𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐒 ||𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴||

𝐕. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝

Chris softly stirred as he woke up with a burning headache while his lower right arm felt like it was on fire.

"Ugh, son of a bitch," He cursed as he tried to sit up but immediately got pushed back down.

"Dude, you passed out. Don't move," Lucas scolded as Chris held up his hands that had a faint blue glow.

"Stop it," He whispered at his hands as he noticed that El was searching for someone. He closed his eyes and focused hard as the glow started leaving.

"Are you okay?" Will whispered softly and Chris nodded before carefully sitting up.

"I found him," El spoke up as Chris looked at her.

"Where is he?" Max asked.

"Woods," She replied and Chris knitted his eyebrows together.

"Woods?" He asked.

"He's with... Will's mom," El added and Chris looked at Will.

"My—My mom?" He asked confused.

"What are they doing?" Max asked again.

"Ill... annoy. They're going to Ill-annoy." El replied and Chris was officially lost now. Then Karen knocked on the door.

"Mike! Breakfast!" She yelled.

"Not now, Mom!" Mike yelled back and Chris groaned as he still had a headache. "Illinois? Illinois, like the state? The state of Illinois?" He then asked El.

"Ill-annoy," El stammered before she and Max went to the small bathroom in the basement. Lucas handed Chris a bottle of water before he returned to eating his Cocoa Puffs.

"Something's not right. I can't get Hopper off my back all summer, now all of a sudden, he's hiking with Will's mom to Illinois?" Mike exclaimed as he walked around the basement. "And Dustin's MIA, too? I mean, this can't be a coincidence."

"What does it matter?" Lucas asked. "The bottom line is, they're not here. It's up to us."

"Up to us to do what exactly?" Mike shot back.

"Find Billy and stop him," Lucas replied as Chris touched a lamp and it turned off. His eyes widened as he quickly retreated his hand and turned back to the conversation.

"Okay, yeah, that's a really nice sentiment, but even if El could find him again, and that's a pretty big if, then what?" Mike asked again.

"We burn the shit out of him while Chris and El use their powers and make sure he doesn't escape this time," Lucas replied simply.

"Okay, then what?" Mike shot back.

"Then we win," Lucas replied casually.

"No, see, that's the problem. We don't. We don't win. We got the Mind Flayer out of Will before and he just came right back and gave Chris powers. And to add to that, I don't know about you, but yesterday Chris didn't look that great after using his powers." Mike exclaimed.

"Hey, you try and use some weird-ass powers after you only just discovered them." Chris shot back and Mike shot him an apologetic look.

"But we don't just have to stop Billy, we have to stop the Mind Flayer." Mike finished.

"How in the hell do we do that?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know," Mike replied.

"Maybe El does," Will spoke up and the four boys looked at the door to the bathroom.