003 (Billy Hargrove x OC)

Chapter 7

-003/Trisha Henderson POV-

Dustin got out his D&D book.
"The mind flayer" said Dustin.
"What the hell is that?" asked Hopper.

"It's a monster from an unknown dimension" said Dustin. "It's so ancient that it doesn't even know its true home. Okay, it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly-developed psionic powers"
"Oh my God, none of this is real" said Hopper. "This is a kids' game"
"No, it's a manual" said Dustin. "And it's not for kids. And unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor..."

"Analogy" corrected Lucas.
"Analogy? That's what you're worried about?" asked Dustin. "Fine, an analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is"
"Okay, so this mind flamer thing..." said Nancy.

"Flayer, mind flayer" said Dustin.
"What does it want?" asked Nancy.
"To conquer us, basically" said Dustin. "It believes it's the master race"

"Like the Germans?" asked Steve.
"The Nazis" I corrected him.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Nazis" said Steve.

"If the Nazis were from another dimension, totally" said Dustin. "Uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself"
"It wants to spread, take over other dimensions" said Mike.
"We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it" said Lucas dramatically.

"That's great. That's great. That's really great. Jesus!" shouted Steve.
"Okay, so if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything, then if we kill it..." said Nancy.
"We kill everything it controls" finished Mike.

"We win" said Dustin.
"Theoretically" said Lucas.
"Great, so how do you kill this thing?" asked Hopper. "Shoot it with Fireballs or something?"

"No, no, no Fire..." chuckled Dustin before returning more serious. "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... it likes brains. It's just a game, it's a game"
"What the hell are we doing here?" asked Hopper.
"I thought we were waiting for your military backup" said Dustin.

"We are!" shouted Hopper.
"But even if they come, how are they gonna stop this?" asked Mike. "You can't just shoot this with guns"
"You don't know that!" shouted Hopper. "We don't know anything!"

"We know it's already killed everybody in that lab" said Mike.
"And we know the monsters are gonna moult again" said Lucas.
"And we know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town" said Dustin.

"They're right" said Joyce. "We have to kill it... I want to kill it"
"Me too, me too, Joyce, okay?" said Hopper. "But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here"
"No, but he does" I said.

"T's right" said Mike. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it. He'll know its weakness. Three, do you think you can get inside his mind again?"
"I can try" I said.
"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore" said Max. "That he's a spy for the mind flayer now"
"Yeah, but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is" said Mike. "And if we can distract the mind flayer, it will be easier for Three to get inside Will's head and find him"

~

They got the storage room ready, while I cut a towel to use as blindfold.
"Be careful" said Mike and I nodded.
"How does this work?" asked Max.

"Three can find people, based on their emotions" said Dustin. "She can read people's minds if she focusses"
"But I need silence" I said and they all nodded.
"Have you ever read my mind?" asked Max and I shook my head.

"Reading emotions, I cannot control" I said. "But reading minds, I can. I don't use it when I don't have to. It is wrong"
We heard the signal of Hopper and I put on my blindfold.
"Okay" I said and closed my eyes.

I focussed on Will, his complicated emotions. I found him easily and went inside his head.
It was stormy...
"Will!" I shouted. "Will! I'm here!"
I could see him, but he didn't hear me.

"Trisha, did you find him?" I heard Dustin.
"Yes" I said. "But... I don't think he can hear me. He is... he is scared. Oh, he's so scared!"
"Focus" said Mike. "Is he doing anything?"

"Tapping" I said. "He's tapping... a rhythm"
"It could mean something" said Dustin.
"Morse code!" said Nancy.

"Short, short, short, short" I began. "Pause, short again, pause. Short, long, short. Pause, short"
"Here" said Hopper. "Keep going kid! He can hear you!"
"Will!" I shouted. "How do we stop it? Do you know how we can stop him?!"

I relayed the morse code.
"We got it!" shouted Hopper. "Get out of there, kid!"
I wanted to get out, but something grabbed me.

"Let go!" I screamed.
But suddenly, Will got up and managed to free me.
"Get out of here, Three!" he yelled and I managed to get out of his head.

I was scared, terrified...
"Hey, we're here, we're here" it was Nancy, she hugged me and I was trembling.
"Will" I said. "He's... he's still fighting"

"He said: close gate" said Mike.
Suddenly the phone went off...
"Shit, shit" said Dustin and took the phone off. But it just went off again, so Nancy plugged it out.

