𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑺𝑷𝒀 - Dustin Henderson

015. The Bite

"HE SAID HE WAS BUILDING SOMETHING. That it was all for me," El explained, still shook up from the whole thing.

"Building something... Is he talking about the flayed?" Max questioned.

"He must be," Nancy answered.

"So, he's building an army, just like we thought," Lucas sighed.

"Yeah, but he's not building this army to spread," Mike started.

"He's building it to stop Eleven," Will finished.

"Last year, El closed the gate on him. I have a feeling that really pissed him off."

"Like, royally," Lucas agreed.

"And the Mind Flayer now knows that she's the only thing that can stop him. But if she's out of the way..."

"Game over."

"He also said he was gonna kill all of you," El's frail voice said. Cindy rubbed El's shoulder while slightly panicking inside.

"Yeah, well, that's nice," Max said sarcastically.

A loud rumble came from outside, but they all just assumed it was the fireworks, except Nancy went over to the window to see for herself, growing sceptical. "Do you guys hear that?"

"It's just the fireworks," Jonathon reassured her.

"Billy... When he told you this, it was here, in this room?" El nodded and Cindy could see the slight worry switch on Nancy's face.

Cindy felt fluttering and goosebumps stood up on the back of her neck, she breathed out a shaky sigh as she knew exactly what that meant.

"He knows we're here," Will stated.

They run out of the house and down onto the path to see if they could see it. They stood waiting as the trees moved and flopped to the ground and there it was, bigger than when they last saw it, full of flesh and bones.

Cindy shuddered feeling her whole body freeze up. The mind flayer is back, in a physical form and it just brought back everything she experienced. "Come on!" Nancy shouts. They all rush back to the house. Nancy goes to the shed while the rest head inside to board up the windows and doors.

Nancy picked up a gun, ready to shoot it, "get away from the windows!" She told them.

They all stood in a circle, back to back awaiting its attack, the only thing Cindy could hear in the room was the sound of everyone else's breathing.

The lights began flickering slightly and dust from the roof started to fall onto the floor, "it's close," Will said.

Cindy could hear its thoughts, it was almost like a busted radio, the voice kept going in and out, she couldn't tell where it was coming from.

The place went silent again, they weren't sure where it had gone to, "where'd it go?" Max asked.

Cindy shut her eyes focusing on his voice, until she heard him, loud and clear. "Everyone look out!" She yelled, pushing people away as a tentacle busted through the side of the cabin, searching the place.