|43| Lessons from Erica

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"Erica!"

"Just the facts!"

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"The Mind Flayer built this monster  in Hawkins, to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world" Mike explains.

"And it almost did. That was one tiny piece of it" Nancy adds.

"How big is this thing?" Hopper asks.

"Big enough to destroy your cabin" Leah answers, getting a wide-eyed look from Hopper.

"My cabin is destroyed?" He asks.

"Sorry, Cheif" She apologizes.

"Okay, so just to be clear, this..." Steve trails off, "this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, is some kind of gigantic weapon?"

"Yes" Nancy answers.

"But instead of like screws and metals, the Mind Flayer made its weapon... with melted people?" Steve asks.

"Yes, exactly" Nancy repeats.

"Are we sure this thing is still out there, and alive?" Joyce asks.

"El beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, its still alive" Max answers.

"But if we close the gate again" Will starts.

"We cut the brain off from the body" Max finishes.

"And kill it" Lucas says. "Theoretically"

"And leave this shit behind us" Leah adds.

"Yoohoo!" Murray yells, walking towards the group, flayling paper in his hands. "Yoohoo"



"Okay, this is what Alexei called 'the hub'" Murray explains, pointing to a box on the map. "Now, the hub takes us to the vault room"

"Okay, where's the gate?" Hopper questions.

"Right here" he says, pointing to another box. "I don't know the scale on this, but I think its fairly close to the vault room, maybe 50 feet or so"

"More like 500" Erica says, stepping up to the man. "What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?"

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Murray asks as the young girl. "Erica Sinclair. Who are you?"

"Murray.... Bauman" He answers.

"Listen, Mr. Bunman" Erica orders, "I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I've been in that shithole for 24 hours. And with all do respect" She says, signalling to the rest of the group, including Lucas who was shocked that his sister was speaking like this, "You're all gonna die"

"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" Murray asks.

"Um, I'm ten, you bald bastard!" She corrects.

"Erica!" Lucas scolds the girl.

"Just the facts" Erica answers.

"She's right" Dustin defends, "You're all gonna die, but you don't have to. Excuse me" He says, making his way to the map.

"Okay, see this room here?" Dustin asks, signalling to yet another box. "This is a storage facility. Theres a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system. That will lead you to the base of the weapon. Its a bit of a maze down there, but between me and Erica, we can show you the way"

"You can show us the way?" Hopper asked unenthusiasticly.

"Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and dangerous hero shit, and we'll just be your... navigators" Dustin nods.

"No" Hopper says with a fake smile, making Erica and Dustin's faces swoop down into a frown. "Nope"


When Hopper was done saying goodbye to El he made his way to Leah and wrapped his arms around her.

"I remember the day I met you" He laughs. "I could see it in your eyes that you were not gonna stay your ass at home that night because you're brave. I need you to be brave right now" He tells her.

"Thanks Hopper" She says, leaning into his embrace. Leah had no idea why he was hugging her, but she didn't mind.

"You were always my favorite of El's friends" He says, ruffling her hair.






A/n

Next chapters are  gonna be so sad lmao sorry in advance

525 words

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