. He returned with one of Will's drawings. "The shadow monster."

"It got Will that day on the field. The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him," Mike explained.

"And so, this virus, it's connecting him to the tunnels?" Max asked, trying to keep up.

"To the tunnels, the monsters, the Upside Down, everything," Mike said.

"Whoa. Slow down," Steve said, looking at the chaotic drawing, his head spinning.

"Okay, so, the shadow monsters inside everything. And if the vines feel something like pain, then so does Will," Mike explained.

"And so does Dart," Lucas added.

"Yeah. Like what Mr. Clarke taught us. The hive mind," Mike said.

Steve looked at Hailey, then back at Mike, utterly lost. "Hive mind?"

"It's a super-organism. A collective consciousness," Hailey told him. Steve looked at her, impressed. There was a sharp, hidden depth to her he was only just beginning to see.

"And this is the thing that controls everything. It's the brain," Mike said, pointing at the monstrous form in the drawing.

"Like the Mind Flayer," Dustin said, his eyes widening.

"The what?" Max and Steve asked in unison.

They gathered everyone except Joyce in the kitchen. "The Mind Flayer," Dustin stated, his D&D manual open on the table.

"What the hell is that?" Hopper asked.

"It's a monster from an unknown dimension. It's so ancient it doesn't even know its true home. It enslaves races by taking over their brains using its highly-developed psionic powers."

"Oh, my God, none of this is real. This is a kids' game," Hopper said, exasperated.

"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.

"Analogy," Lucas corrected.

"Analogy? That's what you're worried about? Fine. An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is," Dustin snapped.

"Dusty," Hailey interjected calmly. "What does the Mind Flayer want?"

"To conquer us, basically. It believes it's the master race."

"Like the Germans?" Steve asked nervously. Hailey couldn't help the small, fond smile that touched her lips at his vulnerable, earnest question.

"Uh, the Nazis?" Dustin clarified.

"Yeah, yeah, the Nazis," Steve said.

"If the Nazis were from another dimension, totally. It views other races as inferior. It wants to spread, take over other dimensions."

"We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it," Lucas stated.

"That's great. That's really great. Jesus!" Steve ran a hand through his hair, panic rising. He didn't want to die. Not when he had so much he suddenly wanted to say to the girl standing beside him.

"Okay, so if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything, then if we kill it..." Nancy said, studying the book.

"We kill everything it controls," Mike finished.

"We win," Dustin said.

"Theoretically," Lucas added.

"Great. So how do you kill this thing? Shoot it with fireballs or something?" Hopper asked, picking up the book.

"No. No Fireballs. You summon an undead army because... zombies don't have brains, and the Mind Flayer... it likes brains. It's just a game. It's a game," Dustin finished lamely under Hopper's disbelieving stare.

"What the hell are we doing here?" Hopper asked, turning away in frustration.

"I'm pretty sure you said we're waiting for your military backup," Hailey spoke up, her tone sharp. She was tired of the adults dismissing the kids who were the only ones with any answers.

"We are!"

"How are they gonna stop this? You can't just shoot this with guns," Mike argued.

"You don't know that! We don't know anything!" Hopper shouted.

"We know it's already killed everybody in that lab," Mike countered.

"We know the monsters are gonna molt again," Dustin added.

"We know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town," Lucas stated.

Just then, Joyce's voice, raw but steady, came from the doorway. "They're right. We have to kill it. I want to kill it."

"Me, too, Joyce, okay? Me, too. But how? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here," Hopper said, voicing the terrifying core of the problem.

"No. But he does," Mike said, looking toward the living room. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it. He'll know its weakness."

"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore. That he's a spy for the Mind Flayer now," Max said.

"True," Hailey said, her voice cutting through the doubt. "But he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is."

A plan began to form.

They emptied the garden shed. Steve and Nancy started covering the windows and walls with trash bags and sheets, their movements stiff and awkward.

"Hey. What you did, um, helping the kids... that was really cool," Nancy said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah. Those little shits are real trouble, you know?" Steve replied, stretching high on the ladder.

"Believe me, I know." Both knew there was one person who knew that better than anyone: Hailey.

Soon, everyone joined in, transforming the Byers house into a sealed, dimly lit bunker. Those not needed filtered back inside.

Steve swung his bat in a wide, empty space in the living room, working off nervous energy. Hailey stood in the doorway, simply watching him.

"You gonna keep on looking at me, or do you wanna say something?" Steve asked without stopping.

"Who says I was looking at you?" Hailey challenged.

Steve stopped, shook his head, and slid down to sit against the wall. He patted the space beside him. After a moment's hesitation, she joined him.

"Why'd you kiss me back in the junkyard?" Steve asked after a long silence.

"Because I like you," she said, her voice quiet but clear. "And I thought you were going to die with your reckless acts. I thought I should do it before I lost the chance." She turned to look at him. "Why'd you kiss me?"

"Because I like you, too," he muttered, the admission making her heart flutter wildly.

Before she could respond, Hopper burst back into the house, grabbing a pen and paper. Everyone crowded around the table.

"What happened?" Dustin asked.

Hopper sighed, staring at the scrawls on the page. "I think he's talking. Just not with words."

"What is that?" Steve asked.

Hailey and the boys answered together. "Morse code."

"H-E-R-E," Hopper spelled out.

"Here."

"Will's still in there. He's talking to us."

A flurry of activity followed. Some stayed with Will, recounting memories to anchor him. Hopper transmitted the coded message via radio, hoping Will-or the spy-wouldn't notice. The rest deciphered the frantic dots and dashes.

"Dash, dot, dash, dot," Hailey called out.

"Yeah, got it."

"C." "L." "O." "S." "E." "G." "A." "T." "E."

"Close gate," everyone whispered in unison.

The phone rang, shattering the moment. "Shit. Shit!" Dustin said, yanking the receiver off the hook. It rang again immediately. Nancy ripped the entire phone from the wall and threw it to the floor.

"Do you think he heard that?" Max asked, her voice small.

"It's just a phone. It could be anywhere. Right?" Steve asked, uncertainty written all over his face.

From the darkness outside came a sound that froze their blood: the screeching of monsters, and it was getting closer.

"That's not good," Dustin whispered, peering out a covered window.

"Hey! Get away from the windows!" Hopper barked. He thrust a rifle toward Jonathan.

"Do you know how to use this?"

"What?"

"Can you use this?"

"I can," Nancy said firmly. Hopper tossed her the weapon without hesitation.

Everyone stood ready, weapons raised. Steve immediately pulled Hailey behind him, positioning himself between her and the door. She gripped the back of his jacket, her knuckles white. The screeching swelled, surrounding the house.

"Where are they?" Max whispered.

A loud THUD hit the side of the house. They all flinched, weapons swinging toward the sound.

"What are they doing?" Nancy whispered, tightening her grip on the rifle.

The house was surrounded by snarls and groans. The walls seemed to shake. Then, as suddenly as it began, the noise stopped. An eerie silence descended.

It lasted only a few seconds.

With a shattering crash, a Demo-dog launched itself through the window. It hit the far wall with a sickening thud and lay still.

Everyone screamed.

"Holy shit," Dustin muttered, grabbing his sister's hand. Steve held Hailey tighter against him.

"Is it dead?" Max asked.

Hopper approached cautiously; his gun trained on it. He nudged it with his foot. It didn't move.

Then, the locks on the front door began to turn, one by one. Click. Click. Click. Steve's arms tightened around Hailey as the final lock disengaged. The door creaked open slowly.

The figure standing in the doorway froze everyone in place. It was the person they had all believed was dead.

It was Eleven.

*~🌟~*