Daisies || Max Mayfield

39: Holloways

The Holloways were not home. So of course, El telekinetically threw open the door with her mind.

Nancy went in first, with Jonathan.

"Tom?" She shouted. "Heather?"

"Jesus, it's freezing." Max groaned, shivering next to me.

"Do you guys smell that?" Nancy asked.

"What?" Will asked.

Me and Max were right behind them, so of course, we got to smell the worst of it. Sitting on the kitchen counter were tons of bottles and canisters with gross colored power and liquid falling off the counter.

The smell burned my nose, like when you smell something super spicy.

Jonathan picked up a can of some powder, sniffing it. "You think they're guzzling this shit?"

"Yeah, or they just went on a massive cleaning spree." Nancy nudged a bottle with her finger.

"But last year, Will didn't eat chemicals, did you?" Max said.

"No." He muttered. "This is something new."

"Mr. Clarke, fifth grade." Mike began. "Posit. What happens when you mix chemicals together?"

"You create a new substance." Will and Lucas said.

"What if they're making something?"

"Inside them?" I asked. "You'd die if you drank that shit."

"Yeah, if you're human," Lucas said.

Nancy didn't say anything, just led us into the next room. It was the same room Max, El, and I had been in, but this time there was a wine bottle on the carpet, and blood stains.

"There's the blood we've been waiting for," I muttered.

"Yesterday, Tom had a bandage on his forehead." Nancy slid the bottle on the floor, picking it up. "He was attacked."

We followed her in a line as she pieced together all the evidence, the blood smears, the crumpled carpets, and then the rope on the garage floor. 

Jonathan nudged it. "They must've tied them up. They must've taken them somewhere."

"Mrs. Driscoll," Nancy said. "She kept saying, I have to go back. What if the flaying, it's taking place somewhere else? There must be a place where all this started, right? A source."

"Somewhere he didn't want me to see," El whispered.

"If we can find the source, then maybe we can stop him. Or at least, from spreading, or doing whatever the hell it's doing with those chemicals."

"How do we find it?"

"Mrs. Driscoll." Will piped up from the back. "If she wants to go back so badly, why don't we let her?"

Nancy left her car in the middle of the hospital parking lot, slamming the doors and tossing the keys to Jonathan.

We all followed her in, walking right past the secretary. At first, I thought it would work, the lady was just busy on the phone, but-

"Woah Woah Woah!" She exclaimed, standing up. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Oh!" Nancy laughed. "Um, I was just going to visit my grandmother again. And-and this, this is my family." She waved to all of us in the line.

The secretary stared at us.

"Extended," Lucas said.

"I don't care who they are, you know the rules, two visitors at a time."

"Yeah-"

"Two!" The woman glared at us, picking the phone back up. "Girl, this child done lost her mind. She brought a whole zoo in here."

Nancy and Jonathan glanced at us. 

"Don't get into any trouble," Jonathan said, nodding to my crowbar not so greatly hidden behind my back.

"Got it." Mike turned around, finding himself in the waiting area.

"Anyone got a dollar?" Lucas asked.

"Dude-" Mike groaned, walking over to the vending machine. He put the bill in, typing in the right combination. I watched in my seat as the machine stopped, the candy not leaving the row.

"Aw come on you piece of shit!" Mick hit the size of the box. And he hit it again. And again, until all of a sudden, the entire machine rattled, and everything fell off the shelves.

Mike glanced at Eleven. "Thanks."

She nodded, going back to her magazines with Max.

Half an hour later, I was bored out of my damn mind. Lucas and Max were playing some dumb catch an m&m in your mouth and then cheer for five minutes game, and Mike and El were talking.

I scratched a bit of paint off my crowbar, glancing at Will when he stood up.

"What?" I said.

He turned pale, looking up. The lights were flickering, the chunks of black getting closer and closer together.

"Holy shit." I stood up, took my crowbar, and tapped one of the lights.

"That's not gonna do anythi-" Will froze, slowly reaching for the back of his neck.

"What's wrong?" Mike joined Will's side, El right next to him, Lucas and Max not far behind.

"Something's wrong. Something's really wrong." Will whispered.

"Okay, okay, holy shit." Mike muttered, looking around. "Nancy."

"And Jonathan." Will stared at the elevator doors, both buttons glowing red. Out of order. "Take the stairs."

"Oh god-" Max groaned, holding the door open.

I sprinted as fast as I could, dragging the bar behind me in the dimly lit staircase. Byt he time we got to the top, I was panting and dying.

There was goop all over the floors, sticking to my shoes. We followed the trail, along with Jonathan and Nancy's footprints in scattered directions.

A loud roaring alerted us all to a utility door off the side of the hall. Eleven ripped the door off its hinges, throwing it on the floor. 

There was no way in the fucking world I could've guessed what was behind that door.

A giant meat monster, all slimy and red, covered in weird fucking tentacles turned around, a crying Nancy under it. It stared at Eleven, roaring at us. Its spit went everywhere, and I mean everywhere. It got in my fucking mouth.

El screamed, throwing it out the window in one fluid motion.

"Holy shit! Nancy!" Jonathan pushed past us all, picking her up off the floor. "Oh my god-"

"Find out where it's going!" Mike shouted.

"Shit!" I chased him down the slippery hall, skidding once on my shoes. I almost ripped my pants accidentally doing the splits as I fell. "Jesus-"

Max picked me up quickly, hurrying to the stairs. Tons of footsteps thundered down them, doctors on floors above, and all of us.

"Front door!" Mike announced, pushing the door open and running outside.

The monster had turned into a mere pile of flesh on the ground, melting into the sewer grate with a loud slurping noise.

"Gross," I whispered.