Ṫḧë Ṡöüṅḋ öḟ Ṗëṛïḷ (M. Wheeler)

The Battle of Starcourt (Pt. ii)

:)

———————

The monster traipsed around the area, letting out another shriek that grated on his spine. Dylan dismissed the feeling as he held El's petrified figure close to his body, shielding her with it as much as he could. Letting out a small breath, he desperately reached out for the senses of Lucas, Will, Nancy, and Jonathan, hoping to whatever higher being that they were at least hidden. To his utter relief, he sensed them hiding behind the red car, obscured properly from the monster's sight.

The loud, booming footsteps vibrated within Dylan's inner being as the beast walked around menacingly, obviously searching for El. But what bothered him much, much more than the noises was that he could feel the Mind Flayer within the beast.

Which meant that Billy had turned his Sense back on.

Which, much to Dylan's dismay, also meant that the Mind Flayer now had complete and utter control of Billy's being.

Dylan could feel his body shaking. The sense of the Mind Flayer was so great he almost felt encased within it—and on its mind was one goal that shook him to the core:

Eliminate El.

"Griswold family, this is Scoops Troop, do you copy? Over!"

Dylan's eyes widened at the familiar sound of Dustin's voice emitting grittily from Mike's abandoned supercomm. He could hear and feel the the fear in his tone—no doubt Dustin and the others were at least somewhat aware of the predicament they were in.

Dylan focused his Sense on the location of Dustin's voice, which called out again, this time a lot more frantically.

"Griswold family, I repeat, this is Scoops Troop, do you copy—"

The transmission was cut off as the Mind Flayer suddenly grabbed the device, bringing it closer to itself to inspect it. Dylan grimaced as he sensed this. Well, that wasn't good.

"Griswold family do you copy?! DO YOU COPY?!?"

The monster roared dangerously into the receiver before tossing it aside, ultimately damaging it. Dylan scowled. Well, that was even worse. If Scoops Troop were worried before, they were definitely panicked now; and, knowing Steve and his dumbassery, that meant they would probably leave their post to come and try and help them—which, in turn, meant that they were going to be killed while trying.

Dylan certainly wasn't about to let that happen.

Carefully, he shuffled over to properly survey his surroundings, wincing while doing so. His Sense was going haywire right now. Each of his five senses were gathering a lot more input than he could usually handle, the air was thick and wafted with horror, and his Sense was feeling far too many things right now: predominately the feeling of impending doom. It was not at all helpful.

Still, like always, he pushed away his discomfort (read: mental agony). He didn't have time to heed his impairments any mind. He needed to find a way to get his friends—at the very least El herself—out of here before any lives could be lost.

Well, anymore than the Mind Flayer had already caused.

Turning to face El, Dylan opened his mouth to speak, but paled when he suddenly sensed the Mind Flayer close—way too close. He huddled over the girl, shielding her with his entire body as the monster stomped close towards their hiding spot. He didn't move until the beast stopped idling around and continued its surveying watch.

Mike started to lift his body up to peer from behind the desk they were crouching behind, but Dylan quickly pulled him down, shaking his head violently.