Don't Stop the Devil / Steve Harrington 1

Chapter 26

"Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army too." Mike says and we all share confused and worried looks. Mike runs to Will's room and grabs a drawing. He hands it to Dustin and we all crowd around him to look at it.

"The shadow monster." Dustin says as we look at the spider like creature on the drawing. "It got Will that day on the field." Mike says and we all look at him. "The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him." Mike explains to us.

"And so this virus it's connecting him to the tunnels?" I ask from beside Steve. "To the tunnels, to the monsters, to the upside down, to everything." Mike explains quickly as he looks at me. "Okay, woah, woah, slow down. Slow down." Steve says, trying to keep up with what Mike was telling us.

"Okay so the shadow monster's inside everything. And if the vines feel something like pain then so does Will." Mike explains to us. "And so does Dart." Lucas says to add on to what Mike was saying. "Yeah, it's like what Mr. Clark taught us, the hive mind." Mike says with a nod to Lucas.

"Hive mind?" Steve and I question in unison. "A collective consciences. It's a super organism." Dustin explains as he looks at us then back down to the drawing. "This is the thing that controls everything. It's the brain." Mike says as he points at the drawing of the shadow monster.

"Like the Mindflayre." Dustin says in realization. Steve, Max, and I give him confused looks as Mike and Lucas share a look of realization. Lucas snaps and we all look at each other. "What?" Steve, Max, and I ask in unison.

Dustin grabs a book off of one of Will's shelves and goes beck to the kitchen. We follow after him as he looks through the book for a certain page. Once he find it he slams the book down on the dining room table. We crowd around the table and Nancy and Jonathan join us.

"The Mindflayre." Dustin says as he shows us the page with the Mindflayre on it. "What the hell is that?" Hopper asks as he joins us in the dining room. "It's a monster from an unknown dimension. 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 sionic powers." Dustin explains and I hear Hopper sigh in annoyance. "Oh my God none of this is real, this is a kids game." Hopper says angrily.

"No, it's a manual and it's not for kids." Dustin snaps at Hopper. "And unless you know that we don't this is the best metafore-" Dustin begins before being cut off by Lucas. "Analogy." Lucas corrects and we all look at him. "Analogy? That's what you're worried about? Fine! Analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is." Dustin snaps and I roll my eyes.

"Okay so this mind flamer thing-" I begin before Dustin cuts me off. "Flayer. Mindflayre." He corrects and I roll my eyes with an annoyed sigh. "What does it want?" I ask deciding to not say anything about Dustin interrupting me.

"To councre us basically. It believes it's the master race." Dustin explains. "Like the Germans." Steve says and we all give him looks of dissapointment. "Uh, the Nazis." Dustin corrects as we all look at Steve. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Nazis." Steve corrects himself and then looks down in embarrassment.

"Uh, if the Nazis were from another dimension then totally." Dustin says and I hear Hopper groan in annoyance. "It views other races, like us, as inferior to itself." Dustin continues to explain. "It wants to spread and take over other dimensions." Mike adds on to what Dustin was saying.

"We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it." Lucas says urgently from beside Max. "That's great. That's great. That's really great. Shit." Steve says as he runs his hand nervously through his hair and walks away from the table.

I give him a sympathetic look and turn back to the group. "Okay so if this thing is like the brain, that's controlling everything, then if we kill it we kill everything it controlls?" I ask as I pick up the book. "We win." Dustin says with a nod from beside me. "Theoretically." Lucas says still not very confident about this plan.

"Alright great so how do you kill this thing?" Hopper asks as he takes the book out of my hands. "Do you shoot it with fireballs or something?" He asks as he looks at the book. "No, no, no fireballs." Dustin says with a small chuckle. Hopper glares at him and Dustin starts to fidget with his hands. "Uh, you summon an undead army, uh, because, because zombies you know th- they don't have brains and th- the Mindflayre it- it likes brains." Dustin says as he stumbles through his words, clearly frightened by Hopper.

"It's just a game. It's a game." Dustin says with a shake of his head. "What the hell are we doing here?" Hopper asks as he slams the book shut and then throws it down on the table and walks away from us. "I thought we were waiting for your military backup." Dustin snaps, trying to defend himself. "We are." Hopper says angrily as he turns back to us. "Well even if they come how are they going to stop this?" Mike asks from beside his sister. "You can't just shoot this with guns!" Mike exclaims angrily.

"You don't know that. We don't know anything." Hopper says defensively. "We know that it's already killed everybody in that lab." Mike says with a glare. "And we know that the monsters are going to molt again." Lucas adds on to what Mike said. "And we know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town." Dustin finishes for both of them and we all share a grave look. I share a scared look with Steve and he places a comforting hand on my shoulder.