rob lowe perfect, billy.h

ten; the shadow monster

[ the shadow monster ]
chapter ten

"the shadow monster,"

"it got will that day on the field. the doctors said it was like a virus, it infected him." the wheeler boy explained.

"and so this virus, it's connecting him to these tunnels?" max asked.

"to the tunnels, the upside down, monsters, pretty much everything," katrina explained, earning a smile from mike.

he taught her well.

"woah, slow down, slow down." steve said, walking over to the group who were all huddled around wills photo of the shadow monster.

"okay, so, the shadow monsters inside everything," mike explained, "and if the vines feel something like pain, then so does will."

"and so does dart." lucas realized.

"yeah. like mr. clarke taught us. the hive mind."

"the what now?" katrina spoke up in confusion.

"a collective consciousness. it's a super-organism." dustin explained. katrina glanced at steve still confused and he just shrugged.

"and well, this thing that controls everything. it's the brain." mike spoke, pointing to the monster on wills drawing.

"like the mind flayer." dustin said.

lucas clicked his tongue and pointed at dustin, smiling.

"the what?" max, steve and katrina all said.

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the party, max, katrina, steve, nancy, jonathan, and now hopper were now all gathered around the table in the kitchen, "the mind flayer," dustin pointed at the picture in wills d&d book.

"what the hell is that?" hopper asked.

"it's a monster from an unknown dimension. it's ancient, it doesn't even know it's true home. okay, it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over its brain, using its highly-developed psionic powers."

"the fuck?" katrina blabbed out, earning a glare from dustin.

"none of this is real, it's from a kids game," her father groaned.

"it's a manual. and it's not for kids," dustin was quick to defend, "and unless you know something that we don't, this is what the metaphor-"