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___________ c h a p t e r t w e n t y - t w o
As the fireworks continue on over at the fair, which only reminded the kids of how much innocence they'd lost in the last few years, El explains what she saw.
"He said he was building something," she describes. "That it was all for me."
"Building something..." Max thinks out loud. "Is he talking about the flayed?"
"He must be."
"Unless he means something bigger," Bianca mumbles.
"What?"
"Nothing, it's nothing," Bianca shakes her head.
Mike thinks a bit about what she said before, but understands that if she were confident in her theory, she would've explained.
"So he is building an army, like we thought."
"But he's not building this army to spread."
"He's building it to stop Eleven," Will agrees.
"Last year, El closed the gate on him. I have a feeling that really pissed him off."
"Like, royally."
"Which means the Mind Flayer knows that she's the one thing in his way," Bianca points out. "He gets her off the board..."
"Game over."
"He also said he was going to kill all of you," El states.
"Define all," Dawn narrows her eyes.
"All."
"Yeah, well, that's nice," Max sarcastically remarks.
"I love my life," Bianca quips.
Before anyone else can comment, Nancy pushes off the wall, going near the window. "Do you guys hear that?"
Bianca listens closely, hearing the faint sounds of heavy stomping and a slight screech. It was somewhat blending into the fireworks, however, making her second guess.
"It's just the fireworks," Jonathan assures.
"No, I don't think so," Dawn walks over to the window as well.
"Billy... When he told you this, it was here, in this room?" she turns to El, who nods.
The noises only get louder, followed by Will touching the back of his neck.
"He knows we're here."
They all run outside, walking towards the driveway to see the Mind Flayer heading straight for them.
Immediately, the group gets ready to fight, with the kids boarding up the windows while Jonathan, Dawn, and Nancy grab weapons.
Somehow, Dawn ended up with the second ax, which Nancy wasn't too comfortable with.
