𝘿𝙍𝙄𝙁𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 - Max Mayfield

29. The Sauna Test

Morning came by rather quickly as Aiden's eyes started to slowly open. He found that he was still laying on Max's chest and honestly, he really did not want to get off her...

Except he knew what was supposed to happen.

"Midnight to White Fang,do you copy? This is a code red,I repeat,this is a code red" Lucas' voice came from the walkie talkie Aiden had in his backpack.

Aiden let out a groan,not wanting to leave Max's arms but knowing he had to. He slowly got off her and crept past Eleven and Melanie who were sleeping next to each other. As he zippered open his backpack,he heard Max stirring.

"Curls..." Max mumbled. "Come here..."

"I wish I could, Red," Aiden said, rubbing his eyes to make his vision clearer. "But I think this is an emergency"

The boy pulled out his walkie talkie. "Yo, Lucas. I copy.. what's the situation? And since when did we start using codenames?"

"It's important! Get the others and get here fast!" Lucas' voice came through the walkie. "Our very lives are at stake here. Come to you and Mike's place and we'll explain everything"

Aiden held his head slightly at the volume of his best friend's voice. He'd just woken up and didn't need Lucas' girly screeches.

"Alright,just hold on," Aiden sighed. "Over and out"

After shutting off the walkie talkie,Aiden immediately went to Max's closet to find one of the many clothes she'd stolen from him. He took off the Adidas jacket and threw on a black and green Palace t-shirt. While he threw on his clothes, Max seemed to fully wake up, followed by Melanie.

"What's going on?" Mel asked.

"Lucas called," Aiden said as he pulled on his Air forces. "Get dressed, we're heading back to my place. Apparently it's urgent"

'That's one way to put it'

__________

Soon after all three girls were up and dressed,they all biked to the Wheeler house. the second Aiden walked in and saw the fear on Will's face,he knew.

"At first I didn't want to believe it..." Will said,once they all gathered in the basement. "I just didn't think it was anything. First time I felt it was at–"

"The movie" Aiden finished. "I noticed your reaction to the power going out"

"Then I felt it again at the field" Will said. "Then again yesterday at castle Byers"

"I remember you saying something along those lines when we were at the movies" Max pointed out. "You knew something was wrong"

"Yeah..." Aiden said. "That day at the field, I saw a few rats running past us in a single direction.. it didn't seem normal. They all seemed too orderly, almost as if they were..."

"Hypnotized?" Will asked. Aiden nodded.

"I stepped on one of them,but its corpse was still moving," Aiden finished.

"It's him," Will said, looking into Aiden's eyes.

"Who?" Mel asked.

"The mind flayer" Will and Aiden said simultaneously. Though Aiden knew it was coming,he still felt his stomach drop just by thinking about it.

"I closed the gate" El looked at Aiden.

"Yeah,but what if a piece of him is still here with us?" Aiden said. "The part that got out of Will... It's probably still in our world cause it never actually died"