So you're the babysitter?{•S.HARRINGTON•}

S2 CHAPTER 9

"The doctor said it was like, some kind of virus? It infected him." you walked back to the living room where everyone else were talking. "And so this virus, it's connecting him to the tunnels?" you could hear Hopper. "To the tunnels, monsters, the Upside Down, everything." your brother replied. "Whoa. Slow down. Slow down." Steve said waving his hands around trying to grasp the situation. "Okay, so, the shadow monster's inside everything.And if the vines feel something like pain, then so does Will." Mike stated. "And so does Dart." Lucas added. "Yeah. Like what Mr. Clarke taught us." Dustin continued.

"The hive mind." they all chorused

"Hive mind?" Hopper said confused. "A collective consciousness. It's a super-organism. And this is the thing that controls everything. It's the brain." You explained stepping forward to the group. Dustin smiled to you, "You okay kid? You were bleeding a lot earlier." Hopper asked looking to your arm. "I'm fine. A little blood never hurt anyone." you offered the group a tired smile. "Anyways, to the important task at hand, Will is connected to this thing?" They nodded. "Seems that way." your brother concluded. "It's like the Mindflayer."

"The what?" Max asked, poor girl is so confused.

"What?" Steve asked

"The Mindflayer." Dustin said simply

"What the hell is that?" Hopper's brows furrowed

"It's a monster from an unknown dimension." you said to no one in particular.

"It's so ancient that it doesn't even know its true home." Dustin continued grabbing a D&D manual. "Okay, it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly-developed psionic powers." he explained.

"Oh, my God, none of this is real. This is a kids' game." Hopper said rubbing his eyes frustrated.

"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..."

"Analogy, but he's right, kind of. They are really similar behavior wise." you told the group.

"What does it want?" You looked to the side rocking on the balls of your feet. "To conquer us, basically. It believes it's the master race." Steve stepped closer to the group, "Like the Germans?" you just looked at him. "Uh, the Nazis?" you asked him. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Nazis." he nodded. "Uh...If the Nazis were from another dimension, totally." Dustin told him.

"Uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself. It wants to spread, take other dimensions." you continued to explain the creatures purpose, realizing how dorky you sounded. "We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it." Dustin finished. "That's great. That's great. "That's really great. Jesus!" You all thought for a moment. "Okay, so if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything, then if we kill it...We kill everything it controls." Mike said.
"We win." Dustin

"Theoretically." Lucas

"Great. So how do you kill this thing? Shoot it with Fireballs or something?" Hopper asked sarcastically. "No. No, no Fire...No Fireballs. Uh, you summon an undead army, uh, because...because zombies,
you know, they don't have brains,and the mind flayer, it... It likes brains." Dustin struggled to explain. You face palmed, and walked over to where Steve was resting against the wall. "It's just a game. It's a game.What the hell are we doing here?" The older man asked, clearly frustrated with the situation. "I thought we were waiting for your military backup." Dustin sassed. He was a real smartass sometimes. "We are!" He raised his voice. "How are they gonna stop this? You can't just shoot this with guns." Mike yelled. "You don't know that! We don't know anything!" Hopper yelled back. The air was tense, and you began picking at your nails. "We know it's already killed everybody in that lab. We know the monsters are gonna molt again. We know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town." You said through the awkward silence.

"They're right. We have to kill it. I want to kill it." Joyce spoke shakily. "Me, too.I...Me, too, Joyce, okay? But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here." Hopper spoke lowering his voice, trying to de-escalate the conversation. "No. But he does." Mike said looking to the unconscious boy. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it. He'll know its weakness." He continued. "I thought we couldn't trust him anymore?" Max asked him."That he's a spy for the mind flayer now."

"Yeah, but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is." Mike finished looking to Joyce and Hopper.

Everyone was currently cleaning out the shed behind the Byers house, well everyone except for you. Joyce asked you to watch Will while they were working. You had his head rested in your lap, running your hands through his hair. His face distorted uncomfortably, as he tried to get the blanket off of him. But you were told specifically to keep it on him. People were rushing in and out as you sat on the couch, holding the boy that was more of another baby brother to you. You were too lost in your thoughts to notice Dustin sit on the couch next to you. He grabbed your hand and laced his fingers with yours and curled into your side. You wrapped your arm around him, and he grabbed your hand again. You leaned down and kissed the top of his head, giving his hand a light squeeze. Lucas walked in and wordlessly sat on the ground on your left and leaned against your leg. You released your hand from Wills light brown locks, to run your hand through his short hair as he closed his eyes. Max came in from the kitchen "Lucas-?" she stopped when she saw the four of you. "Oh sorry-I-" she trailed off. You smiled to her gently. "You can come sit with us ya know? We don't bite." you chuckled quietly. She slowly made her way over to the group, sitting opposite of Lucas. She rested her head on your thigh as you sighed. You all just sat there in comfortable silence. Most of them dozed off, and you were right there with them. The past few days had been exhausting. Right as things were beginning to get hazy, Mike joined the group. Stepping around Max and Lucas, he curled up next to Will and closed his eyes. This was something the group did a lot. Like the first time the boys had convinced you to rent "The Shining" so you could watch it together. Surprising to no one, they were terrified. They clung to you for the rest of the night. You didn't mind it though. "Cuddle Puddle" was what the party called it. You smiled fondly at the memory.

This is what you needed. This was your family. All you were missing now was El. You looked to Mike, you knew he was the closest with her. It had hit him the hardest when she disappeared, he had moped around for days, trying to contact her. You would be lying if you said you hadn't tried either. You did but only static could be heard through your radio. You looked to Dustin. He had held out through this situation strong, just like last year. But you had heard him cry in the middle of the night, sometimes he'd ask to sleep with you because he didn't want to be alone. He's just a kid, they all are. They didn't deserve this chaos. You gripped his hand a little tighter and closed your eyes. You wanted to keep them safe. You felt like it was your job at this point.

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There are definitely more reads on this book than I thought there would be. I've even seen a few add it to their lists, which makes me really happy! Let me know if you see any spelling or grammar mistakes! Sometimes when I re-read things my brain skims right over things, so sorry about that. I also thought that last little moment with the kids was really sweet, I feel like it kind of shows how close you are with the party. I hope you are enjoying this story as much as I am!