"Do you think he heard that?" asked Max.
"It's just a phone" said Steve. "It could be anywhere. Right?"
"No" I said. "He knows"

We heard monsters screeching in the distance.
Max helped me up and I wiped the blood off my face.
"That's not good" said Dustin.

"Hey, hey! Get away from the windows!" shouted Hopper. "Kid, you can't fight. You need to rest as much as possible"
"No" I said.
"Damn it, listen to me" he said.

"No" I said again. "I will not stay behind"
"Fine" he sighed and looked at Jonathan. "Do you know how to use this?"
"What?" asked Jonathan.

"Can you use this?" asked Hopper, holding out a gun.
"I can" said Nancy and Hopper threw her the gun.
"Stay behind me" I told the kids, I got ready to use my powers again.

The growling of the monsters got closer and closer...
"What are they doing?" asked Nancy.
"Surrounding us" I whispered.

But suddenly, I sensed her...
'Sister'
She was fighting those monsters, saving us...

The monster flew through the window, but it was dead.
"Holy shit" said Dustin.
"Is it dead?" asked Max.

Hopper went to check, it was dead.
The door opened and I walked closer.
"Stay behind, Three" said Hopper.

"No" I said with a smile.
The door opened completely and she stepped in.
"El" I said and ran to her to hug her. "Sister!"

"Sister" she said and hugged me back.
I began to cry and hold her closer.
"I was so worried!" I shouted.

"I know" she said. "I heard you. I'm sorry"
"Eleven" said Mike and I let her go to him.
They hugged, they had missed each other so much.

"I never gave up on you" he said. "I called you every night. Every night for..."
"353 days" she finished. "I heard"
"Why didn't you tell me you were there?" asked Mike. "That you were okay?"

"Because I wouldn't let her" said Hopper, and that was the first time I felt anger of my own, rage even...
"The hell is this? Where you been?" asked Hopper.
"Where have you been?" asked Eleven and he hugged her.

"You've been hiding her" I said.
"You've been hiding her this whole time!" shouted Mike and hit Hopper.
"Hey!" shouted Hopper. "Let's talk. Alone"

He dragged Mike in another room.
Eleven hugged Dustin and Lucas.
"We missed you" said Lucas.

"I missed you too" said Eleven.
"We talked about you pretty much every day" said Dustin.
El looked at Dustin and touched his mouth.

"Teeth" she said.
"What?" asked Dustin.
"You have teeth" she said.

"Oh, you like these pearls?" he asked and purred.
"Eleven?" it was Max. "Hey, um, I'm Max. I've heard a lot about you"
But El totally ignored her and her outreached hand...

El just went to Joyce to hug her.
"Don't worry" I said to Max. "She'll open up to you eventually"

~

El came back from seeing Will and she saw his message.
"You opened this gate before, right?" asked Joyce.
"Yes" said El.
"Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?" asked Joyce.
"Yes" said El.

"It's not like it was before. It's grown" said Hopper. "A lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs"
"Demo-dogs" said Dustin.
"I'm sorry, what?" asked Hopper.

"I said, uh, Demo-dogs" said Dustin. "Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass..."
"How is this important right now?" asked Hopper.
"It's not. I'm sorry" said Dustin.

"I can do it" said El.
"You're not hearing me" said Hopper.
"I'm hearing you" she said. "I can do it"

"Even if El can, there's still another problem" said Mike. "If the brain dies, the body dies"
"I thought that was the whole point" said Max.
"It is, but if we're really right about this... I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army..."

"Will's a part of that army" said Lucas.
"Closing the gate will kill him" said Mike.

We went to see Will and Joyce looked at the open window.
"He likes it cold" she said.
"What?" said Hopper.

"It's what Will kept saying to me" said Joyce. "He likes it cold. We keep giving it what it wants"
"If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then..." said Nancy.
"Then we need to make the host uninhabitable" said Jonathan.

"So if he likes it cold..." said Nancy.
"We need to burn it out of him" said Joyce.
"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time" said Mike.
"Yeah, somewhere far away" said Dustin.

Hopper gave Jonathan directions, to the place where he had been hiding El.
I hugged my sister tightly before she left again.
"Come back, okay?" I said.

"Promise" she said and hugged me back. "I'll be back"
"See you soon" I said and she walked to the car.
"Now, go and rest" said Steve to me. "You're exhausted"
"Fine" I sighed and went to lay down in Will's room.