Opposites attract (Mike W.)

CHAPTER FORTY

Act 3~Chapter 8:The Flayed

"I found him," El told the group.
"Where is he?" Max asked
"Woods."
"Woods?" the party questioned.
"He's with Will and Ava's mom," El told them.
"Our mom?" Avery and Will asked in sync.
"What are they doing?" Max asked.
"Ill... annoy," El said, "They're going to Ill-annoy."
Before they could ask anymore questions, the group was interrupted by a loud banging on the basement door.
"Mike! Breakfast!" Mrs. Wheeler shouted.
"Not now, Mom!" he shouted back rather rudely,"Illinois? Illinois, like the state? The state of Illinois?" He questioned in a much calmer voice.
"Ill-annoy," Eleven innocently replied.
The three girls walked into the bathroom to help her clean her bloody nose from the use of her powers, after El's vision told them they would not be getting any help from Hopper or Joyce any time soon. Max was wetting a cloth whilst El was sat on the toilet seat with Avery was helping stop any drips that fell before the bleeding was fully stopped. Max passed Avery the cloth and she started dabbing El's lip, cleaning the blood. El looked up, giving the two other girls a very clear view of her now very bruised neck.
"Does it still hurt?" Max asked.
"Only when I talk," El replied.
"Well, it's a good thing you're not Mike then," Avery joked, putting the cloth in the sink, ""Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." You'd be in constant pain."
The three of them laughed.
"What are they still doing in there?" They heard Mike ask the two boys in the room next door.
"I don't know. Girls just like hanging out in bathrooms," they heard lucas reply, shoving his face with food.
"Why?" he questioned his two best friends.
The three of them tuned out more of the conversation and helped El with her nose when they heard Will say, "She said she dumped your ass. That doesn't sound like a break."
"It wasn't!" Max yelled to the three of them, "You guys do realize we can still hear everything you're saying, right?"
The three in the bathroom began to laugh at the stupidity of the boys, when they were once again interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Not now, Mom!" Mike shouted.
"Mike, open the door!" the voice of Nancy shouted back at her younger brother.
The three girls walked out as Mike ran up the stairs, unlocking the door for Nancy, who was also with Johnathan.

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"It was the same thing that happened to Will last year," Nancy finished, pacing around in front of the party, "And look around this. Look at the body temperatures." She picked up a photo and turned it round to face them.
"He likes it cold," Will realised.
"Okay, so this crazy old woman who was eating fertilizer-" Mike began.
"Mes. Driscoll."
"Right, yeah, Mrs. Driscoll. What time was this attack?" he continued.
"Last night."
"Right, but what time last night?" he asked.
"Around 9:00," Nancy told them.
"You waited all night to call?" Johnathan questioned.
"I was waiting for the doctors to run some tests," Nancy explained.
"You weren't there?" The twins asked in sync.
"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" he said.
"Hallelujah," Nancy said sarcastically, "Um, so, what time was your... sauna test?"
"Around 9:00," The party all said.
"Well, that proves it. That proves my theory," Nancy told them.
"She's flayed, just like Billy," Mike said.
"Flayed?"
"The Mind Flayer. He flays people. Takes over their mind," Mike explained, "Once they do that, they basically become him."
"If there are two flayed..." Lucas began.
"We have to assume there are more," Will continued.
"Heather," El said. All of them looked at her confused, "Billy was doing something to her. She was scared. She was screaming. Bad screams."
"What's a good scream?" Lucas asked.
"Max said-" she began.
"Thats off topic. Doesn't matter," Avery said, interrupting El before she explained too much.
"I'm sorry, I'm lost. Who is Heather?" Nancy questioned.
"She's a lifeguard at the pool," Max explained.
"Heather Holloway?" The three girls nodded at Nancy's question, "Tom." Nancy and Johnathan looked at each other, worried.
Nancy led them all to her car, not explaining her plan, claiming she will tell them on the way. The car was big enough for all eight of them, but three people would be in back. All the seats were taken before Will, Mike and Avery got out of the door and Mike groaned in protest.
"Welcome to my world," Will laughed, leading the way to the back and jumping in, the other two close behind him.
"Seatbelts," Nancy reminded them all, making them all put their seat belts on. All of them sat silently whilst Nancy explained where she was taking them.

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The eight of them arrived to a house. The Holloway house. Nancy was at the front and rang the doorbell. No reply. She tried again. No reply. Nancy looked at Johnathan and almost by magic, the looked at El at the same time. She stared at the door and it flew open. She wiped the blood off of her upper lip and the group all walked in.
"Tom?" Nancy shouted, looking for her boss, "Heather?"
"Jesus, It's freezing," Avery muttered, wrapping her arms around herself, trying to warm herself up.
"Do you guys smell that?" Nancy asked them, causing them to sniff the air.
The group of them all walked into the kitchen, spotting large amounts of cleaner, scattered around the top of a cabinet.
"You think they're guzzling this shit?" Johnathan asked, picking up one of the containers, looking at it.
"Yeah, either that or they just went in a hell of a cleaning spree," Nancy said, sarcastically.
"But last year, Will didn't eat chemicals," Max pointed out, "Did you?"
"No," he began, "This is something new.
"Mr. Clarke, fifth grade, posit," Mike began, turning to Avery, Lucas and Will, "What happens when you mix chemicals?"
"You create a new substance," the three of them replied in sync.
"What if they are making something?" Mike suggested.
"In themselves?" Max questioned, "I mean, come on, if you drink this crap, it'll kill you."
"Yeah, if you're human," Lucas said.

Nancy lead them all to the main room, looking for more clues on what could have happened to the Holloway family. The old fashioned rug lay in the centre of the room, with a bottle of red wine, lying on top.
Nancy stared at the bottle, eventually knelling down to investigate the strange red liquid, which Avery just presumed was wine.
"Blood," Nancy said, gently running her fingers around over it. Johnathan came down to her level, getting a closer look at what his girlfriend was talking about.
"Yesterday," Nancy began, "Tom had a bandage on his forehead." She grabbed the bottle, staring at the small red stain on the label, standing up,"He was attacked."
Nancy lead the group around the house again, following the rug which had been all scrunched up and pushed at one end, which went into the basement.
Nancy opened the door, her curiosity getting the better of her, but closed it before anything bad happened. She began to walk again, causing the others to follow her, seeing some rope on the rug.
"They must have tied them," Johnathan explained, "They must have 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 said, following along with Nancy's point.
"If we can find the source, then maybe we can stop him. Or at least stop it from spreading," she told them.
"How do we find it?" El asked.
"Mrs. Driscoll," Will said.
"If she wants to go back so badly, why don't we let her?" Avery finished, understanding her twin brother's idea.
The group of seven all left the Holloway house, getting back into Nancy's truck going to the hospital.

(A/N: Hey! It's not actually been a month (shockingly) as I finally got Wattpad on my phone so it is easier for me to write more often rather than having to have the motivation to go on my laptop. I have an audition at school in a few weeks then I will have rehearsal for it as anyone who auditions gets a part and then I will have my exams so uploads may slow down a little bit but you never know. If you like the chapter, remember to vote and comment. Remember to eat and drink, and have a lovely day/night! :D)